Paul Daugherty - Acts Chapter One - Part 1
If you got a Bible, go to Acts chapter one. Yes, we are starting a new series this weekend on the book of Acts. And I'm so pumped about it. This book has changed my life. It's the first book after the gospels, it's page 991 in case you're wondering what page is this book in? It's in the Bible. But it is the story of how the church began. Right after Jesus went up to heaven, he gives these disciples, these 12 disciples, this mission, this commandment, great commission to go and preach the gospel. But he says, "Wait for the power that's about to happen". And the book of Acts is all about the empowerment of the Holy Spirit on the early church and how it just completely revitalized the world, changed Jerusalem, turned upside down cities and countries. And this is how Christianity spread.
This is really the story of the church in the book of Acts. And it ends abruptly. We're gonna notice that as we get to the end of this, I don't know how long we'll be in this series. There's 28 chapters here. We could be in this series for the next 28 weeks, but I really feel in my heart that God wants to speak to us, that God wants to speak directly to you and I. The things that they walked through are things that you and I are facing right now. We need truth, we need grace, we need wisdom. We need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. And we're in a time where our world is confused. Our world, there's wars, there's rumors of wars. There's all kinds of things going on. There really is a spirit of confusion in our society. And the book of Acts interrupted all the confusion and brought truth and brought the hope of Jesus Christ, and it was empowered by the Holy Spirit.
So in Acts chapter one, verse one, Luke, the author, who was a doctor, he wasn't one of the disciples that walked with Jesus, but he was one who came later on and he heard about all these stories. And he started writing. He wrote the gospel of Luke, and then he wrote the book of Acts and he was writing to this young believer, Theophilus. And he said, I wrote to you about all that Jesus began to do and teach in my last book until Jesus was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles that he had chosen. After Jesus had suffered, he made himself visible to his disciples. For the next 40 days, he presented himself to them and he gave convincing proofs that he was alive.
We talked about one of these moments last week when Jesus showed up on the beach with Peter and he had breakfast with Peter, and we talked about how he restored Peter and gave Peter this commandment to go and feed the sheep and to go and preach the gospel. Jesus would show up to his disciples multiple times after he rose from the dead. He showed his scars to Thomas. He showed where they had nailed his hands and his feet. He showed up on the road to Emmaus. Two guys who were walking towards Jerusalem and they were talking how confusing these last few weeks had been in Jerusalem and how they didn't know how to make sense of what they had just experienced.
How many of you guys have been there before, where you don't know how to make sense of what you've just experienced? Half of us in the room. The other half, you're still in a place you're so dazed and confused. You're like, "I still don't know what's going on". Where am I? Who brought me here? And these guys were confused and Jesus is walking right with them in the middle of their confusion. And their confusion doesn't just leave. He just begins to answer their questions. He begins speaking to them. And they're sitting down, they're having breakfast and all of a sudden he's gone, and they realize that was Jesus that was with us.
Well, this happened multiple times where he showed up after the resurrection and gave convincing proof that he was alive. And then it says this, on one occasion, in verse four, while he was eating with the disciples, he gave them this commandment. This is before he goes up to heaven, he says, do not leave Jerusalem. And I wanna stop right there. The fact that he would say these words means that they wanted to leave. They wanted to leave Jerusalem because they had been hurt in Jerusalem. They had messed up in Jerusalem. They had experienced the most pain in Jerusalem. They had good times in Galilee. They had good times in Nazareth. They had good times in other towns, Jericho. But Jerusalem, that was the place they experienced their greatest let down.
That's where they watched their savior die on a cross. That's where they themselves betrayed him. They experienced not only their biggest disappointment, they experienced their biggest shame. And Jesus says, I want you to stay in the place that you've experienced the most pain, because where the devil has tried to strike you the hardest, I'm about to bring a blow to the kingdom of darkness like never before. Where the devil tried to stop you, I'm gonna launch you. Where the devil thought he had this movement and he was gonna contain it, I'm about to explode it.
Did you know when a poisonous snake bites you, the only cure to that poison that's inside you is gonna come from that actual poisonous snake? The antivenom comes from the venom. Ebola is cured from Ebola. And in the same way, Jerusalem was almost like a poisonous attack against the disciples because it was where all the prophets went to die. It's where everyone, I mean, it was the most religious city. Religion is toxic, it's all about, you know, for them, the people in the temple during that time, they couldn't stand the message of Jesus 'cause it was about relationship. He was inviting people to know God without trying to perform a bunch of good deeds in order to get close to God. But simply, just to call on him that God so loved the world, he gave his son.
