 Good morning and welcome radiant church. How is everyone this morning? Yeah, good good so excited to worship with you all as we get ready to celebrate Baptisms, which is an awesome thing. We're gonna be able to celebrate with our brothers and sisters who are making a decision today So as we stand to worship, let's just get ready to raise our voice and sing glorious praise unto the Lord I want to invite you just to take a seat today. We have the privilege and the honor of Continuing worship by celebrating what Jesus is doing And we're doing this through baptisms today. This is a powerful moment for us We are actually seeing the words that we just sung in action right now, and so it's powerful This is an exciting time what people are coming into this water with they are leaving in the water today. Amen. Amen Amen Jesus said in Matthew chapter 28 He said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me Go therefore because all of that it has happened because he has all authority Go therefore and make disciples of all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit It's powerful what's happening here and I I want to encourage us today I want to encourage some of us who may be a little bit static in our salvation David had this had this prayer moment. He said Lord return to me the joy of my salvation return me to that place and and so I bring this up because I My hope is today that as we celebrate with these people what the Lord is doing in their lives Our new brothers and sisters in Christ I hope that something gets reinvigorated in us today some joy Some joy about what the Lord is doing in our midst here in this church here in this city here in this region And so what I don't what what I'm what I'm saying is let's not do a yay It's cute. No, let's get loud and let's celebrate the work of the Lord here in this house. Amen Amen, so let's get loud. Let's get loud and celebrate Can you tell us your name? My name is Becky Knapp and Becky who is your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and By getting baptized today Are you saying that you're choosing to follow him and him alone for the rest of your life? Yes, absolutely So Becky by the confession of your mouth and the belief in your heart I have the honor to baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell everyone your name? I'm Mackenzie. I'm Mackenzie Why do you want to be baptized today? Because I want everybody to know I believe in God. I love that Mackenzie, who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus And by being baptized today, are you making a public declaration that you're going to live your life fully for Jesus? Yes, I love that Well with the belief in your heart and the declaration of your mouth I know baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell me your name? Quintz and Quintz. Who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus and we talked about getting baptized and you said that When you were gonna get baptized that you're gonna follow him for the rest of your life. Is that true? Yes So Quintz by saying that with your mouth and really believing that in your heart I now baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell everyone your name, man? John. Hey John Who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ And by by even baptize today, are you making a public declaration that you will follow Jesus with all of your heart? Yes Well John with this declaration of your mouth and the faith in your heart I now baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell us your name? Franklin and Franklin who is your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ And we just watched your daughter get baptized and are you saying that you by getting baptized today are going to choose to follow Him with your family for the rest of your life with all my heart So Franklin by the confession of your mouth and the belief in your heart I now baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell everyone your name? I'm Maddie Who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ And by being baptized this morning Maddie are you making a public declaration that you are going to live your life fully for Jesus? By the declaration of your mouth and the faith that's in your heart is my honor to now Baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell us your name? Steve Ferguson and Steve who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ and By getting baptized today Are you saying that you choose along with your family to follow Jesus for the rest of your life with all my heart? So Steve by the confession of your mouth and the belief in your heart I now baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Can you tell everyone your name, please? Yes, I'm Shannon. Hi Shannon. Did you have something you wanted to say? You seem pretty eager Who is your Lord and Savior Shannon? Jesus Christ and By being publicly baptized are you making a public declaration that you're going to follow your life fully for Jesus? I am Well with the faith in your heart and the declaration in your mouth I now baptizing the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell me your name? And Preston who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ And we just watched your dad get baptized and for you to get baptized Are you saying that you choose to follow Jesus for the rest of your life? Yes So Preston by saying that with your mouth and really believing it in your heart I now baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit All right, man. Can you tell everyone your name this morning? Ben Vrobel Who is your Lord and Savior Ben? Jesus Christ And are you making a public declaration by being baptized this morning that you will live your life fully for Jesus? Absolutely Well, Ben with the faith that's in your heart and the declaration from your mouth I know baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell us your name? And Abby who is your Lord and Savior? And by getting baptized today. Are you saying that you choose to follow him for the rest of your life? So Abby by saying that with your mouth and believing that in your heart I baptize you now in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit I'm gonna cry on this one, Mandy Can you tell everyone your name, please? Mandy Mandy and who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ And by being baptized this morning Mandy, are you making a public declaration that you're going to live your life fully for Jesus? I am Mandy, I've loved walking with you and James all these years Seeing what you guys are doing with their family and I was excited for the fruit that is to blossom in your family by the seeds That you are planting right now So with the confession of your mouth and the faith that is in your heart is my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Can you tell us your name? Laura and Laura Who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ And we just watched your granddaughter get baptized and are you saying today by getting baptized that you choose to follow Jesus for the Rest of your life. I sure do So by the confession of your mouth and the belief in your heart I now baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit All right, man. Can you tell everyone your