1 00:00:00,088 --> 00:00:05,001 Today, Christian, your life, Christ is at work in it. 2 00:00:05,001 --> 00:00:11,675 He you never wake up and Jesus, as it were, looks at his timer and says, today's a throwaway day. 3 00:00:11,675 --> 00:00:12,885 I don't have anything for you. 4 00:00:12,885 --> 00:00:13,486 No. 5 00:00:13,486 --> 00:00:15,987 Every day is purposeful. 6 00:00:15,987 --> 00:00:18,048 Every day matters. 7 00:00:18,048 --> 00:00:19,289 Every day is authored. 8 00:00:19,289 --> 00:00:22,811 He has work to do in you every single day. 9 00:00:22,811 --> 00:00:25,933 There's never a, nah, nothing today, come back tomorrow, maybe. 10 00:00:25,933 --> 00:00:28,454 Every day, he's working in us. 11 00:00:28,940 --> 00:00:32,431 The following message was recorded at Kingstree Church. 12 00:00:32,431 --> 00:00:41,473 May the Spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. 13 00:00:43,374 --> 00:00:45,914 We're beginning a new series today. 14 00:00:46,235 --> 00:00:54,407 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. 15 00:00:54,407 --> 00:00:58,538 And of course, Pastor Sean in his rotation is walking through. 16 00:00:59,899 --> 00:01:01,098 1 Samuel. 17 00:01:01,098 --> 00:01:05,552 I keep thinking 1 Corinthians because he was in it for so long, walking through 1 Samuel. 18 00:01:05,552 --> 00:01:13,747 Uh, but today we're beginning a new kind of mainline sermon series, which is working through the book of Acts. 19 00:01:13,867 --> 00:01:20,371 When I choose to work through a book, I'm I'm making a decision for quite a long investment of time. 20 00:01:20,371 --> 00:01:25,334 We're going to be in Acts, Lord willing, for a year, a year at least. 21 00:01:25,398 --> 00:01:29,771 And so why do I choose this book when there's there's so many others? 22 00:01:29,771 --> 00:01:32,563 I was thinking of looking at Mark's gospel. 23 00:01:32,734 --> 00:01:35,286 there were another, a few others that were in the running. 24 00:01:35,286 --> 00:01:39,979 Why go with Acts uh for our next series? 25 00:01:39,979 --> 00:01:43,532 Well, I want to give you four reasons that I chose to do that. 26 00:01:43,532 --> 00:01:44,532 And that's how we're going to start. 27 00:01:44,532 --> 00:01:52,278 But before I get to the reasons, let me pray for us for this time and for this this whole gathering that we have. 28 00:01:54,562 --> 00:01:55,823 Father, we thank you. 29 00:01:55,823 --> 00:01:58,064 We thank you for Jesus Christ. 30 00:01:58,665 --> 00:02:13,338 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 31 00:02:13,338 --> 00:02:15,539 over us in love. 32 00:02:15,580 --> 00:02:23,956 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. 33 00:02:24,046 --> 00:02:29,210 And we thank you that as that song said, our only hope is Christ. 34 00:02:29,591 --> 00:02:42,641 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. 35 00:02:42,982 --> 00:02:53,486 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. 36 00:02:53,486 --> 00:03:06,033 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 37 00:03:06,033 --> 00:03:10,555 would have its fitting effect in their lives, building them up into Christ. 38 00:03:10,616 --> 00:03:22,492 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. 39 00:03:22,584 --> 00:03:26,145 Together with your people in the opening of your word. 40 00:03:26,187 --> 00:03:28,917 We ask these things, Father, in Jesus' name. 41 00:03:28,917 --> 00:03:29,768 Amen. 42 00:03:33,326 --> 00:03:35,446 So, why acts? 43 00:03:35,507 --> 00:03:43,949 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. 44 00:03:43,949 --> 00:03:48,070 Here's the four reasons that caused me to go with acts. 45 00:03:48,070 --> 00:03:53,952 And I think that each of these four reasons will have its emphasis as we're working through this series. 46 00:03:53,992 --> 00:03:58,893 The first reason is historical rootedness. 47 00:03:59,053 --> 00:04:00,724 Historical rootedness. 48 00:04:00,724 --> 00:04:02,234 To show you this. 49 00:04:02,296 --> 00:04:05,629 Let me read you a passage actually from Luke's gospel. 50 00:04:05,629 --> 00:04:07,090 And you might say, well, that's weird. 51 00:04:07,090 --> 00:04:11,974 Why are we going to Luke when you said this this sermon series is in Acts? 52 00:04:11,974 --> 00:04:23,343 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. 53 00:04:23,384 --> 00:04:25,625 Luke wrote a two-volume work. 54 00:04:25,625 --> 00:04:28,908 Part one is the gospel called Luke. 55 00:04:28,988 --> 00:04:31,650 Part two is Acts. 56 00:04:31,820 --> 00:04:39,065 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. 57 00:04:39,065 --> 00:04:41,176 It's a part one and part two. 58 00:04:41,317 --> 00:04:51,664 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 59 00:04:51,664 --> 00:04:59,669 us his introductory statement, not just to the gospel, but to the whole two-volume work that he's beginning. 60 00:05:00,010 --> 00:05:00,790 So 61 00:05:00,790 --> 00:05:06,255 My first reason for wanting to look in Acts actually appears here at the beginning of Luke. 62 00:05:06,255 --> 00:05:07,115 Let me read it for you. 63 00:05:07,115 --> 00:05:10,298 Luke chapter one, verses one through four. 64 00:05:10,298 --> 00:05:11,719 Luke writes this. 65 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:23,569 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 66 00:05:23,569 --> 00:05:29,496 ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also. 67 00:05:29,496 --> 00:05:41,873 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 68 00:05:41,873 --> 00:05:42,993 have been taught. 69 00:05:42,993 --> 00:05:44,824 Okay, a lot of words, what's he saying? 70 00:05:44,824 --> 00:05:54,500 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. 71 00:05:54,500 --> 00:05:59,118 That's that's kind of the mission statement for the Luke, Acts. 72 00:05:59,118 --> 00:06:00,459 Two volume work. 73 00:06:00,459 --> 00:06:04,621 Luke says, I'm writing this so that you can have certainty. 74 00:06:04,621 --> 00:06:06,792 Now we're going to return to this in a moment. 75 00:06:06,792 --> 00:06:10,044 We're going to return to this concept of certainty in a moment. 76 00:06:10,044 --> 00:06:19,149 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. 77 00:06:19,149 --> 00:06:20,469 He wants people to see. 78 00:06:20,469 --> 00:06:22,631 He wants his audience to see. 79 00:06:22,631 --> 00:06:24,792 There's good reason to believe this. 80 00:06:24,792 --> 00:06:27,453 I'm going to lay out for you an orderly account. 