That they had been with Jesus...

Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

What I find so remarkable about this passage is that Jesus ascended some time ago… We don’t know the exact time-frame but they waiting ten days in Jerusalem until Pentecost, (2:46) “And they, continuing daily with on accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house...” (2:47) ...And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” So sometime Jesus had not been with them but these men marvelled, that they had been with Jesus.

Read: Acts 4:1-14.

1 Corinthians 2:16 “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

***Notice - This is present tense “have”. Some may argue that this is spiritual, and that we are being conformed to to think like Him… That is not what the Scriptures say… “WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST”!

We can understand that the mind is not a brain, but rather the way in which we think, or it could be described as the thoughts of a person. Every book that has been written is written from the aspect of what is in the mind of the author that is writing…

John 1:4 “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

Colossians 3:4 “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

John 5:39–40 “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”

Jesus did not say to search the scriptures for knowledge of Him, He did not offer wealth and glory, He did not offer the removal of pain. He said “ come to me, that ye might have life.” Where would one begin the journey after Christ? “Search the scriptures”

1 John 5:12 “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

This verse has 19 words, they are all one syllable and none of them archaic…

You can take dead trees; make paper, mark it up with dead pigment called ink, then wrap it in a bunch of dead cow skins, and you can arrange those dead elements and way you would like and do you know what you have produced? A dead book...

But you take the words of the Bible and all of a sudden, it comes to life…

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

1 Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

The Bible speaks in the place of God.

Romans 9:17 “For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.”

Would we agree that if we went back and read Exodus that it was Moses and Aaron who spoke to Pharoah, yet Paul tells us it was the Scriptures!

The Bible carries the Attributes of God.

Galatians 3:8 “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

There was no written Scripture when God blessed Abraham in Genesis 12, yet the Scripture preached with foreknowledge!

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is… a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

When we open and read our Bible, it is also a time where the Bible reads us… The Bible hundreds of times tells us how people think, yet no one could know what someone is thinking outside of the person thinking it and God. God uses someone else to tell us how someone else is thinking and it is 100% correct 100% of the time! The Bible reads our heart and mind!

The Bible has a dual nature …

Skeptics say man wrote the Bible...

Scholars say, God wrote the originals and left men to mess it up.

I say, God wrote His word and used sinful men to do it through the process of inspiration!

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

John 6:35 “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Exodus 34:29–33“And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.”

1 Corinthians 2:3–4 “And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:”

Do you know the only way in which people will recognize that we have been with Jesus? It’s being with Jesus! Where is He found? In His word!