I Have Been With Jesus

Tom Shrader focuses on Acts 4:13, where the Sanhedrin observed Peter and John's boldness and concluded they had been with Jesus, using this as a lens to ask whether the same evidence appears in the lives of believers today. Shrader walks through several marks of a transformed life: Christlike humility and servant attitude, continued growth in wisdom and scripture knowledge, discernment about false teaching, faithful prayer, right priorities, and obedience to the Father. He argues that these qualities flow not from a spiritual to-do list but from a genuinely changed heart, and that a transformed life is one of the strongest arguments for the Christian faith.

“One of the greatest arguments for the Christian faith is a transformed life.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Acts

Recorded: 1999 at East Valley Bible Church

Duration: 40 min

Themes: boldness, transformation, humility, prayer, obedience, discernment, priorities, witness, new believer, struggling with doubt, wanting to grow spiritually, feeling ordinary or unqualified, young adult, mentor, seeking deeper faith, questioning their walk with god

Scripture: Acts 4:7, Acts 4:10, Acts 4:12, Acts 4:13, Acts 4:18, John 18, Philippians 2:3, 1 Timothy 1, 1 Corinthians 15, Galatians 5:13, Matthew 20, Luke 2:52, Luke 4:16-20, Acts 17:22, Matthew 23:13, Matthew 23:23, Matthew 23:25, Matthew 23:27, Matthew 7, Acts 20, Romans 3:10

Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, christlikeness, spiritual maturity, biblical discernment, regeneration, changed heart, apologetics

Full Transcript

The Power of One Verse

Acts chapter 4. We left off last week in verse 12, and let me remind you of what we are looking at. It is a story in which Peter and John have had occasion to enter the temple in the afternoon for prayer. That was their custom. As they did, there was a man who was begging for money. Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but I will give you what I do have in the name of Jesus Christ. Walk." The man stood and walked, and that unleashed a whole controversy. The word began to spread that this man had been healed.

The question in verse 7 of chapter 4 was, by what power and what name have you done this? The elders and the rulers come to Peter and say, how did this happen? How did you do this? What was the power? It was their duty to investigate any sort of healing that was followed by teaching, and that is what they are doing. Peter says in Acts chapter 4 verse 10, it is the name of Jesus Christ. He reminds the Jews that this is the one whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. It is in that name that this man stands.

It would be interesting, I think, to paint this portrait from the eyes and the view of the man who has been healed. He is exhibit A in all of this as events unfold around him. They are constantly referring to him — this man standing here today because of the name of Christ. When we talk about the name of Christ, we mean the authority, the power. The name encompasses all that a person is — all their attributes and their strength. It is through that name that Peter declares, in Acts chapter 4 verse 12, there is no other name by which you and I can be saved.

In Acts chapter 4 verse 13, the Sanhedrin is convened and they are trying to decide what they are going to do with these men. Their conclusion, as we look ahead to verse 18, is this: they commanded Peter and John not to speak and not to teach in the name of Jesus. That is the confrontation we examine in the balance of this chapter.

Stopping at Verse 13

Acts chapter 4 verse 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 Jesus."

Something happened this week that probably happens to me two, maybe three times a year. I have the lesson essentially done, and then I set it aside and say no. Friday afternoon is the time when I have virtually the outline and about 75% of the lesson done. Saturday is when it is really honed, and Sunday is for the final touches. But this verse kept coming back to me — verse 13, again and again and again. I thought for a moment that I would finish the chapter and come back to this verse next week, but I kept returning to it. I said no. I am going to spend all of our time this morning on this one verse.

What the Sanhedrin Saw

When they — that is, the Sanhedrin — saw, what did they see? They saw boldness and courage in Peter and John. They looked at these two men and saw certainty, a confidence. They perceived that Peter and John were uneducated and untrained men, and they marveled.

This did not mean that Peter and John were illiterate. We know that they wrote several of the letters to the churches that we find in the New Testament. Like most men of their time, they had been educated in at least some of the Old Testament through their years in the synagogue. What the Sanhedrin was saying is that they were uneducated and untrained professionally. They had not been to rabbinic school. They had not had the privilege of sitting under any authorized teacher. They were not theologians, they were not professionals. To use a word that we rarely hear anymore, they were laymen.

