The Risen Jesus At Work | Myles Holmes

Thank you, Adam.

Trust that many of you will be blessed as we dig deeper into God's word.

Another thing I want to mention just before we get into our sermon this morning is that if you were here with us last week, you heard the news, maybe you received an email over this past week that we are moving on October 4th.

Our first Sunday will be at King Christian School, which is in East Willenbury, just a bit farther than the Kitty Corner of Newmarket.

We are the same church, we have the same mission.

God has given us a new location and a new tool.

And as we've talked about this move, if you missed it last week, we spent a significant amount of time really explaining the why behind this move, that it's not just a new home, that it really is in many ways the beginning of a new chapter in the life of Redemption Church and maybe at a 10,000-foot level, the mission that he has called us to, to see lost people saved, saved people matured, and mature people multiplied, all for his glory.

And yet, as we think about that next chapter, I want you to understand that what we're doing in this move isn't mainly about what will happen, continue to happen through us, that the main character of this church has always been and will always be the risen and reigning Jesus Christ and what he does through his church.

And it's for that reason that this morning we are launching a sermon series that will carry us through the rest of this year till next September on the book of Acts.

The scriptures present us with an interesting challenge.

Four gospel writers take up the challenge of writing a biography of the life and death of Jesus Christ.

It begins the New Testament.

Many of you are familiar with those books, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And yet, if you've ever read a biography, you've come to understand there's a certain form to them, isn't there?

You begin reading it, and it starts in the early years, and then you move on to the main meat of what that person accomplished, and then the person eventually dies.

And at that point, maybe there's another chapter on their continuing influence, but the biography is over.

Now the gospel writers are presented with a unique challenge with the life of Jesus Christ and writing what it was all about and how it ended, because when Jesus died, you know that he rose again.

The question then becomes how do you write a full biography on a man who, yes, he dies, but then reigns again and continues to live forever?

And that is the challenge that Luke takes up.

In fact, if you have your Bibles, I'd ask you to open them up to Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

We're gonna be in verse 1 to 14 this morning.

And if you don't have a copy of God's word, the ushers are making their way to the front right now, and you can flag one of them down.

They would love to get a copy into your hands, which you can keep as our gift to you.

We would love for you to take this home and read it.

I want you to notice if you're with us in Acts chapter 1, that as Luke begins his book, notice what he says.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

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

Luke's gospel, he says, recorded everything that Jesus began to do and teach.

But but notice that word, and specifically the grammar of that word, that as Luke looks past at his account of the life and death of Jesus Christ, it is only the beginning.

Jesus dies, he rises, and then he ascends.

And Luke picks up the pen again on behalf of all the gospel writers to carry on this biographical work of what Jesus Christ is doing, because the reality of the resurrection means that Jesus Christ is not finished.

And where the Gospels record the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, Acts records the risen ministry of Jesus Christ.

And it's fascinating that as we go through Acts and really as we come to the ending, that there really will not be a satisfying ending to the book of Acts.

And you know why that is?

It's because the risen Christ is still at work today.

And as we think about the life of our church, as we think about the history of the early church and the establishment of the local church, the apostles may take center stage.

And in this church, maybe other people will take center stage through their service to the Lord.

But at the very heart of the story that Jesus is writing through the book of Acts and through the life and history of redemption church, the principal actor is still Jesus.

And so you'll find in your Bible that this book has been titled by Christians throughout history as The Act of the Apostles.

There have been many other suggestions for the name, maybe the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

I want to suggest to you that maybe encompassing all those things would be the name, the Acts of the Risen Christ.

It's what Acts is all about, it's what our life is all about, about the risen Jesus reigning from heaven now and working from his throne in the lives of ordinary Christians like you, like me, and like we will discover the apostles to be to be caught up into something eternal.

And it is a message that God will continue to hammer into us over the series, that our life is more than about work, that work is about more than just a paycheck, that your home is more than about comfort, that the risen Jesus Christ, in all of his authority and reigning rule, wants to work through you in your work and in your home and in your families, that your parenting is more than just raising up kids who are healthy and successful, that the risen Jesus wants to take these ordinary things and use them for his own kingdom establishment.

And all throughout, as the risen Jesus speaks to us about the way that he wants to use our lives for his glory, we will be confronted with this fact that it is easy for our little kingdoms to rub up against the work that Jesus wants to do in establishing his big kingdom through us.

So that we can attend church, we can believe the right doctrine, we can raise good families and build careers and yet rarely partake in the kingdom-building work that the risen Jesus wants to do through us.

Loved one, the risen Jesus is still at work.

The risen Jesus reigning in heaven wants to use your life for the establishment of his kingdom.

And the question for you this morning is Are you in?

Are you in?

If you're in, you need to be comforted with this news in Acts chapter 1, verse 1 to 14.

Acts 1:1–14

It is the main idea you're gonna see as we read the text that because the risen Jesus is at work, we have everything we need to give ourselves to his mission.

I want you to see that this morning.

Let's read the text together, and as we do, would you stand with me?

Beginning in Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

In the first book, O Theophilus, I've dealt with all Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

And while staying with them, he 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?

He said to them, It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

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

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

This Jesus who 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 Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath's journey, a Sabbath day's journey away.

And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying.

Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon the zealot, and Judas, the son of James.

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers.

This is the word of the Lord.

You can take a seat this morning.

Because the risen Jesus is still at work.

We have everything that we need to accomplish his mission.

Jesus gives us these things through his reign, and I want you to see the first thing that he gives us to accomplish his mission is a confidence that is grounded in his resurrection.

A confidence that is grounded in his resurrection.

I want you to notice the context of Acts.

These apostles are about to be sent on a mission to establish the local church and to begin the work that we still do today as a church to make disciples of all nations.

Now, before Jesus was willing to send them on their assignment, he would give them and he would give us this assurance that we have everything we need to accomplish the mission he has given to us.

And so notice then in verse three that Jesus now risen from the grave before he ascends into heaven in his resurrected body.

Do you have the picture in your mind?

He is in verse three presenting himself alive to the apostles.

Luke tells us in verse 3, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering.

Notice this circle, this is so important, by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking to them about the kingdom of God after all of the suffering, after they saw Jesus arrested, after they saw him crucified, after they saw him buried.

It was not just by one proof that they saw him resurrected and alive.

For 40 days, the risen Jesus continued to meet with the apostles, and he presented himself alive by many proofs.

And so we we have some of these recorded in scripture that Jesus met with the apostles.

He met with people like doubting Thomas, and he said, You can touch my wounds, touch my wounds.

I'm a physical being, I've been resurrected to new life.

That many of the apostles they ate with him.

The risen Jesus physically enjoying food with the apostles.

And Luke is giving us this assurance.

Listen, you're not only assigned to ministry, you are given the assurance of Jesus' words and the Great Commission.

Behold, I will be with you to the end of the days, as Jesus gives many proofs of the reality that he is alive, repeated appearances to him over and over again.

Now, before then, Jesus will call us to give our lives to the mission that he has given us, before he will call the apostles and us to give our lives, staking it on the claim that he was alive, he would make us certain that he was alive by presenting many truths.

Loved one, this is the reality of the Christian gospel, that the very foundation of Christianity, the very confidence we have in Christianity is not just your experience of it.

And to that we say, praise God.

Because there are so many religions, there are so many worldviews that are arguing for their truthfulness, that are arguing for the existence of their God because they've experienced some sort of enlightenment, they've experienced some sort of change in their life for the better.

And we don't deny that as Christians.

What we say is that the claim that Christianity makes is much greater than it experienced.

It is rooted in history.

The resurrection, then, is not just another religious idea.

It is not just another religious philosophy.

Christianity is not just another idea that can be put on the shelves beside other self-help books and podcasts and YouTube videos.

At the very heart, Christianity presents a historical claim that in time and space, Jesus was crucified, he was buried, he was resurrected, and then ascended into heaven, where he now reigns at this very moment.

The reigning king is on his throne in heaven.

And so if you're here and you are wrestling with the Christian truth, I want you to understand how you must wrestle with that truth.

It's not just that you're wrestling with another philosophy.

Hey, maybe this will be good for my life.

Maybe this would be beneficial if I were to instill some of these things that this pastor with this overgrown beard who needed a haircut this week and didn't get one is talking about.

It's more than that.

The truth of the resurrection is a historical claim.

Now, that's important because what a historical claim does like this on your life is it makes a claim on you whether you like it or not.

History does that, doesn't it?

Listen, you may not know much about Canadian history.

You may be like me, you're reading Canadian history to your kids and realizing I don't think I ever learned any of this stuff.

Maybe you don't know much about the Confederation or the Constitution or the Charter or any of these other words I looked up to make it look like I know about Canadian history.

However, you and I live under them.

You and I live in light of them.

Your lack of interest in those things, and even, I mean, I can tell you this, Love, even your lack of belief in those things, if you were to say that, doesn't negate the reality of their historicity.

It doesn't make those historical events irrelevant.

They established a country, they established a government, they established laws that you now live under.

You can ignore the history, you cannot make the history unhappen.

It is.

So it is with Jesus.

You can leave this place saying, oh, Christianity is not really my thing, but but I want you to understand it's not an adequate response.

