The Book of the Acts of the Apostles is one of those books in the Bible where I feel like someone should tell us to buckle our seat belts because we are in for the ride (read) of our lifetime. Most of us just refer to it as Acts, but its complete name is The Acts of the Apostles. I remember watching Oral Roberts healing crusades in the big tent revivals on TV when I young. He was always faithful to tell the people who attended that he did not heal but that God healed through him. He was only the instrument that God used. So, to me, the name of the book should be The Acts of God through the Apostles. And, this brings me back to one of my favorite chapters in the Book of John that we just concluded. In John 17, Jesus prays for His followers--the men who have been with him for three years in his ministry. Jesus thanks His heavenly Father for those that were given to Him. In John 17:20 (NCV), Jesus says, “I pray for these followers, but I am also praying for all those who will believe in me because of their teaching. Did you get the full impact of what Jesus prayed? He prayed for you and me way back there in the dawning of the First Century AD. Even though we are many centuries removed from Jesuss disciples, we believe in Him because of their teaching and preaching and acts. We have faith because of their acts. We believe because Brothers Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, and Jude not only taught and preached but wrote letters and books which we have today as Gods inspired Word. We have faith because Paul was added to that great group of men. He was a scholar who was well-learned in the Jewish Scripture and the Jewish law, and God used him to explain what real faith was for the Jews and Gentiles. When we read the Book of Acts, we should stop and consider that the same Jesus who prayed for those men also prayed for us and continues to intercede for us. We will see Peter, the one who denied Jesus, become such a strong man of faith that a beggar was healed when his shadow fell upon him. Thats exciting stuff! We should all be so stuffed with His Word that we realize that we have been given the same power and authority that was given to those who actually walked the road with Jesus. They didnt follow His footsteps, they stepped with Him. Then, He released them upon the earth to bring the news to others. I love the verse in the Acts that we will get to soon. In Acts 17:6, the Jews are looking for Paul and Silas after they have been teaching in Thessalonica, and the Bible says, But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Today, when all around us seems to be turning inside out, when evil is called good, and good is called evil, we must remember our mission in the world. We are to be the salt and the light. When everything else is inside out, we should be out there turning the world upside down.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 15:48:19 +0000
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