The establishment was already troubled by this. Remember, last time we noted that they were troubled by the very fact that Peter and John were even teaching. I will add that I came across an interesting statistic not long ago: it is anticipated that now 50% of churches in the United States with a size of 1,000 or more are pastored by men who have never been to seminary. You can hear that same ruffle of indignation — who do you think you are? You are untrained. You are not professional.

The Sanhedrin is struck by the boldness. They recognize these are uneducated men, and they marvel. How can this happen? How can we spend so much time studying, be so prepared, and yet here are two men who stand with such firmness and boldness and fearlessness? And here is the answer: they realized these men had been with Jesus.

They Had Been with Jesus

Now, it may simply mean — and I am sure this is part of it — that at this moment their memory was jogged. In John chapter 18, the arrest of Jesus had taken place, the trials were about to begin, and John writes that Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple — that would be John. It may be that at this moment the members of the Sanhedrin reflected back to that night. It may be that they had seen Peter and John through the years. But whatever the case, because of what they now saw — specifically, their boldness — they realized that these men had been with Jesus. Because they saw him heal this man, they realized he had been with Jesus.

The Living Bible paraphrases this verse this way: "When the council saw the boldness of Peter and John and could see that they were obviously uneducated, unprofessional, they were amazed and realized what being with Jesus had done for them." They had begun to even sound like Him.

The Mark That Jesus Leaves on a Person

Right after I started teaching, many of you know that Larry Wright was my mentor. He is my hero. Larry and I, although he is considerably older, even look a little alike. We were out a few years ago having breakfast together, and people began to notice the resemblance. When you spend enough time with someone, when you are shaped by someone, when you sit under someone's influence long enough, it begins to show — in the way you carry yourself, in the way you speak, in the way you act under pressure. That is precisely what the Sanhedrin was observing. These men had been with Jesus, and it was unmistakable.

I Have Been With Jesus — Part 2

When I started teaching, one of the comments made about me was that Tom thinks he's a little Larry. I'm sure I did, because for three years I did nothing but carry around his briefcase, listen to his tapes, watch him, and study him. He was my hero and still is. Just as those disciples had spent three years with Jesus, I had spent three years with my mentor — and it began to change me.

The Living Bible captures what being with Jesus had done for those first disciples. As Ray Stedman launches into this discussion, here is what he writes: "How could these uneducated common men have such poise and confidence? The conclusion they came to was most remarkable. Their own explanation was these men had been with Jesus." Stedman continues: "These Jewish rulers had had difficulty with Jesus. They had noted that whenever they had anything to do with Jesus, He evidenced remarkable poise. Nothing they said, nothing they did to Him ever seemed to trouble Him. Here were men who were reflecting the same spirit. They had doubtless become aware of the fact that anyone who had anything to do with Jesus for very long began acting differently. He became a different person and manifested obvious confidence, an air of boldness and quiet authority. These Jewish rulers concluded, therefore, that these men had been with Jesus."

Examining the Evidence

What I want to do this morning is ask you to do a little examination — to ask yourself the question: can the people around you see evidence that you have been with Jesus? Can the people around you look at your life and realize what Jesus has done for you? Can they study your life and see what He has done to you, and in you, and through you? Is there any evidence at all that you have been with Jesus?

So often when we face a question like that, we immediately race to a kind of spiritual to-do list — an action list. We begin to associate being with Jesus, or spirituality, as things that we do. It is not at all unusual for me to ask someone how they are doing spiritually, and the person will say they just read the latest book, or they are teaching a Sunday school class, or having their quiet time, or getting a lot out of their small group, or going to the women's retreat, or involved at the church financially. That is how they are doing spiritually.

What I decided to do was make my own list of things that ought to be proof that you have been with Jesus. You may want to add to it, or take away from it. Here is the first one.

