Un-Finished Tasks With Promise.

“Father, I am your servant, willing and desiring to be used to bless your people.”

The Fields are white and the laborers are few!

2. C.H. Spurgeon said, “If God does not save a man by truth he certainly will not save them by lies, and if the old gospel is not competent to work a revival, then we will do without the revival;

Acts 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

Acts 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

Acts 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

Acts 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Goodbyes aren’t easy, especially if the one leaving will be gone long.

Ill—Babe Ruth said goodbye at Yankee Stadium, eaten up w/ cancer, and w/ tears he said goodbye.

Ill—Watergate hearings, Nixon said goodbye to his staff, walked across lawn, then said goodbye and waved again on Marine 1.

If you’ve ever said a final goodbye to a child, or a spouse, a sibling, a parent, you know how bad goodbyes can be…

In Acts 1 Jesus is saying goodbye to His disciples…for 3.5 years they’ve been intimately intertwined, thru good times and bad! He had changed their lives! They’d never be the same.

They spent 40 incredible days together after He arose…and now it’s time to say goodbye, He’s leaving, He’s going home…and He tells them to do His work in the meanwhile (v. 8) He has given them His great commission, to go into all the world with the gospel.

Luke, in recording the glorious Ascension of Jesus Christ is placing this actual and awesome event in its proper historical setting! -Something that stands out here in his Writings is the event itself, took place forty (40) days after the Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ and in the presence of eyewitnesses.

The number forty (40) appears to be a very significant number in the Bible – You ever wonder why? Let me explain forty (40) is the number of transition in the Bible! Every time the number forty (40) is given in the Word of God, God is getting ready to do something different!

(Ex)Noah and his "company" stayed in the Ark - the place of safety -for forty (40) days and forty (40) nights - then, God placed a rainbow in the sky - His symbol of Authority - to state that He would never ever destroy the Earth by flood again!

Moses was forty (40) years a "Prince of Egypt"

Forty (40) years a "shepherd on the back side of Midian" - and, forty (40) years a "deliverer of God’s ’chosen people’" - and Moses was the "Friend of God"!

The twelve (12) spies were sent by the Israelites to search out the "Promised Land" remained in Canaan for forty (40) days! The children of Israel wandered around in the desert wilderness for forty (40) years! It would appear, to the most casual observer, that the number forty (40) is the number of God’s "Finishing School" Graduation Time. I feel the need to Prophesy here and tell someone you are about to graduate God’s finishing school! It would seem for the past 40 days or forty months or even forty years your life has been in complete disarray. The good news is that season of forty is ending and your life will never be the same! Now tell your neighbor I know he is taking to me now because I am about to graduate. Now, we find Jesus, Christ, in a forty (40) day post-Resurrection Ministry!

I need to park and put a dime in the meter here because this is not the first record of ascension in the Bible, for we are told of two other ascensions.

Enoch and Elijah! There are some who believe that the two (2) witnesses, found in Revelation 11:3-12 (KJV) are Enoch and Elijah; while yet another group, believes that the two (2) witnesses are Moses and Elijah! The Bible does not make clear their identities - however, we do know that these two (2) witnesses will be present during the Tribulation time, that they will die and three and one-half days later they will rise from the dead and ascend into heaven, thereby ending the "First Woe"!