What Happens After Easter? Series

What Happens After Easter?

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

As we concluded our three week study on Psalms 22, 23 & 24, we often wonder where we go from here when we finish the Easter season. Well, we continue the work Christ has accomplished by reaching the lost for Christ. We have a task to complete, a job to finish and a mission to accomplish.

Introduction – Sleeping on the job

Several years before I entered the ministry, I worked shift work at the Procter & Gamble plant in Dallas. After completing our two weeks of the day shift we would rotate to the evening shift for two weeks. Sometimes it took several days to get comfortable with the change.

My wife, Deborah, and I had an 18 month old son. She was five months pregnant with our second child when she asked me to baby sit our son one early afternoon while she went to the grocery store.

I took him to the front bedroom of our small three bedroom home and “decided” that he needed a nap. We lay down on the bed and played and talked. It wasn’t long before I fell asleep.

Without my knowledge…or permission, Jeff jumped of the bed and went out the kitchen door. He walked two blocks down to the local elementary school and began playing with the other children on the playground. As he was walking to the school, a neighbor noticed Jeff walking by himself. She followed behind him. This was while school was in session. While he began playing with the children she asked him where his parents were.

He immediately began running back home with the neighbor following. He went back through the kitchen door and got back onto the bed beside me.

The neighbor rang the doorbell which awakened me. I woke up and answered the door with Jeff tagging alongside me. The lady asked if I had a little boy. I said that I did and asked if she was talking about my son. She told me that he was at school playing with the other kids and that she followed him home and he came back through the kitchen door! I couldn’t believe it! I realized that he had snuck out while I slept! Boy, was I ever in trouble now!

When Deborah got home I met her in the front yard and told her that I had something to tell her. Jeff had left the house, gone to the school playground but had returned home safely. My wife went bonkers! She cried and cried and said that I couldn’t be trusted again! What an experience that was!

What I learned from that experience is that many Christians are asleep on the job! We have a job to do and get complacent or lethargic and are not fulfilling our responsibilities as believers! If we refuse to remain awake and fulfill our charge as His body, He can and will use someone else to carry out His mission. Let’s examine what should be happening after Easter!

(Optional Introduction - LOOKING FOR ME

The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers. He dialed the employee’s home telephone number and was greeted with a child’s whispered, "Hello?"

Feeling put out at the inconvenience of having to talk to a youngster, the boss asked, "Is your Daddy home?" "Yes," whispered the small voice.

"May I talk with him?" the man asked. To the surprise of the boss, the small voice whispered, "No."

Wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"

"Yes," came the answer.

"May I talk with her?" Again, the small voice whispered, "No."

Knowing that it was not likely that a young child would be left home alone, the boss decided he would just leave a message with the person who should be there watching over the child. "Is there anyone there besides you?" the boss asked the child.

"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman."