Today, Christian, your life, Christ is at work in it.
He you never wake up and Jesus, as it were, looks at his timer and says, today's a throwaway day.
I don't have anything for you.
No.
Every day is purposeful.
Every day matters.
Every day is authored.
He has work to do in you every single day.
There's never a, nah, nothing today, come back tomorrow, maybe.
Every day, he's working in us.
The following message was recorded at Kingstree Church.
May the Spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
We're beginning a new series today.
we've we worked through First John, that was our last big series through a book, and then through the Psalms, just looking at eight different sermons on prayer.
And of course, Pastor Sean in his rotation is walking through.
1 Samuel.
I keep thinking 1 Corinthians because he was in it for so long, walking through 1 Samuel.
Uh, but today we're beginning a new kind of mainline sermon series, which is working through the book of Acts.
When I choose to work through a book, I'm I'm making a decision for quite a long investment of time.
We're going to be in Acts, Lord willing, for a year, a year at least.
And so why do I choose this book when there's there's so many others?
I was thinking of looking at Mark's gospel.
there were another, a few others that were in the running.
Why go with Acts uh for our next series?
Well, I want to give you four reasons that I chose to do that.
And that's how we're going to start.
But before I get to the reasons, let me pray for us for this time and for this this whole gathering that we have.
Father, we thank you.
We thank you for Jesus Christ.
We thank you for the awesome truth in your word that He reigns, you reign, our God reigns, and we see that reign, we see that kingship from the cross as Christ is lifted up to reign
over us in love.
And as he is lifted up from the grave to reign over us from heaven, we thank you for the slain and risen Christ who is our King.
And we thank you that as that song said, our only hope is Christ.
I pray that we'd feel that today, Father, whatever we're bearing, that your spirit would impress upon us our only hope and our great strength is Jesus Christ and union to him.
And as we come to your word, Father, I pray now for the mercy to be at work, for the mercy of your spirit to be working, to grant that I would speak.
clearly and faithfully of your word, that I would speak in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that your people would receive this word with discernment and with wisdom, and that it
would have its fitting effect in their lives, building them up into Christ.
And that you, Father, in your mercy, in your love, in your grace, would meet us now in this moment to give us yourself in your Son through your Spirit.
Together with your people in the opening of your word.
We ask these things, Father, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So, why acts?
Four reasons I can give you, the four that stood out for me as I was praying through and thinking about what's the next series for us to look at.
Here's the four reasons that caused me to go with acts.
And I think that each of these four reasons will have its emphasis as we're working through this series.
The first reason is historical rootedness.
Historical rootedness.
To show you this.
Let me read you a passage actually from Luke's gospel.
And you might say, well, that's weird.
Why are we going to Luke when you said this this sermon series is in Acts?
Well, you may or may not know that Luke, Paul's physician, wrote a two-volume work, like when somebody writes part one and part two of a story.
Luke wrote a two-volume work.
Part one is the gospel called Luke.
Part two is Acts.
It's hard to see that sometimes because in our Bibles, John, the Gospel of John is put between the two of them, but really Luke goes right into Acts.
It's a part one and part two.
And so if we want to get a sense of what is Luke doing in this two-volume work that he wrote, we actually look at the beginning of Luke's gospel, because that's where he gives
us his introductory statement, not just to the gospel, but to the whole two-volume work that he's beginning.
So
My first reason for wanting to look in Acts actually appears here at the beginning of Luke.
Let me read it for you.
Luke chapter one, verses one through four.
Luke writes this.
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also.
Having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may have certainty concerning the things you
have been taught.
Okay, a lot of words, what's he saying?
He's saying, I'm writing this so that people like you and me, who didn't see Jesus, can have certainty concerning the things we've been taught.
That's that's kind of the mission statement for the Luke, Acts.
Two volume work.
Luke says, I'm writing this so that you can have certainty.
Now we're going to return to this in a moment.
We're going to return to this concept of certainty in a moment.
But for now, what I want to point to you is that Luke's eager to anchor the things that we've believed in things that have happened.
He wants people to see.
He wants his audience to see.
There's good reason to believe this.
I'm going to lay out for you an orderly account.
I'm going to give you the history.
I'm going to show you the things that really happened so that you can have confidence in what you've believed.
