Rise with Power

Acts 1, verses 4 and 5: 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.” Verse 5: “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Jump to verse eight: “But you will receive power”—that word in the Greek is dunamis, which is the English word you and I get: dynamite—“but you will receive dynamite; you will receive bam when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” And then here’s why you would need power: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria. You will be my witnesses in Humble Park, in the city of Chicago, in the United States of America, and around the world. You will be my witnesses.”

Repeat after me: Your word, word is written in my mind, in my mind. Your word, your word is hidden in my heart, my heart. Your word, your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light for my path. I will seek you with all my strength. I choose to live my life according to your word. Your word, oh Lord, is eternal. Amen. You may be seated.

Today, I’m going to conclude the sermon series. Rise if you’re taking notes. Today’s sermon is titled, “Rise with Power.” There are many people who rise but with no power; they exist but don’t live. This sermon is about rising with power—power. When you read the book of Acts, and to give you color commentary, if you will, the book of Acts is like Luke chapter 2. Dr. Luke is the one who wrote the book of Acts. You can essentially say that Acts is Luke chapter 2, or second Luke, if you will. If you notice that in the Book of Luke and Acts, Luke writes to the dearest Theophilus; he mentions that name. It’s important when you read, especially when you open up Acts. He says to Theophilus, “You should know that Theophilus was a Roman citizen, but he was a Roman citizen with power.” The book of Acts was written between the time of 60 to 62 AD, after the death of Jesus Christ—between 60 and 62. It’s also that the Apostle Paul was incarcerated during this time of the book of Acts. Again, I’m giving you backdrop because it’s important that you need to know that the Apostle Paul is in prison. Luke is writing to Theophilus to say, “Hey, here, let me tell you about this guy named Paul; let me tell you about a guy named Jesus,” and he told his disciples; he’s kind of testifying to him. So essentially, that Theophilus may look kind of, if you will, to who’s incarcerated; he’s in house arrest. Are you with me so far? I’m giving you background; I haven’t even started preaching yet.

And then Luke shares that what Jesus said to the disciples: to go to Jerusalem and wait. Now I want to tell you here that nobody likes to wait. Yet our life is based on waiting. We wait in traffic; we wait in a carpool lane; we wait in holding, holding pattern; we wait in the grocery store; we wait for the doctor; we wait for our wives. Only one brother was dead enough to say, “Amen.” We wait for our spouses; we wait for a baby; we wait for retirement; we wait for this sermon to be over; and then we’re waiting for Jesus Christ to come. So, in other words, our life, our entire life, although we don’t like to wait, wait is upon us. That’s what you and I do: we wait. Waiting. Watch this: Waiting is not just something we have to do while we’re getting what we want, but waiting is the process of becoming of what God wants us to be. Some good stuff there. Waiting. Watch this: Waiting is the process of becoming of what God wants you to become—that man of God and the woman of God. So waiting is the process. What God does in us while we wait is as important as what it is we’re waiting for. So while you’re waiting, God is doing something in your life. God’s idea of waiting. Peter wrote in 2 Peter chapter 3:8, he said that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. Did you hear me? Peter said that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day. Let me tell you this joke: An economist once read that scripture and got really excited, and he prayed and he said, “Lord, is it true that a thousand years for us is like a minute to you?” The Lord said, “Yes.” Then, “A million to us must be like a penny to you?” The Lord said, “Yes.” “Lord, will you give me one of those pennies?” The Lord said, “Wait a minute.” That didn’t work out. I knew it. I didn’t say it in the second service; I said it in the first service. I said, “Let me try this again; maybe the third crowd would get this thing.” Wait a minute; that means that’s a thousand years. Oh my word. Where—no, no, no, no. Joke, joke. There’s no need. Now, usually when I say a joke, my kids are in the back like, “Puppy, are you going to say that joke again?” Just see; she’s an Alan worshipping over there, Alex worshipping here. Anyway, we live in—I want you to finish the sentence: We live in a world that says this: “Just don’t stand there; do something.” Just don’t stand there; do something. Yet God tells us, “Don’t just do something; just stand there.” Waiting. New life. Waiting. Biblical waiting is not a passive waiting around for something to happen that would allow us to escape our troubles. Waiting does not mean doing nothing; it is not laying back in your home; it is not a way to avoid responsibility. Waiting is trusting. Those who wait are those who work because they know that their work is not in vain. The farmer can wait all summer for his harvest because he has done his work of sowing the seed and watering the plants. Those who wait on God can go about their assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusion to their lives and the harvest to their toil. Watch this: Waiting is the confident, disciplined expecting, an active trust in God. When Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem, he was telling them that this was a means of experiencing his peace and his prosperity and his power. And waiting, they were going to watch the wind of God’s spirit, and in waiting they were going to see God move. Watch this: Psalms 130:5-6 says this: “I wait for the Lord; my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning; more than watchmen wait for the morning, I wait for the Lord.” Waiting is healthy. You go into a restaurant and you walk in; he says, “Table for four,” and they’re like, “Yep, it’s going to be a 15-minute wait.” You’re like, “They’re—but just saying it’s going to be 15 hours,” we walk away. Waiting is good for us. Number two: But what do you do while you wait? What do you do while you wait? Like the watchman in Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 1 and 3: In Habakkuk 2, verse 1 and 3: “I will stand at my watchpost and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it, for the revelation awaits an appointed time. It speaks of the end; it will not prove false, though it linger—wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” The Bible speaks about a watchman. Look at me, friends; you are a watchman. You are a watchman over your family, over your children, over your spouse, over your marriage, over your community. You are a watchman. You have a great responsibility. And consider the task of a watchman. He sits in high places, possibly in the tower of the city wall, especially at night when extra vigilance was needed. The rest of the city was asleep, yet you will stand on guard in the event there was a surprise attack. The watchman will watch the enemy coming and would sound the alarm. Can you imagine that you were in a city and that your watchman was always sleeping? How much confidence would you have? But you need a watchman who’s alert, who’s dependable, who’s focused. My friends here this afternoon, you are watchmen in the world we live in today. You must be alert; you must be dependable; and you must be focused.