The first question is not, do you like Christianity?

The first question is, did Jesus rise from the dead?

And if he did, his resurrection then has a claim on everybody in this room because he is now seated on a throne that earth cannot bear because it is a heavenly throne for the king of kings, for the Lord of Lords, for the one who is risen and reigning over all things, making a claim on your life.

Demands a response.

We need to see then through the book of Acts that the apostles are not just spreading a philosophy that can really change your life.

The reason why what we see in Acts is the greatest revolution that ever happened in the history of humanity is because they are presenting something more than that.

They are witnesses, we will see, announcing an event.

God has acted in history.

It has implications on your life if you do not believe.

Now, notice here in verse 3 that as Jesus meets with his apostles, he appears to them, Luke tells us, during 40 days speaking about the kingdom of God.

And if you're familiar with the Old Testament, your mind immediately goes to a number of times where God met with his people for either 40 days or 40 years to prepare them for a new work.

You're reminded of Moses, who spent 40 days receiving God's word before he would lead Israel out of Egypt.

You're reminded of Israel, who would spend 40 years in the wilderness before receiving the land.

You were reminded of Jesus, who before his ministry would face 40 days of temptation in the desert before beginning his public ministry.

Now Jesus continues that work of preparation as he prepares his witnesses for 40 days before the gospel would eventually advance.

And the very heart of what we must take away from this is that Christianity rests on an event in history.

The death and resurrection and then ascension of Jesus Christ is the very core of it.

So that you know what Paul can say in Corinthians?

He says, listen, if anyone can prove that Jesus hasn't been resurrected, then we are all more than fools for being here this morning.

The greatest advantage truly is that we're gonna eat some grilled cheese after.

But there's nothing more than that.

It's the core of Christianity.

So that you need to know, love, when your experience matters.

But confidence in what Jesus is doing in us now cannot finally rest on something inside of us.

It rests on something external to us, on the Christ who was crucified and on the third day rose bodily in history and space and time.

That's what the apostles are.

It's the command that's been given to us.

Nothing less than this, nothing more than this, than witnesses who have tested who testified to their life to the historical reality of what Jesus has done.

And you know what Jesus is giving us here is that he's giving us confidence in his mission.

Our confidence is not in what has happened in us.

We don't look to the world and say, hey, look how far I've come, look what I've taken with the Christian truth and done in my life.

Our confidence comes to us when we look behind us and we see that the one behind the mission ultimately is the risen Jesus.

At the very foundation of everything you will ever do for Jesus is Himself.

Gives us confidence.

I wonder if you've ever been rock climbing before.

You ever been rock climbing before?

I went rock climbing at times in my life.

I am horrible at rock climbing.

I tell myself I don't have the body for it, but in reality, I just am really bad at it.

And that's the excuse that I make for just about every sport that I play.

I haven't found one that's shaped for my body yet, but if you know of one, you can tell me.

Well, when you rock climb, it's it's it's kind of fascinating because you can do things that are way beyond your ability.

You can climb these walls that as you look up it, you're saying, there's absolutely no way I'm gonna make it to the top of this wall.

And yet you start climbing.

And why can you climb with confidence?

Because every time you look back, you see there's someone below you who's doing something called belaying you.

They're pulling the tension out of the rope.

And so you're making these moves.

Your legs are getting tired, your forearms are getting tired, you don't feel like you can climb anymore, you have no confidence in your own ability that you can even make it up this wall in the first place, and yet you climb on.

Why?

Because you look back and you see someone who gives you confidence to do something that you know you can't do in and of yourself.

Your hands can shake, your foot can slip, your strength can fail, but at the end of the day, that person is still not there.

And so I would rock climb and I would do these things way beyond my ability because my confidence was not in me, my confidence was in someone who was holding this rope secure.

And loved ones, what Christ calls us to in the gospel and in the service of his kingdom is no different.

It calls us to place confidence as we look up into the heavens and see that the throne is occupied by the risen and reigning Jesus Christ, that He is the one who is sovereign over it all.

It is the confidence of every action that you can take in service to the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the one who is.

Behind it.

And you know, you see this throughout the book of Acts.

You see this in the life of Stephen, who when he is martyred, when he looks up into the heavens, he has a vision of King Jesus standing beside the throne.

And it is that vision that then gives him the confidence, not to say that everything's gonna work out and be really easy.

In fact, he's about to be martyred and killed.

It is that vision that gives him the confidence to do something that is so much greater than him.

The vision then of Jesus standing beside his throne, it does not stop the stones, it does not stop the difficulty.

What it does is give him confidence that even death cannot overturn the victory of Jesus Christ.

Loved ones, in many ways, the book of Acts is not going to make life easier for us.

In the book of Acts, we will be called to the same call that Christ gave to his disciples when he said, Pick up your cross, your instrument of death, and follow me.

But the confidence we have, loved one, is when we look up into the heavens and like we sang this morning, we see the risen and reigning Jesus who is sitting on the throne now, and one day he will return to finally and forever establish his kingdom.

You know what I you know what I love about our church right now?

I love that there are so many people who are stepping with confidence into things that are bigger than themselves.

There are men and women in kids' ministry who are stepping up into roles and teaching roles and serving roles, that they just look at it and they say, There's no way I can do that.

Where are they getting this confidence from?

It is from the risen and reigning Jesus Christ.

In every one of our ministries, someone, I just see it everywhere.

I'm so thankful.

It gives it real, I really praise the Lord for what I see in so many of you that you are climbing into positions that you're like, I don't know if I'm suited for this, I don't know if I can do this, but I have confidence that Jesus can do it for me.

And loved one, the application here is this: where do you need to climb?

What step do you need to take in boldness, in courage, and confidence as you look to the risen and reigning Christ in Jesus, as you look to the end of the rope and you see I'm secured.

And so I can speak, I can serve, I can disciple, I can sacrifice, I can remain faithful.

The confidence isn't in me, it's in Jesus Christ.

Now, I could climb, and it was great to know who was on the end of the rope, it would give me courage, but it would not put strength into my exhausted arms.

And so what Jesus then does with the apostles is he really presses what he's saying even further to say, not only will you have confidence, I want you to understand, secondly, that because I am risen, you will have power.

It is a power I want you to see, secondly, that is supplied through the Spirit.

It is supplied by the Spirit.

Notice in verse 4, then, while Jesus was staying with them, Luke says, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait.

But to wait.

I find that fascinating because at this point in time contextually, the the disciples had already spent three years with Jesus.

They had walked with him on the road.

This wasn't just like you know a ministry where they were with him an hour a week.

They were with him every waking moment as he was teaching them about the kingdom of God.

They witnessed every miracle, and John even says at the end of the gospel that he couldn't write down all the miracles that it would take all of the scrolls in the world to write down the scroll, all the miracles that Jesus did.

And these disciples witnessed every single one of them.

They not only saw, heard his teaching, they not only saw all the healing and miracles, they witnessed his death and resurrection.

Here are the disciples who have now, in addition to all of those things, spent 40 days receiving kingdom instruction from Jesus.

And yet, here they are, still not equipped for the mission.

And I love that.

Because so often, so many of us look at ourselves and we look at the mission and we say, I'm not ready.

And I think we're looking at Acts 1 and we're saying, listen, if the disciples weren't ready, if the apostles weren't ready, you are 100% correct.

You're not ready.

You haven't had all of this with Jesus, you haven't spent three years with Jesus.

You haven't endured 40 days of writ of being taught by the risen Jesus Christ.

In fact, if we could sort of like, you know, start this ministry at Redemption Church where it's like, here's a, you know, here's one of our ministries.

We've got the Redemption Institute and we've got the Jesus Institute.

And you can spend three years with Jesus and He'll teach you directly.

And you'll see a lot of miracles, and you'll even, you know, be have confirmation of his death and resurrection like the apostles did.

He's going to spend 40 intense days with you teaching you about the kingdom of God.

Nothing would prepare you more than that.

Now we don't have that ministry.

Maybe through the Holy Spirit.

And yet we we come to this understanding that the greatest need of the church right now, the greatest need in your life right now, is not the right program.

It's not the right program, loved ones.

You know, there are many churches that say that.

If you just plug into our programs, you're gonna have everything you need.

And I'm I'm here to say, listen, I got I think Redemption Church has the greatest programs in the world.

I think our kids' ministry, our youth ministry, our men's ministry, our women's ministry, redemption inside.

I mean, I love it all, I believe in it all.

You need more than that.

You need more than a book, you need more than a missing piece of information.

The greatest need of your life is not ultimately pragmatic.

So that you can prepare carefully, you can plan wisely, you can pursue excellence.

We can do that as a church.

I mean, we try to do that in all of our services and every one of our missions and ministries.

We pursue it with excellence, but but Acts is telling us this these things do not give life.

They don't give life, they're not enough.

The programs can't give life, the preaching can't open blind eyes.

We're moving to East Willenbury, and and listen, church strategy can do nothing for you.

There's no amount of preparation, there's no human effort that you can give yourself to that will prepare you for the mission of Jesus Christ.

Only the Holy Spirit can accomplish the work of the Holy Spirit.

Only the Holy Spirit can do it.

