Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: With the power of the Spirit, Christianity was pumped from the ports there on the Mediterranean Sea and Christianity spread like wildfire, encumbering the world. All from a little thing that started in Jerusalem with some people that had the Holy Spirit filling them with power.

On today’s word, Pastor Brett Meador reflects on the power to transform hearts that draws people to repentance. We’re going to see the supernaturally natural power of the Spirit where people repent of their sins and become a believer in Christ.

Guest (Male): Opening today’s word, Pastor Brett Meador continues exploring Luke’s initial prologue that begins Acts chapter 1, including an enlightening overview of what to look forward to in our study of the book. In highlighting the incredible history of how Christianity took root and spread across the world, we’ll be gaining a good understanding of God’s model for the church today.

Brett Meador: First of all, let’s talk about the title of the book, Acts. Why is it called Acts? It's the Acts of the Apostles. Many of your Bibles say that right at the top, the Acts of the Apostles. Which apostles? Mostly Peter and Paul. Those are the main players in the Book of Acts, but the other ones are there too. We’re going to see the apostles. We’re going to see John and James. He’s going to be a thing in the Book of Acts. It is the Acts of all the apostles, but the two key players are Peter and Paul.

The author, who is the author of the Book of Acts? That’s kind of fun. It’s Dr. Luke. The same guy that wrote the Gospel of Luke wrote the Book of Acts. Luke writes with an investigative journalist sort of way of confirming the accounts of the gospel of Jesus born in Bethlehem all the way to death on the cross and even resurrection. That’s the defense that he makes in the Gospel of Luke.

Then from the Book of Acts, he goes from the resurrection all the way through the early church, new beginnings of the Church of Jesus Christ. It’s like a culmination of an investigation of an account of the story of Jesus and his church, the beginnings of the church.

So what's the reason he wrote the Book of Acts? He gives that to us there in verse 1. Talking about the Gospel of Luke, he says of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. He’s making a record of that, and he’s going to do that for the gospel of Luke, but he’s also going to do that for the church in the Book of Acts. He’s going to make a record and talk about the infallible proofs. Did you see that in verse 3? Jesus was resurrected after he died by many infallible proofs. The resurrection is one of the most provable facts in all of history.

Really, Acts is a continuation of Luke. But really all the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, funnel into the Book of Acts. If I put it this way, what are the four things that we’ll gain by reading the Book of Acts? There’s probably more than this. I’m just going to give you my favorite four.

That is we’re going to see, number one, in the Book of Acts, the progress of Christianity, which is a profound and amazing story. Really, if you think of the likelihood of some guy from Galilee, some carpenter’s son, and he’s killed on a cross by the Romans in Jerusalem, what’s the likelihood of that becoming the most important major religion in the world? That’s very unlikely unless he really is who he claimed to be.

The Book of Acts starts with 120 people in an upper room that were believers in Jesus. That’s where we start. Within 100 years, there’d be more than 2 million Christians on the earth. You have to understand, in Bible times, there weren’t that many people on the earth. There were only 100 million people that lived on the earth during the time of the first century. So, 2 million people in much of the known world there in the Roman Empire becoming Christians, the progress of Christianity spread like wildfire.

Now, some of you might say that was easy. It was a new message. We go to tell people about Jesus and they're like, "Yeah, we know about Jesus." But back then they could say, "Do you know Jesus?" And they’re like, "Who’s Jesus?" Well, let me tell you. It was easy to be an evangelist back in the first century, you might think.

But was it easy being an evangelist in the first century? If you accepted Jesus as your savior in this first century, it’s going to probably cost you your life. You might be brutally tortured and killed for becoming a Christian. Yet, isn’t it amazing, in the climate of total persecution, 10 Roman emperors that came and went wanting to slaughter as many Christians as they could, that’s the kind of stuff if you became a Christian.

Yet, even in the climate of persecution, the church flourished, and the people were serious about Jesus. What you’ll see in the Book of Acts is a church that was bold in their witness and sticking to their belief in Christ. Because of that, Christianity spread like wildfire.

Sadly today, the church, the Christian church, is shrinking. Why is Christianity losing ground? The Book of Acts is going to tell this to us. It’s going to answer those questions for us. How do we see Christianity grow once again? The Book of Acts is the answer. This is why the progress of Christianity is important because the story’s not over. You and I are supposed to be the continuation of the Book of Acts. I hope that the Book of Acts will stir our hearts and make us realize we’ve got a job to do.

Number two, the reason why the Book of Acts is going to be a blessing to us is the practice of Christianity. It’s going to show us, what does it look like to be a practicing Christian? I’m reminded of Jesus’ words talking about practicing in John 8:34. Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say unto you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin."

