Acts 1:1-3 NRSV In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Acts 1:8-9 NRSV “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

Acts 28:30-31 NRSV He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove; descend on us, reveal your love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround us now with all your glory; speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us that sacred flame; then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.

St. Andrew’s Church is located in the tiny town of Beulah, Michigan. They say St. Andrews is built on “a site of which dreams are made.” Why? St. Andrews has a beautiful, high-arched ceiling with open beams. On three sides it is solid glass, floor to ceiling. No matter where you sit in the sanctuary, you take in incredible views. And the scene is magnificent! The church sits perched high on a ridge, overlooking rolling hills, orchards and a picturesque lake. In the distance you see Lake Michigan and its dunes.

Ned Edwards was the pastor when the church was built. The summer it opened, he said: “I’ve spent one or two hours each day guiding people who stop to see this wonderful church building. One man said to me, ‘With all this glass, the high ceiling and the beautiful view, this must be the church you always dreamed of.’” Ned almost said “yes,” but then he stopped himself. Instead, he said, “This is the church I dreamed of, but not because of the windows, the view, or the architecture. It is the church of my dreams because it is an amazing group of people who became alive together in Christ, who found a spirit of joy in this community of faith and who have expressed it in the building.” (Harnish)

He is right, isn’t he? The church of our dreams isn’t about bricks or mortar, glass or vistas. It’s about people coming alive together in Christ, finding joy, growth, community, faith and purpose, and then expressing that in tangible ways in the world. (Harnish)

For 28 Sundays, we have explored a portion of the New Testament called “Acts of the Apostles.” We’ve gone back to the beginning -- back to the church in its earliest days, before there were any buildings and all they had was each other and God’s dream. And we’ve learned a lot about the church of our dreams.

One of the things we’ve learned is this: the church of our dreams can only be experienced through the power of God at work in us. (Harnish)

How else can you explain what happens in Acts? After all, what were the odds?

New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman said of the first Christians: “They were a small, inauspicious sect within Judaism. They followed a virtually unknown Jewish teacher who was executed for treason. The earliest adherents…were a tiny group of illiterate peasants from a remote, unsavory corner of the Roman Empire.”

And by the best estimate, they numbered, at most, only a couple of hundred. And Jesus said to them: you will be my witnesses…not just in Jerusalem and Judea, but in Samaria (outside your comfort zone) and to the ends of the earth (way outside anything you ever conceived).

And questions abound! How would they get there? Who would pay for this? Jesus was a little fuzzy on the details. They had no strategic plan. It seems almost absurd and laughable, except for one thing: it actually happened. Within 300 years, and before Constantine validated Christianity, those few believers grew to 6-7 million.

We have to ask: how did a handful of illiterate peasants have such an impact on the world? It wasn’t because they were smarter or more articulate or better at arguing religion or because they had more resources or power. It was because the presence of Christ in them empowered them and created a community like the world had never seen.

There’s no way to explain it except by the power of God! So, one thing I’ve been reminded of in Acts is how essential it is that we rely on the power of God.

I think of the verse in Colossians: “the secret is simply this: Christ in you…bringing with him the hope of all the glorious things to come.”

A second thing I know I’ve learned is that the church of our dreams is a church meant to live boldly.

If we learned anything in our journey through Acts, it was that Acts is a story of bold believers. And the church of “our dreams” is a church where we dare to dream and we take risks, where we speak and act, where we serve and love with boldness! But that’s not easy. So many of us are risk averse!

Let me ask you: how many of you have been afraid of talking to another person about Jesus because you’re afraid of not knowing enough or getting something wrong or they might think badly of you? How many of you have ever been afraid that you’d mess up serving or teaching in Christ’s name? I think it’s true of all of us!

But listen, Jesus doesn’t say “go into the world and don’t make any mistakes.” We will make mistakes.

I heard the story of a woman in a Christian small group. On her birthday, friends wanted to get her a cake and have her favorite Bible verse put on it: I John 4:18 “There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear.” She loved that verse because she had failed in a lot of relationships…she had made a lot of bad decisions.

Her friends went to the baker and ordered the cake, but the baker didn’t know scripture…he picked the Gospel of John rather than the letter of John, and John 4:18 reads: “The fact is you have had five husbands and the man you have now is not even your husband.” That was a bad mistake!

