Living in God’s Power | Acts 1:1-11

Show Notes

Episode 811: 
In this episode, we dive into the theme of God's promises, specifically focusing on His power and strength. We turn to Acts 1:1-11, where we reflect on the ascension of Jesus and the promise of the Holy Spirit. We discuss the importance of this passage, emphasizing that the disciples were instructed to wait for the Holy Spirit, who would empower them to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, Welcome to the Bible guys. Man, it's good to be here. Grace. We are very glad to be in the heritage room. This is an actual room that what does it use for? For crying babies sometimes? Yeah, dear serves meetings. It's like the only grown up space in the building. Yeah, isn't it? Isn't it in our church building? Yeah. So for those of you who are watching a video, you'll notice it immediately. For those who are listening, you're like, what are you talking about? But basically, we have construction going onto the back. So we we're building a big peace center. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, serve the community. Yep. So we had to remove and relocate. So anyway, welcome to the Bible guys. We are in the middle of a series talking about God's promises. Yes, and it's in different contexts. Even though that every promise each week is sort of the same promise, it's in different contexts. So this week's theme of God's promises is God's power and strength. That's going to be great right, I'm looking forward to this one me too, as opposed to that one. All those other ones we were just mailing it in. But this is gonna be a good one. So we have a segment that desires. Actually this is a sort of a different question. This week's focus is on power and strength. So here's today's segment question. You've just been recruited to the quote faith based Avengers who unquote what is your code name and power? So that's a neat one. Do you have an answer? And you love the Avengers of course? Right, this is it was almost it was almost a religious experience for you as all of the. Adventures ten years ten years. Yeah, it was a decade. From Iron Man all the way to Infinity Wards and Endgame. So your son was just like a tween, yeah, first started right. Yeah. Did you guys go to all the Avenger movies on it. On opening night midnight showings, the whole thing. Okay, So it's a big deal for you. I mean, I grew up reading comics, that's the main. Thing that's true. That's true. You had you had like good comics. You had all of. All the good ones. Yeah, all the good ones, okay for sure, And some bad ones. Yeah, so I mean not like dirty bad, but like like I collected she Hulk. Oh wow, yeah, so you had like those were not yeah, obscure comics. And I never liked Doctor Strange, although I love the movies. So I struggled with this one when I saw it, and so I just copied and pasted in a chattee pete? Is that what you did? I did? You did? I did? I copied and pasted in chattubete. And I've got some phenomenal asw Yeah. Yeah, I've got one that I think is really cool. Okay, go ahead, Grace Blade. Grace Blade. Yeah. So he uses a blade and before he slices somebody, he says, oh, you. Wield the Spirit, the sword of the Spirit, with precision, and every strike divides truth from deception and releases freedom. Okay, that that's my that's my cure. But what does that actually mean? I don't know. I don't know. Okay, all right, So I I actually gave it a ton of instructions based on did you in depth experiencing comic knowledge? And basically here's I asked her to give me ten superheroes enlist their powers. The first one is lumen, and he radiates. He has radiant light that defeats darkness. Yes, way good, one wayfarer. He guides the loss back with purpose. The Iron Saint forges holy weapons from faith. The Absolver transforms pain and guilt into healing. Solara radiates hope and empowers others. Veritas wields truth as a weapon against lies. Ether walks. That's what veritas means. It's Latin for truth. Oh yeah, yeah, Ether walks between realms to deliver wisdom spiritual realms. Yeah. Ember Light burns with purifying fire of conviction. Centrics anchors chaos and restores calm. And Scriptor speaks words that reshape reality. Which is I'm script Or, Which is really cool? Now, I like, I liked Absolver. Absolver where he absolves people people's pain and guilt and heals them and he takes it on himself. Okay, so I said, and. You know what, that would have helped out a lot in the real Avengers, Oh for sure, because I mean a bunch of those guys got beat up pretty bad. For sure. Yeah. So I asked it to give me a cinematic opening sequence. So you're going way beyond and above. This is why Daz likes having you on the show is because you're you're here to do more, not my bible knowledge. Well, you did not answer that the way that I would have hoped that you'd answer that. Okay, So here it is. This takes place in a rain soaked city night. A storm bruise over the skyline, Neon lights flicker off puddles, and thunder rolls like a warning. The city sleeps restlessly, broken, bleeding, haunt by its own sins. The camera pans down a dark alley, graffiti, shattered glass, and the echo of distant sirens. A man kneels beside someone trembling on the ground, A young woman shaking, tears