name this morning? Paul, Pape Paul who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ By being baptized this morning. Are you making a public declaration that you choose now to live your life fully for Jesus? Yes, my man is my honor with the Declaration of your mouth and the faith that is in your heart to baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell us your name? Ashley Stark and Ashley who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ and are you saying today by getting baptized that you choose to follow him for the rest of your life? I do So Ashley by the confession of your mouth and the belief in your heart I now baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell everyone your name this morning? I'm Becca. I'm Becca Who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ And by being baptized this morning are you making a public declaration that you will live your life fully for Jesus Come on. He sees that too. He sees your whole heart every action every choice you've made up to this moment He sees it any honors and he cherishes it So with the faith that's in your heart and the declaration from your mouth I now baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Can you tell us your name? Carlyne and Carlyne who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ and are you saying that by getting baptized today? You choose to follow him for the rest of your life? Yes So Carlyne by the confession of your mouth and the belief in your heart I now have the honor of baptizing you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Can you tell everyone your name, man? Yeah, Ryan. Hey, Ryan Ryan, who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ And by being baptized this morning in this place Are you making a public declaration that you were going to live your life fully for Jesus? Yes? I am come on man So with the faith that's in your heart and the declaration from your mouth I now baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Can you tell me your name Joe Joe? Joe Joe Jocelyn. Who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ and by getting baptized today Are you saying that you're choosing to follow him for the rest of your life? Yes So Jocelyn by saying that with your mouth and really believing that in your heart I now baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Just stand up Let's all stand up We're going to respond to the Lord with what he's doing in song and in worship So right now let's just lift our hands Jesus. You are our king Lord, we are so grateful. We are so blown away by everything you are doing in our midst Lord for those of us who have grown cold Lord, I pray that today you would Respark that fire Lord God that you would fan the flame in our lives Lord that we would be excited That we would be filled with joy about your salvation Which you have given us and so Lord we respond to you now with song with adoration with exaltation God you are holy. You are awesome. You are wonderful. You are kind. You are patient lord And we love you. You are our king forever in Jesus name. Amen Christ the son Jesus our savior Already in church. How you doing? Oh, come on. We just saw some awesome things going on in people's lives. How you doing? I'll tell you I wish all of you could hear some of the testimonies of what went into the tank And stayed in the tank I wish you could hear because there are some incredible things happening And I don't know if you guys are getting excited about what I see little Our little ones being baptized and what the Lord is doing in their lives If that doesn't light your fire then your wood is wet and you need to sit down with with pastor john And he's going to correct you Okay, that's what you got that Okay Welcome to radiant church. My name is garret. I have the privilege and the honor of serving as one of the pastors here At radiant church if today's your first time if you are a guest, we want to extend an special Big welcome to you today On the seat in front of you. There's a little pocket there and there's a card If you wouldn't mind taking that and filling that out and then after service service if you would take that out And go right out to your right. There's a place called guest central We would love to hear your story get to know you a little bit We also have a gift that we want to give you And just we just would love to let you know about what's going on at radiant church on the subject of what's going on at Radiant church when you came in hopefully you got one of these cards if you didn't there's more in the back Our ushers can also get you one. I want to point this out because on the front. We have our new series that we are starting today It's a powerful series on the book of acts what the lord is doing still today on this earth But on the back side, there's also some some information about what is going on this summer at radiant church There's a lot of things going on that we want to make you aware of that We want you involved in here at radiant church We exist to make radiant disciples of jesus christ and I just want to bring up how awesome Last week was as we celebrated the resurrection of our lord and savior last week. We had over 6300 people come to church and worship king jesus. Come on. That's something to celebrate Okay, that was good because this one needs to be louder. Okay. I'm priming the pump Within those services we had 217 people give their lives to lord. Come on. Come on That is exciting That is so so exciting and I want to encourage you keep inviting people keep bringing people Let's remain mission motivated not one sunday a year But every day of the year and also let's remain mission motivated by coming to the prayer room and praying for our city Praying for the lost praying for the broken praying for jesus's kingdom to come to kalamazoo in a powerful way amen Amen. All right at this time. I want to invite our ushers forward right now We are going to receive our tithes and our offering right here at radiant church You can give three ways by texting to give you can give right now in person with the buckets Or you can go online and you can give right there and I just want you to know today I I was reminded of philippines chapter 4 where the apostle paul Thanks the church at philippi for their generosity for their faithfulness and giving for the advancement of the gospel With those 200 those 217 people who gave their lives to jesus who have entered into the family of god You have a part in that through your faithful giving in your generosity You have a part in that you have sewn into the ministry that the lord is doing right here in and through radiant church And so that is awesome. So I just want to encourage you with that Let's pray for the offering lord We love you and it is a joy to bring our tithe that are offering to you today lord It is a joy to return it to you lord I pray that just like with loaves lord that you would break it and multiply it lord And send it out to the ends of the earth to reach those who are far from you lord We love you and we praise you and it's a joy to give today and it's in your holy name that we all say amen Everyone and welcome to radiant. My name is prestan and my name is jackie and this is radiant news radiant networks annual a rise shine