Go ahead and turn to Acts chapter one. And I want you just to stand up. You know, you guys have been so patient to sit and listen. Let me get you. It's kind of the Children's Pastor Day coming back out.

Emmy. Does anybody need to go to the restroom? Does anybody need a dum dum? All right, we're good. I'm just gonna read one verse with me.

It's Acts 1:8, as Randy said just a minute ago, but you will receive power. Say power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest part of the earth. Father, as we dig into this text today, Lord, speak to us and challenge us in our faith in Jesus name. And everybody said so.

I just want to ask the question that I think probably is. Maybe. Maybe isn't on your mind, but if it is, then I'm about to put it there. What in the world would make anybody want to go do that? You ever ask your kids, like, what were you thinking when you did that?

When you hit your brother or hit your sister or something? What would make anyone, drive anyone, motivate anyone to go halfway around the world, which is a pretty far distance, and do what they're doing? Because I know one of the things that sometimes is in our minds that are residents where we are, is this statement, well, I can do just as good here as I can there. Or people need the gospel as much in my backyard as they do overseas. And you know what?

That is true, is it not? Is it not true that the people in our backyard that we shop and run into when we go into the grocery store, they need the gospel as much as they do halfway around the world. But let me tell you something that's not true. That going around the world takes ten times more sacrifice than you walking to your neighbor's backyard. When you think about men and women that have given up their livelihoods, their legacy, their comfortability, maybe they've given up years in the business world and clout and connections and relationships, sacrificing all of those things to go halfway around the world to tell a people group about Jesus Christ.

That takes much more sacrifice than going across the street to talk to my neighbor. But can I tell you, it takes the same amount of power. No one in this room has the ability, the power or the authority to do anything in and of yourself for the kingdom of God. You see, Jesus knew that. He knew that it was going to be costly, and he knew that we were incapable and unable in Our flesh, we can't.

But I think it's very clear that all things are possible with him who believes. Remember the story, the rich young ruler and the disciples were amazed as the rich young ruler walked away after Jesus invited him to go and sell everything he had and come follow him. And they were like, well, who can do this? And Jesus said, with man, this is what, impossible. But with God, all things are possible.

And see, that's exactly where we are when we think about our lives and we think about the life that we've lived up to this point and, and we think about the stories that have been written about our life. Now, as a Christian, as a believer, you are yielding that pen to the hand of God to begin to rewrite your story. That as faith gives way to sight and reveals the truth of God and demands that change. As we talked about on Easter, the resurrection changes my story that I have something worth living for. That God now lives inside of me through the Holy Spirit when I receive him by faith.

And this is where we now realize that if it took Jesus dying on the cross to take my sin away, it took Jesus dying on the cross so I could have the power to live in that faith. You see, the resurrection doesn't just change my life at one point, it continues to change my life as I walk in the Holy Spirit of God. God is working in me his good pleasure. He's giving me the direction and the knowledge and the ability and especially the power. See, Jesus knew this.

When we wrapped up the story last week, Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem. He gave them a command. I need you to stay in Jerusalem until you receive power that's coming from on high. We know that. Paul taught us that the same power, the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now lives inside of us.

It's like a keg of dynamite just waiting to be lit and to go off. And that's what lives inside of you and inside of me. And it's not measured by our passion. It's measured by our action. As we yield ourselves to how God is going to lead our lives and to lead our life.

We need a connection. How many of you have ever been working in your yard? And the only piece of equipment that you have to trim something is a piece of power equipment that's not gas powered. So you're 50 yards from your house. What do you need?

You need a drop cord, something that can plug you into the source and connect to you so that you can do that work. Well, that's what the Holy Spirit is like in our life, not to demean, diminish the holiness and the righteousness of the Spirit, who is also God with the Father and the Son. If our stories are to be written, rewritten, we need a power source. I remember as a young teenager, about Micah's age, I was about 13, 14. We'd go to the beach, and every year I went, I'd meet people.

Now, back in the 80s, I couldn't even call from Forsyth county to hall county without it being long distance. Y'all remember those days. Now it's like you get free long distance and all these different things. So we would write. And a lot of times, actually 100% of the time, all of those connections and relationships I made didn't last because eventually we'd stop writing Lost connection.

