The Church Waiting

Well, good morning. It's great to be here. Keith, thank you guys for the worship. That was wonderful. I could have just kept singing. But we know that the height of worship is the preaching of God's Word. And so we're going to turn to Acts chapter 1 this morning. We're going to be in Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2. So we'll be in both those chapters, a few verses out of each. So Acts chapter 1, if you want to turn there, your copy of God's Word. First off, let me just say thank you for the opportunity to be here, not only this morning, but through Wednesday of this week. Thank you for the opportunity to preach God's Word to all of you.

It is always an honor to preach God's Word. And this week it's especially an honor to get to preach God's Word here at Grace Life Church of Brookhaven. Secondly, let me say greetings from Grace Life Church of the Shoals. Just by a show of hands, how many of you have ever been to a true church conference? Yeah, so a good bit of you. So you know us, we know you. And so let me just say a big warm thank you to who you are for how you bless us. I hope that in some way Grace Life Church of the Shoals, Angry to Truth Ministries is able to be a blessing to all of you. But let me assure you that all of you are a wonderful blessing to us.

It is a joy to be here with one of our partner churches. And let me just assure you that we consider Grace Life Church of Brookhaven partners in gospel ministry in every way that truly matters. You really are. And so it's exciting to get to be here with all of you. Third, let me just say how much I appreciate your pastor, Chris, and associate pastor Keith, just good brothers. I love these men. Chris, thank you for inviting me. Thank you for allowing me to be here.

When I was thinking of you men and just our partnership in the gospel this week, I thought of Philippians chapter 2 verse 25 where the Apostle Paul, in speaking of Epaphroditus, said this concerning Epaphroditus, he said, "He is my brother, my fellow worker, and my fellow soldier in gospel ministry." And that's what we at Grace Life Church of the Shoals think of you guys, Chris and Keith, that's what I think of you brothers in gospel ministry, fellow worker, fellow brothers, fellow soldiers in gospel ministry together for the glory of God and for the good of His church. Chris said a little bit about me, not much more needs to be said.

Kristen is here. She's my wife. We've been married for a little over 20 years. We are high school sweethearts. We started dating one another when we were in around 10th grade when some friends of ours decided that we needed to be a thing. So they got Kristen's phone number, gave it to me, and the rest is history. And so we've been married a little over 20 years now. Yeah, we've got four kids, Kenzie, Isaac, Ezra, Prentice. Chris is right. Prentice is mad that she is not here. She knows several of you and has spent some time with you. She had some softball tournaments yesterday and was not able to make us.

But yeah, I've been on staff at Grace Life for a little over 20 years now. It's home for me. I've not only been on staff there for a little over 20 years, but I began attending Grace Life Church of the Shoals when I was in second grade. Back then we were known as First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals. And so I've been there a really long time. And so it's home. It really is. And I love it there. I do also want to thank Coach Statham for coming. Coach is a brother, a friend, a fellow elder. On our ministerial staff team member there, we do a lot of working out and exercising and cross-fitting together. I know Jason Johns has been here.

He's a fellow cross-fit guy. And so Coach Statham and I get to do some of that together as well. Let me just introduce the entire week of where I want to see this thing go as we get started today. My plan for this week, for our spring renewal services is to spend our entire time in the book of Acts. Now there is no way that we will cover the entire book of Acts as we'll finish up on Wednesday, but I am going to be in this particular New Testament book for each service. Now there are two ways that you can think of the biblical material that we are going to be looking at this week in each of our services.

The first way that you can look at what we're going to be learning from God's Word is to think of it as the work of the Spirit in the life of the church. That's what we have entitled our spring renewal, the work of the Spirit in the life of the church. And we actually just sung some of that this morning, right, in that last song. It was the Spirit who gave life to us in conversion. And what we're going to learn from Acts, especially this morning, is that it is the Spirit that is going to continue to give life to God's local church.

In Acts 1 and 2 that we'll look at this morning, the Spirit breathes life into the local church, and then we'll see throughout the book of Acts what that life looks like in the activities of the local church. That's what we'll explore moving forward beginning tonight. So that's the first way you can look at this, the work of the Spirit in the life of the church. Now the second way that you can look at this, and I think both of these things are going to be applicable for us throughout the week here, is that you can think of each of these sermons from God's Word as early church principles for modern church life.

