Occupy

Greetings to my beloved family!

While reading Acts chapter 1 this morning, my attention was drawn to verse 4, which reads as follows: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. Verse 5 is a continuation of a direct quotation from Jesus and is obviously referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:5
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 

It is easy to read the two scriptures above and just fly right by them, knowing that the Holy Spirit descends in chapter 2, but I would like to take an opportunity to unpack a couple of things from verse 4. In the first three verses, Luke names Jesus and talks about Him being with the disciples. After pointing out the undeniable proofs of Jesus resurrection, he says: And, being assembled together. Jesus was with His disciples. This was not a one-time event. We know from the Gospels that Jesus continually met with His disciples and continued to do so after His passion. If He did it for His disciples, then we have the assurance that He is together with us today. We may be tempted to agree, thinking that, in a spiritual sense, Christ is in us, therefore always with us. But, that is not enough. We need to realize that as believers, our assembling together is really important to Jesus. He told us in Matthew 18:20 that when we assemble, He is in our midst. Also, in Hebrews 10:25, we are told that the assembling together is even more important as the day approaches. “What day?” you may ask. The days that we are in right now, on this earth! The signs are all around us. We are in the Third Great Awakening. Not only is it the third awakening, we purpose to make sure that it is the last great awakening.

Next, Jesus commanded the disciples to wait. If we double reference that command, we would not be wrong to say that the command is for all disciples. While thinking about this, I was reminded of the parable of the talents. Luke 19:13 says, “And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” What are we to do as we wait? We are to occupy until He comes. According to the 1828 Webster Dictionary, the word occupy means to seize or take, to take possession, to hold or keep for use, to take up, and to busy oneself. It is an active word and tells us that we are not just waiting for the Lord to do something; rather, we are to work and maintain not only a presence in a land, but carry on all that is included in making it continue to function and prosper. Put another way, while we are waiting, we can emulate the young Jesus as He tarried in Jerusalem. When questioned by his parents, He said unto them, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” (Luke 2:49).

We have much to do as “the day” draws near. Every one of us has a part to play and God has already equipped us with everything that we need to do his will in this amazing time of history in which we are living. I encourage you to step up and step into that divine place that God has waiting for you. Together, we will see God reveal himself in a way that will make the parting of the Red Sea look like a Sunday School picnic (just my opinion). I am honored to be alive in this day and age, and excited to see God’s plan to take us into a new era. My prayer is that you too, are looking forward with great expectation to the days ahead.

It is an honor to serve with you, and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Love to all,
Pastor Craig Harvey