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"A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 1 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Okay. We'll talk about it. All right.
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Well, good morning. Getting ready to start our Bible class.
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As you can see from the slide,
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this quarter there'll only be one adult option,
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and Neil and I will be teaching together from the Book of Acts,
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and we'll be talking about the challenges the church will always
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face as we walk through the Book of Acts
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and learn some lessons from the early church.
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The church in the past and the church in the present has always had struggles,
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always had difficulties and hardship.
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Some people, the way they approach a church situation,
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the way they approach congregational life is they're hunters.
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They're people that bounce around looking,
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hoping they can find the perfect church.
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No problems. Everything goes just the way they like it and things go just their way.
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Of course, there is no perfect church.
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If there was one,
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when you get there,
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it'll be messed up because you'll attain it.
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There won't be a perfect church.
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Then there are other people, they see problems with the church.
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When they find issues in the congregation or with the people of God,
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they just throw up their hands and quit altogether.
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But rather than causing problems or allowing problems to cause us to turn away from God,
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we should be the kind of people that say,
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you know what, we're part of the problem,
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we have shortcomings and weaknesses,
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and because of that, our problems and difficulties are going to turn
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us toward each other and ultimately toward the Lord.
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When you think about the church,
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always keep in mind there are two elements to the church,
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or you could say two sides to the church.
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On the one hand, there's the divine side.
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That's God's involvement in the church.
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There'd be no church outside of his prophesying it in the Old Testament,
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bringing about through Jesus in the new.
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That side of the church is completely perfect.
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Then there's the human side of the church and that's us,
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and there's always going to be weaknesses and shortcomings
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in human beings until we see God,
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and so the church is always going to be imperfect.
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Add to that a third thing,
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the church exists in the world,
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and because we exist in the world,
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there's this opposition from the outside that makes it difficult to do God's will.
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The devil's not interested in giving us fair weather conditions
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to carry out the will of God,
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so the church is perfect from God's standpoint,
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imperfect from the human standpoint,
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and still dealing with this opposition from the outside,
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so there's always going to be challenges.
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When you think about the church,
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what are some of the challenges you think the church is facing today?
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Like, what are some of the hardships that the church is currently facing,
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needs to be prepared for,
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needs to be prepared to engage with?
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What are some of the difficulties that come to your mind?
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What do you think about?
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Division?
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Yeah, unity is something God's always been concerned about.
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If you think about Jesus' prayer in John 17, 20 through 21,
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I want you all to be one.
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Somebody said unity, what else?
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False doctrine, always going to be a problem.
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Jesus, in that same prayer, actually, John 17 and verse 17,
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sanctified them in the truth, your word is truth.
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Paul told Timothy, hold fast.
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It's a pattern of sound words and faith and love,
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which you've heard of me, 2 Timothy 1, 13.
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Okay, unity is a problem.
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False doctrine is a problem.
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Anything else?
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Societal pressure.
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There's always going to be pressure from the outside
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to cave and behave the way the world's behaving
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or to give up our convictions and beliefs altogether.
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Shadonah?
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Status within the body.
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That's a problem.
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There'll be division sometimes among membership
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because of status or those sorts of things.
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Anybody else, anything else?
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All right, well, when me and my preacher friends talk,
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we normally come up with a longer list than that,
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but y'all are pretty good people.
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All right, so here we go.
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Here's some of the challenges, I think.
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The challenge of knowing God's word, that's a challenge.
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That's always going to be a challenge the church faces.
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Obeying God's word, you can know God's word,
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but you also have to what?
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You also have to do it and put it into practice.
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Loving God above the world,
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and that kind of goes with that societal pressure.
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I mean, you can read the list,
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and maybe you think about the current age
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in which we live, and some of these things in your mind
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are things, okay, people have dealt with that before,
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and then there are other things
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that maybe nobody has ever faced,
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but on the whole, the essence of the challenges
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that the church faces have always been true.
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Tonight, I'm preaching a sermon on what AI can't do.
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I don't think that was ever in Paul's sermon outline, right?
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There are things that we face that are somewhat unique,
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but then there's another sense in which none of it
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really is, and so what Neil and I want to do this quarter,
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we'll be taking turns teaching,
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is to go through the book of Acts,
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not necessarily covering every verse all the time,
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but touching every chapter and saying,
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here are challenges the church faced in the first century,
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and here are challenges we face today,
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and ultimately, here's how to overcome.
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There are three reasons why I think we need to do this,
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the purpose of this approach.
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Number one, to relieve us.
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This approach relieves us because it says
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we're not the first people to have these kinds of problems.
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In 1 Corinthians 10, 13, Paul says,
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there's no temptation that's overtaking you,
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but that which is common to man.
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But God is faithful.
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He won't allow you to be tempted beyond your ability,
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but with every temptation, he'll make a way of escape
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so you can endure it or bear it.
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So we need to study the book of Acts in this fashion
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to relieve ourselves and say,
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you know we're not the first people
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to have these kinds of problems.
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This goes all the way back to the dawn of Christianity,
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and if they survive, then what?
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We can survive.
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Second, purpose of this approach reminds us.
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It reminds us when the church has challenges,
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start looking for divine solutions.
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Look to the Bible for our approach, for what God says,
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and how God wants us to go about fixing it.
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So 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scripture is God-breed
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and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction,
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instruction, and righteousness.
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Let the word of God remind us.
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It has all of the answers.
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And then the third thing is to resolve us.
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As we study through these challenges in the book of Acts,
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and we'll look at several, or at least two
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in the book of Acts in chapter one this morning,
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we should have this kind of resolve.
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There are going to be challenges,
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but I don't intend on quitting.
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I'm not going anywhere, I'm not giving up.
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Paul says in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 12,
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for this reason I also suffer these things.
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Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed,
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for I know the one in whom I believe,
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and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that
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which I've committed to him against that day.
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Paul says, I'm holding fast to Jesus no matter what,
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and a study like this reminds us.
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If Paul, Peter, James, and John
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endured all the things they did as individuals,
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collectively, and even at times congregationally,
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every member of the Cumberland Church of Christ
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should just be reminded, be relieved, and then be resolved.
