Last week we saw the Book of Acts start off with a bang. Jesus ascended into Heaven to be with God the Father, and the disciples were able to witness this amazing event.
Next week, we’ll get into the coming of the Holy Spirit, which will be absolutely incredible.
Between these two miraculous stories (the going of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit), we have verses 12-26 of Acts chapter 1. Some of us may be tempted to simply brush over this passage, or even consider it a little dull. However, it’s the supernatural inspired Word of God, and God has something for us in this passage.
So, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to teach us mightily as we study His Word.
(prayer)
Ok, let’s read this passage, then we’ll dive into it. Look at Acts 1:12-26:
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem—a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they arrived, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14 They all were continually united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters—the number of people who were together was about a hundred and twenty—and said: 16 “Brothers and sisters, it was necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David foretold about Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” 18 Now this man acquired a field with his unrighteous wages. He fell headfirst, his body burst open and his intestines spilled out. 19 This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that in their own language that field is called Hakeldama (that is, Field of Blood). 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: Let his dwelling become desolate; let no one live in it; and Let someone else take his position.
21 “Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us—from among these, it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
23 So they proposed two: Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, “You, Lord, know everyone’s hearts; show which of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this apostolic ministry that Judas left to go where he belongs.” 26 Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias and he was added to the eleven apostles.
Ok , we have this moment of time between Jesus leaving the earth and the Holy Spirit coming in a new fresh way.
So, what were the disciples supposed to do during that time? They were to prepare for what was to come. That’s the title of this sermon, “The Preparation for What Was to Come.”
Before we get into what we can learn from this passage, I want you to hear something from your pastor.
In this passage, the disciples of Jesus were about to experience something amazing, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. God had something special in store for them.
Listen, church: I believe God has something special in store for our church. God has been so good to us. Before COVID, we were growing year after year, then COVID hit, but since then, we’ve been growing year after year. Churches are struggling all over the place, but God has been good to us, and He’s done so by His power and for His glory. However, I believe He has something even greater in store for us. I believe that we’re about to experience something special.
So, as we look at what the apostles did as God was about to do something special through them, let us challenge ourselves to take these steps as well.
Let’s see first, that . . .
I. The disciples prayed for the promise of God.
We talked about the promise of God last week. Remember, we read in Acts 1:4 last week that Jesus told them to wait for the Father’s promise.
This promise was found in Acts 1:5 when Jesus said, “for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.”
The Father promised that He would do wonderful things through His people, and Jesus reminded the apostles of this promise.
So, what did they do? They prayed.
Look at the passage.
First, we see that they staying somewhere on the Mount of Olives, which is an elevated ridge east of the city of Jerusalem. So, here’s a map of the area around Jerusalem, here’s the city of Jerusalem, and here’s the Mount of Olives.
So, they were probably staying in a village on the Mount of Olives, then they go into Jerusalem and gathered in an upstairs room. By the way, you may wonder why they seem to always gather upstairs. That’s because the lower levels of homes usually had smaller rooms made up of walls to support the upper level. So, the larger open spaces were upstairs.
We see the eleven apostles named one by one (notice Judas is missing). The apostles are joined by some women and the brothers of Jesus.
Notice what they are doing: they are praying.
Verse 14 says, “They all were continually united in prayer.”
Church, they needed prayer, and we also need prayer.
If we want to see the promises of God fulfilled in our church, we need to pray!
If we want to see God do something special in our church, we need to pray!
If we want to see the Holy Spirit of God at work in our church, we need to pray!
Notice, the passage says they were united in prayer. If we want to experience church unity like never before, we need to pray!
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “pray constantly.”
Colossians 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer.”
James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.”
Church, we must be about prayer. The disciples prayed and God blessed them. May we also pray to our Father! May we seek His will, His work, His power, and His unity in our lives and in our church.
The disciples prayed for the promise of God, and we should pray for the promises of God.
Not only did they pray, also . . .
II. The disciples prepared for the work of God.
How did the disciples prepare for what was to come? Let’s look and see.
First of all, the prepared by praying, right? Prayer is always the most important and most foundational step we should take. Prayer should not be our last-ditch desperate attempt at something. Prayer should be where we start.
However, prayer is not the only step they took to prepare. They also prepared by replacing Judas among the twelve apostles.
You see, Judas was one of the twelve whom Jesus chose to invest in while He was on the earth. However, Judas betrayed Jesus, leading to Jesus’ arrest, humiliation, and crucifixion.
Judas was so disturbed by His own betrayal that he killed himself. So, the apostles sought to replace him.
