Acts 1:1-5

So wonderful to experience God’s presence in the midst of all of you. So thankful for this powerful time of worship that the Lord has graciously given to us in our life. Welcome to all the guests, many of you are not guests, you’ve been missing for a few weeks and months. We’re so glad that you’re back from out of town and different places. So thankful for God’s provision and protection in all of your life. Thank you for all the speakers who allowed me to take a few weeks of sabbatical from preaching here Sunday after Sunday. It was good to have that break, so thankful for your ministry in the life of the church and the word that you brought from the Lord. It was a blessing in my life as well.

A lot of times, you know, as I think about what to preach upon next, you know, different sermons and different sermon series come to my mind. This was something that God laid on my heart almost three years ago to preach this sermon series. Circumstances of life dramatically changed, and ministry changed about two and a half to two-plus years ago. We even had entitled this sermon series as a youth group, and we even talked about it and how to plan for it, and then came COVID, and everything changed in our lives forever.

But now, fast forward a few years, a different church, a different group of people, and different circumstances, and God is enabling me, by the grace of God, to go through this sermon series that I have never preached before and something that has been very close to my heart.

So, if the coming of the Lord tarries, and if God gives me health and you continue to have me as a minister among you for the rest of this year and possibly for the entire next year, we’ll be going through the book of Acts. Every verse, every chapter, from chapter 1 all the way to chapter 28. The aim, by the grace of God, is to cover Acts 1 through 14 through the rest of this year and then cover Acts 15 through 28 through all of 2024.

So hopefully, by the grace of God, all of you will be along with me for this journey as we go through the book of Acts, and God will add more people to our church as we continue to worship the Lord together.

In the original Greek, this book just has one title, ‘Acts.’ That’s all it says. It doesn’t tell us, as in many books of God’s word, who wrote it. It doesn’t say when it was written. All it says is ‘Acts.’ Later on, in your Bibles as you look, you see ‘Acts of the Apostles,’ and there’s a great deal of debate as to whether that is the appropriate title for it, but all it says is ‘Acts.’ The word in the original Greek, ‘Acts,’ that is used over there, literally means ‘acts of great men,’ that’s exactly what it means. It is thought to denote something, they describe the actions of great men, acts of great men, exactly what it is.

But what we study in the book of Acts is this: these were not great men to begin with, but God, by his grace and more importantly by the power of the Holy Spirit, made ordinary men to do great things. And because of what they did by the help of God, this became known as the acts of the great men.

One of the most complete and beautiful titles thought of the book of Acts that I’ve ever read is in a book by Alan Thompson who wrote about the book of Acts, and this is what he wrote he says “it’s the acts of the Lord Jesus through his people by the Holy Spirit for the accomplishment of the Father’s purposes.” And I love this definition of what the book of Acts is and because our Bibles don’t have lengthy titles like this, we don’t have this but it kind of summarizes everything that the book of Acts is all about it is ultimately the work of Jesus in the life of a group of people but they didn’t do it alone they did it by the power of the Holy Spirit but behind it all was the purpose of the Heavenly Father that was accomplished in the life of the church. And so that’s exactly what it is, the acts of the Lord Jesus through his people by the Holy Spirit for the accomplishment of the Father’s purposes.

As I mentioned at the beginning just like many of the books in the Bible, it doesn’t start by telling you who the author is but there are definitely great clues that are given about the authorship of the book of Acts. What we study here is an introduction that tells us about possibly who this author is. By the second century, this was a settled matter in the early church, the early church fathers all attested to the fact that Luke was the author of the book of Acts just as he was the author of The Gospel of Luke as well. And what we see about this man known as Luke is very, very limited in God’s word.

One of the things that always fascinates me about the writing of Scriptures is how obscure and how hidden the authors are. If I were to write a book like this, somewhere along there I would make sure that my name is mentioned. But that’s not what we see in God’s word, they don’t tell who they are, they don’t tell us what college they went to, they don’t tell us about their prefixes, none of those things are mentioned in any of those books. We don’t know who his dad is, we don’t know who his mom is, we don’t know which family he came from, we don’t know which church he went to, none of those things are known to us.

There are only three times in the entire New Testament that Luke is mentioned by name. And those three places are this: first one is Colossians 4:14 where the Bible tells us that Luke was a physician. So, he was a doctor by profession, and that can be seen in many of his writings as well. We actually read a lot about the book of Hebrews this past week, in fact, I have of the personal belief that Luke wrote Hebrews as well, and that’s because of the style and the language, Greek, that is written in the Gospel of Luke and in the book of Acts is exactly like in the book of Hebrews as well. In fact, Paul is probably the most least likely author of the book of Hebrews, but that is what traditionally we’ve been taught, probably it was Luke. Colossians 4:14 tells us he was a physician. Philemon 24, the Apostle Paul identifies Luke as a co-worker, so he’s a co-laborer, some translator says. Co-worker with the Apostle Paul in his missionary journey. Even when you read the book of Acts, we see sometimes the language changing, where Luke would write ‘we traveled’ showing himself to be one of the people who accompanied Paul and Timothy and Silas on their missionary journey, especially the third one. 2ndTimothy 4:11, there’s a beautiful verse. Towards the end of his life, when writing about many people who did not stick with him, the final words that pens, he writes about Luke and he says “Luke is the only one who is with me.”

