Jesus is the Commander-in-Chief of His church and His work. The following are some examples of how Jesus directs both His church and His work by His Spirit as the head of each:
- The Spirit of Jesus led Philip to join a chariot where a man was reading Scripture (Acts 8:29).
- Jesus appeared to Paul and called him into apostolic ministry (Acts 9:1–10).
- Jesus appeared to Ananias in a vision and instructed him to help Paul (Acts 9:11–16).
- The Spirit of Jesus spoke to Peter about three men who were looking for him (Acts 10:19).
- The Spirit of Jesus told Peter to go see Cornelius in Caesarea (Acts 11:12).
- The Spirit of Jesus showed Agabus the prophet that there would be a great drought coming to the world (Acts 11:28).
- The Spirit of Jesus instructed some men who were praying in Antioch to set apart Barnabas and Paul for the work (Acts 13:2).
- The Spirit of Jesus forbade Paul to preach the gospel in Asia (Acts 16:6).
- Jesus gave Paul a dream, directing him and his team to go into Macedonia (Acts 16:9–10).
- Jesus appeared to Paul in a vision and told him to speak boldly in the city of Corinth (Acts 18:9–10).
- The Spirit of Jesus witnessed to Paul in every city that he would be in chains and afflictions (Acts 20:23).
- The Spirit of Jesus spoke through Agabus the prophet about Paul’s future in Jerusalem (Acts 21:11).
- Jesus appeared to Paul while he was praying in the temple in Jerusalem and told him to leave the city (Acts 22:18–21).
- Jesus stood by Paul when he was on trial, encouraged him, and told him what was to come (Acts 23:11).
- Jesus said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9)
- Paul received direction, reassurance, and encouragement from Jesus (2 Tim. 4:16–17).
- The Spirit of Jesus called and sent out workers (Acts 13:1–3; Gal. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:17; 12:7–11; Eph. 4:7–16; 1 Tim. 1:12).
- Jesus worked with the members of His church, confirming their message with signs (Mark 16:20).
In the book of Acts, we find the phrase “get up and go” repeated several times. Jesus said it to Ananias in Acts 9:11. He said it to Peter again (Acts 10:20). Ananias went, and so did Peter. As head of the church, Jesus still says, “Get up and go” to His disciples today.
by Frank Viola, author