He lived 2,000 years ago on the little sliver of earth that we call Israel now. Jesus' birth story is still a fixture in our society, right? We call it Christmas. Born to a virgin in a stable, angels and shepherds, maybe even know of the bloodthirsty king that wanted him killed and the wise men from afar. We know almost nothing of the first 30 years of Jesus' life. It was probably a very typical Jewish boyhood. It's not until he's baptized by his cousin John, who gets mentioned here in Acts chapter one, John the baptizer, John the Baptist. It's not until he gets baptized that Jesus goes public. It's quite dramatic. There's a voice that says from heaven, this is my son. There's a dove that descends on him. We're told that's the Holy Spirit. Then he goes and Jesus resists the temptations of the devil. He comes back preaching that the kingdom of God has arrived. It's Jesus' big message. The kingdom of God has arrived. And the evidence that the kingdom of God had arrived with Jesus is miraculous. Jesus is an exorcist. He is fearless in the face of demons, and they cower at his presence. Jesus sets captives free. Jesus is a healer. And when I say healer, I'm not talking about, you know, the sham televangelists. No, not like that. Nor am I talking about a doctor who can administer real therapies. Jesus speaks and lame people get up and walk. He touches blind eyes and they are instantly healed. Jesus even heals all sorts of sicknesses, skin diseases, and then even raises people from the dead. So the evidence that the kingdom of God, something new, something wonderful, something different has come with Jesus is miraculous. But Jesus himself tries to make very clear that's not the end goal of all of his miraculous things that he does. No, Jesus came for those who are sick in their souls. He came to forgive. He came to make peace. He came to give joy. He came to teach a new way of living, and not just living on earth, but living forever. And speaking of Jesus' teaching, that's what really dominates the Jesus story, is teaching. When he speaks, he speaks as one with authority. He speaks like somebody who actually knows God. As a matter of fact, Jesus speaks as if he is the author of truth. One of the things we often love about Jesus is that he's unafraid to challenge politicians, authoritative teachers, influential people, priests, even the traditions of the people. What's fascinating, though, is Jesus is not some sort of revolutionary that stirs up the angst of the people. He's actually a restorer, bringing people back to God. It seems, though, that this confrontational teaching is Jesus' downfall. You know, it's not surprising that a man who fights evil men and the devil is destined to die. And so Jesus does die. He's arrested at night, he's falsely accused, he is given no fair trial, and then he is crucified like a common criminal. And the Romans designed crucifixion to inflict the maximum amount of pain and shame. And Jesus dies. And yet, here we are, 2,000 years later, halfway around the globe from Jerusalem, and we're still talking about Jesus. Why? Why are we talking about Jesus? What is the impact of such a life? Why should you care about this distant teacher and healer who died? Well, some people might say you should care because Jesus is the founder of a religion. It's called Jesus the Christ. He founded Christianity. You open your history textbook at school, that's probably what you would see. Founder of Christianity is Jesus the Christ. And it is true, like his teachings set forth a way of life and a view of God that we try to emulate. We want to be like Jesus and we want to hear from Jesus, that's true. But you know, founders are usually memorialized in statues. If you go to a college campus, you're likely to find some bronze figure that used to matter. I think I went to the University of Idaho. I think of that figure. I have no idea who he was. I walked by him on my way to class, like everybody else. There's probably a plaque there that tells you why you should care about that founder of some university or institution. But the way that we treat founders is sort of with a distant respect. But really we're downstream from them. If this is how you view Jesus, he is simply a memory from the past that people still really care about. Other people would say that Jesus is a great influencer. And that's true. I mean, we do look to Jesus for guidance, for wisdom, for purpose. But when we talk about influencers, we're talking about people who are useful for certain aspects of our lives. So I know there's like a whole new category for influencers. So just, but I'm thinking of more like, okay, so if you wanted to get into shape, you would go and hire a trainer who would influence you. They would teach you and guide you and give you the tools that you need. But of course, once you have gotten everything you need from that person, you can simply move on. And it's true that for a lot of people, Jesus is just useful for a season. He's a nice addition to your life. Some people treat Jesus that way. They think, you know, I've got a lot of things in my life. I've got a job, I've got a family, I've got a lot of my finances in order. What do I need next? Well, I need religion. That's kind of the next natural step maybe. Some people treat Jesus that way. Just a nice addition. Or maybe it's crisis that hits. You think I need something and people seem to think that Jesus can help in crisis. And so maybe I'll start praying and going to church and doing Jesus sorts of things and he will get me through my crisis. Well, that would be a view of Jesus that I would say is that