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Acts 3 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
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  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
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  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
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  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
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  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
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  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. When you're ready, let's dive
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  into God's Word together. In Acts chapter 3, first we see
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  God perform a miracle of healing through Peter and John.
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  A beggar who was born lame asked Peter and John for money as
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  they're approaching the temple. Peter tells the man that he has
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  no silver or gold, but what he does have he will give to the
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  beggar. Then he says in the name of
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  Jesus Christ the Nazarene walk. Instantly the man is healed and
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  the passage tells us he went walking and leaping and praising
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  God, much like we saw through Jesus ministry in the gospels.
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  This miracle was not just for the sake of physical healing.
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  Obviously it results in both the beggar and those around praising
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  God for his power, but it also grants Peter an audience with
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  the people now standing in amazement to preach a gospel
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  sermon. And it is on this sermon I want
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  us to spend the rest of our time today.
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  Peter does not work very hard to appease the crowd.
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  In fact, if you just heard the first half of his message he
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  would certainly not be pleased. Listen to what he tells the
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  Jewish crowd. Laying the blame for Jesus death
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  squarely on their shoulders. He says, men of Israel, why are
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  you amazed at this or why do you gaze at us as if by our own
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  power or piety we had made him walk?
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  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers,
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  has glorified his servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and
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  disowned in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to
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  release him. But you disowned the holy and
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  righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
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  but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised
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  from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.
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  You delivered him, you disowned him, you ask for a murderer to
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  be granted to you, and you put to death the Prince of life.
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  Wow. But Peter isn't finished because
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  what comes next is miraculous. What comes after the bad news is
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  the best news in the whole world, and not just for this 1st
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  century audience, but for you and for me, and for all of us
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  sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God.
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  Listen to Peter's invitation. And now, brethren, I know that
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  you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.
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  But the things which God announced beforehand by the
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  mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, He has
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  thus fulfilled. Therefore, repent and return, so
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  that your sins may be wiped away, in order, that times of
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  refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that
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  He may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you.
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  First, Peter echoes the words of Jesus on the cross when He asked
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  the Father to forgive those putting Him to death because
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  they did not know what they were doing.
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  Then Peter makes abundantly clear that these men and women
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  who bear the blame for putting Jesus on the cross have been
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  invited to partake of the salvation that Jesus won for
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  them on that very cross. If they would but repent and
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  return. And their sins will be wiped
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  away, and they will be welcomed into the rest and refreshment of
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  the very presence of the Lord. And this great salvation
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  available to them is available to us.
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  Just as it was the sin of those ancients that put Jesus on the
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  cross, so it was our sin for which He died.
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  But if we will repent and return to Him, we can experience the
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  salvation that He offers as a free gift through His death and
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  resurrection. Listen to these words from the
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  hymn. How deep the Father's love for
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  us. Behold the man upon a cross, my
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  sin upon his shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
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  call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him
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  there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me
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  life. I know that it is finished.
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  It was our sin. We put Jesus on the cross, but
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  His death has brought life for us.
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  He has accomplished it. He's done it for us.
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  The hymn closes with this third verse.
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  I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom.
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  But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and
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  resurrection. Why should I gain from His
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  reward? I cannot give an answer, but
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  this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom.
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  Why should we benefit from Christ's death?
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  It is too deep a love to understand or explain.
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  But we know that the Jesus that we crucified has paid our debt.
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  We are forgiven, set free, and made new by the blood of Christ.