Acts 1:1-14: The Mission Jesus Gave Us

Father, your word is a marvel.

You write parts of scripture that are so simple that a two-year-old can understand them and

remember them.

And yet those same simple stories that even a two-year-old can understand, Father, they

can inspire the greatest philosophers, the greatest theoreticians, the greatest poets

and dancers and choreographers and musicians to heights of imagination.

And these simple stories can ground us in profound moral wisdom and insights, and, Father,

all from very, very simple stories.

So we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would do a gentle but powerful work in our lives

this morning.

Father, I don't want people to remember my words.

I ask, Father, that these simple words of scripture will come deep into all of our hearts and that

Jesus will be more precious to us and what he did for us on the cross will be more precious

for us and that you will change us from the inside out.

And I ask this in Jesus's name.

Amen.

Please be seated.

The resurrection changes everything.

The resurrection of Jesus changes absolutely everything.

If it really happened.

If it didn't happen, every single one of us are profoundly, foolishly wasting our time and

our money.

Quite literally.

If Jesus did not physically rise from the dead on the third day, every single one of us are

wasting our time.

If you're here as a curious seeker, you're wasting your time.

If you're here as a seasoned believer, you and I have been wasting our time for a long time.

But if it is true, it changes absolutely everything.

If it's true, it means that Hinduism isn't right in its totality.

But we have a basis by which we can look and see what bits and pieces of Hinduism are true.

If the resurrection actually happened, it means that Buddhism's not true.

But it means that we can look at the practice of Buddhism and pick out the bits and pieces

that are true.

If the resurrection happened, it means that Islam isn't true at a fundamental level.

And we can look and judge which bits and pieces of Islam are true.

If the resurrection happened, it means that critical race theory isn't true.

But we have a basis to look at those bits and pieces of critical race theory that are true.

If the resurrection happened, it means agnosticism and atheism are not true.

They're just not true.

But we can look and see those bits and pieces that led people to those conclusions, which bits

and pieces are true.

And it's not just...

And it's more.

It means that our understanding of scientific theorems is going to change.

It means how we read, like, the first and second law of thermodynamics has to change.

Like, if the resurrection happened, it changes absolutely everything.

And it's not just, though...

It's not just, though, that it changes something just, you know, purely and utterly, like those

intellectual types of things.

And some of you are yawning and saying...

I mean, some of you may be shocked that I would say something like that live in Ottawa

in 2023, and it's going to go on YouTube.

And are maybe even a little bit threatened that I would say that.

But it's just true.

If Jesus really rose from the dead, it changes everything.

And it's not just that Jesus rose from the dead.

It's what happened before Jesus rose from the dead that makes it even more precious,

that it's not just an intellectual thing.

And, I mean, Deborah picked brilliant songs that help to illustrate how unbelievably significant

it is.

Because, you see, the message that we are to proclaim is that God so loved every single

one of you and me.

He loved us.

God loved us.

And he saw that we couldn't fix ourselves, and that we were going to die, and that we

were in desperate need.

And he did something for us that we could not do for ourselves.

And it means that God, the Son of God, left heaven, setting aside his glory and divine

prerogatives, and setting aside all of his appearance as God.

He enters our human life.

He is no longer God who is distant.

He is Emmanuel.

He was God with us.

He lives amongst us.

He suffers trials and temptations like we do, only without sin.

He lives the life that we should live, but we are never able to live.

And he lives that life.

And he's fulfilling all of these stories and all of these prophecies and all of these

images that God has sent messengers about for 1,500, 2,000 years.

And he's fulfilling them.

And many of these images touch on the very, very deepest longings and yearnings of our

hearts, that death is not the final word.

That there is a way to be reconciled to ourselves and to know forgiveness and to know that we

are forgiven by God.

And these intimations we have when we see beauty, and we think when we see beauty, there must

be something no more.

And Jesus comes.

And in all that context, when he dies upon the cross, he's not dying for anything that

he has done.

And he's not dying to show off.

It's not like he's going to try to win a mixed martial arts contest or an Olympic medal or

anything like that.

The message is that he does it for you and me because he loves you.

And he loves me.

And that's why he dies.

Because he loves you.

And it means, and then he dies.

He dies the death that you and I deserve to offer you and me the destiny and the rewards

that we don't deserve, but he deserves.

And when we put our hand in his and trust him, he takes our doom and gives us his promise.