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No matter what happens, we won't quit loving one another
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and doing God's will, and we'll do that all the way
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till we get across the finish line
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into God's kingdom in heaven.
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All right, so that's the purpose of this approach.
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So let's do a brief introduction to Acts.
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I don't want to spend a lot of time on this,
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but I just want to walk you up
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to what's going on in the book of Acts
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so as we work through it, you'll appreciate more of this.
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Maybe you already know some of this,
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but Acts is the follow-up to Luke's gospel.
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It's a two-part book or the second part
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of a two-part volume.
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Go to Luke chapter one.
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Luke chapter one, and this is how Luke begins his gospel,
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and he tells us who he's writing to and why he wrote,
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and Acts is the follow-up.
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I know in your copy of the Bible and mine,
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there's a book in between these two.
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There's the gospel of John, but when Luke wrote Luke,
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he then followed that up with Acts,
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and these two books go together.
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So in Luke chapter one, the first four verses, it says,
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inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative
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of the things that have been accomplished among us,
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just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses
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and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,
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it seemed good to me also,
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having followed all things closely for some time past,
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to write an orderly account for you,
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most excellent Theophilus,
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that you may have certainty
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concerning the things you've been taught.
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So he says he wrote the gospel of Luke
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to let Theophilus know Theophilus means lover of God.
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He's writing to a man named Theophilus
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or possibly any lover of God in general,
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to say, hey, this is the story of Jesus's life.
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Now go to Acts chapter one.
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In Acts chapter one, he picks right back up
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where he left off in the beginning of Luke,
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and he's writing to the same man.
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In Acts one, verses one and two,
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he says in the first book, question, which book is that?
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Luke, yeah, so far so good.
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In the first book, oh, Theophilus,
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I dealt with all that Jesus began both to do and to teach
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until the day he was taken up
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after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit
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to the apostles who he has chosen.
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So the book of Acts is a follow-up to the gospel of Luke,
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and it's a reminder of this is what Luke
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was trying to communicate to a man named Theophilus.
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And the book of Acts is also about a perfect God.
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When we say we wanna be like the early church,
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what we mean is we wanna be like them in practice
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and in the teaching and in the doctrine that they espouse.
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But the book of Acts is not about a church
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that did everything right all the time.
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As far as the people, remember,
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the church is comprised of those two parts.
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There's God's part, human part.
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God's part is perfect.
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Humanity often fails and falls short,
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and you see some of that even in the book of Acts.
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The book of Acts is about how perfect God is,
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and no matter what happens,
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God is able to accomplish his will and succeed.
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No matter how many times the people fail or disappoint,
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no matter what the Jews do in the early part of Acts
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or the Romans at the latter part of the book,
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God's purposes are able to succeed.
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And if you're on God's side, then you're a winner.
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And the book of Acts is also about the triune God.
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God is made up of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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Look at Acts chapter one, and right out of the gate,
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Luke mentions all three members of the Godhead.
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He talks about Jesus in verse one.
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He talks about the Holy Spirit in verse two.
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And then the kingdom that belongs to God in verse three.
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It's the same idea in verses four and five.
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In verse four, he talks about the Father.
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He has Jesus saying these words.
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And then in verse five, he mentions the Holy Spirit.
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Everything that's gonna be accomplished
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in the book of Acts that's worthwhile,
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everything that's gonna get the early church
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through their problems is surrounded by God.
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So let me ask you a question.
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When we face challenges,
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who is gonna be the one to get us through ours?
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The same solution that they had
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is the same solution we have.
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We ought to be looking to God to get us through.
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All right, now let me ask you a question
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about the characters in Acts
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before we get into Acts chapter one.
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Outside of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,
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Luke makes it clear that they're the ones leading the charge
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is God's plans throughout the book of Acts.
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Luke would talk about things that God planned
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before the foundation of the world.
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It's God's plans and foreknowledge, Jesus's lordship,
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the Holy Spirit empowering people,
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and the people complying with that
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that makes everything a success in the book of Acts.
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God plans it, Jesus's lordship ensures it,
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the Holy Spirit empowers the people,
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and then the people comply.
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But outside of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
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who would you say are the main characters
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in the book of Acts?
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Who do you think, like when I read the book of Acts,
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here are the people that jump out to me as the main players.
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Peter first, yeah, the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts
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deal largely with Peter and his preaching.
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Acts one through 12, there's Peter and John,
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but it's mostly Peter.
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And then who else?
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Paul.
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Acts 13 through 28 is really the gospel
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going to the Gentile world,
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and the person primarily doing that is the apostle Paul.
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But here's what Luke also shows us,
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and I think it's important for everybody in this room.
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You have Peter, you have Paul,
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but tucked in throughout the book of Acts
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are all of these what we might call
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unknown or lesser-known people,
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like Dorcas, Philip, and Stephen,
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and all of these individuals that,
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sometimes like Agabus, we only know their name.
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And the point of that is,
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the church overcomes their challenges
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not because we have the best and the brightest
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and the most talented people,
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but the church is ultimately successful
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because we have the best and most talented and awesome God.
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And God's saying in the book of Acts,
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I really don't need an all-star team to accomplish my will.
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I'll work through Peter, and I'll work through Paul,
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and I'll work through James,
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but I'll work through anybody in any group of people
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that are willing to do what I would have them to do.
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There'll always be challenges,
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but the book of Acts is designed,
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I know, we talk about the book of Acts,
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it's the history book of the church,
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and it's the book of conversions.
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It is that, but these 28 chapters
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are actually more about the triumphant God
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that no matter what happens in the book of Acts,
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God gets his will accomplished,
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and nothing can thwart or stop his plans.
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All right, first one for the quarter, Acts chapter one,
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the challenge of waiting and replacing leaders.
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Go ahead and look at Acts chapter one,
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and let's just read the first five verses.
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The first challenge that the church faces
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is the challenge of waiting.
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All right, in verse one, it says,
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in the first book, O Theophilus,
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I dealt with all that Jesus began both to do and to teach
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until the day when he was taken up
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after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit
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to the apostles who he had chosen.
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He presented himself alive to them
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after his suffering by many proofs,
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appearing to them during 40 days
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and speaking about the kingdom of God.
