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[3915.32 --> 3916.12] of where we're going.
[3916.74 --> 3918.04] And I was told by Chris,
[3918.16 --> 3918.60] Pastor Chris,
[3918.66 --> 3920.58] that he usually preaches for 40 to 45 minutes.
[3920.72 --> 3922.72] So we're going to go for about 45 minutes.
[3923.46 --> 3925.14] Oh, we'll see if I can get into that.
[3925.18 --> 3925.96] But this is where we're going.
[3926.76 --> 3927.30] Number one,
[3927.52 --> 3928.80] Jesus right now
[3928.80 --> 3931.26] is a king who's ruling the world
[3931.26 --> 3933.00] with love, justice, and mercy.
[3933.00 --> 3934.30] Number two,
[3934.36 --> 3936.34] we're going to look at how Jesus right now
[3936.34 --> 3938.06] is engaged in the work
[3938.06 --> 3940.64] of interceding for you and I as his children.
[3941.64 --> 3942.08] And third,
[3942.34 --> 3944.56] we're going to look at how Jesus is equipping us
[3944.56 --> 3946.56] right now by his spirit
[3946.56 --> 3948.44] for mission in his world.
[3949.90 --> 3951.70] Just before we dive into the passage,
[3951.78 --> 3954.30] I want to say one thing about Acts 1.
[3954.94 --> 3956.46] I want you to know that the disciples
[3956.46 --> 3957.48] who followed Jesus,
[3958.00 --> 3959.76] when he went to be with the Father
[3959.76 --> 3960.66] and ascended to heaven,
[3960.66 --> 3962.68] they would have been probably confused
[3962.68 --> 3964.50] and deeply disappointed.
[3965.40 --> 3966.80] I mean, just put yourself in their shoes
[3966.80 --> 3967.54] for one moment.
[3967.64 --> 3969.14] They followed this guy for three years.
[3969.24 --> 3970.24] They gave up everything
[3970.24 --> 3972.56] to be committed to this movement of Jesus
[3972.56 --> 3974.86] with some confusion about where it goes.
[3975.62 --> 3977.90] They went through the gut-wrenching agony
[3977.90 --> 3979.82] of watching their leader get crucified,
[3980.40 --> 3981.60] dead on a cross.
[3981.84 --> 3983.84] And then they went through the overwhelming joy
[3983.84 --> 3985.52] of Jesus then coming back to life.
[3985.68 --> 3987.92] And they had this sweet 40 days,
[3988.02 --> 3988.94] we read in this passage,
[3988.94 --> 3990.84] of Jesus going around the city,
[3991.34 --> 3992.66] telling people he's alive,
[3992.72 --> 3994.14] in his resurrected body,
[3994.14 --> 3997.86] and then, poof, Jesus is gone.
[3998.94 --> 4000.86] What they wanted of Jesus
[4000.86 --> 4003.38] is to continue doing what's going on.
[4003.48 --> 4005.84] They wanted Jesus to be the new King David,
[4006.10 --> 4007.68] sitting on a throne in Jerusalem,
[4007.90 --> 4009.20] establishing Israel
[4009.20 --> 4011.14] and making the city great again.
[4011.76 --> 4012.88] And then Jesus leaves.
[4012.88 --> 4013.88] And what he says to them is,
[4014.32 --> 4015.12] here's my blessing.
[4016.04 --> 4017.18] You're going to be my witnesses.
[4017.78 --> 4019.50] And off he goes to be with the Father.
[4019.62 --> 4022.14] They must have been so confused.
[4023.54 --> 4025.76] But Acts 1 answers the first half
[4025.76 --> 4027.44] of Naoko's question, right?
[4027.84 --> 4029.52] Her question was, where is Jesus?
[4029.64 --> 4031.76] And what do the two men dressed in white,
[4032.06 --> 4033.68] the two angels say to the disciples?
[4035.26 --> 4036.04] He's in heaven.
[4037.22 --> 4039.28] Jesus Christ is in heaven.
[4039.58 --> 4041.36] And maybe if you're honest with yourself,
[4041.36 --> 4043.66] you might have the question, well, where is that?
[4043.94 --> 4045.16] Like, what is heaven?
[4045.26 --> 4046.94] When I gave this answer to Naoko,
[4047.08 --> 4049.26] she had 10 more questions about heaven.
[4049.40 --> 4050.76] And I'm going to just say briefly,
[4051.34 --> 4052.98] oftentimes we imagine heaven
[4052.98 --> 4055.80] as sort of this ethereal place beyond the clouds.
[4056.14 --> 4058.26] It's sort of this hard to imagine place.
[4059.04 --> 4060.14] There's mystery around heaven,
[4060.22 --> 4061.14] but what I'll say is this.
[4061.20 --> 4063.16] It is deeply interlocked
[4063.16 --> 4066.34] and interweaving with our lives on earth.
[4066.82 --> 4067.78] I do not believe that heaven
[4067.78 --> 4070.70] is some far off disconnected place from our reality.
[4070.70 --> 4073.64] It's interlocked and interweaving with earth.
[4073.74 --> 4074.68] Whatever that looks like,
[4074.92 --> 4076.90] that's how I believe the scriptures present heaven.
[4077.52 --> 4078.68] One writer I really love,
[4078.74 --> 4081.84] he says that heaven is the control room for earth.
[4082.44 --> 4084.34] And I wrote this down so not to forget it.
[4084.38 --> 4085.68] When I taught youth about heaven,
[4086.04 --> 4087.78] one of them said back to me recently,
[4088.00 --> 4089.40] it's kind of like Stranger Things.
[4089.92 --> 4091.38] Now, I haven't seen Stranger Things,
[4091.58 --> 4093.58] but maybe that's a good sort of connection point
[4093.58 --> 4095.24] in terms of the interlocking nature
[4095.24 --> 4096.70] of heaven and on earth.
[4096.70 --> 4099.02] Jesus is in heaven.
[4099.54 --> 4100.64] And what you need to know is
[4100.64 --> 4101.74] Jesus' ultimate purpose
[4101.74 --> 4105.08] is the perfect unity of heaven and earth, right?
[4105.12 --> 4106.16] That's what we pray for.
[4106.42 --> 4107.54] When we pray the Lord's Prayer,
[4107.64 --> 4110.86] your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[4111.28 --> 4113.94] And when Jesus comes back in glory and power
[4113.94 --> 4115.78] at the end to restore all things,