Early church principles, of course we're looking at the early church, right, from the book of Acts, early church principles for modern church life. As my pastor likes to say, in church work of today we are not trying to build a great church, but a, anybody know how he finishes that? A true church. We're trying to do that at Grace Life Church of the Sholes. You guys are aiming at that same thing here at Grace Life Church of Brookhaven. We're not trying to build a great church, we're just trying to build a true church. And a true church is a church that is founded on truth principles that are roughly 2,000 years old.

Now it's very common for most of evangelicalism today to think, you know what, we want to build something new, we want to build something shiny, we want to build something that's got this modern touch on it. But what God's Word actually asks of us is to effort to build something that's really old and that's based on truth that has been established now for thousands of years. So today will be something of an introductory sermon here this morning that I hope will lay the foundation that then we can build upon throughout the week.

That's my way of inviting you to be here for each service because today will be a foundation and then from there we will get into more of the weeds and seeds of what God is doing in the early church and what He wants to continue to do in the church of today. So if you want to give this sermon a title, I'm really bad at sermon titles but here you go, one of two titles. Number one, you can call it the church waiting. The church waiting. Or you can give it the title that we have for our spring renewal services, the work of the spirit in the life of the church.

Now the book of Acts is a book of the New Testament that is filled with what we know as historical narrative. It's historical narrative that brings to life the workings of God and the lives of people who would eventually form what we know as the early church. Some of the most interesting and most incredible acts of God in the scriptures are recorded by Luke. Luke is the author here, at least the human instrument that the Lord was using to write the book of Acts are recorded by Luke in his writings on the accounts of what took place after the ascension of Christ.

And so for these next several days my desire is that as we study different portions of this scripture that we glean these principles, that we glean these truths from the early church that are applicable, just as applicable for us today in modern church life. Now there seem to be what I believe to be two hermeneutical extremes. Two ways of interpreting the book of Acts that need to be avoided if we are to study and apply Acts in a proper way for our lives as individual Christians and for our lives in the context of God's local church. Here are those two ways that we need to avoid.

Number one, we need to avoid what I call chronological snobbery. Chronological snobbery. There are some who would look at the book of Acts as a novelty of sorts. They would say, "You know the book of Acts has got some great stories." It does. They would say, "You know the book of Acts, it has some great information." And it does. They would say, "You know what? The book of Acts is even a fun book to read." I mean there's some incredible stuff that we learn from the book of Acts. So yes, it is a fun read. It's a bit more fun if we're honest with ourselves than reading a book like Leviticus.

Maybe it can be a little more difficult to read at times in our own Bible study. The book of Acts is filled with excitement and with a lot of fun stories. And they would say that Acts is all of those things that we just listed. They would also say that it does not have much practical use today for the church. They would either intentionally or unintentionally look at Acts as somewhat outdated, possibly even go so far as to say, "You know it's kind of culturally irrelevant for the church of today." They would say, "You know those were good church practices for that time in history, but we live in a modern world. We have modern technology.

We have modern people. And since we live in a modern world with modern people and modern technology, then we need to have our own way of doing church." They would argue that since we have these modern ways with modern people, then we need to do ministry in a more modern way. If we're going to reach the next generation, they might say, then we need to employ some new measures, some new methods, some new attempts at gathering a crowd. The church has been doing this for a really long time. You know, 30, 40 years ago there was a movement known as the "Seeker Friendly Movement." Maybe some of you have heard of that.

Maybe some of you were a part of that. And the Seeker Friendly Movement was an attempt by what I would say some chronological snobs to say, "You know what? Yeah, we see the book of God's Word. We see the book of Acts in God's Word, but we need to do some surveys to see what people want in church. We need to find out what will make people happy. We need to find out what kind of felt needs they have. And then let's craft a ministry around those felt needs.

Let's craft a ministry around what people really want of today." In other words, maybe they wouldn't have said it out loud, but they were looking at the book of Acts and saying, "You know what? God's Word is not really sufficient for how we are to do church today." Not long after the Seeker Friendly Movement, there came a movement known as the Emergent Church. That one maybe is not quite as well known, but they did the same thing. All it was was fast-forwarded about 20 years with a new group of people and a new way of thinking.

