Living in the Diamond Ring by Jaimi Vander Berg

Devotional

Day 1: Cloud Gazers and Diamond Light

The disciples stood slack-jawed as Jesus vanished into heaven. Two men in white snapped them from their skyward trance: “Why stare upward? He’ll return the same way you saw Him go.” Their necks ached from looking for what was no longer visible. Yet Jesus hadn’t abandoned them—He’d pulled humanity into heaven’s throne room, closer than ever. [56:19]

The ascension isn’t Jesus’ absence but His cosmic realignment. He rules as both God and human, anchoring heaven to earth. Those gleaming robes redirected the disciples’ gaze sideways—to the world where resurrection power would spread through ordinary hands.

You fixate on heaven’s “someday” while missing the Spirit’s “today.” What if your grocery line small talk or work breakroom kindness already points to Christ’s reign? Where is one place you’ve stopped looking because it feels too ordinary for God’s movement?

“While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?’”
(Acts 1:10-11, NRSV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to shift your gaze from distant skies to present faces where His kingdom stirs.
Challenge: Text one person today with a specific observation of God’s goodness in their ordinary life.

Day 2: Bodies at the Upper Room

Peter, John, and Mary the mother of Jesus crammed into an upstairs room—calloused fishermen rubbing shoulders with a grieving-turned-hopeful mother. For ten days, they prayed not for escape but empowerment. Luke names the women specifically, breaking cultural norms to show: the Spirit’s power dwells in all bodies. [58:04]

God’s kingdom advances through diverse hands—male and female, young and old, free and imprisoned. The upstairs room became a prototype of Pentecost power: unity without uniformity. When bodies gather as equals, the world sees Christ’s radical reconciliation.

You’ve inherited man-made hierarchies that mute certain voices. What sister, niece, or quiet coworker have you overlooked because their witness looks different than yours? “All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer together with certain women, including Mary.”

“All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.”
(Acts 1:14, NRSV)

Prayer: Confess any bias that limits how you expect the Spirit to work. Thank God for someone whose witness surprises you.
Challenge: Affirm one person’s contribution to God’s work that you’ve previously taken for granted.

Day 3: Why? and Walking Slow

Children tug sleeves asking “Why?”—not to annoy but to wonder. They pause sidewalk ants and dandelion fluff, slowing adults fixated on destinations. Jesus said such curiosity and unhurried presence models witness: “You will be my witnesses” starts with being before doing. [40:39]

Kids don’t strategize their influence—they simply inhabit God’s world with wide-eyed attention. Their questions pry open hardened hearts; their pace mirrors Jesus’ unhurried healing walks. When we dismiss smallness and slowness, we bypass the Spirit’s primary classroom.

Your to-do list addiction starves your witness. What if you scheduled a 10-minute “why walk” today—not to exercise but to notice creation’s details? When did you last let a child’s question unsettle your spiritual assumptions?

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
(Acts 1:8, NRSV)

Prayer: Thank God for a child in your life who reflects His curiosity. Ask for their eyes today.
Challenge: Ask one “why” question about your faith to a friend—then listen without defending answers.

Day 4: Peacemaking in Shadowed Places

Franklin traded prison-yard fear for mediation. His reputation for violence became a tool for peace—stopping fights, calming cellmates. In hell’s mouth, he embodied heaven’s rule: “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” The Spirit empowers even there. [01:04:08]

Witness isn’t about platforms but proximity. Jesus ascended to fill all things—including prisons, boardrooms, and PTA meetings. Franklin’s story proves no place is too dark for diamond-glints of Christ’s reign. Your influence starts where you stand, not where you wish you were.

What broken system or tense relationship have you written off as beyond redemption? How might your presence—not perfection—be God’s starting point for peace there?

“When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
(Acts 1:9, NRSV)

Prayer: Intercede for someone in a “shadowed place,” asking God to reveal their hidden witness.
Challenge: Initiate a conversation this week with someone you’ve deemed “too far gone” to reflect Christ.

