“ Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 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. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” (Acts 1:12-14)
The Acts of the Apostles can really be titled the Acts of Jesus since He continued to work through His disciples and the church by means of the Holy Spirit. Jesus acted through His followers and continues to act through and with them up to the present day. That means us. Jesus works through us His people enabling us to live in righteousness with love and charity toward all people, starting with our own brethren in the church, but extending to those who are not believers. Jesus speaks the Word of the gospel through us so that unbelievers may know of His love and mercy.
Back in days following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the disciples realized that they were a new community, the new Israel. Through this new community, the Lord would fulfill His promise to bless all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3), the promise He had made through Abraham. Therefore, the disciples met together and prayed for guidance. They realized that to fulfill the Lord’s command to preach the gospel of faith in Jesus, they had to wait until they received the power and anointing with the promised Holy Spirit as He had told them.
No one can go forth in love and righteousness to preach the gospel in Jesus name without that power of the Holy Spirit. Through the indwelling presence of that Holy Spirit we have fellowship with the Lord and He with us as well as with every believer in the Kingdom of God, of every, language, ethnicity, and race, a unity which comes only from faith in Jesus.