So what do we plead for? Look and keep going.
We plead on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to
God. He made the one who did not know sin to
be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness
of God. Guys, this is pretty much straight up.
Let me tell you, Jesus loves you. He wants your
life. He wants it to change. He doesn't want
you to live in this darkness anymore. And so
I plead with you. I appeal to you on behalf of
Jesus. I want you to know my Savior. I want you
to know him. And so that's the motivation. That's
what's driving us as Radiant Church. As we go
outward. See, God has given us. He's made us.
ambassadors. An ambassador doesn't live in the
country. He doesn't live there. That's not where
he's from. But he represents something to another
country. He says, if I'm a U .S. ambassador,
I represent U .S. to whatever country that I'm
an ambassador to. God is saying, you belong to
me and you represent me wherever you go into
this world. And you are his official representatives.
And he makes his appeal through you and me. Now,
let's go to John chapter 20. And I love this
because there's Jesus talking to his disciples.
And let me give you a little context to John
chapter 20. We're going to start in verse 21.
Think about the disciples for a minute before
we look at this text. They have spent three years
of their life with Jesus. They have lived kind
of like a big family together. They know each
other inside and out. They have watched Jesus
teach. They have watched Jesus heal many people.
They've watched Jesus confront the legalistic
religious leaders. They saw him love the outcast.
And even questioned Jesus loving those who were
the outcast. Right? They watched Jesus feed the
hungry. And they experienced this great rejection
in their lives because they followed Jesus. And
they watched Jesus weep over those who had hard
hearts toward him. And they watched Jesus experience
the worst possible death. And now Jesus has just
risen from the dead and he's come to them. And
he's shown them proof of the resurrection. He
says, look, I'm alive. And this is what he has
to say to them. And this is, look at verse 21.
And Jesus said to them again, peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And
after saying this, he breathed on them and said,
receive the Holy Spirit. Okay. Pretty profound
moment. It's like a relay tag and track. But
it goes, Father has done a lap, and he's dropped
it to the Son, and the Son has done a lap, and
now he's dropped it to you. It's a tag. Boom,
boom, boom. Now finish what I've called you to
do. Now in Acts chapter 1, go to verse 8. Jesus
has some final words. to his ambassadors. And
these words apply to us too. But he says this
as he's just about ready to leave. He says this,
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and the
ends of the earth. He's got his team together
and he says, I know you can't do this in your
own strength. But you're going to receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. To do what,
church? To be a witness. We'll unpack that in
a minute. First of all, if you are in Christ,
you are alive in Christ by the Spirit. That's
how it happened. It's one of the things we always
talk about when we talk about baptism. That baptism
is a picture of identifying with what Christ
did for you on the cross. When he died for you,
he took all of your sin upon himself. He became
your substitute. We call it substitutionary atonement.
He atoned for your sin. This is a picture of
death into the water. He didn't stay dead. Jesus
didn't stay dead after he suffered for you. He
rose again three days later, conquering Satan's
sin as death. And the same spirit that raised
Christ from the dead lives and dwells within
us as we are followers of Jesus. We're in Christ,
meaning we identify with his death, his burial,
and his resurrection. Meaning the power of God
lives there. It's in you. That's why Jesus said,
it's better for me to go. And I'm going to send
my spirit to dwell within my people. The spirit
lives in you. And has given you a new life with
new desires and new purpose. Does it mean you're
perfect yet? No, that day's coming. But for now,
you are different. He's given you something different.
It's a work in progress, right? But you are born
again. Like, dead to alive in something new.
New identity. The picture is a new identity of
you. Now, you have a new vertical relationship
with Jesus. You do. You may not be utilizing
it the way you need to, but it's there. We can
talk to God. We have this relationship vertically
with Him. And church, we say this all the time,
it must affect your horizontal, but how does
it do that? Well, it has this vertical relationship,
involves the indwelling Spirit of God in you.
