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Acts (November 2011)
Below are selected ministry excerpts related to the Life-study of Acts radio broadcast. The subject of Acts is "The Propagation of the Resurrected Christ in His Ascension, by the Spirit, through the Disciples, for the Producing of the Churches—The Kingdom of God".
Click on the links below to continue reading the excerpts.
The Lord’s Training of the Disciples
Before the Lord’s ascension, He spent forty days with the disciples (Acts 1:3). The number forty indicates a time of testing (Deut. 9:9, 18; 1 Kings 19:8; Heb. 3:9; Matt. 4:2). In these forty days before His ascension, He tested His disciples. He trained them to know their new being, to know that His essence had become their essence. He trained them to know that He had become them, that He had entered into them, and that He had brought them into Him. He also trained them to realize that He was in the Father, that they were in Him, and that He was in them (John 14:20). Ultimately, this kind of training was to help the disciples realize that they were mingled with the Triune God, that they were no longer merely human but divinely human, even "Jesusly human." They were no longer separate from the Triune God, but they could now live a life in which they were one with the processed Triune God. They were no longer merely men, but God-men, divine men, with the Triune God as their intrinsic essence to become their divine being.
The Believers Continuing Steadfastly in Four Things
Acts 2:42 says, "And they were continuing steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and the prayers." Here we see that the first group of believers produced through the apostles’ preaching and ministering of Christ on the day of Pentecost continued steadfastly in four things: teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. Teaching is the unveiling of God’s New Testament economy concerning Christ and the church. Fellowship is the communion and communication between the believers in their communion and communication with God the Father and Christ the Son. Breaking of bread is the remembrance of the Lord in His accomplishment of God’s full redemption. Prayer is cooperation with the Lord in heaven for the carrying out of God’s New Testament economy on earth.
Enjoying Seasons of Refreshing by Calling on the Name of the Lord
If we enjoy Christ, we shall have a season of refreshing [Acts 3:19]. We can enjoy a season of refreshing simply by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. Call "O Lord Jesus!" and you will be in a season of refreshing.
The Greek word for "call" in 2:21 is epikaleo, composed of epi, upon and kaleo, call by name, that is, to call out audibly, even loudly, as Stephen did (7:59-60). From this we see that to call on the name of the Lord is to call on Him audibly... from experience we know that when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we enjoy a season of refreshing. Whenever we call on Him, we are in a season of refreshing. This is a fact in the Word and in our experience, and I encourage you to try it.
"And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
(Acts 2:21)
Life-study of Acts and God's New Testament Economy are available for purchase from Amana Trust Books.
You can also read the entire contents of these books online at ministrybooks.org.