SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Sermons from the Way Church KC, a community of licensed saints in Kansas City, following the way of Jesus and pushing back darkness together.
SPEAKER_02: Let's stand and read God's word together.
SPEAKER_02: We are in Acts 1, 1 through 5.
SPEAKER_02: In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, whom he had chosen.
SPEAKER_02: Appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: 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 from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Emma.
SPEAKER_01: And hello, am I on?
SPEAKER_01: Can you hear me, Steve?
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe turn me up just a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Alito.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Well, hell hello everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Way Church, Casey.
SPEAKER_01: I'm Zach.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the lead pastor here at The Way Church.
SPEAKER_01: And if this is your first time here, we exist to follow the way of Jesus and push back darkness together.
SPEAKER_01: We're a church plant that launched about a year and a few months ago.
SPEAKER_01: And it's just a joyous time, a joyous opportunity to plant a church with your friends and family.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you're a guest here, if this is your first time visiting us, welcome.
SPEAKER_01: We're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_01: And we'd love for you to be a part of our way family.
SPEAKER_01: We might not have all the bells and whistles, the fancy lights, the you know, super crazy production and fog machine, but what God is building is a sweet community, and we're going to faithfully preach his word.
SPEAKER_01: So today we're beginning a new series through the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: You guys like that uh graphic I made?
SPEAKER_01: I'm super proud of it, honestly.
SPEAKER_01: Um we've been in a series titled The Living God, and we had as I was on paternity leave, um we had Keith and Roman and River preach through that series where we looked at different characteristics of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: And now we're transitioning to a series through uh the book of Acts, and we're gonna take our time through this.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna walk verse by verse through this book, and we're gonna really dig deep into what this book says.
SPEAKER_01: Um Acts is it's kind of like the church planting playbook, if you will.
SPEAKER_01: Um in this book, what we see is the beginning of the church.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Patrick Shriner, in his commentary on Acts, he says this.
SPEAKER_01: The book of Acts offers something unique in the canon.
SPEAKER_01: It contains 14% of the New Testament, and it recounts a new stage in Christian history, post-Jesus life.
SPEAKER_01: Everything before this has been either preincarnate Jesus or with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: No longer are readers or characters looking forward to a Messiah or following him on the dusty roads of Jerusalem or Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: Now readers get a glimpse of Jesus' followers as they seek to be faithful to Jesus after he has departed.
SPEAKER_01: This new community must figure out how to act now that Christ is gone.
SPEAKER_01: What has God instructed them to do?
SPEAKER_01: Where is the kingdom?
SPEAKER_01: How will they respond to persecution and pressures?
SPEAKER_01: What is the future of God's people?
SPEAKER_01: How do they live under the rule of Rome as a marginal and contested community?
SPEAKER_01: And family, why we're digging into this book is because in much the same way, we are also living in this same sort of tension.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to pose a question to you this morning as we begin this series, as we dig in.
SPEAKER_01: What if we, as the Way Casey, were to live out the book of Acts, were to look like the early church?
SPEAKER_01: What if we as a church plant were to embody what we find in this church planting playbook?
SPEAKER_01: You see, this book right here, it's kind of the heartbeat of our little church plant.
SPEAKER_01: It is embedded in our name.
SPEAKER_01: Because I've talked about this before, but early Christians, they were not known as Christians, they were known as followers of the way.
SPEAKER_01: The way was one of the earliest terms used to describe this Jesus movement that we see taking shape as the book of Acts begins.
SPEAKER_01: The idea is that this was not just another Jewish sect that was forming, but that it was the way.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says in John chapter 14, verse 6, I am the way and the truth and the life.
SPEAKER_01: No one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_01: So these believers in the book of Acts, they're pointing to this verse in John and they're making a radical claim.
SPEAKER_01: They're making the claim that they have found the way to eternal life through Jesus, that they have found the way to righteous living through Jesus Christ, and that they have found the way to kingdom living on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what we're diving into in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to take a deep look at how the early church lived by the Spirit and followed the way.
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of our tagline for this sermon series: Living by the Spirit and Following the Way.
SPEAKER_01: And what I hope that we see throughout this series is that we are still living this story out.
SPEAKER_01: We, I believe this, we can be the Church of Acts in 2025 in Kansas City.
SPEAKER_01: We can be a body of believers who are living by the Spirit and following the way.
