The Kingdom Cause

Let's have a word of prayer and thank the Lord here. Father,

what a blessing to see these young people, these children

hear Matt's testimony today, and certain things are worth waiting

for in church. We grateful for that the Lord, to

see the joy in their eyes, to read the Bible,

to become the people of the Word of God. Give

us more of it. And thank you Lord for the

children's story, the little revival of those kids who just

want to pray, pray, pray, pray. May we as adults

take lessons from this that unless we become as children,

will never get to the Kingdom. Help us to be

right for the Kingdom cause in Jesus' name, Amen, the

title of the message is the Kingdom Cause. Now I

want to give you a little heads up here. I

will be starting a series on the Book of Acts.

I may deviate at times if world events require it,

because we're living at the end of the time. Prophetic

things are in play, and I reserve the right to

engage based on what's happening in the world around us.

But for the most part, I want to look at

how the early Church engaged their world for Christ. Is

that a fair enough thing to do. I want to

see how the Holy Spirit transformed those believers from one

hundred and twenty in upper room to a movement in

the millions as the apostles died in the first century,

and how the Gospel of Christ went to every place

on planet Earth almost at that time. It'll happen again.

So the title of the message is the Kingdom Cause.

Hugh Jackman is a famous actor known for portraying superheroes

who aren't that super in spiritual character. He once said

this statement about himself as he struggled for personal purpose

and meaning while making lots of money. He said this,

I'd sell my soul for a good cause. It's a

strange way to say it. So many in his profession

have done exactly that. They've sold their souls, but for

bad causes. Now, friends, if you are advanced, if you

are advancing a cause in your life that is not

the Kingdom Cause, you have missed out on the deepest

purpose and the most fulfilling reason for your personal existence.

God didn't put you here to drift through life and

to die and for your life not to matter. You

were called into existence for the Kingdom Cause. We are

here in a church for a good reason. This is

God's agency for the salvation of people both here and

around the world. God reached out to save your soul.

He sent Jesus as a gift to save us for

a good reason. Your life course, your personal journey is

no accident. Is a gift of God given for a reason.

And the good reason that defines who you are and

what you can be is wrapped around the Kingdom cause.

Jesus define the Kingdom cause in prophetic terms. Take your

Bible's turn to Matthew twenty four, verse fourteen, and I

have it on the screen. But it's good to open

your Bible. It doesn't hurt you. Jesus said, this Gospel

of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world

as a testimony to whom. What does it say in

your bible to all nations. That means you can't have

a racist movement declaring the gospel. You must have a

movement that's committed to multi ethnic ventures, to breaking out

of our culture to reach other cultures. A testimony, a

legal testimony. Because the judgment's coming to all nations, and

then the end will come, and Christ isn't coming because

you're you're tired of endtime events and you're frustrated. You

feel like things have to come to He's coming when

his word reaches the world and the world is set

on fire with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So he's

here not He says, the end will come, not your end,

but the end of the world will come. If we

have aligned right with the Gospel, it will be our beginning.

What happen? I ask the question, what happens to the

person who responds to the Gospel with a good heart

of faith? Now, I'm gonna be frank with you. I'm

an optimist. I'm not a negativist. I believe that the

Gospel is life transforming. Why because it has changed my life?

Am I perfect? No? The good thing about the Gospel

is that it meets the needs of people like me

who aren't and it helps me to grow and to

reach out to others. So what happens to a person

who responds to the Gospel the good heart of faith?

The answer is given in verse thirteen, just before Matthew

twenty four to thirteen. But he who endures to the end,

what does it say will be saved? Do you need

certain of your life? The gospel is the way to

have certainty that you will be saved. So what does

this all mean. It means that if you don't give

up your faith in Jesus as your savior for your sins,

which is the gospel, you will be saved. You know,

It's how I said. Period. See we don't say but

you know, no, it doesn't say that Jesus is definitive

the gospel to the whole world. You believe in it,

you will be saved. Don't give up on it. To

talk about the Gospel of the Kingdom and not to

know what the gospel is is not a good thing.

