Jesus' Ascension into heaven means he is CLOSER to us

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Full Sermon from 5/12/2024:
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Entire Service from 5/12/2024:
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If Jesus never ascended into heaven, and he was still around today in the same way he was back then, he would be the most inaccessible person in the world. Do you know how hard it would be to get a moment of his time? Trying to meet Jesus would be like trying to meet one of the Beatles. It just isn’t going to happen. Too many people vying for his attention.

People already had this experience during his earthly ministry. There was a man who was concerned that when Jesus came through, he would only be able to see the back of people’s heads so he climbed a tree just to get a glimpse.

There was a woman who needed miraculous healing for a medical issue, but she knew he would never stop for someone like her, so her only goal was to just touch the corner of his cloak as he passed by.

The crowd of 5,000 plus people got to eat some food that he provided that day, but how many of them got to shake his hand? Tell him their name? Get to know him? Maybe some in the front row?

There were so many people who needed his help, who wanted to hear from him, who wanted to get to know him, but meeting all of their needs was not humanly possible.

That’s not to say that during his earthly life he ceased being God, but he did set aside the full use of his divine power and limited himself to time and space when he became like one of us and walked among us.

Remember when Lazarus had died and Jesus showed up a few days later, Martha said, “Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died.”

That feeling of desperately needing Jesus nearby, but knowing he was far away, would be the experience of every last one of us.

That’s why he had to ascend. Now, from our perspective, we might think that ascending into heaven means leaving. Going farther away. But actually, it’s so that he could be closer than ever.

Ephesians 4:10 says: He… is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.

If Jesus were still here in the same way he was during his earthly ministry, it would be nearly impossible to get a moment of his time. If you wanted to tell him something, you’d have to wait in a line that went out the door and wrapped around the block several times. Now all you have to do is pray to him, and he has time to hear you, along with a million other people who may be praying at that very moment. If you wanted to hear him speak, you would have to find your seat in an arena full of people and hope it has a good sound system. Now all you have to do is open up your Bible, and he speaks to you. If you really wanted to spend time with him, you would have to be lucky enough to crack his inner circle- to become one of the twelve. Now, you just have to go to church and believe his promise that “wherever two or three gather in my name, there I am among them.”

See, Christ’s ascension means that he is with you, close to you, near you, hears you, sees you, no matter where you are or what time of day it is.

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