Let’s Get to Work

It’s good to sing with you. I love hearing the roar of voices in the room. Go ahead and grab your Bibles and let’s open to the book of Acts. Today we’re jumping into a new journey in the book of Acts. We’re going to look at the first eleven verses. As you turn there, it was exactly one year and one week ago that we finished our journey through the gospel of Luke.

In fact, it was fifty-four weeks ago that I had the opportunity to preach a sermon to you from Luke 24 entitled “Risen for the Nations” where we examined Luke’s, we examined Luke’s…sorry I’m getting lost here already. Examined Luke’s evidence that proclaimed Jesus indeed rose up from the grave in bodily human form, appeared to His disciples and gave to them a great commission to proclaim to the world.

And Luke, as you know, he wrote a sequel to the gospel of Luke. That’s the book of Acts. And where we left off a year ago is essentially where we’re picking up in today’s text. And I think that’s pretty cool. We’re not super smart here at Gospel City Church. We don’t know who’s preaching what text in what sermon series of what book when.

But I just think it’s cool that nothing is a surprise to God. And He lines up the speakers. When it comes to His Word, He knows exactly what we need to hear, when we need to hear it. When it comes to His Word, He does a far better job at guiding us through the text. When it comes to His Word, He knows exactly who His mouthpiece will be at any given time.

And so as the people of God, we need to remain submissive to His power and open to the Holy Spirit guiding us and leading us through the text of His Word. and if we’re faithful to that, I believe He will be faithful to talk to us and speak to us as He has all year long. And as we finished the book of Luke, we jumped into a year called “Abide” and we heard that we’re just sticks. And yet a stick attached to a lifesource actually becomes a branch that bears much fruit. And God is not just interested in one branch bearing fruit but He’s interested in a lot of branches. He’s building a tree, a family of people, who bear fruit and give glory to God.

And then we went into our series called “We are Family,” and we learned last week that that’s the theme for this year at Gospel City Church. We are family. And I don’t think it could be any more appropriate to jump into the book of Acts in a year called “We are Family.” For the family of God, Acts is our origin story. And in Acts we see the church established, the church on the move, and today we are joined together as recipients of what started thousands of years ago at the moment in history we will look at today.

So the big idea in our text this morning is this- Jesus is risen, Jesus is reigning, and Jesus is the reason to live and make disciples. Jesus is risen, reigning and the reason that we will live, send and make disciples. The title of today’s sermon is this: “Let’s Get to Work.” Because we’ll see that Jesus has some work for His apostles and ultimately Jesus has some work for us, His church. And so let’s get our eyes on a copy of God’s Word. And we’re going to allow His Word to speak to us before we start this morning. And let’s read verses 1-11 together.

Now hear the Word of the Lord. In the first book O Theophilus I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up. After he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 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.

For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

And he said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. 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 ends of the earth.”

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. And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold two men stood by them in white robes and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was teakne up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:1-11)

This is God’s Word for us today. And the first point that we’ll look at in our text is this. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the reason for the Great Commission. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the reason for the Great Commission. And Luke, he begins by tying the book of Acts to his previous work in the gospel of Luke. He does it in a few ways. Let’s check it out in the text.

So he says, in the first book. Obviously Luke indicates from this statement that this is his second work. He has some work before. And then we tie it to the book of Luke because of who he’s writing to.

He says, “In the first book O Theophilus.” This ties the book of Acts to Luke because Luke is writing to a specific person. Look in Luke verses 1-3. Just listen. It says this. It seemed good for me to write an orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus (Luke 1:3).

Now it’s debated who this Theophilus was. Some say that Theophilus could be a wavering Gentile. Luke was the only Gentile writer of the New Testament. Some say it could’ve been a skeptic. Some say it could’ve been just like the most intended reader, kind of by him saying most excellent Theophilus. Some say it could have been a governor or someone of great standing. The word Theophilus actually means friend or beloved by God. So maybe Luke is just writing to people who are friends of God, beloved by God.

What matters is this: Theophilus helps us see that Luke and Acts were penned by Dr. Luke, therefore they carry an orderly, scholarly, historical and evidence-fueled penmanship around the life and resurrection of Jesus and the carrying out of the Great Commission in all the world. I mean, Luke is a pretty calculated guy. Luke has heard all the arguments. Luke has done his research. Luke has talked to people who saw Jesus face to face and he put it all down in an orderly account and it worked itself out in the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, the works of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit through the apostles as the gospel went out into the world.

