Have you ever felt the weight of a significant responsibility that changed your perspective forever? This powerful moment resonates deeply with Pastor Jeff's stirring message on the mission entrusted to us by Jesus Christ. As we embark on a new series titled "Clarify the Call," Pastor Jeff draws us into Acts 1, where we learn that Christ not only completed His work on earth but also empowered us through the Holy Spirit to carry forth His mission. This isn't merely a call to share information; it's a divine entrustment to embody the Gospel in every aspect of our lives.
Sermon Transcript
Well, good morning. Will you help me welcome all of our brave campuses that are worshiping with us today? Great to worship with all of you. And as we continue our worship, let's prepare our hearts for the living and active word of God that we're about ready to hear. Would you pray with me?
Our Father in Heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise. Lord, what a privilege it is to gather with your people to celebrate you. Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for the gift of your son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and rose victoriously from the grave. We thank you for the Holy Spirit that indwells all of our hearts who believe.
And we thank you for his convicting work in us to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. Lord, we're encouraged this morning to be with your people and we're certainly encouraged to hear your word, Lord, because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now, for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word Amen. Amen.
Have you ever been entrusted with something so valuable that you immediately felt the weight of that responsibility? Perhaps you've been in a job where all of a sudden you've been looking forward to promotion and then you get the promotion and now you're in charge of a group of people that you were part of before and you immediately begin to feel the weight of that responsibility. Or maybe you were a second or third string player on a team and you got promoted to be the starter and now all the responsibility is on you for that position. Or maybe in life for the first time you were entrusted with keys maybe to a car that you'd wanted to have, or maybe to your first home that you needed in. Once you got in there, you realize there's a lot of responsibility that comes with this.
Or how about personally after you said your I dos and you realize there's a lot of responsibility that comes with being a wife or a husband. Or how about this one for those of you who are parents, what about when you held your child for the first time and as you've been looking forward to that child, you thought, hey, can't wait till he or she is here. And then you're holding them. And then you begin to think as a parent for the first time, how in the world am I going to take care of this child? There's no way I'm qualified for what I've been entrusted with.
Friends, Jesus Christ entrusted us with the mission of the gospel, and that is the heaviest weight of responsibility that we could ever have. He not only stayed on the earth, he ascended into heaven and gave us the responsibility for all of that mission. And if you really understand the gravity of that and you feel the weight of that, and that will change the course of every step you take from here going forward. In the next few weeks, we're going to be doing a series called Clarify the Call. We're going to be in Acts chapter one and Acts Chapter two.
As we walk through that series. And really what we're trying to do is clarify, if God's really saved us, what did he save us for? If God's really making us born again and calling us into his family, what's that family for? And what is God trying to accomplish and what's he trying to do, and how do I fit into that? And so today, to start that series, we're going to clarify the mission.
What is the mission? What are we supposed to be doing? Because anything that you would sign up for, whether it's a sports team or a drama team that you're a part of, or to be a teacher at a school or to join the military, whatever you sign up, there's a mission or assignment that's involved. And the clearer that is, the more you're going to understand your responsibility. So today I wanted to clarify the mission, that of the church of Jesus Christ and what the Gospel is all about.
So if you'd open your Bible up to Acts, chapter one, we're going to be in the first 11 verses this morning of that book. And as we do that, then once we've read this together, I'll give you four truths about the work of the mission of Christ. Here's what he says. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven after he had, by the Holy Spirit, given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days.
And speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God, gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which he said, you have heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when he. When they had come together, they were asking him, saying, lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, and it's not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority.
But you will 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. And after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?
This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. And so here, as this book is being written by Luke, we're seeing exactly what the mission should look like. And it's imperative for us to understand if this is your first time ever in church, or if you've come to church for 50 years, what in the world are we doing here? What is the purpose of all of this gathering? Why would we do this?
And this section of Scripture answers that question for us. And so I'm going to give you four truths about this work, about the mission of the Gospel and what Jesus wants us to do. And if you understand these four truths, they will change the course trajectory of your life. And the first thing you need to understand when it comes to the work of the mission, as we clarify it, is that Jesus finished the work. Jesus Christ finished the work.
Make no mistake about it. He says to you in the first chapter, the first account, I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. This is Luke writing this book. He's writing to Theophilus, who's a man that he's is entrusted him with the writing of this word. He says, I've written the first account.
That's Luke 24, chapters one to 24. I wrote that to tell you all that Jesus began to do and teach until he went up to heaven. Acts is Luke chapter two. Acts is after Jesus ascended, all that Jesus continued to do through his church, from heaven to through his people. That's what the book of Acts is all about.
So both of those are a companion series. Luke is the prequel to Acts and so this is what we see. And he's writing, and he's saying this until the day when he was taken up into heaven after he had, by the Holy Spirit, given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. Well, what orders did he give to the apostles? If you turn in your Bible back to the end of Luke In Luke, chapter 24, verses 46 and following, as he opened their mind to understand the Scriptures after He had been risen from the dead, he said to them, thus it is written that Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day.
He told them, the most significant thing that you need to understand is my death, burial, and resurrection. And so he reaffirmed that that was what had happened and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem. So he says that the truth of this is going to be proclaimed in every nation and so that people can repent of their sins and trust in My shed blood for their forgiveness. And this is going to start in Jerusalem. And then he says this.
You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you, which is the Holy Spirit, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power on high. Those were the instructions that he had given to them. And then as we get to verse three in Acts, chapter one, it says this to these, that's his 11. He also presented himself alive after his suffering.
