All About Jesus

Acts 3:12 When 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? 13 The 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. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By 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.

Remember how we said that Peter and John went to the temple, not only to pray, but also to do evangelistic ministry?  After the healing of the crippled man, people came running to see what had happened.  It was a 1^st century gaper’s delay.  Everyone wanted a look to see what had happened.

By the time the crowd had formed, Peter was ready with a sermon.  He deflects any credit for this man’s healing and says that really, it’s all about Jesus!

One of the ways you can tell that something is a work of God is that it points to Christ.

Peter gives a short summary of the Gospel message: Jesus was the foretold Messiah; He was crucified; He’s the Son of God who was killed; but God raised Him to life.  And we are all witnesses.

Then he closes his message by saying that it’s all about Jesus.

Acts 3:16 By 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.

Questions for pondering:

1.  How often are we tempted to make everything all about us?
2. There’s an airline with the slogan right now, “It’s All about You.”  What does this appeal to in a human being?  Does this glorify God or is it encouraging thoughts and actions that do not bring glory to God?  Who receives all the attention and glory in such a slogan?
3. If you had the opportunity, how well would you be able to summarize the Gospel message?  What is the likelihood that you would share the Gospel with a crowd of people?

As a reminder, Carol Me, Christmas (2014 Advent Devotional Series) will begin November 30th.  If you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2014 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.