There is plenty of evidence for us to love the Lord with all of our minds by searching the Scriptures and seeing that Jesus indeed came. Jesus indeed died. Jesus indeed rose again from the dead and He is ruling and reigning, and that’s why we have work to do.

So let’s read verses 1-3. I have dealt with all that Jeus began to do and teach. We’ll come back to that in a moment. Until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Verse 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 (Acts 1:1-3).

Can we just marvel for a moment at what we just read in verse 3? Do you see what verse 3 proclaims? Jesus is risen. Jesus is alive! Oh death, where is your sting? Oh death, where is your victory? The sting of sin is death and God gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s not something that we should lose the wonder of, just as Pastor Brent shared. We should bring the band back out, bring the confetti out, celebrate Easter, because Jesus is alive! He walked out of that grave.

And may it never be lost on us how important the life changing, historical moment was when Jesus walked out of the grave in bodily human form. Don’t miss that. That’s important today. Don’t allow that to grow old.

And look at what verse 3 shows us. It says first that He presented himself. Jesus was purposeful with His life post-resurrection. He chose to make His presence known. He could’ve done whatever He wanted. He would have disappeared. He could have stayed in the grave. He could have beamed Himself back up to heaven. But Jesus, He walked out of the grave and chose to make Himself known. He presented Himself to His followers post-death.

Verse 3 again. It says that He presented Himself alive. Jesus presented Himself alive just as He was before He died. That’s awesome. He didn’t reveal Himself as a spirit. He didn’t reveal Himself as a ghost. He didn’t come back as an animal. As real as you and I are sitting here today, bones wrapped in flesh, so was Jesus after His resurrection.

And when Jesus presented Himself alive in human form, he was not only living proof that He paid death’s penalty, but that He had sole death’s power once and for all. It’s incredible.

Look at verse 3. It continues. He presented himself alive to them, being his disciples, after his suffering. So it says that He suffered. He indeed came, He indeed died, He indeed was laid buried and dead. But He presented Himself alive by many proofs. Jesus knew how unbelievable His resurrection was to His followers. Jesus knew how unbelievably it was for Him to show up in the room among a bunch of people who just saw Him crucified on a cross and them for them to be like, “Wait, is this a real thing?” Jesus, He didn’t get disturbd by that. Jesus didn’t lose His patience by that. He just continued to show Himself and reveal Himself by many proofs.

Just in Luke 24, if you go back in Luke 24, you see four accounts where Jesus revealed Himself post-death. He appeared to Mary in the garden. He appeared to Cleopas and friend on the road to Emmaus. He appeared to His disciples in the orom. As they were talking about Jesus, Jesus just shows up.

And then Peter shows up on the scene and he’s like, “Jesus is alive!” And they’re like, “We know, He’s right here, and this is blowing our minds.”

And then Jesus continued to be purposeful with presenting Himself alive by many proofs over and over again for the next forty days, it tells us in verse 3. Because Jesus wants us to know that He is risen. Jesus wanted His followers that He is risen. Jesus wants His followers to know that He has conquered death, and Jesus tells us that if we will seek Him, we will find Him because He is a patient Savior willing to reveal Himself to us.

So man, I’ve gotta just take a moment. Like have you sought the Lord? Have you sought the truth that Jesus is risen, that Jesus is alive? Have you lost the wonder of the glorious good news that your penalty for sin has been paid and that the power of sin and death has been stolen? Some of you just need to surrender and stand in awe of the fact that Jesus walked out of that grave.

Some of you have been seeking Him, but you’ve been denying. You’ve been trying to earn your own salvation. You’ve been trying to gain all that the world could give you. And Jesus says, “Seek Me. You will find Me. I will reveal Myself to you.” It’s an opportunity for all of us to stand in awe and to surrender.

And Jesus, verse 3, during those 40 days He’s speaking about the kingdom of God. He’s telling of this glorious message, this good news, this gospel truth that He’s about to give to the disciples. But hear this. Jesus, He was not just the manifestation of the message that He was giving. Jesus wasn’t just the manifestation of the message, but He was an example for how to use the message of the gospel.

