Empowered for a Divine Mission: Unleashing the Holy Spirit's Power in Our Lives

Hi and welcome to the FBC El Dorado Sermon Podcast.

We hope God will use this week's message to both inspire and challenge you as you seek to walk closer with the Lord.

Now join me as we listen in to this week's sermon.

Well, this week and next, I want to come out of the book of Acts in Acts, chapter 1, and next week, in Acts, chapter 2, to talk about the church, and sure, by that I mean First Baptist Church of El Dorado, but even more than that, the church, christ's church around the world.

Acts 1 · chapter mention Acts 2 · chapter mention

Who are we to be?

What are we to do?

And today I want to talk about the church empowered.

From Acts, chapter 1, verses 6 through 11.

Acts 1:6–11

Next week we'll talk about the church inspired, but today the church empowered.

I want to read our passage this morning as we begin Acts 1, 6 through 11.

It says this.

So when they had come together, they asked Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

He said to them it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

And when he had said these things and they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, please, by your spirit, speak to us this morning From your word, transform us, teach us and send us out to do your will.

We ask this in Christ's name, amen.

I'll tell you this I feel like some of you are giving me far more credit than I deserve, giving our family far more credit than we deserve, especially in one category in talking about our move.

I didn't think there would be a world where we would be moved in our home by today, our first Sunday.

I didn't think that was possible, but the Lord kept opening doors and on Friday we at least got our possessions in the home and we're here.

But I'll say I think you give us too much credit because some of you have talked this morning about you know that's pretty impressive that y'all are already moved in, but the reality is I learned something a few moves ago, to borrow from the Old Testament words of Joshua that asked for me and my house.

We're going to hire a moving company and I've done it both ways and I've rented the Penske or the U-Haul and I've done it myself and I've called friends a week before who knew what was coming and did not answer the phone, and I've tried these things.

I've tried doing it my way and again, as for me and my house, we're just going to get the moving company.

It's just how it's got to be and so is it a big task?

Of course it is.

Is it a lot of work?

Even still?

Yes, but we had some pretty impressive helpers.

I want to say this this morning as I think about the church, the great task we have as the church of Christ Jesus, the lost world that we are called to go into and to make disciples.

It is a massive undertaking, a massive task, but here's the good news even still, we have a pretty impressive helper.

And this morning I want to talk about being a church that realizes that we are empowered by the Spirit of God to continue the work of Jesus until the day that he returns, that as a church, we are empowered by the Spirit of God to do the work of Jesus until the day that he returns.

And from this text I want to begin by saying this church, you have God's spirit inside of you.

Look at this verse again, in verse 6.

So when they had come together, they asked him Lord, will you, at this time, restore the kingdom of Israel?

Throughout the gospels there's moments where we're blown away by the disciples.

They say things that are just so good.

Uh, when?

When jesus asks uh, you know who do?

Who do people say I am?

And then he asked who do you say I am?

And peter speaks up you are the christ, son of the living god.

Phenomenal answer, uh, unbelievable answer.

Uh when, um, I talked a few weeks ago about that quick moment when Jesus says disciples, are y'all going to walk away as well?

And Peter speaks up where else can we go?

You have the words of life.

That's a really good answer.

But we also probably know there's some moments within the gospels that the disciples don't quite have it all figured out within the Gospels, that the disciples don't quite have it all figured out, don't quite know the questions to ask and surely don't know the answers to the questions they don't know to ask.

And in this moment they get a little bit ahead of themselves.

Even after the resurrection, they don't have it all figured out, and so they look to Jesus, and I give them some credit.

It's not an awful question, because they just standing before them is the man who all their hope is placed in, and for three days they thought that hope was lost and they thought for three years I had been following the wrong guy, and because I saw him die on a cross and saw him laid in a grave.

But then, sunday morning, everything changed because Christ Jesus rose from the grave and now they're looking at the Lord of the universe, the risen, resurrected Savior, and they're saying Jesus is now the time Is now the time you are going to restore the kingdom of Israel.

And I give them credit for that, because they're looking for a day that in their minds once was when Israel was a united kingdom, under this incredible king, a king like David.

Jesus, are you about to do this kind of thing again?

But Jesus gives such an interesting answer, verse 7,.

He said to them it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority.