Day 5: Look, There It Is

The eclipse’s diamond ring lasted seconds—sunlight bursting through the moon’s silhouette. We live in that flash: Christ’s reign already here but not yet complete. Witnesses don’t create the light but point, “Look! There it is”—in a donated camp scholarship, a therapist’s note, a woman preaching. [01:07:09]

Jesus’ ascension means every act of love shines with eternal weight. Your “look there” moments—noticing forgiveness in traffic or patience in toddlers—train others to spot the Kingdom. The cloud that hid Jesus also refracts His light through ordinary days.

What “diamond glint” have you dismissed as too small to matter? Who needs you to cup their face and whisper, “Look—there He is”?

“While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?’”
(Acts 1:10-11, NRSV)

Prayer: Ask God to sharpen your vision for three “look there” moments today.
Challenge: Share one “look there it is” story with a friend or social media audience this week.

Sermon Summary

Acts 1 loosens small, tight hopes and hands them a larger horizon. The disciples ask for the restoration of Israel’s kingdom, and Jesus answers with the promise of power and the vocation of witness. The text speaks in the Spirit’s register: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses… to the ends of the earth.” The ascension then lifts human flesh and blood into God’s own life. Jesus is not moving farther away, but further in, “into the union of earth and heaven,” restoring humanity to its true place of communion and wise rule in God’s kingdom of shalom.

The cloud closes over their sight and two messengers bend their gaze back to the ground. The question is not how long they can stare, but how faithfully they can live. So they go back to the room, and they pray. Luke refuses to let the reader miss who is there: the Twelve and “certain women,” including Mary. The text itself insists that the Spirit’s empowerment lands on all bodies, not just a list of named men. That detail carries weight. It corrects the room and sets the pattern for the movement.

The ascension sets the church in what could be called a diamond ring moment, the bright rim of already and the ache of not yet. The kingdom has erupted in Jesus, and its fullness is still hidden in places, like the sun flaring from behind the moon and then slipping again behind passing cloud. Witness is not sky-gazing or date-setting. That kind of fixation is a cousin of despair, an attempt to escape the present rather than inhabit it. Witness looks like nesting for the world to come, readying rooms, learning the rhythm of mercy, practicing reconciliation in real time.

The Spirit makes witnesses who are relentlessly present, able to say with clear eyes, “Look, there it is,” whenever the light breaks through the haze. In a prison unit where violence carries currency, a man called Franklin leverages old fear into new peace, becoming the go-to mediator. In a congregation, generosity covers camp tuition, a wounded believer risks community again, a therapist’s assignment teaches a gentler inner voice, and a woman crosses a graduation stage after long obedience. Luke’s story names the direction: receive power, point to Jesus, and bear embodied, communal witness until the same Jesus returns as promised.

Key Takeaways

1. The ascension seats humanity with God Jesus carries human flesh into God’s own life, not to retreat from the world but to unite heaven and earth at the deepest level. The ascension restores humanity’s vocation to share in God’s wise rule marked by justice, mercy, and shalom. Jesus is “further in,” not farther away, which grounds Christian hope in a Person already enthroned. [55:20]
2. The Spirit explodes small hopes The disciples ask for a local, political restoration; Jesus hands them a global vocation. The Spirit widens the map, stretches imagination, and empowers ordinary people to become ambassadors of reconciliation. The call is not to win a throne, but to bear witness to a kingdom that heals enemies and crosses borders. [54:14]
3. Witness resists sky-gazing despair Angels lower the gaze from the clouds to the faces right in front of the disciples. Obsessing over prophetic timetables often disguises a wish to escape responsibility. Faithful witness stays present, acts in hope, and prepares like nesting parents for the life of the world to come. [59:50]
4. All bodies belong in witness Luke pointedly includes “certain women,” including Mary, alongside the Twelve in the upper room. The text will not allow a trimmed-down roster of who counts or who leads. When every kind of body is honored and entrusted, the church becomes an embodied sign of the kingdom breaking in. [58:21]
5. Notice the diamond-ring breakthroughs Between ascension and return, the kingdom flashes through the haze in real, local moments. The task is to be there when delight happens, to point and say, “Look, there it is,” and to let those sightings train desire. Such noticing forms courage to keep laboring in places that still groan. [66:20]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[36:03] - Children: What is a witness?
[38:19] - Power to point to Jesus
[44:35] - Ascension framed in Acts 1
[47:11] - Eclipse and the diamond ring
[51:45] - What the ascension means
[54:14] - You will be my witnesses
[56:01] - Angels lower their gaze
[56:46] - Living in the already-not-yet
[57:50] - Embodied witness includes women
[59:12] - Stop sky-gazing, start acting
[61:18] - Be there when delight happens
[61:49] - Franklin’s peacemaking in prison
[66:20] - Look, there it is
[68:25] - Prayer and blessing

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Acts 1:6-14 (ESV)
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Observation Questions

What specific question did the disciples ask Jesus before His ascension, and how did He redirect their focus?
What detail does Luke include about the group gathered in the upper room after Jesus’ ascension (v. 14)?
What instruction did the two messengers give the disciples as they stared at the sky (v. 11)?
In the sermon, what examples were given of people “bearing witness” in everyday life (e.g., Franklin in prison)? [01:01:49]

Interpretation Questions

Why might the disciples’ question about restoring Israel’s kingdom (v. 6) have been too small compared to Jesus’ vision in v. 8?
What does the ascension of Jesus’ physical body (v. 9) imply about humanity’s role in God’s kingdom?
Why does Luke specifically mention women like Mary in the upper room (v. 14), and how does this challenge cultural assumptions about leadership?
How does the “diamond ring moment” analogy (already/not yet) shape our understanding of living as witnesses? [56:56]

Application Questions

Where have you been tempted to fixate on “small hopes” (like the disciples’ political concerns) instead of embracing God’s global vision for reconciliation? What practical step could widen your focus?
The angels told the disciples to stop staring at the sky and engage the present. What distractions or “sky-gazing” habits (e.g., escapism, despair) might be keeping you from acting where God has placed you?
The text highlights women like Mary as vital witnesses. How can your community better honor and empower people often overlooked to lead or serve?
The sermon urged “noticing diamond-ring breakthroughs” in daily life. When have you recently seen God’s kingdom “flash through the haze” (e.g., forgiveness, generosity)? How can you name and celebrate those moments? [01:06:20]
Franklin leveraged his reputation for peacemaking in prison. What unique relationships, skills, or experiences has God given you to mediate reconciliation in a broken context?
The disciples prayed together while waiting. What rhythms of prayer or community could help you stay rooted in hope amid the “already-not yet” tension?

Sermon Clips

58s

“So, this this guy that was the guy you don't want to mess with is becoming the go to guy on his unit for mediating conflict. Hey, hey, hey, so and so is about to crash out on their celly, You've got to talk him off the ledge. Guys are coming to him looking for his leadership, looking for his peacemaking skills. In a place too often invisible to most of us who are in this room, in a culture where the capacity for violence seems to have the highest sway, Franklin is bearing witness further into the heart of reality, you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.”

57s

“How do you find words for that? How do you make sense of that for yourself, let alone describe it to anyone else? And I think that this is how Christians can often feel when we try to talk about the ascension and maybe why we do it so infrequently. What does it mean? What does it mean that Jesus not only died for us on the cross in solidarity with our suffering and was resurrected for us conquering sin and death, but also ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father, as we say in the Nicene Creed.”

64s

“But I believe when we fixate on those details, what we're doing is actually a kind of despair. We are actually detaching from the present. We are giving up in a way, looking for our own evacuation instead of living in to the work that we have called to do, participating in the restoration that's unfolding in this world. So witness looks like living into the reality to come with our faithful action, not waiting around to escape it. It's like nesting parents who are preparing for a birth or a gotcha day. They're getting rooms ready, They're preparing a wardrobe for the life of the world to come.”

56s

“And with this, Jesus is taken up. Human flesh and blood, seated with God in heaven. Let that sink into your souls for a moment. Jesus has not gone farther away, but further up and further into the heart of reality, as one writer has said, into the union of earth and heaven, restoring humanity to the place where we have always belonged, ruling with God in God's kingdom of shalom and righteousness and justice and love and mercy and healing.”

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