Can we just pause for a minute? When someone dies, they're dead. Jesus, when he died, rose and then showed himself to all of those who said, we saw you die. That's impressive. Now, when we're in church, we forget just how impressive that is, right?
I've officiated a number of funerals, been to a number of funerals. Nobody's ever got up out of the casket and said, just want you to know, I overcame death. Never happened, never will. Jesus Christ is the only one. That's why he's the way, the truth, and the life.
And no one comes to the Father except through Him. If you want to trust in someone that can give you life, you have to go to the one who's alive. Jesus is the only one who's conquered death ever. Okay, so this is what he does. He goes to his disciples.
He shows himself. And notice what he says. He presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days. And speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. So what were some of his convincing Proofs.
Well, you remember one of his disciples, Thomas, when the other 10 had said, he's risen from the dead, he's like, well, unless I could put my hands in the marks on his hands, unless I could put my hand in his side, I'm not believing. So a week later, Jesus comes through the wall and said, thomas, I hear you've been having some doubts. Why don't you place your hands in my hands? Why don't you touch my side? Stop doubting and believe.
That's a convincing proof. Meeting them on the beach, having breakfast together as they have fish on the beach, that was a convincing proof. But Jesus not only showed himself to the 11, which would be proof enough. We know from the history of what those 11 did subsequent to him. Showing his himself was significant proof that Jesus rose from the dead.
These were 11 men that were scared for their lives, that were no longer scared for their lives. As a matter of fact, they didn't even care if you punished them, beat them, or killed them. All they cared about was the fact that they could tell everybody that we followed the Messiah. You killed him. He's been raised from the dead.
We're going to proclaim him. He's the only way of salvation. You can do to us whatever you want. But we can't stop talking about what we've heard or seen. So their testimony was evident.
But they weren't the only ones that saw Jesus. Notice in First Corinthians, chapter 15, starting in verse 3, where Paul says, for I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Then it says this and that. He appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. Now watch this.
After that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain till now, but some have fallen asleep. So one time he appeared to 500 people at the same time to say, I told you, I conquered death. I mean, there's so much evidence that Jesus went through to prove I am the Son of God. I told you what I was gonna do. I did everything I was gonna do, and you can see it with your own eyes.
Take that in comparison to something like Mormonism, where you have a guy in the 1800s named Joseph Smith that claims that he was out in the woods when the angel Moroni appeared to him and gave him these gold tablets. And he's the only one that can interpret them, and so therefore made the Book of Mormon and nobody else saw it and nobody else heard. And oh by the way, in case you want to trust this guy, he had about 30 some wives, some of them were as young as 14. He's a total pedophile and polygamist and that is Mormonism. That's how it all got started.
Even the Smithsonian Institute won't give any credibility to it. Or take Islam, same thing 600 years after Jesus. Muhammad claims that an angel appeared to him and gave him revelation that nobody ever heard and that he wrote it all down so that you know what Islam is in the Quran. I mean come on, please. This book called the Bible written over 1400 years by over 40 different authors all living in different places, many of them didn't even know who each other was.
Many of them at different times. And everything syncs perfectly and talks about Jesus. There's so much evidence. I want to tell you if you're here as a skeptic and you have an open heart and say if God really is real and if Jesus really is real, I want to know that he died and rose. The evidence is overwhelming for you.
It's only the hard hearted that the Bible calls a fool. Only the fool in his heart says there is no God. Fool doesn't mean uneducated. Fool means hard hearted. You have to turn off your heart to not believe what Jesus is and who he is.
He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords. And at the name of Jesus every knee in heaven and on the earth and under the earth will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Everybody, everybody. Amen.
And we need to understand that Jesus finished the work. When Jesus was hanging on the CROSS In John 1930, what did he say? It is finished. Tetelestai. It's done.
It's paid in full. Jesus didn't go down and fight the devil for three days. And they had this big battle to see who would win. It was done on the cross. The wrath of God was satisfied on the cross it's done.
The work is done. And then Jesus rose from the dead three days later to validate. I told you I'm the son of God. I did what I said I was going to do. I took the wrath and I overcame death.
And now in me you can overcome death too. He is the way, the truth and the life. And no one, but no one, but no one comes to the Father except through him. There is no other way. There is no other way.
All other religions are false. All other Religions fall short because I'm not proclaiming a religion. I'm proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ, God's one and only Son who died for you and rose from the dead. That's it. There is no other way.
And the work is finished. When it comes to the completion of salvation, you can't add to it. You can't save anybody. I can't save anybody. Jesus Christ did all the work.
Jesus Christ took all the wrath. Jesus Christ is the one who extends all forgiveness and mercy and grace. Jesus Christ is the one who's coming back to judge this world. So when we understand the mission and we're clear on it, we realize that Jesus Christ finished the work. In Hebrews 1:3, it says that after making purification of sins, he sat down.
He sat down. He's finished. It's done. The gospel's over. There's only one way you can truly find life, and that's in Jesus Christ.
And he already did everything he always said he was going to do. It's completed. The cross secured our salvation. The resurrection confirmed our victory. But the mission doesn't just end with the resurrection.
It's just the beginning. Because what we see here is that Jesus was now passing the baton to them. He told them in John's gospel, chapter 16, it's good for you that I'm going away, for if I go away, I will have the Father send another, the Holy Spirit of truth. They didn't want Jesus to go away. But what he was saying was, everything I did on the earth, he said in John 14, you'll do.
