Acts Chapter 1:8-14

We're going to find out that there's not a whole lot of people at this meeting. And the Lord Jesus says, well, you know, since there's not a whole lot of you, listen, let's just kind of try to hit one quadrant of Jerusalem.

That's not what he says. Do you understand the enormity of what Jesus is saying to these people? He's saying you're going to be witnesses throughout the whole world, throughout the whole world. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. When our life has been changed by the gospel, it's important to understand that we're responsible for telling others about this amazing news. And today in the studio, we have D.A.

Brown, one of Pastor David's associate pastors here at the bridge. Welcome to the program today, brother. Hey, Bob, I'm excited to be here.

I'm excited to hear the second part of the first chapter in Acts with Pastor David. He's going to answer some questions that we often have. What are we up to? What are we specifically, our lives? What are we spending our time doing? And then who is responsible to tell the world about Jesus? Because I have important stuff to do. Somebody's got to tell people about Jesus.

Who's it going to be? Bob, you're going to like this teaching. Isn't that what we pay Pastor David to do?

Oh, just listen and find out, Bob. All right, well let's listen as David McGee continues in Acts chapter 1 with a teaching to the world. Turn with me to Acts chapter 1. Last week we covered the first eight verses, but if you were here, you know, verse 8 is just huge. It's really the pivotal verse for the whole book. And so while I spent some time on it, I want to spend a little bit more time this week on this.

So we're going to pick it up. Acts chapter 1 verse 8 says, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now we talked about the first part of the verse, but let's look at the second part of this. It says, You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now what's interesting is you kind of have an outline for the whole book of Acts in that part of that verse because chapters 1 through 7, we're going to find the emphasis is in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria in chapters 8 and 9 and Acts chapter 10 on is dealing with the uttermost parts of the earth. The Lord is saying, you know what, make a difference right where you are, right where your sphere of influence is, make a difference there, your neighborhood, your workplace, your city. And I think that's important for us to realize.

Why? Because a lot of times when we talk about living for the Lord or doing something for the Lord, our mind automatically goes to some foreign land, but God wants to use us right now, right where we are. A lot of times we go, well, if I ask the Lord to do whatever He wants to with me, He's going to send me to Alaska because I hate cold weather. You know, we got this really twisted notion of what giving ourselves over to the Lord is, but the Lord wants to use us right where we are.

Now, you know, there may be people in here that are called to Alaska, but God is probably going to, He's probably going to test you and build your faith right where you are and then begin to expand that sphere of influence. Now, I think that's important for the body of Christ to realize. This is not only true as an individual, but also of us as a church. And there's also a balance here.

Let me say this. A church needs to be actively involved in the local community and needs to support what we term here as domestic missions. But they also need to be actively involved in foreign missions.

See, because this circle expands and it says all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. So there's a balance there. I believe that the church is the vehicle that's supposed to support foreign missions. I've encountered people before that gave money to missions, but did not support the local church.

I think that's imbalanced. I think we're to support the local church who supports the missionaries. But, you know, if after you give, you want to give above and beyond and support missionaries, I believe that's a valid thing.

I mean, again, we support domestic and foreign missions here. But there's a progression here. And notice something. There's also a responsibility.

A huge responsibility. We're going to find out that there's not a whole lot of people at this meeting. And the Lord Jesus says, well, you know, since there's not a whole lot of you, listen, let's just kind of try to hit one quadrant of Jerusalem.

That's not what He says. Do you understand the enormity of what Jesus is saying to these people? He's saying you're going to be witnesses throughout the whole world.

Throughout the whole world. See, now we look back and go, well, yeah, they did it and it worked out well. Yeah, but can you imagine being at that meeting and Jesus going, you guys are basically responsible for telling the whole world about Jesus?

Well, the reality is for us, the challenge is still there. We are supposed to tell the whole world about Jesus. Life lesson here, we are responsible for telling the world about Jesus. We are responsible for telling the world about Jesus. God could write the gospel in the sky.

