Good morning from Liverpool, New York! Our reading for this Tuesday, November 18, 2014 is Acts 3:17-26 17 Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus. 21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people. 24 Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed. 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways. (NIV) Our reading is the second great sermon Like records for us that Peter preached to the crowd soon after Pentecost. We should be amazed by the dramatic change which occurred in Peter who in shame withdrew from fellowship with the other disciples because of his multiple denials of Christ at His arrest and trial. Even after discovering the empty tomb and seeing Jesus after His resurrection, still we read how Peter was plagued with remorse and lost confidence. We can take confidence from his example for we too can experience times of residual remorse and discouragement from our past even when we know Christ’s love for us is true. The loving heart does not forgive oneself easily and we are blessed to learn that even after these powerful messages following Pentecost, Peter struggled with acceptance and standing firm on the truth he knew necessitating Paul’s chastisement (Galatians 2. 11-21). When all is said and done we never reach the place of spiritual and emotional maturity we strive for in this life. We press on in obedience and faithfulness knowing that our hopes will be fully realized when Christ returns or when we go to Him upon death. Until them we press forward by using the grace and relying on the spiritual resources Christ has provided for our perfecting. We will still need to repent and find what Peter says are “times of refreshing” in our journey. But as often as we turn and trust in His love for us we are never disappointed. In this passage Peter speaks to a crowd after healing a beggar outside the temple who had been crippled by birth. While this experience should have confirmed Christ continuing trust in Peter despite his weaknesses and inconstancy it would have been better if he had been able to help this man without drawing attention to himself. Sometimes being invisible is a blessing, especially when you are outside the very temple area where Jesus angered the religious leaders and brought about the events of His demise. Yet, even here which should have been a more astounding place to gain courage to preach the gospel than at Pentecost, Peter mustered the courage to explain how Jesus’ death was God’s will so that faith in Him would provide a time of refreshing to any who would abandon themselves in trust to His promises. The time of refreshing as Peter called it was the peace, joy and hope Peter and others and still those of us who place our trust in Christ know in the present as well as when Christ returns (or we return to Christ in death). This refreshing come from the promise that the Lord would send Jesus to us. On one hand we may read this to mean that only after the fullness of opportunity has been given for humanity to embrace Christ will He return or refreshing will be known as we work and wait for His ultimate return. There is the promise of the Holy Spirit to comfort, guide and empower us that is the spiritual presence of Christ available to all who believe and trust. However, these times of refreshing can be interrupted by continuance of sin which shall lead us to experience a void which can only be filled through repentance. We also discover refreshment when we are able to stand up and be counted on for Christ when circumstance warrants and are used of Christ to extend knowledge and opportunity for receiving His grace. We often act or fail to act in ignorance but confession of our neglect can and will restore us to His graces if we are honest with ourselves, others and most important, with God. May you know this refreshment that comes through grace and may the refreshment you feel in this life only strengthen your longing for more of His love. Selah! Dr. Brian Homan
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 09:40:41 +0000
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