News From The Upper Room

Kenny Gilbert 2/22/09

News from the Upper Room

Act 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Jesus’ followers waited in the upper room; they waited on the Lord. What happened in that upper room?  We don’t like to wait. We’re a microwave generation. God tests us at times.

In 1:4 we find that Jesus assembled together with them and commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but “wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.”  Prior to this time the Holy Spirit worked from without; now He would work from within. We need to practice waiting too. Wait on the word. As the disciples were doing, we need to wait for the Holy Spirit to direct us. When the Lord saved us He gave us the Comforter-the Holy Spirit.  When we see how times are today, we feel the comfort of the Lord. We need to do what the Lord tells us, even if he tells us to wait. The same power that the apostles saw then can do the same for us today.

Like it was with Sampson, many Christians today have lost their power with God. He laid his head in the lap of Delilah and didn’t know he had lost it. The power needs to return to us. We need to return; we are not to dilly dally around like Sampson. We can have our batteries recharged. The Spirit isn’t lost; we can have Him back. It’s time to step back and see the power. Are we afraid of the empowerment of the Spirit? Remember that He doesn’t live in unclean hearts.

Verse 8 says “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”  We’re not saved to sit on the seat but to spread the gospel to the world. We don’t exercise the power of God. We act as if we are afraid of the Spirit of the Lord. We bring Him to church with us, but we don’t set Him free.

Verse 9 says “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” They may have reached up to Jesus as he was lifted up into heaven. They knew there were to go to the upper room and wait.

In verse 14 we find them in the upper room in one accord. Jesus was gone. They had to wait. Those 120 people waited in complete agreement with each other. Unity is with God and you and you and your brothers and sisters in the Lord. They loved Jesus enough to follow Him to the upper room. Do we love Him enough?  This is the message of the upper room-unity and love. Love for each other and love for the Lord.

A crowd of 120 waited. They came together and stayed together and waited. This, too, is a message from the upper room-they waited on the Lord yet served him. There was no boredom. There was no dissatisfaction. They felt no need to get on with the lives. They waited as they were told. We need to get back into things with the Lord. We should never be bored as a believer in the Lord. Another message then is they were satisfied with the Lord, satisfied to serve Him.

They waited for the Comforter. They believed the Lord would send Him. Do we really believe Jesus will come back? Don’t quit; we can see the signs of his return. We ought to act like it. We need to get busy working together in one accord.