And so that's the first reason I wanted to look at this text, to look at Acts, is because part of its purpose is to anchor our faith in what has really happened, to anchor our
faith in history.
So that we who haven't seen these things say, I have confidence in them.
I am confident.
In them because they're anchored in what has happened.
So in a world like ours, where everything can change at the speed of a social media post, I mean, you didn't see that.
well, now everything's different because this person said this.
In a world where things can change week by week, you know, there's a trend now and this is the big deal.
And next week that doesn't matter anymore.
Now this is a big deal.
no, we don't do that anymore.
Now this is like it just constantly changing, changing, changing.
In a country like ours, where a four-year presidential term
Feels like a whole generation of a government.
It's like four years is such a big deal, whereas four years is nothing.
We have such a uh sped up life.
And in the midst of this culture, it is good to look at our roots, to look at the ancient roots that bind us to the story of Christ.
And that's what Acts helps us do.
It's written so that we can know what happened, what is our faith?
Anchored in.
Where did this come from?
And we can see that we're part of a lineage that stretches back 2,000 years to Christ and also all the way to creation.
So that's the first reason I wanted to look at Acts with you.
It helps to root our faith in history, helps to give us this historical rootedness.
Second reason I'm on to look at Acts with you is that over and over again, what we're going to see in this book is the
Apostolic vision of Scripture.
How did the apostles read the Bible?
Acts is going to show that to us.
And what it's going to show us is that the apostles read the Bible as a witness to the slain and risen Jesus.
Acts shows us that the apostles were coming to their Bible, which is the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, and they were understanding the whole thing to be a witness
to Jesus Christ.
Let me give you an example of that.
I'm going to skip toward the end, Acts chapter 26, verse 22 and 23.
Here's what Paul says in his defense when he's on trial.
He says, This to this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying, both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said
would come to pass.
So he says,
What I've been preaching is nothing but what the scripture says is going to happen.
And then he explains what that is: that the Christ must suffer, and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the
Gentiles.
Now we'll talk more about that in many months when we get there.
But the point now is there are few books in the Bible that show us as clearly as Acts does.
How the apostles understood the Bible.
That's really valuable because we believe that this book is our supreme authority, which means we need to know how to read this book.
Do I just come to it and look for nice phrases that I pull out and put on my wall?
And I'm like, well, there God said that would happen.
How do I understand this book?
That matters for us.
And Acts shows us how the apostles understand this book.
That's valuable.
And we will see.
The apostles understood this book to be all about Christ, the crucified, the risen, and the proclaimed Jesus Christ.
And I'm eager for us to embrace that.
I'm eager for us to embrace an understanding of Scripture as completely speaking of Christ.
And as a result of that, to embrace a vision of reality as speaking about Christ.
And Acts helps us to get that.
So it roots us in history.
It shows us Scripture is a witness of Jesus Christ by showing us how the apostles read Scripture.
Third, why else would we be looking at Acts for so long?
Well, I think as we look through Acts, we will see a vision of how the resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything.
How the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not merely the happy ending to a story, but actually the event that changes everything.
I'll give you an example of this quickly.
From Acts chapter one.
This is just kind of trying to catch you up on how I've decided to spend time in this book with you all.
Acts chapter one, verse eight.
Jesus says, But you will receive holy, 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 ends of the earth.
Now hold that in your mind and add it together with.
Verse 22, where the disciples say this: ah we must find someone who has who has been with Jesus the whole time he went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until
the day when he was taken up from us.
One of these men must become with us a witness.
There's the word Jesus just used, to his resurrection.
I highlight this to show you this.
In Acts, when it talks about somebody being a witness.
We will see over and over again, it means being a witness to his resurrection, being a witness that he is risen.
When we think of the word witness, maybe we think tell somebody about the gospel.
Good, that's fine.
When Acts is talking about witness, it means bearing witness that he is risen, bearing witness to the resurrection.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event that starts everything in Acts.
You can think about it like a bow and arrow.
The crucifixion of Christ is the pulling back of the arrow.
That's where all the power is, all the energy is, all the strength, the victory is there.
But that doesn't mean anything until the arrow is released, and then it then it soars, then all that power is released, and things begin to happen.
Same thing with the resurrection.
We see it through Acts.
The gospel, part one, Luke's gospel, drawing the bow back to Christ's death.
And then in Acts.