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And while staying with them,
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he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem,
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but to wait for the promise of the Father,
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which he said, you've heard from me,
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for John baptized with water,
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but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit
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not many days from now.
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Let's just go down through verse eight.
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So when they had come together, they asked him,
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Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
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He said to them, it's not for you
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to know the times or the seasons
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that the Father has fixed by his own authority,
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but you will receive power
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when the Holy Spirit has come upon you
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and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem
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and in all Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
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All right, so Luke starts out reviewing
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what he already accomplished
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or what he already talked about with Jesus.
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He says all the things that Jesus began to do and to teach.
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Here's a question, in the gospel of Luke,
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in Jesus's lifetime, in the gospel accounts,
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what did Jesus start it to do?
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He says, I wrote to you first
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about everything Jesus started to do and started to teach.
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What kind of stuff had Jesus done before?
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Starts with Myrrh, ends with coals.
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Yeah, miracles, yeah, he did miracles at the first, right?
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Matthew 4, 23 through 25 says,
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Jesus healed people that were lame and blind,
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epileptics, individuals that were maimed,
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misembodied parts, they came as far away from Syria
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to be healed by Jesus.
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Then his preaching, his teaching is heavily documented.
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Think about the Sermon on the Mount,
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Matthew 5, 6, and 7, or Matthew 13,
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these long kingdom teaching sections.
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Essentially, Luke says in his gospel,
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Jesus came into the world,
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he made every single thing better.
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Peter's gonna preach in Acts 10 in verse 38.
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He'll say, Jesus went about doing good
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and healing all kinds of people that were demon-possessed
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because God was with them.
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Luke starts this off by saying,
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hey, here's everything Jesus began both to do and to teach,
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but the way Luke says this, it's as if he's saying,
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and this is what he's trying to communicate,
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Jesus started doing these things,
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but Jesus isn't done doing these things.
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So here's the question.
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If Jesus started teaching and doing miracles,
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casting out demons and making the world a better place,
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but you already know this, in the book of Acts,
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Jesus ascends and goes back to heaven,
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how is Jesus gonna keep doing those things?
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Through the people.
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Luke is saying, the same Jesus that worked
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in the gospel of Luke is working in the book of Acts,
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albeit through human people.
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What Jesus started is our responsibility to finish.
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Maybe we can't cast out demons,
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the miraculous age has ceased,
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but it's still our responsibility
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to continue the work that Jesus did
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and thoughts and words and deeds
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in making the world a better place.
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And he starts out by saying,
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hey, here's what Jesus began both to do and to teach.
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He says, he gave them commands
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about the kingdom of God in verse three,
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and then in verses four and five,
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he tells them, I want you to stay.
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Stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father,
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which he said you heard from me,
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for John baptized with water,
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but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit
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not many days from now.
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Here's their first challenge.
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Jesus has taught things,
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Jesus has begun to instruct them about things,
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and then he tells them, I want you to wait in Jerusalem.
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Based on these verses,
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why do the apostles have to wait in Jerusalem?
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Why do they have to wait?
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Why can't they just go out and start doing the work already?
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Why does he tell them in Acts one, four and five,
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you stay in Jerusalem?
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They had to wait for the Holy Spirit.
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This goes back to the gospel of Luke
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and Luke chapter three in verse 16,
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John said, I'm baptizing you with water,
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but one's coming after me
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and he'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
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Look at Luke chapter 24.
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Go to the end of the gospel of Luke.
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Luke 24, and I'll just start in verse 44
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at the end of this chapter.
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Luke 24 and verse 44.
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This is Jesus after he's been raised from the dead.
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He said, these are my words that I spoke to you
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while I was with you.
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Everything written about me in the law of Moses
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and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.
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And then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.
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And he said to them,
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thus it is written that the Christ should suffer
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and on the third day rise from the dead
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and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins
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should be proclaimed in his name
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to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.
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And you are my witnesses of these things.
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And here it is in verse 49.
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Behold, I'm sending the promise of my father upon you,
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but you stay in the city
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until you are clothed with power from on high.
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Jesus doubles down on this in Acts one,
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don't go anywhere until you receive
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the power of the Holy Spirit.
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And the New Testament in the Gospel of John
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highlights why they would need the Holy Spirit.
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Go to the Gospel of John.
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Go to John and notice, I'm not gonna read all of these,
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but just notice some of the things
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that the Holy Spirit's presence
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would provide for the apostles
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as they waited to receive this power
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so they could do these things.
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John 14 and verse 16 first.
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John 14 and verse 16, he says,
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I will ask the father and he will give you another helper
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to be with you forever,
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even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive
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because it neither sees him nor knows him,
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but you know him for he dwells with you
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and he'll be in you.
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Look at John 14 and verse 26.
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John 14, 26, but the helper, the Holy Spirit,
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who the father will send in my name,
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he'll teach you all things and bring to your remembrance
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all the things that I've said to you.
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Look at John 15 and verse 26.
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But when the helper comes
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who I will send to you from the father,
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the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father,
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he will bear witness about me
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and then you will bear witness about me
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because you've been with me from the beginning.
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And then go to John 16, verses 13 down through 15.
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John 16, starting in verse 13,
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he says, when the spirit of truth comes,
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that's the Holy Spirit,
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he'll guide you into all the truth.
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He won't speak on his own authority,
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but whatever he hears, he will speak.
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He will declare to you the things that are to come.
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He will glorify me,
18:02
for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
18:04
All that the father has is mine
18:06
and therefore I said he will take what is mine
18:09
and declare it to you.
18:10
They're gonna receive the Holy Spirit.
18:11
He's gonna remind them of things that Jesus taught them,
18:13
empower them to do the work,
18:15
but first they've got to wait.
18:18
And I think this is the difficulty.
18:20
I was telling Brittany yesterday,
18:21
Neil and I have carved out these lessons.
18:23
We got these chapters that we're gonna cover.
18:25
I'm working on Acts chapter one
18:26
and I mean this with all reverence.
18:28
I was thinking to myself,
18:29
this is the most boring chapter in the whole book of Acts.
18:32
I mean, the book of Acts is pretty exciting.
