Acts 1:1-8, "In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has 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."

 Introduction

Our text records our Lord’s last meeting with His disciples while He was here on earth. He is preparing to ascend back into Heaven to sit down at the right hand of Father God. Before He leaves, He commands and commissions His men to reach the world with His message by the multiplying of disciples. He reminds them of what should be the central focus of their ministry. He reminds them that they are to keep the main thing the main thing! Verse 8 is clear on the main thing -- every believer is commissioned, commanded and constructed to share the Gospel with a lost world for the purpose of making disciples of all people groups on the earth.

The Book of Acts tells us how His church began in Jerusalem and spread to the ends of the earth. It provides a vital link between the gospels and the New Testament epistles. How did the Christian faith that began with a few followers of Jesus in Israel spread to Rome and points beyond?

How did an ardent Jew who was not even a believer become the apostle to the Gentiles? How did the early church, which was exclusively Jewish, begin to reach out to and incorporate the Gentiles?

Without Acts, we would be hard pressed to answer these questions. While we have four gospel accounts of the life of Jesus Christ, there is only one Book of Acts.

Numerous titles have been given this letter, but all of them have one thing in common – they all retain the word "Acts."  Please note that it is not the intentions, or the plans, or the dreams and hopes, or the ambitions, or the studies, or the meditations, or the sermons  of the Apostles.  It is the Acts of the Apostles.  If the apostles had stopped with any of the possibilities mentioned above, the book would never have been written.  It is my prayer for us, as we open the front door of the book, that we will get "caught in the Acts" of making kingdom disciples!

We will look at the first eight verses of Acts 1 through the three-fold perspective of: (1) The Theological Framework for Making Kingdom Disciples; (2) A Thorough Follow-Up for Maturing Disciples in the Kingdom of God; (3) The Total Field for Multiplying Disciples in the Kingdom of God.

I. The Theological Framework for Making Kingdom Disciples -- Acts 1:3; 28:31

Act 1:3: He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Act 28:31: (Paul was) proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

The things concerning the Kingdom of God (ta peri te?s basileias tou theou). This phrase appears 33 times in Luke’s Gospel, 15 times in Mark, 4 times in Matthew who elsewhere has “the kingdom of heaven,” once in John, and 6 times in Acts. Matthew substitutes of God by of heavens, saying "kingdom of heavens;" but he uses also "kingdom of God" on four occasions (12:28; 19:24; 21:31, 43). These two expressions, "kingdom of God" and "kingdom of heaven" mean almost the same – of heaven, reveals the kingdoms originating source, and of God its operating Sovereign – the One who runs it.

The theme of the kingdom of God is positioned at the front and back ends of the book of Acts to remind us that it is the theological framework upon which all of the Christian life is to be built. Having for the most part ignored this foundational truth, we have made disciple-making a very private and personal thing when it was intended to be personal, but always a very public thing. Kingdom disciples are Jesus' Standard.

A. Jesus Inaugurates the NT Phase of the Kingdom

It was his first public announcement -- Mat 4:17: From that time Jesus began to preach (kerux-herald), saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

It was to be the priority of our lives and labors -- Mat 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

It's proclamation was the first assignment given his disciples -- Mat 10:7: And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Luke 10:9: Heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

B. Jesus Invades the Strongholds of Satan's Kingdom

Mat 4:23: And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

Mat 12:26: And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? Mat 12:28  But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Mat 12:29  Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Col 2:15: He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

1 Jn. 3:8b:  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Kingdoms are in conflict. Before you became a Christian you were in the kingdom of darkness and at war with God. To be a sinner is to be at war with God. Jesus said, "He that is not with me is against me." To become a Christian is to become a soldier of the cross who is immediately inserted onto the battlefield where on-the-job training is standard procedure for all recruits. And by the way, there are no pacifists, draft dodging, conscientious objectors allowed!

Kingdom living here and now means spiritual warfare now with no retirement for the soldier of the cross ?? only a transfer from the base camp on earth to headquarters in Heaven.

Jesus' coming was an act of war in that it meant exposing and expelling the kingdom of darkness from every place in which it had asserted control over God-owned properties.

