Place: Lurgan Baptist 21:7:2002

Reading: Acts 1:1-11

CHRIST'S FINAL EARTHLY WORDS

Edward Kimball was determined to win his Sunday School class to Christ. One of the boys, a teenager named Dwight Moody, tended to fall asleep on Sundays, but Kimball, undeterred, set out to reach him at work. His heart was pounding, as he entered the store where the young man worked. " I put my hand on his shoulder, and as I leaned over I placed my foot on a shoebox. I asked him to come to Christ." But Kimball left thinking he had botched the job. His presentation of the gospel seemed halting, and he was downcast. Moody, however left the store that day a new person and eventually became the most prominent evangelist in America. On 17th June, 1873, Moody arrived in Liverpool, for a series of crusades. The meetings went poorly at first, but then the dam burst and blessings began flowing. Moody visited a Baptist church pastored by a scholarly man named F.B. Meyer who was ashamed that he had invited this uncouth American who murdered the Kings English. During this time, F.B. Meyer was having tea one day with one of the ladies of the church. " How is it with you today Madam ?" he asked. " Oh," she said " wonderful Dr. Meyer, why since D.L.Moody has been here I have won every girl in my class to Christ."

Meyer said, " I learned something that day about the language of the human soul." At Moody's invitation, Meyer came to America. At Northfield Bible Conference, he challenged the crowds by saying, " If you are not willing to give up everything for Christ are you willing to be made willing ?" That remark changed the life of a struggling young minister named J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapman proceeded to become a powerful travelling evangelist in the early 1900s and he recruited a converted baseball player by the name of Billy Sunday. Under Chapman, Sunday became one of the most spectacular evangelists in American history. His campaign in Charlotte, North Carolina, produced a group of converts who continued praying for another such visitation of the Spirit of God. In 1934, they invited evangelist Mordecai Ham to conduct a city-wide crusade, and in that crusade a young tall lanky sixteen year old farm hand gave his life to Jesus Christ. His name, Billy Graham, who has preached to Queens and Princes all around the world. But how did it all start ? Trace it back to a Sunday School teacher named Edward Kimball, who thought he had botched the job, when he got serious about witnessing for Christ !

My .... witnessing is of prime importance. Look at the Lord Jesus ! After He died on the cross, arose from the grave, appeared to believers here and there .... to one, two or three, or to as many as five hundred, for forty days and forty nights, He took His disciples and started over the hill of the Mount of Olives toward the little community at Bethany. As He walked along, He talked to them.

Just before the heavens lit up with the glory of God, and Christ was taken back into glory He said to them, " But ye shall receive .... " ( 1:8 ) These were Christ's final earthly words. It has been two thousand years, and the Lord Jesus has not during that time planted His feet on planet earth and audibly addressed His followers. I wonder is that silence intended to prevent anything from obscuring Christ's final words, so they continue to reverberate in the Church's ears ? My .... our Lord has laid down in the clearest terms the mission for those who are to follow Him. This is the mission of the church that would dare to call itself New Testament .... this is the mandate of apostolic Christianity ! From this statement from the lips of Christ we learn about:

(1) The EXCLUSIVE SOURCE of Christian Witness

" But ye .... " ( 1:8 ) Think of:

(a) THE FIRST WITNESSES:

" Ye," refers to " the apostles whom He had chosen."

( 1:2 ) They were to make Christ real to other people.

However, before we can make him real to anyone else, He has to be real to us. So the Risen Lord appeared here, He showed up there. He made Himself real to this one and to that one. They needed to become convinced of His abiding presence, that He was there, alongside them, whether seen or unseen. He was there as He promised and would be to the end of time.

( Matt 28:19-20 ) Yes, to this ordinary, faltering disciples the Risen Lord says, " Ye shall be witnesses unto Me .... " My .... the apostles were passionate for Christ. Observe Peter at Pentecost, Stephen at His stoning, Paul before Felix. They fervently promoted their faith. They were a band of zealous believers who turned their world upside down for Christ ! (a)

(b) THE FURTHER WITNESSES:

For God expects every Christian to be a witness ! There are no loopholes. No one can say, " this does not apply to me." My .... do you realise that your honour exceeds that of any worldly ambassador, whether it be to mainland China, France, or the private offices of the Prime Minister ? Christ's last word to us is this, " Ye shall be witnesses unto Me." It was Dr. Pierson who said, " Witnessing is a necessity of a truly saved soul. A light that does not shine, a spring that does not flow, a seed that does not grow is no more an anomaly than a life in Christ that does not witness for Christ." My .... do profess to be in Christ ? Are we then witnesses for Christ ? At the end of a service an elderly gentleman got up and began to plead with God for forgiveness. With great fervency he prayed, " Oh, Lord forgive me, I've been a dummy Christian. When I was saved the devil seemed to say, there are pastors and evangelists to do the preaching, you don't have to bother about such things, I listened to his lie and all these years I've been living at his ease while souls around me have died in their sins." " Ye shall be witnesses .... " (1)