Jesus came not to establish religion, but relationship with us. And Jesus was telling them, I want you to stay in Jerusalem, the place that's so wrapped up in religiosity. We're about to break the spirit of religion off this city. We're about to flip this city upside down and they're gonna find Jesus through your movement if you stay here. He says, don't leave Jerusalem. Stay in the mission that God's called you to stay in. Stay till you see the breakthrough. I was sitting in traffic not too long ago and it was so backed up on highway 75. And the lane right next to me starts moving and I was like, "I need to be in that lane, that lane's moving faster. Those people are going somewhere. The sun is shining on that lane. The grass is greener in that lane". You know?
You ever looked at someone else's lane and thought their lane is better than your lane? You know what I'm talking about? And you're like, "They got the secret sauce. What are they doing in order to go faster than us"? And so I start to move over and right when I move over, that lane slows down and my lane starts moving. I'm like, "Guys, let me back in". They're like, "No, you left us. You don't get to come back over here". People become super territorial in those lanes. Y'all know what I'm talking about?
And this is what the Holy Spirit's saying. Stay in the lane that I've called you to run in because there's power coming. Don't get your eyes off your mission. Stay in the mission that God's called you to. Stay in the marriage God's called you to. Stay in the ministry God's called you to. Stay in the upper room of prayer. Jesus was saying, don't you leave Jerusalem from a place of hurt. You stay right here because this is where your healing's gonna happen. And not just for you, but it's gonna spread like wildfire. It's gonna start here, but it's gonna go into Judea, Samaria, into the ends of the earth. The same place that you experienced your letdown, you're about to experience your breakthrough. Don't leave Jerusalem, but wait. Everybody say "Wait for it".
Did you know that the average human being spends 14 years of their life waiting? Some of y'all this week, you spent hours waiting in traffic, waiting in line at a grocery store, waiting on the phone for somebody to answer. They put you on hold. How many of y'all just can't stand being put on hold by people? You know what I'm saying? You're like, "Don't you put me on hold". Like, "I'm gonna put you on hold". "No, don't". I can't control, they put me on hold and we wait. We wait, we wait, we wait. But there is a way to wait passively and there's a way to wait actively. How you wait is just as important as what you're waiting for.
Jesus wasn't telling them to wait with a bad attitude. He wasn't telling 'em to wait and go "One of these days, he's gonna finally bring his promise to pass. One of these days, I'll get married. One of these days, we'll have kids. One of these days, I'm gonna be free from this addiction. One of these days, my kids are gonna come back to the Lord. One of these days". He wasn't saying to wait with wishful thinking. He was saying wait with a fervency, wait with prayer, wait with worship, wait with tithing wait with obedience, wait by showing up to the upper room. Every single time your brothers are up there, you get your booty up there, shut the door and pray. Stop waiting with the passive attitude and start waiting with the fervent spirit.
He says, wait on the Holy Spirit, who is the Holy Spirit? He is part of the Trinity. God the father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit. Three in one. God reveals himself through the Holy Spirit, even in the book of Genesis chapter one, the spirit hovered over the water. The Holy Spirit is the breath of God. Spirit, Holy Spirit in the Hebrew means Ruach, which means the very wind or the breath. In the Greek it's called Pneuma, which is a breeze, a breath that comes from God. Some of us in this room, we need to check our breath.
Turn to that person next and say, "Check your breath". What kind of spirit are you operating in? There's a lot of believers that are not moving in a Holy Spirit empowered life. We're moving in some sort of a spirit. But the Holy Spirit produces fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, goodness. The Holy Spirit energizes us. You can tell a believer that's filled with the Holy Spirit, they're moving with purpose. They're moving with energy. They're moving with strength. Right now, the enemy has tried to exhaust the church. Tried to make believers just walk around tired all the time. I need more espresso, espresso, whatever you call it. I need more coffee.
How many shots of espresso did you have today? Four, I need eight, I need 10. I need my fourth cup of coffee. It's 10:00 AM, I'm tired. I need more strength from the wait room. I need another protein shake. Listen, the Holy Spirit can give to you the power that no coffee, no protein shake can give you, no diet here on earth. There is a power and an energy and a vitality that comes. You could go on vacation for weeks and still be tired. See, the real power doesn't come from what the world can offer, it comes from what the Holy Spirit can bring. He says wait on the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you're gonna do things in your own strength.
