This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome back to our last day, day five of week one of our look
through the New Testament. So we're to the book of Acts today. Acts, which talks
about how to change your world, how to change the world.

And let me start by talking about what I call the supporting cast of the book of
Acts. We're going to get to the main character in the book of Acts in just a
moment. But the supporting cast, I would say, are Peter and Paul and Luke.

Peter was the foundational leader of the early church as it begins in the book
of Acts. So you see a lot about Peter in the first 10 chapters and then a few
things after that. Paul was the missionary leader in the book of Acts.

He takes the message out to the world. So you see his story beginning in chapter
nine and then increasing through the rest of the book. And Luke was the
missionary writer of the book of Acts.

He wrote the book. The story of Acts in a sentence is how the good news spread
from Jerusalem to Judea to the remotest part of the earth, to Rome. Acts 1:8,
which Jesus commanded them to take the message from Jerusalem to Judea to the
remotest part of the earth.

Acts 1:8 is, in essence, the table of contents for the book of Acts. It's how
God did this. But there's a personal challenge in Acts, too.

It's not just history. The personal challenge is that I will be a bold witness.
They were a bold witness of what Jesus Christ had done in their lives and it
changed the world.

I want to see my world change. You want to see your world changed. How is that going to
happen?

It's going to happen through the bold witness of followers of Jesus Christ. And
there are five things that the book of Acts teaches us about what it means to be
a bold witness. Number one, you cannot witness without the power of the Holy
Spirit.

I told you we'd get to the main character of the book of Acts in just a moment.
The main character of Acts is the Holy Spirit. It's not Paul or Peter, whom the
Spirit used.

It's the Holy Spirit. Spirit is used 55 times in the book of Acts. He's talked
about again and again and again.

Over 100 different people are named in Acts. Someone's counted 110. But the
Spirit is the star of the book of Acts.

So, in Acts chapter two, verse one, when the day of Pentecost came, they were
all, this early church, were all together in one place. And suddenly, a sound
like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house
where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that
separated and came to rest on each of them.

And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues as the Spirit enabled them. The Spirit filled believers and because of
that, the truth of God's love, truth of God's power, the gospel of Jesus Christ
began to fill the world. When believers were filled, things happened.

Things changed. When believers were filled, they spoke in other languages. They
preached with courage.

They spoke God's words boldly. They served others. They did wonders and
miraculous signs.

They saw the glory of God. They brought great numbers to the Lord. They saw
again when they had been blinded.

They were able to confront Satan's power. I'm just giving you a list of what the
book of Acts says happened when believers were filled. Jesus said that the
impact of the Spirit's filling is in our witness, Acts 1-8.

When the Spirit comes upon us, when he fills us, then we're able to boldly
proclaim Jerusalem, Judea, the remotest part of the earth. So you start with
God's Spirit. You don't share the good news on your own.

You ask God's Spirit to empower you to do what you could not do on your own. You
might just pray that prayer right now. That's the first thing that it takes to
be a bold witness.

Second, to be a bold witness, you realize that God uses our problems in our
witness. We want to be a bold witness by showing everybody that we've got no
problems. And that's no witness at all.

People just look at us and think, well, they got no problems. They can't
understand me. No, the boldest witness is when we have problems and we say,
Jesus Christ is the one who's getting me through.

Many times you'll hear people say, I wish we could go back to being the New
Testament church. Well, I understand what they're saying when it comes sometimes
to the teaching. If we've gotten away from the teaching of the New Testament
church.

But if they're talking about the history, I don't want the history. Look at what
the New Testament church really looked like. They had 3,000 people saved and
baptized in one day.

Can you imagine the logistical problems of that? Just think about it, if you've
ever had to baptize even 100 people in one day. In this New Testament church,
they watched the death of those that lied about their giving.

What about if that happened in the church today? Is that the church we want?
They watched the dissatisfaction amidst the widows who were being overlooked
because the church was growing so fast.

They saw their leaders being thrown into prison, being killed with stones and
with swords. The church is where the Holy Spirit shows Jesus's power in the
midst of our weaknesses, in the midst of our problems. In Acts chapter eight,
what seemed like the worst day for the church turned out to be one of the
greatest days in the history of the church.

Acts 8. 1 says, "On that day a great persecution broke out "against the church
of Jerusalem, "and all except the apostles were scattered "throughout Judea and
Samaria. " They had a great church, they had one of the greatest fellowships
that has ever been seen in the church, and miracles were happening every day.

And now a persecution comes and they're scattered, it seems like the church is
ruined. Acts 8. 1 is perhaps the greatest thing that happened in the book of
Acts to accomplish Acts 1.

8. If they were going to go to Jerusalem and Judea and now the remotest part of the
earth, how are they going to do that? It only happened through problems.

They got scattered. It only happened through persecution. So when you have
problems, recognize it, God's probably going to want to use it as a witness.

