ripple effect: vacaville

Read Acts 1:12-26.

1. So…all the disciples (besides Judas) were staying together in this upper room: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James 2, Simon, and Judas 2. They all prayer together constantly. And it wasn’t just the guys– the women and Jesus’ mother Mary were all there along with Jesus’ brothers. I can’t imagine the emotions they all felt during this strange but wonderful time.
2. Peter took the lead. He stood up in front of 120 believers and told them that Judas’ betrayal of Jesus was all according to the prophesy of David in the psalms. That’s all well and good, but how do you think Peter really felt talking about Judas?
3. Whoah, so Judas hung himself; and the rope broke, causing him to splatter open upon impact. Sick.
4. So…Peter knew, from his knowledge of Scripture (remember, Jesus gave them all this ability), that they needed to elect a replacement to Judas in the twelve. The replacement had to be someone who had been around from Jesus’ baptism to His ascension. He will become a witness to all that had happened.
5. The two guys who were suggested were Justus (hey, that’s the name of my Compassion kid!) and Matthias (hey, that’s the name of a guy who plays for the New York Giants!).
6. They prayed to know which would be the guy. (Incidentally, Judas “left to go where he belongs” was right in the middle of that prayer. Still bitter?) Then they drew straws, and it was Matthias. How about that? They didn’t run it by the board or session. They trusted God with the dice. Hooray for Matthias!

Read Acts 1:11.

1. OK…so, in case you didn’t know, the Book of Acts is really just part two of the Gospel of Luke. Luke wrote it. And Jesus’ ascension into heaven is like the halfway marker. Some people wonder if “Theophilus” is a real person. I’m not sure. But, I do know that “Theophilus” means lover of God, so I think this book is meant for all lovers of God…
2. We kind of get a recap from the book of Luke…ok.
3. Jesus was on earth after His resurrection for 40 days. 40’s a magic number.
4. Oh yeah, in the last episode, Jesus told everyone to stay put until everyone gets their present– the Holy Spirit. This ought to be awesome!
5. People were still confused about Jesus’ purpose for coming. They thought that He was going to restore the kingdom of Israel. This restoration that Jesus did is so much more than just a political restoration.
6. If it’s not for us to know God’s timing, why do people obsess over trying to figure it out?
7. Boy, will they ever become powerful!
8. Oh…Jesus got warped up. So, we just got some extra details about what He said before He went to heaven.
9. As the guys were staring up at the sky, wondering, “How’d He do that?,” the two men dressed in white told them that that was a sneak preview about how Jesus will return. OK…who are those guys?

Read Luke 24:44-53.

1. Jesus gives the disciples His great “I told you so” about how He must died, be resurrected, and ascend into heaven. He references the books of Moses, all the prophets, and the book of Psalms as His proof that this was planned waaaaaaay ahead of time.
2. What do you think it was like for them to all of a sudden have their “minds opened” so that they could understand Scripture? I bet that was a surge of understanding all at once. Talk about light bulbs going off over their heads!
3. Jesus sent the disciples to go out and preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins. That’s really what it’s all about. Turn away from sin because you are forgiven.
4. “All nations.” Does that get you inspired about international missions?
5. Jesus even tells them that they’ve got a present coming their way from God– the Holy Spirit. This is going to be good…

6. That final blessing was probably more emotional than when Frodo left the Shire to go into the west. Can you imagine how the disciples were feeling?
7. And then Jesus was “taken up” into heaven. Who knows what it looked like, but I bet it was pretty wild. Or maybe He just disappeared. Who knows.
8. The first worship service of the church (without Jesus) occurred spontaneously on this hillside. And, man, were they pumped…
9. From then on, they held the fort and the temple, praising God. This must have been an amazing time.

Read Matthew 28:16-20.

1. Eleven disciples. Man, that’s kind of sad.
2. How did the disciples doubt Jesus after they saw Him and worshiped Him? I don’t get that.
3. Jesus possesses all the authority of heaven and earth. Personally, I take that to mean that Jesus has power over the natural and spiritual world.
4. What does it mean to make a disciple?
5. Why do you think baptism is so important?
6. I understand obedience. We serve a holy God, so we must be holy.
7. Jesus promises His with-ness. Awesome.

So…do we take the “Great Commission” seriously in our day-to-day lives?

Read John 21:15-25.

