[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't know me, my name is Jesse.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure Tim is very jealous of that reception.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you do know me, this will probably make a lot of sense to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as a kid, I used to really like magic.
[SPEAKER_00]: one of my birthday parties had a magician as the entertainment.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was gifted a card trick instruction book as a gift and one of those big like everything you need to be a magician box sets.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to do magic tricks, learn how everything worked and entertained people.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I was impatient and the tricks I was doing felt like they were a little bit childish and with a baby.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I let my magician dreams fall by the wayside.
[SPEAKER_00]: But one day I was at home sick between watching Judge Judy and Dr. Phil and waiting for the cartoons to come on.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a show called Breaking the Magicians Code on TV.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it kind of reinvigorated my love of magic.
[SPEAKER_00]: The premise of the show was this guy in a very creepy mask was a former magician.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was now breaking the one rule all magicians have never revealed your secrets.
[SPEAKER_00]: He would perform these incredible tricks, disappearing acts, soaring people in half, and breaking out of chains, any amazing trick that you can think of,
[SPEAKER_00]: Once he dazzled the audience, he would then go into a deep, detailed breakdown of exactly how the trick was performed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was getting my notebook out, writing down how to do all of these amazing tricks, and trying to plan how I could get a 65,000 ton truck into the yard so I could make a disappear.
[SPEAKER_00]: As he explained these tricks, every time there would be a way the audience got tricked
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether it be misdirection, whether magician would tell the audience to look one way and then one of these team would go off and do something behind everyone's back.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe it was explaining to the audience how the trick would work and lying to them and just using human psychology to make the brain believe something was different.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of these tricks were just that tricks.
[SPEAKER_00]: as I watched this show, the wonder, and all of magic started to wash away.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was all just smoke and mirrors, so what was the point?
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do have some interest in one particular disappearing act, which we'll be talking about tonight.
[SPEAKER_00]: But just like the mass magician, I plan to reveal the secrets and prove there was no magic, but a planned step into a new age.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first let me pray.
[SPEAKER_00]: Heavenly Father, I just thank you that we have been able to contemplate on the sacrifice that you made for us in the Easter period.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Lord, we thank you that that was not the end of the story.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just a step.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was opening up a new age to a different experience of how we can come to know you more.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we thank you for that and we pray that as we learn more and more about acts and how the early church came to be, Lord, that we would start to feel this fire, that the disciples of the time felt, and we could create a space in this church, but also outside of this church where your Holy Spirit would fill into more people and make them feel known, loved, and a part of your church.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, there are a couple of scriptures that speak to the ascension.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've chosen the one at the start of Acts for a couple of reasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: First, it has some pretty great takeaways that I'm going to talk to you about tonight, but also our next series that we are just starting is going to look at the early church in Acts and see the disciples step into the promises that God has for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, as we jump into the message tonight, let's start by reading the relevant scripture.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, in my former book Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day he was taken up to heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles here chosen, after his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command to not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you have heard and you speak about.
[SPEAKER_00]: The John baptized with water, but in a few days, you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then they gathered around him and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?
[SPEAKER_00]: He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria until the ends of the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid him from their side.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky?
[SPEAKER_00]: 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: So much good stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's start by contextualizing this verse a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: The book, we find acts directly after the gospels in the Bible, and it's widely considered to be a direct sequel to Luke's gospel, part two, if you will.
[SPEAKER_00]: The end of Luke speaks of Jesus rising from the dead, walking with two of the disciples on the road to a manus, appearing to all of his disciples, and then quickly mentions his ascension to heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is deliberate and it's signed posted by a piece of biblical repetition.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever you recognize a piece of repetition in the Bible, it's more than likely deliberate.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it will often illuminate more for you by cross-referencing the sources of the repetition and this is no different.
[SPEAKER_00]: What I'm talking about is the number 40.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now can anyone think of a time in the Bible that you can remember the number 40 being
[SPEAKER_00]: hold them out please.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes any others?
[SPEAKER_00]: Beautiful.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of examples of the number 40 in the bottom rule.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have named a couple, but as you can read in the examples behind me, I have up on the screen.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may start to think there is more to this than just a number.
[SPEAKER_00]: First, we had to genesis, the very start of the Bible, and we read the story of Noah and the flood.
[SPEAKER_00]: For 40 days and 49, Noah watched rain fall on the earth flooding it.
[SPEAKER_00]: In Moses's story, we see two separate instances of the number 40 being a part of his story.
