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2023-05-26 | Acts 1-2 | To Be ContinuedHave you ever heard the forward-looking phrase, “You can’t get there from here.”? I’m sure you have. But let’s say we turn it around into a backward-looking version; “You did get here from there!” And that will make much more sense as soon as we define ‘here’ and ‘there’ and ‘where,’ especially when you recognize how critical it is to get to the correct ‘here!’ In other words, if ‘where’ we are right now is the incorrect ‘here,’ it must be because we didn’t know ‘where’ the proper ‘there’ was. And when we travel into the past and look back ‘there,’ you must consider this all-important truth: our ‘there’ was their ‘here.’

‘Here’ is ‘where’ they were in the first century, shortly after Y’shua ascended into the clouds. But, how did they get ‘there,’ if ‘there’ is ‘where’ they were supposed to be at that prophetic moment in history? And maybe even more critical than that, if that is even possible, is this. ‘Here’ we are two thousand years later in our ‘here.’ How did we get ‘here’ and are we ‘where’ we are supposed to be? And that brings to mind another phrase I’m sure you’ve heard; “You don’t know ‘where’ you’re going, if you don’t know ‘where’ you’ve been.” In other words, you can’t get proper directions if you don’t know where you are! Framed as a question it sounds like this; “How can you know ‘where’ to go if you don’t know ‘where’ you are or even ‘where’ you’ve been?”

Here is some data to plug into the mishmash of ‘here’ and ‘there’ and ‘where.’ In the first century the ‘here’ was “It was Pentecost and they were all in one place in one accord.” The ‘there’ was, “Three times per year you must make your way to Jerusalem for the feast,” and this was one of those times. The ‘where’ was, “Standing near the Temple waiting for a promise to be fulfilled.” Today oftentimes, the ‘here’ is, “Everyone follows the dictates of his own heart.” The ‘there’ is, “You do err not knowing the Scriptures.” And the ‘where’ is that, “You have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.”

What must happen now, in order to change the ‘here’ we are right now, in order to arrive ‘where’ we are destined to go, which is “there is one body and one Spirit”? That is the question we must answer today as this ongoing story continues…