SPEAKER_01: Another question to pose to you.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever been a part of building something?
SPEAKER_01: Who here's been a part of building something?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, a lot of us.
SPEAKER_01: Have you been ever been a part of something that seemed bigger than yourself?
SPEAKER_01: Last week at our staff meeting, we were talking and I posed the question to our team, why are you a church planter?
SPEAKER_01: Why are we church planters, right?
SPEAKER_01: And Roman, he said something along the lines of being a part of something that's bigger than himself.
SPEAKER_01: He shared this illustration of how when he was a freshman in high school playing football, Roman's a football player, if you didn't know.
SPEAKER_01: He can bust some heads on football.
SPEAKER_01: But uh Roman shared freshman year, they sucked, right?
SPEAKER_01: How many games y'all win?
unknown: Two.
SPEAKER_01: They won two games.
SPEAKER_01: They were getting blown out.
SPEAKER_01: He was a freshman on varsity.
SPEAKER_01: And by senior year, they were a pretty good team, pretty solid team, right?
SPEAKER_01: So Roman shared that in much the same way as getting to be a part of building this football team, building the culture, building the context of this football team.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, he feels that way about this church plan.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, it excites him to think about five, ten years down the road, what God could do in and through his people in this church.
SPEAKER_01: Family, I believe that we are all a part of building something.
SPEAKER_01: We are all church planters.
SPEAKER_01: We're all a part of something bigger than ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: And for me, it's like there's just something about partnering with God in building something that outlasts you that just really gets me going.
SPEAKER_01: I I had much the same opportunity when I was in the nonprofit world.
SPEAKER_01: I got to see something from a super small nonprofit organization in Oklahoma City grow to be this nationwide organization.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not anything I did, but it's everything that God did.
SPEAKER_01: There's just something about being part of building something bigger than yourself that can only be a move of God that really gets me going.
SPEAKER_01: And what I believe is here at the Waychurch KC, we are a part of a move of God.
SPEAKER_01: We have the opportunity to partner with God in planting this church.
SPEAKER_01: Henry Blackaby, I know Janet loves this quote, he says, to find where God is moving and join him there.
SPEAKER_01: Find where God is moving and join him there.
SPEAKER_01: And family, I believe that God is moving here at the Way Church KC.
SPEAKER_01: So find where he's moving and join him there.
SPEAKER_01: So just as believers in the book of Acts, we're partnering with God in building something, we here at this little church plant in Rosedale, Kansas, are as well.
SPEAKER_01: And so ultimately, that's what I hope that we see throughout this sermon series.
SPEAKER_01: Here's our big idea this morning.
SPEAKER_01: As believers, we are called to live empowered by the Holy Spirit, enabling us to follow the way of Jesus and fulfill his mission to the world.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, there's three things we're gonna look at.
SPEAKER_01: First, we're gonna establish our empowered context.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, we're gonna ground ourselves in Christ's teachings, and thirdly, we're gonna trust in the Spirit's power.
SPEAKER_01: I'll pray and then let's dig in.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us here today.
SPEAKER_01: Whether we've been coming to the way for a while or this is our first time, Lord, I pray that we encounter you, that we encounter your presence, that we encounter your Holy Spirit, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that you move through this series, through the book of Acts, Lord, that we see what it's like to plant a church, that we dig deep into your church planting playbook, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, that we can live lives that are empowered by the Holy Spirit and that we can follow the way of your Son Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that as I preach your word, that you move me out of the way and that you speak through me, Lord, I am but a mouthpiece.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, prepare our hearts, prepare our ears.
SPEAKER_01: May you move in this place.
SPEAKER_01: We love you.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your son Jesus' name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, point number one this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Establish our empowered context.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna look at just like what the context of the book of Acts is.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna lay some foundational work.
SPEAKER_01: So verse one in Acts chapter one reads this.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a couple things in verse one that we see.
SPEAKER_01: First, we see this phrase, first book, and then we see this Theophilus guy is addressed.
SPEAKER_01: And who here remembers our series through the Gospel of Luke?
SPEAKER_01: A handful of us?
SPEAKER_01: Keith, shout-outs, Keith.
SPEAKER_01: So we we our first sermon series as a church was a series through the gospel according to Luke.
SPEAKER_01: And the book of Acts is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke.
SPEAKER_01: With this, I think we see that the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts are to be read together.