81 00:06:27,453 --> 00:06:29,186 I'm going to give you the history. 82 00:06:29,186 --> 00:06:36,372 I'm going to show you the things that really happened so that you can have confidence in what you've believed. 83 00:06:36,372 --> 00:06:49,263 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 84 00:06:49,263 --> 00:06:51,224 faith in history. 85 00:06:51,305 --> 00:06:56,329 So that we who haven't seen these things say, I have confidence in them. 86 00:06:56,329 --> 00:06:57,472 I am confident. 87 00:06:57,472 --> 00:07:00,344 In them because they're anchored in what has happened. 88 00:07:00,344 --> 00:07:07,357 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. 89 00:07:07,357 --> 00:07:10,149 well, now everything's different because this person said this. 90 00:07:10,249 --> 00:07:16,022 In a world where things can change week by week, you know, there's a trend now and this is the big deal. 91 00:07:16,022 --> 00:07:17,653 And next week that doesn't matter anymore. 92 00:07:17,653 --> 00:07:18,653 Now this is a big deal. 93 00:07:18,653 --> 00:07:19,594 no, we don't do that anymore. 94 00:07:19,594 --> 00:07:23,776 Now this is like it just constantly changing, changing, changing. 95 00:07:23,836 --> 00:07:27,384 In a country like ours, where a four-year presidential term 96 00:07:27,384 --> 00:07:29,955 Feels like a whole generation of a government. 97 00:07:29,955 --> 00:07:34,536 It's like four years is such a big deal, whereas four years is nothing. 98 00:07:35,136 --> 00:07:38,337 We have such a uh sped up life. 99 00:07:38,377 --> 00:07:49,840 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. 100 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:51,981 And that's what Acts helps us do. 101 00:07:51,981 --> 00:07:56,862 It's written so that we can know what happened, what is our faith? 102 00:07:56,862 --> 00:07:57,663 Anchored in. 103 00:07:57,663 --> 00:07:59,383 Where did this come from? 104 00:07:59,383 --> 00:08:09,869 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. 105 00:08:09,869 --> 00:08:12,681 So that's the first reason I wanted to look at Acts with you. 106 00:08:12,681 --> 00:08:18,674 It helps to root our faith in history, helps to give us this historical rootedness. 107 00:08:19,194 --> 00:08:25,832 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 108 00:08:25,832 --> 00:08:28,663 Apostolic vision of Scripture. 109 00:08:28,663 --> 00:08:31,644 How did the apostles read the Bible? 110 00:08:31,645 --> 00:08:33,165 Acts is going to show that to us. 111 00:08:33,165 --> 00:08:40,648 And what it's going to show us is that the apostles read the Bible as a witness to the slain and risen Jesus. 112 00:08:40,789 --> 00:08:49,893 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 113 00:08:49,893 --> 00:08:51,833 to Jesus Christ. 114 00:08:51,833 --> 00:08:53,674 Let me give you an example of that. 115 00:08:53,762 --> 00:08:58,464 I'm going to skip toward the end, Acts chapter 26, verse 22 and 23. 116 00:08:58,464 --> 00:09:02,566 Here's what Paul says in his defense when he's on trial. 117 00:09:03,067 --> 00:09:16,933 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 118 00:09:16,933 --> 00:09:17,964 would come to pass. 119 00:09:17,964 --> 00:09:18,814 So he says, 120 00:09:18,966 --> 00:09:22,689 What I've been preaching is nothing but what the scripture says is going to happen. 121 00:09:22,689 --> 00:09:37,111 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 122 00:09:37,111 --> 00:09:38,106 Gentiles. 123 00:09:38,106 --> 00:09:41,044 Now we'll talk more about that in many months when we get there. 124 00:09:41,044 --> 00:09:48,250 But the point now is there are few books in the Bible that show us as clearly as Acts does. 125 00:09:48,472 --> 00:09:51,405 How the apostles understood the Bible. 126 00:09:51,405 --> 00:10:00,652 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. 127 00:10:00,652 --> 00:10:04,235 Do I just come to it and look for nice phrases that I pull out and put on my wall? 128 00:10:04,235 --> 00:10:06,457 And I'm like, well, there God said that would happen. 129 00:10:06,457 --> 00:10:08,078 How do I understand this book? 130 00:10:08,078 --> 00:10:10,239 That matters for us. 131 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:15,144 And Acts shows us how the apostles understand this book. 132 00:10:15,144 --> 00:10:16,605 That's valuable. 133 00:10:16,605 --> 00:10:17,784 And we will see. 134 00:10:17,784 --> 00:10:27,229 The apostles understood this book to be all about Christ, the crucified, the risen, and the proclaimed Jesus Christ. 135 00:10:27,229 --> 00:10:29,861 And I'm eager for us to embrace that. 136 00:10:29,861 --> 00:10:35,303 I'm eager for us to embrace an understanding of Scripture as completely speaking of Christ. 137 00:10:35,524 --> 00:10:42,167 And as a result of that, to embrace a vision of reality as speaking about Christ. 138 00:10:42,288 --> 00:10:44,829 And Acts helps us to get that. 139 00:10:44,829 --> 00:10:46,880 So it roots us in history. 140 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:53,412 It shows us Scripture is a witness of Jesus Christ by showing us how the apostles read Scripture. 141 00:10:53,412 --> 00:10:56,713 Third, why else would we be looking at Acts for so long? 142 00:10:56,713 --> 00:11:04,915 Well, I think as we look through Acts, we will see a vision of how the resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything. 143 00:11:05,215 --> 00:11:13,797 How the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not merely the happy ending to a story, but actually the event that changes everything. 144 00:11:13,998 --> 00:11:16,046 I'll give you an example of this quickly. 145 00:11:16,046 --> 00:11:17,847 From Acts chapter one. 146 00:11:18,028 --> 00:11:24,233 This is just kind of trying to catch you up on how I've decided to spend time in this book with you all. 147 00:11:24,233 --> 00:11:26,494 Acts chapter one, verse eight. 148 00:11:27,416 --> 00:11:40,887 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 149 00:11:40,887 --> 00:11:42,448 to the ends of the earth. 150 00:11:42,448 --> 00:11:45,026 Now hold that in your mind and add it together with. 151 00:11:45,026 --> 00:11:57,609 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 152 00:11:57,609 --> 00:11:59,810 the day when he was taken up from us. 153 00:11:59,830 --> 00:12:03,611 One of these men must become with us a witness. 154 00:12:03,611 --> 00:12:07,592 There's the word Jesus just used, to his resurrection. 