I have been reading for days on the Baptist blogs and I know some of you come here for the message I share from everyday life and the Bible. I have to confess I’m not a theologian. I love to read and studying the lofty ideas presented by our rich faith. I’m amazed by how deep you can explore the riches of scriptures. But I often wonder if we haven’t lost the main point…what matters. In Acts 4 Peter and John are brought before the elders and the teachers of the law. The high priest was there along with all the “big” guns, the who’s who…they asked Peter and John “By what power or what name did you do this?” (They had been used to heal a lame beggar at the temple)
Peter filled with the Holy Spirit…”it is by the of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is
The stone you builders rejected,
Which has become the cornerstone.
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved…
When the they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:10-13 (TNIV)
Did you catch the last line…these men had been with Jesus. There was something about Peter and John, they had the look of the master. They had walked close with Jesus everyday…filled with the Holy Spirit they we starting to act and sound like Jesus. The religious leaders were astonished, not by their theological expertise or of their Biblical exegesis of passages supporting the healing of a lame beggar. They were astonished by the courage…the courage of knowing and proclaiming the risen Jesus.
We can have the same courage about Jesus…in fact I bet if you were to think about all the times you knew God intervened in your life…you would start to realize how He has been walking with you for a long time. In fact He had you in mind when He created the entire universe. I know “such thoughts are too lofty for me to understand” lamented the Psalmist. Paul prayed for the Ephesians church this way…
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 4:16-19
Peter and John were rooted and established in Christ…it gave them boldness and confidence—knowing the love that surpasses knowledge, allowed them to boldly proclaim Jesus Christ. We need to do the same…because it is what matters, because:
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved…
-ps
Are you reading your Bibles?
No comments:
Post a Comment