Acts 4:1-13 KJV 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. 5 And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, 6 And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 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. 11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 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.
Jesus Handpicked His Misfits!
In Luke 6:12-16 we have an account of Jesus selecting his twelve.
Luke 6:12-16 KJV And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; 14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, 15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, 16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
Jesus' disciples were picked by Him after a night of prayer!
What kind of men would you interview and employ for your business? If you wanted to make a success of any venture you would go out of your way to find the best persons for the job!
The disciples were as ordinary a bunch of misfits you will ever come across, yet it pleased the Lord, Who knew all men, to pick those men!
They were deliberately handpicked!
They did not look like world conquerors.
They did not look like anything!
They were constantly arguing and squabbling over who would be the greatest in the kingdom, sleeping when they were told to pray, denying that they knew Him, running away when Jesus was taken in Gethsemane, doubting His Word of His Resurrection! The women showed more courage than these men who Jesus picked. Yet Jesus was planning to start a world shaking mission with these very men!
The bunch of misfits that Jesus picked were a delight to Him! He enjoyed picking what the elite referred to as "unlearned and ignorant men". They were a bunch who had no idea what to do, and they kept getting it wrong! But The Lord was patient and loving with them...all the time!
They were always thinking in fleshly and earthly terms and He delighted in demonstrating the unlimited resources of His Father! Our Father!
They wanted to know where and how they going to get bread to feed the thousands! He showed them where and He showed them how!
They thought they were going to their death when He decided to visit Lazarus. Instead He took them to a resurrection party!
Peter toiled all night and caught nothing! Jesus said launch out into the deep and let down the nets! Against all odds and natural laws He showed them how to really fish! He had to remind Peter of this after His resurrection!
They worried about taxes! He literally fished it out for them!
Their physical limitations cried out at the life threatening storm! He showed them that He was Master of the wind and the waves!
Connected by Commission to Draw on His Resources
Jesus may have been limited by His physical body but His resources were unlimited! He was connected! He knew how to withdraw from the resource, when to withdraw, and why to withdraw!
What these handpicked men failed to grasp during their association with the Lord, a Gentile centurion, and a Syrophoenician woman grasped! The woman with the issue of blood recognized there was something about Jesus, that all you needed was a connection! She reached out and made that connection!
What made the difference in the lives of the disciples after Pentecost? The Holy Spirit had come and empowered them, and they suddenly realized that it was not about them, but about Jesus, and only Jesus!
When He commissioned them Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:18-20 KJV
He is saying that you are to do the work based on my power and resources! Preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out devils by His authority! It's not by your own strength but by His Spirit! Wait for the Holy Ghost, He said! Wait for the power, He said! That's our connection! His abiding and Indwelling! Our abiding and dependency on Him! He makes good on His Word!
Jesus told Paul, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. and Paul said, Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV
It's what we have to continuously remember! It's why we have to remind ourselves and recognize that it is never about our ability, and the church is not managed by the methods of the world! For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 KJV
It's not by our abilities or sufficiency And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 KJV
So when we say "I can't do this", or "I can't do that", with reference to the work of the Lord, we are in actuality saying that it's all about me, and not about Him. We're saying it's about what I can do, and we're limiting ourselves to our abilities and resources. However when we look out of ourselves, and beyond ourselves, and we are looking to Him and His resources, which He has made available to us!
A wondrously beautiful thing happens when recognize and accept our human limitations for what they are, and begin instead, to trust in the strength and power of our God! We realize it's no longer up to us and to our limited resources. We're no longer looking to ourselves and our own limited resources. We're looking to the God Who is able supply and equip us, for whatever He has called us to do.
We will stop retreating into a corner of self defeat by saying "I can't do that", because no longer is it about us, but it is about Him Who is able to exceedingly abundant above all that I can ask or think, according to the power that works in us! We are able to step out knowing that He who called us is able to supply and equip, and we are drawing on His unlimited resources!
Unlimited Resources in Him!
It's like a man who has to build a house but has only 500 dollars at his disposal. He will not get very far in his project, and at the best may end up with a tiny hovel not fit to be called a house. In addition to that, he will be in a constant state of tension and stress over whether he is able to complete it or not! However if that man is commissioned by a bank to build, and has a 10 million dollars credit line at the bank, we can expect something grand!
When Moses killed the one Egyptian who was beating the Israelite, he was a man alone, albeit a prince in Egypt! When he returned 40 years later, he had at his disposal the unlimited resources of Yahweh! His encounter at the burning bush dealt with his mentality of it being all about him, and it became all about Yahweh! Instead of throwing his fists about he was now throwing out miracles!
Many times we are so anxious, and we worry, and we fret, and we're stressed, and we're overwrought, because we are struggling in our own, and on our own. We simply pay lip service to the might of God on Sunday, then move back into our tiny struggling lives. We have made it all about us. We have wrapped ourselves, layer by layer into cocoons of our own unbelief and cynicism, and as each layer hardened we have slowly but surely become limited by the resulting shell. Some of us are so enshrouded and mummified in our own selfish shell, that any motion is difficult, if not impossible.
We have limited ourselves severely by thinking it's all about us, and our efforts, and our resources.
But it's not!
We fail to take into account, that whatever He commissions, He will empower and supply according to His riches! It's no longer about us, or our abilities, or our skills, or our resources! It's about His power, His supply, His enablement! He never reneges on His promises! In Christ they are all yea and amen! Outside of Christ we're struggling alone, with inadequate resources, with limited supplies, with the frailty and weakness of men, and regardless of how impressive it may seem in the eyes on man, it's never about Christ. If the ministry and labor does not point to Christ continuously, it doesn't count! We labor in vain, we beat the air, we've wasted our efforts, and are exhausted for no reasonable service. His strength is made perfect in our weakness!
Our father's Business UNLTD!
We see businesses and companies marked ltd signifying their limited status. When Jesus said that He must be about His Father's business we see no limitations! He declared Nothing shall be impossible to you! If you can only believe, all things are possible! With God all things are possible! Whereas earthly companies have Ltd at the end of their titles, God's business has Unltd! It's UNLIMITED!
When David's brothers and the rest of the army ran from Goliath's challenge, they did so out of recognition of their limited status. David was not looking at his limitations. He was well aware of that, but he was looking beyond, knowing that this battle was not his alone, but it was the Lord's! Without the Lord he was limited to 5 stones and a sling. With the Lord, Goliath was already dead and finally about to close his eyes when David opened a third eye in his forehead!
When the prince in Mark Twain's novel, disguised as a pauper and exchanged his lifestyle with Tom Canty, he quickly found out how limited he had become without his father's wealth and power at his disposal!
When we worry, it's because we are thinking from a selfish, limited perspective. If we have left it in His hands there is nothing to worry about. He's neither careless nor indifferent!
From seemingly impossible odds the disciples rose to become a force to be reckoned with! They created waves wherever they went, because they were not depending on their frail and limited human resources! They were able to accomplish the impossible because they drew on the heavenly resources of the Heavenly Father!
What had once appeared as mission impossible, actually became mission accomplished, for in His Name they turned the world upside down!
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Acts 17:6 KJV
Paul wanted us to comprehend and understand the scope of this resource available when he prayed for the saints at Ephesus: For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 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, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21 KJV
On their own, the branches of the vine will wither and dry without producing anything! It's when they are connected to the vine that they draw sustenance and produce fruit! Jesus said :
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. John 15:4-8 KJV