Evidence One: You Will Have His Attitude

If you have been with Jesus, you will have His attitude. That means you will start to see people — especially other people — as Jesus sees them. Paul encourages us with these words in Philippians chapter two, verse three: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself. Each of you should look out not only for your own interest, but also for the interest of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."

Paul does not have to tell you to look out for yourself — you will do that naturally. The contrast he draws is pointed: selfish ambition means, literally, to push or to strive to get your own way. Vain conceit is the motivation behind that pushing. There is something about Jesus and the way He views life that is fundamentally different from the way we view it.

I will be autobiographical. For thirty years, my worldview looked like this: here is me, and here is everything else, and it all circles around me and exists for my pleasure. That, by the way, is the way natural man looks at the world. But when we begin to see people as Jesus sees them, the view of ourselves changes and the view of the world changes. Paul writes in 1 Timothy chapter one that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom he is the chief — the biggest of all. In 1 Corinthians 15, he says he is the least of the apostles. It is out of that spirit, that mindset, that attitude, that he then says in Galatians 5:13, "Through love, serve one another." God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. That is the attitude.

The Servant Heart of Christ

The mother of James and John comes to Jesus and says she has a favor to ask — she wants her boys to reign with Him, one on His left and one on His right. Jesus tells her she does not really understand all that she is asking. This causes a whole discussion among the disciples, who now begin to position themselves. It becomes a teachable moment. Jesus says to them in Matthew 20: "It shall not be so among you. Whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Have the attitude in you that was also in Christ — the attitude of One who emptied Himself, not of His deity, but of His glory, and took the form of a man, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. The significant piece of evidence to the world that you have been with Jesus is that you begin to see other people as He sees them.

There is no way you will begin to serve one another if you think more highly of yourself than those you are serving. It simply will not happen. The only reason someone would claim to think more highly of another while serving them — without that genuine change of heart — is out of a wrong motivation. Someone came up after the first service and asked how to live this transformed life. We are going to talk about specific things, and you will see them — but they flow from this foundation.

Growing to Look Like Jesus

Out of a transformed heart comes evidence of genuine change. One of the first pieces of evidence that my heart has been transformed is that I will start to see other people and have a desire to serve them. Evidence that I've been with Jesus is that my attitude begins to look like His and that I continue to grow.

This growth is expressed for us in Luke chapter two, verse 52: "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, favor with men and favor with God." It is an interesting thought that reminds us of the humanity of Christ. It drives us right to that tension point — that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, and they hang there together. Jesus did not cease to be God, but He became man. He increased; that is, He grew in wisdom and stature, in favor with God and favor with man. He grew intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially.

In my life, I should see this same continuing growth — growth that continues until the day you die. When we talk about continuing education, we are being redundant, because our education is to be lifelong in its nature. We continue to grow in wisdom. There is an importance for us to keep ourselves physically fit — not to worship the body, but so that our mind is sharp and our strength is there so that we can serve Him. There should be spiritual growth in our life, and there should be a social aspect as well. As we grow in favor among men, people ought to want to be with us, and we ought to want to be with them.

Jesus Knew the Scripture

Jesus knew the scripture, and there are many instances where we can see Him teach from it. The one I have chosen occurs immediately following His isolation and temptation — His one-on-one confrontation with Satan himself. He has returned from the desert, forty days there, to Galilee and to the city of Nazareth.

Luke chapter four, verse 16: "As his custom was, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up and read. He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he opened it, he found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and recover the sight of the blind, and to set at liberty those oppressed.'"

Jesus enters the synagogue, stands out of respect for the scripture — as the teacher would do — and reads this passage from Isaiah. It is a passage that speaks of the coming Messiah, of what He will do: that He will preach, and He will set free, and He will heal. Luke chapter four, verse 20 tells us He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down — the position of teaching. All eyes were fixed upon Him. Every eye in the place is glued to Jesus, and they understand exactly what passage He has read. They understand what it means. They understand that it points to the Messiah.

And then He said to them, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." In other words: I am the Messiah. He knew the scripture.

