Tag Archive | Peter

Acts 2 – The promise fulfilled….

Sep8

Good afternoon y’all. Today we continue our study of Acts. We are in chapter 2.

I found out some interesting facts about the celebration of Pentecost. I’ve always thought Pentecost was a celebration that only started on the day the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. It never occurred to me that it was an existing celebration. Here is what I found about Pentecost and the significance of the Holy Spirit coming on that day. The extract below is from David Guzik commentary-

“The Day of Pentecost: This was a Jewish feast held 50 days after Passover. It celebrated the firstfruits of the wheat harvest.
i. In the Jewish rituals of that time, the first sheaf reaped from the barley harvest was presented to God at Passover. But at Pentecost, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest were presented to God; therefore, Pentecost is called the day of the firstfruits(Numbers 28:26).
ii. Jewish tradition also taught that Pentecost marked the day when the Law was given to Israel. The Jews sometimes called Pentecost shimchath torah, or Joy of the Law.
iii. On the Old Testament Day of Pentecost Israel received the Law; on the New Testament Day of Pentecost the Church received the Spirit of Grace in fullness”.

Below are a few points I picked out from today’s chapter.

Be blessed 🙂

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– The disciples were in one accord before the Holy Spirit came. They were united in mind, faith and purpose waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit. David Guzik in his commentary for Acts 2 said “Before we can be filled, we must recognize our emptiness; by gathering together for prayer, in obedience, these disciples did just that. They recognized they did not have the resources in themselves to do what they could do or should do; they had to instead rely on the work of God”

–  “And suddenly there came a sound….” (V2)  – The sound came suddenly. It wasn’t planned or expected. I’ve come to realize that most times, God tends to move in a suddenly manner when He is ready to do something new. This is why we have to be alert, ready, and well positioned so we are not caught off guard. The disciples were in one accord waiting for the promise when suddenly the fulfillment of the promise came to pass. Had they been sleeping or gone back to fishing, they might have missed their suddenly moment. I pray we don’t miss our suddenly moment; and that we will be found at our duty post doing what God has called us to do.

– “There appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire,…”(V3) – I tried to understand the significance of the fire then I remembered in the old testament God talks about fire being used to purify: like a refiner’s fire purifying gold. It removes all impurities till only pure gold is left. So the fire represent the Holy Spirit’s purifying work in our lives. David Guzik commentary explains this well for me. It says:

“The idea behind the picture of fire is usually purification, as a refiner uses fire to make pure gold; or fire can burn away what is temporary, leaving only what will last. This is an excellent illustration of the principle that the filling of the Holy Spirit is not just for abstract power, but for purity. In certain places in the Old Testament, God showed His special pleasure with a sacrifice by lighting the fire for it Himself – that is, fire from heaven came down and consumed the sacrifice. The experience of the followers of Jesus on Pentecost is another example of God sending fire from heaven to show His pleasure and power, but this time, it descended upon living sacrifices(Romans 12:1)”.

– Peter the timid one, who denied Jesus earlier all of a sudden became bold and stood up to defend the gospel. It just goes to show that when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, He empowers you to do that which naturally, you cannot do of your own might. Peter was terrified when he was associated with Jesus during the crucifixion, now in front of the same set of Jews, he was bold to declare the gospel of Jesus. I pray that the Holy spirit will fill us with power and help us be witnesses for Jesus wherever we find ourselves.

– Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (v21). There is power in the name of our Lord. The name is available to all. Not just the Jews but now has been extended to the gentiles. The name has authority and power to deliver and to save from all forms of destruction. I’m reminded of proverbs 18:10, which says, “the Name of the LORD is a strong tower. The righteous runs into it and they are saved“. Are you in need of salvation or deliverance? Why not call on the name of the Lord today and be saved.

– The gift of the Holy Spirit is available to all but you can’t receive it if you are still living in sin. Peter, in verse 38 -40, told the crowd they had to repent of their sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus. Repentance is not just a case of saying I’m sorry. It’s a complete 180 degree turnaround from an old way of life to a new one. You have to turn away from your life of sin to a life of obedience to Jesus.
Charles Spurgeon says: “The old-fashioned grace of repentance is not to be dispensed with; there must be sorrow for sin; there must be a broken and a contrite heart. This, God will not despise; but a conversion which does not produce this result, God will not accept as genuine”.
When you turn to God in genuine repentance, He will forgive and save you. What are you waiting for? Why not give Jesus a try today and you too can experience this gift of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit which you have bestowed upon us. This day we ask for fresh outpouring of your Spirit to renew and revive us. Give us boldness to be witnesses for You wherever we find ourselves, in Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

Thanks for joining today. Pls feel free to share your thots on the chapter.