Jump back up to verse 1. And Luke writes this. In the first book, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and to teach. So Jesus post-death was a living, breathing example of how to both advance the good news and live as if the good news had changed Him. he was doing and teaching the gospel. He was doing what He was preaching. Imagine that. His life was preaching righteousness and He was living a righteous life. He was preaching that God is holy, and then he was living a life of holiness. He was preaching that He has power over sin and death, and he was living a life that proved he had power over sin and death.

If teaching the gospel is evangelizing the truth that God can save from sin, then doing the gospel is a holy life that actually demonstrates God can save from sin. It’s a self-defeating thing to proclaim that Jesus has power over sin and then to go and live a sinful life. And yet that is so alive in our culture. So many of us hear this truth every single week and we can rattle it off and we can proclaim it, but does our life actually model the things that we’re saying with our mouths?

I’ve gotta give a shout out to the forty-one people who were baptized recently and gave their testimony out in the field. I mean, isn’t that awesome, church? God is moving. The fact that God is changing people, bringing people from death to life is alive in our church. But listen, it was an awesome moment. Forty-one people stood out in the field and they shared, they taught, they proclaimed the testimony that Jesus has changed their life and that He has given them power over sin. And it was so powerful!

But man, I want to challenge those of you who gave your testimony. You know what is so much more powerful than your proclamation of the fact that the gospel has changed you? Living a life by the power of the Spirit that actually proves He has changed you. Man, that’s important.

And so the opportunity is this. Don’t just say it in a field to a bunch of Christians who are going to clap and be excited about the truth that’s changed their life. Get yourself around some people who can help grow gospel fruit in your life. Get in a hope group. Get in a men’s study. Get in Core. And figure out how you can grow up into God and become like Christ, someone who doesn’t just teach the gospel of proclaiming that Christ has power over sin. Become someone who actually lives a holy life in a world that desperately needs Him.

I mean that was Jesus’ example to us and that is so important. The message that God is holy, man is sinful, but Jesus both paid the penalty for sin and conquered the power of sin. And all who repent and believe can be saved was modeled by Jesus and then it was about to spread throughout the entire world at this historical moment that we’re looking at in the book of Acts.

Let’s go to point number two. It’s this: Jesus promises power for the Great Commision. Jesus promises power for the Great Commission. I’m going to read in verse 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. Stop there for a moment.

So Jesus, He’s talking about this promise that would come from the Father. And Luke, he’s summarizing a lot in these first few verses of Acts. I want to jump back into Luke for just a moment. So I’ll put it on the screen. Luke 21:45-49. This was the moment that Jesus showed up among the disciples for the first time. I want you to see what He said. Because it says, “You heard this from me.” This is what they heard from Him.

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. That’s important because for the first time post-resurrection the disciples are now seeing the Old Testament in all of its light because Jesus revealed to them the power of the Scripture. You’ll see the fruition of that in the weeks to come in Acts.

But then Jesus gives them the gospel. Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead in repentance, and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in my name to all nations beginning with Jerusalem. That’s the Great Commission. You, disciples, are witnesses to these things. And then he says, Behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.

So Jesus, in Luke and in Acts, has modeled the message of repentance to the disciples. He’s called them witnesses. He gives them the Great Commission. But he tells them, “Hey, just stay put for a moment.” I mean, we don’t like to be told to stay put. We don’t like to be told to sit still. And here’s the disciples standing before their Savior and He’s telling them, “Hey, you’re going to have some work to do, but you need to just stay put for a moment.” And Jesus starts talking about this promise.

And when Jesus promises something, you know He’s going to be good for it, and you know it probably has some weight. It’s probably pretty important. When my kids come to me and they said, “Dad, do you promise?” And if I say, “Yeah, I promise,” it holds a lot of weight with my kids. And when I say that, then I’ve got to be good on my promise and they’re kind of pumped about the promise. So imagine being a disciple who gets a promise from Jesus, this person that they look up to, right? That’s pretty important.

And Luke summarizes in verse 5. He says, You heard from me that John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So this promise that’s coming is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not just our helper, but He’s actually the power.

And it’s no wonder Jesus told them to wait, because attempting anything apart from the power of the Spirit is futile. But with the Spirit of God, the people of God become vessels who do and teach and the message of the cross through the power of the Spirit can transform lives. May we never move apart from the Spirit of God. may we never move apart from the Spirit of God.

The disciples did not have what it takes to go out with that message, and so God simply says to wait for the promise that is coming. And the same Spirit that indwells the disciples, and we’ll look at that next week in the text, is indwelling you here today if you’re a follower of Jesus. May we never move apart from the Spirit of God.