You'll do even greater things than these, because I'm going to the Father. What he was saying was, everything you saw me do, everything you saw me teach, I'm still gonna do all that. I'm gonna do it from heaven through you, and the Holy Spirit's gonna do it. So what is this whole text about? He's passing the baton.
He's passing the baton. He's like, now you go run with it. And like any relay race, it's only as good as the person who can take the baton and then go and continue to run. So in the same way that Jesus was doing the. The mission, what are we entrusted with?
The same mission. What mission? The work that he completed. The fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the fact that the word of God is true, the fact that he is the way, the truth and life. And no one comes to the Father except through Him.
Which means this. It's not dependent upon any one person. You know why? Because all the apostles are dead. It didn't stop with Jesus.
It didn't stop with them. Why? Because every generation keeps passing the baton and keeps passing the baton. God is not dependent upon any one person or group of people. Night that God was up in heaven and he was biting his nails, he's like, can't wait till 2025 when Brave Church is here.
I'm really going to be able to get. He's never been dependent on anybody, but his eyes are looking to and fro throughout the world to see whose heart is completely his. And when he has a group of people who are aligned, he does pour his Spirit out in great measure. Amen. But isn't it true one day we're all going to pass the baton?
I don't know when I'm going to pass the baton someday. I mean, I'll pass the baton to this church. I'll pass the baton of the gospel. Somebody else is going to take it. Maybe it's going to be by my choice in a transition plan, or maybe God's just going to take me out of the world and I'm passing it.
We don't know, but you're going to pass it. How are we doing in passing the baton of the gospel? How are we doing raising up the next generation? Because if Jesus finished the work, then we need to understand the second point. And the second point is this.
Not only did Jesus finish the work, but the Spirit fuels the work. The Spirit of God is the fuel for the work. The Holy Spirit, because notice what he says. Gathering them together. He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem.
You see how this is a companion series with the end of Luke saying the same thing. Picking up where he left off, but to wait for what the Father has promised, which he said, you have heard from me because I've been telling you I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit of promise. I've been telling you he's coming. I've been telling you it's good that I'm going away. I'm telling you.
Here he comes. For John, baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Now, John's baptism was a baptism in water, preparing the way of the Lord. It was outward and physical. It was baptism in water.
The Holy Spirit's baptism is inward and spiritual. For the first time in the history of the world, believers were going to be able to be indwelled by the presence of God through the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is what places you into the Family of God. And along with that, you're indwelled by his Spirit. And the Bible says in Romans 8, 9, if you do not have the spirit of Christ, guess what?
You're not of Christ. Every born again believer has the spirit of God in them. And Jesus was telling him the Holy Spirit's coming. Just wait, you're going to experience something no other dispensation has. King David didn't have the dispensation of the Holy Spirit in him.
That's why when he was praying his prayer of repentance, what did he pray? Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me. Why? Because the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament would come on people and lead people and come on people and lead people. From this point on, when the baptism of the Holy Spirit comes, when the Holy Spirit indwells you and seals you and marks you, you are his forever.
He will never leave or forsake you. Amen. And it's special. It's special because now not only do we have the the Word of God, but the Holy Spirit wrote the Word of God. Now we have the one who wrote the Word of God living inside of us, who can teach us the Word of God.
About the Word of God that we're reading. It's amazing. So you have a guide on the inside, but it's not just any guide, it's God. No other religion claims that. Islam doesn't claim that Muhammad comes to live inside of you or Allah comes to live inside of you.
Mormonism doesn't claim that the angel Moroni comes. Nobody else makes that claim. Jesus says the Holy Spirit's going to come baptize you. He's going to indwell you, he's going to seal you, he's going to mark you. You can be filled with him, you can be used of him.
But make no mistake about it, it's the Holy Spirit that fuels the work. Now just talk a little bit about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We'll talk about it in the coming weeks in a little more detail. But notice what he says in First Corinthians 12:13. He says, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we were all made to drink of one spirit.
In case you're wondering, do I have the baptism of the Spirit? If you are born again, you've been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the family of God. Now we can talk about the filling of the Spirit and different experiences that can happen and all those different things. But the baptism of The Spirit is when the Holy Spirit immerses your life and puts you into the family of God. You are in Christ.
You have the Holy Spirit. That's why you must be born again. I mean, let's be clear on salvation. Salvation is not just believing facts that Jesus died and rose from the dead. The devil believes that Jesus died and rose from the dead.
Many people around the world, historically, well, I guess he probably died and rose from dead. That's not the gospel. The gospel is believing that Jesus is God's one and only son who died on the cross and here's why. He died for all your sins and he took the wrath of God on the cross because you're a sinner who's already dead and already on your way to hell. And there's nothing you can do to get closer to God.
You can't do enough religion, you can't join enough groups, you can't be philanthropic enough. You have to realize you're dead and on your way to hell. And you have been from the time you breathed your first breath. But Jesus died to take the penalty for you and rose from the dead to offer life to anybody who would come to the end of themselves and realize, that's me. I'm not going to make it, that I'm not going to get there.
And I repent God for my sins and I trust you for all your forgiveness. And when that happens, you're born again. And when you're born again, you have the spirit of God. And one of the reasons you know you have the spirit of God is you can't sin the same sins you sinned before and feel as good about them. You may be able to send some of the same sins, but you're like, I don't like this anymore.
It doesn't feel good. Or I feel like I'm so convicted now. I didn't. I used to enjoy this and now I feel really bad all the time about it. Why?
Because the Holy Spirit's inside of you and you're grieving the Holy Spirit. Amen. But make no mistake about it, the Holy Spirit is the one who fuels the work. Even in Zechariah 4. 6, he says, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit.
