ACTS 1:1-11 THE PROMISED EMPOWERING OF THE SPIRIT2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 1:1-11 The Promised Empowering Of The Spirit

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. This evening we are going to be here in Acts chapter 1, beginning the book of Acts, and we'll be starting out by looking at verses 1 through 11. And so let's take a moment and read through this passage together. Acts chapter 1, verses 1 through 11. Verse 1 says...

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs.

Verse 4. Verse 5.

Verse 8.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now when he had spoken these things, while they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel."

This evening we get to begin looking at the book of Acts. And the book of Acts is a very exciting book because we get to see develop here the birth of the church. And

And there was a lot of excitement around the birth of the church. God was doing amazing miracles as the church began. And as we start in chapter one, we're kind of like leading into the birth of the church, which we'll really see develop in Acts chapter two. But we kind of see that the setting the stage for what we're about to get into in the coming weeks as we see God send out his people to establish the church, to reach the world with the gospel.

And so the book of Acts is, it's an appropriate title because what we get to see is the Acts. Now, some Bibles title it the Acts of the Apostles. Some kind of dispute that and say, yeah, it should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. But what we see happening is the Acts of God through his people, empowered by the Holy Spirit, including the apostles. It's kind of all of the above as God does an amazing work in establishing the church. Now,

Now, as we begin the book of Acts here on Wednesday evenings, I would suggest to you, I would share with you that this book is incredibly timely for us here at Living Water. That this is not just a random thing or, you know, just a, well, we had to pick a book, so we picked a book. But I really believe that God wants us to go through the book of Acts because there are some really important things that he wants to teach us.

on Sunday at the family meeting, I was sharing about the perspective that I believe God wants us to have about living water and to kind of be thinking about living water and changing our perspective to think of it as a church plant.

that in a lot of ways, we are starting over as a church. We are not the church we were five years ago. We're definitely not the church we were 10 years ago. We're kind of brand new in many ways, and we need to change our perspective in line with that. And I believe that the book of Acts is going to be formational for us as we have this new perspective and try to have the right perspective on what is our church supposed to look like.

And what kind of activities are we to be engaged in? And what is it that the Lord wants us to be doing? And how does he want to, you know, for us to minister to one another and to reach the world around us? That as we look at this, we're looking at the model for us of how God wants us

to do church and what he wants us to be involved with here at Living Water. And so as we see the birth of the New Testament church, it's a model for us to follow. And we'll get to see that in the coming weeks as we go. And I believe that'll be instrumental in the things that God wants to do next. Just a little bit of insight into the book of Acts before we get into our passage this evening. The book of Acts was written by a man named Luke.

Luke was a physician who was probably a servant to a high-ranking Roman official named Theophilus. And he mentions that here at the beginning of the book. And you might also recognize and remember that Luke is also the author of the Gospel of Luke. And he also addresses that gospel to Theophilus at the beginning of the Gospel of Luke. And so it's really a continuation, and he alludes to that here in the beginning of

But what makes it interesting also as Luke is writing this account, in Luke chapter 16 you see a change in the pronouns. Before that it's talking about they did this and they went there. But in Acts chapter 16 you get the change of pronouns to we. And so it seems that Luke now joined with Paul the apostle on the rest of the missionary journeys and was with him to the end.

All the way in chapter 28. And so we get to see Luke who's, you know, giving this account. And for many of the things he was eyewitness, he was part of it. He was there as part of the journey. Now the book of Acts is really a historical book. And here's the timeline of some of the highlights here.

that the book of Acts is going to cover. In 32 AD, now these dates are estimates, rough estimates, you know, give or take a couple years depending on, you know, who you're reading or what you're looking at. But 32 AD about is when we believe that Jesus was crucified and then resurrected. And that same year, the Holy Spirit is poured out on the disciples. We'll see that in Acts chapter 2.

And then we'll see the first martyr in about 35 AD when Stephen is martyred in Acts chapter 7. We'll see Paul's conversion, which took place around 36 AD. Then the salvation of the first Gentiles in 40 AD as Cornelius' household gets saved in Acts chapter 10.

