Up, Up and Away

Acts 1:9-11 is easy to skim over. After all the verses before deal with Jesus' commission to His disciples and the verses after deal with selecting Judas' replacement. But, the ascension of Jesus is not something we should just fly by. The Ascension is important. Without it we would miss out on a number of benefits and blessings in the Christian life.

If Jesus did not ascend we would not have an advocate before the Father (1 John 2:1). Our lives, which are hidden with Him, would be earthly not heavenly (Colossians 3:1-4). Most importantly, because Jesus went to be with the Father, we get the Holy Spirit, indwelling and empowering us (John 16:7). We can also have the confidence that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus (Matthew 28:18) On top of that, we have the assurance from Acts 1:11 that Jesus will return bodily for us! Those are some incredible benefits and are well worth praising God for.

Here is how the Heidelberg Catechism puts it:

Question: How does Christ's ascension to Heaven benefit us?

Answer: First, He pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of His Father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven - a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, His members, to Himself in heaven. Third, He sends His Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit's power we make the goal of our lives, not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God's right hand.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Mike

For Further Study: Kevin DeYoung, The Good News We Almost Forgot (Chapter 18)

Monday Family Worship

Read Acts 2:42-47.

Discuss what life in the early church was like. What can you do as individuals and as a family this week to become more like the early church?

Pray that God will strengthen our love for our fellow believers.

Sing - Rejoice the Lord is King

Grace and peace,

Pastor Mike

Weekly Bible Reading

This week's Memory Verse: 1 John 2:15-17

This week's Bible Reading: Acts 1-9

Some questions to consider as you read:

1. Acts 1. What were the requirements to be an apostle? Are there apostles today?
2. Acts 2. How does God expect us to respond to Jesus? Have you responded this way?
3. Acts 3. Did Jesus' suffering and death take God by surprise? Was God just making the best out of a bad situation?
4. Acts 4. What was the key to Peter and John's boldness? How can we obtain a similar boldness?
5. Acts 5. Under what conditions should we rebel against authority? What should we expect when we do?
6. Acts 6. What was the result of the apostles devoting themselves to prayer and the word?
   
7. Acts 7. What themes run through Stephen's sermon?
8. Acts 8. Waht do we learn about baptism in this passage? Should it be immediate or delayed?
9. Acts 9. What connection do you see between Jesus and the church in this passage?

You might also enjoy reading and meditating on this week's portion of the Heidelberg Catechism.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Mike

New Plans

Starting next week, I plan to post some new features to this blog.

On Sunday, I will post the Scripture Memory Verse and Bible Reading Heritage Valley Bible Church is recommending for the week. I will also have some questions to consider as you read.

Monday through Saturday I plan to post a suggestion for family worship. Lord willing these will show up at 12:01 AM so you can access them at any time that day.

I hope to also offer a brief reflection from the Daily Scripture Reading.

I hope these will be helpful to you as you read the Word and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Please pray for me. I often have great plans and have trouble finding the time to follow through.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Mike