Acts 1:6-11 “Therefore, when the disciples had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 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.” Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Well, the spectacular natural total solar eclipse event has come and gone with no extracurricular activity. My son, who lives in southeast Michigan travel an hour to watch this rare eclipse in totality and stated that it was the greatest natural phenomenon he had ever experience; a once in a lifetime event. But, the “end times” crowd was left scratching their heads. Last Sunday, in anticipation of this momentous natural wonder, our Pastor Kyle made the correlation of when it comes to the immanent return of Christ and the end of the world promised in the Bible, Christians should be confident in the reality of Jesus’ eventual return and satisfied with the answer that it will happen some day and not be concerned with when it happens. The Lord told us in Matthew 24:34-36 “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
But, the Lord changes their attention on the indwelling gift of the empowering Holy Spirit to equip all Believers and turns their and our focus on the mission and kingdom work at hand. In John 14:15-17 “Jesus gives the conditional promise, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” Adding in verses 25-26, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
The Holy Spirit equips the saints (those who have been sanctified) for ministry of “good works” of God and spreading the “good news” of the Gospel, with the ministry of witnessing to the blessed Savior of the world to the world for forgiveness, salvation, abundant life in Christ and eternal life; converted, transformed and adopted as children of God and citizens of the kingdom of Heaven. The Lord Jesus communicated to His followers the mission and commanded in Matthew 28:19-20 to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. And Pastor Kyle preached that the born-again Christian should be concerned about being a good witness as long as we are in this world, because advancing the kingdom of Jesus Christ and eclipsing the population of Hell is the goal.
Jesus stated in Luke 19:10, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost”, and that is our mission also as Christ-followers. Two key indicators of a true Christian who is waiting for Christ’s return are [1] an increasing desire to live for God in thought, word and deed, and [2] an increasing longing to reach the lost sinner with the Gospel of Salvation, which totally eclipses sin by the cleansing blood of Christ. We are to be salt and light in the darkness of sin and unbelief, carry the torch of truth and point the way to the foot of the Cross. We are “Goers for the Gospel” because God wins. Let go!
In Christ, Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment