Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: So here's Jesus saying, guess what, disciples? The Holy Spirit's been with you. But when you become a believer, a Christian, that's when the Holy Spirit comes in you. But this third relationship, Jesus is saying I'm going to have the Holy Spirit come upon you.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador in "The Lord's Empowerment Called According to His Purpose." And you shall be, not you shall go. He says you shall go and be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth, empowering them to be witnesses.

Guest (Male): After the resurrection, Jesus clearly communicated to the apostles that they shall be witnesses unto me, reaching to the ends of the earth. And as we've been learning from Pastor Brett Meador's verse-by-verse teaching of Acts chapter one, the power to fuel their mission and ours comes from the Holy Spirit's enablement. Let's join Pastor Brett now with more from today's word.

Brett Meador: Acts 1, verse 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Now, those of us that read our Bibles, was this a dumb question? Those of you that say there's no such thing as dumb questions, well, I found there are dumb questions in my lifetime. But this is not a dumb question.

It is if you know the rest of the Bible. You and I know this is not the time for the kingdom. The reason we know that is there's a lot of stuff that needs to happen when Jesus is talking about this stuff. It's really not close to being for them where Jesus is going to set up his kingdom on this earth. They're still thinking the whole Roman Empire and okay, Jesus died. What a bummer. We thought he was going to set up his kingdom. But then he raises from the dead and they're like, "Is now the time you're going to set up your kingdom now that you're alive again?" I don't blame them for asking this question because it's confusing if you're one of the disciples. It's a little hard to follow.

But this is what Jesus was teaching. Remember it said that he's teaching things in verse three concerning the things or pertaining to the kingdom of God. So they ask, "Is this when we're going to see your kingdom form?" And they said, "Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" In verse seven, he said unto them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power."

Isn't it interesting? What are the Jews asking? As American readers, we miss this. What are they asking? The Old Testament Jews believed the Messiah would come and restore the kingdom of Israel into their hands as the nation Israel. They mistakenly thought that Jesus was there to triumph over the Romans. That's what the whole Palm Sunday thing was about. "Hosanna, save now, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." They were wanting Jesus to be their savior from the Roman Empire.

But now that Jesus is back on the scene as a resurrected Savior, they're thinking, "Wow, is now the time where you're going to establish the kingdom?" Jesus's response basically says there's some information that you guys are not ready to know or hear when the kingdom is going to be set up. By the way, we don't even know when the kingdom's going to come, just like we don't know when the rapture of the church comes. No man knows the day or the hour of either one of those things—the rapture of the church or the second coming when he's going to set up his kingdom. The Bible says we don't know that. That's kind of what's going on here when Jesus said, "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons" because it wouldn't be their time.

But what should they be worried about or concerned about or thinking about? Well, that's what verse eight is. Verse eight says, "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 all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Wow, the Holy Ghost is going to come with power. The power there is *dunamis*, like where we get the word dynamite. The Holy Ghost is going to come and the operative word there that we've studied in previous times is *upon*.

Do you remember what Jesus said in earlier passages? Jesus said in John 14, "I will pray that the Father, he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive." The world can't receive the Holy Spirit because it sees him not, neither knows him. "But you know him." Now notice, "for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you."

When was the Holy Spirit with people? All the time, before you're saved even. The Holy Spirit is with you. Remember when you were an unsaved non-believer and people talked about Jesus? You felt that little spiritual tap on your shoulder like you need to accept Christ, you need to repent of your sins and be saved. That was the Holy Spirit with you. We've talked about how in Genesis 6 it says the Spirit of God will not always strive with man. That preposition is really important, the *with*.

But Jesus says, "Yeah, yeah, the Holy Spirit's been with you, that's great, but he shall be in you." When did the Holy Spirit come in the disciples? John chapter 20, where Jesus showed up to them after the resurrection. This is now the church age. After the resurrection, Jesus appears in that upper room where they're sealed shut for the fear of the Jews, and he breathes on them and says, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." And the Holy Spirit was then in them.

But then Jesus gives a third preposition, and this is what he's talking about here. After that, you will receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Wait a minute, didn't the Spirit already come in the disciples in John 20 when he breathed on them? What's the difference? The difference is this word power. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, that means the power of God is imparted to you.

