Transcription
Do we need to be tighter together? Maybe just a little bit. Act like a team. Yeah. Act like you. We lick each other. Run into my chair leg. Get your out. Yippity. Yeah, sure.
Hi, welcome to Radical Christianity. You have no. Did didn't come out right. No. Let's see. Welcome to Radical Christianity. My name is Trina Olsen. We have Tina Hoover and Jeff Hoover and we are excited to talk to you about the book of Acts. We've been really really diving in and and just getting our teeth into the meat of the book of Acts and we want to share with you what God is showing us about Acts one.
So this is just something that I just want to share. This is um the book of Acts is full of many details of how the disciples walked out their lives being a witness for Jesus. The Lord used men and women throughout the entire book of Acts to display the power of the Holy Spirit. We displayed the sacrifice. That shouldn't be me, should it? They displayed the sacrifice. What is it? They displayed the sacrifice to the day.
Now read it. What's it sound? They displayed the sacrifice his his people would need to endure endure to cultivate an atmosphere for Jesus to build his church. Okay. Should I read this or not? Sounds stupid to read it. You want one of us to read it? No, read it. Sounds good.
Take two. I'm just going to share with you just a little bit of information that we wrote down and then we're going to discuss the book of Acts chapter 1. The book of Acts is full of many details of how the disciples walked out their lives being witness for Jesus. The Lord uses men and women throughout the entire book of Acts to display the power of the Holy Spirit. They displayed the sacrifice his people would need to endure to cultivate an atmosphere for Jesus to build his church.
How can you experience the same fire in your life as it is happening in the upper room? Imagine the pillar of fire touching you. In those days for 40 days, in those 40 days after Jesus's resurrection, he was seen by only a few disciples. During this time, he taught his disciples the meaning behind his crucifixion and resurrection. In numerous encounters, he showed them he was fully alive. He also taught how the foundation of the church was to be built. man. Wow.
So, in in the book of Acts, like what what jumps out in chapter one? What? What jumps out at you? Let's start to do again. Get excited here. Okay. Ready? Ready. We are excited about the book of Acts. Chapter one is the foundation of how the disciples really really got filled with the Holy Spirit. They got the promise that the father had promised them and they were about to encounter this promise.
I really like verse eight. and they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them and they will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem and Judea in Samaria and the ends of the earth. So the power of the Holy Spirit became upon them and they took it everywhere they went. They it came upon them and empowered them and they were able to take it every place they went. Whether they they were in their city and the neighbor in the neighborhood or out in the countryside or in another foreign land, they was able to take that everywhere they went.
Let's back up. You missed a whole section. Oh, that's good. But instead jumping around. Okay. Yeah. In verse two, he gave specific instruction. Started it started it again. Yep. In verse two, he Jesus gives specific instructions through the Holy Spirit for the apostles to listen, you know. Wow. Give me these instructions. Don't leave Jerusalem, but wait here until you receive the gift I told you about. Wow. Yeah.
Do you ever think about the word through? like doesn't mean that it was when he was speaking to him as a man. He was trusting the Holy Spirit to breathe life into them and they would receive it from spirit to spirit. Yeah. Wow. It's like you know on our walk sometime when people were speaking over us and we have the discernment that was from man or is that from Holy Spirit? Yeah. and and you know your knower kind of knows and it's different. It's not a three-point message. It's not like I'm serious. Like I feel like it's you know I'm not against a three-point message but if it's spirit to spirit you don't have to like keep hitting that point. That point is already made because your spirit grabs hold of it and won't let go and it's like whoa. You know there's on there. There's some meat on that bone. Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool. I love it.