[SPEAKER_00]: Firstly, his life is segmented into three different 40 year periods.
[SPEAKER_00]: 40 years in Pharaoh's court, 40 years as a shared in median, and 40 years leading Israel.
[SPEAKER_00]: The more obvious example is Moses spending 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai to receive the law.
[SPEAKER_00]: During this time, Moses received the tablets of stone, the law, and detailed instructions of the tabernacle.
[SPEAKER_00]: In numbers, we read of the Israelites who drew to their lack of faith, were sentenced by God to wander the desert for 40 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: We read in Acts 2 Samuel and 1 King the 1st, 3 great kings of Israel, Saul, David, and Solomon, each rule for 40 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two of the great prophets Elijah and Ezekiel had 40 day experiences, and finally we have Jesus who fasted for 40 days and forty nights in the Judean desert before being tested and tempted by the devil.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now what's the point of all this?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a coincidence, it could have been any number.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why does it matter?
[SPEAKER_00]: The Hebrew writers of the Bible would often use numbers to convey meaning, not simply to indicate time periods.
[SPEAKER_00]: Often, numbers were shown to have symbolic meaning, illuminate theological concepts and explain spiritual truths.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're talking about a book that is God-breathed, written with the creator's stamp of approval.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think we can look at a series of events and believe there is no connection between them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And something that can't point to why the number 40 was again used in the ascension narrative.
[SPEAKER_00]: Each of these stories marks a period of testing, trial, judgment, or preparation,
[SPEAKER_00]: That, once God has led the person through it, Marx's spiritual transition to something different.
[SPEAKER_00]: A new age that God's people need to navigate in a distinct capacity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Through Noah, we see God create His first covenant with humanity where there was a reset in the relationship with the Creator, but a promise that something like that would never happen again.
[SPEAKER_00]: With Moses, we see the mosaic covenant established, in which Israel, God's great nation, is created, and must abide by new laws handed down to Moses.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Israelites, as relatable as ever, fail to follow God's call for them, and are sentenced to 40 years in the wilderness.
[SPEAKER_00]: After this time, they led to the land promised to Moses on Mount Sinai, for the first time
[SPEAKER_00]: Then we come to Jesus who goes into the desert, fast and is berated and tested and goded by the devil, but holds firm and rebukes him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Immediately after this, he hands his period of preparation to begin his teaching, miracles, and fulfill his purpose on earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: We see in these examples that whenever the number 40 is mentioned, there is a period of trial preceding a new understanding of God's spirit of God for his followers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke writes that Jesus was here on Earth for 40 days, ministering and giving convincing proofs of his resurrection.
[SPEAKER_00]: This has to be deliberate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke is making a point of this to remind the Jews and us of other periods in their history where these periods of 40 occurred.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luke wants us to recognize these periods with difficult, scary, and it felt like wandering through uncharted territory.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the ultimate end was a fresh revelation of God's love for us, a new understanding of God's call on the Israelites and our lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Israelites who are reading Luke's word will immediately think of these other examples of 40.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the scriptures, they know what their ancestors experienced.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is no coincidence, it's deliberate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Repetition of a theme that provides context for how they can navigate what lies ahead for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Vaughn Roberts explains the Bible's purpose like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible is not a collection of isolated sayings.
[SPEAKER_00]: Each sentence is meant to be understood in light of the whole.
[SPEAKER_00]: Reading this passage in light of all of the other examples of the number 40 allows us a great context, the puzzle fits together.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the context creates a meaning unknown without the other stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: How does it change how we read the passage?
[SPEAKER_00]: The passage is one of preparation.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may read it initially as a completion of a story.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are promised that Jesus will defeat death and praise God he does.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the story is a culmination of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, the story isn't finished, there is more to come and this disciples need to recognize that they have more to do and they are now the ones that need to carry the torch.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is giving the disciples time to realize that he won't be with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the same capacity that he was before, he takes his time, he eats with them, walks with them,
[SPEAKER_00]: However, this time, however, this time he has overcome the torches of crucifixion and is boasting in the victory of the resurrection.
[SPEAKER_00]: This period helps him to adjust to a new reality that is to come, one without Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: This preparation includes instruction, which we read in verses four and five.
[SPEAKER_00]: On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command.
[SPEAKER_00]: do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you've heard me speak about.
[SPEAKER_00]: For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now Tim is going to talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit next week, so I won't go into too much, but this revelation of what's to come shows the disciples that this gift, the Holy Spirit,
[SPEAKER_00]: is their fresh wind, their replacement of Jesus in the flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: The disciples, in their continual lack of understanding, ask, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?
