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Tag: peter

  • The Gospel: Preached by Peter

    The Gospel: Preached by Peter

    “Listen carefully, all of you…

    Acts 2:

    Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost

    14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. [That is, 9 a.m.]

    16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

    The Spirit echos God’s voice through the Prophet Joel.

    IF God speaks to us through the Prophets of the Old Testament, do we then seek to understand how God warns us even now of the refinement to come?

    Peter spoke to these men of Judea of what is written in the Prophets centuries earlier. By the Spirit, Peter then preaches the Gospel: Jesus IS the fulfillment of scripture. He IS the Messiah of God!

    “LISTEN,” Peter instructs. This moment in the spectrum of God’s eternal time is important to your eternal soul. You know the scripture… (Do you?) … here is how God the Father used Jesus the Son as the Sacrifice for our sins.

    22 “Men of Israel, hear these words:

    Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

    24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

    Peter is saying through the Spirit, ‘YOU crucified the Very Son of God!’ Yet even though you did, it was God’s plan. AND God raised Jesus from death!

    IMPOSSIBLE; yet NOT for GOD.The SON of GOD cannot be held even by death.

    Peter then continues by the Spirit to point to the proof of Scripture, referring to David from a Kingdom a thousand years earlier.

    29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

    32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

    33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

    THINK about this, Peter instructs. David predicted this of Jesus, his descendant.

    34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

    “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
    “Sit at my right hand,
    35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

    Jesus frequently referred to himself as, ‘Son of Man;’ literally meaning a ‘son of Adam.’ Jesus, through the womb of Mary (God incarnate) was a son of man, just like me… just like you.

    Jews (like us, so often overlooking our sin and remembering only the heritage of our forefathers) often referred to themselves as: Sons of Abraham, or Sons of Moses, or Sons of David.

    Many of us are proud of our heritage of birthright.  We hide our heritage that SIN came into this world as Sons of Adam.

    Jesus came into the world so that we might have a new heritage to a sinless second Adam.

    Remember: ‘Israel is God’s new name for Jacob. Remember: ‘Judah’ is a son of Jacob (not just the place of Jerusalem). Peter speaks to these CHOSEN men as chosen followers of the Living God. Peter preaches why WE, chosen by God, must bow down to Christ Jesus, the ONE risen from death by God the Father.

    36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

    37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

    What will YOU DO, to make Jesus your Lord?

    (It is not enough just to say so, while you continue to live in the ways of the wickedness of the world.)

    38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

    40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

    41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

     We are sorry that Jesus had to go to the Cross for our sins. What must we do?

    “Repent and be baptized…”

    Repent: to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins

    Baptized:  the act of baptizing produces a permanent change…

    Have you truly repented of your daily sin?

    Have you been ‘permanently changed’ in the name of Jesus Christ?

    What must you do?

     

     

  • After the Resurrection

    After the Resurrection

    John 21:14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

    My purpose here is not to convince you of proof of the resurrection, but to convict you with the command of our our risen Lord.

    Mark 16:15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

    16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned…”

    We would do well to study all of the Gospel and what Christ Jesus, our Lord, has commanded His servants, those saved by the Blood of the Cross and sent into all the world as witness of God’s compassionate love for sinners like us.

    Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

    13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

    Dr. Luke, historian recording his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles from the first hand testimonies of Peter and the Apostles probably records this with the most details:

    Luke 24: 

    Jesus Appears to His Disciples

    36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”

    37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

    38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

    40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.

    44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

    Here is a lesson in Scripture from our risen Lord I would have liked to have heard.

    Trust that Luke and the other scribes of the Gospel have accurately recorded much of this as part of what we have read from the life of Jesus Christ prior to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

    45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

    48 You are witnesses of these things.

    One witness betrayed, then hung himself. Condemned to Hell, Judas was not present for these commands.

    One witness to the dark night of Jesus’ trial did not flee, but remained near enough to have denied Jesus as His lord three times. John is witness of Jesus forgiving Peter, before sending Peter to follow in His way to the Cross.

    thomasOne witness had to place his hand in the wounds of the resurrected body of Jesus.

    But we would not have been any less skeptical than Thomas, who was also later martyred for His witness of these things.

     

    Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

    And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

  • Blessed be God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

    Blessed be God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

    PRAISE & WORSHIP GOD! (as faithful worshipers have blessed God and been blessed by God for generations…)

    • Genesis 1:21 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
    • Genesis 5:2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
    • Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
    • Genesis 14:19-20 And he [Melchizedek] blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
    • Exodus 18:10  Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
    • Exodus 39:43 (after the building of the Tabernacle for worship of the LORD) And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the LORD had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.
    • Leviticus 9:22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings.
    • Deuteronomy 12:7-9 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.
    • 2 Samuel 6:18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.
    • 2 Chronicles 2:12 Hiram also said, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal palace for himself.
    • 2 Chronicles 30:25-27  The whole assembly of Judah, and the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel, and the sojourners who lived in Judah, rejoiced. So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven.
    • Nehemiah 8:6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

    Psalm 34:8

    Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

    Matthew 21:9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

    Worship the Lord your God!

    2 Corinthians 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Greeting

    1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

    To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

    2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    God of All Comfort

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

    1 Peter 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Greeting

    1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

    To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

    May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

    Born Again to a Living Hope

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

    Ephesians 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Greeting

    1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

    To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

    2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Spiritual Blessings in Christ

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[c] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

    11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

    Thanksgiving and Prayer

    15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

     A doxology (from the Greek δόξα [doxa] “glory” + -λογία [-logia], “saying”) is a short hymn of praises to God in various Christian worship services.

    Doxology – worship video & music of David Crowder