1. This part of the Bible makes me think about my life, all the times that I have denied my faith and failed. It makes me think about it because I’m sure that (no matter how bad I’ve felt about the sins that I’ve committed) Peter feels infinitely worse than I could ever feel. He walked with Jesus. Yeah, he had his ups and downs. There was the walking on the water. There was the time that Jesus called him Satan. There were the three denials. The three denials. Denial. Yeah…that would be fresh and raw in Peter’s mind.
2. So Jesus asks Peter if he truly loves Him. Why? Do you think Jesus doubts the fact, or do you think He is asking for another reason?
3. “Feed my lambs”? Um…ok. What do you think Jesus means there? Is He talking about Peter taking on the role of shepherd?
4. And Jesus asks again. Do you think that Peter is scared at this point, scared that Jesus doesn’t know how sorry he is?
5. Again, Jesus tells him to take the role of a shepherd, the role that He had filled in his life, right?
6. After a third time of asking the same question, I could see why Peter was probably hurt. He probably thought of himself as a failure. Maybe he thought that Jesus didn’t trust him anymore. But, you know, maybe Jesus is just giving Peter three chances to AFFIRM his faith in Him to counteract that three times of denying his faith in Him.
7. Jesus wants Peter to take the role of a shepherd. And He even alludes to where that path will take him– to death (some kind of execution). History says that that’s exactly what happened to Peter. History says that Peter was crucified upside down for his faith. Why upside down? Because he felt that he didn’t deserve to have it better or the same than his Master. Wow…
8. And now it was time for Peter to follow Jesus. John came along behind them. And then Peter made a “mistake” that a lot of Christ-followers make. He asked the question, “What about him?” Don’t we do that all the time. If God gives us a cup of sorrow to drink (like Peter knowing that he is going to be killed), don’t we look over at the Johns of the world and say, “Yeah, well I’ll do it as long as it’s fair; and everyone else has to do it.” God promises that He will be constant in our lives, not consistent. And Jesus’ response here alludes to that…
9. WITTY. Something we can all learn from: W-hat I-s T-hat T-o You. Jesus is not concerned with being “consistent,” giving every follower of Him the same path. He basically says that it’s none of Peter’s business what He does with John– Peter’s job is to follow Him. Taking all other people and their paths out of the equation, where is God calling you?
10. Some people thought that Jesus made John immortal. He wasn’t, though; and he did die. But, unlike Peter, he died of old age. Oh, and by the way, he wrote this book.
11. To say that a book could not contain all the works of Jesus is an understatement, but that’s exactly how John puts it at the end of his gospel. How emotional do you think it was for John to write out all his experiences with Jesus like this?
12. You know, the thing that always sticks out to me about John is how he refers to himself in this book. He always refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He defines himself by the way that God sees him, no one else. I used to think that he was a little cocky saying this, but then I realized that it is the ultimate sign of understanding. He knows how God feels about him. Why would he be ashamed? His whole life was defined by this “man” who met him while he was fishing with his brother and his dad. So…who are you?

Read John 20:14 - 21:14.

1. I love Thomas. I don’t know why, but I always have. Maybe because it’s my middle name. Or maybe it’s because I can relate to the twin hearts that he has– one that so badly wants to believe, but one that out-thinks himself all the time. He missed out on Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples. We don’t know if he was talking out of his rear or if he really needed to touch the nail marks. All we know is that he had a hard time taking the others’ word for it.
2. Jesus appeared in a room with locked doors. Figure that one out. Jesus turns to Thomas and says, “Fine, do it.” It doesn’t even say whether or not Thomas did put his fingers in the holes. We know that he believed, though…
3. Hey, we would be included in those who are “blessed” because we believe even though we never saw Jesus resurrected. I mean, the disciples did have that going for them.
4. I wish John has included all the miraculous signs. We do know that the ones that are included are so that we will believe in Jesus. John lets us in on why he wrote his gospel– so that we might want LIFE. Who doesn’t want to live true life?

