THE GAME PLAN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, “Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

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 in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:6-8

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus was about to ascend, to leave the earth and rise to the heavens where He would sit in authority over all things in heaven and on earth. But before He departed, we find He had some final words of guidance for His hand-picked disciples.

In yesterday’s first devotion from the Book of Acts, we found Jesus making sure His disciples knew they weren’t to do anything until they had received the promised Advocate from God, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus commanded His followers to go into Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come which we know would come during what is known today as Pentecost.

But then what?

What did Jesus want the disciples to do after they received the promised Holy Spirit?

Well, Jesus had a game plan and we see that game plan revealed in today’s passage. It’s a plan you want to keep in mind as we move through this book because we’re going to see it play out just as Jesus said it would.

First we see the disciples wondering about something way beyond the scope of what was important at the time. As they gathered around Jesus, they wondered whether or not Jesus was about to “restore the kingdom to Israel.”

Keep in mind that Israel was under the oppressive rule of the Roman empire at the time and it was no secret that the Israelites believed the Messiah had come to remove that oppression. Even after all He had done and all the teaching He had done in their presence, we get a sense the disciples still didn’t quite grasp why Jesus had really come, not to free the people from Roman oppression but rather the oppression of sin.

Well, we see Jesus quickly brush away the question from His followers, reminding them that everything happens in God’s time and it really isn’t their place to know everything about what God had planned to do. Those things were set in His perfect time and through His perfect authority. He didn’t have to disclose His intentions to anyone because everyone and everything was (and is) subordinate to Him.

And so as we look back to the scriptures, we find Jesus pivot quickly to what the disciples needed to be focused on and that was God’s plan for them as they continued to carry out the work of His Son Jesus.

Their work would start in Jerusalem, right after they received the Holy Spirit. They were to evangelize there right out of the gate and seek to bring others to Jesus. After all, Jerusalem was where Jesus focused His ministry over the final week of His life and it had been less than two months since that had happened. Jesus would still be fresh on the minds of the Israelites and so it was a great place to start the disciples’ ministry efforts but there would only be one thing they would need to be wary of. For Jerusalem was also the home base for the Jewish religious authorities who surely would not take kindly to Jesus’ work being restarted after they had worked so hard to eliminate Him. As we move through the first seven chapters of this book, we’ll see how this problem escalates and becomes the catalyst which sends the Gospel to Judea and Samaria as Jesus’ disciples flee a breakout of persecution, culminating in the stoning of Stephen.

And from Judea and Samaria, we’ll see a man emerge by the name of Paul who, along with others, would take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Of interest, we’ll first see Paul as Saul, a devout Jew who took pleasure in not only persecuting but murdering Christians before his life is changed forever on a dusty road to Damascus.

But more on that later. You can see where we’ll see lots of amazing happenings as the Gospel message of salvation through belief in Jesus spreads from point to point, all in accordance with the game plan Jesus presents before He ascends.

I’m glad you’re reading today and I pray you continue to come back daily as we journey with the disciples through this Book of Acts. Blessings to you always.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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