Declare the wonders of God! (Acts 2:1-13)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon January 27, 2008

The first verse, we are introduced to what it is called “the day of Pentecost.” To understand what is going on in our text, it would be helpful if we can get a grasp on the Jewish Feasts that were instituted by God in the Old Testament.

So, I would like to begin this morning by teaching you some of the important Jewish feasts that you find in the Old Testament. The day of the Pentecost is one of the feasts that the Jews observed in the Old Testament. It was considered a spring feast, along with the day of Passover, the day of unleavened bread, the day of first fruits.

The first feast or holiday observed is Passover. You see this account in Exodus 12:1-28. Usually occurs in our calendar sometime in March or April. This year, it will be on April 20.

The Passover commemorate Israel’s deliverance from Egypt; it was also the day to remind the children of Israel how God spared their firstborn (Exodus 12:27). Now, the New Testament significance for the day of Passover is this fact that Jesus Christ is our Passover. In John 1:29, when the John the Baptist saw Jesus he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The Passover lambs during the time of Exodus were to have no broken bones. While the soldiers broke the legs of the criminals hanging next to Jesus, when they came to Jesus they didn’t break Jesus’ legs realizing that Jesus was already dead. You read this fulfillment in John 19:36. Apostle Paul explicitly stated in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Apostle Peter called Jesus as “a lamb without blemish or defect” in 1 Peter 1:19.

The after Passover night began the feast of unleavened bread. You read this Exodus 12:15-20. For seven days, the Israelites were to eat bread made without yeast. After the Passover, the Israelites left Egypt immediately. They didn’t have time to prepare their bread with yeast, to wait for it to rise before baking. So, during the feast of unleavened bread, they were to eat only unleavened bread, to remember again the time of Exodus when God demonstrated his power to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. The connection between the day of unleavened bread and the New Testament is that the day of unleavened bread signifies when Jesus was buried.

Another major feast, holiday observance is the day of first fruits. You read about this in Leviticus 23:9-14. It was to be observed when the Israelites first entered the Promised Land. On calendar, it comes on the third day from the day of Passover and a day after the day of unleavened bread began. It is when the firstfruits of barley harvest were to be dedicated and consecrated to the Lord. The connection is to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, apostle Paul called Jesus Christ as “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” one who was raised from the dead first to live eternally and as a guarantee of the bodily resurrection of all believers, “those who belong to him” when he returns.

So these three Spring Jewish feasts, the day of Passover, the day of unleavened bread, and the day of firstfruits all point to Jesus for his death, crucifixion, his burial, and his resurrection.

Now what comes next in the spring feast is the day of Pentecost.

Passover marks the beginning of the barley season. And, the day of Pentecost marks the beginning of the wheat harvest season. The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word for “fiftieth”. So, the day of Pentecost was fiftieth day after the when the first sheaf, first grain from the barley harvest was presented to the Lord; when you consider Passover, it is the fiftieth day from the first Sunday after Passover, which is the day of firstfruits.

There are other names for the day of Pentecost. In Leviticus 23:15-16, it is called the Feast of Weeks. It was called because it came after a period of seven weeks of harvesting that began with the offering of the first barley sheaf during the Passover celebration, the Feast of firstfruits. In Exodus 23:16, it was called “the Feast of Harvest.”

This day of Pentecost, or also known as the Feast or Weeks or Harvest was along with Passover and the fall feast called the day of Tabernacles when all the Jewish males were commanded to present themselves to the Lord at the temple. This is why you see the presence of the God-fearing Jews from everywhere in verse 5.

Another significance of the day of Pentecost is this day was considered by the Jews as the anniversary of the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. They figured this from the chronological date indication from Exodus 19:1.

What were the significances of the day of Pentecost?

1. The day of Pentecost was the day of the Spirit’s outpouring as Jesus promised.

This was the day that Jesus was talking to the disciples in Acts 1:8, the day “when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The day of Pentecost was the day when the Counselor Jesus promised in John 16 came on the believers. This Counselor, the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost began to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment; in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” The word of God never fails. As Jesus said it would happen, it happened.

