I’d like to invite you to join me for the next forty days of “SENT,” a spiritual adventure beyond lent. It is a time of seeking God for His personal assignments and mission for 40 days beyond our celebration of the resurrection. Why SENT? Because after the resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days, teaching, instructing, and walking with His closest followers to prepare them for the day when He would ascend into heaven and send His Spirit to be their guide.
On the day before the resurrection, the followers of Jesus were scattered, discouraged, and without hope. All their dreams had been crushed and they were uncertain about the future. Then, on the day that Jesus was raised from the dead and appeared, they were changed forever. They went from desperation to certain anticipation, from despair to hopeful expectation, from discouragement to celebration. But they were not ready for what was to come. They were unclear and unprepared for what Jesus was asking them to do next.
Jesus' disciples had seen Him perform great miracles, signs and wonders. They heard Him teach about the Kingdom of God. They had walked with Him and seen His authority over nature, over sickness, over crowds of people, over the devil and demons, and even over death itself. They had seen Him die on the cross and raise from the dead. But they were not equipped for what was about to happen.
Jesus was about to invite His followers to be part of God’s great plan to bring heaven to earth, to bring hope to the hopeless, to bring freedom to the captives, to bring life to the dead and dying. In His first sermon, the Great Messiah had already proclaimed His purpose here on earth. He quoted from the book of Isaiah, the 61st chapter. He opened the scroll and read this to the crows in the temple:
“1 The Spirit of the Sovereign YEHOVAH is on me, because YEHOVAH has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of YEHOVAH’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of YEHOVAH for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.”
Because the followers of Jesus were not yet ready to step into this monumental role where Jesus was calling them to walk, the Bible says in Acts 1:3-5…
“3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."”
What did Jesus do? He appeared to the disciples. He spent personal time with them, dialoguing, teaching, answering their questions. What did He talk about? He spoke “…of the things concerning the Kingdom of God.”
In His final forty days here on earth, Jesus did exactly what He had been doing for the previous three years. He spoke about the Kingdom of God. But after being raised from the dead, He spoke with immediacy, urgency, and with a new perspective. When Jesus died on the cross it changed the balance of power on heaven and earth. When He rose from the dead, He declared victory over everything that had ever come against the beauty and perfection of the Kingdom of God. In three days, everything changed.
When God created heaven and earth, He created them together as one and it was good. Next, God created Adam and Even and gave them authority over all the earth. When Adam and Eve sinned, they abdicated their authority on earth, and Lucifer was made the ruler of this world. Finally, in His death on the cross, Jesus took back authority on earth and rendered the enemy powerless. When Jesus remained on earth for His final 40 days, He taught His disciples everything they needed to know to be part of bringing heaven back to earth under the authority of Jesus, with the power of the Holy Spirit.
What Jesus taught during that time was so transformational that these eleven men went from being cowardly, frightened, hopeless men, to changing the world in ways that we have never seen since that time. We don’t know everything Jesus taught them, but it seems likely that He reminded them of His previous example and teachings, explained to them what had happened through His death and resurrection, and encouraged them with what would happen when the Holy Spirit came upon them.
What the disciples did next was nothing short of miraculous. They waited for God, the Spirit, to come upon them. And when the Spirit came upon them, they did everything that Jesus had done in the last three years. They proclaimed the Kingdom. They spoke boldly. They became fearless. The healed the sick and raised the dead. They taught what Jesus taught, with the same power and authority with which He taught. Thousands of people became fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ and taught others to do the same. A revolution began.
So why can’t that revolution begin again? Why can’t there be fresh wind and fresh fire? What keeps us from speaking what Jesus spoke and doing what Jesus did? Nothing. Absolutely nothing prevents us from experiencing what happened in the book of Acts.
As followers of Jesus and children of God, we have everything that the first disciples had. Most importantly, we have God, the Father, to instruct us on what we should do. We have God, the Son, to pass on the authority that was given to Him. And we have God, the Spirit to guide us, teach us, and fill us with all the power of the Kingdom of God.
In lent, God leads us to give something up. In SENT, God gives us a replacement for what was taken away. In lent, the focus is Christ on the cross. In SENT, the focus is the risen Christ, now seated at the right hand of the Father, the throne of authority. Lent ends with the resurrection. For SENT, the resurrection is just the beginning. In lent something dies; in SENT we receive life.
Imagine all of us walking with Jesus for the next 40 days, hearing His voice, receiving His teaching, and then being sent with authority to bring heaven back to earth just as the first disciples did.
As we embark upon this journey together, our hope is the hope of the great apostle, Paul, who recognized that the resurrection wasn’t the end of something. It was a beginning. His desire was, “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” (Philippians 3:8)
Our prayer for the next 40 days is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. His desire was that the people in Ephesus would experience the great power of the resurrection. He said, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:18-23)
Something happened in Jesus' last forty days on earth that changed cowards into conquerors. So, each day, for the next 40 days, we will be looking at the teachings of Jesus, exploring what made the difference, and seeking God for the same power. Each day we will spend time learning from God’s Word, letting the Spirit teach us, and listening for the instructions of the Father. I can’t wait to see what will happen at the end of 40 days, when we wait for the celebration of Pentecost.
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