The Word of God constantly amazes me. Like you, I’ve read and reread the Bible and, still to this day through the enablement of the Holy Spirit, I see things that I’ve never noticed before. It almost makes me want to double-check to see if the ink has dried since God slipped the update into His book. Here is an example …
“The former account, indeed, I made concerning all things,
O Theophilus, that Jesus began both to do and to teach,”
Acts 1:1 (New Century Version)
In my devotions, I’ve read this verse so, so many times. And, I’ve even included the verse in many sermons. I have usually read the verse aloud so that I could tell a joke about the old man who, after seeing his new grandson for the first time, told the proud mother that she needed to name the boy a good biblical name like Theophilus. While walking away, the old man muttered to himself that the reason for that name being appropriate was because the newborn was the awfullest (The-ophilus) looking baby he’d ever seen. (Make a rimshot sound effect please.)
Here is what I discovered just a few weeks ago. The author of the Book of Acts wrote that his former letter (the Gospel of Luke) told of what Jesus began to do and teach. The Holy Spirit caused the word “began” to jump off of page 941 of my Bible. I have no idea where this word has been during all of my years of reading the Bible. I became so excited when the Holy Spirit used this verse to let me know that Jesus has never stopped what He began. His doing and teaching is continuing through Spirit-filled believers TODAY! This means that when you stand up to teach or preach, be it in an auditorium filled with adults or in a room of children or youth, through you Jesus is just picking up where He left off some 2000+ years ago and making it possible through you to accomplish TODAY the same supernatural results that we read about in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Isn’t this exciting? Because of the word “began”, our life and ministry should be overflowing with boldness, confidence, and expectation! This is shouting material, or, better yet, a cause for shouting and dancing. Now stop reading and start rejoicing!