He could speak with this thunderous voice from the heavens. But He's decided to use us to reach other people. That's His plan.

That's what He wants to do. And we're to be witnesses. Not the jury. Not the judge.

But witnesses. Now verse 9. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in wide apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you see Him go into heaven.

What a precious verse. Notice we're told in the Word of God, the Bible, that the way He went up is going to be the way He comes back. That's a huge clue in terms of end time events. This lets us know that if we hear of a rabbi in New York City or somebody that is saying, Oh, I'm Jesus. I'm Jesus.

This is the second coming. Then we can know that he's not telling the truth. Either that or he's got some really cool video footage of him coming back down the earth in clouds.

I mean, either one. But it lets us know there's a safety in there. And so if somebody comes and says that to you, say, OK, well, let me see the video. I mean, surely, you know, they got it on something. And if they don't have the video, it ain't him. Now, it's interesting, too, that you really won't need the video. Why?

Because it's going to be visible, I think, to everyone. Now, there's a lot of false messiahs running around today. Do you understand that?

You can go online, and I wouldn't encourage this futile search, but that means there's a lot of guys running around, I'm him. I'm him. And it seems like there's a common theme to all of them. They say, Yeah, I'm him. And all the Christians in the Bible, they got really confused. Jesus said that.

There'd be false messiahs. It's an interesting prediction. We talked about it last week. You know, that this itinerant preacher traveling pastor out of the north part of Israel and ministering mainly in the north part of Israel, born in the south part, but, you know, in the small country, says in the end times, a lot of people are going to come and imitate me. I wonder what they thought when he said that.

It's a pretty massive prediction, wasn't it? So Jesus will come back bodily, he will come back visibly, and it will involve the clouds. This is, interestingly enough, exactly what it speaks about in the book of Revelation. Now, here's an interesting thing. Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?

What are you doing? There's a time to gaze, and there's a time not to gaze. There's a time to sit still, and there's a time to do. And the Bible presents a wonderful balance of those things. Now, we talk about serving a lot here. The reason is I see it in the Bible. I see encouragement for us to serve the Lord with one another and alongside one of another.

And, guys, here's the thing. How is your faith, and this is a cutting question, how is your faith blessing or benefiting the person sitting to the left or to the right of you this morning? Or the person in front of you or in the row behind you?

You should be able to come up with that answer pretty quick. And if you can't, loved one, family, friends, something's out of whack. I see there's a lot of people in here, even as I just said that, they're faithfully serving here, and they say, oh, you know, I serve in the café. I teach the kids. I do this.

I do that. And I know how people around me are being blessed. Praise God. See, here's the thing. Why is it so important? Well, we understand, and you've heard this so often that it's beyond cliche-ish, that people are interested in the truth about Jesus, the truth about God's Word.

Why? Because they say church is filled with hypocrites. Now, what do they mean by hypocrites?

Well, let me tell you what I don't think is an appropriate thing. The Greek word there is hypocrites. What that signifies is that somebody's wearing a mask. It came from the Greek plays when somebody would dress up as somebody.

They wouldn't wear this mask and pretend to be something they were. So it's kind of a two-faced thing. It's not talking about, I believe, people who are Christians who struggle and get things wrong. Everybody in here will sin this week, everybody. Hopefully the sins are getting smaller and more contained and less visible, but that's the reality.

So we're not talking about perfection. But what the world says is, you know what? I hear what you say you believe. I just don't see it.

I don't see you living it out. Now it's a challenge to you and I. I don't believe in spectator Christianity. You know, where part of the church is just kind of along for the ride and, well, we'll cheer you on, go, go, you know, but we're not going to actually do anything.

You know what? I don't believe that's a biblical model. You don't really see that in the Bible. What you see is people joining together, serving one another, blessing one another, and the world becomes intrigued by that.

Numbers chapter 32 verse 6, Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, show your brethren go to war while you sit here. See, there's the concept that we are to serve together. There's people in here, maybe to your left, to your right, in front of you, behind you that are pouring their lives out. And we need to pour our lives out.

