Sermon/Sunday School Teaching

Acts 1:8
Theme: Believers have the power to witness through the Holy Ghost.
Introduction:
Before Jesus ascended to heaven He commissioned His disciples to proclaim the gospel to all the nation
(Matt.28:18-20) and also other people that saw Him ascended to heaven.
This account in Acts is a continuation of Luke’s writing and is good to read after reading the gospel of
Luke. During this time the Apostles where at Jerusalem whim God tells so that they should wait on
(Acts 1:4). The coming of the Holy Ghost was promised by Jesus (John 14:16-17,26).

1. Believers are indwelt by the Holy Ghost

a. All that believe in Christ Jesus have the Holy Ghost dwelling in them.
At Pentecost, the disciples received the Holy Ghost and appeared unto them cloven tongues like fire.
And during witnessing all that received Jesus the Holy Ghost also come upon them, this was also the
teaching of Apostle Paul in I Cor. 6:19-20 and also in Rom. 8:9.

b. Christian must take good care of the temple of God.

I Cor.6:19-20 describes our body as God’s temple, knowing this truth we should be careful in doing
something in our body, also be aware what we see, where do we go for the Holy Ghost is with us.

Illustration/Application.
When no one is living in a house many insects may start to live upon it and as week pass we can
observe that it starts messing up until the house is completely mess up inside out. This is true to any
unoccupied space/rooms. We must understand that after we got saved the Holy Spirit is living in us, as a
temple we should be conscious in every thing we do and make sure that we are cleaning our hearts and
minds from evil. Everything we do the Holy Spirit witness us and everywhere we go He is with us even
in every sin we commit. We should always ought to please God wherever we are and whatever we do
that we may not blaspheme the Holy Spirit (Eph.4:30)

When a visitor came to our house we always want that our place was clean and neat that we should not
feel ashamed about it and as long as the visitor was there we are very accommodating and desire always to
pleased him. This should be the same to the one who is dwelling in us, we should be conscious in everything
we do and think that we may please Him. Our every move must be by faith in order to please God
(Heb.11:6) because if it is not by faith we sin against God (Rom.14:23).

2. Christian must be a witness

a. We have received power

Jesus promised power through the Holy Ghost that will aid/enable disciples/believers to witness
about the work of God to save people from sin and penalty of it by the redemption Jesus did at the
cross of Calvary 2000 yrs. ago.
b. We must be a witness
Matt. 28:18-20 was Christ Great Commandment to the Apostles and to other believers present when Jesus
ascended to heaven.

Illustration/Application:
2 Cor. 5:19-20 clearly teaches that the ministry of reconciliation is given to us and that was God was in
reconciling the world unto Himself. We are ambassadors for Christ that we represent Him in our life and boldly
share the gospel that we received to them that is not yet reconciled to God for He wants all men to be reconciled
with God and that all will come to the knowledge of truth.
 After that the Pentecost happened the Apostle boldly speak the gospel to every people. This is also one
of the ministries of the Holy Ghost to give us power/unable us to witness to every creature. Are we not to follow
the apostles? Or are we above the apostle that we should not witness. The Holy Spirit will empower us to
witness and we should always remember God is the One who saves not us, our part is to share the good news to
everyone.

3. The gospel must advance

a. The gospel advance from one place to another.

The gospel advance as God says that the apostles and believers must be witness starting from Jerusalem and in
all Judea, and then in Samaria and lastly to the uttermost part of the earth. This verse serves as a table of
contents where the gospel was preached from place to place.

b. Believers should take part on the advancement of the Gospel.

It is only by the mercies of God that we gentiles also became a part for the gift of salvation that God hath first
promised to the Jews. By God’s grace through our faith in Christ we are saved, whom God ordained Apostle
Paul to preach the gospel also to us (the gentiles). By the people around us we have heard the gospel that lead us
to have faith upon the Savior and be saved, remember who was used by God that you may be able to know the
truth and how he/she diligently encourage you and told you truth to fulfill God’s will in your life. We must be
willing to partake in fulfilling God’s will to every people that is to be saved.

Illustration/Application:
When you win a competition or you top on your class you are very happy and you want to tell everyone
about it; maybe you won in the bible quiz at your church there is something in you that at some point
motivation to tell others about it. Right? After knowing/hearing the gospel and receive God’s mercy and grace
that you are saved by trusting upon Jesus is it not more interesting and reasonable to share the gospel also to
others?
Many of us know the theory of Evolution that was introduced by Charles Darwin many years ago that
according to him and other that believes this that it answers the basic question in human life and that is “where
do we come from?” and the interesting part of it is it was adapted and believed by many people even in past
years it was included in our school curriculum and teach to almost every human. Is it not reasonable though that
we tell others about the truth of God?

Conclusion:

The people need the gospel.

111,046,913 was the estimated population if the Philippines this 2021, maybe in our area is about
300,000 people living and maybe 1,000 of that was a believer. The truth is many people will be thrown into hell
because of their sins, but another truth is that Jesus died for the sins of all people that all people the believe in
Him should perish in the everlasting judgement in hell but all be saved by calling upon Him. And this truth was
known in us by God and we have received the great commission and given to us the ministry of reconciliation
by God. Do we desire that people must suffer eternal judgement in hell? Our family, friends, relatives and other
people around us? What if no man was sent by God to share the gospel to you? Acts 1:8 serves as a reminder to
us share the gospel that we should participate in it maybe our part is in the part of the verse “to the utter most
part of the earth. We should know and claim that the power to witness is upon us.
Maybe God will use you to tell the good news to your friend, or to your classmate, or to your family. We should
be witnessing both to small and great just like the Apostle Paul and have compassion to people like Jesus.