Text: Acts 1:1-5
“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all 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. 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 forty 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 will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Friends, if you’re a Christian this morning, you need to understand that we have a unique belief about this one that we follow, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What is that unique belief? We believe that Jesus, the very Son of God, put aside the glory of heaven, and all those attributes that distinguished Him from us, and he became a man…a man just like us…he lived this life as a man totally dependent upon the Father for his power and strength…. Listen to what Philippians 2:5-8 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”
Do you get the picture this morning; Christ emptied himself of everything that would distinguish himself from me and you. That is amazing to me; it’s powerful when you think about what He did, the miracles he performed, the path to the cross that he took willingly. How did he do all these things….He was sourced through the Holy Spirit, by the Father.
So what is this unique belief? We have many actually, because we serve the one true God! But the one I want to focus on this morning is the fact that Jesus came and lived among us, his very creation, and he died on a cross for us, in our place, and then he rose from the dead after 3 days and he appeared to the disciples and gave what our scripture says, “many convincing proofs that he was alive.” My question for you this morning is really pretty simple, but I believe it’s profound and I believe God wants you to know the answer, I believe He wants you to deal with this question….. How has Jesus proved Himself alive to you?
You see, I believe God has been revealing Himself to his people since the beginning of time. I believe God wants to leave no doubt in the minds of His people of who He is, of His Glory and Majesty, of His Holiness. We could work our way through the Old Testament, listing person after person and How God revealed Himself to them, using miracle after miracle to demonstrate His presence and power in their lives….. Some of my favorites…
The calling of Abraham to a new land, to a new people…. Abraham listened and history was changed forever…
Moses and the burning bush….God called Moses for a specific task, Moses listened and watched how God performed miracle after Miracle to free the Israelites from the Egyptians and bring them to the Promised Land….
I’m reading right now about King David and His Mighty Fighting men, how God used them to conquer the land through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit would so empower these men to fight in battle and do things that no men could accomplish on their own…these men learned that victory only came through total dependence upon God’s Spirit being with them…. Isn’t that we need to learn today?
God’s character, God’s desire is the same today; He wants to prove himself to you, to us. He sent Jesus as the ultimate revelation of Who He is, and now He has given us the Holy Spirit to live in us and to be our teacher, the revealer of this awesome truth…..
I want to know this morning, How has Jesus proved himself alive to you? That’s the question before us…
As you think about that, I want to look quickly at some background to this book of Acts, it’s very important to understand the context in which you are reading, it is very easy to just pick verses out of the Bible and interpret them incorrectly because you have not understood the context in which they were written.
For example, let’s say that you found a note that I wrote to my wife, and the only sentence that you read was the last one that said, “You by far were the ugliest one here tonight…” If that was the only sentence that you read you would think I was being a little mean and a real idiot, right?
But if you knew the context of the letter was congratulating her for winning our Halloween How Ugly can you get contest, then you would understand it was a compliment….. it’s all about context.
The Book of Acts was written by Luke, and he tells us that in his former book, the gospel of Luke he wrote about all the things that Jesus began both to do and teach….that makes sense, that’s why it’s one of the gospels…it tells us about the life and ministry of Jesus.
We see in verse two Jesus is going to be reunited with the Father, his time on earth is short so he is teaching through the power of the Holy Spirit, giving instructions to the disciples on what to do as they wait for the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is preparing them, but He’s also doing something else. Look at verse 3. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.
I want you to think about these men and women who have been following Jesus for these past three years for some of them….they had seen Jesus do amazing things, perform many miracles, do things that only God could do. But then, their hopes and dreams were dashed as Jesus was arrested and beaten, and hung on a cross. He died. They didn’t just hear about it on the nightly news. They saw him. Many of them would have been present when they took the body off the cross and prepared him for burial. They mourned his death. Their leader was gone, murdered and now they were afraid they could be next. This was the context in which the disciples were living.