155 00:12:08,012 --> 00:12:10,113 I highlight this to show you this. 156 00:12:10,113 --> 00:12:14,374 In Acts, when it talks about somebody being a witness. 157 00:12:14,434 --> 00:12:22,136 We will see over and over again, it means being a witness to his resurrection, being a witness that he is risen. 158 00:12:22,396 --> 00:12:26,117 When we think of the word witness, maybe we think tell somebody about the gospel. 159 00:12:26,117 --> 00:12:27,518 Good, that's fine. 160 00:12:27,518 --> 00:12:34,579 When Acts is talking about witness, it means bearing witness that he is risen, bearing witness to the resurrection. 161 00:12:34,580 --> 00:12:41,782 The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event that starts everything in Acts. 162 00:12:41,782 --> 00:12:43,618 You can think about it like a bow and arrow. 163 00:12:43,618 --> 00:12:47,120 The crucifixion of Christ is the pulling back of the arrow. 164 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:53,063 That's where all the power is, all the energy is, all the strength, the victory is there. 165 00:12:53,063 --> 00:13:01,928 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. 166 00:13:01,968 --> 00:13:03,549 Same thing with the resurrection. 167 00:13:03,549 --> 00:13:04,930 We see it through Acts. 168 00:13:04,930 --> 00:13:10,933 The gospel, part one, Luke's gospel, drawing the bow back to Christ's death. 169 00:13:10,933 --> 00:13:12,514 And then in Acts. 170 00:13:12,792 --> 00:13:16,385 The effects of the resurrection begin to take place. 171 00:13:16,385 --> 00:13:23,429 This whole book, everything that happens in this book happens because Christ is risen. 172 00:13:23,429 --> 00:13:27,992 So a subtext under everything that happens in Acts is Christ is risen. 173 00:13:28,313 --> 00:13:32,275 And I want us as a people to get that into our soul. 174 00:13:32,275 --> 00:13:42,272 Everything for us, everything as Christians, our self, our suffering, our hope, our purpose, our health, our parenting, everything. 175 00:13:42,272 --> 00:13:47,466 Is touched by and changed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 176 00:13:47,466 --> 00:13:52,969 And Acts helps us to see that because this whole book exists because Christ is risen. 177 00:13:53,570 --> 00:14:03,277 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. 178 00:14:03,277 --> 00:14:11,762 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. 179 00:14:11,790 --> 00:14:13,973 For the work of the church. 180 00:14:14,074 --> 00:14:17,058 Look at verses one through four of of Acts. 181 00:14:18,774 --> 00:14:19,675 Luke writes this. 182 00:14:19,675 --> 00:14:23,098 Um, I'm sorry, four through five. 183 00:14:23,098 --> 00:14:35,268 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. 184 00:14:35,268 --> 00:14:42,213 For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. 185 00:14:42,253 --> 00:14:48,428 So Acts begins with Jesus saying, Don't do anything. 186 00:14:48,428 --> 00:14:50,639 Until the Holy Spirit comes upon you. 187 00:14:50,639 --> 00:15:00,104 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. 188 00:15:00,104 --> 00:15:02,085 And we will see that throughout this book. 189 00:15:02,085 --> 00:15:12,631 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 190 00:15:12,631 --> 00:15:13,151 sometimes. 191 00:15:13,151 --> 00:15:18,282 The Holy Spirit is the empowering presence of God. 192 00:15:18,282 --> 00:15:20,983 Apart from whom we can do nothing. 193 00:15:21,083 --> 00:15:29,905 And I want us to see that and to press into all that God has for us through Christ in the Spirit. 194 00:15:29,905 --> 00:15:31,016 So these are the four reasons. 195 00:15:31,016 --> 00:15:36,407 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. 196 00:15:36,407 --> 00:15:38,348 Why are we going through Acts? 197 00:15:38,588 --> 00:15:40,188 At least for these four reasons. 198 00:15:40,188 --> 00:15:46,910 One, it anchors our faith in history, and we need that in a volatile and ever-changing society. 199 00:15:47,022 --> 00:15:52,364 Two, it shows us scripture speaks entirely of the slain and risen Jesus. 200 00:15:52,364 --> 00:15:58,286 It shows us how the apostles read the Bible, and we need that if we say this is our supreme authority. 201 00:15:58,567 --> 00:16:04,109 Three, it shows us how Jesus' resurrection transforms reality. 202 00:16:04,109 --> 00:16:08,251 Not just something we think of on Easter, not just a happy ending, pie in the sky. 203 00:16:08,251 --> 00:16:11,592 It changes reality now. 204 00:16:11,632 --> 00:16:16,584 And fourth, it teaches us that the Holy Spirit is necessary. 205 00:16:16,622 --> 00:16:21,325 To anything we're going to do as the people of Christ, anything of value. 206 00:16:21,365 --> 00:16:22,486 Those are the four reasons. 207 00:16:22,486 --> 00:16:27,069 Now, with those laid out, let's try to get our bearings. 208 00:16:27,069 --> 00:16:28,971 We're not going to really get into Acts today. 209 00:16:28,971 --> 00:16:30,872 This is an introductory sermon. 210 00:16:30,872 --> 00:16:38,857 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. 211 00:16:38,857 --> 00:16:41,219 What's he doing in this two-volume book? 212 00:16:41,219 --> 00:16:45,842 In order to do that, to get us ready to start diving into Acts next week. 213 00:16:45,932 --> 00:16:51,676 Let's start by once again going to the introduction of Luke's gospel and looking a little bit more closely. 214 00:16:51,676 --> 00:16:53,547 Luke, what are you doing? 215 00:16:53,547 --> 00:16:56,930 Why did you write a two-volume history of the church? 216 00:16:56,930 --> 00:16:58,231 That's because that's what it is. 217 00:16:58,231 --> 00:16:59,612 Why did you do this, Luke? 218 00:16:59,612 --> 00:17:01,263 And what can we learn from it? 219 00:17:01,263 --> 00:17:08,017 So let's go back to the beginning of Luke's gospel, Luke chapter one, verses one through four. 220 00:17:08,698 --> 00:17:11,720 I read this already for you, but let me just read the end again. 221 00:17:12,361 --> 00:17:14,690 He says, It seemed good to me also. 222 00:17:14,690 --> 00:17:19,692 Having followed all things closely, so he's saying, I did my research, I've looked into this. 223 00:17:19,692 --> 00:17:24,654 I know he he didn't see Jesus, but he knows the people who did, and he's looked into it. 224 00:17:24,654 --> 00:17:32,197 Having followed all things closely, it seemed good to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus. 225 00:17:32,618 --> 00:17:33,888 So he's writing to someone. 