Is that. I've asked many Seventh day Abonists and others,

and what's the gospel? They come up with all these theories. Well,

you know, they really didn't know it in the early

Church and it didn't really have a be But now

we have deeper insight and someone will say that kind

of thing, and I always know they have no clue

what the gospel is. The Gospel is the everlasting Gospels

preached and proclaimed in the early Apostolic age. It changed

the world. They got it right. We don't improve on it.

As Seventh day Abonist we simply align with it as

Seventh day Abonists. So talk about the gospel of the

Kingdom and do not know what the gospel is, it's

not good. Let's review what the gospel is before we

talk about the kingdom. Cause turn with me to one

Corinthians fifteen one to four. And I'm looking at my

glorious watch here, and what did I do with the thing?

Revelation ten to six. As time will be no more,

I've got to have a little more time today. It's

not gonna fly. All right. Look at verse one moreover, brethren,

I declare to you, what what does he say? Interact

with me the gospel, And the gospel means good news

which I preach to you, which also you received in

which you stand. And then verse two, by which also

you are saved. The words saved and Greek means to

be healed, to be saved, for eternity means to be

healed from sin, to be healed to live. If they

puts the word if, now here's the condition. If you

hold fast that word which I preach to you, in

other words, correct Bible preaching that teaches you the gospel,

you hang on to that you're going to be saved.

You hear me, you give up on it for some

crazy theory, you won't be saved. So we need to

know the gospel, he says, unless you believed in vain.

Here it is for I delivered to you first of all,

and some translations will say of first importance that which

I also received. And so he didn't come up with it,

that Christ. And here's the first point of the gospel.

Look at it. That Christ died for what our sins

according to the scriptures. That's the most important truth of

the gospel. Number two that he was buried, and number

three that he rose again the third day. According to

the scriptures. The death, the burial, and the resurrection of

Jesus is the heart of the Apostolic Gospel. Paul and

Romans three says clearly that Jesus is the gospel, the

gospel concerning his son. Here Paul breaks the gospel down

into three parts simple to understand, to show us what

Jesus did. That is good news. That is the gospel.

It's for us first of all, And of most importance

in the gospel is the truth that Jesus died for

our sins. Did you hear that? For sure, we could

have died for our own sins, but that would not

be good news. With it. You want to die for

your sins, that's bad news. Jesus died for our sins.

That's good news. Now say it with me. Jesus died

for our sins. Jesus died for our sins. Now say

it in another way with me, Jesus died for my sins.

Jesus died for my sins? Is that personal for us

and me? Now? Steps to Christ, page sixty five. I

highly recommend the book Steps to Christ. My dad before

he died, I knew my dad two months I was

sharing with Alex. My dad was a clinical narcissist. If

you read the DSM Manuel Cluster b. He was that

God him brought him to the cross. He became a

converted man. He still had challenges, and then he started

praying for others, which is proof that God had the

Holy Spirit had worked for him. He led me in

his life. Before he died, he gave me the Booksteps

to Christ, and that book led me to Christ. So

I'm not sharing with you some theory. I'm sharing with

you something that helped me. My father's greatest gift to

me was that book she writes. No deep seated love

for Jesus can dwell in the heart that does not

realize its own sinfulness. The soul that is transformed by

the grace of Christ will admire his divine character. But

if we do not see our own moral deformity, it

is unmistakable evidence that we have not a view of

the beauty and excellence of Christ. You come closer to Christ,

you will see yourself as a sinner. There is no

hero class in the Gospel over the righteousness good enough

for the judgment day or any day except Jesus Christ,

God's hero. Hear me, Who's the hero, Jesus. That is

why it. God's righteousness has been given to us as

a gift in Jesus, And this truth alone is good news.

Jesus righteousness is perfect as his gift right now for you.

Jesus righteousness is beautiful even when you are ugly. Jesus

righteousness is compelling and acceptable to God when we are

not nice or pretty or noble, and by all means

should have been rejected. Yet it is for us, that

is why Jesus died for my sins, for me, for

your sins, for you. And if there was no other

person the whole universe to live for and die for,

Jesus did it for you. Jesus loves you. God loves you.

The gospel shouts that. First John one eighth says that

if we say we have no sin, we light to ourselves.

And the truth is not in us. We are sinners.

The problem is not the other guy, the other church

and all that. It's us right see, So fess up

right now and embrace the fact with a necessary humility

that you are a sinner in much need of a

competent savior. So the gospel takes the glory of a

proud man, the glory of a proud woman. It lays

it in the dust, so you can be saved by

Jesus death on the cross for you in your place,

as you where a right now righteousness in Him that

is good enough for the judgment day and every day

of your life. Because Jesus is the hero in the gospel.

So then the most important truth of the gospel is

the first and primary fact and truth of the good News,

That is the gospel that Jesus died for our sins.

I've heard people come up with all kinds of theories. Well,

you know, this is a pagan view of God. Nonsense.

This is the truth. Our sins result in death. God

has provided a substitute who took our sins into himself.

He died for us so we would not have to die.

That was the apostolic gospel that was taught in the Reformation,

was affirmed in our own movement by the spirited prophecy.

It is biblical that point alone should make you worship

God with a regenerated heart of love and appreciation, eager

to obey because that is good news. Now, the second

truth of the gospel flows out of the first. When

Paul says Jesus was buried. Jesus was buried and put

in the tomb before the Sabbath day. The Sabbath was approaching,

so we can rest from our sins. Why, because God

has separated us from our sins at the cross by

putting them in a tomb. Greek of Revelation one to

five says that Jesus loves us and that he has

loosed us from our sins. Say it, Jesus has loosed

us from our sins. Jesus has loosed us from our sins.

My translation says he has freed us from our sins.

Your sins were glued to you until the Cross of Calvary.

Christ reached into the past and he sucked them into himself.

He reached into the future, and he pulled the future

into himself. So he became the nexus for the past, present,

and future. The I am who I am dealing with

our stuff on the cross of Calvary. Now my translation

doesn't say he loosed us, it's weakened and says he

has freed us from our sins. But literally the Greek

is he is loosed us from our sins. Your sins

were glued to you until Jesus died for you. Now

God can look at you in light of who you

are in Christ, not who you were because of sin.

At the cross, they became his. When you became his

in that love embrace that would not let you go.

And God ripped them away from you, and he put

them in Jesus so you would not have to die

and suffer for your sins. Glorious truth of the gospel.

Jesus died, what does it say, number one for our sins.

He was buried to take them away. Now the third

item Paul celebrates in the gospel is the fact that

Jesus rose on the third day. In accords of the scriptures,

he doesn't say why he did it. In First Corinthians

fifteen four, he just says he did it. We know

why in Romans four twenty five to five two. So

take your bibles. Go back to Romans Romans four twenty five,

and here he tells you why he rose on the

third day. It says he was put to death for

our trespasses. Now that's the first and most important truth

of the gospel, followed by the fact that he was buried.

Here it says he was put to death for our trespasses,

and the Greek is literally parodidomy. He was handed over

for our trespasses. He was raised for our justification. Now

that's why the resurrection is there. Christ was raised so

we would have justification. Now the word justification means legal acquittal,

so you would not be condemned in the judgment day.

God vindicated Jesus in the resurrection. You see Christ dragged

you into him at the cross. He separated you from

your sins, that he took them into himself. He took

all of you into himself. He suffered for everything you've

ever done, everyone'll do in everyone in the entire unit world,

from Adam to the end. And when he was done,

there was nothing left to condemn in Jesus. And then

he said it is finished. On resurrection morning, the judgment reconvened,

the judgment that had judged Christ for our sins and

had found that a righteous man had died, and the

righteous judgment of God declared him vindicated. And Christ carries

us through the condemnation of the cross all the way

into the justification of the resurrection morning. And when God

declared him not guilty in Christ, we are not guilty

if we belong to Jesus. So what's the outcome of that?