You know, and um then when you go down here in four, it says, "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. Wow. which they had heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Yes, man. So, where did they hear about this? Oh, man. You know, he had been talking to him for over 40 days while he was resurrected. But he had talked to him prior. I think if we go back to John 14, he had spoke about this that he said that the spirit um was with them and then would come in them that the promise was coming from the father and it would be a counselor, comforter, you know. Um I think I love the the TPT, the Passion translation actually says the defense attorney. Defense attorney. Yeah. Can you imagine your defense attorney always being at your side? But you got to know what it sounds like. Yeah. Yeah. But who walked with them and who was going to be in them? Like this is the promise. Can you imagine the promise? Like they saw Jesus do signs, wonders, miracles, and they saw signs, wonders, and miracles in Jesus's name. You know, when when someone's around you, you have the confidence to believe that this is awesome. You know, I can do this. But he left. He completely let them be their own witness. You know, the witness of Jesus Christ in them, the hope of all glory. And I think they were starting to see what Jesus was talking about in John 17. You know Jesus said, "Father, forgive um father I have completed everything that you call me to complete." In John 17, Jesus says it in John 17:4, he literally says, "Father, I give you all the glory on earth because I finished what I was called to complete." He gave all the glory on earth. What if the glory went to the disciples? And as you read John 17, it talks about it. You know, um Jesus says that he gave the father all the glory on earth because he finished what he was called to. So he went to the cross. He exed out everything that Adam did that caused us to walk in sin. No, void. Now it is done. It's finished. We get to walk in something different because he just xed that all out. He cancelled cultural and Adam cancelled culture. I like that word. Bring back the true definition of cancel concert. Yeah. You know, and he then he says, you know, father, I give him all the glory that you gave me. He gave us all his glory so that he can be seen. It's like time to take the lampshade off of your head and let him shine. It ain't about you. Like stop being a have the false humility. Like let's start being humble and let's start shining the Christ that is in us. And then he says, "Father, I want them to be where I am to see the glory that you gave me from before the beginning of time." Like he's he was already preparing them. He was praying for this moment. This moment was about ready to explode in them. I can just only imagine the excitement in Jesus while I was visiting. Oh man. He was and and then I love like Yeah. Let's go. I could talk all night. Yeah.
So, what what are you guys' thoughts on this? Like waiting on the promise? Like did what was it like when you found the promise? Was it transforming? When you you feel that and the power of the Holy Spirit come upon you, it changes you. You when you feel this energy coming into you and it's such it could be like a warmth. It could be like a electricity. It can be some people, you know, fall to the ground and just lose control of the ability to move. But when it comes upon you, you just come out of when you come out of that, you're like changed. You just you want to experience you've experienced his power and you want to experience more of it and just it just changes your life forever. It's just hard to describe exactly. Yeah. What was it like for you, Jeff? Mine was in trickles. It was trickles. Yeah. A little bit here, a little bit there, and eventually it just all of a sudden just came. So it just you make basically what you just waiting for it. Yeah. Then as I'm waiting for it, I get to see re the Holy Spirit rebuild more and more that came upon me. Yeah. You know, and everyone everyone gets it in a different way. Like mine, man, changed in an instant in a moment. In that one moment of time as I'm committing suicide, my car was on this embankment man. I'm thanking God for actually giving me the courage to finally end my life that I wanted to end for years. And in that moment, I think he's like, "You ain't giving me credit for this because this is the enemy's plan." And he pulls my car back on on that highway, stops it, keeps it from rolling down the hill. He stops it. And in that moment, he fills my car with the baptism Holy Spirit. I didn't have words to know what it was, but I knew that the girl that was on that embankment, that Trina is dead, and I don't know her anymore. I couldn't recognize her anymore. Like, I'm a new person. I didn't have words to understand it, but I knew that something was alive inside of me. And a few weeks later, he brought the Bible alive in my life. You know, I had reading issues and I didn't have them anymore. And this thing was fully alive. Like, man, it like words would jump off the page and like grab a hold of my heart like Yeah. So, you know, and and so not everyone is like instantly transformed like me. So, it's kind of like I had the shock and all, you know, and Jeff had the little trickle. We'll give him a little bit here, a little bit there, you know, and then bam, you know, and then Tina's kind of in the middle. She kind of got a little bit electrocution and and and uh holy laughter. She got the fun part. Yeah. You know, I I literally got the poop scared out of me, you know, especially when God spoke to me audibly that day and he said, "You can continue to be stupid, but I have a plan for your life." I had no plan for my life except to end it, you know. And I didn't realize that I would have had damnation in in the pit of hell for the rest of my life because your spirit never dies. It goes somewhere, yeah. And it was and you know I was a Christian for 18 years but I didn't know the creator. I didn't know the author and finisher of my life. I professed his name but I didn't know him. And in the midst of that he says those who believe um will be saved. And it says signs and wonders will follow those who believe and they will be known by their love. There was no fruit in my life. Not any fruit at all, but they were about ready to see some major fruit. It was about ready to blossom. Yeah.
