Luke 24:33-53, Acts 1:1-9

[0:01] So you'll see like the Acts of the Apostles, it should more accurately be called I think the Acts of the Holy Spirit. In the Apostles, the key verse I guess you could say of Acts is Acts chapter 1 verse 8, but you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me in both Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

[0:24] That word witness is the same word martyros where we get the word martyr from. It doesn't necessarily mean to go and die, but it means to be fully committed to a cause and to give your life to it, whether you live giving your life to it or ultimately die.

[0:42] And power there is an innate ability. So it's an ability that's given to us by the Holy Spirit that he does within us. So it was written by Luke probably in the year 63 to 70 AD.

[0:57] Um, covering approximately 30 years of church history. So that verse where I said Paul was two years in Caesarea, remember Paul's eventually going to get arrested. He's going to go before Festus and Agrippa.

[1:09] And one of those guys, I can't remember which one it's Festus, leaves him, says he left him then two years in prison there in Caesarea, like house arrest. Most likely that's probably when Luke wrote Luke and Acts or did his research because he would have been in Israel in Caesarea and could have just gone around and traveled around to everybody.

[1:30] And, um, it's thought that Luke and Acts are, um, combined as almost like a brief to be used by Paul in defense before Nero when he's taken, um, before Nero the first time.

[1:44] Um, traditionally Acts and Luke were one volume. It was one book, just like with two sections, but it's been split out. Um, Luke himself will show up in Acts, Acts 16, verse 10.

[1:56] The narrative changes from us. I mean, they, them, and then it's we, you know, all of a sudden it's like we, uh, Peter and Paul, their main characters documents three main mission trips by Paul.

[2:07] Um, so from 47 to 49 AD. So if this, if it's written, if this, uh, events and acts begin around 30, 34, you know, um, the first mission, first missions trip by Paul isn't until like 47.

[2:24] So it's a little ways in. Uh, he's two years going to like Cyprus, Pamphila, and all those names that are hard to pronounce. That's a short one. And then two years later or a year later, he goes another one about three years and that's much further reaching into the Roman empire.

[2:39] And then he'll, again, he'll do a third one. Um, and just in case you wondered, there's no Acts 29, only 28 chapters. Um, so the main theme, and we will touch on this a bunch as we go, you know, it's the Holy Spirit, right?

[2:55] Because we're going to, it's kind of a bait and switch. We're going to backtrack into Luke to get a running start into Acts. Um, but the Holy Spirit is kind of the theme.

[3:06] There's the, in John 14, um, verse 16, the promise is given. I will pray the father. He shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seems them not neither knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you alongside you and shall be in you.

[3:26] So the promise is given. The promise is going to be fulfilled in Acts chapter two, where Joel is quoted that there shall come to pass in the last days, say of God, I'll pour out my spirit upon all flesh. And then the continued effect of the promise.

[3:39] As we continue into the new Testament, Ephesians says, and be not drunk with wine, whereas excess don't be under the influence of other substances. Don't let them control you, but be filled with the spirit.

[3:50] So Jesus gives the promise. Jesus fulfills the promise. And then there's this continued effect of the promise of the Holy Spirit. The phrase Holy Spirit, or it's King James, Holy Ghost, is mentioned 89 times in the New Testament.

[4:05] Um, 56 references are to a person of the spirit, but 89 times in the New Testament, 41 of those are in Acts. Um, and then Luke mentions in the book of Luke 18 more times.

[4:19] So a very high, uh, number of those, almost half is in Acts. And so, um, the activity of the Holy Spirit in Luke and Acts assumes three distinct stages.

[4:30] The period of the preparation of Jesus's ministry in the beginning of Luke, Luke chapter one, uh, through Luke chapter three, Jesus, his ministry, Luke three to Acts one 26, when he's taken up, taken out of the way.

[4:46] And then the period of the church, which would be as we're going to see in the book of Acts. So three periods of the Holy Spirit's very distinct ministry, preparing Jesus, Jesus's ministry, and then the furthering work, which we still are living in and continuing today.

[5:01] Uh, we are in the book of Acts. The activity of the spirit links each stage with the other two and the three stages can together continue the story of God's spirit begun in the old Testament.

[5:13] On the other hand, each stage while building on the former, it tells a new and distinctive chapter in this work of the spirit. I just want to read a couple of quotes, um, about the Holy Spirit and we'll jump into the text.

[5:26] The need for the Holy Spirit's work in our lives. If someone doesn't seem to know if they have the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in their life, it's fair to assume that they don't have it. If you have it, you should know it.

[5:37] Give a man an electric shock. I warrant you, he will know it. But he had, if he has the Holy Spirit, he'll know it much more. That's a quote by Spurgeon. Um, this isn't something to hope about.

[5:47] We can know one can know they're filled with the Holy Spirit through the Holy Spirit. The God portrayed in Luke and Acts, he leads and he guides and he empowers. He equips and he reveals his will to his people so that they may participate in his effort to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

[6:05] Luke makes it abundantly clear that God did not leave the early disciples to their own devices. Jesus not only gave his disciples a holy mission to the nations, he also poured out on them the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

[6:18] And this was not for private and selfish ends, but to enable them to bear faithful witness to their Lord himself, uniquely anointed with the Spirit. Has he done less for us?

[6:30] Surely the church today may go forward in his challenging and sometimes overwhelming mission to evangelize the nations near and far with the sure conviction that the Holy Spirit, by the various means and strategies of his own choosing, will illuminate our path, lift our drooping hands, and strengthen our weak knees.

[6:47] And then lastly, The place and function of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual believer and of the church and as a whole is vastly important. It is a basic truth of the Christian faith that no man can know God except in the face of Jesus Christ.