But if I may, I love the story of how Laura's mom and dad courted. Laura's aunt asked her mom would she write to her dad as he was deployed for a year over to Vietnam. And they had just met before he left. And for a year they corresponded and basically courted across the sea, in the ocean, they stayed connected. When her mom died, we went by to check on him one day, and you know what he was doing?

He had that box of letters out, and he was reading those letters and reminiscing over the connection that they had made thousands of miles away. And when Jesus died on the cross and was raised, he began to tell them, I'm not leaving you alone, but I'm sending someone so that we can stay connected for everyone in this room. You've heard the phrase that Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with you, right? Well, the only way you can have that personal relationship with him is if you remain connected. So as the Resurrection is rewriting my story about how my new life is playing out the ascension of Christ into heaven, where he is right now and what he is doing makes a difference in how my story is being rewritten.

Throughout the upper room discourse in John 13 through 17, Jesus repeatedly tells him, I'm going away. I'm going to give you a new commandment because I'm going away, that you love one another. And I'm going away because I'm going to prepare a place for you and come back and get you. Those are great promises on, aren't they? Because they were sad.

They were sad because they really didn't understand what was about to happen. But then in verse 14:16 of John, he says to them that the Holy Spirit would come. He said, in that day you will know That I am in the Father and you in me and I in you. That is a picture of beautiful intimacy. Jesus repeatedly said, I and the Father am one.

And because of our faith in Christ, we can have a connection with this eternal God. In 1423, God, he said that God would make his abode with us. In 1428 through 29 of John, he said that they ought to be rejoicing that he's going back to the Father. Why? Because that's their connection.

The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, three and one. That connection mattered. And they should be rejoicing that he would go back and that when they saw him go back, when he would ascend. How many times have you used the word ascend in a sentence? Hello, children, it's time to get up.

Would you ascend from your bed? Like, I didn't say that this morning. The ascension is when Jesus took up and went back to where he came. What we learned last week, this great promise, is that Jesus is alive. He's not dead.

Jesus didn't like, just poof, disappear. Jesus didn't go back into the spirit world. Forever and ever, Jesus will remain the God man. And he did that so that he could go to the cross. Die for your sins, pay that sin penalty that you and I owe.

And the reason we know that he won and he beat sin is because he was raised from the dead. And because he's raised from the dead, he gives new life to you and to me. And that's the part of the resurrection in our life. But to walk this life, we need connection. Pick up with me in verse number one of chapter one of Acts, he says, the first account that I composed, Theophilus.

Theophilus is who he wrote the book of Luke to and who he wrote the book of Acts to. The word literally means friend of God. Luke reveals that more than likely he was a Roman official. Most excellent, Theophilus. But he then goes on to say about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.

Again, that is like. Okay, Theophilus, I'm assuming that you read my account of Luke and for you to understand what Acts is going to do, you got to understand what Jesus taught in the book of Luke. And he said he began to teach until the day that he was taken up to heaven in Luke 24:50, 51. It was a quick reference, a short reference, a paraphrased reference to the Ascension. It's almost like when you look at the book of Genesis in chapter one, you get this huge 30,000 foot image of creation.

And then chapter two zeroes in on the creation of man. That's what Acts chapter one does. He begins to lay it out even more. He said after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders. By what?

I mean Jesus as God could have just given those instructions, but by the Holy Spirit. It was a new paradigm. In fact, one of the most fascinating verses that I saw in studying for this was in 15 John, chapter 15, where he said the Spirit was coming to bear witness. And then he says, and you also will bear witness of me. What does he mean there?

You and I can't bear witness. We can't live for the gospel. We can't tell. Let our story tell and point to his story. Without the Holy Spirit he must be first.

If you think in and of your mind that in your logic, in your mentality, in your practice, that the little things that we do in our humanity is going to be enough, you're wrong. It must be something birthed and moved by the Holy Spirit. Verse 3. It kind of plays that out. He said to these, these men and women, he presented himself alive after his suffering with many convincing proofs.

