So Now What — Acts 1

0:00 Heavenly father, we thank you and praise you for these precious children, lord, watching them during both services, lord, is is such a joy. I know some of the parents say, you don't understand, Christian. But we just praise you, Lord. You are so awesome. Lord, you show your goodness, your grace, your life, your everything.

0:24 Lord, you said we must become like little children even to know you and to believe in you and trust in you. Thank you for these precious children. Lord, we pray that you would speak to their hearts in the Sunday school classes now, that you would raise up missionaries, men and women who love and fear the living God and want to be a great witness for the Lord Jesus. Father, we pray that for ourselves too. We thank you and praise you for your word.

0:51 And we simply ask you, Lord, to take your servant this morning and give a fresh filling and anointing of your spirit and speak to us lord and pray that your holy spirit would open our hearts to be changed into your image more and more in Jesus name. Amen. I was asked to speak oh about maybe a month ago and as I went home and looked at the calendar to confirm, reconfirm the date, I noticed that this would be the first Sunday after the election and I knew immediately the title of the message, So Now What? And I didn't know who was gonna win. And that is the message this morning.

1:35 So Now What? After the election, so now what? If you were here for the first service, awesome. Right? It was awesome.

1:46 Precious. It always is. I know some of you aren't able to make it or whatever, but those of us that were there, was awesome. So now what? Right?

1:55 The kids left the sanctuary for the Sunday school. So now what? What do we do? We're younger, some of us. No.

2:08 We're all aging, right, whether we're some of the young people here or some of the younger people. We're just getting older. We're getting closer to victory day, and we meet the Lord. So now what? So I would like to, to share a couple brief thoughts, and, I guess you could...

2:29 I summary you today is, so now what? Two things. Number one, we need to become a praying praying people. We need to become a praying people. Plural.

2:43 Individually, but plural. Coming together and pray. Number two, we need to become more and more a proclaiming people. Proclaiming Jesus Christ. It's that simple.

2:57 Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed since the first service, since the election. Nothing's changed. Where is god? Do you move?

3:08 Did the Bible change? If you have salvation, did that relationship change? No. No, it's just getting closer. Guaranteed to go to heaven because Jesus died and rose again.

3:21 He's told me what to do until he comes back. He told us how to be a church, local church, and universal church. He told us how to be a Christian. How many of you would say that you have been born again? I'd like a show of hands, just briefly, just you know that you've been born again.

3:43 Okay. How many of you would say, I'd like a show of hands, that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. Hopefully, same hand went up. Okay, great. I'd like us to stand for a minute, and we're gonna read a verse.

4:27 It's the word of god and I'd like us on the count of three to all read our verse out loud. Ladies included, men, children, let's read this verse together, okay? Are we ready? Mark chapter one verse 17. One, two, three.

4:46 And Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. Let's do that one more time. That's beautiful. One, two, three. And Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you become fishers.

5:03 Amen. You can be seated. Thank you. I didn't try to trick you, but if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you've been born again, yes? If you've been born again, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you are a follower of Jesus Christ, yes?

5:23 Yes, What we did Jesus say he would make us become? Who would make us become that? Jesus. He would. As we follow him, he does it.

5:41 He makes us become fishers of men. Okay? Since we're in Mark still, Mark chapter 11. Couple verses and then we're going to pray today. This is going to be a prayer meeting.

5:59 At the family bible hour, a prayer gathering? Yes. And I trust and believe it's going to be a very special time in your life and my life, and the life of this church. Mark chapter 11, there it is, verse 17 again, just coincidentally. And maybe we don't need to stand but I would like us to read this out loud.

6:27 Again, in different translations, it's okay. Chapter 11 of Mark verse 17 on the count of three. Let's all read it out loud. One, two, three. And he began to teach and say to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a robber's den.

6:51 Whose house is it? His house. Jesus is doing nothing except quoting the Old Testament. We talked about this before. So this is not new teaching.

7:03 In God's house, that's what God has been doing since the beginning. Adam and Eve were on the earth and God lived with them then and dwelt, he dwelt with them then, then sin came into the world. And so now, from then on, there needed to be special places that God would call his house. And it goes on, and God made tabernacle, then he made temple, right, the ritual physical temple in Jerusalem. I just read that verse today in my daily reading that he chose Jerusalem to be a place where he would dwell forever.

7:37 Wow. And now we as believers are the house of God, right? And also when we come together, we are the house of God. And one of the main things, if not the main thing, I mean, that's, I can't think of offhand, another title that the Lord gives perhaps to not only describe what it is, but the activity. It's a house of prayer, right?

8:20 If you are able on Wednesday nights at 7PM, we have a prayer gathering here that's been established by the elders in the assembly here. It's been going on for quite some time. And I want to beseech you. That means beg you. I want to exhort you, that means you should come if you're at all able.

8:44 We need to be coming together and praying on Wednesday nights and every night. Some of you aren't able to come at that time. You don't have to feel whatever. That's fine. God knows that.

8:57 But if you are able, this church needs to come together and pray. And one of the main purposes is to become better followers of Jesus. Yes? I mean, we're here. We're gonna be there.

