From Lost 2 Found

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”      -Acts 2:37-39 When God’s word is at work, as it obviously did through Peter’s preaching, there must be a response. God’s word always calls for a response. When the law quickens our spirit and awakens us to our hopelessness, we may respond with indifference, disbelief or repentance. Is repentance enough to be saved? Do we receive the Holy Spirit through repentance? Not according to this passage of Scripture! The promise spoken of by Peter is Christ’s promise of the Holy Spirit, which Peter links directly to the act of baptism. Through baptism we r...

2009 Adult Sunday School Plan Topic: Adult Confirmation: a thorough overview Rationale: Many adults in the church have not participated in confirmation instruction in their youth. Of those who did, it was many years ago, and some have expressed a desire to have a refresher course. The nature of corporate worship leads us to repeat certain activities (Communion, Baptism) or statements (Lord’s Prayer, Apostle’s Creed) without taking the time to explain and teach what we are doing and why. Repetition can be useful for low-level learning, but can be counter-productive to higher-level understanding and applying. Adults need the opportunity to not only hear the teachings of the church, but to evaluate and at times even question them, in order to develop spiritual maturity. Challenges: Students will likely possess a wide variety of experience with the topics presented. Some may feel they know all they need to know. Others may feel as though these teachings are no longer relevant f...

When the day of Pentecost came…all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart.  -Acts 2:1ff God’s Holy Spirit, promised by Christ, came with a power that overwhelmed all the disciples of Christ and worked in them “as the Spirit enabled them.” What was the response of others? verse 6: they came together in bewilderment verse 7: they were utterly amazed verse 12: they were amazed and perplexed and were asking questions verse 13: Some made fun of them, even accusing them of being drunk How do people respond to the Holy Spirit’s powerful presence in my life? I don’t often see bewilderment or amazement. I don’t often receive questions. I seldom am accused or ridiculed. Is it possible that I stifle the Spirit’s work, for fear of how people will respond. I notice that none of those mentioned responded with faith, but evidently some were prepared for a faith-filled response to the preaching that followed. The Spir...