Peter's Second Sermon

In the last blog entry, we discussed the first sermon that Peter preached after Jesus had left them and gone back to heaven.  In that speech, Peter was asked by the Jewish people, who realized that they were guilty in having Jesus killed, "What shall we do?"  The apostle's answer was "Repent and be baptized....for the remission of sins." 

In this second sermon, given in Acts chapter 3, after healing a lame man, Peter says, "Men Israel, why do you marvel at this?  Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?"  He explains to them that it is by the power of God that Jesus triumphed over death, just as it was the power of God that healed this lame man. 

Using different words, but the same main thought, Peter proceeds to tell the people that they need to be converted:  "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord...."

In Acts 2, the apostles say, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;  and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

In Acts 3, Peter says, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."

 This isn't two differing instructions; it is just the same process being stated in two different ways.  This is a common way of teaching that is found in the New Testament.  Many times we must look at a number of passages to get the whole lesson about a subject. 

We see the term "repent" used in both of these passages.  Repent simply means to "change."  It isn't enough to say we are sorry, to confess.  The Lord expects us to change our behavior, to repent. 

And to be baptized is a part of the conversion process, as it says in Acts 2, to be baptized for the remission, or forgiveness, of sins.

Acts chapters 1-3 are wonderful reading.....and very enlightening. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Great Sermons

The greatest sermon of all time has to be the Sermon on the Mount as given by Jesus and recorded in Matthew chapters 5-7.  I won't focus on that at this time; for one reason, it is filled with so much teaching that I could never adequately cover that.

Perhaps the second greatest sermon is the first sermon that Peter gave, as recorded in Acts chapter 2.  This on stands out because it occurs just after Jesus has ascended into heaven and left the apostles to carry on without Him.  In this sermon, Peter, standing with the other apostles, explains to this large gathering of Jews in Jerusalem that they have just killed the Savior.  He explains to them that this was the very Savior, Messiah, that had been foretold about by their prophets of old, people like Joel and king David, people that they respected and revered.  And when the people realized what wrong they had done, they asked, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"  Peter said, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."  These people were sorrowful and needed to change their lives and to follow the teachings of Jesus, as explained by these apostles.

This gospel sermon should be studied by all who are seeking to find God, who need Jesus and His salvation.  It applies just as much to us today as it did to these Jews.

How one might rank the various sermons of the New Testament could be up for question.  But it is possible that the third most significant lesson follows in the next chapter of Acts, Acts 3.  I won't try to cover that in this lesson but will likely do so in a future blog entry.  This is an interesting lesson that would benefit any reader.

If a person wanted to do a little reading in the Bible, something that wouldn't take a lot of time but would be understandable and meaningful, it would be good to read the last chapter of Luke and the first 3 chapters of the book of Acts.  These chapters flow together, all having been written by the same man, Luke, and cover a major time in human history, as well as a critical time in the beginnings of Christianity.  This is powerful stuff!

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JESUS

The subject for this article is simply Jesus.  The point of it is to say that Jesus is what, or rather who, that matters.  The teaching about Jesus in the New Testament, and really throughout the whole Bible, is to tell us that it is Jesus that matters.  In this short treatise we will consider a few verses that stress His importance to our belief in God....and to our eternal life.  After all, we do want to live forever, and Jesus is the answer.
 
Jesus was talking to His closest friends, the apostles, as recorded in John 14:   " 'Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father's house are many mansions.  If it were not so I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also.  And where I go, you know, and the way you know.'  Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?'  Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.' "

This is a bold statement by our Lord.  It requires an emphasis on Jesus.  Let's look at what He said about Himself in Matthew 28:  "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."  We might ask who gave Him "all authority?"  The answer is the Father; no question.  And there is no question that Jesus has all authority everywhere, in heaven and on the earth. 

Then there is the famous, often quoted, verse in John 3:  "....whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Jesus is the only answer for salvation; there is no other way.  And He is the "Way" for all who are true followers.  Most of the world goes along living their lives with the assumption that there is a "better place" waiting for all of us.  The Bible simply does not teach that.  There is only a better place for those who have given their lives over to Jesus; not to "spirituality," not to "religion," not to the church.  The better place as told in the Bible, and by Jesus Himself, is waiting for those who are followers of Him.  This then, is our challenge.  We must commit our lives to Jesus. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great, God-filled week!

Jesus' Final Words in the Bible

I have always liked the beginnings and endings of a book.  The Bible begins and ends in a very powerful and dramatic way.  Today we look at the ending of the Bible, the end of Revelation. 

It is interesting that the Bible ends with the very words of Jesus.  And it must be noteworthy to consider the final words of any man; but that would be especially so of Jesus, the greatest man to ever live, the very Son of God. 

In Revelation 22, we hear these words of our Lord:  "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."

Then John writes:  "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city."

Shortly after, Jesus gives these final words:  "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches.  I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star."