Paul begins his missionary trips in 48 AD. It's the first of three mission trips recorded here in the book of Acts. There's a big council that happens in 50 AD in Acts chapter 15, deciding whether or not Gentiles have to become Jews in order to be saved. And

Paul begins his second missionary journey in 51 AD, his third missionary journey in 54 AD, and we end the book at 62 AD and 63 AD with Paul imprisoned in Rome and waiting to appear before Caesar. And so Luke records all these historical events and

looking at the beginning of the church and then the outreach and the missionary journeys and the churches that are planted all the way until Paul is there at the end of the book of Acts waiting to appear before Caesar. Now,

Luke probably wrote this book while he was with Paul there in Rome, and that's why it finishes right there, because that was all that he knew up to that point. And so that brings it current to where he was, and that concluded the book of Acts. And so lots of interesting things, lots of great things that we'll be looking at in the coming weeks. And as we talk about this as a historical book, Acts is regarded as the most accurate of books

ancient historical accounts. Luke is regarded as the most accurate of ancient historians. Now, that's not just by, you know, of course we believe that, but even secular professors and scholars recognize the details that Luke gives. It's their exact, the

locations are precise. The timing is precise. These people actually, you know, were there in that power, in that place, at that time. And so it's very accurate. And so as we look at these things, we can recognize and know it's not just stories. It's not just fables. It's not just myths. And it's not just general things. But these are actual events that took place. And it will be encouraging for us to understand that these things are true events that God also wants to work in our own lives and in our own lifetime.

Well, as we begin now in verses 1 through 11, the title of the message this evening is The Promised Empowering of the Spirit. That's what we see unfold here in the first part of chapter 1, here in Acts chapter 1, verses 1 through 11, that the empowering of the Holy Spirit is coming, and Jesus is announcing that to his disciples.

The empowering of the Holy Spirit is really a predominant theme throughout the book of Acts. And so I'm not going to try to give every detail about the empowering of the Holy Spirit with all the references because we're going to be hitting them as we go chapter by chapter through the book of Acts.

But there is four things I'd like to highlight for you this evening about the promised empowering of the Spirit. And the first one is found in verses 1 through 3, and that is, this empowering began with Jesus. Look again at verse 1, it says, "...the former accounts I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach."

So here Luke begins by introducing the subject a little bit and introducing who he's writing to. Again, he makes reference to Theophilus. Now the name Theophilus means lover of God. And so scholars have debated for many years, is this a real person or is this just written to anybody who loves God? And they go back and forth without any real concrete explanation.

decision either way. But it seems likely that he is a real person. He was a Roman official in the Gospel of Luke. He addresses it to the most excellent Theophilus, which was a specific reference to a high-ranking Roman official. And so it's likely that he was a real person who was a Roman official in

But again, you know, it goes back and forth. And it is appropriate for us to understand, as you are a lover of God, this book is addressed to you and appropriate for you. And so he wrote the former account, which is the Gospel of Luke. And again, he's writing the

The furtherings of that. He says the things that Jesus began to do and teach. And then now this is going to be the continued story of Jesus. The life of Jesus was just the beginning is the point.

Jesus ministered publicly for about three years, three to three and a half years. Then at the end of that time of public ministry, he died, then he resurrected, and then he ascended into heaven. But that's not the end of the story. And Jesus continues to work. No longer here in his physical body is he continuing to work, but he is continuing to work here on the earth through his spiritual body, which is believers in Jesus.

And so the work of Jesus continues. And Luke recorded the beginnings of all that Jesus began to do and teach. Now in the book of Acts, he's writing the continuing story of what Jesus was doing and teaching through the spiritual body, the church. And then the book of Acts continues on even till this day where the Lord continues to be at work. Now,

Consider John chapter 16, where Jesus is talking to his disciples. In verse 12, he says,

Here in John chapter 16, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. He's about to be crucified, and then soon he will be ascended up to the Father. And so he says, look, there's still a lot I haven't taught you. There's still a lot I haven't spoken to you about. There's still a lot that you need to learn, but

I'm not going to be the one directly to, you know, teach you those things. Instead, as I ascend up to the Father, I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit, and He's going to continue the teachings that I have begun. And so as Jesus began to do and teach, He continues to do and teach to His disciples and to us, the church, through the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts and in our lives. Verse 2.

He says,

And so Jesus began to do those things until the day that he was taken up. But again, now through the Holy Spirit, he continues that work that he began. And so another way to look at the book of Acts is, is it the Acts of the Apostles? Is it the Acts of the Holy Spirit? Or is it the Acts of Jesus, the continued work of Jesus? And again, I would say it's really all of the above. And so Jesus was taken up, but notice what it says. He was taken up after Jesus.

Through the Holy Spirit, he had given commandments to the apostles. Notice what it says there about the commands that Jesus gave. It tells us the method, the source of the commands that Jesus gave to his disciples. He gave these commands through the Holy Spirit. And this is an important point for us to understand. Of course, we know that Jesus came to this earth primarily to die upon the cross for our sins.