conference kicks off next week on may 2nd and 3rd And we are so excited and expectant for all that god's going to do during it A rise shine is a two-day event hosted at radiant church designed for pastors and leaders passionate about the local church And the building of the kingdom of god We're honored to welcome special guests cori russell of upper room dallas john tyson of church in the city new york Along with our very own pastor lee comings radiant city music and more There are still tickets available. So head to radiant.church slash weekend to join us With the focus of this year's conference being building praying churches for revival We are excited to feature prayer meetings throughout each day at a rise shine at 8 a.m 11 30 a.m. And 1 p.m. We are gathering for prayer in the richland campus student center to seek the presence of god Better yet these prayer meetings are open to the public So even if you are unable to attend the full conference You can get a taste of a rise shine take some time this week to pray for everyone attending this year Pray they would feel refreshed renewed and revitalized in the presence of god It's going to be amazing learn more at radiant.church slash weekend Hello radiant church My name is pastor mike and i'm excited to share and celebrate how god is continuing to build a radiant city Every thursday from 6 30 to 7 30 We have our normal weekly prayer meeting with a specific emphasis on young adults and college students Following that prayer meeting from 7 30 to 9 as an overflow of prayer for our ages 18 to 26 We have intentional times of activation and discipleship work together We're learning and practicing how we can be on mission for jesus I remember one young adult encountered by god Which led to a conversation with the prayer leader which led to this young man accepting jesus and now living in new freedom Even just last week an international student shared with me that's been coming to our thursday prayer meetings That he's been taking the things that we've been Learning and and growing in together and actually sharing it with friends back home in his home country I believe with all of my heart that young adults can and will be the spark to see revival in this generation The prayer room is the furnace where every week we get an opportunity to stoke that flame for all of you invested in the radiant city vision Thank you You haven't invested in more than just a room You have invested in the very lives which are seeds of revival in our country and in the world You can find all this information and more at radiant.church slash weekend. That's it for us. Thanks for following along Come on somebody. Look at that. Look at that. Hey Well, good morning radiant church We say good morning to radiant over at portage and congratulations To all of those of you who are just baptized to identify with jesus and his death burial and resurrection I think it's so exciting to see people take that next step Of going in the water and coming up in the newness of life in church. That should never get old for us I remember meeting a A pastor from china and in china much of the church is persecuted And when through a translating frame we were talking about where are you baptizing people like when People in the city of like shanghai get saved, you know, it's 23 million people. Where do you baptize them? He says we baptize them secretly in our bathtubs So in apartments, just think about that privately in your apartments like I don't know about you, but the bathtub I grew up in was not that big So you got to work extra hard to get under the water But just think about the the privilege that we have to be able to gather in public like this And celebrate out loud with those who are being baptized and identifying with jesus that way It's so powerful and we're glad you're here this morning I want to invite everybody take your bible in your hand and hold it up if you have a bible with you hold it up Uh, okay, you can put it down if you don't have a bible Let me strongly encourage you this week get a bible and plan on bringing it with you over the next 18 weeks And you say well why 18 weeks because this is going to be an 18 week series As we're going through the book of x you see right now you're going 18 weeks in one book of the bible That's a long time. No, it's not you guys watch like 14 different seasons of seinfeld on netflix And nobody gets to season three and it's like this is really long you're like no give me another give me another That's what wind and fire is going to be as we journey through the book of x and I want you to have a bible Number one because I want you to start a good habit Digital bibles are wonderful, but you can't take notes reading it on the screens are great But I want you to be able to write notes So bring a journal bring a pen bring your bible if you don't have a bible steal somebody's bible and then repent later for it Or sell something out of your basement and order a bible on amazon go to one of our resource centers at both of our campuses And get a bible go to a hotel find a gideon's bible get yourself a b i b l e Because that's the book for For you. That's right. That's right. So great open it If you have your bibles to ax chapter one Brand new series that we're launching this morning. I am very excited about teaching through the book of ax I have read the book of ax almost every single month Since college because when I was in bible college I had uh, I was in a bible college that did not believe that god was still doing much of what we read about in the book of ax and so Long story a bit in the middle of one of my semesters I sat down I had a long weekend and I read the book of ax and it's so awakened my heart With expectation of what god wants to do and will do for a people who are expecting for him that I made a vow to lord It's like lord I never want to lose that that fire that I feel when I read the book of ax And so I'm gonna read the book of ax every month just to keep my heart calibrated to that because I believe the book of ax Is a blueprint For not only revival But the church and individual followers of jesus being used to transform the world If I were to lay out for you a blueprint and say here's how you spark a revolution If I were to lay that out and say here it is It would be the book of ax It would not be carl marx's Communist manifesto. It wouldn't even be the federalist papers It wouldn't be anything necessarily political because all of those things have had their moments But the book of ax is how heaven invaded the world by the power of the kingdom of god and through a small group Of disciples that followed the god man jesus and his death burial and resurrection How god used them to turn the world upside down to the point that here we are today 2000 years later and what began in ax chapter one with 120 in an upper room is now 1.6 billion Alive at one time and millions more that are already in the throne room of heaven that my friend is a revolution Not just of the external but a revolution of the heart And so today i'm gonna introduce to you this series i'm gonna introduce to you Chapter one the entire book of ax i've entitled this message The day the revolution began The day the revolution began and we've we've subtitled this series The extraordinary