Sermon

Acts: Jesus' Last Words

Bethesda Baptist Durham

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  1. Well, hope you have your Bibles with you if you'll turn with me to

  2. Acts, Acts chapter one. Last week we started our study in the Book

  3. of Acts, and so we want to continue in chapter one today verse three.

  4. As you notice, things are a little different this morning, to look

  5. a little different, and that's you see this massive stage here, and so

  6. that is for our musical at BCA, which is Mary Poppins, and so

  7. that's coming up in a few weeks. So I encourage you to support the

  8. ministry here, I mean coming being a part of Mary Poppins Junior tickets.

  9. They'll have some tickets or after service if you're interested in getting one of those.

  10. That's on me first and second. So that's what all the stage.

  11. They do a credible job, so I hope you'll come in again support them.

  12. So today Acts chapter one, starting at verse three, and we'll read

  13. three verses eight to title. My sermon today is Jesus's last Words, and

  14. as we come to this passage scripture, Jesus is sharing his last words with

  15. his disciples. Now last words are very important in our world. It's something

  16. that we even do legal documents, and that's the last Will and Testament,

  17. and that's what we have a will. When someone passes away, they will

  18. go to a law office before they do that and they'll create this great document

  19. it gives their last words or the last will of things that they would like

  20. to be done with the family as before they go, and they'll even that's

  21. so important that they'll take it to a lawyer, and a lawyer where maybe

  22. make it official or to be notarized. But that's because it's believed to be

  23. a very important document. And as you know, many times after someone passes

  24. away, they take that last will and testament and they'll come in and the

  25. family will come together and nobody has heard it's been a sealed document, right

  26. and for so long, and then sometimes they'll open up that last will and

  27. that last will and testament of that individual will be read before everyone in the

  28. family. Right. And so as last words are very important, we do

  29. that in our world. And if we think about that, if it's individuals

  30. lives and their last will is really important and you will want to follow through

  31. what with their wishes it will. I think today, as we come to

  32. Jesus's last words, we should also cherish them and we should consider today individually

  33. incorporately as a church. What is God's last words from me? What were

  34. Jesus's last words for me? And how am I living out what he would

  35. want from me? So that's today's the idea behind today's passage. And I

  36. pray today that you will consider, individually incorporately, what is Jesus's last words

  37. for me? And how am I obeying those words? So let's stand together.

  38. Let's read I Act chapter one, and we'll start in verse three,

  39. and it says this, and he presented himself alive to them after suffering by

  40. meny proofts and appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the Kingdom of

  41. God. And while he was staying with them, he ordered them not to

  42. depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promised Holy Spirit, which he

  43. said, you've heard from me from John to Baptists that John baptized with water,

  44. but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

  45. And so when they had come together, they asked him, Lord,

  46. will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel? And he said to

  47. them, it's not for you to know the season, the time or seasons

  48. that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power

  49. when the Holy spirits come upon you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem,

  50. in all Judea and Samaria, into the ends of the earth. Let's

  51. pray together, Father, We thank you Lord for today. We thank you

  52. for gathering us together to hear your word. We thank you Lord for this

  53. month. This is my story that you've given us all a store in today

  54. as we listen for your last words to your disciples, and as disciples here

  55. today, as believers, as followers, as church body. God, may

  56. we consider Lord, what your words are to us, and Lord, we

  57. would consider how we are going to follow through with your commands and your wishes

  58. for us. So Lord, lead us through truth. Lord, you know

  59. today that I need you as the messenger that you've appointed to this church.

  60. And so Lord, may you feel me Lord today, May your Holy Spirit

  61. speak through me. And Lord, I pray for the hearers today that they

  62. would hear your word and respond Lord, not according to me, but according

  63. to Lord what you have called them to. So Lord, we ask,

  64. united as a body today, Lord, speak clearly to our hearts and give

  65. us hearts to hear and hearts to obey. In your name, We pray

  66. amen, you may be seated. So he should come to chapter one.

