Bye. This is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it Hello again everyone. This is Chip Brogdon coming to you with another edition of our weekly webcast. I'm streaming online from our new website www.theschoolofchrist.org This is our first webcast for 2006, and it's the first webcast.
that we've produced under the auspices of the School of Christ. We recently made a transition over to a new website and a new name to better reflect the direction that the Lord is taking us in with the ministry. If you're interested in... In the reasons behind that and the story behind that transition, I invite you to visit the new website. It's the same content. It's the same message. It's the same mission, but just a little better clarification and a little better focus.
on exactly what our purpose is and what we're trying to accomplish here at theschoolofchrist.org. Click on About Us link at the bottom, and you can be brought up to speed with that if you haven't. Well, in our transition over to the new website, we kind of got off track with the weekly webcast schedule.
Now that we're up and running again, I'm committed to doing these webcasts at least once a week and getting them posted on Saturday. So I'd like to get things off on the right track here and stay on track. God will give me grace and give you grace that we can commit to this at least once a week and be able to progress according to the schedule that we had intended. So we're turning a new page.
and starting a new leaf here with a new study. We have a lot of people who are new to the webcast, so... Now would be a good time I think for us to go back and review what we're doing with these webcasts. Basically the idea behind this is to take one chapter a week. From a particular book of the Bible. Now when we started these webcasts last year. It's hard to believe a year has already gone by. Almost a year since we began doing these.
But we began with a chapter-by-chapter study of Galatians. And then we delved into the Messianic Psalms. We didn't do the entire book of Psalms, but only the Psalms that... pointed us to Jesus Christ, the Messianic Psalms. We just concluded a very powerful series on the book of Hebrews, 13 chapters in Hebrews. That's just been made available on CD, but it's also available on this same page. you're pulling this webcast from right now.
So I encourage you to go back and listen to those and follow along if you like. We want to keep them available as long as we can, but we want to make space available for new studies as they come along. So go ahead and check those out. So right now, I want to start a new series, and it's going to take quite a level of commitment from me to be able to tackle a book this large.
prayed and I really get the sense that this would be the next place that we need to go in the word to help tie together all these other books that we've been studying and so I'd like to this week and today with this program begin a new series on the book of Acts. Now the book of Acts has 28 chapters. So if we limit ourselves to one chapter a week, that's going to take us about 28 weeks.
Counting this week for the introduction is 29. That's a little more, just about seven months of studying if you go through one chapter a week. That sounds like a long time to invest in studying a book of the Bible, but you know me, and you've probably experienced the same thing. Once you get into a chapter, you find that there is such a depth of wisdom and such treasure.
in there, it takes much more than the 30 minutes that we're able to devote to the study of that chapter for you to go through on your own. And so the purpose here is not to get into every little thing that we can possibly get into with each chapter we just don't have time to do that in 30 minutes but what we can do is get a a good sense and a good feel for what that chapter is trying to to tell us And we can make some general observations, but mostly...
This is designed to get you thinking, to get you to see some things, to maybe confirm some things that you've already seen, and maybe bring to remember some things that you used to know. know and you kind of let slip but more than anything else is to give you encouragement to push you in a direction where you can take your own time and go back and really study and bring out these truths from the Word.
So basically this webcast and these series of messages are designed to be a catalyst to... motivate and encourage you to go and do a much deeper study than what we're able to do in 30 minutes over the Internet. Keeping that in mind, if we commit to study the book of Acts with one chapter a week and it takes seven months, you know, 30 minutes a week is really not a bad investment of your time. It takes 30 minutes.
out of the week, when you've got 168 hours in a week, and take just half of an hour and go through this book. And even if that's all you did, if you didn't study it on your own, but you just listened and you followed along in the Scripture here,
and you pray through it, then that would be better than nothing. But what I'm really hoping to do is educate people a little bit and get them excited about the Word of God. Get them excited about what the Scripture says so that we're not just passively sitting... back and listening to what the pastor or the prophet or the apostle is telling us but we know how to search the scriptures and really go into the depths of things
So we've got a little bit more intelligence than what I see demonstrated. When people are so easily led astray, they're so easily misled, they're so easily deceived by... by preachers and pastors and prophets and apostles, so-called, when if you would simply take a very elementary understanding, a very cursory reading of the Scriptures, You wouldn't find yourself...