outpouring of the holy spirit and the uprising of the church in the book of ax Because make no mistake about it the church of jesus christ is a revolutionary army that heaven has sent empowered by love Empowered by the holy spirit with the good news that can change people's lives And if you change people's lives you change families you change cities you change communities You change nations you change generations And if you look back over the last 2000 years of church history You will discover that this pattern that we find in the book of ax every single time that pattern is Reinvigorated and followed it produces change And every single time that the church gets away from the pattern of the book of ax we go into decline So we're going back to the pattern. All right Let me introduce you to the book of ax number one you need to know who the author was the author was a man named luke He was according to colossians 4 verse 14 where paul describes luke luke was he says our beloved physician luke was not jewish luke was a Gentile probably greek and he was a physician And he was also the travel companion of the apostle paul So on all of paul's missionary journeys around turkey and europe and in the holy land and North africa and different places that paul went bringing the gospel paul or luke was his travel companion Some believe that luke was also His personal physician Because if you read second Corinthians all the things that paul went through as an apostle you need your own physician He was beaten with rods He was whipped with cata nine tails four different times He was shipwrecked a day and a half bit by a poisonous snake imprisoned into dungeons that were rat infested He was chased down by robbers. He was persecuted by his own countrymen He was rejected even by the church I mean if if you've ever wanted to be an apostle just go and read that and then check yourself before you wreck yourself Because paul went through some things paul needed a physician But more than just being a physician that traveled with him He was a friend and a companion of paul's apostolic team luke wrote two books luke wrote in fact Two volumes of one story the first volume was the book of luke The second volume is the book of ax the first book the gospel of luke Is all about how jesus came and he gave his life to redeem us The second volume which is the book of ax is all about how jesus came and empowered us by giving us his spirit And he wrote both books to a single individual whose name was theophilus Oh excellent theophilus. This is how he addresses him Who is theophilus? Well, theophilus was a common name theophilus means friend of god And how many know that's a pretty good name When you're picking out names names matter And friend of god is a great name to name your kid theophilus for short So when I was a youth pastor, I had two studly kids in my youth group And I mean they were just athletes good-looking to sharp one of them's name was skip and the other was spike Names matter The parents I asked him. I'm like why why did you you know pick names of skip and spike? Are they short for something? No skip and spike What was more interesting is they had two dogs huge dogs bull mastiffs that look like horses And you know what they named their dogs abbey and katie Names matter theophilus means the friend of god And there's a lot of different theories about who theophilus was and why luke wrote to Theophilus as he says to give an orderly account of all the things that jesus both began to do and teach Some in church history believed that theophilus was a High priest who was of the family of anna or anus the high priest And so he's trying to give him an explanation of jesus others more Reputable believed that theophilus was a very wealthy jew who lived in alexandria egypt who was very influential Others still believed that theophilus was potentially paul's lawyer in rome While paul was under house arrest when you get to acts chapter 28 It ends abruptly with paul under house arrest awaiting his trial What we know is that ultimately paul would be Found guilty of insurrection against the roman government and he would be beheaded because he was a roman citizen Unlike peter who would be crucified upside down because he was not a roman citizen They never would crucify a roman citizen paul being a good roman citizen from the city of tarsus was beheaded But many people believe that theophilus was either the prosecutor Who was trying paul in the roman courts? And so luke who's trained in rhetoric he's trained in law as well as in medicine because those all went together Presented a legal briefing to undo a lot of the rumors about Who the christians were because in rome at this time the book of acts is written around 62 to 65 ad about 25 30 years after the resurrection christianity is Recoding in the roman empire, but there are all kinds of rumors about who christians are and what they believe they They spread rumors and said they're cannibals because they talked about eating the blood And eating the flesh of their savior. So a lot of people in rome That christians are cannibals. They also called christians atheists He said well, how can they call him atheists? They believe in god We believe in jesus the problem was christians were the only subgroup in the whole roman empire That refused to pay homage or worship to the roman gods They had a pantheon of gods christians would not bow the knee They would not acknowledge that nero or that any of the emperors were deities So they called them atheists and when nero actually lit the city of rome on fire and burned it down And public opinion went against him. He had to find a scapegoat to blame it on So he blamed it on the christians because he said they write in their scriptures That when jesus their lord returns, he's going to judge the world with fire So it rose to a persecution level and now paul has been arrested And many believe that luke was actually writing to this prosecutor presenting a legal argument for who jesus really was That's the gospel of luke and how the church began and what their goal was That's the book of acts I think the most likely case is what irineus who's one of the early church fathers believed about theopolis Is that theopolis was a very wealthy Benefactor from the city of anteoch Who helped finance and support paul on his missionary journey He was a benefactor who financed him from anteoch where paul had spent much time and was financing The expansion of the gospel and the reproduction Of new testament letters that would ultimately become half of the bible that you and i have today And so as a gift or as an explanation, he's writing to this man theopolis whoever he is He's writing with a very specific intention and the intention Is to give an explanation Of the expansion of this Seemingly unsung group of followers of a nazarene And how that church and how that message Called the gospel Grew and expanded from jerusalem all the way to the ends of the earth And ultimately even into The emperor's home in the city of rome the most powerful city in the world He wants to give an explanation the book of acts is 28 chapters that covers about 30 years A lot of people read the book of acts and go wow, what a week that was now It was 20 it was 28 the 30 years And here's here's one little