02-01-2026 - BUT YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER - Acts:1-1-8

MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG

FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

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I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy ( Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G,   Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J.  Magda- Laci M.  Gloria F, Miguel A H. Silvia H, Brianda M, Alejandro M, Natalia M, Oscar N. Laci N. Miguel C.)   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

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This morning, I want to look at the topic of power.  This theme is dominant in our world today, where everywhere we look, power is on display - sometimes for good, too often, not.  Unfortunately, Lord Acton was right, Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.  One nation trying to dominate another, one person trying to impose his or her will over another.  People take what they want only to find someone stronger wanting to take what they want.

This topic of power courses through the book of Scripture we are looking at in the coming weeks.  Yet the power we are told to take hold of us is of an entirely different nature.  It is a power that serves, that loves, that attracts, that enables - not to destroy hearts but to win them.

In the book of Acts, we are told repeatedly to take hold of the power, the 'dunamis' from which we get the word dynamite, as God’s power which He gives to transform lives, its source, the Holy Spirit, who is referenced 56 times.  Here in Acts, the emphasis on power is different from what we see in the gospels, where love is mentioned over 100 times, but here not referenced once.  

Let’s begin, understanding THE WHO - so we can know. The author of Acts is likely Luke, a doctor and historian who put together an orderly account of Jesus and His ministry.  There are several reasons to believe he is the author, the strongest is the connection in what we read in the opening verses of Luke, Many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitness and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught  1:2-4.

And now the words that are more or less a mirror image of what we see in Luke, in the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach^, Acts 1:1    

Theophilus, who is a primary recipient of what was written before and what is written now.  Though we know no more about him than these two references, we have some hints.  There is a good probability that he is a Roman official of some importance. Luke’s other use of the term, ‘most excellent’, is reserved for Felix and Festus, who are Roman governors of Judea, Acts 23:26, 26:25

So why is the matter of Theophilus important?  Simply, the Gentile world surrounding them was, Greek and Roman, a world filled with gods. The stories of their exploits are larger than life. And so the temptation for Theophilus to put any claims about Jesus alongside this other ‘god’ collection was great.  But if Jesus were truly different, if He really had done the things reported, He was entirely different.  And for that, Theophilus needed proof, not preposterous stories.  He needed a reason to believe.  As do you and I.  As Christians, we are to be a people of faith, but not blind faith. Faith must give us reason to believe, not necessarily answering our every question, but providing sufficient credibility to bring us to where we must all decide - who is Jesus?  There is no question needing an answer more important than this.

By Luke’s words, it’s apparent Theophilus wants to understand what is being said of Jesus, and Dr. Luke is one who can be trusted to lay out the evidence so a decision can be made.  A diagnostician, Luke would not be easily convinced by one person’s convincing account.  The story one person might give - interesting.  The story of several - requiring a closer look.  But the stories of many who have witnessed and experienced what they say require a decision.  Neutrality, not an option. Who He said He is, either true or false.  There is no other option.  Sort of like what Daniel referenced last week - ‘do or not do.  There is no try’ - no on the fence. Of greatest importance is He Saviour?  And for those who know Him - is He Lord?

Which brings us to THE WHAT- so we can believe.  In his Gospel, 1^st account, Luke laid out the facts of what he heard, who he spoke to & what he saw, accounts leading him to the conclusion for which he had no answer other than, Jesus is undeniably, the Son of God, the Saviour to Whom he repented, bowed and followed. The things Luke primarily reported on picked up here in Acts, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen:1,2.

Okay, let’s pause here for a moment to consider how we got here.  Imagine yourself in the place of the apostles and the emotional roller coaster they’ve been on.  Going about the everyday until Jesus called them into an adventure beyond anything they could have imagined.  Life plans abandoned.  Occupations left behind.  Now watching multitudes fed, blind eyes healed, crippled legs strengthened, seas walked on, demons cast into a sea, dead brought to life.  Witnessing the unmistakably miraculous.  Indisputably God.  Undeniably Saviour of heaven and earth.

The previous everyday?  Forgotten.  Who cares how many fish were caught on the day once thought to be your best?  Who cares about praise for collecting Roman tax?  Who cares about a success made, an opportunity taken, an act of benevolence done?  Even the best of the best, not coming close to the incomprehensible, you witness as you follow Him.      

