February 4, 2024                                          NOTES NOT EDITED
Why Jesus Never Had Ulcers!
Acts 1:6-11

Sermon-in-a-Sentence:  We cannot avoid difficulties in life, but we can learn to conquer the anxiety they create.

QUESTION:  Have you ever faced a difficult or stressful situation?  Have you ever "worried?"  All of us face stress on a daily basis, but Randy Walters faced a particularly difficult situation at the bank this past week in Allentown, PA.

For most people—probably all people—the greatest worry in life is death. Randy Walters was faced with a completely different situation—one was of the most stressful situations in his life resulted from “not being dead.” Randy Walters was faced with the difficult and stressful task of "proving to the bank and the Social Security Office that he was indeed, “Not Dead.”  He had gone into the bank to open a checking account when he received some bad news from the clerk:  He was dead!  The teller told him she checked his social security number and found that he was indeed deceased.  Randy said, "I told her I was alive and standing right in front of her."  Sorry. . . .the computer says your dead!

Next step - convincing the Social Security Office he was alive.  They said, "according to our records you died in March and you are going to stay that way until you contact the local office."  Is that a reason to worry or what!  

Randy Walter produced the evidence necessary to prove he was alive.  Then he opened the checking account.

How about you?  How would you face being told you were dead?  I suspect far too many of us would stomp and fuss and ask to see the manager, which would do little good because when Social Security says your dead. . . .your dead!  

Randy Walters persevered, pressed ahead, and overcame a very worrisome and stressful situation because he put his trust and belief in an "alternative interpretation" of the facts.  He knew he was not dead whether anyone else did or not.  He had "faith" that what he believed would ultimately offer a truer, more real explanation.  In other words, his "belief" gave him assurance.

When faced with difficult, uncertain situations we must have some over-riding principle upon which we can rely.  We must develop a powerful principle for life that will carry us through difficult times.  We must find something to put our trust in.  Jesus teaches us in our passage, today just such a principle.

READ ALONG WITH ME IN ACTS ACTS 1:6-11

6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.  10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him.

America has been called the "Aspirin Capital of the World".  A recent survey reported that we "consume 97% of the world's aspirin supply!  It appears that the American Dream has become and alarming nightmare for many people!  People are

"stressed-out, burn-out, and about to blow up!"  Many people have completely lost the ability to cope with life.  Crime, drugs, domestic violence, divorce, suicide, and on and on and on, the list of stress and worry factors go.  Our modern society bends beneath the awful load created by a lack of optimism about the future brought on by a society that is "full steam ahead without a rudder" or any moral bearing.

The situation says we are "dead" and we don't know what to do about it!  What About You and Me?

Are you worried about the future?  Are you feeling the weight and burden of life in the near 21st Century?  Maybe you are coping better than most. . . .but are you courageously enjoying life.  GOD DID NOT CREATE US TO COPE, BUT TO CONQUER (REPEAT)!  GOD DID NOT DETINE US FOR MISERY BUT DESIGNED US FOR MARVELOUS PROPERITY.  Jesus said,

"I came to give you life, filled up to the brim life!"  Jn 10:10

We were patterned for prosperity, designed for delight, and manufactured with marvelous potential.  Here the Bible as it shouts loud and clear:

GOD IS ON YOUR SIDE--HE BELIEVES IN YOU!

Jesus knew the secrets to victory.  Today we will examine the very last words Jesus spoke to his disciples before he "sailed home to glory."  Jesus never had ulcers because:

1.  He Never Worried About What He Could Not Change  (v 7)

Most Christians WORRY TOO MUCH, AND WORK TOO LITTLE! "It's not for you to know" or we could say, "don't sweat what you don't know".  Suppose you did figure out exactly when and how the end would come.  What could you do about it?  Instead of reducing your stress, you would probably worry yourself to death trying to figure out a way to avoid it, change it, or cheat it!

Someone tells about a woman who for many years couldn’t sleep at night because she worried that her home would be burglarized. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there, he found a burglar. The husband said to the burglar, "Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting 10 years to meet you." A real burglar can steal from you once; worry can steal from you night after night, for many years. Worry not only steals our sleep, but worry also steals our health and our abilities to cope with life productively.

I like what one man said to his friend. . . ."I will give $1000 a year to anyone who will do my worrying for me."  The money hungry friend quickly snapped back, "I'll do it.  I'll start right now doing your worrying for you. Now where's the $1000 bucks?"  The man replied, "That's your first worry!"  

Friend, your shoulders are not big enough to take on the burdens of the world.  Jesus said, "My yoke is EASY and my burden is LIGHT!"  DID YOU HEAR THAT MY STESSED-OUT BAPTIST FRIENDS?  God did not save us to do His worrying for us.  He did not call us to be busy, but to be a blessing.  (Listen, Don't Miss This).  We can't be a blessing to others if we are burnt out and broken down by the pressures of church.  [REPEAT]  How could Jesus say my "burden is easy, my yoke is light?"  Aren't we as Christians called to die for the world?"  LISTEN:  NO WE ARE NOT CALLED TO DIE FOR THE WORLD - JESUS ALREADY DID!