nugget that you'll notice about the book of acts If you skip ahead to the end of the book Which i know a lot of you do when you read books Because you want to see how it ends what you will find out is that in the book of acts there is no amen At the end of the book Most of the new testament epistles that you read end with an amen, which is a hebra word that means Let it be that's it it's done But there's no amen at the book of acts in x chapter 28. Why is there no amen? It's because it's still being written Not literally in the sense that it's included in our bible But what the holy spirit did through the church beginning 2000 years ago in jerusalem Is still happening across the face of the earth you and i are still living in what god started at the very beginning of the book of acts Where it's still happening. When's it going to be done when jesus returns? How many know that's going to be a good day I can't wait to get to heaven and hear the rest of the story as paul harvey used to say So give me the rest of the story of what god did and when you really think about What has happened with just 11 disciples? because judas hung himself Who met together with jesus? In jerusalem and what has come of that? It's nothing short of miraculous. There's no explanation. You know one of the most powerful ways that we can live our lives Is to live our lives with the desire in our lives that says this god i want to live my life So full of your holy spirit So focused on your mission and so in love with god and people That at the end of my life when people look at it. There is no natural explanation for my life That there has to be a supernatural reason for it And i believe that that should be true in us. It's definitely true in the book of acts So let's kick it off. Look with me here at verse number one Acts chapter one verse number one. We're gonna read several verses here And then i'm gonna give you some some thoughts about how jesus Prepared the church And brought the church to a place of critical mass. Here we go verse number one In the first book otheophilus I have dealt with all that jesus began to do and teach Until the day that he was taken up after he had given commandments through the holy Through the holy spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen He presented himself alive to them after his suffering By many proofs and appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of god and while staying with them He ordered them not to depart from jerusalem But to wait for the promise of the father which he said you heard for me for john baptized with water But you will be baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now So when they had come together to ask him lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel? And he said to them it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the father has fixed in his own authority But you shall receive power When the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and all judaea and samaria and to the ends of The earth and when he had said these things as they were looking on he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight And while they were gazing into heaven as he went Behold two men stood by them in white robes and said men of galilee. Why do you stand looking into heaven? This jesus who is taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him Go into heaven verse 12 then they returned to jerusalem from the mount called alavette Which is near jerusalem about a sabbath's day's journey away and when they entered They went up to the upper room where they were staying peter john and james and andrew Philip and thomas and bartholomew and matthew james the son of elpheus and simon the zeala and judas the son of james All these with one accord were devout or devoting themselves To prayer together with the women and mary the mother of jesus and his brothers So axe chapter one is the introduction To what jesus began to do and teach in the first volume, which is the book of axe and now What we begin to see is in the last few days Last 40 days that jesus had with his disciples before he ascended Took the the the throne over the universe Exalted at the right hand of the father That he spent 40 days Preparing the disciples to carry on the mission of jesus You see when you read your bible if you look at the At the headline of the book of axis is the axe of the apostles, but in reality We could call it the axe of the holy spirit The axe of the holy spirit through the apostles and everything that we will study in the next several weeks It's not the wisdom. It's not the strength. It's not the education It's not the the cleverness of human beings that made it happen It's actually the power of heaven the wind and the fire of heaven In natural normal average everyday people That made a supernatural difference But it starts with jesus preparing And prioritizing for the disciples the things that are going to position them to be ready for when the fire comes Next week in axe chapter two, we're going to talk about god sending fire the power from heaven But before he does that he has to prepare them if you've ever made a campfire like out in your backyard I'm not talking about the kind you click click click and the flames come up I'm talking like old school where you make a fire You know that before you strike the match And throw the flame into the fire pit you've got to prepare The wood and the fuel to receive the flame And what we see what jesus doing it says for 40 days Jesus after his resurrection Met with the disciples and taught them about the things of the kingdom of god How many think that that's a pretty good bible college to go to? Where jesus is your instructor For 40 days after his resurrection We sometimes in the church have a mentality. It's like jesus rose from the dead and then And the church was like wow that was powerful. All right, let's go. That's not at all how it happened Jesus was raised from the dead. We celebrated that last weekend On easter or on resurrection sunday and when jesus was raised from the dead We need to understand he was not raised as a spirit. He was raised Physically his physical body was raised back from the dead and then god Transformed it into a glorified body, which means it had no more sickness Disease it was not subject to death or weakness and it was not limited to the Three dimensions that you and I are familiar with or even the five senses. It's it's his body plus It was a human body plus you and I have a human body, but it comes with weakness You and I have a human body, but it gets old and it gets tired You and I have a human body that maybe when you were 18 you had a six pack and now you're 15 You got a six gallon that's just because of the fallen state of the world that we live in But the bible is very clear in first Corinthians 15 that jesus was the first fruits of the resurrection Which means if he's first there's more to come When jesus returns you and i are going to receive a physical Glorified body just like jesus now has and we will live forever and ever and ever in that physical body So the body you have right now is going to be your body plus it's just going to be better Stronger never getting weak your hair is never going to grow gray. I mean you're I'm I'm believing for six