So, which like you you said about um Acts 18 a while ago, like what? Go ahead and read it for us. And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem through throughout Judea in Samaria and the ends of the earth. So the Holy Spirit c power comes upon you and he and you you take it everywhere you go whether you're in your own neighbor own house your own neighborhood or if you go to the next town or if you go to another country you take that spirit with you wherever you go and it gives you the power to to um do what God is calling you to do. Man and I love the the Passion translation. You know I don't always preach from it but I love to to reference it. It says, "But I promise you this, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be seized with power. You will be my messengers to Jerusalem throughout Judea, the distant provinces, even the remotest places on earth." He said, "You will." He didn't ask. He said, "You will." What was the first part of eat? Uh, but a promise. Promise. He never goes against his promise. Yeah. That you will be his messengers, man. And this is not just for the 120. Like, as we go through this, man, it's this you're going to see some things that are going to unfold as we do um we're planning on doing a chapter a week. We're going to try to get a video out to you every week. Um, you know, and but the crazy thing is when Jesus promises them this gift, they're already wanting Jesus to come back and restore the kingdom and and how like hello. Hello. Did you not understand that there's a promise coming? They hadn't figured it out yet. No. But they were about ready to. So sometimes you may not have figured it out yet, but the promise is coming. Yeah. It's gonna come like a large, you know, tractor and trailer just coming your way. You know, a 747 jet is going to hit you in the chest. Like it it's going to plow your life down and it's gonna it's going to transform your life. Like if if you feel like you got baptized in the Holy Spirit, but you've never seen a change in your life, I'm pretty sure you probably didn't get the baptism of the Holy Spirit yet. Not the fullness. Like we we get a little bit of the Holy Spirit. We get the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus. But there is clearly something different when the baptism of Holy Spirit happens. And um yeah, and I feel like I feel like the world is about ready to experience a baptism, Holy Spirit, and fire that we've never encountered before.
This is interesting. You know, verse six, every time they gathered together, they asked Jesus, "Lord, is it now the time you will free Israel?" And he it wasn't meant for him to restore Israel. Is it meant for the disciples to restore Israel? that he will be that we will be his messengers. He's empowering us. He's empowering us to lead. Not Jesus being the leader. He's empowering us to be the leader. Yeah. He gives us his full measure of his glory. Like his full measure of his joy. He gives us his glory. And he wants us to be shown throughout the world. We will grow in favor and and uh with man and God. We will grow in stature with man and God. just like Jesus did. Like, and his kingdom is not of this world. It's within us. And when we realize that, like they were about ready to experience that. And I don't think they question it after they experience it. Nope. But how many times do we still question this? Like they're still thinking that Jesus is coming back to save the day. I'm not saying he's not coming back. in the physical at some point, but he has come back. He has raptured you to be who you're called to be so that you can give the father glory on earth just like he did and so that he gets glory through you. That was his prayer in John 17. So let Jesus rise up inside of you and let him come alive in you and let yourself be his messenger to go throughout the world whether it's next door down the street like it it doesn't matter like you are his messenger. You know, we were just out doing mountain biking two weeks ago and we went to Bentonville, Arkansas, and we did what we call dirt church and it was amazing. We had fun. We just we