Monday, September 12

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Acts 1:1-11

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up into heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command:

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand there 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.” 


When my boys were very young Thursday was my favorite day of the week. That was the day I stayed home and took care of our preschoolers while my wife went to work. During those years one of our favorite things to do together, especially at this time of year, was to “throw rocks in the river.” We would load up in the car or van and head to the Fox River where we would walk along the banks of the river for what seemed like hours and toss whatever stones we could find into the water. If we could find flat stones we would see how many times we could skip them on the surface of the river. If we found round stones we would see how far we could throw them. Sometimes we would lug bigger stones down to the water and see how big a splash we could create. But we threw lots and lots of rocks. Sometimes people ask me how all four of my boys eventually became quarterbacks and pitchers – and while I can’t answer the question with certainty - “throwing rocks in the river” may explain at least some of it!

But if I had been paying close attention, each stone that struck the waters surface would have created something called a “ripple effect.” That is, the force of the rock striking the water would have produced a series of small waves – or ripples – emanating from the point of impact and moving ever outward in all directions. We have all seen the ripple effect – in rivers, ponds and swimming pools. But it also strikes me that the ripple effect is true not only of rocks tossed in a river – but in many areas of our lives.

Here’s a simple definition of “ripple effect:”

“The continuing and spreading influence of an event or action.”

This is true in small ways – pebbles tossed into a pond – and in large ways – an earthquake on the bottom of the ocean floor that produces a tsunami over 500 miles away.

Think for a moment about the events we remembered this past Sunday, September 11. The terrorist attack in 2001 not only resulted in several thousand deaths on that day – as well as physical destruction to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon – but also created a ripple effect that continues to this day. The ripples from that day have included war, political upheaval, economic stress as well as religious and social conflict – not to mention measures of security never before imagined in our own culture.

The Bible itself, when you think about it that way, is full of ripple effect stories. The sin of Adam and Eve in the garden spread throughout human history and touches us all today. God’s Ten Commandments have formed the moral and ethical backbone of most modern civilizations. And the church itself is part of the ripple effect created by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!

When we read the opening verses of the Book of Acts from this perspective it becomes clear that God wants us to both see and participate in the great ripple effect of the gospel. There are two ways to think about the gospel ripple effect. When the stone rolled away from the tomb on that first Easter morning it dropped into the great pond of history creating a ripple effect that has continued now for 2,000 years through the church – of which FBCG is a part! So each of us has the great privilege of being part of a movement that Jesus had in mind when he said,

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19

But the second way to think about it is as individuals. Your life – and my life – are like pebbles dropped into that same pond of history. Each of our lives makes an impact – in one way or another. Some lives create large ripples, others create small ripples, but we all create ripples. The question is; what kind of ripples do we create?

Ask God to make you more and more aware of how he wants to use your life to create ripples of spiritual influence!

Pastor Brian Coffey