streaming down her face. Let it go, Absolver says, it's not yours to carry anymore. He reached out, gloves in the hand, trembling slightly, and his palm touches her shoulder. A pulse of light ripples outward, not blinding but pure. The air around them hums. A color drains from the woman's pain, A shadowy mist lifting off her chest, drawn into the man's hand. Her breathing steadies, her eyes open wide. The weight she carried is gone, but his eyes once calm, flicker with anguish as he absorbs it. For a moment, his shoulders sag with under invisible heaviness, and he whispers, almost to himself. Pain redeemed is pain repurposed, And then it says, Then it says, cut to absolvers were world and a cathedral burned half to ruin. He stands before a wall of candles, one flame for every soul that he's helped oh in a war zone. He kneels besides a dying soldier, absolving fear so that the man could die in peace, and a prison cell with clasps hands a hardened criminal. The man's eyes flooding with regret as the shadows fade. Each time the light consumes darkness, and each time it leaves another scar on him. They call me savior, but every soul I free leaves another chain on me. I don't fight for glory, I fight for release. He removes his hood. His faith is weathered and calm, but marked by faint and glowing lines under his skin, traces for every burden he's taken. He looks it's almost done. He looks up at broken stained glass window, half cross, half shattered. Mercy doesn't come without a cost. A faint sound interrupts him, A child's scream echoes from outside. He stands. He pulls his hood back on. The Shadows crawl around his boots as if drawn to him, but the light within pushes them back. Looks like my shift's not over. He steps into the rein again, light, Paul saying, under the clouds storm clouds, a weary redeemer walking back into battle. That's it. So that was pretty epic. It was super That was amazing. So that's who you're going to be. You're going to be absolver. Okay, yeah, so I did. I just did the same thing, but not for grace Blade. Why for the conqueror? Okay, is a better one. Okay, And it says so it's based on Romans eight thirty seven, right, the conquerors. We are more than conquerors. Born in a moment of spiritual battle. The conqueror is not forged by ease, but by resistance. Every attack of the enemy only makes him stronger. He doesn't fight for victory, he fights from it. Fear recognizes him, demons know his name. Strongholds collapse the moment his footsteps hit the ground, and then it says. Where the conqueror stands, the atmosphere changes. Anxiety becomes peace, Defeat turns to destiny. Miracles break out not because of emotional height, but because the authority of Christ is tangibly present. That's why darkness cannot negotiate with him. It must flee. So his victory aura is this. Every person within fifty yards instantly feels courage surge in their spirit. That's that's it. And then impossible odds only increases power. The more hopeless the situation, the stronger he becomes. And then he has the power of the faith. Quake, wow, faith. When he declares God's word, it reverberates like an earthquake in the spiritual around, breaking chains that have held people for generations. So there you go. It seems pretty cool. And I got to tell you it sounds like the conqueror has a lot of power. I don't hope for victory. I carry it nice. Nice. Sounds like he has a lot of power. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, and be able to balance off the scarlet witch. You know who else has power? We shall receive power. We will receive power. You, You will receive who and you when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Yes, oh that sounds familiar. Hey, why don't we read from Max one today? Do you want to? I do, okay, And I think that we should start with verse one, me too, and go all the way through verse eleven. That's exactly my plan. Nice, that's it's amazing. We're on the same page and it's only Monday. Can you imagine how good this week is gonna get? Yes? I can, okay, So here we go. In Acts, chapter one, verse one, he says, this is Luke writing. And Luke was not a disciple of Jesus, but he did write a gospel. You know what. He named it Luke. That's what he super created. And then this is like Luke two, right, this is like this is like this is a sequel even though the book. Even though the title is Acts of the Apostles. That's correct. And he's writing to a buddy of his name, Theophilis. So that's the book of Luke was written to Theophilis. And he was saying, hey, I interviewed eyewitnesses about this stuff. And then he's continuing and he says, in my first book, I told you Theophilis about everything. Jesus began to do and teach him till the day he was taken up to heaven. After giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. And once he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift. He promised, as I told you before, John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And so when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? And he replied, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. After saying this, he was taken up in a cloud. While they were watching, they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white roads men suddenly stood among them, men of Galilee. They said, why are you standing here staring up into heaven. Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him. Go. Well, there you go. There it is, and the ascension, as you know explained. I could visually see it. I could, I can see it, and I think it was an epic moment. Oh yeah, because God, uh you know, think about it when when when when Jesus was baptized, it said, the spirit of God came down, descending like a dove, and there was a voice from heaven. It was super epic, right, So why wouldn't Jesus's ascension back into heaven be just as epic. It doesn't describe it, and it's uh, you know, full glory, But I bet you would have been a sight to see. Oh, it'd have been exciting. Uh. There is one in the Wizard of Oz. What do you mean as he's as he's on his balloon going away and he's waving and she's clicking her eels. That's that's a pretty exciting moment in the movie. Well are you even saying, I don't know, I'm trying to I was. I'm trying to be more like you, Chris. Okay, well, thank you, yes, okay, all right, I'm by it. He's the hero of the whole story. He actually of the Emerald City. The wizard literally was a fraud, and he showed no remorse. And when when the balloon left without Dorothy, he just all of a sudden just looked at the people and said. Bye, everybody, goodbye. He didn't say, oh no, please, somebody grab a rope. No, no, this was a terrible. Comparison, okay, except he was just ascending and it's a moving moment. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. And then they're all standing around, what do we do? You know what I hated the worst about that, Right in front of the Lion and the tin Man, she says, I'm going to miss you most scarecrow. Did you know what she said? She did? She did, right in front of those guys, I'm gonna miss you most of all. Yeah, Well, should have loved him. He was He was the first of the companions that she ran into. Well, sure, but it's true. Still. Okay, So it starts it means nothing, it starts it. Doesn't means nothing. It starts off by saying Theophilus. Right, So do we know anything more about Theophilis other than that he was writing to his friend. Yeah, he's mentioned twice in the Bible. Okay, that's it. That's about the extent of it for me. Yeah. And he said that he basically interviewed people. Jesus was actually alive. Right, that's pretty cool. Right, So, how many people did Jesus appear to? Four hundred? Over five hundred is what it says. Over five hundred, yeah, okay, yeah. And was it Matthew maybe Matthew or Luke? It says he spoke he appeared over five hundred of his followers. Yeah, which is pretty amazing. And then and then Jesus says to them that you're going to receive You will receive power because they have not yet received power. They have not yet received the Holy Spirit, right, which they received at Pentecost. Right, that's correct, and so and so. He says, you receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Do you know what the Greek word that word power is do you know the Greek. Word of that word power, dynamo. It's dounamus, which is where we get dynamite. Yeah, yeah, which is, yeah, similar to dynamo. But you know, I love that because it's talking about God's power and it's like a dynamite type moment, right, explosive power. When we think of power, you know, we might not necessarily think that it's power that's capable of moving mountains, but dynamite, you know, can move mountains right, right, So it's explosive power of the Holy Spirit within us. And and he says, it's such a cool way to talk about, Oh, the power of the Holy Spirit is we don't think of it that way. No, we do not. And then also it says to be witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. So when you were preaching this, how many times have you preached X one eight over the thirty something years? Dozens? Yeah? I bet you fifty times. Yeah, I bet you too, Yeah, and so and so I've always talked about it as Jerusalem is local, right, then Judea is like sort of like Macomb County, right, So we'd say Sterling Heights, Macomb County, and then Samaria was even further it was the next county above, right, so it'd be like equivalent to you could probably just say like Michigan, right, even though it's technically a northern county, but or region actually, but we would say something like Sterling Heights, MacComb County, Michigan. And then it says then to the ends of the Earth, which then of course carries on, you know, to the United States and then even outside of its borders, right, right, So to bring the gospel from your hometown, which means start where you're at, right, and then and then as you go or as you are going, then you just continue to preach the gospel until everybody's heard. Yeah. The Jerusalem is where you live, yep. Judea is I think really quite honestly, it's people like you. It's the other people who live near you. Yeah. Samaria is people who are different from you. Oh yeah, because he would have said Samaria on purpose. Yeah, because they didn't like Samaritans. It was there was a racial issue, a social issue, there was a faith issue. There's so many things involved with that. They were culturally very different and so that's what he's saying, is to those people who are