SPEAKER_01: They're to be seen as one interconnected work.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 1, verses 1 through 4.
SPEAKER_01: This is how the Gospel of Luke begins.
SPEAKER_01: Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent.
SPEAKER_01: Here it is, Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
SPEAKER_01: So both Luke and Acts are presumed to have been written by the physician Luke, and they're both addressed to this Theophilus guy.
SPEAKER_01: And this is a pretty interesting aside that I found while studying this this week.
SPEAKER_01: This name Theophilus, Ashton, you'll love this.
SPEAKER_01: So this name Theophilus, it means loved by God or lover of God.
SPEAKER_01: So one commentary I read says this most modern commentators shy away from seeing the name as symbolic.
SPEAKER_01: But in the ancient world, names were significant.
SPEAKER_01: Though the name is well documented, it may indicate Acts is written to create lovers or friends of God.
SPEAKER_01: In Acts, you are either the Greek word theophiloi, which means friends or lover of God, or you're theomikoi, which means fighters against God.
SPEAKER_01: We see that Greek word used in Acts chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: So what we should immediately see is the continuity of these two books, meant to create lovers of God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's our hope through this sermon series, is that as we dig deep into God's word through the book of Acts, that we become lovers of God.
SPEAKER_01: We become more in tune to God's love and we begin to exude that more in our day-to-day life.
SPEAKER_01: Because ultimately, there's continuity, right, between Jesus' earthly ministry and the mission of his followers, the followers of the way.
SPEAKER_01: This book takes place directly after what we read about in the Gospels, specifically the Gospel according to Luke.
SPEAKER_01: And with this, I think we can deduce that, like the author Luke, he is still writing as he was in Luke chapter 1, so that we may have certainty, certainty surrounding these things.
SPEAKER_01: And just as a little refresher, the Gospel of Luke, it concludes with Jesus' death, with his burial, with his resurrection, with his appearing to the disciples, and then his ascension to the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of the context that we're sitting in here as we begin this series.
SPEAKER_01: We then see this phrase in Acts 1.1.
SPEAKER_01: I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.
SPEAKER_01: I've dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.
SPEAKER_01: So what this should show us is that Jesus' work isn't finished, right?
SPEAKER_01: He began to do it.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't, I mean, the work of Christ on the cross is finished, but we're living out the mission today through his church.
SPEAKER_01: So what did Jesus begin to do and teach?
SPEAKER_01: Well, a few things.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just give you a few ideas of it.
SPEAKER_01: First, he proclaimed God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: He proclaimed God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: We see that in Luke chapter 4, verse 43.
SPEAKER_01: I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God, for I was sent for this purpose.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus taught that the reign of God had broken into history through his ministry.
SPEAKER_01: I have this friend, Lucas.
SPEAKER_01: He lives down in Newton, Kansas, but uh.
SPEAKER_01: And when we moved to Wichita in 2018, he's just the goofiest guy, but he's one of my best friends, and he gets this big old grin on his face, and he looked at me, he said, Zach, this is kingdom work in motion.
SPEAKER_01: Kingdom work in motion.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what Jesus established, right?
SPEAKER_01: As he proclaimed God's kingdom and then sent us out to establish his church, that it's kingdom work in motion.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, Jesus preached good news to the poor and marginalized.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 4, 18 and 19, he's quoting Isaiah.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind.
SPEAKER_01: So the gospel, it's not for those who have their life together only.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's for the spiritually, the socially, the physically broken.
SPEAKER_01: It's for the distressed and dejected.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel, it's not a country club for those who are well put together.
SPEAKER_01: No, it is to be a hospital for the sick.
SPEAKER_01: The church, living out the gospel, is to be a hospital for the sick.
SPEAKER_01: Another thing that Jesus began to do and teach, he called his disciples and formed gospel community.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 5, verse 10 and 11.
SPEAKER_01: From now on you will be fishers of men.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gathered and trained his disciples for mission, forming the core of the early church.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus also began to do and teach by demonstrating his authority through performing miracles.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 7, 22.
SPEAKER_01: The word says, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed.
SPEAKER_01: So his works validated his message, and they pointed to an inbreaking of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: We also, Jesus began to do and teach by teaching on mercy, justice, and humility.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 6, 27 through 36, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.
