Ordained by God

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. Acts 4:13

When Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, it was a source of complete amazement that ordinary fishermen would be so well-versed in Scripture and, more importantly, in their understanding of it. They appeared to be better equipped than the rabbis—the professionals.

So where did this come from? Acts 4:13 tells us these leaders "realized that they had been with Jesus." As another translation puts it, "The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus" (NLT).

This did not mean that Peter and John were illiterate. Rather, it meant that they were untrained as rabbis. They had not gone to the local rabbinical schools or learned the languages or spent their lives in the study of Scripture.

May God deliver us from the so-called professionals—people ordained by men, but not by God. May God deliver us from preachers who don't preach and from ministers who feel it is their place in life to lecture us on religiosity or politics or philosophy or psychology. People want to hear the Word of God. And if someone will take the time to explain it, then I think they will discover a ready audience.

Maybe God has not called you to be a pastor or missionary. But 2 Chronicles 16:9 says that God is looking to show himself strong on behalf of men and women whose hearts are loyal to Him. God is looking more for availability than for ability. Will you make yourself available to Him?

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