The effects of the resurrection begin to take place.
This whole book, everything that happens in this book happens because Christ is risen.
So a subtext under everything that happens in Acts is Christ is risen.
And I want us as a people to get that into our soul.
Everything for us, everything as Christians, our self, our suffering, our hope, our purpose, our health, our parenting, everything.
Is touched by and changed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And Acts helps us to see that because this whole book exists because Christ is risen.
So the roots of our faith in history, reading scripture with the apostles as a witness to Christ, the resurrection as the event that changes everything.
And then finally, I'm eager for us to be in Acts because we will see over and over again the necessity of the Holy Spirit.
For the work of the church.
Look at verses one through four of of Acts.
Luke writes this.
Um, I'm sorry, four through five.
He says, and while staying with them, Jesus ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me.
For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
So Acts begins with Jesus saying, Don't do anything.
Until the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
Don't don't work, don't leave Jerusalem, don't speak in my name, don't do anything until you've been empowered by the Holy Spirit.
And we will see that throughout this book.
The Holy Spirit is not just the kind of emotional jab in the arm for the church that we can have good worship services or just our conscience that we can kind of feel bad
sometimes.
The Holy Spirit is the empowering presence of God.
Apart from whom we can do nothing.
And I want us to see that and to press into all that God has for us through Christ in the Spirit.
So these are the four reasons.
We're going to touch on these again a little bit throughout the rest of this sermon, but I wanted to lay that out for you at the beginning.
Why are we going through Acts?
At least for these four reasons.
One, it anchors our faith in history, and we need that in a volatile and ever-changing society.
Two, it shows us scripture speaks entirely of the slain and risen Jesus.
It shows us how the apostles read the Bible, and we need that if we say this is our supreme authority.
Three, it shows us how Jesus' resurrection transforms reality.
Not just something we think of on Easter, not just a happy ending, pie in the sky.
It changes reality now.
And fourth, it teaches us that the Holy Spirit is necessary.
To anything we're going to do as the people of Christ, anything of value.
Those are the four reasons.
Now, with those laid out, let's try to get our bearings.
We're not going to really get into Acts today.
This is an introductory sermon.
Let's try to get our bearings to get a sense of what is Luke doing in this two-volume work called Luke and Acts.
What's he doing in this two-volume book?
In order to do that, to get us ready to start diving into Acts next week.
Let's start by once again going to the introduction of Luke's gospel and looking a little bit more closely.
Luke, what are you doing?
Why did you write a two-volume history of the church?
That's because that's what it is.
Why did you do this, Luke?
And what can we learn from it?
So let's go back to the beginning of Luke's gospel, Luke chapter one, verses one through four.
I read this already for you, but let me just read the end again.
He says, It seemed good to me also.
Having followed all things closely, so he's saying, I did my research, I've looked into this.
I know he he didn't see Jesus, but he knows the people who did, and he's looked into it.
Having followed all things closely, it seemed good to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus.
So he's writing to someone.
Now, Theophilus just means lover of God.
So he might be writing to anyone who loves God, but he's writing to someone.
And here's the reason: so that you
May have certainty concerning the things you've been taught.
Now, the center here, if we're just looking at the beginning of his two-volume work, Luke and Acts, he says, I'm writing this so that you might have certainty concerning the things
you've been taught.
And that's that certainty is the central thing he's saying here.
And the way this is written in English obscures it just a little.
It's not a big deal.
But what Luke is really saying is, I want you to know.
The certainty of what you've believed.
I want you to know the reliability of what you believed.
And that's just a little bit different because he's not saying, I want you to be certain in what you believe.
Of course, he wants that.
But there's a lot of people who are certain in what they believe and what they believe is wrong.
He's saying, I want you to know that what you believe is certain.
I want you to know that the thing you're believing.
Is reliable.
I don't just want you to have a certain faith, but I want you to know the object of your faith is itself reliable, can itself be dependent upon.
That's why Luke is writing here.
So let's have that in our mind as we're going into the book of Acts.
Luke is writing to say, I want you to know how reliable, how true the things you've heard actually are.
Because Luke, like us, he didn't see this happen.
Luke's audience didn't see this happen.
They're in the same boat we are.
And he's not saying, just turn off your brain and believe what anyone tells you.
He's saying, I want you to know that the things you're believing, they're real.