Jesus is a great influencer. But Luke, who is the author of this book that we're going to study, The Acts of the Apostles, claims that Jesus is so much more than a founder and an influencer. As a matter of fact, he says that that life that Jesus had and that gruesome death that Jesus died is just the beginning. Did you catch this in verse one? He says, oh, in the first book, oh, Theophilus, we'll talk about who that is in a minute, 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. So there's a, this is, he talks about Jesus's beginning, which his first book is what we call the gospel according to Luke, which is the record of his life and death. So Luke's here writing a second book to show us that Jesus continues to do and to teach. And how can he make that claim? That this man, Jesus, is continuing to do and to teach, to work his works of miracles, his works of healing souls, his work of teaching and directing, of challenging. How can he claim that? Because Luke claims that Jesus is alive. Notice that verse three, he presented himself alive. That is after his death. This is the massive claim of Christianity. It is that Jesus is still working and still healing souls and still teaching truth because he rose from the dead. Never to die again. When we study the book of Acts, what we're looking at is how the work of Jesus takes shape after the resurrection, which gives us reason to study this book. One reason I'll give you, and in some ways I guess I'm trying to convince you that you need to devote yourself to the book of Acts, we will over the next year. One of the reasons we study this is to answer the question, what does Jesus do next? We live in the age of his resurrection, between his resurrection and his return. And that creates for us a longing to see and experience the work of Jesus in our lives today. If Jesus gave new lives to people 2,000 years ago, he can give new life to you today. So my plan over the next year or so is each Lord's Day, we're gonna turn the page, Book of Acts, and keep entering the story so that we would understand what Jesus does for people by his grace. A few facts are gonna be helpful, I think, along the way. We think about Acts. I already mentioned it was written by Luke. Luke, we'll actually meet later in the story of the Book of Acts. He's a traveling companion of Paul. We'll meet Paul as well. Looks like Luke was a doctor and a careful researcher. As a matter of fact, in verse 1, he refers to his first book. His first book is the Gospel according to Luke, which is in your Bible. Unfortunately, not right next to the Book of Acts. There's reasons for that, but, you know, it is a little inconvenient. But I preached through the Gospel of Luke over the past year. Took a little break for the summer. But this is the next book in the series, right? So if we're gonna get what Jesus's life and death were all about, now we need to understand what Jesus's resurrection is all about. And that's what the book of Acts will help us to see. So it's interesting here when he mentions in verses one through about six, Jesus coming and speaking, there's sort of an overlap between Luke and Acts. And if you read novels today, you'll notice the same thing. I've noticed this when you read a series of novels. Like the end of the book will often include the first chapter of the next book. And then when you pick up book number two, it sort of has a prologue that helps you remember everything that happened in the first book. Turns out that's exactly how ancient writers used to write books as well. They did the same thing. This is actually pretty conventional of Luke to say, remember the first book that I wrote to you? Oh, Theophilus. And now let's go ahead and continue the story. Luke writes to this Theophilus, which is a name that means beloved of God or lover of God. Theophilus was probably a patron who funded Luke's research project. What we gather from the Gospel of Luke is that Luke went around talking to eyewitnesses of events, trying to piece together this Jesus story so that he could pass it on to people. So Theophilus, we assume, is probably the patron that funded that. Luke lived roughly 30 years after Jesus did. And his accounts, the gospel according to Luke and the book of Acts, are meant to encourage and educate people who have believed in Jesus. But these are also the very words of God. Luke, the careful researcher, is guided by the Spirit of God to pass truth on to future generations. And here we are 2,000 years later reading those same words now translated into our language, English. Luke wrote in the ancient language of Greek. The book of Acts could be divided up into a lot of ways. Let's do it in terms of witnesses. Look at verse eight really quick. It says, Jesus says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. So one of the ways we could divide up the gospel, not the gospel according to Luke, the Acts of the Apostles. We can divide it up as simply by talking about different sorts of witnesses. So chapters one through five, and you can kind of scan through and see all those little helpful subheadings that the publisher puts in there. The first five chapters focus on the apostles of Jesus. The first, we call them disciples. These were eyewitnesses of Jesus's life, his death, his resurrection. Chapters six through eight then follow the next generation of witnesses. particularly the first Christians, the first converts who carry on this message of Jesus's resurrection, specifically a man named Stephen and a man named Philip. Chapters 9 through 12 chronicle a transition. from a Jewish witness of Jesus to a non-Jewish witness