So what do we have a profile here? A man who is highly educated, a man who is well-versed and knowledgeable in the ways of the Lord, a physician by trade, learning in all the science and that can be seen in many of his writings where he writes about different body parts all the time- a physician only would write that. Not only that he was a man who in spite of his profession chose to travel around the world with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ accompanying Paul in his suffering, being thrown into jail, witnessing many of the miracles that happened in the life of Paul, shipwrecked along with Paul, arriving in the island of Malta, and arriving in Rome eventually, and finally, even at the final moments of his life, finds himself right beside the Apostle Paul. Faithful to the end, a man who is loyal, a man who is a fellow worker to him

And then who is he writing this to? The Bible just gives us his name in Luke 1 and then again in Acts 1. Theophilus, a man that is only known by this name in God’s word. We take the word Theophilus and we parse it. ‘Theo’ meaning God, ‘philo’ meaning love, you get the meaning “lover of God.” Because of the way this is so difficult to pronounce none of our children are named Theophilus but it’s a great name, it means lover of God. So if you want to name your children Theophilus that’s perfectly fine, it’s a Biblical name it has a great meaning to it. Don’t do it, it’d be difficult for us! Lover of God. But in Luke chapter 1:3, Theophilus is identified as what? He is” the most excellent Theophilus.” So we know that this man is of Greek origin. We also know that he is the lover of God. We also know that is a man who was a search of truth that somehow, we don’t know when, but somehow was attracted to the gospel, maybe through the ministry of Paul, maybe as that as the gospel spread to Gentile nations. Theophilus became a believer and now Luke is writing to him but Luke 1:3 tells us he is known as most excellent Theophilus. This is very, very important you know why? There are two times in the book of Acts when someone is known as most excellent: ‘most excellent Felix,’ ‘most excellent Festus.’ You know who they are? They’re high ranking Roman governors and officials which means that this man Theophilus that Luke is writing to is not an ordinary citizen – he is a man of power, probably a Roman Governor, a ruler with a wide range of influence in the region where he’s ruling. Now you understand why Luke is writing this? Luke is writing this not because he’s trying to write one more account of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke is writing the Gospel of Luke and again the book of Acts specifically to this man because this is a man of influence. “If I am able to convince him about the authenticity of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and not only that about the birth of the New Testament Church and how it was formed and fashioned and developed and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit then he will be able to be a great advocate for the gospel to everywhere he has his influence over.”

See, this is the kind of ministry that is very, very important. A lot of times we go to the slums and the villages, and a lot of times we go and try to reach people who are in the outskirts of society that no one wants, and that is great, that is the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to challenge you, young people, you engineers that are out there, you doctors that are out there, you pharmacists that are out there, you nurses that are out there, you who hold the highest ranking jobs in your society: reach the people who are forming the mind and the ideas of the next generation. Lawyers, especially, those of you should run for political office if the Lord is prompting you. Why? You are you not doing it so that somebody can call you a senator or a house representative, or a mayor, or someone else. You need to be in positions of influence because there is a great deal of ministry that can be done from places like that. What you say, people will listen to. What do you have to opine on, people will pay attention to. So just like Luke, be people that communicate the truths of God’s word to people who have influence, that can spread it again to a wider region than anyone else. So Theophilus, probably a person of wide-ranging influence.

Luke is a very astute historian. His writing is very, very accurate. When you study the Gospel of Luke, you can see it. Many a times he prefaces many of his stories by telling us about the historical background of what is going on at that time. Out of all the New Testament writers, Luke’s writing is the most accurate historical records that we find in God’s word. Why did Luke write this? Look at Luke 1:3-4. This is a two-volume writing: Gospel of Luke being one and the book of Acts being the second. He says in v1-2, “There are a lot of people,” he says, “that have been writing about the life and the ministry of Our Lord. With this in mind, since I myself”—and look at those words—”have carefully investigated everything from the beginning.” This is not speculation, church. He has carefully investigated everything that he’s writing about. Being a physician, being a historian, being a man who is given to accuracy. You see, being a doctor, you need to be very, very accurate. Have you ever had a doctor that is inaccurate? But don’t go to him because a little bit of surgery is not surgery. A little bit of medicine does not do much good, it just creates side effects. A little bit of healing often doesn’t do much good. You need physicians to be precise, accurate, very knowledgeable, very thorough in their analysis. And the same kind of an analysis and mind he’s applying to the life of the Lord Jesus Christ as well. He says to us here, “Since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you.” And that’s what exactly what the gospel look is. It is a very orderly account of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. While other gospel writers start with genealogy and kind of jump all over the place, when you read the Gospel of Luke from the beginning till the end, it is very orderly. It starts with John the Baptist, it goes to Jesus’ birth. It goes in the exact order as he mentioned. And then it says to us, “Most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” So he’s already a believer. He has been taught the gospel. He has been taught the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want you to be very much solidified in the truth that you’ve already been taught. So I am writing this to you.

So you combine an astute historian, given to accuracy, a man who is given to a mind that analyzes things so precisely, and you combine that with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, what you get are two books that are phenomenally accurate and to the point and communicate exactly what it needs to be communicated.

Let me make a point here very quickly. No matter how educated the biblical author is, no matter what kind of astute background he has, finally, ultimately, what makes it authoritative, what makes it believable, what makes it important is not the qualifications of the author. It is the Holy Spirit who is the author of God’s word that makes God’s word believable. I know a lot of doctors in the world. Not everything that they write is accurate. I know a lot of learned people in the world. A lot of what they write is rubbish and blunder. But the word of God is believable, not because of the education of the author. Ultimately, it’s because the Holy Spirit, who is truth himself, has communicated God’s plan and truths to them. We build our lives on it, we believe it, we stake our life on it. Everything that we do in our life is based upon this word, and we believe it from the beginning of our life to the moment of our death. How do I know that when I close my eyes in death, I will wake up in heaven? It is because I believe the Bible from the beginning till the end. Why do I put my trust in God? Because I believe the Bible. It’s always stood for the truth of God’s word.

What does the book of Acts do for us? First of all, what it does is that it gives us information on the first three decades of the church, AD 30 all the way to AD 60. It gives a record of it. A lot of people think this was written in AD 61, and probably rightfully so because it is not mentioned about the beheading of Paul. He doesn’t talk about the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Probably written in AD 61. If the book of Acts was not written we would have a wide gap of 30 years in which we have no idea what happened in the church

Secondly, it teaches us about the empowering of the church by the Holy Spirit. If you didn’t have the book of Acts, and you just went from John to Romans, and then you see this man, Paul.

First of all, you’ll be like, “Who is Paul?” You’re looking through Matthew through John, where? Paul? He’s not among the 12 disciples. Where did this man come from? Why should we believe him? You need the book of Acts to know why we listen and even read the writings of Paul. Secondly, he’s writing about the Holy Spirit, and you’re like, and you are looking to the Old Testament, you’re like, “Well, you know, these things are not really mentioned.'” But when you say to the book of Acts, you understand why and how the Holy Spirit was given.

Thirdly, there’s a new covenant at play here, a new relationship that God has with His people. The practical outworking of it is seen in the book of Acts. How did they behave every single day? How do they conduct Church? How do they form their Church? How do they come together? How was the church first formed? How did they spread? All these things we find in the book of Acts.

Next, we see that God’s witness has now changed in the book of Acts. See, God’s witness has changed. The God who communicated just through the people of Israel primarily in the Old Testament, now we see Him communicating not only through Jews but also through Gentiles. If you did not have the book of Acts, you’d be thoroughly confused as to how it all happened and all the struggles. It was not an easy journey. How did they get to the point where all of us Gentiles are now accepted into the family of God?

Then the kingdom of God emphasis that we see all throughout the Gospels now becomes the church as the emphasis. Only two times in the Gospels that church is mentioned. 19 times the church is mentioned in the book of Acts. The emphasis is changed. The kingdom of God is mentioned more than 40 times in the Gospel accounts, but the kingdom of God is only mentioned a handful of times in the book of Acts. The focus of God’s ministry is changing. The church is becoming the primary focus of God’s plan in this world.

And not only that, we find some of the greatest sermons in the Bible in the book of Acts. We are supposed to look at the model of preaching of the apostles that we find in God’s word. We see sermons that still stand. That’s one of the greatest sermons ever preached: Christ-centered, cross-centered preaching in God’s word. We see Peter’s powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost. We see Peter preaching as a result of the healing of the lame man in Acts 3. We see Stephen’s powerful sermon of how to look at the Old Testament and bring out the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of it. We see Peter’s message in the house of Cornelius in Acts 10. We see Paul’s sermon at Antioch. We see Paul preaching at Athens. We see Paul preaching to the Ephesian Elders. We see Paul’s appeal in front of Agrippa. All these great sermons we find in the book of Acts.

Not only that, 31 times the book of Acts talks about prayer, more than any other book in the New Testament. Why prayer? Prayer is integral to the growth and the life of a church. Without prayer, the church loses what it is. Without prayer, the church loses its effectiveness. You know this! Have you ever wondered why we have all these prayer meetings? I know the kids wonder about that all the time. Why do you have to pray? Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night? Did God not hear you Wednesday and Thursday, and you had to repeat it on Friday and Friday night? And then again sometimes Saturday morning and Saturday night? Me and Justin talk about it all the time. We want the next generation to adopt that kind of a prayer in your life as well. Prayer life is not something that is restricted to a Saturday night meeting and Sunday morning service. Prayer is the most important thing that you do. And even when you don’t understand it fully, you pray. You pray. You pray because that’s what we see in the book of Acts. When we study through it, you will see how God worked so beautifully in the prayer of His people.

Yesterday, we all read the news of Pastor Tim Keller passing away and going to be with the Lord. As some of you know, he was a pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York. This man, when he was appointed pastor of the church, started with a congregation of just 50 people. Now, growning to a church of thousands of people, primarily again, as I mentioned, professional people living in New York who had been attracted to the simple message of the gospel. An apologist of the Christian faith, a man who was known for his great way of communicating by his life and his teaching the pure message of the gospel, passed on at the age of 72. In one of his devotionals on prayer, this is what he wrote, and he was writing about the book of Acts: “The power of the Spirit descends on the early Christians in response to powerful prayer, and leaders are selected and appointed only with prayer.” Did you read that? Leaders are selected and appointed only with prayer. Exactly what we’ll be doing after our service today.

But this is not something where we woke up this morning and thought, “Okay, this person is good, and we appointed them.” No, there’s a lot of prayer that went behind our selection and presenting before you, because that is the model that we find in the New Testament Church. Leaders are not appointed by who can stand the longest and who knows who. Leaders are appointed by the divine inspiration and direction of the Spirit of God that comes to pastors and leaders because they have spent time in prayer, waiting for the guidance of the Lord. And he continues, “Not only that, all Christians are expected to have a regular, faithful, devoted, fervent prayer life. In the book of Acts,” he wrote, “prayer is one of the main signs that the Spirit has come into the heart through faith in Christ.” Prayer is integral to everything that we do.

On the way here, I was listening to John Piper mentioning the last email he got from this man of God, in which he quoted Luke 10:20 in his email: “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” See, that is the greatest joy of us as believers. It is not, and we heard the exact same message this past weekend so powerfully: we rejoice in the presence of God not because demons submit to us or miracles happen. We rejoice, why? Our names are written in heaven, that is the greatest joy of the believer, especially at the point of his death. That is the greatest joy! It is not how much money you have. It is not how much wealth you have. It is not what status you have. Your name is written in heaven. What a blessedness! What a wonderful state! What is something that no one can ever give to you other than by the grace of God: name written in heaven. And when you die, that’s the only thing that will matter: name written in heaven.

My time is almost up, and then I come to the verses I want to focus on today, but I will do that in the next few minutes that I have. Acts 1:1-5 ‘In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you’ll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

In these verses, what do we see? First of all, he references his former book, The Gospel of Luke. He talks to him, ‘I told you everything that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.’ So, this 40-day time period from his Resurrection to his Ascension was not spent just appearing to them. The Bible doesn’t record all of it. Jesus appeared to his disciples many different times. In fact, Paul says there was a time when he appeared to 500 of them all at once. We are speculating as to when that was; the Bible doesn’t really record it in any other places. But Jesus appeared to them frequently. Why? Main reason: He was instructing them all the things that he had been teaching them all the way through, and the message hasn’t changed. It is all about the kingdom of God. Look at Acts 1:3: ‘After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.’ The message hasn’t changed.