226 00:17:33,888 --> 00:17:36,299 Now, Theophilus just means lover of God. 227 00:17:36,299 --> 00:17:40,441 So he might be writing to anyone who loves God, but he's writing to someone. 228 00:17:40,561 --> 00:17:43,582 And here's the reason: so that you 229 00:17:43,628 --> 00:17:47,679 May have certainty concerning the things you've been taught. 230 00:17:47,980 --> 00:17:57,114 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 231 00:17:57,114 --> 00:17:58,464 you've been taught. 232 00:17:58,524 --> 00:18:02,686 And that's that certainty is the central thing he's saying here. 233 00:18:02,966 --> 00:18:07,248 And the way this is written in English obscures it just a little. 234 00:18:07,248 --> 00:18:08,428 It's not a big deal. 235 00:18:08,428 --> 00:18:12,556 But what Luke is really saying is, I want you to know. 236 00:18:12,556 --> 00:18:15,967 The certainty of what you've believed. 237 00:18:15,967 --> 00:18:20,008 I want you to know the reliability of what you believed. 238 00:18:20,008 --> 00:18:25,386 And that's just a little bit different because he's not saying, I want you to be certain in what you believe. 239 00:18:25,386 --> 00:18:27,590 Of course, he wants that. 240 00:18:27,590 --> 00:18:32,671 But there's a lot of people who are certain in what they believe and what they believe is wrong. 241 00:18:32,672 --> 00:18:38,693 He's saying, I want you to know that what you believe is certain. 242 00:18:38,793 --> 00:18:41,514 I want you to know that the thing you're believing. 243 00:18:41,582 --> 00:18:43,143 Is reliable. 244 00:18:43,143 --> 00:18:53,727 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. 245 00:18:53,727 --> 00:18:55,878 That's why Luke is writing here. 246 00:18:55,878 --> 00:18:59,630 So let's have that in our mind as we're going into the book of Acts. 247 00:18:59,630 --> 00:19:09,874 Luke is writing to say, I want you to know how reliable, how true the things you've heard actually are. 248 00:19:10,188 --> 00:19:12,919 Because Luke, like us, he didn't see this happen. 249 00:19:12,919 --> 00:19:14,869 Luke's audience didn't see this happen. 250 00:19:14,869 --> 00:19:16,580 They're in the same boat we are. 251 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,261 And he's not saying, just turn off your brain and believe what anyone tells you. 252 00:19:20,261 --> 00:19:24,402 He's saying, I want you to know that the things you're believing, they're real. 253 00:19:24,402 --> 00:19:25,662 They're reliable. 254 00:19:25,662 --> 00:19:26,963 They're certain. 255 00:19:26,963 --> 00:19:28,903 You can trust them. 256 00:19:29,303 --> 00:19:31,884 And especially they really happened. 257 00:19:32,044 --> 00:19:39,884 The Luke acts together, it's like, it's like an anchor being hammered into the earth of history so that the 258 00:19:39,884 --> 00:19:47,718 The the tent of our faith is anchored down to the soil, to the dirt of what really happened. 259 00:19:47,718 --> 00:19:56,241 He's saying, listen, the birth, the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection of the man Jesus happened. 260 00:19:56,282 --> 00:19:57,963 And it's reliable. 261 00:19:57,963 --> 00:20:00,583 And so you can trust in that. 262 00:20:01,084 --> 00:20:05,906 And more than just the historic events, because Luke Acts is more than just a history book. 263 00:20:06,068 --> 00:20:14,541 Luke is writing the story of the early church because he wants us to see through that story this Jesus is reliable. 264 00:20:14,682 --> 00:20:17,983 This Jesus is trustworthy. 265 00:20:17,983 --> 00:20:20,084 You can trust him. 266 00:20:20,084 --> 00:20:21,404 You can trust him. 267 00:20:21,404 --> 00:20:24,286 So that if we said, well, what's the whole point of Acts? 268 00:20:24,286 --> 00:20:28,467 To show you that you can trust this Christ. 269 00:20:28,467 --> 00:20:29,968 He is reliable. 270 00:20:29,968 --> 00:20:32,929 And what he has done in history is reliable. 271 00:20:32,929 --> 00:20:35,870 And your faith can hang upon him. 272 00:20:36,396 --> 00:20:40,809 Now, do you say, well, okay, so is this just for people who enjoy apologetics then? 273 00:20:40,809 --> 00:20:49,153 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? 274 00:20:49,153 --> 00:20:54,766 No, it's it's not merely for that, because the reliability of our faith is critical for all of us. 275 00:20:54,766 --> 00:20:57,778 It's not just for somebody who's in apologetics. 276 00:20:57,778 --> 00:21:03,001 Remember, we build our lives on what we believe about Jesus. 277 00:21:03,001 --> 00:21:04,862 That's what it means to be a Christian. 278 00:21:04,982 --> 00:21:11,724 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. 279 00:21:11,724 --> 00:21:16,845 To be a Christian means my life is built on what I believe about Jesus. 280 00:21:16,926 --> 00:21:23,247 If what I believe about Jesus is not true, my life is a waste, an absolute worthless waste. 281 00:21:23,248 --> 00:21:25,108 That's what it means to be a Christian. 282 00:21:25,108 --> 00:21:31,810 And so the stability of what we believe is this is the stability of our life. 283 00:21:32,098 --> 00:21:40,325 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. 284 00:21:40,325 --> 00:21:42,787 I want you to have a solid ground that you are built on. 285 00:21:42,787 --> 00:21:45,670 Your whole life is built on this. 286 00:21:45,670 --> 00:21:47,251 So this is for all of us. 287 00:21:47,251 --> 00:21:48,752 This is for all of us. 288 00:21:49,053 --> 00:21:50,474 So that's the introduction. 289 00:21:50,474 --> 00:21:55,078 As we move into Acts, we're looking to see the certainty of what we believe. 290 00:21:55,078 --> 00:21:59,281 Then let's turn to the conclusion of Luke's gospel. 291 00:21:59,281 --> 00:22:00,702 We were at the beginning. 292 00:22:00,834 --> 00:22:03,156 We saw how he starts this two-volume work. 293 00:22:03,156 --> 00:22:10,804 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? 294 00:22:10,804 --> 00:22:15,149 How does Luke sum up part one and get us ready for part two? 295 00:22:15,149 --> 00:22:21,054 Look at Luke chapter twenty-four, verses forty-four through forty-nine. 296 00:22:22,584 --> 00:22:26,818 Chapter 24, 44 through 49, he says this. 297 00:22:26,818 --> 00:22:29,239 This is the risen Jesus speaking. 298 00:22:29,700 --> 00:22:37,626 Then he, that is Jesus, said to them, The risen Christ now, passed through death, raised up again. 299 00:22:37,626 --> 00:22:42,651 He says, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. 