Here's what we need to understand. Sometimes when we think about the mission, we think, if it's going to be, it's up to me. I gotta do this. I gotta work for God. I gotta.
He doesn't need you. You're not all that great. Matter of fact, Jesus said, apart from Me, you can do nothing. So it's not up to you. It's not your best efforts and not your strategy and not your pastor's preaching.
It's none of that. It's the spirit of God that works through you to get the work done, which means we have to live surrendered and dependent so that the Holy Spirit can have his way with us. Amen. And the Holy Spirit wants to use each and every one of your lives. The Holy Spirit wants to come in and lead and guide in every single way.
The challenge is not the Holy Spirit. Oftentimes the challenge is us. Because we'll say things like this, God, you can have every area of my life except for that. And we don't usually say that out loud. We just don't pray about our marriage, or we don't pray about our dating life, or we don't pray about our job, or we don't pray about where we live, because that's our business.
Where I go on vacation, that's my business. How I spend my money, that's my business. Anything in your life that you say is your business and it's not God's business is a way that you're grieving. The Holy Spirit, it's all his business. He gave everything to save you.
How could you keep anything from Him? Amen. And so the Holy Spirit is the one that wants to work in and through you. And the Bible says that when we're rightly related to God, that streams of living water will flow through us. And there's something different about somebody that's skilled versus somebody that's filled.
Right? When somebody's filled with the Spirit, whether they're an encourager, whether they're a preacher, whether they're generous giver, when they're filled with the Spirit and it comes out of them, it's just different than when somebody is using their own efforts. God uses that in powerful ways. So again, think about this mission before we get to point three. It's already completed.
Jesus did it. He's the one in heaven that's interceding. The Father's the one who sent the Spirit inside every believer. The Holy Spirit's the fuel to get it all done. So even that, not up to us, right?
You have to understand that if we're gonna get to point three, because it's kind of like your phone that you have is only as good as the power that's in it. You ever been on a phone? Like, I got like 2% left. You better hurry up, because, you know, when it hits One and goes done. It turns black and it's no good, no matter how much you spend for it.
Your vehicle is only as good for how well it's fueled. You can spend 200. I learned you can spend like $250,000 on a vehicle. You can spend that on a vehicle, but if it's not fueled, it doesn't matter. It can be great to sit in, it can be good to take pictures of and talk about, but it doesn't do anything unless it's fueled in the same way.
Churches are ineffective if they're not being fueled by the Spirit. You can have religious gatherings, you can go through religious activities, you can do religious things. And there's no work of the Spirit. There's no transformation in the lives of believers. There's no non believers getting saved.
There's nobody that's growing in Christ. But we do all some of the same religious activity. Why? Because we're not filled with the Spirit. We're not yielding to the Spirit.
In order to be used fully by the Lord, we need to be yielded to the Spirit. And you say, well, that sounds really hard. It's not. Being yielded to the Spirit is like driving a car when it's full of fuel versus pushing it. Well, just getting gas is so expensive these days.
I'm just going to push my car. You would never say that. It's going to cost me too much. No, it doesn't cost you. And oh, by the way, if you open up the entirety of your heart to the Lord, even in the areas that you're uncomfortable with him touching, even in the areas that you would say, I've never let anybody in here.
Even in the areas that say, that's too dark. Or even in the areas you say, I'm a little embarrassed about that. If you're willing to open up your heart, what you'll discover is that Jesus loves you and he can meet you in those places and change you in those places in ways that you trying to change yourself can never, ever happen. If you come to church with a desire to change, that's a good thing. But if you come to church with a desire to change yourself, you can't.
If you come to church with a desire to say, Lord, anywhere in my life that I'm holding back, I'll allow you to change me. That's where you're going to see massive transformation. And when you do, you'll look back and you'll realize, has nothing to do with me. It was all him, because I wouldn't handle it. That way.
That's the spirit of God in me. Amen. So the mission that we're talking about can't be done in the strength of man. It has to be only done without the Holy Spirit. Without him, we're just busy and ineffective.
And there's a lot of places where people give up and talk strategy and talk vision and talk excitement and talk entertainment and talk programs. And God doesn't bless any of that stuff. God blesses himself. And to the extent that we're aligned with the Spirit of God is where God can continue to use us. Amen.
So keep those two in mind. Jesus finished the work, the Spirit fuels the work. But now we get to point three, which is this. You carry the work. You carry the work.
Notice what he says. So when they had come together, they were asking him, now what would you be asking Jesus? If you'd spent three years with Jesus, you would probably be asking him the questions about what you think was going to happen next, right? I mean, what are they going to ask him? They've spent three years with him.
He told him he was going to die at least three different times and rise from the dead. And they still didn't understand what he was talking about. Now he's risen from the dead. Convincing proofs. They've been together for 40 days talking about the kingdom and now they're all together again right before Jesus ascends.
And so they're going to ask him a question. Notice what the question is. Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? Why would they ask that question? Because they know that Jesus is going to restore the kingdom to Israel.
Make no mistake about it. In our anti Semitic rhetoric all over the planet and even some well meaning Christians don't believe that God has a plan for the nation of Israel. He's got a plan for the nation of Israel. They're hard hearted at this time. It doesn't mean everything that the Jews decide is a good decision.
It doesn't mean that God's pleased Jews must repent and believe in order to be born again. But there is for national Israel, a day coming. You can read it in Romans 9, 10 and 11 where God is going to redeem Israel and bring them back in. That's going to happen. So they're asking, is it now you're going to do that?