And yet every time we walk out of these doors, every time we are faced with the things of this world, isn’t it easy to kind of power up in our own flesh and forget that the power actually comes from the Holy Spirit? That our works, our mission, our efforts, mean nothing apart from the Spirit of God. Everyday that your feet hit the floor is an opportunity for you to say, “Come, Holy Spirit. Move Holy Spirit.” He’s already indwelled you, but man, He can fill you for each day as He come and as He does what only He can do. May we never move apart from the Spirit of God.

Now look at verse 6. The disciples, when they had come together, they asked him. So now it’s kind of like, I don’t know exactly where the breaks are going into those 40 days, but here they are gathering together. And they ask him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?”

So clearly the disciples, they still don’t understand everything that’s going on. This isn’t Jesus’ first rodeo with the disciples asking questions as He’s trying to clearly explain things. And that’s ok. We would probably be in the same boat. They don’t fully grasp what’s about to happen. They’re just instructed to wait for this power. But you’ve got to understand where this question is coming from in verse 6, ok?

For the Jews, they only had one context to which to view the Messiah and really the Old Testament prophecies that they had read. So the Jews, and they still do this, view the Messiah through one advent or one coming. A lot of the Old Testament prophecies deal with the coming Messiah as a conquering king, so the disciples in this moment are assuming Jesus is about to restore the power to Israel, drive out hate Romans, establish a new Jerusalem.

The disciples assume this is the end, this is the victory. And so they’re like, Jesus, you came and you’re the Messiah. It looked a lot different than we thought it was going to look. You were really nice and you were really compassionate and you were a servant. And they murdered you and killed you. That doesn’t seem very awesome, but then you did come out of the grave so that’s pretty cool. Surely this is the moment we read about all throughout the Old Testament. You’re about to restore power to Israel.

They were looking for physical restoration, but Jesus, He was interested in His first coming with giving them spiritual transformation. And the disciples in this moment are about to be made aware that the Messiah would have a second coming. Jesus in His first coming fulfilled that of a suffering servant.

Isaiah 53, Psalm 22 written years before Jesus ever came, describes a king who would come and who would suffer and die on a cross in our place as a substitute for our sins. To this day, Jewish synagogues, they remove Isaiah 53 because they don’t know what to do with this Messiah, this person, who came and who died. And He didn’t fit their context.

Jesus first came as a Lamb who was slaughtered, but the Jews only had the context for a lion who would conquer. And Jesus, He doesn’t scold the disciples. Jesus doesn’t get impatient with the disciples ever. Jesus knows that He’s about to establish His church. Twelve ordinary men who weren’t society’s smartest, who weren’t culture’s brightest.

Jesus in His first coming did the work of redemption on the cross and was about to get the work of gathering the family of God all around the world done through individuals who feel unworthy to the mission, individuals who feel unqualified, individuals who feel insufficient, individuals who don’t understand every little detail or every little question they’re asked concerning the faith. And man, that should be an encouragement to us today.

Some of you come here and you sit and you’re like, “Man, I have given my life to Christ and I want to make an impact on eternity. I want to make an impact for the glory of God, but I’m just working a job and I really don’t know how to speak about these things. And Jesus gives us an example as He took these fishermen and these tax collectors and these different guys who didn’t have it all together and who had so many questions.

And He said, “Hey, I’m just looking for available people who will not power up in their own strength, but people who would remain submitted and surrendered to the power of the Spirit and will be unashamed of the gospel and the good news of Jesus Christ. Because it alone is the power of God to salvation. And when I leave this place, as He’s about to do, He’s going to send these ordinary men on a mission to get busy with this trht. And He is still sending us here today by the power of His Spirit.

Look how Jesus responds to them in verse 7. He said to them as they’re asking this question, It’s not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. So it’s pretty important in verse 7 that Jesus didn’t say, “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” I mean like, that part of what you read, that’s not going to happen. Jesus doesn’t say that. That’s awesome.

Basically Jesus says that part’s coming but that’s in the Father’s hands and you don’t have to worry or fret about tomorrow. And because of verse 7, all of us today can live from a place of victory. Because not only is sin and death conquered, but restoration is coming. That’s awesome. Jesus didn’t say it wasn’t going to happen. He just said it’s in the Father’s hands. Don’t worry about it for now.