Jesus asked the disciples to wait for power. What did they do while they were waiting? They obeyed. They obeyed. Number two: They prayed. Ten days they waited in Jerusalem for the power to come—10 days. In those 10 days, they were not just playing dominoes; they were not playing Nintendo. No, no; they were praying. Pastor Choko, what do you—what do I do when I’m waiting for God to answer my prayer? Wait and pray. Well, what—what happens if he takes a thousand years? Keep praying. You’re the watchman over your family; you’re the watchman over your salvation, over your life. Not only that, they obeyed during those 10 days; they prayed during those 10 days; they also conducted business, choosing another disciple; they went about their Father’s business. But in those 10 days. Number three: Wait for the power to witness. Did you know that all of you all here are witnesses? You hear me? You’re a witness. What’s a witness? In the book of Acts, 29 times the word witness is used, either in a verb or in a noun. A witness is somebody—watch this—who tells what he has seen and heard. When you are on the witness stand in court, the judge is not interested in your ideas or options or opinion; he only wants to hear what you know. Are you with me so far? So a witness is someone who tells you what she or he knows. A witness will tell you what they know. I know this: that one day I was lost and he found me. I know this for sure: that 10 years ago I was hooked up on cocaine and drugs and prostitution and alcoholism. I know this: that Christ came into my life 5 years ago and he turned my life around. He came into my life 20 years—I know this. It is so crucial, church, that you know that you know. I know my Redeemer lives. That’s right; I know he lives. And because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Now that doesn’t mean it’s not without challenges; it doesn’t mean that you and I don’t go through certain things in our lives, but we know that he lives. Come on. So a witness is someone who tells you what he knows. The dictionary defines the word witness this way: “One who has seen or heard something, or one who furnishes evidence.” One who hears something, seeing something, or one who furnishes evidence. A witness is someone who can say, “I know this to be true.” And the court of law, witnesses swear on the Bible and tell—promises to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So wait for the power for what? To become a witness. So you get to testify; you know about the goodness of God. A witness. Number two: A witness shares what he’s experienced. John shared what he experienced firsthand. 1 John 1:1 and 2 says this: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” Verse 2: “The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” We’ve seen it; we’ve testified. How many can testify to the goodness of God here today? [Applause] Everybody knows—everybody knows that a salesperson—right, every salesperson knows you cannot sell what you don’t believe in. Go ahead; go to one of these department stores and go buy a refrigerator and see how the salesperson—and you go and you say, “Tell me about this refrigerator,” and they’re like, “Well, you have to plug it in and you have to open the door.” I mean, what kind of confidence would it give you as a consumer that the salesperson you’re talking to doesn’t know anything about the product? For 10 years I studied diamonds and rubies and sapphires—gemstones. I knew the cuts, the clarity of the diamonds. For 10 years I sold diamonds. My kids would tell me—me that I can sell ice to Eskimos. I will convince the Eskimos that they need ice from me because you know the product. If you don’t believe in the product, it’s hard for you to sell it. Does it make sense? If you don’t believe in what you have, if you don’t believe that God exists, if you don’t believe that God turned your life around, it’s hard for you to testify about that because you don’t believe in it. Are you with me? Look at me: You don’t have to convince your family; you don’t have to convince your friends that they need Christ; only the Holy Spirit can do that. If you do the telling, the Holy Spirit would do the selling. Oh, that’s—if I had some beat music right there, that is something you can rap to right there. All you knew—all you need to do is do the telling, and the Holy Spirit would do the selling. The Bible says that you will receive power—the Greek word dunamis, which is most often used in ancient literature to depict a military might or the ability to conquer. So when Jesus said in verse 8, “And you will receive power,” you will receive not only dunamis, but in ancient literature it meant that you will have an army behind you, and wherever you go, not only will you face your problem, but you will conquer your problems. You will have the ability to conquer whatever you’re going through. Why? Because you have power. Power. Number four: Wait for the power to live. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter denied Jesus Christ three times. Without the power, with the power, Peter is proclaiming the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without the power, he puts his foot in his mouth. With power, he proclaims. Without the power, you deny Jesus. But with power in you, no matter where you’re at—in the elevator or at your work, with your family member—with power you can talk about Jesus and what he’s done for you. You can testify; you can witness with what God has done because you’ve got power. Of all the gifts—look at me—of all the gifts given to mankind by God, there’s no greater than the presence of the Holy Spirit. You hear me? The Holy Spirit has many functions and roles and activities. The Holy Spirit is there to sear you, to guide you, to convict you, to encourage you, to strengthen you, just to mention a few. Without power of the Holy Spirit, it’s difficult for you to forgive, because in our natural tendency, our natural tendency is to hold on to bitterness and hatred. But he says, “You will receive power.” Power for what? Power to love; power to forgive; power to give. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. He will give you power to rise above your cares, rise above your worries and the threats of this world. He will give you power. This past week, I get an email from my friend; said, “Choko, read this unbelievable story.” So I read the email; I thought, “This is awesome; amazing how God is—you hear me—God is good. God is good.” Okay, amen. Even if you don’t—just say, “Amen,” because he’s good regardless. If I say, “Amen,” I just—he’s good. But I was reading the email and I said, “I’m going to bring the email to you guys so you can hear what happened in the Middle East with ISIS in a Christian church.” This man named Pastor Paul—let me read it to you. He’s ministering in the Middle East. Pastor Paul’s story seems like a story straight out of the Bible. Pastor Paul detailed the modern-day miracle of his ministry on his website. He says, “My risen Lord Jesus Christ has saved my life once again.” Pastor Paul wrote, “And I praise and I thank God for his unspeakable grace.” Before the attack, when the lion saved him, Pastor Paul had been attacked by another group of Islamic extremists. He has escaped and was recovering at the home of a former Muslim who was a Christian convert. This man’s home was near a forest area. Pastor Paul led a worship service during the end of his 21-day fasting. His 21-day fast ended on Resurrection Sunday a few weeks ago. His 21-day fast ended on that Resurrection Sunday. He says, “As he was leading the church in worship and praising, and the other group of Christians were praising and worshipping Jesus, militants came into the church with their machine guns.” Pastor Paul says, “We had no idea what to do.” The group of Christians thought they were about to die—all of them. But just then, a lion appeared out of the forest and began to attack one of the militants. The other two militants tried to fight off the lion, but by then two more lions appeared out of the forest and they began to attack the militants. The militants ran away in fear, and the lions left Pastor Paul and his group alone. Equally astonishing, Pastor Paul added, he says, “Records show that no lions are supposed to live in this forest.” My God, my God, he’s able to do the impossible. When I just do is wait on the Lord and wait on God, he will make a way when there seems to be no way. He would open the river; he would send water in the desert. Awesome. Our God is the Lion from the tribe of Judah; he’s no punk. You hear me? Waiting, waiting on God; he will send you lions. Your enemy will come from one direction, but they will flee from seven, declares the Lord. [Applause] New life. There is a benefit to waiting. There’s a benefit to waiting. There’s a benefit to waiting—waiting the right way. You hear me? Waiting the right way, because there are people who are waiting who are cursing, slamming doors, mad at their family. Waiting the right way; there’s a benefit to it, even when you can’t see growth. Growth is there. Pastor Cho, I’ve been coming here for six months already. I’ve been coming for a year. Wait, wait on God; he’s still dealing with you. Yes. Waiting, even when you don’t see growth in your life. I read this; I thought, “Let me bring this to you all.” I’m amazed by the Chinese bamboo. The bamboo tree is one of the most remarkable plants on planet Earth. Once the gardener—watch this—once the gardener plants the bamboo seed, he will see nothing but a single shoot coming out of the bulb for five years. Nothing. Within those five years, only one inch of the shoot comes out of the dirt. Five years. Can you imagine you and I going and giving water to the—six months—by God, I’m—there’s nothing coming out of this thing. I’ve been watering every day. A year passed by; you’re like, “This thing is dead.” You come back the second year; nothing. One inch out of the ground, the bamboo. One inch. In your mind, “This thing is dead; I got a bad seed.” But did you know that at the end of the five years, the Chinese bamboo will perform an incredible feat? It will grow an amazing 90 feet tall within 90 days. 90 feet tall within 90—this is double from this to the evening—double in 90 days. Now ask yourself this: When did the tree actually grow? During the first five years or during the last 90 days? The answer lies in the unseen part of the tree—the underground root system. During the first five