That's a really Jesus way of saying.

That's above your pay grade that's a really kind way of saying that's just a little bit above your pay grade.

And and Jesus says it's not for you to know, and and there'll be people even today that you know, they will want to tell you that they know when Jesus will come, and you can go to their YouTube link and like and subscribe and they'll tell you all about it.

But the reality is, it is not for us to know the times and the seasons when Jesus will come.

But look at this, this will happen.

The kingdom will be restored, and that's good news.

And so the disciples ask this question.

They get a little bit ahead of themselves, but it's not an awful question, because the reality is they're awaiting a day that will come.

But what Jesus wants them to see is it's not so much about asking the question of when will that time come, but really this what do we do in the meantime, while we're awaiting Jesus?

What is the mission you want us to be about, and what does that mission look like?

You want us to be about, and what does that mission look like?

And he says this but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

I want to talk about that word for a minute power.

Our culture loves that word power.

Everyone is grasping for power.

We know this.

An election cycle has begun, as we think towards November, and already there's two different candidates on two different sides and they want power.

One wants power for four more years, one wants the power back and whatever that looks like, they want power.

In our world of the social culture, it's for power.

We have this word now called an influencer.

An influencer it's just the quest for power, for more followers, a little more prominence, and a platform and a pedestal that we can get our message out.

And getting our message out that provides more power.

And I'm more well known and it's just a search for power.

It's everywhere in our culture, but yet we come to the book of Acts and power is so different from how our world, from how our culture and our world define power, because what we see in the book of Acts is really power is not something that is of ourselves.

It's not something that we contrive within ourselves and pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and now I've got the power.

Power is something that comes from outside of us.

It is something that is done on God's part, that is given to us and, as we will see, these leaders in the early church, the power looks like when they are boldly proclaiming the word that has been given to them and God is working in the midst of that.

That's where the power lies.

In Acts, chapter 4, peter is before these rulers and elders and they look at him and say, hey, by whose power are you doing these things?

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Well, that in itself, they know Peter, we know you.

It's not you.

By whose power are you doing this?

It's something that comes from outside of us.

So where does it come?

You will receive power when the who, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and so the work of the early church will be the work of the Holy Spirit within the individuals of the early church.

It is his work.

And for you, this morning, in this room, in First Baptist, el Dorado, in the year 2024, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, do you know that God's Spirit lives within you?

And I'm not talking about a lesser version, I'm not talking about you know, the junior varsity Spirit.

I'm talking about God's Spirit lives within you if you know Jesus Christ, and so the power that led these believers to carry on the mission of Jesus Christ is that same power, the same God who dwells within us, and the mission is the same.

But here's what we often do we try to do God's work without God's power.

Have you ever found yourself doing that, trying to do God's work without God's power?

That if I can just run hard enough, if I can go fast enough, if I can do enough things and do enough service, surely God's will will be accomplished.

So often it looks just like this.

It looks like prayerlessness.

Prayerlessness that in our own lives we get so caught up wanting to do the ministry that we miss out on the power because we miss out on the connection to the God who makes the ministry possible.

Or maybe we do so often.

We put our plans and our agenda on the tables and, god, I have dreamed up some great things to do.

And then on the backside of that, we say God, will you just bless this?

That's our prayer on the backside Bless my pre-made agendas and plans.

When in reality, instead, we should come to the Lord at the beginning and say Spirit of God, what do you want?

What do you want to do in my life?

Here's the blank check I put on the table I don't want to do God's work without God's power, and that's not what we're called to do as believers.

That's not what this church is called to do, but instead we want to be a church where the Holy Spirit is active and doing the work of ministry in and through the members of this church.

And so I want you to know this morning if you know Jesus Christ, you have God's Spirit within you.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

But church, I want you to see this that you are Christ's witness to those around you.

You are Christ's witness to those around you.

Look at this You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you verse 8, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

You know, I know I'm meeting some of you, met some of you three weeks ago and many of you for the first time this morning, and you're probably wanting to know a little bit more about me.

What am I all about All these things?

You're kind of wanting to fill me out a little bit.

Who is this guy?

And you may be saying he's kind of a little bit of a younger guy, like what's his style.

Is he like Southern Baptist?

Is he old school?

Does he have any of that old school Southern Baptist in him?

