He left so we could go The rest of the story, there’s a story told about a 4-year-old granddaughter who, uh, brimming with confidence. One morning burst into the kitchen. Her grandfather was there, and she’s gonna show her grandfather. She says, grandpa, I can say the alphabet. And so she climbs up into the kitchen chair and kind of clears her throat, you know, like as she’s if on, she’s on a Broadway stage, gonna burst it out. And she rattles off A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and she stops utterly satisfied, acting like she had just landed. You know, the gymnast plants, the landing, and there it was. And the grandfather, you know, applauded and kissed her on the top of the head and said, well, sweetheart, what comes after G? She shrugs and says, well, nothing, grandpa. That’s all the letters that there are now in her 4-year-old mind. The alphabet ended at that letter G, and for her mission accomplished. She didn’t yet know that there were 19 more letters that would give shape to the words that she would. A say and read for the rest of her life. And that childhood moment, it, it kind of mirrors a spiritual moment in, in grownup history, in biblical history, in Acts chapter one. That’s what we’re gonna be looking at this morning. Acts one, you can turn your Bibles there if you have ’em, the first 11 verses. And in this passage we’re gonna see that Jesus disciples had thought that the story had reached its finale, its conclusion. I mean, they’d watch their Messiah live and heal and teach and die, and miracle of miracles rise again from the dead. And surely now the curtain was gonna fall and the Romans would be shown the door and Israel would reclaim its throne. They believed that they were at Z when in reality they were just pausing at G. Not even halfway through God’s redemptive alphabet. Here’s how the Bible records this in Acts one, verse six, then they gathered around him. That’s Jesus, and asked Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Huh? Even after 40 post-resurrection days of Kingdom tutoring, they still didn’t get it. I mean, if I were Jesus, I’d be like, ah. But Jesus’ response is better. And in this, he reframes their expectations. And you know what? He might be reframing ours as well. He said, it is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Al Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So yes, Jesus left. So his disciples would go. And the ascension of Jesus, it’s not an ending, it’s not an epilogue. It’s actually. Uh, the hinge that really kind of swings open the door for the Holy Spirit to propel, to propel gospel witness all around the globe to every nation, tribe and tongue. So today we’re gonna unpack three truths that are kind of tucked away in these first 11 verses of the Book of Acts, truths that turn sky gazing believers, but into world changing witnesses. So Jesus ascension. We’re gonna look at it and the first point I wanna make is that Jesus left to confirm the story. In other words, Jesus ascension, it secures our faith in a living reigning savior. Therefore, four gospels in the New Testament, and one of them was written by a doctor named Luke. And the Book of Acts is written by Luke, written from Luke to the same person.
Theophilus, and really Acts is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke. And here’s how Luke opens his second volume with this physician’s precision. He goes, in my former book, Theophilus, I wrote all about that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven. It. After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen, after his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God, and notice Luke insists that there are many convincing. Proofs and you see Christianity, it doesn’t ask us to, to leap into the dark. Rather, it invites us to step into the light, the light of historical evidences and eyewitness accounts and the ascension. It’s like the crowning of these proofs. It’s, it’s the last firsthand sighting of the risen Jesus on earth. Up until now, the time we’re still waiting for when every eye will see him upon his return. Centuries earlier, God gave the prophet Daniel a night vision that Kathy read for us just a bit earlier, Daniel writes In my vision at night, I looked and before me was one like a son of man. Does that title sound familiar Coming with the clouds of heaven? He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power. Sounds like the end of the Lord’s Prayer, doesn’t it? All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will never pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. That’s in Daniel chapter seven. And you see the ascension over 700 years later. It’s really Daniel seven in real time. Jesus upward journey. It’s not an exit, it’s an enthronement. And heaven’s, clouds are not vapor. They’re more like a, a royal motorcade. Ushering the victorious son of man to the father’s right hand. Luke’s eyewitness News. It’s like snapping the, the final piece in a puzzle of an ancient promise, prophecy, fulfilled, faith confirmed. And if you would allow me a, a little pastoral aside here, if you or someone you know might be kind of maybe skeptical about Jesus resurrection, let alone his ascension. I want you to know your doubts are welcome here. I mean, it’s a lot to ask you to believe resurrection, ascension, but listen to me now. Don’t settle for half of the alphabet. Examine the evidence. Empty tomb transformed disciples, explosive church growth, even under persecution and the ascension. It anchors everything. To all who believe in Jesus. When culture mocks your faith as fairytale, remember this our story.