  67. There's really two things he tells them in this passenge scriptures, and I want

  68. us to see those two. The very first thing that Jesus says to them

  69. is wait for the Holy Spirit. Wait for the promised Holy Spirit. Wait

  70. for the promise Lord Spirit. As you come to chapter one, and we

  71. go to verse three, we'll live that a little bit last week. But

  72. in verse three says he presented himself alive to them after suffering many proofs and

  73. appearing to them for forty days. So for forty days after Jesus ascended,

  74. scripture tells us, and we have many different accounts that will tell us that

  75. Jesus was on earth before he ascended for forty days, and then those forty

  76. days he kind of by the way you hear a little bit of imagery,

  77. forty days he was in the wilderness right forty day Israel was in the wilderness

  78. forty days he was tested. Then after he ascended, he was on earth

  79. forty days, and then those forty days he there's a period of teaching,

  80. Jesus says, knowing that his time is on earth as their ascension is very

  81. short, and he wants to capitalize on that time, and so he really

  82. focuses on his teaching, and there's several aspects of what he wants to do.

  83. He wants to present himself proofs, present proofs of his suffering, that

  84. he did suffering, and wants to present proof that he is alive. And

  85. so that's very important to Jesus. He wants them to see that he did

  86. suffer. He wants them to see he really did resurrect, he really is

  87. alive. But then he also wants to it's not just important important for him

  88. to prove that he died and rose again. He also wants to disciple his

  89. disciples. He wants to teach them. He knows that he's going to go

  90. away from them, and he's there's many lessons that he wants them to understand.

  91. So we see some lessons that Jesus is teaching and during those forty days,

  92. and we see the summary of some of that in these next few verses.

  93. So there's some lessons that he wants them to some things, some knowledge

  94. that he wants them to understand, but there's also some commands, there's some

  95. instructions of things that he wants them to do after he's gone, and so

  96. we'll do to see kind of those two parts in this in Verse three says

  97. he presented himself alive to them after after his suffering, and by many proofs,

  98. he appeared to them during forty days and speaking about and here's the teaching,

  99. here's the lesson, speaking about the Kingdom of God. We see that

  100. in Luke. So by the way, Luke the Gospel, writer of Luke

  101. the Gospel, also is the writer of the Book of Acts. Well.

  102. At the end of his writing of the Gospel, he summarizes too very some

  103. of the very things that Jesus did. And in Luke twenty forty two he

  104. describes kind of an instance that Jesus is with his disciples in those forty days,

  105. and kind of what happened. And so in verse forty two says he

  106. gave him a piece of world fish, and he took it and ate it

  107. before them, and then he said to them, these are my words I

  108. spoke to you while still with you. And everything that's written about me in

  109. the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And

  110. then verse forty five and he said, it says, and he opened their

  111. minds to understand scripture, and he said to them, thus is written that

  112. Christ should suffer on the third day and rise from the dead, and that

  113. repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the

  114. nations, beginning in Rusalem. The main lesson that Jesus taught his disciples in

  115. those forty days, even over this meal of fish, was that his death,

  116. his burial, and his resurrection inaugurated the Kingdom of God. You see

  117. in Jesus's teaching. We talked about this a little bit last week. Jesus,

  118. why he was on earth, continued to talk about the Kingdom of God

  119. was coming, but it was not yet right. Even when he was before

  120. Pilot, are you of this world? Are you a king? He says,

  121. My kingdom is not of this world right, And his time had not

  122. yet come. And we heard that. So his disciples through those three years

  123. had been continue to look for this Kingdom of God that Jesus had talked about.

  124. And when Jesus died and he rose again and resurrected, Jesus is showing

  125. them now the Kingdom of God has come and the Kingdom of God was inaugurated

  126. through my death, barrel and resurrection. That is when the Kingdom of God

  127. began. See h God was a pastor and he wrote these words. He

  128. said, the Kingdom of God has conceived as a coming, as coming in

  129. the events of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And to

  130. proclaim these facts and their proper setting is to preach the gospel of the Kingdom

  131. of God. Why is this important? Why does he want them to understand

  132. that? Because he'd been teaching for three years throughout all of Galilee, all

  133. of Jerusalem, to Samaria, to all these different places that the Kingdom of

  134. God was coming, and he was leading Israel and people to anticipate this Kingdom

  135. of God was coming. And now he's saying, listen to Kingdom of God

  136. has come, and it came through me. It came from me, living

  137. and dying and raising again. So now, disciples, you need to go

  138. and proclaim throughout all these regions that the Kingdom of God has come. And

