But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8.
After His resurrection, Christ ascended to His appointed honor. Before the heavenly universe and the worlds unfallen He was to be enthroned. The Father would impress the minds of the believers with the glorious reception of His Son in the home He had left. For our sake He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich….
As Christ ascended, His hands were outstretched in blessing upon His disciples. While they stood gazing upward to catch the last glimpse of their ascending Lord, He was received by the heavenly throng into the rejoicing ranks of cherubs and seraphs. And as they escorted Him to His heavenly home, they sang in triumph, “Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; … that rideth upon the heavens of heavens.”
Christ determined to bestow a gift on those who had been with Him and on those who should believe on Him, because this was the occasion of His ascension and inauguration, a jubilee in heaven. What gift could Christ bestow rich enough to signalize and grace His ascension to the mediatorial throne? It must be worthy of His greatness and His royalty. Christ gave His representative, the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. This Gift could not be excelled….
On the day of Pentecost Christ gave His disciples the Holy Spirit as their Comforter. It was ever to abide with His church. During the whole Jewish economy the influence of this Spirit had often been revealed in a marked manner, but not in full. The Spirit had been waiting for the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. For ages prayers had been offered for the fulfillment of the promise, for the impartation of the Spirit; and not one of these earnest supplications had been forgotten. Now for ten days the disciples sent up their petitions, and Christ in heaven added His intercession. He claimed the gift of the Spirit, that He might pour it out upon His people…. [Christ] having reached His throne, the Spirit was given as He had promised, and like a rushing, mighty wind, it fell upon those assembled, filling the whole house. It came with a fullness and power, as if for ages it had been restrained, but was now poured forth upon the church, to be communicated to the world. What followed this outpouring? Thousands were converted in a day.—Manuscript 44, 1898.
Christ Triumphant p. 301
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Prayer Requests
—-Please continue to pray for E and her children. R
—-Lift my daughter Sancia and my Nephew Shem and Seth in prayers as they are going to sit for their final Exams this end month. EN
—-Please pray for a friend of Emma’s step-dad who is in ICU. Also please pray for Mike as he has a very important doctor’s appointment this week. Rose
—-I am requesting prayers for the mother-in-law of a dear friend’s son. She needs a kidney transplant desperately and my friend’s son was found to be a perfect match. Now just days before the surgery, the test on my friend’s son came back negative and they don’t know what to do. They’ve had to postpone the transplant surgery. Needless to say, everyone is reeling right now. I’m praying for God to carry them through this. Kathy
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Dear Friends,
When we moved to Washington state, the church that we attended often had social functions where the members could bond and become like a family. Sometimes we would go to a campground for the weekend or out to a lake for the day. Some of the church members who had really nice houses invited the members and their friends to a picnic.
Over the years, Esther often reminisced about the first picnic that we attended there. It left quite an impression on her six year old mind. Jerry and Judy had opened their home for a church get-together. That year there had been a lot of rain and behind their house it was flooded because the creek had risen too high. They had a campfire and picnic table on the bluff in the front yard, so they did not have to cancel the church social.
Of course, the adults sat around the campfire talking while the children took turns paddling around in the shallow water in a canoe. Esther and her friend, Gene, begged to have a turn. Against my better judgment, I said yes. As I watched them having so much fun, I wondered why I had been hesitant to allow my little girl to get into the canoe. About that time, the canoe somehow tipped over. The water was not deep, but they got really wet. As the children waded to higher ground, Esther was very distressed because she lost one of her pink patent leather shoes in the mud. Those shoes were her favorites. She only had two pair of shoes (one pair for church and one for everyday), so she really needed those shoes. She began to cry.
Gene’s father rescued them out of the water and mud, wrapped them in a blanket and held them on his lap. To quiet the whimpering child, he told her, “Don’t cry, your shoe will grow a pink shoe tree, and then you will have all of the pink shoes you every wanted.” That thought dried her tears. She believed him.
For several years Esther would go out into Jerry’s backyard looking for a pink shoe tree to poke its head out of the ground. As she matured, she realized the impossibility of such a thing and realized that he was only trying to make her feel better.
How careful we must be in what we tell little children. They have perfect trust, perfect confidence in us. They believe what we say. They watch what we do. They model our words and actions. As a twig that is bent when young and pliable grows in that particular shape, so little children become what we teach them by precept and example.
Our Dear Saviour used a little child to teach the disciples an important lesson. “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 18:1-4 Jesus wants us to have the same perfect trust and confidence in Him as does a little child in his parents. He desires us to believe His promises with our whole heart. “Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Heb 11:6
May we have the confidence of a little child in our Loving Heavenly Father. May we love and trust Him with our whole heart. May we be careful what we teach our little ones for He warns, “whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. . . . Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” Matt 18:6, 10