we did power evangelism classes throughout the week. And then in in the morning and the evenings, we went out into the trails and they had like 150 trails all over. What do you call it? The Mecca. Yeah. Mountain. Yeah. mountain biking Mecca, the best around. So, what was one of your testimonies while we were there? Um, when we were at this place called the Rail Yard and it's just nothing but a junk park for bikes and and skateboarders and I just happened to see a group of young skateboarders there. And all of a sudden, I'm just watching them, you know, this one kid just jumping off the steps and trying to land on his board. And all of a sudden I the one boy was recording him and all of a sudden I'm thinking I hear this word lawyer on him and I just asked him is there any chance that you are interested in being a lawyer? And he goes no. I said well what's your dream? He goes I want to get be in real estate. I was like you got to know the law you know you got to know the law of real estate. He said and in some way you are kind of a lawyer in real estate. Yeah. because you're an advocate for the people that are buying and selling property. Then the other boy, I said, "You you have a desire to be a teacher." He goes, "Yeah, kind of." And so I got a chance to pray for him and after we got done praying for him for them, he goes, "Yeah, I'm about ready to go into WWAM there as a teacher." That's with youth with the mission. Yeah. Yeah. And that's amazing because we got we all got to pray for them. We got to lay hands on them. We really got to empower them. Yeah. And we pray for the baptism of Holy Spirit. Like when we get a chance to lay hands on anybody, man, I pray for the baptism of Holy Spirit. And if I don't use baptism of Holy Spirit, I'll say the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Touch them from the tip of their head to the tip of their feet. God, just fill them up overflowing abundantly. God, just give them a new infilling. That way, they don't feel like, "Oh, I already got it." And they reject it. No, you just want to you want to use their words, but just let God just give you the words. And man, those kids were radically changed, especially the one going to WW. Yeah. That we knew what it was to WW. Yeah. And we were able to really encourage him. Yes. Yeah. You have any testimonies you want to share? Well, we were we were done mountain biking the one day. It was getting hot. It was like lunch noon. It was like 90 something degrees. So, we decided to take a little get a little refreshment at the coffee shop. We were sitting there, you know, coming in the coffee shop and there was a group of young people out sitting out front. I think there was about 10 of them sitting there like, "Huh, looks like look like they have a Bible open." So, one of us said something just to encourage them and continue studying the word. And then we just went inside. But then when we came back out is when we really had a chance to minister to them and give them each of them a prophetic word and get to speak life into each one of the the they were actually homeschoolers um like eight students and like two of them were being like the teachers with them. They were studying the the Bible actually. So they were just such an encouragement to and then afterwards one of them really thanked us for speaking up and talking with them and coming over and just encouraged her to I guess in her faith also. Yeah. The one she she had looked at me and she said you really encouraged me because we gave prophetic words to all of them. We had some words of knowledge and a word of knowledge is something about today or yesterday that I shouldn't know about somebody but it's God downloading so that you can tell him he loves you that much. He knew that about you and he wants to either heal you, set you free or just encourage you and and it opens the door to the prophetic. And prophetic is not a scary word. It is just hearing God's voice for yourself or someone else. And the scripture, we're going to find out the scripture says all will prophesy, men and women, young and old, no race or gender will be excluded.
