2-5-14. Acts 1:1-11. When the Holy Spirit Comes-my devotional

Acts 1:1-11                                                                                                                                    Kevin E. Jesmer

Key verse 1:8                                                                                                                               2-5-14

“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.”(ESV)

 Dear Lord, thank you for giving us your world mission command that we may be called to make disciples of all nations. Thank you for teaching us that we must navigate this world having “eyes out”, that is, having hope and vision for the seven billion people in the world. Help us to not just only be inwardly focused and self preserving, but turn our eyes towards Christ and our neighbor. May we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Work through us to reveal your glory and your Gospel and your kingdom to those whom you have brought close to us. Please help me to accept your word in my heart today. I pray in the universal name of Jesus Christ.

Part 1: Do Not Leave Jerusalem (1-5).

Verses 1-5, “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.”(ESV)

After Jesus had risen, he spent quality time with the apostles to plant in them resurrection faith and to teach them about the kingdom of God. Then he gave them direction to stay in Jerusalem. But first, the quality time….

Look at verses 2b-3, “…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.”  Jesus wanted to reveal himself to the world, through his apostles. He could have bypassed the apostles and simply worked exclusively through the Holy Spirit, but he chose to work through them, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, to reveal his glory. When you think of it, this is part of the grace of God. Who are we that Jesus, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, our heavenly Father, should entrust his work to human beings who are forgiven and redeemed sinners?! Who are we that we should be included in such a great and glorious task?! I can not but thank God. I thank God that I can be called to be a child of God, a disciple and a supporter of missionaries. I can be “one who is sent” by his grace. I am carrying on my heavenly Father’s work on earth. This is great identity to have. Without this identity my identity would be lacking a certain dimension to it. Sure it is great to be a husband, father, friend, uncle, son, brother, cousin and fellow worker. These are wonderful identities to have. But to also have an identity as a child of God and a disciple of Jesus adds another dimension to this whole identity thing. It brings all of the loose ends together. It makes everything complete. This is a gift from God.

Jesus planted resurrection faith in their hearts. Look at 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.” Yes, they loved Jesus. Yes, they were committed to Jesus. But they needed to have their resurrection faith strengthened if they were going to go into the entire world and preach the good news to all creation. There would be so many obstacles to face. Like the threat of physical violence and even death. There would be hard to reach people groups. There would be people who do not seem to change. There is serving a mission field that may take generations to bear outer fruit. There are also the difficulties of operating Church and endless hours of counseling and the like. How can a person embrace all of this without faith in the resurrection? It is impossible. We are so prone to burn out and loose vision. But when we look at Jesus and see that he died and yet rose again victoriously we are encouraged. Jesus rose again and was totally victorious. Jesus is risen and alive. He dwells in every believer’s heart. He is our strength when we are weak. All missionaries and disciples need to have resurrection faith as they obey Jesus’ world mission command.

One way to strengthen people is to provide proofs. God cares about his disciples’ need for proofs to know that he is alive. Jesus ate with them. He allowed Thomas to put his fingers in his hands and in his side. God provided what the disciples needed to believe and be strengthened in their faith. God will come to us and prove his existence to us in so many wonderful, personal and unique ways. He proves that he is alive and with us, over and over again. One way he has proven that he is alive is the speed in which he has established a co-working relationships with people involved in Native ministry. In little over a year there has been networks and relationships established at a feverish pace. It is all we can do to keep up with the Lord is doing among us. Everyday I wake up amazed at what God is doing and will continue to do. Jesus is alive. He has given us proof in the unfolding of this mission. What proofs has God given you lately to prove that Jesus is alive?

Jesus ordered them to stay in Jerusalem until they received the gift that the Father has promised, the Holy Spirit. The words, “Stay in Jerusalem” are very meaningful. Staying in Jerusalem would be hard for them since this was the place where their Lord was crucified and where they had many enemies. It was also the place where they denied knowing Jesus in his Passion. The last place they wanted to be was in Jerusalem. But they were to wait for the gift the Father promised (4).

God has a place where he wants us all to wait until we gain strength and are inspired through the Holy Spirit. This place is not always a comfortable place nor a safe place. But it is the unique place for us, personally. For me, God wanted to strengthen me through 12 years heading up a house church and attending the UBF staff meeting. Now it is growing as a lay-gospel worker in KBC and working as a nurse. For our missionary families it is growing through their training at “To Every Tribe.” It may be in a remote community. We need to find out where God has put us and how he wants to work, through his Spirit to strengthen us for some future purpose. Where ever that may be is the best place for us personally. We should never complain about God’s place of strengthening. No. God is leading our lives by his sovereign hand. We must be in tune with the Spirit and follow Jesus.

We also need to wait on the Father in prayer. 1 Thess 5:15-18 reads, “Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  The most important thing for disciples and missionaries is to wait on God in prayer. We are so pushed to do and do and we do very little prayer. But more things are accomplished through prayer than by doing. I think that the breakthroughs that have happened in the Mission to the North are a direct result of the prayers of many. Only God could have done and he listens to and answers prayer. I really want to be a man of prayer. I really hope that our prayer lives may be rich and full.

Part 2: But You Will Receive Power (6-11).

Verses 6-11, “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)

What was the gift the Father promised? It was the gift of the Holy Spirit (8). Instead of times or dates about the kingdom, Jesus promised that all believers would be endowed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit is God in us. He dwells in us and gives us power to live a holy life and to be witnesses of the Risen Christ to a fallen world. We need the empowering work of the Holy Spirit to love the lost and to live a new and dynamic life from God as his disciples and missionaries. With the Spirit’s power we can be witnesses to the ends of the earth in fresh new ways, keeping in step with the Spirit of God.

We can not do things on our own. Even the most disciplined…even the most trained missionary will fall, if they are not depending on God through his Spirit. We are too weak and prone to wander. We must hold onto Christ. And Jesus is right there with us as we follow him.

The Holy Spirit can help us to stop from being irrelevant in our ministry. The Apostles were never irrelevant. They made inroads in all the cultures they embraced. As we get older we become inflexible. The culture changes and we don’t. We want to keep the old frameworks that may be antiquated. But the Holy Spirit will help us to be flexible and adaptable. Not that the gospel message should be touched. No way. But the methods of delivery must be adaptable or the apostles of any generation will become irrelevant and the younger general will just be waiting until they move on. May we always allow the Spirit of God to guide our hearts.

Lord, thank you for the Holy Spirit. Help me to live a new life by your power so that I may be a witness of Jesus.

One word: But you will receive power