07.20.2008

Opening Worship:
07.20.2008 Grace Summit Community Church from Jeff Yackley on Vimeo

August 3 and 10^th will be a couple special services.

August 3, Rick and Carol will be sharing about their mission experiences.

August 10 – Mike Boyce will be sharing about their mission experiences

We’ve been looking at the questions people asked Jesus – today, we’ll be looking at the very last question that was asked of Jesus.

Let’s pray

Father, we thank You and come before You humbled and broken and not pretending to be anything we are not. It is only by Your grace and kindness that we have a relationship with You – we are not worthy of Your love. I thank You – in light of that – you come to us with open arms – You long to bless us – You wait on high to have mercy and compassion on us. From here on out, our lives will be different because of You. May Your word have its work in our lives – only You can meet those needs – we turn this time over to You. In Your name we pray

Acts 1: 3 To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over [a period of] forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. 4 And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," [He said,] "you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. " 6 And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. "

The question is in the middle of vs. 6

Acts 1:6 And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

They were looking for this Messiah – an earthly kingdom where Israel would become a world power – at the time, they were enslaved to Rome – they were asking a nationalistic/materialistic question – will He restore the prosperity and power to Israel? At this point – and looking at Jesus’ life – talking about the Spirit coming – what is about to happen with the Spirit coming at Pentecost – it will be the most significant event in history when it relates to our relationship with Christ. Obviously, the MOST significant events are the Incarnation and the Resurrection – but this opened up for us the ability to receive the Spirit of God. And they are focusing on their nation – their situation and their prosperity. You would think that Jesus would be disappointed – with all that He had talked about and done up to this point – and they still didn’t quite get it. You would think they would have to get it, if they had seen everything that had taken place – Jesus’ priorities are different. Jesus is not disappointed – He is patient. He corrects their thinking and moves on. That is how God is with us. We blow it over and over again – in our relationship with God and with one another. With one another, we tend to rub it in and not let anyone forget. We hold things over one another for a period of time – but Jesus gently corrects them:

7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

Let’s move past this and get on to what matters now. Like Paul said in Philippians – I still have a long way to go – but I press on – forgetting what lies behind – and I move forward and fix my attention on the future and run for it with all my heart. Anyone who is mature needs to have this attitude – to forget the failures and to start from here to be pleasing to God.

Jesus – and their question – will He restore the kingdom? This week, I was watching the news – and all of them had a banner at the bottom to tell what they were talking about – America’s Economic Crisis – disaster is about to hit America economically. When things like that happen – especially in Christianity – the speculation begins to mount. Is this the time? Is it coming upon us now? That is their question – the events of the day looked like and earthly kingdom was going to be set up.

Jesus says – it is not for you to know… When disaster comes in – it is not for you to worry about. It is not for you to get over-focused. “Which the father has fixed by His own authority”

For us, we look forward to the end – but the reality is that has been fixed. It is already done – it was set up – so to speculate, there is no conspiracy that will bring it about. God has already determined it. We need to go on now:

8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. "

Stop focusing your attention on the events of the day – but understand that they are about to receive the Holy Spirit and Power and a NEW KINGDOM to focus their attention on. Instead of focusing on this world, figure out how to be involved in my kingdom.

Acts 1: 4 And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," [He said,] "you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. "

The receiving of the Spirit is what they needed. We have the spirit living inside of us – it changes us and gives us a unique power that we are not able to experience without Him.

John 14: 16 "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

He is this power that is inside of us – but He comes to comfort and help us – so we can move past the difficulties that come because He is inside of us and enables us to do it. He gives us the power, strength and ability to be what Christ wants us to be. Before having the Spirit, it is impossible to be all God wants us to be. We have to believe – that which holds us back – we now have the ability to change and be different.

8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. "

In this passage, He is focusing on the Spirit being given – and the purpose is to be His witnesses. We have the power to bring the message of Christ to others. It is a power of transformation and a power of MISSION.

