So great to be with you this morning and also we are being
joined by Hemel and Hatfield as well.
So can we give them a cheer? Hey guys, looking good this
morning. And yeah, just want to reiterate
that those two get to know us events.
Please check your diary. And if you are free, we would
absolutely love it if you would come and just hear a little bit
more about us and hopefully we can get to know you a little bit
better as well. And can I just say a massive
thank you from Chuck and I because you guys have made us
feel so unbelievably welcome. Thank you for your prayers, your
encouragement, your love, your support.
It is meant so much to us and honestly, this church already
feels like home. And so thank you, thank you,
thank you. OK, so last week, Chuck launched
our new series where we're in the book of Acts, which is an
amazing account of how a group of ordinary people, people with
the same fears and doubts and insecurities and limitations,
just like you and I, changed the world.
And this book is the living, breathing oxygen of God.
So when we read these pages, we aren't just looking back at what
God did, but actually we are looking and longing with
anticipation for what God will do today in and through us.
Because we believe that everything that is in God's Word
is readily available for us today.
The same Holy Spirit that ignited the early church is not
only living in you, but he's moving in this room, and he's
also moving in the rooms of Hatfield and Hemel as well.
The manifest presence of God is with us, and He is longing to
move in power. So before we read our passage
this morning, let me just quickly recap.
Let me set the scene. So Jesus has suffered.
He's died on the cross. On the third day, he rose again.
And so for the next 40 days, he walked the earth, proving he was
physically alive, healing hearts, bringing, restoring
hope, and preparing his friends, his disciples, for a mission
that seemed impossible. But then he gives them this
promise and he tells them, don't go yet.
Wait, because power is coming. So we're going to read today.
We're in Acts chapter 1, and we're going to read verses 4 to
8. And I'm going to read it to you
in my best voice possible. OK.
So on one occasion while he was eating with them, this is Jesus.
He gave them his disciples this command.
Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised,
which you've heard me speak about.
For John baptized with water. But in a few days you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then they gathered around him
and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the
Kingdom to Israel? He said to them, It's not for
you to know the times or dates. The Father has by his own
authority, set by his own authority, 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 Samaria and to the
ends of the earth. Amen.
So when our kids were young we
would take them every year pretty much to France for a
summer holiday. There was sunshine, which is
very important when you live in the North East of Scotland.
There we stayed in a mobile home on a big campsite so there's
water shoots, swimming pools and it was such a wonderful time
together. And I remember 1 particular
holiday where we had just come back from the supermarket and we
had bought a whole bunch of shopping and everyone was
hangry. And so I was busy preparing the
lunch and Chuck decided in his wisdom, it would be a good idea
to take the coke bottle that we had just purchased and put it in
the freezer to cool down so we could have a cool drink with our
lunch. The problem was that Chuck
didn't tell anyone he'd done that.
Fast forward to about 3:00 in the morning and we were woken up
with what I can only describe as a massive bang.
It sounded like a gun had gone off in the caravan.
We both sat bolt upright in bed, absolutely petrified.
And I'm like pushing him going you go and he's like no, you go.
And I'm like, no, you go. And so eventually he gets out of
bed and he opens the bedroom door and to his horror, he sees
the carnage in front of him. They're shattered glass and
plastic and frozen coke all over the kitchen and living room
floor, all up the walls and dripping from the ceiling.
And as he turned, he saw the big fridge freezer door wide open
and the freezer drawer had a lovely shaped Coke bottle hole
where like a rocket it had surged out of the freezer
drawer, propelling the freezer door to open and then explode
all over the kitchen and living room in that caravan.
The point is, we completely underestimated the power that
Coke bottle contained, and we will do the same unless we
encounter the Holy Spirit for ourselves.
You see, it's not enough to hear stories about the Holy Spirit.
It's not enough to read about the work of the Holy Spirit.
It's not enough to look at other people's encounters of the Holy
Spirit. We have to personally encounter
the Presence and the power of the Holy Spirit for ourselves.
And in verse 8, Jesus, he promises his disciples and you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
If this promise is for us today, which it is, then how do we get
it? How do we get it?
Firstly, we need to recognise it's not about you.
Now, we might think that the disciples, they were like a
special forces group of Saints, you know, that they live this
incredibly faithful and fruitful life that where they were
consecrated and they just followed Jesus around and it
would, they just did life perfectly with him for three
years. But in so many ways, we couldn't
be further from the truth because these were broken
people. These were people that had
severely let Jesus down. Peter had denied not knowing
Jesus three times. Not only that he wasn't a
follower of Jesus, but that he didn't even know Jesus.
And what did the rest of the disciples do?
They ran. They fled.
You couldn't see them for dust. Yet in the face of their
failure, Jesus, he still promises them power.
Now, I think this can be hard sometimes for us to get our
heads around, but we really need to allow this truth to sink into
the very core of who we are. Friends, God's power is a gift.
It's a gift. He's giving it to you.
You haven't earned it. He's given it to you.