  139. who brought the Kingdom of God. His name is Jesus, and he lived

  140. and died and rose again. So it's very important that they understand that the

  141. Kingdom of God, which theology would tell us that it was the Church aid

  142. had begun through the death bearer resurrection of Jesus Christ. So that was the

  143. key lessons up for Jesus. But there's a command here that Jesus has for

  144. them. So in verse three it says that they were and he was forty

  145. days and he's speaking about the Kingdom of God. And verse four it says,

  146. and while he was staying with them, he ordered them not to depart

  147. from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. So you

  148. see this imagery. So there's this lesson he was teaching about the Kingdom of

  149. God. Verse four tells us that he ordered them. Now, scripture says

  150. he ordered them to do what he ordered them not to depart for Jerusalem,

  151. say ordered them to say, So you see this really imagery of this command

  152. he and what was why do he want them to stay in Jerusalem? Well,

  153. scripture says he ordered them to not depart from Jerusalem. But what but

  154. to wait to wait for? What? To wait for the promise Holy Spirit.

  155. In the Old Testament, in a prophet, a lord of minor prophet

  156. called Joel. In Joel chapter two, verses twenty through thirty two. There

  157. was this promise of the Old Testament of the prophet named Joel about this Holy

  158. Spirit that would come. And this is how Joel would describe it in his

  159. book. He would say, and it shall come to pass afterward that I

  160. will pour out my spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters,

  161. they shall prophesied. Old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall

  162. see visions, and on every male and female servant. And in those days

  163. I will pour out my spirit. Listen to what verse thirty says, and

  164. I'll show wonders in heaven and on earth. The blood and fire comes and

  165. smoke, and the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon to blood.

  166. And so before there's great an awesome day, the Lord's coming verse thirty

  167. two. It shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of

  168. the Lord shall be saved. So Joel described and prophesied in the Old Testament

  169. that this Holy Spirit of God would come upon and there would be a widespread

  170. movement of the Holy Spirit. And what were the signs of that there would

  171. be an outpouring of God. But it would be an outpouring of salvation.

  172. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord would be saved. Everyone,

  173. meaning Jews and Gentiles, people from all tribes and all lands would be saved

  174. through the outpouring of this Holy Spirit. This was a promise of the Old

  175. Testament, but it was also a promise in the New Testament. There was

  176. another prophet by the name of John the Baptists, and when he saw Jesus's

  177. coming, he prophesied and says he is talking about his baptized. He says,

  178. I baptized with water. But there's one who's coming after me, who

  179. sentdles. I cannot are worthy to untie who will baptize you with what the

  180. Holy Spirit? And so Jesus listen to the words here in verse four,

  181. Jesus taking the words of John the Baptists, and by the way Jesus had

  182. taught on, the Holy Spirit was coming. He said, and we're gonna

  183. look at that a little bit. On fourteen he told his ziples, I

  184. pray that the Father will give you a helper, and we're going to look

  185. at it that in a little bit. But Jesus in verse five, he

  186. is quoting John to badness. He's using the illusion of John the baptist.

  187. And he says this for John, the baptize with water. What did John

  188. say, for I baptized with water, But one who's coming after me will

  189. baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is alluding to those words, and

  190. this is what he says, for John baptized with water, But you'll be

  191. baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So Jesus commands them,

  192. wait for the Holy Spirit. Wait for the Holy Spirit. You've heard

  193. about him. He's coming. Wait for it. That was the command there,

  194. wait for the Holy Spirit. Now the word holy Spirit. And by

  195. the way, and I mentioned this earlier. In John fourteen, Jesus would

  196. pray for the Holy Spirit to come upon the believers, and he would say

  197. these words in John fourteen sixteen, I will ask the Father, He'll give

  198. you another helper to be with you forever. For even the Spirit of the

  199. truth of the world cannot receive because they neither see him or know him.