(2) The CENTRAL SUBJECT of Christian Witness

" Ye shall be witnesses unto Me," ( 1:8 )

The word " witness," is a key word in the book of Acts and is used 29 times. Now a witness is someone who tells what he has seen and heard. ( 4:19-20 ) When you are on the witness stand in court, the judge is not interested in your ideas or opinions, he only wants to hear what you know. The Greek word here means,

" one who dies for his faith," because that was the price paid for witnessing ! Now look, they were not called to preach a dogma or a creed or found a new religion. They were called to preach Christ, to tell people of a living relevant Person ! " Witnesses unto Me ...." Now how are we to do this ?

(a) BY WORD: CONFESSION OF LIP:

To be a witness for Christ is to bring a message that is a marvel of simplicity, Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh, He died to pay for our sins, He was resurrected, now He is exalted in Heaven, He calls us to trust in Him and receive forgiveness of sins ! My .... the book of Acts is saturated with this word " witness." The last time it is used is in ( Acts 26:22 ) where Paul the ideal witness is standing before King Agrippa. Do you know what he said ? " Having therefore obtained help of God I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great saying .... " Paul had to say something about Christ, in fact he had little else to say except about his Saviour. My .... God wants us to talk about Christ. Oh, if we spent as much time talking about the Lord, as we spend talking about each other we would have won many to the Saviour ! Are you gossiping the gospel ?

(b) BY WORK: CONSISTENCY OF LIFE:

Did you notice what Christ said, " Ye shall be .... " for what we are is just as important as what we say. When Sir Henry Stanley discovered David Livingstone in central Africa, he spend several months in his company. Stanley could not understand Livingstone's sympathy for the Africans for the sake of Christ and the gospel. The missionary doctor was patient, untiring, eager, spending himself and being spent for his Master. Stanley wrote,

" When I saw that unwearied patience, that unflagging zeal, those enlightened sons of Africa I became a Christian at his side, though he never spoke to me about it." The sheer weight of witness of Livingstone's life was irresistible. In 1859 when God moved by His Spirit in our land a man without no education was saved. He could nothing more than tell what the Lord had done for him. Due to circumstances he went over to Scotland to work in a mill that employed some 1300 people. Yet so great was the impression made upon them by this man's simple testimony that no less than 600 of them were brought to Christ. This simple soul had spoke the word and lived the life !

Is Christ the central subject of your witness ? Some believers are more anxious to promote their denomination, movement, system, hall, society, but my .... we are to witness to the living, victorious person of the once crucified, but now glorified Lord Jesus. (1) (2)

(3) The WIDENING SPHERE of Christian Witness

" In Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth." ( 1:8 ) Like a ripple in a pond their witness was to extend in ever widening circles " unto .... earth." Now not only is the word " witness," the key word in the book of Acts, but

( 1:8 ) is the key verse. For the book of Acts may be analysed according to the division of this key verse. For

( CHs 1-7 ) describe the church established at Jerusalem. In ( CHs 8-12 ) we see the church scattered to Judea and Samaria, finally in ( CHs 13-28 ) we see the church extended to the remotest part of the earth ! In other words the apostles were to:

(a) Evangelise their own COMMUNITY:

" Witnesses unto Me .... in Jerusalem." Jerusalem, why the Lord was crucified there. But here was the First circle ! Home base ! You see, you start where you are !

Your home, your family, your friends ! Are you a witness at home ? Thats probably the hardest place to witness because people know you better at home. They know all of your failures and foibles and all of your mistakes and inconsistencies. But the Bible says,

" Learn first to show piety at home." ( 1 Tim 5:4 ) Start right where you are ! What about your husband ? Your wife ? Are they saved ? Witness to them ! What about your children ? Are they saved ? My .... you are interested in their education, but what about their salvation ? You are interested in their physical welfare, but what about their eternal welfare ? How concerned are you about their eternal destiny ? Have you targeted them for the mission ? Are you praying for them ? Will you bring them with you ? (a)

(b) Evangelise their own COUNTRY:

" Witnesses unto me in all Judea." They were to be concerned with those who spoke the same language, had the same customs, lived in the same environment and under the same government. Do you know something ? Home missions are just as important as foreign mission ! My .... if we are not exercised about reaching our own country how can we be exercised about reaching some else's country ? Do you remember the burden John Knox had for Scotland ? He cried to the Lord, " Give me Scotland else I die ?" (a) (b)

(c) Evangelise their own CONTINENT:

Samaria was their neighbour country. It represented the foreign culture with which they were most familiar because it was the one closest to them. Now they knew all about the Samaritans, indeed they had a deep seated racial and religious prejudice against them. In fact, it was not until revival broke out in Samaria that the apostles themselves showed any willingness to go there.

I wonder is the Lord asking you to go somewhere, to speak to someone against whom you have a natural

bias ? Is the Spirit of God exercising you about some place that you don't want to go ? My .... Christ's final words to His church demand expansive hearts ! 1:2:3:

(4) The UNFAILING SECRET of Christian Witness

" But ye shall receive power .... " ( 1:8 ) And so they did. For it is only the Holy Spirit Who can make Christ real to an unregenerate and disbelieving heart.

And that is exactly what He did on the day of Pentecost, and with such phenomenal success that thousands were swept into the kingdom that very same day. My .... the apostles had already experienced the Holy Spirit's saving, guiding, teaching and miracle working power. Soon they would receive His indwelling presence and a new dimension of power for witness. ( 1 Cor 6:19-20 )

Now that " power," in ( 1:8 ) is interesting, we could translate it " dynamite." The dunamus or dynamite of God. Now every believer is packed with power .... the Holy Spirit. The power is in you. It just needs to be released and that happens when you yield every aspect of your life to the Spirit's control. This is what the Bible means when it talks about being filled with the Spirit.

Dr. A. C. Dickson said, " When we rely on organisation we get what organisation can do, when we rely on education we get what education can do, when we rely on eloquence we get what eloquence can do, but when we rely on the Holy Spirit, we get what God can do."

Charles Hadden Spurgeon in his young days got a new penny farthing bicycle and he was very proud of it. One day he was riding along the road when he met another cyclist on a boneshaker. " Difficult to ride a machine like that, isn't it," said Spurgeon. " Not a bit," said the man and off he went. Charles Spurgeon did his best to follow him, but soon he was left far behind. Spurgeon had the machine, but the man had the power ! Do you know something ? The church of Jesus Christ today has the machinery, you name we've got it. Power point, amplification, overhead projectors, discussion groups,

committees for this, that and the other, but what we need to realise is that effective witnessing is accomplished, " Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts." ( Zech 4:6 ) My .... the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not a luxury it is an absolute necessity ! One final thing, did you notice:

(5) The PRESENT SEASON of Christian Witness

How long have we left to evangelise the lost ? How long have we left to win our loved ones for Christ ? How long have we left to be witnesses for Him ? Well did you notice that ( 1:8 ) is followed by ( 1:11 ) where the angels say to the disciples " Ye men of Galilee .... "

In other words, the duration of Christian witness is:

(a) FROM THE ASCENT OF THE SAVIOUR:

Look at ( 1:9 ) That cloud may have been the Shekinah glory .... a visible representation of the pleasure and presence of God. This was the same symbol that Moses had encountered on Sinai when God covered him with His hand so that Moses only saw the afterglow.

( Exod 33:23 ) It was the same cloud that travelled before Israel by day, a pillar of fire by night.

( Exod 13:21 ) It was the cloud that lay over the Tabneracle and filled the Temple.

( Exod 40:34 1 Kings 8:10 ) My .... the apostles hearts were pounding, and their eyes wide as saucers as God powerfully underscored His Son's final words to His church !

" Witnesses unto Me .... " You see, the Ascended Christ was to be the confidence of the apostolic movement. Having ascended, He now intercedes for the church, and has sent the Holy Spirit, " another Comforter," just like Himself. So we can be His witnesses ! (a) But its:

(b) TO THE DESCENT OF THE SAVIOUR:

For " this same Jesus .... " ( 1:11 ) Will this not be fulfilled in that future day when the Lord returns during the battle of Armageddon with His own to set up His millennial kingdom ? ( Zech 12:10 Rev 19:11 ) My .... the implication is clear. Christ is coming, Christians get going ! Are you committed to His plan, His Purpose, His Programme ? Are you willing to spend and be

spent ? Nechayev, a nineteenth century disciple of Karl Marx was thrown into prison for his role in the assassination of Czar Alexander 11. Prior to his death he wrote, " The revolutionary man is a consecrated man. He has neither his own interests nor concerns nor feelings, not attachment nor property, not even a name.

All for him is absorbed in the single exclusive interest, in the one thought, in one passion .... revolution."

Although his motives and goals were wrong, is this not the heartbeat of true commitment ? The kind needed to accomplish the goals of the Risen Lord !

My .... the very last words the Saviour spoke before He earth for heaven were these " Witnesses unto Me .... unto the uttermost part of the earth." Whether we live or die, whether we have health or sickness, whether we are rich or poor, we are to be a people of one thing .... seeing one thing, caring for one thing, living for one thing .... to please God ! And what does God want ? He wants us to be His witnesses ? Will you ?