| The Grapevine
Number 139 December 31, 2006 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 The Book of Acts, Part 2 by Jack Northart Our conscious is a moral awareness established within us by habit patterns we have formed due to previous teaching. Too often, people simply follow and do what they have been taught by others because it makes their conscious feel good. A person may know when a statement is true, yet deliberately desire to disagree, or being weak in desire, settle for less than the truth. When it comes to the miracles and healings in the Bible, most look at them as either myths or forgeries, or that it all went away with the death of the original apostles. Many believe this because of what they have been taught in error. The Word of God is clear and simple on this subject. The Book of Acts chronicles many records of the power of God in manifestation. It shows many miracles and healings that the believers of the first century Christian Church performed. After the day of Pentecost, they simply carried out the instructions that our Lord Jesus Christ gave to them prior to his going up into heaven. Acts 1:4-5 And, being assembled together with them, [Jesus] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost [Greek - pneuma hagion] not many days hence. When God makes a promise, He keeps it! This first instruction for them was to wait in Jerusalem for this promise to come to pass for the gift of holy spirit to be given to them. Verse 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost [pneuma hagion] is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. The power was promised to come after they received the gift of holy spirit, which came ten days later on the day of Pentecost. Once they received this power, they were to be witnesses with it. The very first witness of the power from God on the day of Pentecost was that they spoke in tongues. Acts 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. It must have been a complete shock to those in the temple that day to hear 12 men speak in tongues for the first time! Shocking? Yes, but they could not deny what they were seeing and hearing. Verses 7-13 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. It would seem that the mockers who said, "these men are full of new wine," would be heroes in most Christian denominations today. Since there was no scientific evidence of "how" this was happening, mocking them was the best way to save face, as it is many times today. The power of God in manifestation has always been ridiculed by unbelievers. This mockery has trickled down into the "mainstream" of many people's thinking. It bothers some to think that if it is possible to operate this power today, then it must be a "special anointing," or that it only for extremely holy people. That is false. Peter clarified this with the multitude that day. Verse 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. The promise has been kept and has not changed in the 21st century. People have changed, but the power of God is still available to those who want to learn about it and operate it. Mark 16:17-18 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; [If] they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. It's not magic or sorcery. It's God's power helping a dying world. However, it must be operated by each individual believer's free will. We must choose to operate it or it just sits there idle. I must choose to operate speaking in tongues. I must choose to cast out devils. I must choose to heal the sick, and as I make those decisions, I act on them. We must recognize our God-given spiritual abilities first. Then begin to utilize them to help others and help ourselves. Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. It has been a long time since miracles and healings have taken place like they did throughout the book of Acts. However, the healings are happening again and these miracles are happening now. We are all members of the Body of Christ, his Church. We can and will perform greater works than even Jesus Christ performed. I say this because Jesus himself said it. John 14:12 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. Christ is seated at the Father's own right hand. He has given this power for us to utilize. This is our shot at history right now. Let us turn to Christ as the head and make this moment in history the book of Acts, Part 2. Return to main page |