The day of Pentecost was a day to celebrate the anniversary of the giving of the law at Mount Sinai for Jews. Yet, on this day when they celebrated the giving of the law, now the Spirit came on them. This was the day Ezekiel’s promise was fulfilled. Ezekiel 36:26-27, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

2. The day of Pentecost was the day the intimate and personal encounter with God began.

The day of Pentecost began with the spectacular display of the Holy Spirit coming on the believers were all together in one place. “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven.” Now both in Hebrew word ruah and Greek word pneuma can either mean wind or spirit. It is understood either wind or spirit depending on the specific context you find it. In Ezekiel, you see the wind as the breath of God blowing over the dry bones in the valley. Ezekiel 37:14 says, “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.”

And, the Spirit of God in the sound of wind breathing on to believers came down on them what appeared as “tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them” in verse 3. As the wind was often understood as the Spirit of God, the fire also was understood as a symbol of the divine presence. You remember how Moses encountered God for the first time. It was the burning bush in Exodus 3:2-5 where Moses met God. During the time of Exodus and in the wilderness, it was in the pillar of the fire that God guarded and guided them by night (Exodus 13:21). And, you read God’s terrifying presence shown in the consuming fire on Mount Sinai in Exodus 24:17. And, in the wilderness, you see the first that hovered over the wilderness tabernacle in Exodus 40:38. And, in the New Testament, John the Baptist often spoke about the coming of the Spirit with fire as in Matthew 3:11 and Luke 3:16.

What is very important to notice in this account is the fact that “the tongues of fire separated and came to rest on each of them.” In the Old Testament, the Spirit came to Israel as a corporate entity and upon the leaders of Israel for specific and special purposes like the Spirit did for the prophets like Elijah and Elisha. But, what we see in the chapter is that the tongues of fire, the Spirit of God, didn’t come to collectively rest on them. What we see is the Spirit of God coming down and resting on them individually. Through Jesus Christ, the promised Holy Spirit to the church is not experienced in the collective sense firsthand, but it begins with each of us as individual. The experience of God that is now available to us is not lost in the crowd. God meets us personally. And, the Spirit of God bears witness to the suffering, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ to each of us. Church exists because individuals of church know Christ personally through the Holy Spirit. In Christ, each of us matters. In church, each of you matters.

The big picture is there is no such thing as healthy church without healthy members. There is no such thing as growing church without growing individuals in the church. Many of you desire for our church to grow, to mature, to be a gathering of people where God is experienced powerfully and truthfully. The building block to this growth begins at the level of each of us. When each of us is growing together, church will grow.

3. The day of Pentecost was the beginning day of the declaration of God’s wonders.

The end result of the filling of the Spirit, the Spirit resting on the each of those gathered in one place was that they began speaking in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. The word here tongues is also used to describe languages. And, from what followed, how other God-fearing Jews from every nation under haven, each of them heard these Spirit believers speaking in their own language. The Spirit of God enabled them to speak in foreign languages that they had never learned.

Now, a side note, the tongues as we commonly understand as the gift of the Holy Spirit from 1 Corinthians 14 and often you hear exercised in our church prayer meetings as well in others settings required the gift of the interpreters to understand the meaning of the spoken tongues. Now, the gift of interpretation was not just merely someone who could speak foreign languages. It is the ability to understand the undecipherable words. So, in this sense, the tongues in the second chapter of Acts was of different kind than the one that we commonly understand as the gift of tongues.

Going back to our text, from all around Jerusalem, people gathered to worship God. Each of the God fearing Jews heard in their own languages from the Spirit-filled believers.

Look at this map.

There were two kinds of responses to what happened here. Some were amazed, but some made fun of them saying they had too much wine.

Now, here is what’s really significant. What did they hear from the Spirit-filled believers? Verse 11, “we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

What was the purpose of the Spirit coming and resting on them individually? What was the purpose of the Spirit filling them? This was the beginning of the breaking-in of the testimonies from the lips of the believers about salvation in Christ, salvation available for all people. The spirit filled them and they declared, they spoke boldly of God’s wonder in Jesus Christ.