[7:04] It is also true that no man can see that face and acknowledge him as Lord except by revelation of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12.3 Moreover, the apostolic injunction, be filled with the Spirit, still stands binding on every believer.

[7:20] And he ignores it at the peril of missing the fruitfulness and joy which such fulfillness brings or fullness brings. So, let's turn to Acts.

[7:33] And then we won't be there very long because we'll back up. So Luke starts out in chapter 1. But Father, again, Lord, I just ask you to bless your word. As we dive into this, Lord, this is your word.

[7:45] And I think what Jesus said in John 10 and then, no, John 14 and then 16 where he said, I go away and it's more needful that I go that I may send the Holy Spirit, I send the Comforter.

[7:57] He shall teach you all things, he shall show you all things, he shall bring all things to remembrance, and he'll guide you into all truth. And so, Lord, we trust you to do that tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. So, the former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which he was taken up after that he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days, and speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

[8:34] So, Luke starts this out saying, the former treatise, that's why we have to back up into Luke to get a running start, because there's a beginning part to this, O Theophilus. Now, Theophilus, there's another rabbit trail you can go down, who that guy was.

[8:46] Nobody really knows. It's most likely a title that he's giving. Again, it seems like the way he's writing this, that this is almost like a defense for Paul, or an evidence to show that this Christianity is not what Rome would think it is.

[9:01] The emperors at the time, there's a ton of them, but the ones during Acts would be Claudius, and then Nero.

[9:13] We all know Nero, right? He's the one Paul goes before him the first time. He's acquitted. Go. Then Nero burns Rome. Kind of goes a little mad. Most likely Paul, in Paul fashion, would have presented the gospel to Nero, and Nero rejected it.

[9:28] But after that, he goes nuts and goes after the Christians. Five years later or so, he's got Paul back, and then he beheads them. But after Nero is Vespasian.

[9:40] His son Titus is the one who came and destroyed the temple. He came to quell the Jewish revolt, the Jewish wars. And then the temple, unfortunately, was destroyed at that time by accident, but by fulfillment of prophecy, because Jesus said, not one stone will be left on another.

[9:56] And then after him, what's his name? Demetian. He was the one that he said, so persecution, as we're going to see, is kind of in pockets in Acts and in the early church.

[10:08] But then by the time Demetian comes on the scene, it's about 81 AD, he continued to persecute the Christians because they wouldn't worship the Roman gods or sacrifice to the emperor, and were therefore considered to be godless atheists who would arouse the fury of the Roman gods.

[10:22] So essentially they were unpatriotic by the pagan regime that was under Demetian. And he was the emperor who was going to bring in widespread persecution.

[10:35] So at this time, for whatever reason, Luke is writing this possibly to help Paul in his defense. And so he's saying there's this former treatise. And so Jesus, until the day in which he was taken up, he's given commandment to the disciples by the Holy Spirit.

[10:51] So let's turn back to the end of Luke, Luke 24. And we'll pick up in verse 33.

[11:05] So Luke tells us after the resurrection, you know, in each gospel, we kind of get a different picture of those who saw Jesus and those who were witness to his resurrection. We know that Corinthians tells us, Corinthians tells us, Paul does in chapter 15, that upwards of 500 saw him alive.

[11:22] Jesus, after he was resurrected, he's in Jerusalem. He had told the apostles, go before me into Galilee. None of them did. They all stayed there in the upper room. He had to kind of show up and said, hey, go.

[11:33] So they do go to the up, they do go to Galilee. He meets with Peter there, restores him. And then they end up, that's possibly where, you know, the 500 may have seen him there in Galilee then. He appeared to 500 at one time.

[11:46] And then he's back to Jerusalem. And then we're going to see, as we move into Acts, it's in Bethany, outside of Bethany, the Mount of Olives, where he ascends up into heaven. But Luke gives us the account that after his resurrection, he shows up kind of traveling with these two people, two disciples, on the road to Emmaus.

[12:06] Right? So, and then they don't know who he is. They get to where they're going. And he, they say, hey, you want to stay with us? I mean, you just gave us the best Bible study we've ever heard. You know, almost as good as Jesus.

[12:19] Why don't you come and stay with us? And so it says that their eyes were opened during the breaking of the bread. And I can, you can just imagine Jesus sitting down for dinner and, you know, and he's like, oh, hey. And he breaks the bread and hands it to them.

[12:31] You know, he takes the wine and they're like, oh, we've seen this before. And, and then he's gone. They then turn and go seven miles back to Jerusalem. They're so excited. And they get back and this is where it picks up in verse 33 of Luke 24.

[12:47] And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together and them that were with them saying, the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.

[12:58] So when they get back, there's the 11 there. No Judas, remember? And they're super excited but before they can say anything, the 11 say, the Lord is risen and he appeared to Peter by himself.

[13:09] We don't have that account. Paul affirms that and again, 1 Corinthians 15 that he appeared first to Cephas and then to the other 11 and then to upwards of 500. So Jesus appears alone to Peter at some point before we get the account of Jesus restoring Peter in Galilee.

[13:27] He has appeared to Peter and kind of like said, it's okay, Peter. Which makes sense because Peter has just like blown it to the, I mean, short of Judas, there's nobody who's like kind of blown it as bad as Peter with denying the Lord.

[13:42] And that just doesn't seem logical. Like, I just picture myself if that happened that I wouldn't be like the next day hanging out with all the rest of the guys again like nothing happened. Like, hey guys! Hey! I'd be crushed.

[13:53] And so I think then Jesus appears to him and kind of, you know, says, it's alright Peter. And then you see again when he's in Galilee, he's so excited to see him. He dives in the water and swims to shore.