Your life needs to be poured out. See, because it's part of our worship. It's part of our worship.

Well, Pastor David, what do you mean? I mean, we had worship, now there's the teaching. No, worship is not just a musical interlude or a prelude to the teaching. Worship is to be a way that we're supposed to live. We're supposed to live lives of worship. And part of that worship is expressed in, yes, in music and singing. Part of it is expressed in giving. We don't pass a plate here, but I believe that a mature Christian should give.

That's why we have the joy boxes on the back of the wall. We don't pass a plate, but still, that's an act of worship. And serving is an act of worship. And God loves us so much that, you know, He asks us to take little baby steps. You know that?

I'm so grateful for that. He's probably not going to come to you this morning and go, you've got to go to Tanzania or somewhere, you know. He's going to say, okay, step out and do this and step out and do that and maybe show up for a prayer meeting, maybe show up for a work day, maybe go ahead and sign up and get involved in a ministry.

That's what's supposed to be going on. So I'm not talking about you going to Tanzania for six months. I'm talking about you giving of yourself for an hour, two hours, four hours a week, something.

It'll change your life. Because your emphasis will go from you to others. And that's what Jesus wants. That's what Jesus is after.

Jesus was very much others-centered. That's what's supposed to be going on. And God has placed us in a position, and there's a time for gazing. There's a time for sitting still.

It's that Mary-Martha balance thing. But there's also a time for doing in the body of Christ. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge.

He'll be right back with more in just a moment. But I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on crossthebridge.com. There's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as Savior. You need people to pray for him.

You need someone to present God's Word to him. Every day we're presenting God's Word to him here on Cross the Bridge with Pastor David McGee. We can pray for them as well just by simply going to crossthebridge.com and click on the Pray for the Lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as Savior, click on Submit, and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones. And what an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from Associate Pastor D.A.

Brown. We want to take just a couple minutes to pray for some cities in our listening audience, specifically Enka, High Point, Lexington, Mount Olive, Summerfield, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and also Dickinson, North Dakota. Lord, we thank you for everyone who lives in these cities. We pray that your Holy Spirit would draw them unto you even right now, that people would have the faith to say yes with no boundaries on what you're wanting to do in their life. We pray for the leaders in these cities, that you would give them wisdom and discernment, and that they would work together, Father, and that they would look to your Word for answers supernaturally on how to lead where you've called them. Lord, we pray that people would get plugged into churches and begin to serve with the gifts that you've given them, Father, and that they would be a blessing to other people in the same way that you've blessed them. Lord, we thank you for these cities.

We're expecting you to do great things. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse.

God has granted and offered everlasting life to a sinful and lost generation. And now it's our role, our job, to take it to Him. In love, what are you doing about that?

What are you doing about it? It's my job to challenge you. You see, when you grew up in school, you understood that it was your teacher's job to challenge you. It just wasn't always to pat you on the back and go, oh, you're doing great. You didn't fill any of the test scores, but then you're doing great.

You didn't fill any of the blank. No, I have to challenge you as a Bible teacher to say, you know what? Engage. The life lesson here, we need to offer and take the good news to the world. We need to offer and take the good news to the world. How often do we gather around and we talk about what's wrong with the world? We talk about what's wrong with television. We talk about what's wrong with all these stars and these musicians and all these people. We talk about what's wrong with them, but are we doing something? Are we engaging? Are we praying for these people?

I understand. There's a whole lot to talk about with what's wrong with the world. But the question is, while those things are going on, are you a spectator? Or can you do something about it?

We're supposed to do something about it. Verse 12, then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey. Now, a Sabbath day journey was about 2,000 paces, and you weren't supposed to walk beyond this 2,000 paces on the Shabbat, on the Sabbath day.

The Shabbat was on Saturday. It was from sundown Friday to sundown on Saturday, and you weren't supposed to walk farther than 2,000 journey, 2,000 steps. Now, if you had a rope, you could extend that a little bit, because if you tied the rope to your house, then technically you hadn't left home yet.

