30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
02 Acts 14 08-20 THE MINISTRY AT LYSTRA 27 Acts 14 15-17 Image of Jesus
📖 Acts 14:08-20
27 – Mon, 17 Nov 2025 – *Image of Jesus*- _Acts 14:08-20_ – THE MINISTRY AT LYSTRA – _Ephesians 04:13_
_Acts 14:15-17 and saying, "*Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you*, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, (16) who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. (17) Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."_
In saying, _”we too are of the same nature as you”_, Barnabas and Paul were leading the crowd to Jesus, who is God.
We will look at how Jesus, though fully man, is also the full expression of God in the world. _John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. *The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him*._
Jesus was the Word who was in the beginning with the Father. _John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made._
This Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. _John 1:14 And *the Word became 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._
Jesus gave us the affirmation of His identity. _John 14:9-11 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? *He who has seen Me has seen the Father*; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (10) Do you not believe that *I am in the Father, and the Father in Me*? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. (11) *Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me*, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves._
Jesus is the precise imprint of God’s essence. _Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,_
*We, as His disciples, are mandated to grow into the image of Jesus.*
When we come to Christ, we are a new creation. _II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new._
What is this newness?
Man’s primary problem is the flesh or the self. *This old nature that we acquired from Adam has passed away in Christ. This is the truth, which must be appropriated daily into our experience.*
Paul says that he dies daily to Himself. _I Corinthians 15:31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, *I die daily*._ / _II Corinthians 4:10 *always* carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body._
He explains this experience beautifully. _Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me._
Paul also says, _II Timothy 2:11 This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him._
As we go through this experience of dying daily with Christ, the image of Christ is manifested in us. _Colossians 3:10 and *have put on the new man* who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,_
This work of dying with Christ and rising with Christ (transformed to the image of Christ) is the work of the Holy Spirit. _II Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, *are being transformed into the same image* from glory to glory, just as *by the Spirit of the Lord*._
This phenomenal work of the Holy Spirit is the life of Christ that shines through our mortal or weak flesh. _Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead *will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you*._
Through this and other promises, we partake of His divine nature. _II Peter 1:4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be *partakers of the divine nature*, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust._
We aim to grow into Christ. _Colossians 1:28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, *that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus*._
This is also the goal of the church. _Ephesians 4:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, *to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ*;_