Acts 1:1-11 We'd...
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Acts 1:1-11
We'd lived in Miles City, Montana, a few months when a man in Billings (two hours drive away) spoke to me as I got out of my car, "How are things in Miles City?" I'd lived there long enough to learn about half the names of people I should know. I asked myself if he'd attended worship once, or I'd buried his uncle, or performed a wedding for his niece. He pointed to my license plate, "14 is Custer County." I began to learn Montana shorthand.
Christianity also has shorthand. We say Jesus "ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God." It's a short way of saying (at least) that Jesus is both fully in God's presence and sovereign overall existence. This belief doesn't turn us into mere heaven- gazers, but sends us out as Jesus' witnesses to people with all kinds of license plates: "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Acts 1:1-11
The apostles asked Jesus the question: "Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" It resembles what someone asked me about the end of the world: Did I think it was near? I replied: "I don't know."
Jesus' answer was a little different, but I think he would have told my friend the same thing he said to the apostles, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority."
A little later, Jesus ascended, and as the apostles stood watching, two men in white robes asked them why they just stood there with their mouths gaping. They had an assignment to fulfill and needed to get to the task. We don't have to know all the answers concerning God's timing. We waste a lot of time trying to figure out years and seasons -- something no one can possibly know until that day comes. In the meantime, Jesus gave us an awesome job -- to tell his good news all over this globe.
Acts 1:1-11
Many have scoffed at the idea of the ascension of the Lord Jesus as told about in Acts 1:1-11. I believe similar "miracles" are taking place every day for those who have eyes to see. Is there any possible way that a meal with our Lord Jesus could be shared as the first meal ever to take place on the moon?
That possibility entered the planning of Buzz Aldrin. On Sunday, July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the moon, Buzz had with him a miniature communion set. As he prepared, he sent a message back to earth asking listeners to give thanks as they thought about the events of the day. He partook during a radio blackout, having read the verse: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit" (John 15:5).
Astronauts currently are risking their lives outside the space station to do necessary repair work. Many prayers are offered in their behalf. How fitting to remember them and to remember Psalm 139:8: "If I ascend into heaven, you are there."
Ephesians 1:15-23
In the spring of 2005, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology organized the world's first Time Travelers' Convention. Actually, they said, it's the only such convention the world needs, because a time traveler would be able to come there from the future.
The 22-year-old graduate student who organized the convention, Amal Dorai, posted an invitation on his website asking time travelers to bring from the future something that would be useful: a cure for cancer or AIDs, for example, or a cold fusion nuclear reactor. Mr. Dorai said he would welcome travelers from any time in the future. Anyone coming from just a few days in the future was invited to bring him some stock-market investment tips. The student-provided hospitality included a potluck meal with brownies for dessert.
A New York Times article described the arrangements:
While Mr. Dorai has precisely calculated that "the odds of a time traveler showing up are between one in a million and one in a trillion," organizers have tried to make things inviting.
In case their august university does not exist forever, they have posted the latitude and longitude of the East Campus Courtyard (42:21:36.025 degrees north, 71:05:16.332 degrees west).
A roped-off area, including part of an improvised volleyball court, will create a landing pad so materializing time-travel machines will not crash into trees or dormitories.
(Pam Belluck, "Time Travelers to Meet in Not Too Distant Future," New York Times, May 6, 2005)
The outcome? No time travelers showed up. But then again, the organizer knew he was working against long odds.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he moved beyond space and time. Now, he dwells in all times and in all places.
Ephesians 1:15-23
It was a great and marvelous thing that Jesus did when he came to our earth and showed us exactly what God is like. Now we know: God is like Jesus.
Before that, people wondered: What is God like -- really? After Jesus came, they knew: God is merciful, yet just; God cares for us, deeply, more deeply than we can imagine; and God longs for each of us to be in a loving relationship with him.
Then, just before Jesus ascended into heaven, when he would no longer be here on earth in a physical body, he called us, his followers, to be "his body" in this world so that people can continue to see what God is like.
In our lesson from Ephesians, Paul refers to Christ and to "the church, which is his body" (vv. 22-23). Paul says that God will give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know him (v. 17) so that we may truly be Christ's body, so that those around us may know what God is like.
Ephesians 1:15-23
Like many in her generation, Holly stopped attending church when she was seventeen years old. She had doubts about faith but did not feel comfortable asking questions at her church. During her early twenties, whenever she met someone who claimed to be a Christian, the person seemed "ill-prepared to offer a basic definition of the Christian faith." Others simply dismissed her questions by stating, "I'll pray for you."
