When the Rock Rolled: Keep on Moving

May 17, 2015

When the Rock Rolled

Keep On Moving

Acts 1:6-26

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Introduction

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Maybe you have heard the name Harold Camping.

• He is a minister/writer who spent his life predicting the second coming.
• He prediction the second coming would be on May 21, 2011.
• There are several problems here:
• Its 2015 and he had previously predicted the returning on Sept. 6, 1994.
• In January 2014 Mr. Camping passed away, after spending 5 million on the 2011 prediction campaign.

There is a danger/trap that we can fall into.

• 2000 years ago we were warned by Jesus not to fall into.

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• "No one knows the day or the hour. not the angels, or the Son...only the Father" Mt. 24:36

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Jesus IS coming again!

• We SHOULD live our lives looking forward to this day.
• How? By living a holy and Godly life that will please Him when He does come back!

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Text

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. 8 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.” Acts 1:6-8

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It must have saddened the heart of Jesus to hear his disciples ask about the time of restoring the kingdom to Israel (v. 6).

• He had taught them about the kingdom of God.
• Jesus told the Pharisees, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." Luke 17:20-21
• They were still extremely nearsighted thinking that He was talking about the kingdom of Israel.
• One theologian suggests:

"The verb restore shows that they were expecting a political and territorial kingdom; the noun Israel that they were expecting a national kingdom; and the adverbial clause at this time that they were expecting its immediate establishment."

Jesus’ answer about not knowing times and dates.

• These are set by the Father and are consistent with what He said elsewhere on the topic of the timing of the last things.
• Their primary concern should not be the political power that will come with the restoration of Israel’s kingdom.
• It should be the spiritual power that will come through the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
• This will enable them to be witnesses “to the ends of the earth.”

This verse presents an outline and summary of Acts.

Lesson

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Don’t fall into the trap.

• What is this trap?
• Take a look at Acts 1:6-8
• These men were worried about dates and times...they had questions
• Jesus said, “You don’t need to know that!”
• What they needed to know was:

1. You will receive a special gift.
2. You will be my witness to the world.

• When this was said He left them...ascended into the heaven.
• Now, this would have been awesome to see...right?
• I can appreciate their wanting to take this all in.
• NOTICE - vs. 10-11

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• Why are you standing around...there is work to do!

The angel was warning the disciples of something that many Christians struggle with...just standing around!

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Could this happen to us?

• We do not have to be standing in a field to be guilt of this sort of behavior.
• Many Christians who have come to Christ act in this manner.
• We get excited about Christ...receive  the greatest gift in the world.
• Then we live is though we think God will be pleased at us just standing around.

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Must realize that just standing around isn’t going to cut it!

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How do we avoid this?

• Here it is…DO SOMETHING!

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• A lot of the time we don’t do anything because we do not know what to do.
• We have not be told what to do and we are afraid to do.
• Maybe we feel as though we’ll mess things up?

• Take a look at what happens after Jesus ascended and the angel appears.
• READ - vs. 15-26
• Who gave Peter the authority to appoint a new apostle?
• As far as we have Jesus didn’t instruct him to do this.
• Peter’s words don’t reveal that God told him to
• So did Paul do wrong?
• I don’t know, but God did hoor it.
• Matthias’ names never appears again but God’s word includes him in the 12
• Acts 6:2; 1 Cor. 15:5
• I share this to say, something needed to be done...Peter did it...God honored it!

What about us?

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

• Are we called according to His purpose?
• Do something...God will honor it!

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• There are some stipulations to this:

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1. It cannot contradict scripture.
2. Make sure that you are doing it for God.
3. Make sure it is being done for others benefits.

Conclusion

Sometimes we might think, "I'd like to do something for God."

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• This is great..this pleases God, but we then say, "I'm so afraid that I might fail."
• What we know is that in the hands of God even our failure can make a powerful difference.

He must overcome this attitude or the church will fail in it's mission!

We do not need to be successful by our standards.

• However, we do need to be faithful by His.