Episode 180: May 5, 2024 - Back To The Upper Room

Eternity Church PodCast

A Sunday sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. Have you ever met someone and after hearing a few life stories or witnessing an amazing depth of wisdom you found yourself saying, “You should write a book!” You imagine their adventurous stories chronicled in a biography or their wit and knowledge distilled into text to be passed down to future generations. This is what I imagine Theophilus must have said when he heard the good news of Jesus. He wanted to know more, to really dig deeper into the life and ministry of this man from Galilee, and Luke was willing to oblige. Luke set down the gospel stories of Jesus from birth to death, resurrection to ascension, and I imagine Theophilus with scroll in hand on the edge of his seat! But when he got to the end and read, "Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God,” surely he must have wondered, “How did the good news get here?! How did it get to me? I’m not in Jerusalem. I didn’t hear this good news in the Temple courts. There must be more to the story! Seriously, Luke, stop holding out! How did the gospel go from Jerusalem to Rome!?” So, with a new patch of papyrus, Luke set out of to give us the rest of the story. He dovetails his second book perfectly with his first: "I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God" (Acts 1.1b-3). And then, Luke reveals how it all began. Not with the disciples rushing from the mountain of ascension to the four corners of the world, but to return to the upper room and wait for the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1.4). Friends, take some time and read Acts 1 this week as we return to the upper room this to watch and pray, to wait and prepare. Before we get to Acts 2 on Pentecost, there is some Acts 1 work to be done in our hearts and minds.