A Grateful Response
Good Friday has come and gone this year. Easter Sunday came, bringing with it a bursting forth of crowds, flocking to churches across the land. Now, we sit, forty-one days past Easter, the Day After Ascension Day.
Maybe you are aware that today is Friday, but maybe the fact that yesterday was Thursday totally escaped your mind. Quite possibly, you let yesterday pass without realizing that it was Ascension Day, a forty-day marker that comes annually after Easter Sunday. Ascension Day: a day of remembrance, a time to recall the way the Lord Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven, returning to the place from which He came.
The apostle Luke speaks of this climatic event in the final words of his gospel writing.
“And He led them out as far as Bethany,
(The Gospel According to Luke 24: 50-53 NAS)
[Jesus led his disciples out of Jerusalem]
and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.
While He was blessing them,
He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
And they, after worshiping Him,
returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
and were continually in the temple praising God.”
Whether we are facing a crisis, whether we are just coming out of a storm, or if we are walking in a time of calm, the day where we are walking is ALWAYS A TIME TO GIVE THANKS TO GOD.
- Why is that true?
- Why is it vital to regularly give thanks to God?
- Why must we live with a grateful heart? &
- How can we grow to have an even more grateful heart?
The disciples did not know 2,000+ years ago that it would be ten days before the Day of Pentecost, before the coming of God’s Holy Spirit. They were not aware of the One who would empower them from on high BEFORE that magnificent day. Jesus had forewarned them (often) that He was going, that He was soon leaving. Yet He continually encouraged them with HIS TRUTH.
AFTER Jesus ascended back to heaven, they would receive the power of God, the Holy Spirit—the power that would change their lives from the inside out, pouring forth from within them.
The apostle Luke speaks of this climatic event in the opening words of his sequel writing, when he tells of the acts of the apostles that occurred AFTER JESUS’ ASCENSION.
“When the day of Pentecost had come,
(The Acts of the Apostles 2: 1-6 NAS)
they were all together in one place.
And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind,
and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves,
and they rested on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem,
devout men from every nation under heaven.
And when this sound occurred,
the crowd came together,
and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.”
- Followers of Jesus, the day where we are walking is ALWAYS A TIME TO GIVE THANKS TO GOD.
- Children of God, the time where we are living is ALWAYS A TIME TO PRAISE THE LORD.
- Christians, the day is coming when JESUS WILL COME AGAIN, just as He promised & just as was prophesied in the Old Testament.
“He said to them,
(The Acts of the Apostles 1: 7-11 NAS)
[Jesus spoke these words to his disciples before He ascended]
“It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
And after He had said these things,
He was lifted up while they were looking on,
and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going,
behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.
They also said,
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?
This Jesus,
who has been taken up from you into heaven,
will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
- Children of the King of kings, may we throw up our hands & praise Him!
- Children of the Lord of lords, may we be consumed with a grateful response.
The wonderful melody “Gratitude” performed by I AM THEY comes to mind as I close these thoughts. Pause to listen & Sing. Dance & Twirl. OUR KING IS COMING!
We too may respond, just as the apostles did AFTER they saw the Lord ascend into heaven: “they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, . . .”
Let us go forth into our day, just as Jesus instructed His apostles.
“you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
This same Jesus “will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
- May we start here in our Jerusalem, in our hometown.
- May we start now, today, while we have breath in our lungs.
- May we open our mouths and speak as the Holy Spirit gives us utterance.
As Dr. Henry Blackaby preached:
May we look around us and SEE the place where God is already working & join Him in His work.
- Let us worship & continually praise the LORD.
- Let us faithfully respond with A Grateful Response: to our Savior Jesus, to our Father & to His Holy Spirit—The Perfect Godhead.