This sermon was preached by Rev. Paul Mims at the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cherry Log, GA on Sunday, August 19th, 2012.

Acts 1:1-11“Read me the twenty-third Psalm” were some of the last words that my mother said to me. Last words are etched into our memories and are precious to us. Today, we are going to look at the last words of our Lord Jesus before he went to heaven. They form the destiny of the church and the kingdom of God. As we begin this new era in the life of Cornerstone we must let them burn into hearts so that we will receive a fresh anointing for the way ahead. We must understand that his last words are as personal to us as they were to his disciples. We are his disciples of this present day. What we and others like us do in response to his words will have eternal significance.

You can imagine the excitement, the mystery, the joy, of seeing him alive after he was dead from crucifixion and three days in the tomb. These were the last minutes that they would have with him. They could not prolong his stay. They were gathered on top of the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem. These are his last instructions, last words, last chance to be with him, last time to make the most of his presence. And then, he rises from the earth leaving them behind and in a moment he disappears into a cloud. He has gone back to the Father who sent him thirty three years earlier. For the first time since he called these unique men three years earlier, they were alone. What an emptiness they felt. What should they do next? They did not want to leave that hallowed spot. But the appearance of two angels sent them on their way.

I can imagine that they immediately went back to the upper room where he had appeared to them on two occasions’ days after the resurrection. There they try to piece together what each remembered that he said. They went over and over it again. Then they come to the conclusion that the future advance of the Kingdom was placed was placed in their hands. There was no one else to do what only they could do. What would they do? They decided that it had to be done for there was no other plan. This was the reason that he had called them and trained them and trusted them.

We are the recipients of their faithfulness. They told somebody who told somebody who told somebody that told the person who told us. Now we must do the same. Christianity cannot be spread just by preachers and missionaries. It was never intended to be that way. The Kingdom of God is a lay-persons movement. Every believer comes under the responsibility to tell the “somebodies” in their world.

Look at your hands. Into your hands Jesus places four things described in this scripture passage.

I. YOU ARE ASSIGNED AN UNFINISHED TASK.

“…All that Jesus began to do and to teach…” (v.1)

There is something awesome about being asked to complete something that Jesus began. He began to demonstrate the love of God to others as he did with Nicodemus and the Woman at the well. That is now our task. We are to let him love through us.

He began the concept of giving each individual value in God’s sight as he did with the woman who struggled through the crowd to touch the hem of his garment. We must not see people as numbers or things to be used for personal gain.

He began the ministry of reconciling man to God as he did with Zachaeus and Mary Magdalene. In our day this task is far from complete. There is a low percentage of earth’s population that knows the salvation for which he was sacrificed. Some of these are in the pathway of your life.

George W. Truett was the beloved pastor of Dallas’ First Baptist Church for more than 60 years. He tells of a woman who came to him after a service. She was a poverty stricken widow with several children. She said, “Pastor, I have never known you to be unfair — yet you were so in your sermon.” He inquired as to why she felt that way. Her reply, “You said during your sermon that everybody can win someone to Jesus. Certainly you can’t mean me. I am a poor widow. I work long, long hours just to squeeze out a living for my children and me every day. I cannot entertain, or spend time winning souls to the Lord. I can barely exist. You are not fair in your speaking when you say everybody can win someone.”

Truett replied, “Madam, does anyone come to your house?”

She said, “Yes, a few — the mailman, the milkman.”

Truett ended the conversation, “Then you do have an opportunity. You simply have not tried.”

The woman went home troubled and thought about the conversation most of the night. By dawn she heard the milkman at her front step. Convicted, she threw open the door, and greeted the man. As they exchanged small talk, the woman was nervously trying to think of some small word to put in for the Lord — but the milkman turned to go. She began to close the door, but threw it open again. “Come back,” she asked. He did so, and she said, “I wanted to ask you something, but I have been afraid. May I ask you a question?” He agreed. Stumbling, she began, “I just want to know if you know Jesus. Have you been saved?” He looked at her with incredulity, “What in the world made you ask me that? Oh, woman,” said the milkman, “I didn’t sleep at all last night worrying about my soul. Do you know how to find God’s light?” In a short moment, she was sharing with her new friend how to come to Christ. [George W. Truett, A Quest For Souls, (NY, George H. Doran Co, 1917), 58-59.

