1. Christ is at work today... We must have eyes to see (Acts 1:1).
Don't ever come away (from the Bible) with the mistaken conclusion that Jesus is done. We live (out our lives) in light of what Jesus did.
If we ignore the fact that He is still at work, we are going to miss out on what Jesus has for us as individuals and as his church. (Matthew 13:58)
Let's commit, as a church to ask God for fresh eyes to see where Christ is still at work in our lives and our church.
2. Christ's Kingdom is eternal... Our power must be as well (Acts 1:2-3).
Jesus makes the Kingdom of God a massive theme in his sermons (Luke 4:43). Unfortunately, his disciples, the Pharisees and those who heard him expected an earthly kingdom (Luke 17:20-21). Jesus would continue to confound the expectations of an earthly kingdom when he speaks to his disciples of his imminent suffering and death (Luke 22:15-16).
The fact that Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of God and the fact that he is risen from the dead ought to change our lives and be the foundation of the church.
The Kingdom of God is the most incredible force in God's universe. Why? His Kingdom will last for eternity. Romans 8:11 tells us how the same power that raised Christ from the dead, by the Holy Spirt, is in you and I today. It is by that power that we can be citizens of Christ's Kingdom.
3. Christ's Power is promised... It's ours in His church (Acts 1:4-5).
The phrase "baptized with the Holy Spirit" appears 7 times throughout scripture. The first four times it occurs in every one of the Gospels (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). The fifth time is in our passage today Acts 1:5. The sixth time is Acts 11:16. The seventh time becomes very important to us in understanding what this means. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 tells us that the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of the church.
Jesus wants you to have an unexpected, unsurpassed, eternity shaping, power in your life. Your Father wants that for you and its yours in His church. We have a sacred expectation that it is Jesus who is doing His work. When we open God's Word we want to hear about Jesus and all that he has done and is doing today. This is what the church ought to be about.
In the next few weeks we are going to see how this plays out in the book of Acts and how it can play out in our own lives.