I’m blogging through the book of Acts a chapter a day with Good Morning Girls. Check us out at www.goodmorninggirls.org

Have a blessed day 🙂

Link to David Guzik commentary on Acts chapter 2 can be found here

***With God all things are possible***

1 Peter Chapter 2

Sep11

Today we continue in our study of 1 Peter.  We are now on chapter 2. There is sooooooo much to learn from this chapter regards how to conduct our selves now that we have established the fact in chapter 1 that we are Chosen by God and we have faith and trust in him because of the price Jesus paid for us.

I am going to take a different approach at summarising this chapter. I’m not going to use the SOAP method rather I will comment on the key verses that stand out.

Here we go 🙂
V 1-3
We start this chapter with Peter telling us to get rid of certain behaviours in our lives which do not agree with the life God has called us to – Holiness.
We need to get rid of: Evil behaviour, Deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy and unkind speech.

It’s evident here that God desires for us to mature into all that he has for us. We can’t remain at the same level we were when we 1st became born again Christians.

Also from the verses above, it evident that there is a DOING on our part that is required. Just because you are now saved doesn’t mean your mind and body is saved and all of a sudden the behaviours and attributes you were exhibiting prior to being saved are now gone instantly. No!!!! You have to consciously work on renewing ur mind… basically  retraining urself to do things differently. Im sure you are thinking but 1 cor5:17 tells us that if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things have passed away and all things are new…Yes that scripture is true…God has taking away everything that you were and that you did prior to dat point away and has given you a new life…basically a clean slate. Your spirit man instantly made brand new but your mind and flesh are still being transformed. Romans 12:2 tells us we need to renew our minds daily.  It’s a continual DOING on our part. Bad news is we can’t do it on our own..Good news is God knew that so he gave us the Holy Spirit to help us 🙂

V 4-8
We are stones that God is using to build his temple. As a builder if a stone is not fit for purpose, it will be discarded and not used as that would cause structural damage to d building.
Today, consider are you a Stone fit for purpose to be used by God? Rem he has already Chosen us, we just need to yeild to him and let him work through us

V9-10
Again CHOSEN!!!! (@ dis stage I’m dancing…excited I’m chosen!!! 🙂 ) wow what a privilege and honor to be chosen by the one who spoke and everything came into being!

Father I pray you won’t regret choosing us to be ur people. I pray our lives will forever honor you and we will always make you proud. In Jesus Name.

We have be chosen to live holy. I did a quick check on the definition of holy…Google told me holy means to be dedicated or consecrated to God. So I also checked what it means to be dedicated and google told me it’s to be devoted to a task or purpose, to be exclusively allocated to or intended for a particular purpose. So I concluded that to be holy means to be devoted to God, exclusively allocated to Him for a particular purpose. In this case the purpose as we see in verse 9 is for us to be Instruments to do his work, to speak out for him, to tell others of the new life he has given us- how he changed us from nothing to something from being rejected to accepted…whoop! whoop! (As u can tell I’m excited 🙂 )

V 11 -12
This world is not our home. We are sojourners. We shouldn’t get too comfortable that we forget what God has called us to do and our goal which is to make heaven and reign with God eternally

V13-17
We need to live an exemplary life. Through our lives people should see Jesus. We need to obey authorities and laws of the land we live in. We can’t use our freedom as Christians to break the laws of the land. No!!!! That’s now what God requires.

Something to consider: How do people perceive us….can they tell we are one of God’s chosen People by our conduct and words we say.
I have to Confess I struggle in this area especially at work. Trying to fit in and i realise I am already compromising. I pray God gives us the grace to stand out for him and live right even if it costs us.

Remember the world is watching us!!!

V18 -20
Emphasizes being good even when no one is watching and being good when we are treated badly. We should endure for Gods sake

V21 -25
Those verses speak for themselves :). Message version below….
1 Peter 2:21-25 MSG
This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step. He never did one thing wrong, Not once said anything amiss. They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

I pray as we go about our day today, God will endow us with the grace to stand for him, be examples in our speech and conduct wherever and whatever situation we find ourselves in. In Jesus name

Have a blessed day Y’all.  Rem you are CHOSEN!!!!

Pls don’t forget to share your thoughts on the chapter by replying to the thread.. We are all here to learn 🙂