Bentley Baptist Church Sermons

Wait for the Spirit

• Bentley Baptist Church

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Acts 1.4-8 | Pastor Alex Huggett
Pentecost // Kingdom Builders 2024

© Bentley Baptist Church Inc.
www.bentleybaptist.org

Speaker 1:

To be reading from Acts, chapter 1, from verses 4 to 8. Acts, chapter 1, verse 4. While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the Father's promise, which he said you've heard me speak about For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days. So when they had come together, they asked him Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time? And he said to them it's not for you to know the times of periods that the father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Father, we pray that you will bring this reading alive in our hearts. Well, in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Everyone read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I think it's a condition of membership. The land of Narnia is in the grip of an eternal winter under the rule of the White Witch. The evil White Witch, and a brave resistance movement struggles valiantly, but there's actually not a whole lot they can do. But when rumours start to circulate that the true King Aslan is on the move, Mr Beaver excitedly tells the children who have stumbled into Narnia once he's with us, we can begin to do things. We humans are made for action, aren't we? We are usually keen to start doing things, and the disciples were keen to start doing things as well. For three years they'd been waiting, hoping and completely misunderstanding what the kingdom of God meant. And now Jesus has risen from the dead and their hopes were sky high. Jesus had conquered death. He could easily conquer the Romans. So they asked Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel at this time? But no, it wasn't time, Not in the way they thought. Jesus doesn't exactly tell them no, the kingdom will be restored, just not the way or in the timeframe they expected. This was not something that could be done through human means. Even the risen Jesus wouldn't conquer the world with the same old, tired human means. You know, even the risen Jesus wouldn't conquer the world with the same old, tired human strategies. How often are we ready to jump in and fix problems with the same old, tired human strategies? We grow impatient. If only we could find the magic bullet to fixing a difficult relationship, a toxic workplace or a struggling ministry. Instead, the disciples are told to wait, not to sit on their hands and do nothing, but to wait on God's promise. John baptized with water, and that was the old paradigm of outward rituals. It was important, it was God-ordained, but it was fading away. But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days. Now baptism hasn't faded away, but John's baptism has. But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.

Speaker 1:

And this was something new that was in continuity with the old but was different. And the disciples had seen Jesus minister in the power of the Spirit. And the disciples had seen Jesus minister in the power of the Spirit. They'd seen him full of joy in the Holy Spirit. He promised the Holy Spirit would lead them into truth and give them words to answer when they were on trial for their faith. He'd spoken of the Spirit as a stream of living water that would well up within them and give life. Now Jesus was the Son of God, he was God in human form, and so he carried that divine authority with him all the time. He didn't really need the Spirit in that sense. Yet he was filled with the Spirit at his baptism and ministered in the power of the Spirit.

Speaker 1:

So why was that? Well, there's a number of reasons. One, I think it does show the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity. But I think also a part of the reason is that in Ephesians 5.1, as that tells us, we are to be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. We're to imitate Jesus, as we at Bentley put it. We're called to follow the ways, words and works of Jesus. But how could we do that if Jesus only moved in his own divine power and authority, Whether it was the power of miracles or the power of a sinless life, a selfless life that he lived? How could we follow God's example in human flesh? How can we be God? We can't. Only if Jesus lived by the same obedience to the Father and dependence on the Spirit that he calls us to could we emulate Jesus in that way.

Speaker 1:

So the disciples had seen Jesus filled and moving in the Holy Spirit's joy, truth and power, and so Jesus could tell them that they were to wait on the Holy Spirit to fill them and to move in them, just as the Holy Spirit had moved in Jesus. They just had to wait a few more days. Jesus promised that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came, but it's not a power they were to claim by their own benefit or that you and I can claim for our own benefit when we see the life of Jesus moving in the power of the Spirit. He used his power to heal the sick, to work miracles, to drive out demons and to raise the dead and to rise from the dead. To raise the dead and to rise from the dead, it's not a power for our benefit, but it's a power for the benefit of others and ultimately, for the Father's glory. It's a power that makes us Christ's witnesses, not only in Judea and Samaria, but in Jerusalem and Judea, but also in Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now, the Jews held no love for Samaria and they certainly held no love for the ends of the earth, which in their world, in their imagination, encompassed the whole Roman Empire, which was the oppressor. And yet Jesus says your witness will extend even there. Our witness is not only in Perth and WA, it even goes to the eastern states, Can you imagine, and right around the world. I hope we're parochial enough WA people to get that little reference.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, don't we long to be Jesus' witnesses? I mean, who here doesn't want to reflect Jesus' life in a better way, to show his love and compassion, his gentleness and patience, his wisdom and truth? Don't you want to be more bold in sharing your faith, more effective in seeing people come to faith in Jesus? Don't we want to see our ministries whether in the church or perhaps you have ministries out there, living child other places? We minister bearing fruit, parents in our play group, teens in our youth group coming to faith and growing as disciples of Jesus? Don't we want to be more confident in prayer and go deeper into his word? Don't we want to experience a deeper reality of Christ? Why don't we experience that deeper reality more often? Why is it that we're very often? Maybe I'm just speaking to myself, why is it that we're very often? Maybe I'm just speaking to myself, but why aren't we more effective as witnesses, as effective as we hear in other places?

Speaker 1:

And I wonder if it's because we don't wait on the Spirit. Having said, to wait for the spirit, do we think that jesus somehow now expects us to work in our own strength, in our own power? Does he ask us to witness in our own wisdom and strength and eloquence? Today we celebrate Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church, something changed, and now the Spirit resides in the heart of every follower of Jesus. Everything changed that day, but in one sense nothing changed. It's this we still need an outpouring of his presence and power. We still need to wait, and we see in the book of Acts time and again where these spirit-filled Christians are filled again and again so that they can be bold witnesses for God.

Speaker 1:

And so my question for us this morning is will we wait, Not just sitting on our hands and doing nothing, but waiting in prayer and worship, in listening for his voice and receiving his power? How do we do that? Well, friends, it's good timing. We have an opportunity this friday night, at our presence night, to wait on him. We need to wait individually on god in our quiet times, our prayer times, just day to day, but we need to wait together as well. We need to make times and find times we can do that. I hope you'll be able to join us at this coming presence night, which is hopefully the first, just the first of many, or the second of many we had one last year. Wait on God and to hear his voice, to receive his power, so that we can better live for him and be more effective witnesses for him in the world, because we want to see this world, this community, this city transformed for him. Let's pray.