[14:05] He's so excited to see Jesus. And I don't know how excited I would be to see if I didn't know where I stood with him at that point because I just kind of denied him really bad. And then Jesus restores him publicly before the other apostles.

[14:18] So anyway, they are so excited. They're like, the Lord is risen! He appeared to Simon! And then the other two say, and they then told them what things were done in the way and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread.

[14:31] And as they thus spoke, it's like Jesus can't help himself. The scripture says where two or more gathered, Jesus is in the midst. It's like he's like, oh, okay, I can't help it. He just kind of shows up.

[14:42] And then as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said unto them, peace be unto you. And they were so excited.

[14:53] They ran, they hugged him. They're like, Lord, I can't believe you're here. This is amazing. Nope, wrong translation, sorry. But they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

[15:04] And as we go through this section, the themes we want to kind of look at are that God's gift through God's grace results in God's promise. And that's what Jesus is going to give this picture in the end of Luke of the gift of God by the grace of God results in the promise of God does.

[15:20] We're going to see what the result of that is in the apostles' life, how that works out as they receive the gift of God by the grace of God and then it results in the promises of God being worked out in their life.

[15:31] And so they're terrified. They supposed it had been a spirit and he said unto them, why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your heart? That's a good question.

[15:42] Why were they troubled? I mean, it's Jesus. They should have known. They just said, I mean, they just said right here, he's alive. We're so excited. He's alive. But we didn't expect him to show up right here. This wasn't exactly what I thought Jesus was going to do.

[15:55] Then, you know, I think, I get excited that Jesus is alive. Jesus is in my life. Jesus is doing things. And then Jesus shows up in my life, right? And he says, hey, let's go this way or let's do that or let's work on that.

[16:05] And it's like, whoa, that wasn't, I mean, it was fun talking to all my friends about you, Lord, but like a personal one-on-one, you talking to me, but they're troubled because of unbelief.

[16:17] And he's going to, I don't think he does hear so much in, no, he doesn't in Luke, but in other gospels, he says, you know, why did you have unbelief? I told you. And then he does this, which is so cool in verse 39.

[16:30] How does he take care of this troubled heart? How does he take care of these thoughts, these erroneous thoughts about Jesus? Because what did they think? Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, they're like, it's an evil spirit.

[16:42] I mean, that's pretty bad to think that about Jesus. One ought not to call Jesus an evil spirit or that they'd seen a spirit. So they had these erroneous thoughts about Jesus.

[16:53] And Jesus then what? He points to the cross as all the evidence, as the proof of who he is. He says, behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. That's it.

[17:04] Like Paul says in Corinthians, he says, I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. You know, when I came to you, I didn't come with eloquent speech, but I came to you in demonstration of the spirit and a power that your faith would not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

[17:20] And so Jesus comes and he's like, guys, the best thing I got is check it out. I was on the cross. Handle me and see for spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me have.

[17:31] You know, it's great. Jesus is a hugger. Handle me and see. I can't wait. I think, you know, sometimes for girls it's not so awkward, but for guys, sometimes it's awkward giving hugs like, hey, hey, hey, you know, how you doing?

[17:44] You know, and some friends are more huggers than others. And then there's some friends who give it back as much as you give it to them. You know, and it's like, I think Jesus is going to be the best at that. As much as you give, he's just going to give it right back.

[17:56] It's going to be so good. So he says, he points to the proof being the cross. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 2.

[18:18] Why did they have, they were joyful, but they didn't believe. This is where I just quoted where Paul said that I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and crucified at the beginning of that chapter.

[18:36] As you get down towards the end, in verse 13, it says, which things also we speak, not in words, which man's wisdom teaches, the things of the Spirit, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, as the Holy Spirit does in our life.

[18:53] It takes spiritual things, it compares them with spiritual, it doesn't take the natural, it doesn't take the flesh. But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

[19:08] So here's these guys, and they're kind of like, turn back over to Luke, they're so excited, but they still wouldn't believe. There was still an element missing.

[19:19] What was it? They were so joyful, and they wondered, and he then said unto them, have you here any me? I think this is just God's grace. This is the picture of God's grace.

[19:31] The gift is the cross. Jesus, saying, look at me, look at my hands and feet, I'm here. And then you have this free gift, while they yet believed not for joy and wonder. It's God's grace, that they just cannot believe or receive that is this good.

[19:45] That Jesus, I mean, they don't know he's going to go back to heaven. They're going to ask him in Acts. They think that the kingdom is coming. They are so jazzed. Like, death couldn't hold him. He's back. He's better than ever.

[19:56] He's popping in and out of walls. Think of all we're going to be able to do. After three years of ministry, with Jesus pre-resurrection, what's it going to be like with three more years of ministry, Jesus post-resurrection?

[20:07] They're pretty excited. And then Jesus, have you here any meat? He's hungry. And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. He took it and did eat it before them.

[20:18] Well, why would he do that? Well, again, he's showing like, guys, I'm not something that cannot be related to. I'm not like some, you know, little mystical, ethyoteric, whatever thing. It's like, here I am.

[20:30] Touch me. Hold me. My hands and feet. Even when you don't see me, guys, and I'm popping in another room, I'm the same. This is who I am. I want you to know who I am. There'll be times you're not going to see me. There'll be times you won't think I'm there, but I am.

[20:42] I'm the same Jesus. The same one that would sit down to eat with you, even when you don't see me there. And he said unto them, verse 44, These are the words which I spake unto you.

[20:53] While I was yet with you. Oh, and real quick, in verse 43, it says he took and did eat before them. What didn't he do? He didn't drink. Remember? And when he had given the cup at the Last Supper, he said, This is the cup of the new covenant sealed in my blood.