Does the River of witness runs through your life? (Acts 1:12-26)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon January 20, 2008

Last week, I ask this question, if you consider your life as a book, what’s written in your table of content? I shared with you that the verse 8 served like a table of content for the whole book of Acts. The first seven chapters of the book of Acts is about the believers in Jesus Christ being his witnesses in Jerusalem. Chapter 8:1-11:18 covers their witnesses “in all Judea and Samaria.” And, the remainder of the book traces the progress of the gospel until it reached Rome, where it was considered then as the ends of the earth.[1] This early church’s table of content involved going from Jerusalem to their families, friends, co-workers, colleagues, going from Judea and Samaria to crossing the ethnic barrier between the Gentiles and the Jews, and finally going from the ends of the earth to people who’ve never heard the gospel. The question that was asked last week was, “What about us? What’s has been written so far in the table of contents of our lives? What’s being written now? And, what will be written in the near and long term future? Will it be about us growing boldly, passionately and diligently at all cost to become Jesus’ witnesses?

Here is another way of looking at this. If you think of major themes as big rivers running through the contour, the landscape of a book, without any question this theme of being witness of Jesus Christ is the major river that runs and connects through the whole book of Acts. The book began with the promise in verse 8 from Jesus, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…” And, you will notice that passages after passages, one way or another it is about the early Christian believers doing their share of testifying about Jesus Christ, being witnesses to his life, his death, his resurrection, his reality. You just cannot miss this huge river that runs through the Acts of the apostles. If we call ourselves Christians and have missed this river that has shaped the landscape of Christianity for the last two millenniums something is seriously wrong with us.

This past week, my wife and I were thinking about this coming summer how we can plan out our family vacation. As we talked about our future family vacation time, Lyn asked something like this, “Will we go camping again?” And, I answered, “Sure, when our Katherine gets two years old, we could go camping.” Maybe, we will have a pop-up camper then. Of all the places, one day we are going to take our children to the Grand Canyon and will camp there. They will ask, I am sure, “How is the Grand Canyon made?” And, I will give them a little geography lesson and will tell them the power of the Colorado River that has shaped the landscape into one of the greatest wonders in the world.

Is there such a river that runs through your life, our life, our church life? Does the Lord’s promise, his certainty for his disciples to be his witnesses, is it being realized in our days? As we journey through the Acts of the apostles we will see together how the landscape of the early Christian lives were shaped to become now one of the greatest religion in the world. As we do so, you and I will need to put our lives under the microscope and carefully examine ourselves to see where we need to change in order to be shaped by the great river of being Jesus’ witnesses.

Today’s passage allows us to see how this great river of being Jesus’ witnesses began. In chapter 2, what we will see is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that is coming of the Holy Spirit. And, last week, we covered 1:1-11 to the moment of Jesus’ ascension. Today’s passage takes place right between these two very important events, Jesus’ ascension and the coming of the promised Holy Spirit. It is a passage that is easy to gloss over, but in a careful reading, you will discover how the mighty river of Christian witness began.

1. The River of Christian witness runs through because prayer flows!

The Lord had spoken very clearly that something was going to happen and that something was going to make difference for their lives. The gift of the Holy Spirit was to be given to them in a few days and they were to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. They just witnessed with their eyes the resurrected Jesus ascending to heaven from a placed called the Mount of Olives, a hill near Jerusalem. And, the angels pronounced to them how Jesus will return as he ascended into heaven.

Well, it was not the day of the Holy Spirit. What were they to do? In verse 12 we see them returning to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives where they had the glorious send off service for Jesus. It was a Sabbath day distance from Mount of Olives, where Jesus ascended to Jerusalem where they were staying, little less than ¾ mile distance.

There in the edge of the city of Jerusalem, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. There in the room were the eleven disciples. Among them were the women, all those whose lives were touched and changed by Jesus, Mary the mother of Jesus and his brother. All together they were about 120.

There in the upper room, verse 14, “They all joined together constantly in prayer” as is translated in NIV. NAS translates it, “with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer,” and ESV, “with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.” What’s highlighted here is in the manner they prayed.

• They prayed continuously; they were devoted to prayer. Continuously, devoting all try to translate the same Greek verb (proskarterevw); one of its meaning according to Low & Nida is to persist, to persist in the sense “to continue to do something with intense effort, with the possible implication of despite difficulty,” “to devote oneself to, to keep on, to persist in.”

