the people were "pricked in their hearts" and asked what they must do. Peter answered, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins..." (Acts 2:38). About three thousand souls obeyed and were baptized (Acts 2:41).
The new converts did not stop with being baptized, but, Luke informs us, they "continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). We learned that the context of the words, "breaking of bread," shows that Luke referred to the Lord's Supper (Communion).
The Bible's Teaching on Abortion Has Not Changed
We were reminded in The Bible's Teaching on Abortion Has Not Changed (September 27, 2020) that what the Bible has always taught on the sanctity of life has not changed. It has always, and still does, teach that God created and knows each baby in its mother's womb, and thus, it is a living human being, not a "clump of cells" that can be aborted at the mother's whim (Zech. 12:1; Ecc. 11:5; Job 10:11-12; Ps. 139:13-16; Luke 1:41-44; 2:16). In fact, the same word, used in reference to an unborn child in Luke 1:44, is used in 1 Peter 2:2 where it is translated, "as newborn babes" in the King James Version and most English translations.
God hates hands that shed innocent blood (Prov. 6:16-18). Abortion is wickedness and God will not justify the wicked (Ex. 23:7).
Sinners Can Change
We learned on September 20,2020, in And Such Were Some of You, that sinners can, and must, change. Paul pointed out in Romans 3:23 that we have all sinned. He taught in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 that many of his readers had been guilty of many such sins that he listed there, including murders, fornicators, extortioners, and homosexuality, but had been washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, by the Spirit of our God. They were sinners guilty of many vile sins, but had changed and washed in Jesus' blood and were no longer guilty!
You can change too!
Where Are the Saved?
The saved are in the church, and nowhere else, as we noted in Where Are the Saved? (September 13, 2020). The Lord adds the past sinner to the church upon his salvation (Acts 2:47). He adds the saved to the church (Acts 2:47; for He built only one (Matt. 16:16). It is His body (Col. 1:18; Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 2:15; 4:4). We enter the body when we are baptized (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3-4). As such is the case, there are no saved outside of the church.
This World Is Not My Home
This world is not my home. Since the beginning, the prophets looked forward to life after this (Ps. 123:6; 117;5; 16:10. Jesus spoke of it in Luke 16:19:31, as did Peter in Acts 2:31 and Paul in 1 Cor. 15:55. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20-21 (NKJV). This world is not our home. We are sojourners here (1 Pet. 1:17).
Heaven is a place of eternal happiness (Matt. 25:39; 1 Pet. 1:3-4; 2 Cor. 4:17-18. Heaven is a place of righteousness (2 Pet. 3:12). It is the opposite of Hell, a place of eternal misery (Matt. 25:45-46).
Does God's Word Have Power to Work in Your Life?
Does God's Word have power to work in your life? It certainly does! As Paul writes in Hebrews 4:12. The word is living and powerful and is able to read the thoughts and intents of your heart! By it you can be born again because the Word is incorruptible and lives and abides forever (1 Pet. 1:22-23). The holy scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, according to 2 Timothy 3:14.
Paul writes in Ephesians 6:17, "that the Word of God is "the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit..."
The Good Lord willing, we will conclude this recap of the articles of 2020 on January 17, 2021. Please join us.
Evening Worship: 5:00 *Suspended due to Covid-19* (Singing at Greenfield Senior Living, 14 Maynard Ln., (540) 298-6835, even-number months, 6:30 pm.) *Suspended due to Covid-19*
Wednesday: 6:00 *Suspended until time changes in Spring*
10:00 