[00:00:00] Speaker A: I now can sing Since I've been redeemed I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock I faith in Christ my redeemer King I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock Then roll, roll, billows roll I'm on the everlasting rock of ages Roll, roll, billows roll I'm on the everlasting rock.
Standing on the promises of Christ my King through eternal ages let his praises ring Glory in the highest I will shout and sing Standing on the promises of God Stand Standing on promises Standing on the promises Standing on the promises of God, my Savior Standing on the promises and standing on the promises I am standing on the promises of God Standing on the promises that cannot fail when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail by the living word of God I shall prevail Standing on the promises of God Glory I am Standing on promises Standing on promises Standing on the promises of God my Savior Stand on the promises I stand on the promises I'm standing on the promises of God
[00:01:55] Speaker B: welcome to the Voice of Hope. I'm your host, Anthony High.
Today we continue our series in the Book of Acts, and I'm once again joined by Arlen Horst.
Our study brings us to Acts, chapter 1, verses 1 to 11, where we're taken to the last moments Jesus shared with his disciples before his ascension.
In this episode, we'll see that Jesus didn't leave his disciples uncertain or unprepared.
He assured them that he was truly alive, giving many convincing proofs of his resurrection. And he entrusted them with a mission that still defines the church today.
This mission wouldn't be carried out through human strength, but through the power of the Holy Spirit.
As you listen, remember that the same promises and calling given to those first disciples continue to shape how we live and serve Christ. Today.
Let's join Arlen as we turn to Acts Chapter one and consider the promises Jesus made before his ascension.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: Our title is Parting Promises, and your intro was a good lead into Acts Chapter one, because this is the last moments the disciples had with Jesus. Jesus. And of course, it stood out to them. I'm sure they remembered it years after and reflected on and played that scene over in their minds of what happened next, what they said, how he said it. And then he just went up. He started going up.
And I'm sure that was a. Left a lasting impression.
And it reminded me of some of the last moments that I remember with people that I know.
And there's something about the last moments that stand out, right? And so today we're going to look at Acts, chapter one. We're going to read the first 11 verses, but keep that in mind as we read verses 1 to 11.
[00:03:56] Speaker D: Yeah. Thank you for that intro. Here is Acts, chapter 1, verses 1 to 11.
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up. After he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented Himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during 40 days. And speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God and being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem and but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, 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 which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
Now, when he had spoken these things while they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel who also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.
[00:05:46] Speaker C: Thank you for reading that. The gist of what I want us to take away is the promise of Jesus are certain.
So we go and witness for Him.
You know, he gives. I broke it down into three promises. The promise of the Spirit, the promise of power, and then the angels there at the end with the promise of his return.
But of those promises, two of them happened. The other one is sure to have happened.
And that should make us. Should motivate us to witness for him till he comes back.
Before we look at the first promise, I want to. I want us to look at these first few verses in Acts. There's some neat phrases here. The first phrase that stuck out to me was in verse three, where it says, he showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs.
Okay, Think about an infallible proof.
[00:06:42] Speaker D: Makes me think of Geometry.
[00:06:44] Speaker C: Exactly.
So I had the privilege of teaching that for a few years. And a proof is something you can't get around.
This is the way it is. And it has to be this way.
[00:06:56] Speaker D: Like a right triangle.
[00:06:57] Speaker C: What?
[00:06:58] Speaker D: Always all the angles equal 180. Is that right?
[00:07:00] Speaker C: Every triangle. Okay. Every triangle.
And that's the way it has to be. That's vital.
[00:07:06] Speaker D: Teach geometry.
[00:07:06] Speaker C: It's a proof. And I find it interesting that he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs, and him being alive changes everything. Like, this is the foundation for Christianity, and it uses the word proofs that he's alive. I just like that connection, and it's very noteworthy.
The other thing that is neat to think about is how when Jesus was after he resurrected, till he ascended, there was that space of time in there. But what was he doing during that time? Well, here it says he was speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
And that is the theme of his life and teaching. The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. And now here he is, right before his ascension, after his resurrection, doing the same thing. We're not surprised at that.
And Acts point.
[00:08:02] Speaker D: Acts.
[00:08:02] Speaker C: I wouldn't say Acts is super heavy on the kingdom, but it shows up at opportune times.
I say strategic. It's strategically placed at the beginning, at the end, a few times in the middle.
And Acts is the continuation of his kingdom.
He's no longer here.
He's. He's going to ascend here soon. But this is how his kingdom takes the next step. And I think we do well to keep that in mind as we're looking at this series in Acts, it's his next phase of his kingdom. He's not here anymore, but his kingdom is still going forth, going out.
And if we wouldn't have Acts, the New Testament would feel incomplete. It would feel confusing if we jump from the Gospels right into the epistles. Like, wait, what just happened? But we have this link between the life of Jesus and the chronicle of Acts. Basically, it makes the New Testament click.
It fits so well and makes sense. Keep that in mind. This. This kingdom of Jesus, like, this is. This is the next step, the next phase.
So that leads us to the first promise. He promised that the Spirit is going to be coming soon.
You'll be baptized with the Spirit. And I had to think about, how was this for them? What were they thinking about? Because they knew the baptism of John and they. They would have been familiar with baptisms. And then they say, then Jesus says, you'll be Baptized with the Spirit.
And this would have all been new.
Obviously they had the Old Testament stories and knew the story of Samson and how spirit came on him. And I wondered if that's, if that's what they were imagining. We do know later though, in Acts 11, verse 16, Peter quotes this phrase from Jesus and this is when he's with, with the Gentiles there and he says, you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And he connected that and I'm sure it came back to his mind as he was, he was there witnessing.
They respond to him with a question in verse six.
Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom now to Israel? Think of Jesus talking about the kingdom so much.
And it's a valid question on their part, I believe, like, are you going to restore the kingdom now? They is what they were expecting. This is what they were anticipating. It shows what's on their hearts, which is good.
[00:10:27] Speaker D: So in other words, they were pretty excited about it.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: Absolutely. They were looking forward to it.
And so did Jesus restore the kingdom to Israel?
That's a valid question.
And when, when you think about that, I don't think we should, we should say, yes, this was his kingdom to Israel. But neither can we say no, because I would say it was the next phase of his kingdom.
And it had, it didn't line up with their expectations, what they were expecting and what Jesus brought, you know, it missed.
[00:11:01] Speaker D: But just like everything else almost, it
[00:11:04] Speaker C: was the next phase of his kingdom.
I like how their question shows their expectation and it made me introspective on myself. What am I looking forward to or what do I expect?
Is that how. Is this how I live? Like Jesus now? Are you, are you coming now? Are you going to usher in your kingdom here?
And when I look around at events in the world, is that my go to Jesus? It'd be nice if you came now. Like, I was kind of challenged by their anticipation of it and like fitting it in, like, bring it.
[00:11:37] Speaker D: I like that because I don't think that way. I'm like, you know, maybe, maybe, maybe now be the end. But like to think of that as Jesus coming with his kingdom. I mean, that sounds like an improvement. Like, this sounds like a magnitude, many magnitude larger than what we're experiencing.
[00:11:56] Speaker C: And if I understand their understanding, like they were tired of the Romans rule and just ready to be done with that in their, their own kingdom.
[00:12:05] Speaker D: So are we that tired of the rule of sin in the world, like,
[00:12:09] Speaker C: or just tired of what's happening here? Like Jesus, bring it on, let's Go.
So that, that was a. That was a neat thought for me.
[00:12:17] Speaker D: Yeah, I like that.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: But the promise of the Spirit was fulfilled here in Acts, chapter two. We'll get to that next time.
The Spirit came, poured out in measure unseen before.
And we still have access to that.
[00:12:31] Speaker D: And it was kind of indiscriminate. Where before in the Old Testament, you said about Samson and some of the other prophets.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: Right. It totally changed.
[00:12:38] Speaker D: It was very specific.
[00:12:39] Speaker C: Yeah.
So, yeah, that. That leads us to the next promise. And this I understand to be right before he ascended, as he was talking to his disciples, they ask him the question.
