Are You On Duty? | Part 1 Series

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Are you on Duty ?| Part 1| by Rev. Shine P Thomas

Are we Doing our Duty?

What is the Duty God has Put in our Lives?

One of our Assemblies of God pastors went to a village in Tumkur and asked a woman, “Do you know about Jesus?” She said, “Jesus never came to our village, maybe he has missed the way and gone to the other village.” Late in the evening when the pastor was returning back to Bangalore he met this lady again. She asked the pastor, “Did you happen to meet Jesus in the other village?” The pastor told, “Jesus is not a person but the living God.” He shared the gospel to her and the whole family accepted Jesus Christ.

If we take a look at our city, there are lakhs and lakhs of people still unreached by the gospel. Whose job is it anyway to make Jesus known to them? Are we responsible believers? Are we doing our duty and Are we praying for the unreached? also Do we witness about Jesus Christ?

Today I want to point out the things that Jesus left behind and asked us to do when He is in heaven.

Acts 1:1-11

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men 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.

4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

What we need to learn From Christ as we carry on the Duty

When Jesus was in the world, he often spoke about the Kingdom of God that he was going to establish. The disciples saw Jesus’ miracles and power and on the mountain of transfiguration; Peter, James, and John literally saw Jesus’ glory. By now the disciples were very excited about ruling with Jesus in His kingdom. But when Jesus was arrested and crucified, all their hopes had failed. Some disciples went into hiding, some went back to their old profession, and some of them went into depression. They thought that everything was over. All of a sudden the resurrected Jesus appeared to them, the disciples would have been filled with great joy. Again the disciples thought that Jesus was going to establish the Kingdom of Israel and rule with them. They were filled with hope and joy. However, after 40 days of walking with them again, Jesus was taken into heaven.

As Jesus was taken up, I suppose one of the main thoughts on the disciples’ mind was, “Jesus, please don’t go, don’t leave us.” When Jesus left the disciples, all their hopes probably dashed once again. It was a hard goodbye for the disciples. If you have ever said a final goodbye to a loved one, you know how hard those goodbyes can be. They are left speechless looking at Jesus taken up into heaven.

He will be Back Again

What a spectacular scene that would have been? The disciples saw Jesus working miracles, they saw him preaching to multitudes but this sight was something amazing. They saw Jesus until He disappeared from their sight. As they were looking into the sky not knowing where Jesus is, two angels appeared to them and said, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

When Jesus left this time to heaven he left the disciples with an authority to complete the task that Jesus had started.