  200. But you know with him, and he dwells with you, and he'll be

  201. with he'll be in you. So he describes that he asked the Father to

  202. give believers a helper. That word helper, there's u parlack cleck. I

  203. think it's how you say that, and it's the idea of someone who provides

  204. aid or relief. And then script sure, this helper is God. It's

  205. God who gives the believer help some thirty ten, says Old Lord. Here,

  206. Old Lord, and be merciful to me, Old Lord, be my

  207. helper. You know, when I was I was thinking about this message and

  208. prepared, and I thought about Caroline that she loves it when I used her

  209. as an illustration. But when she was a little she was and I know

  210. I shared this a little bit before with you, but she was let's just

  211. say, a little strong, wild and um, she was probably three or

  212. four, and you would try to help her do something and she said,

  213. I do it myself. I do it myself, you know. And it

  214. would, you know, trying to I do it myself. You know,

  215. you wanted she was trying to do something, and she would be couldn't do

  216. it. I do it myself. You know. She put a little look

  217. at you know, and so but you know, I'm sure at three,

  218. you know, she could pick up her toys. You know, at three,

  219. she could feed herself. At three, she could walk, you know,

  220. at three she definitely could talk, but she could not reach the counter

  221. right, She could not make her food, she could not drive, thank

  222. the Lord, she could not read. There was limits to what she could

  223. do. You know, but we are a lot like Caroline, right,

  224. and that spiritually we want to do things ourselves. Spiritually, we want to

  225. battle sin ourselves. Spiritually, will want to overcome pain in this life ourselves.

  226. Spiritually we want to overcome grief ourself. And spiritually is things that reality

  227. is. Hear me, you cannot do on your own. Now you may

  228. be like Caroline and you say to God, I'll do it myself. God,

  229. I've got this sin under control, or God, I've got this grief

  230. under control, or God, I can handle the bitterness that's in me,

  231. or God I can handle the pain that's in me, or God I can

  232. handle that difficult relationship that I'm trying to struggle with, or God I can

  233. handle the problems at work, or I can be in so beautifully described or

  234. testimony times what she struggled with trying to do things on her own. We

  235. all at times want to say to God, I do it myself. But

  236. his word, his command to his disciples, is what wait for the Holy

  237. Spirit. I what I prayed that God would send you what a helper that

  238. you don't have to do it yourself. But I want to endwell you with

  239. the power of the Holy Spirit, to be able to overcome and do things

  240. spiritually that you cannot do in and of yourself. And Paul would say this

  241. in scripture. He says in five sixteen of Glaciers. But I say,

  242. walk in the spirit. Do not gratify the desires of the flesh for the

  243. desires of the flesh, or against the spirit. Desires of the flesh,

  244. or against the spirit. These oppose each other and to keep you from doing

  245. the things that you want to do. But if you're led by the spirit,

  246. you're not under the law. Paul would say, listen, walk through

  247. the Holy Spirit. Walk in the Holy Spirit. Don't walk in the power

  248. of your own flesh. He says his disciples, Listen. I know you

  249. think you can do this without me. I know you think after I a

  250. sin, that you can handle everything that's going to come your way. But

  251. I am telling you, disciples, wait for the Holy Spirit. Can I

  252. say There's there's many of you here today, and you may think that I've

  253. got my life under control. I can handle my life. I can handle

  254. the sin. I can handle all these things. And the Lord is saying

  255. to you today, spiritually you're a mess. And the reason why you're a

  256. mess is because you're trying to do take care of your own spiritual life,

  257. your own life in and of your own power, and you're trying to do

  258. it yourself, and you are in a mess. When will you finally listen

  259. to say to my commands of wait on the hoy Spirit, walking the Holy

  260. Spirit. I've given you a helper. You don't have to do it on

  261. your own. You know, there are this temptation of not waiting on the

  262. spirit and not resting or walking in the spirit. But there's also a temptation

  263. to to to share the gospel in their own strength for the disciples. But

  264. there's a there's another temptation, and that's a temptation not to do something because

  265. we don't believe we can do it right. You know, there's this idea

  266. of Okay, I can handle my sin, and I can I can I

  267. can do that by myself. I can handle the grief, I can handle

  268. the bitterness. I can handle some relationship problems. I can do that myself.