They're reliable.
They're certain.
You can trust them.
And especially they really happened.
The Luke acts together, it's like, it's like an anchor being hammered into the earth of history so that the
The the tent of our faith is anchored down to the soil, to the dirt of what really happened.
He's saying, listen, the birth, the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection of the man Jesus happened.
And it's reliable.
And so you can trust in that.
And more than just the historic events, because Luke Acts is more than just a history book.
Luke is writing the story of the early church because he wants us to see through that story this Jesus is reliable.
This Jesus is trustworthy.
You can trust him.
So that if we said, well, what's the whole point of Acts?
To show you that you can trust this Christ.
He is reliable.
And what he has done in history is reliable.
And your faith can hang upon him.
Now, do you say, well, okay, so is this just for people who enjoy apologetics then?
Or maybe just for people who are going through a crisis of faith and have a bunch of questions and need to know about how reliable these things are?
No, it's it's not merely for that, because the reliability of our faith is critical for all of us.
It's not just for somebody who's in apologetics.
Remember, we build our lives on what we believe about Jesus.
That's what it means to be a Christian.
It's not just, I'm a Christian and I'm also, you know, in the in in the this society here and I do this and I no.
To be a Christian means my life is built on what I believe about Jesus.
If what I believe about Jesus is not true, my life is a waste, an absolute worthless waste.
That's what it means to be a Christian.
And so the stability of what we believe is this is the stability of our life.
And so by saying, I want to show you that what you believe is stable, Luke is saying, I want you to have a anchor that your life is tethered to.
I want you to have a solid ground that you are built on.
Your whole life is built on this.
So this is for all of us.
This is for all of us.
So that's the introduction.
As we move into Acts, we're looking to see the certainty of what we believe.
Then let's turn to the conclusion of Luke's gospel.
We were at the beginning.
We saw how he starts this two-volume work.
Now let's move all the way to the end of Luke's gospel and say, okay, Luke, how are you gonna sum up part one and get us ready for part two?
How does Luke sum up part one and get us ready for part two?
Look at Luke chapter twenty-four, verses forty-four through forty-nine.
Chapter 24, 44 through 49, he says this.
This is the risen Jesus speaking.
Then he, that is Jesus, said to them, The risen Christ now, passed through death, raised up again.
He says, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you.
That everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, which means the whole Old Testament, must be fulfilled.
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, This thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead, and
that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you.
But stay in the city until you've been clothed with power.
Now, the point here that I want to draw out two of them.
The first one is this: Luke ends his gospel by giving us a new vision of reality.
And you say, Well, where is that?
He transforms our vision of what Scripture is.
Jesus says, You don't understand Scripture until you understand it to be the witness.
Of the slain, risen, and proclaimed Jesus Christ.
You see that?
Right there in verse 44.
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, meaning, apart from this, they didn't understand.
What was it that allows them now to understand what the entire Bible's about?
That the Christ should suffer, rise, and be proclaimed to the nations.
So Luke ends part one by giving us a vision of all of Scripture.
As bearing witness to the slain and risen and proclaimed Christ.
And you say, okay, but how is that a vision of like real?
You said it was a new vision of reality, not just a new vision of how you read the Bible.
Well, think about this.
Imagine someone came to you and said, Every book that's ever been written about the history of the United States is about me.
And you say, Well, no way.
And you look into it and you realize, wow.
Every book about the United States is about this guy.
Every book from the from the 1700s all the way through, every monument, everything that's ever happened, it's all been pointing to this guy.
That wouldn't just change the way you read historical documents.
That would change, that would mean your whole vision of reality has changed.
Because you would now realize every war, every decision, every rising and falling of presidents, every monument, it's all been talking about this one person.
It would be a change of how you see all of reality.
Much more so if Jesus says, Hey, the divinely inspired account of existence from the creation of the universe till right now is all about me.
That's not merely changing the way the apostles read a few books.
That's changing the way they see everything.
That to change the way you read scripture and to show that all of scripture is about this Christ.
Is to change the way you see everything.
And that's how Luke's gospel ends.
It's not just, hey, here's a cool tip for how you do your Bible study.
It is reality is about this Christ.
Everything is about this slain and risen Jesus.
That's how his gospel ends.
And notice what's the driving force between this new perspective on reality?
