Wait

What happened to Jesus changes everything!

Thanks for coming to Lakeside this Easter. Easter is a big deal. When we think about the events of that resurrection morning, it comes to mind that what happened to Jesus changes everything!

Before we get to the message, would you help me? We'd love to pray for you, but don't always know how. We'd love to keep you informed, but may not have your address, a useable email address, or your best phone number. Some of you have never told us your name! Maybe we've scared you!

Why not help us update our database with your current information? Would you tell us if you are a first time guest, a second time guest, or a regular attender? Will you tell us if you're ready to have a conversation about Jesus? We'd love to know where you are and how we can help you.

While you fill out your connection card, we're going to start unpacking five words that have the power to change everything. Five words. Five weeks. Five invitations. All these words were spoken to the early Church immediately after Christ's resurrection. Wait. Listen. Look. Speak. Stand.

The first word we are going to explore is "wait".

The first word is "wait". Oh, how we hate to wait! We hate waiting for trains, pokey family members, and stoplights. Yet this is exactly what Jesus asked his followers to do in the wake of his death, burial, and resurrection.

Acts 1:4-5 (NIV) describes how, "On one occasion while Jesus was eating with them (his followers), he gave them this command: 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' "

Acts 1:8 (NIV) says, "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."

Wait to receive power. Wait for the gift, the promised Holy Spirit. Be ready. Be expectant. Through the power of His Holy Spirit, God is going to do something so incredible, you'll tell the whole world about it! The fact of the matter is that we need God's power, and for two reasons.

First, the corrosive power of sin is too great for us to handle alone.

Have you ever noticed that it doesn't matter how new a thing is, or how perfect, or how carefully you wash, wax, and clean, or try to protect a thing--everything is subject to corrosion. Isn't that frustrating? You let your yard or flower bed alone for one week and what happens? You drive your newly washed car one day and what happens?

Nothing stays perfect in this life. Everything rusts, corrodes, and fades. Nowhere is this more true than in our lives. Sin corrodes our character, our relationships, and our soul. For example, consider how a simple insult can affect our lives. Isn't it alarming how the slightest offense can trigger hateful thoughts, resentment, emotional rage, a volley of angry words, or even violence?

Isn't it alarming how an image, an ad, a television show, or a suggestive glance can send us spiraling down a dark path of shame, guilt, self-contempt, lust, envy, covetous desire, indecent acts, sexual immorality, or even adultery and divorce?

Isn't it alarming how little control we have over our tongues? The Bible says that the tongue is a restless evil, filled with deadly poison, and that no one can tame the tongue. No one! One moment we praise God, but the next moment we curse the guy who cut us off in traffic, or the person who didn't give us what we wanted. The tongue makes great boasts, slanders, gossips, maligns, speaks arrogantly, misleads, lies, bears false witness, and dishonors God.

Sin throws certain areas in your life out of control.

There are areas in your life that are out of control. You have thoughts that are out of control. Your eyes are out of control. Your tongue is out of control. Your impulses scare you. Your emotions and feelings carry you more deeply into sin than you'll ever confess. The cravings of your sinful nature are all consuming.

In Genesis 4:7 (NIV) God warns Cain, "...sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Sounds simple enough, but it's impossible. Instead, our sin masters us, and as the Bible teaches, we've become slaves of sin. See Romans 6:20. Even as the consequences of sin mount, as sin destroys our families, wrecks relationships, endangers others, and threatens our health, we continue down the same path. Not even death deters us from our sin!

Such is the corrosive power of sin. It renders us powerless, and we can't just stop it. But there is a second reason that we need the power of God.

The grip of death renders us powerless.

On Good Friday, Jesus' disciples were horrified by Christ's brutal crucifixion. Jesus was arrested, he was stripped naked, he was spit upon, he was beaten with clubs, he was lashed to the point of death, he was enthroned with thorns, and he was nailed to a cross. After he suffocated to death and breathed his last, a spear was thrust into his lungs and heart to ensure his death. His body was broken. His blood poured out. The disciples thought it was over. They ran. They fled. Death was final. They had no hope.

Through the years, I've sat and kept vigil at the bedside of many dear friends as they breathed their last. There is finality to death. I've seen so many rally all their strength to fight off death, but to no avail.

In Romans 7:24 (NIV) Paul says, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Sin is waging war against your mind, your body, your conscience, and your soul. Outwardly, you're wasting away. You see, we're powerless in the presence of death, and powerless against sin.

What alternative do we have but to wait? What can you do about the power of sin or about the power of death? We can do nothing. We're slaves to sin and slaves of fear when we are apart from Christ. We really have two choices. We can wait for sin and death to finish its work, or we can wait upon God for power.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

Jesus said, "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." And he also said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you."

Do you realize that the first public act of Jesus' ministry was his baptism? Many things happened when Jesus was baptized, but let me mention two of them. The first thing that happened was that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove. See Mark 1:10. The second was that immediately after his baptism, the Spirit sent Jesus into the desert for forty days where he was tempted by Satan, threatened by wild animals, and ministered to by angels. See Mark 1:12.

John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. In Christ Jesus, we could receive true forgiveness of all our sins. But John also preached that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He said that with Jesus, a power would come into our world that would forever break the power of sin in our lives. John didn't just introduce the world to Jesus. He also introduced the coming Holy Spirit!

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit, lived a sinless life through the power of the Holy Spirit, and promised to send the same Spirit into our lives, upon his death.

The Holy Spirit will give us true power and mastery over sin.

In John 16:8 (NIV) Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would, "...convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment." But more than merely convicting us, the Spirit would give us true power, mastery, over sin. Galatians 5:16 (NIV) is as much a promise as it is an observation. "...live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

Galatians 5:22-25 (NIV) describes the kind of changes the Holy Spirit makes in our lives. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

By the Spirit of God, Jesus conquered sin. And the same Spirit is powerful to set us free, so that we'd no longer be slaves of sin, but slaves of righteousness! See Romans 6:18. Wait for power. Live by the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit.

There is something else the Holy Spirit is powerful to do in our lives. Romans 1:4 (NIV) tells us that, "...through the Spirit of holiness (Jesus) was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 8:11 (NIV) echoes this truth. "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."

"Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you."

The Holy Spirit is powerful enough to break the power of sin in our life, but he is also powerful enough to rescue us from the grip of death, and to give life to our mortal bodies. Galatians 6:8 (NIV) says, "The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."

The invitation this morning is simple. The wait is over. You have a decision to make. In Acts 2 Christ Jesus poured out his Spirit on all who believed. But now it's up to you to also believe. In Acts 2:38-41 (NIV) Peter says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and all who are far off-- for all whom the Lord our God will call. With many other words he (Peter) warned them; and he pleaded with them, 'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.' (Save yourselves from the corrosive power of sin and from the grip of death. Walk in the power of the Holy Spirit!) Those who accepted his message were baptized and about three thousand were added to their number that day."

Romans 6:1-14 describes the kind of life that is now possible in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a life of victory over sin and victory over death. If we wait on God, he will deliver us completely. Wait!