C. Jesus Informs of the Strategy of Spiritual Warfare

Daily Prayer --Mat 6:10: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Detailed Plan -- Luke 4:18-19:  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to (1) proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to (2) proclaim liberty to the captives and (3) recovering of sight to the blind, (4) to set at liberty those who are oppressed, (5) to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

"We must understand that the goal of our warfare is not the battle but the lordship of Christ we seek to bring to every domain. And as we fight the demonic forces that hold our society in bondage, we must remember that He deeply loves those who are imprisoned by the devil"- Robert Stearns. "

The Kingdom of God is the dynamic, unseen, divine reality, realm and rule in which all of humanity moves about, but doesn’t know it. The kingdom among us and within us is simply Jesus present Himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit, along with the spiritual realm of beings over which He rules. It is the enveloping, ever-present, all-encompassing, all-penetrating world of God, interactive at every point in our lives, so that we can always be totally at home and safe regardless of what happens in the visible dimensions of the world around us.

The kingdom of God isn’t about a piece of real estate called heaven; it’s about a real state -- a real state of a living, loving relationship with the King. It is about the about the companionship of an Unchanging Person—Jesus, and the partnership in the Unshakable Kingdom of Almighty and Sons! Jesus is the kingdom personalized, universalized, and realized!

Jesus established His kingdom definitively at His First Advent, is extending it progressively through His kingdom agents and ambassadors, the people of God -- His Church -- and that He will establish His kingdom decisively, victoriously, and permanently at His Last Advent.

The Kingdom of God is “God's rule in the hearts of His people, resulting in God's people doing His will on earth as it is done in heaven!” It is God's people in God's place under God's rule.

The essential nature of the kingdom of God is divine power, wrapped in love, directed toward reconciliation of man to God, of righteousness, peace and joy--displacing the rule and ruin of the demonic ("The kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in dunamis," 1Cor 4:20). Of the 98 contexts of divine dunamis in the New Testament, 65 refer to what the Protestant tradition would designate as "extraordinary" or "miraculous" charismata, 33 of the cases refer to the power of God without clear indication in the immediate context as to the exact way in which God's power is working.

Missionary E. Stanley Jones said that the kingdom is, “God’s total answer for man’s total need is his kingdom. It’s God’s plan, God’s order, God’s promise, and God’s offer.”

In the redemptive work of Christ, the kingdom of God is an actual reality that is available and accessible and upon entering it by the miracle of the new birth, we have access to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, all the hosts of elect angels, the company of the redeemed of God – to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant who are ministering spirits to those heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14) everything is new. We have a new standing - a new approach - a new name - a new sacrifice - a new priest - a new law - there is a new kingdom, a new body, a new covenant. In chapter 10 of Hebrews, we are told that He has perfected forever those who come to Him, and the Holy Spirit has brought us into the covenant and then brought the covenant into us – writing in our hearts and minds (Hebrews 10:15-17)!

D. Jesus' Disciples Implemented the Spread of the Kingdom of God

1. This Required A Bold Mission Thrust -Acts 1:2, "... until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen." An alternative Western reading of this verse says: "Until the day when he by the Holy Spirit commissioned the apostles whom he had chosen, and commanded them to proclaim the gospel." This translation casts the book of Acts into the evangelistic mode that is consistent with Jesus' kingdom emphasis and Luke's evangelistic heart. Although Jesus' kingdom design required a Bold Mission thrust, the first six or seven years of the first century church was a local, bold, making-of-things-bigger-at-home type ministry than that of a global extension of the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth approach.

2. This Required Breaking Major Barriers -- Acts 1:8, "... Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, end of the earth..." By this time the disciples should have known that the kingdom of God was global in nature, yet they still held to the belief that it was limited to Israel, God's chosen people. It would take persecution and almost 20 more years before the church was going to the ends of the known world with the gospel of the kingdom.

