Power for Mission
Pat Tedeschi
Acts 1:1-11
April 30, 2023
Sermon Audio
Sermon Recap PDF
Acts 1:1–11 [1] In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, [2] until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. [3] He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.[4] And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; [5] for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” [6] So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [7] He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. [8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [9] And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. [10] And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, [11] and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (ESV)
Introduction
- Pat shared his personal testimony. The person who witnessed to him was a living fulfillment of Jesus promise to empower His people to be His witnesses.
- In Acts 1, what Jesus is telling his first disciples, and all His followers, is that they will be empowered by the Spirit to be His witnesses, both locally and globally.
Main Theme: God calls His disciples to be his witnesses locally and globally.
I. Called to Be Witnesses
- What exactly is a witness and what does a witness do?
- A witness in those shows is someone who observes or hears about something and then, gives a verbal testimony of what he has seen, heard or knows. The same is true biblically for the Christian.
- After Jesus told the disciples that they would be his witnesses they spoke–they proclaimed what they saw and knew to be true about Jesus. There must be verbal proclamation if we are to be authentic biblical witnesses.
- A Christian’s deeds should match his words- because our deeds give glory to the God that we proclaim. But we must not think that Biblical witness can ever happen with deeds only. Gospel witness is essentially and characteristically verbal.
[14] How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching (proclaiming) ? — Romans 10:14
- People cannot believe unless someone speaks/proclaims the truth of the gospel. And we understand that this verse does not apply only to ministers or missionaries–but to every true believer in Jesus- we are all called to be proclaimers of the gospel.
- What we proclaim is (A) who Jesus is (B) what Jesus came to do and (C) what our response should be to Him.
- As witnesses we call people to repent of their sins and believe what we proclaim about the crucified and risen Jesus.
II. Locally and Globally
- Where does our witness take place? Still looking at verse 8 we see that it was to happen right where they were locally, in Jerusalem. It was then to be an outward-expanding witness–Judea, Samaria and then to all the earth.
- There will be people from every tribe and tongue and nation worshipping at the feet of Jesus BECAUSE He is worthy of praise among all those peoples.
- We want to be his witnesses among the nations. Even though global missions can be tragically neglected, sometimes even the local mission, right where we are can also be neglected.
III. In the power of the Spirit
- We simply cannot do this in our own strength.
- We do not have the savvy or intellect or powers of persuasion that we need to do this work of witness (or even to move past our fears and weaknesses) .
- And of top of all that, our job is to proclaim a message to people who do not have the spiritual capacity, on their own, to receive that message.
The natural person (that is, the unbeliever) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
— 1 Corinthians 2:14
- In one sense, ours is an impossible task- on our own!! We need something beyond ourselves.
- We need the power of the Spirit to step out in the ways God calls us to. Wonderfully, if we are in Christ we already have the Spirit dwelling within us. However, we need to humbly depend on the Spirit to enable us to do anything of any spiritual value.
- In Acts people are filled with the Holy Spirit as they pray.
IV. With a passion for Jesus (Looking at the Savior)
I think as we look at the last verses of the passage, we can see the motivation that God gives the disciples and us.
[9] And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. [10] And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, [11] and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” — Acts 1:9-11
- A cloud took him out of their sight. Most commentators would say that this is no ordinary cloud, but the cloud of God’s glory.
- Throughout the scripture this cloud represents the presence and the pleasure of God.
- As the disciples see Jesus going up in this cloud they are likely reminded of the pillar of cloud that lead Israel through the desert in Exodus.
- It might make them think of the cloud that rested on the tabernacle, reassuring the Israelites of God‘s presence and power with them.
- It most likely reminded a few of the disciples in particular, Peter and James and John, when Jesus revealed himself to them and all of his glory–at that moment a cloud appeared and the voice of God spoke.
- Sinclair Ferguson says, “God gives them one last amazing, supernatural manifestation at the ascension of Christ, to make sure that they remember what God said to them on the mountain of transfiguration, ‘this is my beloved Son listen to what he says.'”
Application
What do we do then, with what we’ve heard that we might have power to be Jesus’ witnesses? Three things, AWE, ASK and ACT.
Be in awe
- Be amazed at who Jesus is and what He’s done- OK sounds good, how do we do that? Think about what the disciples did in their three years with Jesus . They ate with him, travelled with Him, talked with him, watched what He did, listened to Him. They were getting close to Jesus.
- Through these simple means of grace, they grew to love Him and were in awe by what they saw in Him.
- Christ offers to come close to us in His Word, in prayer — both as individuals and when we gather as a church.
- Let us not neglect to draw near to Jesus, because we will not be moved for the mission, if we don’t think much of the one who gave the mission.
Ask
- Pray and ask God for His help and power to be His witness. Admit your weakness in it. Ask Him for grace to be mindful of the mission — for courage and wisdom to know when to speak.
- Bring to Him the souls of your family and friends- praying not only that He would save them, but that He might use YOU to speak Words of life to them.
Act
- Consider making a plan. Write down who in your life that you want to see reached with the Gospel- two or three names.
- Come up with ideas of how you can simply get together with them. It doesn’t have to be anything special — perhaps just things you’re already doing that you can do with others (Walk, watch a game, playing a game- like pickle ball, go out shopping etc…).
Questions for Discussion/Application
- Re-read the text, Acts 1:1-11 What initial insights and observations do you have from reading this passage?
- What does it mean in ordinary life to be a witness?
- How were the first disciples “witnesses”? What was the impact of their witness?
- Pat opened up the sermon by sharing of a woman who shared the gospel with him resulting in his salvation. Who was the first person to “witness” to you — to share the gospel with you?
- Take a moment to consider: where would you be apart from someone taking the time to witness to you and share the gospel with you? What would your life be like? What kind of person would you be apart from Christ?
- In what ways is God calling us today to be witnesses?
- What role does the Holy Spirit play in us being effective witnesses? How can we intentionally seek to be more filled with the Holy Spirit?
- Who is your One Life for 2023? What steps are you currently taking to reach out to that person and show them the love of Christ?
- Overall, what steps do you personally want to take to grow in your own compassion for the lost?
- What is one thing you feel you can do to grow in your own personal evangelism?
- Consider taking time to pray, asking God to help us to grow in “being in awe” “asking” and “acting” for the sake of the gospel.