The day after we celebrated the events of the Lord’s resurrection, we needed to know our next step, just like the first disciples. 

After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples and did several things. We need to know what the Lord did when He called and released His first disciples. The Lord has not changed how He calls and assigns His disciples. We can expect those same things to happen in our lives. 

JESUS PROVED HE WAS ALIVE AND TAUGHT ABOUT THE KINGDOM

“During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

The Lord wants us to know we aren’t serving a memory. We are serving the Living God, who is alive and in power. He also wants us to know about the Kingdom of God. That is why the first thing the Lord taught after His resurrection was about His Kingdom. To have these two understandings is critical if we are to be effective in what God calls us to do as His representatives.

JESUS DEFINED THEIR MISSION 

“So, when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, ‘Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?’ He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (vs. 7-8).

Their assignment wasn’t about freeing Israel or restoring “our kingdom.” The same holds for us. It is about God’s Kingdom expansion, which has a larger footprint than a single nation. Some were assigned to remain in their hometown to accomplish the Lord’s mission. Others of us will be called to carry God’s mission into the far reaches of the Earth.

JESUS WANTED THEM TO GET BUSY

“After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. ^‘Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven’”? (vs. 9-11).

What the disciples witnessed was the miracle of Jesus’ ascension. It wasn’t a time to build a memorial to that experience. Jesus was after the souls of all people of Earth who are loved by the Father. Time would be wasted if they parked in that location, continuing to stare up at heaven, straining to see where Jesus went. The disciples weren’t called to stand and look at what was. They were called to venture out into the regions of “Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Some of us had a powerful Easter Sunday service, but today is Monday. We serve a living God who is on a mission, and we should not stop and stare at all that happened yesterday.

Today, our hometowns and regions of the regions of our Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth are waiting for our arrival. As the angels asked, “Why are you standing here staring into heaven?”