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And the important point is this:
We do not receive enough of this
divine power all
~t
once to last forev–
er.
Remember , Jesus said this power
of God SHALL FLOw OUT from our
innermost being! (John 7:38.) This
POWER ofGod is active-dynamic! lt
is not static. You cannot get a supply
of God's Spirit, and then bottle it up
within you. This power comes into
you from God
daily!
It
circulates–
from God, into vou-and then on
out
from
you in !ove, in faith, in joy,
in patience-even in performing mir–
acles.
You might have been imbued with
this power yesterday and depleted of
it today!
A Refi lling of Power
The threatenings of these chief
priests and elders, after a night in
prison, apparently left Peter and
John a little depleted of faith and the
confident POWER of God. Yes, they
were human!
They went to their brethren in
Christ. When they reported what had
happcned , all their brethren were
sha ken. They, too, being huma n,
must have felt a sudden sense of spir–
itual inadequacy-a lack of power!
But they sensed and knew their
EED. They knew the SOURCE of con–
stant
refilling
of this POWER OFGoo
within them! They didn't delay! They
went immediately to ' the SOURCE of
their divine power!
"And when they had heard that,
they lifted up their voice to God with
one accord,
and said, Lord, thou art
God, which hast made heaven, and
carth, and the sea, and all that in
them is.... And now, Lord, behold
their threatenings:
and grant unto
thy servanrs,
that wi th all boldness
they may speak thy word, by stretch–
ing forth thine hand to heal; and that
signs and wonders may be done by
the name of thy holy child Jesus"
(Acts 4:24, 29-30) .
Yes, suddenly this company rcal–
ized thei r own human inadequacy–
realized their need of renewed
POWER FROM Goo. They didn't run
from their difficulty! They didn't
cower and tremble in fear. They
didn't give up their Great Commis–
sion. They went directl y to the
28
SOURCE of their power. They yielded
themselves into God's hands, as His
servants, anew. They urgently, inten–
sively, cried to God to FILL THEM
with His power- to give them bold–
ness, faith , power of speech. They
asked God fervently and believingly
to heal and perform miracles.
Was there any God listening? Was
there any response? Listen!
"And when they had prayed, the
PLACE WAS SHAKE where they were
assembled together; and they were
all FILLED with the Holy Spirit, and
they spake the word of God with
boldness! ... And with GREAT
POWER gave the apostles witness of
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"
(Acts 4:31 , 33).
We Need lt Today
Do
you,
today, have thc SAME POWER
the original Christians had? They
were just as human as vou! The
real
question, then, is this: Do
you
yield
yourself as fully- surrender your
will as unconditionally to God-pray
as often, as earnestly and intensively,
as they?
If
you
do
you will be filled
with as much of the divine POWER as
they- for God is no respecter of per–
sons!
This same POWER OF Goo oper–
ated actively, continually, in those
early original Christians. They ac–
tually
did
do greater works than Je–
sus-until even the shadow of Peter
passing over the sick healed them!
They did the very Work of God!
The Work of God, which God
started
in the individual body of Je–
sus, was carried on through the
col-,
lect ive
body of disciples, now becom–
ing the BODY OF CHRIST- the true
CHURCH of God!
Then the great apostasy set in. The
apbstatefa/se
church
(Rev. 17:1-5)
rose up in A.D. 33, two years after
Christ started His
true
Church. lt
professed
to be Christian, taking on
Christ's name. This professing Chris–
tian church turned away its ear from
the TRUTH and turned tO FABLES
(ll
Tim. 4:4).
But there continued, also, God's
true
Church, pictured in Revelation
12- persecuted by Satan and bis
great false church of Revelation 17.
No longer was th is persecuted
Church able to proclaim the true gos-
pel to all nations-to the whole
world- in great power.
But Jesus had said, prophetically,
that just before the END of this
world- right now-"This
gospel of
the KINGDOMshall be preached
in al/
the world
for a witness ·unto ALL NA–
TIONS; and
then
shall the end come!"
(Matt. 24: 14.)
Today God is opening
gigantic
doors- the
doors of radio, television,
and the printing press. Doors of MASS
COMMU ICATIONS. The original, true
gospel of Jesus Christ- the
same
gospel HE brought from Goo and
taught- is broadcast into EVERY
CONTI NENT around the world! It is
hitting this world with terrific IM–
PACT- with tremendous POWER!
This very WORK OF Goo for our
day is foretold in the prophecy of
Revelation 3:7-13. But there is re–
vealed that we, today, are a people of
but
liltle
strength-/iH/e
power!
(verse 8)- within ourselves-though
we have faithfully kept God's Word!
The impact of this WoRK OF Goo
today is going out only through the
power of God!
Are you having
your
part
in this very WORK OF Goo?
But- let 's face it!- we do not have
within ourselves, as God's instru–
ments for His Work today, anywhere
near the power of God that activated
that original first century Church!
For that very reason, the living
Christ says (Revelation 3:8) He has
opened to us the gigantic door of
MASS COMMUNICATION! The magni–
fied power of the microphone and the
printing prcss. Yet that is only physi–
cal mechanical power! T he REAL
POWER that makes God's Work
vital
and
alive
is the Holy Spirit of God!
We need to present our
bodies
a
living sacrifice to Goo! (Rom. 12: 1.)
We need to receive a greater TRA s–
FORMING- a nd tO be LESS CON–
FORMED to this present evil world!
We need to REPENT! We need to
more earnestly SEEK Goo! We need
to put on the WHOLE ARMOR OF Goo,
as we are admonished in Ephesians
6:1 0- 18! Perhaps sorne of us need to
FAST and PRAv- as Jesus did!
Have vou enougb of the POWER
OF Goo flowing dynamically into,
and out from you? You need to seek
a much closer contact with your
Goo! o
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1979