And they said, "Well, you know, in order to reach those people, now we need to change ministry again." You know what? We have in God's Word is good and it's exciting to read, but it won't reach the people of today. This approach, of course, of chronological snobbery is both out of balance and, I would say, out of step with biblical truth. So there's one hermeneutical extreme that we need to avoid. Now the second one I will call chronological idolatry. This is on the other end of the extreme. There are some who would say that the early church model of church life must be followed in its exact form. Now here's what I mean by that.

These folks might look at the early church and say, "You know, I don't see that the early church had any buildings, so we don't need one either." Have you ever run into those people that you talk about, "Wherever we're going to go down to the church," and they're like, "Well, you know, brother, the church is not the building." Yes, we know. We know that the church is the people, but they do gather in buildings, right? They might say something like this, "Well, you know, the early church had no choir program. They had no keyboard, brother Keith.

They had no guitar." So I'm saying, "You know, we don't need any of that." Or they might say, "We know the early church had no nursery," or, "The early church had no student activity, so we shouldn't do any of those things either." These proponents believe that the scripture seen in Acts should be interpreted and applied as 100 percent prescriptive instead of at times realizing that historical narrative needs to be seen as descriptive of what was going on in God's church.

They might even go so far as to say, "You know, the early church had no spring renewal, so what's Grace Lava Brook even doing down there with a spring renewal service?" This approach, of course, is also out of balance and also out of step with a proper hermeneutic of the book of Acts. Brothers and sisters, our desire should be to avoid both extremes. I know my pastor has been here and preached to you before, and I know he says this word often from our pulpit, "Brother Chris, maybe do the same for you guys." What we need is balance, balance from God's word.

And since Acts is in the literary genre of historical narrative, our job when we study it is to glean truth principles from the historical accounts that are applicable to our lives and our churches as Christians today. And we will begin by examining the work of the Spirit in the life of God's church in Acts chapter 1. So let's read our text for today now that we have introduced it. Acts chapter 1, beginning in verse 1, we will read down through verse 8.

"The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen." Verse 3, "To these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which he said, 'You heard of from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' Not many days from now." Verse 6, "So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, 'Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or epics which the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

You shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.'" Let's go all the way to chapter 2, verse 1. "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance." Let's pray together.

Father, again, we thank you for your word, and as we look to your word to lay something of a foundation for our study in the book of Acts this morning, I pray that, Lord, you through a work of your Spirit would apply these truths to our hearts. Father, that by the end of our time here today, we would be reminded of just how dependent upon you and your Spirit we are as believers and as a local church.

Lord, as we are reminded of that, I pray that we would leave here having confidence that since it is not dependent upon us but you, then we have all the resources that are needed to continue to honor and glorify you in the context of the local church. So, Father, do your work, your way, for your glory, and we pray these things in your Son's name. Amen. Point number one, if you'd like to keep notes, is simply this, some historical perspective. Point number one, some historical perspective. Beginning in Acts chapter one, particularly looking at verses one through three, in the historical perspective, we see the resurrected Jesus.

The resurrected Jesus. Luke picks up in Acts where he leaves off in his gospel. This is his second account that he is composing for this gentleman that we know as Theophilus. He is composing this for Theophilus in order to testify to him of the work of Christ through both his actions and his teachings during the earthly ministry of our Lord. Note that Luke does not consider Jesus to be done, even at this point. Even though Jesus is ascending to be with the Lord, he does not consider the work of Jesus to be done.

Luke only says that what he has written thus far is all that Jesus began to do, all that Jesus began to teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven. In other words, brothers and sisters, we need to remember from these verses here that Jesus is still actively working in his church of today. If you were to fast forward all the way to the book of Revelation, you would see that Jesus is still walking among the lampstands there in the early chapters of Revelation. What were the lampstands to refer to? Well, they were referring to seven churches there in ancient Asia Minor.