That word is only used there in the Greek text. And basically what it means is that there is incontrovertible evidence as contrasted with the proof claimed by a witness. What does he mean there? The resurrection happened. It didn't need two or three witnesses to confirm it.

They saw him alive. How many of you in this room have had the, I mean, just the hardship of watching a loved one suffer and die? A lot of us have, maybe from dementia or a cancer or something else. They watched Jesus be beaten. They watched Jesus nailed to a cross.

They watched him bleed out, suffocate and die. It was horrible. You talk about ptsd. What these men watched was unheard of. But then to see him back alive, it was life changing.

And Jesus intended for them to see him so that they could go forth as one scholar wrote that the fact of the resurrection was to be the solid foundation of, of the apostles faith and the chief ingredient of their early message. I can stand up here today and give you a lot of philosophy and I could tell you a lot of things about how to live your life or to do things different in your life. I'm going to tell you, like Paul said, all I know is Christ and him crucified. And upon that I must begin to rewrite my story. And Jesus is not dead.

Point number one, Jesus is still alive. He's alive. Do you believe that or do we live as if he's just kind of out there somewhere. Or maybe, you know, he may have come back to life a little bit, but then he died again. I mean, wouldn't you hate it to be Lazarus?

I mean, you die and you're buried, and Jesus raises you back to life. I kind of wonder if Lazarus. First words like, dude, why'd you do that to me? I mean, I was in the place of paradise, and you drugged me back out of it. He died twice.

He knew what to expect. The second time, I bet it was a little more glorious because he knew where he was going. Do you know why these men, these disciples, would lay down their life for the sake of the gospel? Because they knew that God had the power to raise them from the dead. How did they know that?

Because they watched it. And you and I today, when we think about the timidity that sometimes haunts our life, why we. We don't take bold steps for Christ, why we don't just, like, go, okay, God, whatever you would call me to do, I'll do it. It's because we still don't believe in the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead. The most powerful thing that has ever happened in this world should give you the courage.

Do you know what courage is? Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is equal to fear. In other words, if I'm this afraid, it takes this much courage. So if you're like the cowardly lion in the wizard of Oz, you know, he never really stopped being afraid.

What did he do? He faced his fear and exceeded it with that much courage. And the thing that gives you and I courage is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit living and working our life. And when I realize that I can find.

Listen to me. A radical boldness, a boldness that no one else can explain because it's not of this world. A boldness that will move me to do things that I'm like. I never knew that God could do that through me. You know, it's funny when you think about how God calls us sometimes, we immediately.

And this was my story. I remember sitting there saying, God, I can't speak. I'm about like what Vicki and. And Randy confessed up here. English probably should be my third language.

Muttering and stumbling is number one. And number two, isn't that what Moses did? Moses said, God, I can't speak. And he began to argue with God that God. Why would you call me God?

And he missed that point of faith to say, well, God can do anything through me. He can even quicken my tongue to Be able to speak, to be able to do, to be able to go, that's the God we serve. In fact, I want you to pick up with me in verse number six, because see, that's what happens here. The disciples default back to their fleshly lives. Here they are, they've been with Jesus for 40 days and they go back to where they were.

So when they had come together, they were asking Jesus, saying, lord, is it at this time you're going to restore the kingdom of Israel?

Still fixed on the temporary, still fixed on the things that were going to help them. In fact, I want to be as bold to say that they probably were thinking about their comfortability because they were tired of all these other kingdoms and authorities coming in and ruling over them. They wanted self rule and they believed that Jesus was the son of David, the eternal king. But they weren't thinking about the kingdom, they were thinking about their kingdom. Jesus then said, it's not for you to know the times or the epochs which the Father has fixed with his own authority.

In other words, he didn't say, no, Israel is or is not. He didn't answer the question. He didn't say whether or not at that time. He just said, it's not now. How often is it though for you and me?

Like we have this great experience at church and it gives us this fire and we go out and we're doing the things. But as time passes, we begin to get weary and we default right back to the way we lived before we became a Christian.

