Acts: We are the Church!
Acts 1 Waiting
All of us want to have the most impact in our world we can.
The book of Acts is the action book of the New Testament, and it constitutes therefore one of the most exciting books of the Bible. The full name of it is, The Acts Of The Apostles,”but there are not many apostles mentioned in it. James, John, Peter, and Paul are the only ones who appear in any prominence
There is intense conflict throughout the book, but a conflict met by a ringing confidence that is wonderful to see. Acts is a record of power exercised in the midst of persecution, an account of life and health pouring from a living Christ into a sick society through the channel of obscure men and women, very much like you and me.
We could never understand the New Testament if we did not have the book of Acts, it fills the gap that would exist between the Gospels and the book of Romans, which follows. At the end of the Gospels we find a handful of Jews gathered in Jerusalem talking about a kingdom to come to Israel. In the book of Romans we find an apostle who is not even mentioned in the Gospels, and who was not one of the twelve, writing to a band of Christians in the capital city of Rome, talking about going to the ends of the earth. The book of Acts tells us how this happened, and why this change occurred.
The writer here is Luke, that beloved physician who accompanied Paul on his journeys
The Gospel According to Luke, and the book of Acts. This book is written to a young man named Theophilus. We do not know anything more about him than that. His name indicates that he was probably a young Greek, perhaps a new convert to Christianity, who Luke met somewhere and to who he explains in these two books what Christianity is all about.
Now, in his first statement here, Luke gives us the great strategy by which the Jesus works thru us. He says, In the first book, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. The Gospel of Luke is the record of the incarnation of the Son of God. In John’s word, he was the Word made flesh, who came and dwelt among us, (John 1:14 KJV).
Jesus, the man, came to begin something, to do and to teach, and the record of that beginning is in the Gospels. Acts is the continuation of what Jesus began to do. In a very real sense, Acts is not the acts of Christians, but the continuing work of Jesus. It is an account of what Jesus continues to do and to teach. In the Gospels he did it in his physical body of flesh.
*In the book of Acts he is doing it through the bodies of men and women who are indwelt by his life. This is the strategy by which God changes the world.*That is the strategy of the book of Acts.
It is the record, men and women, full of Jesus Christ, thru the Holy Spirit. That is the secret of authentic Christianity. Anytime you find a Christianity that is not doing that, it is false Christianity. No matter how much it may adapt the language of Christianity, if it is not the activity human beings indwelt by the life of Jesus Christ it is not authentic Christianity. That is the true power of the church, as we shall see in this book.
Acts 1
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with a water, but in a few days you will be baptized with b the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Luke 24
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The reason power is essential for witness is because in both Luke 24 and Acts 1:8 Jesus says that power must come first “You shall receive power and you shall be my witnesses.
Luke 24
49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
How you wait will determine the power you walk in.
Waiting on the Lord requires patient trust
Waiting means that we give God the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he is doing
Waiting is God’s way of seeing if we will trust him before we move forward
During those times, we wait patiently on the Lord. We know that deep down he is working , while it may be underneath, hidden deep in our character. In due time, God will reveal everything he’s grown in us.