It's the resurrection, it's the risen Christ.
Who does this?
It's but no one knows who it is because it's covered in a sheet.
And then one day someone pulls down the sheet, reveals the picture, and you see it's your dad, it's your father.
That revelation changes everything.
You're the prince now.
This palace is yours now.
Like everything is changed because of that revelation.
In a similar way, not exactly, but in a similar way.
The resurrection of the crucified Jesus is like the hand that draws the sheet away from reality and says, look at it, and reveals everything to have always been a portrait of the
glory of God in the slain and risen Jesus.
The resurrection pulls the sheet down from reality and says, That's what it is.
This is what it's about.
And Luke's gospel ends with that vision before our eyes.
Luke's gospel ends by saying, this is the vision we have, because the crucified one is risen.
And then we go out.
We go out.
That's how part one ends, leading us into part two.
But there's before we get to part two, there's something else here.
Because look, Jesus says part of this transformed vision of reality is not just that the scriptures were completely about me.
That's absolutely right.
But also, look.
Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.
And this is also part of what is revealed about the scriptures.
They are saying this: that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
So the proclamation of the crucified Jesus to all the nations is part of what the Bible says must happen.
That's how Luke's gospel ends.
It ends by saying.
Not only has this text told us everything is about the slain and risen Jesus, but this slain and risen Jesus must be proclaimed to all the nations.
That's part of the story.
So here we were, right, sitting back, kind of enjoying the end of Luke's gospel, and wow, the glory of Christ, everything's about him.
And all of a sudden it reaches out and grabs us because it says, and part of this, an implication of this, is that I am to be proclaimed.
To all the nations.
And who's going to do that?
Us.
It reaches out and takes hold of the reader and says, You're part of this story.
You're part of this story because just as surely as Christ is raised from the dead, so surely his name is going to be proclaimed.
And we're part of that.
So Luke ends the gospel not just by saying, all of reality is about this Christ, because he's raised from the dead, but also, and you have a part in this, you're part of
proclaiming it.
Which leads to the final point.
How is this going to happen?
Verse 48 You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.
Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
It is necessary to go out and proclaim Christ, but that cannot happen until this empowering takes place.
That's how part one ends.
He says, I'm raised, everything's about me.
All your scriptures were about me.
Everything's always been about me.
Go and proclaim to everyone that this is true, but wait until you have power from my Father, because not one thing is going to happen until you're empowered by the Holy
Spirit.
That's how part one ends.
And you can feel it's kind of like a cliffhanger.
You walk out of the theater and you're thinking, okay, when when part when's part two going to be here?
That's how part
The gospel ends, and that leads us straight then into Acts.
So let's turn to Acts now.
Having seen what Luke is doing in part one of his work, let's look at Acts.
Look at how it begins.
Acts chapter 1, verse 1.
In the first book, so this is really, you see, this is part one and part two.
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when 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 forty 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 have heard from me.
So part two picks up right at the end of part one.
It's one goes right into the other.
Now, let me just highlight two points here for the rest of today.
As that will prepare us to really dive into the story next week.
Just highlighting two points.
And these are largely touching on what we've looked at, but let me emphasize it for you.
The first thing: in the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.
That's strange.
That's strange because remember, in the first book, Jesus dies.
And then ascends to heaven at the very end.
He ascends to heaven.
And usually you would think, well, he's he's done.
He's done.
He did his doing and teaching.
Now it's time for the apostles to do their.
So you'd almost expect him to say, I wrote about everything that Jesus did and taught.
And now we're gonna talk about what his apostles did after he was gone.
But instead, Luke says, In the first book, I dealt with everything that Jesus began to do and to teach, which implies.
In this book, I'm going to tell you about what he continued to do and to teach.
Except that Jesus is hardly in Acts at all.
Jesus is physically present in Acts only for the first half of the first chapter.
And then he's ascended to heaven.
And yet, this first line of the book implies: here's I'm going to tell you what about what Jesus continued to do.
Which means in Luke's vision, in Luke's understanding, he is.
Writing now about what the risen Christ actively, presently, and powerfully does through his people, such that the working of the apostles that we're going to read about in this
book is Jesus working through them.
In fact, you even got a taste of that in the passage I read earlier, back in Acts 26.
Look at what Paul says.
You don't have to look, I'll read it for you.