[21:09] Take this in remembrance of me. He said, I will not drink this again until I drink it anew in my Father's kingdom. So Jesus is going to, you know, take that cup again, but man, we're going to be with him at that point in the kingdom.

[21:21] So at this point, he said, He's just eating, not taking anything to drink. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me.

[21:36] It still stands today. All things that are written concerning Jesus, all of them will be fulfilled. Still fulfilled. Remember 1 John? All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus to the glory of God.

[21:49] It hasn't changed. All things written still must be fulfilled. Jesus thought the Old Testament was, even numbers, was worth teaching.

[22:04] You know, Paul said, I did not shun to declare the whole counsel of God unto you. Paul writes in 2 Timothy that all scriptures God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped unto all good deeds.

[22:21] Boom, boom, boom, boom. My child. And so all these things must be fulfilled concerning me. And you don't have to turn now.

[22:33] I'll just read it to you. John 20. Oh no, this is the next verse. Sorry. So verse 45.

[22:43] Here then is the key here. He says, then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. It's interesting. They did not need to understand the scriptures back in verse 39 when he said, behold my hands and feet to believe.

[22:58] They didn't need to understand the scriptures. You don't have to have an extreme, amazing understanding of scripture and Bible knowledge to be born again, to believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you'll be saved.

[23:09] This is after he said, guys, look at it. This is who I am. This is the proof. It's the cross. Now he's saying, when he's talking about all of these words which were spoken by Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, then he opened their understanding that they might receive or opened their minds that they might understand the scripture.

[23:24] John 20, 22 is this is the same time this is taking place. Verse 21, it says, Jesus said to them, peace be unto you as my father sent me even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto them, receive you the Holy Spirit.

[23:42] This is that same time that he is opening their minds to understand the scriptures. Man, that must have been a moment, you know, as they're like, oh, okay, Lord. Yeah, all things that were spoken of you, Moses, the prophets, Psalms.

[23:54] And he's like, like an Aslan. Breathed on them, received the Holy Spirit and their minds are open. I cannot imagine what it must have been like. Whoa, I never realized that.

[24:07] And we're going to see this later as we get into Acts because Peter is going to correctly quote a scripture that has to do with Judas and his betrayal in chapter one. So their minds are now open to the scripture.

[24:20] And in verse 46, he said unto them, thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer. That just means it was the right thing, correct purpose.

[24:31] It was proper. For it was proper that Christ should suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

[24:45] So now they're given like this commission, right? The commission came after the understanding was opened, after the receiving of the Holy Spirit. The commission and the call didn't come until the scripture was understood.

[24:57] There was an order here. So we're seeing God's gift, Jesus saying, guys, it's me. I'm the free gift of God. This is God's grace. And it's through the grace of God they're experiencing now all the promises of God.

[25:07] Their minds are open to the scriptures. They're receiving the Holy Spirit. They're having a call given to them that repentance and remissions of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

[25:21] Repentance and remissions of sins is probably not something that, you know, you don't pick up that little devotional and be like, oh, repentance and remissions of sins 30 days a month. Perfect.

[25:32] You know, it's just not one of those things that's extremely popular especially in today's world and even among Christians. It's, well, Jesus wants to bless you. He does. You know, he does want to bless you.

[25:42] But the primary way he blesses you is by removing your sin and then allowing the newness of his life to come in. And that requires what on our part? Repentance.

[25:53] Agreeing with him. Agreeing with what he says about my sin and earning from it. And you, you are witnesses of these things.

[26:07] And behold, here it is, I send the promise of my father upon you. But tarry you in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. The word tarry means to continue to sit.

[26:19] Continue. Seated. Stay. And so here is now power promised to complete the call. So we have God's free gift of Jesus. It's free.

[26:30] It's grace. By the grace of God we receive the promise. Then the result of that is the Holy Spirit which opens our minds, our understanding. We get this call. And then there is the promise of the Holy Spirit in the further work.

[26:46] So right now, think of the apostles. Three years with Jesus. Three years with Jesus. There is no misunderstanding scripture. There is no like I wonder if that preacher really knows what he is talking about.

[26:58] You know, never been to that guy's house before. It's kind of weird but whatever. Right? You know, maybe he knows what he is talking about. Maybe he is a quack. Maybe. But this is Jesus. So there is no misunderstanding here. There is no like did he interpret the scripture right?

[27:11] Three years with him. They have seen all these miracles. Then he comes and he opens their minds to the scriptures. Their understanding. He breathes on them and says receive the Holy Spirit. I mean, then he gives them this call and commission to go.

[27:25] These are the people a person like this if you met him you'd be like you should be a Sunday school teacher. You should be on the church board. Are you a pastor? Right? I mean, this is what the person you want. They are equipped.

[27:36] And then Jesus turns and says don't go. Don't do anything. You have no capacity to do that. You've been with Jesus for three years. You've heard all of his words. You've seen the cross, the resurrection.

[27:48] Your mind is open with understanding. You have a call and a commission and he says don't go. Stay there. And so often we take principles and practices and patterns and we apply them to our lives and they're good.

[28:00] They are based off scripture. I take a principle from scripture. You know, I take a practice from scripture. I take a pattern from scripture. I apply it to my life and I live that out. I say God bless it.

[28:11] God help me. And there's a certain part of yes, spiritual discipline that should be part of our lives. But we could take what these disciples have and run with that. And Peter's gonna.

[28:22] We're gonna see that in chapter one. Peter's gonna like run ahead a little bit. But think if they went out. Okay, they went out now. Let's say, I'll pick one of them. Thaddeus, right?