I hope you’re not practicing sin. The Bible gives us warning scriptures like those who continually practice. The idea is if you’re trying to be better at sinful things, and there’s a list there. It gives you witchcraft, anger, greed, homosexuality. There’s a whole list. If you’re into all that stuff and you’re trying to get better and better at that stuff, the Bible says you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. That’s pretty heavy, and that’s what Jesus is saying. Those who practice sin become a slave to sin.

But the Book of Acts is going to teach us that there was a group of people practicing Christianity, how to become better Christians. The Bible tells us what that even looks like. Philippians talks about it this way in chapter 4, verse 9. "What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me," Paul said, "practice these things and the God of peace will be with you." If you’re a practicing Christian, the promise of the Word is you’re going to have a peace within you that’s inexplicable and even supernatural.

One of the things we’re supposed to practice is knowing the Word of God. In fact, Paul was telling Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." This is what we’re supposed to be practicing, and it takes effort to practice Christianity.

Are you a practicing Christian? Practice implies you’re not perfect. That’s why I’m nervous when we talk about doctors who practice medicine. That makes me a little nervous. I wish they were just doing medicine, but they have proven that they are practicing. But as Christians, we too don’t have it perfect, and we practice hopefully Christianity. The point is to want to get better at it. The practice of Christianity, actually it turns out you’ll have peace if you practice Christianity. That’s what the scriptures are saying.

But what Satan wants to do, and this is important, he would like to rob you of that idea of practicing Christianity. He will feed you lies and say, "Practicing Christianity, what a bummer. You gotta go to church on Sunday and you gotta give money." Pretty soon Satan will just convince you, "Wow, what a bummer."

But what you need to understand is the practicing Christian, according to the Book of Acts, we’re going to see people who loved it. They found out that practicing Christianity was the way. It became what they called the early church. They were called The Way. "This is the way." What’s the way? The Jesus way. Who started this whole thing, the church is the way?

Well, Jesus did in John chapter 14, verse 6. It says Jesus said unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me." So Jesus started this whole thing about the way, and then it became the mantra of the early church. That’s what they called themselves. The way implies moving in a direction. You’re going to see that the church was really thrilled to be a part of the way. They were excited to be part of the way.

Now this is kind of important because, like I said earlier, Satan wants to rob you of that joy that’s being part of the way of Jesus and being part of his church. He’s turned it into work instead of joy. It’s a "got to" instead of a "get to." I hope none of you are that way. I think Satan wants to rob you of that.

How many of you know, "Well, I got to go to church on Sunday." Well, man, we kind of like going to church. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Satan wants to rob you of that by making being a follower of Jesus and a part of the way of Jesus seem like, "Well, I got to go to church." He’s turned it into a "got to" instead of a "get to."

If he’s done that in your heart, you’re the one who loses. You’ve got to get back to "restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." Being a Christian is a joyful way. It is the way, and Satan will try to rob you of that. These Book of Acts practicing Christians, they loved doing what they were doing even though their lives were even on the line at many points in the story. Being saved, serving Christ, being a part of his church, this is what they did.

Now one of the things that we’re going to see is, remember I said they were saved by grace through faith, but works, good works, were a part of the early church. That’s something we can’t lose. I feel like sometimes churches lose what we are supposed to be about. If you ask what does a Christian look like, you’ll hear some strange answers. Some people will say, "Well, they look like haters. They’re against this, that, and the other thing." It’s interesting what people say. Moral pejoratives. They’ll say Christians are hypocrites, Christians are narrow-minded. They used to say Christians are intolerant, but then they became more intolerant than Christians, so now they can’t say that anymore.

They’ll come with all kinds of names for you as Christian people. Some of that’s uncalled for. We even read they called the way heresy even in the early church. So you’re going to always get criticism. But is some of that criticism legit? That’s the question I would ask. Has the church lost our witness?

What does the practice of Christianity look like? If you ask the average person what does a true Christian look like, would love be one of the things they say about us? Because we’re going to see in the Book of Acts that love and kindness, mercy and helping the widows and the orphans and the poor people, that was part of the deal.

It’s amazing about this notion is this goes even to the Old Testament. People try to split the Old Testament and New Testament like God A and God B. There’s the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. But what you got to remember is God never changes. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament.

You see hints of that like, for example, in Isaiah chapter 1, verses 11 through 18. There’s kind of this interesting, you could jot it down in your notes maybe, but let me just quickly read. God gets to a place where he’s like, "I’m sick of your dumb sacrifices and going to the temple and worshiping and your oblations. I’m sick of it." Why would God be sick of worship in the Old Testament?

