May 7, 2016

“So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:6-8

Have you ever been close to a lightning strike? If you have, you understand the power that is contained in that single bolt of lightning. I am not so sure there is a greater display of power from nature than what we witness in the lightning strike – it can bring down steeples, ignite fires, disrupt air traffic, and explode trees. It is this same kind of power, the power of a lightning strike, that I believe it takes to raise the dead to life. I believe it takes a giant shock like the paddles EMT’s use for death to be defeated by science. For the earliest believers, for them to understand the resurrection of Jesus, it had to be just that kind of jolt – and a similar kind of jolt just to be close to the power displayed in Jesus.

That mighty “lightning bolt” has been seen and heard through the centuries and can be seen and heard still in the lives of Jesus-followers today.   That’s good news; especially if you’re in need of a jolt of G-d’s power today.

The Kingdom of G-d certainly includes Israel, but G-d’s plan includes reconciliation of all nations. The good news must go outward from all of us to the ends of the earth. There should be no national, cultural, or ethnic boundaries that we should try to use to fence in G-d’s love. It will be only the Spirit that will guide us all towards this grand vision. We, like the disciples cannot limit G-d’s work to our own expectations. If G-d has a mission in mind that is bigger than we might be thinking about, G-d will let us know – and the power to complete it will come through the power of the Spirit. We always need to listen for that “bolt”, that “jolt”, that wider call.

Pastor Dave