And then He gives the disciples the Great Commission in verse 8, which we looked at last week. Let’s look at it briefly today. It says in verse 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 ends of the earth.

Jesus tells these ordinary men who were cowering and denying Him in recent history that they will be His witnesses in all the world. Awesome. The Greek word for witness in verse 8 is where we get our word martyr. Witnesses for Christ were murdered so often that the word for witness came to by synonymous with someone who died for their testimony about the Lord Jesus.

Jesus calls these men witnesses, and the majority of them lost their life for the message that they were being given in verse 8. The majority of them, by the power of the Spirit, went out into the world proclaiming that Jesus is Lord, that He has paid our penalty and stolen death’s power and rose, repent and believe. And the majority of them lost their lives, were murdered, for that story.

And get this. That is the norm throughout history all across the world, all around the world. You know what’s not the norm? You and I sitting here in America in our comfortable church, in our comfortable seats, hearing this message over and over and over again.

How can it be that all around the world people are losing their life by standing up for Jesus and we struggle simply to walk across the streets dn have a conversation with our neighbor about Jesus? Or we struggle to talk about faith in the workplace or in our classrooms or we struggle to stop and pray with somebody who is hurting and who is asking for help.

I read recently a testimony of a woman on the phone, another woman writing down talking to the underground church in Afghanistan. And she’s on the phone and the lady says, “The Spirit of God was with us last night. And we were worshiping and we were singing and our kids said to us, ‘Mommy, daddy, we won’t deny the name of Jesus no matter what the cost.’ While they were on the phone, the Taliban broke into the room, shot up the place and that underground church, those people, went and stood before their Maker and heard, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’”

They died for their faith because they wouldn’t denounce the name of Jesus Christ, the name that has saved them, the name that is above every name. In the midst of persecution they spoke the only name that could save. And they gave up the luxuries of this world, the luxuries of their safety, the luxury of their breathing, so that they could stand in eternity and worship Jesus face to face forever.

May we not miss the opportunity to be witnesses for Jesus Christ in all the world. And just as Jesus calls the disciples in verse 8 to go, He’s calling us to go. And He says, Be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Pastor Trent talked about that last week, these concentric circles. Jesus saved you first so that you could impact those closest to you. And for some of us in this room, a lot of us in this room, your Jerusalem might just be your household. You making disciples of your children, you making disciples of those closest to you.

Your Judea and Samaria might be those who live across the street, those who live down the street, those who live in another city. Samaritans to the Jews, they hated each other. The Jews had no concept of a gospel message that could save beyond themselves. No concept that the concept would go to the Gentiles.

And yet here Jesus is like, “Hey disciples, you’re going to take this message not only to your own kind but to people who look different than you, people who think different than you, people who have different problems than you, people who are going through things that you’ve never thought you would go through.”

And then Jesus says it’s gotta get to the end of the world, the end of the earth. In chapters 1-7 over the next several weeks, months, we’ll deal with the apostles getting it to Jerusalem. In 8-12 we’ll deal with the gospel getting to Judea and Samaria. And in Acts 13 and on, we’ll see it reaching to the Greeks, to the end of the age, ultimately to us. And because of the gospel, because the disciples got busy and did the work of evangelism, we are sitting here able to worship around the message of Jesus Christ. It’s incredible.

Number three in our text is this- Jesus’ return is the motivation for the Great Commission. Jesus’ return is the motivation for the Great Commission. Look at verse 9 going into 10. When he had said these things, as they were looking on he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went. Stop there.

So here the disciples are gazing. They’re staring in disbelief at the sky. They’ve now been shocked and awed by Jesus, which is a great place to be. May we all be shocked and awed by Jesus every single day. But here they are.

I love how matter of factly the Bible kind of states things. It doesn’t give us all the color and the drama surrounding everything. It’s just like, hey, here’s the Great Commission and then Jesus starts riding a cloud up to heaven. That’s mind-blowing. That’s crazy. And the Bible states it like it’s no big deal except it’s a very big deal. You know why? Because Jesus is God.

And the God-man’s work of redemptive history on earth was done. And He was returning to the Father where He is seated at the right hand of God ruling and reigning and the reason for the disciples to get to work on the Great Commission that Jeus had just given them. It’s awesome, ok?