Paul Pierson describes the implications of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth": These words symbolized the breaking of an almost infinite number of barriers in order that men and women everywhere might hear and respond to the good news. Just as God in Christ had broken through the barriers which separated eternity and time, divinity from humanity, holiness from sin, so his people were to break through geographical, racial, linguistic, religious, cultural and social barriers in order that people of every race and tongue might receive the good news."

2. This Required a Baptism of the Spirit for Power Ministry -- Act 1:5  for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Act 1:8  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."

The assignment is humanly impossible and requires the Holy Spirit's empowerment at every level and undertaking.

Why don’t we see more kingdom power and authority demonstrated in our lives and churches in America. The reason is because we have truncated the gospel message from a proclamation to repent and be rebirthed into the triumphant, all-pervasive, God-big, kingdom of Heaven, where we learn how to reign in life as devotion-givers, disciple-makers, and dominion-takers, to a go-to-heaven-when-you-die-in-order-to-miss-hell type message that says the best you can expect losing in history; expect to be the tail and not the head; expect to be like a little band of soldiers of the cross who somehow manage to hold the fort until Captain Jesus comes back and kicks them all into hell! -- but remember, Heaven will make up for it; No wonder no one wants to join up! This is "rabbit-hole", fortress mentality type living, not kingdom living! But the message and method of Jesus was to deploy more people to "go and tell and show the power of God" to all people groups. Proclaim to the ends of the earth and demonstrate that the kingdom of God is here and you can enter it. 

Jesus said in Matthew 12:28, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you." In other words, one of the manifest, visible, indications of the presence of the kingdom of God is in the casting out of demons (breaking into the domain of Satan), the working of miracles (signs, fulfillment of prophecy, the blind receiving sight, and the deaf hearing), and the proclamation of the gospel.

The task of the Church, as ambassadors of the kingdom, is to represent the interest of our King by making the invisible kingdom of God, which is spiritual, visible and material through faithful obedience to the King and by proclaiming and demonstrating the message of the Kingdom. 

The kingdom of God isn’t an invitation to come in if you will, but a proclamation of truth and a demonstration of power that demands that all rebels surrender. When the Holy Spirit, the Chairman of Evangelism for the Kingdom, sets up a “kairos” moment, we should take advantage of that moment by receiving the “power tools,” i.e. gifts of the Spirit, that are needed to demonstrate that there is more to our message than just talk. Our assignment requires no ordination, no education, and knows no limitation!

II. A Thorough Follow-Up for Maturing Disciples in the Kingdom of God

 

A. Personal Involvement -- Luke -Theophilus

In the introductions to Luke's Gospel and the Book of Acts, we are introduced to two men : Luke and Theophilus. First, we will consider Luke; who was this man? We know that he was a Gentile, in fact, the only Gentile writer in the New Testament. An early writing, dated between A.D. 160-180, tells us that Luke was a Syrian from Antioch, a single man who accompanied Paul until his martyrdom, and who died himself at age 84.

Luke was a physician (Cols 4:14). He used a medical vocabulary instinctively. In the incident where the boy is said to be "thrown down" (English text) by his affliction, the Greek word Luke uses was the current medical term for convulsions. In the incident where the distraught father cries to Jesus, "Look upon my son!", the word Luke uses for "look upon" is the current medical term used of a physician seeing a patient. Luke was well-educated and widely travelled. He is the only gospel-writer to speak of the Sea of Galilee as a "lake"; for Luke had been to the Mediterranean, and he knew that compared to the Mediterranean, Galilee was only a lake! Also important to Luke, because important first to his Lord, were women. Luke mentions thirteen women mentioned nowhere else in the gospels. All of the gospel writers recognized that Jesus elevated women and gave them a status and honor they had received nowhere else. There are three emphases in Luke's mind and heart that receive more attention than anywhere else in the NT. The three emphases are joy, the Holy Spirit, and prayer. All three are related; all three flow into and out of each other. In Luke's writings Jesus prays more, and Christians pray more, than in any other NT writings. Luke also says more about the Spirit, God's intimate, effectual work in and among Christian people. And Luke's writings throb with joy.