That's how he works. To be a bold witness, you realize how God wants to use even
the problems. In fact, primarily the problems.

The third thing we see in the book of Acts is that if we're going to be a bold
witness, we have to recognize that our witness begins when we choose to go.
Matthew 28, 19 to 20, back to the book of Matthew, Jesus said, "Therefore go and
make disciples "of all nations. " Well, first you have to go before you can make
disciples.

And Acts 8, 1, which we've referenced many times through this, Jesus said, let
me read that verse now, "But you will receive power "when the Holy Spirit comes
on you, "and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem "and in all Judea and in
Samaria "and to the ends of the earth. " Well, the only way to be a witness
outside of Jerusalem was to go to Judea, to go to Samaria, to go to the ends of
the earth. And that's what they did.

In Acts chapter eight, Philip goes to Samaria. In Acts chapter 11, those who
were scattered by the persecution go to Antioch. And in Acts chapter 13, the
church at Antioch sends Paul and Barnabas out to the entire world.

So here's the question, to be a bold witness, here's the question, where does
God want you to go? Now, it could be another country, but it also could be to
volunteer at your kid's school. It could be to go to be a part of some business
group.

Whatever you do as a part of your life, see yourself as going. I'm going in
Jesus' name. That doesn't mean you preach a sermon the first time that you're
there.

Hey, everybody, I'm going in Jesus' name. I got a sermon to preach. But you
recognize you're there as His ambassador, His representative.

You're not just attending a meeting. You're going in Jesus' name to that
meeting. That changes everything.

Just begin to see yourself as going in Jesus' name to everything He has you
involved in. And maybe there's a new place He wants you to go in His name.
Fourth thing we learn from the book of Acts about being a bold witness is, when
doors are closed, you look for open doors.

Let me read you this story from Acts chapter 16, verses six to 10. Paul and his
companions traveled throughout the region of Fergie and Galatia, having been
kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When
they came to the border of Mycia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the spirit
of Jesus would not allow them to do it.

So they passed by Mycia and they went down to Troas. During the night, Paul had
a vision of a man in Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia
and help us. " After Paul had seen the vision, he got ready at once to leave for
Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Look at all the closed doors they faced. And it says the Holy Spirit closed the
door, Jesus closed the door. We think when the door is closed, it has to be
Satan.

Sometimes it's God. It's not the right time for you to go there. Now, did he
want the people in those regions where the door was closed to hear the good
news?

Of course he did, but it just wasn't the right time. And so the door was closed.
When the doors are closed, what do you do?

You look for open doors. You don't sit at the closed door waiting for it to
open. You look for the open door.

We think it's faithful to sit at a closed door. Well, sometimes it might be
faithful, but most of the time it's fearful. We don't know what to do next, so
we just sit there.

And sometimes it's just plain stubborn. We're just going to sit there and make this
happen. More often when it comes to living in faith, it's faithful to begin
moving toward God's open door.

Now, how are you going to know if that closed door really is a place you should
have stayed? The only way you're going to know is by trying to move toward another
open door. And many times God will have you do a U-turn, maybe go back to that
door, or maybe in moving ahead, you'll see, oh no, this is where he wants me to
be now.

The only way to know is to start moving. Stop sitting at closed doors. Start
moving towards God's open door.

Okay, there's a fifth thing that we learn in the book of Acts. To be a bold
witness, I have to remember, number five, that God is faithful so we can be
faithful. Toward the end of Acts, as Paul's life is being threatened by a storm
that's hitting the ship that's taking him to Rome, God appears to him.

In Acts chapter 23, 11, in the Amplified Version, it says this, "And that same
following night, "the Lord stood beside Paul and said, "'Take courage, Paul, for
as you have borne "'faithful witness concerning me at Jerusalem, "'so you must
also bear witness at Rome. '" The Lord saw Paul's faithfulness, but he also told
him, "I'm going to keep being faithful to you. " Don't think that your faithfulness
is somehow disconnected from God, that you're doing something for him.

No, your faithfulness comes from the fact that he's faithful to you. Our
faithfulness depends on God's faithfulness. Our witness depends on God's good
news.

Our power depends on God's Spirit. Let's pray together. So that's where we
start, Lord, in being a bold witness, 'cause so many of us struggle with this.

We'd like to be a better witness for you. We just don't see the opportunities.
We don't see people coming to Christ like we'd want sometimes.

Help us not to give up. Help us to keep looking to you. And our request that
we'd be a bold witness, we start by saying, you're faithful.

You have good news. You have the power of your Spirit that you want to give to us,
and we're leaning on that. We're leaning on you.

And we just say, this day, one day at a time, this day, we're available to you.
God, would you open a door to be able to share the good news of what wonderful
grace you've given us in Jesus Christ? That's what we ask in your name, amen.

Well, join us next week. We're going to start to look at the message of freedom and
grace in the letters of the New Testament.