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Tuesday... We don't always get it on our own.


Tuesday... We don't always get it on our own. It seems we need help.

Over in chapter 1 in the book of Acts of the Apostles in verse 6 (NLT) it says, "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?'" And so many of us still haven't got what Jesus taught. Here these Apostles had spent three years with Jesus, they had heard what he taught, they saw him die on a cross and be resurrected from the grave and they were now with him just before he was going to ascend to heaven and they still thought that he was going to physically free Israel and set up a kingdom with him at the head. And still many of us think that is why he came. 


But Jesus didn't condemn them. He told them in verse 8 that he was sending them a helper who was going to change them and use them to extend what Jesus had come to do which was to restore his kingdom in people. Here is what he said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere - Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Sumaria, and to the ends of the earth."

This does not come through political leaders but through individuals who are filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Yes, Jesus came to not change nations but individuals and to use them to change the world. Yes, we need his Spirit to show the way that God has for us. We need his help.

Now right after this, verse 9 says, "After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no long see him."

And as we read the book of the Acts of the Apostles we see that they finally got the message right. And they started sharing the message of Jesus and of how he makes a total difference in and through us. Yes, we need help, we need his Spirit in us to really change the world one individual at at time. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning   


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