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This week’s selected verse: Acts 3:19
NAB Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away,…
KJV Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, …
And along the same lines …
Luke 15:7 I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
Acts 2:38 38 Peter (said) to them, “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. 39 For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.
Acts 17:30 God has overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he demands that all people everywhere repent 31 because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world with justice’ through a man he has appointed, and he has provided confirmation for all by raising him from the dead.”
Luke 24:46-47 46 And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day 47 and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
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Now for some lighter fare…
From my travelin’ buddy, NS:
A Sunday school teacher asked her class if anyone could quote the entire 23rd Psalm.
A golden-haired, four-and-a-half-year-old girl was among those who raised their hands. A bit skeptical, the teacher asked if she could really quote the entire psalm. The little girl came to the front of the room, faced the class, made a perky little bow, and said, “The Lord is my shepherd, that’s all I want.”
She bowed again and went and sat down.
That may well be the greatest interpretation of the 23rd Psalm ever heard.
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A favorite from the past: An elderly gentleman was serving as usher for the 9:30 service. Just as the congregation had finished the first hymn and was sitting down to listen to the sermon, a young man with dreadlocks, wearing sandals and very dirty jeans topped by a torn tee-shirt wandered into the church and sat down in the middle of the center aisle of the church. The congregation noticed this and sort of held their collective breath. The Pastor stepped up the pulpit and began his sermon. Everyone was wondering what would happen. Would there be a scene? Would the young man be escorted out? Would someone say something about this? Here’s what actually happened.
The usher walked slowly up the aisle, and despite his arthritis, lowered himself down to the floor to sit next to the young man. He did not want him to be alone there in the middle of the church. That, my friends, is agape love in action.
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The Picnic
A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Priest met at the town’s annual 4th of July picnic. Old friends, they began their usual banter.
“This baked ham is really delicious,” the priest teased the rabbi. “You really ought to try it. I know it’s against your religion, but I can’t understand why such a wonderful food should be forbidden! You don’t know what you’re missing. You just haven’t lived until you’ve tried Mrs. Hall’s prized Virginia Baked Ham. Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and try it?”
The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin, and said, “At your wedding.”
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Why go to Church?
If you’re spiritually alive, you’re going to love this! If you’re spiritually dead, you won’t want to read it. If you’re spiritually curious, there is still hope!
A Church-goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”
This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
“I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this….
They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!” When you are DOWN to nothing… God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, “Jesus, could you get that for me?”
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And wrapping things up today, something from my good buddy CW. He was the first to send it, but I received it from a few other folks too. It really is something that’s so good that you’ll want to see it more than once.
Some of you have probably seen the self-descriptive rhyming spiel by George Carlin. It has been floating around the Internet for quite a while now, and it is fun to listen to. I don’t know how long it took him to string together all of those adjectives – much less how long it took to memorize it – but it’s a fair approximation of what being human is all about. There is another rhymed spoken description making the rounds lately. This one, however, is not self-descriptive, not based on terms the World accepts. It is about the salvation available in, and only in, Christ.
This is a remarkably-well done statement about the importance of making a lifetime commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord. Pay careful attention and in just 1 minute 41 seconds you will hear the renunciation of the World and the importance of confessing Christ. View it and Pass It On!!
CLICK THIS LINK ➡ Joyous Testimony
I’ll wait while you watch.*
I can tell you this: If you cannot find room for Him in your heart, in your life, in your future, then you are literally in for one Hell of a surprise when you die. Please don’t wait. Please don’t hesitate. Please don’t rationalize away the opportunity to let Jesus come into your heart. If you don’t think a church is the way to associate yourself with Jesus because churches are full of hypocrites, be aware you are putting a hypocrite between you and God. You can find God at the beach, or in the mountains, or maybe even the golf course; but you cannot enjoy the fellowship and communion of the community of Christ’s people without going to where they are. All the World can give you – at its very best – is physical comfort, and that is only temporary. In Christ alone you can find the Peace that surpasses all understanding eternally.
Why would you want anything less than that? You can have eternal, everlasting Life through Him, with Him, and in Him only. Seek Him with a sincere and humble heart. Nothing else and no one else can take His place as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Not Nature, not meditation, not “The Force,” not self-enlightenment, not drugs, not gurus, not the World, not money or fame or personal glory, and believe-it-or-else not even religion can save your Life forever and ever. Even pagans are super-religious, but they are not saved. Beloved, go to Him, and your Joy will be complete. Turn your life around by turning it over before you’re turned under.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved
Yes, I love you that much.
chick
* In case that link didn’t work, try copying and pasting this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=WUQYJ77qa50