SPEAKER_01: What the teachings of Jesus, what Jesus began to do and teach did is they reversed worldly values.
SPEAKER_01: They emphasized kingdom living.
SPEAKER_01: It's this picture of an upside-down kingdom, right?
SPEAKER_01: That is the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't look like the kingdoms of this world.
SPEAKER_01: It looks like the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we're called to live out.
SPEAKER_01: Another thing that Jesus began to do and teach, he preached forgiveness of sins and justification by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 7, 48 through 50, your sins are forgiven, your faith has saved you.
SPEAKER_01: Go in peace.
SPEAKER_01: So what Jesus did is he emphasized forgiveness rooted in faith, not in law-keeping.
SPEAKER_01: It's this idea, I was thinking about this this week.
SPEAKER_01: This is something I've I've talked about in sermons and in weeks and months past.
SPEAKER_01: It's this idea of legalism versus licentiousness.
SPEAKER_01: Who remembers us talking about this?
SPEAKER_01: So neither, shout out Jeremy.
SPEAKER_01: So neither legalism or licentiousness are the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Legalism is I have to do these things.
SPEAKER_01: I have to live these, I have to live out these commands in order to earn God's grace.
SPEAKER_01: Licentiousness is because of God's grace, because of Christ's work on the cross, I can live however I want, and it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: But neither of those are the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is that God freely gives us his grace through his son Jesus Christ, and because of that we seek to live rightly.
SPEAKER_01: Our right living isn't to earn anything, it's out of an overflow, out of an abundance of Christ's love through us.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 11, 39 through 52, he says, Woe to you, Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: He pronounces the woes over the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: What Jesus did is he exposed the hypocrisy of self-righteous religion and he pointed to inward transformation.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is after a heart change.
SPEAKER_01: So the church should be as well.
SPEAKER_01: Another thing that Jesus began to do and teach, he taught about the cost of discipleship, the cost of following his way.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 9, verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: If anyone would come after me, Jesus says, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
SPEAKER_01: Discipleship, following Jesus, it involves self-denial.
SPEAKER_01: It involves full allegiance to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We can't have one foot in kingdom living and one foot in this world.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01: Like River said, there's no fence sitting in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: The devil owns the fence, right?
SPEAKER_01: River always has just fire bars like that.
SPEAKER_01: No fence sitting.
SPEAKER_01: Either you're all in or you're all out.
SPEAKER_01: Another thing that Jesus began to do and teach, he came to seek and to save the lost.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 19, 10.
SPEAKER_01: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
SPEAKER_01: That was kind of the crux of our sermon series through the Gospel of Luke.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' mission.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't one of military might.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't one of like a hard fought, like militaristic sort of kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: No, it was a mission of rescue and restoration.
SPEAKER_01: An upside-down kingdom, sort of rescue and restoration.
SPEAKER_01: And lastly, the last thing that we'll look at as Jesus began to do and teach in the Gospel of Luke is he promised the coming of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 24, 49.
SPEAKER_01: So this is right before the beginning of the Gospel of Luke.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was preparing his disciples for Pentecost and the ongoing work of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So that's a lot of like review, right?
SPEAKER_01: But it's been a little while since we've been in the Gospel of Luke, so I wanted to kind of establish that foundation, that context for us.
SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, what does this verse in the beginning of Acts show us?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think what it shows us, what it implies, is that Jesus is still working.
SPEAKER_01: He's still active.
SPEAKER_01: Luke showed and said all that Jesus began to do and teach, showing that he is still working now through his people by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And what I believe, family, is that we live in this continuation.
SPEAKER_01: We live in the continuation of the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: Now, now, the canon is closed, right?
SPEAKER_01: The scriptures, this is what we got.
SPEAKER_01: We're not adding to the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: The canon is closed, but the mission is not.
SPEAKER_01: Establishing our empowered context, as the point says, helps us to understand our history as believers and thus can give us confidence and hope in all circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: It's important, family, to understand the inception of the church.
SPEAKER_01: It can help give us guidance and wisdom as we plant this church together.
SPEAKER_01: And as we inevitably encounter struggles in this life, who here has had a struggle in the past week?
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I took my first road trip with my wife and daughter and dog all together last week.
SPEAKER_01: And that was a struggle, but it went amazingly well.
SPEAKER_01: Surprisingly, it was awesome.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the kind of struggle I'm talking about, but like real life struggle, like family member and addiction, strained relationship, marital struggles.