300 00:22:42,651 --> 00:22:52,158 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. 301 00:22:52,408 --> 00:23:05,749 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 302 00:23:05,749 --> 00:23:14,116 that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 303 00:23:14,116 --> 00:23:21,538 You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you. 304 00:23:21,538 --> 00:23:25,639 But stay in the city until you've been clothed with power. 305 00:23:25,999 --> 00:23:29,120 Now, the point here that I want to draw out two of them. 306 00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:38,703 The first one is this: Luke ends his gospel by giving us a new vision of reality. 307 00:23:38,703 --> 00:23:40,423 And you say, Well, where is that? 308 00:23:40,763 --> 00:23:43,804 He transforms our vision of what Scripture is. 309 00:23:43,804 --> 00:23:50,784 Jesus says, You don't understand Scripture until you understand it to be the witness. 310 00:23:50,784 --> 00:23:54,856 Of the slain, risen, and proclaimed Jesus Christ. 311 00:23:54,856 --> 00:23:55,837 You see that? 312 00:23:55,837 --> 00:23:57,258 Right there in verse 44. 313 00:23:57,258 --> 00:24:04,141 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, meaning, apart from this, they didn't understand. 314 00:24:04,302 --> 00:24:08,744 What was it that allows them now to understand what the entire Bible's about? 315 00:24:08,864 --> 00:24:14,667 That the Christ should suffer, rise, and be proclaimed to the nations. 316 00:24:14,748 --> 00:24:19,510 So Luke ends part one by giving us a vision of all of Scripture. 317 00:24:19,808 --> 00:24:24,819 As bearing witness to the slain and risen and proclaimed Christ. 318 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,850 And you say, okay, but how is that a vision of like real? 319 00:24:27,850 --> 00:24:33,082 You said it was a new vision of reality, not just a new vision of how you read the Bible. 320 00:24:33,082 --> 00:24:34,482 Well, think about this. 321 00:24:34,482 --> 00:24:43,385 Imagine someone came to you and said, Every book that's ever been written about the history of the United States is about me. 322 00:24:43,845 --> 00:24:45,466 And you say, Well, no way. 323 00:24:45,466 --> 00:24:47,636 And you look into it and you realize, wow. 324 00:24:47,860 --> 00:24:50,692 Every book about the United States is about this guy. 325 00:24:50,692 --> 00:24:58,818 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. 326 00:24:58,999 --> 00:25:03,383 That wouldn't just change the way you read historical documents. 327 00:25:03,383 --> 00:25:06,845 That would change, that would mean your whole vision of reality has changed. 328 00:25:06,845 --> 00:25:17,994 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. 329 00:25:18,166 --> 00:25:21,968 It would be a change of how you see all of reality. 330 00:25:23,129 --> 00:25:34,014 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. 331 00:25:34,355 --> 00:25:38,157 That's not merely changing the way the apostles read a few books. 332 00:25:38,277 --> 00:25:40,958 That's changing the way they see everything. 333 00:25:40,959 --> 00:25:47,802 That to change the way you read scripture and to show that all of scripture is about this Christ. 334 00:25:47,998 --> 00:25:50,359 Is to change the way you see everything. 335 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:52,639 And that's how Luke's gospel ends. 336 00:25:52,639 --> 00:25:56,600 It's not just, hey, here's a cool tip for how you do your Bible study. 337 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:00,981 It is reality is about this Christ. 338 00:26:01,162 --> 00:26:05,363 Everything is about this slain and risen Jesus. 339 00:26:05,363 --> 00:26:08,463 That's how his gospel ends. 340 00:26:08,884 --> 00:26:14,065 And notice what's the driving force between this new perspective on reality? 341 00:26:14,065 --> 00:26:17,826 It's the resurrection, it's the risen Christ. 342 00:26:17,826 --> 00:26:19,167 Who does this? 343 00:26:19,307 --> 00:26:23,011 It's but no one knows who it is because it's covered in a sheet. 344 00:26:23,011 --> 00:26:31,758 And then one day someone pulls down the sheet, reveals the picture, and you see it's your dad, it's your father. 345 00:26:31,859 --> 00:26:34,541 That revelation changes everything. 346 00:26:34,541 --> 00:26:36,042 You're the prince now. 347 00:26:36,042 --> 00:26:37,363 This palace is yours now. 348 00:26:37,363 --> 00:26:41,647 Like everything is changed because of that revelation. 349 00:26:42,108 --> 00:26:45,290 In a similar way, not exactly, but in a similar way. 350 00:26:45,954 --> 00:27:00,198 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 351 00:27:00,198 --> 00:27:04,399 glory of God in the slain and risen Jesus. 352 00:27:04,399 --> 00:27:09,160 The resurrection pulls the sheet down from reality and says, That's what it is. 353 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:10,741 This is what it's about. 354 00:27:10,941 --> 00:27:15,404 And Luke's gospel ends with that vision before our eyes. 355 00:27:15,404 --> 00:27:22,156 Luke's gospel ends by saying, this is the vision we have, because the crucified one is risen. 356 00:27:22,256 --> 00:27:23,997 And then we go out. 357 00:27:23,997 --> 00:27:24,447 We go out. 358 00:27:24,447 --> 00:27:28,118 That's how part one ends, leading us into part two. 359 00:27:28,238 --> 00:27:30,529 But there's before we get to part two, there's something else here. 360 00:27:30,529 --> 00:27:37,401 Because look, Jesus says part of this transformed vision of reality is not just that the scriptures were completely about me. 361 00:27:37,401 --> 00:27:39,202 That's absolutely right. 362 00:27:39,202 --> 00:27:40,562 But also, look. 363 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:46,512 Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. 364 00:27:46,752 --> 00:27:50,654 And this is also part of what is revealed about the scriptures. 365 00:27:50,654 --> 00:27:58,377 They are saying this: that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations. 366 00:27:58,597 --> 00:28:07,681 So the proclamation of the crucified Jesus to all the nations is part of what the Bible says must happen. 367 00:28:07,741 --> 00:28:09,362 That's how Luke's gospel ends. 368 00:28:09,362 --> 00:28:10,772 It ends by saying. 369 00:28:11,178 --> 00:28:21,063 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. 370 00:28:21,063 --> 00:28:23,445 That's part of the story. 371 00:28:23,445 --> 00:28:31,309 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. 