18:34
There are people that are dropping dead in Acts chapter five.
18:37
There are demon possessed people.
18:38
The Holy Spirit's baptizing people.
18:40
There's a shipwreck in Acts 27.
18:42
Paul's bitten by a snake.
18:43
I mean, there's a lot of exciting things.
18:45
There's internal strife.
18:46
There's a church split.
18:48
In Acts chapter one, all you get is just wait.
18:51
And I think that's our problem.
18:53
I think a lot of churches wanna do a lot of good work.
18:55
We wanna get busy.
18:56
We wanna hit the ground running.
18:57
We wanna do a lot of things for God,
18:59
but sometimes God says, first things first,
19:01
can you wait for divine power
19:03
before you try to do divine work?
19:05
We've got our plans.
19:06
We've got our purposes.
19:07
These men probably had one or two ideas
19:09
going on in their mind.
19:10
Either they were very nervous or very excited.
19:12
We can't wait to go out and teach the gospel.
19:14
What did Jesus told them to do?
19:16
Go out and preach the gospel to all creation.
19:18
But the first thing Jesus tells them to do is
19:21
don't go anywhere, don't do anything, just wait.
19:24
Because a few days after this,
19:25
you'll receive power from on high,
19:27
and then you'll be able to go out
19:28
and do what I'm commanding you to do.
19:30
And we'll be preparing them, basically saying,
19:33
look guys, the spirit is gonna replace my body.
19:36
For sure, for sure.
19:38
The Holy Spirit is gonna be with you.
19:40
Great point, yeah.
19:40
So the Holy Spirit replaces Jesus' physical presence.
19:43
He says in John 14, I won't leave you as orphans.
19:45
But here's the thing, that's great, but when's he coming?
19:49
That's what they're thinking.
19:50
We've got stuff to do.
19:50
We wanna get busy.
19:52
We wanna hit the ground running, but they've gotta wait.
19:53
Russell?
19:56
For sure, yeah, Acts 2.38 on the Holy Spirit.
19:58
Let me just briefly say, then we'll,
20:00
if you have a follow-up, we can get to that.
20:02
But Acts 2.38 says we receive the Holy Spirit
20:03
when we're baptized.
20:05
Acts 5.32 says the Holy Spirit is given
20:08
to all those that obey him.
20:09
The Holy Spirit's a person,
20:10
so everybody receives his presence.
20:12
That's a Christian.
20:13
Romans 8, Paul says you're not a Christian
20:15
without his presence.
20:16
However, he doesn't function or operate
20:19
in everybody's life in the same way.
20:21
So in the ancient world, in the first century world,
20:23
he gave them gifts and miracles
20:25
and the ability to do various things,
20:26
but that doesn't change the fact that he dwells in us.
20:28
Yes.
20:29
So if we allow him in our lives.
20:31
Absolutely.
20:32
Each one, we allow him.
20:35
Absolutely, yes.
20:36
He's active and alive in our lives.
20:37
Again, not maybe in the same direct way
20:39
that he was with them, but still active and alive,
20:42
and, Russell, and I think this may be where you're going,
20:44
and empowering all the same, though.
20:46
Still allowing us to do things if we submit, yes.
20:49
Is that when we're instructed
20:51
not to acquaint the Holy Spirit?
20:53
Yeah, yeah.
20:55
And Paul says that.
20:56
Don't quench the Holy Spirit in 1 Thessalonians 5, 19.
21:00
He says all these things because he's saying
21:02
the Holy Spirit's supposed to produce fruit in your life,
21:04
evidence that God's present in your life.
21:06
And yes, he does all those things to the degree
21:08
that we submit to his word and allow him to do it.
21:12
But first, wait.
21:13
That's the first thing they've gotta do, and wait.
21:14
Okay, think about X, then just think about your own life.
21:17
And I'm talking about specifically in relation to God.
21:19
Why is it hard to wait?
21:22
We want it now.
21:23
That's one reason.
21:24
We want it right now.
21:25
Whatever God's gonna do in our lives
21:26
and whatever he wants for us, that's right.
21:28
What else?
21:29
What makes it hard for you to wait, Joey?
21:34
Yeah.
21:35
I think we read the Bible like this.
21:37
We read about people like Abraham, right?
21:38
So you start in Genesis 12.
21:40
I mean, if you're a fast reader, you flip four or five pages.
21:43
You're in Genesis 21.
21:44
Abraham had a baby.
21:45
25 years is a long time.
21:46
Have you ever waited on God for 25 years for something?
21:49
25 minutes?
21:51
25 seconds?
21:52
We flipped the Bible the next page.
21:53
We're like, well, Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came.
21:55
The Bible tells us nothing indirect
21:57
about how much time it was.
21:59
There were some 50 days in between Passover and Pentecost.
22:01
They had to wait, and sometimes we don't know
22:03
what time it is.
22:04
One of the things to remember about the book of Acts
22:06
is this, you're not reading about church experts.
22:09
They're living this out in real time.
22:11
They can't flip back to book of Acts part one
22:13
and say, oh yeah, the first time.
22:14
No, they're it.
22:15
And so they're waiting, and I think a part of our waiting
22:18
is we don't always know when.
22:19
Why is it hard for you to wait?
22:21
Why is it hard?
22:26
Yeah, yeah, there's always something else we gotta do.
22:29
Things push us, and because of that,
22:30
we feel like we've gotta get things done
22:32
or we're gonna miss out.
22:34
Anybody else, what makes it hard to wait?
22:37
We're human, we're human, and we wanna be in a hurry.
22:40
Here's some of the things I thought of,
22:42
and if you think of others, you can raise your hand
22:43
and interrupt me, feel free.
22:45
But number one, we live in a fast-paced world.
22:48
The Israelites are brought out of Egyptian captivity.
22:52
They're on their way to the Red Sea.
22:53
What's God gonna do for them when they get to the Red Sea?
22:55
He's gonna part it so they can walk through on dry ground.
22:57
You know what they start saying
22:58
as they get close to the Red Sea
23:00
and they see the Egyptians?
23:01
You know what they basically say to Moses?
23:03
Were there no graves in Egypt
23:04
that you brought us out here to die?
