Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 310

December 19;   Acts 4:13;   93/260(II);   ‘Time With Jesus’

Acts 4:13 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 Jesu

John Wesley had great education and the Lord used him mightily.  Smith Wigglesworth had no education and the Lord used him mightily.  A good education is important and should be sought.  Much more important is quality time spent with Jesus in the Word and in prayer.  Peter and John had been baptized in the Holy Spirit, shortly before the healing of the crippled man at the Temple gate and their arrest by the religious leaders.  The baptism in the Holy Spirit surely emboldened them and they had no fear of the hypocritical religious leaders.  Peter and John were fishermen and were not formally trained as these religious men were.  Peter and John had something those who arrested them did not have, they spent a great deal of time with Jesus.  They heard what Jesus taught the people, they saw what Jesus did, they observed Jesus’ character as He dealt with hurting people, they sat at His feet and were personally taught by Him, and they learned His ways.  What about us.  Our Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, praying for us.  We can spend quality with Him, reading the gospels, hearing Him teach the people and ‘seeing’ Him heal them and do miracles.  We can teach the way He did and do the miracles He did when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit.  In the gospels we can also learn the way He treated people, so that we can treat them the same.  We can also in intimate prayer sense His presence and love, further changing us. Since the Bible is the Lord speaking to us, as we read the Word it is like sitting at His feet, with Him teaching us.  Do these things and your life will cause others to marvel as well.