Acts 1:6-11 "Mission Impossible?"

0:58It meant that Mission Impossible was on TV. My dad watched the reruns from the 70s every night that they came on in the 80s during the week. And I know that many of you find it hard to believe that Mission Impossible was a TV series before it was a movie series. And some of you find it hard to believe that I was alive in the 1980s, but it's all true. I would never lie to you from the pulpit.

1:27Mission Impossible is about an elite espionage. Team. The team is called the IMF, the Impossible Mission Force. And they are sent out on missions that no one else can complete. Well, as far as I know, they actually never failed to complete a mission. So it begs the question as to whether the missions are actually impossible. Maybe they should be called the Improbable Mission Force. But that's not a very cool name. Well, friends, the spiritual need of the world is overwhelming, as we talked about last week and as you've heard several times this morning.

2:02Six billion non-Christians, three and a half billion completely unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Millions in our state, thousands in our own community are lost sheep without a shepherd, harassed, helpless, headed for hell. And we have been called to make disciples of all nations. We are God's plan to reach those 6 billion people. That sounds like an impossible mission, doesn't it? Even more so when you think about who we are. Look how Paul described the Corinthians. This description could apply to us as well. Look on the screen. He says, For consider your calling, brothers.

2:50Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is free. Foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

3:22The Corinthians weren't exactly the IMF, were they? We aren't exactly the IMF, are we? According to the world, not many of us are wise, not many of us are powerful, not many of us are noble. We are weak and foolish and low and despised. But as the angel Gabriel told Mary, nothing is impossible with God. Nothing is impossible with God. And in his perfect wisdom, God chose what is weak and foolish and low and despised so that he gets the glory when men, women, and children from every tribe, tongue, and nation come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, his Son, the one true Lord.

4:12God has given us a mission that would be impossible without him. So last week in Matthew 9, we learned that disciples of Jesus respond to overwhelming spiritual need with compassion and prayer. By the Spirit of God, Our hearts are moved to compassion for the billions of lost people across the world. And by the Spirit of God, we are moved to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send out more laborers into his harvest. I trust that you've been praying for that this past week. We need to always be praying for that.

4:53And so, with that foundation in mind, today in Acts chapter 1, God is going to remind us that He has given us a mission, that He has given us power for that mission, that He's given us a strategy for that mission, and that He's given us closure to that mission. All of those points for the sermon are going to be on the handout that you received when you came in this morning. I am hopeful that God, by His Spirit and by His Word, would eliminate our excuses concerning missions this morning and would fill our hearts with faith that God can and will use us to reach our community, our state, and our world with the good news of Jesus Christ for His glory.

5:49I am hopeful that God will move us to pray, to give, and to go, to see men and women and children across the street, across the street. The state across the globe reached with the gospel because Jesus is alive and because Jesus is worthy. Friends, he is worthy. This mission is impossible on our own, but with God, nothing is impossible. So let's dive into the text here. Look with me at Acts chapter 1, starting in verse 6.

6:26So when they had come together, they asked Jesus, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. So at this point, Jesus has risen from the dead. He's been appearing to his disciples over a period of 40 days and speaking and teaching about the kingdom of God. And the disciples at this point, they ask the question that's been burning in their hearts and minds ever since Jesus started performing miracles, walking on water, turning water into wine, healing the sick, raising the dead. This one question has been burning in their hearts and minds for years at this point, and it's finally time now. They're going to ask Jesus this question. After all these years of being exploited and ruled by Rome, is it finally time?

7:27Is it finally time for you? To restore the kingdom to Israel. It's easy to understand why they ask that. The Jews have been waiting for hundreds of years. In their history, they had 400 years of slavery in Egypt before they were brought out. They had 70 years in exile for their sin. And now they've had all of these years of Roman rule and oppression. They're tired of it. They want to be delivered from it. They're ready for the kingdom to be restored. They want the Messiah to come, the one who has been promised, the one who's going to usher in that permanent reign of peace and prosperity. They want that. And friends, isn't that what we all want?

8:15Isn't that what we all want? The longer we live in this world, the longer we experience the brokenness and sin around us, the longer we experience our own brokenness and sin. We look at political leaders across the world, in our own country, our own state, our own community, who have broken promises, who have not kept what they've agreed to do. And we're so disappointed and sad and confused and hurt. We just want Jesus to return and make all things new to usher in this new, permanent, perfect kingdom. The disciples want. Wanted to know. Is it the time?