You don't deserve it. He's given it to you.
Knowing and experiencing the power of God in our lives isn't
about what we know. It isn't about how long we've
been walking with Jesus. It isn't even about how closely
we've been walking with Jesus. It's actually utterly scandalous
that God is giving us his power as a gift.
And if you and I were to unwrap that gift and to examine it, we
discover something even more incredible, that the power of
God has a name. The gift that Jesus is promising
in verse 4 is explained as the Holy Spirit in verse 5.
The gift that God is giving us is not some abstract force like
Star Wars. You know, like may the force be
with you. God is giving us himself.
The power of God is the the presence of God, the deeply
personal presence of God dwelling within us.
His power is a gift. And what a gift it is, this gift
of the Holy Spirit. Friends, it's not a good conduct
medal. It's a vast outpouring of grace
and if we want a fresh and personal encounter with the Holy
Spirit, we have to let go of the notion that somehow it's all
tied up with our performance. You see, the Kingdom of God
works in the opposite direction to the rest of the world, if you
like. It's the upside down way.
It's like a snow globe that that's fullness and beauty can
only be seen when it's turned on its head and it's fully shaken.
You see the world has its own beatitudes, but Jesus turns that
on its head. The world says blessed are the
go getters. The Kingdom of God says blessed
are the peacemakers. The world says blessed are the
powerful. The Kingdom of God says blessed
are the meek. The world says blessed are those
who are desperate for success. The Kingdom of God says blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The world says work hard to earn it.
Jesus says wait and receive it. Verse 4, do not leave Jerusalem,
but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you've heard me
speak about. In other words, wait for the
Holy Spirit as a gift to be received, just as I have
promised you. And this is the posture that we
embrace when we invite the power of the Holy Spirit to come,
whether we're at home, whether we're at work, whether we're
studying, whether we're in a versa group or whether we're
here in church. You see, the power of the Holy
Spirit is not a luxury in our lives.
He's a necessity for every part of our life.
If I want a great marriage or to be a great parent or to thrive
as a single person. If I want to bring purpose and
integrity to my workplace, If I want to lead an awesome Verso
group or I have the time of my life in university, the power of
God is the essential components of that life.
When the world says strive, Jesus simply asks that we wait,
wait and receive the gift, which is his power.
So if the first point is it's not about you, the second point
is the most beautiful part of the gospel.
But this promise, it is for you. Sometimes we can hear it's not
about you and it can make us feel small, right?
But in the Kingdom of God, it's not about you.
It's actually the best possible news.
Why? Because it's a gift.
It's a gift and not a reward. And there is no one in the room
who is disqualified from receiving his gift.
Jesus looked at his disciples, this group of failures, these
doubters, these runaways, and he said this is for you.
And he's saying the exact same thing to us today.
It is for you. If you feel spiritually dry and
you feel like you've got absolutely nothing left to give,
it is for you. If you've been a Christian for
40 plus years, but you know you have never truly encountered the
Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit for yourself, it is
for you. If you're in need of physical or
emotional healing. It is for you if you feel
overlooked, quiet, or just plain ordinary.
Because God loves to put His extraordinary power into
ordinary vessels. You see, the Holy Spirit is not
a corporate power. That's only for the churches,
like one big organization. He's a personal counsellor meant
for you and me. And when Jesus says in verse 8
you will receive power, the word for you there, it isn't just a
general group of people. He's looking at each of us.
He's saying that the same power that raised him out of the
grave, a bit like that power that made that Coke bottle surge
out of the freezer and explode everywhere, wants to come and
fill you a hole afresh today. He wants to come and empower our
lives. You see, the world tells us to
fill yourself up. Fill, fill, fill.
It tells us to find more strength, more grit, more hurry,
more busy. Do, do, do.
But Jesus, he looks at our empty cup and he says, let me fill it.
Let me fill it. And the beauty of this gift is
it's not for the perfect version of us.
You know, the perfect version that we may try to present on a
Sunday morning is for the real you.
And it's for the real me, you that feels anxious in the middle
of the night or at 3:00 in the morning.
It's for you that feels overwhelmed in the office.
It's for you where you're just desperately worried about your
grandkids. It's for you where you feel so
unbelievably lonely and isolated.
Do you know and love Jesus here today?
You have a birthright to the power of God.
You have a birthright. Let that just sink in.
You have a birthright to the power of God.
And so, friends, that means we don't have to beg for it, we
don't have to haggle for it, and we certainly don't need to feel
enough to receive it. All we have to do is ask for it,
wait and receive it. I heard this story once about
this young guy and he had a really strange relationship with
his whole family, but he was pretty much restrained from his
granddad. And his granddad passed away and
he got a call from the lawyer and he said there's a reading of
the will and you need to come. And the guy really didn't want
to go. He felt a lot of shame.
And also he just thought, well, I know I'm not going to receive
anything from the will. Or if I do, it'll be a pittance.
And it'd be based upon that. I clean up my mess.
I get my act together. But anyway, he turns up and he
goes to the lawyers. And there he is.