Romans five to one. Therefore, since we are justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through him, we have obtained access to this grace in

which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of

sharing the glory of God. We have every reason to

be happy at Christians to be peaceful. We can struggle

with our inner thoughts or inner feelings, but the bottom

line is, if you're a surrendered saintan as faith in Christ,

you are accepted as if you had never sinned. Peace

with God. Romans four twenty five. Paul tells us that

Jesus was raised for our justification, our legal acquittal, our

full acceptance steps to Christ, page sixty two. It was

possible for Adam before the fall to form a righteous

character of obedience to God's law, but he failed to

do this, and because of his sin, natures are fallen,

and we cannot make ourselves righteous. Since we are sinful

and unholy, we cannot perfectly obey the Holy law. We

have no righteousness of our own with which to meet

the claims of the law of God. But Christ has

made a way of escape for us. I like that line.

He lived on earth amid trials and temptations such as

we have to meet. He lived a sinless life. Now

that's not me, that's him. He died for us. That's

the gospel. And now he offers to take our sins

and give us his righteousness. If you give yourself to

him and accept him as your savior, then sinful as

your life may have been, for his sake, you are

accounted righteous. Christ's character stands in place of your character,

and you are accepted before God just as if you

had not sinned, that's good news. She describes here the

Apostolic Gospel. There are some among us who believe that

you didn't get it all done. It wasn't good enough.

They would say, he didn't win the great controversy of

the war. So a final generation, they claim, needs to

rise at the end to vindicate the righteousness of God,

to demonstrate to the world what Jesus didn't quite clinch. Now,

this theory came out of the woods through a prominent

teacher named Emma Andreasen, after the death of Sister White.

Final generation theology is what it's called. It is a

satanic theology. Why because it denies the clarity of the

Apostolic Gospel. It puts you on trial when you should

be at peace with God. If you are surrendered tom Confrontation,

page twenty one. She writes that fall a man because

of his guilt, could no longer come directly before God

with his supplications for his transgression of the divine law,

and placed an impassable barrier between the Holy God and

the transgressor. But a plan was devised that the sin

so death should rest upon a substitute. In the plan

of redemption. There must be the shedding of blood, for

death must come in consequence of man's sin. The beasts

for sacrificial offerings were to prefigure Christ in the slame victim,

man was deceive the fulfillment for the time being of

God's word, Thou shalt surely die, and the flowing of

the blood from the victim would also signify an atonement.

There was no virtue in the blood of animals, but

the shedding of the blood of beasts was to point

forward to a redeemer who would one day come to

the world and die for the sins of men. And

then this statement here which I've underlined on the slide,

and thus Christ would fully vindicate his father's law. Did

Christ vindicate God's law of the cross of Christ based

on that statement? He did. Don't go telling me it

wasn't good enough. That's why Jesus said it is finished.

Our hope is not in us. Our hope is not

in our ability to prove something at the end of time.

Our hope is in Jesus Christ, who is the good

News of the Gospel. That's why Jesus said it's finishing

the cross, because he got it done. Is life death

and resurrection. It would all be complete for us. Review

the Gospel with me on the screen or the slights

Number one A first order and first importance. What is it?

Jesus died for our sins? Number two of the Gospel.

Jesus was buried to loose us from our sins. Number three.

Jesus was raised on the third Day for our justification.

That is the gospel, and that's what they taught. That's

what the early Church preached. That's what the spread of

prophecy affirms. Don't let someone hoodwink you into a false gospel.

In Jesus, we have peace with God because Jesus is

the good News of the Gospel. To have a cause

in life, you must first understand the cause. The Book

of Acts is about the kingdom cause of the early

Church to spread the gospel of the world. Take bibles

and turned to Acts one verse one, and let's start

in the first book O Theophilus, I have dealt with

all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until

the day when he was taken up, after he'd given

commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he

had chosen Verse three, to them he presented himself alive

after his passion by many proofs. I guarantee you those

were prophetic proofs as well as personal proofs, appearing to

them during forty days and speaking of the Kingdom of God.