Because without that, without that Savior, without that sacrifice, there was no way for us to have eternal life. And so his primary mission was to take care of the sin issue and to conquer sin and death there upon the cross. But that wasn't all that Jesus was doing. Although that was his primary mission, that was the big thing that he came to accomplish, he

Another thing that Jesus accomplished while he was here on this earth was he set forth for us the model of how we are to be. The model for what the Christian life is supposed to look like in that Jesus operated in the power of the Holy Spirit. He gave these commands, it says, through the Holy Spirit. Jesus, of course, we know that he is God. And so sometimes we think, well,

You know, I can't compare myself to Jesus or that's not the model for me because of course I don't measure up. I'm not God. Of course Jesus could do miracles. Of course Jesus could get up early and pray. Of course Jesus could be faithful or could walk a holy life. Or, you know, we say, of course, of course, of course. But what we fail to see, what we fail to recognize in that is

is that Jesus lived his life in the power of the Holy Spirit to model for us, to show us this is what real life is supposed to look like. So that if you will walk in the Spirit, you will live a life similar to that of Jesus. Now, there is the exception, of course, that we are sinful, and so we will continue to sin. I'm not saying that we will be done with sin, but

But that as we continue to turn back to the Lord and turn from our sin and rely upon him and his forgiveness and grace, that we can live a life like Jesus lived through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave them commandments through the Holy Spirit.

The source of his words, the source of his teachings, and the source of all that he did was the Holy Spirit. And that's what is important for us to understand so that we live our lives not relying upon our own resources, that we live our lives relying upon the Holy Spirit. As Jesus operated in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are too as well. And so the empowering began with Jesus.

Jesus was the model for us to show us what your life can look like if you will live in the empowering of the Holy Spirit that is promised to you. Well, going on in verse 3, it says, And so here Luke reminds us that as Jesus died,

resurrected, it's not that you have to just blindly believe that, but he says this is proven. He says it's been demonstrated by many infallible proofs. And the idea here of the infallible proof is it's something that's plainly known.

It's something that is, you're not just really relying upon, you know, some sketchy witness or some, you know, a little bit of evidence. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact, is what Luke is saying. It's a documented fact. It's not something that's questionable. It's infallible. It's definitely happened. Jesus has resurrected from the dead. And so for 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus was glorified.

Going around, he told his disciples, hey, do you have some food here? You know, let me eat and drink with you. And you can see for sure that I really did resurrect from the dead. He worked miracles during those 40 days. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that on one occasion, Jesus was seen by over 500 of the brethren at once. And so he, you know, not just appeared to this exclusive group of people and we have to take their word for it,

But he says he appeared to a crowd, a gathering of 500 people. And in 1 Corinthians 15, 6, Paul points out that most of those people, as Paul is writing that letter, he says most of them are still alive. You could go verify. You could go check with them. Hey, did you really see Jesus? Yes, we really saw Jesus. I was there that day and he appeared to us.

And so the proof of the resurrection, Luke says, it's established. It's guaranteed. There's no question about it. And so he addresses this to Theophilus. He says, Jesus began to do and work, but he's continuing to work because he is still alive today. And that is absolutely proven. And so as we begin to talk about the empowering of the spirit that's promised for us, we understand first of all here that it began with Jesus and

He was the model for us. It began in his life. And then now as his followers, he's called us to live out in that same power today. It continues today for you and I. Well, moving on into verse four and five, we have point number two. And that is this empowering goes beyond cleansing from sin. As we talk about the empowering of the Holy Spirit, you need to know that there's more to the Christian life

than just having a changed life. Of course, we love the scripture that tells us, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. Those are great promises for us, right? New life in Christ, old things passed away, sins forgiven. That is awesome. And that is what we have in Christ.

But that is not the end of the story as far as the Christian life is concerned. Check out verse 4. It says, And so here in this period of time where Jesus has resurrected from the dead, he has not yet ascended to the Father, but he's about to.

And before he goes and ascends up to the Father, he tells the disciples, don't depart from Jerusalem. You need to wait here for the promise, the promise that you've heard from me. Now at this point, Jesus has given his disciples the great commission. And you can see that in Matthew chapter 28, the command to go into all the world and make disciples and teach them to observe all things that he has commanded.

And so you see, as God gives them, as the Lord gives them this big task, this, you know, big mission ahead of them, he says, but don't start yet. Don't go, you know, trying to make disciples and convert the world yet. Instead, you need to wait. And this time period of waiting turns out to be 10 days.