And he's at the back of the room with his head down and his arms
crossed, not wanting to be there.
And to his surprise, the lawyer reads out these words.
He says to my grandson, I believe the entirety of my
estate, not because he earned it and not because he was always
there, but simply because he is mine.
The key is in the top drawer of my desk.
And so this young man, he goes to his granddad's house, and he
feels like an imposter in the home.
He goes there, He finds the study.
It's so dusty. It's smelly.
It's not been used for a really long time.
And he finds the death drawer. And he opens up the drawer and
he sees the key. And next to the key, there's a
little handwritten note from his granddad.
And it says, I know about the mess.
I know about the mistakes. I didn't leave this to the
version of you I wished you were.
I left it to the grandson I love.
Stop trying to pay me back and just live in the house, friends.
That's exactly how the Holy Spirit works.
Some of us are standing in the hallway of the Kingdom and we're
trying to clean ourselves up before we can come to the Lord
and ask Him for His power. Maybe we think we have to pay
him back by better behaviour, more Sunday morning holiness.
But Jesus is standing there with the key to His Father's
treasure. We don't have to be enough
because the gift giver is more than enough.
So if the first point is that it's not about you and the
second point is but it is for you, the final truth is that
this promise is also for the rest of the world.
Verse 8, Jesus says you will receive power when my Holy
Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the
world. You see, the Holy Spirit is our
fuel for mission. And this mission, it is so much
bigger than us. It's bigger.
It's way bigger than our comfort.
It's bigger than our skill set. It's bigger than our own
personal preferences. If we only did what we felt
comfortable doing or what was in our skill set, then we wouldn't
need the Holy Spirit, would we? Because we'd be totally fine by
ourselves. But Jesus?
He is calling us to live a life that is naturally impossible.
To be everyday people going about our everyday lives, but
people who carry the power of Jesus.
And so when we step out and we move in that power, other people
see it, other people experience it.
And what happens is we see the Kingdom of God breaking in and
breaking through. A while back now, one of my
friends phoned me and said, could you come and pray for me?
And she'd been to see a medium. She wasn't a Christian.
And since the moment she saw a medium.
As things started going wrong in her house and in her, she wasn't
able to sleep. The heating system was on the
blink all the time. Even though they had a new
heating system put in the TV that was a new TV kept wouldn't
work when they wanted it to and they would come on in the middle
of the night when she was at home by herself.
She would hear people walking around upstairs and she felt
like one time there was like her a coldness that came over her
cheek and somebody brushing her cheek, but no one was there.
And she felt A hardness towards her family that she'd never
experienced before. And so she said to me, could you
come and pray? So I went round there and
started laying hands on the radiators and the walls and all
of that. And then I said to her, can I
pray for you? And she was like, OK, so we just
sat on the couch and I started to pray for her.
And she said, as we started to pray, she said, I feel like
there's this noose around my neck and it's getting tighter
and tighter. And her face was so pinched and
white. And she you could see that she
was struggling to breathe. She said, I can't breathe
properly. And I said to her, do you want
to tell Jesus how sorry you are for what you've done?
And she said yes. And so she told Jesus how sorry
she was. And then I said, do you want to
renounce everything that that medium has spoken what's going
to happen over your life, and give that to Jesus?
And she said, yes, I would. And as soon as she did that, she
said, I can see Jesus. And she said, he's got this
massive pair of shears and he just came and he just cut that
rope. And she went, I can breathe.
And all of a sudden her face went from being like tall and
white and just hardly able to breathe to this peace that just
came over. And she had this lovely glow.
And I said, just take some time to be with Jesus.
Just stay there with Jesus. This is your time.
And she just sat there for a long time and she just kept
saying, it's amazing. It's amazing.
Then all of a sudden she jumps
up and she goes, it's gone and then she runs over to the
radiator that maybe like 45 minutes earlier was not working
and it's boiling hot. She's going, the radiator isn't
working. Then she gets the remote
control. She's trying to turn the TV on,
but the TV did not come on. So lay hands on the TV in the
name of Jesus, command ye to work.
TV started to work that day. My friend experienced the
incredible power of Jesus in her, in her body, in her
emotions and also in our house. And she had absolutely no doubt
how vast and big and awesome Jesus power is.
And a few days later, she gave a commitment to Jesus.
Friends, I don't need to tell you that there is a world out
there that is desperate for the power of God.
They're desperate for what we have.
St. Albans, Hatfield, Hemel, Luton,
Harpington, Watford, London is in desperate need for the power
of God. Your friends, your adult
children, your cycling buddy, your running buddy, the person
you meet in the library or at the school gates, or your
crafting group are in desperate need for the power of Jesus.
The world says look out for #1 the Kingdom says, I have filled
you so that you can pour out. We're not just a church
gathering in some buildings. We're a people on a mission out
there in the world. And so we need the genuine
explosive resurrection power of God to fill us.
And all we have to do is wait for the Holy Spirit as a gift to
be received, just as He's promised you.