It is the kind of prayer that is described in Isaiah 62:6-7, “I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her praise of the earth.” What is prevailing prayer? What is prayer that gets the answer? It is the prayer that persists, gives no rest until God’s will is done.

• Another manner in the way they prayed was they prayed “with one mind,” “with one accord,” or “together” (oJmoqumadovn). Again, according to Low & Nida, it speaks to having the mutual consent or agreement. Another word, to pray with one mind is to pray for the same things, for the common purposes, which were God’s purpose. They weren’t praying random things that just came into their mind. They weren’t scatter in their mind as they prayed. They were gripped with the purpose that was greater than their lives, they were praying for their higher purpose.

What do you think they were praying for? They were just told by Jesus that they would be Jesus’ witnesses. And, in verse 15-26, we see them concern with God’s word being fulfilled about replacing Judas the Iscariot with the new apostle. Why did this matter? Verse 22, Peter said, “For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” Sandwiched between these two accounts, what we can reasonably see is that their prayer was about being Jesus’ witnesses when the Holy Spirit came on them. They persisted in their prayer for God’s purpose, God’s calling upon them, with one mind, with one mutual conviction, to be Jesus’ witness in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Ajith Fernando calls this kind of prayer as “prevailing prayer” that makes difference. E. M. Bounds wrote, “Only God can move mountain, but faith and prayer move God.” The prevailing prayer, the prayer that moves God is persistent prayer that prays for God’s purpose, God’s calling to be Jesus’ witness in our world.

When you see the river of witness, you cannot miss this persistent and witness driven prayer. The river of Christian witness can run through our lives only when we seriously give ourselves into this kind of persistent, witness driven prayer.

2. The River of Christian witness runs through because their prayer was informed by the divine urgency and necessity in God’s word.

We see this reality in verse 15 -26. I have no doubt that their prevailing prayer was informed by God’s word. The fact that they were praying for effective, bold, and Spirit led and empowered witnessing because what Jesus had told them in Acts 1:8 speaks to this reality that the word of God informed how they were to pray. The scripture informed their prayer life.

As they prayed for the Spirit-led and empowered witness, they were led to consider the passages in the Old Testament that spoke to their situation. They began with the 12 chosen disciples, but along the way one of them Judas had forsaken Jesus.

Peter said in verse 16, “Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas.” And, he quoted from Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8. They were both written by David, but the true author, the voice behind there was the Holy Spirit. Verse 16, “the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas.”

Peter knew the Scripture, the Old Testament that we speak of now, well. And, as he persisted in prayer for God’s witness along with other brothers and sisters in Christ, God highlighted for him these passages from Psalm written by David, inspired by the Spirit, concerning Judas.

Jesus specifically picked twelve disciples. The number is not inconsequential. It connected back to the Old Testament, representing the twelve tribes. It represented now the new era in Jesus Christ. The twelve apostles were now to be the witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. The twelve were to represent the future what is yet to come described in Revelation 21:14, “The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Yet, one was lost in his wickedness. The divine urgency and necessity was that another take his place of leadership, so that the witness could continue.

This realization settled in his mind that “the Scripture had to be fulfilled” verse 16. And, verse 21, “Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord went in and out among us… [to] become a witness with us of his resurrection. ” “had to… necessary” both translates the same Greek work, (dei'). God’s purpose is that “which must necessarily take place” (Low & Nida). The Scripture revealed the divine urgency and necessity.

When the Scripture was laid heavily upon them, this urgency and the divine necessity to carry out God’s will according to his word overwhelmed them. What do we see when their hearts were heavy with the urgency and the necessity to carry out God’s will? We see them praying. Verse 24-25, having proposed and selected two men with the qualification to be witness of Jesus’ resurrection, “they prayed.” They prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” And, they followed the tradition of the Old Testament to discern God’s will; casting lot. Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” They cast lots and the lot fell to Matthias.

3. The River of Christian witness runs through because each player is the gift of God for witnessing.

Matthias, e is not know anywhere in the Bible besides this passage. Beyond this point, he is never mentioned again in the Acts of the apostles. Does this mean he played an insignificant role in the life of the church? He might not have been a prominent apostle like Peter, James and John were, what is important is for God to choose him to be added onto the eleven apostles.

