Acts Chapter 1 Verse 8

• This power is spoken of in Joel Chapter 2, “The Promise of the Father!” And we also see Jesus refer to this coming power in John Chapter 7 verses 37 – 39.  I love this passage!  Why?  Because the work and the power of the Holy Spirit looks and tastes like love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control!  I think we forget that!
• Jesus said, “Rivers of LIVING water!” Water that brings life, attracts life, and sustains life!  Think about it.  To drink water it has to be a few things.  It has to be   Non-toxic!  That’s I suppose most important!  It also has taste good!  Ever taste water that is just metallic or tastes like sulfur?  I’d rather go thirsty!  It has to look pretty clear…murky, muddy water…who wants that?  And its source has to be admirable.  What if instead of bottled water at the store there was just a dirty trough with a quarter slot and paper cups!?  Ain’t happening!  Get me some Mountain Dew!  HA!
• Well just like that man, to be real witnesses to the real Jesus we gotta be non-toxic. We gotta be sweet!  Good tasting!  We have to not only know about Jesus but man we who desire to do what the church is supposed to do…introduce people to Jesus and make disciples…then man we gotta look like Him and our persona, our countenance, our love, our gentleness, our kindness, our goodness…ought to be at the level of admirable!  I think we forget that in all we know and all we’ve learned…
• But here’s the thing…only thing I can flow is acidic water…murky, muddy, clear-less water at best…it’s the work of God with me, in me and upon me that brings about the testimony and witness of Jesus Christ! Just like Jesus said in John Chapter 7!
• I need it all man! Everything available to me because of what Jesus did for me…I NEED IT ALL!  So many settle…WHY?  What do I mean?  After Jesus was resurrected, that evening the disciples were together and John Chapter 20 Verse 19 says they were assembled behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jews…Jesus, who was dead and yet now lives again, just like He said He would, is back!  The greatest sorrow of their lives has been relieved, abated, removed!!!
• Jesus is infallibly everything He said He is…the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Savior of the world, the All Mighty and they know it! Death has been overcome!  The grave has been overwhelmed…they know and believe all of these things, and yet they aren’t in the streets proclaiming the good news.  They aren’t holding a pot luck party filled with joy, celebration and bagels! No Filafel Bell catering!  And then Jesus shows up…
• Look at John Chapter 20 Verses 19 – 22. “Peace, peace,”  Why?  They weren’t at peace!  They were fearful and shaken and then Jesus commissions them into the Gospel.  He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  At that moment, the beginning of the communion of God and man through Jesus Christ.  Jesus launches the New Covenant with the new ministry of the Holy Spirit in that He indwells and abides within man.
• So they jumped up filled with joy and capacity and dynamism and efficacy and they ran out into the streets and let that light shine! That’s actually not what happened…if you continue reading in John then you find the disciples after 8 days of doing the same thing, doing the same thing…they were again inside John Chapter 20 verse 26 tells us…and the doors again were shut and locked.
• Jesus came to them again and you’d think He would have said, “Power and joy and passion be with you,” but again He says, “Peace, peace be with you.” Still scared…fast forward to John Chapter 21 and you’d think we’d find the disciples proclaiming the good news of Jesus and establishing faith but we find them frustrated and fishing…what’s going on here…they have faith, they are saved, they believe, they are hanging out with Jesus…but in all that, they find themselves powerless…
• Then Acts Chapter 1…Jesus says in this first chapter, to kick off (football season pun intended) the establishing of the Body of Christ, the Body of Faith, the church upon the earth…, He says to them, “You guys have everything you need…stories, experiences, first-hand knowledge, faith, infallible proof…but what you need is now the power to do something about it!” Enter the third ministry of the Holy Spirit, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and then you shall be witnesses to Me…” 
• I like this because this is more than just being a witness of Jesus but it’s also being a witness to Him…it’s ministry to Him, it’s loving Him, it’s drawing closest to Him, it’s surging closer to Him…full immersion into the covering and shelter and over-flow-filling of the very Spirit of God Himself! So how do we get there, how do we get that!?  The main thing, the most difficult thing, the most rare thing…a willing heart!  Romans 5:5 says that God is ready to do the pouring…the question is, are you wanting, willing and ready to get drenched!?
• Some of y’all, me included, at times are out of position…Proverbs 1:23 says, “Turn at my correction and surely I will pour out My Spirit on you…but I called and you refused…and My counsel is forsaken.” This is interesting…the Holy Spirit is poured out on those in position and that position I believe can be found in the examples Jesus gave us in His earthly ministry of things being poured…
• Matthew 26:7, a woman comes and pours out costly fragrant oil on the head of Jesus…Jesus said that she did that for His burial…are you ready to reckon yourself dead to the things of the world? John Chapter 2, Jesus drove out the money changers from the temple and John told us that He poured out the money…are the things of this world your priority?  The good Samaritan in Luke Chapter 10 bandaged the wounds of the weak, pouring on them oil and wine…is your heart, do you WANT to serve God and serve those around you?  John Chapter 13, Jesus humbles Himself and pours water into a basin and kneels to His disciples, washing their feet…is that what you want?  Is the Holy Spirit truly ruling in there?  Do you trust God or do you trust you?  Are you in position?
• If not, your choice today…do you want to believe in God or do you want to live for Him? This word in Acts Chapter 1, “witnesses,” it’s the word, “martys,” are you ready to lay everything down and elevate your relationship with God through Jesus to the highest peak interest of your heart?  That moment, I believe, is when you are in position…trusting in Him, trusting His word…and as you step into position…God’s Spirit is poured out upon you and you become something else…you become power!  And now wherever you are, you are a witness of Him, you are with Him, and you are a witness to Him!