Just as Jesus was active in the gospel, so Jesus is active here in Acts, so Jesus is active in Revelation, so Jesus is active in his local church of today. Yes, he has ascended to take his place at the right hand of the Father, but he is still working. He is still moving for his glory and for the good of his people in his churches. The only difference is that this work is now being done by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The work is being done by Jesus through the Spirit. Sinclair Ferguson says this about Acts as a book of the Bible. He says that it could properly be named not the Acts of the Apostles.

Now, if your Bible is like mine and you see a title there, of course those titles are not inspired, but it probably says Acts of the Apostles. And we know that they're getting at there. We're seeing some of God's apostles be used in a mighty way, but Sinclair Ferguson says that the more proper title for Acts should be this, the continuing Acts of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, the continuing Acts of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. So we need to be reminded here in verses one through three, tell us this, that Jesus is alive. He is resurrected and the proof of this happening is undeniable.

It's undeniable because we see here in verses one through three that he did things like give orders to the apostles. He presented himself alive. The text tells us to the apostles, many convincing proofs. The text says we're offered by Jesus to show that he indeed was resurrected and was alive. He appeared to them not just for a day, not just for an hour, but over a period of 40 days. Jesus is appearing to the apostles and to others and showing them that he is alive.

When Paul stood before Agrippa and Festus and was testifying of the Lord Jesus Christ, he told Agrippa and Festus that this work of Jesus from Acts 26 verse 26, he says, has not been done in a corner. What he meant by that was, look, Jesus has done this for everybody to see. His death was there for everyone to see. His resurrection is there for everyone to see. And so Jesus is still alive and working among his church. So here in verses one through three we see that Luke is recounting Jesus' last days after his resurrection and before his ascension with his apostles. The Lord is about to leave them. And what is his instruction?

Well, that's the next thing we see here from verses four through eight in Acts chapter one we see the command of Jesus. We see resurrected Jesus. Now we see the command of Jesus. Let's just read beginning in verse four again what his command is because I believe this is something of a surprising command. If you will, put yourself in the place of the apostles. They've seen their Lord crucified. Now they've seen him resurrected. He's giving orders to them. What would you be thinking at that moment? I'll tell you what I'll be thinking in just a minute. But verses four through eight.

He says gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised which he said you heard of from me for you were not baptized with water. Now here's where the promise is going to be seen but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together they were asking him saying Lord, is it at this time you're restoring the kingdom to Israel. Again the disciples were thinking hey he's going to usher in this earthly kingdom. Is this going to be it?

And the Lord says to them it's not for you to know times or epics which the Father has fixed by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. I believe what we see here in verses four and five particularly should seem somewhat odd to us on one level.

Again Jesus had died, he had been resurrected, he had met with the disciples, teaching them concerning the kingdom of God and I would imagine if this were me, I just ask you to imagine what you would be thinking but if this were me I would be ecstatic. Right I mean I've seen my Lord be crucified but now I've seen him resurrected, now he is giving me some marching orders. I would be ecstatic, I would be fired up if you will. I would be ready to conquer the world for Jesus. He's alive, he's here, he's speaking to us, he's teaching us.

But then in verses four and five Jesus says that the apostles are not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. Now if you would let's turn back to Luke, Luke 24. If you get your copy of God's Word turn all the way back there or if you're on a digital device do whatever the digital devices do. Get back to Luke chapter 24 and let's read verses 44 through 49. This is the Lord again giving this command to his disciples. Verse 44 of Luke 24.

"Now he that Jesus said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets in the Psalms must be fulfilled." Now that's just another way of talking about the Old Testament, right? The law of the prophets of the Psalms. "Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them, 'Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.'" He's already done that in Acts. They've already seen that take place.

"And that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations." So Jesus has told them, "This is what you're going to proclaim the gospel to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem and then going to the remotest parts of the earth." Verse 48. "You are witnesses of these things." Verse 49. "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you," that's the Holy Spirit, "but you stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." He tells them, "Look, you're going to be witnesses.

You're going to take this gospel to the remotest part of the earth, but right now what I want you to do is I want you to wait. I want you to wait on the promise from the Father. I want you to wait to be clothed with power from on high." That's Luke 24, the terminology he uses. So I would be thinking they would be chomping at the bit to get out there, to be these witnesses. And Jesus says, "No, you need to wait." Why? Well John MacArthur words it this way.