9:03Is now the time? And look at how Jesus responds. Verse 7. It is not for you to know. It is not for you to know. Friends, God has not chosen to reveal that to us. So any of these cult groups that rise up and they say, we know when the Messiah is coming. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been wrong like 17 times. We know when the Messiah is coming. No, you don't. Jesus said, nobody knows but the Father.

9:37He's not chosen to reveal that to us. We don't know when Jesus is coming, but we do know his will. His will is very clearly revealed to us. Look on the screen at Matthew 28. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

10:15Brothers and sisters, Jesus gave his disciples a mission. Not just his first disciples, but all of us who follow Jesus. And our mission is to make disciples. People who follow. Jesus as Lord and Savior, and who make more disciples of Jesus. Our mission is to share the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection with every man, woman, and child in our lives. It is to send and go to the nations so that everyone hears the good news of Jesus. We would love for Jesus to return today, wouldn't we? We would love for him to come and restore the kingdom, to make all things new, to get rid of sin and death and pain and brokenness of all kinds.

11:07But remember, when Jesus returns, that's it. There are no more opportunities for the lost to hear the good news and to respond to it with repentance and faith. That's it. So we want Jesus to return, but we also want people to hear. And every day that Jesus doesn't return is another day that we have the privilege of praying and giving and going to ensure that one more person hears the good news about Jesus Christ. That one more person has the opportunity to repent and receive Christ by faith. Every day that Jesus doesn't come back, God is displaying his patience, his mercy, and his grace toward lost. Rebellious people, just like every one of us, every one of us Christians once was.

12:08So we do not know when Jesus will return, and we cannot know that because it's not for us to know. But we do know this: Jesus will return, and when he returns, the mission will be complete. That's what he said. Look at Matthew 24. Jesus said, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Jesus is not going to return until the mission is complete. And the mission is not complete until people from every tribe, tongue, and nation have heard the good news of Jesus Christ. And some people from every tribe, tongue, and nation have received Jesus as Lord and Savior. That is when the mission is complete. So, friends, we have a mission, and the mission is not complete. The mission may seem impossible, but it's not. And that's because God has given us power to complete the mission. Look with me at verse 8.

13:24Jesus says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. At the beginning of this chapter, Luke records that after Jesus rose from the dead, he was appearing to his disciples and speaking about the kingdom of God. And some of those words are recorded in verses 4 and 5 of this chapter. Take a look on the screen. And while staying with them, Jesus ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

14:06So Jesus gives the great commission. He commands the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. But these are the same guys who ran away when Jesus was arrested. One of them, Peter, denied even knowing Jesus three times. These are the men that Jesus called to go and make disciples of all nations? Yes, these are the same men. And that is why he commands them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. Why? Verse 8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You see, friends, the disciples loved Jesus. They believed that he was the Son of God, the promised Messiah.

15:00But they had no power behind those beliefs. So Jesus commands them to wait until they receive the Holy Spirit. And in the next chapter, Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit is poured out, and there is an immediate difference in the lives of these men. Not in what they believed, but in the power behind their beliefs. So think about Peter. He goes from running away and denying that he even knows Jesus to standing up in front of thousands and thousands of people and boldly proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ and that all of those people needed to repent and believe.

15:48In the next chapter, Peter and John stand before the religious leaders. They threaten Peter and John, and they charge them not to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus anymore. And I want you to look on the screen and see how Peter and John respond. Acts chapter 4. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

16:21After this, the disciples gather together to pray. And you might think that when they gathered to pray, they would ask, Lord, please stop the persecution. Please stop these people from throwing us into prison and threatening us and maybe killing us one day. You think that maybe they would pray that, but they don't. Look at what they pray. Acts 4:29. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.

16:57Who are these people? These are the very same people who ran away and who denied even knowing Jesus. These very same people are now boldly proclaiming the gospel, accepting imprisonment and death and beating and torture and everything else. What changed? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was poured out on them. You see, Christian, the Holy Spirit is the difference maker. The Holy Spirit is the difference maker. Peter and John were just unschooled, ordinary men. They were fishermen. They were not philosophers. They weren't rabbis. They weren't theologians.

17:50But when they stood before the religious leaders and they spoke boldly in the name of Jesus, those religious leaders took notice because they had been with Jesus. And something was different about them. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us: He is the difference maker. When we become Christians, we don't just adopt new beliefs. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit and filled with the Holy Spirit. We who were once slaves to sin have now been set free from slavery to sin.

18:28We who once lived for ourselves now live to serve God and to serve other people. We who once were terrified of what other people would say about us or think about us or do to us now boldly proclaim Jesus in our neighborhoods and our workplaces and our classrooms and among our teammates and friends. What changed? The power of the Holy Spirit. He is the difference maker. So, friends, you may think I could never go across the streets, much less across the world, to share the good news of Jesus. But if you are a believer, you can because you've been empowered by the Holy Spirit. Peter and John were not superheroes, they were everyday ordinary people just like us.

19:28The men and the women who comprised the first Century church who turned the world upside down were ordinary men and women, just like you and me. But they were ordinary women who were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, friends, we have a mission to go and make disciples of all nations, and we have been given power for that mission through the Holy Spirit. The mission would be impossible without him. And now, let's see the strategy that we've been given for the mission. Look again at verse 8.

20:05Jesus says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. I use the word strategy here, and I want you to hear that loosely. I don't think Jesus intends for every single one of us to start in Jerusalem and to move out to Judea and then Samaria and then to the ends of the earth from there. Maybe the word blueprint would be better. But the idea here is that the disciples were to start right where they were. They were in Jerusalem, and they were to bear witness to his resurrection. And from there, they were to move outward to Judea, the greater region where most Jewish people. Lived. And then from there, they're to go to Samaria, home of the Samaritans, who were basically half-Jewish. And then from there, they go to the ends of the earth where the Gentiles are, who have no Jewish blood. And so if you read the book of Acts, this is exactly what you see. This is essentially like a table of contents for the book of Acts. They begin in chapter 2, ministering in Jerusalem. That goes into chapters 3 and 4 and 5, and then persecution arises and they spread into Judea and then into Samaria and then into the ends of the earth. The wisdom and the providence of God is unbelievable. Because had there not been any persecution, they may have just stayed in Jerusalem and not obeyed this command. But God in his sovereignty used persecution to scatter the church and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Friends, sometimes God is doing things in our lives and we don't understand it. We don't know what he's doing, but he is always at work.

22:08He is always working all things together for good. And keep in mind that in Romans 8, when those words are written, it is in the context of suffering. That God is bringing suffering into our life for his own good purposes. And many of those good purposes have to do with bringing the good news of Jesus to every tribe, tongue, and nation. And so, in this way, the gospel spread all across what we call the Middle East to North Africa, and then into Asia, and then into Eastern Europe, and eventually into Western Europe, and eventually across the Atlantic to North and Central and South America. The very thing that Jesus said would happen did happen. But keep in mind, most of these disciples, these original disciples who heard this command, they died long before the gospel even made it out of maybe Judea or Samaria. They died long before it made it out of the Middle East or North Africa or Asia or Eastern Europe. It is the rest of the disciples, people like you and me, who have carried the gospel to the rest of the known world.

23:23Where Jim and Rachel Job serve, almost no one knew in Jesus' day that those islands even existed. We have been called to go and make disciples of all nations. So some of these brothers and sisters went to do that very thing. But it might be more accurate to say that they were sent, especially when you look at the pattern in the book of Acts. Take a look at the screen in Acts chapter 13. Now, there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas. Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Minaean, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

24:26You see, the church at Antioch was gifted with many wonderful Christians, people like Paul and Barnabas, faithful men, faithful women. But while they were praying, and I want you to think about what we saw last week about praying to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest, while they were praying, the Holy Spirit leads them to set apart Saul and Barnabas for missionary work. That was a costly decision. It was costly for the church, who would be sending out two of their best leaders. It was costly for the church because they would have to help fund these endeavors. And it was certainly costly for Paul and Barnabas.

25:14But it was worth it because of the overwhelming spiritual need of the world. Men, women, and children lost, harassed, and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. That's why, through the Holy Spirit, God called the church at Antioch to send out Saul and to send out Barnabas. That's why, for the past 16 years, we have been sending out, sacrificially sending out, faithful men and women. Even if you don't know these people, you heard the Barnabas team representatives praying for our missionaries, for these wonderful partners in the gospel, people that we have sent out. And friends, we must continue to send.

