Empowered for the Promise

Unfortunately, the church, to a large extent, has missed the kingdom, and the church exists more for the church than it does for the kingdom. Dr. Tony Evans says the church needs a vision bigger than its own survival. If we can ever get this rule of God over every area of life mindset, it changes everything because there's nothing that sits out of the kingdom. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. The book of Acts is more than the written history of how the church started and grew. It's the key to understanding our role in what's become known as the church age or the age of grace. Dr. Evans will begin a new series today by explaining why that new reality is so important.

Let's join him. The book of Acts is unique in the New Testament because it represents a major transition from the Old Covenant of the Old Testament to the New Covenant of the church. It is a transitional book giving the history of the beginning and expansion of Christianity. The stage was set throughout all the Old Testament related to the prophecy of a coming kingdom and a coming king. The whole Old Testament looked forward in anticipation to God fulfilling his prophecies regarding the Messiah, the one who would come to bring about what the first Adam failed to bring about, and that is the rule of God on earth. That rule of God on earth is called his kingdom. The unifying theme of Scripture is the glory of God through the advancement of his kingdom, and his kingdom is his sphere of divine rule.

The word kingdom means authority. When Jesus Christ is born, it is announced that he is king, and with that, God is with us, because in becoming king, God became a man in the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. During his earthly walk through the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—he is saying the kingdom of God is at hand.

What has been waited for for generations is now here. The king is here. But the establishment of his kingdom on earth would be dependent upon you accepting him as king. We come to the crucifixion. Jesus Christ is crucified.

The leaders predominantly have always been against him, but now the crowd turns on him. Crucify him, crucify him, give us Barabbas, the insurrectionists. You crucify him. Of course, three days later, Jesus raises from the dead in a glorified body. If the resurrection is true, then everything else is very believable.

So the reason I have no trouble with anything else is because I believe in the resurrection. So the resurrection occurs. He's been rejected by the Jewish nation. Jesus prophesied to his disciples in the gospels that he would now go beyond the Jewish nation to receive him in order to bring in the kingdom, meaning Gentiles. Thus, the establishment of another interim group through whom his kingdom program would operate.

It was to operate from Israel to the whole world. But because of their rejection, it will now operate through the church to the whole world until he reestablishes his program with Israel. So the book of Acts is a book that shows the continuity of God's kingdom. We open up in chapter 1 by reading the first account I composed about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after he had, by the Holy Spirit, given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. To these, he also presented himself alive after suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

His rule from heaven into history. Unfortunately, the church, to a large extent, has missed the kingdom, and the church exists more for the church than it does for the kingdom. The kingdom is bigger than the church.

The job of the church is to serve the kingdom, and it's king. So once you lose sight of the kingdom, then you become ingrown, you become narrow, you become divided, all kinds of things, because you're not thinking about the kingdom. That's why we try to thread everything through that theme—kingdom man, kingdom woman, kingdom marriage, kingdom kids, you know, kingdom churches—seek ye first the kingdom of God. If we can ever get this kingdom, this rule of God, over every area of life mindset, it changes everything because there's nothing that sits out of the kingdom.

Nothing sits outside of that because it's the comprehensive rule of God. So he's teaching them about the kingdom. To show you how comprehensive this is, quickly turn to the last chapter in the book of Acts, chapter 28, the last two verses.

He and he, Paul, stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness unhindered. So where we start in Acts is where we finish in Acts. Think of something like 32 times you'll see the phrase kingdom, kingdom of God, in the book of Acts.

So it is pregnant with the kingdom motif or kingdom theme. So what I want you to get is I want you to, as we walk through this, to learn to think kingdom, rule of God, as we walk through this beginning and development of the church, which includes us. He gathers his disciples together in verse 4 and he commands them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father has promised, which he said, you heard from me.

Well, if you read John 16, God made a promise that he was going to send someone. Verse 5, For John baptized you with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So he says there is another kind of the word baptizo, Greek word for baptism, means to immerse. There will be another immersing, like taking a glass of water and immersing it in the water.

It's totally consumed by that which you immerse it in. They're going to send you, John baptized in water, that is in preparation for the king, but you are to wait in Jerusalem until you are immersed with what I promised would come. So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?

