The Power of the New Testament Church - Part 2

Continuing from Part 1, the transformation of Peter clearly shows that God is not depending on what we are, but what He can make of us. What God did for Peter, He did for Paul. What He did for Andrew and Thomas and Matthew etc, He can do for you!

Two thousand years ago, the early, New Testament Church took over almost the entire known world for Jesus Christ. One man, Paul, ministered in such power and demonstration of God's Spirit that he reached all of Asia.

Today there are hundreds of Churches in every city in North America, every city in the UK, every city in most European countries and yet we cannot even take one city for God, not even one town. If what we are seeing in our Churches is all that God has for us, this world is in sorry shape. It is destined to hell!

We have not seen even the tip of the iceberg of what God wants, what He expects, and what He will have in the Church and manifested in the lives of His true disciples before Jesus Christ returns for His Church.

What happened to Peter must happen to us. What happened to all the apostles of the early Church must happen to us.

Two thousand years ago, a handful of people reached the then known world. Two hundred years after the death of Jesus Christ greater part of the world was Christian - governments, rulers, leaders, kings etc. They may not have been 100 percent committed, but at least they were giving some kind of lip service of Christianity. They were influenced in some way by the Church.

Now, two thousnad years after the death of Jesus Christ, nearly half the world has not even heard of Him!


What the early Church had?


The early Church had power and capability. But they did not have what we are having now. They did not have the complete Bible - but only had the Old Testament. They did not have the written Word as you and I have today. They did not have the mass media. They lacked the modern conveniences of transportation and communication. But they had something that made up for the lack of these things - they had an enduement of Power.


That leads us to this very important question: How can we, as ordinary men and women, ever hope to be like the saints of old or have the power the apostles of the early Church had? God, what must we do?


If only I could be ....?


I wonder if you have ever looked at the following men in the Bible and said: "Oh, God, if I could just be like of one of these great men in the Bible!"


If I could be like Moses!


Moses was so humble. He was so meek. He knew God in such a personal way. But if God appeared to you in such visible form that you saw the finger of God by fire, if you saw the backside of God's glory, and God told you with an audible voice, "Go and do this and go and do that," would you disobey Him?


Moses did disobey God. He had to forfeit the privilege of going into the Promised Land because God could no let sin and disobedience go into the Promised Land. Now, if not Moses, who would you like to be like?


If I could be like Abraham!


Abraham was the father of faith. Look at how he journeyed following God. He did not even know where he was going, but he was faithful in his commitment to follow God by faith and God counted it unto him for righteousness.


You want to have the faith of Abraham, so that you can reach out and lay hands on the sick, the afflicted people and touch them, but you were afraid. You did not have the faith to speak the Word. You felt you did not have the faith you should have.


There is no question that you love your wife. Now, just suppose a man came to you and said, "I hear that you wife, Ruth, is a very beautiful woman. I have come to get her. Give me you wife." What would you do? You would certainly say to the man, "Over my dead body! You would have to kill me first!"


But Abraham did just the opposite. He gave his wife away to another man out of fear for his own life. Abraham was journeying through a strange land and he was so afraid of what he might face that he told people his wife was really his sister. He delivered his wife into the hands of the ruler of that land so that he could escape with his life (Gen 20:2).


If not Abraham, who would you like to be like?


If I could be like David!


David panted and longed after God with a heart that expressed his innermost yearning. He worshiped and praised God as few ever have. David hungered and ran after God because he loved God. Not many have that kind of love for God. Because your heart is not like David's heart, you do not seek God as much as you ought to. There is something lacking you. You should be crying and craving after God.


Not many of us have committed murder and have taken another man's wife. But David did. He saw a woman who belonged to another man. He was so filled with the spirit of lust that he desired this women. Not only he took her, but also had her husband sent to the front line of battle so that he would be killed and he could have this woman the rest of his life.


Do you still like to be like David?


One thing many of us failed to understand is that these great men of the Bible were just men. They were just ordinary human beings. They had their faults and their failures. They knew shortcomings.


All of these men were great only because of what God did for them, because of what God made of them and did through them. The only reason why God uses any of us is because of His grace.