But, how did this medical doctor become involved in Gospel apologetics and the writing of two books which are in our New Testament? If we combine history, revelation, reason, with a little licensed speculation, we discover that Paul and Silas came to the region of Galatia on Paul's second missionary journey (Acts 16:6).  While they were there, Paul apparently contracted a very serious eye disease (or an earlier disease deteriorated to an extremely incapacitating level).  When he wrote back to the Galatians later, he said, "You see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand" (Galatians 6:11, KJV). This expression suggests that Paul is straining with pen over parchment, blocking out gigantic letters because he cannot see well enough to write normally.

In Galatians 4:13-15, Paul said to them, "You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you at the first.  And my trial which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus ... for I bear you record, that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me."  Yet, God did not heal Paul of this serious defect because He had something much bigger and better in mind than the healing of His Apostle -- He was about to recruit (through Paul's illness) one of His leading spokesmen!

Paul and his team pressed on from SE to NW in the "corridor" of Asia Minor until they came to the city of Troas, a seacoast town on the northern arm of the Aegean Sea.  While at Troas, Paul knew he needed to see a medical doctor.  Some scholars believe that Paul and Luke had become acquainted earlier, because the leading medical school of that day was in Paul's hometown of Tarsus.  Others suggest that Paul simply asked about a good doctor and was referred to Luke (who was a brilliant doctor). However it happened, in all probability Paul saw Luke to get treatment for his physical problem.

It is highly probable that while there, Paul shared Christ and His Gospel with this brilliant Gentile doctor and "God opened the eyes of his heart" and Dr. Luke became a Christian. If this were the case, then Paul would have immediately began discipling him.

However, because Paul and Silas were "under orders" from the Lord, his time with Luke appeared to have to be cut short. Paul probably told Luke, "My brother, we must go now."  No doubt Luke replied, "Go? GO?  You just arrived, and you have led me to the greatest thing I have ever known or experienced, eternal life in Jesus Christ, and now you must go?  This can't be!"

But when Paul insisted, Luke pondered the situation for some while and then he said, "Paul, how would you like to have another traveling companion on your missionary team?" Paul's spiritual enthusiasm mounted, but he realistically replied, "What a glorious possibility!  But what about your medical practice?" Luke replied calmly, "Oh, that wouldn't be any great obstacle. The practice is in great shape. I could dispose of it easily." Now Paul realized how serious Luke seemed to be. "Do you mean that you would sell your practice and come along with us on the remainder of this journey?  I can hardly believe it." "But Paul," said Luke, "you need a medical doctor regularly right now, and I need you at least as much as you need me. Yes, I'll do it!"

Although we don't know if it happened exactly as we have described, however, we do know that Luke joined up with Paul's team and left with them on the continuation of their missionary journeys. This is verified in Acts, where up to verse 10 of Acts 16, Luke's narrative says, "They," as he writes about the missionary team; but at Luke 16:10 (at Troas, vs. 8), the narrative says, "Immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia;" and thus the "we sections" of Acts begin.  Luke, the writer of the Book of Acts, joined Paul's team at Troas!

Who was the second man whom Luke called Theophilus. His name either means "lover of God," or "beloved of God." So why did Luke write these two documents to this one person? Do we have any way of knowing? Yes, we do.

What was the condition of Theophilus when Luke wrote his Gospel to him?  He appears that he was a lost man, an unsaved sinner. Luke addresses him as "most excellent Theophilus" (Luke 1:3).  This is a Greek nobleman's title, so Theophilus was a Greek nobleman, a man of rank and position. No Christian is ever addressed by such a title in the New Testament, so this man was a lost man.  He had apparently heard the Gospel (Luke 1:4), but was unconvinced. Remember that "the Greeks seek after wisdom" (I Cor. 1:22), and are not easily convinced of ideas which may sound so humanly unreasonable as the Gospel (on first consideration). So, Theophilus probably balked at the truth when it was presented to him. But Luke was also a Gentile, and Luke had also had intellectual problems with the Gospel. But Luke also had become perfectly convinced of the authenticity and integrity of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, so he undertook to write an orderly presentation of the facts of Jesus and the Gospel.