Because he loves you.

He knows you and he still loves you.

He knows the things about you that you're ashamed of.

And still he loves you and loved you enough to die on you.

And there's no amount of sin or death or shame that is too deep that Jesus did not go deeper

in his identification and is dying for you.

And the resurrection of Jesus vindicates that all of what I have just said is completely

and utterly true.

So that it's not just a matter of, okay, now we know that critical race theory is a bit,

is wrong in all these areas.

We can think of, it's not just that.

It is that, but it's not just that.

It's something of the deepest level of our heart and our affections and our,

and how we can start to view ourselves and how we can start to understand that we don't

own ourselves, but that one who loved us so much that he died for us, he owns us.

He doesn't own us so that we can become slaves, but because for the, so he owns us and dies

for us because now we can actually start to become free and unashamed.

And, and so if the resurrection happened, it changes everything.

Now I'm going to read the Bible.

It's going to show you how all this is true.

And, and some of you say, well, George, that's fine.

You read the Bible and you believe that all stuff, but I don't believe all of that stuff.

And I just want to, I just, that that's fair enough.

I'm going to tell you why you should at least listen to what I'm going to read,

but let's read it first because you have to read it to understand at least why we have

to take it into account and how it fits with what I've just borne testimony to.

So if you, if you have, look at Acts chapter one and look how it begins.

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.

Now we just need to pause.

It says there's a first book.

This is the second book.

Now here, if you have your Bibles, you can follow along.

If you don't have your Bibles, it's going to be on the screen.

What's his first book?

Well, his first book is what we now call Luke.

And, and here's how Luke begins.

In as much, chapter one, verse one,

in as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished

amongst us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word

have delivered them, sorry, to deliver them to us.

Seemed good to me.

Seemed good to me also.

So, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you,

most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things that you have been taught.

Now, here's just a couple of things about that.

It's, you'll notice in a moment when we go back to it, he's speaking to the same Theophilus.

He wrote Luke, this guy by the name of Luke wrote two books.

So, a couple of things about this, and this all goes to why or not we should, in fact,

listen to this and at least think about it.

First of all, Theophilus, we don't, nobody knows whether Theophilus was a real person,

but it's really neat because even if he was a real person,

it's all part of what I would say as a Christian is part of God's providence,

that he didn't pick somebody whose, I don't know, name meant all hail Zeus or something like that.

In fact, the Theophilus means, it can be translated as one of two ways in English,

friend of God or lover of God.

And so, many people think, I mean, whether or not there was a real person,

now in a sense, it's addressing, it's like some people write, when they write, they say,

dear reader.

But rather than saying reader, they say, dear friend of God, dear lover of God.

Now, does this mean that he doesn't want to address skeptics? Not at all.

One of the things I tell, I don't always do it,

but often I tell people when I'm doing a wedding rehearsal,

is I tell the men and the women involved, I say,

we're going to pretend for the next 45 minutes.

And so, what we're going to see is we're all going to be using very polite language to each other

and a very exalting language to each other.

And on one level, you might actually not feel that way towards some of the people,

like, you know, there might be family members who are there and you hate their guts

and all of that type of stuff.

But we're going to act formal and polite in a way that's sort of good and proper,

the way you should act, right?

And so, that's the same type of thing here that Luke is doing.

He's writing it to the friend and lover of God.

He's giving you, he's not saying, by the way, I know some of you are deranged skeptics

who rage against God for irrational reasons like a brutish beast.

I mean, he could say that, but he doesn't.

Instead, he says what we do at wedding ceremonies and other things.

He uses very polite language.

And this book is addressed to a lover of God, a friend of God.

That's who it is who's reading it.

But the other thing about it is you need to know a couple of other things about this,

which are very significant, is that, first of all, Luke was a pagan who became a Christian.

We don't know how many years after death and resurrection of Jesus,

but Luke was not an eyewitness of anything that happened with Jesus.

When you read the ancient biography written by John and Matthew,

you're reading an ancient biography, eyewitness, written by actual literal eyewitnesses.

And Mark would have been an eyewitness of some of the events, but not all of them.

But Luke didn't see any of them.

In some ways, then, when we read Luke and Acts, it's like us reading them,

because none of us have literally seen Jesus do all of these types of miracles.

The other thing is, and no matter what, if you go and Google this later on,

and they'll give you all sorts of dating things about Luke.