[SPEAKER_00]: While a part of us might roll our eyes at this question as they are once again missing the point,
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a pretty fair question to ask, given that understanding of who the Savior is prophesied to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we look to the Old Testament, time and time and time again, we see prophesied an all-conquering key who installs Israel in their rightful place at the top of the mountain.
[SPEAKER_00]: A man who overflows rulers, breaves life into dry bones of the Israelites and takes the throne of the world ruling with sovereign power.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the book of Ezekiel, a vision is given to the prophet Ezekiel, while the Israelites are in exile in Babylon, another period of testing and weight.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now the Israelites at this time are down without hope and feel abandoned by God.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've only just for the first time in a long time heard from God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Azikyo in the visit vision from God is taken by a spirit to a valley full of dry bones.
[SPEAKER_00]: God asks Azikyo whether the bones can live, to which he replies Lord only you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: God tells us equal to prophesy to the bones and say, drive bones, hear my work, hear the word of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will make breath into you, and you'll come to life, and I will reform you.
[SPEAKER_00]: As is equal as prophesy, a noise, a rattling sound begins, bones come together, tendons are formed, flesh appears, humans without breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: God said, prophesied, breathe from the four winds and breathe into these slain that they may live.
[SPEAKER_00]: Azekiel did as instructed and before him stood a vast army.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel.
[SPEAKER_00]: They say, our bones are dried up and our hope is gone.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are cut off.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, prophesy and say to them, this is what the sovereign Lord says.
[SPEAKER_00]: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you, my people will know that I am Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I open your graves and bring you up from them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will put my spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and I have done it to Claire's the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now other profits like Daniel and Samuel are shown similar visions that depict cutting down enemies granting sovereign authority and declaring battles one.
[SPEAKER_00]: The messanic understanding up until that point was that one prophesied would come as a conquering warrior who would install themselves on the throne.
[SPEAKER_00]: Winning the battle, the Roman military would be defeated, Israel would be restored, the 12 tribes would be reinstated, but Jerusalem would become the center of the new world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Many of these visions and prophetic words spoke with tones of victory, battle, battle and war.
[SPEAKER_00]: With Jesus planning to leave, these promises seemingly go unfulfilled.
[SPEAKER_00]: The goal hasn't been met, and the disciples seem to be grappling with this disappointment.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, Jesus has greater plans than the disciples could have ever dreamed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Versus seven and eight read, he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria until the ends of the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Jesus recontextualizing the goal.
[SPEAKER_00]: The goal isn't Israel.
[SPEAKER_00]: It never was.
[SPEAKER_00]: The goal is for everyone to know God.
[SPEAKER_00]: The goal is ultimately for the world to be taken over by the love of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not through might, not through war, not through armies, but through sacrifice, through kindness, through the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is clearly evidenced by the fact that Jesus calls them to be witnesses first in Jerusalem.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where they are comfortable, where the Holy Spirit will come upon them.
[SPEAKER_00]: They will only interface with believers and will be able to unpack this as a united front.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what God's dwelling place.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then in Judea,
[SPEAKER_00]: Still in Jewish heartland, they need to come to understand that they need to step out of their houses and communities to teach all the Jesus has done.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, in Samaria, there is no doubt that this instruction would have been confronting.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, for Jesus, this is incredibly important.
[SPEAKER_00]: The disciples need to understand that the gospel was for everyone, not just those that were comfortable with, but those they detested.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their enemies, this is an explicit call that you must share this with all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Finally, the larger mission is confirmed.
[SPEAKER_00]: The ends of the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: The unknown, the gentiles are included in this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone is included in this.
[SPEAKER_00]: The goal is the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is Jesus's final rallying cry before sending us off into battle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now when we reread the verse in Ezekiel, you can see the parallels between what's happening in Acts and the vision.
[SPEAKER_00]: One note might go as far as to say that what is happening in Acts is the ultimate revelation of Ezekiel's vision.
[SPEAKER_00]: A group of Israelites is in a state of confusion as their understanding of God changes, and a new way of thinking is introduced.
[SPEAKER_00]: through the prophetic words spoken over the bones and Jesus instructions to the disciples.
[SPEAKER_00]: The skeleton and Jesus abroad back to life, miraculously reborn.
