ANCHOR DEVOTIONS (NOVEMBER 30, 2011)

Witnesses
Acts 1:6-11

"'...and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'"
(Acts 1:8)
As a church planter, I can empathize a bit with the early disciples in today's reading. They had just experienced first-hand the most important events in human history and they were wondering as they looked into the future, "What next now that Jesus was raised? What will be our place?" While Jesus doesn't directly answer their question concerning the kingdom, He does give them important information about their role, referring to them as His "witnesses."
By using this image, Jesus signals the fact that their primary task as His disciples was to bear witness to Him and His work. Their speech and conduct ought to be like flashing arrows pointing to the work of Christ and its sufficiency for salvation. This meant that boasting in their own accomplishments and abilities was simply out of the question. Christ was to be the substance of their testimony and their boasting. They're assured that their testimony would be taken to the ends of the earth - to us! - through the power of the Holy Spirit.

INSIGHT
Is Christ the main character of your testimony?
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Ezekiel 31-32
Psalm 146
1 Timothy 1-2
Acts 1:6-11
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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."
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "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."