Acts 2 – An Ever Expanding Kingdom

Acts 2 marks an answer to the question the disciples had for Jesus in Acts 1.

Question: “Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 

Answer: He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Fulfillment: Acts 2 was the moment that Jesus’ directed them to in His answer. By His definition, His Kingdom came, and it has been expanding and growing ever since. 

If we don’t see that, we need to hear this because we’re likely already looking at the world through a negative lens. Lift yourself to a higher perspective with me right now.  

Did you know: That people are coming to know Jesus around the world at a staggering rate? 

In China, 29,000 every day. There are now more Christians in China than in America! In Africa, 20,000. South America, 35,000, and reports from long-term missionaries are that more Muslims have come into a personal relationship with Jesus in the last nine years than in the preceding 1400 years (622AD founding of Islam).

In total, over 1m people a day are being “born again.” For every human being born, over three people coming into the Kingdom. 

The Church and His Kingdom are growing faster now than at any time in human history!

• Pentecost/Acts 2 reminds us that we can carry the authority of ambassadors and live as missionaries. 

This world is not our home, but it should have our hearts as it had His. Yes, we are citizens of a different KINGDOM, but Jesus brought that KINGDOM HERE, which means our focus should be the same as His was.

• Pentecost/Acts 2 reminds us that we carry a supernaturally empowered language that proclaims God’s goodness to a particular segment of our culture/society.

• Pentecost/Acts 2 reminds us that they waited, so we don’t have to.

They waited so we can go into our world. We are not in a holding pattern because God’s Spirit has poured out on all flesh! (On a personal level, it’s crucial to wait on the Lord, but we do that while we go! They waited and went. They waited, and we continue to fulfill the commission as empowered witnesses living in the upper room outpouring.

• Pentecost/Acts 2 reminds us that the fulfillment of the commission of Jesus isn’t possible apart from God’s empowerment.

Jesus essentially said, “don’t attempt this without my power/presence.” Remember, His presence is not just fuel in our tank. Not just power or a feeling! Our relationship with God’s Spirit is to be a personal and experiential reality!

HERE IS THE CRUX OF ACTS AND WHY IT MATTERS TO US IN 2021:

Times are changing, but God is not, and our commission has not.

Not all change is a good change, but even negative change can create powerful opportunities as His followers, who are distinct from the world, remain available to the world.

Every life surrendered to Jesus is a vessel that the Spirit of God will fill and continue to fill. Jesus has never failed to fill an empty vessel made available to Him. (2 Kings 4:7)

Like those early believers in the upper room, who waited before they went, feeling undone, this pandemic has so disrupted our well-formed habits of life that we are now entering a space none of us could have anticipated. We are ready to be re-formed! We are waiting for God to pour out afresh and show us how to carry His witness with supernaturally empowered language so that the ears of our friends, neighbors, and culture will hear the Good News of Jesus proclaimed in a way they understand! 

We must understand this about the reformation process we are in: we will be defined by what we reform around personally and corporately.

Commission and prayer as we continue to study Acts together: That we would be reformed, filled, empowered, and commissioned people, living like missionaries, with the authority of Ambassadors of Heaven, and that rivers of Living Water would flow out of us! (Ezekiel 36:25-27; John 7:37-38)