It's just like the Old Testament. It's the same God yesterday, today, and forever. Do you remember when Samson would do great feats of strength? Samson would, it said, "And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and he took the jawbone of an ass and conquered a whole army of Philistines." That's what happens when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon you. You are empowered to do something that's beyond your own ability.

So here's Jesus saying, "Guess what, disciples? The Holy Spirit's been with you." That's the tapping you on the shoulder before you're even saved. But when you become a believer, a Christian, that's when the Holy Spirit comes in you. But this third relationship, Jesus is saying, "I'm going to have the Holy Spirit come upon you" there in verse eight.

And you shall be, not you shall go. It says you shall go and be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. How will Christianity spread over the whole world? Jesus just gave it in one verse, verse eight. It's by the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles, empowering them to be witnesses.

I love that it's so that you're not going out and witnessing. I think there are some people that are called to go on the street and witness with tracts and preaching. There are some people that have a gift of that, to talk to people on the street, stand on a soapbox and preach. But that's not as much what you see in the Bible. I think that is sometimes part of it, but most of us I think are called to be witnesses more than to go out and witness.

And what does that look like? Well, I've seen a lot of good fruit, maybe even more fruit from that in a person that's just being a witness. How do you be a witness? You're just solid. You're walking with the Lord, you love Jesus, you're honest, you have integrity, and you're an example of what a good believer is. So much so that people are drawn to you as a sort of an authority on life. Because of that, they might ask you, "What's your thing, man? What makes you tick?" And that's when you get to let them know the answer is Jesus Christ.

And you're just being a witness. I saw this probably most personified in my dad. My dad was the best at construction sites. I remember growing up, people would walk up to me. "Man, your dad, Brett, you have no idea. He just knows everything and how to do everything." People were always so impressed with my dad. Then when I got old enough to work on the construction site, they're like, "Man, you're nothing like your dad."

But what was so cool about my dad's ability was he didn't go around preaching and on the owner's time, going around preaching and talking about Jesus when he should be putting up trusses or doing some big crane work or something. He was just a hard worker. But when the whistle blew at the end of the day, that's when all the guys would circle around my dad. They'd be asking, "Todd, I'm having trouble with my marriage." It was almost like my dad had some kind of PhD in counseling or something. And that's just not him.

But he would give them the answer. The answer is Jesus Christ. What you need is to repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ. I saw my dad lead more guys to Christ like that than I see a lot of street witnessing. I saw actual fruit that was long-lasting from a guy like my dad who was just being a witness. That's going to be more powerful than going out and standing on a soapbox yelling, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Maybe the Lord calls you to that. Most of us, I think, are called to be filled with the Spirit that we might be witnesses. That's the important thing.

With that said, how are we going to see them get the Holy Spirit? How do you receive the Spirit? Well, we'll see that in a couple weeks. But let me just remind you what Jesus said in Luke's Gospel, chapter 11, verse 13. He said, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Guess what? The Holy Spirit is there for the asking. You can say, "Lord, would your Spirit just come upon me today? I need power beyond my own abilities to be witness, to shed light in this dark world." To give the power of the Holy Spirit to those that ask, that's what the Lord said he'll do. Isn't that amazing? There for the asking. We'll talk more about that as we get into the book of Acts.

So far in Acts chapter one, there are actually a couple sections we've already been through. The first section is verses one through five, and we're going to call that the preface. And then verses six through eight is the commission, that they're going to be filled with the Spirit and go out and preach the gospel by just being witnesses. But the third section in this chapter, verses nine through 11, is all about the ascension. Let's read verse nine.

"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up." There's that word again, 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." Now, you say, okay, this is strange. The same way he left is the same way he'll return.

There are interesting things about the cloud as a symbol of God's presence. Remember the pillar of cloud led them in the wilderness? There was a cloud in the Holy of Holies, and even on the tabernacle, there was a cloud outside of the tabernacle. God's presence was often symbolized by a cloud. So maybe it's a miraculous cloud that sort of appears and Jesus went up into the cloud. It could be something spiritual.