23:05
Essentially, they say, God better hurry up.
23:08
The Egyptians are coming.
23:10
And how many times have you said that in your own life?
23:12
The Egyptians are coming.
23:14
God's moving too slow.
23:15
My Egyptians are coming.
23:16
Whether that's bills or burdens or health,
23:17
we're often yelling at God in our frustration.
23:20
We can't wait on him
23:21
because we think the Egyptians are coming.
23:23
Doesn't he see them beating down on us?
23:25
God already had a plan.
23:26
The Red Sea, water's no problem for God.
23:28
But in their mind, the world's so fast-paced.
23:31
You see their chariots and their horses,
23:33
and they're right on our heels,
23:34
and you might be praying to God for things.
23:36
I'm sure these men wanted to get busy
23:37
with the work of the Lord.
23:38
And we're thinking, God, can't you tell time?
23:40
Don't you see how fast these things are happening?
23:43
Rachel mentioned this idea that there's always more to do.
23:46
And we say, just like ancient Israel,
23:47
whatever our Egyptians are, God, the Egyptians are coming.
23:51
Moses told them the same thing
23:53
that the apostles are told in Acts 1.
23:55
He says, be still and wait
23:57
and see the salvation of the Lord.
23:58
These Egyptians you see today, you'll see them no more.
24:01
But sometimes it's the fast-paced world.
24:03
Sometimes we feel behind.
24:05
Everybody else is doing stuff.
24:07
If I wait, it feels like inactivity.
24:09
If I wait, then I won't get anything accomplished.
24:11
Like waiting on God doesn't, go to any bookstore,
24:14
go to any church seminar.
24:16
Everybody talks about getting busy and doing stuff.
24:18
Everybody talks about their plans, and we need that.
24:21
There's a time for that.
24:22
But it's, hey, if we don't get on top of it,
24:24
this church across the street is gonna,
24:26
hey, this group, you know, everybody else is already.
24:30
God tells these men right out of the gate,
24:31
I don't care what the pagan Romans are doing
24:34
in their temples.
24:35
I don't care what the Jews are doing in the synagogues.
24:38
I need you to wait for divine power
24:39
before you can actually get going.
24:41
In 1 Samuel 13, Samuel told Saul,
24:44
seven days are now coming off of the sacrifice.
24:46
As soon as Saul offers it in defiance,
24:48
Samuel shows up and Saul says, I was waiting on you, man,
24:50
but you didn't come in time.
24:51
It was still the seventh day, but we sometimes feel behind.
24:55
Here's the other thing.
24:55
We think he might not come.
24:58
I could wait on God if I was sure he was gonna come through,
25:00
but sometimes he don't show,
25:02
or at least it doesn't feel like he will.
25:03
Habakkuk says in Habakkuk two and verse three,
25:05
tarry and wait for the vision.
25:07
He will come and he won't delay.
25:08
Do you believe him?
25:09
Can you wait on him?
25:10
Sometimes it's hard to wait on God
25:11
because if we're being honest,
25:13
we just don't feel like he's gonna actually show up
25:15
and do the things that he says he's gonna do.
25:17
We lack faith and patience.
25:19
Go to Psalm 27.
25:20
Let's just read this one.
25:21
Psalm 27, 13 and 14.
25:23
And David is a man that knew a lot about waiting.
25:25
He was anointed to be the king of Israel
25:27
decades before it actually came to fruition for him.
25:30
And in Psalm 27, he talks about difficulty and hardship
25:33
and God being his light and his salvation.
25:36
And notice what he says in the last two verses.
25:38
He says, I believe that I will look upon the goodness
25:41
of the Lord in the land of the living.
25:42
He says, I believe this is gonna happen.
25:44
David, when is it gonna happen for you?
25:46
Look at verse 14.
25:47
Wait for the Lord and be strong
25:49
and let your heart take courage.
25:51
And then what's the last line?
25:53
Wait for the Lord.
25:55
If verse 13 is true for you, you can do verse 14.
25:58
I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord
26:00
in the land of the living.
26:01
David says, I'm gonna see it.
26:02
I believe that.
26:03
And sometimes it's hard to wait
26:05
because we lack faith and we just lack patience.
26:09
Other times we think we're okay on our own.
26:12
Yep, go ahead, Chuck.
26:12
And then Kevin, sorry.
26:16
Yeah.
26:24
Great point, Chuck.
26:25
And we're gonna come back to that.
26:27
I'm glad you brought that up.
26:27
We'll come back to the whole why you wait,
26:29
what should you be doing?
26:30
But I think you're right.
26:31
God is doing something with us in the waiting room.
26:33
And the question is, are we gonna get the lesson?
26:35
But remind me, we'll come back to that.
26:37
Great point.
26:38
Go ahead.
26:41
Yeah.
26:42
That I will see the goodness of the Lord.
26:43
Yeah, so there's this idea of I would have given up
26:46
unless I believe.
26:47
Without this hope, you really can't.
26:50
God, this is a big deal in the Bible.
26:52
We're gonna make some more progress in Acts.
26:53
But listen, waiting on God is a major idea in scripture
26:56
and in the Christian life.
26:58
So you might be thinking to yourself
26:59
about your own personality.
27:00
I'm pretty impatient.
27:01
That is a thing to put to the top of the list
27:03
and to work on because God's never in a hurry.
27:06
And if you struggle with waiting,
27:07
I struggle with it.
27:08
If you struggle with being patient,
27:10
it's gonna be a hard life with God
27:11
because God isn't often on our time schedule,
27:13
on our timetable.
27:15
As Chuck mentioned,
27:15
there are seasons where God puts us in the waiting room
27:18
and wants to do things with us and in us.
27:20
And sometimes it just takes time.
27:22
You just have to wait.
27:23
Sometimes it's hard though
27:24
because we think we're okay on our own.
27:26
Moses is up on Mount Sinai receiving the law from God.
27:29
The people were at the foot of the mountain with Aaron
27:30
and in Exodus 32, they say,
27:32
as for this Moses, we don't know what's become of him.
27:34
Don't worry about it though.
27:35
We've got it.
27:36
We can make our own gods.
27:37
Moses, Aaron says, give me the gold.
27:39
And they just built their own God
27:40
and they start worshiping.
27:41
And sometimes it's hard to wait
27:42
because we think I'm really okay.
27:44
I really can get it done without God.
27:46
And then last, we think God needs our help.
27:48
God tells Abraham and Sarah gonna have a son.
27:50
They say, great.
27:51
They bring in Hagar and create problems, Genesis 16.
27:55
So it makes it hard to wait
27:57
for all of these and other reasons,
27:58
but he still tells these men in Acts chapter one,
28:02
don't go anywhere.
28:03
Just wait in Jerusalem until you receive power from on high.
28:06
Why did they need power?
28:08
What were they gonna need the Holy Spirit for?
28:10
Why do they have to wait?
28:11
Why would it have been a colossal mistake
28:12
for these guys just to pick up
28:14
and just start doing the great commission on their own?
28:16
What did they need the Holy Spirit for
28:18
in the book of Acts specifically
28:20
that they couldn't move a muscle until he came?
28:22
Roger.
28:26
No Rosetta Stone.
28:27
How are you gonna learn all these languages?
28:29
You gotta preach to these people on Pentecost.
28:31
You need Holy Spirit power to do it.
28:33
You're gonna have to speak in all these various tongues
28:35
and only through the Holy Spirit
28:37
could they instantaneously have all the languages
28:39
they would need to cover the known world.
28:40
So you've gotta wait.
28:42
Why else?
28:43
Knowledge.
28:45
Yeah, you read the gospels
28:46
and if you don't have the whole gospel memorized
28:48
like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
28:49
I mean whole books, neither did these men.
28:51
That's why Jesus says the Holy Spirit's gonna bring
28:53
to your remembrance all the things I taught you.
28:56
They are gonna need that ability
28:58
and so the knowledge is gonna be a thing.
29:00
Mike.
29:02
Yeah, he's gonna make them remember.
29:04
Any other reason why they would need to wait
29:05
for the Holy Spirit before they did anything?
29:08
Miracles, to confirm the word.
29:10
Hebrews two and verse four says,
29:12
they receive the power to do miracles
29:14
because the miracles will confirm their message is true.
29:16
Harold.
29:18
Sometimes, yes, I think that's right.
29:20
Sometimes Peter did get out of hand.
29:22
This time though, he waited, but you're right.
29:24
You could add that to the list of examples
29:26
in our problems with waiting.
29:27
Peter saying things before the time
29:29
or thinking he's gonna help Jesus avoid the cross.
29:31
Yeah, that's just another aspect of our waiting problem.
29:36
Yeah.
29:41
I agree.
29:41
Matt.
29:46
Yeah.
29:49
Yeah.
29:50
And they saw him raised and so there's probably some,
29:53
you know, excitement, some fear,
29:54
I guess a mixture of emotions.
29:56
Okay, when you go to the doctor's office,
29:58
it's your time to be seen.
29:59
Well, it's not your time to be seen yet, you get in there.
30:02
When you get in that waiting room,
30:03
what's in the waiting room at the doctor's office typically?
30:06
I mean, other patients and stuff for sure,
30:08
but at the doctor's office or the dentist's office,
30:10
what do they typically have in there while you're waiting?
30:13
Magazines, yep, what else?
30:15
TV, what's the point of all that?
30:17
What is all that for?
30:19
Distracts you that they're about to do
30:21
a root canal on you, right?
30:22
They want you to not be afraid.
30:24
Yeah, they're about to poke and prod you.
30:25
Yes, a distraction.
30:27
It's to say, while you wait,
30:28
you should be doing other things.
30:29
Here's why I think we struggle with waiting.
30:31
It sounds soft, it sounds passive, like we're go-getters.
30:34
Let's go do stuff in the Bible, waiting.
30:37
That's why David says, and Chuck mentioned this
30:39
and Kevin as well, be of good courage.
30:41
It takes some backbone to wait in the biblical way.
30:44
So the question is, waiting in the Bible
30:46
isn't just sit back, be lazy and do nothing.
30:48
I'm just waiting on the Lord.
30:49
No, waiting is actually an active
30:51
and a progressive virtue in scripture
30:54
because it's this strong expectation and hope.
30:56
But here's the question,
30:57
what should we be doing while we wait?
30:59
Or just scan Acts chapter one and let me ask you this,
31:01
what did they do while they waited?
31:04
They prayed.
31:05
Look at Acts 1, 12 through 14.
31:07
It says, then they returned to Jerusalem
31:09
from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
31:11
a Sabbath day's journey, and they entered the upper room
31:15
where they were staying.
31:16
Peter and John and James and Andrew and Philip
31:18
and Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew,
31:21
James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon the zealot,
31:23
and Judas, the son of James.
31:25
All of these with one accord were devoting themselves
31:28
to prayer together with the women
31:29
and marry the mother of Jesus and his brothers.
31:32
Until God showed up the way he promised that he would,
31:35
they were praying.
31:35
Praying's not passive, it's active and engaging.
31:38
And while you wait for whatever it is you're waiting for,
31:40
and as a congregation, we do the Lord's work,
31:43
we sow the seed, we try to cultivate the ground,
31:46
we plant, we water, but only God can make it rain
31:48
and give the increase.
31:49
While you wait though,
31:51
what are you gonna do with all that time?
31:53
And Chuck is right, God's doing something to us
31:55
in the waiting room.
31:56
And what we should be saying when God's making us wait
31:58
is I wonder what kind of lessons
32:00
that God is trying to teach me.
32:02
So many times we go from one trial to the next
32:05
and we always miss the blessing in the waiting.
32:08
Soon as God delivers us out,
32:09
the next time we have a difficulty or a hardship
32:11
or we have to wait, we've completely lost the blessing
32:14
of what he tried to teach us
32:15
because we didn't sit still long enough to say,
32:17
okay, what is Hiram supposed to be learning
32:20
in this waiting period?
32:21
What kind of work has God,
32:22
God's gonna get me to where I need to be
32:24
or give me the strength to endure
32:25
whatever it is I need to endure.
32:27
That's not really the lesson.
32:29
The lesson is who is God trying to form you
32:31
and make you into as you wait?