9:15 When we get there, we'll be perfect followers. Why did he leave us here? There's work to be done. Roger said it a couple times. He said it this morning, in the interim, the announcements right at the end of the service.

9:28 He stole my message. You guys say, good. You can finally sit down and be quiet. It was just a couple sentences. Our mission hasn't changed.

9:38 And one of the nights before, it might have been when he was talking about when the men gathered for prayer, I think it was, Roger said it again. I'm glad it's on his heart, he understands this. He said, our mission hasn't changed. Our mission, the mission of the church is the great commission. Let's go to Mark chapter 16.

10:07 The mission of the church, Dawson Drotman, Dawson, is that his name? Think it was, yes, the starter of the Navigators. I had the privilege to go to the Bible school, actually the place where he left planet Earth to be with the Lord, out in Scrum Lake, New York. And it was on this big beautiful lake, a summer camp. He was out there, and somebody fell off the boat, and he dove in to try to save them, and he died doing so.

10:34 And a great man of God, he had a simple little statement that really describes just our purpose in still breathing today. To know him, Jesus, and to what? Make Him known. That's it. It really, you can really put everything in this one big umbrella, everything else funnels down underneath that, everything.

10:56 Well, what about the families and our jobs? Yes, to know Christ and to make Him known. What about the assembly gap? Yes. Our jobs, we got to work.

11:04 Yes. All that. Political systems, our government, the privilege to vote. Yes. To know him and to make him known.

11:12 It's real simple. And we need to pray about that, that all of us individually would become fishers of men. Jesus promised he'll do his part, but we have to do here our part. And remember that verse we stood up and quoted about the fisheries of men? What is it?

11:31 What is our part? Follow. That's it. Follow him. The more our heart is surrendered to wanting to follow Jesus Christ, the more we're getting to know him to see what that means, because here he is.

11:46 Here's the written word, which is really the word of what? Life. It's a living word. Right? This is alive.

11:54 This is not just a book. This book talks to my soul. If you're unsaved, it's talking to your soul. You need to repent or else you're going to perish. If you're saved, it talks to us to know Jesus.

12:20 And Jesus said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Pretty clear. Pretty simple. Go into all the world. Somebody once said that the verb tense here is is is continually going.

12:37 So as you're going, it doesn't mean that we all have to sell everything quote unquote and be a quote unquote overseas missionary. Although there are some in this room that need to do that, as God would call you to do that. And I believe God want... Would wanna do that in some people's lives here. But he also wants you to go into the marketplace.

12:57 As you go into the marketplace, do what? Preach the gospel. Preach just means tell. Oh, it's not up here behind the pulpit. Not.

13:05 It's just telling. It's all the word means. It just means to proclaim it. Right? So, we go into all the world in our homes.

13:13 Well, I'm married and I gotta take care of my kids. Wonderful. You're gonna, their main goal in life is that you would know Christ, your children would know Christ, right? And the praying about and and focusing on, seeing that that's our purpose in life, to wake up to know Jesus more, to know him, to be knowing him, to walk with him. And as I'm following him, he said he's going to make me become a fisher of men.

13:39 And we all fail at this. Right? I got both hands up. We all fail at this. Go to Matthew 28.

13:49 Okay. So we're done with Mark. Go to Matthew 28. Verses that are familiar, but we need to do something about these verses. The last three verses of the book of Matthew, chapter 28 verses 18, 19, and 20.

14:12 And this is a little bit lengthy, so, I don't know. Let's all read it together starting in verse 18. On the count of three, one, two, three. And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command you.

14:42 And lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age. Wow. Somebody described this like a sandwich once. All authority has been given to me. Bottom bread is down here.

14:57 I'm with you forever, and the middle is go and make disciples. Right? We can go and make disciples because he's with us to the end of the age, and he's got all authority. Okay. We'll go to Luke.

15:12 Luke 24. These are all different accounts of the same Jesus. The reason they're not word for word, one of the reasons I believe, at least this part, what we call the great commission. Commission, think about that, what that word means. To be in mission, co with someone, right?

15:40 It's a mission. And you won't find that word commission there in the, what we call the great commission, but it really is. Here's the mission of my coming. I came into the world to seek and save the lost. And now you're my body, and I'm gonna steal.

15:53 I'm still on the same mission. So where should I go and work? Well, as you decide where the lord wants you to be and there's a lot of different factors that play in but ultimately, it's so that you can go be his missionary on that job. You know, Nathan's getting ready to go to a different state and as we need to be praying for him that he's going to become a closer follower of the lord Jesus so the lord will make him a better fisher of men and as I believe what god is taking there and he he's careful to be leaving his now job I was just talking with him and I think that's precious. He's still fishing for men on his old job.

16:29 He wants to be the best witness. He doesn't want to just pack up and leave and even legally, you know, okay, I got so many days I can go. No, he wants to make sure that he helps these people so that they they know he's there. So in Luke, the reason there's different accounts is because they were probably different accounts. Jesus didn't just talk about this once.

17:07 One, two, three. And Jesus said to them, thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, rise again from the dead, the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. Let's read the next two verses together, forty eight and forty nine. One, two, three. You are witnesses of these things.

17:33 And behold, I'm sending forth the promise of my father upon but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Go wait until you're filled with the power of the holy spirit. God had a perfect... A a purpose here. This is gonna be the day of Pentecost when the spirit came upon for the purpose of being his witness.

17:55 And notice in verse 47, it's written that the Christ should suffer, die, raise again. But it's also written, verse 47, that repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be what? Proclaimed. That's us. We're part...

18:10 Did you know that you're part of Old Testament prophecy? Yes, we are. We're to know him and to make him known. If you go to the book of Acts, and this is where we're going to have our last passage here, Acts chapter one. And I'll read this.

18:32 It's a lot of verses, a few verses. Chapter one of Acts. The first letter I composed Theophilus, is the book of Luke. Same author, Luke wrote Acts. This is the second letter to the same guy.

18:47 The first letter I wrote, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he, Jesus, had chosen. What was his orders? Well, he had been teaching them to go and make disciples, preach repentance, preach the gospel, and go and wait until you're clothed with power. Then go. Verse three, To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering.

19:14 So he suffered on the cross, shed his blood for your sins, for my sins, then he rose from the dead. He's alive. And this is why the witnesses there were ready to die for Christ because they saw him, they touched him, they ate food with him. They know you can kill me if you want, but he is alive. Appeared to them over a period of forty days, speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

19:38 Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem. He's just repeating what we read back in Luke. But to wait for what the father had promised, this power from on high, which he said, you heard of from me. For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now. And so when they had come together, they were asking him saying, Lord, is it at this time you're going to restore the kingdom to the Republican Party?

20:07 To the Democratic Party? To is to Israel is what it says. Right? Political. Physical.

20:17 They still weren't quite getting it. Yes. The bible prophesies that one day God will restore the kingdom to Israel and Messiah, Jesus Christ will rule and reign and rightly so. I don't want to be too hard on these guys. They were suffering big time.

20:33 It was forty three days earlier. Forty three, that's a month and a half That Jesus hung on a cross. And now he's appearing secretly to only the believers. There's no record that he appeared to the unbelievers, just the believers. And so now he's teaching them about the kingdom of God and that they're going to go and wait for the Holy Spirit.

20:53 And here's the mission. God gave it to me. The father gave it to me. I I was sent. I'm sending you.

21:02 It's awesome. It's just awesome. But they still were only thinking about a physical kingdom and about this time when finally there'll be peace on earth. Yes, that's a great time. But listen what Jesus' answer is.

21:15 Lord, is it at this time you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus said to them, it's not for you to know. The times are the seasons that the father has set or fixed by his own authority. The father has a day when that's going to happen. But verse eight, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit.

21:37 Let's get back to the program. Let's get back to the program. Remember Jesus was just talking about in verse, five? John baptized with water but she will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then again an interruption.

21:49 The earthly beings, the Christians, the followers of Christ, they got down on this earthly level and Jesus just he listened to him and and just lovingly says, no, that's not the program. But there here's a program now. That's the future program. But the program now, today, church, you're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses. You're going to be a witness.

22:14 There's no such thing as a silent witness. A witness tells, a witness testifies. I've seen, yes, we must live our Christian lives and back up what we say, but we all are witnesses of Jesus Christ. And the best you can do, I wouldn't I wouldn't gonna say the least, the best you can do is give your testimony. Tell the world how you came to know Jesus.

22:39 Tell the world who Jesus is in your life. Tell the world. Show the world. That's how my brother came to Christ. He was into drugs like I was and stuff.

22:47 And, you know, I'd go and try and preach to him and cry and sometimes, Billy, please, you know, and he couldn't say anything. And I say, look, how do you explain this? The change, right? The radical change, testimony, a witness. Verse nine.

23:05 After Jesus has said these things, he was lifted up while they're looking on. Gone. And the cloud received him up out of their sight, and as they were gazing intently into the sky, he was departing. Behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. And they also said, men of Galilee.

23:23 I like that. They also said, they're reaffirming what Jesus just 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 just the same way as you've watched him go into heaven. He's coming back, but didn't he tell you to do something?

23:40 Go get filled with the Holy Spirit and then go into the world and be my witness. Go get filled, controlled by the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Just to yield, take time in prayer, confess your sins, Get on God's program. His program is to be Jesus Christ's witness.

23:57 Well, I gotta go to work today. Great. Get plugged into Jesus. I gotta go to school today. Great.

24:02 You better and you better be the best student, the best work. Why I have to stay home with the kids? Great. Be the best mother. But Jesus, I'm your witness today.

24:10 Jesus, I'm asking for opportunities. Jesus brings somebody into my life I can tell about you. We have that because we asked not. Right? They watched him go up into heaven.

24:44 Let's all read it together. Acts one verse 14. On the count of three. One, two, three. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.

25:01 Amen. That's what we're gonna do right now. We're gonna pray.