Have you seen hockey games where a team’s player is missing because of a major penalty? For five minutes, the team needs to play with five team players instead of six players. The goaltender guarding at the goal and the remaining four must struggle to defend in the absence of the player under the major penalty. But, when that buzzer goes off and the five minutes is up, when the sixth fresh player joins in, effective offensive and defensive plays are possible. I am sure those five players who are stretched and overwhelmed uncomfortably and painfully for that five minutes really appreciate the sixth player joining the game.

Matthias means “gift of God.” Until he joined in, the eleven disciples felt the great lost over Judas who was benched in the field of blood for his major wickedness. The person who they thought was a part of them, a part of their ministry, life, he betrayed them, but more than that he betrayed their beloved Savior, their Lord who died for them, who was raised from the dead by God. I could imagine how their confidence was restored now they got their new twelfth back. I could see not only the eleven, but the women, the mother of Mary, the brothers of Jesus all celebrating for the restoration of God’s intended purpose, the twelve apostles who would courageously carry out the gospel at all cost, even to their lives.

This speaks to the reality how important each of us is for the body of Christ to thrive and to carry out God’s purpose. Don’t ever underestimate what you can contribute to the life of church. Don’t ever think, “Well, it just me. I am not really needed or even wanted. Who’s going to miss me if I am not here?” The truth is that each of your presence matters for the life of the church. The truth is that each of you is called to be the gift of God to the body of Christ. You are called as a gift to others, to encourage, to spur on, to sharpen, and to strengthen the witness of Jesus Christ. Matthias, he tells the story of how each of you matter!

Conclusion

Let me recapture. God wants to dig a deep and long path for the river where witness of his Son Jesus Christ can run and spread far and wide. If we don’t want this, he will find some others who want it. But, if we want this, if want the river of witness to run and spread through us far and wide, we got to learn to persistently flow in prayer alone, as well as together. Our prayer alone and together must be contained by the Scripture. When our prayer is contained by the Scripture, then it becomes distilled, focused, and powerful. When our prayer is directed by the Scripture, then you can be assured that you are praying for God’s will. The Scripture informed prayer is the prayer that will get us all on the same page, to be with one mind, to be together on this Christian journey together. Lastly, each of you is very important part of the body of Christ. Each of you is a gift of God to the rest of the body of Christ. The river of witness cannot flow unless you give yourself as a gift of God to the rest.

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[1] F. F. Bruce, The New International Commentary of the New Testament: The Book of the Acts (Revised), Grand Raphids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1988, p. 36-37.

In your life story book, what’s written in the Index of Contents? (Acts 1:4-11)

 

Cornerstone Mission Church Sunday Sermon January 13, 2008

It is fitting that today we’ve heard from Kise a mission report from the field in Guinea. Several years ago, a church began in Sambuya village. Now, a second church is being planted in a nearby village called Manya. These small and seeming insignificant villages in an equally small and insignificant nation of Guinea aren’t insignificant all. These villages are what’s called the bridgehead according to Ajith Fernando. These villages are the bridgehead, an area in hostile territory that has been captured and is held awaiting further troops and supplies.

The report from Kise confirms again to my mind that when the home church of many of these missionaries prays fervently, supports generously financially, and communicates with words of encouragements, we are in fact sending our reinforcement to this secured bridgehead to further advance the kingdom of God. When you hear that they are encouraged by your prayer, your support, your active remembrance of them, they aren’t just saying nice and customary words of thanks. They really do mean what they say.

So, when you consider the missionaries working in a remote region in a small country of Guinea, think of them as the God’s workers securing the bridgehead in a Muslim country and think of yourselves as the infrastructure that sends the kingdom reinforcement. The advancement that is made in this bridgehead is not driven by the reasons of politics, economics, or military strategies although this morning I am using the language of military. What we are talking about is the kind of bridgehead that is secured, supported, and reinforced in the realm of spiritual kingdom.

1. Enter into the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ

If there is one thing that Jesus spoke about more than anything during his earthly ministry is this, the kingdom of God. Matter fact that was the very subject that he spoke about during the period of forty days after his suffering and the glorious resurrection. That is what we see in verse 3 of our text this morning. Jesus’ post resurrection message was a singular message about the kingdom of God.

