From the Acts of the Apostles, chapter one, verses one through 11. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when he said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This is Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Amen. You may take your seats. I'm so excited to be kicking off this new sermon series with all of you. This is my first time that I have to set the stage for the rest of a series, so I feel that pressure right now. But when discussing the preaching schedule with Matt and then among session members regarding what to preach during this particular season that we're in, there were many good options, right? The Bible is full of them. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable to teach. But there was something very special about these seven first chapters of Acts, which are the ones that will comprise this series. And it's something that proved to be just the right mix of being life-giving and challenging and so empowering that it felt it would bless us in a very special way as we walk through this series and the season that we are in as a church. My prayer is that we would all come with the expectation to learn, to be stretched, to be strengthened and to reimagine what our lives, what our families, what our church, what our communities could look like, not if we get our act together. Sadly, there are many churches that are preaching that and wearing down their congregations by doing so, but rather by trusting, by having faith in the acts of an almighty, all-knowing, sovereign God who equips and sends out those who love Him to magnify His glory and build up His church. That's where the series title comes from, Scent. We are a people on a mission, on the move, and not by ourselves. We are empowered to fulfill this call that we have received. So let's get right into it. I'm excited. I hope you are, too. I don't know what comes to mind when you think about the book of Acts, but when I think about it, and when I started to think about it, my mind immediately went to, oh yeah, this is the book about the Holy Spirit, about the Holy Spirit doing His thing and amazing things, right? Actual miracles among believers. I think of the tongues of fire on top of the disciples' heads and people speaking in tongues, languages that were previously unknown to them, and many signs and many wonders, healings, thousands of peoples converted to Christ and joining this new thing called the Church. And that is all fascinating stuff and all the things that we will get into in this series, but if we go there too quickly, we'll be missing something. And that which we will be missing is, well, it's all of Acts 1, right? Acts 1 is not just a little greeting to Theophilus and then a formation of a disciple search committee to pick who will replace Judas. No, right here in Acts 1 through 11, we'll see how it kicks off, as a sermon title says, with the acts of the risen, ascended, and seated King Jesus. So let's go verse by verse style, seeing what the breathed out and profitable words of life are here in the text. Let's go verse one, in the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. That's right, this is not the first book. There's a previous book. We messed up somewhere with this series. No, that first book is the Gospel of Luke. Luke is the author of Acts. Luke is the author of, you guessed it, the Gospel of Luke. Luke. He is a physician by trade. He has an exquisite use of the Greek language, that which was used like in symposium and debates. And he is also, as we will see in Acts, Paul's ministry sidekick of sorts. He is writing down everything that Paul is doing. In modern days, he would be his PR guy or social media manager. All that to say that he is highly educated, very well informed, and has experienced most of the accounts that he writes of. So that is Luke, and he wrote the Gospel of Luke, and this is the second volume of Luke in Acts. He writes, we see, to someone called Theophilus. And actually, both accounts of Luke, the Gospel and Acts, are addressed to this person named Theophilus. There's many theories as to who he is. His name is very interesting. Theophilus, the meaning of Theophilus is one who loves God or one who is loved by God. The same as you would refer to an audiophile, someone who is obsessed with sound or a cinephile with movies, bibliophile. This is a theophile, a lover of God or someone who is loved by God. But he was most likely a well-ranked or highly influential Gentile, not a Jew, possibly a believing Roman official that supported Luke and Paul's ministry. But the important thing, and not relying on speculation, is why he is writing to Theophilus. And we learned that looking at the first volume in Luke. He says, Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything, From the beginning it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught." Luke wants Theophilus to know for sure that the gospel is reliable, that Jesus is the Christ, and everything that Luke writes he does so with this intent to persuade or to solidify the faith of Theophilus. So, we continue looking at verse 1, and it says, in the first book, I dealt with all about what Jesus began to do and teach. And the word began here suggests that this second volume, which Luke is starting, Acts, is going to be about what Jesus continues to do and teach so that's that's exciting but it's also tricky because if we keep on reading verse 2 the first part until the day when he was taken up so jesus is is removed he's no longer around or that's at least what it what it seems like And here, in verses 2 through 5, Luke proceeds to give Theophilus a kind of, for himself, an out-of-character, fast-paced summary of the end of his gospel. And of course, much like ourselves, he's rushing right into Acts 2. Like, oh, Theophilus, you won't believe what's coming your way. You can feel him getting excited. There are so many ideas here in verses 2 through 5. So let's look at those key phrases. First, he was taking He was taken up. Here he says it in a very nonchalant kind of way. He was taken up, but he already wrote about it to Theophilus and Luke. So yeah, Jesus was taken up. He ascended. But then he goes back and retraces, wait, but first he had given commands. Jesus expressed authority and control over this situation. giving clear directions to his apostles, but the interesting thing here is not in his own power, but