  269. But Lord for you to for me to share the gospel. Uh,

  270. yeah, I can't do that. Okay. I can handle my sin and

  271. I can handle relation. And just by the way, doesn't that seem a

  272. little opposite, like that seems like something wrong with that? We can tell

  273. God we can handle the most difficult things like sin and bitterness and anger and

  274. pain. We can do that ourselves, right, But the the easier things

  275. about sharing the gospel we won't do. Right. But that's what we do.

  276. We we for for there's this temptation in us that we'll try to do

  277. things we can't do. But the very things that God wants us to do

  278. that we can do, we say, we can't do that. Right.

  279. I can handle the sin, I can handle these things, but God,

  280. I cannot share the gospel of someone I can do that. I can't share

  281. with my lost loved one or my lost family member or that lost co worker

  282. or that lost neighbor or that lost person at the gas station or at walm

  283. or at the restaurant. I can't share. I cannot do that. And

  284. what will we say? I don't have the power to do that. And

  285. we say, if I do that, I'll make a mess I've shared with

  286. you many times about how I like to work on cars, and that's something

  287. I just started a few years ago, probably about ten years ago. And

  288. for a long long time most of my life up I would not work on

  289. a car, or maybe change the oil and do a few things, but

  290. anything beyond that I would not do. And a lot of it is because

  291. I felt like I didn't have the knowledge of the ability, and if I

  292. did it, I would make a mess, like I would break the car,

  293. I would make things worse for the car. So I just would not

  294. do it. There wasn't and so it wasn't until I went to Olive Grove.

  295. And when I was Alive Grove, there was a deacon there and his

  296. name was Fred Bratcher, and Fred was a mechanic in the Guard. And

  297. I told Fred I'd really like to learn, and so we went to his

  298. garage and with Fred's help, he showed me how to do different things.

  299. And now there, with that helper with me, I had I gained the

  300. confidence that I can do that. See here for you today, there's many

  301. of people say, you know why I can't share the gospel, And I

  302. really believe the disciple has also had some hesitancy. I think they believed they

  303. could do a lot of things on their own, but I think there would

  304. be times where they says, Lord, I don't know if I can do

  305. that. And Lord was saying, listen, wait on the Holy Spirit.

  306. I'm going to send you a helper who's going to give you what you need.

  307. In those moments. In Mark thirteen ten through eleven, he says,

  308. in the Gospel must be first proclaimed to all the nations, and when they

  309. bring you to a trial and deliver you over, don't be anxious beforehand what

  310. you are to say, but say whatever it's given to you in that hour,

  311. for it's not you to speak, but the Holy Spirit who speaks.

  312. I think the Lord knew that for the disciples, there are going to be

  313. some things that they try to do on their own power. But then there

  314. also be some things that they would say, you know what, Lord,

  315. we don't want to do that. And the Lord was saying in both moments,

  316. I've got a helper for you. I've got a helper to help you

  317. through the difficult things in your life, but also have a helper to help

  318. you share the gospel that in his power he will give you the words that

  319. you need to say. You know the biggest reason why we don't share the

  320. Gospel's fear, isn't it. We fear rejection, We fear that will mess

  321. it up. But Jesus is saying there's no reason to fear in this passage

  322. of scripture, Disciple, Why because the Lord gave you an helper, a

  323. helper, the Holy Spirit, and he will give you what you need in

  324. that moment to share. You're not alone. The Holy Spirit is with you.

  325. I wonder today, spiritually, what are you trying to handle yourself?

  326. What bitterness are you trying to handle yourself? What grief are you trying to

  327. handle yourself? What pain are you trying to handle yourself? Jesus asked the

  328. Holy Spirit to give you a helper, that Holy Spirit, helper God gave

  329. for you that He might do in you what you cannot do in and on

  330. your own strength. Grief, pain, suffering, sorrow, guilt, shame,

  331. sin. God's given you a helper to help you overcome the those things.

  332. How are you waiting on that Holy Spirit? How are you trusting in

  333. the Holy Spirit? How many of you maybe here today says you feel like

  334. Lord, I've made a mess with my life. There's no way I can

  335. really share the Gospel with the mess I've made with my life. No way

  336. I can do that. Jesus has said to you today, and not only

  337. will I help you with the trouble in your life, but I'll help you

  338. with sharing the Gospel. I'll give you what you need. Do not fear

  339. trust in the helper. Won't you see what else Jesus does here? Who

  340. tells someone to wait for the Holy Spirit? But why don't you see what

  341. else he says here in this passage? Pick up with me. In verse

  342. six, he say one day had come together they were asking him, Lord,

  343. will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Visual? When he said

  344. to them, it's not for you to know the time or the seasons.