But let me ask you something: Imagine Jesus preaching to them about the fact that he is God and about the kingdom of God before his resurrection and after his resurrection. Do you think they’re more likely to listen after the resurrection or before the resurrection? After the resurrection! When you have a man who was crucified on a cross, torn to pieces, three days later rising again, now he sits before you in glory with a body that is imperishable, and he is telling you about the kingdom of God. You will attend that Sunday service. You will listen to every word he has to say. These disciples, who are given to so much bad memory before, where they remember – even, you know sometimes, we preachers, sometimes I ask children what did I preach on and I remember that even Jesus’ sermons were forgotten by the disciples. So it’s okay if you don’t remember what I preached last week. But if I were to rise from the dead and sit before you and tell you things, you will never forget what I told you. See, he instructed them because he knew that he would never want them to forget this. Again, you may have forgotten in the past, but now forgetting is not an option. You know why? You need to plant it deep in your heart because I want you to go into all the world. I want you to teach my word, my instructions, to the entire world. Forgetfulness is not an option. I am going to instruct you by the kingdom of God again. This time you will never forget it again.

Not only that, right message, sound teaching. Secondly, he wanted to give them the conviction and assurance that he was God. The Bible says he appeared to them to prove to them that he was alive. Why? A few days, months, years from now, they will face a choice: reject him and live or stand for him and die. What would make you go to the place to be beheaded? What would make you go to the place to be burned, still holding on to your faith? The remembrance of the risen Savior sitting before you who had defeated death and told you convincingly without a shadow of doubt that death is not the final word, that he was truly going to prepare a place for them. That conviction and assurance were needed. They could not oscillate anymore. He needed to tell them, ‘I am alive. See, I am alive. See my side, see my hands, see my feet. You also will live again, even if they kill you.’

And then he told them something else, and I’ll end with this, verses four and five, very important: ‘On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem.’ The temptation is there to just get up and go, to start doing what he told them to do and go and preach. But don’t do that. ‘Wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ How did the Father speak about it? Very quickly, Ezekiel 36:26: ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.’ This is the word of the Father. In Joel 2, he’s mentioned the same thing: ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon my people in the last days.’ By the way, last days is not talking about end times. Last days is a time from the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to the second coming of the Lord. It is considered to be last days in the Bible. The promise of the Holy Spirit is for all generations, for all time, for all people, given to us. And the Bible says, not only the Father spoke about it, Jesus reaffirmed it. John 7:37-38: ‘On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ And then John explains to you what he was talking about. ‘By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were ready to receive. Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified.’ At a later time, Jesus will come to his disciples, and almost in a way that we don’t even understand, he will breathe on them and say, ‘Receive the Spirit.’ But you know what? They didn’t receive the Spirit at that time. He was just foretelling what was to come. The promise to come. ‘Stay in Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit.’

Why? Third reason. Right instruction, conviction, and assurance to stand against the trials of life. Thirdly, right indispensable power for the task ahead. Even today, the church needs these three things: instruction in the pure unadulterated word of God, conviction and assurance in the truth and in the excellency of the Christian faith, standing unapologetically for the foundational truths of God’s word. Thirdly, the indispensable power of the Spirit of God that empowers us for the task ahead. Every one of us, as we sang this morning, are weak. We are not able, but we thank God that there is a power in us, oh, that is able to do amazing things. So wait, wait, don’t leave Jerusalem. Your task is difficult, but I’m going to be with you, and by my Spirit, I will come to you.

In a book about The Life and Times of Paul, this is what is written: ‘Early tradition suggests that Luke was born a Greek in Antioch and became a physician before being converted and joining Paul, Silas, and Timothy in Troas on Paul’s second missionary journey in the early 50s. Luke was later shipwrecked with Paul on Malta and jailed with Paul in Rome. He went to Greece around the time of Paul’s death, and from there wrote his two-volume history of Jesus and the early church. The second volume, The Acts of the Apostles, is mostly about Paul’s missionary journeys. In four passages, Luke includes himself in the story, using the pronoun ‘we’ to narrate various events. One second-century prologue to the Gospel of Luke says, ‘Having neither wife nor child, Luke served the Lord without distraction. Luke was not married, didn’t have a family. He served the Lord without distraction, not that family is a distraction, but in the case of Luke, it was not. He fell asleep in Boeotia at the age of 84. But I wanted to pay attention to the next sentence: ‘Full of the Holy Spirit.’ Wow, what an epitaph, what a concluding statement. Yes, the Holy Spirit that he wrote about, the Holy Spirit that he witnessed, the Holy Spirit that he testified to, was full in his life even to the point of his death. Free of distractions, he served the Lord, died at the age of 84, full of the Holy Spirit. Church history tells us Constantine the Great transported Luke’s remains to Constantinople in 356 AD, where they are said to be preserved in the Church of the Apostles.

Looking forward to learning this book with all of you. Looking forward to seeing what we can change, how we can become more like the Church of the first century, how we can be transformed and become more a people that are given to prayer and the filling of the Spirit of God. May God, by His Spirit, help us to walk through this book.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your glorious word and this book. We thank you for the instructions that were given to us. Lord, we thank you for the conviction and assurance that you give to us through the proof that we have about who you are. And we thank you for the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that continues to empower, energize, transform, and guide us in the way ahead. I pray that this will be the story of our church, that we are given sound instructions, that we are people who are convicted and fully confident of who we are, and that we are empowered by the Spirit of God. Thank you, Lord, for this time. We pray that you be with us as we look to the Cross. It’s in the name of the Lord Jesus that we pray.”

