Beyond the Good Old Days: Witnessing God's New Kingdom

Acts sets the scene with disciples still grappling with the risen Jesus, longing for closure and clarity. Their question, is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel, reveals a hope that bends toward the familiar, toward a Davidic throwback to the “good old days.” Jesus does not meet that nostalgia. God is not rewinding history. God is birthing a new reality, larger than their imaginations, and the call into that reality is the work of reconciliation. Love in practice looks different every month, week, year, and decade. Time marches on and insists that God’s people learn to keep step with God’s living, moving beat.

A simple picture plants this truth: flowers on a porch, a drift into daydreams of English-cottage glory, and then a blood-curdling scream from a one-year-old. That interruption does not dishonor beauty. It redirects love. God strongly invites a trade, from perfect planters to tiny hands and intoxicating laughter, from nostalgia to now. Memory’s sweet fullness can hold the imagination hostage. But at God’s urging, imagination must be loosed for what is next, not what is nearest in mind.

The disciples receive a vocation that is both ancient and new. They are called to witness to Jesus’ healing of the brokenhearted, his feeding of the hungry, his table for outcasts, yet to do so without the Jesus to whom they have grown accustomed. Faith of the ancestors undergirds them, but the assignment is newly realized in a new time, with new people, in a new context. Their first reflex is to freeze. God’s first move is to send messengers to unfreeze them.

That same pattern plays out in a sacred community like All Saints. Grief over lost freedom and familiar rhythms is real, yet quiet transformation has already been happening. Messengers in white robes, or blazers, or over Zoom, keep pointing to the path at their feet. Ed keeps naming belovedness and present energy. Kelly’s PAR survey helps desires and concerns take shape. Prayerful discernment readies the house. The question clarifies: prepared for what? To witness. Where? In Homewood, Alabama. How far? To the ends of the earth. And the shock is that the ends of the earth are right here.

The temptation to wait on the next leader is set aside. No new rector is required for God’s love to go to work. Time, new energy, and an ever shifting context turn into a stage where the Spirit writes scenes no one could script. The future stays hidden, but hope stays certain. Hope says God’s love has a place to be worked out in a world desperate for it. And hope sends the church forward beyond anything it can imagine.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Nostalgia can freeze faithful imagination. Nostalgia promises safety by replaying scenes that are easy to picture, but it can hold the heart captive to what used to work. The disciples’ memory of David’s court and a gardener’s dream of porch flowers both show how the past can slow obedience. God’s invitation is not to dismiss the past but to loosen the grip enough to move. Freedom begins where memory serves mission rather than steering it. [31:12]
• 2. Jesus redirects desire for restoration. The longing for restoration is holy, but Jesus refuses to reinstall the old throne. God’s restoration looks like reconciliation that fits the contours of the present moment. Love in practice keeps changing because neighbors and needs keep changing. The question is not when the past returns, but how grace takes shape today. [27:21]
• 3. Witness grows in new contexts. The call to witness to Jesus’ healing, feeding, and welcome does not expire when circumstances shift. It deepens by taking root in new soil, with new people, and under new pressures. The ends of the earth are not always far away; they are often right here, down the street. Discernment asks what faithfulness looks like at this address, at this hour. [36:29]
• 4. Hope propels courage without certainty. The church does not need the perfect leader or the perfect moment to move. God supplies messengers, energy, and fresh paths underfoot. Hope stakes action on God’s character, not on forecasts or guarantees. That hope keeps the body from freezing and pushes it into the future God is already preparing. [37:38]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [25:53] - Disciples grapple with the risen Jesus
• [26:59] - "Restore the kingdom now?"
• [27:21] - Not the good old days
• [27:48] - New work of reconciliation
• [28:41] - Porch-flowers daydream
• [29:56] - A scream breaks nostalgia
• [31:12] - When perfection holds captive
• [31:50] - Called to witness without clinging
• [32:56] - New vision in a new context
• [34:33] - Messengers in robes and blazers
• [35:18] - Fresh paths underfoot
• [36:29] - The ends of the earth are here
• [37:38] - Hope moves beyond imagination

1. What specific question did the disciples ask Jesus about the kingdom, and how did Jesus redirect their focus? (Acts 1:6-8)
2. The sermon mentions a story about porch flowers interrupted by a child’s scream. How does this illustrate the tension between nostalgia and present calling? [28:41]
3. According to the sermon, what are some examples of “messengers” helping a community move forward instead of staying frozen in the past? [34:33]
4. What does Isaiah 43:19 say about God’s relationship to “new things,” and how does this connect to the sermon’s emphasis on shifting contexts?

1. Why might the disciples’ desire for a restored kingdom of Israel reflect a longing for the “good old days” rather than God’s future? How does Jesus’ response challenge their assumptions?
2. The sermon argues that nostalgia can “hold the imagination hostage.” How might clinging to past successes or routines hinder obedience to God’s current calling? [31:12]
3. In Acts 1:8, Jesus sends the disciples to be witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” How does the sermon redefine where “the ends of the earth” might be found today? [36:29]
4. Isaiah 43:19 speaks of God making “a way in the wilderness.” What wildernesses or uncharted territories might a community face when stepping into new callings?

1. What “good old days” or past seasons do you personally feel nostalgic for? How might that nostalgia be holding you back from embracing what God is doing now? [27:21]
2. The sermon mentions “tiny hands and intoxicating laughter” as a redirection from perfectionist pursuits. What unexpected interruptions or responsibilities in your life might actually be invitations to practice love in new ways? [30:32]
3. If “the ends of the earth” are right where you live, what specific needs, relationships, or injustices in your neighborhood could be a focus for tangible witness? [36:29]
4. The sermon warns against waiting for a “perfect leader” to act. What is one step your small group or community could take this week to join God’s work without waiting for ideal circumstances? [37:38]
5. Reflect on a time when you felt “frozen” by fear of change. What messengers, practices, or truths helped you move forward? How could you extend that same grace to others?
6. Isaiah 43:19 asks, “Do you not perceive it?” What “new thing” is God quietly birthing in your life or community that requires loosening your grip on the past to fully embrace?