culturally different from you, and then to the ends of the world. He's just everywhere else, go everywhere, tell everybody. Yeah, So not only does it start inward and progressively goes further and further, but also it includes different categories of people. Correct. And then the other element here that I think is really important, I'm in the wrong I'm in the wrong book here because I had something else I was going to point out. The other thing is that it's not a progressive thing. It's a continuous thing. He says. You'll be my witnesses telling about telling me, people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And the NIV it says, in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, which is significant because a lot of us think, then, right, if I can reach my neighborhood, then I'll go to the areas around me, and then I'll go to people that are different from me, and then I'll go to the world. And that's not what he says. It's all simultaneous, right, both and now for the disciples, they weren't everywhere already for you and me, the gospels everywhere in the world. We just need to get to the people who haven't yet heard but for them. So there was a progression. It needed to keep expanding, expanding, expanding. But he's not saying this than this, than this. He's saying, you need to have plans for all of it right now, right begin building your plans, which means then we need coalitions, we need collaboration, We need to We can't take this whole work, especially once it gets to everywhere right the ends of the earth. It means we need great partners It's why we we partner with transform One. That's why we partner with the Timothy Initiative is it's not possible for you and me to go everywhere and reach everybody, but if we build enough partnerships, we can get the Gospel everywhere. It's funny that you said the Timothy Initiative, because I'm thinking this literally is the Timothy. It's the reason why it exists. Yes, it's the reason why the Timothy Initiative exists. So other other different you know organizations, nonprofits and Christian you know based organizations have mission. You know, they have mission built into them to reach people. But the Timothy Initiative is very specific about this Great Commission or this isn't the Great Commission, this is the this is I guess. It's it's Luke's version of the Great Commission. Luke's Luke's version of it. Yeah, because he he doesn't have one at the end of the Book of Luke. Okay, yeah, so uh because yeah, I know the other one is the Matthew one, right, right. But Mark Mark has one, and then uh John kind of has one. But yeah, this is Luke's version of it. So the Timothy Initiative talk about that for a minute. It actually exists specifically targeting the people who have not yet heard, the people groups, the languages of people who have not yet heard the Gospel. So it's trying to finish the Great Commission so that every people group will have heard. That's right. So there's around the Throne of Heaven in Revelation it says that at the end there will be people from every language and every tribe and every tongue right every nation. And so this idea of every tongue is really talking about ethnic groups language groups, and there's a few thousand language groups that still have never had the gospel, but we're taking those off the list pretty quickly, not just us, but many many ministry organizations and missions organizations targeting the people. Often times they're called unengaged unreached people groups. So there's unreached people groups that means less than two percent of their population as Christian. Obviously we target them as well as many as possible. But then there are people that have never had the gospel, whole people groups, entire language groups that don't have any Christians among them, and so we would consider them if there's nobody actually working with them yet trying to get the gospel. They're unengaged unreached people groups, and there's a few thousand of them, and so targeting them and trying to get the gospel to as many people as possible is exactly what Jesus said. And he said, but you're not doing this on your own, right. He says, you're going to receive the power of the Holy Spirit. And so this is the thing. I was just talking with a lady yesterday and she was talking about friends and families she loves that she just can't figure out how to get the gospel too. And I was talking with her one. She was trying to argue them into heaven instead of using scripture. So when you're just arguing your religious view versus your friend's religious view, it's just opinions. But when you say, here's what the Bible says, thus say it the Lord right, and you come and you quote scripture. A Hebrew says that the word of God is like a two edged sword. It does all the cutting. That's what the Holy Spirit uses. So I said, don't argue, try to argue somebody in the heaven. Just share scripture with them, right, here's what the Bible says. And then the other side of it was need to be praying ahead of time because you can't argue them into heaven, just like the promise? What is it in Ecxodasy, God says, be still and I'll go before you. Right. Oftentimes I'll pray, Holy Spirit, I'm getting ready to share the gospel. Would would you go