He doesn't say yes. He doesn't say no.
Like, I think that's good. He doesn't scold them for saying, what are you guys doing? You think the kingdom's now. No, it's going to be like this. Like, there's nothing, no harsh words like that. But he does say it's not for you to know the times or the seasons.
But he says, you'll get power and you will be my witnesses.
And I think that's a great answer for anybody that gives a date and a time for the return of Christ.
We know that Christians tend to do that. You look down through the ages, you know, you don't have to look very far too see an example of someone saying, Jesus is going to come back here at this time.
[00:13:34] Speaker D: 88 reasons why.
Well, yeah, 88 reasons why Jesus was going to return in 1988.
[00:13:40] Speaker C: You're right.
[00:13:40] Speaker D: And we're. How many years passed?
[00:13:42] Speaker C: Yep. I mean, the examples are numerous. But like, here's. Here's a good answer. It's not for you to know the times or the seasons, but you're going to have power. Go be my witness.
[00:13:54] Speaker D: That does something to you. Because if you knew when.
I don't know, would you wait around until almost time? Like, I procrastinate on things. You have a project, you wait till the last minute, or would you. I don't know what you would do different.
[00:14:10] Speaker C: I think it would be different. Obviously, the responses for different personalities and people would look totally different, I think. Right.
[00:14:16] Speaker D: But we are to go while we wait is really what he's calling us to. Yeah, that's good. I was just thinking, you said about people making dates and setting expectations, like, why do we do that? It very clearly says, you don't know. You're not going to know.
[00:14:36] Speaker C: Right.
[00:14:37] Speaker D: So why do we try?
[00:14:39] Speaker C: Because we're human. We like the. I mean, it's very newsworthy. Like. Like when those events happen, like Everybody gets called up and wrapped books. Yeah, but like Jesus says, like you don't get a time, but you do get power.
Now go be my witness. And I think that's a good takeaway for us.
Go be his witness, which is right here in Acts 1:8.
Acts 1:8 being a great pattern for the rest of the book of Acts.
Go be my witnesses.
Here, here and then here, like in ever widening circles.
And that's, that's what they do. We have it recorded in the rest of the book. I also like how in this, this second promise, his promise of power, we know he's talking about the spirit, but he doesn't say, he says power.
Like his word for the Holy Spirit is you're going to receive power.
He didn't say peace. He didn't say you're going to receive love. He didn't say like he didn't use any other words to describe the spirit. He said power.
I think that's neat.
[00:15:52] Speaker D: But they did receive those other things.
[00:15:54] Speaker C: They did, you're right. But his one word summary of the spirit is power. You're going to get power. And it's the Greek word dunamis, where we get dynamite dynamic. There's a sermon right there.
Do we have that same power today?
Are we using it effectively?
[00:16:11] Speaker D: That might be the question.
[00:16:13] Speaker C: It's very good things and convicting things to think about why were they having this power? What was the point of giving them this power?
To be my witnesses.
Wait, a witness?
[00:16:26] Speaker D: Yeah. Explain that. The witness idea.
[00:16:30] Speaker C: Yeah. What is a witness?
Well, you think of a court or going to the law, the lawyers.
[00:16:36] Speaker D: Just what I was going to say.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: A court case.
[00:16:38] Speaker C: Yeah. They want a witness and that's someone who saw what happened. And then the witness tells people what he saw.
This is what happened. The car was going here and this is how they, how they saw it.
And that was a witness.
So Jesus is telling everyone who experiences him to be a witness for him. And I say it's as simple as telling others about what you've been through
[00:17:04] Speaker D: and you will receive the power to do that.
[00:17:08] Speaker C: Right.
[00:17:08] Speaker D: Is what he's saying now. Refresh my memory. But that whole witness idea isn't just a telling. Like we get another word, martyr from that.
[00:17:17] Speaker C: Right. The Greek word that it comes from is the same word that we get our word, martyr from, which is very sobering. You will be my martyrs.
And then a couple chapters later, here in Acts, they're doing exactly that. They're witnessing for Jesus by being martyred for him.
