A Look Back at Sundays Sermon: Peter Speaks to the Onlookers (Acts 3:11-26) Acts 3:11-26 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?

search=Acts+3%3A11-26&version=NIV In last weeks sermon Peter was finally paying attention. The theme that continues to come up is repentance. John the Baptist preached it, Jesus preached it and now Peter is preaching it. Is repentance for those who dont believe? Absolutely not! Repentance is something everyone needs to think about daily because everyone falls short. Repentance needs to be talked about at home first. It is important to become a family of God at home. Parents, talk to your children about repentance, that mistakes will always be made and thats ok as long as you come to God with a heart of repentance. People want to scold others for doing wrong before having a relationship with them or even a relationship with God. Its easy to tell someone they are doing something wrong, its harder to have a relationship with them and to speak truth to them in love. John, Jesus and Peter all wanted to connect people to the body of Christ. GCCs job is to connect the people of Spring Valley to Jesus and to the church. Pastor Danny Martinez said, WE need to continue to have our eyes open, our ears open and our mouths closed so we can listen to those that are around us. Sometimes God is placing you where you need to be to connect people but you are too distracted to see. How are you connecting people in your life? In this weeks passage, Peter gives the church six things that became the main point to Peters message to the onlookers. 1. Jesus the historical person -Jesus was a real person: he was born, lived, performed His wonders and taught in real time -He was a public figurer, everyone knew who he was. He had been talked about for the past three years 2. Crucified - A second element of the apostolic preaching involved confronting the hearers with the crucifixion of Jesus, and even confronting them with their own

guilt: You put Him to death by nailing Him to the Danny Martinez. 3. Raised

cross (v. 23)-Pastor

-Jesus lived, died, but rose again from the dead and everyone was witness of that (v.32) -That is the hope that Peter brought, and Christians today bring to those who dont know Jesus

4. Correspondence with Old Testament prophecy - Peter then went on to point out that each of these historical events happened as God had foretold in the Old Testament. Rather than being a threat to the integrity of Gods Word, Jesus and the events of His life and death and resurrection are foretold there. What Peter proclaimed was in fullest harmony with Gods total revelation-Pastor Danny Martinez.

5. The Promised Messiah - In v.36 Peter interpreted the facts he had just previously laid out, stating that Jesus was both Lord and Christ Brothers, what shall we do? (v. 37) This - The conclusion is so clearly correct that his hearers were cut to the heart and begged the apostles, Martinez. 6. Repentance and Faith - There must be conviction before a sinner can experience conversion; unless a patient is convinced that he is sick, he will never accept the diagnosis or take the treatment-Pastor Danny Martinez. - How could Peter and John healed the beggar unless God was with them and working through them? No one could deny the miracle because the accept the miracle beggar was standing before. Pastor Danny said, To that His name has power. question led into the last element of the apostolic preaching- Pastor Danny

would have been to admit that Jesus Christ is indeed the living Son of God and

Peter and John healed a beggar and yet although the common people believed the rulers did not and had them arrested. The persecution that Christ promised the apostles in John 15:1816:4 began to take place as we will see in the next chapter-Pastor Danny Martinez. What do you do when you do the right thing but things dont turn out how you expected? You preach the hope of Jesus but people reject it. The simple answer is that people are just not ready for the truth. To speak truth in to someones life means you bring to light some things that are not so good about them or their situation. Truth causes people to feel ashamed and guilty, however truth in love is not meant for people to feel bad, but to bring them into repentance and a true relationship with their creator. The easy thing to do would be to not speak truth and just give up when people reject it, but God calls every Christian to ALWAYS speak truth no matter the cost and to be consistent and persistent. Continue to proclaim the same Jesus who was killed but rose from the dead and is coming back for his people. Are you game Grace Covenant Church?
In His Love, Nicole