And I, you know, basically...

Go ahead, George.

Tell us what you really think.

Basically, if they give you really late dates, they're just blowing smoke at you.

Because, trust me, I studied...

I took courses at a secular university, an ultra-liberal seminary

that didn't believe anything in the Bible happened.

I heard from the horse's mouth how they think,

and there's actually no evidence for late dates.

In fact, all of the actual evidence,

like stuff that people really think of as evidence, like real stuff,

it would say...

We know that Paul died.

He was arrested in Rome in 62 AD.

We know that historically that that's the case,

and he died a couple of years later.

And so we know that the book of Acts was written before Paul died,

because it ends, if you go to the end of it,

it ends before we find out what happens to Paul.

He's just arrived in Rome to be tried by Nero,

and we don't find out what happened.

So we know that the book of Acts and Luke had to be written before that.

And the other thing, of course,

is that it had to be written before the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70.

So, you know, maybe nobody knows

whether he sat down and wrote Luke in a couple of days,

and then the next day he wrote, you know, the next book and did it all quick,

or whether there's a big gap of time.

But we know that within...

that what Luke did is he, in a sense,

probably retraced his own intellectual steps,

that he would have heard this phenomenal claim

that a man died an unbelievably shameful death of crucifixion

and then rose from the dead on the third day.

And he's a doctor.

Luke was a doctor.

We know that about him.

And so he probably began to research it

and talk to the eyewitnesses

and go and actually see the things

and recount the stories.

And so what we have here in this ancient biography

by a former pagan who was so convinced by the evidence

that he left paganism and became a Christian,

and he writes a careful eyewitness-based biography of Jesus

and then a careful eyewitness-based story

of the early days of the Christian movement.

And it all happened while many, many eyewitnesses were alive

and they could contradict it.

Now, there's two things that follow from this,

and they sound dry and unimportant,

but the fact of the matter is

is that Christians are concerned about evidence.

We aren't, like, properly understood, instructed Christians.

Don't just think you have to have some type of medical vision

or that you kiss your brains goodbye

when you become a Christian

or that it's just a matter of heart

or you're just like the little train that could, you know,

rather than saying, I will, I will, I will, I will do it.

We say, I believe, I believe.

No, it's not.

Those things are all fine, you know,

but there's, like, evidence and thinking matters.

And that just goes right back to books like Acts.

It's because it's, like, it's in the Bible.

And so...

If you're to be intellectually honest,

you need to deal with biographies like that,

and you need to fit it into what we know,

because there's all sorts of other evidence

around the early Christian movement

from historians who weren't Christians

and from court records and skeptics,

and you need to fit it all in.

And I just want to challenge you.

I'm not going to go through all of the evidence.

I just want to challenge you

that time and time and time again,

when people actually look at all of the evidence,

when they look at it very honestly,

there, it, to my mind,

it's very...

There is no explanation

of the emergence of the Christian movement

that is better,

that on the third day,

Jesus died upon a cross

in an unbelievably public manner

outside the gates of Jerusalem

on a Friday in April,

either the year 30 or April, 33,

and that on the third day,

the tomb was empty,

the body was gone,

and Jesus appeared alive,

and there is no other better explanation

of the facts than that.

And if you're online watching,

or you're here,

and you're sort of a bit curious,

or a skeptic,

or sitting here like that,

I challenge you to begin an inquiry.

I challenge you to do it.

I encourage you to do it.

Why?

Because if it's true,

it changes everything.

So, let's go back to the book of Acts,

and we'll see how, in fact,

just it continues on

with the same theme,

that even as Peter...

And so what we're getting here

is this very ancient recording

of sermons and deaths

and persecutions

and all of that,

and so there's this second aspect

of an eyewitness history,

which now Luke is writing

in the book of Acts.

So let's go back.

Chapter 1, verse 1.

By the way,

just so you know,

there's 14 verses.

I just spent 16 minutes

on the first verse,

so you can calculate

how long the sermon's going to be.

Just 14 times 16,

and you'll come up with the answer.

No, we'll go quicker

through some others.

In the first book, O Theophilus,

I have dealt with all

that Jesus began to do and teach

until the day when he was taken up.

He's sort of giving a bit of a foretaste.

He's talking about the ascension.