of Jesus. The word we use is Gentiles for non-Jewish people. And so you have a shift here from Jesus and the apostles who were all Jewish people to now the gospel going out, the good news about Jesus going out by people who were not of Jewish descent. There's an important transition there. And then chapters 13 through 28 follow that witness to the ends of the earth. mostly following the standard bearer we call Paul. There's kind of four sections you could think about. The apostles, the first generation of Christians, the transition to non-Jewish witnesses, and then Paul, and that follows the whole book. We study this, though, hopefully that gives you a little framework. We study this because we're witnesses too. We look to the book of Acts because Christians, this is the beginning of our story. We have heard the testimony about Jesus, his life and death and resurrection. Many of you have met Jesus by faith in this good news, and you've experienced new life in Jesus. Somebody told you about him. Maybe it was your parents. Maybe it was a friend. Maybe it was people in a church. and you've heard about Jesus, I hope you've believed in Jesus, so that you can look at the book of Acts and say, this is my story. This is where I came from. It's my family history. So this book will help us understand who we are and what we're supposed to be doing. And I think more importantly, who Jesus is right now and what Jesus is doing, because not only have we heard about Jesus, he has now sent us to tell about him. We are witnesses, too. And so I hope as we work through the Book of Acts together, that you'll start to look at the things that Jesus is doing, at the people that Jesus changes, and you'll start to say, you know, I want to be like those sorts of people. I want the boldness of Peter. We'll meet Peter. I want the joy of a lame man who's been healed. I want the expectation of the first Christians when they pray. I want the knowledge of Stephen. Stephen gives a really rich, knowledgeable speech right before his death. You might say I want the clarity of Philip. Philip can explain Jesus to somebody from a foreign land. You might say I want the compassion of Ananias, who is called to go and baptize somebody who had set out to kill Christians. That takes some serious compassion. You might say I want the transformation of Saul. That was the guy who wanted to kill the Christians, and he changed. You might say, I want a family to be changed like Cornelius. Cornelius' family hears about Jesus being resurrected and everybody believes and is changed. Some of you really want your whole family to be changed by the message of Jesus. You might say, I want the generosity of Barnabas. We first meet Barnabas because he gives a lot of, he's wealthy and he gives a lot to help the poor. But actually, I'm talking about Barnabas' generosity towards this young, zealous missionary who was once called Saul, and is now called Paul, and Barnabas kind of takes him under his wing, and they go around the world telling people the good news. You might even say, I want that missionary zeal of Paul. You might say, I want the wisdom of Priscilla and Aquila, sort of these older Christians that take a young, sort of foolish and zealous man named Apollos and say, we need to teach you the truth because you don't really know it. And he receives it well. Or you might say, I want the faith of the thousands of unnamed people who meet the resurrected Jesus by faith and their lives are changed forever. Or if you're not a Christian yet, I invite you to join us through Acts. Our church is gonna study it. You're welcome here every Sunday. I invite you to look at Acts with the hope that you would see the resurrected Jesus at work, that you would meet the community of his grace, and you would say, I wanna know that Jesus. Like I wanna see the things that are happening in this book happen in my life today. That's my hope for you. Because Jesus really is alive and he really is at work. And you can meet him here. I hope then for our church that we would grow together as a community of people who are changed by the resurrected Jesus. Because this book is telling the story of how God has changed us and sent us and transformed us. A church could be a lot of things in the 21st century. I hope that Crossroads is one that is telling about the resurrected Jesus because he has changed us. And we know him, we love him. So that's probably the longest sermon introduction I will ever give. I don't measure those things, but I usually keep them short. But let me just summarize the book of Acts, if I can, in just a handful of words. And I think that these first 11 verses are really introducing the whole book. So here's my summary of the book of Acts. It is that the risen Jesus is working through Holy Spirit-empowered people according to the plan of God the Father. So this is why we study the book of Acts. It's not just history. It's not just interesting stories that we'd like to see repeated. It's so that we can see what God has been planning from all of history, what He is working out through Jesus Christ, His Son, through the power of the Holy Spirit in people like you and me, ordinary people, who are telling about Jesus. So let's just kind of work through those three sections, the risen Jesus and the Spirit-empowered witness, and the plan of God the Father, briefly, in three little sections, back through the text. Let's start again in verse one. You've already met Luke and Theophilus. Again, verse one. of Acts chapter one says, in the first book of Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. That's a really big summary statement of the gospel according to Luke. It covers from Jesus's birth to his taking up. We call Jesus's taking up his ascension. We actually read that same event here in Acts chapter one. It's recorded at the end of the Gospel according to Luke, so just keep something in Acts chapter 1, and briefly turn to the left until you see Luke, and look at the last chapter of Luke, which is 24. The very last three verses, four verses, right at the end of the Gospel according to Luke. This is the event that we read again in the Book of Acts. So Luke chapter 24 verses 50 through 53 says, he led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And this is Jesus. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God. So you wonder what has happened to Jesus today? He died, he rose, and then he was taken up into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. Okay, back to Acts chapter one, because Luke is telling us in between his resurrection and that event that we call the ascension, Jesus gave instructions to his disciples. It says in Acts chapter one, verse three, that he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many a proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. So notice then as Luke starts to set forth his second book, his focus is on the resurrection. that Jesus rose from the dead. And he does this because that is the central event of history. And it's the prominent testimony about Jesus in the book of Acts. As we read through this book, you're gonna find over and over and over, what gets people into trouble and what changes people's lives is this message of a man risen from the dead. And when Luke says he rose from the dead, he's not meaning some sort of mythical or metaphysical or metaphorical sense. It's a historic fact. How do we know? Many proofs, Luke says. Jesus appeared. He ate, he walked, he showed people the holes in his hands and his side. The confidence that you and I can have that Jesus rose from the dead is simply this. Many people saw him and they have passed down credible, consistent testimony. We call it the New Testament. These are people who saw Jesus with their eyes. And it is the most historically reliable book in existence. How do we know Jesus rose from the dead? Many proofs. Many witnesses. And in that 40 days between his resurrection and his ascension, Jesus, it says, taught about the kingdom of God. That's a theme that's going to come up a lot in the book of Acts. The kingdom of God is where God rules over his people, and his people dwell in happiness with him. So Jesus is showing us here in Luke showing us even these first 11 verses that when Jesus ascended he was saying his kingdom of God is the kingdom of God is here. And now the rule of Jesus is extending through his people. So this means that Jesus who is resurrected is also the risen Lord. We're going to use that word a lot. Right now Jesus is king over this earth. You say, well, it doesn't look like it. Well, yes, there are many people in rebellion to Jesus. But Jesus is king over you, he's king over me. I think it's really common for people to reduce Christianity to a moral code. Right? As if, say, well, what does it mean to be a Christian? Well, you've got to be a good person, you need to do the right things, and here's maybe the list of the right things to do. Other people will reduce Christianity to a cultural norm. This is gaining traction in our day. Right, where we want Christian cultures, where you can walk down the street to a cute little white building and sing hymns from 100 years ago and celebrate Christmas, but it doesn't really call anything out of you. I love the cultural norms of Christianity, but it's more than that. Other people will think of Christianity as a helpful community, a good place to raise a family. And those all play a part, wonderful morality with knowing Jesus, there's wonderful cultural change, there's wonderful health, with knowing Jesus, but supremely, Christianity is about Jesus being king. It's faith that he has risen, trust in his promises, and obedience in his commands. So kids, as you're listening to this and you're thinking about the book of Acts, here's how I want you to think about the book of Acts, and even about the sermon today. What you can remember, and some of you, because you like to draw pictures, you draw pictures about, it's this, that Jesus is king. He rose from the dead and he rules over everything. Jesus is king. So now the question for you is, is that the place that Jesus has in your life? Is Jesus the Lord over you? Do you joyfully submit to him and trust him and obey him and love him and worship him? Or are you a rebel against him? You know, many people in our culture today will invoke the name of Jesus. We hang crosses around our necks, put tattoos with crosses on our arms. A lot of people like the idea of a church and community and activities and fun things to do. Some people today are searching out for a system of ethics and morality because that's just not found anywhere else. Many people are okay with a Christian culture, they like pretty buildings and Christmas carols, but how many worship Jesus as king? And I hope you make no mistake, that's what Crossroads Bible Church is gonna be about. We love special events and Christmas carols, sure. But if everything else has to go, Jesus is king, and that's it. We will worship him, and love him, and follow him, and he will rule over our lives. The book of Acts then shows us what happens to people who do worship Jesus as king. It's a tale of suffering and glory. Acts is our invitation to join the kingdom. And if you're not a Christian