[28:33] Nobody knows about him. He's one of the twelve. We'll take him. He decides, guys, I am so equipped I'm going out. And he goes out with his understanding of scripture, having the Holy Spirit, his mind opened.

[28:45] With this commission, he begins to just go out and preach, right? He may get some converts. I bet he would. I bet he'd get a couple, you know? And let's say they all do that. And they spend the next, acts is, you know, 30 years.

[28:57] They spend. How many converts would they get? I don't know. You know, in their own effort, with their own understanding, with the tools they have. But Jesus had said, wait, because there's more.

[29:08] Peter on the day of Pentecost is gonna, 2,000 plus are gonna just, yep, we believe. That's not his words. He doesn't say that much. He just says, Jesus died and rose again. And they're like, oh, they were cut to the heart by the Holy Spirit.

[29:20] It's because God had equipped them. And it's not principles and practices and patterns. It's promises, power, and a person is how we're supposed to live our lives.

[29:31] God gives us promises. He gives us this promise of the Holy Spirit. He gives us power through the Holy Spirit. It's a person. It's getting to know him. It's not some, again, some ooga booga thing.

[29:42] It's God himself. And the more we empty ourselves of ourselves, you know, where Paul said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Even if you approach something in a strength, oh, I got this.

[29:55] Man, step back and go, Lord, because God is attracted to weakness. There's something about weakness that relies upon him where he says, I'm gonna move heaven and earth for that. You know, that, I'm gonna own my work, get out of my way.

[30:06] Right? So even if you have a strength, back off from it, humble yourself and say, Lord, not my strength, not by my power, but what's your spirit? What is your will in this?

[30:17] What's your direction in this? And let him be strong on your behalf. Why? What's the point? It's to know Jesus because then we can know him. It's in, he humbled himself and became obedient to the cross.

[30:30] Right? He had perfect strength for every situation, but he humbled himself. We're gonna see where he acted, Acts tells us that it was in the Holy Spirit. So we think, well, Jesus was God, so he had everything figured out.

[30:42] Well, no, he came and submitted himself to the Holy Spirit. So it wasn't because he was God that he did all those miracles and things and whatever. He was acting in the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit so that he could then turn around and say to us, go and do likewise.

[30:55] You will do greater things than I have done because of this. And he led them out. And here we get now, we're gonna be coming into Acts. Oh, and it says, until you be endued, the word endued with power from on high is to clothe and robe or enwrap.

[31:10] Until you be clothed in this. Something else has to happen, guys. Something more than just what you've seen like you already have. He led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands and blessed them.

[31:22] And they thought, yes, you know, this is awesome. This is all, I can't, I don't know where this happened anywhere else where Jesus blessed the apostles. I'm not sure, but I don't think there's another place where he turned and like specifically blessed them.

[31:36] We know he puts his hands on the children and blesses them. He blesses the bread and breaks it and all that. But here he's blessing specifically the apostles. And so now they've been, I mean, Jesus blesses you after you've been given a call and a commission and your mind's open to understand the scripture and you have the blessing of God.

[31:53] You know, Jesus blesses you. Look out, you know, world. Here I come. Not yet. And this is awesome. This is the result. The result of God's grace, God's gift by God's grace resulting in the promises of God result in the blessing of Jesus upon our lives.

[32:11] And it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them. Ooh, whoa, that's tough. God's blessing doesn't always look as expected. You know, Jesus is blessing me.

[32:22] Jesus disappears. Well, this isn't what I expected. And carried them up and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and inward reality and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.

[32:38] Amen. Now as we do a little bit in Acts, we'll just do probably down to six to eight verses or so.

[32:50] Call it good. So now you have this background. They've just come back to Jerusalem. And Luke again is going to back up a little bit into this and give a little bit different perspective now than what he just gave at the end of the book of Luke.

[33:03] After verse one, saying, Jesus began both to do and to teach. He began and now he's continuing. This is the continuation. This is that Jesus who just ate the fish and the honey.

[33:16] The Jesus who said, hug me boys. You know, look at my hands, look at my feet. The same Jesus just is not seen anymore, but it's the same Jesus. And that's the one who's gone to the Father and he's going to send the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[33:28] And on the day of Pentecost, when he does, I mean, you know, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. You know, yes, he is. But man, he was in that room also. He was there.

[33:39] This is, he was there to dispense the Holy Spirit. He was with them. And then, boom, it comes the Holy Spirit. He's not far off. Until the day, verse two, in which he was taken up after that he, through the Holy Spirit, have given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.

[33:55] If Jesus thought it was needful to act and minister through the Holy Spirit, how much more should we? So, the apostles at this point, they've been sent.

[34:07] And if you look at all the gospels, the different wording at the end, sent, go, they've been sent. Jesus sends them out. They've been told to go. They've been told to preach. They've been told to teach.

[34:17] They've been told to baptize. Five different things. They've been told to do all of these things. And then he said, wait. And maybe, you know, I know there's things in my life that God, I think, is calling me to and gives you ideas and visions.

[34:29] You're like, yes. And he's like, no, wait. No. What are we going to do, Lord? Come on, come on. He's like, just keep doing the everyday thing. You know, he's doing a work in the heart. He's doing stuff that he knows needs to be done.

[34:42] We're going to get a little glimpse of this eventually as we get up to chapter two and see some of the work he's got to do in some of the hearts. But, given commandment unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs.

[35:00] That word passion just means a suffering. If you look in other places, it's just used in scripture. Suffering, here he translates it. The translator put it as a passion. By many infallible proofs.

[35:10] The word infallible means impossible to doubt. Absolutely impossible to doubt. Romans 1 says that when they knew God, they chose not to worship him as God.

