{"id":20625,"date":"2022-03-14T22:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T05:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_3_1-11-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-03-08T21:59:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T04:59:07","slug":"acts_3_12-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_3_12-26\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019re Uniquely Blessed to Be a Blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 3:12-26\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 3:12-26.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 3:12-16 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 12-16:\u00a0 As Peter speaks to a Jewish audience that has just seen this crippled man healed, notice a few things:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Instead of taking credit for this healing, Peter credits Jesus\u2019 name and the faith that comes through Him as giving complete healing to this once crippled man.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Notice the words Peter uses to describe Jesus.\u00a0 Peter calls Jesus a servant of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (v13).\u00a0 He calls Jesus \u201cthe Holy and Righteous One\u201d (v14).\u00a0 He calls Jesus \u201cthe author of life\u201d (v15).\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0Peter presents Jesus as the Messiah Israel has been waiting for,\u00a0<\/strong>the one Israel was made to worship.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Notice how differently Peter describes the way the Father treated Jesus versus the way Peter\u2019s audience treated Jesus.\u00a0 Whereas Peter accuses his audience of handing Jesus over to be killed (v13), disowning Jesus before Pilate (v13), asking a murderer to be released to them in place of Jesus (v14), and killing Jesus themselves (v15), God glorified his servant Jesus (v13) and raised Jesus from the dead (v15).\u00a0\u00a0How we treat Jesus says a lot about what is truly in our heart.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That phrase in verse 16 \u201cthe faith that comes through him\u201d suggests that\u00a0through Jesus Christ we find a faith so powerful that it can bring healing to others in Jesus\u2019 name<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Peter says in verse 15, \u201cWe are witnesses of this\u201d, it recalls Jesus\u2019 own words when Jesus told His disciples that \u201cyou will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth\u201d (Acts 1:8).\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 own prophetic words are being fulfilled as Peter steps out in faith.<\/p>\n

Acts 3:17-26 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But this is how\u00a0God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets<\/strong>, saying that his Christ would suffer.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you–even Jesus.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything,\u00a0as he promised long ago through his holy prophets<\/strong>.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For 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.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Indeed,\u00a0all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days<\/strong>.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And 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.’
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 17-26:\u00a0 Over and over in these verses Peter presents Jesus as the one that all the prophets in the Old Testament were pointing to (v18, 21, 24), starting with Moses (v22-23) then Samuel (v24) and every one of God\u2019s prophets after that.\u00a0 Peter is trying to show his Jewish audience what a special position they are in.\u00a0 Not only are they heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with their ancestors (v25), but now they get to be the first to respond to the Messiah Jesus (v26).\u00a0 He tells them to repent of their sins and turn to God \u201cso that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord\u201d (v19).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0Don\u2019t take for granted the position God has placed you in today, both to be uniquely blessed and to be a unique blessing to others.<\/strong>\u00a0(v25-26)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0If we want our sins to be wiped out, if we want to experience refreshing from God, we too need to repent and turn away from our sins and toward Jesus to save us.\u00a0<\/strong>(v19)<\/p>\n

Father, thank You for sending Jesus Your Son to be the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the One who saves me from my sins.\u00a0 Thank You for the powerful faith I can receive through Jesus.\u00a0 Thank You that I am uniquely blessed to be a blessing to others.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 3:12-26.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Acts 3:12-16 (NIV)
\n12\u00a0\u00a0When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
\n13\u00a0\u00a0The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.
\n14\u00a0\u00a0You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
\n15\u00a0\u00a0You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 12-16:\u00a0 As Peter speaks to a Jewish audience that has just seen this crippled man healed, notice a few things:
\n\u00a0
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Instead of taking credit for this healing, Peter credits Jesus\u2019 name and the faith that comes through Him as giving complete healing to this once crippled man.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Notice the words Peter uses to describe Jesus.\u00a0 Peter calls Jesus a servant of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (v13).\u00a0 He calls Jesus \u201cthe Holy and Righteous One\u201d (v14).\u00a0 He calls Jesus \u201cthe author of life\u201d (v15).\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0Peter presents Jesus as the Messiah Israel has been waiting for,\u00a0the one Israel was made to worship.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20625"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20628,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20625\/revisions\/20628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}