And yet, loved one, I want you to know that will be one of the most challenging things you are confronted with in this day and age is this belief that you can do what the Holy Spirit has promised, only He can do.

And so at the outset, when the disciples and apostles have received all this training from Jesus Christ, what does he say to them?

Wait.

Wait for what?

The promise of the Father, which is in verse 5, the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which will happen not many days from now.

Now, the the apostles here, they hear this promise of the Father, and they are familiar, very familiar with what Scripture has said about this promise.

They've read time and time again and even staked their lives on the promise the prophets have made in the Old Testament scriptures that a day would come when God would pour out his spirit on his people.

The apostles then hear Jesus, and their mind goes to these scriptures about God pouring out his spirit, about renewing his people, about advancing his salvation beyond Israel to all the nations, and they ask then Jesus a question.

Look at what they ask him in verse 6.

Put your eyes on the text with me.

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

They want information about the future.

Jesus is giving them power for the present.

They want, I mean, their question, but so often we would look at the apostles and we say, Man, they just never got it.

And yet their question was really informed.

They were looking at what Jesus was saying through the lens of scripture, and they were wondering about the timing, they're wondering about the scope, who's the gospel gonna go to, and they're wondering about who it's gonna go through.

And so notice how they think that's gonna happen.

Lord, right?

That's who that's the main actor.

Lord, will you, will you do this work?

You're the main actor.

Will you restore the kingdom to Israel?

Now Jesus then responds to their threefold question, wondering about the timing, the scope, and the actor.

Look what he says about the timing in verse 7.

Read it with me.

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

The timetable is the Lord's.

Do not concern yourself with the timing.

But but what he then does is expands their vision.

Notice in verse six, they said, Are you gonna restore the kingdom to Israel?

Jesus says, No, no, no.

Not to Israel.

Look, look at verse 8.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

He tells them exactly what the scope is.

I mean, it's not Israel, it's to the world.

And then finally, Jesus tells them who the main actor is.

When they say, Will you restore the kingdom?

Look at what Jesus says, but you will receive power.

Here is the fascinating reality of the work that the risen Lord Jesus Christ is doing.

He's not handing his work completely over to the church.

He is looking at the apostles, he is looking at the disciples and loved one, he's looking at you.

And he's saying, The way that my kingdom will be established is I, as the risen and reigning Lord, will ascend onto the throne and I will work through you.

I will work through you.

He will continue his work through the church and by his spirit.

You see the Trinity in this passage?

Isn't it fascinating?

I mean, we make this argument.

Well, is this about the acts of the Holy Spirit?

Is it about the acts of the apostles?

Is it about the acts of the risen Christ?

Is it about the Father and what the Father's doing?

And the answer really is yes.

It is the Father's will to exalt the Son of God who sends his Holy Spirit to his people to accomplish his work.

The mission is beyond their ability.

It is not beyond his power.

And to a group of witnesses who do not have the ability himself, he will fill them with his power.

Don't you see it illustrated in Peter's life?

You remember Peter before the crucifixion?

You remember Peter when the little servant girl questioned him and he could not, in his own ability, muster up the courage to answer her.

And instead, he would deny Jesus Christ.

And then in just the next chapter, Peter is going to stand up and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ with courage.

He will stand in this book before rulers who threaten his life.

Where does he get that?

He doesn't discover a hidden personality.

He doesn't find himself.

You know what Peter finds?

It's the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is the power of the Holy Spirit.

And what the Bible, what Luke is confronting us with right now is this reality that we often think that the greatest danger to our ministry to the Lord, to the way that we serve the Lord is our own weakness.

And so we look at our preaching, we look at our parenting, we look at our ministry, we look at the way that we work and we depend practically upon ourselves.

We think if I can just get over my own weakness, I'll get over the greatest obstacle.

And here is Luke telling us that the greatest obstacle to your ministry for Christ is not your weakness, it is your self-sufficiency.

It is when you believe that the most needed thing is not the power of the Holy Spirit working in you, it is in it is in your greatness, it is in your ability.

And we are given this confidence, we are given this courage.

I love this one, I love this loved one.

You know, there are in this room many spirit-filled people.

There are many who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and received the Holy Spirit.

Do you not know that you know there's not a hundred Holy Spirits in this room?

There is one Holy Spirit, and it is the same Holy Spirit who was in the apostles and loved one.

It was the same Holy Spirit that was in Jesus.

It's the power of the Holy Spirit that we need.

The same spirit who empowers the earthly church in the book of Acts.

In you, it lives among us.

And so the question then is do we have everything that is required to accomplish the mission of God?

The answer is no.

We do not.

But do we have power?

