So when they met together, they asked him [Jesus], “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?â€
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or date 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.â€
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,†they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.†Acts 1:6-11 (NIV, emphasis mine)
As Pastor left the sanctuary on Sunday, he admonished me to stop STANDING and WIGGLE myself into ACTION! Don’t stand around – DO! And so the waiting that I have been doing is over…it’s time to move on.
BUT if I do not see my witness as a 3-dimensional command from God – if I do not pay attention to the witness to myself and my family – then I am a hypocrite. Yes, that is a harsh, ugly word. I believe it is true. I cannot witness at work, Wal-mart, and in Eastern Europe and yet have an anemic witness in my spirit and in my family and not cause a consequence – hypocrisy.
That said, my witness in the world is well summed up by most fellowships that ask a commitment of gifts, prayer, and service. God has given me gifts that He expects me to use as I witness to others in prayer and in serving as Jesus served. It is getting my hands dirty in every day life. It washing the feet of the ‘saints’ like Paul and the ‘sinners’ like Judas. It is sharing Jesus’ Good News of how He reconciled me to the Father – and He will do the same for them.
For this reason, I kneel down and pray that our Father will give you the strength you will need by the power of His Spirit so that Jesus will live in you – take that step of faith! And I pray that as you just begin to see that love when you realize how He saved you that you will continue on to grasp how BIG – how HUGE – is the love God has for you! It is MORE than you can now wrap your mind around. God is with you and you are with Him.
Ephesians 3:14-19 (my paraphrase)
To God be the glory!