So wonderful to experience God’s presence in the midst of all of you. So thankful for this powerful time of worship that the Lord has graciously given to us in our life. Welcome to all the guests, many of you are not guests, you’ve been missing for a few weeks and months. We’re so glad that you’re back from out of town and different places. So thankful for God’s provision and protection in all of your life. Thank you for all the speakers who allowed me to take a few weeks of sabbatical from preaching here Sunday after Sunday. It was good to have that break, so thankful for your ministry in the life of the church and the word that you brought from the Lord. It was a blessing in my life as well.

A lot of times, you know, as I think about what to preach upon next, you know, different sermons and different sermon series come to my mind. This was something that God laid on my heart almost three years ago to preach this sermon series. Circumstances of life dramatically changed, and ministry changed about two and a half to two-plus years ago. We even had entitled this sermon series as a youth group, and we even talked about it and how to plan for it, and then came COVID, and everything changed in our lives forever.

But now, fast forward a few years, a different church, a different group of people, and different circumstances, and God is enabling me, by the grace of God, to go through this sermon series that I have never preached before and something that has been very close to my heart.

So, if the coming of the Lord tarries, and if God gives me health and you continue to have me as a minister among you for the rest of this year and possibly for the entire next year, we’ll be going through the book of Acts. Every verse, every chapter, from chapter 1 all the way to chapter 28. The aim, by the grace of God, is to cover Acts 1 through 14 through the rest of this year and then cover Acts 15 through 28 through all of 2024.

So hopefully, by the grace of God, all of you will be along with me for this journey as we go through the book of Acts, and God will add more people to our church as we continue to worship the Lord together.

In the original Greek, this book just has one title, ‘Acts.’ That’s all it says. It doesn’t tell us, as in many books of God’s word, who wrote it. It doesn’t say when it was written. All it says is ‘Acts.’ Later on, in your Bibles as you look, you see ‘Acts of the Apostles,’ and there’s a great deal of debate as to whether that is the appropriate title for it, but all it says is ‘Acts.’ The word in the original Greek, ‘Acts,’ that is used over there, literally means ‘acts of great men,’ that’s exactly what it means. It is thought to denote something, they describe the actions of great men, acts of great men, exactly what it is.

But what we study in the book of Acts is this: these were not great men to begin with, but God, by his grace and more importantly by the power of the Holy Spirit, made ordinary men to do great things. And because of what they did by the help of God, this became known as the acts of the great men.

One of the most complete and beautiful titles thought of the book of Acts that I’ve ever read is in a book by Alan Thompson who wrote about the book of Acts, and this is what he wrote he says “it’s the acts of the Lord Jesus through his people by the Holy Spirit for the accomplishment of the Father’s purposes.” And I love this definition of what the book of Acts is and because our Bibles don’t have lengthy titles like this, we don’t have this but it kind of summarizes everything that the book of Acts is all about it is ultimately the work of Jesus in the life of a group of people but they didn’t do it alone they did it by the power of the Holy Spirit but behind it all was the purpose of the Heavenly Father that was accomplished in the life of the church. And so that’s exactly what it is, the acts of the Lord Jesus through his people by the Holy Spirit for the accomplishment of the Father’s purposes.

As I mentioned at the beginning just like many of the books in the Bible, it doesn’t start by telling you who the author is but there are definitely great clues that are given about the authorship of the book of Acts. What we study here is an introduction that tells us about possibly who this author is. By the second century, this was a settled matter in the early church, the early church fathers all attested to the fact that Luke was the author of the book of Acts just as he was the author of The Gospel of Luke as well. And what we see about this man known as Luke is very, very limited in God’s word.

One of the things that always fascinates me about the writing of Scriptures is how obscure and how hidden the authors are. If I were to write a book like this, somewhere along there I would make sure that my name is mentioned. But that’s not what we see in God’s word, they don’t tell who they are, they don’t tell us what college they went to, they don’t tell us about their prefixes, none of those things are mentioned in any of those books. We don’t know who his dad is, we don’t know who his mom is, we don’t know which family he came from, we don’t know which church he went to, none of those things are known to us.

There are only three times in the entire New Testament that Luke is mentioned by name. And those three places are this: first one is Colossians 4:14 where the Bible tells us that Luke was a physician. So, he was a doctor by profession, and that can be seen in many of his writings as well. We actually read a lot about the book of Hebrews this past week, in fact, I have of the personal belief that Luke wrote Hebrews as well, and that’s because of the style and the language, Greek, that is written in the Gospel of Luke and in the book of Acts is exactly like in the book of Hebrews as well. In fact, Paul is probably the most least likely author of the book of Hebrews, but that is what traditionally we’ve been taught, probably it was Luke. Colossians 4:14 tells us he was a physician. Philemon 24, the Apostle Paul identifies Luke as a co-worker, so he’s a co-laborer, some translator says. Co-worker with the Apostle Paul in his missionary journey. Even when you read the book of Acts, we see sometimes the language changing, where Luke would write ‘we traveled’ showing himself to be one of the people who accompanied Paul and Timothy and Silas on their missionary journey, especially the third one. 2ndTimothy 4:11, there’s a beautiful verse. Towards the end of his life, when writing about many people who did not stick with him, the final words that pens, he writes about Luke and he says “Luke is the only one who is with me.”

