Morning Message Text: Acts 1: 6-14
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
8 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.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas
12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.
13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Morning Message:
Many times, in the course of our lives we focus on special occasions. We celebrate things such as weddings, birthdays, graduations, the birth of children. We mark those special occasions and hold them in our memories. The occasions are not always pleasant. Sometimes the things that stick in our memories are things that have brought us sadness. In the church, we have occasions of great joy that we celebrate and occasions of sadness when we are called upon as God’s people to support one another. We celebrate weddings and baptisms, the salvation of loved ones and the joy of worship. For all of these occasions, God gives us words that bring special meaning and help us to remember. At the wedding of a loved one, we sometimes remember the vows that they spoke, we feel joy when we recall the words that were recited when they placed the rings on each other’s fingers. When we witness the baptism of a child or grandchild, the commitment that is made has meaning, I will raise this child to know the Lord. Even at the funeral of a loved one, the words matter; they take on special meaning and, many times, as we remember them, we are brought to tears. Words matter, and they make a difference if we pay attention and allow God to work through them.
As I have studied God’s Word through the years, I have learned to pay attention not only to the words and their meaning, but also to when and how they appear in God’s Word. Just as words take on special significance during special occasions in our lives, this is also the case with God’s Word. I am reminded of the transfiguration of Jesus. It was surely a sight to behold. Jesus, Moses, and Elijah all together, and Jesus glowing in a dazzling light, you would think that would be enough to make a permanent impression on Peter, James, and John, and I am sure it did. But God said, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Those words, spoken by God, were life- and attitude-changing. During the Lenten season, on Good Friday, we celebrate the seven last words of Jesus from the cross. We can all picture in our minds the horror of the cross, and we can imagine the pain and agony of our Savior as he suffered and died for our sins.
But the words spoken at the end of his earthly life, they are riveting and have such meaning for our Christian lives. “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” This reminds us that a Holy God cannot dwell with sin. “Women, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” These words go beyond the suffering of the cross and will be forever remembered because Jesus is taking care of his mother, even as he suffers and dies for mankind. “It is finished.” Jesus gives us more than a picture where we have to imagine that he paid the price for our sins, he tells us in words that we will have forever that he has completed the work of salvation.
I believe that we miss the whole point of the Ascension of Jesus. We spend a lot of time talking about the wonder of it all and the angels talking to the disciples. Those are wonderful visual things that we are told about. We didn’t get to see them, but we believe the accounts of scripture. We believe God’s Word. We like to talk about what a glorious sight it must have been, but are we willing to pay attention to what the disciples did? They gathered together, they joined together constantly in prayer — I can understand that some might say my prayers are too long — and here we have the disciples constantly in prayer. We think that the ten minutes or so that we give God every day is a real sacrifice on our part. And just in case you might be thinking that this was just something that only the disciples were called to do, it says they were joined by the women, even Mary the mother of Jesus. God’s Word shows us exactly what we are called to do.
My last point is this: We put a lot of emphasis on the very last things that our loved ones say to us before they leave this earth. How many times I have thought about the last conversations that I have had with people. For me, as a pastor, it is always my hope that the last time I speak to someone before they die, I will get to check on their salvation. No matter how certain I may feel about your final destination if you talk to me before you go, I will witness to you. Jesus’ last words, not before he died, but before he left this earth. You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Why, church, are these words not more important to us? I believe that these words were the whole reason that Jesus had the disciples gather on the Mount of Olives. Not to watch him ascend, not to talk with the angels, but to tell them one last time, with his last earthly breath, Witness! The timing of these words should highlight for us the importance that our Savior placed on this word. Witness, Witness, Witness, we should write it above the doorways so that we see it every time we leave this place. It was important enough for Jesus to say it last.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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