Stop Gazing at what was and start moving toward is

No more time for passive staring when there is still work that needs to be done.

Message Focus: Don’t bury your talent

Scripture Reading: Acts 1:10-11 /  Matthew 25:14-30 / James 2:14-24

Props: Towel, weights, chair, remote, bible, phone, food selection

1. Discern the times and act accordingly

2. Multiple what you already have

3. Work while it is day.

The question is, how are we preparing ourselves in this time? Are we mentally and physically available to be used by God?

The disciples’ behavior is entirely natural; they’re witnessing an extraordinary event. I want to be clear, what the disciples were doing was not wrong, they weren’t violating any law or making a scene for themselves. There is a different between, our right vs God’s right, which I will discuss in my next point. The difference between us and God is we can get stuck in forward-looking instead of looking critically. This is the point the angels were making to the disciples regarding forward-looking rather than critical. They tell the disciples that “this same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). In this verse we can see the question essentially shifts the disciples’ attention from what has happened to what will happen. Rather than remaining transfixed on the ascending Jesus, then carrying out the assignment He instructed while it is still day. We as God’s disciples should understand that his departure is not permanent. He will return in the same manner as the they’ve witnessed according to scripture.

In this verse we can see the question essentially shifts the disciples’ attention from what has happened to what will happen. Their gazing upward, while understandable, shouldn’t become passive waiting. Jesus had just told them they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them and would be witnesses to Him in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:6–11). The angels’ challenge implicitly calls them to action. To move forward with their mission rather than moving without progress.

1. Which leads to my first point. Discern the times and act accordingly

Discerning the times and moving accordingly has nothing to do with what you know, what you have known, and what you believe is right to you. The sons of Issachar understood the times and knew what Israel should do. They possessed wisdom regarding the era in which they lived. God is looking for individuals who is willing to move despite not knowing the why, the what, the who, and the when. He desires for us to have spiritual awareness, by recognizing what He is doing in our particular moment and responding appropriately. When we except Jesus as our Lord and Savior, repent of our sins, and baptized in His name, we move from living according to chronos and begin to live in Kairos. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to live and move in Kairos time. There’s nothing wrong with chronos, which help us keep account of the clock-and-calendar time that moves us forward continuously by (seconds, hours, years, or seasons). But, Kairos is not based on what we know is time, it is the exact, opportune, or critical moment when something special or impactful happens. The impact emerges because you’re no longer working against yourself or against God’s redemptive momentum. This isn’t about achieving through willpower alone; it’s about cooperating with what God is already doing. When your desires, choices, and actions move in concert with his, something genuinely special happens. Not because you’ve become powerful, but because you’ve positioned yourself within the flow of divine purpose. The time we are living in, God is moving quickly. What you are in need of is not wishful thinking if we decide to partner with God and not our circumstance, situations, or personal beliefs. The thing you have been praying for is not working because you fail to move in the way He has shown you. Yes, you pray, but nothing happens. You’re gazing, you have faith, but you don’t have the desire to move. You’re having health trouble; have you changed your eating habits. You are in a financial deficit; have you been watching what is going in and out of your account. You manage your money well but cannot seem to live within your budget. You may live within your budget, but do you give God your first fruit. Your household in turmoil, have you push the plate away and shut off social media, put your ring on your phone on silence and refuse to watch television until you have heard from God. God does not intervene until we give Him a reason to do so. If we don’t put in the work that stretches us, we will not know what he is saying in this time to bring us into a place of wholeness.

2. Multiple what you already have

Give examples:

I love sweets and eating out at my favorite restaurants, especially when I feel stressed. The Lord was showing me signs regarding my weight and stress. I refused to move on what the spirit was saying and the weight keep pouring on until I’ve notice uncomfortable pain in my lower back and unable to bend down to do the simple things I have always done. I still prayed, fast one day out of the week, read His words, and helped in the community. What good is all this when I was slowly killing myself because I fail to listen to His instructions for a longer life. I was to busy gazing at the things that was right to me that I was not moving in His direction, because I was comfortable enjoying the things that were robbing me of good health.  What is keeping you from showing up the way God wants you to show up?

If you want change to happen within your inward and outward life you must stop narrating your own steps, when God is calling you for more.