26:04But we cannot just send others out into the harvest. We cannot just pray and give and send and think that our work is done. We must go out into the harvest ourselves. We must go into our Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. We've got to go across the street and across our campus, across our community, across the state. If that sounds overwhelming to you, if you are in a position where you're like, I've never even shared my faith with a single person, Pastor Allen, how can I go across the state or across the world? I want you to think in terms of one person.

26:51Who is your one person? The one non-Christian in your life that you can begin praying for. And spending time with and seeking to share the good news of Jesus Christ with. Who is your one person? Before we can go to the world, we've got to start with one. Every one of us should have one person. So, in your life group, among your community here at New Life, let's revamp that language, bring that back into use for those of us who have been around for a long time. Let's start using that language. If you've not used that language before, who's your one? Who's the one person that you are praying for and seeking to share with? But, friends, we have a mission. We are called to send and we are called to go. Some of you in this room this morning, God is going to call to go across the community, across the state, and across the world. We want to help you discern that calling. So, if today or in the weeks ahead, in the months ahead, if you begin to sense the Lord speaking to you about going to the nations, we want to talk to you about that. We want to encourage you in that. We don't want you to try to sort that out on your own. That's what the church is for. Remember, Saul and Barnabas didn't just say, We're out of here. We've been called by God. No, the church together prayed, and the church together sent them out, agreed that they should go. The church together agreed to bear the cost.

28:31And friends, that's what we want to do as well. We have a mission to make disciples of all nations for God's glory. We've got power for that mission. We've got a strategy for that mission. And we will know when the mission is complete. Look with me at verse 9. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

29:26One day our mission is going to be complete. We will have preached the gospel to every tribe, every tongue, and every nation, and then the end will come. Jesus will return in the same way that he left, and we will have closure to the mission. But we cannot stand around staring up into heaven because we have a mission to complete, to make disciples of all nations. And so if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, that is. Your mission, that is our mission to make disciples. That mission may seem impossible to you, and remember, on our own, it is impossible, but with God, nothing is impossible. The events of Acts 1 happened and are recorded in our Bibles to eliminate our excuses and to fill our hearts with faith with respect to mission.

30:30God is calling every one of us to pray and to go in some capacity. It may be across the street, it may be across the world, but we are all called to pray and to go in some capacity. And we are all called to send, just like the church in Antioch, to see people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation reached with the gospel. Friends, if you are here and you are not following Jesus today, I hope that today is the day that you begin. You see, Jesus completed a truly impossible mission for you. He left the glory that he had with the Father before the foundation of the world. He took on flesh. He lived a perfectly obedient life. And he died on the cross in your place and for your sins. He rose again on the third day, completely. What was a truly impossible mission for you to save you from the power and the penalty of your sin?

31:40Other religions offer salvation. But here's the thing: you've got to complete the impossible mission yourself. In every other religion, you are responsible to save yourself. You've got to obey enough. You've got to do enough. You've got to be good enough in order to earn salvation. You already know that you cannot complete that mission. We all know that we are not perfect. But Jesus completed that impossible mission for you to save you from your sin and its consequences. So if you have not yet, receive Jesus by faith this morning. Turn from your sin, turn to Christ in faith, and join us on this great mission to make disciples of all nations for the glory of God.

32:38Let's pray. Father, we want to be a people who doesn't just see the overwhelming spiritual need of the world. People who aren't just moved to compassion. We want to be people who pray. People who plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. I pray this morning that you would raise up men and women and children in this room who will answer the call to go. I pray that there are some college students here today who will hear your call to go to the nations and respond with obedience.

34:13I pray that there are some people who are a couple of decades into their career who will hear the call to go to the nations. We pray that some of our children, instead of praying that they would become professional, Professional athletes or successful businessmen or businesswomen, instead of praying that they would become politicians or famous influencers, God, we pray that some of our children would be raised up and called out to go to the nations because there could be no greater way to spend your life than in making Jesus known.

34:55God, we pray that on this day for the nations, you would start something in our church, that you would rekindle our passion for our community, for our state, and for this world. We pray that you would rekindle our passion to send and to go. And we pray that we look back on this day, March 2nd, 2025, and we say that was a special day because the Spirit moved and spoke. We pray for that, Lord. Hear our prayers.

35:39And for your glory, answer them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at New Life CS. Dot net