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14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know-- 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will dwell in hope. 27 For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption. 28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou wilt make me full of gladness with thy presence.' 29 "Brethren, I may say to you confidently of the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. (Acts 2:14a, 22-32 RSV)
Happy Wednesday, Friend. May a generous blessing of peace and joy be yours today is my prayer. I pray we are exercising our faith as well as our bodies to keep in shape both physically and spiritually.
The above passage is an excerpt of the first Christian sermon ever preached. It was preached on the steps of the Temple in Jerusalem by Peter. Peter was trained by the best preacher and story-teller that ever lived, and his words were guided by the Holy Spirit. In fact, the event that motivated the sermon was the arrival of the Holy Spirit as "tongues of fire." This sermon in fact, resulted in 3,000 men (not counting women and children) being converted to the Christian faith. How I wish my first sermon had been like Peter's. When I first told my pastor, The Rev. Arturo Mariscal, of how I was feeling God calling me, he said, "Great! You can preach this Sunday!" Huh? Ministers have long laughed about that, since most of us have gone through that and the joke became, "How many future brain surgeons have confided in another brain surgeon about their desire to be like them, and how many of them have said, 'Hey, that's great! You can do this brain surgery that's coming up tomorrow!'" Or, dentists, or any other profession. That Sunday, another young man had shared his desire to be a preacher, so wisely, Rev. Mariscal scheduled both of us to preach; for each of us took exactly 2.5 minutes in our delivery of the Good News. So, doing the math, that's 5 minutes of 20 or 25 minutes of sermon time. Our pastor then stood and had to say something to the effect, "What these young men tried to say..." Former parishioners, when I would share that story would ask, "Why can't you go back to preaching like that?"
Peter is sharing his anger at what had to happen to Jesus, but also celebrating that what did happened, brought more good than we could ever imagine coming our way and in our favor. First, he says, God raised Him up, thereby defeating the power of death. Peter even quotes King David from the psalms with a new understanding of what those ancient words really said. What were for years seen as worship words are now seen as prophetic words of victory over death. Peter states, David is now dead and we know where his tomb is, but he saw the coming of one of his descendants as a conquest of death's long held grasp on life. Jesus saves us from that, and as a result we are richly, and wonderfully blessed. And, for that we are blessed, and witnesses of what Christ has done for us.
You and I are witnesses of God's grace and love. You and I are witnesses of so many answered prayers, and unexpected miracles. As the old hymn says, "We've a Story to Tell to the Nations." We cannot keep quiet about what God has done. We have experiences and stories that can help people who may be going through what we went through some time back. Our willingness to testify on God's behalf will bless so many people.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You for the blessings and all that You have done on our behalf. We are honored to be Your witnesses. Grant us courage and the opportunities to share with those who may need to hear our stories. We pray Your continued blessings on all who hurt, who are impatient, who are stressed, who are hungry, hurting, and lonely. In Christ Jesus we pray, Amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Bless someone with a phone call with a story that might bless them of how God blessed you.
Receive my blessings of God's favor and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