"They needed to wait because all the preparation and training that knowledge and experience," and by the way, these men had training and knowledge and experience because they had walked with Jesus. He'd been teaching them. He says, "All the preparation and training that knowledge and experience can bring are useless without the proper might." He says, "Power had to accompany truth." In other words, the apostles had seen Jesus, been instructed by Jesus, but as of yet were without the Holy Spirit who would empower them to do the work of proclaiming the gospel to all the nations.

And from the power of the Spirit, their efforts to go forth and testify of Christ would have proven fruitless, futile. The apostles knew of the Spirit, as did the prophets of old, but in the new covenant there was to be a unique outpouring of the Spirit upon their lives, upon the lives of all of God's children. And this unique outpouring would empower them for gospel ministry as they followed the great commission of the Lord. In Acts 1, 4 there it says that the Father had promised this day would come.

He had promised it in the Old Testament in Ezekiel 36, 25 through 27, and speaking of the new covenant, it says, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean, and I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart," and here it is, "and a new spirit within you." That's what happens in the new covenant. We're living in the new covenant age.

"I will remove the heart of song from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." And then he says again, "I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances." Jeremiah 31, 33, "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days to clearse the Lord. I will put my law within them." It's a spiritual work, a heart work. "And on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord, for they will all know me, the work of the Spirit, from the least in them to the greatest in them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more.'" The Old Testament that spoke of this time that was coming. Luke also quotes Jesus here saying that he had heard this promise of the Spirit from him in John 14, 25, and 26.

God's word, Jesus speaking, "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name at a point later," right, that we're looking at in Acts, "He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." A little further in John's Gospel, John 15, 26, and 27, "When the Helper comes," that's the Holy Spirit, "whom I send to you from the Father," that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, "He will testify about me, and you will testify also because you have been with me from the beginning." And then John 1, 33, Jesus here gives us a reminder in Acts of this, "I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize him, water said to me, 'He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.'" And so the command of Jesus here in verses 4 and 5 is a command for them to wait for the sending of the Holy Spirit before they venture out to continue spreading the fame of Jesus into every part of the world.

Now, the next thing we see comes from chapter 2, those verses 1 through 4, and that is that we see this promise of the Holy Spirit fulfilled. Again, let's just read them, "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, they were waiting, just as Jesus had asked them. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, and there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance." Here we see the promise of the Holy Spirit fulfilled.

Jesus had said that what the Father had promised would be sent not many days from when He asked them to wait, and in 10 days on Pentecost, the sending of the Spirit is described by Luke in the following ways, that the Spirit came and there was a noise like a violent rushing wind, tongues as a fire rested on each one of them. They began to speak with other tongues, they were given utterance here that Acts chapter 2 says. In other words, brothers and sisters, what we see in Acts chapter 2 is a display of supernatural power, divine power.

And this person of the Holy Spirit filled those that were gathered in that place as a sign that the promise from the Father concerning the Spirit had indeed come just as the Father had promised it, just as Jesus promised it, now the Holy Spirit has come. And this singular historic event that we know as Pentecost is not to be looked upon as an event that will repeat itself, it will not repeat itself any more than Jesus' death will repeat itself, it will not repeat itself any more than Jesus' resurrection will repeat itself, it will not repeat itself any more than Jesus' ascension will repeat itself.

This is a singular historic event that God does to bring to fulfillment the promise of the Holy Spirit for His people. A one time historical event that marked the beginning of what Sinclair Ferguson calls a new epic in all that Jesus Himself as the exalted Lord would do and teach through the work of the Spirit. You know if you just look through the scriptures you don't see this event repeated. Now there are some, remember back to our introductory stage, there are some that have chronological idolatry that think we ought to have Pentecost every Sunday. Well that's not what we see from the New Testament is it?

We never see Paul in the pastoral epistles telling someone like Timothy or telling someone like Titus, "Look, I tell you what you need to be efforting at, you need to be efforting at a Pentecost-like moment every time you gather together as people." We don't see that. By that time in the history of redemption he's saying you know what you need to do, you need to preach the Word. You need to go to the Word. You need to preach the Word in the season and out of season. You're not looking for another Pentecost, that was a one time historical event.