10 days later, they receive the promise that Jesus is referring to here. It's the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. And so we'll see that in a couple weeks. But so here we have this promise that he says from the Father that you've heard from me. Now again, in John chapter 16, earlier in John chapter 14, Jesus gives these promises.

Incredible and really famous promises. You've heard about them. You've read them. These promises of the Holy Spirit are

for his disciples. And that's on the evening that he is going to the cross. So for the disciples here, this is just, you know, 43 days earlier, he was telling them. He was telling them about the Holy Spirit. He says, I won't leave you as orphans. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. I'm going to send another comforter. He says, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit to teach you. In John chapter 16, verse 7, he says, it's to your advantage that I go away.

Because if I don't go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. And so in those last hours leading up to his crucifixion, over and over, Jesus was reminding them and telling them, you're going to receive the Holy Spirit. It's good that I go away because you need the Holy Spirit. And I'm not going to leave you alone. You're going to have a comforter. The Holy Spirit is going to comfort you. And here's the work that he's going to do. And here's how he's going to work in your life.

You can check out John chapter 14 and John chapter 16 to get some insight into those promises that Jesus is giving. But now he reminds them of those things. He says, remember 43 days ago is just over a month ago, guys, six weeks ago. You remember I was telling you about this promise of the Holy Spirit. Listen, guys, that's coming. And so wait for that.

Wait for that promise to be fulfilled before you begin the work of reaching the world and making disciples. Verse 5, he says, So as he talks about this promise, he says, look guys, John baptized with water.

And the disciples, it seems, at least several of them were baptized by John the Baptist. And so they were baptized with water in that way. But he says there's a different baptism that you need. He says you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. You're baptized with water. That was good. That was necessary.

The word baptized, it means to be immersed. And so they would be immersed in the water as they were ministered to by John the Baptist. They were immersed in the water. But Jesus says, although that was good and you were baptized, you were immersed in the water, you need to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. In Matthew chapter 3, verse 11, John the Baptist is talking. And he says, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance.

And so John's own testimony says, I'm baptizing you with water. And then he tells us what that's about. What was the baptism of water all about? He says, it's unto repentance.

The baptism of water is about repentance. It's about turning from a life of sin to say, I'm going to stop living the sinful practices, the things that I know that God hates. I'm going to stop doing those things that I know are wrong, and I'm going to live a new life in Christ. Romans chapter 6 gives us this picture as well, that death to the old life, and then the walking in newness of life.

And so that's what water baptism represents. Now, it's not what it does. It just represents the work that is taking place within where a person has decided, I'm going to turn to walk with God. I'm going to turn from sin and I'm going to walk in this new life. And that's what baptism with water is about. It represents repentance. It represents death to the old life and living out the new life. And again, that's something we celebrate.

New creation in Christ, dead to the old life, sins forgiven and washed away, new life in Christ, promise of eternity. These are all wonderful things, great promises, and huge aspects of what we have in Christ. And really, if you think about it, we spent the last year in Romans talking about those things, the doctrine of the gospel.

incredible promises, incredible privilege, incredible place we have in Christ because of the gospel. Life transformed, life changed because of the gospel. However, there is more to the Christian life than that. There is more than just your life being changed. There is more than just you having new life. There's more than just you repenting from sin. There's more to the Christian life than that.

Now, not to minimize the changed life, because again, a changed life is huge. To be set free from sin, to have communion with God and relationship with God, that's huge. There's not words to describe how huge that is. And yet the incredible nature of the gospel and God's work in us is that on top of these unspeakable, awesome things that God gives to us by faith in him, on top of all of that is

After God changes your life, he then invites you to be part of reaching other people so that he can change their life too. And that is incredible. I mean, it's already huge all that God has done for us in the gospel. But then involving us in reaching out with the gospel is a huge privilege.

One that is, again, hard to describe how awesome it is and what a glorious thing it is that he would include us, worthless vessels, wretched sinners, but that he allows you and invites you to be part of others having their life changed by the gospel. And so the Christian life is not just about your life being changed. This empowering goes beyond that.

cleansing from sin. It's bigger than just you being set free and delivered. There's more to the Christian life than just that. And sometimes we get so caught up and focused on our own life, we forget that there's more that the Lord has for us. And you know, I would also suggest that many times we're so focused on our own life and so caught up in that, that we're missing out on the amazing things that God wants to do through us.

through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Some people might think, yeah, I need to be empowered with the Holy Spirit because I'm really struggling with this sin. And I can appreciate that. I've been there. I understand that. But at the same time, you need to understand this empowering goes beyond cleansing from sin. There's more that God wants from your life than just not sinning. But there's the work that he wants to accomplish.

that he does by the empowering of the Spirit. Now, I'm using the word empowering because for me, it helps kind of clarify things a little bit because this concept of the empowering of the Spirit is referred to in several ways, even in just the couple of verses we're looking at today, and then we'll also see in Acts chapter two. So the empowering of the Spirit could also be referred to as being baptized with the Spirit.

