July 14, 2024
When you have been writing Plank’s Ponderings as long as I have (pretty much once a week since July of 2005) you are bound to re-plow some previously sown ground. I know I have talked about this verse before, but I read it again this week and have been pondering on it ever since. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). When we trusted Jesus as Savior, we began a journey with him that will last through eternity. How much we mature spiritually has a lot to do with how much we die to ourselves and put on Jesus. When Peter, John, and the rest of the apostles began their walk with Jesus, these twelve men been couldn’t have been more different from each other. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fishermen. Matthew was a Jewish tax collector, hired by the Roman government to collect taxes from his own people. When I say collect taxes, I really mean most of these guys extorted money from their own kinfolk! The other Apostle named Simon, was Matthew’s exact opposite. While Matthew was hired by and worked for the Roman government, Simon the Zealot had made it his life’s mission to overthrow the Roman government. Who knows what occupations the other seven men held. The point is, all these men came from very different backgrounds, but after spending three or so years walking with, talking with, and being taught by Jesus, He was able to unite them into a powerful force who, in a matter of thirty years or so, turned the world upside down for their Master. Peter, who is famous for denying Jesus while standing by a fire, some fifty days later preached the first gospel sermon to the Jews in Acts chapter 2 as well as the first gospel sermon to the Gentiles in Acts 10. In our Pondering verse for this week, Dr. Luke points out the boldness with which Peter and John preach. The Jewish leaders were amazed at the boldness of Peter and John but notice the last sentence of that verse “they realized they had been with Jesus”. The Apostles had learned to die to themselves and be totally surrendered to Jesus. They did what Jesus commanded in Luke 9:23. They picked up their cross, denied themselves (died to themselves. A cross is an instrument of execution), and followed Jesus. When the world looked at the Apostles, they saw Jesus. What about us. Are we spending enough time with Jesus for Him to transform us into Himself? Fellow Christ follower, that is what this life is all about, being totally surrendered to Jesus. When the world looks at us, does it see Jesus in us?
Be blessed and be a blessing . . . Bro. Andy

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