Okay, so that now reconnects you. They had lived all their lives expecting the kingdom to come, and thus when Jesus came, they thought the kingdom was going to come right then. But of course, the rejection has occurred. So with the rejection, of course, they want to know, well, now that you've risen from the dead, are you going to establish your kingdom right now? Parenthesis, the reason why they chose Barabbas, Barabbas is an insurrectionist, the Scripture says. He's a zealot. The zealots were a revolutionary group that tried to bring in the kingdom by force.

They were basically terrorists against Rome, and so they would roam the hills and wreak havoc against the Roman government because Rome was the authoritarian party or government over Israel that they hated. But they chose Barabbas because they did not believe any longer that Jesus would bring in the kingdom. Of course, these disciples are following Jesus, and they want to know, well, now that you've risen from the dead, are you now ready to bring in the kingdom or restore the kingdom to Israel? He says to them, it is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority. It's not for you to know exactly when God is going to establish this earthly rule that you have just asked me about.

And then he gives verse 8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth. You cannot know when the kingdom will be physically established on earth because that's the kingdom of Israel that they were expecting. While you don't know when the kingdom will be established, you do not have to wait for the power of the kingdom to be experienced.

Follow me now. They ask him about the presence of the kingdom. When will you restore the kingdom of Israel, that is, an earthly, physical, through-Israel kingdom?

Well, that's going to come later, but the Father has got that, and you don't know the time. But even though you don't have the physical presence of the kingdom, you can now have the power of the kingdom. When Dr. Evans continues our message in just a moment, he'll explain why the New Testament tells us more about one side of God than the Old Testament ever did. First though, I want to let you know that the lesson we're hearing today is the first in an inspiring series diving deep into the birth and explosive growth of the early Church, as described in the book of Acts.

This complete two-volume collection explains how we can experience the same power and presence of the Holy Spirit as the first-century believers did. And it's available as our thank-you gift when you make a contribution to help support the ministry of the alternative. This offer will only be available for a limited time, so visit us right away at tonyevans.org to request your copy of Acts, the Birth of the Church. As I mentioned, you'll receive all 14 audio messages on CD or digital download, along with an extra bonus, Dr. Evans' insightful book, Kingdom Purpose, which will guide you in discovering your divine calling and living out your faith with intention and impact. Visit us at tonyevans.org before this limited-time offer runs out, or call us at 1-800-800-3222 to get some in-person help from our resource team. I'll have our contact information for you again after part two of today's lesson and this.

What if you could unlock the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything in between? Genesis 1 to 11 is the foundation for everything. The Tony Evans Training Center presents a transformative course from special guest lecturer Ken Ham, founder and CEO of Answers in Genesis. If you want to understand anything about the universe and anything about life and this earth, we have to jump into God's Word. This course dives deep into the origins of life, the harmony of science and scripture, and how to build a solid biblical worldview. Does science conflict with the Bible?

No, not at all. Observational science confirms the Bible over and over and over again. Equip yourself to face today's toughest cultural challenges with clarity and confidence. If we're going to deal with issues in our culture, we need to start from our foundation, first of all, to understand what we should believe. Discover faith-strengthening truths from Genesis, and explore more courses to deepen your understanding of God's Word at tonyevanstraining.org.

Explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. You and I today are living in the age of the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament was the age of the Father. You see scant references to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. You see scant references to Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. But you see God all over the Old Testament, because that's a focus on the Father supported by the two other members of the Godhead. But in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus is the superstar. It's all about Jesus Christ in the Gospels. And the Father and the Spirit take supporting roles to the Son. Remember when Jesus was baptized? Sky opens up. This is my beloved Son.

Hear Him. And the Holy Spirit, like a dove, comes down from heaven and sits on Jesus Christ. The Father sent the Son. God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. The Father sent the Son. But now in the church age, beginning with Acts, the Holy Spirit is the superstar, supported by the Father and the Son. Jesus told them in John 14, John 16, I'm going to send you another comforter.

I am leaving, but I'm not leaving you alone. I'm going to leave you with the power of the kingdom, and that power is the Holy Spirit. So He's the star of the show, so to speak. He is called a number of different—we call it the Holy Spirit—He's called the Spirit of Christ. He represents Christ. So He is the one who is to facilitate the kingdom and its power. First Corinthians 4.20 says, For the kingdom of God does not exist in words but in power. So now you can see the role of the Holy Spirit. He is the link between the kingdom of God and power. What electricity is to your appliances, the Spirit of God is to your Christian life and to the authority of the church and its members. The kingdom of God is not just words, not just talk.