32:33
What kind of things is he trying to teach you
32:35
about your inability to save yourself?
32:37
Your lack of power, your need to trust him.
32:39
If we get those lessons,
32:41
the waiting becomes just the byproduct of what he's doing.
32:44
Shadona and then Kevin.
32:45
Yeah, I think there's a physical aspect
32:54
in which that's true,
32:55
like carrying the physical Bible around
32:56
and reading it in those times of waiting.
32:58
But I think, as you mentioned, along with that,
33:00
apart from just the physical copy
33:02
is having the Bible in heart and mind,
33:04
a confidence in God that says,
33:06
as I go about my daily life,
33:07
I've still got to work and do all these things.
33:09
And as I'm waiting, still holding fast and trusting.
33:12
Kevin.
33:13
So operating room.
33:14
Yeah, that's right.
33:15
God's waiting room is also the operating room.
33:18
God's operating on us.
33:19
And in that time, I mean, if somebody's operating on you,
33:22
you start fidgeting and wiggling around,
33:24
that's why they put you to sleep, right?
33:25
You might hurt yourself.
33:26
And I think in God's waiting room sometimes,
33:28
when he's operating on us,
33:29
we start fidgeting and wiggling around
33:31
and we might hurt ourselves.
33:32
I think this had to have been
33:33
what happened with Abraham and Sarah.
33:34
They come out of this on the other side,
33:36
25 years later, here's Isaac.
33:38
But now we got issues.
33:39
If we had just waited,
33:40
how many times have you said that in life?
33:42
Well, these men, they had to wait.
33:44
One more question.
33:45
What do we need God's power to do today?
33:47
Russell talked about the Holy Spirit
33:49
and his involvement in our lives today.
33:50
Okay, they needed it.
33:51
They needed his presence for languages, for miracles.
33:54
What about us?
33:55
God wants us to do much of the same
33:57
that he wanted them to do.
33:58
What do we need God's power to accomplish today?
34:02
Chuck.
34:03
I think I answered that.
34:04
Mm-hmm.
34:05
Now I'm in the God of the One Piece.
34:06
Now I'm in the God of Pope Francis.
34:07
It's the leading.
34:08
Mm-hmm.
34:09
In your own way, the Holy Spirit.
34:10
For sure, yeah.
34:12
So God's hope.
34:13
Yeah, joy and peace and hope.
34:14
For sure, what else?
34:15
What else does God want us to do
34:16
that we need his power to do?
34:21
One at a time, don't overwhelm me.
34:26
Serve other people.
34:27
We're gonna need God's power to do that, Ms. Diane.
34:28
Yes, serve other people, yes.
34:32
Other people, yeah.
34:33
Paul says that.
34:34
In 2 Corinthians 1, three through four, he says,
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God's brought you out of trial and difficulty
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so that the same comfort that God's given you,
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you can lavish on other people.
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And so that's a part of it.
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Just think, evangelism, staying faithful to God,
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encouraging others, all of this involves God's power.
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All right, here's the second thing
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they have to wait for in Acts chapter one.
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That is Jesus' return.
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Look at Acts 1, nine through 11.
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Acts 1, nine says, when he said these things,
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that's Jesus, after he told them,
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you're gonna be witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea
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and in Samaria once the Holy Spirit comes.
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After he said these things, they were looking on.
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And he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight
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and while they were gazing into heaven,
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as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes
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and said, men of Galilee,
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why do you stand looking into heaven?
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This Jesus who was taken from you into heaven
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will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
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So they have questions about Jesus and the kingdom.
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He tells them in verse eight,
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once you get the power from the Holy Spirit,
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you'll be witnesses.
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You'll go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
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the uttermost parts of the earth.
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Just right next to verse eight, if you mark in your Bible,
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this is the blueprint for the book of Acts.
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This is exactly what they do.
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They start in Jerusalem, then in Acts eight,
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they're in Judea and Samaria,
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and then they go to the ends of the earth
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once you get the power.
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So that's what they asked Jesus about, he tells them.
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And then Jesus says, I'm going back to heaven.
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He ascends back to heaven.
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They stand there gazing up
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and there are these angels that are standing there
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and they ask them, why are you standing up?
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This Jesus standing gazing up,
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this Jesus who's gone into heaven,
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he'll come back in the same way
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in which you've seen him go into heaven.
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Here's the second challenge that they have for waiting
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is waiting on Jesus's return.
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I think sometimes we can think about the world
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from this vantage point.
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We can think the world's here,
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I can't wait to go to heaven and be with Jesus.
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I just have got to eke out my existence here
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and then I'm flying away to be with Jesus.
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But in the meantime,
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I've got to stay away from these people
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that kind of have the spiritual cooties.
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I don't really want to get down and dirty with people.
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I don't want anything to do with this world.
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And they're looking up,
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but I think they've got to change their gaze and look out
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until Jesus comes back waiting for his return.
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It's a challenge for us to say, okay,
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instead of just standing looking up,
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sometimes this is people's Christianity.
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They're just kind of wringing their hands,
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shaking their head.
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They're like the old man on the porch,
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you know, kids these days, you know,
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and we look at the world that way.
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Oh, the news and we're just kind of wringing our hands
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and the apostles are told,
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don't stand gazing up into heaven.
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Jesus has gone back to heaven to do his work,
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but you and I've got work to do while we live here.
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And these passages on the screen are about,
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it's our responsibility to engage the world
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for Jesus's sake.
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And that's what Jesus prayed in John 17 and verse 15.
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God, don't take them out of the world,
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but keep them from the wicked one
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or let your light so shine before men.
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You're the what of the earth.
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What does Jesus say in John Matthew 5, 13?
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You're the what of the earth.
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Jesus used two illustrations.
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First he says salt,
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and then he says you're the what of the world.
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Light, okay.
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Light can make a difference from a distance.
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Light can just shine and illuminate from a distance,
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but salt only makes a difference upon impact.
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And Jesus says, we've got to be both.
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We've got to be an example from a distance,
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but then we actually have to make contact.
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Waiting for Jesus's return, I think is a challenge for us,
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because in the meantime,
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we've got to be serious about Jesus's business.
