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The Job Is Not Done · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey friend, welcome back to Bible Track Decos.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Mike and McCurry, you're host.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Would you take your Bibles and go to the Book of Acts?
• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, then Acts.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Chapter number one.
• 0:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you don't have your Bible with you, that's all right.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll read it for you here in just a moment.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if you can turn there with me, let me ask you a question.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever been in one of those quitting spots?
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, those times when you feel like you just can't continue on.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just better to hang up the towel, quit, just be done.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hurt a wise man say a while back that sometimes we just had to get through.
• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: We just got to get past the quitting spots.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we're going to talk about that just a little bit this week.
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to share with you a message that I had to privilege the opportunity to preach at my home church.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love preaching all over America and worldwide as I often have the privilege of doing.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I get to travel a good bit, but I really enjoy preaching at my home church.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I got to preach this message.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: The theme, the thought this week is going to be this, the job is not.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: done.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: But what we're going to take is our text in our theme verse for today, Acts chapter 1, and verse 1.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to read the first eight verses of Acts one just to give us a little bit of context here.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says this, the former treaties have I made, Otheophilus, of all that Jesus began, both to do and teach.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: until the day in which he was taken up.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: After that, he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: To whom also he showed himself alive, after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
• 1:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, sayeth, he, you have heard of me.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: When they therefore were come together, they asked if him, saying, Lord,
• 2:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: and he said unto them.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is not for you to know the times of the seasons, which the father had put in his own power, but ye shall receive power.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to share with you this message, I preach not long ago, as again, I mentioned for my home church, but the theme is, the job's not done, and I want you to think about that first verse.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: We just read, the former treaties have, I made oath, the awfulness, and I'll explain who this the offer, the character isn't just a moment, but of all the verses that Jesus began, both to do in teach.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: God, the Savior, he set some things emotion, but those things are not done.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have a work to do.
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the next voice you're going to hear is mine, but from not that long ago, as I share with you this message that I preached to my home church folks, not too long ago.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Listen now.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you would, the book of Acts, I'll find my place there as well.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: want to give some background to this passage of Scripture, mentioned this morning that were focused a little bit today on beginnings here we see in verse number one of Acts chapter number one, the former treaties have I made Otheophilists of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, Luke the author, the human author, the one that God used, the human pen, if you will, if it's good, it's God, if it's bad, it's me, well,
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was a steamed academic, he was a great doctor, all these things, he was a good friend and companion to Paul, but got also used him to write the book of Luke and the book of Acts and under the auspices of the Holy Ghost he did so.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this, the background on the book of Acts is, it's addressed to this beophilus, who is this guy, the aphilus?
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the name means lover of God.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it could be something of a title, it could be an honorific, it could be,
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: a more general plea to all those that love God, the commentators are split on it but regardless of this book and its entirety was given to us and so we'll read it as if it applies to us this evening because it does.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the purpose here in Acts kind of a sequel to Luke's gospel to record what Jesus continues to do through the Holy Ghost.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: It covers
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And realize the political setting that's going on that this book is written to, Rome is the power of the known world.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: There is none that can stand before Rome.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Rome was not beat from without, it destroyed itself from within, as many great organizations and movements do, and Rome was no different.
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Judaism was fractured at this time.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: One small subset of a very large vast holdings that Rome had.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you had the referacies, you had the sadacies, you had the zealots.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are different sects of Judaism that were looking towards a Messiah, and they all saw some of them trotted out their own guidance.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is the Messiah.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking post Jesus.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: They trotted out a guy who supposedly had done a miracle and said, this is the Messiah.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: no different than different cults and different things, the different groups today that I've tried to say, we have a guy who is Jesus incarnate or Messiah, but it was especially difficult because they actually had prophecy, real prophecy to base it off of.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they'd find a guy that felt like three of the 3,000 prophecies and say, this is our guy.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I want to draw your attention to the key idea of X-1-1.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the former treaties have, I made, oath the office of all that Jesus began, both to do in teach.
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: We could look back at the book of Luke and to really give a really good introduction to the book of Luke.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'd have to do a whole verse by verse, stay through the book of Luke.
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: If we do about the book of Acts, we have to go all the way to Luke and we don't have time for that.
• 6:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But understand that we can look back at the Gospel's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you realize all that Jesus did, just like in Genesis 1, looked at this morning, that was just a beginning.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what we see here, you see, I'll say it towards the end again, but creation was just a beginning.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: The crucifixion was just another beginning.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't put Jesus in the ground for more than three days to seal it come back and he did.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he realized that the creation was beginning, the crucifixion was beginning, us being called away at some potentially near future date that's just another beginning.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because that starts the turn of the heaven with God.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Seeing loved ones, but as the song says, I want to see Jesus, the one who died for me.
