|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
         
|
CHAPTER 6The Testimony of the Apostle Peter (Cephas)God makes no distinctions between one man and another. The Message which he sent to the descendants of Israel, when he announced the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all), that Message has spread through the length and breadth of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed. It tells how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, so that he went about everywhere doing acts of kindness, and curing all who were being continually oppressed by the devil - for God was with him. We are witnesses as to all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. When we made known the power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not eagerly following cleverly devised legends, but we had been eye-witnesses of his majesty. He received honour and glory from God the Father, and out of the wondrous glory words such as these were spoken to him, "This is My dearly-loved Son, in whom I take delight.” And we ourselves heard these words come from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain. Christ suffered on your behalf, leaving you an example so that you should follow in his steps. He never sinned, and no deceitful language was ever heard from his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not answer with reviling; when he suffered he uttered no threats, but left his wrongs in the hands of the righteous Judge. The burden of our sins he himself carried in his own body to the Cross and bore it there, so that we, having died so far as our sins are concerned, may live righteous lives. By his wounds you have been healed. They put him to death by crucifixion. That same Jesus, God raised to life on the third day, and permitted him to appear unmistakably, not to all the people, but to witnesses, namely to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he has commanded us to preach to the people and solemnly declare that this is he who has been appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, and testify that through his name all who believe in him receive the forgiveness of their sins. And in no other is the great salvation to be found; for, in fact, there is no second name under heaven that has been given among men through which we are to be saved. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has conferred this honour on His Servant Jesus. Heaven must receive him until those times of which God has spoken from the earliest ages through the lips of his holy prophets - the times of the reconstitution of all things. Repent, therefore, and reform your lives, so that the record of your sins may be cancelled, and that there may come seasons of revival from the Lord. Be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, with a view to the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you belongs the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, whoever the Lord our God may call. God originally made choice that from my lips the Gentiles were to hear the message of the Good News, and believe. And God, who knows all hearts, gave his testimony in their favour by bestowing the Holy Spirit on them just as he did on us. He made no difference between us and them, in that he cleansed their hearts by their faith. We believe that it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus that we, as well as they, shall be saved. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has begotten us anew to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance imperishable, undefiled and unfading, which has been reserved in Heaven for you. His divine power has given us all things that are needful for life and godliness, through our knowledge of him who has appealed to us by His own glorious perfections. It is by means of these that he has granted us his precious and wondrous promises, in order that through them you may, one and all, become sharers in the nature of God, having escaped the corruption which exists in the world through earthly cravings. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ. Verses used to construct this history: Chapter 6: Ac.10:34,36-39; 2 Pet 1:16-18; 1 Pet 2:21-24; Ac.10:39-43; Ac. 4:12; 3:13,21,19; 2:38.39; 15:7-9,11; 1 Pet 1:3,4; 2 Pet 1:3-5; 5:14. > Click on Next to move on to Chapter 7 or Back to go to Chapter 5. |
||||
 |
 |
||||
|
Copyright© BibleIntro.com, 2004 |