But here’s the deal! Jesus never said to his friends, “Don’t make mistakes.” He just says GO! Did they make mistakes? Tons! Will we make mistakes? You bet! But following Jesus is not about mistake avoidance. (Ortberg)

Ben Zander is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and he works with students who have world-class music potential. He says that what paralyzes so many of them is that they’re afraid they’re going to make a mistake. And if they’re afraid to make a mistake they won’t play...and if they don’t play, they won’t get better. So he teaches them that if they make a mistake, instead of getting all nervous and upset, just stop, raise your hand and say “fascinating.”

In the Christian church we ought to be so bold and courageous…so willing to take risks that the word “fascinating” is heard all the time because we’re out there, taking risks, acting boldly, sometimes failing, but always daring to try new things for God. Yes, we will make mistakes, but we will always be trying. Fascinating!

Then, third, we’ve been reminded that the church of our dreams is always secondary to the church of God’s Dream. Always! It’s not about our dream; it’s about God’s dream.

Over these 28 weeks we’ve been reminded that God has a dream for this world. Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is God's vision for the world, the way God meant it to be! The Kingdom of God is not so much about heaven when we die -- though that is a wonderful promise! The Kingdom of God is a world where those things that we believe to be heavenly, more and more are happening here and now.

John Ortberg says it like this: it is where “up there happens down here.” What does he mean by that?

· Every time you are in conflict with someone and you want to hurt them or gossip about them, but instead you go to them and seek reconciliation and forgiveness, up there comes down here.

· Every time you decide to give sacrificially to someone who is hungry or homeless or poor, up there comes down here.

· Anytime someone who’s been hiding from God comes out of hiding; anytime someone with an addiction acknowledges truth; anytime someone stands by others in trouble, up there comes down here.

· Every time a workaholic decides to stop idolizing their job and rearranges their life to begin to love and care for the kids entrusted to them, up there comes down here.

· Every time you and I love…every time we include someone who’s lonely…every time you encourage someone who’s defeated… every time you challenge somebody who’s wandering off the path… every time you serve the under-resourced, up there comes down here and God’s dream is realized. (Ortberg, God is Closer Than You Think)

And so maybe the most important thing of which we’ve been reminded in Acts is this: You are God’s plan. You are! I am! God has chosen to do the work of the Kingdom of God through you and me. God has no other plan! So God has placed great trust in you and me; God has great expectations of us as individuals and as community. You are God’s plan!

Imagine a football team that gets together and the players say: “You know, our huddles are so good. I love our huddles. We’re just not going to leave the huddle. Here’s the plan: we’ll just stay in our huddle the whole game because when we go on the field, people block us and they keep trying to tackle us, and they knock us down and we get hurt. But the huddle is wonderful; the huddle is so safe. So, we’re going to stay in the huddle.” (Ortberg)

To the coach, that is unthinkable! Why? The huddle is not an end in itself. The whole idea is that the team gets together to be encouraged and get their assignments for what comes next. The point of the huddle is to get in the game.

The question the Holy Spirit asks in Acts is this: “Are you in the game, or are you just in the huddle?”

Each Sunday we gather here as a body and seek to have the best huddle we can have.

We gather here to worship God, to put our arms around each other and encourage one another as we learn more about God and God’s will for us.

And as we gather, we find out more about how the Holy Spirit has gifted us, and we get our assignments and then put our hands together say, “Let’s go!”

Then, Jesus turns us loose on the world to be his body, to be the living manifestation of his will, wherever and whenever there’s a hurt or a need or an opportunity.

Reverend Ned Edwards was right -- not just about the Beulah Church, but about any church. We are the church of God’s dream, not because of high ceilings or windows or a view. We are the church of God’s dream when people, alive in Christ, find joy, growth, community, faith and purpose and then begin expressing that in tangible ways in the world.

Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie is a retired chaplain of the U.S. Senate. He’s an excellent writer and speaker. A number of years ago, he wrote a wonderful study book about the Acts of the Apostles, called Drumbeat of Love. Lloyd concludes his writing about Acts in this way. I share his words to end this sermon and this series, The Acts 29 Adventure. He says:

“Acts ends abruptly, like an unfinished symphony. I think that is exactly what Luke intended. It was not the closing of an age, but the beginning of the era of the Holy Spirit at work (in us). The…last chapter of the Book of Acts thunders…with the challenge (for each of us, in our time) to write the new chapter of the Acts of the Apostles….”

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Endnotes: This sermon is based, in part, upon material from the following sources:

1. Bart Ehrman, From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity
2. Jack Harnish, The Church of Your Dreams
3. Lloyd Ogilvie, Drumbeat of Love
4. John Ortberg, “The Holy Spirit 2” and “Acts 29”