Bible In One Year-Day 315 (Tuesday, November 11, 2014)

Commentary: Acts17-20. Jesus made us to know that a person can only be regarded as His friend only if such obeys His commands.

John 15:14 “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”

You could preach, minister, sing and do all sorts of thing in the name of Lord, if the condition of friendship is not fulfilled, they all amount to vanity. To be a friend of Christ has the condition of doing what He commands. It is one thing to memorize His words by heart, and it is another thing for you to do them sincerely and faithfully. When you have His word within you as just letters, it will remain in the flesh, i.e. intellect. But when you have His word in your mind as Spirit, you have life and that life gives light to your soul. You converse with the Spirit of the Word in your mind. Since Jesus is the Word, then you have the other side of Christ in you. This other side of Christ makes you do things beyond your imaginations. Paul was under such compellation when he got to Corinth.

Acts 18:5 “And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit (compelled by the Spirit in spirit), and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.”

The other side of Jesus is His Promise, which is the Holy Spirit and He is to help us in all our ways and doings.

1. Help us to the will of God.
2. Guide us into all truth.
3. Reveal things to us, Acts18:9-11
4. Direct us in the right path.
5. Help preach Christ to people, i.e. show people the proper and accurate way.
6. Strengthen us in our weaknesses
7. To remind us of the words Jesus has spoken to us.

For instance, the word as written in the book of Jeremiah (Jer31:33), says that the condition for God to be our God and for us to be His people, is to obey His command. The Spirit also reminded us of this in the book of Hebrew.

Hebrews 10:15 “Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them”;

Hebrews 8:10 “… and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:”

Anything we do without proper compliance with His command will amount to error, no matter the polish we put into.

Apollo, for example, was very eloquent and vast in the scripture. He was able to teach accurately but not by the Spirit of God because he had not experienced the other side of Jesus. According to the scripture, he went to school to learn the way of the Lord.

Acts 18:24-25 “And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed (taught) in the way of the Lord; and being fervent (zealous) in the spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.”

He was able to teach people about the God he never experienced. To the people, he entertained them through eloquent speeches, whereas, what the people needed was life. Unfortunately, he could not give them that life because he was not having it as well. His teachings, which sounded sweet and right, were inaccurate in the ears of those with life, Aquila and Priscilla. They had to take him aside to let him realize the error in his manner of teaching the right way of the Lord.

Acts 18:26 “And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him to them, and expounded to him the way of God more perfectly.”

This shows us that without the other side of Jesus fully realized in us, our work for the Lord cannot be accurate and it may amount to working without authority. It is the other side of Jesus in us that gives the heavenly authority to be certified as God’s children and Him our God. A genuine servant of God carries this virtue and grace.

John 1:12-13 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

The people need the life in Christ and not eloquence. If they are not able to contact this life, they may manage the entertainment you give for awhile. But when the real life appears, they will go there. As soon as we receive him as Spirit, He brings in the needed life. Through the introduction of this life into us, we get illuminated and the darkness and death in us get banished.

John 1:4-5 “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

Without the presence of this aspect of the other side of Jesus in us, we could become easy preys of the enemy.

For the reason that Paul had the other side of Jesus in him, God worked through him as a testimony of heavenly approval.

Acts 19:11 “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:”

Some Jews imitated the unusual manner of Paul’s ministry, their lives were endangered. They worked without heavenly authority and the enemy of their soul questioned them. Though their ministry looked the same with that of Paul, the difference is that one is of heaven while the other is according to the will of the flesh and of man; the flesh profits nothing.

Acts 19:13-15 “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. …. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”

It is a dangerous mission to embark on field work without receiving heavenly endorsement; demons will ask questions and if you lie to the demons, you put yourself in more danger of being possessed. Because these children of Sceva kept quiet when asked of which authority they worked, their punishment was reduced to nakedness and some wounds. The Holy Spirit is the certification we need;

1. To do the work of God.
2. To be regarded as His children and friends.
3. To rescue people in darkness.
4. To be light to those in darkness.
5. To Heal the hurts
6. To operate in God’s agenda.

No matter how eloquent you are, without the fullness of the Spirit of Christ, the speech carries no life and light. And those who listen to such speech will still remain dead and in darkness.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. Our reading for today is Acts21-24. (we apologize for the lond standing error in the concluding sentence of our articles so far, this is corrected herewith); Keep the fire of prayer on the altar of love burning and alive

Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries

Delaware, USA