But then as he's taken up out of their sight, it says as he went, verse 10, up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel. Now, the white apparel thing does sort of make us think, are these angels? That's a possibility. Maybe these are two angels. Some argue these are two witnesses. Maybe the two witnesses of Revelation? Could it be Moses and Elijah like we saw when Jesus was transfigured in Matthew 17, Mark chapter 9? Some make that argument. We don't really know for sure. I wouldn't die on that battlefield who these two guys in white apparel are.

But verse 11, these two guys, "which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Now, this is where we see that there's a similarity. The same way he went up into heaven is the same way he's going to come down. Same place, Mount of Olives, we know that.

But basically these two men in white apparel say, "Why are you still looking up?" I mean, I wonder if the disciples were like, "Wow, did you see that?" They're all, "What an experience." But these two guys are saying, "Why are you standing here doing nothing? You got work to do. Let's go. Make it snappy." Cracking the whip just a little bit. I think that's funny, but it also might speak to something. A lot of times we Christians like the experience. It's all about the experience. Let's have a Holy Ghost goosebumps service and stuff, and it's all about the experience. Some churches are more about the experience and trying to have more experience when really the Lord would say to them, "Time to get going and do the work that God's called us to do." Something to think about.

So he says in the same way that you'll see him go into heaven. By the way, in like manner as you've seen, he'll go to heaven. You might jot down next to that in your notes Zechariah 14. Because this is again not the rapture. Now we're talking about the Second Coming in this part where these two guys in white apparel are saying, "This is the way you're going to see him come."

It's Zechariah 14:1-5. "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle." Now, that seems so far-fetched. Who would gather all the nations of the world to battle against Israel? That's ridiculous. Oh, wait, that's happening right now. Are we living in the last days? This is one evidence that I think we very might well be living in the last days because that's all the nations.

The Lord says, "I'm going to bless the nations that bless Israel, but I'm also going to curse the nations that curse Israel." And you can track that throughout history. And I think we're not tracking well right now. But anyway, this is what's going to happen in the last days. "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations." Boy, that's another reason why you don't want to be one of the nations that's against Israel because someday you're going to be on the wrong side of that battle if your nation is fighting against Israel.

The Lord's going to fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. When's an example of when the Lord fought for Israel in the day of battle? Do you remember in the book of Joshua when Joshua sees this guy with a flaming sword and he sees him and he says, "Are you for us or against us?" And the flaming angel guy says, "No." That's like is it for here to go? "No." I love those kinds of answers. But what was that angel there to do? Wipe out the Canaanites with his flaming sword on behalf of Israel. And he did that. And Joshua was the recipient of that.

Could you ever see a time when the nations go against Israel but then have Jesus come and fight as he did in the day of battle, just like in Joshua's day? That's going to happen. As you continue this passage in verse 4, "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives." This is Zechariah's account of the Second Coming. "Which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley." Earthquake, split. "And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains." So this is the Second Coming of Jesus. And this is what these two guys in white apparel say, "Just like you saw him go up, that's the way he's going to come down." So that's important.

Now we come to the fourth section. We see the ascension, verses nine through 11. And now verses 12 to the end, we see introduction for the rest of the book of Acts. Let's pick it up in verse 12. "Then returned they to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which was from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey." That's about a half a mile. You say, how is that a whole sabbath day? No, a sabbath day's journey, remember those limitations on how far you could walk on the Sabbath? That was about a half mile. So that's how far they were able to go.

Verse 13, "And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, and Philip, and Thomas, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James." By the way, it's a different Judas of the one that betrayed Jesus. There were actually two that were part of the disciples, if you remember right. So there's 11 disciples here, minus Judas Iscariot. We'll see what happened to him here, verse 14. "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." We're going to see in verse 15, there's 120 people in this room.

But notice they're praying and making supplication. The two Greek words are kind of interesting there for prayer. Prayer is *proseuche*, which is just talking to God generally. But supplication is seeking, asking, and making requests. So prayer, talking to God, but also making requests to God. That's what they're doing there.

Verse 15, "And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, (the number of names together were about 120,) He said, Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus." What's he talking about? You'll see in your margin, perhaps, Psalm 41, verse nine. He's talking about what did the mouth of David say? This is Peter recognizing Bible prophecy. You've got to love Peter for this.

