Notes:

Restore the kingdom

 This is a logical question. Jesus began his ministry with the appellation "repent for the kingdom of God is at hand" and here he is declaring his work as coming to an end. This must mean the kingdom is coming into being. With no other way of understanding a kingdom these people are expecting it to come as it always had - with power over the land and the political system. Established borders and law and order. They did not conceive of the kingdom Jesus inaugurated by completing his work and sending the Holy Spirit.

Donna and Jamie Winship podcast

Notes:

Command (vs 4)

Jesus gives a Jesus command. I’m not sure anyone else could have done this or would have done this. Wait here and don’t move until the gift appears. How long? No answer. How will we know the gift is here? No answer. What should we do while we wait? No answer. What kind of power? No answer. Notice they don’t actually ask any of these questions - at least not that we are told. But they do want to know about what the power will do for them. Will it displace the Romans?  Will we get our nation back? Will we get our lives back? In other words, we are willing to wait without questions if this is going to get us what we want out of it. 

Identity (vs 5)

The HS identity is a gift just as Jesus was a gift.  It is important to see him this way.  Gifts are given not earned.  They must be accepted.  They must be unwrapped or taken into our lives.

Wait in Jerusalem

Jesus commands his followers to wait in the place of their greatest defeat and worst tragedy. It is also the location of immanent danger to anyone associated with his name. They know Jesus is alive. He tells them about the kingdom. How exciting must this be?  How incredible to see these things and sense you are on the verge of all your dreams come true?  And Jesus command is to wait. That's fine. But he isn't going to wait with them. And that is not so fine. Jesus is leaving and we are waiting a "few days."  What does that mean?  We know God's sense of time and ours are not at all similar (2 pet 3:8). Waiting an indefinite amount of time without the real presence of God in Jesus and without the internal presence of God in the Holy Spirt, in a dangerous place full of bad memories is a daunting task.  This is a great act of faith. 

Why would Jesus leave them in this position?  What's the point?

Acts 1:2

Identity

The Holy Spirit will now be the identity who moves through the earth and everyone who comes in contact with him is trying to figure out who he is and who they are relative to him.  Now he is the Jesus identity fully present.  This is the handoff.

Giving instructions through the Holy Spirit

 If Jesus is with them and showing them convincing proofs he is alive, why is the Holy Spirit mentioned here as the agent of instruction?  Isn't Jesus himself instructing them?  Is this a combination of Jesus speaking and the Spirit affirming in their hearts?  This is a very curious statement. Couple this with Jesus' command for them to wait on the Holy Spirit and it becomes even more curious. The Spirit is present and active but not fully present and active or as present and active as He will be when Pentecost comes. This brief period of time must be like a turnover of command on a ship. Both captains are present at once but the outgoing is giving power and authority to the incoming. 

 What could be the reason(s) for this?  Perhaps it is so the disciples are ready to recognize the Spirit when he comes. They are getting both voices at one time and can hear that Jesus and the Spirit speak the same language - have one voice. Maybe this is the burning experienced by the disciples on the way to Emmaus when Jesus was opening the Scriptures to them. 

 Was this "turnover" of command a new way of being led by Jesus who had only followed the Father's leading before the resurrection?  Now the Spirit is leading the risen Jesus and so he is experiencing what his followers must experience after he leaves. This would complete his identification with us who will be led through the Holy Spirit and he will completely understand what it is like to be a Christian dependent upon the Comforter.

Acts 1:3

Kingdom

 After 30+ years and a brutal separation from God the Father, Jesus the Son is not in a hurry to get home. This is counterintuitive. The work is done - he said so himself on the cross (John 19:30). Why 40 days more?  Whatever it is you'd think it must be pretty important to delay his return to heaven.  But we do not get the inside story on Jesus's 40 day seminar. We only get the table of contents as it were. He proves his identity beyond their doubts and he teaches about the kingdom.  

What can we make of this?  Knowing that Jesus is alive is essential - He offers many convincing proofs. Knowing about a new administration is essential - it is the only subject Jesus teaches. 

What we know is that Jesus is alive and a new kingdom is either in place or coming or both. This must lead to the conclusion that Jesus's command for his followers to wait upon the Holy Spirit must have something to do with both his revealed, resurrection-type life and the kingdom. Holy Spirit is the kingdom come not just as an administrator of life like human kings but as the indestructible life that enters the heart of believers and sets up an internal administration. A life like Jesus's life. 

Ron and Nick begin a weekly study through the book of Acts looking for and listening to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Notes:

First account... began to do and to teach

Luke has begun a research project that takes him from the birth of Jesus to the birth of the church. Along the way he ceases to be an observer/journalist and falls into the story. The “they did” will become “we did” (see Acts 16:10). Luke is meticulous. Of all the gospel writers he is the most detailed. He uses words precisely. When he says his first account was what Jesus began to do and teach we need to take note. 

Luke's first work is the gospel of Luke where Jesus is the lead character from start to finish, but in this second work, Jesus is going to make a brief appearance and strangely depart. How are we to understand the word “began”? Luke implies that Jesus is going to continue both doing and teaching. How?  The way this is written is supposed to make us lean in and look for the answer right at the outset. We are supposed to enter here looking over the shoulder of the Jesus Christ, the resurrection man; listening to a dead man teach about how to live now in light of his destruction of the laws of sin, death, and physics. He is going to continue doing things and teaching us things and we’d better pay attention. He is no longer the peasant prophet, he is now the ruler of life and death. We listen in to the conversation and find out that he is not planning on sticking around and that some other person is going to shape and guide the movement he has begun. 

It is the Holy Spirit. It is not an it but a He; a person. He is the Spirit of Christ. What does that mean?  It means we should look for and expect Him to act like Jesus; to do the kinds of things Jesus did and say the kind of things Jesus said. He is not unknown to us. The whole gospel of Luke tells us what to expect from Him. Now we wait to see how He will arrive on the scene and what the gospel of Acts will be. 

Re-broadcast of verse by verse study through John 11 with the Holy Spirit.

Re-broadcast of verse by verse study through John 11 with the Holy Spirit.

Re-broadcast of verse by verse study through John 11 with the Holy Spirit.

Re-broadcast of verse by verse study through John 11 with the Holy Spirit.

Ron and Nick talk about wandering away from the Spirit and how it effects us.

Re-broadcast of verse by verse study through John 11 with the Holy Spirit.