The answer, loved one, is yes.

We have power because Christ has given us his spirit.

Now, now I want you to understand that as Jesus continues to teach the apostles, He needs them to know that that power is not given without giving that power a direction.

Notice what he says you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And notice that their identity will be created into this, and you will be my witnesses.

It's the third thing that Jesus gives us.

He gives us purpose defined by his commission.

The Spirit's power is given for Christ's purpose.

The work is his, he gives us power, and by his enabling power of the Holy Spirit, he creates in us a new identity.

I love that because you know how most of us function when it comes to seeking the lost, when it comes to our evangelism?

We read this verse as as though Jesus says, I will give you power when you go and start witnessing for me.

That's not what Jesus says.

You know, Jesus, you know the guilt you always feel whenever you hear a sermon about evangelism.

If you don't have your identity rooted in the gospel, you're gonna feel that guilt a lot.

But if you have your identity rooted in the gospel and you remember what Jesus says, notice that that he takes on the work of making your identity that of a witness.

You see that in the language?

You will be my witnesses.

Not I'm gonna give you power.

You better use that power.

You better use that power rightly to do what I've commanded you to do.

Uh I will give you my power and I will make you into a witness.

Every part of this is filled with the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ in it.

Not only is he gonna do the work, look, notice, loved one, what you are.

You are a witness to the reality of Christ's resurrection.

Jesus calls us witness, witnesses.

I can't help but to think that so often we think we're lawyers when it comes to evangelism, don't we?

Man, I'm I'm coming into this and I gotta I better have a great argument and I better look really sharp and I gotta convince these people.

You know what Jesus says about you?

Listen, you can't do any of that.

You'd make a terrible lawyer.

That's the work of the Holy Spirit to change hearts.

That's our work.

You know what you are?

You are a witness.

You're called to stand to testify to the reality of what Jesus has accomplished through his death and resurrection, not only in history, but then having seen that in history, how that reality has transformed also your life.

And so listen, we take we can take a breath of fresh air here, okay?

We are witnesses.

Our responsibility is to tell the truth about Jesus.

You do not carry the burden of making someone believe.

You are a witness.

And Jesus says to his apostles that you will be witnesses.

And notice the geography is important in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And really, the book of Acts will then follow this almost as a table of contents, as the gospel reaches these nations, and ultimately through the ministry of Paul, will reach to the ends of the earth.

And yet I cannot help but to apply this reality that the mission begins where they are.

It begins in Jerusalem.

And so it is with your life, loved ones.

Jesus is not asking you to add being a witness as one more activity in an already crowded schedule.

He is giving your life a brand new purpose.

Everything now falls under this new identity.

You are a witness to the reality of Christ.

That is your work.

And so listen, we, you know, we the way that we kind of organize often the church in the 21st century is going to be confronted in the book of Acts.

So often, you know, well, the it's the pastor's job to preach the Bible, and it's the missionary's job to evangelize the nations, and it's the program's job to teach and disciple, and it's my job just to attend and kind of send my kids to those things.

And the book of Acts will confront that idea of ecclesiology, of church ministry time and time again, as it as continually we look to other people and say, them, they, he's got to do it.

And Jesus looks to us and says, You will be my witnesses.

And where do I want you to be my witness?

In Jerusalem, in your home now.

What's the primary, what is the primary purpose of your parenting?

It is to be a witness to Jesus Christ.

What is the primary purpose of your work?

It is to be a witness to Jesus Christ and the way that you work with excellence, the scriptures say, as though working for the Lord.

Everything in our lives that we already have, where we already are, has been given over to the purpose of Christ's commission.

So that we'll notice that Christ's commission doesn't necessarily call us to do anything new, it calls us to change why we're doing it in the first place.

And I cannot help but to think that so many of us are exhausted in life.

We feel like we are our schedules are overburdened and we cannot add a single more thing.

And the reason is because we are, we've pointed our life in a direction that the Holy Spirit has not promised to give power.

You know, I used to run a camp and I ran a course for the kids.

It was called sailing.

I don't know anything about sailing.

It was, I don't, I don't know how I was assigned to that, because I feel like that's an important part of running the course sailing, is knowing about sailing.

But these kids would come and they're, you know, they're little campers, and so they're excited about everything, and they were excited about sailing, and so I would pretend, you know, let's we're gonna go sailing this morning.

And and I would get into the sailboat, and I knew there was a boat, and I knew there was a sail, and I would do everything I could to try to catch the wind.

But the problem was I didn't know how to sail.

And so we would spend some time, even though there was wind, we'd drift around the lake a little bit, and eventually I'd turn sailing into sinking.

