King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Thursday, November 18, 2021
Chapters: Acts 3-5
Message: In The Name of Jesus Christ
Hello My Friend,
I had several things come to mind as I read the chapters for today, prayer, giving faithfully, faith, grace, and since I have been distracted quite a bit this morning, forgiveness. Since God is the one directing this, He has given me the answer. Jesus said, [John 14:12-14 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.]
The name Jesus, while it can stir up His believers, as there is nothing more powerful that saying a prayer and ending it with, “I ask this in Your name, Jesus, Amen.” However, it really has no power for the one that does not know Him as their Saviour, however, add Christ to His name and see what happens. You see, there are many people named Jesus, in fact, that is one of the most popular names given among Hispanics, although it is not pronounced the same, there is only one Jesus Christ, and there is great power in the name of Jesus Christ, it is so great that it is the only by His name that we can be savedl, [Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.]
As we continue in the reading of the Book of Acts, Luke gives an account of what took place after that amazing night of Pentecost. The Apostles wasted no time in preaching the Gospel, Peter and John, were heading up to the temple, about three o’clock in the afternoon when they passed by a beggar sitting on the side of the entrance, [Acts 3:1-6 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; 3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. 4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.]
[but such as I have give I thee:] Money is not always the object of the beggars on the side of the road, which is why we are to give as the Holy Spirit directs us. This man probably thought that this was his only option, he was forty years old at this point, perhaps his parents were not encouraging or led him to believe that he was incapable of doing anything else due to his infirmity. For whatever reason he had people carry him to that gate every day, when he heard the name of Jesus, he had hope that he could walk, and it was that hope and faith that that man stood upon his feet and not only had the strength in his feet and ankles to walk, he was leaping, praising God, and followed Peter and John into the temple.
[Acts 3:7-12 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God: 10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. 11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering. 12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?]
[and they were filled with wonder and amazement] Of course, all the people who watched this man sitting by the gate every day walking and leaping through the temple were amazed and wondered how he was suddenly walking. That did not stop the Pharisees and Sadducees who were also on the temple and responsible for having Jesus crucified from demanding to know what took place and they heard the people talking about Jesus. Peter, through the direction of the Holy Spirit, spoke to the people, reminding them of what the chief priests and elders did to Jesus, and that the mans faith in Him is the only reason why he was walking.
[Acts 3:13,16,19,24-26 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. 16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. 25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.]
[when the times of refreshing shall come] [Refreshing; Cooling; invigorating; reviving; reanimating; relief after fatigue or suffering.] Jesus did what the Law could never do, it freed the sinner from the constant fear that breaking one command would send them to hell. I remember growing up with this fear, and how refreshing it was to know that I was not counting on my own works to save me, I am saved only by the grace of God, through my faith in His Son, as is the rest of us who believe as I do. Praise God! Now, as you can imagine, that did not go over too well when the priests and all those men who were actually responsible for Jesus being crucified heard that they were talking about Jesus.
[Acts 4:1-4,7-10 And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, 2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. 4 Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, 9 If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; 10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.]
[that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,] Well, if that is not a straight forward and blunt way of preaching the Gospel, I do not know what is. The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, we must have faith in all that He is in order to be made whole, even through our infirmities. Now, we do know that God does not miraculously cure everyone so that all believe in Christ, sometimes, He actually keeps them in their infirmities to show others that it is Christ inside them that makes them whole, [2 Corinthians 12:8-9 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.]
They knew very well who Peter was taking about, they also could not deny the fact that this man was at the temple every day and never walked a day in his life. For that reason the only thing they could do was try and force them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, [Acts 4:13-18 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. 14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. 17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. 18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.]
[and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.] We, who are saved, have the witness of Christ within ourselves, and that means that we can do nothing, but speak of the things He has done in this life from the time He saved us. We are automatically wired through the Spirit that lives inside us to speak of how Christ saved us, and nothing can stop us from teaching that truth. That does not stop both religion and the world from trying to stop us. They could give the command all they want, but the Apostles knew that it was better to follow God’s commands over theirs. Now, Peter and John stood before the counsel and gave their testimony, and prayed right there in front of them, and something incredible happened.
[Acts 4:19-20,31-33 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. 31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. 32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. 33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.]
[but they had all things common.] This means that they were likeminded in the faith of the Gospel. It is very important that we are all likeminded, and of one language. Yes, we will have people of all races, and speaking different languages, but we need to all come together with the same speech of the Gospel of Christ if we want to see the power in the name of Jesus Christ, [Romans 15:5-6 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.]
Do not let the religious world fool you, they know that the miraculous things that happen come from God, but because they want power and control themselves they will hide it from those who are ignorant to this truth. Why? If they follow Jesus they will lose money, fame, and everything else that comes along with it. After they captured Peter and John, they set them before the council.
[Acts 5:12,14-20 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. 14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) 15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. 16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one. 17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, 18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. 19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, 20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.]
[to the people all the words of this life.] We are given the Spirit of God to us only by our faith in and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Those are the words of this life that we are to live by, and again, we wired to preach the words of life to the lost. You can say that it is in your Christ DNA to speak the words of life, [1 John 5:10-12 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.]
You see, when we have the power of the name of Jesus Christ inside our soul, there is nothing we cannot conquer. He gives us the boldness to speak, even when people do not agree or we are too timid to speak one word. People who got saved began bringing others who were sick or crippled being healed in the name of Jesus Christ. At this point, from the Day if Pentecost, about eight thousand souls were saved, and the Pharisees and Sadducee’s were not pleased at all, in fact, they arrested Peter and John, finally a Pharisee stood up and boldly admitted that they had no grounds to accuse them.
[Acts 5:27-29,34,38-41 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, 28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. 29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. 34 Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space; 38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: 39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. 40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.]
[and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.] Do you see that? They did not want to be guilty of putting Christ on the cross, even though they knew very well that they were responsible for it. Let me tell you, there is no greater power than the power of the name of Jesus Christ who lives inside His believers. I was reading from Foxes Book of Martyrs, and the horrible ways that the Apostles died in their faith as well as so many others. Christian prosecution at an all time high, they are even measuring us up to the terrorists, people are losing their lives, literally executed for saying the name, Jesus Christ. However, we cannot live in fear of them, rather we can rejoice in the fact that Christ is on our side. Praise God! And keep reminding yourself of what Jesus said.
[Matthew 10:28-33 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. 32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.]
Let Us Pray: God, Thank You for giving me life, and for giving me eternal life through my faith in the great sacrifice that You made in sending Your Son to save me. Not by my own works am I saved, but by Christ’s finished work on the cross, am I saved. I can do nothing in this life that will ever have any value without Christ, but I can do all things through Christ who is the very power within me to do them. I am a witness of the amazing life that can be lived while I am here, and the proof is just how much You have turned my life around since dedicating my life to You. Jesus, All I need to ask You for is for You to shine Your Light on me so that others can see You through me, and want to know what You have done for me. I pray this, in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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