II. YOU ARE GIVEN POWER FOR THE TASK.

“…You will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you.” (v.8a)

Verses four and five tell of the strength they received to be bold. “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave 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.“’

This occurred sometime during the forty days after the resurrection. In his resurrection body he was eating with them. He told them that the promise he made which is recorded in John 14:15-17 would be realized in a few days. The promise was, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
The Holy Spirit is the power center for all that has been accomplished in spreading the Gospel across the world.

The promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was given to indwell believers and make them bold in the task. If you are a disciple of Christ, the Holy Spirit was given to you at the time of your conversion and is fresh every day with an anointing for your service.

Vance Havner said, “We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.”

Chuck Swindoll tells of the Holy Spirit’s work in his life: “By the time I graduated from [seminary], I had many convictions and few questions, especially regarding the Holy Spirit …. But during a lifetime of ministry that has taken me around the United States and to many countries abroad, I have found that the work of the Holy Spirit continually keeps me off balance. I’m not alone in that. Those in church leadership seem afraid the Spirit is going to do something we can’t explain. I’ve found that disturbs many folks … but I’ll admit it energizes me.

I’ve come to realize there are dimensions of the Spirit’s ministry I have never tapped and places in this study about which I know very little. I’m on a strong learning curve. I have witnessed a dynamic power in his presence that I long to know more of firsthand. I now have questions and a strong interest in many of the things of the Spirit I once felt were settled. To say it plainly, I am hungry for more of him. I long to know God more deeply and more intimately. Charles R. Swindoll, Embraced By the Spirit (Zondervan, 2010), pp. 25-26
Swindoll puts the concepts about the Holy Spirit in a manner that the contemporary church can grasp. There is a steep learning curve in our relationship to the power of the Holy Spirit in us today. It includes revelation, knowledge, and experience.

III. YOU ARE GIVEN AN EXPANSIVE VISION.
“…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea
and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (v.8b)

Our Jerusalem is Cherry Log, Ellijay, Blue Ridge, and Gilmer and Fannin Counties which we minister to through Cornerstone and the Mountaintown Baptist Association.

Our Judea is the state of Georgia which we minister to through State Missions.
Our Samaria is the United States which we minister through North American Missions.

The “ends of the earth” is our International Missions ministry. Each of the above categories are provided for in our mission giving to support evangelism, church planting, colleges, seminaries, hospitals, children’s homes, disaster relief, and about 10,000 missionaries. These are the works that we can do collectively with other churches. Our budget provides funds for each of these through what we give to the local association and through the Co-operative Program. We also give directly to local community missions. From Cornerstone there go out every month support to expand the Kingdom to the ends of the earth.

But we must do more than just give our money. We must be cognizant that each of us bears a personal witness for our Lord. Our influence will either draw someone closer to Christ or send someone farther away from him. Everything we say and do has this influence.

IV. YOU ARE GIVEN AN EXCITING EXPECTATION.
“This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (v.11b)

We are to work until Jesus comes again. We must complete the task. We live in between his first and second coming and are excited about the possibility that he could come in our lifetimes. But he said to his disciples who asked him about this, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” We learn from this that the date is set and we are not to be concerned about trying to discern it.

Feast upon these scriptures:

Luke 21:27 – “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

Matthew 24:27,36,42; 16:27 “For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” “No one knows about that day of hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the Father,” “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”

Luke 21:34-36 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of like, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the son of Man.”

Revelation 22:12-13,17
“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am alpha and the Omega, the first and the Last, the Beginning and the End. “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
Our hands are full enough to last a lifetime!
Praise Be To His Name!