Sunday Sermon Summary – June 01 2025

Forty Day Challenge – Day of Ascension 
New Growth – Luke 24: 44-53
Acts 1: 1-11

As we celebrate the ascension of our Lord, we remember the forty days Jesus spent with His disciples after his resurrection.  The holy Bible teaches us that some days are special.  For example, the number seven is special in holy Scripture. Today we will meditate on the number 40. There are a few profound references to the number forty. 

1.  Rain during Noah’s time:
Genesis 7:12 Guilty

When God regretted for creating humans, He decided to wipe them out of the face of the earth and it rained forty days and forty nights. Only Noah and his family found favour with God. Noah obeyed God in all things.  This passage reminds us that God is righteous and that He will never acquit sin. “The soul that sins will die.”  “The wages of sin is death.” We also understand that all humanity is guilty before God. None is righteous; not one. If it is not for His mercy none of us will be spared. 

2.  Moses on mount Sinai
Exodus 34:28-35 Guidance

God prepared a way for us.  He shared His commandments with us through His prophet Moses. Moses spent forty days and forty nights two times to receive God’s commandments.  God’s commandments were given to all humanity that we will know God’s expectations.  The commandments also give us a realization that all of us have fallen short of God’s expectation. We need something more than God’s commandments. So, we were taught to make sacrifices for disobedience.  The blood of animals without blemish was shed as a sign of our acknowledgment of sin. 

3.  Jesus prepared the disciples
Acts 1:3 Grace

Finally, we read that our Lord spent forty days with His disciples after His resurrection.  Those forty days were of much importance in the ministry of the disciples.  The Bible teaches us that Jesus focused on the disciples these forty days confirming that He is risen from the dead and that they must begin the ministry of Church planting after they are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Church will be a new chapter of faith.  God has prepared salvation for all humanity through the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ.  The disciples were to proclaim salvation through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ until He returns again in glory. Amen!