Text:\u00a0 Acts 1: 1-11<\/p>\n
They happen all the time.\u00a0 Homecomings.\u00a0 You see families at the airport reunited.\u00a0 You see them returning in uniform to their loved ones.\u00a0 Homecomings. \u00a0Last year, those world class littleleaguers in Petaluma were welcomed home with a parade.<\/p>\n
Well today we celebrate another homecoming.\u00a0 Forty days after Jesus rose from the grave, he took his disciples out to the Mount of Olives.\u00a0 There just outside Jerusalem, he ascended before them into heaven.<\/p>\n
Now of course, here Luke describes Jesus\u2019 departure, not his arrival.\u00a0 Jesus held up his hands in blessing and he was taken up as a cloud \u00a0hid him from their sight. But instead of standing on that hill this morning, imagine something else.\u00a0 Imagine that you and I were in heaven when Jesus arrived.\u00a0 Just imagine the reception by God\u2019s holy angels.<\/p>\n
Yet I have to think their joy could not compare with someone like that thief on the cross, who had prayed to Jesus, remember me<\/i>.\u00a0 Just think of the homecoming he must have given Jesus.\u00a0 He and other sinners like you and me, saved by grace.\u00a0 It makes me think of the words of the psalm:\u00a0 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets<\/span> (47:5). \u00a0So this morning we celebrate a homecoming:<\/p>\n CHRIST HIGH ASCENDED, NOW IN GLORY SEATED<\/b> 4 <\/sup><\/span>But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 <\/sup>to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons<\/span>. (Gal 4:4,5)\u00a0 When Jesus came, he said:\u00a0 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what is lost.<\/span>\u00a0 (Luke 19:10)\u00a0 He said:\u00a0 The Son of Man did not come\u00a0 to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many<\/span>. (Mk 10:45)<\/p>\n This is the purpose for which the eternal Son of God became a man.\u00a0 He came to redeem us, to pay the price to set us free by giving his life for each of us here.<\/p>\n Can I depend on that?\u00a0 Can I trust that he is my Savior from my many sins and death?\u00a0 When I served in the Coast Guard, I occasion ally had to board big ships in the harbor.\u00a0 To get aboard I would climb a long rope ladder.\u00a0 But you had to be careful\/\u00a0 Sometimes the rungs on that ladder would rot.\u00a0 So I was taught never to put all my weight on any one rung.\u00a0 Otherwise I might fall and get badly injured.<\/p>\n Is Jesus like that rung?\u00a0 Is he someone that we rest only some of our trust for fear this all a bunch of foolishness?\u00a0 That question is answered here:\u00a0 3 <\/sup>After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God<\/span>.\u00a0 Then came this day where Jesus taken up before their very eyes.\u00a0 So look to the heavens<\/b> and know.\u00a0 You can stake your eternal life on this one called Jesus.\u00a0 He is risen and now high ascended.\u00a0 So look to the heavens.<\/b><\/p>\n For there he ascended to rule as King.\u00a0 Now that might sound pretty unlikely when we think back a few months to Good Friday.\u00a0 The only crown that Jesus wore was made out of thorns. How could this one be a King.\u00a0 They made him a laughing stock and cruelly derided him.\u00a0 Hail King of the Jews they said.<\/p>\n But look to the heavens and remember what Jesus is now.\u00a0 Christ, high ascended, now in glory seated.<\/b>\u00a0 For what does God\u2019s Word tell us?\u00a0 22 <\/sup>And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church<\/span>, (Eph 1) For the church.<\/i>\u00a0 That\u2019s you and me his people, people whose hearts look to Jesus as Lord and Savior.\u00a0 Christ rules all things for your eternal good.\u00a0 And I know sometimes it may not seem to be the case.\u00a0 There are countless Christians being driving out of their land in Africa and the Mideast.\u00a0 Our lives may take a turn that we would never choose.\u00a0 But look to the heavens and know.\u00a0 One day it will all make sense.<\/p>\n And what day is that?\u00a0 The day which these angels described.\u00a0 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.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 What is our hope as God\u2019s people?\u00a0 At times, our hopes can be pretty shallow, even mistaken.\u00a0 Look at Jesus\u2019 apostles.\u00a0 They were still looking for Jesus to bring back the glory days of Israel.\u00a0 What a cheap substitute for the hope that Jesus gives!<\/p>\n And that\u2019s why we need to keep looking to the skies.\u00a0 For when it comes down to it, this world is perishing.\u00a0 So this is no place to put our hope.\u00a0 Instead we need to keep reminding each other.\u00a0 We need to look to him who has gone before us and promised:\u00a0 I am going to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place, I will come back to take you to be with me\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n But standing on that Mount of Olives with Jesus\u2019 apostles we learn something else from those two angels dressed in white.