In light of the spiritual state of Theophilus, we are lead to believe that Luke wrote this large letter that we know as the Gospel According to Luke to win one man to faith in Christ!  Perfect research, difficult work, and accurate writing - all for one man - that he might "know the certainty of those things, wherein he had been instructed."  Did the Gospel of Luke accomplish this purpose? Yes, it did!  How do we know? Because in the very first line of the second document, Luke drops the title of rank and simply calls him "Theophilus." So, the great task of evangelism was accomplished in this case in this peculiar way.  One Greek medical doctor, a brilliant professional man, researched the Gospel perfectly and wrote an apologetic Gospel to a serious Greek nobleman to convince him about Jesus and to bring him to Christ and salvation.  And it happened.

B. Substantial Investment --two letters Luke and Acts

Though Luke wrote only two documents of the 27 in the New Testament, those 2 documents make up roughly one-fourth of the volume of the New Testament.  What were they written for?  Did Dr. Luke have any idea that these two documents would ever appear in a Bible?  In the New Testament?  Surely not, for he didn't even know a "New Testament" was to be published.  Then why did he write these two incredible documents?

Remember that the Gospel according to Luke and the Book of Acts both had the same writer, the same recipient, and essentially the same subject.

Now our second massive truth:  One-fourth of the New Testament was written to one person!  Here is the genius of the Gospel of Christ in boldfaced print!  The Gospel of Christ maximizes the value, the purpose, the meaning, the usefulness, and the responsibility of each individual.  If you want to see how far we have strayed from the ideal and impetus of the Biblical Gospel, ask yourself this question:  Have you heard of anyone recently who has written a document of any length and sent it to just one person to reach that person for Christ?

Then why did Luke write this second document, the Book of Acts (another 28 chapters in your New Testament)?  If the man was won to Christ by the first document, then why is a second one necessary?  Friends, the answer to this question discloses the tragic sinful default of the modern church. The purpose of Christ has but barely begun when a person is saved!  It is His intention to implicate each of His followers, all born-again believers, in world-visionary, world-impacting disciple-making.  It is His design that each believer be a reproducer of reproducers with the "uttermost parts of the earth" continually in mind.  It is His intention that we follow His pattern - to see the masses through the man, and build the man to impact the masses.  So, the Book of the Acts was written by Dr. Luke to introduce Theophilus, in concept and conduct, to the world-moving strategy of Jesus.

C. Biblical Instructions

Luke is about to give his disciple, Theophilus, a lot of biblical instructions in his second letter we call the book of Acts. He begins his letter by pointing out a "big" verb in Acts 1:1, the word "began." The Gospel of Luke concerned "all that Jesus began both to do and to teach." Those historical events in the life of Jesus which are mentioned earlier are only a beginning!  Presumably then, if the "former treatise" concerned what Jesus "began" to do and teach," then the present document, the Book of Acts, will be about all that Jesus is continuing to do and teach. But this creates an immediate problem. Midway in the first chapter of the Acts, the "doer and teacher," Jesus, disappears from sight!  Then how did He continue to do and teach through 27-1/2 more chapters if He is gone from their sight?

Let's enlarge the question. What is Jesus doing now? He is continuing to do and teach to the level of His intent and purpose in our world today just as He did when He was here in the days of His flesh. But how is He doing it if He is not visible? He is doing it in the same manner He followed when He was here in His own physical body. What was His method then? We call it "incarnation," which means that "the Word (the "logos," the logic of God) became flesh and dwelt among us."  So, God came down to our level in the human Person of His Son, Jesus, and did and taught among men. What is His method today? Exactly the same, with these modifications:

(1) He occupies the bodies of all born-again believers for the purpose of His extending His doing and teaching through them;

(2) Unlike Jesus, each of them (us) is a sinner;

(3) There is a qualitative difference in that none of us is Jesus.  He is uniquely the only-one-of-a-kind Son of God.

