Acts 1:1-11 - You’ve Got A Job To Do

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed By Apple Podcasts)

Welcome to Tabernacle Talk, a Bible Study Podcast hosted by Bryon Self, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church. We hope this time in God's Word will be an encouragement to you. Let's dive right in.

Hello, and welcome to Tabernacle Talk. And this is the podcast of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, Maryland, which is pastored by myself, Bryon Self, All Puns Intended.

I'm gonna say that on the outset, if you don't like puns, if you don't like kind of dry, witty humor, stay for the Bible. If you happen to enjoy puns, dad jokes, all of that, you might enjoy this particular podcast a little bit more.

I'm gonna be putting these out every single day, and this is kind of a ministry of the word of our church.

I'm going to, as often as I can, include some wonderful other people to be on the podcast with me, because I know that there's plenty of people that through their reading of the word, through their study of the word, even through their life

experience lived with the Holy Spirit, that they have seen insights that God has given them into the word. But wanted to start off today with what we're gonna be going through for Truth Be Told.

I don't quite know how long it's going to be, but we're gonna be doing the Book of Acts as the very first book in our Tabernacle Talk. And so we're gonna start off in Acts 1 and verse 1.

And I'm gonna do one little thing that I will sometimes do for Tabernacle Talk for our viewers. And if you're listening, you're not gonna miss out on anything except actually being able to see what I'm talking about. So here it is.

I have right here from Humble Lamb is the publisher. And this is their His Story Bible. And Humble Lamb is a Bible company.

They make wonderful, amazing Bibles. And this one is in purple. I think it's Mauritian Goatskin.

And on the side here, it says the Word of God. And this particular edition is made from the New American Standard Bible, the 2020 update, which I am a huge fan of. And in here, it has single-column text, has some drop caps on the outside.

It has references, and underneath it has some translators footnotes when there's too much going on the side.

But this is a wonderful little Bible that I love, and so I'm gonna use this for, I don't know how many episodes, but I'm gonna use it for this one at the very least. So let's dive right in, Acts 1 and verse 1.

The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. If you've read the Book of Luke, he addresses it at the very beginning to Theophilus.

That could either be the name of a person, it could be kind of a pseudonym for someone that was a very important person and couldn't really have their name out there.

The name Theophilus, it's theos, so God, and then philis, or philos, lover, lover of God. And so this could have been a person that had come to faith in Christ and wanted to know what really was all of this about.

So Luke gives the very detailed account of Luke.

And so he tells him, I composed that first account about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven after he had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

To these, he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of things regarding the kingdom of God.

How incredible must that have been to hear the living word of God, once crucified, now risen again, and speaking about the kingdom of God. What an incredible thing that would have been.

Gathering them together, the apostles, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which he said, you have heard of from me.

For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Now, here Jesus gives a very important word to the apostles. He says that they were not to accomplish the Great Commission yet.

Think about that. There is an instance in which we are not called to go into the world and preach the Gospel to every person. That instance is when we are without the Holy Spirit of God.

Now, we would know from the rest of the passage and the rest of what's written in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit is now given to all believers. And if you don't have the Spirit of God, you are not a child of God. You are not saved.

But here there is an importance and a reliance that we cannot complete the mission that Christ has given us without a reliance on the Holy Spirit. So today, are we relying on the Spirit? Then he says this.

So when they had come together, they began asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? So we can see that Jesus didn't quite give them a timeline breakdown.

He didn't say, hey, here's everything that was in maybe the Book of Daniel, and here's some things that are in Jeremiah, and here's some things that are in Isaiah, and if you just kind of read between the lines a little bit, you will be able to see

everything crystal clear. No, no, no, these people that had just spent 40 days with Jesus and he was telling them about the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is not simply a chart of eschatology, of the last times.

No, no, no, the kingdom of God involves so much more than what we are infatuated with. Instead, as Paul would later write, the kingdom of God is joy and righteousness and peace in the Holy Spirit.

All of those things are what constitute the kingdom of God. God is way more concerned with our character than we are. God is way more concerned with how we treat others than we are.

We want him to come and make everything perfect and complete and done. We don't want to have to do anything. And his goal for us is that we would be sanctified.

We would be made more like Christ. So here, the apostles are asking me, are you setting up the kingdom of Israel now or is that at some other point?

But Jesus said to them, verse seven, it is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in

Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and as far as the remotest part of the earth. This is that great commission. It is our marching orders. This is what we are to do.

We are to reach those that are close to us, those in our Jerusalem and Judea. We are to reach those that would be our enemies that the world would tell us, these are your racial enemies. These are your political enemies.

You must hate them. The Bible says, no, no, no, no, we love them. We tell them the gospel.

We invite them to fellowship and to love those in Samaria. And as far as the remotest part of the earth, this is what has inspired people like David Brainerd and so many incredible missionaries, William Carey, Adonai Rum-Judson.

I can think our church just had our Lottie Moon Christmas offering. So many people that took it upon themselves that said if God said that we're going to be witnesses towards the remotest part of the earth, that's where I'm going.

Can I ask you today, if God called you to go to the remotest part of the earth, if he called you to go to the Amazon, if he called you to go to China, if he called you to go to Tasmania, would you go? Would you go?

Can I encourage you, even if God doesn't call you personally to go there, he has given us incredible opportunities to partner with missionaries and Bible translators and those helping with providing medicine and food and care and water all across the

world. I would encourage you, be involved in giving to missions.

For our church, one way that that looks, even in the upcoming months, is we have our Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, and that goes to church plants and works all across North America with the North American Mission Board.

And so I'd encourage you, think now, God, how can you use me to be a blessing through my financial giving to help the gospel go into all of the world? I'd encourage you with that.

Then in verse 9, after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took him up out of their sight.

And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. And they said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?

This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. The angels, they are asking the disciples, why are you looking up into heaven? Well, I think I would be too.

It's not every day you see the Messiah received back into glory. But the angels instructed the disciples in what was most important. What was most important was, hey, don't wait up for him.

He's given you a mission to do. He has given you a word to obey. Can I encourage us today?

We often want Jesus to come back for selfish reasons. We want him to come back because we don't like the world the way it is. We don't like who's currently in political power.

We don't like how the media industry currently is. But can I encourage you today? Jesus has a mission for you.

Why are you waiting, standing, expecting him to come back when he has given you a mission and a purpose?

I can think of his words that he is coming suddenly in the night like a bridegroom would come for his bride there in ancient Israel and especially in Galilee, that the father would send the son and say, Hey, go get your bride.

And in that moment, you wanted to be prepared so that you would not be embarrassed when the bridegroom would come, that you would be ready, you wouldn't be asleep, you wouldn't have to try and throw on your clothes, you wouldn't have to try and get

ready so that you could go and prepare everything. Instead, you would want to be ready. Can I encourage this today? Jesus will one day come again.

That's the promise of God's word. When he comes, will he find us simply staring up into the clouds? Or will he find us being faithful at completing the great commission that he has called us to?

I would encourage you with that. Thank you for tuning in to the first episode of Tabernacle Talk. Next week, we are going to be going into Jerusalem with the Apostles.

I think I might have said next week, tomorrow we are going to be going into Jerusalem with the Apostles and seeing what God has in store for them there, what they do next, and how it applies to our life. Hope today would be an encouragement to you.

God bless. Have a wonderful day.