It does. Years ago, my very first... ministry
position i was called a youth pastor i didn't
know he wasn't even married at this point and
didn't know what meant to be lead anything but
i was a youth pastor and in a church and this
this church was putting on a weekend event on
evangelism how to share your faith and i was
super stoked because i i loved honestly loved
people and i wanted people to know my jesus and
i was like this is really hard how do you share
and so i was like oh this would be sweet And
so, how do you lead people to Jesus? And so,
as I sat into this like three -day, whatever
it was, conference seminar on how to share your
faith, I realized that it was all built on a
strategy to get people to pray a prayer. By the
way, that's not even in the Bible. And then the
second thing, it was like a sales tactics 101
combined with a network marketing thing. everybody
been to one of these and i remember sitting there
going we're just feeling so frustrated and disillusioned
with like this isn't right this is weird like
i'm supposed to go over and try to break in and
figure out a way to have a conversation with
you so i could get you to believe like a certain
way like amway and funny thing is i was just
coming out of you ever hear mel luca i bought
in and realized it was so stupid, and I didn't
do it anymore. And I felt like I was at a Melaleuca
training time. But it was how to share your faith,
and I wanted to tell people, I just wanted to
tell people about Jesus, and I wanted them to
experience the love that I experienced, but that's
not what was being taught. Nowhere do I ever
remember... The role of the Holy Spirit being
talked about in that training. In fact, we never
talked about the Holy Spirit. It's like we were
missing the third part of the Trinity. We understand
the Father and the Son, but no Holy Spirit. That
was the background that I kind of came out of.
And I was realizing, like, what is up with Acts
1 .8? And so... Probably because we probably
didn't do that, but probably because we were
like really didn't want to get close. You know,
there are certain people that have certain weird
stuff and they call it the Holy Spirit and that's
bad theology. So we're just going to run over
here and act like it doesn't exist. See, the
same spirit that was a part of giving you new
life lives and dwells in the believer. Do you
believe that? See, you and I are to have a spirit.
led and in spirit empowered life that is in the
bible what's it look like i have to share this
quote with you um from a guy named richard loveless
about what it means to live a spirit -led life
okay and it's up on the screen and i'll just
slowly work through it i think it's up there
we should continue to walk throughout the day
in relation in a relationship of communication
That's like talking to the Lord. Before you go
any farther, just look at that first sentence
and look at me. Do you talk to the Lord like
he's right here? That's what he's saying. We
should have this continuous daily relationship
of communication and communion with the Spirit
mediated through our knowledge of the word. Okay,
what's he saying first? If you want to know how
to... to interact with the Spirit that lives
within you, it starts right here. It starts in
your knowledge of the Word. God's Word and the
Spirit do not contradict themselves. In fact,
they must match. Or you're listening to the wrong
Spirit. They go together. So His primary way
the Spirit speaks to you is actually through
His Word. Relying upon every office of the Holy
Spirit's role as a counselor mentioned in Scripture.
We acknowledge him as the illuminator of truth.
What's the role of the Holy Spirit? To illuminate
you of truth in his word, right? All right, where
am I at? Illuminator of truth and the glory of
Christ. Here's another piece of this, and now
I'm picking this apart. But as the Spirit of
God's work in you is not only to help you understand
this, but it's to promote Christ. It's to make
him known. okay so to illuminate that in your
life we should look at him as a teacher a guide
a sanctifier a giver of assurance concerning
our sonship and standing before and our standing
before god helper in prayer you ever go to pray
and just go god i don't know what to say ask
the holy spirit to help you pray help you pray
And then it says, and as one who directs and
empowers our witness. Okay. Acts 1 .8 again.