With these modifications, each believer is to be an extension of the incarnation of Jesus Christ!  The instant a sinner is saved, Jesus Christ enters that person's inner life by the Presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been described as "Jesus' Other Self," and may be loosely understood as "Jesus without a body." So, each believer is a living container of the Personal Presence of the Son of God, and a primary purpose for this is that the believer may be an ongoing extension of the doings and teachings of Jesus.

D. Historical Illustrations -- apostles -- "whom He had chosen"

(1) chosen for special relationship-- v 2 --chosen -- The verb "chosen" is a middle voice verb which means that when God chose you, He chose you, not merely for your own advantage - your health, wealth, and happiness, but for His own sake!  You are saved for God's sake!  You are a Christian for Christ's sake!  You are alive for His sake!  So, you are not a Christian to get your needs met, or to gratify and satisfy yourself, but first to enjoy God and then to be employed and deployed by Jesus Christ as a continuation point of His ongoing doing and teaching.

(2) convinced of the Savior's resurrection-- v 3 -- He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs,

The word "seen" translates the Greek word from which we get our medical terms "ophthalmia," "opthalmology," and "ophthalmologist."  It is the technical root word for the human eyeball.  So, it could be accurately translated, "Jesus was eyeballed by them forty days" - after His death and resurrection!  Later, one of them wrote, "We have seen with our eyes the Word of life" (I John 1:1). Also, there is another feature of this brief phrase from Acts 1:3 that needs careful attention.  There is a tiny preposition in the text that is very difficult to translate in English.  It is the Greek word "dia," and is translated "between."  Jesus was "seen by them between forty days."  What a peculiar expression!  What does it mean?  It means that His visibility to the apostles was not continuous for the entire 40 days.  He appeared and disappeared at His own will for those forty days.  He materialized to sight and de-materialized to invisibility as He desired during those forty days.  Why did He do that?  He wanted His disciples to know without doubt or question that He was no less present with them when they couldn't see Him than He was when they could!  And the same is true today.

(3) charged with specific responsibilities -- v 2 -- after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit (Great Commission); 1:8--  witnesses -- not sequentially, but simultaneously -- in Jerusalem and Judea, and Samaria, and ends of the earth

(4) connected to supernatural resources -- v 5b -- you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."; v 8 -- But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,

III. The Total Field for Multiplying Disciples in the Kingdom of God

 

A. The Witness they were to Give -- v 8 -- you will be my witnesses

The word witness in the Greek is the word "martures" occurs over 30 times in the Book of Acts, and is one of the keynotes of the book.  Our English word martyr comes from this word.

The dictionary defines the word “witness” this way: “One who has seen or heard something” and “One who furnishes evidence.” A witness is someone who can say, “I know this is true.” In a court of law a witness swears on a Bible and promises to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Witnesses tell the truth, and if they are good witnesses, that is all they do.

A witness tells nothing less than the truth—and nothing more either. A witness tells what he has experienced and sticks with his testimony no matter where he is or what the cost might be. To be a true and faithful witness means being loyal to Jesus no matter the cost and speaking up for him even when others oppose you.

To paraphrase 1:8, Jesus said, "Believer, you are my evidence, my credentials, my arguments, my recommendations, my publicity, my advertisements, my commercials, my martyr-witnesses."  This is the strategy of Gospel advance.

B. The World they were to Go To -- v 8b -- in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Note carefully its closing words, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me BOTH in Jerusalem, AND in all Judea, AND in Samaria, AND unto the uttermost parts of the earth."  So, the community of closest persons are our assignment - "Jerusalem"; the citizens of our region are our assignment - "Judea"; the cast off persons throughout our region are our assignment - "Samaria" (Samaria represents the people of your worst prejudice); and the people groups of all the countries of the world are our assignment - "unto the uttermost part of the earth."  And note carefully that it is not "either/or" with regard to these peoples, it is "both/and."  Jesus Christ seriously expects us to take on the whole wide world!  How?  By learning and following the disciple-making strategy by which we see the masses through the man, and build the man to impact the masses - the strategy Jesus followed with His Twelve.

Making and Multiplying Kingdom Disciples

Matthew 28:18-19a, "And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations ..."