After he had given commands

through the Holy Spirit

to the apostles whom he had chosen,

Jesus presented himself alive to them

after his suffering,

that's after his crucifixion,

by many proofs.

And in the original language,

you could actually translate it

and some translations do put

many convincing proofs.

And we're going to show in a moment

how one of the convincing proofs were.

Appearing to them during 40 days

and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Verse 4.

And while staying with them,

he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem.

Now, just before we go any further,

if you're looking at some other translations,

you'll see that in some translations,

they say,

and while eating with them.

Both translations are valid.

Staying is a little bit more literal.

But let's just think about it.

Let's just be honest.

Unless somebody comes to your door to visit you,

and you really, really, really dislike them,

and can't wait for them to go,

what do you offer them?

Something to drink and eat.

And if they're coming overnight,

you don't say to them,

by the way,

I've already organized my own supper

and dessert and breakfast,

but here's a number for Uber Eats,

and you can order your own food.

Like, that's not what you do.

Like, when you're staying with them,

you give them stuff to eat.

Like, that's what people do.

And we're not nearly as hospitable.

Some of you are from countries

other than Canada,

and I can tell you,

like, if you go to Africa,

they are vastly more hospitable than we are.

And in many other parts of the world,

they're vastly more hospitable than we are.

So it's staying and eating.

Now, why is that significant?

Well, here it is.

Some of you might know,

I've met people

who, within the months

after the death of their wife or their husband,

or maybe a child,

they're convinced that they've seen them again.

Like, sitting in their favorite chair.

I've met people who've said that.

Some of them have come to me

and asked me,

how do you,

like, George, what's going on?

Like, how do I account for it?

Like, is it just, you know,

wishful thinking?

Is it, was I tired?

Did I fall asleep when I dreamed it?

Like, is it a ghost?

Like, is it a demon?

Like, what's going on?

But many of us have,

many people have seen their loved one

maybe sitting in their favorite chair,

and it shocks them

because they know they died.

And that's sort of odd, right?

It would be really weird

if you saw them in their favorite chair,

and then you went into the kitchen to eat,

and then they sat down and ate with you.

Like, like they did just like

what they used to do.

You made yourself an order of French fries,

and they sat down across from you,

and they took your French fries

and started eating them.

Like, that would really freak you out.

Well, that's what,

you see what I mean by this is what they're making?

They're making this deep acclaim about the fact

that that's what these people believed.

And one of the things about the book of Luke

is that in some ways they didn't do footnotes,

is that lots of times throughout the book of Acts

and Luke he mentions names,

and in a sense those are the footnotes.

Luke is saying,

oh, go look up one of these guys.

They can tell you this actually happened.

And they were sitting with Jesus after he died

and risen from the dead,

and he ate with them.

I mean, he is alive.

He rose from the dead.

He ate with them.

In fact, actually,

if you just jump ahead to verses 12 to 14,

the next page,

you'll see that he does it again.

And here's how he does it.

So we're going to get to a moment

about the ascension and everything.

I'm not that that's unimportant,

but there's some other stuff that happens.

And so verse 12,

then they, that's the disciples,

they returned to Jerusalem

from the Mount called Olivet,

which is near Jerusalem,

a Sabbath day journey away.

A Sabbath day journey away

is a journey under three kilometers on the Sabbath.

So they didn't have a very far walk.

Verse 13,

and when they had entered,

they went,

Jerusalem that is,

they went up to the upper room

where they were staying.

And then it mentions

that the people by their names,

that Peter and John and James and Andrew,

Philip and Thomas,

Bartholomew and Matthew,

James,

the son of Alphaeus

and Simon,

the zealot

and Judas,

the son of James.

All these with one accord,

were devoting themselves to prayer.

Now look at this next bit.

Together with the women

and Mary,

the mother of Jesus

and his brothers and sisters.

Now,

if you've read

any one of the ancient biographies of Jesus,

what do you know

about the ancient biographies of Jesus?

Jesus,

that his mother and brothers and sisters

did not believe

that he was God,

the son of God,

and they did not,

they thought he had gone nuts.

And it's very clear

from the ancient biographies,

they thought Jesus had gone nuts.

And by the way,

obviously in those days,

they could not diagnose somebody

as bipolar,

but they still knew nuts.

Like,

you don't have to be a psychiatrist

to recognize crazy.

Okay?

And that's what they thought.