AND THEN the inexplicable - the incomprehensible of a death sentence delivered that He couldn’t escape, the immovable of nails that wouldn’t let go, the indisputable that can’t be denied - He was buried and gone.

What do you do with that?  This isn’t disappointment, this is despair - spirit-crushing despair. Anguish that’s led you to forget every promise He ever made, made you question all the miracles already seen. Now all that remains is the finality of what is. None of this makes sense.

Leading to what the ‘can’t make sense of this’ disciples did next - heartbroken and afraid, they gathered, trying to make sense. Trying to connect broken, ‘still wanting to believe’ hearts with their ‘we were there’, ‘saw it with our own eyes - it’s all over’ minds.   Were you with them, with no capacity to see beyond the moment, would you be any different?  Would you feel anything less?

Beyond grim UNTIL the appearance that changed everything.  This was the certainty of God Almighty having power over death.  Power over the most powerful of nations, over the most powerful of weaponry, over the most powerful of demons. Jesus, the name before Whom everyone in heaven and on earth will one day bow  Phil 2:9,10.   

His resurrection is greater than any miracle previously seen.  This wasn’t a healed leg or a restored hand, this was the appearance of a King and the promise of what this King had said - a Kingdom.  An entirely different Kingdom that would be more than the overthrow of an oppressor, more than the victory over some enemy.

This One we are told, He presented himself alive to them AFTER his suffering by MANY INFALLIBLE indisputable PROOFS, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God  :3.

Don’t miss what this is saying - the validation of the truth about Jesus is the resurrection - He also presented Himself alive AFTER His suffering by MANY INFALLIBLE PROOFS.

Proofs that He alone is the conqueror of death.  The proof of who He is isn’t determined by some healing He’s done or how some prayer was answered. The proof is Jesus’ power over death.

The things done before His death, miraculous, convincing until nighttime arrest came and religious interrogations came; Crucify’s far more numerous, far louder than Hosannas.  What He promised now seemingly dead, sealed as tightly as the rock that held Him captive.

But that seal broken,  validation that everything said was true, everything seen that had proclaimed Him as God had not deceived. BUT here again, notice, it is what is seen and heard AFTER that served as infallible proofs.  Proofs that were more than some stories.

Witnessed by one who was asked to reach out and touch a nail-scarred hand.  Witnessed by two of the discouraged, who, after a long walk home, shared a meal.  Witnessed by several who ate a lakeside fish bake.  Then seen by hundreds.  Witnessed, the undeniably dead now irrefutably alive. Proofs this resurrected Jesus has come to give you life, no matter how impossible you think that to be. No matter how far away you’ve gone or how little hope you now think there is.   

No other system of belief even attempts to make a claim of power over death.  Every other can only point to closed-off graves where the ideology proposed, the belief system promised, should deservedly die with them.  Not so for Christians. That’s why I can stand at a gravesite and give assurances to those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that a grave is NOT the final chapter for their loved ones.  Rather, it is the beginning of a life that will have no end.

It is guaranteed, wrapped up in Jesus who came to His own, said, See My hands and feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have... And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate before them Lk 24:39, 40, 42, 43.     

See Me, touch Me, hear Me.

Luke’s summary?  Infallible proofs that is validating evidence of who Jesus IS and what He can do.  Which takes us to THE WHY - so we can arm up and enlist.  Yet God, knowing their need, is not merely proof for what they believe; they need power to stand strong in their belief both personally and as His witnesses.   

As do we.  As believers in Jesus, we have been given new life.  We’ve been given His Spirit to live within us to change us, but that new life we’ve been given will come under attack.  We will face things that will try to draw us back into the old, not able to re-establish our old identity, but able to stir up enough of the old to have us living as if we’ve never been changed.  New ownership? - Yes.  New behaviours and new minds? - not necessarily.  That requires living in the truth of the power we’ve been given, which is what we now see.  Not just saving us but enlisting us.

Here’s the problem - as believers, we’re told that when we come to faith in Jesus, God’s Holy Spirit comes to live within us.  Ephesians says, When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. With that we’ve been given, His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead  Eph 1:13,14,19,20.

God is telling us we possess His great power.  But possessing power is not the same as living in that power. That requires allowing His power to truly possess us - in WHO we live for, the decisions we make, the lifestyles we choose.  That we live to please God.  The power God has for us is not defined by what it restricts but by what it gives.  Power that attracts by what God says satisfies and brings joy, what God says is true.  Power given to enable us to live in a world that is opposed to Jesus.