It's supposed to be demonstration. He says, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come. How will that power be manifested? He says, And you shall be my witnesses. The power of God is manifested in concert with your witness, giving testimony to Jesus Christ. To the degree you give testimony to Jesus Christ is to the degree you experience kingdom power, because you shall be my witnesses, Jesus' witnesses, and power is connected to that witness, which should not surprise us that Jesus would say, If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father. If you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father, because it is giving testimony to Jesus Christ that is proof that the Holy Spirit is at work.

So any shunning away from Jesus Christ is unplugging from the outlet. After he had said these things in verse 9, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. I want a rerun of that one in heaven. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going up, two men in white clothes stood beside them, two angels, and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. So they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. They entered the city to the upper room where they are the disciples. These were all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, with his brothers.

There is the link between earth and heaven, and it is the route that the Holy Spirit takes to deliver the mail. Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, a gathering of 120 persons. Brethren, verse 16, the Scriptures had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas.

There's a whole lot in there. It is necessary then that the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning with the baptism of John until now, one of these must become a witness with us. So they've got to replace Judas.

They say we've got to replace him with somebody who has been with us, who has shown himself to have been with Jesus, seen Jesus, walked with us, been part of our company. They put forth two men, Joseph and Matthias, in verse 23. They prayed, You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these You have chosen. Look at the prayer. We know what these men did.

They both looked good. Their job descriptions looked great, but we don't know their hearts. We can't read hearts.

We read resumes, but we can't read hearts. So we need you to select the person who you have chosen. So we're confused.

You're not. Help us. To occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they drew lots for them, and the lots fell upon Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles.

We might say today they drew straws. Now this raises the question of the sovereign God and chance. How does chance, or what we would call chance, it wasn't a chance in their mind because they said God knew who He had chosen, but He allowed them to participate in the vote.

Whatever mechanism they used, lots was a way of getting divine discernment. They had to make a decision. When you have prayed about a matter and sought God's will in the matter, who you have chosen, you then come down to the place where you make a choice. And then you leave the problem to God in the choice, because they still don't know hearts.

They just know who showed up with the lot, who showed up with the vote. Perhaps it was a unanimous thing, all of them—because it doesn't go into the details—but all of them agreed on Matthias. They all felt this is the one, and so the unity, since they were all in one mind in the casting of these lots, but they made a decision and assumed it was the Lord's choice because both options were great. And so when you have to make a decision, you pray about it, you invite God to make His choice, then with the best tools available, you make a decision, and you trust Him with that decision. Let me say something about the Holy Spirit coming. The Spirit's presence in a situation in your life, when these men and women are filled with the Spirit, they wind up doing things that are not natural to them, which was the one thing we see there is the gift of tongues.

They do things that were not natural to them, that was not languages that they knew. Because when He comes, you shall receive power, ability beyond you. So when you're in the will of God and it's beyond you, you need kingdom power, and kingdom power is the work of the Holy Spirit. So as we walk through this book, we're going to hopefully grow in our understanding, knowledge, appreciation, and utilization of the work of the Spirit in our lives. Dr. Tony Evans with the introduction to our study of the book of Acts. And don't forget that today's lesson is part of Tony's captivating series on that book. And as I mentioned, you can get the full-length version of all 14 messages in this two-volume audio collection available on CD or digital download when you make a donation to support our mission of spreading biblical wisdom and renewal.

Plus, as a special bonus, you'll receive Dr. Evans' insightful book, Kingdom Purpose, which will guide you in discovering your divine calling. Call us to make the arrangements at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center is open 24-7, so you can reach out any time of the day or night. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or visit tonyevans.org to take advantage of this exclusive offer.

You'll find all the details right on the homepage. Again that's tonyevans.org. Dr. Evans says being under the influence can be either good or bad, depending on what's doing the influencing. Next time, he'll take us to Acts chapter 2, for a look at the fulfillment of God's promise to empower His people through the intoxicating presence of the Holy Spirit. I hope you'll be with us.