Focal Passage: Acts 1:1-11
“This offer is available for a limited time only, so don’t delay!” We’ve heard that televised sales pitch so often that some of us have included it in our evangelistic presentations. As we declare to lost people that today is the “day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2), do we realize that the same urgency to receive the gospel applies to sharing the gospel? Today won’t be the day of salvation for anyone if someone doesn’t share it with them. As theologian Carl Henry said, “The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.”
Before His ascension Jesus gathered His disciples and told them to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit would empower them to witness for Christ from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
While they waited for His arrival, the disciples were distracted by expectations of the restoration of Israel, which were not for them to know. They were also left gazing after the physical ascension of Jesus, which the angels told them would be matched by the return of Christ.
Since the Day of Pentecost every Christian has been empowered at conversion by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, we have been given all the resources we need to effectively witness to the saving power of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:3).
Are you wasting valuable time wondering about the fulfillment of your theological expectations instead of obeying the clear teaching of scripture? Are you still gazing at past victories through Christ and feeding on nostalgia instead of following the prompting of the Holy Spirit?
The angels told the disciples about Jesus’ return to remind them that the clock is ticking. We don’t know exactly where we are on God’s timetable, but we know we have less time than we did yesterday.
Even if Christ doesn’t return in our lifetime, we are all limited to a certain number of years in which we are physically and mentally able to share the gospel. We will all invest those years in something. Let’s not waste our resources on temporal pleasures when we can share the only truth that prepares people for time and eternity!