And that may be what you're wondering.

And I'm glad you're wondering that, because I want to tell you this morning just how much old school Southern Baptist is within me, because I brought something with me.

Some of you won't have a clue what this is, and some of you will know exactly what this is.

I brought something with me that is actually mine.

You might have seen one of these before and I did not grab this from the case downstairs.

That's my name right there.

This, if you don't know, and I just want you to know, and I say this with pride I am a royal ambassador, okay, and so this is my RA vest from when I was a kid.

I actually tried putting it on the other day and I'm not going to do that again, but this was my RA vest.

And if you were a royal are there any other royal ambassadors in the room?

Praise God.

What we would do on Wednesday nights is we'd come together and we'd say about 15 pledges.

We had pledges I didn't even know exist.

We'd say those and we'd learn about missions.

We'd learn about God's word.

We'd have RA campouts, we'd go to RA Congress that's a real thing.

We'd have these RA racers that was really just a cover upup for our dads to build cars and race one another on our behalf and we would do all these things.

But we were royal ambassadors.

But the reality is that name is deep.

I like that name because it comes from 2 Corinthians 5, 20.

Therefore, we are ambassadors of Christ, god making his appeal through us that as believers, you and I, we are ambassadors.

And so if we think of this church, if we think of our homes as little embassies of the kingdom of heaven, that in this very dark world there are these embassies that exist for the advancement of the kingdom of God to go into a very dark world, we are those ambassadors that serve Christ's interest in these embassies to bring more into the kingdom.

We are witnesses, we are ambassadors, and there are people in El Dorado, there are people in our state and there are people in this world that need.

There are people in our state and there are people in this world that need us to be the kind of witnesses we're called to be, because there are people who are lost and need a savior and you may be the witness to that one to tell them I have a story about Jesus who saved me.

Can you be that witness, can you be the one?

And maybe it's someone at your work that you know doesn't know Jesus, and maybe it is that Christ Jesus has put you there to be a witness.

Maybe it's someone at your school as you come back in August, which is sooner than you'd like to think about, but at your school, and you've been placed in this class, whether it's fifth grade or ninth grade, your sophomore year of college, wherever it is that God has placed you here.

Yes, to learn and get your good grades and do that, but also to make much of Jesus because you are a witness for him, you are an ambassador, you are a witness.

And where are you a witness?

He says in Jerusalem, and then in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

So that's both local and that is around the world.

Where are we to be witnesses to Christ?

The answer is yes, everywhere, wherever you go, and that's why First Baptist El Dorado is committed to local missions, national missions, international missions, because we are witnesses and we're called to take the gospel forward.

And so, believers, you have Christ's Spirit within you.

You are a witness for Christ.

But I also want you to see this you have a future hope, and here's some really good news you have a future hope.

Let's read verse 9.

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

This Jesus, who has taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

Can you imagine the moment?

The Savior you've been following for three years has given you this mission, if you think of Matthew 28, the great commission and now here you're going to be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.

And then he leaves.

I mean, what do we do now?

He ascends into heaven, but that's a really good thing, because he goes back to the right hand of the throne of God, where he belongs.

Philippians, chapter two.

We see the one who humbled himself by taking on flesh and coming here and now ascends to the right hand of the throne of God and one day every knee will bow.

We see in Acts, chapter 8, at the death of Stephen the first martyr, that he looks up as he's dying and he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of the throne of God.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

And even as I'm speaking this morning and you're sitting here this morning, christ Jesus is in heaven interceding for you and praying on your behalf.

It's a really good thing that Christ has ascended into heaven.

We also know, as we've seen, he has not left us alone.

His spirit has come to us and has come for us and is helping us.

And one day he will return and maybe we don't talk about that as much as we used to or as much as we should that one day and I mean this literally Christ Jesus will return.

It could be another thousand million years from now, it could be before the sermon ends, but Christ Jesus will return and that should give us a future hope.

And let me tell you why.

For two reasons.

Number one is because life is really hard, because there's a lot of suffering in this world and you, sitting in your pew, in your chair right now, you faced a lot of that suffering, sitting in your pew, in your chair right now.

You've faced a lot of that suffering and you've seen a lot of that pain and, for the sake of the gospel, you've suffered and you've been ridiculed and looked down upon and life has had its hard moments, but it's good to know that our suffering does not get the final word.