Because all our Old Testament scriptures talk about you're going to come and rule on this planet. And what's Jesus say? He doesn't say, well that's stupid. I'm never going to do that. That's not what he says.
He says it's not for, you know, the times and epochs that have been set by the Father. Father's told me. I know when it is. That's not what I want you to worry about. That's going to happen.
Now we know when that's going to happen. That's going to happen. The millennial reign of Christ, when Jesus comes back and reigns on this earth for a thousand years, when Israel is restored, and all the things that God promised to Israel in the Old Testament, he's going to deliver because God's faithful to all of his Word. Amen. But that's what they're asking.
Is it now? Like, because we're ready to go, like James and John. I mean, their mom. Hey. 1 sit on your right.
1 sit on your left. Hey, we're ready for the kingdom. I mean, who's ready for the kingdom? I mean, for heaven's sake, we're ready for the kingdom. They were ready for the kingdom.
And Jesus says, not for you to know, but it's been fixed by its Father's own authority. But here's what you do need to know. But you will 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 parts of the earth. Don't concern yourself with when.
Here's what I want you to focus on. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you'll receive power. Now, a lot of preachers make a big deal about this. And people that don't even know Greek will say it comes from the word Dunamis, which is where we get our word. Dynamite.
And it's all that stuff. Don't even worry about that. What it means is this your inability. You now have capability because of the Holy Spirit living inside of you. What you wouldn't be able to do before, now you're going to be able to do because the Holy Spirit's inside of you.
Everything that Jesus commands is possible for you because the Holy Spirit's inside of you. It's not possible for you because of you and how talented you are. But with the Holy Spirit inside of you, everything that God requires, everything that God asks, anything God would ask you to do. He's like, you're capable now because I'm the one doing it through you. Amen.
So he says. So focus on that, on this power you're going to receive when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And notice what He Says you shall be whose witnesses? My witnesses. Now, this word witness comes from the word martyreo, which is where we get our word martyr, which means it's more than just watching something.
It means we're bearing witness to something. It means we're living in such a way that we are witnesses of Christ in the way that we live and in what we do. Which means when you read through the book of Acts and you see Stephen get martyred, he was bearing witness. He was Jesus witness. When you see Paul proclaim the gospel, he's Jesus witness.
When Peter's proclaiming the gospel, he's Jesus witness. Guess what? You are. You're his witness. Your life is bearing testimony as a living body, as a man, woman, boy or girl, as to what it looks like to be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why? Because he's entrusted the mission to you. I mean, you think about this for a second. I mean, think about the people you would trust to run your family, to run your business, to run your finances. I mean, for some, you're like, I can't think of anybody I'd want to do any of that stuff.
Jesus is saying the most important mission on the planet is the salvation of souls and the edification of the saints. And guess what? I'm going to entrust you to do that. If you don't feel gravity and weight on that, you don't understand what I'm saying. As he spent 40 days talking to them about the kingdom.
Like, even when we pray, what do we pray? Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Then what? Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
What are we praying? Lord, bring your kingdom. Jesus, get back here now. We need you. Our world is in desperate shape.
Come set up your kingdom. But until you get here, let me live the kingdom, principles and values in my life so that everyone around me gets a taste of what heaven is like. That's what we're praying. So let me be clear on something. I'm going to be clear on three different words.
The Gospel, the kingdom and the church. Gospel, the kingdom and the church. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. God put Jesus on the cross so that God could look at Jesus like he looks at you and all your sin and punish him that way and then turn around and look at us like he looks at Jesus, completely righteous.
That's the gospel. And through repentance and faith, we've received all forgiveness, all mercy, all grace, forever and ever. Amen. It's completely paid for. So I want to be clear on something.
If you are a believer in Christ, God will never put your sins up on a big screen like that when you get to heaven. Or those two or three things that you're ultra shamed about. Like, I'm gonna get to heaven. I know I'm forgiven, but he's probably gonna run through my life and everybody's gonna see. They're not gonna see anything.
It's all covered by the blood. It's covered, it's cleansed, it's done. That was taken care of on the cross now. But here, Christian, is what you need to be realizing you're responsible for how well you do with the mission. When you get to heaven, you're not judged for your sin.
You're already welcome. Where we're judged is for our work. How well did we use everything entrusted to us to advance God's kingdom? Now you ask, well, what's God's kingdom? God's kingdom is simply this.
It's the visible demonstration of Christ's authority over every area of your life. The visible demonstration of Christ's authority over every area of your life. If you're single, it's the visible demonstration of Christ's authority over your dating life. That when you date, you date differently because you know Christ. If you're married, it's the demonstration of the visible demonstration of Christ's authority over your marriage.
This is what it looks like to be a husband loves my wife. This is what it looks like to be a wife that submits to my husband. If you're talking about your finances, it's a visible demonstration of Christ's authority over my finances. Here's what it looks like to tithe. Here's what it looks like to save.
Here's what it looks like to steward. Well, here's what it looks like to live below my means, because that's Christ's authority in my life. It means every area in your life is under his lordship.
So that's what we're judged on. So it's me telling you, I'm not chastising you or anything like that. I'm just telling you, when you meet Jesus, he's going to welcome you home. He's going to present you faultless before the Father. What he's going to judge you on is how well did you do with everything I entrusted to you.
How well did you do with the Gospel telling other people about me? How well did you do living out kingdom principles? So the Gospel is Christ dying, rising for our sin once and for all. The Kingdom is the visible demonstration of Christ's authority in all areas of our life. Then what's the church?