All right. So, we're about ready to see the them get seized by power. So, what's the next scripture that you feel like just jumps out in in uh Acts one? Basically, they were all up in the upper room just waiting. All the disciples were listed there. It actually lists all their names and it has Mary, mother of Jesus, some other women and the brothers of Jesus. They were all there. We never really hear much anything about the brothers of Jesus, but they were also there. They finally must have came on board. That's true. And joined in with the rest of them. Well, and also with that scripture in in Acts 1:14, they all joined together constantly in prayer along with the women. So, they didn't exclude the women. They weren't above the women. The men and women were intertwined. They came together in unity. that no one was better than anybody else and they didn't look at anyone less than. They went waiting for the promise and it just they prayed unceasingly. They prayed constantly. Are we willing to go even with a small group of people and go somewhere when especially if God asks you and go and wait on him to show up. Are we going to say, "Oh, you know what? I got to go home and go to bed. You know, I got to get up early. You know, I got the kids. I got the dog. You know, oh, I didn't make my husband dinner and he's waiting at home. You know, when God asks you to wait, are you going to wait? Maybe start practicing. Yeah. True. You know, and you you were saying something at 15 when about Peter. Yeah. You know during that time Peter stood up among among the 120 believers who were all gathered and said fellow believers you know why did why was Peter the one that stood up. Wow. And uh because we look back through scripture and all of sudden you know after Jesus breathed on him then Jesus says Peter what were the three things he said? Oh, that was so in John 20, they they were all breathed on and Jesus said, "Receive the Holy Spirit and they went back to what they knew." Yeah. They went back to fishing. And this is a cool piece right before that. Th this piece is so Peter's on the boat and John of course, you know, the the lover of Jesus and and he would know because he I feel like he had a relationship with God with Jesus that was beyond measure and you know he's the one that had his head laying on his shoulder, you know, or on his chest. So like there's a relationship that can't be separated. And he recognized Jesus on the shore. And when he told Peter, Peter put on his outer garment. So outer garment in John uh 21 is actually the same Greek root word of wedding garment in Matthew 22. and that one person at the wedding banquet. This isn't I wasn't going to go down this road when but I think we we need to you know are we willing to wait on God? Are we willing to go especially now when we know that it is more important than ever to have a relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God. And they're all three together. They're all separate, but they're all the same. They have different characteristics, different personalities, but they're all the same. and having that relationship that is inseparable in you like like so the way they got to the wedding banquet was servants went out and they and people had excuse after excuse about their business and there's two different versions of this wedding banquet in two different gospels but Matthew 22 um so if you look at all of the versions it their business they're farming their marriage. Um there I think there was something else. But every entity of your life, they had an excuse and they went and said, "Nope, I'm not coming to the wedding banquet because I got to tend to my ox. I got to tend to my wife. I got to tend to my farm. I got to tend to my business." If this is hitting home, take it back to God. Don't get mad at me. take it back to God and ask him, God, am I putting anything and anybody above you right now in my life because you need to be foremost in my life. And maybe that's why we have some struggles, you know, and so in the midst of this, the person in the wedding banquet, they went and got good and bad people. So, who is the one not good or bad? Everyone would have went past the guards. Everyone went past the gatekeepers. Everyone's mingling at this wedding banquet and no one sees the difference in this one person, but the master ceremonies does. And he sends that person out. He sends people to come get them, bind them, throw them out into the darkness and nashing of teeth. So, they're bound. They're out into the darkness. They're bound out in the darkness, nashing of teeth. I believe that anything separate from God is hell. And so they're out there. So this thing that that person doesn't have on, Peter puts on, is it that he put on his outer garment, he put on his identity of Christ because he had taken it off because he denied Jesus three times and in the midst of that he jumps in the water. I bet that zeal of Jesus just launched him into the water, you know, and and he I bet the the Holy Spirit that when Jesus breathed on him in the chapter prior, I bet he's starting to rise up. He's starting to come alive. Yes. And he's starting to realize who his identity is. And he put on Jesus. He jumps into water and Jesus said, "Hey, bring some of your fish." Well, zeal is Peter. Like, man, I want to be like him. I probably am, you know, God probably has had to glue a couple ears back on, you know, spiritual ears, you know, that I cut off. But Peter, he doesn't just grab some fish. He grabs an entire net that seven guys can't even pull in the boat and he brings it to Jesus. He doesn't tear the net. He doesn't lose not one fish. And I believe it's prophetic to the rest of his life that he does follow Jesus unto death, unto the cross upside down. He doesn't lose not one soul and then that doesn't tear. Like, are we going to grab a hold of Jesus like that? And I love what what Jesus does. He reinstates Peter in this moment and he asks him, "Do you love me?" But he doesn't just reinstate him. He tells him about the church and he says, "If you love me, feed my lambs, my baby lambs. Feed my babies." Then he asks him again, and I know it's agape and filt, different kinds of love. And I get that and I'm not taking away from that, but he says he says it a second time and Peter's getting frustrated and Jesus says, "Take care of my sheep." So how many times we try to feed people without taking care of them. We don't know how to feed them because we don't know anything about them. He wants relationship with his flock. Yes. And then he says, "Peter, do you love me?" And Peter is really frustrated. He said, "Lord, you know I love you." And I bet he's just so broken. And in the midst of he says, "Feed my sheep." So, we can't take care of the flock if we don't know the flock and we won't know how to feed them if we don't know them. And so, I feel like he was telling G Peter how to have church in the midst of that. Yes, he reinstated Peter and he was and it's about the love too, but I think more than anything, he was showing the rock how to create church. Yes, man. And that one rock G uh Peter, he stands up first. Like I feel like because of what he did, we we got to take action. We got to be excited about this. Come on. Are you excited about life? If you're not excited about life, then you need to like go spend some time with the father, son, and holy spirit, you know, or come spend some time with us. We'll help drag you right to him, you know, and you know, we'll show you how to be that arrow, you know, rocket, you know, we'll help launch you in deep into his heart like because in that place in his arm, he can launch you anywhere in the world. Yeah. I just I get excited.