So confused and so perplexed and so dismayed and disillusioned and deceived by those out there who take the scriptures and they twist them or worse, don't even use the scriptures at all. from the essentials. And we are replacing the Bible with sermons and CDs and cassette tapes and television radio programs. And I hope that doesn't become the case with anything we produce through the School of Christ. Hope that.
what we will do is encourage you and strengthen you to study the Scriptures on your own and give you some basic guidelines and a good push in the right direction, but that you'd see it's mostly up to you to get into the Word of God. dig in there, find out what it says so that you're educated and you're equipped. Not just a mental equipping, but a spiritual equipping. Equipped in your heart to be able to discern and grow in grace. And grow in the spirit. And grow into the full knowledge.
of Jesus Christ as he's revealed in the word and as the Holy Spirit brings him ever clearer into your vision your spiritual vision That's the purpose for the webcast. So this new series we begin today with the book of Acts. Why don't we go ahead and turn to Acts chapter 1. And I'm just going to... pull up a key verse here from the first chapter of Acts and
Kind of set the foundation for what we'll be discussing and what we'll be learning throughout this series of messages from the book of Acts. And as we're turning to the word, why don't we go to the Lord in prayer right now. Ask him to bless.
this time that we have together and to give us grace to proceed along with this We thank you, Father, for the privilege and the opportunity we have to study your word and to follow along in the scriptures and see... your methods, see your ways, see how you are working all things together and learn and apply these truths to our life.
We thank you that the Word of God is living and powerful and that Jesus is the Word, but we also have a written testimony of Jesus contained here in the Scriptures, and we have a written history and testimony of your dealings. with us in this book of Acts and your dealings with the early church and how you established your church and how you established this new covenant.
And I thank you for the spirit and truth that's revealed in the pages of the Scripture. And so I pray, Lord, that it wouldn't just be words in a book, but it would be spirit and life to us as we go through chapters. Chapter by chapter, with your grace and with your help, and with the Holy Spirit as our teacher, every bit as present and every bit as active in our life today as he was 2,000 years ago, that in the same way...
Holy Spirit, that you would lead us and teach us and open our eyes and open our hearts and open our ears to hear what you are trying to show us and tell us through this scripture. So we thank you, Lord, and we praise you again for this opportunity and for this powerful tool that we have through the School of Christ website to be able to impact and influence and touch lives all over the world.
with the power of Jesus Christ and with your gospel. Thank you so much for that opportunity. And I pray, Lord, that this seed that we sow would... bring forth a rich harvest in our life. 30, 60, 100-fold return. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Praise the Lord. Well, Acts chapter 1, and I think verse 8 really gives us a good foundational scripture that kind of sums up the book of Acts.
So we read in Acts 1, verse 8, the words of Jesus here, speaking to his disciples just prior to his ascension into heaven. He says, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Depending on your translation, I'm reading from the New King James Version. Depending on the translation you read from, it may say things a little bit differently. One translation says,
To me, one says you will be my witnesses. And that word witness is an interesting word. It means martyr in the Greek. You shall be my martyrs or my witnesses. witnessing of Jesus that word witness is testimony and it is martyrdom and it is Basically establishing the truth concerning Jesus in the earth. That's what a testimony is. When we talk about being witnesses unto Jesus or witnessing unto him or testifying of him.
It means representing the truth concerning Jesus to those around us. It doesn't... Hear what I'm saying, and don't take this in the context of a religious... It doesn't necessarily mean knocking on doors and passing out tracks. That's witnessing. That's not necessarily what it's talking about here. I can tell you truthfully, they did not go door to door and pass out.
literature that was not what jesus had in mind i'm not saying you don't do that i'm saying that that is a that is a thing that can be done but We are not talking about a religious activity here. We are talking about a lifestyle. We are talking about a testimony. And we are not talking about getting up in front of church and giving my... testimony how I came to the Lord or passing out tracts those are things that are done but you can do all those things and not
really have a clue about what it means to establish the testimony of Jesus the testimony of Jesus according to scripture is simply the truth concerning Jesus it is demonstrating the preeminence of Jesus Christ Now, you can pass out tracts and yet fail to demonstrate the preeminence of Jesus. It goes far and beyond just going through the motions of churchianity, passing out tracts, inviting people to my church or getting up and...
telling everyone how I was healed, saved, and delivered. Those things have their place. But what I'm trying to get us to see here by the Spirit of God is that Jesus says, by the power of the Holy Spirit, You are going to establish my testimony in the earth. In other words, when people see you, they'll see me. And when they see you, they'll get some kind of a clue, some kind of a hint, some kind of a vision, a foreshadowing.
of what it means to have the kingdom of God established in the earth, what it means to have Jesus as Lord over my life, what it means to have Jesus as preeminent in my life. When someone looks at you, and you're bearing the testimony of Jesus, they are able to see something of the kingdom of God made flesh. Something of the Word made flesh. They can't see Jesus, but they can see you. And if they can see you and see Jesus...