Am I the only one in this room that's guilty of that? I remember when I, when I became a Christian, I was a little bit too bold and I got a little cold and then I got a little frozen. And the greatest prayer that I could ever pray was, God, open my eyes to see because I'm not in line with you. I think the most uncomfortable place for any Christian to be is distant and disconnected from God.

You and I can't fix that problem. Only God can. What would it look like today if you were to say, you know what, Lord, I've taken the pen from you and I'm trying to rewrite my story because I need you to fit my narrative and just give that pen back to the Lord. Say, God, I've strayed away, I've sinned, first of all, forgive me, but now I need you to lead me. You see, he wanted them to understand that it's not for you to know the times and epics.

Why? Because his focus was on the kingdom, not this little kingdom. In the Old Testament, many times when the kingdom of God was referenced, it was always with the coming of the Spirit. Isaiah 32:15 said that restoration will not come until the Spirit is poured out from upon us from on High. Ezekiel 43 said that as they looked at the landscape, that kingdom as being parched and dried, he said, I will pour out my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.

Or in Joel 2:28, after years of desolation, he says this, it will come about after this, that I will pour out my Spirit on all of mankind. In Zechariah 12:8, 10, after a promise to defend Jerusalem and restore them, as in the day of David, he says, I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication, so that they will look upon me whom they have pierced. You see, the kingdom of God is marked by the advent of of the Holy Spirit. In order for the Spirit to come, Jesus had to go. That's what he was trying to tell them.

But they couldn't get it. And it was to their benefit that he goes so that the Spirit would come and dwell within us. The mark of the new covenant, Ephesians 1:13, that having believed, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And that Spirit is the same Spirit that hovered over the waters of creation. It's the same Spirit that now dwells inside of believers.

It's the same Spirit the Bible says that raised Jesus from the dead. How much more power can you get than that? You can't. You can't do it on your own. In fact, Acts 1:8 is so key and critical here, because it is here.

It's there that God then makes us what he needs us to be. But you will receive. What? Say it. I mean, say it like it means something.

I can go get a 9 volt battery and lick the two posts on it. Get a shock out of it. I don't want to do that. That's dumb sometimes, but I mean, when I was a kid, I did something really stupid. I had a dartboard and I stuck the darts in my outlet.

Didn't shock me.

Mom, if you're watching, I am so sorry because mom didn't know how to turn a breaker off, so she started pulling those things out and they shocked her. But even that shock does not compare. Some of us need God to shock our lives and jolt us into such a mean and means in a way that. That whatever we do, we want to please God the Father Point number two says the promise of the coming Spirit is the supernatural ability to be God's witnesses. In fact, I referenced to you John 15:26, 27.

But let me read it to you now. When the helper comes, the Spirit whom I will send from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. He has the primary role of being the witness to Jesus Christ. And then he says, and you will also testify because you have been with me from the beginning. But where does the power to be able to testify come from?

Comes from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead, go toe to toe with somebody and debate Christianity. You will lose. But when it's done, and the power and the demonstration of the Holy Spirit yielded and depended on him and not your own ability, not your own capability, but a life of faithfulness to our Lord and our God, it makes a difference. What does that mean?

For me, that means that God is in control and I need to live as if God is in control. We will default back just like the disciples did. We'll default back to, well, I can take care of this. I can fix this problem. But how much greater is it?

When he is in charge and I let him be in charge, I begin to see beautiful things that God is doing. Number two, I must analyze how God is already working in my life and in my story. And if he's not, I need to be bothered by that. If I don't see God at work in my story, then I may be missing something. Maybe I need to invite some people to come along and say, hey, look, look at my life.

What's missing? Number three, I must ask, how is my story bearing witness to the transformative power of the resurrection God in my life, am I living different? That's the question. If the greatest evidence of salvation is a changed life, then how am I living changed? And lastly, I need to see in my life, am I cutting off the power of God short because of a lack of faith?

Because I'm trusting more in my own abilities and not His? On my knees, praying to God, as I wrestled out the call of God in my own life, I. I repeatedly kept telling God, God, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, God, I can't. Why would you think that I'm smart enough, God? Why would you think that I can speak God?

