Witness to the King Part2
The Church Empowered • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsWe close the series on the church empowered by speaking briefly on what it means to be Jesus' witness.
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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.”
Infilling of the Holy Spirit caused them to become witnesses
Acts 2:17 ““ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;”
Prophesy; See Visions; Dreama
they shall prophesy
Deut 19:15 ““A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.”
two witnesses to establish a charge
emphasis on witnesses.
The Holy Spirit Filled Church will be a Witness
The Holy Spirit Filled Church will be a Witness
Witnesses Defined
Witnesses Defined
And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
Measure or alignment the temple of God
who is temple of God?
The outer court is where the nations are going to trample for 3.5 years
Fast-forward to end times language
Jesus is granting authority to the witnesses
they speak in boldness for 3.5 years
Two olive trees two lampstands
For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
The gentile church and the Jewish nation are the only two identified as olive trees
by these two it is noted in this chapter God will bring about the work to be completed on earth to prepare for Christ’s return
The Two Lampstands
As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
a. Lampstands are noted as churches
They are testifying before the Lord of the Earth
*** The church empowered is not being empowered for itself, it is being empowered to prepare the return of Christ.
Power to Forgive
Power to Forgive
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
They receive the empowerment of Jesus Christ, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit
They had walked with Christ, He had promised them to do all the things He did and more...
The very first is not the spectacular (at least not by others)
they have the power to forgive and withhold forgiveness
“… if you do not forgive neither will you be forgiven”
Work of binding up the broken hearted
work of confessing sins to each other in James… not Gossip but to reconcile
Signs and Wonders
Signs and Wonders
You ever want to withhold someones blessings? Deny them forgiveness and the greatest blessing you would have denied them is peace… effectively shutting the sky above them
They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
The witnesses (church) will have the incredible power during the time (3.5 years)
Verse speaks of things we have encountered before as a way to show just how powerful we are to be
No limit to the power in which they will operate
This is why you are being tested and pressed
Moses was sent to the desert for 40 years to be tested and when the Lord wanted to wipe out the nation of Israel, it was Moses who stood as witness and asked God to relent
What was withheld from Moses… nothing… but he had learned to steward well what God had placed in His hands.
The same is now being done to the church
Protection for the Witnesses
Protection for the Witnesses
There is an onslaught of war against those who will testify… Jesus declares we will be hated because of Him;
Rev 11:10 “and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.”
witnesses are detested and those who they were crying out against will celebrate at their faux demise…
Jesus does not pray for us to be taken out rather He prays we are guarded through it...
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
we cannot take only the good… Jesus asks the Father to keep us in place until His will accomplished.
He asks that we be kept from the evil one…
And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.
we are not left to our own devices… out of the mouth of Jesus comes a sword on fire which is His word… it is what is pouring out of His witnesses mouth
No harm can come to them during this period.
later we see what appears to be their demise
because of their testimony
we note how much they are detested because of their testimony
are raised to life at the sound of the voice of Christ...
*** Church you are being empowered not for your glory but that you would fulfill the work God has called you into…
Yes in the authority of Christ through the infilling of the Holy Spirit you are to be His witness… its the entire purpose of your empowerment.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me
to proclaim the good news,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
to proclaim recover of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the return of the triumphant return of our King Jesus.