What's the Church like? Why would we even gather? The church is God's called who are born again, who gather to carry out his mission to advance the kingdom through his church with the Gospel. Friends, it's not about this building. We've met in many different buildings since we were brave church.
It's not about the building, it's not about the seat, it's not about the location. It's about the visible manifestation of Christ's presence among brothers and sisters in Christ who want to honor God and stay on mission. Which means when I'm coming to church, I am learning how to live out kingdom principles and the Kingdom agenda in my life in such a way that when I leave here, I stay, speak it and I live it in a way that's compelling, in a way that looks very, very different than our dead world lives. Right? If I'm a Kingdom man, my marriage is going to look different than somebody that's not a Christian.
If I'm a Kingdom woman, my marriage is going to look different than somebody who's not a Christian. If I'm dating people, it's going to look night and day different than what the world says. Everything about my life is going to look different. Here's the question, Christian. And this is where it's rhetorical, but it's personal.
So it's rhetorical in the sense you don't need to answer back to me, but it's personal in the sense that God's the one that's asking you this. Think about this. God the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Jesus Christ came and died for your sins and rose from the dead. Jesus Christ ascended back into heaven.
Jesus Christ is now looking down saying, I saved you. I gave you everything you would ever need for all eternity. I put my Holy Spirit in you. I sealed you. No matter what you do, you belong to me and I'll never stop loving you.
I. Is there anything in your life that you're unwilling to give to me? And if so, why? I mean, just think about this. Here's the rhetorical question.
If everybody served like you served, how would the Kingdom be doing? If everybody gave like you gave, how would the Kingdom be doing if everyone lived in their marriage like you live in your marriage, how would the kingdom be doing? If everyone dated like you date? How would the kingdom be doing? If everybody went to work like you go to work, how would the kingdom be doing?
I mean, at the end of the day, you have to realize that some of us don't realize that we're on the mission team like we gather because God wants us to come together to edify each other and build each other up. Here's a question. How well are you serving your local church because God, through his Holy Spirit, gifted you to do something in your local church? And if you're not doing that, he's looking down from heaven like, I made a deposit in your life. I mean, one of the reasons that God used circumstances in my life to call me to be a pastor is I did evangelism all the time.
And people would come down the aisle crying, you know, screaming tears, and became believers. But. And that never gets old. But what got old is I didn't know where to send them so they could grow up in the faith. I didn't know what churches to send them to.
I didn't know how we could walk alongside of them. And I started thinking, if God would have given each one of them a million dollars or a billion dollars and said, be good with it, but we didn't teach him how to use that. That would be financial mismanagement. He's entrusted you with something far more than a billion dollars. He put his Holy Spirit inside of you, and he gifted you for greatness, and he wants you to use that.
So you can ask yourself the question, Lord, is there any area I could serve more faithfully for you? Lord, is there any other area where I could get more connected to other Christians that I'm not doing? Lord, is there anything in my life that's hindering your work in and through me? Lord, am I just afraid to speak outside these walls because of what might happen to me? Lord, I just want you to know every area of my life is yours.
It's on display for you to use. And anything you want to do and anything you want to change, I'm willing to do that. You start praying that prayer, it will change the trajectory of your life. I was born in this country. I love this country.
Do you guys love this country? I love this country.
But I'm also aware from traveling around the world, just some of the things that our country teaches us, and what it teaches us is that we need to go after and get what we need out of life. So you pick where you're going to go to college, and you pick who you're going to marry, and you pick when you're going to have kids, and you decide where you're going to live, and you decide how you're going to spend your money, and you decide where you're going to go on vacations. And you, and you. And you get to pick and you get. And none of that's true because once you become a believer, it's like, I don't get to choose anymore.
Lord, what do you want me to do with my life, Lord? Where do you want me to live, Lord? How do you want me to serve, Lord? What income do you want me to make? And when I make that income, how do you want me to use it?
And Lord, it's all for your glory. So it doesn't really matter anyway, because when I meet you face to face, I want to know that I surrender to your will, not to mine. And here's the problem. If you bring American values into the gospel and try to blend them, they don't blend. And many of us have this.
I love Jesus, but I know where I'm going to college. I love Jesus. I know the job I'm gonna get. I love Jesus, but this is who I'm gonna marry. I love Jesus, but this is the kids I'm gonna have.
This is the way we're gonna raise them. And then you get to be my age and you realize you've wasted 40 or 50 years of your life when you could have just been doing it God's way all along. And I can tell you this, God's way is the most satisfying way because he's the One that created you and he's the one that designed you. And he's the one that knows what thrills you. And when you're surrendered to him, it doesn't mean everything is just roses and lollipops.
It just means this. It means if you walk his way, you are going to be the most filled that you can possibly be in Jesus. And that's what he wants for your life. Because you hold the mission. You hold the mission.
You're entrusted to carry that work. And you don't even realize how effective you can be. You know, 2 Corinthians 5, 20 says that we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God is making his appeal through us. Therefore, we urge you be reconciled to God. God's using you as his ambassador.
You're his chosen ambassador on this planet until he gets back here. We know The Great Commission from Matthew 28. Go therefore, and make disciples. We know From Romans, chapter 10, verses 14 and 15. How will they call on him whom they have have not believed?
And how will they believe in him who they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? Just as is it. Just as it is written.
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. Friends, I've talked to a number of people over the last 35 years. Most people tell me I'm not an evangelist. I'm not good at it. I never see fruit.
