Luke 24:49 (NLT) “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

We can imagine all of the frenzied excitement and activity swirling around Jerusalem among Jesus' disciples at not only hearing that He had risen, but having seen Him, touched Him and spent time with Him for forty days after the resurrection. Everything that Jesus had told them would happen, happened just as He said.

Every Easter Sunday, Christians all over the world celebrate the biggest event of our faith, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some churches even do large drama presentations multiple times during Easter weekend. But what happens after it's all over? What do you do and what do you feel the day after Easter?

Before Jesus physically left the disciples to ascend to heaven, He spent time with them, opening their minds and hearts to the scriptures (Luke 24:45) and helping them to understand exactly why He came and what He accomplished (Luke 24:27). Then when it was time for Him to go away, He gave them their mission: they were to go everywhere to spread the good news of the Gospel. But before they were to go, He told them to wait. Although His work on earth was finished, there was one more thing that needed to happen. Knowing that the road ahead would be fraught with many troubles and dangers, He needed to go so that He could send the Holy Spirit to live in them. Even with the urgency of the need for people to know the truth about Jesus, He told them to wait because He knew that without His Spirit in them, they would fail. So they did wait and ten days later, they were all baptized with the Holy Spirit. From there, they changed the landscape of their culture dramatically as many, many people gave their lives to Christ.

Today marks two days after Easter. Perhaps you were involved in ministry leading up to Easter. Maybe you were even a participant in a drama presentation about the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. But that's over, and now there is more work to do. But in order to do it, we need the same thing that Jesus told the disciples that they needed. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can walk uprightly and be primed and ready to do God's will. We need to be ready to share our testimony about how Jesus has changed our lives. We need to be prayerful and alert because the day for Jesus' return is nearer than ever before. Easter Sunday has passed, but we've only just begun. Stay energized and ready for whatever the Lord Jesus calls you to do, making Him and the good news about Him the number one priority in your life. The disciples of Jesus day got it finally. They finally understood the magnitude of it all. May we, too, understand and be ready to put our faith into action like never before!

Pastor Joey Vazquez