Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

In the book of Acts, something totally new is going on! People are being saved from their sin through the preaching of the gospel of Christ.

Jesus has just ascended back to heaven after rising from the dead, but he’s left behind witnesses to tell others all about it… all about him!

… and he also gives them the power to do so, sending the promise of his Holy Spirit “for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”

… and with that grace and power, his apostles and disciples then devote and give their lives to telling others about Jesus Christ.
What a life! The only life to live.

And these guys are like nothing the world has ever seen… there’s something different about the way they speak… they speak with grace and power and authority… and they speak with the authority that someone only can have and has when they truly know what they’re talking about because they know HIM who they’re talking about.

And they can speak with his authority because they’ve spent time with him and he’s given them it. The Holy Spirit is flowing through their lives.

They preach the scripture like noone else has, the Bible flows from them as they open up the Bible with a skill and mastery that the intellectuals and elite and religious professionals couldn’t even dream of. They’re able to relate Bible effortlessly to the point of where scribes and scholars can only resort to threats, throwing rocks at them and administering beatings.

As a Christian… it makes a massive difference when you know what you’re talking about… because you know WHO you’re talking about…. and you know who you’re talking about because you’ve spent time with him, and you spend time with him by firstly believing and getting in the Bible. That’s how God communicates to us.

If you’re not in the Bible and the Bible hasn’t been opened to you in real relationship and fellowship and communion with Christ, that’s going to leave you very naked and bare when it comes to ministry.

You can hop in a pulpit and have a ministry as many do and be totally devoid of this power and anointing that the apostles had, and that’s a sad case to be in because everyone sees it and no amount of substitutes can prop up any person or ministry lacking the power and authority of Christ.

There’s a big difference when you’re speaking of something that’s theoretical to you versus powerful to you having delivered your own soul first and foremost.

The true Christian life can be replicated to a point, but beyond which it is unfakeable whether the power of the Holy Spirit is there or not. Just look at Pharaohs magicians versus Moses in Exodus for an example of that!

When your life isn’t just a profession but a reality, when Jesus isn’t just peripheral and added into your life like job, sport etc… but the person upon whom your entire existence is based and purpose and fulfilment is found… that’s when things are different.

Remember Jesus is not dead like all the other religious figures. He’s alive and will save you right now. You can have a relationship with him now where you then speak of him not like someone and something you know OF, but someone you know.

Jesus isn’t a university topic, hes a person… the Lord of glory. And you don’t relate to him like he’s just another one of the lads.
And you can study all about Jesus all you want, you can immerse yourself in Jesus culture and Jesus music “until the cows come home” but there is no substitute for going through the door yourself personally, personal salvation, personal time with him where HE dwells in you and has changed your life. It’s not enough to be around it, around him… he’s gotta have changed you and dwell in you.

May we all know that for ourselves, Jesus came to save us from our sins and there is no public power until there is first personal and private power in deliverance from our own sins… but which is THE life truly worth living, far above anything this world and all its religion could ever dream to offer.

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