By: Cecil Lovelace
TITLE: What makes it tick?
TEXT: Acts 1:1-14
INTRO:
(1) When I was a young lad, my mother had an old wind up alarm clock that had a picture of a river and a paddle boat on the face. I used to watch that thing as a young kid I would watch that clock and watch that paddle wheel turn. As the clock got older, and I got older, that clock began to wear out. It got to the point that you had to lay it on it’s face to get it to run. So, Mom bought her a new clock.
As a 15 year old aspiring genius, I asked her what she would do with the clock. She offered it to me, and I set out to fix it. I had no trouble at all getting it out of the case. I found me a little sewing machine screw driver and proceeded to take out the little screws that held that clock together. I was determined to find out what made it tick. I’ll never forget that last screw I removed. It must have been the one that held all the works together, because when I removed it, parts went everywhere! Little springs, and wheels, and little pieces were all over the table, and the floor. So, it goes without saying, I never fixed it, but ended up trashing it. That was the end of my career as a clock/watch maker. But we are all interested in knowing what makes things tick.
(2) U.S. automakers buy imports and take them apart to see what makes them tick. Nascar race teams have done the same. Trying to see why someone else may have the advantage.
(3) WE need to take a look at the early church, and see if we can find out what made it tick. After all, thousands were saved and added to the church.
In order to do that, we can take a look at the church in the early part of the book of Acts. Acts seems to be our compass.... it points us in the right direction as a New Testament Church.
I. THEIR ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST WAS PERSONAL. V-3,5
It has been said that 90% of the world’s population is probably lost, and that 50% of the professing believers are lost. So, it’s important we know the truth and the true way.
(1) Infallible proofs... he ate, talked, walked through walls.
(2) Was seen forty days, by over 500 people at once.
(3) They had a personal encounter. Many today have not. Many Christians can’t remember the last time they had a personal encounter with Him either!
B. Jesus had advised them. V-4-5 "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence."
It’s important to meet him, but also important to be led by Him.
(1) They were to be patient. V-4 "...commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem...." They were probably anxious to get on with it after he ascended. The hardest thing in the world for a Christian is to WAIT!!!! Especially on God.
(2) They were to be powerful. "...but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me." They had been instructed (according to Luke 24) to tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. They would have been useless other-wise. We too are useless otherwise. Many have tried it. I heard a preacher (B.R. Lakin) say the other day that not much work is going on in the churches of today that couldn’t be done just as well by heathens. He went on to say that the heathen can feed the hungry, cloth the naked, run soup kitchens, give medical aid etc. He was about right! Oh, for the churches today to get into something that God and ONLY God can do.
II. THEIR EVANGELISTIC ZEAL WAS POWERFUL. V-8
These early Christians just couldn’t help but tell it! Why? Why would they even dare to die than quit?
A. They were filled with God’s power. V-8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." They didn’t pray half-heartedly or hurriedly. Notice how persistent they were. This is the key verse of the whole Book of Acts.
(1) This was divine power. It’s the only useable kind.
(2) His power... can’t be earned, explained, or worked up. Must be given, and that comes when we meet His conditions.
(3) This was dynamic power. (Dunamis the word from which we get dynamite) More than dynamite; atomic bombs. They destroy, but the power of God transforms.
B. They were following God’s plan. V-8 He gave them a plan for evangelizing the world.
(1) Note the WHO of their witnessing. "Me"
(2) Note the WHERE of their witnessing. "ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
(3) We need to work on OUR Jerusalem. We do pretty good on the others.
III. THEIR EXPERIENCE OF PRAYER WAS PERSISTENT. "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication...,"
A. They prayed continually. V-14 "...These all continued..."
(1) Ten days...long time...even ten minutes is a long time to expect people to pray today.
(2) Average Baptist Church couldn’t call a 10 day prayer meeting. Not even a ten DAY prayer meeting.
(3) People don’t see the need, yet prayer is our life line. It brings power; gives strength.
B. They prayed in unity. V-14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication...,"
(1) They all had the same goal: To be endued with power!
(2) They all had the same determination: Not to go away unsatisfied. WE should meet today with such determination and hunger for the power of God!
(3) Imagine a prayer meeting with these goals.CONCLUSION
May God help us to share HIM and to fellowship with HIM in prayer. Make the book of Acts your compass in the Christian life. It will keep you on course.
A personal encounter with Christ is the only way to heaven. I over heard the Hardee’s Experts Monday over in the corner discussing religions and what you had to do to get to heaven. One said the denomination didn’t matter. Another said you could come into Forest City on different roads. Another said you could even go all the way down and come in through Chesnee, and that it was the same way with religion. He said there are a lot of roads to heaven, and it didn’t matter which one you came in on. I wanted to tell him that Jesus is the ONLY way!: : Acts 1:1-14A. Jesus had appeared to them. V-3 (after His resurrection) "To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:" : What made it Tick?
