But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
21 sermons cite this verse
… in the upper room. He said, receive the Holy Spirit. So now the Spirit's in them. But then he promises that the Holy Spirit will come upon them. And in the book of Acts chapter 1 verse 8, we read the Lord saying, and power, you will receive the Holy Spirit and his power will come upon you. You receive power after the Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses unto me. And that's exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost. In Acts chapter 2, the believers are gathered together. The Spirit comes upon them. They speak in unknown languages. They speak in tongues. And now they have this boldness that they've never had before. Simon Peter, who only weeks before, could not muster up the courage to admit he was a disciple of Jesus, is now preaching his first sermon. And it's so powerful, 3,000 people believe. So God is going to give you power to be a witness for Him. And if we're all honest, we'll admit, maybe we're afraid to speak publicly. …
… With invitation. Revelation, think about Acts chapter 1, verses 6 through 8. Jesus has resurrected. He's hanging out with his disciples, and then his disciples, they go up to the Mount of Olives, which is where he took off and where he's coming back, by the way. And they go up to the Mount of Olives, and Jesus gives them this commission, and they say, hey, right now, is this when you're going to build the kingdom? No, that's Revelation chapter 20, but that's not for you to know the times or the seasons. What you need to do is be my witnesses. Just tell everyone that you know about me in Jerusalem and also in Judea and then up north in Samaria and then, oh, by the way, to the ends of the whole world. Like the whole earth should hear about the salvation that I provide. So how should you and I live our lives? With invitation. Let the gospel ever be on our lips. Praise first towards God, and then the gospel towards others. Third, live with absolution. What does that mean? It means to live with forgiveness in your heart towards those who have wronged you. The beauty of the fact that Jesus is just and going to deal with sin means that we don't have to. Vengeance is mine. …
… it is not for you to know the times or the 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 Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. I want to preach a message today. Write down the title. It's called I Got the Power. And we are concluding today. We've been talking for the last four Sundays about freedom. We've been in this theme, this thought that there's a lot of people that know God but are not free. And we've been studying this. If you missed out, I want you to go back and listen to these messages because it is the heart and the will of God for you to be free. Somebody say amen. And so this is the climactic conclusion. And at the end of this service today, anybody that would like to receive prayer, our prayer team is going to come up front. …
… very first assignment to his very first followers, the first 12 disciples. Look up here on the screen. Acts chapter 1 verse 8 says this. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. That's anointing. And you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Now that, when Jesus gave that assignment to the disciples, was an impossible assignment. There was no way they could possibly go to the ends of the earth. There were no planes, trains, automobiles, no ocean-bearing vessels. How in the world were they going to get to Australia from the Middle East? How are they going to get to South America or North America? It was physically impossible. God will often give you an assignment that physically looks impossible, but he says, I'm going to make it possible, and we're going to figure out a way to do this, and I'm going to empower you. So God says, my appointment comes, or my assignment comes with an anointing that goes right along with it. …
… Look at verse 8. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere. Stop and think about this. These were not intellectuals. These were not even theologians. These were ordinary people. We might call them blue-collar workers today. Fishermen, a tax collector, some others thrown in. How could these guys changed the world. Thomas doubted Jesus was alive. Simon Peter denied Jesus outright. If someone as strong as Simon Peter could be demoralized by the words of a servant girl in the high priest's courtyard, how could any of them go anywhere preaching? Jesus answers that question. Verse 8, you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you'll be my witnesses. The way they would do this is with a power they did not already have. A power beyond anything they'd ever experienced before. A power to change the world. A power to witness. A power to share their faith. A power to turn their world upside down. …
… have missed out on in the way we do church. And they put local and global together. I want you to look at Acts chapter 1, verse 8. This is a verse that I know will be very familiar to some of you. We've read it a few different times in this series. But I want you to circle one word that's mentioned three times. One word that's mentioned three times. The Bible says, you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he says, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. One word that I want you to circle three times. In the very end there, it says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. What's the next word? And, circle it. And in all Judea. What's the next word? And, Judea and Samaria. One more time. And to the ends of the earth. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. …
… himself embodied so you know fair enough question now that you're risen from the dead is this the moment. What does he say? It's not for you to know the times or seasons, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. The kingdom. Jesus famously prays, right? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven. What's the kingdom? It's the definitive coming together of heaven and earth. When God's way of being is now fully instantiated here, when this world is drawn up into the higher dimension. That's the kingdom of God. All right, when will that definitively come? That's not for you to worry about, and not for them to worry about, and not for us to worry about. Rather, what? wait here he says in Jerusalem and you will be equipped you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue my work in other words don't worry so much about when this will definitively happen when all of time and space and history is consummated don't worry about that that's up to God what you worry about is receiving the Holy Spirit and now cooperating with that spirit to do the work of the Lord in the world. …
