A few years back, oh we have other people listening with us, would you please welcome our radio audience around the country? (applause and cheers) A few years back Outside magazine had an interesting article, I thought interesting, called "Those Magnificent Men and Their Loopy Ideas." These were bold new huge projects, new thinking. These group of folks proposed to enact. The first in this featured article was Japan's Kayo Corporation, a leading tent manufacturer that wanted to construct a synthetic mountain range in western Australia. The two-thousand-foot high structure was to be made of Teflon coated fiberglass and would run six miles. Why? The goal was to create updrafts that would generate rain in the arid part of the world. Not a bad idea for these parts. Another huge new thinking project was iceberg towing. Saudi Arabia wants to lasso a three-million-ton iceberg, haul it from Antarctica back to the desert, let it melt efficiently collecting the dribble. Prince Muhammed al Faisal claims he can eventually make the desert bloom with the yield of water equal to twenty-two times that of the Nile River. Again, not a bad idea perhaps for around here. But where would you doc the thing? Number three, a lunar power system. A group of scientists wants to colonize the moon and put a workforce there. Once done, the idea was to construct immense field of solar collectors, sixty by three hundred and fifty miles to gather sunbeams. These will be converted to microwaves and shot back to receiving fields on the earth. The system could generate one hundred thousand gegawatts of electricity. Now that's huge thinking. That's new thinking. It's the kind of project that when someone mentions it, another groups of people would be quick to say, "Could never be done. It will never happen." And maybe so, maybe it couldn't be done, maybe it could never happen. But keep in mind, that's been said before. It was Thomas Edison who told his friend Henry Ford, "Give up the idea of motor cars. Can't be done." That's the inventor himself telling that to Ford. The famous one I've always liked was the clergyman who in the 1800s went to a college and said, "Nothing new in my opinion will be invented." His educator friend, "You've got to be kidding of course. Why in fifty years I predict, men will fly through the air like birds." The clergyman rebuked his friend the educator saying, "Flight is reserved for the angels. You are nigh unto blasphemy. It could never happen." What is ironic is that clergyman was named Milton Wright. And Milton Wright was dead wrong and his two sons were the two boys that invented the airplane at Kitty Hawk. Think for a moment of the impossible undertaking of the new and bold thinking of Jesus Christ telling eleven fishermen, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." Yeah, right. Can't be done, will never happen. But you are holding in your hand the record, the book of Acts that shows how in thirty years the gospel went from Jerusalem, through Judea, up into Samaria, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and penetrated the heart of Rome itself. Just a couple hundred years later, spread virtually to all of the known world. We are dealing with, before we even read, we're dealing with tonight the same group of men we dealt with the last couple weeks who were with Jesus, the apostles. Same guys as a few chapters back in John. Same personalities, same flaws, same thinking; but, but something when we open up Acts 1 is decidedly new, fresh, different. It's as if there's this excitement that is palpable, this exhiliration of some new thing on the horizon. They're the same but you might see these are the new and improved disciples, the new and improved apostles, or as the title suggests "Brand Spankin' New Apostles." Very very new and what's new about them is they will have a new presence, Jesus Christ' resurrection; a new power, the Holy Spirit; a new perspective on life and a whole new game plan of what to do. One of the biggest problems in our culture is boredom. It's an interesting culture. We have more stuff, more things, more activities and we have bored people than any country on planet Earth. And it's funny to watch us all. We're like lemmings marching daily. We get up in the morning, the alarm clock goes off, we wash the face, we put on the clothes, we comb the hair, we get in the car, coffee. And we just focus in on that mundane day-in and day-out activity. Life goes on. So many people are like what Solomon said about "Life under the sun. It's all vanity. It's all vanity." But we're Christians. That means we not only live under the sun S-U-N, but the SON, capital S-o-n. And my question in starting this tonight, before we even read, is where is the sense of excitement and thrill and possibility among God's people? Where is it? Didn't Paul say that if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away and all things hve become new." What does that mean for us? Well it means among other things that for those of us who know the Lord, there ought to be a sense of adventure in following Jesus Christ every single day. And about his plan for our lives, "What's next Lord?" We should make each day full of possibilities. It's thrilling. Now lest you think these are wors of just an idealistic preacher, let's read, verse 1, "The former account I made O Theophilus of all that Jesus began, both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandment to the apostles whom he had chosen. To whom he also presented himself alive After his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during forty days and speaking to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father which," he said, "you have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.' Therefore when they had come together they asked him saying, 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them, 'It's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses (or here witnesses plainly) to Me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." The first three verses speak of the first new thing experience with these apostles. It was a new presence. Just the opening remarks of the book of Acts is fresh. The introductory remarks where it says, "The former account," or "The last book that I wrote," speaking of the gospel of Luke, Luke is writing this book, "Of all that Jesus (notice) began to do and to teach." Right off the bat then we're introduced to the implication that something new is about to happen. And I love the language. He's saying and let me paraphrase, "what you read about in Luke is just the beginning." What Jesus did and taught is just the beginning. Let me give you the sequel to this. What happened back then with Jesus' ministry was a previw of coming attractions. That's what Jesus began to do, that's what Jesus began to teach, implying there's a whole lot more he's going to do and he's going to teach. That was just the beginning.