See, Jesus knew these disciples, they were gonna preach. These were ordinary men. They had not graduated from a great university, like Oral Roberts University, if you're an ORU grad today. But the thing I love, the story of Acts is that these were men and women who were not extraordinary in the eyes of others. They didn't have graduate degrees from the temple universities in Israel. They were not from big families with a lot of money. These were fishermen. These were guys who cut dudes ears off. These were messed up people. You go, "Well, hold on, these were really good people". No, they were just saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. Don't try to polish the disciples because then you eliminate God using broken people with issues.
How many are thankful that God uses broken people with issues? Come on, this is my service right here. Where's my broken... Come on, how many of y'all got some issues and God still uses you? Come on. That's what I'm talking about. Jesus was using and he knew, in order for you to move in power, it's not gonna come from what man can give to you, it's not gonna come from how good you've been, how much good things you've done, it's only gonna come through the power, the power of the Holy Spirit. What language is he talking? I'm talking the language of heaven.
God wants to restore a lost language in the church. It's 2022, it's about time that churches our size start speaking in tongues a whole lot more. "Now, hold on, Paul. You're gonna scare off all the new people". No, the new people need something different than what the world offers. They're going to the liquor store, the spirits, they haven't found what they're looking for. But when you come into church, he's pouring drinks. He's about ta...come on... God's got something fresh for you today. God wants you to move in power today. God wants his church to get strong again. God wants believers to start walking in a greater maturity. God wants people to know there's a church that's moving like the book of Acts again.
When I was younger, I remember my mom and dad, they baptized me. I was in Royal Rangers and they were doing water baptism. And we came downstairs from Royal Rangers and I got baptized. I came out of the water and my dad said, "Do you wanna receive the Holy Spirit"? I said, "Yes"! He said, "It's for every believer". I said, "Yes"! And he said, "You know, the Holy Spirit, there's evidence of the Holy Spirit that can happen in your life". I said, "Tell me about it". He says, "Prophecy and discernment, wisdom. Speaking in tongues, faith". He starts talking to me about the gifts of the spirit. He says, "Do you want that policy"? "Yes, I want that".
It's free, it's a gift for any believer who wants it. It's not just contained to certain families or certain people or just pastors or missionaries, it's for the back row to the front row. It's for any seat in the house. Anyone watching online from Russia, Ukraine, China, wherever you're watching from, West Virginia, wherever you're at, God wants to give you the gifts of the spirit. And this is what we need in this hour. We need power from on high because we're facing things that are beyond our understanding. How many of y'all have walked through something that's beyond your understanding in the last year? And you're going, "I don't even know what to do with this. I don't know how to interpret this. I've done everything I can in the natural and it is still beyond me".
Who's been there before? I've been there. And I wept, I wept in the last year going, "God, I don't understand". When I don't understand, this is where I've gotta tap into the power of the Holy Spirit 'cause he searches and knows all things. He was there before Google was. He's greater than Elon Musk. He's greater than Twitter. He's greater than Facebook. He's greater than Zuckerberg. He knows all things. And he searches the hearts and the motives of every person. And when it's beyond your understanding, that's when you need to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit and say, "I don't know what to do here. But Lord, my hope is in you. And I'm asking you to give me the interpretation, show me what I'm to do. Give me the strength".
The Holy Spirit not only energizes you, he encourages you when you're discouraged. Any believer in the room that you felt the encouragement of the Holy Spirit when you just were tired and sad and discouraged? Yeah. I mean, even yesterday, for whatever reason, just an emotion hit me yesterday and I just started praying. I was crying, I was praying. I was by myself and I was in my car. And as I was praying and crying, it was just like the Holy Spirit just began encouraging me. This is what David did in first Samuel 30. He encouraged himself in the Lord when he was exhausted, when he was tired. And you know, I think churches like Victory, there's gonna be a surge of the Holy Spirit. As I was praying over this series, I just felt like the Lord said, "It's time for Victory to dive into the book of Acts". And it's time for, there's things in this book that God wants to happen right now in our church. Jesus said, wait, the Holy Spirit's gonna come. In a few days, you're gonna be baptized.
I wanna tell you a couple things the Holy Spirit does. Number one, the Holy Spirit enlightens your memories. He enlightens your memories. The enemy tries to almost cause a spiritual Alzheimer's on believers to forget what God has done, to forget what God has said, and to forget the names of God. Did you know that God has names for every season you walk through? I'm telling you what, this morning, the 9:00 AM service, we were $300,000 short for our Tulsa Dream Center pool. And we just started worshiping and praying. And one of the names of God is Jehovah-Jireh. My God shall provide all of my needs according to his riches and glory. In Christ... I got a word for somebody who's believing for a car, who's believing for tuition. He is Jehovah-Jireh in your season of lack.
