City Life Starter

I. THE WORD: Acts 1:8-11

8- “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 – Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 – And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 – who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand to gaze up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go to heaven.”

Jesus walked the earth, spoke to, taught, ate with, and laughed with His disciples, His family, and with those whom He encountered along His way and performed miracles, signs, and wonders. One can only imagine what it must have been like to walk with Jesus and see Him face to face in human form. You would think, ‘What would I say, what I would do, how would I act?”

I’m sure you’ve probably asked those kinds of questions to yourself as well. Jesus walked this earth and was present with us, and now He is gone after being taken up into a cloud. Some might stand in awe as the folks here in the scripture here are referenced did. However, in the scripture, as Jesus ascended, He did not leave less of Himself but infinitely and abundantly more than before when He was physically walking the earth. This is what Jesus is showing and has been trying to tell the people in the scripture.

He left so that the Holy Spirit power could come. This empowerment comes from an intimacy we have with Him that we could not have experienced with Him walking the earth. Pastor Chris, in his message on Dec 10th, gave the metaphor of a marriage likened to the Holy Spirit. In marriage, you become intimate with your spouse to enjoy one another and ultimately to produce offspring to disciple, leave a legacy within order they continue to bring heaven to earth by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Now, take that and apply this to your relationship with Jesus. Pastor Chris Pate mentioned some people are married to Christ but not intimate with Him. When we become intimate with Jesus and align ourselves to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, then we fulfill our mission of making disciples and impacting and changing the world.

After all, Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit to empower us to be witnesses to all.
If your intimacy is non-existent, then you still may be too me-centered and not Christ-centered. Christ is to become your life, not just in your life. If we remain self-centered or just church-centered, we miss the mark of impacting and changing the world.

We’re empowered to bring heaven to earth. Again, Jesus did not leave us with less of Him, but more of Him. We have an infinite and unlimited supply of Jesus as He has left the Holy Spirit for us.

I say all this to say or ask rather, how are you spending your time presently? Are you still gazing into the clouds as the assembly of people was doing as Christ left? Are you spending your time doing things for merely yourself, or maybe you’re a polished Christian and spend a lot of time in and around the church? While the latter is good, God is saying there is so much more. We have a mandate to spend our time being intentional with discipling others to impact society with the truth of the Gospel and the leave the legacy of Christ. He’s left the Holy Spirit to empower us to do be witnesses. Don’t just be married to Christ, but be intimate with Him to produce this kind of effect.