You might wonder why Judas had to be replaced. Well, that’s a deep discussion, but the apostles believed, and the Bible teaches elsewhere, that there is significance to the number twelve. So, they believed they needed twelve apostles.
You see there were twelve tribes of Israel and there were twelve apostles. Jesus even told the apostles that they would sit upon twelve thrones to judge the people of Israel. You can find that in Matthew 19:28.
You might ask, “Well, what about the apostle Paul?” That’s a good question, I’m glad that you asked that. Some have suggested that the twelve apostles were the apostles established for the Jewish people, whereas Paul was primarily an apostle to the Gentiles.
I think there’s something to that. In fact, Paul himself often speaks that his primary ministry was to the Gentile (or non-Jewish) people.
So, we don’t know how all this fits together perfectly, but we do see that the apostles sought to replace Judas, and they ended up replacing him with Mathias.
Notice that part of the requirements of this new apostle is that they would have been present during the life and ministry of Jesus, all the way from Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptizer up to Jesus’ resurrection.
Notice that Peter said in verse 22, “ . . . it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
Do you remember what Jesus said back in Acts 1:8? He said, “You will by witnesses . . .”
The apostles believed Jesus, and wanted another to replace Judas who could give a firsthand witness to the life and ministry of Jesus.
This step, in addition to prayer, is what the apostles did to prepare for God’s promise.
Church, what must we do to prepare for what God has for us?
We’ve done some practical things, right? We can hire staff, we can change structures, we can adjust elements of our worship service, we can advertise, we can improve our digital reach, we can update our facilities, and more. That stuff is important and we’ve done all that stuff.
However, that is not the most important way that we can prepare ourselves. Much more important than any of that, we should prepare ourselves with godliness, humility, and sacrifice.
We should put godly leaders in place. We should stamp out sin and selfishness. We should forsake gossip and negativity. We should spend enormous amounts of time in prayer. We should not think of doing things the way we’ve always done them, but rather we should do whatever it takes to develop disciples right here in Bartow and all over the world. We must not look inwardly, rather we must look upwardly and outwardly.
Church, if we expect God to work among us, we must prepare for what He wants to do through us.
Notice the preparation of the apostles for what was to come. May we prepare as well.
Finally, . . .
III. The disciples trusted in the will of God.
We see this primarily in this passage through the casting of lots.
Now, to most of us this method of making a godly decision may seem strange.
After all, casting lots was the equivalent of rolling dice, drawing straws, or picking a number one through ten.
Yet, this was not uncommon for the people of God prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit is now amongst us to guide us, but He had not come in full back in Acts 1.
This idea of casting lots was present elsewhere in the Bible. Listen to what the Bible says:
In Joshua 18:6, Joshua says, “When you have written a description of the seven portions of land and brought it to me, I will cast lots for you here in the presence of the Lord our God.”
Leviticus 16:8 tells us that Aaron, the priest for Israel during the time of Moses cast lots at the direction of the Lord, concerning how to handle sin offerings.
Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
You see, before the coming of the Spirit, the casting of lots was not seen merely as chance. Rather, it was used as one of the ways God’s will was revealed to His people.
So, the apostles trusted in this system and trusted that God would reveal His will to them, and they trusted in His will.
Church, there’s so much about God’s will that we already know, right?
We know that God wants us to be His witnesses. We know we are to love Him and love others. We know that we are to develop disciples. We know that we are to be humble, godly, and sacrificial. We know that we are to pursue holiness and flee sin. We know that we are to fight for unity in our church.
We know all these realities about the will of God. The question is: do we trust in the will of God? Do we believe that God will be faithful to us when we are faithful to Him and His will?
In addition to all that we already know about God’s will, we also have God’s Holy Spirit to lead us now. We no longer have to cast lots. Rather, we must cast our prayers to Him, we must cast our cares upon Him, we must cast our gaze towards Him, and we must trust Him.
May we trust in the will of God.
Let this bottom line summarize all that God is teaching us in this passage:
Bottom Line: The people of God must be ready for the work of God.
The apostles did what they could do to prepare themselves for the promise of God to be fulfilled among them.
I can’t wait for us to dive into all that God would do in the book of Acts. God did wonders among them.
Church, are we ready for the work of God amongst us? Are we ready for the promises of God to be fulfilled through us?
God has great things for us, church. May we be ready.
Weekly Challenge #1 – Pray for God to lead our church.
Oh boy, do we need prayer. Would you pray for us? Would you pray for God to lead us?
Commit this week to pray for our church.
Weekly Challenge #2 – Pray for God to prepare your heart.
Pray for yourself as well. Do you know how God will prepare our church? By preparing each and every one of us, individually. If we are changed individually, then we will be changed together.
So, pray for God to change you.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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