[35:22] So, it wasn't like, well, we don't know if God exists. We don't know about God. They knew it. They knew it. They chose to worship the creature more than the creator. In Luke, Luke gives the account in chapter 16 of Lazarus and the rich man, right?

[35:35] And the rich man goes to hell or to Gehenna and then Abraham's like across that chasm with Lazarus and he's like tormented. He yells out, send Lazarus just to dip his finger in water and put a drop in my tongue.

[35:48] He's like, son, you in life had good things and Lazarus evil and you know, you're pretty much being repaid by the way you lived your life. He's like, well then send someone back. Send Lazarus back from the dead that my brothers would know and he said, no.

[36:02] He said, they have Moses and the prophets because even if someone came back from the dead, they wouldn't believe and here you have the same thing, right? Jesus comes back from the dead. They don't believe because they won't believe the scripture.

[36:14] If you don't believe the scripture, you're not going to believe Jesus. So infallible proofs. The infallible proof of him coming back from the dead. There's no doubt. It's more established than like the, Jesus's death and resurrection is more of a historical fact than George Washington existing.

[36:32] It's just, there's so much proof. This is not in doubt. It's just in unbelief. People will not believe. Being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, which must have got them really excited, thinking the kingdom's coming, and being assembled together with them, he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, you have heard of me.

[37:00] For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. We're going to see this word come up again. Baptism, filling, spirit falling, spirit coming upon.

[37:13] It's like, well, what is it? And there's some, you know, the worst thing is a good man with a bad idea. It's okay. You know, a bad man with a good idea, you'll probably be like, well, you know, a bad man with a bad idea, but a good man with a bad idea is dangerous because it's very easy to be believed.

[37:30] There's been a lot of good men over the years with bad ideas of how they think the Holy Spirit should look or act or be in a believer's life, in somebody's life.

[37:41] And they take legitimate manifestations of the Spirit as we see them in Scripture and extrapolate them out to something that like, you know, God never intended to be.

[37:53] Not that, sure. I mean, I believe, I take the Scripture, you know, you take it literal, well, I take it serious. You know, where it's literal, I take it literal. Where it's allegorical, I take it allegorical. But I take it, what it says it means and I just live my life by it.

[38:07] So if Paul talks about gifts to the Spirit, then I think, great. Give them all, Lord. I'll take whatever you want to give me. You know, I don't really strive with it and I don't really worry about what those are going to look like.

[38:19] But if I see something that's totally wild and crazy and then I go to my Bible and it's like, that just doesn't really fit. Then I'm okay with being like, no, that's not the Spirit. No thanks. I don't see it.

[38:35] Let's look at a couple of these. Romans chapter 6. Just a couple ideas of like this idea of baptism. So in Romans, Paul is leading us into Romans 8, which is the pinnacle.

[38:49] But first, he has to get into 6, where we should not continue in sin. 7, where we are struggling against sin. And then 8, where we have victory over sin. This is the believer, not the unbeliever.

[39:02] And in chapter 6, he says, what shall we say then? Verse 1, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?

[39:13] Know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? How were we baptized into Jesus Christ? Is that just to go dunked in the water?

[39:24] You know, I'm now baptized into Christ? That was the Holy Spirit that baptizes us at belief. The time we believe, the Holy Spirit baptizes us. The idea of baptism, we're doing a baptism actually at our church this Sunday.

[39:35] And we were talking with someone last week about, they're like, well, should I get, I got baptized when I was younger. Should I again? Because it should be public. We actually don't see it in scripture that baptism was meant to be a public profession.

[39:48] It's more of a sign, it's like communion. We take communion as a sign of remembrance of the cross. I don't know what it does spiritually for us except Jesus said to do it.

[39:58] I love doing it. We do it, right? Um, baptism is the same thing. It's a sign, almost a witness unto ourselves, sure to others as well, uh, that this identification with Christ's death and resurrection.

[40:11] Um, we're going to see in Acts Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch. They're going to just be traveling along, the two of them, and maybe his chariot driver and he can say, here's water. Can I be baptized? It's like, let's do it. Did you believe in Jesus?

[40:21] Boom. You know, that's just as effective as those who get baptized in front of a crowd. Um, so the baptism isn't the, um, the action.

[40:33] It's, it's what it's representing to be baptized and to be fully immersed or identified in or with. And so we have been baptized into Jesus Christ. We've been identified with, we've been immersed into, we've been completely covered with Jesus into his death.

[40:48] Verse four, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So that like as, right, we're buried with him by baptism into death, kind of like, it's just like, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

[41:11] When I come up from the water, I don't have newness of life to walk in. Uh, that's just a representation of the baptism into Christ that the Holy Spirit has done at that time of belief. There's one baptism, baptism into Christ.

[41:25] Galatians chapter three. The end of Galatians three, we get the same thing, uh, in verse 27.

[41:43] For as many of you as have been baptized, literally robed, enrobed, uh, covered with, identified as, for as many as you, as a, as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

[41:58] This is, he doesn't say, well, you should then put on Christ. You know, once you are in Christ, you've put on Christ. Your life is now joined with God's. You have a new nature. There's neither June or Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, if you're all one in Christ, right?

[42:11] There's no junior believers in the kingdom. Uh, we all have full access to all the promises of God, all of the fullness of the spirit. Nothing, you know, Hebrews tells us that by a new and living way, we can go in, that there's nothing separating us anymore.

[42:26] So that means on God's side, there's never anything that he would say, hold up, hmm, I gotta, no, no, there's nothing, nothing at all. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So the only thing that varies is us.

[42:38] The only thing that changes is on our end. So all of the promises of God, we're gonna see it as we go through Acts, that the fullness of the spirit, there's gonna be people that are gonna experience the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in their lives in ways that I haven't.

