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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Kyle Allen

The Power to Finish the Work

Father in Heaven, today on this, your Sabbath day, we come to your house asking and pleading for the Holy Spirit.

Lord, we pray that today we would gain a fresh vision of You, Jesus, and that You would give us understanding from Your Word that it may transform our hearts and wake us up, for truly Your coming is soon.

And you long to pour out your Holy Spirit upon your church.

So Lord, please, I pray that I would be hidden behind the cross today and that you would be lifted up.

It's a new year, 2014, And our Seventh-day Adventist movement has been around for how many years now?

Well, officially, if you count from the time the General Conference was organized, over a hundred and 50 years ago.

And since that pivotal prophetic year of 1844, a hundred and 70 years since our movement began.

So it kind of begs the question, how long will it be before Jesus comes?

When I was a kid, I don't know if any of you were like this, but when I first, I wasn't always an Adventist, but my mom became baptized when I was 5, And I was excited when I heard those messages about the soon coming of Jesus And I remember talking with my stepbrother and thinking man could it be that Jesus could come even tonight and sometimes we would stay up Talking as he was on the top bunk and I was in the bottom bunk talking about maybe Jesus would come tonight, maybe we would see him coming in the clouds.

I remember riding in the car, looking out the window as we're going on our long trips, looking at the sky and thinking, well maybe, could that be the cloud?

Maybe when you were kids, and you longed for Jesus to come.

But, as time goes on, we grow callous, don't we?

Our hearts grow callous as the world continues as it always has, and we still don't see Jesus come.

And we start to ask, Jesus, have You forgotten about Your people here?

Earthquakes, divorces, murders, strife, fires, suicides, wars, famines?

Maybe we've just made you so disgusted, Jesus, wait a minute, that can't be right.

Calvary should be enough to tell us that.

We know He is coming because the Bible says, He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming, what does it say?

And Jesus said in John 14, verse 3, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will what?

Come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

The day that we long for with all of our hearts.

A topic that deserves more time than we can give it in this short hour.

But to find that answer to that question, we need to go to the book of Acts.

So open your Bibles with me please to Acts chapter 1.

As we look to find the answer to the question, what is the power that will finish the work in these last days?

I'll have it on the screen, but you can read with me on your Bibles as well.

And actually, I'm going to reference a couple of verses before we get to the main part of Acts 1, but just keep your Bibles open to Acts 1 and I'll have the other verses here on the screen.

After Jesus was resurrected, he came to his disciples and the Bible tells us in the book of John that he breathed on them what?

He had promised to send them the Spirit to understand all things.

John chapter 20 tells us, so Jesus said to them again, Peace to you.

This is the night of His resurrection, that night of the first day of the week.

"...And the Father had sent Me, I also send you." Verse 22, "...And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit." That very night, he began opening their minds to understand the Scriptures.

Luke 24 45 tells us he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures for it's truly only through the Holy spirit that we can understand the Word of God, amen?

That's why every time we open the Bible what do we need to do?

We need to pray because we can't understand it on our own.

We have to have the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the 1 who will truly lead us into all truth.

And over the next 40 days Jesus gave his disciples their great commission, their mission to take the gospel to the world so that he could come again.

Now question for you this morning, How many great commissions are there in the Bible?

Well actually do you know that there's 4 different instances of the great commission?

4 different times and different things are emphasized in those times.

Actually, and I told you to go to Acts chapter 1, I got ahead of myself, but let's look at a couple other verses first.

We're gonna go to the first instance of the Great Commission we're gonna look at is Luke 24.

So keep your finger in Acts 1 and go to Luke 24.

We're looking to find today the power that will finish the work.

Luke 24, we're going to start with verse 46.

I'll be reading from the New King James Version here.

Then he said to them, thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these things.

Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." Now I want you to think about these 4 different great commissions and then we're going to look at a couple things we see from those 4.

Let's look at the next 1 in Mark 16, verse 15.

And he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

So we're to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature That's the second 1 now the third 1 probably the most famous 1 the 1 we all know where is that found?

Matthew 28 19 and 20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." And the fourth time, found just before his Ascension in Acts chapter 1.

And so now you can turn back to Acts chapter 1 and take a look at this final instance of the Great Commission.

The Bible says, beginning with verse 4, and being assembled with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to what?

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?

And he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or 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 witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the very end of the earth." Powerful words.

I want you to keep your eyes on those verses there in Acts 1 and think about with me what did we see in those 4 instances of the Great Commission?

What themes did we find Jesus telling His disciples?

Notice the first thing he said was not to go was it?

Because when we go without the power of Christ, we can't do anything.

A lot of times we want to go ahead of Jesus to do our own thing in our own power, but that will not accomplish anything.

It is only when we stay and wait for the Holy Spirit to be poured out that he can accomplish a mighty work.

They were to preach the gospel, they were to make disciples, and they were also to witness.

But notice something with me there in Acts chapter 1.

Jesus tells them that they're going to be baptized with the Spirit, and what's the first thing they ask Him?

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The Power to Finish the Work

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