I remember being a kid and my brother and I would go to my grandparents' house and they had these VHS tapes and do you remember when we would record things that we wanted to catch when we were out of the house You'd put your VHS tape in at the beginning of the day.

Every soap opera would be there all through the day and then finally your program at 5 or 6 o'clock would click on and you'd have it on that VHS tape.

And they had at their house the whole 1994 Arkansas National Championship basketball run and I remember when we would go there my brother would often take those VHS tapes and put them in and we'd watch some of those games.

And you know what's interesting if you've ever done this with any game, gone back and watched it again, a game that's already happened.

It's interesting as you watch Because there'll be a moment when the other team goes on a little run, duke's on a 10-point run and the Hogs are looking a little tired and Nolan has to call a timeout and it's like are they going to be okay?

Is this the breaking point?

What's happening here?

Except for this fact that while I'm watching it, I'm really not afraid, even when it looks pretty rough within the game.

I'm really not afraid why?

Because I know how it ends, because I know where this thing is going, because I know that if we go down 10, if we go down 20, whatever, we're going to be holding the trophy at the end of this thing.

I know how it ends.

Believers, I want you to know that it's really good news that we know how the story ends, that even in your hardest moment, even when your moment of deep suffering, you know how the story ends and you can take heart and you can be encouraged.

And even as you are on witnessing for Christ and on mission for him and it gets hard and there is suffering involved you know how the story ends and it ends with the Savior returning and all things will be well.

But it also does this for us.

Knowing that Christ will return.

It also urges us on in the mission, doesn't it?

Because the reality is there's people that don't know Jesus, and I want those people to know Jesus so that when Christ returns, that'll be a joyful day for them.

I want people to rejoice when Christ returns because they now see their Savior, that faith-made sight.

And so there is a world that needs witnesses for Jesus, and I want to tell you something this morning.

I'm talking to you.

I'm not even talking to the person next to you, I'm talking to you.

You are called to be that witness, but I want to tell you some good news, really even better news You're empowered to be that witness.

You can do it.

You can do it because you've received power, if you know Jesus, because the Holy Spirit is within you, and so it's possible that you can fulfill this mission God has called you to, because the same Spirit lives in you.

You know, coming into this job, a lot of people have asked, not here, but really outside of here, and people maybe in the ministry world have asked Taylor, what's your vision?

That's a big word.

What's your vision?

That's a great word, it's a good word.

What's your vision going to be?

What are you going to be about?

What's the game plan?

What's the vision and the reality is?

You know there's not some 24-point plan and you know by this month we'll be here.

Can I just tell you what my vision is?

That First Baptist El Dorado would be a church that is empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work of Christ, a church that loves Jesus deeply and because of that we take Jesus seriously and take him to a lost and broken world.

My vision is that when people walk into this room, even if they don't know a thing about Jesus and who he is, they would say there's something about these people, they've got something, and that as we leave this room to go into the world around us, people would see Jesus in us.

That's my vision for First Baptist El Dorado.

I didn't make that up, that's not me.

I think that's just Jesus's vision for his church and so church family.

I just want us to be a church empowered by the Spirit and by God's grace and by really God's work.

It's possible.

Maybe you need to respond this morning.

Maybe you want to come for the first time and you want to know Jesus.

You want that same empowering by the Spirit and so you want to know Jesus.

You want to know that your sins are forgiven.

I'd love nothing more than to talk to you about that.

Maybe your response this morning is right where you're at to pray, pray for that person that you know doesn't know.

Jesus, pray that you would be that kind of witness and power that we talked about this morning.

But however, you need to respond.

I hope you will this morning.

I'm gonna be down here, other ministers will be down here as we sing and worship together this morning, but let me pray for us and let's respond.

Lord Jesus, we do thank you for who you are.

We do thank you that you have given us a mission, but you've also empowered us for that mission.

That's really good news.

Lord, I pray this morning for anyone that needs to respond.

Pray that they would, for maybe someone that doesn't know you that this morning would be the day that they move from death to life.

I pray that.

However, we need to respond, that we would.

But God also, let us respond all week long, really, a lifelong response of living on mission for you, empowered by your spirit.

I ask this in Christ