[42:50] And they've been like, saved for two minutes. So it's nothing to do with like, your position of, oh, I need to work my way into this. No, this is a gift by grace. Um, and then lastly, um, first Corinthians chapter 12.

[43:05] for this baptism into Christ. And this is the spiritual gifts Paul's talking about before he gets into the greatest, um, of love.

[43:21] And so, 12 verse 13. For by one spirit, are we all baptized into one body?

[43:33] So we just saw two scriptures that told us we are baptized into Christ. Well, here's the method by which that happens. Here's the mode. For by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body. Whether, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit.

[43:51] And so here we have this idea that the Holy Spirit baptizes us into one body. We'll say, okay, is that the baptism of the spirit that Jesus is talking about? They were just made part of the body of Christ. Well, I don't think so because he's already said to them at the end of Luke, I mean, in John, he said, receive the Holy Spirit and breathe on them.

[44:07] So, okay, why then do we need to wait for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, if Jesus already breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit? Well, obviously there's a further work of the spirit that needs to be done beyond just being made a partaker of the body of Christ.

[44:22] He says, in verse 5, back in Acts chapter 1, John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. as baptized, what does that look like?

[44:35] Well, Ephesians will tell us, this is one of our verses we read in all of my massive papers. There you go. Ephesians 5.18, that we are to be filled with the spirit.

[44:46] Be not drunk with wine where there is excess, but to be filled, and that idea is to be continually being filled, to be being filled with the Holy Spirit. And it's not just like, bloop, and filled. So I think of it like, like if you take a glass and you fill it with water, it's full, right?

[45:03] And you say, well, that's full. But I think of like the baptism of the spirit or like the fullness of the spirit of God. Remember, Jesus said to the woman of the well, and he's like, if you knew who asked you for a drink, you would ask a drink of him, and then he would have given you water that would be in you, water springing up to eternal life.

[45:20] And she's like, Lord, give me this water that I drink of it. I don't need to come here anymore. And then at the end of the feast, he stood up and he said, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink, for out of his innermost being will flow forth.

[45:33] Rivers of living water, gushing torrents of water will flow forth. Well, that's something more than just being filled. That's something that's filling and coming out. So if I take a glass and I put it under the faucet, I turn the faucet on and I just hold it there, it's going to fill and it's going to fill and it's going to fill and then what's going to happen?

[45:50] It's going to overflow. Where's its source? Well, the source is the faucet but the overflowing is actually coming from within the cup. The cup is filling up from inside by an exterior source and then it overflows.

[46:04] And so if you just looked at the cup overflowing, it's like, whoa, there's like torrents of living water gushing out of this cup but it's not from the cup. And so when Jesus says that out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water, it's not like I now have this like, ooh, source.

[46:20] It's that God is just pouring into me, pouring into me and then it overflows. The inward filling and then the outward anointing as it just flows over us. I think of those buckets like at the spray parks that fill up and then you stand under it and it goes, just dumps at once.

[46:37] That's kind of, I think of like, when I think of the Holy Spirit here when it's like, you know, when it'll say he fell or being poured out. I think if you had a little cup and you put it on the ground and then that bucket dump and it just goes splash and the cup is filled and everything around it is all wet, right?

[46:52] And when we're baptized, you come up out of the water, you're not going to be able to convince anybody you weren't just baptized. You know, I didn't get baptized. You're all wet. You know, well, no, it was just coincidence, you know.

[47:03] No, you can tell you've been baptized. In the Old Testament when they anoint the priests, the high priest, they would dump the oil on his head and it would run down. Remember, it talks about running down Aaron's beard.

[47:15] There is no denying that it happened. You would smell like it. You would be shiny and oily, you know, your face would break out all over the place. There's no denying that, man, you've been anointed. You've been, wow.

[47:27] And so that's what God wants to do with the Holy Spirit. Again, for what purpose? Well, we're going to see that on the day of Pentecost, they were all filled and began to speak. God wants to give you something that you can't have, that I can't have, just by being in the presence of Jesus, understanding the cross, understanding the resurrection, grace, understanding the scripture, having a call and a commission, and then having Jesus' blessing on my life.

[47:55] All of that is wonderful, but it needs, you know, it needs the key to make it start, right? And that's that Holy Spirit. And so Jesus is saying to them, you will receive this not many days hence.

[48:07] These guys had no idea, none, what he was talking about, as in like, what that experience would be. I don't know. And when they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

[48:21] They thought, this is it? Finally, I'm so excited. Jesus is here. I don't know what he's talking about the Holy Spirit. I don't know about all that stuff, but the kingdom, the kingdom. And Jesus said, no, the church has replaced Israel, guys, sorry.

[48:34] No, he doesn't say that. He says to them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put into his own power. God's authority. God is the authority.

[48:45] It's not for us. There are certain things that are, you know, it's like a little child with a father. There's certain things that the father reserves to himself that like, just trust me, son, right?

[48:56] Henry, just trust me. There's certain things that's like, you don't need to know right now. Well, the same with our heavenly father. There's things that we're not going to know and that's okay. But, you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

[49:11] So, God the Father, it's his authority and times and seasons are in his hand, but yet he's willing to give us this ability. So, it's enough for us to receive power for the current season.

[49:22] We don't need to know when the next season is in our life. God knows when that is. We don't need to know when the kingdom's coming necessarily. We know Jesus is coming soon. No man knows the day or the hour. What we do know is that God is willing to give us grace and ability for the season that we are in.

[49:37] This current season. After the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

[49:48] And, well, we'll just do his ascension and call it good. And when he had spaken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight.