and you hear about Jesus, this king, then the invitation to you in the book of Acts is to bow yourself before him. Declare him Lord of your life. Forsake everything else and follow him. And he is a good king. as we'll learn. As a matter of fact, the first thing he does as king is he grants his people a gift. We'll pick it up in 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 not many days from now. And you think, what's he talking about? Well, he's telling them he's giving them a gift. The event of being baptized with the Holy Spirit happens in Acts chapter two, so we're just gonna wait until we get there to really get into the details. But I want you to notice that Jesus is governing his people by his word, and his commands are not burdensome, right? His command here is simply, wait a couple days. You're going to get a gift from me. Now, some people will say, I don't want to obey Jesus. I don't want Jesus as a Lord over my life. Maybe that's because your attitude towards authority is that authority is usually corrupt, authority is usually abused, and authority is usually inept. And I'm gonna go ahead and agree with you, a lot of times in this world, that is exactly what authority is, abused and corrupt and inept. But you know what the problem is, is that then what I say, what we say, is that instead of submitting to an outside authority, I'm just gonna trust myself. as if you and I aren't corrupt or inept. Now why is Jesus better? Jesus is better because he isn't corrupt and he isn't inept. He's different in one perfect way, and that is that Jesus is God. No qualification. He is the one true God. Now Luke makes this case in the book of Acts, he actually makes it right, a case right here. There is simply no other conclusion to draw about Jesus. He's not just a good teacher. He's not just a miraculous healer. He is God, the one true God. Now notice how this is spelled out here in Luke. For one, like we see it in his authority. But notice he says in verse four that he tells him to wait for the promise from the Father. Now we would probably pull back and say, well, of course the Father is God. That's kind of common language for God. God is a father, the one true God. So then why is Jesus speaking as if he holds the authority of the Father? We would usually say that's someone who's usurping authority, but we know Jesus is not usurping that authority because God the Father raised him from the dead and exalted him into heaven. And so Jesus is presented as having the same authority as God the Father. And then Jesus talks about a Holy Spirit coming, and this Holy Spirit is going to empower people with the power of God. So there's this indication here that you have a Father who is God, a Son who is God, and a Holy Spirit who is God. Now that's a really big, hard truth to wrap your head around, I know. We call it the Trinity. But you just can't escape this fact that everywhere that Jesus is spoken of, He's spoken of as divine. The Holy Spirit is divine, and the Father is divine, and so we have one God in three persons. Luke makes it clear here that everything that Jesus is doing is the purpose of God empowered by the Holy Spirit. And that's why his authority over his people is good. Because God is good. And God is just. And God is merciful. And so if you balk at the idea of submitting to Jesus as your supreme authority, then I would say you simply don't know Jesus yet. Because he is just in all of his ways. He is merciful to his people. And even here, the first thing, as I said, he does is give his people a gift. I'm sending you a promise. Now, the first apostles are not sure what that means. Verse 6, when they'd come together, they asked the Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Maybe that's the promise of the Father. a restored israel and since these were all jewish people they were probably anticipating that as the old testament the hebrew scriptures had promised that there would be a time where the nation of israel was restored in prosperity jesus says no verse seven it's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority he's shifting their expectations that god is going to do his restoring work It's just not for us to know when. It's as if God has a future event on his calendar. It just doesn't sync up with ours, and that's fine. But Jesus says, here's the gift that I have for you. In verse eight, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. The gift that Jesus is giving us is both purpose and power. The purpose is you will be his witnesses in all the earth. And this isn't a witness like somebody who sees an event happen, but this is a witness who testifies, someone who tells. That's our purpose. It's the purpose of these first apostles, it's the purpose that plays out in the whole book of Acts, and it's why you are here as a follower of Jesus, to tell about his resurrection. And that sounds really intimidating to most of us. How am I supposed to tell people about Jesus's resurrection? They might think I'm crazy. Or usually we just have a whole heap of excuses. I'm not good at talking, or I don't think well on my feet, or I'm not educated enough, and I can't persuade people, and I'm really bad at debating and arguing. And you know what, you're probably right about all of those things. You really are not the best candidate to go and tell about Jesus, and neither am I. That's why Jesus doesn't just give us purpose, he gives us power, ability. It's the Holy Spirit. So what Jesus is calling us to do as citizens in this kingdom is to go and tell. The effectiveness of that going and telling is on God. It's on the Holy