372 00:28:31,349 --> 00:28:40,824 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. 373 00:28:40,824 --> 00:28:42,315 To all the nations. 374 00:28:42,455 --> 00:28:43,956 And who's going to do that? 375 00:28:44,897 --> 00:28:45,717 Us. 376 00:28:45,978 --> 00:28:51,082 It reaches out and takes hold of the reader and says, You're part of this story. 377 00:28:51,142 --> 00:28:57,908 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. 378 00:28:57,908 --> 00:28:59,249 And we're part of that. 379 00:28:59,249 --> 00:29:09,897 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 380 00:29:09,897 --> 00:29:11,058 proclaiming it. 381 00:29:11,394 --> 00:29:12,955 Which leads to the final point. 382 00:29:12,955 --> 00:29:14,497 How is this going to happen? 383 00:29:14,497 --> 00:29:21,822 Verse 48 You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. 384 00:29:21,863 --> 00:29:25,966 Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. 385 00:29:26,186 --> 00:29:34,152 It is necessary to go out and proclaim Christ, but that cannot happen until this empowering takes place. 386 00:29:34,153 --> 00:29:36,794 That's how part one ends. 387 00:29:36,875 --> 00:29:40,896 He says, I'm raised, everything's about me. 388 00:29:40,896 --> 00:29:42,767 All your scriptures were about me. 389 00:29:42,767 --> 00:29:44,987 Everything's always been about me. 390 00:29:45,267 --> 00:29:57,491 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 391 00:29:57,491 --> 00:29:58,291 Spirit. 392 00:29:58,291 --> 00:30:00,912 That's how part one ends. 393 00:30:00,912 --> 00:30:02,742 And you can feel it's kind of like a cliffhanger. 394 00:30:02,742 --> 00:30:07,094 You walk out of the theater and you're thinking, okay, when when part when's part two going to be here? 395 00:30:07,094 --> 00:30:08,546 That's how part 396 00:30:08,546 --> 00:30:13,290 The gospel ends, and that leads us straight then into Acts. 397 00:30:13,330 --> 00:30:14,862 So let's turn to Acts now. 398 00:30:14,862 --> 00:30:23,479 Having seen what Luke is doing in part one of his work, let's look at Acts. 399 00:30:24,981 --> 00:30:26,542 Look at how it begins. 400 00:30:28,648 --> 00:30:31,699 Acts chapter 1, verse 1. 401 00:30:32,839 --> 00:30:36,860 In the first book, so this is really, you see, this is part one and part two. 402 00:30:37,020 --> 00:30:50,704 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 403 00:30:50,704 --> 00:30:53,245 the apostles whom he had chosen. 404 00:30:53,245 --> 00:30:57,526 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs. 405 00:30:57,526 --> 00:31:03,330 Appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 406 00:31:03,451 --> 00:31:13,039 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. 407 00:31:13,039 --> 00:31:18,143 So part two picks up right at the end of part one. 408 00:31:18,143 --> 00:31:20,525 It's one goes right into the other. 409 00:31:20,866 --> 00:31:26,358 Now, let me just highlight two points here for the rest of today. 410 00:31:26,358 --> 00:31:31,380 As that will prepare us to really dive into the story next week. 411 00:31:31,380 --> 00:31:33,001 Just highlighting two points. 412 00:31:33,001 --> 00:31:37,483 And these are largely touching on what we've looked at, but let me emphasize it for you. 413 00:31:37,483 --> 00:31:46,987 The first thing: in the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. 414 00:31:46,987 --> 00:31:48,508 That's strange. 415 00:31:48,528 --> 00:31:52,970 That's strange because remember, in the first book, Jesus dies. 416 00:31:53,324 --> 00:31:55,295 And then ascends to heaven at the very end. 417 00:31:55,295 --> 00:31:56,776 He ascends to heaven. 418 00:31:56,836 --> 00:31:59,818 And usually you would think, well, he's he's done. 419 00:31:59,818 --> 00:32:00,299 He's done. 420 00:32:00,299 --> 00:32:02,220 He did his doing and teaching. 421 00:32:02,220 --> 00:32:04,442 Now it's time for the apostles to do their. 422 00:32:04,442 --> 00:32:09,785 So you'd almost expect him to say, I wrote about everything that Jesus did and taught. 423 00:32:09,925 --> 00:32:14,268 And now we're gonna talk about what his apostles did after he was gone. 424 00:32:14,388 --> 00:32:23,194 But instead, Luke says, In the first book, I dealt with everything that Jesus began to do and to teach, which implies. 425 00:32:23,296 --> 00:32:28,689 In this book, I'm going to tell you about what he continued to do and to teach. 426 00:32:28,990 --> 00:32:31,792 Except that Jesus is hardly in Acts at all. 427 00:32:31,792 --> 00:32:37,056 Jesus is physically present in Acts only for the first half of the first chapter. 428 00:32:37,056 --> 00:32:38,997 And then he's ascended to heaven. 429 00:32:38,997 --> 00:32:45,641 And yet, this first line of the book implies: here's I'm going to tell you what about what Jesus continued to do. 430 00:32:46,102 --> 00:32:52,682 Which means in Luke's vision, in Luke's understanding, he is. 431 00:32:52,682 --> 00:33:05,343 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 432 00:33:05,343 --> 00:33:10,017 book is Jesus working through them. 433 00:33:10,017 --> 00:33:16,462 In fact, you even got a taste of that in the passage I read earlier, back in Acts 26. 434 00:33:17,484 --> 00:33:18,745 Look at what Paul says. 435 00:33:18,745 --> 00:33:20,440 You don't have to look, I'll read it for you. 436 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:32,853 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 437 00:33:32,853 --> 00:33:33,854 Gentiles. 438 00:33:33,854 --> 00:33:38,635 But of course, all throughout Acts, it's been the apostles proclaiming light. 439 00:33:38,635 --> 00:33:41,976 It's been Jesus' followers proclaiming light. 440 00:33:41,976 --> 00:33:49,908 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. 441 00:33:50,326 --> 00:33:54,670 Jesus is not an absentee Lord up there kind of hoping we do things. 442 00:33:54,670 --> 00:33:58,613 He is presently working through us. 443 00:33:58,613 --> 00:34:01,956 You know, when it says we're we're the hands and feet of Christ, that's true. 444 00:34:01,956 --> 00:34:03,357 That's real. 445 00:34:03,898 --> 00:34:08,882 When scripture calls us the body of Christ, it's not merely a metaphor. 446 00:34:08,882 --> 00:34:18,580 The risen Jesus is truly working, doing, teaching through the church, through his people. 447 00:34:18,582 --> 00:34:25,962 And Acts is going to show that to us because in Luke's mind, he's writing here about what Jesus continues to do. 448 00:34:25,962 --> 00:34:29,385 And you say, Luke, you're only writing about what Paul and Peter and Stephen. 