Walking With Jesus-4-The Promise

This morning, Pastor Brad concludes his series Walking With Jesus with a message he calls The Promise.

Pastor's Notes:

TEXT Acts 1:1-9 NKJV

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which [a]He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many [b]infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be [c]witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
INTRODUCTION
Good morning, everybody!
I’m so glad to see each and every one of you again. I want to give a special thanks to all of our staff, volunteers, and church family for praying, inviting, and serving to make it such a great weekend.
We had a total of 309 people in worship with us last weekend. If you came back today, we are glad to have you here and hope to have you join our family!
For our regulars, I want to remember how awesome it felt to have the house that full. This is what we are striving for every week. Thanks for continuing to help us reach this city for Christ!
This whole month, we’ve been walking in the footsteps of Jesus as He lived and died. Last Sunday, we celebrated the resurrection!
Today, I want to take you on a post resurrection journey, and share with you Jesus’ message to His disciples.
I’ve entitled this message, “The Promise”, as we look at the glory that Jesus promised to give to the church.

ILLUSTRATION
This last week, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ were killed in an act of terrorism as churches in Sri Lanka were bombed.
American politicians titled them “Easter worshipers”.
What an insult. Dear friends, I’m not an Easter worshiper. I am a worshiper of Jesus Christ!
And while there has been an attack on Christianity in America and across the world, Jesus promised to return for His church one day.
TRANSITION
Yet, before He left, He promised us power to live a victorious life to accomplish the assignment He gave us to fulfill.
BACKGROUND
In our passage, Luke gives us some insight. After the resurrection, Jesus walked the Earth for 40 days showing Himself alive to His people.
Yet before He would ascend again, He gave them specific instructions to go into Jerusalem to wait for the promise of the Father.
What was that promise?

APPLICATION
1. The Promise
-  That promise was told by John Luke 3:16
-  Jesus said in John 7:37-39 He would send the Spirit
-  Jesus tells us in Mark 16:15-18 that it brings supernatural power.

2. The Purpose
-  What is the purpose of this promise?
-  You shall receive “power”.
-  Why? To be a witness.
-  A witness of what? That Jesus is alive and resurrected.
-  Bottom line? The purpose of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is an empowerment of boldness to be a witness for Christ! It’s power to share your faith with others!
-  Who wouldn’t want such a thing?

3. The Pattern
-  In Acts 2, we see the disciples praying in the upper room. It was the day of Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Harvest.
-  When this initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit happened, something interesting happened. Tongues of fire sat upon each of them, and they all began to speak in a language they had never learned. The Scripture is very emphatic that they “were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues......”.

-  History shows us this is a normative experience.
-  Acts 2:4
-  Acts 10:44-46
-  Acts 19:6
-  In all of these cases, along with others in church history, the accompanying SIGN of Spirit baptism is speaking in tongues?
-  But why?
-  Because Jesus wants to touch your mouth and make you a bold witness for Him.
-  Someone asked me one time “Can I be filled with the Holy Spirit without speaking in tongues?”. to which I replied, “Why would you want to be?”
- Many people are afraid of this experience. Some have just been taught wrong. Let me close with this Scripture.
CONCLUSION



Luke 11:9-13
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for [a]bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”