For some of you, you're up against a battle that's bigger than you. You know what his name is during that season? Jehovah-Nissi, my banner of Victory. He's my great defender. For some of you, you're the lost sheep. He's your great shepherd in this season. He's bringing you back. He's the father that waits on the front porch, running down the driveway to you. But in the 9:00 AM service, I was starting to preach my sermon and Daniel Henshaw ran up on stage and he said, "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but God just showed up and someone just gave a check for $300,000 and it's not a faith check, it's a real check".
Come on, you can take it to the bank. God just took care of the rest of the Tulsa Dream Center pool this morning. There's gonna be kids this summer that are swimming and learning how to swim because Jehovah-Jireh, my God shall provide. He that dresses the lilies of the field, he watches over you. He looks out for the sparrows and he's looking out for you. There was a boy in the lobby that came up to me right after the 9:00 AM service, he said, "I was praying for my tuition to be paid for at Victory Christian School. And I just found out in this service that the same guy who paid for it last year is gonna pay for it again this year. Someone's paying for me to go to Victory Christian School". He was so thankful.
See, some of us in this room, we don't know what it's like to go without. And when you go without something and you're in a place of lack and you don't know how God's gonna show up, you are so thankful when God shows up. Some of us don't know what it's like to need a defender 'cause we've never been attacked like somebody else. But when you've been attacked and you need an attorney and you got the attorney in heaven who's pleading your case, who's standing before you, and he sits next to the right side of God, and he prays for you and he intercedes for you, that's when you need to know the names of God show up in every season. Jesus knew these disciples needed to have a revelation of God, and this is what the Holy Spirit does. He reminds you, he enlightens you, the memories.
Number two, he enlightens the message. He shares with you what to say. This last week, Ashton and I, we were with a group of pastors and this one guy said, "I've got a word for you. The Holy Spirit just gave me a word for you". This happens. Sometimes the words are interesting. I've had people give me words and I've thought, oh man, you gotta test these words, you know? How many of y'all ever had a word that you were like, "I don't know, I don't know what to think about that word". Someone came to me one time, this was a long time ago when I was single, they said, "I got a word for you, you're supposed to marry me". And I said, "I haven't gotten that word yet". But this guy had a word and he said, "I just feel like it's a pure word from heaven for you".
And I said, "Okay". And he spoke it and it was everything. This guy didn't know me from anybody, didn't even know who I was. It was everything. Just details even about my kids. He said, "You have a kid". And he began to describe something in the last season. And man, I just, I said, "That was you, God". The Holy Spirit wants to give you words that are gonna help minister to people for what they're walking through. Last night, I was praying for someone at the altar and the Lord just gave me a word for him. "You're just getting started". Just tears started flowing down his eyes. He said, "I thought I was wrapping things up. I thought I was done". We're living in a time where the enemy wants to convince believers they're done. That you've seen your best days. You've sang your best song. You've seen your greatest. This is where the disciples were at. Jesus was leaving them and they were like, "You were our favorite friend. Our best friend is leaving us.
Now we're gonna go back to this upper room that you tell us we gotta go back to, and we're gonna stare at the empty seat of where our best friend used to sit. And you're telling us our best days are in front of us? We just saw our greatest years yet. We just spent three years with the son of God, saw miracle, signs and wonders. You gave us bread and fish. You paid our taxes out of a fish's mouth". I mean, they saw great things with Jesus and he says, "Your best days are still in front of you". And we're in a season right now where people are wondering what's God up to. And I just felt like the Lord said to this man last night, "You're just getting started". The best days of your ministry are right in front of you. Just tears started streaming down. Did you know Lester Sumrall? He made his greatest impact in his latter years of life. It was in his mid to late sixties that he started feed the children. It was in his mid to late sixties. Oral Roberts didn't build ORU in his thirties.
See, this guy was like, "You know, I'm past my thirties. I'm past my forties, I'm past my prime. I don't know, I just kind of feel like I'm just heading out, being pushed out to pasture and maybe I'm done," and no, you're just getting started. It was in his mid to late fifties that Oral Roberts started going to banks saying, "I've got a university, it's in here. It's not out here yet, it's in here". See, the greatest vision, it starts between the ears. The battle is between the ears. He could see it before he saw it and he began to describe it. Banks didn't want to help him, but he kept pressing through. I'm so glad that Oral didn't hang his hat up at 58 years old and say, "I think I've preached my best sermons. I've done my best things. I had crusades in California, I'll stop there". No, he said, "I see a university". This last weekend, they graduated the largest graduating class at ORU, 918 students from a debt-free university where God is moving. And the Holy Spirit is moving because someone said, "God's not finished with me yet".