The final message here is twofold:  1) He is coming quickly.  This seems odd since it has been 2000 years since He was on earth.  But His point seems to be that we should feel a sense of urgency in the way we live our lives.  2) When He comes back to get His own, He will bring His reward with Him.

The Lord certainly understands us humans; after all, He created us.  He knows that we perform best when there is a carrot at the end of the stick......thus, His promise of a reward.  This reminds me of the verse in Hebrews 11:6, "For without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."  Here we see that we must have belief in His existence, but must also recognize that He will reward us.

Jesus has made this promise to us, His followers, that He will come again to get us......and He will reward us for our diligence in seeking and following Him.  What a blessing!  Let's be sure that we are in that number, that we will have a right to the tree of life, and that we may enter through the gates into the wonderful city that Jesus has prepared for us.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Jesus Was/Is God

For sure, when Jesus was on earth, He was a man.  He lived as men live; was tempted as we are.  But He was God, too.  Before coming to the earth He was God, was with the Father, and had all of the attributes of God.  After He left the earth He returned to the same position with the Father in Heaven.

While Jesus was on the earth, He tried to teach His 12 apostles about His role, His place as man and God.  By His miracles and His teaching He demonstrated that He was in fact divine, the Son of God.  But His followers, while they heard this teaching, could not fully understand.  So when it came time for Him to leave and return to heaven, they showed their confusion. 

Note the teaching in John 14: " 'Let not your heart be troubled.  You believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father's house are many mansions.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am, you may be also.  And where I go you know, and the way you know.' Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going; and how can we know the way?'  Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes unto the Father except through Me.  If you had known Me, you would have known the Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.' "

It was so difficult for even these best of friends and followers to understand that Jesus was God, a reflection of the Father.  Jesus said that if they had seen Him, they had seen the Father.  But being there with Him as a man, they had trouble seeing Him as God. 

And perhaps it is difficult for us as well.  We haven't seen Him in the flesh.  But we have a lot of evidence.  Certainly there is much evidence for there being a God.  There just is no other way to logically explain creation of the world and the entire universe in its complexity and perfection without there being a creator.  And if there is a God...and there is....it is wonderful to realize that He has seen to it to give us the Bible, the Word of God, that we can learn about Him.  And with the Bible, we have the record of Jesus and all that He means to us....the significance of Him.

Truly, Jesus is God.  He lives.....in heaven....and in our hearts.  And He give us life, here and forever. 

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.

Practical Lessons

The Bible is full of practical lessons.  In fact, it is the most practical book ever written.  In this lesson we will look at just a small sample of Bible practicality.

Paul was writing to the Thessalonians in 2 Thes. 3, where he said, speaking of himself and his associates, "For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you....For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." 

This is a good lesson for us today.  And looking back at the teaching of Jesus, we see that He was a great example of kindness and generosity.  But we are not to support those who are not willing to work and use their own ability.

Then Paul's teaching continued:  "For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but busybodies.  Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread."

Thus we should not be disorderly, not busybodies.  In other words, we must learn to mind our own business....and tend to the things of our own, being responsible.  And he points out in Colossians 3, "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.  It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."

When we help someone, we do it not only in service to them, but we serve the Lord in that way.  In a sense, we are the hands of the Lord.  And we do it because we are in Christ; because we love the Lord.....and we remember His great gift:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

We all want to be saved, to enjoy all of the blessings that God has prepared for us.  Let's do our part in following Him....and serving Him.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Smart

I am a sailor.....a man of the sea.   Sailors watch the weather very carefully.  And this time of the year is especially interesting, watching the cold fronts come in every few days, sweeping in from the North. 

When the cold front arrives, it blows in with a cold North wind that shoots right through you.  But it is interesting that shortly after arrival, the wind shifts to the NE, then East, then SE, and South, , following a clockwise pattern that gets interrupted by the next cold front, starting the process all over again.

It is interesting, too, that this pattern is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.  There the cold fronts come from the South and the wind directions are totally reversed.  It is like a bathtub.  When water drains out of the tub in the Northern Hemisphere, it swirls in a clockwise direction, whereas it is exactly opposite in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Now I know this sounds like a science lesson, but the point is about to come.  This information was known thousands of years ago; it is not new to us.  There is an old saying:  "Red sky in morning, sailor take warning.  Red sky at night, sailor's delight."  This is exactly what Jesus was saying in Matthew 16.  He said there, speaking to the Jewish leaders that they could read a red sky and predict the weather, but they couldn't read the "signs of the times." 

The point there in Matt. 16 was that they were smart.....but not really when it comes to important matters.  And the fact is, our society is just like that.  We are an educated society.  We have our computers, tablets, smart phones.  People know Apple, and Google, but don't know the Bible!

People at large are missing the point when it comes to life.  Jesus offers us life....life forever.....life after this life.  But most people don't care about that.  Let us be sure that God's Word is predominant in our lives.  And we must realize that He has prepared a far better place for us, for those of us who follow Him.  As Hebrews 11:6 says, "for those who diligently seek Him."

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week.....and sign on as a follower if not already.