Does this mean that His power will give demonstrations of the miraculous, the unexplainable?  It could, and I’m not ruling that out because God still does the miraculous, BUT I think it is far more likely what we are told in 2 Corinthians, For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, MADE HIS LIGHT SHINE IN OUR HEARTS to give us the light of the knowledge of

GOD’S GLORY  displayed in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us  2 Cor 4:6,7.   

We are containers, mere peanut butter jars, who possess God’s mighty Spirit to accomplish what He desires to do in us and through us. Our need is to know that it is not our wisdom, our skill, our intellect, our strengths that enable us to live as He calls us to live.  We are merely possessors of what He has given, and we are to be people who, in the Holy Spirit’s power, are to convey what is within - to convey what we possess.

It’s why Jesus will command His disciples to NOT depart from Jerusalem before receiving power.  Given what they now knew, they might have been inclined to rush out and tell others.  Surely with the resurrection of Jesus, people would have to believe; deniers would have to fall away, doubters would have to believe.  Lives would have to change.  How could they not?  This was everything the prophets had foretold, everything the people had waited for.

But had the disciples rushed off with stories about a new kingdom without new Kingdom power, they would quickly have been overcome by the enemies that would come against them.

Hadn’t Daniel spoken of this new kingdom? In my vision at night, I looked and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.  He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.  Dan 7:13,14.

No wonder the disciples will soon ask, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?  Earlier, Jesus had told them, You are those who have stood by Me in My trials.  And I confer on you a kingdom, just as My Father conveyed one on Me, so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel  Lk 22:28-30, Mtt 19:28

So their, Jesus is this it? The question is completely understandable; they are putting together what the prophets had said about the promised earthly reign of God’s Messiah-King.  God’s Kingdom that will never end, and according to the promise, Israel would be prominent in this Kingdom. And don’t forget - Christ is not Jesus’ last name, it’s His Messianic title, His throne name - He is the Anointed One, the promised Davidic King, King of the Jews.  And it’s this kingdom that Jesus has been giving His disciples in the 40 days following His resurrection :3.

The disciples would have also been familiar with what Ezekiel said that the coming of the Kingdom would be connected with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit Ez 36,  Joel 2.  I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel ... I will not hide My face anymore from them, when I pour out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God  Ez 39:25, 29.  No wonder what follows in Acts:

For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’  And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 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’  :5-8.

In response, Jesus doesn’t correct what they believed; He corrects when these things will take place. To them, the timing is logical, the Holy Spirit coming, their resurrected King now fully revealed and disciples who’ve been promised to be seated on thrones to judge Israel.  How could this not be the time for God’s kingdom to begin?      

And for you and me, who thousands of years later have come to saving faith in Jesus, it is a very good thing that the disciples were wrong about the timing. As Peter makes clear, the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.  Jesus is delaying His return because of you, because of me.  Jesus wants us to be with Him in His kingdom.  BUT the Day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare 2 Pet 3:9,10.

Jesus assured that what He was doing was new - unlike what they had known.  His words are clear: You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses.

Our first need as followers of Jesus is to have the power of the Holy Spirit come upon us, where we come before God and ask Him to do what only He can do - release His power upon us.

Throughout Scripture, the Holy Spirit is symbolized by fire, a ghost, a wind, a dove, but we are told He is the third person of the Trinity.  When the Holy Spirit came into our life, we did NOT receive Him in parts - some now, more later and the best part, in some later special encounter.  The Holy Spirit as a person can’t be divvied up in parts.  When we came to faith, we were given the totality of the Holy Spirit.  His Spirit in us so we can know what it is to live in His power, to live in His joy, to live in His peace NOW.  But that means bowing before Him.  It means our will is submitted to Him.  It means coming clean before Him of our sin, of our demand to do our will rather than His.  It means saying no to sin and yes to Christ.

His Spirit upon us as we yield to His purposes in our life - as we parent, as we employee, as we neighbour, as we spouse, as we student.  Our lives as we witness to our kids, our students, our relationships that what we believe is true.  Living what’s true by living in obedience, living in holiness to please our Master, as we Walk worthy of our calling  4:1-3

An army of God’s followers who have been called to live in the power He has given.  An army of individuals who God is calling to bow in humility and ask Him to pour out His Holy Spirit upon us so that we can live in His transforming, life-changing power.   

For you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you

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