INTRODUCTION Mandate: 1:8 Movement: 2.1-4 AWESOME PRIVILEGE 1. The Power of the Spoken Word & God's Presence (v. 9) 2. Profound Pondering (v. 10) "They were looking intently up into the sky." – NIV 3. Unprofitable preoccupation (v. 11) "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?" – ESV “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. “Worship, therefore is the fuel and goal of missions…You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, ‘Let the nations be glad!’ who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the Lord…I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praises to thy name, O most High’ (Ps. 104:34, 9.2).” – John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, p. 2 Two historical extremes the church falls into: 1. An overemphasis on political ______________ (cf. v. 6) 2. An overemphasis on pietistic ____________ (cf. v. 11) ATTENTION TO PRAYER Returning to normal (v. 12) “I once had a patient, a sound atheist, who used to read in the British Museum. One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the wrong way. The Enemy, of course, was at his elbow in a moment. Before I knew where I was I saw my twenty years’ work beginning to totter. If I had lost my head and begun to attempt a defense by argument I should have been undone. But I was not such a fool. I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch. The Enemy presumably made the counter-suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear what He says to them?) that this was more important than lunch. At least I think that must have been His line for when I said ‘Quite. In fact much too important to tackle at the end of the morning,’ the patient brightened up considerably; and by the time I had added ‘Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind,’ he was already half way to the door. Once he was in the street the battle was won. I showed him a newsboy shouting the midday paper, and a No. 73 bus going past, and before he reached the bottom of the steps I had got into him an unalterable conviction that, whatever odd ideas might come into a man’s when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of ‘real life’ (by which he meant the bus and the newsboy) was enough to show him that all ‘that sort of thing’ just couldn’t be true.” – C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, p. 12-14 Returning to community (v. 13) Resisting apathy (v. 14) Notice 2 characteristics of their praying: 1. Their mindsets had a unity of ____________ (all with one mind). 2. They intended to ______________ (were continually devoting themselves). “Just as Pentecost came after constant prayer by the disciples, the history of the church demonstrates that revival also comes only after persistent prayer.” – Ajith Fernando, Acts (NIVAC), p. 80 “The deepest need of the Church today is not for any material or external thing, but the deepest need is spiritual. Prayerless work will never bring in the kingdom…Prayerless giving will never evangelize the world.” – Dr. A.J. Gordon in Purpose Through Prayer by E.M. Bounds, p. 97 In 1857, Jeremiah Lanphier, 46 year old businessman from NYC… PRACTICAL MATTERS (1.15-26) Dealing with loss (vv. 15-20) It was traumatic (vv. 16-17). Gruesome (v. 18). Very public (v. 19). And it had to be addressed by the community leader. Biblically (v. 20). Determining leadership (vv. 21-23) Discerning God's Leading (vv. 24-25) Principles for determining God’s will: 1. (vv. 16-20) 2. (vv. 21-23) 3. (vv. 24-25) – cf. Stott, Acts, p. 58