May 15: Celebrating His Victory.
HIS OBJECTIVE.
"God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."--Acts 2:24
I recently returned from a ministerial trip that spanned multiple countries and included various speaking engagements. By God's grace it was a success as everything had worked as planned. And it involved a lot of logistical planning and coordination with different church entities in various countries: airline tickets, hotels, meals, local transportation, media, equipment, luggage allowance, translators, et cetera. These things usually do not happen by chance...every detail was carefully planned and carried out.
The sermon Peter preached on the day of Pentecost clearly reveals that God had predesigned a detailed plan for our redemption. Peter explained that even the infilling of the followers of Jesus by the Holy Spirit had been prophesied in the Old Testament (Acts 2:14-20). Then he continued to proclaim who Jesus was and how He had fulfilled the prophecies found in the Jewish Scriptures. The Sermons preached by Peter and others recorded in the book of Acts always point to the fact that the Old Testament prophecies about the upcoming Messiah were fulfilled in the ministry, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And that even though humans put Him to death, it was in fact God's preordained plan of redemption that was being realized. "This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony [literally, birth pains] of death..." (Acts 2:23, 24). It was God's objective and predetermined plan to reverse the consequences of sin, including pain and death, through Jesus' victory on our behalf. His plan was successful and did not happen by chance. It was a detailed, predetermined plan. Death could not hold Jesus in its grip. And we can live with the assurance of His absolute victory for us, knowing that death will not be victorious over His followers either. In addition,we are invited to joyfully surrender to and trust God's predestined plan for our lives.
My Response:___________________________________________________________
HIS OBJECTIVE.
"God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."--Acts 2:24
I recently returned from a ministerial trip that spanned multiple countries and included various speaking engagements. By God's grace it was a success as everything had worked as planned. And it involved a lot of logistical planning and coordination with different church entities in various countries: airline tickets, hotels, meals, local transportation, media, equipment, luggage allowance, translators, et cetera. These things usually do not happen by chance...every detail was carefully planned and carried out.
The sermon Peter preached on the day of Pentecost clearly reveals that God had predesigned a detailed plan for our redemption. Peter explained that even the infilling of the followers of Jesus by the Holy Spirit had been prophesied in the Old Testament (Acts 2:14-20). Then he continued to proclaim who Jesus was and how He had fulfilled the prophecies found in the Jewish Scriptures. The Sermons preached by Peter and others recorded in the book of Acts always point to the fact that the Old Testament prophecies about the upcoming Messiah were fulfilled in the ministry, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And that even though humans put Him to death, it was in fact God's preordained plan of redemption that was being realized. "This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony [literally, birth pains] of death..." (Acts 2:23, 24). It was God's objective and predetermined plan to reverse the consequences of sin, including pain and death, through Jesus' victory on our behalf. His plan was successful and did not happen by chance. It was a detailed, predetermined plan. Death could not hold Jesus in its grip. And we can live with the assurance of His absolute victory for us, knowing that death will not be victorious over His followers either. In addition,we are invited to joyfully surrender to and trust God's predestined plan for our lives.
My Response:___________________________________________________________
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