Just as He did, we need to know the scripture. It is through the scripture that we understand who God is. It is through the scripture that we begin to understand our own lives and how we are to live. It is through the scripture that we look at the world and understand the world. And through the application of that scripture, we not only learn how to live, but we learn how to share life itself — in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus knew the scriptures, and He knew how to relate them to those who were listening to Him.

Knowing the World We Live In

Let me take a brief side trip here. Not only do we need to know the scriptures so we can begin to share them, we also need to understand the world we live in. In Acts chapter seventeen, Paul is arriving in Athens. Here is what he says, Acts chapter seventeen, verse 22: "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown God.' What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you."

Paul arrives in the city, and he is so sensitive to his calling as a missionary to that city and that area that he knows part of being an effective missionary is to understand the culture. He is looking around, and after a while, you simply know when there are teachable moments. He stumbles across a statue — an altar with the inscription, "To an unknown God" — and he knows that this is something that can be used to reach these people.

You begin to see these moments in your own life around you. Easter and Christmas are magnificent times when the whole world is talking about these things and you can reach people. There is no way to avoid a conversation about John Kennedy in the last ten days, and that is a great opportunity to talk about what that means and how that works — to begin to engage with what is happening around you.

Paul goes to these men and says, "I have to tell you something. You are religious people. I saw statues." Historians tell us that as many as thirty thousand gods were worshiped in Athens. He said, "I saw one — just in case anyone missed any of them — 'To an unknown God.' I am here today to talk to you about that unknown God."

It is worth noting that when Paul goes to speak to the Jews, he does not reference the statue in Athens. When he is with the Jews, he speaks to them through the scriptures and about the scriptures. But to the surrounding culture, he meets them where they are.

The Evidence of Scripture in the Believer's Life

There is in our life a sense that we have evidence we have been with Jesus when we can begin to take the scriptures and relate them — first of all, to our understanding of who God is, to our understanding of ourselves, and to our understanding of the world around us. We begin to use those scriptures to drive us and direct us in our life, and to be the basis upon which we begin to share truth to a lost world.

Discernment and the Warning Against Hypocrisy

There is something else we see in Jesus' life. There is a discernment in His life, a vigilance that takes place. He is looking, trying to understand, looking at those around Him and sharing in their troubles. At the same time, there is a group of people that seem to drive Him to confrontation — the scribes and the Pharisees.

In Matthew 23, Jesus begins to unload. Verse 13: "Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against man." And again: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, you devour the widow's house." And: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, you travel the land to win one proselyte, and when he is won, he is twice as much a son of hell as you yourself."

Verse 23: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, for you tithe on the mint" — you tithe on these little things — "but you neglect the weightier matters of the law." Verse 25: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are filled with self-indulgence."

And here is what we are driving toward. Verse 27: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are filled with dead man's bones and all uncleanliness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous men, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness." He goes right after these men.

The Narrow Way and the Warning Against False Prophets

In the middle of teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, as He begins to close, Jesus talks about the narrow way versus the broad way — we looked at that last week. Then He says, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." He says, watch out for these men. The sign of a ravenous wolf is found in the context here of a gospel other than the narrow way. There is a narrow way and a wide way, an easy way and a hard way, and the broad easy way leads to destruction while the narrow hard way leads to life.

Paul picks up exactly this theme in Acts 20 when he speaks to the elders at Ephesus and says, "I did not shrink from teaching you the whole counsel of God. Beware of false teachers." There is something that stirs the heart of the apostle. I believe there is something we see at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7 that warns us to hold true to the gospel. Paul says, if I declare any gospel other than this, ignore me. Even if an angel comes and declares another gospel, it is wrong. He says, I preach this gospel and this gospel only.

A Failure to Proclaim the True Gospel

Now, we need to apply this to the world around us. Last Tuesday night, I was watching Larry King, and the discussion was about John Kennedy, Jr. There were several guests — and then a priest, and then Dr. Graham. The question to Dr. Graham was, "Billy, why do things like this happen?" Larry and Billy are very comfortable together; Larry likes him very much, and Billy is on there regularly. Billy said, "Well, you can't begin to explain these kinds of things. These things happen. That's just part of life, and I can't begin to explain it."

They talked a little more, and Larry said, "Billy, talk about John a little bit." Billy spoke about knowing him, having seen him at a funeral. Larry King then asked, "How many funerals have you been to, Billy?" Billy said, "Oh, I don't know — hundreds." Larry King said, "Do you ever get used to that?" Graham said, "Well, if the person has been a very good person and is close to God, I guess somewhat — but if it has been a very bad person, I shed an extra tear for them."

Larry King, seeing a ray of hope for his own salvation at that moment, asked, "What is that?" And Billy said, "If you have been a very good person, you're..." And Larry said, "Yes." Now, let me be direct: that is not the gospel. It was so troubling that I stayed up past my bedtime, nearly to ten o'clock, to watch it again, because I thought I must have missed something — there must have been a sentence in there. I had to have missed something. So I watched it again. And here is what Dr. Graham said: "If you have been a very good person and you are close to God." That breaks my heart.

I thought I would just let it go and not say anything. But here is the problem — you were watching it too. So the next morning I addressed it. And as I was speaking, I was saying to these people, "Dr. Graham has been used by God in so many ways" — and yet, who am I? I had to be honest about who he is, and about what was said. A lady came up afterward and told me what had happened to her. She had called her unbelieving granddaughter and said, "You need to come watch this, honey, because Dr. Graham is going to speak." When it was all over, the unbelieving granddaughter said, "Oh, that was very good." And the grandmother had to say, "No, no, honey — that is not the gospel."

If I am lost, I have just had Billy Graham tell me I am going to heaven if I am good and close to God — whatever that means. I do not even know what that means. But let me help you begin to see how we put this together: 75% of the American public believe they are...

The False Gospel of Being "Good" and "Close to God"

Fifty percent of people believe they are in the top ten percent of the country, and ninety-six percent believe in God. What happened to that granddaughter happens to millions of people when they hear proclaimed, "If you're a good person and you're close to God, you're fine." The Buddhist hears that and says, "Yes, that's me — close to God as I understand Him to be, and I'm basically a good person, because we're all good people." This is serious. That is not the gospel.

Let's stack these claims up and take a look at them. If you're a very good person — Paul says no one is good, no, not one. If you're close to God — Paul says, "I preach Christ and Christ crucified, and that's it." We have to be able to watch out for this, to be careful. Why does Larry King have this teacher on time and time again? Because Larry King is very comfortable with that message. He is an agnostic by his own admission, and he is very comfortable thinking he is a good guy who is close to God.

This is the core issue. I have had a thousand people ask, "Do you think John Kennedy is in heaven?" How would I know? But I know this: there were a great many people wasting prayers for his soul. He is either in heaven or in hell, and that is it. He is in heaven or hell based on what he did with the person of Christ — did he believe Jesus is who He said He was? If he did, he is in heaven. If he did not, he is in hell. Period.

That is the gospel: Christ and Christ crucified. Not "be a good person and be close to God." Jesus understood there is something that needs to be guarded. Paul says, beware — watch out for this kind of teaching. Watch out for anything that begins to change the gospel.

The Evidence of Prayer

Jesus will be in evidence all over us if we are people of prayer. Prayer was obviously a regular part of the Savior's life. Daily He communicated with His Father and drew strength from Him, and we could draw from the scriptures many instances of that. None is more appropriate for us than the night before He was to be killed, when He retreated to Gethsemane and simply said to the disciples, "Sit here while I pray."

You will show evidence that you have been with Jesus if you are a person of prayer, and here is how that happens. When you pray, God begins to work in you. You begin to adore Him, confess your sin, thank Him, lay out your petitions before Him, and yield all of your life to Him. All of a sudden, as you become a person of prayer, your life changes. God begins to give you comfort, strength, understanding, and direction as He works in your life through your prayer.

Priorities Aligned with the Kingdom

There will also be evidence that I have been with Jesus in that my priorities are correct. What I say is important and what I actually do begin to line up together. What are our priorities? Here it is: seek first the kingdom of God.