The name Theophilus is a name that means in Greek

lover of God or God lover. You know, Luke is

writing to someone who loves God, who wants to belong

to God. The Book of Acts was written as an

addition to the Book of Luke. He says, so to

demonstrate that jesus Acts and the Gospel of Luke are

followed by the acts of the Apostles under the leadership

of the Holy Spirit. There's a direct connection between Jesus'

life and the church's expansion. The Book of Acts introduces

us to Theophilus, god lover, and so thus we are

God lovers, and we are the ones here to respond

to the Book of Acts if we love God. Now,

in verse one we have Jesus very clearly stated, and

verse two we have the Holy Spirit. We learn a

lot in these verses alone. We learned that Jesus chose

the twelve Apostles as special men for the kingdom. Cause

so who are the pioneers of the church based on

this spirit the apostles. You know, we have pioneers of

the Adventist Church, and I'm grateful for that. But who

are our ultimate pioneers But the twelve Apostles. That's right.

We learned that Jesus gave the full road map and

plan for the kingdom cause as his commandments to his apostles.

The apostles are pioneers of the church. And the church

is built upon Jesus as the rock Matthew sixteen other

places through the words and teachings of the Apostles. Now,

what is the commandment of Jesus that's referred to here?

We have it in simple form in the Gospel of Mark,

and Matthew turn to Mark sixteen, fifteen and sixteen, and

he said to them, go into all the world and

preach the What And does he say, preach what you

want to preach your agenda about this social issue or that.

Does he say, well, you can go preach what you

don't like about some other group. Now, look, I preach

to people that I'm talking to because I want them

to be saved. Go into all the world and preach

the Gospel to the whole creation. So it's the good

news of the Gospel. People need He who believes. And

what's the next phrase, and it is baptized will be saved.

He does not believe, will be condemned. Now, if you

need to be baptized, you can raise your hands say

I need to be baptized, and we're going to help you. Okay,

Always give an opportunity. Think about it if it's in

your heart you're struggling. The Kingdom Cause is the commandment

to spread the Gospel the world, to baptize people so

they can be saved. Matthew, like Mark, raps this Kingdom

Cause around the task of baptizing and making disciples of

all people. Everyone in the world turned through Matthew twenty eight.

Look at verse eighteen. And Jesus came and said to them,

all authority in heaven earth has been given to me.

So who is in charge of your life in the universe? Now,

based on this verse Jesus verse nineteen, go therefore and

make disciples of all nations. See, we can't go unless

Jesus is in charge. But if Jesus in charge, we

can go baptizing them in the name of the Father.

The Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now one name, three

persons here teaching them to observe all that I have commanded. Now,

what's that one name. It's Yahweh Jehovah God. That's what

it is. Because they share the same name. And yet

there's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Sister

White refers to them as the hoarded love of Eternity,

the Godhead of the Father, of the Love, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit of God. I was alone as

a father only, and there was no son in spirit.

God would be a selfish being without the hearted love

of Eternity. In his nature, God is one, and so

this is affirmed in our Baptism of val The early

Church understood this well before the Council of Nicea in

three twenty five, and we have deep evidences of that

in Athenagoras of Athens is one who wrote very clearly

agreeing with He was born in the early second century.

He would have been alive, perhaps when John was alive.

He says, and behold, I'm with you always to the

close of the age. And we are told in the

spirit of prophecy that God has pledged all the power

of the Godhead, that is the hearted love of eternity

within the Father, of the Son and the Holy Spirit,

as they work together to save us. Thus we were

baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and

the Holy Spirit. And she is clear that through these

three persons of the Godhead we received the power to

have the new life. That's why baptism is important for

every believer. We need God, the Father, God the Son,

and God the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Kingdom

cause of the Gospel brings the Godhead into the Church,

into our lives, into the mission of the Church. Before

Jesus left in his resurrected body, he spoke clearly to

the apostles concerning the Kingdom of God. This kingdom causes

the focus for the church's mission. In the Apostolic age, Friends,

we are to be kingdom builders, kingdom proclaimers, kingdom citizens,

and the proclamation of the Kingdom cause that is the

good news Gospel proclamation to the whole world. That's why

we're here. We're not here, well, I'm gonna go to

church and go a sermon from Pastor Mike. No, we're

here to get stuffed. Pastor Mikes. You can go to

your neighborhood and save your friends and family, and then

use your efforts and means to go global as you

can through influence. As soon as the kingdom cause is

introduced in Acts one one to four, we immediately face

the need for the Holy Spirit. And Acts one to five.