ahead and begin preparing the heart? Now? Would you have that? Help them to have ears that can hear the gospel? Can you? And then before I get there, I'll like, Holy Spirit, give me, give me the right words to say, put power behind God's word for this person. It's not about me. Help me to stay out of the way. Help me not to say anything dumb. If I do say something dumb, help them not hear it. Right, that kind of thing. And I'm constantly asking that the Holy Spirit w go ahead of me. And so then when you show up and share the Gospel, it's not your words, it's God's word. It's not your argument. It's God's plea to them to be restored to Jesus. And this is the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. For the purpose of evangelism. A lot of people like the brag about the power of the Spirit in their life. They like to talk about their miracles and their tongues and their prop prophetic visions and all these kinds of things. But Jesus said, the number one evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit in your life is the fact that you're proclaiming the Gospel. That's great. So I was just thinking about just probably a week and a half ago, I had my Bible Guy's T shirt on. Oh, and I was going in for a doctor's visit for like a consultant type thing, and he was consulting about this goofy tooth that I had. And anyway, I was there and was waiting in the waiting room and there was a guy sitting next to me who had this shirt on that I didn't understand what it was, some military thing, but anyway, but he had like a really cool tattoo and he had like all these cuts on his legs. And I was like, oh, this guy's like an outdoorsy guy, right, like he was running. Through the weeds somewhere, right. But I looked over at him and I said, hey, he caught me actually looking at him, and I said, I'm just wondering what your shirt means. So he tells me and blah blah blah, blah blah. And then he gets done and then says, what does your shirt meet? And it's the Bible? Guys. I said, oh, it's a podcast that I do, and he goes, what do you mean, like Bible? Like a Bible podcast. So anyway, I started talking to him about it, and he was very interested in spiritual things, and we talked about church, and I ended up giving the whole Gospel in so many, so many ways. But all I did was just quote the Romans Road, right, So I'm just like, well, you know, he says, well, what does that mean? I says, we know Romans three twenty three says this, And then he said, well what about this. Roman six twenty three says this, And I just basically went through exactly what you're saying, and I basically gave him all the scripture and I said, you know, you can, you can pray to ask God in your heart like anywhere. And then they called me in the back, and so I just said, hey, you know, come here to church, and wouldn't it be great. Oh, they'd be fun. By the way, there's a chance that he's listening. Maybe he heard the Bible guys and actually decided to look us up. If that's you, buddy, I would love for you to write. In Yeah, let us know, let us know how awesome is that. Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah. So I did just a little bit of search. Well, because you asked, who's theophilis? Yeah. Yeah. So in Luke Chapter one, Luke says, having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theoflis. So this is the guy with the title. Yeah, he's important in some way. Yeah, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught. So he seems to be a man of means, probably a powerful man, which makes sense. Paul that Luke traveled with Paul, and so Paul was around a lot of Greek and Roman leaders and executives and and political leaders and things like that. But this guy seems to have recently become a Christian and he says, now I've investigated these things thoroughly, so that you can be confident in the things you've been taught about Jesus Most Honorable Theopholis. So it seems like a new believer man with a lot of power. And you know olden days like that, sometimes wealthy patrons would fund the printing of books, So this could have also been a guy who funded the research that Luke was doing, which is great because one of the reason why I love the Book of Luke so much and the Book of Acts was Luke is so incredibly accurate with his writing. He was a scientist, so he wasn't just a man of faith just follow He was also a doctor. Joy, That's what I'm saying. But doctors were scientists. That doctors didn't only do medical they did all the stuff that was considered scientific at the time, and so he would have approached it from a very clinical view rather than and that's why he talks so much about miracles in the Book of Luke, very clinical view rather than just a historical view. He was going to be very, very precise. And so this guy may have been a wealthy political person who also was the funder of the research that Luke was doing to see, Hey what Matthew and Mark and John say, are those true? And Luke shows up and goes, yeah, it looks like it is. Yeah, I interviewed all the people. Right right, Well, hey, that is definitely our time. So we'll be talking more about the power of God in our lives next next, well, I guess it's next podcast. So tomorrow I'll be here. I'll be here too, Okay, we'll see you then