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OUR RESPONSE TO THE RESURRECTION

ACTS 1:1-14

INTRODUCTION

We have been celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ today! We praise God for the precious gift of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to us!

After we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, then what? You may be here and say,

“Ok, I believe in His death for my sin, His burial and His resurrection. I believe that it is by Grace alone we are saved through faith alone in Christ alone Now what? How do I respond to what God has done for me?”

That is a good question! Here is how God taught us in Acts Chapter 1.

I.         WE NEED TO RESPOND BY LISTENING. (Vs 2, 4; Cf. Luke 24:45-49)

            Where do we find the disciples? Being obedient to the Saviour!

II.       WE NEED TO RESPOND BY WAITING. (Vs 4)

Patience is something I have a hard time with. But, patience is a virtue.

            The Bible says a lot about waiting on God.

Psalm 25:5–“Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”

Psalm 27:14–“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

Psalm 37:34–“Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land:”

Psalm 40:1–“I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”

Psalm 123:2–“Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.”

Isaiah 40:31–“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Lamentations 3:25-26–“The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.”

Waiting on God means a realization in our lives that God sets the dates of our life; beginning through end. He controls our calendar. He is not impressed with our schedules.

            The kind of waiting that these disciples did was an active effort. (Vs 14)

III.      WE NEED TO RESPOND BY TELLING. (Vs 8)

Sharing the Gospel to all people in all places. God chose to spread His Gospel through those who know Him and love Him. His Will is for us to share His love with others.

IV.      WE NEED TO RESPOND BY WATCHING. (Vs 10)

We should be looking for Jesus. Yes, we are to look for His return, but there is more to it than that!

We are to look for what the Lord Christ Jesus is doing, where He is working today and join in with Him.

The disciples so wanted to see Jesus that they strained their eyes to see Him.

            We say we expect Jesus to come back but are we really looking for Him as we should?

V.        WE NEED TO RESPOND BY TRUSTING. (Vs 11-12)

Faith pleases God.

            We need to trust that Jesus is God and He will come back just as He said He would.

It is by faith that we are prepared for His return. Are you ready? What if He returned for us right now?

Acts 1:6

This was a very good and timely question. The disciples were in the presence of their risen Saviour. He had been crucified and put to death, buried and was now victoriously resurrected.

The disciples must have been very excited! I can imagine that they were pumped up and ready for the next “phase” to begin.

Their attitude was, “Jesus, NOW will You take up Your scepter and take full control?”

“Will You NOW destroy the Roman rulers and wipe out the flesh based religion of the temple?”

It was kind of like, “ARE WE THERE YET?”

Acts 1:7

Jesus responded in a way that must have greatly disappointed and confused their hearts.

He told them it was not any of their business!

I understand that in the military there is a doctrine called the “need to know”. You are permitted to know vital military secrets as long as you need to know them to complete your assigned task.

Even someone with high level top secret clearance can not normally find out information on a operation that they are not involved in.

This means that sometimes a ground troop or mechanic knows more than a 3 star general… simply because he had the “need to know”.

We do not have the “need to know” for the date and time of Christ’s return. Simply put it ain’t none of our business.

Think about this for a second. If man knew the exact moment Jesus Christ would rapture His Church and begin His next work in dealing with the world what would happen?

Most people would probably live like the devil with intentions of repenting at the last possible second. Because of that it would be possible and probable that many would die in their sin and go to hell because they died before the rapture took place.

Christians might spend a long period of time planning a great evangelistic strategy to reach the world in the last 30 days before the rapture. But what about those who needed to know before that time? The ones who wouldn’t live that long.

It is possible that if we knew the date that panic would strike our land and a sinful world would rake in billions on books, seminars and rapture insurance.

Many people would probably begin to focus on the date and time, making it a type of god that they worshiped while they wait.

God has a much different plan. He knows the date and the time. This information is already scribed in the annuals of time. He will do it His way, not ours.

He told us the end is coming quickly so we would be faithful and prepared. Only in that scenario is God is glorified.

He told us to go out daily and share the Gospel with our world.

Salvation is given to us freely and openly. Peace and assurance is a blessing of faith. We can know beyond any shadow of any doubt that we belong to Jesus and have the right to be called His children.

We can live a life of faith and obedience. We no longer have to be bound and defeated; because we are victorious in Christ Jesus!

We are to focus on Him, on His plan and on His Blessings.

We have been told what we need to know. God is Sovereign Lord, He loves us and has done everything He needed to in order to give us the gift of the abundant life now and eternal life with Him in glory forever.

Acts 1:8

What God calls us to do He prepares and empowers us to do.

            He has a task to be done.

            He has the wisdom and the power to do the work through us.

            All He needs from us is the willingness to allow Him to complete His work through us!

The Holy Spirit is very real and powerful – and He is active in our world today.

Sometimes we want to deny the Holy Spirit. We are afraid of what the Holy Spirit can do in our life.

We hear the stories of how He has moved in the life of others and, maybe worse, we have heard how others have done “stuff” on their own and accounted it to the Holy Ghost.

Let me share with you a few simple facts about the Holy Spirit:

            The Holy Spirit is God

            The Holy Spirit must glorify God and the Lord Jesus Christ

            The Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus Christ

            The Holy Spirit brings us comfort, correction and guidance.

            The Holy Spirit teaches us

            The Holy Spirit will NOT do anything that conflicts with God’s Word.

Now, what about all these places the Holy Spirit will give us the power to take the gospel to?

It includes every place on planet earth! Look at how Jesus put it:

Jerusalem–Our own backyard. Our city. Those around us that we see every day, and usually ignore. The grocery store clerks, mechanics, business leaders and trash collectors.

Judea–Those of like nationality, language and beliefs. This may mean Texas, America and Canada for us today.

Samaria–This is a little tougher. Samaria represents those who do not act, think or talk like we do. This is as simple as across the border in Mexico, the streets of Afghanistan or the atheist across the street.

The Jews thought the Samaritans were dirty ignorant people and they considered themselves to be unclean if they were even in close proximity to them. Is there anyone like that in your life? Don’t say “no” too quickly. Think about it longer and ask God to show you the truth.

The uttermost part of the earth–Everyone everywhere. Top to bottom, left to right – if they are on the planet we should be telling them about Jesus Christ. NO EXCUSES.

Acts 1:9

He could not return unless He left.

This passage could easily be the worst most hopeless Scripture in the Bible if it was taken out of context or was the only one you read. He left. He is gone.

But this is not the end of the story – it is the beginning. He promised us that He would be with us all the way to the end of the age and He promised us that He would send His Holy Spirit to comfort and to help us until He returned to take us Home with Him.

Acts 1:10

Here is a very important lesson for us. We should be looking stedfastly for our Saviour.

I’m not talking about we should just stand around outside looking up in the sky. But rather we should be watching for His return in that our focus is toward the things of heaven not on the things of this earth. Colossians 3:1-4

Acts 1:11

The basic message of these men in white apparel was that “He will return”. This is not a sad day; it is a joyful day.

We know where Jesus is – He is in Heaven, at the Father’s right hand. He is there making intercession for us!

But praise God one day soon He’s coming back again!

Conclusion

The question is this tonight, when He comes back is He coming back for you? I certainly hope so!

If He is coming back for you, will you be glad at His coming because you are ready or will you be ashamed at His coming because you’ve not been watching and waiting?

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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!