pack abs again Maybe for the first time ever. I don't know and It's going to be glorious jesus though. It's important for us to know that when jesus appears And he teaches to the disciples for 40 days. It's jesus He made a campfire next to the sea of galilee. He cooked a fish breakfast for them He ate with them. They hugged him Thomas touched his hands and his feet So I want you to get this idea that jesus He's spends 40 days from Passover or shortly after Passover until the outpouring of the holy spirit at pentecost 10 days before that for 40 days the disciples are meeting with jesus and he's teaching them. Can you imagine In your living room all the sudden resurrected glorified son of a living god walks through the wall and says all right Take your notepad out And begins to teach you about the kingdom of god Why did jesus do that? Because jesus knew That on the other side of easter on the other side of the resurrection what is needed Is a kingdom perspective if we're going to be effective at transforming the kingdoms of men We can't make disciples of the nations if we are disciples of the nations We can't transform the world if we're being transformed by the world And so jesus zeroed in on the kingdom of god and taught them all things about Not only the kingdom of god someday when he returns and he sets up this earthly kingdom But he taught them about the spiritual truths and principles of the kingdom of god and how to do ministry The power of the holy spirit. He taught him all kinds of things and Related to this idea for 40 days so he would come and teach him and that's it and then he disappear And then he would come back and then on the last day that he's with them Jesus takes him up onto the Mount of Olives And he says okay guys I want you to wait here in Jerusalem Power of the holy spirit is going to come then you're going to be my witnesses and then all of a sudden they watch jesus lift off If you've ever seen a space shuttle like launch It's it's pretty awesome to watch it just go up and the burners just go up They're standing there with jesus and then all of a sudden he begins to I mean take off. Can you imagine what that must have been like? You're just watching jesus go up into the clouds Seeing sunlight come through the holes in his feet Just watching him go it's like whoa, and then there's two angels staying there going Men of Galilee. Why are you gazing into the heavens? well because I'm watching jesus fly And I think that's worth watching Anybody else? I mean it's not like you go. All right. See you later jesus. All right boys. Let's go. No. I mean I'm like Wow How did he do that? But the angels were literally drawing their attention away saying it's time It's time and I want you to remember this the same way that jesus left is the same way that he's coming back He's coming back He reminded them of all things jesus had said that he is coming back But in the meantime, he's called them to do and to carry on the work of the ministry in the gospels What we see is jesus the son of god in a physical body Doing the ministry of the father and setting a pattern for the disciples It was training them goes to the cross dies for the sins of the world Now what we see in the book of acts is jesus is handing the baton to them And he's saying what I did and how I taught you and how I showed you now you go and do the stuff It's very reminiscent of elijah and elijah Elijah Was a prophet elijah was his protege. He said follow me But there came a day when elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire But he told elijah if you're there when i'm taking up You can have a double portion anointing and so when elijah was taken up. He dropped his mantle And elijah took it up and what the bible records is elijah did twice as many miracles As elijah ever did This is their elijah moment where they are there when jesus is taken up and now what we're about to see Is that after 40 days with jesus where he's prioritized certain things a pattern for them He's about to drop the match of the holy spirit onto the church and ignite A revolution that will not be quenched will not be stopped Will not be slowed down until jesus returns and church you and I are a part of that So let me give you the four things that I believe in this chapter Jesus prioritizes For the disciples that are necessary for the church to reach a state of critical mass You can see these four priorities by the way in any move of god Throughout history of the church. You can see it in the reformation under martin luther and john kelvin You can see it In the anti-nicean fathers in the first three centuries of the church You can see it in the moravian revival. You can see it in the pentecostal charismatic outpourings of the holy spirit You can see it in the holiness movements of the methodists You can see it everywhere because whenever these prioritize priorities are set back in place like Dried kindling in a fire pit. It always leads to an empowerment of the holy spirit in the church returning back to its original call And make no mistake about it. This is our call As we're going back through the book of acts church as your pastor I don't want you to just get information I want there to be an eye-opening revelation that we go. This is what i'm called to I'm I'm supposed to live like this think like this And as we see that what I don't want to happen is you to be i'm i've missed the mark I I can't start now. I'm just i'm too entrenched. No, I wanted to literally Turn over the soil of our heart and go. Oh, I was created for so much more God wants to do so much more through me And I want our faith level to just skyrocket In the day and age that we live in so here's the four priorities that brought critical mass to the church number one Jesus said this here's a priority that they were to wait For the power of the holy spirit I want Jesus said I want you to wait For the power of the holy spirit verse four and five and acts one here it says And while they were staying with them or he was staying with them He ordered them not to depart from jerusalem But to wait for the promise of the father which he said you've heard from me for john baptized with water But you will be baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now Jesus knew that the same holy spirit power that fueled his ministry Was required and necessary To fuel the mission of the church And jesus says don't leave jerusalem Until you receive the power of the holy spirit You know we can have a tendency To read matthew mark luke and john You know the first four books the gospels that tell us everything about jesus's life and we we can be tempted Or maybe it's our default setting to think well, of course, jesus healed the sick Of course, jesus cast out demons of course jesus Was able to discern and answer Supernaturally questions that were meant to be treps because of course jesus did all that because jesus was god And because he's god, of course, he's gonna do those kinds of things But i can't do those things Because i'm not god Well, you're right. You and i are not god and that's a good thing It's a good thing. We're not it's it's a good thing. I'm not god Because I would react a lot differently than my merciful long-suffering patient father does So everybody just wipe your brow and go i'm so