So what do we have a profile here? A man who is highly educated, a man who is well-versed and knowledgeable in the ways of the Lord, a physician by trade, learning in all the science and that can be seen in many of his writings where he writes about different body parts all the time- a physician only would write that. Not only that he was a man who in spite of his profession chose to travel around the world with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ accompanying Paul in his suffering, being thrown into jail, witnessing many of the miracles that happened in the life of Paul, shipwrecked along with Paul, arriving in the island of Malta, and arriving in Rome eventually, and finally, even at the final moments of his life, finds himself right beside the Apostle Paul. Faithful to the end, a man who is loyal, a man who is a fellow worker to him

And then who is he writing this to? The Bible just gives us his name in Luke 1 and then again in Acts 1. Theophilus, a man that is only known by this name in God’s word. We take the word Theophilus and we parse it. ‘Theo’ meaning God, ‘philo’ meaning love, you get the meaning “lover of God.” Because of the way this is so difficult to pronounce none of our children are named Theophilus but it’s a great name, it means lover of God. So if you want to name your children Theophilus that’s perfectly fine, it’s a Biblical name it has a great meaning to it. Don’t do it, it’d be difficult for us! Lover of God. But in Luke chapter 1:3, Theophilus is identified as what? He is” the most excellent Theophilus.” So we know that this man is of Greek origin. We also know that he is the lover of God. We also know that is a man who was a search of truth that somehow, we don’t know when, but somehow was attracted to the gospel, maybe through the ministry of Paul, maybe as that as the gospel spread to Gentile nations. Theophilus became a believer and now Luke is writing to him but Luke 1:3 tells us he is known as most excellent Theophilus. This is very, very important you know why? There are two times in the book of Acts when someone is known as most excellent: ‘most excellent Felix,’ ‘most excellent Festus.’ You know who they are? They’re high ranking Roman governors and officials which means that this man Theophilus that Luke is writing to is not an ordinary citizen – he is a man of power, probably a Roman Governor, a ruler with a wide range of influence in the region where he’s ruling. Now you understand why Luke is writing this? Luke is writing this not because he’s trying to write one more account of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke is writing the Gospel of Luke and again the book of Acts specifically to this man because this is a man of influence. “If I am able to convince him about the authenticity of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and not only that about the birth of the New Testament Church and how it was formed and fashioned and developed and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit then he will be able to be a great advocate for the gospel to everywhere he has his influence over.”

See, this is the kind of ministry that is very, very important. A lot of times we go to the slums and the villages, and a lot of times we go and try to reach people who are in the outskirts of society that no one wants, and that is great, that is the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to challenge you, young people, you engineers that are out there, you doctors that are out there, you pharmacists that are out there, you nurses that are out there, you who hold the highest ranking jobs in your society: reach the people who are forming the mind and the ideas of the next generation. Lawyers, especially, those of you should run for political office if the Lord is prompting you. Why? You are you not doing it so that somebody can call you a senator or a house representative, or a mayor, or someone else. You need to be in positions of influence because there is a great deal of ministry that can be done from places like that. What you say, people will listen to. What do you have to opine on, people will pay attention to. So just like Luke, be people that communicate the truths of God’s word to people who have influence, that can spread it again to a wider region than anyone else. So Theophilus, probably a person of wide-ranging influence.

Luke is a very astute historian. His writing is very, very accurate. When you study the Gospel of Luke, you can see it. Many a times he prefaces many of his stories by telling us about the historical background of what is going on at that time. Out of all the New Testament writers, Luke’s writing is the most accurate historical records that we find in God’s word. Why did Luke write this? Look at Luke 1:3-4. This is a two-volume writing: Gospel of Luke being one and the book of Acts being the second. He says in v1-2, “There are a lot of people,” he says, “that have been writing about the life and the ministry of Our Lord. With this in mind, since I myself”—and look at those words—”have carefully investigated everything from the beginning.” This is not speculation, church. He has carefully investigated everything that he’s writing about. Being a physician, being a historian, being a man who is given to accuracy. You see, being a doctor, you need to be very, very accurate. Have you ever had a doctor that is inaccurate? But don’t go to him because a little bit of surgery is not surgery. A little bit of medicine does not do much good, it just creates side effects. A little bit of healing often doesn’t do much good. You need physicians to be precise, accurate, very knowledgeable, very thorough in their analysis. And the same kind of an analysis and mind he’s applying to the life of the Lord Jesus Christ as well. He says to us here, “Since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you.” And that’s what exactly what the gospel look is. It is a very orderly account of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. While other gospel writers start with genealogy and kind of jump all over the place, when you read the Gospel of Luke from the beginning till the end, it is very orderly. It starts with John the Baptist, it goes to Jesus’ birth. It goes in the exact order as he mentioned. And then it says to us, “Most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” So he’s already a believer. He has been taught the gospel. He has been taught the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want you to be very much solidified in the truth that you’ve already been taught. So I am writing this to you.

So you combine an astute historian, given to accuracy, a man who is given to a mind that analyzes things so precisely, and you combine that with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, what you get are two books that are phenomenally accurate and to the point and communicate exactly what it needs to be communicated.

Let me make a point here very quickly. No matter how educated the biblical author is, no matter what kind of astute background he has, finally, ultimately, what makes it authoritative, what makes it believable, what makes it important is not the qualifications of the author. It is the Holy Spirit who is the author of God’s word that makes God’s word believable. I know a lot of doctors in the world. Not everything that they write is accurate. I know a lot of learned people in the world. A lot of what they write is rubbish and blunder. But the word of God is believable, not because of the education of the author. Ultimately, it’s because the Holy Spirit, who is truth himself, has communicated God’s plan and truths to them. We build our lives on it, we believe it, we stake our life on it. Everything that we do in our life is based upon this word, and we believe it from the beginning of our life to the moment of our death. How do I know that when I close my eyes in death, I will wake up in heaven? It is because I believe the Bible from the beginning till the end. Why do I put my trust in God? Because I believe the Bible. It’s always stood for the truth of God’s word.

What does the book of Acts do for us? First of all, what it does is that it gives us information on the first three decades of the church, AD 30 all the way to AD 60. It gives a record of it. A lot of people think this was written in AD 61, and probably rightfully so because it is not mentioned about the beheading of Paul. He doesn’t talk about the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Probably written in AD 61. If the book of Acts was not written we would have a wide gap of 30 years in which we have no idea what happened in the church

Secondly, it teaches us about the empowering of the church by the Holy Spirit. If you didn’t have the book of Acts, and you just went from John to Romans, and then you see this man, Paul.