So, yeah, Peter stands up and um you know, and in all of it He tells them he so he's very scriptural minded like and they didn't have the Bible but their families would would talk about um the scriptures and um and they they had it in them like God told um Joshua to to meditate on the scriptures to meditate on his word like so Peter meditated on his word because he knew about Judas you know he knew about the scripture so we need to meditate you know and he knew that it was David that spoke about it like you know I don't remember everything that everyone says in the Bible but that's there's a lot out of the Old Testament there's a lot that that they would have had to remember and they wouldn't had the Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit probably prompted Peter and gave him that information, you know, and brought it to the forefront. Yeah. So, you know, I guess the end of this scripture is that they um they knew that they needed to to find a person to replace Judas. And how they do that? how they casted lots. They casted lots. Wow. They didn't just casted lots. They chose two people that had been with them the pretty much the whole time. Yeah. They were full also. Well, I guess they didn't have the Holy Spirit filled up yet, but but you know, they had certain qualifications of who they were going to pick and they found two of the people, I guess, amongst the 120 that was with them to pick from. And then they casted lots to figure out which one it was going to be. They wanted them to be from the beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from them and that they must be a witness about the resurrection. Yeah. Like they had, you know, out of that 120, you know, not all of them might have witnessed all of it. you know, somebody to come in at the end, some some in the beginning, you know, and uh they wanted to make sure that they were going to be a true witness of the whole account. And the footnote says, "This is the last time it's mentioned in the Bible, casting lots." Yeah. Because they had the Holy Spirit after that. Yeah. You don't need to cast lots now because the Holy Spirit can put it to Yeah. into your spirit and shake you up. be like a piece of d. Shake, rattle, and rope.
So, that's the end of Acts one. And um we're really excited to uh for you to join us for a book of Acts, Acts two. It's about to come to you. And um that's act two. You want to you want to go after it with excitement. What the which about how how can we end it to draw them in for Acts two? [Music] You want me to do it? Yeah. Go ahead. Act a little excited. Thank you for joining us for Acts one and stay tuned to Acts two will be coming soon. We're super excited for you to to hear what God is saying and we we pray that we poke you, that we provoke you, that you would take it back to God. And it's like, well, wait a minute. Where did they find that at? You know, and I I pray that it it really stirs your heart and brings a fire inside of you that you've never seen before. And I pray that if nothing more that it would take you deeper into the arms of the father and let him launch you. And I'm praying that Jesus will rise up inside of you. And that you will go throughout the entire world, whether it's next door, down the street, to your job, to your family, wherever God is calling you. and that you would be a witness not to preach to people but watch where God is highlighting somebody and just go be about a relationship and watch God use you to transform someone else's life in Jesus name. You want to end it with a prayer? Absolutely. So Lord, we just thank you so much for what you're doing through us and through everybody around us and we just pray for a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit to fall upon them. Lord, just just lay your hand upon them and just pour it into them, Lord Jesus, as they dig deeper into you that you you're digging deeper into them to find your home in them so they can share you wherever they go. They can hear your voice even clearer each time they read scripture. Say, "Thank you, Jesus. I hear you, daddy, in Jesus name." Amen. Amen. God bless you all and stay tuned to chapter two of Acts. Act two.