Acts 4 - They had been with Jesus

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​Acts 4

Our inclination is to look for the quick fix to push us over the hump to meet our goals or do something bigger than ourselves. We search YouTube, infomercials, experts, friend’s advice, pills, more training, self-help books…anything.

But the truth is, if we want to do something big in God’s kingdom, the formula is different. The secret sauce is in Acts 4:13… ”they had been with Jesus.”

The religious leaders are wracking their brains trying to figure out how these lowly fishermen and other nobodies – uneducated and unqualified – can be so empowered to heal people, give killer sermons and even call the Jewish elite out so boldly (I mean, not too long ago they saw their leader and friend die a brutal death). They are unafraid. They are different. In the face of continued persecution, thousands believe the message they are preaching. “What is it?” they ask themselves. The only common denominator they can come up with: THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS.  

Why do we search elsewhere in our everyday lives today when the truth is in our DNA? And it shouldn’t come as a surprise to us. Jesus taught the same…seek first the kingdom, abide in Him, set our mind on things above… He even modeled it in how He always got away for quiet time with God the Father.

Perhaps we simply over-complicate things with so many voices pulling us in the world’s direction. What is impossible for man alone is quite possible with the Holy Spirit. But we have to be with Jesus to receive it. 

Do you feel unqualified, uneducated, lacking credentials and experience, possessing the wrong personality type, afraid, intimidated, unworthy? Then you just might be trying to do things on your own, and we know all too well how that works out for us.

​If we want to be bold and do the impossible in the kingdom of God, we need to be with Jesus. Abiding in Him, filling ourselves with God’s Word, searching the Scriptures, asking for wisdom, being still and listening. It’s that simple (and that hard in our busy culture full of distractions). Spurgeon says, “Live in such a way that men may recognize that you have been with Jesus.”

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