Hosanna Restoration Church

This is the scripture that God used to challenge me to increase my understanding of the grace of the Lord. What were they saying that produced miracles and amazed the people? It was obviously more than a message about unmerited favor!

As I continued to ponder this subject, I thanked God for the wonders of the concordance. It allowed me to readily find every reference to grace in the bible. I discovered that most of the references to grace spoke of special favor and blessing. In the Old Testament, it was usually the special power of God working in or on the behalf of someone. I also found that it was after the book of Acts that understanding of grace really started to open up.

It seems as though Paul had the first real understanding of it. As he elaborated on it, Peter and others picked it up. Here in Acts, the Apostles must have caught an anointing to begin to boldly declare all that was there for whoever would believe it, and God was quick to amen the message.

We really do not know what all they said, we only know that they spent a long time boldly talking about God’s grace. They must have explained how God had everything they could ever need. More than likely, someone challenged them to prove it and so they met the challenge by calling for God’s special favor and blessing on behalf of the challenger.

We can well imagine that once the ice was broken and the people had witnessed a little proof, the doors flew open. Can’t you just see someone calling out, “Well maybe God can do that, but can He do this?”

It thrills me to think of the Apostles shouting back, “Of course God can do that, He can do anything. All you need to do is call and His special favor is yours as well.” Some may think that is a bit far fetched, but that would be what I would expect if someone is talking boldly about the grace of the Lord.

When prize fighters hold a news conference, you will hear some people talking boldly about what they can do. Some of them can back up their words and some can’t. The point is they are talking boldly. So when I imagine the Apostles speaking boldly, that is what I see. And the word of God attests to the fact that God liked it. It seems to me that we should all speak boldly of what God can do. He is not just a saving God! He is an everything God. Give Him something to confirm!