Sermon - Hopewell Baptist Church - Acts 1:8 'You will be my witnesses' - August 20. 2017

Let’s start by reading a verse that most of us have probably heard before.

Acts 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

These words are the final command given by Jesus before He ascended into heaven. He was telling all believers to go out and be His witnesses. Starting in their local communities and letting it spread from there.

I remember reading about Canaan Baptist in St. Louis. They broke down this command from Jesus into segments and focused on each part. For their Jerusalem they focused on the St. Louis area, they had trunk and treats, VBS, egg hunts, and more. They viewed the state of Missouri as their Judea and support the Missouri Baptist Convention and other ministries such as Disaster Relief. For their Samaria they send teams to Mexico and for the end of the Earth they minister in Africa.

Now they are a big church with a lot of people and a big budget. They can do a lot of things that most churches cannot, but they are a wonderful example of how to live out Acts 1:8.

There are a couple of things we can learn from churches like this? They are not trying to be everything for everyone. They are not trying to support every activity in their community, they are not trying to fund every ministry in Missouri, they are not trying to reach every people group on every continent.

What they did was, they prayed. They asked God to guide them and then let Him open doors that they were to be witnesses through.

That is exactly what we need to do. Pray and let God guide us so that we can be His witnesses here in Thompson, in Missouri, and beyond. We don’t need to be everything to everyone, we need to be who God wants us to be, to the people He has called us to witness to.

Where do we start? Prayer.

We need to be praying for God to show us how to be witnesses and who to be witnesses to.

The first step is to pray for God to help you witnesses to your neighbors, the cashier at the grocery store, and your coworkers. It does not have to be a fancy conversion type of conversation, it starts by simply loving them as Christ loves them, it can be as simple as inviting them to join us here at Hopewell on Sunday.

I would be willing to bet that most of you feel like you have tried that before and sometimes it feels like a thankless job. You may invite 10, 20, 30, or 100 people before even one shows up. Some people start to get annoyed with you inviting them.

Invite after invite leads to reject after reject. Being that witness can be hard. You faithfully do what God has called you to do and it seems like nothing is happening.

Putting yourself out there and witnessing to those around you can be hard and stressful. It is not easy to risk humiliation, backlash, and anger time and time again. It is much easier to not risk anything at all, it is much easier to give up.

But Jesus said ‘you will be my witnesses’. He did not say it was going to be easy, He did not say we were going to be liked or popular, He just told you that you will do it. Here’s the catch, He also never said you had to do it on our own.

Let’s read Acts 1:8 again.

Acts 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Yep, this verse tells us that we are to be witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. But something needs to happen FIRST.

We are to be witnesses through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is not the power of Robert, it is not the power of persistence, it is not through a new catchy phrase, it is not some new expensive program, it is through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our comforter and helper. If we depend on God’s Spirit, He will open doors for us. He will give us the words to say. He will empower us to be His witness to others.

Is the Holy Spirit in you?

Acts 2:38

“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Peter is telling us that if you are a follower of Christ. If Jesus is the Lord of your life, you are a new creation. You are a child of God. When you turn your life over to Him, you are not only given the gift of Grace but you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. He lives in you. Convicts you, strengthens you, and guides you.

Ephesians 1:13

“In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.”

As believers in Christ, as part of His Church, as members of His family we have been sealed. We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Whether you realize it or not, as a follower of Christ the Holy Spirit is actively at work in you and your life.

Some of you may be wondering what that means. In your head you understand that the Holy Spirit is in all believers, but you may wonder what does He do?

John 16:7-8

“⁷ Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment:”

When Jesus’ purpose on earth had been fulfilled, He sent His Spirit in His place. The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ connection to us. It is through the Holy Spirit that we have the same power in us that raised Jesus from the dead.

What does the Holy Spirit help us with?

Romans 8:26-27

“²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

When we do not know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit helps us. When we are weak, the Holy Spirit strengthens us.

John 14:26

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.”

The Holy Spirit helps us to understand what God’s Word means for us.

John 16:13-14

“¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

The Spirit of the Lord guides us.

Once the Holy Spirit is in us He does many things. In addition to these things, He empowers us and He helps us to be the witnesses Jesus said we would be.

If we look at Acts 1:8 again.

Acts 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

If you notice the verse starts receiving the power of the Holy Spirit then being witnesses. These events need to happen in this order.  

In Acts 1, Jesus was talking to His disciples. He was talking to those who were around before His death. They walked with Him and had heard His teachings first hand for a couple of years.

They were the men who witnessed miracle after miracle. Twice they saw thousands fed when they started with next to nothing. They had seen demons cast out, lepers healed, the blind made to see. These are the people who had witnessed Jesus’ work first hand. They knew Jesus. They knew His teachings. If anyone in history was truly prepared to be witnesses it was them.

Did Jesus tell them to go out with the knowledge they had and go be witnesses? No, He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit to come and then go witness to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Why did they need to wait? Did they not witness enough of Jesus’ miracles? Did they not know enough of Jesus’ teachings? Did they not have life change experience to share?

They had witnessed everything Jesus had done first hand. Jesus had broken down the parables for them. Their lives have been drastically changed by their time with Jesus.

From the human perspective, they were ready, but they were not meant to do it on their own.

No matter how much of the Bible we have memorized. No matter how open and friendly we are. No matter how prepared we think we are, we still need to let the Holy Spirit lead.

The disciples could have started witnessing on their own, but it would not have had the same impact.

It would have been frustrating. It would have been like going out to mow you grass with a pair of scissors when you had the best zero turn mower money could buy sitting in the shed.

One of the most important jobs of the Holy Spirit is to convict people of their sin. It is His job to let them know that they Need a Savior.

I for one do not have that power. I cannot convict someone of their sin. I cannot change someone’s heart. All I can do is reach out to them, love them, and teach them God’s Word.

It is the Holy Spirit’s job to change their hearts, not ours.

If we are witnessing by the power of the Holy Spirit, lives can and will be changed. Our job is to pray, listen to the Spirit, and faithfully witness to others.

Romans 10:13-14

“¹³ For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ¹⁴ How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?”

Yes, we need to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. But God needs us to faithfully witness to others. Share our testimony, talk about God’s gift, and His love.

God needs you to pray, seek His guidance, and then to be a witness in word and deed. Talk it, walk it, and live it. Be a witness.

Without you doing your part, people will not hear about that amazing gift of grace that is being offered to them.

You need to share what God has done in your life. You need to share what Jesus’ gift means to you. You need to reach out to everyone around you.

The Holy Spirit will do His job and you need to do yours. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit and the faithfulness of believers to reach the lost.

Jesus commanded you to be a witness. Let the Holy Spirit guide you. Faithfully share with others all that God has done in your life. Faithfully share God’s Love.

I know you might feel like a broken record that no one is listening to. I know it can be hard to share Jesus with others who do not believe. I know it can be discouraging.

Remember that the Holy Spirit is alive and well inside of you. You may not always see Him, but He is at work in you and in the lives of those around you. His job is to open hearts. His job is to prepare them to hear about the gift of grace. It is His job to guide you to the right place, to the right person at the perfect time. It is His job to give you the exact words to say.

It is your job to be a faithful witness.

I encourage each of you to pray for the Holy Spirit to work in your life. Ask Him to open doors. Ask Him to open hearts. Ask Him to put you in the right place at the right time.

Let the Holy Spirit work in you and respond in faith when He does.

I want to challenge you with 2 things today.

1.     Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you to someone to invite to church.

2.     Pray for the Holy Spirit to open doors for Hopewell to be a witness in our community.

When the Spirit works lives are changed!

Thanks for reading!

God Bless,

Robert