I am very excited that our church family is taking the “9 Challenge” together! As I was doing my reading for the first day, I remembered a quote from the movie The Sound of Music: “Let’s start from the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start.”
The first two chapters of Matthew (the first of the four Gospels) records the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Abraham, found in the Old Testament book of Genesis! It then shifts to the Christmas story from the wise men's perspective: how God protected them and the child Jesus from Herod, how they found Jesus and worshiped him.
The first three chapters of Acts chronicle the very early beginnings of the church. Luke, the author of Acts, opens his letter by recounting how Jesus, after the resurrection, had spent time with his disciples. (That he was alive!) Jesus told his followers to remain in
When this event occurred, Peter took the opportunity to share with the crowd that Jesus was the Christ and that he fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about him… proving he was the Messiah, the anointed One. That day 3,000 people became believers and were baptized! (Take special note of Acts 2:42-47. As the church does this kind of activity, the natural bi-product is growth!)
In Peter’s message he quoted from the Old Testament…Psalms and the book of Joel. It’s important to recognize that the Old Testament and the New Testament are closely connected. The New fulfills or completes the Old. There are some 695 quotations from the Old Testament in the New Testament, and numerous other references as well!
Peter modeled what it means to live a Kingdom-focused life. When the beggar asked him and John for money, they stopped and took the time to pray with him, right there on the spot! They had no money, but they offered what they had. And the man was healed.
That’s how I want to live my life! Showing God’s love to people I encounter as I’m going about my life, day to day.
Peter’s call to action to those listening was always the same. “Repent and be baptized.” God is calling each of us to a changed life. To be a people being changed. Not perfect, but pretty good!
Scott Sliver
Categories:
Devotionals
1 comments:
One of the things that I got out of the reading is that you have to know your scriptures. Mary, Joseph and Peter were all familiar with the writings of the Old Testament and found encouragement to believe and move forward in the scriptures.
By: Cyndi on January 19, 2009 at 11:01 PM
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