SPEAKER_01: Like we've encountered struggles in this life.
SPEAKER_01: But I think as we dig into the book of Acts, we can rest in knowing that we are a part of a bigger story.
SPEAKER_01: The simple, age-old story of men and women following the way of Jesus throughout history.
SPEAKER_01: Family.
SPEAKER_01: We are a part of the story.
SPEAKER_01: You are a part of the story.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is still at work through his empowered people, through his spirit-empowered people, through you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is still at work through you, Nathaniel.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is still at work through you, Rachel Mossman.
SPEAKER_01: Through you, Jevin.
SPEAKER_01: You believe that, brother?
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is still at work through you, Hendrick.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to KC.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is still at work through his spirit-empowered people.
SPEAKER_01: And if you accepted Jesus Christ, then you were empowered by the Holy Spirit, and he is at work in and through you.
SPEAKER_01: Church family, we are a part of this story.
SPEAKER_01: What I believe undeniably is that Jesus is still at work through his church, through us, through the Way KC.
SPEAKER_01: What a gift, what an opportunity we have to live this out.
SPEAKER_01: So that begs the question: if we are a part of this story, what are we to do?
SPEAKER_01: Well, that brings us to point number two this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We ground ourselves in Christ's teachings.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, the word says, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, he presented himself alive to them after his sufferings by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: I think with these two verses, what Luke is presenting is the reality of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He is finishing his thought from verse 1, and then he's transitioning to different proofs that speak to the validity of the Jesus story that were beginning to spread throughout the region.
SPEAKER_01: With this, I think verse 2, it does a couple things.
SPEAKER_01: First, it references Christ's ascension, right?
SPEAKER_01: After Jesus Christ, after he died on the cross, after he was buried in a tomb, he rose from the dead, and then he spent 40 days talking, eating, hanging out with the disciples, and then he ascended to the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: So, in a sense, this ascension, it was both an ending and a launching point.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, it's an immediate reference to the end of Luke's gospel, particularly, particularly Luke 24, verse 44 through 53.
SPEAKER_01: I'll read that over to you.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to get a lot of scripture today.
SPEAKER_01: I hope you're okay with that.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not, we need to talk.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 44 of Luke 24.
SPEAKER_01: Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: You are witnesses of these things.
SPEAKER_01: And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
SPEAKER_01: And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.
SPEAKER_01: While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That's the ascension.
SPEAKER_01: And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, blessing God.
SPEAKER_01: Just as a little sidebar, verse 45 there, then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and right before that, that everything written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: Like that must have been the best sermon ever.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus just breaking down the entirety of the Old Testament for his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I can't imagine that.
SPEAKER_01: That would have been amazing.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, pulling back to these verses, Luke is showing his audience that there's more to the story.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 2 of Acts chapter 1, Jesus had chosen the apostles, he'd given commands through the Holy Ghost, then he's taken up.
SPEAKER_01: So by starting the book of Acts like this, we should see that Jesus' journey to heaven, it will set the pattern of his disciples who will also journey, who will journey the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We see that Jesus' earthly ministry, it was done in the power of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And as believers who journey the way, we too will do ministry in the power of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Even like all of Jesus' teaching, even his commissioning of the apostles, was spirit-empowered.
SPEAKER_01: And that shows us the unity of the mission in the gospel and the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: We then look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: Luke references the suffering of Christ, the death of Christ, and then the resurrection of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And this is reality, right?
SPEAKER_01: This is the reality of the life that Jesus lived and came for.
SPEAKER_01: He appeared to them with many proofs over 40 days speaking about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: And this number 40, it often signals a period of preparation.
SPEAKER_01: We see that with Moses, with Elijah, with Jesus in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: This idea, this number of 40 preparing for something big.
SPEAKER_01: So really, what verse 2 and 3 is showing us is that the apostles, they're now witnesses to this reality of King Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The reality.
SPEAKER_01: We should see the historic nature of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Like, because in our Easter sermon, we really dug deep into establishing the historical validity of the resurrection of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: This was not a myth, it was not a private vision that only some people saw.
SPEAKER_01: No, it was a fact of history.
SPEAKER_01: The risen Christ appeared to many, many people.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, we see like the kingdom is still central.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom wasn't just this idea that Jesus was talking about in his earthly ministry.