It’s rooted in eyewitness testimony and sealed by this heavenly coronation, Christ’s ascension. We don’t serve a memory, we serve a living reigning king Jesus left to confirm the story. Second, Jesus left to empower the mission. The Holy Spirit transforms spectators into anointed witnesses. It’s kinda like, imagine buying the most advanced electric car out there. I don’t know. What is it now? 2.2 seconds, zero to 60, but then never charging the battery. Nice driveway, ornament. It’s a brick. Terrible transportation. And the disciples, they needed more than just information. They needed power, and Jesus promises and delivers just that. He said, do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father has promised. In a few days you’ll be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses. This is why Jesus’ departure matters then and today, just rewind Jesus’ upper room, farewell to his disciples, given just a few weeks before the night in which he was betrayed. He said, very truly, I tell you, it is for your good that I’m going away unless I go away. The advocate will not come to you. But if I go. I will send them to you, and this is Jesus’ strategic move. One. Localized Messiah can heal crowds in Galilee, but multiplied spirit in dwelt. Believers can reach hospital awards and refugee camps, boardrooms, classrooms, playgrounds on every continent simultaneously. Jesus leaving. Unlocks and releases his witness, his presence everywhere. Think of it like a, a rocket launch. The that fiery first stage, it kind of shutters and thunders, and it slowly lifts that payload beyond gravity’s grip. But then once out of gravity’s pull, it drops away so the satellite can fulfill its orbiting mission. Jesus earthly ministry is stage one. Lifting humanity out of sins. Deathly gravity, and the ascension. That’s the stage. Separation and Pentecost. We’re gonna look at it in just a couple weeks. That’s like it ignites. Stage two, the church in spirit powered orbit now broadcasting the gospel around the globe 24 7 and we, today we live post Pentecost. Unlike the 12, we’re not waiting for the spirit. We’re walking in the spirit. And so when you greet guests at the door with genuine warmth, that’s the spirit witnessing through hospitality. Walking in the spirit is when victory singles team up. As they’re gonna do this coming Wednesday with Feed My Starving Children to prepare man APAC meals, delivering life sustaining food to the world’s most vulnerable. When a retired believer spends a quiet afternoon besides a lonely friend or neighbor, opening the Bible to share words of hope and a prayer with them, that’s the spirit bearing witness through seasoned compassion. Even this Memorial Day weekend, it gives us opportunity. I think reflect deeper. Indeed, freedom is never free.
Every barbecue, every open church door, each child laughing in the safety of a backyard, whispers of a hidden cost lives laid down so that others could live. And yet, you know, even the bravest soldier sacrifice, it’s but a shadow of a hill called Calvary. Where the sinless son of God willingly gave up his life and signed a blank check with his own blood. Jesus himself said, greater love is no one than this, than someone laid down his life for his friends, and then he did just that. Jesus volunteered for the front line against sin and death and the devil. He absorbed the shrapnel. Meant for us and his empty tomb. It’s the victory banner that God lays over all of humanity, declaring every repentant heart forgiven and eternally free. And that freedom, it’s not meant to be stockpiled, it’s meant to be shared. The same love that rescued us now commissions us. To go tell the story. So this weekend, let the grill smoke and the fireworks become reminders that our mission carries the aroma of Christ’s sacrifice and shines like his resurrection light, and spend your liberty and freedom on justice and generosity and neighbor love so that people can see a living picture of the gospel. Not perfect, but a real one. Speak Christ’s name with spirit filled. Courage, inviting weary souls into the freedom that Christ alone can give ’cause after all, isn’t the greatest way to honor the one who died. And then rose again for us is to carry his message to those who still need to hear that Jesus love was and is and always will be for them just as it is for you. And for us here at Victory, that same dynamite, this Greek word dunamis, that’s what gets translated into the word power. It’s the same power that embolden fishermen who even went before Caesars, and it pulses through the veins here at Victory of retirees and Mesa College students in Tempe, preschool moms in the valley. Jesus left so we could go with power. That outlasts every earthly battery. Jesus left to confirm the story. He left to empower the mission, and finally Jesus left to guarantee the kingdom. What I mean is that our future is secure, and so our mission can be bold. You know this question that disciples ask Jesus right before he ascended it kind of drips with a bit of nationalistic hope. Lord, are you at this time gonna restore the kingdom to Israel? Gonna be the Messiah, the political military might that we want? You see, they wanted Jesus to crush Rome and crown Jerusalem and Jesus. He redirects. He says the timeline, that’s the father’s business. Your business is bearing witness. Now, he doesn’t step back from kingdom language. He actually deepens it. Earlier during his ministry, he said to the disciples, do not be afraid. Little flock for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. He reminds me of what Kathy read for us earlier from Daniel, but the holy people of the most high will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever. Yes, forever and ever. From this, we’re given two priceless truths. First, the kingdom, it’s God’s gift. It’s not our construction. We labor, yes, but the kingdom arrives because the father has been pleased to give and second. The kingdom’s forever. Think about it. Political empires rise and fall. Assyria, Babylon, Rome in the scale of God’s view in human history, even American democracy, it’s all temporary.