rather through the Holy Spirit. Jesus decided to command them through the Holy Spirit. So if the resurrected and glorified Christ relied on the Holy Spirit to empower his disciples, I mean, he would do that, And these disciples would later receive the same Spirit as an indwelling presence. So keep in mind this use of the Spirit, this transfer of roles, Jesus letting the Spirit move in as we move forward. Jesus, in a way, releases control. Have you seen those bumper stickers on the road that says, Jesus is my co-pilot? Well, Jesus here is saying, the Spirit is my co-pilot. He also works in a way that I work. But Luke, again, going forward in verse 3, and here he's not giving so orderly of an account. He's all over the place, moving back and forward. But he goes back. In verse 3, he says, Jesus hung out with his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection, offering plenty of evidence for his bodily resurrection. Paul later states that, writing to the Corinthians, that during this time, Jesus appeared to more than 500 brothers at once, most of them who were still alive during Paul's time. So in this group setting, there's little margin for something to be made up for imagination or for speculation. This really happened. So, contrary to some belief that faith is a pure disembodied realization of spiritual things in a very ethereal form, here we see that evidence, hardcore evidence, serves a purpose of increasing and strengthening face. After all, that's why Luke was writing to Theophilus, right? He wanted him to have a certainty. It's interesting to think about the early church, one of the reasons that the early church exploded and grew exponentially, of course, on top of God's sovereign plan and purpose and power in the Holy Spirit, was that the disciples were fully convinced. They had no doubt at all that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead because of these 40 days, this time with the resurrected Christ, They were willing to go to their own deaths rather than to deny Jesus' bodily resurrection. Their entire faith depended on that, and they had witnessed it, again, as a group. So, during this time, Jesus was here and there and everywhere, appearing and disappearing, going through walls, but eating fish, so the disciples didn't know what to make of this. But the disciples knew that Jesus was around. He was available, but not readily available to them, at least physically. This time served to teach the disciples how to relate to Jesus in a different way, preparing them for what was to come. Paul again, as a post-Pentecost Christian, would come to write in 1 Corinthians, even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, We regard him thus no longer." So do you see this apparent detachment that Jesus is doing? It's a slow but steady moving back as the Spirit moves forward. Let's see how Luke develops this. Look at the end of verse 3. The time that they spent together was spent speaking about the kingdom of God. From the Gospels, we know that the kingdom of God is Jesus' main framework and emphasis as he does ministry. It's what he most talks about. But what is the kingdom of God? In one sense, it's everything, because God is the creator and sustainer of all things ever. All things are subject to him, and everything is made to his glory. But in a special sense, think of John the Baptist preaching, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. and this being right before Jesus comes on the scene. The kingdom of God is the eruption of the heavenly realm on earth. This is God's glorious and unrelenting reign and rule through his own appointed monarch, his Messiah, our Savior and King, Jesus Christ. This is a snake crusher promised so long ago that and has now come for his crown he is he is the kingdom because he is the king now this whole kingdom of god thing is also a process it already took Luke a whole volume to explain how it kicked off, starting with the baby king in Bethlehem, right, that the Magi went to gave gifts and worship, and all the way through his death, where he was crowned with a crown of thorns and declared the king of Jews as he died, and in his resurrection, of course. But now in these few verses so far, Luke is ramping up to point us to the next chapter in the chronicles of the kingdom of God. Just as they had to learn to live with a more spiritual Jesus, for the lack of a better word, now they had to learn what the kingdom of God was really about. This next chapter in the kingdom of God looks a lot different than what the disciples expect, as we will see. Let's go to verse 4. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus ordered them to stay put. They're not ready. Stay put and wait. Wait for what? The promise of the Father. which is a baptism by the Holy Spirit. Now, there's a lot we can go into here regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but Acts 2 is just a page away in your Bible and only two Sundays away in the schedule, so we'll dive deeper into what that means then. But for now, we see that this new chapter in the kingdom of God is something big. It's requiring a tri-personal, a Trinitarian act. The Son is giving them marching orders, which really are non-marching orders for now, to the disciples because of the Father's promise to send them spiritual aid through the Holy Spirit. Summing all of this up to now, this is truly amazing. This is the risen Christ has proven himself to be who he has claimed himself to be, namely God's Messiah. He has offered plenty of evidence during these last 40 days for his disciples to be absolutely certain of his resurrection. And they are filled to the brim of faith, of hope, and empowered for the mission ahead of them, whatever it may be. But then, this is gold, verse six, I imagine the disciples kind of pushing each other in front of Jesus and telling each other, no, you ask him, no, no, no, you ask him, I don't wanna ask him, you go, you go. But it's on all of their minds. So Jesus, does this mean, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And what they meant is, will Israel come in glory and kick the Romans out and be God's rule on earth and all the other nations will be under Israel? That's what they were thinking. And it's easy to pick on the disciples 2,000 years later, right? And looking at some people call this one of the facepalm moments of Jesus, but they had good reasons to think this way. And I don't think that Jesus actually did a facepalm. They were convinced of the truth regarding Jesus' resurrection and his identity. It made sense to them. The long-awaited messianic era had dawned, and it of course meant the restoration of Israel, for there is plenty of warrant in the prophecies of the Old Testament for that. But they thought it would be as had been before through military or political conquest. They just weren't getting it. They couldn't see it any other way. And this, this is exactly why they needed and why we need the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians again, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him, for the theophiluses of this world. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. For what? That we might understand the things freely given us by God, and we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. Now, there's a lot of spirit talk, spirit language in here that can get kind of confusing, but boiling it down, the truths of Scripture are spiritual. God's kingdom is spiritual. The only way of getting an idea of what all this is about is through the Holy Spirit's work of revealing these things to our spirit. What do I mean by that? It's not a logic of two plus two equals four. You can't figure the answer out. It's more like the last will be the first and the first will be the last. Whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials. My grace is sufficient for you. The power is perfected in weakness. or any other of those sayings that left people thinking, who is this guy? This is how the kingdom operates. Its logic makes the kingdom of God folly to this world. So, not having the Holy Spirit to reveal these truths to them, of course Jesus' response is verse seven. It's not for you to know the times. In fact, you don't even know what you're really asking. Your question is way out of your league, so much that you don't even know it. You aren't even aware of it. But don't worry. The Father's got it all timed out. He's got all figured out. Praise God for that. But you, verse 8a, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. When the Holy Spirit clothes you, as Luke writes in his gospel, you will be empowered to do life in a way you have never been able to do before. power to refrain from sin and pursue righteousness, power to grow in the display of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You will have more effectiveness in your witness and ministry, as we will see through acts and a variety of gifts to carry out the ministry of the gospel. This power, also as God's revelation is being compiled during this time, will also include signs and wonders which will confirm the message and the power of God's word. These are more evidences of God's grace for the building up of faith. This is God himself at work in and through us to carry out his redemptive plan throughout the rest of history. And his plan is the church. This is his definitive plan until his return. It's us. Not us alone. He wants his power in us. He wants us to rule with him as co-regents as he once did with Adam and Eve before the fall. But without him, stay put. Stay put while you wait, while you are uncovered. But as soon as you are covered, verse 8b, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. You will be witnesses and testify of me. This is not, and then you will be greatly encouraged to decide to go and tell your closest friends and maybe some family members about how good life is when you go to church and have a community. No. This is there's no way around of how greatly the Holy Spirit will impact your life that you will inevitably witness with words, deeds, and even the air you breathe of how the Holy Son of God became a man to live among sinful people who because of their sin were eternally separated from God. You will testify of how Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life so that he could offer himself to God as a spotless sacrifice on our behalf, satisfying God's supreme standards of implacable justice and awesome love. With your life, you will tell of how he rose again to put on display his victory and authority over sin and death. And as we'll see in a minute how he ascended to the heavenly throne from which he reigns till this day on high. To be baptized or clothed in the Holy Spirit means His imprint is all over you and thus all over your life in such a way that it drags you into God's mission, which is the expanding of God's kingdom in the power of the Holy Spirit. And that is what the text is showing us. Or else, how do you explain the success of such a group like the disciples? How do you explain Jesus leaving them and entrusting them the keys to His kingdom, the same one He came to inaugurate at such a high cost? Now, it's uncomfortable because this bears the question, is the Holy Spirit's imprint all over all of you, all over all of me? If you're anything like me, probably not. And this is where it gets interesting. Calvin said that it is a task of the visible church. That means all of us. That means his body on earth. It's a task of the visible church to make the invisible kingdom of Christ visible. This means living out lives in its logic, upholding its values, right? But if we are completely honest with ourselves and we take a deep dive into our hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal us, at times and in certain aspects of our lives, we don't truly desire the kingdom. To pray your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, comes at a great cost that many times we're not willing to pay. by foolishly choosing the pleasures and treasures of this world, we are choosing to build our own little kingdoms rather than pursuing and investing in and cultivating and seeking to expand the kingdom of God. You see, we cannot compartmentalize our life in such a way to accommodate God's kingdom and my little kingdom. Our King requires it all. Our King demands all. What do you think the first and greatest commandment, by the words of Jesus, means? Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will fall into place, right? How do we do that? How do we change our desires? Do we make a, I forgot the word for that, New Year's? Resolution, thank you, to wake up next day and change our hearts and want what God wants? No, again, this is the work of the Holy Spirit. That's why we need Him, as we commune with Him in prayer and with others in spiritual fellowship, as we are invited to, by the way, by those prayer cards in those Bibles. We grow in relationship with Him. We get to know His heart and our heart becomes more like His, which is more like Christ's. And following Jesus' example during these 40 days, as He detached from the world to let the Spirit come in, we should also detach from our worldly pleasures, worldly treasures, and let the Spirit take control. Pursue what He pursues so that, in fact, Christ's invisible kingdom may become visible. Now, because of our sinful nature, because of our sinful desires and inclinations, because of our sinful patterns and habits, and because of our sins of commission and omission, we will never be able to fully put on display Christ's kingdom in such a way that makes others yell, behold, the kingdom of God is at hand when you pull up in the church parking lot. No, that's something exclusively reserved for the king. But what we can do when empowered by the Holy Spirit is live lives in kingdom dynamics, which basically is a two-step of repentance and faith, of the Spirit's conviction and His restoration. This is how the Spirit works in us, convicting us of sin and pointing us to Christ, to the cross, and to him as the ultimate prophet, priest, and king who continues to minister, intercede, and rule now in a cosmic scale. This is the why of the ascension and the session of Christ at the right hand of the Father in the verses that follow. Christ had to leave his disciples so that he could send his Spirit. He slowly detached from them as he ushered in this new era so that the Holy Spirit could personally minister to an ever-increasing, ever-expanding kingdom called the Church. Because Christ ascended, Christianity, the kingdom of God, the church in relationship with His head and Lord exists, and we will continue to exist until the King's return. Because Christ ascended and is seated at the right hand of the Father, the Spirit is free to individually minister to God's children everywhere and invites them to a personal relationship with Christ. Because Christ is seated, he is fully engaged with his people. He has the Father's attention, he's at his right hand, and he intercedes on behalf of his bride. Being seated, in Jesus' case, is not a posture of rest, but rather one of strategic engagement. We don't play board games standing up around a bar table, bar-height table. We sit, and we lean in, and we engage with it. We are there. It has our full attention. Jesus is on it. His plan of redemption will not fail. Now there are two options here. We can sit here with our heads gazing up into the sky as the disciples had to be shocked out of, or we can engage with a mission to which we have been sent by telling of the acts of our risen, ascended, and seated King Jesus, both in his revealed word, but also in the work of the Spirit in our own lives. And this is the challenge that I want all of us to engage with, to think about, and to ask the Lord to bring us here, us as New City. And if there are guests in here, of course, you are invited to do this as well, because the benefits will be immense in your spiritual life and with your relationship with God. If there's one thing I could ask that we all get excited about this morning is that starting with Jerusalem, starting with us, with our covenant family here, which is, by the way, where chapter seven ends. So we're gonna focus on this, starting with Jerusalem, that we may get really good at telling each other our own story. New City's ministry, everything we do, praise God, is robust in gospel content. We know it well. And Lord willing, it will always be served fresh from the pulpit at the table in our songs and prayers, in our groups, in all of our ministries. And that is something to praise God for and to continue doing. But I'd like to challenge all of us to open up, open up, to each other, sharing how the Holy Spirit has ministered to you, that this may take part of our daily conversations among each other, how he regenerated you, how he has convicted you, how he has counseled you, how he has been quenched or grieved by you, how he has restored you, and how he has sent you out of your comfort zone to do his awesome work. We, as growing Theophiluses, As growing lovers of God, we need to hear those stories. We need to heed those stories. We need to tell, be witnesses. And that's how we grow. That's how we are sent out to do. We just announced in New City News several discipleship opportunities. Raise your hand if you saw those. Come on. Honesty here. I need you to read New City News. I put that together. Sorry, I'm making this all about me now. But I put that together. There is very helpful information. There is very good stuff to know as you engage with our church. And one of those are these discipleship groups. We have women's groups. We have men's groups. We have small groups. And all these things are happening for what? For this. These are opportunities for you to share your story, to realize that you have a story. Our small groups and all other groups are designed to have these engagements. And as we get involved in these or other opportunities, I pray that we may grow in our appreciation of the Holy Spirit's work and in our expectation of it in our own lives, in our church lives, in our families, in our friendships, and also the thirst to see more of it as we head out in mission, scent, for the glory of our enthroned King, Jesus Christ, and the expanse of his kingdom. May we all seek to tell the story of the gospel, to tell of the work of the Holy Spirit in our heart, and grow as Theophiluses. Amen. Let's pray. Risen, ascended, and seated King Jesus, We thank you for your ministry on earth. We thank you for your revealed heart in gently removing yourself from your people, only to provide a way to personally enter the lives of all of those who would come to trust in your saving name. We praise you for delivering on the promise of the Father to send us a helper. that would not only aid us in our personal fight with sin and pursuit of righteousness, but also empower us to do gospel ministry for the sake of building up your kingdom. Lord, may we be a people that share in your spirit, telling each other of your good works in and among us. And may He use us here at New City for continuing the mission to which we have been sent. In our King's name, pray. Amen.