He says, it was written in Moses and the prophets that the Christ must suffer, and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the
Gentiles.
But of course, all throughout Acts, it's been the apostles proclaiming light.
It's been Jesus' followers proclaiming light.
And the point in this, and we'll see this fleshed out as we go through the book, is that the risen Jesus works through his people.
Jesus is not an absentee Lord up there kind of hoping we do things.
He is presently working through us.
You know, when it says we're we're the hands and feet of Christ, that's true.
That's real.
When scripture calls us the body of Christ, it's not merely a metaphor.
The risen Jesus is truly working, doing, teaching through the church, through his people.
And Acts is going to show that to us because in Luke's mind, he's writing here about what Jesus continues to do.
And you say, Luke, you're only writing about what Paul and Peter and Stephen.
And he's like, That's right.
That's how Jesus continued to do.
That's how Jesus continued to work.
And so somebody could write a story about, we pray, King Street Church that would say, Here's what Jesus continued to do in 2026 in Sabina and Lee's Creek and the surrounding
areas.
Here's what Jesus was doing.
Well, you just wrote about a bunch of people who lived in Ohio.
Right.
Because that's what Jesus was doing.
That's how he was working.
That's what that's the mindset Acts is helping us to see here.
So that we would see.
And I pray we would get this as we go through this book.
That today, Christians, your life, Christ is at work in it.
He you never wake up and and Jesus, as it were, looks at his timer and says, today's a throwaway day.
I don't have anything for you.
No.
Every day is purposeful.
Every day matters.
Every day is authored.
He has work to do in you every single day.
There's never a, nah, nothing today.
Come back tomorrow, maybe.
Every day he's working in us.
So as we love and as we obey and as we are discipled and disciple others, and as we parent, as we suffer, as we rejoice, as these things are offered up to Christ, it's him
doing them through us.
It's him working through us.
Through us.
And this is only possible why?
I may sound like a broken record, but I want you to get it.
Because he's risen.
If Jesus Christ isn't risen, there's no book of Acts.
There's no church.
There's no us.
All of this is possible only because the crucified Christ is risen.
The bow that was drawn on Calvary is released, and Christ is risen and working now in the world.
So I'm praying as we're heading into this series, I'm praying that we would get these things clear in our mind, that we would understand the risen Jesus is present and working
in and through us today.
He's not an idea or a disembodied religious sense.
He is a person to whom you are united, vitally united, and through whom he's working through you.
And that we would see.
All this is true because Christ is risen.
If we can get that, I will be very glad.
If we can begin to have a vision of reality that says the resurrection of Jesus Christ touches everything I'm doing, it changes everything.
That will be greatly, that will be good for my soul and for us.
And if I I want to get that too, the only reason we breathe or love or preach or parent or minister or endure or hope is because Christ is risen.
Now let me point to something final here, a final point as we wrap up.
Verses four and five.
We've already made this three times, but I want you to see it for a third time.
While staying with them, he, that is Jesus, ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You heard it from me.
For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Not many days from now.
So again, Luke introduces this other central theme here at the beginning of Acts, that the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit is necessary.
Don't leave, he says.
Don't go get started.
I j all this has happened.
You're excited to go speak.
Don't do anything until you're empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The church, as we'll see in a few weeks, is born through the outpouring of the Spirit.
The church speaks by the breath of the Spirit.
The church works through the empowering of the Spirit.
The church endures through the strength of the Spirit.
There is no church.
There is no witness.
There is no power apart from the Holy Spirit.
And this book is going to impress that upon us again and again.
In fact, we could summarize Acts.
Here I am summarizing in the first sermon.
We could summarize Acts by saying it is an account.
Of the working of the risen Christ through the Holy Spirit in his people.
The working of the risen Christ through the Holy Spirit in his people.
That's the pattern along which action flows.
Christ through the Spirit worked out in his people.
And that same pattern is true today.
And I want us to get that.
That same pattern is true here for Kingstree, for every
Faithful congregation around the world.
There was only one Pentecost, and we'll read about that in a few weeks.
There's only one Pentecost.
We don't need another Pentecost that happens once.
We need to walk in the Spirit who has been given to us.
We need to walk in the power and the presence and the working of the Spirit who has been given to us.
That's true.
The question I have for myself and for us as a church is: are we?