You don't get far in the Kingdom cause with the

Holy Spirit. They could not go forward at all without

the Holy Spirit. Neither can we look at verse five,

Acts one to five, John baptized with water, but but

for many days you shall be baptized with and what

does it say the Holy Spirit? At this point, the

disciples moved their thoughts to questions of prophecy. Their mind

went naturally to Daniel seven and where Jesus will receive

his kingdom from his father and set up his kingdom

Daniel two, where it talks about him setting up his kingdom.

They were also aware of the prophecies of Daniel eight

fourteen that predicted that that would happen at the end

of twenty three hundred days evenings and mornings. Jesus had

been with them for three and a half years, that's

about thirteen hundred days, so they were expecting things within

the next thousand days or so, and it'd be over.

They weren't applying the year for day principle as they

should have, and they didn't have it figured out. They

didn't know right away that it would take time for

Jesus to come back from heaven, but they wanted the

kingdom right then and there to be set up. Have

you ever said, Jesus, come right now, I can't wait

any longer. You ever said that, Well, guess what, you

gotta wait a little longer till he comes on his

own terms. Now, look at Acts one six to seven.

Here's where they say this. So when they had come together,

they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore

the king of Israel? And he said to them, it

is not for you to know times or seasons which

the Father is fixed by his own authority. The times

and seasons are in Daniel eight fourteen, Daniel seven, twenty five,

Daniel twelve to seven, the times times in half of times,

and the twenty three hundred year prophecy in the twelve

hundred and ninety and thirteen thirty five days. They didn't

have a clue what that was about. Now seventh to Havns,

we do we have a clear clue in fact, you

go to Angelsglen dot Org. It's clear they understood the

seventy weeks of Daniel nine. Though the one prophecy, the mare,

the vision of the Mighty Man, the mari, the appearance

vision of the Mighty Man was the seventy week prophecy

of Daniel nine. I've heard people say, well, you know

that it's not really the seventy weeks, that's the twenty

three days. The word mare is never anything other than

that which you see in the Hebrew language. He saw

a mighty man in eight point fifteen, and then he

explains it all the way through to the seventy weeks

of Daniel nine, which is Jesus Christ his coming. Understand

the mare with the words seventy weeks are cut off,

a messiah prince shows up. Now they got that part.

We know it because of the Dead Sea Scrolls eleven

q Cave eleven, a direct quote of Daniel nine the

seventy weeks. They were expecting the Messiah as Milkezedek, and

they knew he would be God because they quote the

scriptures that refer to him as Elohim, and that refer

to him as God, who would come as the king

Melkezedek and Jesus came as the king they expected based

on the prophecies of Dane nine and Daniel eight and twelve.

The Book of Daniel says that these times and seasons

in verse four were sealed up until the time of

the end. Says the same in Daniel eight, where he

says the God zone vision for the time of the end.

The disciple had asked the question before, as indicated by

Luke nineteen eleven, and they had forgotten that Christ had

given him a good answer in Luke nineteen twelve. Look

at that with me, Luke nineteen eleven, we do the

same thing we hear Jesus. We don't let it sink.

But look how clear he made the Book of Daniel

in Luke nineteen As they heard these things, he proceeded

to tell a parable. Because he was near Jerusalem, and

because they supposed that the King of God was to

what what does it say was appear immediately they were

not paying attention to Book of Daniel. He said, Therefore,

a nobleman went into a what does the text say,

far country to do what? To receive a kingdom, and

then do what? Then return now here he has the

whole book of Daniel wrapped up in one verse. That's

how smart Jesus is. The nobleman in the parable is

the son of the king. It's Jesus. He goes into

that far off country that is Heaven at his ascension.