The work of Jesus Christ is on one hand a finished work and on the other hand an unfinished work. Let me explain. His redemption is finished. You can't add to it, you can't earn it. The work of Christ on the cross is a finished work. But there's another unfinished work, the work of proclamation, kingdom spreading, involvement in his work upon the Earth, that is an unfinished work and all of us are to take part in that work. You might say then that the book of Acts is the only open-ended book in the scripture in that there are more acts going on by the Holy Spirit through men and women in church history. What a possibility to think, "I could be a part of this grand plan." Verse 2 mentions the Holy Spirit. You should note that it's the first time in the book that the Holy Spirit is mentioned. It's the first of his mention over fifty times in this book. Now that ought to put up a flag, shouldn't it? The Holy Spirit is spoken about no less than fifty-plus times in this book. Now I know that the top of your page says, "The Acts of the Apostles," at leas t mine does but that isn't inspired, that was added. I think it should be better titled "The Acts of the Holy Spirit Through the Apostles." That is more accurate because the theme of the book is how the Holy Spirit got a hold of common ordinary fishermen, empowered them and sent them everywhere to preach the gospel. A P.S. to that, if you're one of those folks who thinks that's what God did way back then, a long time ago he did that suff, he doesn't do it any more. I feel so sorry for you. No wonder your life is so bored. No wonder you've lost the excitement and the spark in following Christ. I'd sure hate to be one to say God can't do certain things any more like he used to.

There's a new presence. Verse 3 says Jesus presented himself to the disciples, these apostles. And it's not that he appeared once in an upper room, the idea is that for a month and a half nearly, six weeks, forty days, Jesus was spearing to them, making lots of guest appearances to them, proving that he was alive and instructing them, you might say picking up where he left off. If you remember, Jesus said, "I have a lot of things that I want to teach you but you can't handle them yet." So, immediately post-suffering, post-resurrection, pre-ascension, for forty days Jesus is continuing his instruction of these apostles. And part of the explanation of these being brand spankin' new apostles was that their Lord, their friend, their mentor isn't dead any longer. He's alive, he is risen from the dead. And you've got to know that that put a fresh spark of enthusiams, right? To see him alive when they were so dejected because he had died. That's part of the explanation, it changed them, it made everything different. It changed them from timid fishermen into bold evangelists. It turned them from cowards into heroes, from meager men into mighty men. And you just have to take one read through the book of Acts tnd you'll discover that truth. In fact, though Acts doesn't record it all, all of these apostles suffered pretty gnarly deaths, gruesome deaths. And the only explanation for it, at least in part, is Jesus was slive, risen from the dead. What else could account for Stephen being stoned? What else could account for Matthew being chopped to pieces by a battleax in Ethiopia? What else could account for James being beheaded, recorded in Acts? What else could account for James the Less having his brains beat out with a Fuller's club? Or Peter being crucified upside down? Unless, they all died knowing Jesus wasn't dead any more, he was alive. It made a difference in their life and in their message. The only other explanation is there was a collusion, a plan. They all got together and said, "Okay, deal, we're going to go all the way to death and not squeal, to believe this lie." Which would they had more tenacity than any other person in history to do that .