[SPEAKER_00]: The group is unified by a common goal, but something is missing, the spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: The restoration of Israel is completed and in Acts is recontextualized to include the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: What was originally a gory verse becomes a passage that breathes life into us, that gives hope.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now that Jesus has moved the goal posts, what's next?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's taken up and a cloud hit him from their side.
[SPEAKER_00]: What a wild experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: The role of a coaster that the disciples have been on does not stop and they're holding on for dear life.
[SPEAKER_00]: As they look up into the sky, dumbfounded at what is transpiring before them, imagine for a second what is going through what would be going through your mind if you were one of the disciples.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the last two months, they have traveled toward and performed miracles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Watch their friend and Rabbi be executed, die, and rise from the dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then Jesus spent 40 days with them on earth as he had before his death, preparing them for the next stage.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simultaneously, you would be shocked by what is transferring, but maybe also be like this is obviously what's going to happen next because it's the craziest outcome.
[SPEAKER_00]: The disciples are dealing with so many conflicting emotions and so much information that tells them one thing only for the next passage to tell them something else and they need to figure out how to make heads or tails of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it one or the other left, right, up or down?
[SPEAKER_00]: What if however there was another option?
[SPEAKER_00]: What if it were heads and tails?
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the beautiful aspects of this passage is that it creates attention where it feels like there are multiple different difficult choices we have to make.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you stop and think for a second, Jesus is suggesting a middle ground where we have to walk a tight rope and this creates a way for us to live to the fullest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me elaborate.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are three opposing tensions this verse presents.
[SPEAKER_00]: As if we have to live in just one reality, three or statements where common sense would dictate that we can only have one of these options.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first and arguably hardest to wrap our heads around is that Jesus is either absent or present.
[SPEAKER_00]: A question I often hear is, wouldn't it be so much easier if we would like the disciples and had Jesus by our side to direct us, review cuts and journey with us?
[SPEAKER_00]: This question makes so much sense and the answer feels obvious.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course it would be better if we had our own personal Jesus next to us.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, as great as Jesus was, he had limitations.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was human.
[SPEAKER_00]: One human.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can't be in more than one place at a time.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can't travel from place to place at the drop of a hat.
[SPEAKER_00]: With Jesus' absence, God could be more present than ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: The withdrawal of His human limitation opened up His omnipresence and allowed us all to experience the spirit at the same time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think of it this way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone has a teacher that they absolutely loved, who was kind, fun, and responsible for a lot of growth that they had as a kid.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mine was my grade six teacher, Tyler.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tyler was great because he listened to us, found creative ways to explain our brain, to engage our brains, made things fun, and we always played touch rugby on Fridays in the last period, and that was great.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now imagine for a second halfway through the school year, your favorite teacher was promoted to principal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Initially, this would be horrible.
[SPEAKER_00]: You spent all this time being known by this amazing teacher.
[SPEAKER_00]: But slowly, your favorite teacher is able to put in new policies for the school.
[SPEAKER_00]: Teach the staff how to care for their students
[SPEAKER_00]: make macro level changes that put the whole school in a better position than just your classroom.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tim Keller puts it like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: The ascension means Jesus is not less present, but more present than when he walked the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: In his physical body, Jesus could only be in one place at one time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, through the spirit, he can be intimately present with every believer simultaneously.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our next example of something that we have to grapple with is contemplation or action.
[SPEAKER_00]: The disciples' witness Jesus ascending up behind the clouds and their jaws are locked in awe.
[SPEAKER_00]: They must be contemplating that next actions.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do they meant to do without Jesus?
[SPEAKER_00]: When two angels speak to them and ask, men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky?
[SPEAKER_00]: The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why do you stand around doing nothing?
[SPEAKER_00]: The angels are summoning them to act.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is now the disciples' responsibility to do something.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus can't do it for them, but he will return to his world in order that may be judged.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it is now that the disciples' job to carry the torch and complete the mission.
[SPEAKER_00]: Spread the good news and make disciples of all nations.
[SPEAKER_00]: They must go back to Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit to come.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not their strength that will enable them to complete this mission, assign to them, it's out of the strength of the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Activism through our own strength is often about ego and will undoubtedly lead to burnout.
[SPEAKER_00]: Concentration, without action, misses the point and leads to a lonely faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: but contemplative action is informed by the Spirit strengthened by Holy Power and blessed with energy.
[SPEAKER_00]: The last of our conflicting ideas is that the kingdom is either now or yet to come.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is taken up into heaven and placed the right hand of the Father where he sits on the throne, not as a failure, but as a victor over death.