The importance of the Great Commission cannot be overstated. It is the risen, reigning King of Glory's one command -- "make disciples of all nations." However, recent surveys reveal that we are not being very effective in doing what Jesus told us to do. For example, in America research shows that less than five percent of Christians will ever share their faith, and less than one percent will ever make a ‘disciple!’ Statistics also revealed that less than ten percent of professing Christians self-consciously embrace a Biblical world and life view. For the most part the difference between the thinking and living of the Christian and the non-Christian is negligible. Jim Peterson, one of the leaders of the Navigators, a discipling focused organization, said, "Thirty years of discipleship programs and we are not discipled."

What is the problem? Well, we could point out many, but the main one is that we as Christians have lost the vision of the gospel of the Kingdom and the "now and not yet" reality of the Kingdom's presence and the fact that we are King's Kids in training for reigning with the King. The pervasive view today is that the gospel is only good for saving souls from hell and getting people off the earth and into heaven when they die. The great missionary-statesman, E. Stanley Jones (1884-1972), offered his tragic assessment: “The Church has lost the [biblical vision of] the Kingdom of God.”  Jones called this loss of vision “the sickness of our age.”

Loss of kingdom vision results in a categorizing of things as either “spiritual” or “secular.” The spiritual category includes such things as prayer, Bible study, church attendance, and careers in “full-time Christian service.” Most other things fall into the secular category. But God’s Kingdom encompasses everything! There are no spiritual and secular categories. Even everyday things are “Holy to the Lord.”

A kingdom disciple is defined by one man as: "Someone who thinks God's thoughts after Him and applies them to all of life." To do this requires Spirit-illumined, Biblical thinking. This type of discipling produces disciples in every arena of life who are intent upon seeing the kingdom of God come more fully, His will done more freely, and His name honored more faithfully wherever they are. Kingdom disciples consciously seek to bring truth, beauty, justice and goodness and mercy into the marketplace and public square.

Kingdom disciples enjoy a love relationship with the King, gladly submit to the King’s rulership, and labor in productive kingdom partnership. They believe that the Kingship of Jesus is a fact whose fruit is to be enlarged by extending His kingdom into every sphere of life in order to make disciples from every people group on the face of the earth.

Kingdom disciples understand that life in the Kingdom involves walking in the love of God, living in the will of God and obeying the Word of God.

Kingdom disciples are trained to understand the real value of things, of money, and not just their cost. Kingdom disciples do their work for the King and His kingdom, not primarily for money. A kingdom disciples may be a church leader, but for kingdom extension in a missionary movement and not a mercenary serving for money.

A kingdom disciple may be a doctor, not for money but for King Jesus to bring healing in every aspect of a community's life and make disciples from his field of ministry.

A kingdom disciple may be a lawyer, not for money but for King Jesus to bring Kingdom truth and justice in society and for disciples to be made in his field of ministry as truth wins out.

A kingdom disciple may be an engineer, not for money but for King Jesus to bring Kingdom solutions that will aid in the bringing creation into greater fruitfulness and works of mercies that will bring continued progress in relieving of human suffering and in so doing make disciple in his field of ministry.

A kingdom disciple may be an artist, not for money but for King Jesus and the advancement of truth and beauty in the world and in so doing make disciples from his field of ministry.

A kingdom disciple may be a business person, a blue collar worker, or a homemaker, not for money, or just for love of family, but for love of the Father and His Son's kingdom so that the whole earth is filled with the glory of the Lord.

No wonder Jesus commanded us to pray "thy kingdom come." This doesn't mean kingdom come into existence, but kingdom take over at all points in the personal, social, and political order where it is now excluded. Kingdom disciples demonstrate that life is better than death, health is better than sickness, liberty is better that slavery, kingdom prosperity is better than poverty in the kingdom of darkness, Christian education is better than ignorance, and justice is better than injustice.

Kingdom discipleship sees the church leaders as equippers and the congregation as ministers and releases them to go into every place and declare that the kingdom of God is here in the person of the King's representatives.

Christian, it is time that you get caught in the "ACTS," and as you are going be making kingdom disciples of all nations!