The Old Testament scripture he read at the very onset of his earthly ministry in Luke 4:18-19 defines what this kingdom of God was all about. Upon entering the synagogue, he was invited to read the scripture; and what he read came from Isaiah 61:1, 2. He read, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The kingdom of God Jesus spoke of so often before his resurrection and after his resurrection centers in the life of Jesus Christ. C. H. Dodd says that “The kingdom of God is conceived as coming in the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and to proclaim these facts, in their proper setting, is to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.”[1] One cannot envision the kingdom of God apart from the life of Jesus Christ. In the kingdom of God, in the life of Jesus Christ, there takes a miraculous and victorious transfer, a transfer from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, a transfer from the pseudo-kingdom of Satan into the true one and only kingdom of God. This transfer, this miraculous movement from belonging to Satan to now to belong to God, you cannot speak of this transfer or envision without the life of Jesus Christ.

The disciples even though they were with Jesus for three years and had witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, their understanding of the kingdom of God were not fully aligned with the understanding and the proclamation by Jesus. Acts 1:6 says, “So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?””

Two things we see in how they understood the kingdom of God. They thought that Jesus was going to confer the leading executive powers on them. They expected Jesus to put each of them in the important ruling positions in the literal kingdom then. The restoration they envisioned was the restoration of the political power and control to Israel. But, the restoration that Jesus envisioned then for his disciples and for us is not this restoration of the political power for the nation of Israel. Now, mind you that the scripture is very clear that one day Jesus will physically return and he will literally reign over all aspects geo-political, economical, physical or spiritual, all of human existence.

But, until that day of the Lord, what matters now is this, the establishment and the advancement of the kingdom of God in the hearts and the souls of men and women.

The restoration now possible in Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of what God foretold through the prophet Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you’re a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” The restoration is the restoration of the spiritual riches and blessings for the poor, the restoration of the true freedom from all imprisonments and oppressions, the restoration of the spiritual sights to behold God’s glory, to behold the Son of God.

So, when we talk about the kingdom of God, we understand it as laid out in the scripture. The kingdom of God now is about God’s restoration work in you and me, among us, through the life of Jesus Christ, his suffering, death and his resurrection and by the Holy Spirit. The foundation of the kingdom of God is Jesus Christ. He is the cornerstone, the Solid Rock, in him all things hold together, Colossians 1:17.

Anytime we speak of someone becoming a Christian, we are talking about this miraculous transfer from one’s allegiance to self, to flesh, to philosophies, to ideologies, to Satan, to world, now to one’s allegiance to God, his rule, his reign, his kingdom. According to Jesus, this entering into God’s kingdom is like a camel entering into an eye of a needle, like entering through the small and narrow gate that leads to the path of life while the majority chooses the wide gate and broad road that leads to destruction. Entering into the kingdom of God, Jesus says in Matthew 7:14 only a few find it.

How do you enter this kingdom? How do you find it? Those find it find in Jesus Christ who said this about himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” You enter into it by believing in Jesus, trusting in Jesus as who he says he is, the God-man, God’s Son who was born in Bethlehem, who carried on the ministry of proclaiming the kingdom of God, experiencing the restoration of true freedom, riches and blessings, the spiritual eyes to see God’s glory all through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. You enter into the kingdom of God by saying yes to Jesus to reign over you, to rule over you. You enter into the kingdom of God by saying yes to Jesus who offers you forgiveness of your sins by his death and his shed blood. You enter into the kingdom of God by saying yes to his claim upon you, your thoughts, emotions, will, actions, finance, personalities, character, all that make you as who you really are. You are in the kingdom of God that is you are living in the kingdom of God when the life of Jesus Christ grips you, when Jesus rules over you, when your desire is for him.

2. What’s in your index of contents?

As important as this question of asking how one enters into the kingdom of God, here is another question that is very important for us to ask; “How do I help others enter into the kingdom of God, to find the kingdom of God? How do we as a church help non-believing visitors, friends, spouses, neighbors, co-workers, and people around us?”

We do this being Jesus’ witnesses with the empowering help of the Holy Spirit.