Some that would interpret Acts that way they'd like to look and say, "Yeah look, the Spirit came in tongues." And so what you need to be looking for is tongues. If the Spirit doesn't work in you, you see tongues. But that's not what we see throughout the rest of the New Testament. We see it one time here at Pentecost, we see it one time with the Gentiles, the tongues, and even the tongues that are used here in the Scripture, these are languages. We didn't read these verses but if you go on down through Acts chapter 2, men were actually understanding these because they were speaking in their languages. It wasn't gibberish.

It wasn't wild ecstatic language. It was a real language just like we speak English and some speak Spanish and some speak Portuguese. That's what was being done. It was for the purpose of clearly communicating the gospel to those of other ethnicities. So we see this fulfillment of the Holy Spirit coming in the day of Pentecost. And brothers and sisters, here's what I want you to learn as we are laying this foundation for what we're going to look at throughout the week. The principle, the truth principle that we learn from the early church here in Acts 1 and Acts 2 recorded by Luke is this.

The continual work of the church in making Christ known from this point forward, the continual work of the Spirit of making Christ known and living a life for God's glory is now 100% dependent on the work of the Spirit in and through God's children. Dependence. You know what that makes us? Needy people. Dependent people. Even though this outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost was a one-time event, not to be repeated, the work of the Spirit from this point forward is a continual ongoing work in the lives of God's people and in His church on a daily basis.

Now, you might be thinking, well, if this is just a one-time event that we are witnessing here in Acts 1 and Acts 2, then what application does it really have for the church of today? Well, I want to give you just a few. We'll spend the next 15 minutes or so on this, application. Number one, here's the first point of application. It's the title of our sermon, "The Life of the Church Comes Through the Spirits." Brothers and sisters, the church of the Lord Jesus is not merely another organization that lives and dies on its ability to market itself.

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not another organization that lives and dies on its ability to sell its product. Life in the local church is not gauged by the numbers in its budget line. Life in the local church is not gauged by the number of people in the pews. Its life is not sustained by the personality of the Lord. Praise the Lord, right, Brother Chris? Praise the Lord for me. You know what I am? I'm a real boring guy. You can ask Christen about this sometime this week. I had to tell Christen, "Christen, that's not, look, I'm not the life of the party. I'm not that guy. I'm boring.

If the life of the church was dependent upon me, it just wouldn't last. I'm not that charismatic. I'm not that dynamic as a person or as a preacher or as a speaker. But the life of the church is not sustained by the personality of the preacher or the skill of its leaders." Praise the Lord, right, Brother? That it's not my skill that's going to keep the church going. That doesn't mean I should be lazy or anything like that, but the church is something else. It is the Spirit of God, brothers and sisters, that gives life to the people of God. You know why Grace Life Church of Brookhaven is here?

It's not here because Pastor Chris is so great, and I love Pastor Chris. It's not here because Pastor Keith is so great, I love Pastor Keith. It's not here because any of you all are so great. It is here because the Spirit of God is at work in Brookhaven to unite you people together in the gospel. That's why you're here. He did it. Apart from the Spirit of God at work in the lives of God's people, then we are simply a group of people that would resemble a country club more than a local church. The church is born and sustained in her life by supernatural work of God, by a supernatural person, the third person of the Trinity.

Grace Life Church, you're not a civic organization. You're not a ball team. Praise the Lord, you're not a political party. You're a church. Because you're a church, you've been born by the work of the Spirit of God. Because you're a church, you live because of a continual, ongoing work of the Spirit in each of your lives and in your lives corporately as a church family. Let me just, here's seven things I got from a study Bible on what the Spirit is doing today in the life of the church. Here's seven things. The Spirit regenerates the believer. You know what? Apart from the Spirit, no regeneration.

Now three of my four children have made a profession of faith. They're bearing fruit of it. One is not. You know where that leaves me? Dependent again. If I could drill the gospel into my kid and all the young people's kids at Grace Life Church, I would. I'd open up their heart and open up their skull and I'd put it in there and slam it shut and say, "Good, we got that going." But you know what? The Spirit of God is the only one that regenerates lost. The Spirit of God indwells the believer. You know how you're able to overcome sin? It's not because you're super disciplined. It's not because you are better at it than others.