JESUS BORE THE PAIN. . . .SO WE COULD SHARE THE PROMISE!  Probably the most stress-beating, burden busting words Jesus ever spoke were from the cross when he said, Teletelestai :  "IT IS FINISHED!"

Here are two important lessons we must learn about the situation of sin in our world:  a difficult, disastrous disease which we can do nothing about:

#1:  God has not called us to

ELIMINATE SIN, but to ENLIGHTEN SINNERS. 
#2:  God does not expect us to

ERADICATE EVIL, only ALLEVIATE PAIN 

We can—and we should—participate in the political process to help bring about a more just and merciful society, but in reality, this is only a “stop-gap” effort that offers little meaningful change.  Our society is on a collision course with destruction and all the political maneuvering in the world is not going to stop it.

God wants us to make the best of a bad situation until He comes.

Contrary to what the “positive thinkers” and what one preacher called “The Joy Boys” (referring to prosperity preachers) are saying: the world is going to continue to get worse no matter what you and I, or anybody else does.  As I said, our primary mission is to Enlighten Sinners and Alleviate Pain.  Political involvement is a small part.

Some people accuse those who believe in the premillennial, pre-tribulational plan for the future as “ignoring this world and all its problems.  We are often called “reactionary” or “escapists.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Those of us who truly believe in the world will get worse before the coming of Christ are busy preaching and teaching and warning so that people can escape the wrath to come.  We are not REACTIVE – TRUE BELIEVERS ARE PROACTIVE.

In verse 6 Jesus describes two different aspects of the future by

using two synonyms for “time.”  Jesus used the words, “chronos” and “kairos” to describe the future.  Chronos refers to the ticks of the clock – the simple passing of time.  This describes so many people.  They are simply passing time, and life is passing by.  The other word Jesus uses was kairos.  The word has a slightly different meaning when describing “time.”  In Classical Greek prior to the N.T. period this word referred to a “strategic, decisive point in time.”  Kairos translates better as “an opportunity” as in Eph. 5:16 which says

“Make the most of every opportunity (kairon) because the days are evil.” We are living in days of great opportunity – the darker our world, the more effective and needed is our light.  We need to get busy!

In LK 19:13, which we examined last week, Jesus said, "Occupy til I come!"  

The word He used was PRAGMATUEMAI, which means "get busy, invest, conduct business."  We get the English word, "pragmatic."  Don't worry about what you can't change -- get busy changing what you can!  "It's not for us to know all that God’s plan entails—our duty is to “work the plan." (7,8).

⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority…. ⁸ be My witnesses.”

Witnessing is a great remedy for worrying!

Aren't You Glad, You Don't Have To Have ALL THE ANSWERS?

We need to take a lesson from the little boy, Jimmie.  A mother was frustrated with her eight years old son.  He was always getting into something.  All day long as the mother tried to get the chores done, Jimmie would run in-and-out of the house for one reason or another.  Each time the screen door would shut with a loud "BANG!"  After what seemed like the 1000th time the mother screamed in frustration, "Jimmie, how do you expect to get into heaven acting like that?"

WEEELLLLLL that's a big question for a little boy.  Certainly that would give Jimmie plenty to worry about in life.  That may have cause a stress trauma so great he would have to see a counselor to "reprogram."  Oh, but little children have a way around worry. . . .little Jimmie thought for a moment (his mother I'm sure never expected an answer).  Then Jimmie blurted out, "Well, No Problem!  I'll just run in and out, in and out, in and out and keep slamming God's door until he says, "For heaven's sake, Jimmie, either come in or stay out!"  The first secret to beating stress is:  DON'T WORRY ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN'T CHANGE!  Jesus, happily and merrily busied Himself with the will of God, leaving Himself completely in His Father's hands.  He didn't sweat the details, he did the deed!  

Sure. . . .that's a great idea!  But, where can the average Joe (or Jane) find the POWER to live a life like Jesus?  Is the same power that helped Jesus endure the cross available to us today?  Can we find the same power over difficulty that Jesus did?  The answer is a resounding YES!  Jesus never had ulcers because:

2.  He Never Wondered Where His Help Would Come From (v 8)

"But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come on you.

“Power” is exactly what the disciples were looking for – exceptnot in the sense that Jesus was speaking.  The disciples were looking for the kind of power that Rome now had and Israel once had – political power.

Look back at their question in verse 6:

"Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

The word the disciples used for restore was a double-compound word which meant, “to restore to a former state,” that state being when the King of Israel held absolute political power.  But that was not – and is not – the power that Jesus offers Christians indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  The power Jesus is speaking about FAR TRANSCENDS mere political influence and control.  Jesus was talking about “Spirit power” that could, and did raise the dead.  This is the power Jesus displayed in the Passion.  Totally, absolute trust in the power of Almighty God.  We’re talking: GRAVE-BUSTING POWER!

Jesus lived, breathed, died, and rose again trusting in the power of God.  LISTEN TO THIS FANTASTIC STATEMENT OF FAITH:

"And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies THROUGH HIS SPIRIT, who lives in you"  (Romans 8:11, repeat)

Jesus  explains the consequence of what He  meant when he said, "You will receive "dynamite" when the Holy Spirit comes on you!"  