John 15: 26 "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, [that is] the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me, 27 and you [will] bear witness also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

So this spirit coming into our lives – not only for transformation but as witnesses. A witness – like in court – to say what you saw – what you witnessed. Now we – we have witnessed something – the transformation that happens when one trusts Him. Now we need to share that with the world.

Forget about all that is going on – You have a job to do – and I have given you the Holy Spirit to accomplish that task. I am sending you on a mission – your job is to be my witnesses – to take this message on from here. This is the Great Commission. It has been passed on to everyone that is a Christian. If you have come into a relationship with Christ – you have a job – this mission of witnessing – speaking to the world about what Christ has done. What happens so often – as the church, we have lost sight of that and gotten wrapped up in what is happening presently – but God has called us to this. This is our mission on earth.

From a practical standpoint – how do we do this? Things are getting difficult – and it is possible that they get worse before getting better. As a nation – we may be entering a time (I am not a prophet – I am not saying this is going to happen) – but we have been experiencing a lot of prosperity as a nation over the past twenty years. But we may be entering a time when that is no longer the case. The question then is – from an application standpoint – how do we respond in difficult times to be these witnesses?

I have some application –

John 13: 34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

As I was thinking through this – we need a new attitude in the church – an attitude of love – but really, this is an old perspective – the first step – as times get difficult – people need to see a church that is committed to one another.

You may never be able to prove there is a God through intellectual discussion – but this verse says that as we have a radical sacrificial love, it will prove it. We need to sacrifice in service for one another’s good – it is not about us getting what we want from church – but us giving. The Roman Empire was not unlike our culture and world – and when they saw this church – caring and helping one another – it was transforming – people couldn’t believe what they saw – they couldn’t comprehend it – and it needs to be the same for us.

Second, we need to learn – and we see this with Jesus and the disciples – to love those who are outside the church in a genuine way – to know that they care about them.

2/3 of people don’t believe that the Christians they know do not care about them as people – but are doing it for their own benefit – they are not genuinely concerned for others. The church must be doing something wrong. They think we are trying to get something from them. Like the disciples, we have mixed, and misunderstood the heavenly Kingdom.

John Mayer – pop star – wrote a song called Belief.

He is not a Christian to my knowledge –

Belief is a beautiful armor, but it makes a heavy sword.

That is how it is viewed. Our belief is that we come against things – but Christ spoke of something different – when he spoke about how the church should work. I think the early church was much different toward outsiders today.

Part of it relates to understanding the world – separation and isolation.

John 15

The Bible commands us to be separate – but engaged. Biblical separation – a separation to a holy life, not a separation from unholy people.

Tim Keller – 5 tendencies for the church

1) Accommodation – to become like the world – we don’t want that – to just join in with everything

2) Privatization – what we have done – to develop a Christian subculture – Christian music, books, art, plumbers – this little ball not connected to the world

3) Militancy – coming against culture

4) Triumphalism – creating a new culture

5) Engagement – what Christ is asking us to do – to be involved, loving, reaching and attracting people to Christ, versus attacking, separating – maintaining a standard of Holiness, but engaged with people.

Acts 1: 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James [the son] of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas [the son] of James. 14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with [the] women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

After the final instruction – their response is interesting. They come together for prayer. I think He is communicating that – you know, when it comes to doing spiritual work for God’s kingdom, it requires God. Our avenue to get God involved with what we are doing is prayer. For the disciples, prayer is an incredible part of their lives. They gathered for prayer – joining together and making prayer a priority, because they understood that it was up to God – You can tell how much you are relying on God by how much you pray. God is the one that matters in your commitment to prayer.

Father, thank You – we ask You to help us. Help us to move forward – that our focus and concentration would not be on the past, nor overly concerned about what is going on in the world today – to not be worried, stressed, or fearful, but to recognize that You have given us a job and the power to accomplish it. Help us to commit to that work – forgetting what lies behind and pressing to what is ahead. Amen