Here's my point: The resurrection of Jesus Christ just as that new presence changed them, made them new; the resurrection of Christ ought to change you and me, it ought to. Because I'll tell you what it means, it means that we're not following a dead guy's teachings, an example that he passed along, some cool sayings given a couple thousand years ago. A method, this isn't a philosophical method. Jesus Christ is alive now tonight with us in this room in 2003 in Albuquerque, New Mexico knocking at the door of every heart. (applause) That ought to make a difference. And Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age." Even to the end of the age.

So what Jesus began both to do and to teach, he wants to continue to do and continue to teach through his people, men and women.

The second new thing is a new power, verse 4, "And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father which he said, "You heard from Me." For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now." Skip down to verse 8, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me."

Now put yourself in their sandals for a moment. You're in that room when Jesus appears alive. You are thrilled, you are excited. And for forty days, you hear him, you're inspired by him. You've seen the resurrected Christ, you have heard his teachings, you've heard his commission to go into al lthe world and you're fired up, right? With enthusiasm, you're ready to go. Which would mean if you did go, you would go in your own power, not his. And Jesus knew that. So he said, "I want yu to go but I want you to wait before you go because you need power. Because you're going to do a task that if you try to do in your own strategy and your own planning rooms apart from the Holy Spirit, you will fail. To do any job we need the right equipment, whether you're a surgeon and yu need surgical tools or you're a mechanic and you need a garage ful of those tools, you're a fighter pilot and you need a F18, whatever it might be, you need the tools to do the job.

At the end of World War II, in a magazine appeared a drawing, actually two drawings in comparison. It was a soldier versus a tank. And in the first picture showed this tank that was in proportion drawn huge in comparison to a tiny little soldier with one rifle. And the intent was to show the odds, the proportional odds of one soldier with one rifle facing off a tank. No comparison, the tank would crush the soldier. The second picture showed what his odds would be if the rifle was taken away and he was given a bazooka. And this time it showed a very tiny little tank and a looming and a looming large soldier with a bazooka. The pressure of the world, the temptation from Satan and the task of world evangelism looms so large that to face that without power is like one mere soldier with one outdated rifle facing a tank or better. However, given the right equipment, the right arsenal, the power of the Holy Spirit, it's a brand new battle. It's one we can win.

Notice that Jesus says something. He says to wait for the promise of the Father which he says, "You heard from me." Do you remember that? Do you remember Jesus made that promise over and over again in that upper room, "It is to your advantage that I go away for if I don't go away, the Holy Spirit can't come. But if I go I will send him to you." So, the second key to these brand new apostles is not only their resurrected Lord, this new presence that changed their life and changed their message. But this, a new capacity, the power of t he Holy Spirit. Which Jesus refers to as a baptism. Did you notice that, "John truly baptized with water. You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." Now let me say that the term baptism of the Holy Spirit has become a misused term. Misused by a number of us. On one side there are what I would call spiritual thrill seekers that talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit in every paragraph of their language spiritually. And they feel that if there's not a whole lot of shakin' going on and a whole lot shandalas being spoken, "Shandala, shandala, shandla, shandala, that the Holy Spirit ain't here." My first experience with this was visiting a church one night only. And I walked in and the pastor was baptizing people in the Holy Spirit, that's what he called it. It was foreign and new to me at that point. And he came up to me as everybody was saying things, I didn't know what they were saying, they sounded like little kids. He turned to me and commanded me, "In the name of the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues." And I said, "With all due respect sir last time checked you weren't the Holy Spirit." You don't just command people to do that. But people in that setting felt that if that didn't happen then the Holy Spirit never showed up. Because of abuses like that and we could list a whole host of them. The other side, the backlash to those abuses is to be absolutely afraid of anything that says 'baptism of the Holy spirit.' Some are even afraid to raise their hands in worship, lest they 'be seen as weird, charismatic.' In fact, some of even relegated the term baptism of the Holy Spirit and what we're reading here even, they've conveniently explained it theologically as if to say, "Oh that's when the Holy Spirit immerses or baptizes or places believers in the body of Christ." And they will often quote I Corinthians 12, "For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body." Well in reading this I think something more is going on than just the disciples are joining a church, or have received Christ on that day.