Now, that testimony is a theme of the book of Revelation. And you see, that testimony is what the adversary is trying to fight against. The persecution, the tribulation, the things that happen in the book of Revelation. It says that it comes against those who have the testimony of Jesus. Again, the testimony of Jesus is simply the demonstration Now, I'm telling you plainly that the church, as it exists today, it does not represent the fullness of God's thought.
It does not represent the preeminence of Jesus Christ. It actually represents the opposite of it. It represents something that is religious, something that is most of the time defeated, something that is mostly compromised, something that is largely impure, something that is mostly... nixed insofar as God's thought is concerned.
Now I'm talking about the outward structure of church. However, the church that Jesus is building, it is a house of living stones, and it consists of those disciples who have made Jesus Lord and through whom... And God is able to demonstrate the preeminence of Jesus Christ. First and foremost. Over the disciples. then over the church, the body of Christ, the universal church, and then the entire universe as the kingdom of God is established and all things are submitted beneath his feet.
Now, that's quite a range and quite a scope of things, and it probably raises more questions than it answers at this point, but we can't go into those depths right now. Suffice it to say that God's... beginning here in the book of Acts, now that Jesus has been crucified, dead, buried, He promised them that he would send them the Spirit. And I think it's important, particularly in a time when the charismatic movement and the prophetic and the apostolic have been so twisted and so carried out.
that we really go back to the book of Acts and discern exactly what is the function of the Holy Spirit. Exactly what is he sent for? To whom is he sent? What is he sent to do? What is the fruit of that spirit? And we're going to learn those things in the book of Acts. Actually, let's talk about that right now. Three things that we're going to learn.
in the book of Acts, and I've already kind of hit on some of them, but we'll keep these three things kind of in the back of our mind and use them as we go throughout each chapter to ensure that we're learning. the major three things that I think Acts is trying to point out to us. And number one,
The first thing we're going to learn and that we're going to see is the absolute preeminence and centrality of Jesus Christ to the early church. The absolute preeminence and centrality of Jesus Christ to the early church. church. Folks, they preach Jesus and
And because they preached Jesus and they didn't get sidetracked for the most part, they didn't get off on a rabbit trail. They didn't take something about Jesus and make that more important than Jesus. They were young. They were fresh. They were on fire. and it was purifier and it was holy and what made it so pure and what made it so holy what made it so simple what made it so powerful and earth shattering
is they were absolutely focused on the preeminence and centrality of Jesus Christ. Now, can we say that? First of all, look at yourself. Can you say... honestly before the Lord, that you were absolutely committed and focused to the preeminence and centrality of Jesus Christ. And I'd have to say in my own heart, I see a lack there. I want to give Jesus the preeminence. I want him to be the first and foremost.
I want him to have the full and the final place in my life. But sometimes I take that position and I take it away from Jesus. Or sometimes the work of the Lord becomes more important than the Lord of the work. Now it's a step forward. It's a sign of progress that you're even able to recognize that, repent of it, and then go back and give Jesus the first place. Because so many people...
They have never heard that. They have never heard and they don't even believe it's possible that the work of the Lord can become more important than the Lord of the work. They think the work of the Lord is more important or it is as important as the Lord of the work. But the work of the Lord will never be more important than the Lord of the work. So the early church...
was committed to the absolute preeminence and centrality of Jesus Christ. They preached Jesus. And that is the secret, folks. And, you know, I hear people in the house church movement and in different radical... Christian movements who want to get back to the simplicity of the early church they want to get back to meeting in living rooms or sitting on the floor or Some kind of a very communal lifestyle meeting in homes. And there's nothing...
wrong with that until you make that the preeminent thing. Until you take those methods out of first century Palestine, and you try to apply them to 21st century America, or 21st century England, or 21st century Africa, you're taking... and you're mixing it all together with culture and religion and social status and... the actual things that God was doing 2,000 years ago, you lift it up out of that context and try to apply it in your context, thinking that it's the method.
The method is not where the power lies. The power is in the principle, not the method. You can copy and do it exactly the way they do it in the book of Acts, but if you don't understand the governing principle behind everything they did, So what was the principle? Well, the principle is they were focused on the preeminence and centrality of Christ. They heard from God and they did what God told them to do.