And now here,

here,

and we're going to see

as it goes on,

here,

they're amongst the group of people

who believe that Jesus

had risen from the dead.

See,

one of the things

that has obviously happened,

not recorded,

is that somewhere along the line,

during those 40 days,

Jesus appeared

and proved to himself

that he was alive

to his mother

and his brothers

and his sisters.

Proved to them he was alive.

And now they were

amongst the Christians.

You see,

regardless,

it's not just the fact

that I say this is the Bible

and I believe it

because it's the Bible,

but even if you don't want

to grant it that,

if you want to be

intellectually honest

and intellectually curious,

these are ancient

eyewitness biographies

and have to be taken

and you have to account

for them

and you have to account

for what Philo

and Josephus

and others say

about the Christian movement

and you have to account for it.

And the best explanation

is that Jesus rose

from the dead.

And if he rose

from the dead,

it vindicated

what he said

about himself

and what he was doing

when he died on the cross.

And if he really is God,

the Son of God,

and he really became

God with us,

and he really died

on the cross

because he loved you,

and if his death

is that which can reconcile

you to God

so that you become

God's child

by adoption and grace

and you receive the gift

of the Holy Spirit

and all of your sins

have been forgiven,

there is no better news

in the history

of the world.

No better news

in the history

of the world

than that news.

And part of why

we come to church

is because we go outside

and we watch YouTube

and we watch Netflix

and we read books

and we see people

who don't believe that

and it starts to become

less clear to our hearts

and that's why week by week

we need to gather

with other brothers

and sisters

to remind ourselves again

that this is true.

This is,

as we sang at Matt's ordination,

what is my hope

in life and death?

I have no other hope

in life and death

other than Jesus is with me

and that when I die

I will see him face to face

and enter into the new heaven

and the new earth.

I have no other hope

in life and death than that.

I have no other hope.

There is no other hope.

That is the good news.

Now,

the next little bit,

you know,

so I've just made

a good case for this,

I hope,

but I'll be very honest.

The next bit

actually describes

why I became a Christian.

And it wasn't because

of these clever

intellectual arguments.

I don't think they're clever.

I think they're,

I'm just trying to honest,

be honest intellectually

and it's not,

it wasn't these intellectual things

that led me personally

to a faith in Christ

when I was in grade 12.

This next little bit

describes why it is

in a sense

that I became a Christian.

Let's see what it says.

It's,

sorry,

we'll go back up

to verse four.

And while staying with them

and eating with them,

Jesus ordered them

not to depart from Jerusalem,

but to wait for the promise

of the Father,

which he said,

you heard from me

for John baptized with water,

but you will be baptized

with the Holy Spirit

not many days from now.

So,

when they had come together,

they asked him,

Lord,

will you at this time

restore the kingdom

to Israel?

Very,

they're still sort of caught up

in a wrong way

to understand the Old Testament.

And Jesus said to them,

it is not for you

to know the times

or seasons

that the Father

is fixed by his own authority.

In other words,

that's all,

you know,

God's gonna,

God handles all that.

You don't need to worry about it.

You know,

we need that more.

That's God's problem.

Let him worry about it.

You deal with these other things

in front of you.

Like,

it's like a Christian version

of Steve Covey's

Seven Habits

of Highly Effective People,

right?

And one of the very first things

is to separate the difference

between things you can control

and things you have no control over

and not waste time

about things you have no control over

and think about

what you can actually do.

That's what Jesus is saying.

Listen,

that's God's prerogative

about how history's gonna be changed.

Don't worry about it.

Here's what you have to do.

And then in verse 80,

he says this,

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 ends of the earth.

See those three things?

You see,

what happened to me is

I came face to face

with real Christians.

Maybe,

I think,

I'd obviously met

lots of real Christians before,

but I think for me,

the real Christians I met

were so caught up

in a whole pile of,

I'm probably being

very unfair to them

and in heaven,

God's gonna show me

that it was my hard heart

and I wasn't perceiving

them correctly.

But it just felt like

it was rule upon rule

upon rule,

do this,

don't do that,

you're not allowed

to do this,

you have to do this.

And that's what it felt.

And then I came into contact

with people

and when I was with them

and they were praying,

the whole room was different.

I didn't expect

to get teary.

The whole room was different.

Like I felt something.

And I knew there was something more.

It's the Holy Spirit at work.

And so it wasn't because

I'd done an intellectual search

into the resurrection.

