Today’s Bible readings are 1 Kings 1:1-53, Acts 4:1-37, Psalm 124:1-8, & Proverbs 16:24
Acts 4:13-15
13 When they saw the courage of Peter
and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they
were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But
since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them,
there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them
to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.
Flabbergasted:
to be overcome with bewilderment, astonishment, utterly amazed
That is the word to describe what the leaders felt the day
that this all took place. The faith, passion, & zeal of the disciples were
so intense that it left the leaders flabbergasted. They did not know how to
respond to this incredible demonstration of God’s grace.
It was such a wonder for multiple reasons.
1.
The first reason it was such a flabbergasting
event was that this man had been crippled his whole life. He was a man who most
had seen. They all knew him as the begging cripple who sits at the gate. Now
that has all changed. He is now running around praising God & giving glory
to Jesus by testifying that it was in His name that he was healed. The leaders
were want to kill Jesus & any memory of what He represented but now this
has happened & there will be NO denying it.
2.
The second reason that it was such a mind
blowing event was because of who was being used to performing this miracle.
They were just normal guys. In fact, they were guys who denied Jesus just a few
weeks earlier & now they are out preaching in His name. Nobody ever thought
that a few ruff necks would be taken seriously. None of the leaders thought
that this band of failures would be able to do anything that would sway the
people toward Jesus now that He was dead. Yet, there was a cripple man standing
before them healed & they could not explain it.
3. The
third, & probably most convincing, sign that flabbergasted them was the
message that they heard being preached. Here was an unschooled man preaching
deep truths that could not be refuted. Peter was untrained in the scripture,
yet, he seemed to have a much deeper understanding of it than they did; the
teachers of it. This blew their mind. Peter was opening up the Word to them.
The leaders could only marvel & come to the same conclusion: “These men
have been with Jesus”.
That is such an awesome thing to have said about you. When
your life becomes so noticeably different that people recognize that you have
been with Jesus—you’re doing something right.
Time with Jesus will do that do us. He will make considerable changes in
us. He will teach us great truths of the Word. He will use us in great &
powerful ways. This is what happens to people who spend time with Him.
We may think that we are just ordinary people & we will
never be used like that. I am sure that the disciples thought that at one time
too. Yet, we see that the time they had spent with Jesus ended up producing in
them the changes that He promised. In the end, He made them in to exactly what
He said He was going to do.
I believe that God wants to do the same thing through each
of us. He wants to so transform us that people marvel & say: “They have been with Jesus”. He wants to use
us to bring healing & transformation to others. He wants to teach us great truth
so we can teach it to others. This is His will for us all.
Is this something that you are interested in? Would you like
this to happen in your life? Are you hungry for something similar to take place
with you? Then the same thing is needed in your life that was needed in the
disciples—YOU MUST SPEND SOME TIME WITH JESUS.
It is those quiet times with Him that He speaks to us. It is
those intimate moments with Him that He transforms us. It is those supernatural
moments with Him that He shows us how to walk in His power. This is something
we all can have if we all chose to spend time with Him.
I say that it is time that we leave people flabbergasted. I
declare that it is time that people start making note that we have been with
Jesus. Let’s make sure that our faith is real & loud! Let’s blow their
minds with the love & power of Christ!!!
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