• 7:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I want to look at this thought
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: There was a man, I'll take this from high and spiritual things, and I'll apply it and make illustration in a way that makes sense to me.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: So hopefully it overlaps onto you as well.
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I grew up after the Michael Jordan era.
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bad boys are Detroit and all of that.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ron, our test, or met a world piece, whatever his name's worth.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: He played long enough.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I grew up back when, in my opinion, NBA basketball was still worth watching a little bit.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: to these days, not so much.
• 8:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Guys, the high flyers like Vince Carter and others, but if I had to pick a player for me that was having shoulders both arrest in my time, there was a guy named Kobe Bryant.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think in my opinion, just like others would say of his era and maybe ever, Michael Jones better, the best, for his era, it's an arguable, I think, yeah, Tim Howard different guys, but one of the reasons, is one of the reasons.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: There was this press conference.
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: 2009 NBA finals thereabouts.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Lakers are up to O and a reporter asked Kobe Bryant.
• 8:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's there very severe.
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: His nickname was the Black Mamba.
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: The mom was a very poisonous snake, and this guy could just shoot the lights out and just he had his competitor to the court.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Understand, I'm not raising him up as a paragon of virtue for us to look at his life and all that, but as a competitor, and as a hard worker in his sport, it's someone we can learn from, and he has a very severe look in his face.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: After a win, the post gamecrest comes to the report and said, you've had your game face on all series, you're up to, oh, can we get a smile?
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: jobs not finished.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is the job finished?
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: He asked, no.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then just let the reporter hang and go empty every time and then someone else must have enough courage to ask my different question.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if you're looking for a theme, not because COVID-19 said it, but because I believe that's what we find in Scripture, the jobs not finished.
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Last
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are still lost people in Dwight and far, far beyond.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: The job's not done, and it's not time to dust our hands off, rest on our laurels and say, praise the Lord for what has been done.
• 10:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: There is still work to be done.
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what we see here is God inscripts you're telling us, as we get to watch the early church grow into maturity.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: In Acts 11, we see of all.
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to talk to you, or the former treaties talking about Luke, the previous gospel, of all that Jesus began, both to do and teach, and now, starting in verse 2, I'm going to start telling you about what he's going to continue doing, but realize the close of the book of Acts was not the close of Jesus' work in the world.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's still a work for you and for me to do today.
• 10:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, that means the job is not done.
• 10:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jerry Falwell, a senior back in the day once said regarding Christian influence in society probably more in the political sphere, but he said this, when we win, we quit, and when we lose, we quit.
• 11:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: We get our candidate in the office.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we, we thought hands up and we're done.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have a big day at church, praise the Lord.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, yes, Sunday was coming two thousand years ago, on a glad Sunday came.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's when Jesus was risen from the dead, but Sunday's coming seven days from now too.
• 11:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the job is not finished.
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Acts 1 teaches us the exact opposite of that thought of quitting.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus began a work and he continued, he intends to continue it through us Philippians 1, verse number six says this, being confident of this very thing that he, which has begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Christ not only began his work in us, he will perform, continue and completed.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: So since the job is not finished, we still have a work to do.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: So here's the thought for you.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: prepared to finish the job.
• 12:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Frank, I ask you, have you quit?
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have you thrown in the towel?
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have you decided enough is enough?
• 12:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's just easier to be done.
• 12:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've been there before and thought, you know, it might just be easier if I just say, threw it on all this and let's be done.
• 12:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Frank, the job's not finished.
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's still work to be done.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's going to be our theme today in this week.
• 12:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tomorrow on the broadcast, I'm going to ask this question, Are you prepared to finish the job?
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Preparation is half the battle.
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, they say getting there is half the fun.
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, if that's the truth, before we can even start heading the right direction, we need to get prepared.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're going to talk about tomorrow on the broadcast.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for tuning in today.
• 12:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I pray that what we talk about this week will be an encouragement to you.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: My name is Mike McCrain.
• 13:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: You've listened to Bible Tractor goes today.
• 13:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have a great day for his glory.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk to you soon.
• 13:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: God bless.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
• 13:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Visit us online at BibleTracksInk.org that's BibleTracksInk.org or follow us on social media to learn how you can partner with this ministry.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.