Skip to content The Empowering Spirit in the Book of Acts Aug 27 · 12 min ...more
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Empowered by the Holy Spirit: The Beginning of the Church 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning as we move into the exciting book of acts. Verse 8 of chapter 1, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon0:21 you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, into all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Now the scholars believe that acts was written during Paul's 2 year imprisonment in0:33 Rome, which would put the date roughly around 63 AD. The author of Acts is someone we've, encountered before, and that is Luke. He was the beloved0:45 physician, and he was a companion of Paul and a witness to many of the events that we read about in the book of Acts. Now Luke is also also the author of the0:57 gospel according to Luke, which the book of Luke and Acts combined is about a quarter of the New Testament. So you put Luke and Paul together in their writings. It's over half of the New Testament written1:09 by these 2 men. But what makes you what makes Luke unique? Remember? He was the only Gentile. He was Greek. He was the only Gentile to be a part of writing the New Testament.1:21 Now Acts picks up where the 4 gospels leave off, weaving together the endpoints of each of those gospels into this first chapter of Acts. It's kinda like it's a funnel. You have Matthew, Mark,1:33 Luke, and John, and they all converge and end here, with Acts chapter 1. There there's a kind of, connections with each of those 4 gospels. Now the 4 gospels1:44 record Jesus bringing redemption to man, and the single book of Acts records how the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus's disciples to take this good news to the entire1:56 world. Now this book is both powerful in its revelation, of the founding of the church, but it's also very practical and2:08 powerful in its instruction for us today. The book of Acts covers a period of about 30 years from the ascension of Jesus until Paul's, imprisonment in Rome. The2:20 book is not as deep in doctrine as many of Paul's epistles are. It's more of a a practice of doctrine of of applying the teaching of Jesus in the founding of2:32 the early church, and I believe examples of faith and biblical principles to guide subsequent generations, both individually and collectively. That's why we're studying it. Now the key verse,2:44 I believe not only for this opening chapter, chapter 1, but for the entire book is what I just read, verse 8. Let me read it again. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be2:54 witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. This is this verse also can provide kind of a, a map for the entire book because the3:06 book really divides itself into 3 sections. First, the church being established and expanding in Jerusalem in chapters 1 through, chapter 8 verse 3, and then Judea and Samaria3:18 in verses, in chapter 8 verse 4 through chapter 12. And then we have to the other most parts of the known world at the time, chapters 13 through the end of the book.3:30 Now it begins in Jerusalem with the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost as, Jesus had promised, at his ascension, and continues to3:42 roam, the political and power capital of the day. So it covers the landscape, the spiritual, historical, and to the political and the powerful.3:54 Now the book is written to Theophilus, which is thought to be a Roman official. Luke's gospel is also written to him, so we've seen that name before. Let's begin verse 1. The4:06 former account I made, oh, Theophilus, and of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up, after he through the Holy Spirit4:18 had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during 404:30 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with him, he commanded them said4:42 you have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him saying, Lord,4:54 will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? As Jesus commissions the disciples, which we read about in Matthew chapter 28, the disciples ask5:05 again. This is not the first time. When do we win? When will we be free of the Romans and our nation be established again? They were still focused on a physical5:27 Verse 7. And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come5:39 upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Don't worry about the timing of the fulfillment of the kingdom.5:52 Focus on building the kingdom. Alright. Jesus shifted their attention away from the destination to the journey. Yes. No question. The endpoint is6:03 important. We've discussed how we must live in light of eternity, but the journey is our mission. To carry out our mission for of being effective witnesses for6:15 Christ, we must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us, which is why Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 5 for us to be filled with the spirit. It was an6:26 active being filled with the spirit. We have the Holy Spirit, but we need to be filled with the spirit. We need to pray. We need to read the word of God and meditate upon it so that it might fill us with the spirit and6:38 empower us to do the work of God, which is the journey that we are on. And what does it mean to be empowered by the Holy Spirit? Well, that's what I believe the book of Acts6:50 will show us. We will see men who ran who ran when the enemies of Jesus came to the garden, who denied him to little girls out of desire to survive,7:02 men who hid behind locked doors for fear of the Jewish leaders, they all became men who boldly proclaimed the gospel message to the very people who had crucified7:14 Jesus, and they did so with courage, with confidence, and with joy. The difference was the Holy Spirit. We will see how the Holy Spirit not only7:26 empowered, but guided and sanctified the early church. And that same power, that same sanctification, that same direction is available to us today.7:38 The Holy Spirit is working in the lives of individual believers who will be filled with the spirit as they follow Jesus. Now think about it. You know, you can have a gym membership,7:50 but if you're not using it, you're not it's not gonna do you any good. Right? We have the Holy Spirit. Right? We have the Holy Spirit. When you were saved, I I believe scripture makes believe. When you are saved, you8:01 have the Holy Spirit. You receive the Holy Spirit. But unless we're exercising the spirit, it's like having a gym membership that we don't use. We have to exercise the spirit. That means being filled with8:13 the spirit. If we're not, we're gonna get spiritually flabby. We'll be ineffective Christians who struggle and even fall out on this journey. I remember when I was in the marine corps, I I I8:25 realized that 1 thing I needed to do was never fall out of a forced march. Because once you fell out, you tended to fall out more. It it we need to be focused on following8:37 Jesus. We saw that in the last chapter of John when Peter was asking Jesus, what about this other disciple? And Jesus said, don't worry about him. You follow me. Keep your eyes on8:48 Jesus. I found that 1 way to stay in 1 of those forced marches, not to say that the Christian life is a forced march, but it is difficult. Going uphill, going through treacherous terrain,9:00 I always focused on 1 step ahead of me. I didn't look into the distance to see how far we had to go. I just looked if I was leading, I just looked 1 step ahead. If I was following somebody else, I just9:12 looked at the feet in front of me. And I think as we follow Jesus, we just need to look at his feet and follow him. Now in the second half of chapter 1, the apostles pray9:24 over 2 men to see who the replacement for Judas will be. And since this was before the Holy Spirit came, which we're gonna read about next time, they relied on the Old9:36 Testament custom of casting lots, and they did that. And Matthias was selected. Then a little over a week later, the Holy Spirit came and changed everything. The9:48 Holy Spirit, when he is present in in in his God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son, the Son sent the Holy Spirit, and it empowers us to live the10:00 Christian life. Recall that Jesus had told his followers to dwell in Jerusalem until they had received the power from the Holy Spirit. So here we are. 50 days after the resurrection,10:12 10 days after Jesus had ascended into heaven at the Jewish feast of weeks, which is in Greek Pentecost. And this is the beginning of the church age roughly in10:23 April of 30 AD. And the church has been expanding rapidly and building, and you and I are a part. I think of 1 of the most exciting times in10:35 the timeline of human history because I believe we are close to seeing Jesus come back. And so our work matters, but we need to we need to keep our eyes, yes, on eternity, but10:47 focus on the journey that God has us now building the kingdom. Father, we thank you for your word. And, Lord, I'm so excited about moving into the book of acts to see how the early church against10:59 all opposition with Jesus just weeks after he had been crucified, we're gonna see the disciples boldly standing before the very people who crucified him, declaring truth11:11 to them with confidence, with joy, and with courage. Father, give us that same courage. Give us that same joy, that peace and confidence as we follow you.11:23 Lord, we thank you for the Holy Spirit. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning, and until next time, keep standing on the word.11:36 Today's11:37 study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you can read11:49 through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Empowered by the Holy Spirit: The Beginning of the Church
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