Why would you think that I can do God? How do you. I mean, even to this day I could sit here and go, God, look at me. I'M a worm and a wretch. If the people in this church knew half the things that went through my mind, the doubts and the fears and the questionings, let's all be real for a moment.

We doubt. But doubt is always the opportunity for God to work in and of our life, to express great faith. When I fall short, it reminds me of Paul's words when he said that in my weakness, he's made strong. Christian maturity isn't getting perfect. Christian maturity is getting that place of humility where you continually see God working in spite of and through your weaknesses.

Because why? He said, I will give you power. Are you living in that power? Or are we like Nazareth in Matthew 13:58, where it said that he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. If you put more faith in yourself than you put in the Lord, you will say, I can't.

But what if your story changes today and you begin to say, I can, not because of your ability, but because of what he can do in and through you. We have the point number three. Security. Don't you want security? That's why we don't do things.

That's why we don't act. That's why we don't step out on faith, because we're like. I don't know. It's kind of like this video I saw yesterday. This man who was playing golf, and there was a pond, and it was frozen over, and his golf ball had tripped over into the.

Into the pond. And with great confidence, he stepped out on that pond and he got his stance. Rick, y'all gonna love my golf stance. And he gets ready to hit that ball. He takes the backswing, and when he comes down, he hits the ice and it crumbles under his feet.

And he face plants in the pond.

You and I aren't stepping on ice. We're stepping on a rock.

Is the rock your foundation? Because the ascension gives us that security. To know that God is relationally accessible, I need to know that in my worst moment, when I've sinned the worst, that I can come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy in my time of need. And that when I'm being most prideful and. And I'm depending on myself, that God will reach down and in his grace, humble me so I can come crawling back to the throne and say, God, I messed up.

I need you to work through me. Or if God whispers down and said, I need you to do this, that you won't say, I don't know God it's just not the right time, and I don't have the money and I don't have the capability. But you say, no, my yes is on the table. What do you want me to do? In verse number nine, he says, after these things, after he said these things, he was lifted up.

I mean, the last thing he said to them was, be my witnesses and wait for the Spirit to come. He was lifted up and as they were looking on a cloud, took him in. And most scholars believe that this was what the Old Testament calls the Shekinah glory of God. Nothing compares to the glory that was shining as Jesus went into heaven to take his seat next to the Father. And they were staring kind of like this.

I imagine it's kind of like if you have your little kids and you go outside and you release balloons. You ever done that? Or maybe like in a month you go over to Helen and watch the balloon race that they have every year. And you just sit and you watch until you can't see them no more. We did it at a graveside one time as we were doing a memorial for Laura's mom.

We all took balloons and all of us had white balloons, and we bought a purple balloon to represent Diane. And we released the purple balloon and we wrote little letters to Diane on the other balloons, and then we released it afterwards. And we watched them. And we watched them. We watched them.

And I kind of imagine that's what the disciples were doing. They're just. They're in overload. And two angels appear and say, this Jesus who's been taken up from you will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. So listen, you could live Christian life like this.

Is he coming back? I don't need him to come back right now. I've got so much going on. I want to finish my degree. I want to.

I want to. I want to. I want. I want to reach triple digits in my salary. Do you know why he said, stop gazing?

The men said, stop gazing. Because the fields were white unto harvest and they were called to a mission, whether that was in the neighbor's backyard or whether it was halfway around the world. You can stand gazing at the clouds, or you could be looking for the lost that Jesus called us to go to. Has the Ascension secured in you that you do? In fact, if you know Jesus Christ, have a relationship with him.

Our story changes because we have relational connection. Here's what we need to do. We need to focus on where Jesus is. He's at the right hand of The Father. You can look up those verses later.

Focus on what Jesus is doing. Romans 8:34. You know what he's doing. He's interceding for us. You know what that word, intercede means?

It means to bridge the gap. I would much rather have Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father praying for me than to say that he's down in my heart. No, what's in my heart is the Holy Spirit. If I've received Jesus and he is the connection from here to heaven. And you need to focus on why he's there.

You know why he's there. He's waiting for his enemies to be made a footstool when the seventh trumpet sounds. In the book of Revelation, chapter 11, it says that there was loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. Jesus came to the earth to die for his sins, and in that secured the residence of his kingdom. And then we need to focus on how he ministers.

