{"id":1137,"date":"2009-08-28T10:04:42","date_gmt":"2009-08-28T16:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eaf.net\/pantinghart\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2009-08-28T10:04:42","modified_gmt":"2009-08-28T16:04:42","slug":"jesus-began","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/2009\/jesus-began\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Began"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"reading\">Reading:<br \/>\n<font color=\"white\">Acts 1:1-11<\/font>\n<\/div>\n<p>He <i>started<\/i> it!<\/p>\n<p><b><font color=brown>&#8220;The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach&#8221;<\/font><\/b> (1).<\/p>\n<p>Do we get to <i>finish<\/i> it?<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know about that. But I do know this: I am expected to <i>continue<\/i> it. Today. <!--more There's more to this post (including the usual wallpaper), but you'll have to click here to read it. --><\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, something I wrote some nine years ago:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Jesus came to the earth on the &#8220;most&#8221; mission of all time: the most important, the most loving, the most difficult, the most glorious, the most noble, the most sacrificial, the most useful, the most spiritual, the most effective. Without question, of everything that is positive, Jesus&#8217; mission here is the most.<\/p>\n<p>I left out a very significant &#8220;most&#8221; in my list. The Lord&#8217;s mission was also the most successful mission. Just before He died on the cross, He made His triumphal declaration: <font color=brown>&#8220;It is finished.&#8221;<\/font> Less than fifty days later, He returned to His heavenly home, having accomplished on earth everything He came to do.<\/p>\n<p>Notice, though, that according to Acts 1;1, that was the <i>beginning<\/i>! Luke refers to <font color=brown>&#8220;all that Jesus began both to do and teach.&#8221;<\/font> Amazing! Do you get it?! Jesus&#8217; doing and teaching ministry here on earth was a beginning! He didn&#8217;t intend for it to end when He ascended into Heaven. Oh my, no!<\/p>\n<p><font color=brown>&#8220;All that Jesus began both to do and teach&#8221;<\/font> we have the privilege of continuing. What He began while here in the flesh He wishes to continue while here in <i>our<\/i> flesh.<\/p>\n<p><b>But the assignment is so great!<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Can you comprehend the magnitude of this mission that is now ours? The &#8220;most&#8221; mission of all time has been divinely given to us to continue. How can we possibly step in Jesus&#8217; sandals and walk in His steps?! The assignment is so great!<\/p>\n<p>True, but it is not <i>too<\/i> great.<\/p>\n<p>You see, rather than we stepping into His sandals, He moves into our lives. Then with the Apostle Paul we can exult, <font color=brown>&#8220;Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God&#8221;<\/font> (Galatians 2:20).<\/p>\n<p>We have received the assignment of continuing the &#8220;most&#8221; mission of Jesus, but it is not too great because <font color=brown>&#8220;ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you&#8221;<\/font> (Acts 1:8).<\/p>\n<p>Let us never forget what the Sender said, <font color=brown>&#8220;I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world&#8221;<\/font> (Matthew 28:20).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.anabaptists.org\/clp\/youth\/1-201.html\">Originally written in mid-2000.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center><a href=\"\/pantinghart\/wp-content\/be_witnesses.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/pantinghart\/wp-content\/be_witnesses.jpg\" alt=\"[The Scriptures say in Acts 1:8 -- Ye shall be witnesses unto me]\" title=\"God's Word says: Ye shall be witnesses unto me (Acts 1:8)\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n<i>from Acts 1:8<\/i><\/center><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading: Acts 1:1-11 He started it! &#8220;The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach&#8221; (1). Do we get to finish it? I don&#8217;t know about that. But I do know this: I am expected to continue it. Today.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[66],"tags":[51,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-1137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-acts","7":"tag-discipleship","8":"tag-live-right","9":"h-entry","10":"hentry","11":"h-as-article"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/prJBV-il","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/pantinghart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}