[00:17:39] Speaker D: Right, Stephen?
[00:17:40] Speaker C: Yes. First One and then other examples throughout the book of acts of persecution and such.
And yes, that is a witness. That's not the only way to witness by being a martyr, but definitely a part of it.
[00:17:54] Speaker D: They're. It's a combined picture there of those two for sure.
[00:18:00] Speaker C: And right there in Acts 1:8 is the last recorded words of Jesus that we have.
And he starts ascending like I floating out. Yeah. Imagine the time your. Your child left the helium bloom glow and you're sitting, standing there in the parking lot like, there goes your $1.50 or whatever.
But you just watch like there is nothing you can do. There it goes.
And that's how I pictured this event here. They were there and he starts going up. And a cloud received him out of their sight.
I'm sure that was branded in their brain for the rest of their lives. I'm sure they remembered that.
So there's one other thing I want to point out about the promise of power, and that is when we read it, it sees. It seems like it's once and done. You shall receive power.
But when you look at the original meaning it talks about, you shall be obtaining power.
Continuing action.
[00:19:02] Speaker D: The continuing action.
[00:19:03] Speaker C: Yeah. And that gives it a different feel.
This isn't something that happens once and done.
It's continuing power at your disposal. The resource.
The resource is unlimited.
It's not like the gasoline in your car, you run out. No, this is. You're obtaining power. You're constantly being filled.
[00:19:22] Speaker D: It's like plugging into the outlet, which is supposed to always work, but, you know, sometimes it doesn't. Yeah, but that is the idea. Like it continues to charge.
[00:19:32] Speaker C: Right?
And you know, are we filled with the Spirit? Am I full of the Spirit?
And me? My fullness is conditional on my selfishness.
Like the Spirit of God is limited by me most times. And the more I can surrender and empty me, empty myself of my desires and my junk, the more filled with the spirit I will be.
We have unlimited access, unlimited power there.
[00:20:02] Speaker D: And sometimes he does just intervene and use us anyway. But there are times I would also say that he uses us despite ourselves, often.
[00:20:12] Speaker C: Right.
[00:20:13] Speaker D: Which is thankful he does that. Which I think we lose a blessing when that happens.
But he still uses us.
[00:20:21] Speaker C: So that's the promise of power. We looked at the promise of the Spirit, the promise of power, and now the last promise, which is the promise of his return.
And this is after he's ascended. I'm guessing they're standing there looking, thinking, and they don't see the angels come or walk like I don't know how they appeared, but all of a sudden they're there and they ask them, why are you guys looking into. Just why stand you there gazing the same? This is the third promise is, you know, this Jesus that went is coming back. The angels knew he was going to come back, and they announced it to his disciples.
And then through the rest of the New Testament, we see references to the disciples talking about Jesus coming back.
James 5, 8, the Lord's coming is near. One example, first Peter 4, 7, the end of all things is near.
Those are two. There's others. But they took it and they believed it. I think there was other reasons as well. But this is.
When you read through the rest of the New Testament, they anticipate the end. They anticipate Jesus returning on the clouds.
[00:21:32] Speaker D: Right. We see that a couple of times, but he still didn't do it.
[00:21:36] Speaker C: Exactly.
In Second Peter, he mentions that specifically the scoffers who say, where is this coming? He promised.
And yeah, it's valid. Two thousand years, every generation, they're saying Jesus is going to come back soon. It didn't happen yet, you know. Yeah, you'll be saying that for the next 2000 years.
And I had to think about that because I believe it. Like, it's personal for me. I believe that Jesus is going to return on the clouds.
[00:22:06] Speaker D: Why? Why do you believe that?
[00:22:08] Speaker C: I would say the reason I believe it is because of the other teachings of Jesus and how he lived and what he said and how all of that has shown true. Like, I believe it because of how it's lined up with my life experience for one reason. Reason with the things I've seen.
I also like the infallible proofs part of it. Like, I believe my faith isn't blind. I know that some people would say, you know, you're just believing what your parents say and it's a blind faith.
But I would like to think it's not.
And his promises are certain.