years, the root structure spreads deep and wide around planet Earth. During the first five years, every time you came to water it, you think you didn’t see anything, but during the first five years the root system was going so deep into planet Earth and it began to stretch out miles long and began to grab other roots. Because when it grows high, you’re going to have—you’re going to need a system that’s going to hold you steady when storms come your way. [Applause] You know what’s the problem with Americans? I’m going to tell you what’s the problem with Americans—not you guys; it’s Americans. Americans. Here’s the problem with us: We have so much accessible knowledge with the online, and we could get knowledge like this, and we could go a mile wide, but we only go an inch deep. There is no substance in our lives. No, we go a mile wide; we know all about things; we can just Google it: boom, boom, put it in there, boom. But there’s no substance until you know—and when you know that God lives in you, when you know that you’ve experienced God, no matter what storm comes your way in your life, it can shake you this way and that way, but you know he lives. Oh, ask God to take you deep. God, take me deep, even if I don’t see anything in my life for the first five years. God, take me deep, because when I experience hardship in my life, when I experience sickness in my life, I know I can say like Job, “I know my Redeemer lives.” When I lose my kids, when I lose my family, when I lose my business, I know he lives. Take me deep, Lord; take me deep, that I may grow a root system in my life that I know—and when I face hard times, I’ll still be standing. Are you with me? Which one? Which one? It’s been said that when God wants to grow mushrooms, he can do it overnight, but when he wants to grow a mighty oak, it takes years to build a mighty oak. Ask God to build a mighty oak in your life. Take me deep, Lord, so I would know that you live. Because in the world we live in, to feel is not enough; you better know. What are you going to do when you don’t feel anything? What are you going to do when there’s no worship team around to get you all excited? What are you going to do when there’s no musicians around? What are you going to do when your husband leaves you and your wife leaves you? What are you going to do? You better know; you better know he lives. My hope, my prayer is that God takes me deep, deep. So when—watch this—because the Bible says that he’s a sudden God; when he—when you least expect it, he suddenly growth comes into you. There’s amazing growth. Let me finish here this afternoon. Be careful; be careful with the sucker shoots in your life. There are sucker shoots. You know, I’m not a gardener; I’m not a gardener; I’m the first one to tell you. But I like going to Home Depot and getting me Weed Be Gone spray. When I’m in my yard, I’m spraying that weed. I love to spray that Weed Be Gone because I’m spraying that weed: “You got to go; you got to go; you got—you don’t belong here.” The devil is a liar; you demon, you got to get out of here; you got to let these plants grow right. I’m—I’m—I’m spraying the weed. I don’t look at that and think, “Oh, that’s just so cute how they grow together.” Mama, they’re sucking the nutrition. Those weeds are not cute; they’re designed to suck life out of your plants. And you and I are watchmakers; we are watchmen. We stand; we watch over our garden, our children, our lives, and make sure that there’s no weed growing. And when we see those weeds, we go after it in the name of Jesus, and we got to say, “Be gone,” in the name of [Applause] Jesus. Lord, teach me to wait. The grass is only greener where you water it. If you like your neighbor’s grass, it’s because there’s a good chance they’re manicuring their grass; they’re taking care of it. That takes time; it just doesn’t happen in spring. No, the weed must be pulled; these things in our life must be pulled out of our lives that have no business in our lives. Amen. Would you stand with me this afternoon? Stand with me. Wait for the power. Wait, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You power. God, give me power. The disciples—the disciples thought that when Jesus—thought—said, “Hey, you will receive power,” the disciples probably thought, “Okay, that’s what we need—power. We need power to overcome the Roman Empire.” Now you’re not going to get that power; you’re—

To get another power, the power to love your neighbors, the power to go the extra mile, the power to forgive people who've offended you. You hear me? When you and I hold on to grudges and we don't forgive, you have a sucker shoot that's sucking life out of you. Let it go. Let that thing go. Lello. Just enjoy your life with God. God love. God give me power to this lady that's just like, Lord, when I see her in these, give me power to give her a hug. Because naturally we won't do that. Naturally we just won't. No, naturally it's easier to hate people. It is natural. It's easy to hate people, but it's hard to love people, especially those who've offended you, those who backstabbed you. That's when you need power of the Holy Spirit to love and to forgive. With every head bow and every eyes closed, let me pray for you.