5. After the credits roll, we get this story…
6. Peter, Thomas, and Nathanael, James, John, and “two other disciples” were all together. Why didn’t John name the two others. Sad, really.
7. Peter was going back to his old life. He had left his life as a fisherman to follow Jesus. Now, it seems that this is the best thing that he can think of to do with his life. The others follow Peter. Unfortunately, Peter was out of practice; and they didn’t catch squat. How depressing…
8. Jesus shows up again, incognito. Imagine the tone of the disciples’ voices when they said, “No.”
9. I can’t imagine some random stranger telling me how to fish after I had been fishing all night. Ironically, isn’t this the same way that Jesus won over Peter in the first place? He tries again and gets a miraculous catch. John is the first to catch on (”the disciple whom Jesus loved”). Once Peter caught on, it didn’t take much. He stripped down and jumped in the water, towards Jesus. I love Peter.
10. Why do you think the other disciples waited to get there in the boat? Do you think you would have dove towards Jesus? Incidentally, Peter swam the length of a football field. He was pumped!
11. Jesus appeared to be cooking breakfast. Such an ordinary task. I’d be freaking out.
12. Do you think the miraculous catch of fish was intended to be a reminder of “Hey, I told you guys you were going to change the world. Well, here it comes…” Fishers of men. Remember?
13. At least they knew that it was Jesus this time. I wonder what the conversation was like during this meal. What do you think?

Read Luke 24:13-43.

1. It doesn’t really say who the two of them are yet. I wonder which two. Could you imagine being a little birdie and being able to listen in on their conversation? What do you think they were saying?
2. It’s just crazy to think that Jesus simply “came up” and walked with them. I wonder if He teleported into the scene. Anyway, they didn’t recognize Him (kind of like with Mary…I wonder how He was different in appearance.)
3. They didn’t even want to go through the story again. Maybe they thought that He would stop asking questions if they didn’t answer. They had been through a lot.
4. This Cleopas guy is significant because his wife, Mary (a different Mary from Magdalene and Jesus’ mother), was at the cross. So, he must have been a close follower of Jesus. He basically asks Jesus if He has been living under a rock to not know what just happened. You can sense his frustration.
5. Why do you think Jesus is “playing dumb”?
6. It’s interesting that they only call Jesus a prophet, not the Son of God. Do you think all their faith had diminished because the “Son of God” appeared to be dead?
7. They’re obviously disappointed because they thought Jesus was the One, and now they are in crisis because they don’t know where His body is. I mean, I know these guys should believe their wives; but do you think they doubted the women’s testimony? Would you have believed all that talk about angels?
8. The guys went and checked out the scene, but there was no Jesus. Would you have believed that He had risen?
9. Jesus lays into them for not realizing that everything was happening according to His plan. He explains the history of all the prophecies concerning Him, including the part where He would suffer, die, be buried, and conquer death.
10. “Moses” is the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The Prophets include all the major and minor prophets’ books in the Old Testament. So, Jesus is basically giving them a Jewish history lesson on why Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish faith.
11. They still didn’t know that it was Jesus. But, they were hospitable towards Him. And that’s when it all happened. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. This is a “reenactment” of the Last Supper, but it’s more than that– this is what Jesus did for them. His body was broken, and He gave His life to these guys. Maybe that’s why their eyes were opened at this point.
12. As soon as they realized who He was, He disappeared. Weird. Then they realize that that burning in their hearts while He was teaching was really a recognition that it was the “Word” of God talking about the Word of God.
13. Whatever their business was in Emmaus was over. They made a b-line to Jerusalem, back to the remaining eleven disciples and all who were with them.
14. Was one of the guys Simon, like the disciple? Hmm…some dude named Simon and definitely Cleopas saw Him. Can you imagine getting this verification from these guys?

15. Jesus appears to warp into the room in the midst of the discussion. He says hello (peace). Something about Jesus’ makeup at this point made them think He was a ghost. I wonder if His body was “different.” It couldn’t have been that different because He appeared to be a gardener at one point.
16. Jesus asked them to touch Him. Apparently, His body was actual flesh and bone. So much for this being simply a “spiritual” resurrection. This is the real deal!
17. They even saw the holes from the spikes. That’s realer than real can be. And, while they were still smacking themselves in the head, Jesus sat down and ate some fish! Crazy!

Read Matthew 28:8-15.

1. What do you think the women were afraid of?
2. Jesus met up with the running women. This time He says, “Greetings.” That would have freaked me out. Again, the women clasp Jesus’ feet and worship Him. Here’s that idea that maybe the women were trying to keep Him there.
3. Again, Jesus seems most concerned with the women telling the disciples what is going on.

