Westhill Church - Auburn & Federal Way, WA

The WEekly Word

A Blog of Encouragement from our Pastors

Weekly word – 7/31/2025

A Story of -- not an end, but a glorious beginning.

(Based loosely on Acts 1: 9-12)

The air was quiet on Mount of Olives. A gentle breeze carried with it the scent of dust and olive leaves, brushing gently through the branches that arched over the rocky path. This place, familiar and sacred, had known both joy and sorrow—Jesus had wept here, prayed here, taught here.

Now, Jesus stood here again, surrounded by His disciples. Their eyes were fixed on Him, their hearts still trembling with awe. The One who had died now stood living before them—scarred, yet whole. Resurrected. Victorious. And yet, they sensed something was drawing to a close… or perhaps, just beginning.

One of them, still clinging to old hopes, asked:

“Lord, is this the time You will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus turned to them—not in rebuke, but with quiet resolve.

“It is not for you to know the times or seasons the Father has set by His own authority.”

Then He stepped closer, and His voice took on a deeper tone—firm and full of promise.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be My witnesses—

in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”

The disciples were silent. The weight of those words filled the air like incense. Witnesses? Them? Ordinary fishermen, tax collectors, men still learning what faith even meant?

And yet, Jesus had chosen them. Broken, uncertain, imperfect—and chosen.

Then, without another word, He began to rise.

At first, they barely understood what they were seeing. His feet lifted from the ground. His robe shimmered in the light. He was taken up—higher, higher—until a cloud enveloped Him, and He disappeared from their sight.

They stood frozen, staring at the sky, trying to hold on to the last glimpse of His presence.

Suddenly, two men in shining white stood beside them.

“Men of Galilee,” they said,

“Why do you stand looking into the sky?
This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
will come back in the same way you saw Him go.”

That was the moment. The final words. The beginning of everything.

Jesus left—not with despair, but with direction.
Not with an end, but with a call.

A commission.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Those words in Mathew 28 have echoed through generations. They passed from that mountain into the hearts of the early church… to deserts and cities, to prisons and palaces. And now—they reach us.

His calling is not a relic of history. It is alive.

We are the witnesses now.

We are not perfect. We are not always confident. But we are called: