Let Us Go into the City Together

Acts 1:12 - Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey.

As the disciples left Mount Olivet to journey back to the City of Jerusalem together, we too need to make that journey together to the city of New Jerusalem.

Let us go on into the City together.

We find that it took one day for the disciples to get to their destination.  The disciples could have split-up afater they saw the ascention of the Lord.  One could have went here, one could have went there.  One could have went here and there.  Yet, they went into the city together.  It was Jesus who had come and gave them a special relationship with each other.  They did not yet realize that they were Christians.  The name Christian had not yet been born. Yet, these believers had a special bond that connected them, and that bond was their faith in Jesus.  The bond that connected them and motivated them to go on into the city of Jerusalem together is the same bond that connects each and every one of the saints of God that are born of the spirit, born of the water.  It is a bond of unity and togetherness.

The bond that  had  connected them together and motivated them to do what the Lord instructed them to do is the same bond that we have which connects us together and motivates us to continue to daily strive to do what the Lord is saying unto us to do, and that bond is faith.  Praises unto your name sweet Jesus.

Have you experienced a kind of faith that CONNECTS one to another?

The disciples had faith in Jesus, and it was their faith that connected them together, during that time, the Holy Spirit had not been given as an abiding saviour.  Faith connected the people of God together during that time, and faith was stong enough to keep the people together as a body of believers until the Holy Spirit was given to empower them for service.  Their faith in Jesus was stong enough to form the beginning of a church in the Upper Room of someone's home.

The faith that we have in the Lord Jesus as our keeper, as our comforter, as our saviour, as our shepherd, as our healer, as our power, as our guide, as our teacher, as our leader, as our deliverer, has brought about a special relationship that we have within the church and with each other.  It is our faith in Jesus that is so powerful that it formed the beginning of a new church in the back of a home.  It is our faith in Jesus which keeps us striving together despite what comes up against us.  It is our faith in Jesus that motivates us to desire to be an outreach mnistry in His name.  It is our faith that has us catering to the homeless population and making endless sacrifices for the benefit of others.

It is our faith in Jesus that keeps the church doors open, it is our faith in Jesus that mends shaky relationships within the church.  It is our faith in Jesus that causes us to love one another enough to care.  It is our faith in Jesus that stimulates us to come together one more time and gather in his name.  It is our faith in Jesus that encourages us to work with one another, and it is our faith in Jesus that keeps us with one another rather then fleeing from one another.  We should have  a need to stay close to the spiritual family that the Lord has placed you with.

Faith without Power has no Engine!

When the disciples left Mount Olivet and journeyed back to Jerusalem we must bear in mind that they did not have the Holy Spirit.  They had faith in Jesus.  The faith that they had was enough to bind them together until they received power from on high.

When there is togetherness in faith there is power in what we can do in his name.  When there is togetherness or united faith there is power in what we can receive through faith and prayer.  Eph 3:20 He is able to do more than what we ask or think.  It was our faith in Jesus that brought us together when the church opened, and it is the spirit of God who connected us together like the parts of a human body.  This is powerful.  What God has joined together let no man put asunder?  This scripture is against a third party interfering in the relationship of a God ordained marriage, thus it is in the church, as we are married together to Christ through his Spirit, we are also married one to another as a spiritual body of believers in Jesus.  

Let us go into the city together!

As the disciples went on into the city together to wait on the Lord.  We too ought to wait on God so that we can go on into the city together.  These believers did not quite understand that they were the beginning of something new.  Neither did we understand when we first came together that we would be working together to formulate the beginning of a new church. The disciples were the church...yet, the real connecting force of their relationship was missing...and that connection was the Holy Ghost.

This is why they were instructed to wait on God.  They had faith...but faith without power has no engine.  They needed the MOTOR of the Holy Ghost to get them going so that they could do the work that God called them to do!

Today we have an advantage over those disciples during that time, we have the faith and we have the power.  We can wait on God for daily directions, but we do not have to wait in order to do what we know we should be doing for the Lord, because he has given us power to do a work for him and live the life for him.  Glory!!!

When we look at ourselves today as a church, we are connected together through Jesus.  Ephesian 2:21 - The scripture says that we are fitly framed together.  Just as Jesus connected the disciples together before  he departed.  It is the spirit of God who has put us together to fulfill his purposes.

Just as the disciples stuck together after the Lord ascended..we too must srive to stick together in the Spirit of Christian unity and in the spirit of Christian love.  Let us to on into the City together.  That city that I am speaking of represents the New Jerusalem, and yet we understand in order fo us to go on into the city together, we are going to have to cointinue to help one another to make it in.  We are here to help one another.

I am here for you-are you here for me?

We are here to encourage one another, we are here to support one another, we are here to strengthen one another.  We are here to keep our eyes fixed on the saviour, just as those disciples did when he ascended.  We can not watch him ascend into the heavens as the disciples did...but we can wait on Him and together as a body of born again believers ascend.