And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you. You will be my, you will be my,
you will be my what? Witnesses. Where is your
power to share Jesus with people? Where does
it come from? The Holy Spirit. Two things I want
to point out here. One is you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Being filled
with the Spirit is both a one -time event and
an ongoing experience. Now, if you want to look
at some different scriptures on that, you can
look at Ephesians 1, verse 13 to 14. We're not
going to take time for that. Or Ephesians 5,
18. But here's the idea, that when you become,
when you're in Christ, the Spirit lives and dwells
within you. But then there's also this point
where the Spirit that's living and dwelling within
you is empowering you by His Spirit. Because
they both are at play. It doesn't mean like you
have a second thing. It means that the Spirit
already lives in you, and the Spirit now empowers
you. The Spirit that lives within you empowers
you to be His witness. in my experience i said
this to my wife she goes is that your experience
yes it's my experience but in my experience one
of the tell signs that the holy spirit breaks
into is is that the holy spirit breaks into your
heart and begins to break your heart for people
that they would know jesus if something happens
in you goes man i care about my those those that
don't know what i have so What do we do with
that? Caleb, the Spirit of God lives in you.
He must empower you. It's like weird almost.
What do we do with this? One word. You pray.
Let's unpack that for a minute. You pray. You
pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to be upon
you. To do His work through you. To give you
an example of this, years ago when I was doing
Young Life as an area director, I started this
habit, I was challenged, that every time I'd
walk into West Valley High School, it was the
primary high school in Fairbanks that I was a
part of. And every time I'd walk into that school,
I realized, like, Lord, I don't know what I'm
doing. And I need you. I need you to empower
me today. and so i begin to pray before i ever
walk to the halls of that school now i'm coaching
at colony high school and i do i do i do it there
too before i walk into the doors of the school
i say lord by the power of your spirit will you
empower me to be a representative of you wherever
i go i don't got it all figured out but i know
this pray and pray daily And you pray, and you
pray that God's word in this, like, okay, how
do we pray? We pray all the time in every situation
you can think of. But how about in the morning
when you wake up to read your Bible, the first
thing you say, Lord, teach me. Lord, by your
spirit, empower me to understand, to illuminate
this text. I say, I need to know. I need to be
changed. I need to grow. Spirit, will you do
it? Okay? Pray and ask God to show you your sin.
Ooh, I don't want to talk about that. You need
it. God's in the process of cleaning us and changing
us, and the Holy Spirit will illuminate you,
your mind, as you present yourself, humbly surrender
to him, saying, God, I need help. I know I'm
broken. But if he reveals to you a brokenness
in your life, a sin in your life, what do you
do with that? You give it back to him. You give
it back to him. You say, I need your help. What
else do you pray? You pray for boldness. You
pray, God, I am scared. I don't want to go talk
to my friend. Well, God, will you give me boldness,
but will you also give me opportunity? I want
to reflect Jesus to them, and I don't know how
to do it today. So I'm weak, and you're strong,
and so I ask for boldness. Part of the problem
with this, though, is we're so selfish, right?
So ask the Holy Spirit to deal with your selfishness.
I'm always just looking at my needs. God, will
you help me with that? Holy Spirit, will you
do a work in me? Holy Spirit, will you direct
me today? I was praying for an opportunity as
we walked in the building yesterday to set up
and try to figure this space out. And I said,
Lord, before we ever came in, I thought, well,
if I'm preaching on this, I better start having
this same attitude again, right? I was like,
Lord, give us an opportunity. Well, lo and behold,
the custodian that was here. One conversation
after another, he needed encouragement. It became
very evident to me. He was somebody that, I won't
go into all the details, but he was at one point
in Kazakhstan and ended up being kicked out of
the country by Muslims, and he ended up here,
and he speaks really, really poor Russian, and
the first person he starts talking to is Josiah,
and Josiah jumps right into Russian. And then,
I didn't know how many of you guys speak Russian,
by the way. I was impressed. Jared started speaking
Russian. And so did Justin. And I was like, what?
I'm the only one that can't. But here's the thing.
He needed encouragement. And we got to be that
part. I don't know all the things that's going
on in his life, but it was very evident, wasn't
it, Jared? Pray and ask God to direct you. Ask
the Holy Spirit to direct you. You are a conduit
through which the Holy Spirit flows. So. Second
thing. Second thing that flows out of verse 8
to me is be a witness. Now, what's a witness?
That's a question. What is a witness? Churchy
people should, you know, I may have a church
answer, but just in every day, what is a witness?
I mean, it tells the truth, okay? There's more
to it. What do you think? Huh? Yeah, you replay
what you've, can I just say experienced? What
have you encountered? You're a witness at a car
accident. What do you tell the trooper? What
you saw. That's all they're asking here. Okay?
So share your experience of the gospel. You know,
and you don't have to have all the answers. You
don't have to have everything figured out. You
simply share what you know. Right, Adam? Are
you brand new with Jesus? What do you share with
other people? What you know. That's it. Share
what he's accomplished in you as a witness. Share
your sin and share his grace and share his transforming
power. Okay, so don't just share your sin. You
share your sin to point to the grace that you've
experienced to show how God is changing you because
of his grace. You get to share that. Share. And
the biggest thing is, can I just tell you my
story? You know one thing about telling your
story to somebody? They can't argue with it.
It's your story. I want to close this way today.
We're going to actually close in a time of prayer.
You know, it's interesting. In Acts 1 verse 14,
right after the disciples receive, they see the...
instruction by jesus what you see is the church
gathered together about 120 they're gathered
together and what are they doing they're praying
and i think this is really important because
this is the first thing you see the church do
and when in their prayer i think what you see
is this picture of surrender that god i can get
this figured out they're probably overwhelmed
They were probably like, wow, we just went through
the resurrection and saw this, and now this?
Like, what do we do? And they were like, we're
going to pray. We don't know anything else. And
so you see a church doing this, and as they pray,
and so I think this is a good place for us to
start. I wrestled with this all week, and so
I'm not going to make this super awkward for
you, but I am going to ask you to talk to the
Lord today. I'm going to ask you right where
you sit. To have a conversation with the Lord.
And you can do it quiet. I wanted to make it
so we could all talk out loud. And be pretty
cool. But we're just going to do it. I'm going
to ask the band to come up. And we're just going
to. We're going to close this way today. Let
me say this. Before we get to these prayer instructions.
When we're done praying. And we begin to sing
together. There is communion in the back. And
we do communion every week. To be reminded. to
come back to the good news of Jesus. That his
body was broken for me. His blood was shed to
me. And as you go take communion today, I want
you to think about what has been given to you,
and not just in Jesus' death and his resurrection,
but also in the empowering of the Spirit in your
life. Here's how I want to pray. I'm going to
just ask the band, I've asked them to come up
because of... I want Josiah just to kind of play
quietly. I want you just to bow your heads. But
before you do that, here's something I think
I found to be helpful. You don't have to do this,
but I encourage you to. You need to pray with
a surrendered heart. Whatever you do, pray with
a surrendered heart. And so for me, a lot of
times when I pray with a surrendered heart, I've
just got my hands open. And whatever it is, I
kind of picture. My life, whatever the issue
is, is I hold it out before the Lord and I say,
God, it's yours. And so I'm just going to walk
us through some different prayer cues. And the
rest of the time is you and God. And so I'm going
to pray. I encourage you to bow your heads. Just
don't be distracted by anything else. Just talk
to the Lord for a minute. You can open your hands
before him if you want. Before you do anything.
In asking God for anything, I want you to just
ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your sin. Just
take a minute and think about what it is that
is separating you from God or has separated you
from God. If there's sin that comes to your mind,
I want you just to lay it down at the feet of
Jesus. He paid for your sin. I find sometimes
when I confess my sin, oftentimes the Lord gives
me direction of what I need to do. Maybe you
need to go to somebody and seek forgiveness today
from them as well. But know that the Spirit's
job is not to bring condemnation, but to bring
conviction. And if He's convicting you, release
it and surrender it to Him. Take a minute now
and just ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to
be a witness. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you.