Spirit. We trust God to empower us, giving us courage and ability and knowledge. Now you could think about the Book of Acts then as an introduction, a documentary on how the Holy Spirit empowers people to tell about Jesus. And we'll learn from that. Because the ends of the earth, as Jesus sends us out to, are ever-extending. There are still people who do not know that Jesus rose from the dead. And those aren't just people living in remote jungles or isolated islands. Some of them are your neighbors. Some of them work with you. Some of them are your family members. Maybe it's even you. Maybe before today you had never heard that Jesus rose from the dead. Christians, King Jesus has sent us to tell people that he's alive. I just challenge you, as you think about talking to people about Jesus, just start with this. Did you know that Jesus rose from the dead? What do you make of that? See where it goes. Of course, the work of telling people is not finished. We know this because Jesus says there will be an end. Pick up verse nine. And when he had 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 Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven. The work of Jesus is not finished because he has not returned. Which means right now, the Spirit of God is at work, empowering his people to tell of his resurrection. You might ask, well, why then did Jesus leave? If King Jesus has risen from the dead, why did he leave the earth? Boy, there's a lot of reasons. One of them we'll run into in chapter two that's so important is Jesus had to leave to send the Spirit. But I also think Jesus leaves because that's how his mission can be completed. Jesus is no longer working as one man in one location. But now Jesus is present in his people, scattered all around the globe, telling of his resurrection. Like in one true sense, Jesus has ascended, as we just read, and is seated at the right hand of God. In another true sense, Jesus is here. He's with us. He's in us. As his people gather around his word with the mission of making him known to the world. That's what we're here for. That's what the angels, even in Acts chapter 1, remind them of. They sort of show up, these two angels. It sounds a lot like Jesus's resurrection account. We won't read it today. You can read it in Luke chapter 24. But as they come to the men who are standing there and they say, why are you looking up into the heavens? As if to say, didn't Jesus just tell you to go and tell people? Why are you standing around? What are you doing? Jesus isn't here, go and tell about him. And that's the goal that keeps going until he returns. Someday Jesus is going to return to this earth in the clouds, with glory, to gather his people and establish his kingdom. And we don't know when. It's not for us to know the times and the seasons. The father is fixed by his own authority. What we do know is that Jesus is alive. People need to know. And this is the eternal plan of God. This isn't just a good idea that some Christians came up with 2,000 years ago, that we ought to start telling people that Jesus rose from the dead. It is the promise of the Father and the plan of the Father according to His timeline. And until Jesus returns, we need to be a people obedient to His commission to tell of His death and His resurrection until He comes. So I hope for you this will, as we study the book of Acts, this is gonna stir in you a zeal to tell people of the resurrected Jesus. And so as I began, I'm gonna end similarly for the honor of King Jesus, for the sweet reminder of his people, and for the hope that if you're not yet a Christian, you would actually believe him and trust him with your life. I'll tell you a little of the rest of the story. We've got his birth, his miracles, his teaching. Let me tell you about his resurrection. First, his resurrection demonstrates his power over death. Nobody beats death. except Jesus. His resurrection validates all of his claims to being Lord. Jesus makes all sorts of claims on his earthly life that mean nothing if he dies and doesn't rise. But having risen from the dead, he now speaks with an authority of someone who has conquered the enemy of death. And the resurrection of Jesus promises life to all who believe in him. You need new life. We all do. We need forgiveness, we need hope, we need help. Jesus has it. This is what Jesus is doing in his resurrection. He's giving people new lives. He has been for 2,000 years and he will until the day he comes. So if you're a Christian who's zealous to make Jesus known, I just hope that you feel encouraged to press on. If you're a Christian who feels distant from Jesus, because that does happen, you feel like a failure, you feel like somebody who hasn't been faithful, I hope that as we look at the book of Acts, you would be reminded that Jesus rose to be a king of grace, that he meets us in our failures with forgiveness, he meets us in our sins with mercy, He meets us in our trials with hope and help. If you're someone who doesn't believe in Jesus, I hope that you would come to Jesus for new life. He really does give it. And what a church is, Crossroads is, we're just people who have met the resurrected Jesus and he changed us. And we want everybody to know that he changed too. So let's pray with me. God, I pray that you would change us, that in your word and as we gather together, we would meet with the risen Jesus. We would know his purpose of telling others and the power that he gives us in the Holy Spirit, that you would change our lives. And so God, we give all honor and praise to Jesus, our risen Savior today. It's in his name we pray, amen.