But for the grace of the Almighty God, God never would have used Moses. But for the grace of the Almight God, God never would have used Abraham. God is not depending on what we are. But upon what He can make of us.


The great men of the Bible sat where we sit


Not every on of us can be an Abraham, or a Moses or a David. In fact you cannot be anyone other than who you are. But you can be a Spirit-filled, transformed, powerful, and anointed vessel of God no matter who you are.


We often hear things such as "days of the apostles," or "power of the early Church." But there is nothing in the Scripture that says God gave the early Church or the first apostles a double portion of His power to get things off to a good start. Nor is there anything that says He waited until He found a group of worthy mand and women, different from other men and women, to begin building His Church.


The disciples of Jesus were ordinary men and women subject to temptation and failure, but God still chose them and He used them.


Not one person believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ


We cannot find one disciple, not one follower of Jesus Chrust, not one religious leader in the entire Scripture who believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We heard so much about one man, "doubting Thomas," that we have failed to comprehend and understand the entire picture. There was also a "doubting Peter." There was a "doubting John," a "doubting Philip," a "wondering Mary," etc. Not one disciple, not one follower of Jesus who walked closely with Him, not one of the women who followed Him, believed in the resurrection. Not one!


Let us consider some of the women in Jesus' time:


"Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him" (Mark 16:1, NKJV).


Why did Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother James, and Salome, go to the tomb of Jesus Christ? What was the purpose of their visit?


They went there to anoint a dead body. They fully expected to see the wrapped body of Jesus in that tomb. They did not in the least believe that He would be resurrected. As they went, they discussed among themselves who could roll away the stone from the mouth of the sepulcher so that they could anoint the body they thought was lying there.


When they arrieved at the sepulcher, however, they found to their surprise that the stone already had been rolled away. An angelic being clothed in a long white garment sat upon it.


The Bible says the women afraid, but the angelic being spoke to them and said this:


"Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucifed. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples - and Peter - that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him as He said to you" (Mark 16:6, 7).


The angel reminded the women that Jesus told them He would arise and that He had directed them to go to Galilee to wait for Him.


If these disciples, as followers of Jesus were such great believers, why did they go to the grave, to the tomb, to anoint a dead body that was not supposed to be there? It was because they did not believe the resurrection of Jesus.


Jesus commissioned people despite their weaknesses


"Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen" (Mark 16:14).


Jesus did not just rebuke Thomas, but He rebuked all of them for their hardness of heart.


Here we see a bunch of wishy-washy, backboneless, spineless men and women who slept when Jesus prayed, who denied Him at the cross, who hid while He bled, who ran from the resurrection, who refused to believe He had risen even though He had told them beforehand.


The reason why Jesus commissioned these men and women with this great task despite their human nature, despite their weaknesses and their failures was because when He looked at them He was not looking at what they were. He was looking at what He could make of them.


Similarly, it is not your past performances God is looking at, not your failures or doubts or unbelief. He is looking at what He can make you. It is not what we are, it is not what we possess, it is what God can make of us that is the key.


The Church was born in demonstration of power


The Church was not born by great preaching. It was born in a demonstration of apostolic power manifested in the lives and ministries of men and women who were just as human as you and I, who got their eyes off their own weaknesses and failures and onto the power of God's grace and Hid Word.


Every one of us had experienced the negtive forces of doubt, fear, spiritual weakness, and many carnal emotions and failures.


In Hebrews 11 we read about heroes of faith who subdued kingdoms, who stopped the mouths of lions, who waxed valiant in fight, who escaped the edge of the sword, who walked throught the fire, etc. But we fail to understand that every one of them "sat where we sit." They had the same failures; they had the same shortcomings; they had the same weaknesses; they had the same doubts; they had the same problems, the same battles, the same temptations as you and I.


We can thank God that when God looks down upon man, He does not look at him for what he is. He looks at what He can transform that life into. God is not depending on the level of your faith. He is only depending on what He can make of you as you are willing to surrender your total being completely into His hands - all that you are and just as you are. You will then go forth in His power to fulfill His task:


"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And these signs will follow those who believe; ..." (Mark 16:15, 17).