Then in her thirties, Holly met an older woman, Penny, who was an "exuberant Christian." Holly had been completely disconnected with church for over ten years. Her new friend was both "transparent and humble." Penny spoke openly about her faith as well as the shortcomings of the church. In their conversations, Penny never came across as superior or perfect, but rather someone who daily relied on God. "Most important," Holly reflects, "she was always willing to talk about her beliefs and answer my questions. Penny is everything I wanted to be: a real person with real faith."
As a result of their friendship, Holly reconnected with the church and thankfully discovered many other authentic believers. The apostle Paul hoping to inspire and encourage greater faithfulness among the believers writes, "I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers."
Ephesians 1:15-23
Martin and Olga emigrated to the United States after World War II. Strangers to a new land, barely conversant in English, they sought out other German-speaking people. A kindly, older German, Otto, took them under his wings. He found Martin a job in a local meat packing plant and Olga a job with a woman who cleaned houses. Otto also offered Martin and Olga a place to live at much reduced rates. Martin and Olga were grateful. Several years later, Otto remarked that he had purchased some property in the country and was looking for someone to live on it and work the land. He wondered if Martin and Olga were interested. Farmers in the old country, Martin and Olga jumped at the chance. Martin farmed the land, Olga cleaned houses in the nearby town, raised bees to sell honey, and sold eggs and milk. It wasn't long before they were able to make a down payment on a piece of land of their own.
Whenever Olga recounts her story, she tries to imagine where she and Martin would have ended up without Otto's kindness. She adds that in her prayers she always remembers Martin (long since dead), thanking God for sending this generous and helpful man into their lives. Her prayer sounds a lot like Paul's prayer for the Ephesians.
Luke 24:44-53
By the age of eight years, Phil had figured out that memorizing and quoting the Bible was highly valued in the small country church he attended, and he won approval and prizes for memorizing. By middle school, church members called him a walking concordance. In high school, he earned admiration by identifying obscure scriptures church members quoted to him.
Then Phil went to college and began to flirt with various forms of atheism. By graduation he had pretty well left faith behind, worshiping only when home with his parents, during which he tried to smile and be friendly to church members who wondered why he didn't want to quote or identify scriptures.
Today at 38, after the death of a child and a divorce, Phil tells that life forced him to pray and to face God. He's putting his life back together in Christ's church. He had always known what the scriptures said. Now his mind was being opened to understand them.
Luke 24:44-53
Some people never doubt the Bible's veracity. I have. In different stages of my life, I've questioned it. What brought me back to belief? One convincing proof is the Bible's internal testimony -- something within the scriptures.
Writers usually promote themselves, sometimes so discreetly others never suspect their duplicity. They slant their writing to argue their own prejudices, to gain financially, or to favor their own groups. Most newspaper editorial pages demonstrate my point. But the Bible favors no economic, social, or ethnic groups. It's a religious document, yet it contains scathing criticism of religious leaders.
God's word patronizes neither kings nor commoners. The Lord held the great lawgiver and leader Moses responsible. He paid a heavy penalty for his failure to glorify the Lord; God didn't permit him to enter the promised land. David wrote exceptionally well, and governed magnificently. Yet David's disobedience cost the unity of his kingdom. Perhaps the Bible's most convincing proof is its testimony about Jesus, God's Son, and the fact that Jesus fulfilled everything written about him.
Luke 24:44-53
A man living on a small, run-down farm died penniless, or so they thought. When a road was put in a few years later, it was discovered that he had $200,000 in milk cans, buried near his house. He had lived an empty life. His money could have been given as gifts to help others, but he chose not to help himself or anyone else. Instead of riches, or at least a decent standard of living, he chose to live a barren life of poverty. He could have invested the cash and the value today would be well over one million dollars. Thousands could have been fed, or thousands could have been educated.
The following shows another way to treat possessions or power. One saved his own life by helping another.
An Indian evangelist, Sadu Sundar Singh, and a high-class citizen of Tibet were together trying to cross the hazardous Himalayan mountains. They were fighting off the sleep of death because of the bitter cold. They came across a man, nearly dead. Sadu's companion said, "We dare not stop or we also will die." And he kept going. Sadu stopped and shouldered the burden of carrying the man. Surprisingly, the extra effort brought warmth to his own body, and also some warmth to the traveler's body and he revived. Sometime later they came across Singh's first companion, frozen to death.
We'd lived in Miles City, Montana, a few months when a man in Billings (two hours drive away) spoke to me as I got out of my car, "How are things in Miles City?" I'd lived there long enough to learn about half the names of people I should know. I asked myself if he'd attended worship once, or I'd buried his uncle, or performed a wedding for his niece. He pointed to my license plate, "14 is Custer County." I began to learn Montana shorthand.
Christianity also has shorthand. We say Jesus "ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God." It's a short way of saying (at least) that Jesus is both fully in God's presence and sovereign overall existence. This belief doesn't turn us into mere heaven- gazers, but sends us out as Jesus' witnesses to people with all kinds of license plates: "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Acts 1:1-11
The apostles asked Jesus the question: "Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" It resembles what someone asked me about the end of the world: Did I think it was near? I replied: "I don't know."
Jesus' answer was a little different, but I think he would have told my friend the same thing he said to the apostles, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority."
A little later, Jesus ascended, and as the apostles stood watching, two men in white robes asked them why they just stood there with their mouths gaping. They had an assignment to fulfill and needed to get to the task. We don't have to know all the answers concerning God's timing. We waste a lot of time trying to figure out years and seasons -- something no one can possibly know until that day comes. In the meantime, Jesus gave us an awesome job -- to tell his good news all over this globe.
Acts 1:1-11
Many have scoffed at the idea of the ascension of the Lord Jesus as told about in Acts 1:1-11. I believe similar "miracles" are taking place every day for those who have eyes to see. Is there any possible way that a meal with our Lord Jesus could be shared as the first meal ever to take place on the moon?
That possibility entered the planning of Buzz Aldrin. On Sunday, July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the moon, Buzz had with him a miniature communion set. As he prepared, he sent a message back to earth asking listeners to give thanks as they thought about the events of the day. He partook during a radio blackout, having read the verse: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit" (John 15:5).
Astronauts currently are risking their lives outside the space station to do necessary repair work. Many prayers are offered in their behalf. How fitting to remember them and to remember Psalm 139:8: "If I ascend into heaven, you are there."
Ephesians 1:15-23
In the spring of 2005, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology organized the world's first Time Travelers' Convention. Actually, they said, it's the only such convention the world needs, because a time traveler would be able to come there from the future.
The 22-year-old graduate student who organized the convention, Amal Dorai, posted an invitation on his website asking time travelers to bring from the future something that would be useful: a cure for cancer or AIDs, for example, or a cold fusion nuclear reactor. Mr. Dorai said he would welcome travelers from any time in the future. Anyone coming from just a few days in the future was invited to bring him some stock-market investment tips. The student-provided hospitality included a potluck meal with brownies for dessert.
A New York Times article described the arrangements:
While Mr. Dorai has precisely calculated that "the odds of a time traveler showing up are between one in a million and one in a trillion," organizers have tried to make things inviting.
In case their august university does not exist forever, they have posted the latitude and longitude of the East Campus Courtyard (42:21:36.025 degrees north, 71:05:16.332 degrees west).
A roped-off area, including part of an improvised volleyball court, will create a landing pad so materializing time-travel machines will not crash into trees or dormitories.
(Pam Belluck, "Time Travelers to Meet in Not Too Distant Future," New York Times, May 6, 2005)
The outcome? No time travelers showed up. But then again, the organizer knew he was working against long odds.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he moved beyond space and time. Now, he dwells in all times and in all places.
Ephesians 1:15-23
It was a great and marvelous thing that Jesus did when he came to our earth and showed us exactly what God is like. Now we know: God is like Jesus.
Before that, people wondered: What is God like -- really? After Jesus came, they knew: God is merciful, yet just; God cares for us, deeply, more deeply than we can imagine; and God longs for each of us to be in a loving relationship with him.
Then, just before Jesus ascended into heaven, when he would no longer be here on earth in a physical body, he called us, his followers, to be "his body" in this world so that people can continue to see what God is like.
In our lesson from Ephesians, Paul refers to Christ and to "the church, which is his body" (vv. 22-23). Paul says that God will give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know him (v. 17) so that we may truly be Christ's body, so that those around us may know what God is like.
Ephesians 1:15-23
Like many in her generation, Holly stopped attending church when she was seventeen years old. She had doubts about faith but did not feel comfortable asking questions at her church. During her early twenties, whenever she met someone who claimed to be a Christian, the person seemed "ill-prepared to offer a basic definition of the Christian faith." Others simply dismissed her questions by stating, "I'll pray for you."