Something more is here. Or, in being afraid of the term baptism of the Holy Spirit, some will say, "Well you knowGod worked in different ways at different times, different eras, different dispensations. He worked miraculously and powerfully back then at one time but he "doesn't do that any more especially here." That group will quote I Corinthians chapter 13 which sums up, "Whether there are prophecies they will fail, tongues they will cease, knowledge it will vanish away for we know in part and we prophesy in part but when that which is perfect has come then that which in part will be done away with." Their interpretation is now that we have the scriptures in their completed form, we don't need that stuff any longer. So that miraculous baptism of the Holy Spirit stuff ended with the apostolic era. But will you just look at the second chapter, we could go on and on but we don't have time, but just look at chapter 2 of Acts, over at verse 37, this is Peter's sermon right? He's preaching a message to the crowds there in the temple. "Now," verse 37, "when they heard this they were cut to the heart (that's conviction) and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren what should we do?' And Peter said to them, 'Repent. Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Now notice this, "for the promise (that's what Jesus called it, the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit) is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off as many as the Lord our god shall call." Here's the question: Since the apostolic era, was the Holy Spirit sort of a cross-your-arms bystander? Or did he allow miraculous things to occur, powerful things to occur in church history? Here's a brief sketch. Ignatius who ministered between 35 and 100 AD personally gave words of prophecy, postapostolic. Just Marter, second century Christian apologist said, "It is possible now to see among us men and women who possess the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Ironeus, one of the church fathers around 100 to 200 AD spoke of prophecies, helaings, and tongues uttered in his day. He said, "even the dead have been raised up among us and have remained among us for many years." Tertulian of Carhage between 165 and 215 AD wrote a seven volume work on the movement of the Holy Spirit, including spiritual gifts, and he even relates a story of a woman who often had visions. In the city of God, Augustin, 354 to 430 AD after seeing many miracles himself said, "What am I to do? I am so pressed by the promise of finishing that I cannot record all of the miracles that I know." But I want you to listen to the words of John Wesley. John Wesley from the mid-1700s said, "The grand reason why the miraculous gifts were soon withdrawn was not only that faith and holiness were well-nigh lost but that dry formal men began then to ridicule whatever gifts they did not have themselves and cry them all as evil madness or imposture." So if you sit there and go, "Didn't happen, didn't happen, didn't happen, that's nuts." I don't think it'll happen to you.

There's three words to notice here in this verse. Look at verse 8, notice the word power, notice the word upon, and notice the word witnesses. They help form our understanding of this baptism of the Holy Spirit. The word power, dynamen, dunamos, we get the term dynamic. There's a better translation, "You're going to receive a dynamic." And I know people have pointed out, "That's also where we get the word dynamite from." But I think so many people are going to pieces already, better to stick with the word dynamic. The Amplified Bible renders it, "You shall receive power," that is ability, efficiency and might.

Notice the second word upon, that's a preposition, it describes the function of nouns and pronouns. Upon, the Greek preposition here is epi, upon. Now do you remember in the gospel of John in chapter 14 Jesus first introduces the Holy Spirit. And he says, "The Holy Spirit is with you, will be in you, he'll abide with you forever." Two different Greek prepoaitions. With, para or beside, next to; and then the word in, en in Greek, inside of. And I think you put those three prepositions together and you see how the relationship of the believer to the Holy Spirit ought to change. He's first with us, that is convicting us drawing us to Christ, showing us that we need him. We're drawn to Jesus and then we receive Jesus Christ as our savior. At that moment the Holy Spirit comes inside of us, to dwell in us as an abiding possession. With and in. But now he tells these same dudes, these same apostles, upon. "He'll come upon you." You say, "Well Skip all this language, does it make a difference?" Huge. If I get an empty glass and I have pitcher of water and I put the empty glass next to the pitcher of water. I have the water with the glass. If I pour the water into the glass, now the water is the second preposition, in, inside of. If I keep pouring, you might say the water is upon the glass, it's overflowing the glass, which is what Jesus promised in John 7, "Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." John said, "This he spake of his Holy Spirit," which was not yet given.

Third word, notice, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, you shall be witnesses." A witness is somebody who sees and hears something and tells it. Marture, martyr is the literal translation. "You'll be my witnesses." I'm going to give you a dynamic that's, overtakes you so to speak, it's not just with you and in you but enables you to overflow to the extent that you will give a bold clear uncompromising articulate witness. Case in point, Peter, we've already discussed him. Peter went from timid guy in the garden denouncing the Lord to a bold articulate preacher in Acts chapter 2, so much so that they were cut to the heart.

So, number one, because Jesus is alive changes the way I live, it changes the whole ministry of the believer on earth. We point people to a living Lord not a dead guy's teachings. And number two we get excited because of the possibility that what Jesus began to do and began to teach, he's going to continue through the power of his Holy Spirit in us. The third thing that was new was new perspective. In verse 6, it is a very interesting thing to me, it is an interruption. "Therefore when they ahd come together they asked him saying, 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' And he said, 'It's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father put in his own authority but you shall receive power.'" You see what's going on, he's talking about the Holy Spirit. They go, "Hey, what about eschatology? What about the rapture? When's all this going to happen?" And he dismisses that and goes right back to what he's talking about. His instruction has an interruption. The interruption is met by a correction and then he finishes out what he was saying. Just like the disciples. Just like us. I think every generation of New Testament believers has a tendency to do this, to focus on the date of the Lord's return rather than on the declaration of the gospel. Some of you remember what happened in 1988 don't you? You remember that little pamphlet that came out, "Eighty-eight reasons why Jesus Christ is coming back on a certain date in '88?" And I hundreds and hundreds of people almost mandating that I stand up and proclaim this as the Lord's return to get the church ready. Even though Jesus said, "You don't know the hour or the day that I'm coming back." And so many people were so distracted, it was like spiritual ADD had happened. (laugher) I get stuff from people all the time. One guy send me articles. I don't know how, he sees prophetic fulfillments in everything, I mean comic strips. "Look at this, look at, Charlie Brown's the Antichrist." I mean it's that ridiculous. But Jesus tells them, "It's not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father has put in his own authority but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you. And you will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth." In other words, "Boys, the issue isn't the kingdom then and there but here and now. The kingdom ruling in the hearts of people now until that kingdom comes. Boys, disciples, apostles, you're focusing on that coming kingdom, people going into the kingdom; I'm telling you to take the kingdom to people. You're so concerned about the kingdom nationally with Israel. I'm thinking beyond Israel, I'm thinking internationally, the whole world. You're going to receive power to go to the ends of the earth. So basically Jesus' two-fold reply is, "Don't worry about the date, but do be concerned about getting busy until the date comes." We can look so far down the path we're on that we stumble over the path in front of us. We have that tendency. I was asked in the Gulf War, "Is this the end of the world?" Well it wasn't. I'm asked again with the current situation that looks like it's going to get worse and worse, "Is this the end of the world?" You know what? It might be the end of the world. But what if it is? I'm not called to do anything different if it was or wasn't the end of the world. Jesus gave an interesting parable about a nobleman who went into a far country to receive a kingdom and come back and he left his servants, remember that in Luke 19? Do you know why he gave the parable? It says, "He spoke this parable because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. Remember what the gist of Jesus' message was? Occupy til I come. Or, "I'm coming but until I come, get busy." That's your perspective. Not, "I'm going to just look into the sweet by and by and the pie in the sky although I should have an eye on heaven. But what am I doing now?

