#1 | Take Time to Think
Read: Acts 1:1-14
Meditate on your own:
- What do you notice about the way the author describes the characters? What do you notice about what the characters do/say?
- What verse/phrase stands out to you?
- Within the context of Acts 1:1-14, what do you think you can draw from that verse/phrase about God’s character and/or the Christian life?
- Where do you see that confirmed in other parts of the Bible?
- What does that imply about God and/or the Christian life? What would be the opposite of that?
- How is that good news, both for you and for others?
- What does that imply for/demand of your life? In what ways does that reveal your sin? What do you need to ask God for/what help do you need to ask from God?
Consider
The book of Acts is the Part 2 to the gospel of Luke and the author picks up right where he left off. Jesus has been meeting with his disciples for forty days, ensuring them of his resurrection and telling them about the kingdom of God.
Then, right before he ascends into heaven, his disciples ask if he is going to restore the kingdom to Israel. They want to know if he is going to bring about the new heavens and new earth, judging the wicked and rewarding the righteous, as we see in Revelation 19. He responds that it wasn’t for them to know the timing of those things; they would need to wait.
While they waited, they would be his witnesses, empowered by his Spirit to testify about his resurrection and the kingdom of God. They were to witness in familiar places like their hometowns in Judea as well as fearful places like Jerusalem where Jesus had been murdered by a crazed mob forty-three days prior.
What’s more, they were to witness to cultural outcasts like the Samaritans and the pagan Gentiles, even if it meant uprooting their families and going to the ends of the earth. But even this command included waiting for the promise of the Father for some unspecified amount of time. Both the beginning and the end of the ministry of the apostles, and everything in between, was wrapped up in waiting for the promise of God for however long he decided. Yet the patient, faith-filled waiting of the apostles was not idle. The apostles waited for the kingdom to come by obeying Christ’s command to witness, seeking to bring it about even as they waited for it. And they waited for the power to witness by praying, likely for God to fulfill his promise to send the Spirit.
The apostles model the normal Christian life through prayer and obedience to his commands by active and expectant waiting in faith for God to keep his promises.
How can you, by God’s grace and in the power of his Holy Spirit, follow their example this week?
Pray:
Use the acronym IOUS, turning the prayers of the Psalmist into your own.
Incline my heart to you and not to prideful gain or any false motive!
Psalm 119:36
Open my eyes to behold wonderous things out of your Word.
Psalm 119:18
Unite my heart to fear your name.
Psalm 86:11
Satisfy me with your steadfast love.
Psalm 90:14