Now, if you can hear from God and do what God tells you to do, you'll experience the same thing that they experienced. Which is a deeper understanding and greater awareness of the centrality and preeminence of Jesus Christ. But if you try to do what they did... you're following them and you're copying them. You're not following the Lord. So the only pattern I see is they heard from God and they did what God told them to do. Now, 2,000 years later, God may be telling you to do something.
something completely different than the way they did it. But the point is you hear God and you obey God. And where you get... I think where you get into error is when you try to take something that happened 2,000 years ago, you try to recreate it in the 21st century. without necessarily having heard from God, but then you take that method and you make that method the preeminent thing. And then if anybody and everybody everywhere doesn't do it according to that method, then they're wrong.
And you're right. Well, you're taking a religious view of things instead of a spirit and truth view. So we'll expand upon that as time goes on. you don't like the direction that's going in, I recommend you tune out now because it's not going to get any better. I'm going to be absolutely committed to the centrality of Jesus and not to a method for church growth, not to a method for church planting. I don't see a method for church planting.
method all I see is a man I see Jesus Christ preached Jesus Christ given the preeminence and the centrality in the book of Acts And however they accomplished that, they accomplished it by hearing from God and doing what God told them to do. Okay? Well, enough said about that. But that's the first thing we're going to learn. The absolute preeminence and centrality of Jesus Christ to the early church.
Secondly, we're going to learn the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. Exactly what is the function of the Holy Spirit? And again, we have to... We have to speak correction to things because for so long things have been taken out of context and twisted and used and it's become fleshly and it's become carnal. So we need to go back and revisit the scriptures and understand. What is the ministry of the Holy Spirit?
the function of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. Is it to give you power? Well, certainly it's to give you power in Acts 1.8. We just read you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. But then we need to look at what is the power given? Is it so I can scream and shout and dance and have a big concert someplace or a big worship demonstration of smoke and fire and just all of the...
that you see going on. Is that why the Holy Spirit was given? Well, I seriously doubt that. Well, Jesus says that the power, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses. In other words, the Spirit is going to come very clearly established in John chapter 14, John chapter 15, John chapter 16. In fact, rather than alluding to it, let's turn to it. John chapter 14, why is the Spirit given? John 14, 16. Jesus says, And then verse 26 of John 14.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. So we see that a major function of the Holy Spirit is to teach, to teach. To teach. To teach what? To teach the things that Jesus taught. To bring to our remembrance the things that Jesus said. So again, it is focused on the Lord. John 15.
One chapter over, verse 26, Jesus says, But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of who? Of me. And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. So again, following up with what he just said in Acts 1.8.
He says when the Spirit comes, the Spirit of truth, He will testify of me. So if I'm filled with the Spirit, I'm going to testify of Jesus. That testimony will be demonstrated in my life, in my mouth, in the things I do, in the things I do. that I don't do and the things I say and the things I don't say. That testimony is being established in me as the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in me.
the purpose of the Spirit, to teach, to testify of Jesus. In chapter 16 of John, verse 12, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, come. See he calls him spirit of truth three times here. Three times we've read the spirit of truth and he's already established who is truth.
I am the way, the truth, and the life, he says in John 14, 6. So the spirit of truth is the spirit of Jesus. And I'm not going to get into a theological discussion about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 3 in 1, 1 in 3. So if you can figure all that out, then you've got more wisdom than I've got. I don't think it needs figuring out. It just needs acceptance by faith. Jesus says the spirit of truth. He says I am the truth. And so the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus.
Praise the Lord. John 15, 12 again, or 16, 12. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. So the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, whom Jesus sends, will guide you into all truth, into everything concerning Jesus, since Jesus is the truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will tell you things to come.
So it's the spirit of truth that comforts, that helps, that counts. That teaches us, that brings things to our remembrance of what Jesus has said. bears witness of Jesus, who points us to Jesus, who leads us to Jesus, who speaks the truth concerning Jesus. And that is the function of the Holy Spirit. So praise the Lord. The third thing we'll learn is the supremacy of the new covenant.
the old covenant or the superiority of spirit and truth over flesh and blood so praise God I'm excited about what's in store for us here in this new series on the book of Acts. So I encourage you to invite a friend. Join us next week as we begin our series on... Chapter 1 of the book of Acts. This is Chip Brogdon, streaming online at www.theschoolofchrist.org. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week. God bless you.