While in his post resurrection state, Jesus ate with the disciples. We see this in our text, verse 4. They witnessed Jesus, not as a ghost that does not have a body, but as one with the physical resurrected body who ate with, drank with them (Acts 10:41). This was Jesus not many days ago who suffered, was nailed and hung on the cross and died, who was buried in a tomb guarded by the Roman soldiers. You read a similar account of Jesus with his disciples on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:30-32 says, “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” And, verse 35, “Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.”

The scene of Jesus eating with them is remarkably like the scene at the communion table. At the table, Jesus breaks the bread and gives it to us. We drink the cup of wine. When you came to the table of communion this morning, were your eyes opened? Did you recognize Jesus’ presence? Have you known what it is to have your heart burning within you while he talked with you, while he opened the Scriptures to you and applied to you? Have you spoken on the way what happened to you, your experience with Jesus?

This Jesus after forty days post his resurrection, having preached the kingdom of God, having fellowship with the believers and having given them convincing proof that he was alive, was taken up before their eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”

How do you help others to find and enter the kingdom of God? It is by being witnesses of Jesus Christ. Last week, I talked about beginning and continuing. Jesus’ life, his suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, was simply the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. His story has continued by the people who knew him as their master, their Lord, their Savior, their king.

How do you help others to find and enter the kingdom of God? You do it by telling the life story of Jesus Christ by living out the life of Jesus Christ and talking about Jesus. Jesus told the disciples in verse 8, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The rest of the book of Acts tells the story of how these disciples of Jesus Christ became Jesus’ witnesses. F. F. Bruce comments how the second part of verse 8 provides

a sort of “Index of Contents” for Acts; “in Jerusalem” covers the first seven chapters, “in all Judea and Samaria” covers 8:1 to 11:18, and the remainder of the book traces the progress of the gospel outside the frontiers of the Holy Land until at last reaches Rome.”[2]

Today, God wants to do the same thing with us. He wants to write the continuing story of Jesus Christ, his Son through our lives.

So, what’s in the index of contents for you and for me, for us as church? Are there stories of being witnesses in Jerusalem? Are there stories of you and me being Jesus’ witnesses in the immediate and proximal relationships we have with people, the families, the friends, the coworkers, the classmates, the church families?

Are there stories of us being witnesses in Judea and Samaria, among the strangers, among the poor, imprisoned, or oppressed, across the racial lines and ethnic lines?

Are there stories of being witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ in Rome, where it was considered as “the end of the earth”? Well, we heard some of that story today through Kise.

3. Get to know the Holy Spirit who will help fill your index of content.

Jesus’ specific instruction to the disciples was verse 4, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

You see the index of content of the book of Acts, the witnessing story of the early disciples could only be written out with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

As we move long in few weeks, you are going to learn more about the Holy Spirit. The key is learning to get to know the Holy Spirit personally. He is the one who prompts our hearts, motivates our hearts, inspires our hearts, touches our hearts. He is he is the one who reveals Christ to us, reveals our sins, moves us to repentance. He is the one who helps us mature and to bear fruit of his Spirit. He is the one who emboldens our hearts to speak freely, confidently about what we know of Jesus Christ as the two disciples on the Emmaus did after meeting resurrected Jesus.

As believers, when you become Christians, the biblical teaching is that you are baptized into Christ’s body, meaning you become part of Christ’s body. This is the work of the Spirit. Christian life is initiated by the Spirit of God and subsequently he indwells in each Christian.

We are going to see soon this indwelling of the Holy Spirit taking place for the first time after Jesus ascended to heaven.

For now it will be suffice to say that to have the right index of content written over our lives, we need to get to know the Holy Spirit. We need to learn to cooperate with the Holy Spirit when he convicts us our sins, helps us to know Jesus to have our hearts burn within us, helps us walk with Jesus, illuminates the words of Jesus in our hearts; we need to learn to cooperate with him when he prompts us, burdens and emboldens us to be Jesus’ witness.

Conclusion

As we go move along through the book of Acts, God’s going to work deep in us. Would you join me to up your prayer for these, to walk in God’s kingdom, to invite people to find and enter the kingdom of God, to write the right index of content, to learn to fully cooperate with the Holy Spirit?

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[1] C. H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and its Developments, London, 1936, p. 46-47.

[2] F. F. Bruce, The New International Commentary of the New Testament: The Book of the Acts (Revised), Grand Raphids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1988, p. 36-37.