[50:01] So, they're excited. They're like, okay, the kingdom's not right now. But Jesus doesn't say no, did he? He kind of said a big maybe. Like, is the kingdom now? Jesus didn't say no. He just said, it's not for you to know.

[50:13] Don't worry. It's not for you to know. Don't worry about it. And so, for the last 2,000 plus years, it's just been a big maybe. It's like, no man knows the day or the hour. But we are all to be ready for when he returns.

[50:26] But, what do we have right now? We shall receive power or literally ability or an innate ability after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

[50:37] So, we have, it's described as the baptism, baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's come upon you. And then in chapter 2, when we eventually get there, it's going to specifically say, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

[50:49] So, it doesn't matter what you call it. It's just, you got it. You know, has the Holy Spirit had a place in your life where you say, okay, I know my Bible. I know Jesus.

[51:01] I have a, I understand what his call is. I have all these principles, practices, and patterns. I have all these promises. But it's not enough. He says, receive the Holy Spirit.

[51:12] And then in Ephesians, we have the awesome promise of just be, continually be, being filled. So, as we end, I think we'll stop there. Mark, we tried to hit one chapter, a study.

[51:24] That did not happen in Acts. It's way too much interesting things. I just wanted to kind of give that background of where the apostles were coming from, what they've just experienced with Jesus, all Jesus has done for them, and yet he's still telling them, guys, there's something more that's going to blow your minds.

[51:46] I don't think they could have been any more excited than they were at this moment, and then Jesus is taken off, which is kind of like, bummer. But then they're like, hey, you know what? Those two men stand by him and say, he's going to return.

[51:57] I think in their minds, they're like, all right, two weeks, Jesus will be back, right? I mean, three days after the resurrection, he was raised from the dead, and he kept popping in and out. All right, he was taken to heaven. I'm sure he's coming back soon.

[52:08] He's going to set up the kingdom. They probably, when they were, when they did receive the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, they probably thought, well, this is it. This is the beginning of Jesus coming back.

[52:21] But Peter, if you think of our good friend Peter, with hand, foot, and mouth disease, you know, just, even after this point, we're going to keep jumping ahead, but we're going to see him in chapter 1 kind of do the same old Peter thing.

[52:36] Well, I think we need to do something about this. Jesus said, wait. Peter waited like a day and said, well, let's do something. Let's go ahead with this, right? And then we're going to see him totally different, never the same again after Acts chapter 2.

[52:49] The same brash, brash, rash, Peter, Peter, impetuous, let's go, let's go, let's go. That's still there, but it's now under the control of the Spirit. When he and John go up to pray, he's going to look at the lame man and that same Peter mentality and go, in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.

[53:07] John didn't do that, but Peter did because it was that same, the Lord uses Peter to go to Cornelius, to the Gentiles. He's like, Peter, go. Peter's like, let's do it. You know, let's go.

[53:18] But it's now under the control of the Holy Spirit. And God has made all of us unique and he's given us a personality that the Holy Spirit wants to take control of and use in ways we can't imagine.

[53:29] And then he also has things totally outside of ourselves that come from the Spirit that he wants to give us and gift us. And it's just free. You want to play that first song one more time?

[53:41] And then, so, as a little praise and clays, just recently, I just think, we need to just take, you know, God's gift through God's grace results in God's promises. And we now, we are on this side of that where he says, be you being filled.

[53:57] What does God want to do in your life? You know, here we are, on a random night of the week. It's not like, it's just here we are with Jesus. He appears in the room, right?

[54:07] He's here with us. And he wants to give good gifts unto you. And so it's like, Lord, what do you have for me? What do you want to do? How can I receive the Holy Spirit into my life that overflows?

[54:18] It's like that faucet just dumping in and spilling out. And like, but it totally changes me. I want to be changed like that. I want to be like that, like Peter, where you could look at Peter and go, yeah, you're Peter.

[54:30] Man, there's something there. It's wonderful and I want it. You know, that's what I want. I want to live that. Not just in moments where I'm practicing the principles and patterns and practices.

[54:45] But in my everyday moments, like Peter and John, just going on up, seeing some guy, you know, I want to be able to live in the spirit where it's like, Lord, you're telling me to do that? Okay.

[54:56] That's still a small voice. So, Father, I just pray that again, Lord, just like at Pentecost, just like you did, there's like five different occurrences throughout Acts of specific times where you poured out the spirit again and again and again and refilled and refilled and the place was shaken and they all praised God and they all had boldness.

[55:16] Lord, that's a gift. That's something you do. We can't conjure it up. We can't work it up. We can't twist your arm. I mean, who here is going to get to the place the apostles were three years in like the most intensive Bible training course with Jesus and Jesus personally breathing on them saying, receive the Holy Spirit.

[55:34] Jesus personally opening their mind to understand scriptures. Jesus personally giving them a commission and a call and a blessing. We can't even live up to that, Lord, to then turn and say, well, look, now I'm at a place where you can bless me.

[55:47] You know, and you told them it's not enough. And so, Lord, not that we are sufficient of ourselves but our sufficiencies of God. That's not by might nor by power but by your spirit.

[55:57] And Lord, you said that you ascended up on high that you might give good gifts unto the children of men. And if we then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask?

[56:10] And so, Lord, we're just going to ask now and just say, Heavenly Father, would you fill us with your spirit afresh like you did in the book of Acts, Lord? We just thank you for your word and, Lord, we believe not because we ask, not because we have all kinds of internal faith, but because you said it and we've experienced the cross, the resurrection, and the new life.

[56:35] And Lord, we have at times experienced such fullness of your spirit, Lord. But Lord, equip us for this season. It's not the same season as yesterday, Lord. This season, whatever season we're in now, Lord, would you equip us by your Holy Spirit?

[56:47] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.