Other intellectual searches

in the resurrection

became increasingly important

in the years to come

as I had other periods of doubt

and other reasons

to be more confident in my faith.

But it was just that

powerful sense

that it was,

there was another person

in the room

when I was with

those people praying.

And I knew I wanted it

and I needed it.

And that's what led me

to give my life to Christ.

And here we have

this wonderful words

of Jesus

which explains it.

You know,

he describes the Holy Spirit

as the promise

of the Father.

And it's a very special

type of promise.

When I was a kid

I was probably

a very, very terrible kid.

And my parents spanked me.

And I'm not complaining

about any of the spankings.

I probably deserved

every one of them.

But at a certain point in time

my mom would spank me

and it didn't hurt.

And when that happened

she'd say,

when she realized that,

then what would happen

is when your father

comes home

I am going to tell him.

It was a promise

she made to me

and I didn't.

That wasn't a promise

I look forward to.

But fortunately

my parents made

other promises

just like we make

other promises.

Like wonderful promises.

Like you're going to have

a great time

on your birthday.

You're going to have

a great time at Christmas.

And that's the type of promise

that God is talking about

to us as Christians.

That's what the Holy Spirit is.

Jesus is saying,

you know,

the Father has made

this most spectacular promise

to ordinary people

like you and me.

And that spectacular promise

it's the Holy Spirit.

And the Father

is going to send

the Holy Spirit.

I mean,

we get it when we

become Christians

but back then

it's going to be

Pentecost in 10 days

which we'll read about.

And you're going to have

this fantastic thing.

You put your trust in Jesus

and you receive

the promise of the Father.

It's the Holy Spirit.

And the image

of baptism

is an image

of immersion.

It's an image

of cleansing.

It's an image

of purifying.

That's what the Holy Spirit

is going to do with you.

And then he also says

it's going to give you

power to bear witness.

And there's this

wonderful,

wonderful thing.

You know,

we just ordained

Matt yesterday

and I'm not putting

Matt down.

We didn't look at Matt

and say,

he's so unbelievably

persuasive.

Like,

he could go to the Inuit

in the middle

of a blizzard

in January

and sell them

ice blocks.

like,

even though they could

go out and dig their own,

like,

he could just sell anything.

Like,

you know,

he could just sell anything.

He's so persuasive.

He can convince you

that it's pouring rain outside

even though you're

standing there in sunny.

Nothing personal.

Matt's not like that.

And in fact,

actually,

if he was like that,

he probably shouldn't

be ordained.

Because then he's only

going to trust

in his own power.

We have a very simple task.

On one level,

it's very,

very simple,

but it's also very,

very profoundly hard.

Because we know

that identifying yourself,

becoming an out Christian,

is not a way

to become more popular

and win more friends

in Ottawa in 2023.

But it's a very,

very simple thing.

God just says,

will you bear witness

to Jesus?

And I want you

to bear witness

to Jesus.

Look what it says.

It says,

in verse 8,

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 at the ends

of the earth.

In other words,

the true ancient movement

of diversity,

inclusion,

and equity

is this very simple message

of proclamation

to Jesus,

that we are to go

and bear witness

to Jesus

to the ends

of the earth.

All humanity

and its diversity

can be included

when they receive

Jesus as Savior

and Lord.

And why is it equity?

Because as Charles Spurgeon

so brilliantly said,

when you share

and witness

to another person,

you are one penniless beggar

telling another penniless beggar

where to get free bread.

That's all it is.

Don't say,

look at me,

I'm so fantastic.

No,

I'm a penniless beggar.

It's not about me,

it's about him.

He is the bread of life.

He is the river of life.

He is the one

who will quench your thirst.

It begins to be quenched now

and it will go on and on

and on into eternity

and you will be both,

your thirst will be quenched.

And,

and,

you know,

so we're not called

to be brilliant apologists.

If you are,

then praise God.

Brilliant evangelists,

if you are,

praise God.

God,

it's a matter of

God will open doors

and opportunities for you.

You should pray for it.

I should pray for it.

As a church,

we should pray for it

and there'll be opportunities

where we just bear witness

to who Jesus is

and why his life and death

and resurrection

changes everything

and how God loves you

and just,

it's just a matter

of bearing witness.

It could be something

as simple to begin with

that Tuesday

when you go to work

and they say,

oh,

by the way,

what did you do

on the weekend?