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Kim?
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Okay, so I guess I'm confused about,
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you know, we miss opportunities.
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And so I'm wondering, I mean, are we ever done waiting?
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Or how do we know when we are ready?
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For?
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Like to do the things that Jesus wants.
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Like he tells them to wait.
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And where do we know opportunities
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that maybe we miss or don't miss?
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I think it's a good question.
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It's a little bit different for them
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than it is for us in the sense that
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they were waiting for the Holy Spirit.
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When he arrived in Acts two,
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there'd be no question that he had come.
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In our lives, we're waiting for God to do things,
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or waiting on God's power and that sort of thing.
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And there is no light bulb moment when we know for sure,
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but there's a spirit of waiting and patience
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that doesn't try to get out ahead of God.
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We pray, we plan, and then we engage.
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I don't think we just consistently stay disengaged.
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There is a time to actually get involved.
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And I think some of that is trial and error.
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I think some of that is trying to exercise and figure out,
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okay, does God want me to do this?
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And trust in that as God opens the doors,
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he's letting us know what he wants out of us.
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So they needed to wait for that.
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They needed to work in Jesus's absence.
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The challenge of waiting for Jesus's return is to say,
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until Jesus returns, what are we gonna do?
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And the balance that we ultimately need to strike.
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I think Christians, we need to strike a balance between,
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I wanna go to heaven and be with God.
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I can't wait, can't wait long to do that,
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gonna be with God forever and ever.
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But also in the meantime, I'm gonna work for God
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and do everything that God wants me to do.
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And I won't stand gazing up into heaven like these men.
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I'll be gazing out and do whatever God wants me to do.
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And when he calls me, then I'll go.
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And I think this is a challenge for these guys.
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They wanna go to heaven.
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They wanna be with Jesus.
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Throughout the New Testament,
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one of the watchwords is our Lord come.
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John ends the book of Revelation with that
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in Revelation 22, 20.
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Even so, come Lord Jesus.
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But what are you gonna do in the meantime?
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When you go to work tomorrow,
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if you go to work on Monday morning
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and when you get there, you look at the clock first thing
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and you just start watching the clock
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and you say, oh, it's gonna be a long day.
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What's gonna happen?
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It's gonna be a long day, it's gonna be uncomfortable.
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What makes time go fast when you're at work?
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Busy, time doesn't go fast though, you go fast.
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Time always moves at the same speed.
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And if you live your Christian life
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just looking at the clock, when's he coming?
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When's he coming?
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When am I getting out of here?
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This is gonna be a long life.
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But if you get busy, see,
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time always moves at the same pace.
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A day with the Lord is a thousand years,
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second Peter three, a thousand years is a day
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when you get busy, you move fast through time
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and you'll see him before you know it.
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That's what these men did.
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It's called the book of Acts
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because they practiced and they got busy.
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We can sing about heaven,
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but one of the songs we sing
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that we really need to take to heart is
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we will work till Jesus comes
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and just get busy doing it.
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Don't stand gazing up to heaven.
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Don't watch the clocks and the calendars.
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Say, I wanna do God's will.
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Here's the last thing from Acts chapter one
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that was a challenge and that's replacing leaders.
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We know about Judas and his fall.
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Peter mentions that in Acts 1, 15 through 20.
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Judas fell by transgression.
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This was to fulfill some prophecy.
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Judas fell away and then Peter gives the requirements
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for who's gonna replace him.
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This was a challenge.
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Real quick, give me the adjectives you think about
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when you think about Judas.
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That comes to mind.
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What do you think about when you think about Judas?
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Greedy, traitor, sneaky, what else?
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Sad.
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I think these men had other adjectives though.
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I think we don't think about the challenge
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that it was for them to replace Judas.
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I think we forget that Judas was their friend.
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Oh, we read the gospels and right out of the gate,
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every time the apostles are listed,
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he has the epitaph attached to his name,
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the one that betrayed Jesus, but they had no idea.
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They were heartbroken.
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Think about the news.
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Think about internal and external.
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When a leader falls in any religious group,
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how devastating it is.
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From the outside, people make up their minds
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about the church.
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From the inside, people scatter.
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You know people who've given up on Christianity altogether
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because somebody they loved and esteemed disappointed them
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or once upon a time, they were faithful,
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but this elder left, so they're leaving
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or this preacher left, so they,
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I mean, a leader falling, it's devastating.
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Psalm 55, 12 through 14 says,
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if it was an enemy, I could deal with it.
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If it was an opponent, I could bear it,
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but it was you, my friend.
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We once enjoyed sweet counsel together
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as we walked into the kingdom of God.
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I think Peter, James, and John are heartbroken
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about this with Judas.
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It's not, we forget that these were real men
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and that Judas was among the 12, he was their friend
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and replacing leaders is difficult.
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And it was a challenge that they had to overcome.
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So what do they do?
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They cast lots, the Lord decides,
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they bathe their decision in prayer and Matthias is chosen.
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And we have to replace leaders.
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People move, people die, people fall, there are changes.
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And I think one of our challenges
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is learning how to do this very same thing.
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The Lord decides.
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The men that serve as elders and deacons,
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if they meet the biblical qualifications,
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it's just as good as God picking them.
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Acts 20 and verse 28 says,
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the Holy Spirit makes them overseers.
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The decision needs to always be bathed in prayer
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and then we need to do God's will.
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Say one last thing before we dismiss,
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they replaced Judas with Matthias.
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But you know, there was another man that day
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that wasn't selected.
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He still had to serve and be a faithful Christian.
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And I think sometimes in the local church,
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oh, I really think I should be an elder.
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I think this person should be a deacon.
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You know, I think he should have been our preacher.
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And we forget, they dealt with the same thing.
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And you know what they had to do?
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Keep going, because here's the bottom line
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for God's people as the church.
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Leaders and preachers and teachers and servants come and go,
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but the Lord is here to stay.
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And that's the one we should be focused on
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no matter what comes.
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They had challenges, they overcame, they waited,
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they replaced leaders.
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We'll have the same challenges
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and we can overcome if we do the same thing.
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Thanks for your attention
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and thanks for the participation in the Bible class.