Acts is a transitional book and it is the first book dedicated to the early Church and the new dispensation called the Church-age begins in ACT 1.
It was TLJC who first gave the spiritual gifts: ACT 1:2 until the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
A promise from God the Father: ACT 1:4 And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” {He said,} “you heard of from Me;
ACT 1:5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. “
In ACT 1:6 & 7, our Lord points out a principle of the timing of God to His disciples.
3a. ACT 1:6 And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
3b. ACT 1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
The first challenge given to all Church-age believers; ACT 1:8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. “
In ACT 1:8 …. “My witnesses” refers to martyrs who are willing to give their life.
The Christian soldier needs to understand what kind of war they are in.
The second most important decision a Christian soldier must make is choosing their “Right Pastor-Teacher”. —
The book of Acts is a transitional book.
ACT 1:8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
Spiritual Gifts of Authority came on the scene for the first time, appointed by TLJC…
Once the Church-Age began in Acts 2, the Spiritual Gifts now became appointed by God the Holy Spirit.
The story of the Tower of Babel explains the origins of the multiple languages and humans were divided into linguistic groups, unable to understand one another.
The Jews are Jesus Christ’ Natural Family.
The Church-Age is Jesus Christ’ Spiritual Family – we refer to as the RFOG – Royal Family of God.
When the apostles went to a country like Italy – there were Jews who spoke in the Italian language and this was a “known tongue” – not an “unknown tongue”.
1CO 14:2 For the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people, but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.
1CO 14:3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for edification, exhortation, and consolation.
1CO 14:4 The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but the one who prophesies edifies the church.
There is only one Spiritual Gift – that edifies the person themselves and that’s the gift of tongues.
1CO12:27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.
1CO 12:28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues.
1CO 12:29 All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they?
1CO 12:30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?
1CO 12:31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts.
And yet, I am going to show you a far better way.
1CO 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
1CO 13: 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
1CO 13:3 And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.
1CO 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.
1CO 13:5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,
1CO 13: 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
1CO 13:7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1CO 13:8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
1CO 13:9 For we know in part and prophesy in part;
In 1CO 13:9, Paul is referring to the spiritual gifts of knowledge and prophecy and showing that they are only partially effective.
Any knowledge given to the church by God through someone with the gift of knowledge is just a tiny slice of all there is to know of God.
1CO 13:10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.
1CO 13:11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
1CO 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known.
1CO 13:13 But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1CO 14:21 In the Law it is written: “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord.
1CO 14:22 So then, tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe.
You cannot elect someone to a spiritual gift – it has to appointed by God.
Divine Order: God – over – Christ – over – Man – over – Woman.
Paul is the 12th apostle who wrote half of the New Testament and said I am the least of all the apostles – when he actually called himself an “apostle”… in 1CO 15.
EPH 3:8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
In Act 1:24-26, the Apostles all agreed to electing Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is given to those believers who desire to glorify our Lord with the doctrines that have to do with becoming a “Christian warrior” as a “Christian Soldier.”
1) The principle of objective = Plan
2) The principle of offensive = Victory
3) The principle of mass = Power
4) The principle of economy of force = Execution
5) The principle of movement = Momentum
6) The principle of surprise = Attack
7) The principle of security = Support
8) The principle of simplicity = Accuracy
9) The principle of cooperation = Teamwork
GAL 5:14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Each of the nine principles of warfare can be summed up in one word – Winner.
It’s interesting that Solomon wrote in Ecc 1:9 Whatever has happened, will happen again; whatever has been done, will be done again. There is nothing new on earth. (ISV)
When it comes to the doctrine of the Christian Soldier it is important to note that we understand the times in which we live and what to expect in the future so that we can be prepared for the battles that we are about to face.
“You and I are being plunged into a period of time about which the Bible says more about than it does about any other period of time including the Gospel Period.”
If we focus in on the times we are living in, all we have to do is to present our need to the Lord and then focus in on the plan of God.
So, this morning, I would like to begin with what we should be prepared for as Christian Soldiers in these last days.
The Top Ten Signs of the Last Days
There will be the rapid increase of wickedness; 2Ti 3:1-5 talks about an increase in apostasy and living for self and pleasure rather than following God.
Apostasy is fallen away from doctrine and living for self is loose living and doing whatever you want.
Many individuals call that type of living not being in bondage because they are free and live in liberty, yet they are in bondage to their liberty.
The apostle Paul warned us about this in GAL 5:13-14, For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
GAL 5:14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. “
Here’s what the apostle Paul said about this period of time;
2Ti 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2TI 3:2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2TI 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self‑control, brutal, haters of good,
2TI 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;
2TI 3:5 holding to a form of godliness [or living the spiritual life] , although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.
Today, many churches teach the Bible but don’t teach it as the very words of God and most don’t even know the doctrine of the filling of the Holy Spirit, Dispensations, and the Angelic Conflict.
This is teaching “information” without power!
This is having a form of religion but denying the power of living the spiritual life called godliness in verse 5.
The Holy Spirit is the power behind the Word of God being real in our life.
So, they add “other” things to the teaching of the Word.
In Matthew 24:37-39, we read that there would be an unrestrained violence in the last days.
MAT 24:37 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.