And you say,

like,

rather than saying,

oh,

I went to hear a talk,

say,

I went to church.

Like,

it's really important

for me to go

and recharge my batteries

and hear about

God's love for me.

Like,

that's just how

bearing witness

to Jesus begins.

and it's an interesting thing

because it's a team sport.

Like,

you know,

if three days later

somebody comes back

and says,

I have all these

intellectual objections

and you think,

ah,

you're a deer in a headlight.

That's when you just say,

listen,

we have guys like George

and Victor

and lots of other people

in the church

and they'd love to talk to you

about those things.

Like,

why didn't you come?

They'll even probably

pay for the coffee

and you can come

and ask them these questions

and they'd love to talk to you.

You know,

it could be Josiah,

it could be Emma.

There's lots of people

who'd love to talk to you

about those things.

Handle your questions.

We think questions are important.

It's a team sport.

It's a team thing.

You just,

all Jesus is asking,

he said,

we're giving you,

I'm giving you the Holy Spirit,

cleansing you

and to be my witnesses.

And then there's just

one other final thing

very briefly in closing.

It's a whole other,

big books are written on it,

but Luke makes clear

that the resurrection appearances

of Jesus would come to an end,

but in a very significant way.

Let's look at them first.

A guy was asking me,

like,

what happened to Jesus

the other day

and why didn't he keep

doing miracles?

And I said,

well,

we're told he didn't want to hear.

But anyway,

you can hear.

Here's what it says.

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.

That's beside the 11.

And said,

men of Galilee,

they're angels,

by the way.

And they said,

men of Galilee,

in other words,

like ordinary dudes.

That's what men of Galilee means.

Like Galilee is like Hicksville.

Okay?

It doesn't say

men of Oxbridge

and Harvard.

No,

it's just,

you know,

dudes from the valley.

You know,

Hicks types.

People who,

like Tim Hortons,

not fancy coffees,

and follow the senators

and stuff like that,

and know how to fix an engine.

Or even if they don't know

how to fix an engine,

know somebody who does,

and they buy them

the Tim Hortons double-double,

why they fix the engine.

And you say,

well done.

So that's why he says,

men of Galilee,

why do you stand

looking into heaven?

This Jesus

who was taken up

from you into heaven,

he will come

in the same way

as you saw him

go into heaven.

And there's just

so much about this,

like there's

this symbolism.

Remember,

I opened my prayer

by saying,

this is on one level

the simplest story

in the world.

You could read this story

to two and a half year old,

and they'll get it.

But you can take

a story like that,

and you know,

you can read some guys,

just Pajot,

and talks about symbolism

and the body

and nature,

and you can have

all these creative types,

and they can just see

all the symbolism

of all of this

and the poetry

and the beauty

and philosophers

and metaphysics,

and they can get it

and science,

all that,

and yet at the same time,

it's just a very,

very simple story.

And my hope is that

you've heard the story,

you believe the story,

and you believe him.

That's my hope.

Let's stand.

Bow our heads in prayer.

Let's stand.

Father,

we live

between the death

and resurrection

and ascension of Jesus

and his coming again.

And we know

from other parts

of the Bible,

we, Father,

don't know

whether Jesus

will return

in five minutes.

We hope he does.

That would be

far better.

than having more church.

We hope he does,

but we also don't know

if he's going to wait

for 500 years.

But we live,

Father,

knowing that he lived,

he loved us,

died loving us,

rose from the dead

loving us,

ascended into heaven,

he loves us,

he is there,

our risen Savior and Lord.

You are sovereign

over all history.

Apple doesn't control history.

Progressives don't control history.

Conservatives don't control history.

Capitalists don't control history.

Socialists and fascists

don't control history.

You control history.

You will bring it

to its proper end.

We live between

his ascension

and his coming again.

And we ask,

Father,

that you have

these simple

but powerful

true stories

of Jesus

and the gospel

take a deep hold

in our heart

and our mind

and our imagination

and how we understand

ourselves

and see the world.

And, Father,

we ask

that the Holy Spirit

would have

a deeper power

and place in our lives

and that you would help

ordinary people like us,

also men of Galilee,

that you would help

ordinary people like us

bear witness to Jesus

as you do

the wonderful work

of conversion.

And we ask these things

in the name of Jesus,

your Son

and our Savior

and all God's people said,

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.