SPEAKER_01: No, it was something that Jesus then left with his apostles and with his church.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom, it's not just like a future hope.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's a present reality that Jesus taught and that the apostles lived.
SPEAKER_01: Acts will show the kingdom advancing, not through swords, but through spirit-empowered witness.
SPEAKER_01: It's the upside-down kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And as we said, the apostles, they're foundational witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: These verses, just the first three verses, they bridge the final events of Luke with the launch of the church in Acts, showing continuity and divine intentionality.
SPEAKER_01: In a world often filled with messianic pretenders, that was the context of the time after Jesus and even during his ministry, there were many men who came and claimed to be the Messiah, but Jesus was and is the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: Religious turmoil.
SPEAKER_01: In a world filled with that, Luke roots the Christian claim in resurrection history and prophetic fulfillment.
SPEAKER_01: And just as the apostles were, just as the early church was, we too are a people who are grounded in the finished work of Jesus Christ and his teachings.
SPEAKER_01: His work on the cross is complete.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: But his mission through the church is not.
SPEAKER_01: This, the book of Acts, it serves as kind of this transition point from Christ for us to Christ in us by his Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity, it stands or falls on the resurrection of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I have this friend who's not a believer, and I've been praying for him for many years.
SPEAKER_01: And I was meeting with him.
SPEAKER_01: He um just had a pretty nasty uh relapse, and I was meeting with him in my office, and we're talking, and I read the gospel to him.
SPEAKER_01: I was just presenting the reality of Christ, and he could get over, he could believe everything except for the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection is crucial.
SPEAKER_01: Our faith stands, it hinges on the resurrection that Christ rose from the grave.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the work that we stand on as followers of the way.
SPEAKER_01: The finished work of Christ on the cross and the reality of his resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: What you believe about Jesus and his work means everything.
SPEAKER_01: And in the same sense, what you believe about Jesus after the cross also means everything.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, they weren't fleeting.
SPEAKER_01: No, they were deliberate, informative.
SPEAKER_01: And so today, and as we go through this series, as we ground ourselves in Jesus Christ's teaching, what does this like tangibly do for us?
SPEAKER_01: I think first it should give us confidence in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Your faith rests not in feelings, but in facts.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection has, as the text says, proofs.
SPEAKER_01: We don't follow this like spiritual idea.
SPEAKER_01: We follow a spiritual reality.
SPEAKER_01: We follow a living Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Family, we can have confidence in King Jesus because we have his word, we have the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, it should produce in us like formation, formation by the king.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus spent 40 days instructing his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: This is like intensive discipleship, right?
SPEAKER_01: Not mere like inspiration, intensive discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: And if Jesus prioritized teaching about the kingdom post-resurrection, how much more should we prioritize learning and living his word and seeking first the kingdom of God?
SPEAKER_01: And thirdly, I think it should show us our role.
SPEAKER_01: Our role is to be a faithful continuation and representation.
SPEAKER_01: We're not originators.
SPEAKER_01: We're not starting something that's never been done.
SPEAKER_01: This church, there's many, been many churches planted, right?
SPEAKER_01: No, we're stewards.
SPEAKER_01: We're stewards of God's mission.
SPEAKER_01: We are following the same way, the way of Jesus, that the early church did.
SPEAKER_01: We don't get to reimagine the mission.
SPEAKER_01: We don't, hey, let's get some fancy lights and that'll lead people to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: No, like that's not how it works.
SPEAKER_01: We're not reimagining the mission.
SPEAKER_01: We're called to represent the risen Christ to a watching world.
SPEAKER_01: That's all that this church is about.
SPEAKER_01: Showing Christ to a watching world, to a world that desperately needs Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And I think ultimately, as we ground ourselves in Christ's teachings, we should be encouraged.
SPEAKER_01: Grounding ourselves in Jesus Christ's teachings should offer encouragement to our little church plant.
SPEAKER_01: Because as we look at them, we see that we are built on an unshakable foundation, the teachings of the risen Christ.
SPEAKER_01: At times, though we may feel small or uncertain, I often do, right?
SPEAKER_01: If I can just be vulnerable and transparent, like I can't do this, man.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm right, I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: But Christ in and through me can.
SPEAKER_01: Unshakable foundation.
SPEAKER_01: My foundation, the foundation of Zack Shimmer, it's super shaky.