glad pastor lee's not god But here's the reality is that If we believe that jesus did those things because he was god then we're missing really the point One of the major points of jesus's life in ministry You see acts 10 38 Right luke will get to this chapter looking back on the life of jesus it says How god anointed Jesus of nazareth with the holy spirit and power who went about doing good and healing all those who were sick and oppressed by the devil How did jesus heal the sick? How did jesus set people free who were oppressed by the devil? He did it because of the anointing of who of the holy spirit. When did that happen? Matthew chapter 4 jesus at the beginning of his earthly ministry goes to the jordan river john His cousin baptizes him Not because jesus needed To have his sins washed away, but because he was stepping into priestly ministry This was a mikva. This was a cleansing and a washing and a ceremonial purification Before a priest began ministry and when that happened the heavens opened up the holy spirit came upon jesus And the father said this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased Jesus goes into the wilderness and tempted for 40 days when he comes out of the wilderness He goes to his hometown synagogue He opens a scroll of isaiah chapter 60 and he reads these words the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me How did jesus do what he did did he do it because he's god? No, jesus could have done it because he was god But philippians 2 says that jesus actually set aside certain attributes that he had as god For a period of time in order to show us a prototype of what can happen when a human being Fully yielded and empowered by the holy spirit can do So jesus operated under the anointing of the holy spirit Why is that important because that means if jesus did it under the power of the holy spirit? And he told the disciples to wait for that same power. That means jesus's expectation Was that we were going to receive the same anointing That he had and we would be able to do the very same stuff that he did That you could heal the sick that you could cast out demons that you could operate in discernment and wisdom and knowledge It's matthew or smart chapter 16 these signs shall follow those who believe and listen We only raise our levels of expectation up to the level of our knowledge and belief So if we don't think that God wants that for us then we'll never strive for that or we'll never grow in that but this is Jesus is wanting to prepare them and one of the priorities was I want you to wait for the power of the holy spirit because you're going to need it D. L. Moody who was a great revivalist Said this he said there is no use in running before you are sent There is no use in attempting to do god's work without god's power a man working without this Unction a man working without this anointing a man working without the holy ghost upon him is losing time after all We need the power of the holy spirit second priority that jesus said in place and i gotta move quickly Is he He prioritized them Mobilizing the church To reach the ends of the earth and verse eight. He says you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you So that's the first part and then you will be my witnesses in jerusalem judaeus and maria And to the uttermost parts of the world. What was the power for the power was to be mobilized To take the gospel to the ends of the earth. This is what jesus commissioned the church to do I want you to go and preach the gospel matthew 28 verse 18 I want you to go and make disciples of all nations But before you go you're going to need a holy spirit But once you get the holy spirit the point is to mobilize you and Get you moving because jesus did not create the church to be a stagnant institutionalized monument to himself But a holy spirit empowered catalytic movement That would reach the farthest corners And the unreached people of the earth until he returned See the power of the holy spirit the gifts of the holy spirit the anointing of the holy spirit It's not for us. It's for the world Now I can pick on my church family not you, but I grew up pentecostal pentecostal charismatic And we love the work of the holy spirit This is a charismatic church and you know, I grew up and We talked about the power of the holy spirit the gift of tongues gift of prophecy healing You know all those kinds of things but very often one of the criticisms I have of the pentecostal charismatic movement as a whole Is that we oftentimes looked at the power of the holy spirit is for us For us to enjoy and us to be entertained by go to a conference and You know, it's like people are falling down when they're getting prayed for and man I really felt the lord I got the goose bumps and it was amazing and I got a word for myself And it was amazing and and listen we get to enjoy that But that's not the point If we're not careful we can turn the charismatic gifts into a charismatic carnival How many have seen those carnivals that come to town? They set up in the mall parking lot, you know Get a little carny guys running around there. They got machines. You would never put anybody you love on but Because you've had two elephant ears and one of those long hot dogs wrapped in corn or whatever they are You know, you get on that thing and And You know, you're trying to hit the top of it And you're throwing trying to get the stuffed animal for your first day And these machines are held together by duct tape and spit and you have no idea Whether you're going to survive the twirly whirl or the you know Whatever those things are And those carnivals come to town they set up everybody has a good time They go home and throw up they swear they're never going to go back and the next time, you know the next week You drive by that it's gone There's nothing lasting there. Listen the church is not meant to be self-centered It is meant to be a compass that's pointed outward Filled with the holy spirit to the north to the south the east and the west and as we go the bible says in mark chapter 16 It says god will confirm the preaching of the message with signs and wonders following I'm about to say something that's going to rock your world and then I'm going to miss the last two points because I don't have time But one of the reasons why we don't see more signs and wonders in the american culture Is because there is a direct correlation to our lack of going We've taken jesus from being our personal lord and savior to now jesus becoming our private lord and savior And we keep him to ourself and god says i will confirm the message With signs and wonders But i'm not just going to give you signs and wonders So that you can stand there and wonder If we if we start preaching the gospel more in our culture One on one and boldly proclaiming it and being unashamed about the name of jesus and being motivated by what motivated jesus And being a mobilized mission movement. I'll tell you what's going to happen God's going to pour his spirit out and you're going to see things you've never seen before You can go to third world nations where they don't have lights. They don't have buildings They got lawn chairs and tarps and they are persecuted But they are preaching the gospel and you know what god's doing miracle upon miracle upon miracle upon miracle It's because god's not interested in entertaining us. He's interested in empowering us for mission And just for the sake of being consistent point number three is jesus prioritized anticipating his return to rule and to reign And number four he prioritized them staying united in prayer Look at verse 14 after jesus did all these things It says and all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer Together with the women and mary the mother of jesus and his brothers What was their response as jesus takes off? As he he said wait for the power go into all the world and know that i'm coming back What was their response their response was let's go to prayer Let's go to prayer jesus said wait. How long did they wait? How long did they pray 10 days? Can you imagine a 10 day prayer meeting? I think we need one of those 10 day prayer meeting And did you notice who's at the prayer meeting? It's his brothers The same brothers that didn't believe in him until the resurrection You've got james and jude who would both write two books in the new testament during jesus's Earthly ministry these two brothers did not believe jesus was the messiah Can you imagine by the way growing up with jesus as your older brother? Mom and dad all the time looking at you going why can't you be more like your brother jesus? Well, he's god mom Sinless i mean something in the hearts of these two brothers half brothers Resisted believing in jesus, but after he was raised from the dead Now we see them in the upper room and what are they doing praying? Together with the mother of jesus mary and mary medley and the other women who supported him and the 11 And some of the 70 there's about 120 of them What were they doing they were positioning themselves to receive The wind and the fire of heaven And when that spark when that match head Was ignited and thrown on the day of pentecost onto the church in that upper room it ignited an inferno a move of god on the earth That would totally transform and change Society people's hearts overthrow the roman empire And take the good news of god's salvation to the ends of the earth You and i are here today Because of what happened in ax chapter one and how they gave themselves to these priorities Why is that important because our here's our default setting Our default setting instead of having a kingdom Focus is to actually be shaped in our mentality by the world Our default setting is not to wait for the power of the holy spirit and depend on god's power It's to trust in our own strength our own ability our own intellect Or the ins and outs and the wisdom keys of this world Our default setting is not to go to the ends of the earth But it's to live our life focused on me and my needs and my wants Our default setting is not to go to prayer, but it's to become divided distracted and discouraged That's what the devil wants if the devil can keep the church divided between themselves Distracted from prayer by everything else that the world has to offer He will get us discouraged and now we become like wet wood that cannot hold the flame But when we come back and we say jesus your priorities are my priorities god I want a kingdom perspective. I need the power of the holy spirit I'm called to be a witness to the world. I'm anticipating your return And i'm gonna live my life committed to the place of prayer united together I'll tell you what happens. You can begin the countdown 10 nine eight seven six five four three two ax chapter two requires An ax chapter one preparation Would you stand with me all over the room? I don't know about you, but I want an x2 outpouring Which requires an x chapter one response in me And I want that for you I want that for our families Listen, I believe that all of my heart as we look at the darkness In the world today. I'm convinced that darkness only exists Because there's an absence of light darkness is not a force darkness is not An energy source it's a void Did you get that darkness is a void that has to flee Whenever light is introduced Church the darkness is not stronger than the light in you The darkness of hell on the earth the darkness on our generation the darkness that wants to encroach on our families The darkness that we see All over the landscape of the earth It has no power Beyond the power of us as the church allowing it to But as soon as we recognize we are the light of the earth We are the light of the world and we begin to say god light the flame with holy spirit fire and wind in my heart once again I'll tell you what you're going to begin to see the darkness dissipate Demons have to flee at the name of jesus We saw this morning people getting baptized and there's testimonies of jesus Coming and pushing back the darkness and transforming in our lives and saving them and healing them and Changing things in their lives and that might be true in your life It's one life at a time and it's one church in a moment and it's one generation In a city that can change everything I want that level of faith and expectation to fill us today So all over the room would you right now just bow your heads of me I'm gonna pray that god would right now stir Expectation inside of us as we go into this season And into this series holy spirit. We need you Jesus we love you father. We adore you And we want to serve faithfully to you lord. We have been appointed one life one moment In human history in which we are the stewards of this time We are the stewards of this message and I pray lord that you would kindle inside of our hearts A flame a fervent love for jesus And in the places of our life, maybe where we've grown dull and distracted and complacent lord, would you Fan into flame our passion and our love for you all over again jesus Blow the wind of heaven and fan into flame the power of your spirit Want to invite our prayer team to make their way up along the front and this morning as we dismiss We're gonna do what I just talked about We're gonna pray and we're gonna believe for miracles today. You may be here and say I know I need to get my life right with god I I need to be forgiven. I'm tired of living this way. I want to know that something's changed today is a day for you You can be saved Jesus will save you. He will forgive you. He will give you a new heart and a new life How do you get that you've got to take a step out You've got to say jesus forgive me come into my heart. We would love to pray with you Today, you might need healing in your physical body. Jesus still does that all the time Pastor lee. I've got an addiction. I've got this bondage. I can't get free from I got good news for you Jesus came to set the captain's free chains are not stronger than jesus Addictions are not stronger than jesus drugs alcohol are not stronger than jesus Every chain breaks at the name of jesus Whatever you have need of today Before we go I'm going to pray and dismiss us if you need prayer you come and receive today and god's going to meet us here Lord send us from this place as salt and light out into your world help us To radiate the glory of god the goodness of god the hope and the joy of jesus And share and be witnesses of what you have done and who you are in jesus name Amen and amen your dismiss come forward if you would like to receive prayer this morning