Identity Theft – 5

Identity Theft – 5

Subject – One Church/One Family – The One Hundred and Twenty

By Rick Welborne

Luke 24:49-53 (NKJV)
⁴⁹  Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
⁵⁰  And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.
⁵¹  Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
⁵²  And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
⁵³  and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. 

Acts 1:8 (NKJV) ⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 

Acts 1:15 (NKJV) ¹⁵  And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty)…

--Again today we welcome Pastor Neftali, Shelia and La Vida Church. We are very excited because when we come together something beautiful happens. Unity! Holy Spirit comes!

--About three weeks ago I was praying and worshiping the Lord and God began to pour this message into my heart. Obviously, I didn’t write anything down, I was in the shower.

--At first, I thought I would veer away from the series about Identity Theft but as God spoke to my heart about the One Hundred and Twenty, I knew it had everything to do with our identity.

--Life Church and La Vida church we need to know who we are in Christ and we need to know what our identity can be in Him.

1. We Have a Choice About Our Identity.

--A couple of Sundays ago I preached about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and how those events have such an impact on our identity. Without that we are lost.

--We all know Jesus was crucified for all of our sins but we also know that He was resurrected from the dead which gives all of us new life. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.

--Jesus appears during the time after His resurrection and before His ascension into Heaven, and actually, He gave all of us a choice about our identity and who we would become.

1 Corinthians 15:3-6 (NKJV)
³  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
⁴  and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
⁵  and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
⁶  After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

--Jesus appeared, after His resurrection, to over 500 people all at one time, showing that he had conquered death and the grave, and giving them a choice to truly identify with Him.

--You see, Jesus said He would build His church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. He was putting together His army to change the world. Then, He gave this promise:

Luke 24:49 (NKJV) ⁴⁹  Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." 

--Jesus gives an invitation (altar call) to more than 500 people at one time to identify with Him and to be on His team. Wait in Jerusalem for the Promise of the Father…Holy Spirit.

--How many of them showed up? Acts 1:15 (NKJV) a hundred and twenty. Jesus gives them the opportunity of a lifetime to be world changers and to identify with Him and only about one-fifth show up.

--Does any of this sound familiar? Week after week, month after month, year after year, we give people an opportunity to identify with Christ and change their world, their families.

--Have you ever asked yourself what was so important in the lives of the other four-fifths that they didn’t think it was important enough to go and wait in Jerusalem? In church? To do what Jesus said?

--Have you ever asked yourself what is so important in the lives of people today that they choose to not show up to hear God’s Word and to experience His presence? 

--Their identity is in the world. How can something like Covid make people choose to neglect God’s house. Shouldn’t we run to God instead away from Him?

Deuteronomy 30:18-20 (NKJV)
¹⁸  I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.
¹⁹  I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
²⁰  that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; 

2. Our Obedience Leads to Our Identity.

Acts 1:4-5&8 (NKJV)
⁴  And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me;
⁵  for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
⁸  But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

--Jesus commanded them…if you do what I tell you, you will become a part of propagating the gospel all over the world. A Kingdom Builder. Think about the other four-fifths who didn’t show up.

--Here at La Vida Church and Life Church you can be a part of being a Kingdom Builder. How? Through Missions and Faith Promises. Obedience to the Great Commission.

--Think about, not only what Jesus thought about the one hundred and twenty, but what the world thought about them. Pastor, do you have a verse for that? I do!

Acts 17:6 (NKJV) ⁶ "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

--How many of you would love to be a part of the one hundred and twenty and be accused of turning the world upside down? Obedience does that.

--Our disobedience puts us in the category of the four-fifths who kind of disappeared into oblivion because they chose not to show up for church and be filled with Holy Spirit power.

--I want to identify with the one hundred and twenty who went against the grain of society and did not fear what man thought about them. They simply wanted to be obedient to God.

--Their obedience was not only a willingness to die to themselves but a willingness to possibly die physically which happened to many of them.

--I am afraid we have raised a generation of disobedient professors of Christ but deny the power of Holy Spirit. We are seeker sensitive and we don’t want to offend anyone.

--Is there anything more offensive that letting people perish when we are supposed to have the treasure of Christ in our earthen vessels? We actually care for their souls.

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) ¹⁸ Where there is no vision, the people perish: 

--We need to get a vision that our identity is wrapped up in being a part of the one hundred and twenty and that we are unashamedly obedient to Jesus, whatever that may cost us. 

--How will I ever find my identity until I am obedient to the creator God Who has my life in His hands and He is molding me into what I am supposed to be?

 Isaiah 64:7-8 (NLT2)
⁷  Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins.
⁸  And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. 

3. What it Means to be in the One hundred and Twenty Club.

--It means that we obey what Jesus commands us to do. We don’t filter His commands thru a world system that says life is all about me. 

Acts 1:4 (NKJV) ⁴ And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father…

--To be part of the One Hundred and Twenty, we simply do what Jesus tells us to do. It comes down to this, is He the Lord of your life or is it you who is in charge of your identity and destiny?

--To be part of the One Hundred and Twenty, we wait and we worship until Holy Spirit comes.

Luke 24:52-53 (NKJV) ⁵² And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
⁵³  and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. 

--They waited and they worshiped. They waited and they worshiped. They were filled with great joy. Why? They were doing what Jesus said and they were expecting the Promise of the Father!

--To be part of the One Hundred and Twenty they allowed Jesus to decide their identity and their destiny. Because He is Lord, He is the Potter and we are the clay.

--He decides who we are and what we become. 

1 Peter 2:10 (NLT2) ¹⁰ “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” 

--I want to identify with the One Hundred and Twenty! How about you?