The. Next. Big. Thing.
When the apostles heard Christ’s last words on earth, they didn't want to miss anything—but almost lost everything.
Their teacher had been arrested, tried, and executed before he miraculously rose from the dead. They walked and talked and ate together for more than a month after his resurrection. One day they were eating together on the Mount of Olives, and Jesus told them to not leave Jerusalem, but wait there for the gift the Father had promised. When they asked for more details, all he gave was this.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
"After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.[1]
The men were amazed, eyes were fixed on the spot where they had last seen their Messiah. Jesus met, ate, and talked with them—right there. All their senses had been engaged in that encounter. Who would want to leave that place?
But that's not what Jesus told them to do—He told them to GO. Wait in Jerusalem for the next big thing.
How often do we have an encounter with Jesus—something great and mighty and personal takes place—and there we stay. Because JESUS WAS HERE. The crazy thing is that faith is about not staying with what we know is real, but stepping out onto the next limb, taking the next leap of faith, going where we haven't gone before.
Without a doubt, God does break into our lives. He steps into our timelines and makes real, monument-worthy changes, but our call is not to build a temple and set up camp there. We are to remember His faithfulness as we continue to follow him.
Don’t stay where God has revealed himself to you—LAUNCH from there, go on to the land that God will show you.
“They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying.”[2]
What was waiting for the disciples was power, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the salvation of about 3,000 souls! But they had to leave their mountaintop to receive it.
So, GO! Follow the cloud, or the pillar of fire—however God is leading you. Don’t cling to what is familiar, comfortable, or tangible. Let your testimony be about what God IS doing in your life, more than what He has done.