Christ’s reign and his kingdom, it’s eternal. And because of this, it means that we can have fearless witness. And this matters for us not just Sunday morning, but Monday afternoons as well, because insecurity can muzzle our witness. If we fear losing cultural influence or personal approval, we might grow silent. But when we remember and know that the kingdom cannot be shaken, then we can afford to risk awkward conversations. To sacrificial generosity, even loss of reputation. In other words, our inheritance. It’s reserved and guaranteed, but it’s our assignment that’s urgent. And our text and accident invites us to respond to this angelic nudge. Our text says they were looking intently up into the sky. Mena Galilee, the angels said. Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus will come back in the same way you have seen him. Go into heaven, paraphrase, stop looking at the departure gate and run to your mission gate. And we live between Jesus’, ascension and Jesus. Return between Daniel seven fulfilled. And Daniel seven consummated and this interval in which we live, it’s tailor made for witness. I experienced this myself in my own personal call. To ministry I spent in my early twenties, I spent one Christmas to Easter with my parents, my missionary parents in Cameroon, in Africa, and during those months, God unmistakably, tugged on my heart and called me to ministry. And so I set my sights on that to return to the states, convinced I’d finished college head to seminary, and eventually return as a missionary back to Central Africa. And God used that initial vision to push me through my undergraduate degree into seminary. But midway through my second year in stem, God directed my compass. And after hearing some influential speakers in my own life, I began to see my own country, the US America as a vast mission field. And is it not? And my understanding of, of pastor merged with missionary. So for me, when my graduation from seminary came and a church plant opportunity was presented in Southern California, no brainer. Yes, Lord. Send me to the mission front lines picture again. Jesus disciples on Mount olives, mouths open eyes, skyward heart thumping the cloud swallows their teacher. Dust settles of silence, falls, sandals, scuffle, and then someone clears their th throat and says, well, I guess it’s back to Jerusalem. And that pivot changed history. And we here at Victory today, stand at that same hinge point. We have the Holy Spirit. We know the risen king. We carry an unshakeable hope. And Mesa, Gilbert, Apache Queen Creek, our zip codes are waiting with people who need to hear, as is people in South Africa and Thailand and Myanmar, as well as in 55 plus parks and senior living facilities just down the street.
So my question to you this day is, will you pivot? Will you go? Will you pray Spirit? Give me one name. Just one name to love to serve, to invite to tell Will you trust that God has handed you the kingdom and he’ll also give you the courage. Remember that angelic promise, this same Jesus will come back and on that day our witnessing will cease. Our worship will crescendo. And the alphabet will resolve into one eternal word. J-E-S-U-S. Jesus left. So we could go Join me. Let’s go. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, enthroned above, yet present within. Thank you for ascending so that the Holy Spirit could descend. Ignite us with holy boldness to carry your name from our living rooms to the ends of the earth. Come quickly, king Jesus, and find us faithful in the going. I ask in your precious statement for your sake. Amen.
