14 April 2024 is the Third Sunday of Easter.
In this Season of Easter, as normal, the main text today is from the Acts of the Apostles (“Acts”).
In the aftermath of Jesus’ death and resurrection, two of his disciples, Peter and John, have healed a lame beggar. Their miracle attracts a crowd.
This is what follows:
Today’s main Bible reading
Acts 3:12-23 (from The Message Bible Translation)
Turn to Face God
12-16 When Peter saw he had a congregation, he addressed the people:
“Oh, Israelites, why does this take you by such complete surprise, and why stare at us as if our power or piety made him walk? The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his Son Jesus. The very One that Pilate called innocent, you repudiated. You repudiated the Holy One, the Just One, and asked for a murderer in his place. You no sooner killed the Author of Life than God raised him from the dead—and we’re the witnesses. Faith in Jesus’ name put this man, whose condition you know so well, on his feet—yes, faith and nothing but faith put this man healed and whole right before your eyes.
17-18 “And now, friends, I know you had no idea what you were doing when you killed Jesus, and neither did your leaders. But God, who through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that his Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfill his plans.
19-23 “Now it’s time to change your ways! Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you, and send you the Messiah he prepared for you, namely, Jesus. For the time being he must remain out of sight in heaven until everything is restored to order again just the way God, through the preaching of his holy prophets of old, said it would be. Moses, for instance, said, ‘Your God will raise up for you a prophet just like me from your family. Listen to every word he speaks to you. Every last living soul who refuses to listen to that prophet will be wiped out from the people.’
Video recording of today’s service from Lossiemouth Church of Scotland
We are all creatures of habit and we have a tendency to slip into bad habits. God has determined to break these habits through the one whom God raised from the dead. God’s grace experienced through the resurrected Jesus brings disruption. It disrupts our thought processes, challenges our assumptions and has the potential to lead us to change the way we live; to form new habits that lead to life. But that kind of change is not instantaneous.
REV. GEOFF MCKEE
Here is a link to a previous version of this sermon – “It’s time to change your ways!” – on this website.
