04/21/2020 —
It's easy to think of Easter as the end of something. But God never ends anything without beginning something else. Easter may be the end of one chapter of God's story but He has much more planned - and we are a part of those plans!

Jesus said we would do greater works than He did - but we give Him no chance of making that happen through us if we stay in a defensive posture, hiding from the world in a "sanctuary." We need to become assertive actors in the work that God is doing now, and not mere fans of His message.

When we take seriously our charge to be His hands and feet in our circles of influence, we will be witnesses to a great awakening in our culture.


Acts 1:1-11

“To Theophilus, the lover of God.

"I write to you again, my dear friend, to give you further details about the life of our Lord Jesus and all the things that he did and taught.

"Just before he ascended into heaven, he left instructions for the apostles he had chosen by the Holy Spirit. After the sufferings of his cross, Jesus appeared alive many times to these same apostles over a forty-day period. Jesus proved to them with many convincing signs that he had been resurrected.

"During these encounters, he taught them the truths of God’s kingdom realm and shared meals with them.

"Jesus instructed them, 'Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait here until you receive the gift I told you about, the gift the Father has promised. or John baptized you in water, but in a few days from now you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit!'

"Every time they were gathered together, they asked Jesus, 'Lord, is it the time now for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?'

"He answered, 'The Father is the one who sets the fixed dates and the times of their fulfillment. You are not permitted to know the timing of all that he has prepared by his own authority. But I promise you this—the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be filled with power. And you will be my messengers to Jerusalem, throughout Judea, the distant provinces - even to the remotest places on earth!'

"Right after he spoke those words, the disciples saw Jesus lifted into the sky and disappear into a cloud! As they stared into the sky, watching Jesus ascend, two men in white robes suddenly appeared beside them. They told the startled disciples, 'Galileans, why are you staring up into the sky? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but he will come back the same way that you saw him ascend'”(TPT).

• Calvary’s cross was not a period but a comma – and a comma means there’s more to come. God's purpose was that, through the power of Jesus Christ's resurrection and the presence of the divine indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the God in Christ would become Christ in each of us.

• The same power that raised Christ from the dead is personally resident in every born-again believer. There is being released throughout the Church a spirit of might, unity, prayer and faith that is shaking the world, and its tremors are just beginning.

• God help us, when the crisis surrounding the Wuhan virus is over, to never sit in a state of siege, surrounded by the trappings of religious traditions. Too often we come into the church building, and it becomes the only place where we ever talk out loud about God and it’s the only place that we dare to speak in tongues.

• Rarely do we hear about prophecy, very few lay hands on the sick. But this was Jesus’s command to the disciples before He returned to the father.

• We’re not made to be on defense. Your armor prophesies a conflict. There’s a confidence swelling that bolsters the soul. The gates of hell shall not prevail against His church.

• God is not responsible for this global pandemic. But He will not sit on the sidelines and not use it to His advantage. The culture has God's attention now. The question is, what will the Church do with that fact?

• May we build upon the convicting power of the Holy Spirit on our nation and a mighty wave of refreshing repentance!