In 2 Corinthians 1, it has that neat little phrase that in Christ, all of God's promises are yes and amen.
Probably not a direct quote, but the faith that you have isn't blind faith. It's solid. We have lots of trustworthy things to build on and to go off of.
[00:23:05] Speaker D: Kind of goes back to the geometry example. You don't have to measure every side of the triangle because you know enough. And I think that's what the infallible proofs. To me, that's how I understand that I. I understand what you're saying. About the blind faith. It's a. It's more of a reasonable faith. Like, we don't have every reason, we can't prove everything.
[00:23:28] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:23:28] Speaker D: But we know enough.
And for me, one of the things that still stands out to me is there's actually historical, archaeological evidence for the things that we read in the scripture. And yes, there's experiential side of it as well, but not. It's not just that. It's not just my experiences. There's actually physical evidence as well.
[00:23:52] Speaker C: Right. And you could. You could. You could go into that a lot more. Because I believe the people that say this evidence is here and this evidence. But there are some personalities that have to see it for themselves. Right.
And if that's you, why, by all means, dig into it.
I like those stories, the Joshua D story where they set out to prove the Bible wrong.
You can usually know it's going to have an interesting ending to that story. The scoff. The scoffers have been right so far. But I would say where I'm at, like, I would. I would put money on it. I would bet on it.
And it sounds a little weird to say, like, the return of Christ is more sure than the sun coming up tomorrow.
I know the return of Christ is going to happen, but I don't know for sure that the sun will come up tomorrow. Like, if you make me bet on those two, I think I would go for the. I would put my money on Christ is coming back because I know that's guaranteed. Yeah. When you look at the big picture, I think there's plenty of reasons and plenty of proofs, if you want to call it that, so that it's not just blind faith.
[00:25:04] Speaker D: Mm.
[00:25:06] Speaker C: So, yeah, then the disciples go back to Jerusalem.
The rest of Acts chapter one is them processing it a little bit. But then they also replace Judas as. As a disciple.
I think verse 14 is noteworthy. Just to mention that they all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.
It was only 120 people, as it says in verse 13, I think it is.
They were processing this, trying to make sense of it, and they. They pray about it. They take it before God and kind of lay it out, which is a good lesson.
[00:25:43] Speaker D: It seems like God allowed their humanity to take its time because we don't process things that quickly. They were grieving. There's a loss, there's a change.
God gave them. How long was it?
[00:25:56] Speaker C: 10 days, about.
[00:25:57] Speaker D: Okay. He gave them some time to let this settle.
[00:26:01] Speaker C: And so, yeah, we looked at three promises. The promise of the Spirit, the promise of power, and the promise of his return. Two of them, I think, for sure have happened and can happen in our lives. The one we're still anticipating, looking forward to him coming back on the clouds. What are we expecting? Are we looking for this and are we his witnesses?
You know all of his promises are certain and we can go using his power.
Be a witness.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: You've been listening to the Voice of Hope Today's study of Acts Chapter one reminds us that all of God's promises are certain.
Arlan highlighted three specific promises in this the promise of the Spirit, the promise of power, and the promise of Jesus return.
We We've seen that two of these have already been fulfilled, providing us with a reasonable faith built on a solid foundation.
Because these promises are true, we're called to be his witnesses in the world today, relying on the continual filling of the Holy Spirit's power to share what we've seen and experienced of Him.
If you've been encouraged by this study in Acts, we invite you to listen to more of our bible
[email protected] there you'll find past episodes, additional podcasts and videos, as well as ministry updates and links to our content on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts.
Please be sure to follow and rate us. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love to hear from you. You can email us at hopeeraldsofhope.org or call us at 866-960-0292 or you can write to us at 6183 Lincoln Highway, Harrisonville, PA 17228.
Join us the next time as we continue our journey through Acts and and see the Holy Spirit being poured out on all of the disciples.
Until then, may God strengthen your faith and remind you that his work in the world is far from finished.
Thank you for listening to the Voice of Hope.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: Promises of God My Savior Stand on the promises Standing on the promises I am standing on the promises of God I am standing on the promises of God.