And that's what he says in Acts chapter 1 verse 5. He says, you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. But then a couple of verses later in verse 8, he describes that same experience as the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And then that's just talking about the promise. It's, you know, it's not yet happened. You know, here it is. So the baptism of the Holy Spirit is coming. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. But when it actually happens in Acts chapter 2 verse 4, it says that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

And so I like to use the word empowering to kind of collectively refer to these three things, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit upon you, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's all referring to this same concept, this same experience of the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Now, this is different. This is separate from what we would refer to as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something that takes place at conversion. Remember, Jesus said in John chapter 3 that you must be born again in order to inherit the kingdom of God. That you had to have a spiritual birth. And as you're born again or regenerated by the Holy Spirit...

automatically at that point, there is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that results. And here's just a quick look at some of the differences between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

And we went through this in pretty great detail in the book of Romans, specifically in Romans 8.

You have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you if you're a believer in Jesus. And the Holy Spirit dwelling within you is a big thing. It's part of how you have communion now with God because the Holy Spirit dwells within you. It's part of how you have the leading of God because the Holy Spirit dwells within you. It's part of how you have the fruit of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit is dwelling within you. And so it's received by every believer without exception because Jesus

Being born again is a work of the Holy Spirit and it's in that that he comes and indwells within you. The empowering of the Spirit is a little bit different. And throughout the book of Acts, we'll see that this is taking place, that they receive this empowering of the Spirit at various times. For some people, it happens at conversion.

For others, it happens later on, and we'll see this demonstrated throughout the book of Acts. And so there's a difference between the indwelling and the empowering. Another difference is that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is received automatically. Whether you understand it or not, whether you like it or not, when you believe in Jesus, automatically, again, without exception, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you.

The empowering of the Holy Spirit is somewhat different in that sometimes it happens automatically, as you see throughout the book of Acts, and we'll get to see examples of that. But also other times, it's received by asking, by praying and asking God for this empowering of the Holy Spirit. And so it's not necessarily an automatic thing, but it's something that can be received through

by asking and can be missed by not asking. And that's important to understand. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, thirdly, is a permanent condition.

So you don't wake up one day and then suddenly you're not indwelt by the Holy Spirit anymore because you messed up the day before or because, you know, your hair was messed up or, you know, things were out of shape or whatever. That doesn't matter. You have a permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He's with you because you're a believer in Jesus Christ and that doesn't change day to day. As opposed to the empowering of the Holy Spirit,

We see that throughout the book of Acts as something that is repeated. And so it's not just a one time for all. So you're indwelt with the Holy Spirit and then that's it for the rest of your life. You're indwelt with the Holy Spirit. That's your condition. But the empowering of the Holy Spirit, we see the disciples ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit over and over. And in fact, we're commanded in Ephesians chapter 5 to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit.

And so I like what Dave Guzik says about this. He said, we should perhaps ask, are you baptized in the Holy Spirit? Instead of asking, have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? That could be a normal question for us to ask someone. Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? But maybe more appropriate in the way that we see the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the empowering of the Holy Spirit throughout the book of Acts is, are you presently, are you currently baptized?

Because we see it repeated over and over and we're commanded to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's something we continue to receive from God in an ongoing basis. Well, finally, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is primarily for work within the believer. So again, the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5, this is the result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He's at work in you, transforming you, producing fruit in your life.

But the empowering of the Holy Spirit is different. It's primarily for reaching unbelievers. And we'll see that in the next couple of verses in just a few moments. And so here we have the promised empowering of the Spirit. First of all, it began with Jesus, but it's not over. And that work continues in the life of the church today. Secondly, the empowering goes beyond cleansing from sin. It's more than just about having your life changed.