… new places begins to go to judea and samaria you come to the end of chapter 9 look at the end of chapter 9 and verse 31 just to connect the dots acts chapter 1 verse 8 it said you're going to take this gospel, you're going to be witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. Look at what happens in verse 31. Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit. It grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord. Church continuing to grow. We get to Acts chapter 12. These statements, Luke just kind of plugs in here and there to show us how the church was still growing. Look at Acts chapter 12 verse 24. This is after Peter escapes from prison, threatened to have the Word and proclamation. The Word stopped, and it says in verse 24, but the Word of God continued to increase and to spread. Let me show you just a few more. Look at Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16, verse 5. This is talking about the growth of the church. Guys like Timothy and Paul and Silas and Barnabas have gone out and they're planting churches and leading people to Christ. And it says in verse 5, so the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they grew daily in numbers. Now turn over to chapter 19. …
… kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father is fixed by his own authority, 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. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And then 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. So he went from one place, earth, to another place, heaven, and the announcement is given that as you saw him visibly ascend there, you will see him at the end come down from there, which means he's there and not here. …
… It's what we looked at last week when Jesus told all of his followers in Acts 1.8, 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. That sounds like supernatural power for a global purpose for everyone who's a follower of Jesus. Which then leads to, so remember, We looked at this last week, but I want you to notice something this week in Acts chapter 8, verse 1. Remember, the followers of Jesus hadn't spread out to Judea and Samaria until Stephen was stoned, and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And those who were scattered went about preaching the word. So the gospel spread to Judea and Samaria, not through a special group of church leaders or missionaries. It was actually the apostles, the church leaders, who stayed in Jerusalem. …
… a little bit. It all started in Acts chapter 1 when Jesus looked into the eyes of 11 disciples and told them, 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. And right after Jesus said this, he ascended into heaven. And these 11 disciples gathered together with about 100 other followers of Jesus. They devoted themselves to prayer. And in the next chapter, Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit came upon the people in that room, just like Jesus had promised. And they all started speaking the gospel in different languages. And Peter, the same fisherman who led down his nets in Luke five, and Jesus said, you're gonna spend your life fishing for men. Peter stands up. He shares the gospel with a crowd of people. And you go all the way to Acts chapter two, verse 41. It says over 3,000 people put their faith in Jesus. …
… it's not for you to know the times or seasons, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And then you will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. So think about this. In response to them asking the question, Jesus, when are you going to bring your hope to the world? He's like, I'm not, you are. Jesus, when are you going to bring grace to the world? You've won this whole thing for us. When are you going to bring it to the whole world? He says, I'm not, you are. You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and then you will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. Basically, you're going to do it. How are you going to do it? Easy. Be salt and be light. Like this is it. How are you, like today, how are you and I going to bring God's grace to the world? …
… and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. You're not gonna know the time. You're not gonna know the day. You're not gonna know the times and seasons that you don't need to know because that's just for God to know his authority. But here's what you can know. You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses and you will be faithful with what I give you because that's what I've called you to do. and then Jesus's final words in the Bible, he repeats three times. So you go back to the very end, Revelation, and Jesus says three things, which are his last things he says. Actually, there's another thing, but these are the three things that he repeats. Revelation 22, seven, behold, this is Jesus speaking. I am coming quickly. blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book revelation 22 12 through 13 he says jesus says and behold i am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work that parable of the the man with the talents it's speaking of jesus coming back and giving to people according to their work according to how they did what they did with what they were given. He says, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. And then Revelation 22, 20, he says, …
… I need you to start just waving your hand right where you are. Wave that hand so I can read for you Acts chapter 1 verse 8. And you will receive power. Here's your shout. and the Holy Spirit will fall on you. And when the Holy Spirit falls on you, here's your shout. Your son and your daughter will prophesy the reason why you gotta give God glory. If it's on you, it'll show up in your children. If it's on you, it'll show up in your grandchildren. Be seated. be seated please be seated hallelujah be seated hallelujah said in that last day I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters will prophesy you may be seated let me get that other mic from you come on help me I'm finished I wanted to tell you one last thing, and then we're gone. Would you be seated? Y'all got a spirit of disobedience. Thank you so very much. Thank you so very much. …
… It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Now, as we come to this part of the book of Acts, we need to understand who's writing this. It's a guy named Luke. Luke also wrote the book of Luke. Very good. And so what we see is Luke ends up in chapter 24, the last chapter of the book of Luke, and picks up at Acts chapter 1 at the exact same place. …
… and you ask, how in the world could I do it? I'm just so ordinary, and Jesus answers your questions just loud and clear. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That's how you're going to do it. It won't be you. That's my answer to the question, what is the all nations charge? That's it. Second, what's a world Christian? What do we mean by world Christian? We mean, first, whether you're a goer or a sender, your heart and your mind are engaged with God's mission to gather our redeemed people from all the nations of the world. Your heart is in world missions. That's the first thing. It also means that together with all true Christians everywhere in the world, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, 1 Peter 2.9, which means as a world Christian you are more significantly united to believers in Russia than unbelievers in America. …
… billion people have still not heard the truth about who Jesus is. The image of the invisible God who makes everlasting life with God a reality. In the words of Jesus in Acts 1.8, we have received power from the Holy Spirit so that we might be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. That's our destiny. Bringing people from the ends of the earth back to the creator. Do not settle for a nice, comfortable Christian spin on the American dream. When you were made to experience life, leading people to life in Jesus all over the world, knowing every single human being's destiny hinges on hearing, believing in Jesus. The only one who Revelation 5, 9 says is worthy to take a scroll and open its seals because he was slain and by his blood, he has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nations, made them a kingdom and priests, our God, who will reign on the earth with him, which leads to the picture. Here's where we'll finish it. Revelation 21. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. There it is. Started in the beginning. Now in the end, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them. …
… Matthew that we're very familiar with. Maybe most of us think about the Matthew, end of Matthew commission. There's also one in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 1 verse 8. Jesus says to his disciples, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses. There's that word witness. In Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. So the Acts 1 8 commission to be witnesses, to put words to what's happened to us, what we've seen and heard and experience in Jesus. And then Matthew 28 commission. Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing 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'm with you to the end of the age. So two commissions, and there are two aspects to these commissions. …
… Verse 8, but this is what you should be thinking about, disciples. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my, everybody say this word together. you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The last identity that Jesus emphasized before he ascended back up to heaven was witness. Many people feel like this is the one identity of the discipleship identities I gave to you. This is the one identity they feel like doesn't apply to them. Like I said, they're like, JD, I'm not an extrovert. I'm not like you. I don't like to talk to people. Recently, somebody was telling me about a person in their life. And based just on the stories they were telling me, it was obvious that God had put that person in their life for them to share Christ with. And so I said to them, well, why don't you say this to them? And I said, you know, why don't you say to them, I think God is saying to you that. And they said to me, oh, I could never see myself doing that. I hear you. I really do. But God made your personality. He made your personality. That's not a surprise to him. It's not a liability to him. And he's got a way for you to do this too. Witness was the last identity he gave to you and to me. It's the last identity …
… Man, is it happening to you? You know, a lot of you guys know Acts 1, verse 8, When Jesus says, look, when the Holy Spirit comes, you're going to receive power to be my witnesses. In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, today's the earth. You guys, when the Spirit entered into me, I wanted to make disciples. Like, it drives me crazy if I'm having no impact on people. Because the Spirit in me is like, man, you were made for this. Man, I can't just play all day. That drives me crazy. Again, it's the Holy Spirit entering into us. Man, the Bible says that if you really have the Spirit in you, then the Bible says that you have a gift from God. In fact, it says a manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the common good. that's why when i became a christian no one had to beg me to serve in the church i read this passage i go man are you telling me the holy spirit will possess my body and i will have a gift that will actually bless other people give it to me i want this and nowadays i'm hearing people just beg please serve you know 10 minutes a week be a greeter you know work in the parking lot you You know, clean a toilet or something. …
… but not to neglect right here. Ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you, Jesus said. And ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem. If he'd been preaching today, what would he have said? I mean, here, from this pulpit, he'd say in Memphis. in Memphis, in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth, in Memphis, in Shelby County, in Tennessee, in America, and in Tanzania. That's what he's saying. It's not either or. It's not either evangelism or missions. It is presenting Christ everywhere, taking Jesus Christ to the whole world. Do we want to be a missionary church or a strong church here? Yes. Yes. And that's the reason we must build a base here and keep building the base here. It's not selfish to build a base here. It's reasonable. Jesus said we're to be a witness in Jerusalem. And very frankly, if we can't be a witness in Jerusalem, we won't be much of a witness somewhere else. …