When I started college in California in the height of Jesus Movement, I had my friends telling me, "You're going to college? How unspiritual can you be? You know Jesus will come back before you get your degree. Why would you waste all of that time? As if there are no people to witness to in universities or hospitals, because they're all saved. God needs his people everywhere occupying until he comes. They gain a new perspective here.

And finally, and we close with this, it is met also with a new plan. And the plan is outlined in verse 8. Here it is: "You'll be my witnesses (or witnesses to me) in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth." So Jesus doesn't tell them when the kingdom is coming, just what to do until it comes and where to begin and where to go: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth. Begin locally, think globally. The pattern was Jerusalem, by the way this happened literally, this is the outline of the book of Acts is verse 8. That's the whole outlines, you could take the rest of the book and outline it with that one verse. Chapters 1 through 7 is the gospel beginning at Jerusalem. Chapter 8 through 10 is the gospel roughly in Judea, Samaria; and verse something in chapter 10 almost 11 to the end of the book is the gospel going out to the rest of the known world. They did it. They did it. These are brand new guys.

So that happened literally. I think it should happen personally. I think in our lives there should be ever-widening circles of influence. We begin at home, we begin with those we know and love. We take that to the workplace, we take that to the educational forum, we take that to neighbors, we take that to our Samaria. And Samaritans were ill-favored people at that time. Maybe for some of us that means street people or certain groups we never really liked before. And the Lord says, "Love them. That's your Samaria. Speak to them. Reach them." Now talk about an adventure. Think about it, think about these disciples then and now. Confused before, angry before, bitter before, absolutely hopeless before. Now Jesus is risne from the dead and he gives them this promise and gives them perspective and a plan, everything's new, a whole new adventure.

Do you think those apostles, fishermen, could ever go back to their mundane life before they met Jesus? Would things ever be the same for them? They never could be. Every day that you wake up should bring the thought of new possibilities, of kingdom spreading around the world. You ought to say, "What's going to happen today, Lord? Where are we going on this adventure? Who will you bring in my path? What new changes will occur that will give me that opportunity?

I think Henry David Thoreau was right when he said, "Most peole live lives of quiet desperation." Is that you? Is that your life? Quiet desperation? Or, exhiliration. Because Jesus is alive, the Holy Spirit is waiting to flow so powerfully through us. So much so that we don't know if this is the end of the world but we know what to do until that happens. And we even have a plan.

I want to close with this. Eugene Peterson, you may have heard of him, he gave us a very new and fresh translation clled The Message. He wrote, "The puzzle is why so many people live so badly. Not so wickedly but so inanely. Not so cruelly but so stupidly. There's little to admire and less to imitate in the people who are prominent in our culture. We have celebrities but not saints. Famous entertainers amuse a nation of bored insomniacs. Infamous criminals act out aggressions of timid conformists. Petulant and spoiled athletes play games vicariously for lazy apathetic spectators. Aimless and bored, people amuse themselves with trivia and trash. Neither the adventure of goodness nor the pursuit of righteousness makes headlines."

You're right. It won't make headlines but it will make you happy, it will make you so happy to step into a new arena of all things becoming new with this.

Heavenly Father, the possibilities of you after beginning a work through Jesus, continuing your work on this earth through the followers of Jesus including us by a whole new power, a fresh perspective and a strategic plan ought to make us wake up wondering what you might do through our lives this day. Help us Lord not to live inanely, stupidly, boringly but enthusiastically following you. In Jesus' name. Amen.