\u00a0 As Jesus ascended, the apostles just stood there gazing up.\u00a0 The angels brought their thoughts back to earth.\u00a0 There\u2019s work to be done.\u00a0 People to be loved.\u00a0 Children to be raised.\u00a0 A living gospel to share with this dying world.\u00a0 So as we look to the heavens and remember we have an ascended Lord and Savior, look there with hope.\u00a0 But also look at your life here and now.\u00a0 Look at the purpose he has given us<\/b>.<\/p>\n Often when we\u2019re young, we feel a strong desire to make a difference.\u00a0 We want to look at our lives and see some noble, giving purpose rather than just making money and having fun.\u00a0 And today is day where we honor the noble and loving purpose of being a Christian mother.\u00a0 God raises that purpose up before us when he commands us:\u00a0 Honor your father and mother.<\/i>\u00a0 So many of his blessings have come to us through our parents.\u00a0 Parenting and raising up children in the Lord is a noble purpose.<\/p>\n Well Jesus gave his apostles that kind of purpose for their lives.\u00a0 You will be my witnesses<\/span>, he told them.\u00a0 They were to bring the saving name of Jesus to people for whom Jesus lived and died.\u00a0 That\u2019s everyone.<\/p>\n And we can only marvel.\u00a0 We can only marvel at what Jesus did through these eleven quite ordinary men.\u00a0 If you and I wanted to start a great movement, I don\u2019t think we would put these folks at the top of our list.\u00a0 Poor fishermen, a tax collector, the bottom of the barrel.\u00a0 Yet they were to be Jesus\u2019 witnesses.\u00a0 They were to take up that noble purpose of pointing dying sinners to the One, the only One who brings forgiveness and life.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s obvious this purpose was not just for them.\u00a0 They were certainly unique.\u00a0 They had spent three years with Jesus.\u00a0 They had seen his miracles.\u00a0 Then they saw him risen.\u00a0 They were uniquely called to be apostles.\u00a0 Those sent by Jesus.<\/p>\n But we are all<\/b> his witnesses.\u00a0 Each of us knows the truth of the gospel which the Holy Spirit has inspired to be written down for us.\u00a0 Each of us knows the good news of Jesus which the Spirit has planted in our hearts.\u00a0 Each of us knows the forgiveness that set us free.\u00a0 So look to the purpose Christ has given each one of us.\u00a0 It is a purpose you can live out wherever you are, whatever you do with your life.\u00a0 To be his witness. How does Jesus put it?\u00a0 You are the light of the world.\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n But have you ever been given an assignment you didn\u2019t feel qualified for?\u00a0 I feel that way every time the police dispatch me as a chaplain to someone\u2019s home to tell them what we never want to hear about a loved one. Well imagine these apostles looking up into the sky. \u00a0We\u2019re now supposed to do what?\u00a0 Yet Jesus did not just throw them the keys and leave.\u00a0 He promised to equip them for that purpose.\u00a0 He promised that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 And Jesus tells us here what that meant.\u00a0 You will receive power<\/span>.\u00a0 A power that gave them the courage to witness when it would cost them their own lives.\u00a0 A power to sometimes heal the sick and raise the dead in the name of Jesus.\u00a0 That powered their witness.<\/p>\n But the Spirit would also give them a power and ability that would make all the difference for us. Do you know what I\u2019m talking about?\u00a0 The Holy Spirit used these men to write this down for us.\u00a0 Not a vague recollection, not man\u2019s word about God.\u00a0 But the very things that Jesus said and did for us all. And now you I and\u00a0 have this Word so we too can carry out this noble purpose.\u00a0 You will be my witnesses.<\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/i>So look to the heavens.\u00a0 Christ high ascended.<\/b>\u00a0 Think of the hope you have in him.\u00a0 But then look to the purpose he\u2019s given you and me.\u00a0 To be his witnesses.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 Acts 1: 1-11 They happen all the time.\u00a0 Homecomings.\u00a0 You see families at the airport reunited.\u00a0 You see them returning in uniform to their loved ones.\u00a0 Homecomings. \u00a0Last year, those world class littleleaguers in Petaluma were welcomed home with a parade. Well today we celebrate another homecoming.\u00a0 Forty days after Jesus rose from the grave, he took his disciples […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI.\u00a0 Look to the heavens
\nII.\u00a0 Look to the purpose he\u2019s given us<\/p>\n