I never do. You don't know that. Like what you think evangelism is, is Billy Graham, Billy Sunday Deal Moody, all these people that when they have crusades, hundreds come to Christ. What you don't realize is the reason that hundreds and thousands of people are coming to Christ is because of lots of seed sowers and people that watered the ground. For an evangelist to come along and do that.
Amen. You don't know your efforts. And I do know this. The word of God never returns void. So speak the gospel.
Even if you don't see the fruit, you'll see the fruit later. And by the way, when we get to heaven, it's not like Billy Graham gets extra medals and all this. I mean, everybody that was praying and everybody that was sharing all the seeds, we celebrate together that Jesus. Jesus saved people. Amen.
And that's what's important. And you need to understand that God will use you no matter who you are, no matter what you do, no matter how you're gifted, if you're involved with him and you're involved in the lives of other people. Amen. Jesus didn't suggest being a witness. He said, you are my witnesses.
You're bearing witness to him right now, whether for good or bad. You're his witness. You're his plan A for the gospel. There is no plan B. I mean, some of you don't even know who Edward Kimball is. I bet you know who Edward Kimball is.
Maybe very few of you know who Edward Kimball is. He's just an ordinary Sunday school teacher who happened to walk into a shoe store one day and shared the gospel with a young man who got saved by the name of D.L. moody. And D.L. moody went on to become one of the world's greatest evangelists and led hundreds of thousands of people to Jesus.
More personally, you guys don't know who Gordy Smith is. Gordy Smith, when I was 18 years old, was the weird 30 year old that I didn't think had a real job that used to come to my high school and hang out with high school students and tried to get to know me. And I was like, who is this weird guy? Tried to invite me to Young Life Clubs all the time. Like, I'm not going to that religion thing.
I went to a Lutheran grade school. I know all that. And came to my house and convinced me and my parents to send me this camp. And I went because they had parasailing and water skiing. And about an hour into the trip, on this bus ride of 12 hours, I realized I'd been totally duped.
I was with all these kids I didn't know. I'm like, I don't know how I got in here. And I was mad that I even went. But that was the week that I got there where Jesus Christ made himself real to me. And I realized, see, I thought I was doubly saved because I went to a Methodist church and a Lutheran school.
So I had, like, double confirmation. And I realized there I was, dead in my sins and I didn't know Christ. And I remember when they gave the opportunity to stand to your feet if you want to receive Jesus at the end of the week. I think I was the first kid up in the whole camp that, like, jumped to my feet. I'm like, me, I want him.
And that began to change my life. So I'm grateful for Gordy Smith. You just don't know what you're doing. Moms, dads, singles. You don't know the people you're having impact with.
You don't understand the seeds that you're sowing. If you're faithful to God and you're faithful to what he calls you to do, and you're just a willing witness, God will use it for greatness. And the good news is you don't have to make up this gospel. You don't have to be, like, a great salesman. You don't.
You just have to know all I know Jesus died for my sins, and he rose from the dead. That's about the far as my theology get. That's fine. He'll use it. Remember in John 9, they were testing the guy that Jesus healed from blindness?
You're saying Jesus is the Christ. He's like, I don't know. All I know, I was blind. Now I see he did it right. That's a testimony.
You don't have to be colloquial with your words. You don't have to be able to do everything. Just tell your story. Tell them about Jesus and God will use it. I mean, I think like.
I think we're kind of like Amazon delivery drivers. You know what they're like. They don't make any products. They don't create any products. All they're done.
All they do is, hey, this was ordered to go deliver it over there. And they go do it. And that's why I hate this question. Just so you know. What about Pastor Jeff?
You really believe Jesus is the only way? Yes, I do. Because the Bible teaches that. And you believe that anybody that doesn't profess Christ before they die is going to hell? Yes, I do.
That's what the Bible teaches. Pastor Jeff. Then what about the migrant farmer in Africa? And when people ask that, here's what they're asking. You are trying to say that God's loving but would let people go to hell.
That's the wrong question. If you really care about the migrant farmer in Africa, then move there and share the gospel with them because Jesus has entrusted you with the mission. Maybe he's opened your eyes to that. I mean, what you don't realize maybe about me is that when I was single and I was praying about where God wanted me to go, I was like, God, I'll go anywhere in the world. I was praying one time about Yemen.
I didn't even know if I could find Yemen on a map at the time. I was praying, I'll go there. I'll go anywhere you want me to go. I'm good at languages. I can speak.
I can learn people. I'll go anywhere. And the Lord was so crystal clear to me through the book of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. No, you're going to go back to your own people and you're going to preach to them and you're going to call them to repent. You're going to send them around the world.
And I remember thinking, man, I don't want to do that. I want to be, like, out there, Right? So listen, whatever God's called you to do, just do. You can be a witness right where you're at, Bloom, where you're planted. You don't have to move around the world.
But for some of you, there'll be a stirring in your heart that's so great for some people group. You're like, how could I not go? How could I not share? How could I really believe that Jesus died for me and not let them know? I mean, that's how you would live.
And if you really understood the realities of heaven and hell, which we do in our head, but we've never seen it visibly. And you got to see what it was like every single day with somebody going into a crisis, eternity. It would wreck you. And what you have to realize is the majority of your family and friends, that's exactly what they face unless they're born again. And we.
We smooth that over like, well, they've been going to church. Well, they're good people. Well, yeah, but if they're not repentant and believe that Jesus is the only way and have confessed them as their Lord and Savior, that's not where they're going. They're not going the same place you are. And it should break your heart.
It should break your heart because you've been entrusted with this work. And the longer you've been entrusted with the work and the longer you walk in this work, the more painful it can become sometimes to see the massive amount of people that don't know Christ. And it should never give you a thrill like, well, they're going to find out some. No, no, no, no, no. They need to hear about Jesus, and you're the way they can hear about Him.
Amen. So let me give you the final one. If you really believe Jesus completed the work and the Spirit fuels the work and that you carry the work, then here's the final exhortation. Time is short, so get to work. Time is short, so get to work.
Church is not a spectator sport. It's a battleground against the forces of darkness. You got to realize, every time we get together to preach the Word and every time we come here, demons show up. We believe, too. I think it's Ephesians 3, 10 talks about that.
They kind of watch what's going on. Do these people really believe it? I mean, we're giving testimony to the demonic in the heavenly places right now that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen. But time is short, so.
So get to work. Notice what. Notice what happens here. He says in verse nine, after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. That's pretty amazing.
And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going up, two men stood in dazzling or white clothing. Beside them, two angels. They also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? I know what my answer would have been, because I've never seen somebody go up into the sky. That would have been my answer.
I mean, it's pretty amazing. But what they're saying is, why are you looking at this, this Jesus who has Been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. He was saying this, quit looking there and start looking out here and go get to work. The fields are white. Unto harvest.
Everything that Jesus taught you for the last three years, he was telling them, now go do. Revelation 22, verse 12 says, Behold, I'm coming quickly. Ephesians 5 says, make the most of your time because of the days are evil. Ephesians 2:10 says, where is workmanship? 1st Peter 3:15 says, Always be ready to give a defense for the answer that you have within you.
I mean, time is short. I mean, for some of us, if you're my age or older, I'm just telling you right now, it's short. If you're not, you don't think it's short. It's short. And here's what you don't realize.
I believe Jesus is coming back soon because the Bible teaches that. But the more look at the world and the more I see things set up and look at all these different things, and I don't want to go on a tirade about 17 different things that are bothering me right now. I just want to tell you I'm looking globally saying, wow, there's never been a time, excuse me, where the whole world is so ripe for his return. He's coming soon. Which means this.
It doesn't mean we get to save anybody. If I go preach every single day for the rest of our life, it doesn't mean I get to save more people. I just want to be obedient as the spirit of God leads me. Because Jesus does all the work. The spirit fuels all the work.
So I want to make sure that when you hear me on this, you don't feel this weight of burden like, okay, fine, I'll start serving in the church. That's not what I'm saying. I don't stay up late at night to wonder who's serving and who's not serving. I'm not talking from my perspective. I'm talking the God of the universe gave everything for you.
Is there anything you're holding back from him? That's the question. I mean, here's the truth. He's returning. He's watching you.
He isn't waiting for you to understand more. He's simply waiting for you to obey. Amen. I'll end by telling you the story about the procrastinating farmer. Have you ever heard the story about the procrastinating farmer?
It's because it doesn't exist. There is no such thing as a procrastinating farmer because a farmer knows if he doesn't go out and till the soil, he can't plant seeds. And if he doesn't plant seeds, he can't water the seeds. And if he doesn't pull the weeds, they're going to get choked out. So he's got to go till the soil, he's got to go plant the seeds.
He's got to go water the seeds so that there's a harvest. Because if he doesn't do those things, there never will be a harvest. Harvest. A farmer that procrastinates doesn't get paid or doesn't eat in the same way. We're not going to be procrastinating missioners.
We're ambassadors for Christ. He's put you on mission. You want to know, hey, where are some of the lost people? All you have to do is leave our building. I mean, let me just end by saying this.
All of us pray for revival. I mean, who doesn't want to see that? Wouldn't you like to see our church 25 times itself? Wouldn't you like to wonder, how in the world could we fit everybody? And we're meeting at Mile High Stadium on Sundays because there's so many Christians in the area and people are flying from all over the world because Denver's the place that God put his presence.
I mean, who doesn't want that? I want that.
But then it comes right down to that personal thing like, well, are you willing to tithe? Nope. You want to serve in the church? No. You're going to get involved in the cadre?
Never. You're going to. You're going to help serve and think? Nope. Okay, we can pray for revival all we want.
It always starts with us personally. And you can't look at the person next to you and be like, hey, he's talking to you. Get busy. It's God talking to you, saying, hey, listen, I'm not guilting you. I'm not shaming you.
I sent my son who died for you. He loves you unconditionally. There's no guilt, shame. But I am convicting you that there's a lot of people in the world that don't have. Have what you have.
And you're my plan A to go let them know, will you allow me to use your life? And so the way I'd like to end is by telling you, ask the Lord if there's anything in your life you don't have a hold of. Ask the Lord. Lord, is there some area in my life I don't give you? Because if you do show me, I'm willing to give it to you.
I just want to do it your way. Nobody else can tell you what that is. Only the Holy Spirit can. But if you're willing to walk in the fullness of what the Holy Spirit wants you to do, I promise you there's a great trust trajectory to where you want to go. And there's a great satisfaction and fulfillment in it.
Amen. Amen. Would you stand with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you glory, honor and praise for who you are. And Lord, we ask in this moment that you would do a great work, Lord, that those who don't know you would come to the realization that Jesus, you are the only true God who died and rose.
And through repentance and faith we can trust you. And Lord, for those of us who know you would show us any area in our life that's not aligned with you so that you can do a great work in and through us. We give you all the praise, all the glory and all the honor in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Can we give God praise for his word?