Are we doing that?
And I'm asking myself this.
Are we really living and functioning and praying and worshiping and ministering and witnessing in the power and the boldness and the fearlessness that Scripture tells us the
Spirit gives?
Is that true of my life?
Is that true of your life?
And I can say for one, I want it to be more true.
It is not as true as I would like it to be, as I evaluate the way I'm living.
And here's the thing there might be a full, uninhibited, completely given flow of water at the source.
But if the pipes are corroded and clogged, then when you turn on the faucet, there's just a little drip.
Nothing wrong with what's been given, but the pipes themselves are corroded and clogged, so there's just a drip coming out.
And my prayer as we're entering this series.
Is that the Lord would clear out the pipes of our heart and mind and thoughts and habits and patterns of life and priorities so that we, I, you, as individuals and as a church,
that we would be the cleanest, clearest conduits of the spirit that we can be, that we would be cleared of the impediments and the corrosion that would prevent the working.
Of the Holy Spirit, so that whatever of his spirit he would desire to pour out upon us would flow through us, into one another, and out into the world.
That's what I would pray for.
And we know the spirit is at work when this is happening.
The crucified Jesus Christ, who is risen, is exalted, because that's what the Spirit does.
That's what the Spirit does is glorifies, sets all eyes upon the slain and risen Christ.
As the beauty and the glory and the name and the power and the wisdom and the victory of God.
So that's my prayer for us as we're beginning this series.
So we've laid a foundation.
We've laid a foundation today.
Next week, we're going to pick up here at the beginning, and we're going to get into the first narrative elements of the book of Acts as we're following along with Luke, as he's
showing us everything that the slain and risen Jesus continues to do.
Through his people by the Holy Spirit.
So I'm eager, eager to look at that with you.
And you can read through this first chapter of Acts if you'd like to prepare yourself for where we'll be going in the coming weeks.
But for now, we come to the table together.
We come to the table together.
And it's fitting for us to do this because remember, we said part of what Luke is doing is to anchor our faith in the reality of what has happened.
That's born witness right here.
Right here at this table, in this bread, in these cups, this is the witness that what we believe happened.
Our faith is hammered into the soil of reality, into the soil of history, as surely as nails were hammered into the flesh of our God on the cross.
This declares the man Jesus Christ truly died.
He was truly buried.
He was truly raised from the dead.
He is truly ascended to heaven.
And here, as you take these elements, you're proclaiming that.
Remember what Paul says?
You proclaim his death until he comes.
You proclaim the certainty of the things that you've believed.
But even more than a memorial, which this table is, it is also a meeting.
This table, these elements are the are the means of meeting with this risen Christ.
With this crucified and raised man who walked on this earth, who is reigning now, we can meet him through these elements.
Huh?
Through the Holy Spirit.
By the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit uniting the body of Christ to Christ in a vital and life-giving union, a union along which flows our life, just like the union of a branch and a vine receives the
life-giving nutrient from the branch from the vine.
The Spirit makes this moment not just eating a piece of bread and drinking some wine or some juice, but it makes this moment a meeting with the risen Lord to whom we are united
in one body.
So as we come to the table, we are, you are, enacting the very things that Luke writes to instill in us.
Our faith is certain.
Our Lord is risen, and his spirit is among us.
That's what we're going to proclaim here in a moment.
But let me pray for us before we do that.
Father, we thank you for the words of the Apostles, for the words of Luke that your spirit inspired and has preserved down all these centuries of time, so that we here in Sabinah,
Ohio could read them and receive life from them today.
And as we begin this series in Acts, Father, and truly whenever Scripture is opened from this pulpit, we pray, we pray for the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.
To cause Jesus Christ our Lord to stand forth from his word as our great King and God and Savior, that we would be able to say with that song, all our hope is him.
All our hope is him.
If only we have this Christ, we'll be all right.
Father, create such a spirit in your people as we hold fast to him by the Spirit, anchor our faith in what you have done in history.
And glorify your name as we look at this book.
And now as we come to the table, Father, may we meet Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit together with one another and have true communion with Him and with each other in your
spirit.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you for listening to this message from Kingstree Church in Sabina, Ohio, to see more of the beauty of God and the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
Come worship with us on Sundays at 10 a.m.
or visit our website at Kingstreechurch.org.