So you could walk the length of that rope and then 2,000 more steps so that you could go further. Now, if you think that's silly, you know what? We engage in silliness that's just as silly if not sillier. When you go to Israel, it's interesting. If you ever go with us on one of these trips, be sure to get in the right elevator, because they have these Shabbat elevators that on the Shabbat, what they do so that you don't have to work to push a button, they stop at every floor and open the door.

So if you get in the wrong elevator, you got a weight coming. But we engage in silliness, religiousness that God never told us to engage in. And this is part of the reason on the feast days that people would camp out and gather right around Jerusalem, because they didn't want to have to walk farther than the 2,000 steps. Verse 13, And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying, Peter, James, John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James. I think about how these men lived, and I think about how these men died. These men died, for the most part, violent deaths. The exception here is John, but John was poisoned. John was boiled in oil and lived through it. They poured out their lives. Certainly they didn't feel like they were being inconvenienced to live for the Lord.

Most of them died in foreign lands, and God used them in an incredible way. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever gone to do something and find out that it's already been done? You go to help somebody to cut down a tree and it's already been done when you get there. You go to help them move, and they've already moved. Are you going to go help them fix the car?

The car's already been fixed. That's sort of a weird place to find yourself in, but that's not where we find ourselves in. Our job has not been completed yet. There's still a lot to do for the kingdom.

That's the next life lesson. There is still a lot to do for the kingdom, still a lot to do. At some point, time as we know it will change, but we don't know when that time is. Jesus tells us so many places to occupy till He comes, redeem the time, use the time. Do you understand that at some point in the future, somebody will come to Jesus, somebody will be born again, somebody will get saved that's the last person?

It's the last person. I think about that often on Sunday mornings. People come forward to ask the Lord to forgive them of their sins and think, is this it?

Is this the one? Wouldn't it be cool if you were the person who led the last person in that prayer? I mean, do you pray with them to receive the Lord, and you say, amen? And boy, you will be a hero in heaven, won't you? People go, are you the guy?

Yeah, I'm the guy. I let that guy do the Lord. I pray with him. He's in the kingdom. There might be a couple of people who show up and go, what took you so long? We've been waiting up here. But that's an awesome thing, because there is so much to be done for the kingdom, not just here in this community, but around the world.

So we need to be busy in the kingdom. Verse 14, these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women in Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. So you got all these people, and it says in one accord. Now, does that mean they're in a car made by the Honda?

No, it doesn't mean they're like in a Honda Accord. It means that they're in unity. Unity is so important to the body of Christ. You know, I've come to appreciate unity more and more as a pastor and the preciousness of it, because here's the thing, and we deal with this sometimes. Somebody will come to me and say, such and such is being divisive. They're saying this, they're saying that. Guess what we have to do when we hear that?

It can be such a cancer to the body of Christ. We stop what we're doing so that we can deal with these issues. And we go to that person and we confront them. Why, to be mean?

No, hopefully to restore them. But if they say, you know what, I'm going to keep running around and running my mouth, we suggest that they find another church. Why? Because division can hurt the body of Christ so much. And certainly you see that your pastor, another pastor here and other people in leadership have to stop what they're doing in order to deal with these issues. Now, it only makes sense that the enemy would use this. Distraction is an old ploy.

You know, if you boxers, they do this feign thing and basketball players do that little deal, you know. Why is that? It's a distraction from what's supposed to be going on. And division is one of the most damaging distractions that can go on in the body of Christ. That's why we need to be careful because when we start speaking divisive things, then we're using our energy in a place that it shouldn't be. If we're supposed to be impacting lives for eternity and we're just sitting around and da-da-da-da-da-da-da, don't do it. Now, this is a common thing that happens in churches and a lot of churches don't even talk about it because somebody's going to get offended, but the reality is it's so important.

Why? Because we begin to turn from what we're supposed to be doing to wasting our time. Time is precious. And we're supposed to be on this glorious adventure of impacting lives for eternity. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the Internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, D.A., before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So, folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the book of Acts.