It's about God then taking your changed life and using you to reach unsaved people around you. Are you empowered by the Spirit in that way so that your life is changed and now you're part of

of reaching others with the gospel. You're part of reaching out to others as a witness to them that Jesus is alive. Well, let's continue to consider this in verses six through eight with point number three, and that is this empowering enables you to be a witness. That's, again, the primary purpose of the baptism or the empowering of the Holy Spirit. It's when the Holy Spirit enables you to be a witness. So verse six says,

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Now, this was a common question that the disciples would ask Jesus. Are you going to set up your kingdom now? Their expectation was that the Messiah would set up an immediate earthly kingdom. And they thought it was going to happen before, but then he was crucified, so they gave up hope on that. But now he's resurrected, and he's been with them. So, okay, so now is it, you know, you're going to set up your kingdom now?

And Jesus will set up his kingdom, but it wasn't for then, and it's not for this moment. It's when he returns in the second coming, and he will come back to earth and establish his kingdom. But he doesn't try to get into all those details with them. Instead, in verse 7, he says,

Here's what Jesus says. It's none of your business. The Father's put that in his own authority. He knows the timeline. He knows when all that's going to work out. He knows how he's going to do that. Don't get caught up. Don't get distracted in that, Jesus says. It's going to happen, but it's in the Father's authority. Instead, here's what I want you to focus on, he says. Verse 8 says,

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And so Jesus says, that's none of your business. Don't worry about that. Don't get caught up in that. But instead, here's what you need to understand. You're going to receive power. And again, that's why I refer to this as the empowering of the Spirit. And this empowering power

that the Holy Spirit brings you is going to accomplish in you that you are witnesses to me. And then he gives some geography. He says in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and then to the end of the earth. And so here in verse 8, we have from the Lord a pretty clear outline of the book of Acts. In Acts chapters 1 through 7, we see the disciples living out this witness to Jerusalem.

So much so that the religious leaders say, you filled Jerusalem with this doctrine. And they are witnesses to Jerusalem that Jesus is alive. And then the gospel spreads. In Acts chapter 8 through about the middle of Acts chapter 11, you see the circle expand. The gospel goes out to Judea and Samaria.

And as it goes out to Judea and Samaria, they continue to bring forth the gospel and their witnesses to Jesus in these further regions. And then the latter part of chapter 11 of Acts, all the way to the end of the book of Acts, we have the record of the disciples, the church, being a witness to Jesus in

All over the known world at that time, all over the Roman Empire, they are witnesses to Jesus. Here's a quick look at the geography just in case you're not that familiar. There in the middle, you have the city of Jerusalem. That's where the disciples were. That's where Jesus, he was right outside of Jerusalem when he ascended to the Father. He says, wait there in Jerusalem. Then they fill Jerusalem with the doctrine and they're witnesses to Jesus there.

Then in Acts chapter 8, they are dispersed from Jerusalem and they go to Judea, which is the region around Jerusalem, and then Samaria, the region north of Jerusalem.

And so they are dispersed. They spread out, all the disciples, the church, as persecution comes. And so they bring the gospel, their witnesses to Jesus in all that area. And then to the rest of the world. And we'll get to see that as we go forward in the book of Acts. And so it provides for us a pretty clear outline of the book of Acts. As Jesus says, here's what's going to happen when you're empowered with the Holy Spirit. And then it's documented. We get to see that's what happened. They were witnesses to Jesus in Jerusalem. And then they were

and then in Judea and Samaria, and then to the end of the earth. And so Jesus says, you're going to receive power, the empowering of the Holy Spirit. And the result of that empowering is that they would be a witness. I think David Guzik points out an interesting thing here. It's not really a command. Hey, make sure you go witness. He says, when you receive power,

the power of the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be witnesses to me. So it's not a command that they had to go do witnessing. It was a statement, a declaration. When you receive this power, you will be a witness, witnesses to me. Being a witness is the normal result of the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

And so you don't have to think of this as some big burdenous command that you have to do this, but it's the natural result. It's what God does. It's what the power of the Holy Spirit does when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. He causes us to be witnesses to Jesus. Now that includes witnessing and the idea of like we're sharing the gospel, but it's the overflow. It's the work that God does. It's not

Something that we have to do in our own strength or resources. And so this empowering enables you to be a witness. That's what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for. We'll see this demonstrated also in Acts chapter 4. I'll give you a sneak preview. In Acts chapter 4 verse 31, the church is gathered together and they pray for boldness.

And in verse 31, it says, when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Here's the natural result. When they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke the word of God with boldness. You see this empowering, this filling of the Holy Spirit resulted in this boldness in their lives. They didn't have to come up with this boldness on their own.