He doesn't come back right away. He remains there until

he receives his kingdom. Then he returns. So what heavenly

event precedes the second coming. In Daniel seven, he comes

before the ancient days into the most hotly place, and

it says to him was given a kingdom. There he

confesses the names of his children, from Adam to the end.

Psalms eighty seven says, in that future event, when the

peoples are enrolled, you're leaving me. Said of someone who

never heard of God, if the Holy Spirit was in

their life, This one was born in Felicitia. This one

was born in Rehab Egypt. This one was born in

a place like Babylon. But it shall be said in

that day this one was born in Zion. And see,

it doesn't matter what you say as much as it

matters what Jesus says to his father. And Jesus said

in John ten sixteen, I have other sheep and other folds.

I must go and gather them, and there will be

one shepherd, onefold. Everyone that has responded the spirit of

God that Christ claims will be confessed in that judgment.

We need that. That's a good news judgment because of

the good news of the Cross. And Acts one to eight.

Jesus redirects the minds of the apostles not yet baptized

with the Holy Spirit to wait for the Holy Spirit

so that it would have power for the kingdom cause

Acts one to eight. But you shall receive power when

you try hard. Is that what the text says? You

also to receive power when you make a good New

Year's resolution. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit

has come upon you. That's why you pray for the

Holy Spirit of a person's baptism. And you shall be

my witnesses. Where look at the text with me in Jerusalem,

in all Judea and Samaria, at the end of the earth. Now,

look what Jesus is not saying here. He's not saying

that they have power on their own. He's not saying

that they can start right away and make a difference

in the world because they're good people. He doesn't say

that he's not telling him to go out there and

vindicate the character of God. That's already been done at

the Cross. The apostolic age of the Kingdom cause must

be the age of the Spirit of God. No holy Spirit,

no power, because he is the power of God and

the scriptures. He's the rod of God, the finger of God,

the hand of God, the power of God. He's the

fire of God, He's the water of God. I can

give you the symbols. Doctor Daniel Buxton and myself, we

have produced a book on the Holy Spirit and symbolism.

It's about two hundred fifty pages long. We have draft

two done. How many of you would like to have

a copy of that book? So I'm going to try

to see if we can get some copies here and

we'll reimburse him for the printing. Under God's direction, no

holy Spirit, no mission, no results from God, no Holy Spirit,

no testimony, work to save the world or a single soul.

But when the Holy Spirit comes, power comes to reach

the world for Christ and the Kingdom. Cause. The mission

was clear, the cause well defined by Jesus. They were

to start in Jerusalem, in the very place where the

religious leaders had condemned and crucified Jesus. They were to

reach out to that city that Jesus predicted would be

destroyed without one stone left upon another of the temple.

They were to start there, and then they were to

move a little further out, and they were to move

to the region of Judea, and then they were to

reach the world. Jesus ministry was a three and a

half year ministry. The apostles would spend three and a

half more years finishing out the last seven years of

the seven week prophecy of Daniel nine. See Daniel had

predicted that there will be seventy sevens now seven times

seven is what. Get your calculator out and help me.

Come on, I don't have a slide for this. Four

ninety each day is a year from the time of

the decree to restore and bill Jerusalem in verse twenty

five Dale nine, which is in Ezra seven, the decree

of our desertiones long Gemnus in the autumn of four

to fifty seven BC, until Messiah Prince. It says in

that prophe is to'd be seven weeks seven times seven

from four fifty seven brings us to four eight b C.

And then sixty two weeks. You do that, it's four

and thirty four years without a year zero. It brings

you to the year AD twenty seven, which is the

fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when Jesus was baptized and

Luke three, and it says there they are all in

eager expectation, wanting the prophecy to be fulfilled because they

were expecting the Messiah that year. That's the beginning of

the first part of the last seven years. How long

was jesus ministry You know the answer three and a

half years? That prophecy says he was cut off in

the middle of that after his three and a half years,

So whatever part is left there another what three and

a half years? And the apostles finished that out by

preaching the gospel right there in Jerusalem where they crucified Christ.