First of all, you’ll be like, “Who is Paul?” You’re looking through Matthew through John, where? Paul? He’s not among the 12 disciples. Where did this man come from? Why should we believe him? You need the book of Acts to know why we listen and even read the writings of Paul. Secondly, he’s writing about the Holy Spirit, and you’re like, and you are looking to the Old Testament, you’re like, “Well, you know, these things are not really mentioned.'” But when you say to the book of Acts, you understand why and how the Holy Spirit was given.

Thirdly, there’s a new covenant at play here, a new relationship that God has with His people. The practical outworking of it is seen in the book of Acts. How did they behave every single day? How do they conduct Church? How do they form their Church? How do they come together? How was the church first formed? How did they spread? All these things we find in the book of Acts.

Next, we see that God’s witness has now changed in the book of Acts. See, God’s witness has changed. The God who communicated just through the people of Israel primarily in the Old Testament, now we see Him communicating not only through Jews but also through Gentiles. If you did not have the book of Acts, you’d be thoroughly confused as to how it all happened and all the struggles. It was not an easy journey. How did they get to the point where all of us Gentiles are now accepted into the family of God?

Then the kingdom of God emphasis that we see all throughout the Gospels now becomes the church as the emphasis. Only two times in the Gospels that church is mentioned. 19 times the church is mentioned in the book of Acts. The emphasis is changed. The kingdom of God is mentioned more than 40 times in the Gospel accounts, but the kingdom of God is only mentioned a handful of times in the book of Acts. The focus of God’s ministry is changing. The church is becoming the primary focus of God’s plan in this world.

And not only that, we find some of the greatest sermons in the Bible in the book of Acts. We are supposed to look at the model of preaching of the apostles that we find in God’s word. We see sermons that still stand. That’s one of the greatest sermons ever preached: Christ-centered, cross-centered preaching in God’s word. We see Peter’s powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost. We see Peter preaching as a result of the healing of the lame man in Acts 3. We see Stephen’s powerful sermon of how to look at the Old Testament and bring out the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of it. We see Peter’s message in the house of Cornelius in Acts 10. We see Paul’s sermon at Antioch. We see Paul preaching at Athens. We see Paul preaching to the Ephesian Elders. We see Paul’s appeal in front of Agrippa. All these great sermons we find in the book of Acts.

Not only that, 31 times the book of Acts talks about prayer, more than any other book in the New Testament. Why prayer? Prayer is integral to the growth and the life of a church. Without prayer, the church loses what it is. Without prayer, the church loses its effectiveness. You know this! Have you ever wondered why we have all these prayer meetings? I know the kids wonder about that all the time. Why do you have to pray? Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night? Did God not hear you Wednesday and Thursday, and you had to repeat it on Friday and Friday night? And then again sometimes Saturday morning and Saturday night? Me and Justin talk about it all the time. We want the next generation to adopt that kind of a prayer in your life as well. Prayer life is not something that is restricted to a Saturday night meeting and Sunday morning service. Prayer is the most important thing that you do. And even when you don’t understand it fully, you pray. You pray. You pray because that’s what we see in the book of Acts. When we study through it, you will see how God worked so beautifully in the prayer of His people.

Yesterday, we all read the news of Pastor Tim Keller passing away and going to be with the Lord. As some of you know, he was a pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York. This man, when he was appointed pastor of the church, started with a congregation of just 50 people. Now, growning to a church of thousands of people, primarily again, as I mentioned, professional people living in New York who had been attracted to the simple message of the gospel. An apologist of the Christian faith, a man who was known for his great way of communicating by his life and his teaching the pure message of the gospel, passed on at the age of 72. In one of his devotionals on prayer, this is what he wrote, and he was writing about the book of Acts: “The power of the Spirit descends on the early Christians in response to powerful prayer, and leaders are selected and appointed only with prayer.” Did you read that? Leaders are selected and appointed only with prayer. Exactly what we’ll be doing after our service today.

But this is not something where we woke up this morning and thought, “Okay, this person is good, and we appointed them.” No, there’s a lot of prayer that went behind our selection and presenting before you, because that is the model that we find in the New Testament Church. Leaders are not appointed by who can stand the longest and who knows who. Leaders are appointed by the divine inspiration and direction of the Spirit of God that comes to pastors and leaders because they have spent time in prayer, waiting for the guidance of the Lord. And he continues, “Not only that, all Christians are expected to have a regular, faithful, devoted, fervent prayer life. In the book of Acts,” he wrote, “prayer is one of the main signs that the Spirit has come into the heart through faith in Christ.” Prayer is integral to everything that we do.

On the way here, I was listening to John Piper mentioning the last email he got from this man of God, in which he quoted Luke 10:20 in his email: “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” See, that is the greatest joy of us as believers. It is not, and we heard the exact same message this past weekend so powerfully: we rejoice in the presence of God not because demons submit to us or miracles happen. We rejoice, why? Our names are written in heaven, that is the greatest joy of the believer, especially at the point of his death. That is the greatest joy! It is not how much money you have. It is not how much wealth you have. It is not what status you have. Your name is written in heaven. What a blessedness! What a wonderful state! What is something that no one can ever give to you other than by the grace of God: name written in heaven. And when you die, that’s the only thing that will matter: name written in heaven.

My time is almost up, and then I come to the verses I want to focus on today, but I will do that in the next few minutes that I have. Acts 1:1-5 ‘In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you’ll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

In these verses, what do we see? First of all, he references his former book, The Gospel of Luke. He talks to him, ‘I told you everything that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.’ So, this 40-day time period from his Resurrection to his Ascension was not spent just appearing to them. The Bible doesn’t record all of it. Jesus appeared to his disciples many different times. In fact, Paul says there was a time when he appeared to 500 of them all at once. We are speculating as to when that was; the Bible doesn’t really record it in any other places. But Jesus appeared to them frequently. Why? Main reason: He was instructing them all the things that he had been teaching them all the way through, and the message hasn’t changed. It is all about the kingdom of God. Look at Acts 1:3: ‘After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.’ The message hasn’t changed.