Hebrews 7:25 says, Therefore he is able also to save those who draw near to God through Him, since he always lives, always lives, always lives to make intercession for them. He's not dead. He's not dead. He ascended back to the Father. He sent the Holy Spirit.

And that gives me security to know that I am connected with God. But what does that mean for me? Well, I got two choices. I can either walk through life dragging the shackles of my life along with me, or I can live in the power of the Holy Spirit and do what God has called me to do. Maybe today some of you really need to look at what it looks like to pursue God daily.

We as a church believe that's important, that we have devotion with the Lord and that we're praying to the Lord and that we're functioning every day, not just on Sunday. If Sunday is your only God time, no wonder life is hard. No wonder your story needs a new script. Maybe today your step going home is to say, lord, how can I get in your word daily? How can I get into a prayer connection with you daily?

And it starts with repentance. You can't call people to repentance if you haven't repented yourself. Here's the other thing I want to ask you, and this is something I really want you to think about. This church has a rich history of men and women being called not just into ministry, but into missions. You got to see some of that fruit up here today.

But there's others that have been called out to the most remotest parts of the world. In fact, I did a Google search. Where's the most remotest part that has people on it? And it's somewhere in the South Atlantic, thousands and thousands of miles from other peoples.

If God were to call you right now and say, I need you to go overseas, would the excuses come? Or would you be saying, lord, help me to get on page with you? I believe there's somebody in this room or even online that you've been wrestling with a call of God for some time. Maybe it is into pastoral ministry or worship ministry or whatever ministry it may be. But I think there might be some of you wrestling that God's called to put a call of missions on your life, and you're still trying to figure it out.

In just a minute when we open up the altar. Altar is open for anybody to come pray, whatever your need is. And as I promise, and I'll say again, church, we don't let anybody come to this altar by themselves. You come and pray with people that come to this altar. You don't need to know what's going on.

Come and ask God to lift them up, encourage them and work in their life and grant whatever it is they're asking. But pastors will be down here, Fred and Crosby's over here, and Randy and Kevin's over here. I'm up here. If you feel like God has been stirring in your heart for some time, that he's calling you to something, you don't know what it is, come and ask us to pray with you. You know what?

We'll tell you. We don't know what it is either. We're not the Holy Spirit. But we want to walk alongside of you because God is, as the George Baptists have been talking about for about a year now. He's calling out the call, but no one can do your call for you.

He's giving you the power, whether it's to walk across the street or to go around the world. What is it that God is calling you to do? Because you will not know that life. Your story can't be rewritten until you say, lord, my yes is on the table. What are you calling me to do?

So maybe, maybe, just maybe, there's somebody in this room. The first calling you need to deal with is your salvation. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you repented of your sins and confessed? Lord, I am a sinner and I can't save myself.

Would you save me? Forgive my sins? And because you died on the cross, you washed my sins away. But the resurrection is what gives me life. Sin no longer has a hold on me because of what Jesus did.

Maybe that's the call you need to yield to. So we'll be up here to pray with you and to talk with you and to counsel with you. I want to invite you to stand with me. Altars open. Father, we love you.

It's times in moments like this that I've got to practice what I preach, Lord, I can't stir someone's heart. I've preached what I feel like you've told me to preach today and it's your word that speaks louder than my mouth. So I'm just asking, Lord, that you would move in hearts and lives day. Maybe somebody's lost and they need to come down and talk to one of us about being saved. Maybe somebody's here today and they're like, you know, I've been living that whole hum life and I've been living in fear.

But what's been preached today is, Lord, you give us power over that timidity. And I pray God that you might set somebody free to walk in a new step, not dragging their feet, but Lord, to do a high step in their life. And maybe third, Lord, somebody's being called out to ministry. And Lord, what a beautiful thing it would be to be able to pray with somebody today that says, you know what, Lord, I'm called. I don't know what it's looking like, but I'm going to take that step and say publicly, lord, you're calling me to something and the beautiful process of seeing it unfold, Lord, we love you.

In Jesus name, amen.