SPEAKER_01: It's rocky.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna break down when the rain comes, when the winds blow.
SPEAKER_01: But the foundation of the rock of Jesus Christ, oh, it's unshakable.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: We're not inventing a mission.
SPEAKER_01: We're inheriting a mission.
SPEAKER_01: And our message is the same: the risen Christ and the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: So maybe we feel small.
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, I don't know what role I can play in building Christ's church.
SPEAKER_01: If that's the case, yes, you are small, but Christ standing through you can.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you're looking at this at church planting and you're like, wow, that seems big.
SPEAKER_01: That seems big.
SPEAKER_01: That's something that's bigger than us to handle.
SPEAKER_01: And that's true, like that's good.
SPEAKER_01: Because the early church, what we'll see is they cannot do this on their own.
SPEAKER_01: And in the same way, we cannot plant this church on our own.
SPEAKER_01: We need, point number three, and our final point today, to trust in the Spirit's power.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Spirit's power.
SPEAKER_01: That's the crux of the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: As the early church began, they only moved in the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 1, verses 4 and 5, the Word of God says, 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 from me.
SPEAKER_01: For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
SPEAKER_01: So let's break this down and then we'll land the plane.
SPEAKER_01: Sound good?
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Keith.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4, Jesus commands them to wait for the Father's promise, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And this phrase ties directly to Luke chapter 24, where Jesus said, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.
SPEAKER_01: And this verb here, wait, it implies active trust.
SPEAKER_01: It's not passive, but it's a posture of expectancy and submission.
SPEAKER_01: So are we waiting on the Lord, family?
SPEAKER_01: Are we waiting on the Spirit?
SPEAKER_01: And this baptism with the Holy Spirit, it recalls prophetic anticipation.
SPEAKER_01: Joel chapter 2, verse 28 and 29, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, Yahweh says.
SPEAKER_01: Ezekiel 36, 26 through 27, I will put my spirit within you.
SPEAKER_01: And then as we look at verse 5, the author Luke is building on his statement from verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: And the verb, the Greek verb that he uses, it emphasizes divine initiative.
SPEAKER_01: This is something that's done to them, not something that they initiate.
SPEAKER_01: We don't initiate it.
SPEAKER_01: The Spirit does it.
SPEAKER_01: All four Gospels mention this contrast, right?
SPEAKER_01: Between John's baptism and spirit baptism, and it highlights its importance.
SPEAKER_01: And this marks a turning point of sorts.
SPEAKER_01: Israel had long awaited God's Spirit to be poured out, not just upon prophets, priests, or kings, but to all his people.
SPEAKER_01: And another thing, it's interesting that this takes place in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Jerusalem is the epicenter of Jewish life and religious opposition.
SPEAKER_01: So it's pretty neat that God begins his global mission from the heart of resistance.
SPEAKER_01: And what really jumps out to me in these two verses is this Trinitarian language.
SPEAKER_01: The Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We believe in the Trinity as evangelical Christians.
SPEAKER_01: The Father promises, the Son speaks and commands, and the Spirit baptizes.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we see in these verses.
SPEAKER_01: This text powerfully demonstrates the cooperative work of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_01: And that's seen throughout redemptive history.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit's not an optional add-on.
SPEAKER_01: No, the Spirit is essential for the mission of God.
SPEAKER_01: The Spirit's not this imaginary force, it's a divine person.
SPEAKER_01: Equal in essence and mission to God the Father and God the Son.
SPEAKER_01: Baptism in the Spirit, in the book of Acts, it inaugurates the new covenant community, the church.
SPEAKER_01: The mission of the church, it cannot begin until the Spirit is given.
SPEAKER_01: What we'll see next week as we look at Acts 1.8 is that the Spirit empowers believers' witness.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that this is all tied in with John chapter 14, verse 6, where Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_01: No one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the way, and the Spirit empowers us to walk in the way.
SPEAKER_01: So, family, may we not rush ahead in our own strength.
SPEAKER_01: No, may we wait on and walk by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: In church planting, in evangelism, in discipleship, none of it works apart from Him.
SPEAKER_01: So to close with a little application, what does this look like for us?
SPEAKER_01: As we continue to plant this church, as we walk in the way of Jesus as followers of Him, what does it look like?
SPEAKER_01: I think first it's dependence before deployment.
