Book of Acts- Pt 2 Acts 1:12-26

Book of Acts pt 2: Acts 1:12-26

Recipe for Renewal 

There is a connection between Prayer and the Spirit

Spirit Descended on them while in prayer Luke 3:21-22 Acts 1:14, 2:4

There is an Observable Manifestation of the Holy Spirit Luke 3:22, Acts 2:2-4

The Ministry of Jesus and Disciples started after the Spirit come on them. 

1. Unity in Prayer- Homothumadon- meaning with one accord- Luke uses this work 10 times in the book of Acts to describe community. Acts 1:14

Pray Unifies us with God’s Will- 

Jesus in the Garden- 

Martin Luther letter, 

God’s Plan, 

Our responsibility is to pray and seek God’s will, then do it. When we come to God we shouldn't come to him with our own agenda, we need to come to him like Martin Luther came to God. Martin Luther was a man God used to shape the world. Martin Luther was a priest in Germany. He started to realizes the things that where going on in the Roman catholic church was contrary to what the Bible states. So he took a stand. Because of that stand, most of the non catholic church can trace their roots to him.

Prayer Unifies us with one another- 

Hard to Hate someone you pray for. 

When their are issues in church, praying for the other person can unify us. 

Pray is the glue that unifies us as a body of christ. 

Prayer Unifies our Mission

When we pray for God’s will, if we all listen and follow it, it will lead us all in the same direction. But if we all try to lead how we “think” verses what God tells us, then we are all over the place. 

The Disciples prayed and where united with the decision that Peter made. 

Philippians 4:6-7New Living Translation (NLT)

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 

2. Persistent in Prayer 1:14- Constant Prayer I John 5:14-15

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

          To have an outpouring of the Spirit, Prayer is one of the most important things you can do. There is a human responsibility for the Spirit to be poured out. I think sometime God puts his church though hardships and persecutions to get us where we should have been. 

Hannah Prayer

Elijah Prayer

The Grandmother’s Prayer

3. Trust in Prayer- Draw Straws. Proverbs 16:3

Proverbs 16:3  Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

Prayer brings trust. Do You trust God? Do you trust his judgment? Do you trust it plan? Do you? I hear people say I trust God’s plan for my life, but when things seem to not go the way we think it should go we call out and point to God for deliverance or even question God. 

BUT GOD, WHY DID YOU LEAD ME DOWN THIS ROAD, WHY DID YOU CAUSE US TO SUFFER, WHY DID YOU TAKE AWAY file in the blank. 

Picking of Mathias shows you, the trust they had. 

What do we know about Mathias before this?

According to Peter the criteria for being a Apostle was

They Prayed, and Cast lots’

So do you Want revival, renewal, and what are you willing to do for it? Thats a question we all need to ask. I as a pastor desire nothing more than for each of you to experience God in his fullest. Are you willing to put you own will aside for God's will? Are you willing to pray till it happens? Are you willing to Forgive and Move on? What are you willing to do for Revival/Renewal?

Book of Acts- Pt 1 Acts 1:1-11

Back Ground of Acts Acts 1:1

To start to understand the Book of Acts, we need to dig into the History and Backstory of the Book. 

Background- Book of Acts

In the book, there are much struggles, issues, and even persecution recorded.

Acts was written by a man named Luke. He was a doctor and an educated man. 

Luke was hired by a man named Theophilus. Theophilus tradition says he hired Luke to research and see who is this Jesus person and what about all his followers. Luke Does much research and records it in the book of Luke and Acts. 

Luke was the guy that went around and interviewed people first hand and wrote down what was said. He would have interview John, Mary, Paul , Peter, James, Soldiers, Priest, etc. 

The Book of Acts is history of the first 33 years of the church, Luke himself joins in the journey in acts 16 on. It records 32 countries, 54 cities, 9 islands, 95 different people along with my governing officials and prominate people that even to today we are confirming of their existence. All this helps support the history recorded in Acts as fact. 

Acts 1:8 Even summaries the whole book of acts. 

Jerusalem 1-7

Judea 8-12

Ends of the Earth 13-28

Acts isn't just History of the early church tho, it is a hand book for the christian life and spirit filled church. 

A Beginning- Acts 1:2-3 

Every Story has a beginning. For Jesus it was his birth. For the church it was his ascension. 
Even this church has a beginning. Sometime as organizations and fellowships age, we forget our roots and why we were made to exists in the first place. The churches start was recorded in the beginning of Acts. 

Instructions with a Promise Acts 1:4-6

1. Wait in Jerusalem for the gift
1. Who likes to wait. If you knew God had a gift for you, would you wait? How long?
2. John Baptized with Water
1. This is a physical Baptism. 
1. Symbalism of Christ and his forgiveness of sins. 
2. It is an outward statement to the world on your decision to follow Christ
3. Baptized with the Holy Spirit. 
1. Spiritual Baptism
1. Following Salvation- 
2. It is an experience that one must ask, seek, and find. 
3. It is a free gift like salvation but it is something one must seek and wait for.

A New Mission Acts 1:7-8

1. But you will receive POWER
1. What type of Power? - Dunamis- more than strength and ability- operations and actions
1. Power of Boldness
2. Power to stand up to sin
3. Power to Do Miracles
4. Power to Fight the Evil
5. Power to testify
2. When the holy spirit come on you
1. We know this is not salvation but something that happens after salvation. We believe that if someone seeks and ask God for this he will give it. 
2. This gift of Holy Spirit Baptism is for all who seek it. It wasn't just for the church of that day. We are in period of the church and until Jesus raptures the church, we are in that period.  
3. MY WITNESSES
1. What is a witness?
1. Someone who testifies of what the Lord is doing. a person who sees an event and testifies. 
2. What has the Lord do in you? what is your witness to the world. 
2. When we have a close personal relationship with Jesus we naturally want to spead the good news. 
3. The Holy Spirit witnesses to righteous and truth which brings glory to God. 
4. Baptism of the HS is when people get Power to do miracles and wonders
5. BOHS can only be given to those whose hearts are turned toward God and away from their evil ways. It is about a relationship with God. 
4. In Jersusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth
1. Jesus is telling them how to spred the Gospel.
2. Local- Jerusalem- Brookhaven/Chester/Parkside/Aston/Media/Marcus Hook, ETC
3. Spread out further Judea/Samaria- Philadelphia, King of Prussia, Wilmington, PA/NJ/DE/Maryland 
4. TO the ends of the earth- World mission field. 

A Promise Acts 1:9-11

            The Angels said that in the same way he left, he will return. Jesus made a similar promise to his disciples and now the angel make the same promise after he ascended into heaven. Jesus ministry on the earth ended with him being taken up into heaven,  but the Church start here. The end of Jesus on earth is the start of the church on earth. 

Be Encourage, Jesus will return but in his time away he will send a Helper, the Holy Spirit. So...

BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Book of Acts- You Will Be My Witnesses

For the next 3 months, Full Gospel Assembly of God will be doing a series on the book of Acts 1-5. 

I will try to post my Sermon notes and such as we go through this book. Use this as you personally read and research the book of Acts. 

 Blessings- Ben Grenier