When they denied the prophecies of Daniel, God gave them

a second chance. That's how the gospel works. It's all

about grace, not about just condemning things. Jesus commanded his

disciples to work their neighborhood, the city that had destroyed him,

to save that people, just like Nineveh. And then Judea,

which was the region around the city, was to be

the next missionary project. And once they worked their town,

they were to work in other towns nearby and then

further out. That was kind of smart. It was real

smart because Jesus is smart. In fact, Jesus is real

smart because Jesus is God. That's why Peter told Jesus

at the end of Gospel, John, Lord, you know all things.

You can't do that unless you have omnipotent and omnipotence omniscients.

That was smart because neighbors can reach out to neighbors

that aren't as close. And then Jesus told them to

go to the ends of the earth, go to where

it's uncomfortable, go to cultures you've never met before. Be flexible.

You know, if someone gets bent out of shape because

we don't baptize someone perfectly around here to suit their fancy.

They don't have a love for a single human soul.

I'm grateful for anyone who gets into this tank and

surrenders their life to Christ. I've fallen in that tank twice.

Have you noticed that because of my leg and some

of you have held me baptize. And that's the way preachers.

Mark filming never drops anybody because I had paralysis my mother,

like I dropped two people right here in the baptistry.

Let's get it done. You know. To God be glory

because it's good news for people in their lives. No

place on planet Earth is to be ignored. With the

Kingdom clause of the Gospel, they would be his witnesses

in all the world for him. Friends, we are debtors

to the world to say that because of the Cross,

we are to work here in every word to advance

the Kingdom. Cause for Jesus is the Kingdom, cause about us?

Is it about our church? No, It's about Jesus and

the good News and others. As soon as this was

all mapped out clearly, Jesus got out of the way

so the Holy Spirit could take over the church as

his representative on earth. Acts one nine follow with me briefly.

And when he said this, as they were looking on,

he was lifted up. A cloud took him out of

their sight. And while they were gazed 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. Then they returned to

Jerusalem from the mount called All of It, which is

near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. I find that helpful

that Luke was out of his way to say the

Sabbath is still online after the Cross. You don't get it.

It isn't abolished. They were still careful in their keeping

of the Sabbath day. And that is how the Kingdom

cause began. The Book of Acts. We just cracked the

covers in the Book of Acts. And how many do

you like to go home and read the Book of

Acts and your devotions? Hopefully you do. There's a good associate.

There's a good book called Acts of the Apostles that

you can use with it, which is a tremendous book.

That's how it all began. Friend, you don't have to

sell your soul for the Kingdom, cause you do need

to surrender your life to it. Let us renew our

decisions to surrender our lives to Jesus, to the Gospel

of God. And let's quit talking about ourselves as being

that important. We are not. We are here with a

privilege to share Christ with the world before. As they're

coming up here, how many of you like I'm going

to reaffirm in a visible way to the Lord my

recommitment to Him today by raising both hands to heaven

and saying, the Lord, take my life, renew it in You.

Help me not to be about me, but to be

about you and others. If you're with me, Thank you,

God be praised. Let's stand for a closing song as

they kind of come together here they're heavenly Father, as

we pray, we can feel the Holy Spirit through conviction.

That's how we know you're there. And conviction is not manipulation.

It's your speaking to us the Holy Spirit. And Lord,

we're going to have more calls in our Acts series

in this church. There are people here struggling. You be

with that heart. If you're a person struggling right now,

you raise your hands. It passed her out struggling during

that call. Let God know ourk eyes are closed. Now. Father,

I pray you'll move on the persons that raise their

hands and that they will plan to give their life

to Christ to not delay it. Lord. They may not

have all the answers, they may wonder, how on earth

could my life ever change. Lord, I can testify that

you saved me from death at the age of fifteen.

I can testify the goodness of the Lord. I had

an awful father, but he introduced me to a wonderful God.

And for this ungrateful and father, I pray you'll bless

your people. Maybe we never go out of this door

believing a false gospel perfectionism. Maybe rely on the Gospel

of Jesus that's perfect and change us because of it.

So we're ready for your coming, not because we're good people,

because we're your people, surrendered up in faith in Jesus' name. Amen,