Well, let me read. He says, "When you appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread on my courts? Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons and the sabbaths, calling of assemblies, I cannot away with this iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates," the Lord says. "They are a trouble to me. I am weary to bear them. When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood."

Whoa. God seems to be a little perturbed. He doesn’t like their worship in the temple. Why? It’s because of this. He says instead of doing all that religious stuff and you don’t really care about the stuff that matters, instead of doing all your religious stuff, he says instead, verse 16, he says, "Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil from your doings before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek good judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless." The word judge means to actually care for the fatherless, the orphan. "Plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together," saith the Lord. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be white as wool."

It’s funny how we know that last verse that’s famous about the Lord turning our red ugly sins into clean whiteness. But as it turns out, the context of those verses are, man, clean yourselves up. Wash you, he says. You see, religion had become a bummer and it was a downer. If you were an orphan or widow or someone who needed care and love, they weren't there for that. They were there just to do their religious rituals and routines but could care less about hurting people.

It’s funny how that’s a theme throughout the whole Old Testament and New. Zechariah 7, verses 3 through 11 is a funny story where these religious guys, "Lord, should we continue to fast and mourn and weep these 70 years?" They’d been a-fasting and mourning, weeping and fasting, which I weep when I fast. But that’s what they were doing for 70 years. Weeping, fasting, mourning, and praying. And they said, "Lord, should we continue to weep and fast and mourn and pray like we have these 70 years?"

The Lord becomes almost sarcastic through the prophet Zechariah. He says, "You can keep weeping and fasting and mourning if you want, but I could care less." He says, "I don’t care about your weeping, fasting, mourning. But what I would like you to do is show mercy, be kind, care for the orphans and the widows. Show good judgment." That’s what God was more into.

I worry that the church has done the same thing as the Jews of the Old Testament and we’ve lost things that are important like being kind and loving. Jesus said you’ll know you’re my disciples by your love one for another. I’m reminded that ties in Zechariah and Isaiah ties in with James chapter 1, verse 27. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

What an important thing for the early church. They saw that as caring for one another. That’s something we need to do as a church. I love the blessing that we get to be as a church, helping people that are hurting. We do a lot. But also, I worry that sometimes the way it works in Athey Creek is, "Well, I’m an Athey Creeker and I give of my tithes and offering and then that money can go to a number of things. This building, it can go to parking lots, but also it goes to poor people and people that are hurting."

That does happen a lot. Our pastoral team is constantly helping widows and orphans and poor people. That’s wonderful. But I almost wonder if the attitude is, "Well, the church does that, and I’m not going to care about hurting people because, well, that’s Athey Creek’s job." But I don’t see that.

In the Book of Acts, I see a bunch of people who just cared about people, whether it was through the church, which is great—we see that too in the Book of Acts—or whether it was just through their own person and opening up their own house. We see that as well. We’re going to see a beautiful iteration of the practice of Christianity. The Book of Acts is going to make that beautiful and clear.

By the way, that’s one of the things that I think brings people to become a Christian. It’s the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. We see that in Romans chapter 2, verse 4. It says, "Not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance." So we’re going to see that, the practice of Christianity.

Then number three, benefit of reading the Book of Acts, not only do we have the progress of Christianity and the practice of Christianity, but we’re going to also have a fun look at the people of Christianity. The Book of Acts is full of amazing people. I love the stories in the Book of Acts.

The thing about the people, of course, I mentioned Peter and Paul, but there’s other stories. Like, who was the first European Christian? It was a lady named Lydia. Paul ends up baptizing her there at the Spring of Lydia. The operative thing was ordinary people doing extraordinary things. That’s the Book of Acts.

As we read the Book of Acts, wouldn't it be great to realize like 1 Corinthians 1:27 that says the Lord has chosen the weak and the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, the weak things to confound the things which are mighty? I think that God still does that, to do extraordinary things through ordinary people. That’s the people of Christianity.

But I wonder if we say, "That was the Book of Acts, those were Bible times. God was doing amazing things back then." But I think we, you and I, we might live—I’m just going to say this and I mean this with all my heart—could you and I live in more amazing times than even the Book of Acts? I think you and I are privileged as Christians to live in what might just be the last days. The Bible says in the last days, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.

Could there be a great move of God’s spirit that’s just right at the edge, ready to happen? Wouldn't it be great to have that happen in Portland, Oregon, of all places? When you drive downtown Portland, you see all the tents and the fentanyl deaths and the homicide rates skyrocketing in Portland. Like our law enforcement, we have law enforcement in Multnomah County, Athey Creek guys that are out there pulling dead bodies out of tents. That’s more their job description now than giving speeding tickets.

