By grace we are saved. Not by works so that no one can boast of their own righteousness.
It is all about Jesus and His birth, His death and His resurrection.
In Him we abide and are placed in right standing with God.
Isaiah 42: 6
“I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the Gentiles,
Let the light within you draw others to Him.
Acts 15:6–11
6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” The New King James Version
As believers we love God and we love others, even those who hate us, because we see the light of Jesus in them. We forgive others because we have been forgiven so much. We are changed, precept by precept, by living our life as He lived and abiding in Him.
1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
2 Corinthians 4:3
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Satan wants nothing more than to stop others from seeing Christ in us. Jesus in His birth, death and resurrection overcame the darkness and in Him alone is life.
Our character represents the divine in us and our actions speak louder than the words we preach.
If we hold up Jesus and His love for all people others will be drawn to the love that shines in us. Holy Spirit will direct our path.
John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 1:9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
Jesus is the light in every person born. He is life.
God is evident in all of creation. We all know that there is more to life than what we see with our eyes. To those who in faith believe in Him and the salvation that He gives we are covered in His righteousness not in our own.
Matthew 19:16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”He said to Him, “Which ones?”
Jesus said, “ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
John 15:7 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
Jesus came to His own and most of them rejected Him as their King. His salvation was too great to be only for the Jews He came to offer salvation to all the world that God loved. He is the light of the world and in keeping His commands to love God and others we fulfill all of the commandments. We abide in Him and in Him is eternal life. Carla
Luke (the narrator) stresses that the ruling of the Jerusalem Council will represent the Church’s official verdict on the matter. Peter cites his own experience with the Gentile Cornelius and his vision about clean and pure food, which he has already explained to the church leadership in Jerusalem (Acts 10:1–11:18). Peter reasons that since God is working among both Jews and Gentiles that to demand that the Gentiles become Jews is to doubt what God has declared. This point seems to be based on Peter’s vision about clean and pure food (10:9–23). Peter reminds the audience that no Jew was able to satisfy the law. Faithlife Study Bible
It was from the mouth of Peter that Cornelius and his Gentile friends heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yoke here refers to the law. “We shall be saved in the same manner as they” are the last words of Peter in the Book of Acts. He leaves us with the eternal truth that we are saved through faith by grace alone. The emphasis in the Book of Acts now moves from Peter to Paul, from the presentation of the gospel message among the Jews to its presentation to the Gentiles. The NKJV Study Bible
Acts 10:1–48 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always…
Matthew 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Romans 3:22–24 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Ephesians 2:5–8 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…
We don’t need another assignment. Or test to pass. Sometimes, without even knowing it...
We need times and places to decompress.
We need times and places to live quietly.
We need times and places to let our soul catch up.
Sabbath Moments
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