And then look as verse 10 goes on. They were gazing into heaven as they went. And behold, two men stood beside them in white robes and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven?” Again, very matter of factly. That’s freaky too. They’re staring at the sky because Jesus just rode a cloud up. And two men appear and speak to them.

They’re like, “Where’d you come from?”

And they’re like, “Why are you looking into the sky?”

And they’re like, “Did you see what just happened?”

And yet it wasn’t a shock to the angels at all because they knew that Jesus was God. They knew that Jesus was in control. They knew just how powerful Jesus was and they knew what it meant that He was returning to HIs rightful place on His throne. Incredible.

And they say to them, This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

How’d they see Him go? He ascended, reigning over sin and death and we will see Him come again, reigning over sin and death. They saw Him go in a glorified body and He will return in a glorified body. They saw Him go, riding on the clouds. And Revelation tells us that He will come again riding on the clouds in victory. But can we just understand for a moment how massive the promises that these angels just gave? Jesus’ ascension into heaven is paving the way for His return.

Look at verse 12 for a moment. Just jump one more verse into Acts 1. And it says, Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet. So near Jerusalem. So they were on the Mount of Olives, the disciples. And Jesus gives them the Great Commission and He ascends into heaven.

Now, written 500 years previously in the Old Testament is a prophecy speaking of the Messiah who would come. And I want you to get your eyes on Zechariah 14 for just a moment. It’s on the screen. Zechariah 14. But get this. What’s written in Zechariah 500 years before Jesus ever came is the answer to what the disciples asked in verse 6. Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

Look what was written 500 years before Jesus ever came. Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil tekane from you, Israel, will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on the day of battle. And on that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west (Zechariah 14:1-4).

The suffering servant, risen from the dead, who ascended into heaven that day is promised to come again as the conquering king, as the Lion of Judah. And His feet will land exactly where He ascended and He will split the earth as if to say, “I have come. I am in control. I am God. And He will draw His family to Himself as He establishes a new heaven and a new earth.Isn’t that incredible?

And just as He was true to the prophecies and the promise of His first coming, how much more can we trust Him that He will be faithful to His promises and the prophecies of His Second Coming? And because we know it, and because the Bible proclaims it and because we can believe it, man, we can live every single day that we wake up in the power of the Spirit moving from a place of victory, not defeat.

“Oh, I can’t talk to these people today about the gospel because I won’t have all the answers.” No, that’s a spirit of defeat. The spirit of victory says, “Jesus is coming again and He’s coming.” And so I have an urgency to let you know that Jesus loves you and Jesus can save you. And Jesus is mighty and holy and good. Because Jesus is risen and reigning, we have reason to live sent and make disciples.

The band is going to come out. Why don’t you stand and bow your heads for just a moment. No one looking around. Just think about where you’re at. Have you lost the wonder first off that Jesus is alive? Man, may we never lose that wonder. The roaring Lion came out of the grave, paying our penalty, stealing death’s power. And He is willing to reveal Himself to us.

If you need to just surrender your life to the good news of Jesus today, let me encourage you not to run from it. Let me encourage you to seek out the questions, the answers, that you need. Let me encourage you to come and talk to a pastor or an elder after the service. And allow Jesus to transform you so that you can not only proclaim His name but you can live a holy life in a world that desperately needs Him.

For everybody else in the room today who’s been transformed by Jesus, who are the people on your mind? Who are the people on your heart? Where is the power of the Spirit leading you and telling you to go? It could be to your home. It could be to your workplace. It could be to your city. It could be to another country, to the ends of the earth where no one has ever heard the gospel. The power of the Spirit could be doing that in you today. It’s gotta reach all places. And the fact that Christ has not returned yet means that there’s still work to be done.

Lord God, we come as your people called by your name. And Lord, we put our trust in You, we seek You and we thank You that You rose up out of that grave. We thank You that You commissioned ordinary people, people who don’t have it all together, with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we can see it every day in one another as we confess our sins and know that You are faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness.

Lord, would You continue to make us like Jesus? Would You continue to give us the boldness by the power of the Spirit to both speak your Word and to live as if You have changed us, to live as if we have power over sin and death. And God, would You help us every day by the power of Your Spirit to fight from a place of victory and to not grow timid about sharing the good news of Jesus that can save? But Lord would You send us your people out to the streets as we await your return to get busy telling people that Jesus can save?

May we live sent. May we love You with our heart, soul, mind and strength and love others as yourself. God, we long for You to come again. Until that day, we want to get to work.