Meanwhile, the early church, they were people that did extraordinary things even though they were ordinary people. I just wonder if the Lord says, "I want to do great things through the church."

"But Brett, how did they do those great things?" Well, that brings us to the final and fourth point. One of the major themes in the Book of Acts is the power behind Christianity. Where was the power? It was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the power behind it. We even see that in our text mentioned here in Acts chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, when it mentions in verse 2, "until the day he was taken up after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments to the apostles whom he’d chosen."

Remember Jesus said in John 16:7, he said, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It’s expedient to you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send him to you." Jesus is saying, "I’m going to leave," that’s the death, the burial, the resurrection, and eventually the ascension into heaven. He’s saying, "It’s good that I’m leaving."

The disciples might say, "Why is that good?" And Jesus said, "Because I’m going to send my Holy Spirit and empower each one of you, ordinary people, to do extraordinary things." And that’s what we’re going to see in the Book of Acts.

You say, "Well, that was extraordinary times, it was the early church." But you and I live in extraordinary times. You and I are in a place where we should be filled with the Holy Spirit and let the light of Christ shine through us. I think we should hang on for the ride. Wait and see what the Lord will do. But I think it has to be people who are going to say, "I’m going to be open to the Holy Spirit."

Did you see, look at verse 6 of our same chapter of Acts 1? It says, "When they were therefore come together, they asked him, Lord, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, even to the uttermost parts of the earth."

How did the gospel spread like wildfire? I told you we’re going to see this in the Book of Acts, but I’m giving you the sneak preview right here. It started in Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit filled the apostles. Then with the power of the Spirit, it went from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria, and then from Samaria even to the uttermost parts of the world.

Paul the Apostle, filled with the Spirit, shipped out through the Mediterranean into the Aegean and up to Philippi where he shared the gospel with Lydia and shared the gospel with the Philippian jailer and shared the gospel with a whole city of Ephesus and they all accepted Christ. With the power of the Spirit, Christianity was pumped from the ports there on the Mediterranean Sea and Christianity spread like wildfire and covered the world. Today, more than 2 billion Christians on the earth. All from a little thing that started in Jerusalem with some people that had the Holy Spirit filling them with power.

I love that word "power" in that text. The word, Greek word, for that word power is *dunamis* where we get our word dynamite. And that’s power. Where did they receive the power? Chapter 2, verse 4. "And they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Oh great, Brett, this is the part that I don’t like about the Book of Acts. We’ve got to talk about speaking in tongues. I don’t want any part of that. Well, can I just say, I think we will talk about speaking in tongues, but we’re going to see it in proper perspective because we’re going to read the whole Bible about this.

As it turns out, when they spoke in tongues in Acts chapter 2, were they sitting around saying "better buy a Honda, better buy a Honda" over and over again? Is that what they were saying? No. We’re going to see how in this case they were actually speaking other people’s languages that they could recognize. We’re going to see how the Lord demonstrated his power through that.

But we’re also going to see how tongues is the least important manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that. It’s the lowest importance. What's some of the other things? The power of the Spirit for them to preach the gospel and for souls to be saved. That’s what we’re going to see in the Book of Acts. We’re going to see not the heebie-jeebie stuff, we’re going to see the supernaturally natural power of the Spirit where people repent of their sins and become a believer in Christ.

I’m excited about the Book of Acts, and I’m excited not just to go through the book, but to let the book go through us. We need to get back to early church behaviors and practices, and then see how the Lord’s going to move through his church mightily.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador has been providing just a preview of what’s in store as our verse-by-verse study series of the Book of Acts gets underway, revealing not only God’s desire for the church, but of his Spirit sent to power it. And to conclude our today’s word message, Pastor Brett will return to offer a closing word of prayer in a moment.

But first, let me tell you more about Brett Meador. He’s the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just south of Portland, Oregon. Brett’s been the pastor of Athey Creek for 30 years. We invite you to listen each day for more from Pastor Brett. If you’ve missed any portion of this study, you’ll find all of Pastor Brett’s messages online at todayswordradio.com. You can also watch full video messages from him by going to todayswordradio.com. Also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link "Locations". Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link "Locations". Well, once again, here’s Pastor Brett Meador to close our time with a brief word of prayer.

Brett Meador: Lord, I pray blessing on these your people as we go our way. Lord, we’re just so blessed to be part of your kingdom. We’re so blessed to be part of your church, the way. I pray that you’d sharpen us, cause each one of us to think through about our own Christian practice and how we’re doing. But Lord, would you be honored and glorified even as we go our way, be honored and blessed, Lord, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador, here on today’s word. And that’s all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett will continue looking at the Acts of the Apostles in our verse-by-verse study of the Bible. Today’s word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.