449 00:34:29,385 --> 00:34:30,785 And he's like, That's right. 450 00:34:30,785 --> 00:34:32,526 That's how Jesus continued to do. 451 00:34:32,526 --> 00:34:34,606 That's how Jesus continued to work. 452 00:34:34,626 --> 00:34:46,710 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 453 00:34:46,710 --> 00:34:46,990 areas. 454 00:34:46,990 --> 00:34:48,568 Here's what Jesus was doing. 455 00:34:48,568 --> 00:34:50,920 Well, you just wrote about a bunch of people who lived in Ohio. 456 00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:51,860 Right. 457 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:53,301 Because that's what Jesus was doing. 458 00:34:53,301 --> 00:34:55,202 That's how he was working. 459 00:34:55,223 --> 00:35:00,486 That's what that's the mindset Acts is helping us to see here. 460 00:35:00,726 --> 00:35:01,557 So that we would see. 461 00:35:01,557 --> 00:35:04,249 And I pray we would get this as we go through this book. 462 00:35:04,249 --> 00:35:09,472 That today, Christians, your life, Christ is at work in it. 463 00:35:09,472 --> 00:35:16,147 He you never wake up and and Jesus, as it were, looks at his timer and says, today's a throwaway day. 464 00:35:16,147 --> 00:35:17,358 I don't have anything for you. 465 00:35:17,358 --> 00:35:17,972 No. 466 00:35:17,972 --> 00:35:20,443 Every day is purposeful. 467 00:35:20,443 --> 00:35:22,505 Every day matters. 468 00:35:22,505 --> 00:35:23,745 Every day is authored. 469 00:35:23,745 --> 00:35:27,267 He has work to do in you every single day. 470 00:35:27,267 --> 00:35:29,128 There's never a, nah, nothing today. 471 00:35:29,128 --> 00:35:30,389 Come back tomorrow, maybe. 472 00:35:30,389 --> 00:35:32,950 Every day he's working in us. 473 00:35:33,190 --> 00:35:44,466 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 474 00:35:44,466 --> 00:35:46,617 doing them through us. 475 00:35:46,678 --> 00:35:48,110 It's him working through us. 476 00:35:48,110 --> 00:35:49,130 Through us. 477 00:35:49,270 --> 00:35:51,391 And this is only possible why? 478 00:35:51,391 --> 00:35:53,591 I may sound like a broken record, but I want you to get it. 479 00:35:53,591 --> 00:35:55,192 Because he's risen. 480 00:35:55,272 --> 00:35:56,612 Because he's risen. 481 00:35:56,612 --> 00:36:00,453 If Jesus Christ isn't risen, there's no book of Acts. 482 00:36:00,653 --> 00:36:02,174 There's no church. 483 00:36:02,174 --> 00:36:03,614 There's no us. 484 00:36:03,874 --> 00:36:10,656 All of this is possible only because the crucified Christ is risen. 485 00:36:10,656 --> 00:36:18,050 The bow that was drawn on Calvary is released, and Christ is risen and working now in the world. 486 00:36:18,050 --> 00:36:29,636 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 487 00:36:29,636 --> 00:36:31,758 in and through us today. 488 00:36:31,758 --> 00:36:36,140 He's not an idea or a disembodied religious sense. 489 00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:45,325 He is a person to whom you are united, vitally united, and through whom he's working through you. 490 00:36:45,785 --> 00:36:47,208 And that we would see. 491 00:36:47,208 --> 00:36:49,600 All this is true because Christ is risen. 492 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:52,842 If we can get that, I will be very glad. 493 00:36:52,842 --> 00:37:02,449 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. 494 00:37:02,449 --> 00:37:06,752 That will be greatly, that will be good for my soul and for us. 495 00:37:06,752 --> 00:37:16,168 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. 496 00:37:16,568 --> 00:37:21,060 Now let me point to something final here, a final point as we wrap up. 497 00:37:21,681 --> 00:37:22,811 Verses four and five. 498 00:37:22,811 --> 00:37:28,024 We've already made this three times, but I want you to see it for a third time. 499 00:37:28,625 --> 00:37:39,491 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. 500 00:37:39,491 --> 00:37:45,814 For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 501 00:37:45,814 --> 00:37:47,855 Not many days from now. 502 00:37:48,936 --> 00:37:58,943 So again, Luke introduces this other central theme here at the beginning of Acts, that the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit is necessary. 503 00:37:58,943 --> 00:38:00,244 Don't leave, he says. 504 00:38:00,244 --> 00:38:01,925 Don't go get started. 505 00:38:01,985 --> 00:38:03,396 I j all this has happened. 506 00:38:03,396 --> 00:38:05,327 You're excited to go speak. 507 00:38:05,327 --> 00:38:10,071 Don't do anything until you're empowered by the Holy Spirit. 508 00:38:10,071 --> 00:38:15,474 The church, as we'll see in a few weeks, is born through the outpouring of the Spirit. 509 00:38:15,500 --> 00:38:18,852 The church speaks by the breath of the Spirit. 510 00:38:18,852 --> 00:38:22,175 The church works through the empowering of the Spirit. 511 00:38:22,175 --> 00:38:25,317 The church endures through the strength of the Spirit. 512 00:38:25,317 --> 00:38:27,839 There is no church. 513 00:38:27,839 --> 00:38:28,879 There is no witness. 514 00:38:28,879 --> 00:38:31,961 There is no power apart from the Holy Spirit. 515 00:38:31,961 --> 00:38:35,854 And this book is going to impress that upon us again and again. 516 00:38:35,854 --> 00:38:38,286 In fact, we could summarize Acts. 517 00:38:38,286 --> 00:38:41,228 Here I am summarizing in the first sermon. 518 00:38:41,228 --> 00:38:44,870 We could summarize Acts by saying it is an account. 519 00:38:45,196 --> 00:38:51,548 Of the working of the risen Christ through the Holy Spirit in his people. 520 00:38:51,609 --> 00:38:56,531 The working of the risen Christ through the Holy Spirit in his people. 521 00:38:56,531 --> 00:39:01,352 That's the pattern along which action flows. 522 00:39:01,352 --> 00:39:05,914 Christ through the Spirit worked out in his people. 523 00:39:06,615 --> 00:39:09,616 And that same pattern is true today. 524 00:39:09,816 --> 00:39:10,857 And I want us to get that. 525 00:39:10,857 --> 00:39:14,392 That same pattern is true here for Kingstree, for every 526 00:39:14,392 --> 00:39:17,503 Faithful congregation around the world. 527 00:39:17,563 --> 00:39:21,275 There was only one Pentecost, and we'll read about that in a few weeks. 528 00:39:21,275 --> 00:39:22,355 There's only one Pentecost. 