Then something happened that has not ever happened in the history of any other religion. You want to talk about being unique in our beliefs….God raised Jesus back to life, Jesus demonstrated His power over sin and death and actually came back to life…this is what we believe…amen?
Can you imagine the shock and awe that the disciples would have felt when they first heard from the women that the tomb was empty and that Jesus had appeared to them?
“What do you mean…a ghost appeared to you…a vision of Christ appeared to you?” I mean let’s be realistic about this right?
The Bible says that Jesus presented himself in definite ways at definite times after His suffering, giving many positive proofs (or sure signs) and unmistakable, convincing evidence that He is alive. In these appearances He made it clear that He was not a spirit or a ghost. They touched Him. He showed them His hand and feet.
These were not visions; they were objective, real, personal appearances. Jesus spent 40 days with them, visiting with them over and over again….why? Jesus wanted there to be no doubt that He was alive…that He was with them in the flesh.
How has Jesus proved Himself Alive to you?
Why do you think it was so important for Jesus to prove himself to the disciples? He wanted them to be ready for what was coming, He was giving them the foundation for their faith.
Knowing Jesus as our Risen Lord is foundational for our Faith. Without this knowledge, it will be impossible to stand firm in the times of testing that will come your way in this life.
I was reminded this week of one of the first times as a child that I saw the power of my living lord at work in my family. We were camping in the mountains in Colorado; I was around 8 or 9 years old, because my little sister was only 2 or 3 years old at the time. We had been camping with family friends and if my memory serves me we had already been there for a couple of days, when something terrible happened. It was late morning, the fire had burned out, but the hot coals, embers were still very hot, my little sister was running across the camp and tripped on the rocks surrounding the campfire, and when she fell, she put both of her hands right in those coals..
I can remember her screaming, I can remember calling for help, I can remember seeing her hands blistered and looking so painful…. We were in the middle of nowhere on a holiday weekend, I remember jumping into a van and we all started praying….desperate to help Misty who couldn’t stop screaming because of the pain….but as Mom and Dad prayed, God came and helped my little sister to fall asleep…it took hours to find a hospital, I remember my parents talking to the doctor and him telling Mom and Dad that there was no way that she should have been able to go to sleep in that kind of pain…but we knew who had helped her.
Jesus has proved Himself to me and my family over and over again….. in our deepest, darkest moments…He has always been there.
There have been times when I have been so angry with God for allowing something to happen that in my mind was unfair, it was not right…..Even in the midst of my anger….His love was there reassuring me that He loved me and it was OK to be angry.
I have had times in my life where I felt so trapped, hopeless that I just couldn’t see a way out. The thoughts that were coming into my mind were not good, they weren’t healthy….but God, through the Holy Spirit broke through my despair and whispered comfort and peace into my heart when I needed it the most. I have found that it is in the darkest hours that His Light shines the brightest….His Love Never Fails.
How has Jesus proved Himself Alive to you?
Jesus proves himself alive to me when I fail, He forgives me. When I was first saved, when I came to that place when I realized I was lost and needed to be forgiven…Jesus was there. And many times since then, the Holy Spirit, the very spirit of Christ has been faithful to speak truth into my life, convict me of sin when I have sinned against Him…..be my teacher and friend through the good times and the tough times…..
This is a foundational belief. I need to make it clear, it needs to be more than just a belief, it needs to be experienced on a heart level, you need to know from personal experience that Jesus is alive and living in your heart through the Holy Spirit…..You can’t Do Christianity. You have to Experience the Living Savior and His Forgiveness for you to even know what this Christian life is all about.
Anyone want to answer the question this morning…. How has Jesus proved Himself Alive to you?
How will you Respond this morning to this foundational Truth? God wants to demonstrate His Love for you today, if you will respond in Faith by making your way to our alter and praying, He will answer your call and He will prove Himself true to you. Forgiveness, Healing, Total Surrender, Breaking down strongholds, whatever God puts on your heart, come and pray and know Him personally.
