# Repent and Be Baptized (Acts 2:22-41)



## Semper Fidelis (Apr 27, 2008)

» Repent and Be Baptized (Acts 2:22-41) Central Baptist Church, Okinawa, Japan: Spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Okinawa



> ...I fear that, today, many people don’t actually see the power to save as coming from the Gospel but see the power to save as coming from within. Many of the most popular preachers on TV and in books today are proclaiming a message that man’s problem is not tapping into something that God has made available to every man inside of them. The power of salvation, they say, is found in our sincerity or in our experience of God. The idea that the power to save comes from outside of us is now a foreign idea to many. The reason it is foreign is that it is not being taught like it used to be. Preachers no longer talk about Christ and His work - instead it’s our sincerity that becomes the work that improves our condition.
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> Even the words we use about the Gospel can communicate whether or not we believe salvation rests on the inside of us or comes from the outside of us as an announcement. Too often, men talk about an invitation to believe. An invitation, though, is something you get to a special event and you have the option to accept or refuse. We might not say it out loud but many probably believe that the invitation is given because God will just spend eternity in misery if we don’t make Him whole by accepting Him.
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> ...Try to put yourself in the shoes of the hearers of this news. Remember that they put Jesus to death and were deceived into thinking they were pleasing God while they were doing so. Can you just imagine that the hair on the back of their necks is starting to stand on end as they begin to feel the weight of their guilt? If you think that’s bad, wait until Peter really nails them with the Ascension of Christ that we talked about two weeks ago.
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> In verse 33 Peter proclaims the Ascension of Christ to the right hand of God in heaven where the resurrected Jesus assumes His place of power and majesty on high. Christ had promised His disciples at His ascension that, after He went to the Father, He would send the promise of the Holy Spirit to them. Just as He promised, the Spirit has been poured out on His disciples. Men of Israel have witnessed this power, which attests to Christ’s place of power and glory on high.
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## Ivan (Apr 27, 2008)

Amen...AMEN...and *A M E N*!!!


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