Acts Chapter 1 Verses 9 – 11

• What an awesome promise! He’s coming back…in the same manner as He went…bodily form, simply descending from heaven to the earth!  Now, on the Mount of Olives there is a church called The Church of Ascension and there is a footprint there that they say is where Jesus took off from!  But Luke 24 tells us that they traveled with Jesus past the Mount of Olives…folks, if you don’t read the Word you become vulnerable to being fooled by man…

Acts Chapter 1 Verses 12 -14

• It’s It’s sweet.  It’s comfy and  cozy…the disciples were just together, together and at peace with each other, all fitting into one Honda (one Accord), spending time in prayer…it’s beautiful, it’s sweet, it’s comfy cozy, but it’s not exploding with power, dynamism and passion.  They’re still locked away in an upper room.  Soon, things change.
• And, this is the last mention of Mary, the mother of Jesus. There is not one more mention of her, no further mention of her at all throughout the entire Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the early church.  No mention of her in any of the remaining books of the New Testament.  Shocking isn’t it!?  No mention of her death, any miraculous ascension into heaven, nothing…

Acts Chapter 1 Verses 15 – 22

• The church was already born…it was born in John Chapter 20…but it’s just not yet optimally effective…filled with power…the Day of Pentecost hasn’t yet come…and we’ll talk more about that next week…but the church is getting off the ground…how do we know. Who’s speaking?  Peter…he is so found out…he has such a story of regret but here he is…standing, speaking, moving forward and the people love him, God loves him…has restored him…welcome to the real work of the church…
• And he proposes…let’s do something! HA! I like that…everyone hanging out, hiding away, praying all day…Peter’s like, I don’t know what to do but man I want to do something!  And so he proposes Judas Iscariot be replaced in accordance with Psalm 109 and his qualifications include someone who has been around a long while…since the beginning.  One who could bear witness first hand to the facts of Jesus’ ministry, teachings, death and resurrection…

Acts Chapter 1 Verses 23 – 24

• Notice, this is the first prayer to Jesus…

Acts Chapter 1 Verses 25 – 26

• Essentially, they threw dice…Peter chalked out a circle and put on his green sun visor and chanted “seven come eleven!” HA!  What are they doing?  Folks get so tripped up over this.  They’re casting lots…what they know…what they’re used to doing…Aaron cast lots for goats in Leviticus 16, the children of Israel cast lots to divide the Promised Land in Joshua 18, King Saul cast lots in 1 Samuel 14, the priest cast lots in Nehemiah 10, and even Proverbs 18:18 prescribes casting lots as a way to end a quarrel…, “Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.”  This is what they knew, what they had always done…but here’s the thing and this is exactly precisely specifically particularly true of God today relevant to you…He wants to do a new thing…
• God didn’t tell them to do this…there’s no instruction from God to throw dice…folks get all bent out of shape…the replacement was always Paul…they choose Matthias and we hear nothing of or from him ever…but look man, they return to their old ways…when God has a new plan…just like He has for you.