Sunday Worship Service April 27, 2025

Prelude
Call to Worship Psalm 37:7a
Hymn JBC # 27 Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Supper
Hymn JBC # 230 On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
Offering
Scripture Acts 1:1～5
Prayer
Sermon “Wait for the Father’s Promise”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 81 God, our Father, we adore Thee!
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude
Welcome & Announcements

From today, we are going to start a sermon series on “the Acts of the Apostles” in the New Testament together (for special worship services and such, other passages may be used).
The New Testament begins with the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The gospels record the acts what Jesus did in his human life time and teachings of Jesus Christ.
The gospels also tell of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Last week we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus as our Easter worship service.
Our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected. Nothing in the world, no evil nor power of darkness could completely defeat Jesus.
The Son of God, Jesus Christ, did not remain dead. Jesus resurrected and showed us God’s limitless power and hope.
From there, the Lord’s resurrection became the impetus for the gospel message of Jesus Christ to spread throughout the world.

　‘The book of Acts’ records the actions of Jesus’ apostles after Jesus was no longer with them on Earth. It tells of how the gospel was spread by them after the Lord’s resurrection.
The apostles boldly proclaimed the gospel message that “Jesus Christ is God” to the people around them. Even as they were being persecuted, they continued to proclaim the gospel of Christ.
Let us listen to God’s powerful message as recorded (by the apostles) in Acts.

The author of Acts is said to be Luke, the same as the gospel of Luke. The first verse says, “In my former book, Theophilus...” That “former book” is the gospel of Luke.
Therefore, Acts is the sequel to the gospel of Luke.
Acts begins by addressing Theophilus. The Luke 1:3 also addresses “most excellent Theophilus.”
We do not know exactly who Theophilus was. One idea is that he may have been a Roman high official. It is also possible that he may have come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Given that Luke addresses Theophilus as “most excellent,” it appears that Luke and Acts were both personally written to the high official.
However, the contents of its messages far exceeded that of a personal letter. It is fair to say that they are a grand story of faith and record of evangelism of the ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His apostles.

Theophilus’ name means “whom God loves” or “a friend of God.” I believe this has great significance.
By being addressed to Theophilus, Luke and Acts (and actually the entirety of the Bible), are addressed to all of those who are loved by God and are friends of God.
Those whom God loves, as well as friends of God are all people who love God and believe in Him.
Through Luke, an author of one of the gospels, as well as through the hands of many other authors, God Himself left His message of love to those whom He loves and His friends in the form of the Bible.
We should be filled with joy and thankfulness when we think about just how much love and affection God poured into the words of the Bible (through human authors).
Let us listen to God’s message through the Bible, and give thanks that we are able to read His word.

In verse 3 of today’s passage it is written as follows:

3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
This verse gives a summary of what the resurrected Jesus did, as well as the role that we, the Christian church, have been entrusted with.
That role is a mission to tell people that the Lord lives, and to tell them of the kingdom of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again showed his disciples many evidences that “He was alive.”
“The Lord lives”. He did not remain dead. This has not changed even now. Our Lord God is the living God.

Because He lives, the Lord is with us, and we are also given life.
During our lives we will face various challenges and difficulties. However, we are never alone.
Our Lord will bear our sadness, difficulties and challenges together, just as He did on the cross as well as on the road to the cross.
Therefore, we know that the Lord is with us, and believe that He lives, we are given the power to live even in the midst of difficulties.
When we say that Jesus is with us, specifically we have His Word with us, and that Word encourages us.
Jesus resurrected and appeared to his disciples for 40 days, showing that He lives and continually telling them about the kingdom of God.
Just as before Jesus was crucified and died, He continued telling them about the kingdom of God.
Jesus surely told His disciples things that were important multiple times. In a time when things could not be easily written down on paper, the disciples surely listened desperately to the things that Jesus had to say.
This passion for repeatedly speaking and continually listening to the Lord’s words is something that we may be lacking in now.

This may be because we now have bibles to read all the time, and we can easily listen to sermons via the internet any time we wish.

However, because times are like this now, I believe we need to hold onto the sense of tension that leads us to passionately and desperately listen to “God’s word being spoken to us now.”
Let us hold that sense of tension and joy as we listen to the message God gives us in the entirety of his Word in the Bible.
When we eat food for our bodies, it is important to eat nutritionally balanced food. In the same way, let us partake of the Word in a balanced manner.
If you only eat the food you like, only eat sweet foods, only eat salty foods, or have some other unbalanced diet, it will harm your health.
Similarly, if we only listen to the parts we want to hear, the parts that are easy for us to understand, or the parts that we can soon agree with when we partake of the words of the Bible, our spiritual nutrition will become unbalanced.
Let us partake of the entirety of the Bible, including the parts that may seem difficult or strict to us, and even the parts we may have difficulty accepting, as God’s Word.

Let us also not just read the word in selfish ways, but treasure when we share God’s word together as the church when we pray, read, and listen together.

In verses 4-5 of today’s passage, Jesus says the following:

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
The disciples were standing at a time when they were about to do important work of bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
There Jesus tells his disciples to “not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift [His] Father promised.”

The “gift [His] Father promised” is the Holy Spirit of God.
In Luke 24:49, the resurrected Jesus says the following to His disciples:

I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
When the disciples saw their resurrected Lord, they were given strength, and they may have thought to go out and evangelize using their own strength with passion.
However, Jesus told them to wait for the gift His father promised. Their work of preaching the gospel could not be done without the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus may be telling us that the work of spreading the gospel is something that cannot be done by human ability and experience, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, “John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
John here is referring to John the Baptist, the man who baptized Jesus. John used water to baptize people.
However, through baptism, the one who works to give the believer faith truly is the Holy Spirit whom God sent.
Neither those who baptize others, the baptismal water, nor the baptismal ceremony itself hold any divine power.
The one who truly works through baptism is the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who allows people to confess that Jesus is Lord, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives power to the preaching of the gospel.

In every aspect of our faith, the now invisible Christ guides us through the Holy Spirit.
In important aspects of our life in faith, let us continually pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and recommit ourselves to obeying the Holy Spirit.
　Let us trust in the Spirit of God and let us also join in prayer that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, may abundantly do His work in our church.
If God tells us to wait, let us wait. If God tells us to go, then let us go. Let us pray that we can have such obedient faith in which we listen and obey God,