Eig Blog

Last time we learned how God used Peter and John to bring healing and salvation to a man lame from birth.  One result is the opportunity it provided for the apostles to share the gospel.  This applies to us as believers who are also sent by the Lord, as missionaries. When we live on mission, God will give us opportunities to present the message of salvation in Christ. We have to know it so we can present it. Here we learn from Peter.

In today’s passage we look at how God uses Peter and John on one (of many) impossible missions. And although we see that it has a physical miraculous element, the most miraculous element is the spiritual transformation that it brings to the people involved.

We are to be on mission with God every day. That’s where it all begins. Moreover, if we are available, He will give us His mission each day. Only when each of us live as agents or ambassadors of Christ we will we achieve this goal.

In this passage we find the birth of God’s new community, the church. God’s community is distinctive and unique. It has distinctive God-given characteristics that are evident. Identifying and understanding them will help us be the community of God we are intended to be.

Peter through this sermon or preaching, will explain to the audience (many Diaspora Jews who had come for the special celebration, some to stay permanently in Jerusalem, some temporary) what is happening. God is doing this for a purpose. He will explain that this is a new beginning for Israel. From now on, the Holy Spirit will permanently reside within God’s people. This is possible because the Lord Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead, and this is why “God has made him Lord and Christ.” They must believe in Him as the Messiah and repent of their sins. In this way they will be part of this prophecy and be part of the assembly or Church that begins here and will bear witness to the world.

In this passage we learn about the fulfilled promise that the Father promised to send, the coming of the Holy Spirit. We have the same Spirit of God in us. Often, we quench the Spirit, dulling it with our disobedient lives. We need to let Him fill us up so He can use us. It is my prayer that we will be part of and continue what the Holy Spirit began to do here. We are His church.Promised Fulfilled – Acts 2:1-11

God’s promises are reliable. There are approximately 5,467 promises in the Bible. God’s promises are irrevocable because he is a God who does not lie (Numbers 23:11) that does not change, (Ps. 110: 4) and that has all the power to fulfill them (Isaiah 55:11). He is worthy of all our trust. We see it in this passage where Jesus’ followers wait for the promise of the Spirit who would come to live in them.

This passage teaches us how God’s people trusted with anticipation for the Lord’s promise, their dedication to prayer, and their pursuit of God’s will as they waited as they waited for the fulfillment. We should also be in anticipation of God’s promises and do so in constant prayer and be committed to pursuing his will.

A group of 120 people, most of them without much education or social status. Followers of Christ, many of them saw and heard the Lord Jesus Christ. This group of people formed the first “assembly” or church of Christ. These were called to carry the message of the Good News to the whole world. And they did. At least we know that the twelve apostles all carried Christ’s message to the whole world. The last of them to go was one named St. Paul. He planted at least 14 new churches over a 10-year period, traveling more than 3,000 miles (a lot on foot). But this Church has not disappeared. That Church is us. The message they preached came to us. Now we are in charge of taking this message to the whole world. Of the 7.2 billion people in the world, there are 3.0 billion who have not heard the message of salvation in Christ. This is our challenge.

Many people have resolutions. Maybe you do. Many years ago, I started teaching about spiritual goals based on a well-known passage in Scripture. These are worth our time and effort the whole year.   St. Paul in Philippians gives us five of them. These goals are not temporary, they are goals for the entire duration of our lives.

Christmas Eve service. Sermon, “Keeping Christmas Well”.

There was a young woman of approximately 14 or 15 years old not very well educated (apart from the Scripture she had memorized), poor and from a town no one cared since it was a place where those who were of mixed races. She really had not “bright” future or possibilities for advancement. Her only future, as it is in many countries where women are not valued, was to get married, be a mother and raise children. If everything went well, if all her children would survive. She was engaged to a young man named Joseph of Arimathea who was a carpenter. The age at which they could marry was 12 years and older. Today, a teenager cannot get married until she is 18. And although this young woman was not likely from a good status, from the moment she gets heavenly news from the angel Gabriel, her life changed radically. If she had any honor, it disappeared after this incident. She would never be looked upon by her contemporaries as a pure woman (of course, this wouldn’t be a problem in our times). This period of “betrothal” lasted from a month to a year. It was a time of waiting and preparation, but they considered themselves married. The sexual purity of women was expected (not so today). In case she found out that she was not a virgin, she could be stoned according to the Law. The man also had the right not to officially accept her as a wife.

But Mary was chosen and blessed by God by taking part in the most significant event in humanity, God the Son becoming human. God the Son decides to be human, and it all begins in the womb of this young woman named Mary. She would be “Christokos” carry Christ in her womb.

Today we will answer three important questions about her.