  345. That the Father is fixed by his own authority. So in verse six you

  346. can imagine Jesus forty days is told on the Kingdom of God. So the

  347. Kingdom of God is a big subject of conversation for those forty days. One

  348. aspect of the unto they understood the Kingdom of God was was this They expected

  349. a military and political reign of Christ. And so in this verse six they're

  350. asking about that Okay, you said the Kingdom of God has come inaugurated from

  351. your death burying resurrection. Well, we'll tell us when you're going to set

  352. up this political and this military reign. Um, so they expect that that

  353. it would be a part of Jesus's reign on Earth. In verse seven,

  354. he basically says to them, and just the most direct way I can say

  355. to them, he basically says to them, that's none of your business.

  356. I mean, that's basically what he says. He says in verse seven,

  357. it's not for you to know the times of a season. This is basically

  358. none of It's not for you to know. Um, it's none of your

  359. business. You don't it's not for you to know the time or season that

  360. the Father is fixed by his own authority. SE's really saying, listen,

  361. you really want in your mind when you think about the Kingdom of God,

  362. and what do you think it like that you wanted to be? Like you

  363. think about that, you really want this military and this political right and when

  364. is that going to happen? God, when you're going to do that?

  365. And he says, really doesn't know your business, That's God's business. And

  366. so then in verse eight, He tells them what is to be their business,

  367. right, and this is what he says. He says in verse eight,

  368. verse seven, this is not your business. This is God's a business.

  369. In Verse eight he says, but you will will see power when the

  370. Holy spirits come upon you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all

  371. Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. You know, he

  372. says to them, this political realm and this military power that you want Christ

  373. to reign on earth? And when will God come and write the wrongs and

  374. make this a just world and clear it all the mess in this world?

  375. When will God do that? And many of you have those questions today.

  376. You watch the news and you see the crime, you see the social injustices

  377. throughout our world. You see all the poverty, you see just all kinds

  378. of trouble throughout our world. And you say, Lord, when how much

  379. longer is our world going to get to this? How much longer before you

  380. come and right the wrongs? And you can get so up involved in your

  381. life trying to figure out when is God going to fix this, that you

  382. lose sight of what is the main thing. Scripture would say Jesus would say

  383. to you, as he said to them, that's God's business, and he

  384. will come when it's time for him to come, and he will right the

  385. wrongs. But it's not for you to figure out. So what is to

  386. be your business When Jesus says your business is this, their business is this,

  387. You will be my witnesses, disciples. What your business is after I'm

  388. going is not how you can establish the political reign on Christ, how you

  389. can get involved in politics, and how you can fix this world, or

  390. how you can get a military army and fix this world. Your business is

  391. that you are are to be my witnesses. You're to go and they to

  392. all the kings of the earth and tell him the Kingdom of God has come.

  393. That is your business. It was the business of the Old Testament prophets

  394. who would tell Israel, the people of God, then you will be my

  395. witnesses, declares the Lord Isaiah forty three ten. This was God's word to

  396. the people of Israel. Israel, you are my people, and the reason

  397. why you're my people you were to be my witnesses. Israel had failed at

  398. that, And now he comes to the church, his people and the disciples

  399. who would start and lead the church, and he would say to them,

  400. listen to this. He uses the same terms that I do not think Jesus

  401. is doing that by chance. I believe Jesus is using those words and quoting

  402. Isaiah. And he says, now to disciples Israel failed, it's now what

  403. to you. You will be my witnesses now and now listen what he says.

  404. And I've got to be fast here. Where would they be witnesses?

  405. You will receee power in the Holy Spirit come upon you. So listen.

  406. You're not doing this on your own. You have a helper who's going to

  407. help you do this in this mission. And he says, you will be

  408. my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth.