4. I wouldn’t have wanted to have been one of the guards who had allowed this stuff to happen. There are secret trap doors in front of bad guys for these kinds of situations. When the guy comes in and says, “We lost the body,” the guy falls into a pit with a snot covered-guy-eating monster. Yeah, I watch too many movies.
5. I still have a hard time believing that priests and elders actually bribed the guards. Why on earth would a Roman soldier admit to being duped by some Jewish peasants? It’s all about the Benjamins, I guess…
6. Does anyone know the penalty for sleeping on duty?
7. I’d like to know how the religious leaders kept these “sleeping on job” guards out of trouble…
8. Why all the covering up?

Read John 20:1-18.

1. Sunday’s the first day of the week for the people of Israel. So…this would be “Easter” Sunday.
2. Apparently, the duct tape holding the stone in place broke off; and someone had moved the stone. No easy feat.
3. This is the first sighting of Peter since the denial of Jesus. It’s good to see that he stayed in the game. Mary’s freaking out, though, because she thinks that the Romans or religious leaders had done something with Jesus’ body.
4. Apparently John was faster than Peter. He he he…
5. Jesus’ burial clothes are lying there. I wonder why John didn’t go in. Do you think he was scared?
6. Regardless, Peter went straight in. That’s more Peter’s style. He saw the cloth and linen folded neatly in separate places. Weird. That’s what I’d be thinking.
7. It says that John finally came in, saw, and believed. It’s as if he got it. He knew that Jesus had risen from the dead. Can you imagine coming to that realization?

8. Why do you think the disciples decided to go home? Do you think John just thought, “Well, He rose from the dead. I guess it’s over”?
9. Mary stayed to cry. We don’t know if she had peeked in yet, but when she does she sees the angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been. That was a sight to see. Why do you think the angels only appeared to Mary?
10. It appears that Mary didn’t believe like John did. She actually still thought that “they” had taken Jesus’ body. She turns around to see Jesus, but she doesn’t realize that it was Him.
11. Now Jesus asks why she’s crying. I don’t think the angels or Jesus are toying with her. I think they are being patient with her as she’s trying to process all of this.
12. I love that Mary thought that Jesus was the gardener. I didn’t even know that there was a gardener around tombs. She just wants to cut through the questioning and get Jesus’ body back, though.
13. When Jesus said her name, though, she remembered. Why do you think that meant so much to her?
14. Jesus urged Mary not to “hold on” to Him because he had not yet “returned” to His Father. Hmm… His purpose for sticking around is more for Him to tell the disciples that He is returning to God. So…why would He choose Mary to be the one who sees Him first?
15. What would you have thought if Mary came back from the tomb and said that she had seen Jesus? I know John understood that He had resurrected, but do you think any of them thought that He was going to be seeable?

Read Matthew 27:57-66.

1. Now we learn that Joseph was, in fact, a disciple of Jesus. So…he was waiting for the Christ, and he found Him. This is pretty counter-cultural, considering that he was high on the echelon of the Jewish community.
2. How do you get a Biblical workout? Do Pontius pilates… He he he…all be here all week.
3. What do you think Joseph was thinking while he was providing these burial rites for Jesus? I mean, he is His disciple; so what do you think was going through his mind while he was burying his Rabbi?
4. Something tells me that big stone is a detail that we should remember…
5. A lot of people try to say that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a romantic relationship. Funny, I just read all four gospels and don’t see that. Are we supposed to assume that because she cares that He died? Women are better at being real about their emotions. Also, maybe the guys are in hiding because they felt like they were in danger. I mean, would the women really be a threat? Anyway, I don’t know why it’s just the two of them there. But they are. I’m not going to read too much (see “The DaVinci Code”) into it.

6. I bet Pilate thought that he as done with all of this Jesus “nonsense.” Nope. Not quite.
7. Doesn’t it just burn you up that they call Jesus “that deceiver”?
8. The religious leaders were paying attention. I like the fact that they set a guard at the tomb. If they would have just let things be, it would been a whole lot easier to explain away what happens next…
9. Some people do believe that the disciples stole the body. Others believe that Jesus never died and swapped Himself out with a look-alike. Sounds like Moses wasn’t the only person who was living in denial (get it, “da Nile,” man, I’m on fire today!)
10. Pilate was walking on eggshells. He had to appease the religious leaders. Nowadays, the government wouldn’t have wasted money on something like this; but Pilate lived in fear of rebellion at all times.
11. What does it mean to “put a seal” on the stone? Sounds more secure than before– that’s for sure.