It's because the Spirit of God is dwelling within you. That's number three. The Spirit of God sanctifies the believer. Have you made progress in the Christian life? If so, it's because the Spirit of God is empowering and enabling you to do so. The Spirit of God gifts the believer for service. I have no doubt that all of you have different spiritual gifts and you're using them here at Grace Life Church in Brookhaven. Is that because you're so gifted in and of yourself? It's no. It's because the Spirit of God is giving you those gifts and abilities to serve Him. Number five, the Spirit enables the fruit of holy living.

Number six, the Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture so that we as believers could see the Scriptures. Now the Spirit illumines our eyes. We just sang that as well. Illumines our eyes to see the truth of the Scripture that we may live it out. Spirit number seven teaches the believer about Christ, our Lord, our Savior. So does the Spirit of God who both creates the church and conforms the church to the image of Christ that it may live a life for God's glory?

From Pentecost forward, here in Acts 1 and Acts 2 as we're laying this foundation, from Pentecost forward it is very clear that Christ is giving life to His church through the work of the Spirit. So the life of the church comes through the Spirit. Number two, the power of the church comes through the Spirit. And we touched on this momentarily when we were discussing how the disciples were to wait for the Spirit of God before going forth to teach others about Jesus. The church, if our order to be changed by the gospel, then the work of the Spirit must accompany our message.

If other people's lives here in the community of Brookhaven, Mississippi are to be changed by the gospel, then the work of the Spirit must accompany our message. Apart from the work of the Spirit, our sermons, our evangelistic attempts are no more powerful than a country speech delivered by a pouring politician. Remember what Jesus told them there in Luke 24, 49, "I am sending forth the promise that's the Spirit of my Father upon you, but you are to save the city until you are clothed with power." Come on high.

In other words, it is the Spirit of God that will clothe you with the power to speak the words of Christ so that it may bear fruit in the lives of others. How else do you explain the transformation from a man like Peter? Think of how we leave Peter in the gospels. He's somewhat disgraced as a disciple of the Lord. Peter was the one that would deny his Lord a number of times who would shamefully say, "No, I have no knowledge of this man Jesus," would even curse the name of Jesus as he was denying him. Peter was the one throughout the gospels that we can all relate to, probably, right?

Constantly sticking his foot in his mouth, constantly saying things that make you cringe a bit, that make you have some secondhand embarrassment for Peter because of some of the things. I just preached a text in Mark not too long ago where Peter took it upon himself to rebuke the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus had to say, "Get behind me, Satan." And then we get to Acts chapter 2, and we won't read all of this, but in Acts 2, 14 through 36, this same Peter who is now filled with the Holy Spirit stands and boldly preaches the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. What was the difference?

The difference was that Peter now was indwelt with the Spirit of God and empowered by the Spirit of God to preach the gospel. In Acts chapter 4, verse 8, it describes it, "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them," and then he went in to preach it. Acts 4, 31, "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness." How were they able to do that? Because they were filled with the Spirit of God.

While tongues is not always seen associated with the filling of the Spirit, the power to be Christ's witnesses through bold proclamation of the gospel is always associated with the filling of the Spirit. Sinclair Ferguson again said, "By means of the outpouring of the Spirit upon them, these men indeed had become effective witnesses for the gospel." We see it described of preaching in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 5, when Paul was writing the church at Thessalonica and says, "For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit." The power of the church comes through the Spirit.

Number 3, quickly, the spread of the church comes through the Spirit. Verse 8 from our text in chapter 1, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and then what will happen?" "You shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem," that was the local area for these men. And in all Judea, that's kind of moving out a bit. Samaria moving out a bit more. And then this one, even to the remotest part of the earth. And Pastor Chris prayed just a moment ago.

It really is incredible to see how the Lord through His Spirit has done this work, but there are churches in the Anchor and Truth Network, in Oklahoma, in Florida, in Peru, in Scotland preaching the same gospel, opening up God's Word, looking to His Word, and how has that come about? Has it come about because a guy named Steve McAllister is so slick and Anchor and Truth is so organized, and he's like, "No!" It's been coming about since Acts chapter 1, verse 8, "When the Spirit was given and the church began to spread because God was empowering them to boldly preach the gospel throughout the world." If missions is to be done, if church planting is to be done, if the spread of the gospel is to be done, it will be done through the Spirit.