We see a new Peter here. This is a sharper Peter. He's tuned in. And he's remembering what Psalm chapter 41, verse nine says. He says, "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." There's a prophecy about Judas who had betrayed Jesus. And Peter's saying, "You'll notice one of our dudes is not here because he betrayed Jesus, just like the psalmist David said."

Then he goes on, verse 17, "For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out." That's another one you didn't color in Sunday school when you were a little kid. "What's that, Mommy? Oh, those are his guts over there."

That's a horrible story. Judas hung himself, but apparently he fell to the ground ultimately and his guts were splattered all over the ground. Whatever happened there, it's a horrible thing. Peter's not just being graphic for the sake of graphic, but we got a reminder that sin is sick and the betrayal of Jesus was a horrifying event.

Verse 19, "And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in the proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For," verse 20, "it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishopric let another take." Again, he's quoting from Psalm 69, verse 25. And by the way, he's quoting from the Septuagint, for you that know, that's the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. That's what Peter's quoting from there, which is kind of interesting.

But basically Peter's saying, "We need to fill the 12th position since Judas is dead. We need a new dude." Question: what is Peter supposed to be doing right now? Waiting. Well, he's doing something and he's not waiting. I think this is going to get him into trouble. Look at verse 21. "Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias." So he's saying, "Hey, we got two dudes here that saw the resurrection of Jesus—Justus and Matthias."

So they prayed and said, "Lord, thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the 11 apostles."

Okay, maybe this is all great and cool and they filled the spot and good to go. But I don't think so. I think they made a mistake here. This is the only time you see in the New Testament church era a decision in the church was made with the casting of lots. Peter gets ahead of the Lord here. And I think you've got to give Peter credit. He's remembering what Jesus said. Matthew 19:27 and 28 is where Jesus said, "You shall also sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel." So Peter's good. He's searching the Scriptures, he's quoting from the Psalms, and he's remembering what Jesus said.

This is really good. Peter's bad is Jesus told him to wait. And what were they supposed to wait? They were supposed to wait on the promises of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit would come upon them. That hasn't happened yet. Good rule to go by is don't do anything that goes against what Jesus expressly told you not to do. And Peter's doing that. He's not waiting, but he's getting busy before he's even having the Holy Ghost come upon them.

I see that happen in the church. "The Lord told me to marry him, he's awesome," the girl says. "He's not a Christian, but he will be." Well, in black and white, the Bible writes that that's not the way. That's called being unequally yoked. The Bible tells you not to do that. But if you get antsy and start doing it, it's like this: it's never right to do something wrong to do something right. I hope you know that.

And that's the problem with Peter. Now, some supporting evidence: do we ever hear from Matthias again in the story of the Bible? Nope. Not one thing. I don't think he was the guy. In fact, does anybody want to take a guess who was supposed to be the 12th apostle? Paul the Apostle, chosen by Jesus, he's going to be that guy. And in that Matthew scripture, when there's going to be 12 upon the throne, when we get to heaven, you check, I'll bet you it's not Matthias up there. I'll bet you it's Paul the Apostle sitting on one of those 12 thrones.

But we'll see. The point is, there's some good news and bad news. The bad news is Peter messed up a little bit. But good news: the Lord covers our mistakes. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and for those who are called according to his purpose. Amen?

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador here on "Today's Word." 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: Well, Lord, I pray that you would just help us to have understanding, application of your word. Bless these people who've carved out time to study your word. May the word just be in the depths of their hearts and that it would be planted on fertile soil and bring forth good fruit.

Lord, we do lift up the days we're living as we see perilous times. I'm just thankful, Lord, that we get to look forward to that day where you come and take your church. But until that happens, may we do well, occupy until you come. I pray that we'd be light and salt in this dark world. Lord, your will be done. We do know that the story's going to end good for all of us. But we still want to be good stewards of what you've entrusted to us. So we just put all of our trust in you, Lord. I pray that you'd help us with the book of Acts to see how we're supposed to live as Christians, what we're supposed to do. Lord, give us wisdom in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador here on "Today's Word." And that's all the time we have. Next up, 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.