by faith, we believe. for God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. We are one Body in Him. As believers we are created for good works in His name. We love others because He first loved us!
Acts 3:18-21 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
God is faithful to forgive us and to restore us to Himself when we humble ourselves and recognize that without the work of the Cross we are without hope. God loved us so much that He gave up His body and rose from the dead. He defeated death in His resurrection so that we could live. We abide and are attached to the very living Spirit of life through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In Him we live. In Him we have hope. In Him it is finished. As believers in Jesus we rejoice in our faith in Him to accomplish everything needed for our salvation. To our triune God we give thanks. No greater love exists! Carla
Acts emphasizes the essential place of repentance in embracing the salvation Christ offers. The Greek word used here for refreshing, anapsyxis, refers to rejuvenation, recalling Old Testament promises of the restoration of all creation in the days when God’s kingdom comes (Genesis 49:10–11; Isaiah 11:1–10; Joel 3:17–21; Micah 4:1–8). Those who repent will take part in God’s renewal of the world (Romans 8:22; Revelation 21). Jesus reigns at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 2:33–34; Psalm 110:1) while awaiting the time when He will return to judge the world and restore all things (Acts 1:6–7, 11; Matthew 24). Faithlife Study Bible
The word translated refreshing refers to restoration of strength and nourishment. Strength is restored when hope is restored. Peter challenged the Jewish people to repent and be converted, to change their thinking about Jesus as their Messiah and to serve Him. The NKJV Study Bible
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 51:1
Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Acts 26:20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
Isaiah 43:25
“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins.
Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
And like a cloud, your sins.
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”
And let us never forget that our capacity to give, and to care, is born in those times we have come face to face with our own vulnerability and what feels like intrinsic powerlessness and brokenness. But these are not undesirable traits. No… they reveal the full measure of our humanness, and point to an internal reservoir of generosity and courage and compassion that is too easily buried.
The reservoir of generosity and courage and compassion that is so needed in our world today.
Let us never forget that light spills from our vulnerability. I love hearing people tell stories about gentle acts of kindness. You realize that you never know the impact of a simple gesture. You have no idea the power of compassion and camaraderie that will allow us to not only get through, but to thrive. Excerpt from “SabbathMoments” Terry Hershey
Titus 3:3 (ESV) "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another."
Teachings on sin lose some intensity when we are tempted to believe we aren't really that bad ... but Paul covered all the bases. This verse is talking to us if we have ever failed out of ignorance or rebelled in unbelief. It is speaking to us if we have been led astray by the deceit or manipulation of others. We are the audience if we have ever overindulged in the passions of our flesh. We are sinners if we have thought, said, or done anything harmful to one another.
Wow! That really is all of us. Truly, there is no one righteous (Romans 3:10), not even you and me.
Let's look at the significance of the words "we ourselves" in Titus 3:3. I sometimes have a tendency to judge others self-righteously, like the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14. But though my sin might look different, I am just like the ones I can so easily judge. Paul said "we ourselves were once foolish" (Titus 3:3), which changes my perspective to remember my own sin and increases my compassion for others, especially those still enslaved to sin because they don't yet know Christ.
Another significant word in Titus 3:3 is "once." What a word of hope! We all continue to sin, but for believers, our sin is no longer our identity. Hope is coming and has come! We were once sinners, but that is what we were (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Through faith, we now have become the very righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Believing the Good News of Jesus starts with sitting with the truth that we are undeserving sinners, objects of God's wrath (Ephesians 2:3). The Good News will never be good to us if we do not realize we were once foolish, disobedient, and deceived. But thank God, we have been washed, sanctified, and justified by the blood of Jesus!
Paul gives us this "gospel in miniature" in Titus 3:3. And our reaction is meant to be threefold:
1. We can worship God with humility, as He has saved us from so much.
2. We can cultivate gratitude for God's undeserved mercy and kindness to us.
3. We can walk with compassion, especially for those who are still shackled by sin and death, and share the hope of Christ.
Because He never sinned, we can be washed and cleansed. He died a sinner's death so we can be set free.
The beauty of His sinlessness despite our sin is the gospel, also summarized in 2 Corinthians 5:21: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." First5
Pray for Abrego Garcia that in refusing to admit to things that he did not do in he will be totally exonerated from these trumped up charges.
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