Here's the difference between us and the early church. There in Acts chapter 1, the Lord Jesus was searching His men, and He said, "Look, you need to wait because I'm going to send the Spirit upon you." Now what is He telling the church? We already have the Spirit. The Spirit has been sent. Now what is He saying? "Go! Go!" He told His men originally, "Now wait, wait for the Spirit to be sent." Now we are indwelt with the Spirit, and now He's saying, "No! Go into all the world! Preach the gospel to all the nations! Plant churches! Make disciples! See people born again!" That's the word for the church today.

The spread of the church comes through the Spirit. Number 4, the sanctification of the church comes through the Spirit. One of the most fundamental works of the Holy Spirit is the work He does in making the believer more holy. The Spirit works to conform us to the image of Christ. You know, people sometimes want to talk about, "Well, do you see the Spirit at work in your church?" Let me ask you this. Are people being conformed to the image of Christ? If so, the Spirit's at work in your church. That's an easy answer. Does the Spirit at work here at Brookhaven? Well, are you progressing on in Christ's lightness?

If so, the Spirit of God is at work here at the Grace Life Church in Brookhaven. Praise His name for it. Here's what we're getting at, brothers and sisters. Anything that is of significant value for life in the church comes from the work of the Spirit. So how does this practically affect the life of the church and her ministries? Number 1, I've already mentioned it makes us dependent. It makes us dependent. Our dependency upon God is seen most vividly, I believe, in our prayer lives. Since it doesn't depend on our power, since it doesn't depend on our might, you know what we must do?

We must seek the Lord in prayer and ask Him to work for His glory and for the good of His church. Our dependency is seen in our adherence to God's means to build His church rather than relying upon the ways of the world to gather a crowd. The Apostle Paul did this in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 5. You know, the church at Corinth would have been a place where the Apostle Paul could have gone and he could have done all sorts of Corinthian things to gather a crowd. He probably could have used some drama. He might have used some jam-up music.

He could have used all sorts of other means and methods, but because he was dependent upon the Spirit, he said, "I will use God's means to see His church built His way." We're dependent. It makes us dependent. Number 2, it makes us confident. Knowing that the life of the church is dependent upon the work of the Spirit, it makes us confident. Why? Because God said He will build His church. You don't have to doubt that. You don't have to think, "Man, does He really want to do this?" Yes, for the glory of His name, He is going to build His church.

So go forward in confidence, preaching the gospel, discipling one another, fellowshipping with one another, reaching out into your community. You have the power of the Spirit of God. He is working through you for His glory to build this church. Be confident in that. You know, sometimes that's easier said than done. Theologically, sometimes you can know things and still not live in light of those truths. I do it all the time. I wish I could tell you I don't, but I do. In my particular role at Grace Life, I do quite a bit of counseling.

I can get into some really difficult counseling matters and I can get discouraged and I can begin to think, "Man, there's just nothing happening. I lose my confidence in the Spirit of God to work in that person's life or in that situation's life and I shouldn't do that." Just be confident, not in my ability, not in my ingenuity. It's not based on me. Confident that the Spirit of God is at work in His church. Brothers and sisters, be encouraged. Be encouraged. I don't know where each of you are at as individuals and as local church friends, but I want you to be encouraged. You can be confident that God is at work.

Then the last one, number three, it makes us glory of God-focused because you know what? If it's not based on us, if it's not dependent upon us, if the power is not ours, if it's all the Lord's, then He gets all the glory. That's exactly as it should be. Glory of God-focused. So Grace Life Church in Brook Cave, let me encourage you today, be dependent. Be radically dependent upon the Spirit of God to work. As I said, that doesn't mean you're lazy. That doesn't mean you're not out there preaching.

That doesn't mean you're not sharing the gospel, all those things, but you understand as you go about the work of ministry in this local church that you know what? It's not you. It's not your mind. It's not your will. It's not your power. It is the Lord's through His Spirit. You need to radically dependent upon Him, but be confident. Be confident that the Spirit of God is going to continue to work for His glory and make sure when it's all said and done that the glory goes to Him and not to us.