[SPEAKER_00]: His kingdom now, in full view, where he reigns over his followers.
[SPEAKER_00]: His kingdom is here on earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: He teaches this to disciples in the 40 days with them after death.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are to be his witnesses to the masses.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here and now, but we can expect more to come.
[SPEAKER_00]: The job is not completed.
[SPEAKER_00]: The times and dates of when this will happen aren't for us,
[SPEAKER_00]: So then, why would we have any confidence that this is correct?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why should we go through all of this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Trust the call when we can't be sure that this is going to be the way that it plays out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Deertrick Bonhoeffa says this.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is only because Christ rose bodily from the dead that we can have any reason to believe that in Him through Him one day this whole world in which we now live will be raised up and renewed.
[SPEAKER_00]: The ascension is not a farewell, but a promise and a beginning.
[SPEAKER_00]: Time and time again, the promises, the visions, the prophecies come true.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus beat the grave.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is because he has earned our trust that we know that he will come back as he is promised.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why then do we continue to doubt?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why then do the disciples ask when we can expect things to happen?
[SPEAKER_00]: The kingdom is here.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have the power in our hands to do great things.
[SPEAKER_00]: John 14, 12 to 14 says, very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father, and I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always struggle to believe this verse.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can I really do greater things than these?
[SPEAKER_00]: But when has Jesus ever lied to me?
[SPEAKER_00]: When has His promise not come true?
[SPEAKER_00]: So why would I doubt a man who conquered the grave to redeem me?
[SPEAKER_00]: But there is still more to come.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is better than this already and not yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: The ascension is such a pivotal moment in the Christian faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is Jesus being taken back into the heaven as a conqueror.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a moment in which the Father accepts the Son back into eternity from His human form having completed His mission.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are not or statements.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are and statements.
[SPEAKER_00]: The point is that Jesus is absent and more present than humanly possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: We must engage in contemplative action, and the kingdom of God is now and not yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a balance that Jesus has struck beautifully.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a new chapter of faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know this because it follows a period of 40 days.
[SPEAKER_00]: The disciples, made in one moment, have felt abandoned.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as we have learned, it is only in Jesus leaving.
[SPEAKER_00]: that we as the whole church can experience faith simultaneously.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can all experience the gift of the Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Without the ascension, faith would remain bound by human limitation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Having passages like a ZQ's vision, point towards the ascension, proves that this was a plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was the intention.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are not making this up as we go along, the farther knows that for us to live to the fullest, the next important step is the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't a disappearing act whose salt purpose is to confuse or shock.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus explained why and how it was happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were no secrets yet standing here, knowing the answers to why and how it happened, I am still awestruck.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is no magician performing a trick.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is the conquering king ascending to a throne to rule for relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: Acts for everyone by anti-right says this.
[SPEAKER_00]: The ascension is the dramatic statement that Jesus is now in charge of the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not Caesar, not the Prime Minister, not the multinationals.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is the Lord and King.
[SPEAKER_00]: The world doesn't always look like it releases, but that's exactly why Acts follows the ascension.
[SPEAKER_00]: The church's job is to make the Lordship of Jesus visible through Spirit empowered witness.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the job.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to be spirit empowered witnesses.
[SPEAKER_00]: We must contemplate God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here he's heart for the world and be filled in him before going out to be his hands and feet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Live in the now and not yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Be comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Jesus, the man is absent.
[SPEAKER_00]: But God is now more present than ever and we can do greater things than these.
[SPEAKER_00]: As you return to your schools and your jobs this week, it's an imperative placed on our lives by Jesus to be the bridge between the now and not yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: How can you, as the light in the darkness, be a representative of Christ?
[SPEAKER_00]: We are fighting an eternal fight where we know
[SPEAKER_00]: We can trust in that promise because of all the promises that have been fulfilled before.
[SPEAKER_00]: But are we going to let our friends, family members, neighbors, lose their battle?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or are we going to come alongside them and fight the battle with them, powered by the same spirit that raised those dry bones to life?
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, we come before you in awe of your sacrifice and thankful for the opportunity to complete and continue your mission.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, for those of us in the congregation who feel as if we have dried bones, would we come before you, contemplate with your spirit, be guided by your direction and be renewed by a fresh wind.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus help us to be brave and take up the mantle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Help us to realize that it is our turn to show the earth who you are, to be the ones who take the gospel outside of our confines, outside of our comfort zone, and instead into a world that may present, like they might not want to hear it, but who is desperate to know your love and forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus' name we pray, amen.