Mine?
H
ow willing are you to share all that you have? Maybe it is easier to share those things that have been given to you instead of those things you have bought with money you have earned. In our scripture passage for today we read about a community that graciously shares all of its possessions. The fear of not finding Jesus in the tomb has been overcome by witnessing a risen Jesus and by receiving the Holy Spirit
APRIL 15 on Pentecost. The community is of one heart and one soul functioning as a body in perfect unity. The apostles testify to the risen Lord Jesus, there is grace upon all the community, and not one person is in need. (If they could have tweeted about it, it would have been “#ideal.”) If we read farther than our passage for today, we learn that the ideal does not last. Self-interest becomes king again, and the community is left hoping for the ideal.
Think About It: What would it be like to live in a community where no one has need?
Make a Choice: How do you use the resources with which you have been blessed?
Pray: Ask God to give you the wisdom to use your resources to build up the Kingdom of God.
Claim It for Christ
M
ost of us are creatures of habit; the lame man in our passage is no different. His friends bring him to entrance of the Temple daily so that he might beg. As the man sits with his arm outstretched and his head down, Peter and John walk up to this man and change his routine because they have been changed by their encounter with the resurrected Christ. Peter and John tell the lame man they have no money for him but can make him walk again in the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
APRIL 22 The lame man accepts what Peter and John offer him, so they pull him up. He not only walks, but also leaps with praise. Peter makes sure that no one around assumes it is he and John who cause the healing. He lets the crowd know that the miracle is performed in the name of the risen Jesus. Peter offers to anyone in the crowd what he and John have offered the lame man — a chance to turn to God so that they may walk again.
Think About It: Peter is transformed after his encounter with a resurrected Jesus. How will Jesus transform you?
Make a Choice: On a daily basis you walk by people whom you can serve. Will you serve like Peter and John or continue to pass on by like the crowds?
Pray: Ask God for the courage to offer present help and eternal hope.
The Name of Jesus hy yes officer, I was doing 75 in a 35 m.p.h. zone.” This isn’t the typical response when you are questioned by a police officer as to how fast you were going, but it is the type of response Peter gives when the Sanhedrin questions him. The Sanhedrin is questioning Peter about the lame man that he and John have healed in the name of Jesus. Peter boldly rephrases the charges from the Sanhedrin and states that he did good in the healing of a lame
“W
APRIL 29 man in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Peter acting in the name of Jesus is exactly what the Sanhedrin wants to hear. But Peter gives them more than they want to hear. He continues to tell the Sanhedrin that Jesus, the one they crucified, is now the cornerstone and that salvation comes from no one but him. Peter is saying that they and their temple rituals are hasbeens; that Jesus did away with rule-bound religion and brought salvation through relationship.
Think About It: When have you had an encounter with Christ that you have not been able to keep to yourself?
Make a Choice: What will you choose: To be bound by a religion of rules or to be in relationship with Jesus Christ?
Pray: Thank God for allowing you to focus on the relationship instead of rules that bind.
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