ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY

Acts 4: 8-13
The Peter filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Ruler and elders of the people,if we are on trial today of a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man had been made well,let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead-by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone which the builders rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone.
and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” 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. 

No one really strives to be ordinary. Let’s face it we all would love to be at the top of the game in every area of life. We strive for extraordinary by any means necessary. We scheme, climb, learn and plot to get to the top of the pack to be seen as “extraordinary”.

Yet in the word of God there seems to be a simple equation that gets us there! Verse 13 seems to be a “childlike” Godly way to have kingdom influence that is less exhaustive on our part. It completely comes from the overflow from the presence of God. The filling of the Holy Spirit to be bold or have confidence comes from “having been with Jesus”. This is where boldness comes from!  Time with Jesus creates boldness in the most uncomfortable of life’s moments. We see this mirrored in the life of Peter and John in this passage. 

Do we still have a pharisaical way of being Godly?
I think we do!
I think I do!

We still believe our attainment of knowledge or stature gets us authority or prestige in the kingdom.  Not so!  Knowledge is great but that’s not where the authority for the moment comes from!  This snapshot in history proves that!  This council was the highest court in the land. These men were schooled. They were the “buck stops here” fellas among the Jewish people and yet these “simpletons” had caught their eye.

Peter and John had just laid hands on a lame beggar and He was healed.These men should not have had confidence nor boldness to speak these things on behalf of Jesus much less heal this man. I’m sure this moment was jolting for this council of leadership.  


Peter and John are questioned as to where their power came from! Peter sets it straight. This power came from being with Jesus. When unwashed, unlearned and unqualified individuals who have been filled with the Holy Spirit come in contact with those who have only book knowledge but no presence, there is a stark difference. 

Sometimes we discount ourselves because of our own personal view  of who we are. We see only an unwashed, unlearned and unqualified individual. The qualifying comes from the nearness to Christ. I love how verse thirteen explains it. It is as if the lightbulb in their brain matter goes off.  It says, “they were amazed, and began to to recognize them a having been with Jesus.”  These simple men had authority to heal because they had been with Jesus. They healed in His name. This is the authority that heals! This is the authority we continue to operate in. 

HERE ARE A FEW TAKE AWAYS!

Don’t discount yourself because you see yourself as “ordinary”! 
Jesus shines through the ordinary. 


The unqualified become qualified when they have spent time with the Father. 


When you stand, others will recognize where your authority comes from. 



Jesus didn’t call the schooled. He called the willing. He called folks out of the “everyday mundane” to follow Him into the extraordinary. 

He is still doing that today my friend!  Now God uses the extraordinary in the mundane marketplaces of life! We get the pleasure of taking the overflow of our time with Him into our areas of influence and see lives changed. This is life changing for those around us if we spend time with Him and learn to be a conduit of truth. 

As a child of the King, there is nothing ordinary about us. He will call us to be bold and walk with confidence so those around us can see “that we have been with Jesus”! Don’t discount your version of “ordinary” in the hands of the King. 






Marni