Morning Message Text: Acts 2: 14a, 36-41
Peter Addresses the Crowd
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “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 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Morning Message:
Lately, I have been very influenced by the Psalms. I have been reading them for years, but lately, God seems to be speaking to me through them. Maybe it’s just a part of aging and seeing a little more clearly the blessings that God has bestowed upon me. Extolling and praising God, glorifying him is not as simple as it might seem because you must feel it. Yes, you can say the words, that’s easy enough, but when you really feel those things, God’s word lights up in your heart. I realize, and I hope, that today maybe you will start to realize that these are not just words, but they are a history of what God has done in each of our lives. When I hear the words, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears”, I know that they are true. When I read, “Taste and see that the Lord is good”, I know that I have experienced his goodness in my life. If you belong to Jesus, you have experienced and tasted God’s goodness as well, but maybe that has not fully registered in your hearts yet. Take some time to think about all that the Lord has done in your life.
“I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.” Now maybe you have lived a life that has been so blessed and perfect that you have never come to the point where you had to cry out for God’s mercy. Maybe you have never been overcome by distress and sorrow, but I know this, if you belong to Jesus, something happened in your life that caused you to ask him to save you. You need to think about all of that for yourselves. What I want to focus on today is our response to all that God has done in our lives. Psalm 116: 12 through 14; “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people”. We need to stop and talk about these things for a minute. (I apologize to those of you who are not here today, I can’t possibly write all that I must say here.)
What is repentance? In simple terms it is saying to God, I’m sorry for what I have been, and I turn from that way of living and vow to live for Jesus. But then, oh yes, there is a but. Peter stands before all of those who crucified Jesus and boldly says to them: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this; God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” So, what does this mean to us? We didn’t crucify Jesus, did we? Yes, we did. He died for the sins of each and every one of us. We may not have driven the nails into his hands and feet, but make no mistake about it, we all share the responsibility of him being there. “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” And there it is: the rest of repentance. I have repented now what? Be baptized. I will assume that everyone here is baptized, if not, we need to talk about that.
Do you know what I never hear anymore in the church? I have seen people come forward to be renewed in the faith. I have witnessed people coming to Jesus and giving their lives to him. I have seen people broken by the sins that they have committed and come to confess their sins and turn back to God, but what’s missing is the follow through, those four little words, that make all of the difference for the church and for the health of our spiritual walk with Jesus. What shall we do? Do you have any idea what music those words would be to the ears of pastors? I can only imagine what it would be like for members of the congregation to come to me and say, “I want to know what I can do to live my faith.” To say, “I know that something is missing, and I want to commit myself to Jesus.” To come and ask, to care enough, to be moved enough, to feel the Holy Spirit move so much in their souls to come to me and say, “What shall we do?” After being revived from passing out, I would be so happy to do what God has called me to do. Instruct you, disciple you. You know as a pastor I have found that I only get to do part of what Jesus has called me to do in the great commission. I get to baptize, but that is incomplete, unless I make disciples and have the opportunity to teach believers to obey everything that Jesus has commanded. Think about what the Great Commission says and ask yourselves, have you ever uttered those four little words to me or any other pastor? What shall we do?
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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