  409. Where were they going, Where were they to be these witnesses. Jerusalem is

  410. seen as their local community. That's where they lived, that's where they lived

  411. at the time. He says, you're to be my witnesses locally. He

  412. also goes further than that. He says, not just locally, but but

  413. you need you need to be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria. That's a

  414. national level for them, that was within the nation of Israel, Judea and

  415. Samaria, and He's saying, listen, you need to share the gospel locally

  416. in your community, but you also need to share the gospel. You need

  417. to be my witnesses nationally within your your country. And I would say,

  418. listen, God's called you, and you're a business. Every individual here,

  419. every this church here, God's our business needs to be about being a witness

  420. for Jesus right here in the community to Bethesda, right here in Durham County.

  421. But it goes beyond that, right here in the state of North Carolina.

  422. That God's called us to be witnesses in United States, and we need

  423. to be active about going nationally in our country and say, how are we

  424. sharing the gospel in our world in our country. But it doesn't end there.

  425. Listen to this in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth

  426. and to the ends of the Earth's internationally, they were to share the gospel

  427. with people in Egypt, in Rome, that Paul would go and share the

  428. gospel. And in all these different countries Paul would take the gospel to and

  429. we as believers, as we as a church, we need to be about

  430. Jesus's business, and that is to be his witness that the Kingdom of God

  431. has come. And we need to tell people in beth Asda, we need

  432. to tell people in Durham, we need to tell people in United States.

  433. But we need to go to places like Georgia. We need to go to

  434. places like Mexico this summer, to Tanzania. We need to take the Gospel

  435. and be witnesses to the ends of the earth. I heard a story of

  436. Hudson Taylor. Huston's Taylor was one of the first missionaries, and he told

  437. of a Chinese pastor. He'll always instruct the new converts the witness as soon

  438. as possible, he says. Once you meet a young convert, the pastor

  439. said, how long before you have they been saved? That you he acquired?

  440. He said, brother, he talked. The pastor was talking to a

  441. young convert and a young believers. How long have you been saved? And

  442. the man answered that he'd been saved about three months. This is what the

  443. pastor said to him. How many of you won to the Savior. The

  444. young believer says, whoa, I'm only a learner, shaking his head as

  445. in disapproval. The pastor says, young man, Lord doesn't expect you to

  446. be a full fled preacher. But he doesn't expect but he doesn't expect you

  447. to be a faithful witness. Tell me, now, listen to this.

  448. When does the candle begin to shine when it's halfway burned up? No,

  449. as soon as it's lit. That's right. Let your light shine right away.

  450. Can I say to you believers here today, what are you waiting on?

  451. God's given you a helper. You say, I'll make a mess of

  452. it. You're right, you'd make a mess of it. That's why God

  453. gave you a spirit. That's why God gave you a holy spirit. And

  454. in those hours he will give you what you need. Will you say,

  455. Father, I'll trust your Holy Spirit, and Father, I'll be your witness.

  456. I'll wait on your spirit and I'll be your witness. I wonder today,

  457. have you lost your calling about being a witness? How will you be

  458. a witness at work, at school, at the store, at the restaurant.

  459. How will you be a witness in the United States? And how will

  460. you be a witness internationally? God's called us all to be a witness.

  461. I'm going to ask Brandy and Chloe and Carolina Schole to come and sing a

  462. song. And we asked them to do this at this point just because this

  463. message of this song, I think is just the message of this passage.

  464. So listen to the words of this passage, I mean of this song,

  465. and then we'll come back and have an invitation. See my hands and looking.

  466. It's okay. If it's hard to believe, I have faith you'll do

  467. great things. It's my time to go. But before I live, God,

  468. tell the world about me. I was never Now I've gotta gone now

  469. for a little wild, but good bye. It is not being o forget

  470. the things that I hard. You I've conquered, and I thought, please,

  471. where I go, you go to someday this much? Did you here

  472. before you leave? So go tell the world about me. I was there

  473. and now I gotta go. Now more wild, but goodbye is the need

  474. of the journey, the end of the road. My spirit is with you

  475. where I have gone. You have a purpose and I have been. I'll

  476. make you this promise. I'll come. I'm back again. Until then,

  477. go tell the world about me. I was deavin now live. I've gotta

  478. gone out for a little wild. Goodbye. Is not the go tell him

  479. about me. I've gotta go for the wild. A good bye is not the a