The context of that command is a crowd of people worried about what they are going to wear, where they are going to live, and what they are going to eat. Jesus says — and I think this is remarkable — consider the raven. Ravens do not sow, they do not reap, they do not gather and store in barns, and God takes care of them. A couple of years ago, I spent two days considering the raven. I got a couple of books on ravens, and I read and I thought and I meditated on the question: what does a raven do? What I found was that ravens eat, they procreate, they eliminate what they eat, and a couple of other things — but that is about it.

I then began to think about the raven in a different light. The raven does exactly what it was designed to do, and it is content doing it. I do not think ravens hop around thinking, "This is fine, but I really wish I were a dog — oh, to be a dog, or a worm, or a human." There is a contentment there. The idea is that you are designed to glorify God and to serve Him. Seek first His kingdom, and the rest of the things will take care of themselves.

Sacred and Secular: There Is Only Sacred

I once taught on priorities and said, "Here are mine: God is number one, then Susan is second, the girls are third, then other family, with work toward the bottom." Afterward, a man came up and asked if he could offer some constructive criticism. I said, "Let's go somewhere the others can't hear this." He did it appropriately. He said he simply thought that was not a very good way to teach it, because if God is listed as priority number one, then the moment I move down to Susan I am done with God, and the moment I move to the girls I am done with Susan.

His point was that there should be a presupposition that God is at the center of all of our activities. This lines up with what Dr. MacArthur says: for the Christian, there is no sacred and secular — there is only sacred. Everything we do involves God. So we look at work and part of our view of that work is seeking first God's kingdom within it.

There is a great number of people trying to retire as fast as possible, and part of what they are trying to do is quit work, which is perhaps acceptable if there is something else of substance to do. But many people are never going to reach that point, and the closer some get to what they perceive as sacred — church activities — the more they fail to understand that one of the most sacred privileges they have is to be salt and light right where they work. Seek first His kingdom. Do not be anxious about tomorrow.

Obedience to the Father

Tomorrow will take care of itself. This last sentence ought to be on your screensaver: every day has enough trouble of its own. You are over quota for today's troubles already. You do not need to bring more into it. That is what He is saying.

There is a sense of priorities. There are times when Jesus says, "I love to hang out with you, but I have other things to do." You have to learn to have in your life priorities and boundaries, and to say no — and sometimes no to some good things.

Here is the last thing: there will be in your life obedience to the Father. There is no way that we can miss this. The night before He dies, as He prays, He says, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Your will be done." Jesus, when He was on earth, said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

What is God's will for your life? God's will for your moral life is right here in His Word. I follow it. I do what is right because it is right. That is how we measure it.

Recognized as Those Who Have Been with Jesus

How do people in your world see and recognize that you have been with Jesus? They looked at Peter and John, saw that they were bold, and came to a conclusion — the New American Standard says they recognized they had been with Jesus.

Your life begins to change. Your attitude changes. You continue to grow intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially. You continue to dive into the Scriptures and apply them to the world around you. You are a discerning person, a person of prayer, with priorities that are correct, and above all else you do what is right because it is right.

Looking at the same passage — Acts chapter four, verse thirteen — Donald Gray Barnhouse writes this: "How did he" — speaking of Peter — "get this way? He had been with Jesus. It does not make any difference who you are or what your background is, for God has the possibility of communicating life and power to you through the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you live and act and speak according to God's holy Word, what you do and say will testify to the power of God. People will recognize that you have been with Christ."

His closing sentence is this: "One of the greatest arguments for the Christian faith is a transformed life."

Transformation as Evidence

How are people going to see that you have been with Jesus? There is going to be transformation all over you. It is going to transform almost naturally, because there has been a heart change that has taken place. And because my heart has changed, my life begins to change.

They looked at Peter and John and said they had been with Jesus. Is that what the people around you say? Is that what they say at the office? When you walk into the room, do they elbow each other and say, "There is one of those who has been with Jesus?"

Next week we pick that story up, and we will see that they are going to tell Peter and John they do not want them using that name anymore. We will pick right up there next week.

Father, through Your power and Your grace, we will be men and women whose lives are changed and transformed. We pray that when people see us, there is evidence that we have been with You. We pray to You in Jesus' name, amen.