But let me ask you something: Imagine Jesus preaching to them about the fact that he is God and about the kingdom of God before his resurrection and after his resurrection. Do you think they’re more likely to listen after the resurrection or before the resurrection? After the resurrection! When you have a man who was crucified on a cross, torn to pieces, three days later rising again, now he sits before you in glory with a body that is imperishable, and he is telling you about the kingdom of God. You will attend that Sunday service. You will listen to every word he has to say. These disciples, who are given to so much bad memory before, where they remember – even, you know sometimes, we preachers, sometimes I ask children what did I preach on and I remember that even Jesus’ sermons were forgotten by the disciples. So it’s okay if you don’t remember what I preached last week. But if I were to rise from the dead and sit before you and tell you things, you will never forget what I told you. See, he instructed them because he knew that he would never want them to forget this. Again, you may have forgotten in the past, but now forgetting is not an option. You know why? You need to plant it deep in your heart because I want you to go into all the world. I want you to teach my word, my instructions, to the entire world. Forgetfulness is not an option. I am going to instruct you by the kingdom of God again. This time you will never forget it again.

Not only that, right message, sound teaching. Secondly, he wanted to give them the conviction and assurance that he was God. The Bible says he appeared to them to prove to them that he was alive. Why? A few days, months, years from now, they will face a choice: reject him and live or stand for him and die. What would make you go to the place to be beheaded? What would make you go to the place to be burned, still holding on to your faith? The remembrance of the risen Savior sitting before you who had defeated death and told you convincingly without a shadow of doubt that death is not the final word, that he was truly going to prepare a place for them. That conviction and assurance were needed. They could not oscillate anymore. He needed to tell them, ‘I am alive. See, I am alive. See my side, see my hands, see my feet. You also will live again, even if they kill you.’

And then he told them something else, and I’ll end with this, verses four and five, very important: ‘On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem.’ The temptation is there to just get up and go, to start doing what he told them to do and go and preach. But don’t do that. ‘Wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ How did the Father speak about it? Very quickly, Ezekiel 36:26: ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.’ This is the word of the Father. In Joel 2, he’s mentioned the same thing: ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon my people in the last days.’ By the way, last days is not talking about end times. Last days is a time from the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to the second coming of the Lord. It is considered to be last days in the Bible. The promise of the Holy Spirit is for all generations, for all time, for all people, given to us. And the Bible says, not only the Father spoke about it, Jesus reaffirmed it. John 7:37-38: ‘On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ And then John explains to you what he was talking about. ‘By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were ready to receive. Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified.’ At a later time, Jesus will come to his disciples, and almost in a way that we don’t even understand, he will breathe on them and say, ‘Receive the Spirit.’ But you know what? They didn’t receive the Spirit at that time. He was just foretelling what was to come. The promise to come. ‘Stay in Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit.’

Why? Third reason. Right instruction, conviction, and assurance to stand against the trials of life. Thirdly, right indispensable power for the task ahead. Even today, the church needs these three things: instruction in the pure unadulterated word of God, conviction and assurance in the truth and in the excellency of the Christian faith, standing unapologetically for the foundational truths of God’s word. Thirdly, the indispensable power of the Spirit of God that empowers us for the task ahead. Every one of us, as we sang this morning, are weak. We are not able, but we thank God that there is a power in us, oh, that is able to do amazing things. So wait, wait, don’t leave Jerusalem. Your task is difficult, but I’m going to be with you, and by my Spirit, I will come to you.

In a book about The Life and Times of Paul, this is what is written: ‘Early tradition suggests that Luke was born a Greek in Antioch and became a physician before being converted and joining Paul, Silas, and Timothy in Troas on Paul’s second missionary journey in the early 50s. Luke was later shipwrecked with Paul on Malta and jailed with Paul in Rome. He went to Greece around the time of Paul’s death, and from there wrote his two-volume history of Jesus and the early church. The second volume, The Acts of the Apostles, is mostly about Paul’s missionary journeys. In four passages, Luke includes himself in the story, using the pronoun ‘we’ to narrate various events. One second-century prologue to the Gospel of Luke says, ‘Having neither wife nor child, Luke served the Lord without distraction. Luke was not married, didn’t have a family. He served the Lord without distraction, not that family is a distraction, but in the case of Luke, it was not. He fell asleep in Boeotia at the age of 84. But I wanted to pay attention to the next sentence: ‘Full of the Holy Spirit.’ Wow, what an epitaph, what a concluding statement. Yes, the Holy Spirit that he wrote about, the Holy Spirit that he witnessed, the Holy Spirit that he testified to, was full in his life even to the point of his death. Free of distractions, he served the Lord, died at the age of 84, full of the Holy Spirit. Church history tells us Constantine the Great transported Luke’s remains to Constantinople in 356 AD, where they are said to be preserved in the Church of the Apostles.

Looking forward to learning this book with all of you. Looking forward to seeing what we can change, how we can become more like the Church of the first century, how we can be transformed and become more a people that are given to prayer and the filling of the Spirit of God. May God, by His Spirit, help us to walk through this book.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your glorious word and this book. We thank you for the instructions that were given to us. Lord, we thank you for the conviction and assurance that you give to us through the proof that we have about who you are. And we thank you for the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that continues to empower, energize, transform, and guide us in the way ahead. I pray that this will be the story of our church, that we are given sound instructions, that we are people who are convicted and fully confident of who we are, and that we are empowered by the Spirit of God. Thank you, Lord, for this time. We pray that you be with us as we look to the Cross. It’s in the name of the Lord Jesus that we pray.”