by David Brenneman
"Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls." Acts 2:37-41.
"But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:8-13.
Was reading earlier of just how prolific our propensity is to categorize our lives...in the spirit sense. We can make it a point to go to Church on a Sunday, but soon afterwards act like we weren't even there. We have our me time. We have our work time. We have this to do, that to do.
Then I was reading about the first group of converts in the book of Acts. These learned early on about a LIFE in Christ not an hour here and there.
The writer of that commentary on life segregation was pointing out that no matter where we go, where we are, Jesus is there. Our time of worship doesn't, or at least shouldn't, have a beginning and an end.
A life that really is a saved life should be more aware of the spiritual implications of their physical decisions than the world in which they live.
The Apostle Paul wrote of being sure of your salvation in Christ Jesus. For some who may be reading this this is an eternity deciding moment for you.
Jesus made mention of how a person ought to come to Christ with childlike faith.
This commentary made mention of how our CEO is Christ, no matter what the job is. Be it at home or our physical place of employment.
He mentioned as well that worship is a never ending time as long as we are awake.
What about you? Are you sure of your salvation?
Are you one of those who puts Jesus in a time block and really don't want Him in other aspects of your life? Is He getting in the way of your 'fun'? Is He threatening to disrupt your plans for yourself?
Have you been treating Jesus as AAA, only calling on Him when your plans go awry? Has He really become your butler?
These people were cut to the heart by Peter’s words. Repentance was what came next. The Word of God got through to them. In reading the various introductions in my 4 Study Bibles last night on the book of Romans, I hadn't realized that this particular Church, a Gentile church, wasn't one of Paul's. It's highly likely that it began in Rome by people obedient to God's Word from this very encounter we read about.
We don't know the plans that God has prepared for those of us who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
We can't know until we really have Him as Lord over all of our lives.
We can't keep other things before Jesus.
Nothing, from house cleaning to the CEO of a company, is more important than a real right relationship with Jesus.
We come to Christ for salvation, we come to have our heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh. We come to Christ to have Him have His way in our lives. Not for us to tell Him what we want Him to go do for us. While we are to pray without ceasing, those prayers should be in accordance with the will of God for us and those He brings to our lives.
The will of God for all is our sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 4:3a. "For this is the will of God, your sanctification;".
The very definition of sanctified is to be set apart. To be sanctified in Christ is to be set apart for whatever Christ has in mind for you to be doing. Set apart for holiness in Christ Jesus. To be holy as He is holy.
When you really look objectively at your life right here right now...would Jesus approve of how much He is being allowed to be in yours?
Time to really check yourself in your relationship with Jesus to make sure you are in a relationship with Jesus.
All New American Standard Bible Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. A corporation not for profit.
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