529 00:39:22,355 --> 00:39:25,446 We don't need another Pentecost that happens once. 530 00:39:25,447 --> 00:39:31,129 We need to walk in the Spirit who has been given to us. 531 00:39:31,129 --> 00:39:36,331 We need to walk in the power and the presence and the working of the Spirit who has been given to us. 532 00:39:36,331 --> 00:39:37,312 That's true. 533 00:39:37,312 --> 00:39:41,974 The question I have for myself and for us as a church is: are we? 534 00:39:41,974 --> 00:39:43,314 Are we doing that? 535 00:39:43,778 --> 00:39:44,448 Are we doing that? 536 00:39:44,448 --> 00:39:46,259 And I'm asking myself this. 537 00:39:46,259 --> 00:39:59,953 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 538 00:39:59,953 --> 00:40:01,743 Spirit gives? 539 00:40:01,943 --> 00:40:03,304 Is that true of my life? 540 00:40:03,304 --> 00:40:04,214 Is that true of your life? 541 00:40:04,214 --> 00:40:07,385 And I can say for one, I want it to be more true. 542 00:40:07,385 --> 00:40:12,456 It is not as true as I would like it to be, as I evaluate the way I'm living. 543 00:40:13,016 --> 00:40:22,008 And here's the thing there might be a full, uninhibited, completely given flow of water at the source. 544 00:40:22,769 --> 00:40:29,731 But if the pipes are corroded and clogged, then when you turn on the faucet, there's just a little drip. 545 00:40:29,731 --> 00:40:37,753 Nothing wrong with what's been given, but the pipes themselves are corroded and clogged, so there's just a drip coming out. 546 00:40:38,173 --> 00:40:40,938 And my prayer as we're entering this series. 547 00:40:40,938 --> 00:40:57,805 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, 548 00:40:57,805 --> 00:41:09,994 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. 549 00:41:09,994 --> 00:41:21,439 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. 550 00:41:21,439 --> 00:41:23,139 That's what I would pray for. 551 00:41:23,139 --> 00:41:26,181 And we know the spirit is at work when this is happening. 552 00:41:26,181 --> 00:41:33,003 The crucified Jesus Christ, who is risen, is exalted, because that's what the Spirit does. 553 00:41:33,003 --> 00:41:39,904 That's what the Spirit does is glorifies, sets all eyes upon the slain and risen Christ. 554 00:41:39,904 --> 00:41:45,858 As the beauty and the glory and the name and the power and the wisdom and the victory of God. 555 00:41:45,939 --> 00:41:48,781 So that's my prayer for us as we're beginning this series. 556 00:41:48,781 --> 00:41:50,383 So we've laid a foundation. 557 00:41:50,383 --> 00:41:52,444 We've laid a foundation today. 558 00:41:52,905 --> 00:42:04,074 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 559 00:42:04,074 --> 00:42:09,418 showing us everything that the slain and risen Jesus continues to do. 560 00:42:09,678 --> 00:42:12,189 Through his people by the Holy Spirit. 561 00:42:12,189 --> 00:42:14,449 So I'm eager, eager to look at that with you. 562 00:42:14,449 --> 00:42:21,141 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. 563 00:42:21,141 --> 00:42:25,102 But for now, we come to the table together. 564 00:42:25,202 --> 00:42:26,383 We come to the table together. 565 00:42:26,383 --> 00:42:36,325 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. 566 00:42:36,666 --> 00:42:38,676 That's born witness right here. 567 00:42:38,764 --> 00:42:46,600 Right here at this table, in this bread, in these cups, this is the witness that what we believe happened. 568 00:42:46,781 --> 00:42:58,930 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. 569 00:42:59,131 --> 00:43:03,755 This declares the man Jesus Christ truly died. 570 00:43:03,755 --> 00:43:05,536 He was truly buried. 571 00:43:05,536 --> 00:43:07,906 He was truly raised from the dead. 572 00:43:07,906 --> 00:43:10,868 He is truly ascended to heaven. 573 00:43:10,868 --> 00:43:14,350 And here, as you take these elements, you're proclaiming that. 574 00:43:14,350 --> 00:43:15,551 Remember what Paul says? 575 00:43:15,551 --> 00:43:18,814 You proclaim his death until he comes. 576 00:43:18,814 --> 00:43:22,916 You proclaim the certainty of the things that you've believed. 577 00:43:23,357 --> 00:43:29,320 But even more than a memorial, which this table is, it is also a meeting. 578 00:43:29,361 --> 00:43:37,486 This table, these elements are the are the means of meeting with this risen Christ. 579 00:43:37,858 --> 00:43:45,421 With this crucified and raised man who walked on this earth, who is reigning now, we can meet him through these elements. 580 00:43:45,421 --> 00:43:46,362 Huh? 581 00:43:46,362 --> 00:43:47,983 Through the Holy Spirit. 582 00:43:47,983 --> 00:43:49,223 By the Holy Spirit. 583 00:43:49,223 --> 00:44:02,149 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 584 00:44:02,149 --> 00:44:05,010 life-giving nutrient from the branch from the vine. 585 00:44:05,250 --> 00:44:16,837 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 586 00:44:16,837 --> 00:44:18,017 in one body. 587 00:44:18,017 --> 00:44:25,522 So as we come to the table, we are, you are, enacting the very things that Luke writes to instill in us. 588 00:44:25,522 --> 00:44:27,803 Our faith is certain. 589 00:44:28,163 --> 00:44:33,606 Our Lord is risen, and his spirit is among us. 590 00:44:33,708 --> 00:44:35,343 That's what we're going to proclaim here in a moment. 591 00:44:35,343 --> 00:44:37,970 But let me pray for us before we do that. 592 00:44:41,794 --> 00:44:55,760 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, 593 00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:59,992 Ohio could read them and receive life from them today. 594 00:44:59,992 --> 00:45:11,346 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. 595 00:45:11,384 --> 00:45:26,384 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. 596 00:45:26,524 --> 00:45:27,339 All our hope is him. 597 00:45:27,339 --> 00:45:32,468 If only we have this Christ, we'll be all right. 598 00:45:32,568 --> 00:45:41,056 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. 599 00:45:41,056 --> 00:45:43,638 And glorify your name as we look at this book. 600 00:45:43,638 --> 00:45:54,324 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 601 00:45:54,324 --> 00:45:55,114 spirit. 602 00:45:55,114 --> 00:45:56,895 We ask this in Jesus' name. 603 00:45:56,895 --> 00:45:57,876 Amen. 604 00:45:58,356 --> 00:46:08,642 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. 605 00:46:08,782 --> 00:46:12,192 Come worship with us on Sundays at 10 a.m. 606 00:46:12,192 --> 00:46:16,443 or visit our website at Kingstreechurch.org.