They didn't have to generate boldness and look at themselves in the mirror and say, you're going to be bold today. Be bold. Yeah. They didn't have to do that, psych themselves out. It wasn't like that. The Holy Spirit filled them and gave them boldness to speak the word of God. It's the empowering of the Holy Spirit. You see, it's the resources of God to help you be a witness, which you could never do on your own. You and I are absolutely hopeless.

Oh, you might be able to be a good salesperson. You know, you might be very persuasive, but nothing of eternal value can be done without the work, without the empowering of the Holy Spirit. We can't do anything for eternity without the resources that the Holy Spirit provides for us. And so the promise of this empowering of the Spirit is a promise that you will be enabled to be a witness. And you might think, I don't know how I could ever be a witness.

But you know, we could look at the lives of the disciples before they received this promise and say, I don't know how they could ever be a witness. We always look at Peter as the classic example, because in Acts chapter 2, we'll see him preach the word of God with boldness. But previous in his life, we see him saying dumb things, putting his foot in his mouth, cowering in fear when a little girl asked him if he was a friend of Jesus. But then when he's empowered with the Holy Spirit, there's a boldness there.

that comes. It's the work of God. And that's the work that is promised to you. And you might say, I don't know if I could ever be a witness to Jesus. And you're right in that you could never do so in your own strength. But the point of this empowering is that you would be enabled to be a witness to Jesus. That's what it's for. Finishing it up in verse 9 through 11, we have point number 4.

This empowering requires you to do more than stand around. That's point number four. It requires more than just standing around. Check out verse nine.

Now, when he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken up and the cloud received him out of their sight. And so while he's telling him these things, wait for the command or wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. And you're going to receive power and the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you. You're going to be my witnesses. And as Jesus says those final words, he's ascending now into the heavens.

Now, previous to this, in these 40 days, Jesus was kind of coming and going, appearing and disappearing. They just were kind of expecting Jesus to show up at any moment. But now it's kind of this, you know, scene that is, you know, played out before them. So they kind of understand and recognize this isn't like the other times where Jesus has just come and gone. He's told us to wait. And now he's ascended. He's at the right hand of the Father. He's ascended into heaven. Verse 10. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up,

And so they're standing there looking, and it just says they're gazing. Some translations say that they were looking intently.

Have you ever tried to watch a balloon as it floats up, and you're just trying to keep your eye on it? Like, oh, I lost it. I lost it. Oh, there it is. There it is. As it goes higher and higher, right? They're watching Jesus. There he is. There he is. I still see him. Oh, he went behind the cloud. Oh, there he is. There he is right there. And they're just focused. They're just looking. But then it says, two men stood by them, probably angels that the Lord sent. And the angels, these men say, hey, why are you gazing up into heaven? Why are you just standing there staring? Why are you just standing there looking? Why are you just standing there looking?

He was taken up and he's going to come back. Now listen, many times as believers, we just stand around gazing. We're just caught up on some detail, focused on something. Sometimes we could be distracted by prophecy. There are some believers who are really distracted by prophecy. Going back to verse 6, Lord, at this time are you going to establish your kingdom? And it's easy for us to just get caught up in

Everything we look at, everything we're considering, everything we're praying about is, you know, end times, end times, end times, prophecy, prophecy, prophecy, prophecy. And it can be so much so that we're not receiving the empowering of the Holy Spirit to do the work that God's called us to do. We're caught up in this other thing and we're just standing around gazing, looking, focused on a good thing. Prophecy is a good thing. We need to know prophecy. There is prophecy. It will be fulfilled. But

But it's not to be the foremost thing in our life. In a similar way, we can be distracted by minor doctrines. And every conversation you have with people is about those doctrines that are your favorite doctrines. And you got to talk about those doctrines. And so you're standing around gazing instead of being a witness.

Sometimes we can be distracted by divisions within the body of Christ and hurts and wounds and things that are dividing us and keeping us apart. And it causes us to just stand around gazing. Can you believe what that guy did? Can you believe what they did to me? Can you believe how that? And we're just standing around distracted by any number of things. And the angels would come alongside of us and say, hey, Jesus is coming back. Don't you have some work to do? Don't you got something to do? Jesus is coming back. He saw him go up. He's going to come back. He will return.

Jesus tells the parable of the landowner or the nobleman who gave his servants 10 minas in Luke chapter 19. He gave him the minas and it says in verse 13, as he gives him the minas, he says, do business till I come. I'm going away and I'm coming back. It's a clear picture. The Lord going away, he's coming back. And when he comes back, he expects some return on what he's invested in us. He gave them the money. He said, do business until I come.

