HIGH VOLTAGE: DANGEROUS
Dangerous Church – Part 2
August 17, 2008 • Chris Goins
The book of Acts records the story of the church from its explosive beginning on the Day of Pentecost to the imprisonment in Rome of its greatest missionary, Paul the Apostle.
It covers a time period of about 30 years, but in those thirty short years the church literally exploded from a small, rag tag group of believers gathered in Jerusalem to thousands of believers scattered throughout the entire Roman Empire.
The book is written to a guy named Theophilus which means “loved by God” or “lover of God.” It’s also written to people like you and me who are “loved by God” and “lovers of God…”
Acts 1:1-2 (ESV), In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
At the incarnation, Jesus didn’t set aside his divinity, but He set aside the “RIGHT” to His divinity, and He added to His divinity, His humanity. Philippians 2 describes this beautifully.
Philippians 2:7-8 (NLT), [Even] Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7 He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.
The QUESTION then becomes: if Jesus didn’t always lean into His divinity… If Jesus didn’t always lean into His divine attributes and kick into “God mode,” how did Jesus LIVE HIS LIFE and do His ministry? How did He do it?
By the power of the Holy Spirit…
That’s what Luke is getting at in Acts 1:2.
It’s what Luke is getting at when he describes the baptism of Jesus and the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a dove (Luke 3:22)…
Peter describes the same reality in Acts 10:38.
Acts 10:38 (NIV), …how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
Acts 1:3 (ESV), He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:4-6 (ESV), 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; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
Acts 1:8 (ESV), But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
This is the key verse in the book of Acts.
Some Tendencies We Must Guard Against:
• The tendency to focus on the WRONG PERSON.
We tend to focus on the person and work of the Holy Spirit instead of focusing on the person and work of Jesus Christ. But it’s important to remember that it’s always the objective of the Holy Spirit to lift up, glorify and point people to…Jesus.
It’s ALL about Jesus. It’s ONLY about Jesus! It’s ALWAYS about Jesus!
• The tendency to focus on the WRONG EVENT.
The church I grew up in spent a great deal of time focusing on the Day of Pentecost, almost to the expense of focusing on the work of the cross and the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection. It was almost like those events were somehow “pre-cursers” to the main event, which in our minds, was Pentecost.
It’s critical that we understand that the cross – the substitutionary, sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross, and his subsequent resurrection from the dead – those were the MAIN EVENTS. Pentecost was simply part of the aftermath of what went down at the cross and what was secured through Jesus’ victorious resurrection!
• The tendency to focus on the WRONG PERSON as the DEFINITION of what it means to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led…
The best definition of what it truly means to be Spirit-led and Spirit-filled is JESUS… No one and nothing else! Jesus is the supreme example of what a human life can look like when fully lived under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit…
• The tendency to forget that the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to accomplish the MISSION of JESUS.
The person and power of the Holy Spirit wasn’t given to make us feel good or look better or have a great and wonderful life … The Holy Spirit was given to empower us to accomplish the MISSION of JESUS…
(See Acts 1:9-11)
When Everything Changes… When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed… When You’re In Way Over Your Head… Three Actions That Always Make A Difference:
1. OBEY and WAIT.
Acts 1:12-13a, 14 (NLT), The apostles were at the Mount of Olives when this happened, so they walked the half mile back to Jerusalem. 13 Then they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying…
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
2. Be FILLED With The HOLY SPIRIT.
3. Ask God To Make You Really DANGEROUS.
Acts 1:8 (ESV), But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…
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