“Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13 NASB1995)

Do you get the beauty of what just this one verse is teaching us? This is one of my favorites! What this is saying is that how we live, and what we do, and what we say speaks volumes about who we are and whether or not our walk of faith in the Lord Jesus is the real thing or not, or whether we are living the kind of life Jesus died on that cross to provide for us, or not. Peter and John gave evidence that they had been with Jesus because it came out in the things that they did and said. And it should be the same with us.

Now this is NOT saying that we will be without error, that we will never make mistakes, that we will get everything right all the time, and that all our words will always be perfect in every respect. We who are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ are still clay in the hands of the Potter (God) being molded into the likeness of Christ, if our lives are surrendered to the Lord to doing his will, and if we are cooperating with God in his work of grace in our lives in changing us to be more like Jesus. But we are still works in progress.

BUT this reality should never be used as an excuse to excuse away willful, defiant, deliberate, and habitual sinful practices. For our God called us to holiness. And Jesus gave his life up for us on that cross to deliver us out of our slavery to sin, not to give us permission to keep living in sin without guilt. We who believe in Jesus, thus, should daily be putting sin to death, by the Spirit, saying “NO!” to sin and “YES!” to God and to his commands. And we should be walking in the ways of the Lord in the power of God within us.

But what this one verse also says is that God can work miracles in our lives in making us the people of God he wants us to be in supernatural ways to where we are able to do and to speak beyond our natural abilities. The Lord has definitely done that in my life. There is no way that I could have done and written and posted the kinds of things he has given me to write and to put on the internet if this wasn’t coming from the Lord, empowered by the Spirit, and directed by God. Before nearly 22 years ago, this was not me.

And one last observation here is that what this also says is that, if we have truly been with Jesus, and it is showing through the things that we do and say, and in our character, and if we are fulfilling the command of God to take the message of the gospel to the people of the world, we will be hated. We will be persecuted. We will be opposed. And we will be falsely accused of what we did not do. Lies will be spread about us. People will misconstrue our words. And we will be rejected, cast aside, and unwanted by many.

And considering the times in which we are now living, I believe Christian persecution will be on the rise in my nation (the USA), but not so much for those who merely profess his name, but for those like Peter and John who gave evidence that they had been with Jesus in the things that they did and said, and in their character. For they stood strong on the truth of the gospel and would not give into the intimidation of the people in authority who tried to stop them from speaking in the name of Jesus. They answered them,

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20 NASB1995)

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18]

Should I Not Preach Jesus

Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13
An Original Work / July 4, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.
I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.
I make myself a slave to ev’ryone
To win their hearts to Christ.
All this I do for my Lord Jesus,
And for the sake of His Name;
Do it for the sake of His gospel,
So that I, its blessings gain.

Scripture notates the sins of others;
Written down for us as examples
To keep us from setting our hearts
On evil as did those of old.
Do not worship other gods of man;
Do not give your hearts to them;
Not partake in immorality.
Do not test your Lord and King.

So, be careful if you think you are
Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.
God has given his word to warn us,
So through faith we will not fall.
No temptation has o’ertaken you
Except what is commonplace.
God is faithful to not let you be
Tempted past what you can bear.
He gives the way of escape.

They Recognized Them as Having Been with Jesus
An Original Work / March 15, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love