Now, what's interesting is Jesus explains, or Luke explains really, why Jesus gave this parable in Luke chapter 19, verse 11. I don't have it on the screen, but you can write it down and look it up later. It tells us that Jesus told them this parable because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. Because again, they're focused on the wrong thing. They're focused on the appearing of the kingdom, the appearing of the kingdom. That's all they can think about. And Jesus says, you need to know that

that you're supposed to do business until I come. The kingdom will be established. You don't got to worry about that. Mind your own business. That's going to happen in the Lord's timing. The Father has committed that to his own authority. In the meantime, you have some work to do. There's more to the Christian life than just you being changed, than just you being transformed, than just you being set free and forgiven. There's more to the Christian life than your favorite doctrine and

And standing around, just staring at the sky, looking at each other, being distracted by various things. An important part of the Christian life is the promised empowering of the Spirit, where the Holy Spirit comes upon you and fills you and baptizes you and immerses you to cause you to be a witness to the world around you. Again, the quote from Dave Guzik, we should perhaps ask, are you baptized in the Holy Spirit?

instead of asking, have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? This promise of the empowering of the Holy Spirit is a promise for you. And if you receive the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the promise is you will be witnesses to me, Jesus says. You'll be a witness.

It's a promise. The Father's promised the Holy Spirit to his followers, to those who ask. If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? It's a promise. And so if you ask, it's a promise. You will receive the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Now, I heard Brian Broderson share it this way, and I really appreciated it. You know, some people, when they get saved, it's a dramatic experience.

right? They have all kinds of feelings. There's all kinds of, you know, emotions that go with it. There's all kinds. It's very dramatic, like the Apostle Paul, right? The light shone from heaven. It's like, whoa. Some people, when they get saved, they don't feel any different. There's no, you know, glorious soundtrack that goes on, but they're just as saved as the other person who felt all kinds of things.

It's received by faith. Salvation is received by faith. It's not about how you feel or if there is some eventful thing around it. And it's the same is true for the empowering of the Holy Spirit. It's promised to those who ask. And if you ask for the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will be given to you.

It's God's promise. It's the Father's promise. And some people will receive the empowering of the Holy Spirit and there will be, you know, a soundtrack and eventful things and you'll feel all kinds of different and you'll, you know, maybe manifest some of the spiritual gifts that happens. And then others, they pray and they think, well, nothing really happened. And so then what happens is then they walk and they continue to live as if like nothing's ever happened.

But listen, if you get saved and then you continue to live like nothing's ever happened, well, you're not going to experience the benefits of salvation because you don't believe. You just think, well, I guess it didn't work. I don't know. No, no, no. You get saved. You believe in Jesus. And then you start to walk with God by faith in a similar way. We're exhorted. We're commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And it's a promise for those who ask, you will be filled. So when you ask, believe God at his word.

And don't then live in unbelief thinking, well, I guess I wasn't filled. I guess it didn't work. No. You see, it requires more than just standing around. Start taking steps of faith. Start looking for all those opportunities to be a witness and let God empower you. Let God do the work in you that he wants to do. Trust him and live out the life that he's given to you by faith.

The empowering of the Holy Spirit is like salvation in that way. It's promised to you, just like salvation is promised to all who believe. The Holy Spirit's promised to all who ask. And so I encourage you this evening, and then again tomorrow morning, and then again the morning after that, and then again the day after that, keep on being filled. Keep on asking for God to empower you with the Holy Spirit that you would be a witness to Jesus. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each and every one of us right now.

Lord, wherever we're at, whatever the day's like, we recognize, God, that the empowering of the Holy Spirit is not something we earn or deserve. It's not about our works. It's about your grace. And we don't deserve for you to work in us. We don't deserve for you to change us. We don't deserve for us to receive salvation. But Lord, you give that to us when we trust in you and ask. And Lord, in a similar way, you give us the Holy Spirit as we trust in you and ask. And so Lord, right now,

We just want to take this moment and ask, Lord, would you fill us with your Holy Spirit? Empower us. We're not equipped, Lord. We're not able to be witnesses to you on our own with our own strength or resources. Lord, if you would do that work, Lord, we would be witnesses to you in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Lord, would you empower us to represent you well?

Lord, that our lives would demonstrate, that our words would demonstrate, that our attitude would demonstrate to the world around us that you are alive, that you are real, and that you are at work transforming lives and setting people free. I pray, God, that you would give us opportunities to walk in faith this week, to trust you and the empowering that you provide, Lord, that others could be touched by our lives and with the gospel message. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.