SPEAKER_01: Before going, we must receive.
SPEAKER_01: We must be willing to wait on the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Many churches, they they move into strategy without spirit-led power.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't ever want that to be the case here at the Way Church.
SPEAKER_01: Family, we cannot confuse momentum with anointing.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, what we see is that the spirit empowers ordinary people.
SPEAKER_01: The apostles, they were fishermen, tax collectors, broken people, not theological elites, right?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you guys can tell, but I'm just an ordinary dude.
SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of us in this room are just some ordinary people.
SPEAKER_01: I praise God that we're a group of ordinary people who are planting this church, because then and only then will we rely on the Spirit's power.
SPEAKER_01: The secret sauce, the Chick-fil-A sauce, if you will, is that we're empowered by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And the spirit that lived in the apostles in the book of Acts, that Holy Spirit, that same spirit lives in you.
SPEAKER_01: Family, church planting, planting the way church Casey, it depends on the Spirit's presence, not on performance.
SPEAKER_01: No amount of budget, no amount of branding, no amount of planning can manufacture the Spirit's presence.
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, tools are great, but I'd rather have no tools in the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The Spirit gives life.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the word says in John chapter 6, verse 63.
SPEAKER_01: So are we prepared, family, to wait on the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: To wait on the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: For him to build his church, for him to build us as believers, for him to build our marriages, for him to bring us a spouse.
SPEAKER_01: Are we prepared to wait on the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: What these verses in the book of Acts show us is that the Spirit was not given immediately.
SPEAKER_01: There was this waiting period for him.
SPEAKER_01: And I think what we see, what we can pull out of here is that waiting is formative, right?
SPEAKER_01: Waiting is formational.
SPEAKER_01: There was about 10 days for the believers in Acts before Pentecost.
SPEAKER_01: And I think faithful waiting sharpens our hunger and purifies our motives.
SPEAKER_01: So, Ashton, you got a fourth song for us?
SPEAKER_01: I've been all over the place this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I went home to pick up my wife and Louie, and so we didn't get to talk strategy.
SPEAKER_01: But we're moving in the Spirit's power.
SPEAKER_01: We're waiting on the Lord today.
SPEAKER_01: So Ashton's going to close us in a song, and we'll take communion as we do the first Sunday of every month.
SPEAKER_01: But to put a nice little bow on today's message, Acts begins where Luke ends.
SPEAKER_01: But the mission continues through us.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ began something 2,000 years ago that he is still doing.
SPEAKER_01: Through a people filled with the Spirit and following his way.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the truth the book of Acts is still being written.
SPEAKER_01: Not in like an open canon sort of way, but the canon, the Bible is closed, but the mission is not.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: It's not being written in ink and parchment, but in flesh and in faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: The book of Acts, the mission of Christ, the mission of his church.
SPEAKER_01: We're living it out.
SPEAKER_01: We're not living it out in Jerusalem or Antioch, but we're living it out right here in Kansas City.
SPEAKER_01: What I believe, family, is that right here in 2025, the Way KC, we're not just reading the story of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: We're not just doing a sermon series on the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: No, we are living it.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that this isn't just a series, but that it is a calling for each and every one of us.
SPEAKER_01: A calling to live by the Spirit and follow the way.
SPEAKER_01: So a few questions.
SPEAKER_01: Are you living as though the Spirit empowers you?
SPEAKER_01: Or are you just managing your life and your own strength?
SPEAKER_01: Are you continuing what Jesus began?
SPEAKER_01: Or are you waiting for someone else to step into the mission?
SPEAKER_01: Will you be part of building something eternal?
SPEAKER_01: Or will you settle for something safe and small?
SPEAKER_01: Church family, God is building his church.
SPEAKER_01: But he doesn't build it through programs, he builds it through people.
SPEAKER_01: He builds it through surrendered, spirit-filled disciples who trust him enough to follow and go.
SPEAKER_01: So let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be a sent people.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be a church that waves on the Holy Spirit, that walks in the Word, and that witnesses with power.
SPEAKER_01: Let's follow the way.
SPEAKER_01: Let's live the next chapter of Acts together.
SPEAKER_01: We're willing to commit to that?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody?
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
SPEAKER_00: Join us Sundays at 10 30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: in the Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City.
SPEAKER_00: Or find us anytime at the wakeac.church.