Then in her thirties, Holly met an older woman, Penny, who was an "exuberant Christian." Holly had been completely disconnected with church for over ten years. Her new friend was both "transparent and humble." Penny spoke openly about her faith as well as the shortcomings of the church. In their conversations, Penny never came across as superior or perfect, but rather someone who daily relied on God. "Most important," Holly reflects, "she was always willing to talk about her beliefs and answer my questions. Penny is everything I wanted to be: a real person with real faith."
As a result of their friendship, Holly reconnected with the church and thankfully discovered many other authentic believers. The apostle Paul hoping to inspire and encourage greater faithfulness among the believers writes, "I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers."
Ephesians 1:15-23
Martin and Olga emigrated to the United States after World War II. Strangers to a new land, barely conversant in English, they sought out other German-speaking people. A kindly, older German, Otto, took them under his wings. He found Martin a job in a local meat packing plant and Olga a job with a woman who cleaned houses. Otto also offered Martin and Olga a place to live at much reduced rates. Martin and Olga were grateful. Several years later, Otto remarked that he had purchased some property in the country and was looking for someone to live on it and work the land. He wondered if Martin and Olga were interested. Farmers in the old country, Martin and Olga jumped at the chance. Martin farmed the land, Olga cleaned houses in the nearby town, raised bees to sell honey, and sold eggs and milk. It wasn't long before they were able to make a down payment on a piece of land of their own.
Whenever Olga recounts her story, she tries to imagine where she and Martin would have ended up without Otto's kindness. She adds that in her prayers she always remembers Martin (long since dead), thanking God for sending this generous and helpful man into their lives. Her prayer sounds a lot like Paul's prayer for the Ephesians.
Luke 24:44-53
By the age of eight years, Phil had figured out that memorizing and quoting the Bible was highly valued in the small country church he attended, and he won approval and prizes for memorizing. By middle school, church members called him a walking concordance. In high school, he earned admiration by identifying obscure scriptures church members quoted to him.
Then Phil went to college and began to flirt with various forms of atheism. By graduation he had pretty well left faith behind, worshiping only when home with his parents, during which he tried to smile and be friendly to church members who wondered why he didn't want to quote or identify scriptures.
Today at 38, after the death of a child and a divorce, Phil tells that life forced him to pray and to face God. He's putting his life back together in Christ's church. He had always known what the scriptures said. Now his mind was being opened to understand them.
Luke 24:44-53
Some people never doubt the Bible's veracity. I have. In different stages of my life, I've questioned it. What brought me back to belief? One convincing proof is the Bible's internal testimony -- something within the scriptures.
Writers usually promote themselves, sometimes so discreetly others never suspect their duplicity. They slant their writing to argue their own prejudices, to gain financially, or to favor their own groups. Most newspaper editorial pages demonstrate my point. But the Bible favors no economic, social, or ethnic groups. It's a religious document, yet it contains scathing criticism of religious leaders.
God's word patronizes neither kings nor commoners. The Lord held the great lawgiver and leader Moses responsible. He paid a heavy penalty for his failure to glorify the Lord; God didn't permit him to enter the promised land. David wrote exceptionally well, and governed magnificently. Yet David's disobedience cost the unity of his kingdom. Perhaps the Bible's most convincing proof is its testimony about Jesus, God's Son, and the fact that Jesus fulfilled everything written about him.
Luke 24:44-53
A man living on a small, run-down farm died penniless, or so they thought. When a road was put in a few years later, it was discovered that he had $200,000 in milk cans, buried near his house. He had lived an empty life. His money could have been given as gifts to help others, but he chose not to help himself or anyone else. Instead of riches, or at least a decent standard of living, he chose to live a barren life of poverty. He could have invested the cash and the value today would be well over one million dollars. Thousands could have been fed, or thousands could have been educated.
The following shows another way to treat possessions or power. One saved his own life by helping another.
An Indian evangelist, Sadu Sundar Singh, and a high-class citizen of Tibet were together trying to cross the hazardous Himalayan mountains. They were fighting off the sleep of death because of the bitter cold. They came across a man, nearly dead. Sadu's companion said, "We dare not stop or we also will die." And he kept going. Sadu stopped and shouldered the burden of carrying the man. Surprisingly, the extra effort brought warmth to his own body, and also some warmth to the traveler's body and he revived. Sometime later they came across Singh's first companion, frozen to death.