The word translated “power” refers to the ability to overcome challenges, or the power to make significant, even miraculous change.  The word “dunamis” would later come to be transliterated into English as the word, “dynamite.”  Just as dynamite has great explosive power in the natural world to remove challenges—like a mountain—so too, a spirit-filled believer has great explosive power to overcome mountain-sized challenges.

The disciples wanted power – and Jesus did not disappoint them.

Real power is not political influence, but a supernatural indwelling. 

Even death is not strong enough to keep the Christian.  WOW!  God wants us to pack the punch of dynamite and so often we cannot even must the pitiful snap of a 10 cent firecracker!  

Jesus never WAIVERED because Jesus never WONDERED where His help was coming from.  How many times in difficult days do you suppose Jesus reflected on the words in Psalm 121:

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth!"  (v 1) With So Much Hurt, Despair, and Need In The World How Can We As Christians Not Despair and Worry?

The answer is POWER!  THE MOUNTAIN MOVING "DYNAMITE" POWER OF ALMIGHTY GOD THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT!

Did you ever think to yourself. . . ."How can I change anything?  I'm just one person, rather ordinary at that.  What power do I have to change anything?

IN OREGON ABOUT 7700 YEARS AGO THERE WAS A MOUNTAIN.  In fact, it was the largest mountain in N. Am.  It was called, "Mt. Mazama."  It's twin peaks danced in the clouds as it spiraled out of sight into the heavens.  But, if you go to Mt. Mazama today, and I've been there,  you don't see Mountain Peaks jutting up thousands of feet into the sky.  YOU SEE ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CRYSTAL-CLEAR LAKES IN THE WORLD.  At 1900 feet deep "Crystal Lake" is the 7th deepest lake in the world.  This lake holds over 4.6 trillion gallons of water.  But, where is Mt. Mazama?  Mt. Mazama was a volcano and in one horrific display of awesome power, this great Mt. exploded and formed Crater Lake.  It erupted with the force of 20,000 bombs like the one dropped on Hiroshima.  FRIEND. . . .THAT'S POWER!  BUT THE "DYNAMITE" POWER OF GOD'S SPIRIT IS FAR GREATER STILL!!!

Jesus Never Worried About What He Could Not Change. Jesus Never Wondered Where He Would Find The Power To do God’s Will, and Jesus never had ulcers because

3.  He Never Wasted Time Wishing Things Were Different (v 11)

"Why Are You Standing Here With Your Heads In The Clouds?"

There's much we cannot change.  There's some we can change. . . .

We CAN continually involve ourselves in ministry to outsiders.... We CAN involve ourselves in local, state, and national politics....We CAN contribute cheerfully to the work of missions locally and worldwide....We CAN participate merrily and heartily in our local church....We CAN pray without ceasing.  There is MUCH WE CAN DO!

Too Many Christians Are Angels....Always Up In The Air Harping About Something.

Anyone Can Curse The Darkness---For God's Sake, Someone Light A Candle!

Dreaming About Ministry Is Not Good Enough!

I recall a little boy named, Billy.  Billy was not a "scholastic sort of guy."  He had little interest in school.  During class he would drift off to sleep and dream of far away places.  Many times the teacher would abruplty bring Billy back into session.  It happened one day during "geography" class.  Billy drifted off to dreamland.  The teacher spied him and shouted, "Billy, I'm ashamed of you!  Sleeping during geography class. What do you have to say for yourself?"  In defense Billy answered,  "Well, I was sleeping Ma'am, but I was dreaming about geography!"

Too Many Christians Are Asleep At The Wheel Dreaming About Ministry.

WE NEED TO GET OUR HEADS OUT OF THE CLOUD, AND OUR HANDS ON THE PLOW!

Or, as one brother said a few years ago – we have the sand, we havethe gravel, we have the water – if we want to build a great church we need to start making concrete! 

A few years ago a survey was taken (shortly after the success of Desert Storm).  According to the survey the most honored and respected man in America was Gen. Colin Powell, the Chairman of the Armed Forces Chiefs of Staff.  Success did not drop into Powell's lap.  As a yound man he set out to make some-thing of himself.  He didn't dream about success, he worked at it.

He tells the story of three "ditch diggers."  One digger leaned on his shovel all day and dreamed about owning the company.  A second digger complained about the work wished things were different.  The third digger kept on digging.

Years passed.  The first digger was still leaning on the shovel dreaming about owning the company.  The second digger faked and injury and retired on a small pension.  The third digger, who kept on digging now owned the company.

You won't beat the stress of life "wasting time wishing things were different."

You've got to get out of the clouds and get into the ministry.

Gen. Powell held the highest military position in the most powerful nation on earth.  He began his climb up the ladder of success "mopping floors in a bottling factory."  He said, "I set out to be the best mop wielder in the company."

"FAITH THAT IS IN THE CLOUDS WON'T HELP MUCH WHEN YOUR IN THE TRENCHES!"

ST. FRANCIS HAS A WONDERFUL PRAYER:

GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY TO

ACCEPT WHAT I CANNOT CHANGE.

COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN,

AND WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.