Which, if you're like six or seven or eight, you love that kind of activity as well.

So you don't really care, you love it.

We'd finish, we'd pack everything up, we'd row our boat home.

We had all the wind available.

What was the problem?

We hadn't pointed ourselves in the right direction.

We didn't know how.

And loved one, I can't help but to think that so many of our lives, they're they're filled with burnout, they're filled with exhaustion.

We look at our schedules and we cannot figure out how to fit everything in, and then we're asked to be a witness, and we we're like, well, I can't do that.

I'm I'm already tapped out.

And it's because you don't have the power of the Spirit, you've pointed your life in the wrong direction.

You are surrounded by power, and yet you are exhausted doing by human effort what only the Holy Spirit can accomplish.

Question then is toward what purpose have you set the sails of your life?

Where are you asking the Spirit to empower a purpose that Jesus never gave you?

And how, by faith in Jesus Christ, will you set the sail to catch the wind?

How will your workplace become a mission field?

How will your home become a place of ministry even though, are you ready?

Like grab the edge of your seat, even though your home's not always perfectly clean.

How will your family become a hub of ministry to the nation?

That's what Jesus is calling us as he is risen and now reigns in heaven.

He has given us a purpose defined by his commission so that we don't abandon our ordinary life.

He says, Do it in Jerusalem, do it in Newmarket, do it in East Gwen, do it in your home, where you are, make it a hub of ministry for the Lord.

Now, as Jesus continues to teach his disciples, he has one more thing to show us gives us an urgency because he then ascends into heaven and reminds us that the mission will not continue forever.

It's the last thing I want you to see, Jesus gives us an urgency defined by a created by his kingship.

An urgency created by his kingship.

You see it in verse 9.

You know what happens.

The risen Jesus says this to the apostles.

And he says it to us, and then Luke says as when he said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.

Fascinating.

I don't want you to imagine that Jesus is sort of like elevating up.

On an invisible escalator, and they can't see, once he gets past the clouds, they can't see him anymore.

What very likely happens is a cloud descends upon Jesus.

It had happened before in Jesus' ministry.

You remember the transfiguration that when Jesus was caught up in heavenly resurrected glory, there was a cloud there, and it happened all throughout the Old Testament scripture.

The picture of a cloud was not a new thing.

When they were in the wilderness, it was a cloud of smoke that led them as God's presence through the wilderness.

When they came to the tabernacle in the temple, you knew the presence of God was in the Holy of Holies when the Holy of Holies was filled with the cloud.

And in Daniel 7, as Daniel prophesies about the coming king, he would say that he was like a son of man who comes with the clouds and then receives an everlasting dominion and kingdom.

We know because of scripture exactly what the cloud means.

It is Jesus ascending not just to the heavens, he is ascending through to his throne, a throne that is now occupied.

His ascension, I'm just convinced that when we when it comes to our theology, we don't think about the ascension enough.

The ascension is not just that Jesus has disappeared from us.

The ascension is this reality that he has not just retired from the work, it is his coronation as the king.

He now sits in his heavenly throne.

You know what the disciples say?

Jesus, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?

He says, No, my kingdom is going to a much better place.

I am the king of heaven, I am the Lord of lords, I am the king of kings, not just the king of Israel, I am the king of all.

And now I am establishing my kingdom.

Now, Jesus, this is very important for you to understand theologically because of the ascension.

Jesus is not in heaven looking down, saying, Man, I hope Redemption Church gets this right.

It's not like me, right?

He's not looking at this move thinking, man, are we making the right choice here?

He knows.

Jesus, he's ascended in heaven and he is reigning on the throne.

All the power is his, all the authority in heaven and on earth, he tells his disciples before the Great Commission, has been given to me.

I am the King of kings, the Lord of Lords.

From there, what we'll see through the book of Acts is that Jesus reigns.

He from the from heaven on the throne, he pours out his spirit.

From heaven on the throne, he mobilizes a people for his kingdom and for his glory.

He saves sinners.

He strengthens witnesses, and Jesus builds his church.

Loved ones, we need this as the very foundation of all ministry, that the strength of ministry in our lives, the strength of ministry in our church is not in our power and in our ability, it is in the reality that there is a throne in heaven that is not empty.

Amen.

I mean, there's a throne in heaven that is occupied right now.

And as the disciples in verse 10 find themselves gazing, looking into the throne, fascinated by this reality, there's the king seated on the throne.

Two angels appear to them and say, Why are you looking into the heavens?

I mean, I'm giving them a bit of sympathy here, right?

Because it's a pretty crazy thing that just happened.

Jesus was taken up by a cloud into the heavens, and these angels appear.

Hey, hey, why are you still staring into heaven?

And they're teaching us this reality that, yes, Jesus has ascended, but there is a day where he will return.

The ascension tells us who is in control of the mission, who reigns over the mission.

The return tells us that our time to carry it out is limited.

We live between a throne that is occupied and a king who is returning.

And in between we have a mission.

The mission is to be witnesses to all the ends of the earth.

And so, loved ones, there's a great urgency here.

Jesus is returning.

I mean, we sang it this morning.

Lift your eyes up to the heaven.

The king is coming forever.

He will be, he's glorified.

Now he's gonna be glorified forever.

And here are the apostles convinced of this reality by the two angels standing beside them, that there is one thing you can't do in heaven.

You can't seek and save the lost.

And because of the reality that we live between the coronation of Jesus Christ and in his ascension and his return and his coming, we have a mission.

The urgency then means that we need to be immediately obedient.

I want you to notice that the disciples don't panic.

They don't leave this as though everything depends on us.

The same is true for us.

As we leave this place, there are neighbors who need Christ, there are children who need to be discipled in the gospel.

There are co-workers all around us.

There are people who need the Lord.

But I but I want you to notice in verse 12 that what do the disciples do?

They return to Jerusalem and wait.

They were commanded to wait.

What's expected of us, loved ones, obedience.

Obedience to the mission.

And I love here that the first obedience is not going, but it is gathering.

It is not going to the nations, it is gathering.

Do you see that in verse 14?

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.

You know, you know what the so what of the sermon is?

You know, the risen Jesus is in heaven.

He is reigning and he has given us everything we need.

If Jesus has given us everything we need and we truly believe that, you know the way that we apply that?

We pray.

We pray.

We pray personally.

Prayer, loved one, I'm I'm telling you this, I'm I'm I'm convicted with you by the Holy Spirit, prayer cannot remain an occasional addition to a life that is supernaturally used by Jesus Christ for his kingdom purposes.

Prayer is the language of faith.

Prayer is the language of God reliance that puts off self-reliance, that says, God, I instead of working, I am praying here because it must be you who does the work.

And instead of going, the apostles gather in prayer because only the Spirit can make faithful witnesses.

We must pray personally.

Loved ones, we must pray corporately.

This Wednesday we'll gather as a church for our worship and prayer night.

And I need you to know the heart of these events is not just a night to encourage you.

It is a night that has so much more implication for the than Redemption Church.

It has implication for your family, it has implication for your workplace, it has implication for New Market, for the it has implication for the world.

For the world as we gather together to worship the risen king and we ask him for open doors.

We ask him to give us courage as witnesses, we ask him to transform our lives.

You know, loved ones, what's Jesus asking us to do?

What's Jesus asking the disciples to do?

He's asking them to reach the ends of the world.

It's a mission that's way too big for them.

And we look at it as it's way too big for us.

But what's the immediate obedience require?

It requires prayer.

It requires God dependence, it requires putting off self-dependence.

We cannot produce what we long to see in our families, we cannot produce what we long to see in our church, we cannot produce what we long to see in our city, we cannot produce what we long to see in the world.

Do you know who can?

The risen, reigning Jesus Christ.

Will you not overcome the awkwardness of praying with people you don't know?

You don't even have to pray, just come.

And people always say, Pastor Miles, why do you guilt us so much about worship and prayer?

Listen, I'll guilt you to a good thing, okay?

I don't I have no problem with that.

I'll guilt you to eat some grilled cheese too.

If I see you not eating it after this service, I will do that.

It is such a good thing.

The world needs it.

Where is your obedience, loved one?

The obedience is to prayer.

He has given us everything we need.

Confidence in his resurrection, power through his spirit, purpose in his commission, urgency in his kingdom.

It's been done.

It's a horse, historical reality.

The throne is occupied, the spirit has been given, the mission is clear, and the king is coming because the risen Jesus is at work.

We have everything we need to accomplish his mission.

Loved one, let's accomplish it together in him.

Could you pray with me?

Father, I thank you for this truth.

Indeed, you are the one who has sent us Jesus Christ, who came in time and space and lived the perfect life and died the death we need to die, and was resurrected with the resurrection body that we now await from him that comes after we pass through the doors of death.

And yet, Lord, you have given us so much more.

In the ascension of Jesus Christ, you have given us a King who is victorious.

A King of kings, a Lord of lords, a King of heaven, who not only reigns now and occupies the throne now, but who is returning and will reign until all things are his, placed under his feet.

And so, God, we stand to say now that we are yours, that our lives are yours, and to ask, Lord, that the King of Kings would use us for this unstoppable mission.

We pray it now in the name of your Son Jesus Christ.

Amen.