It Is Jesus’ Name

 Meditations on The Acts of the Apostles

January 19, 2021

It Is Jesus’ Name

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

Acts 3:15

Read: Acts 3:11-16

A Bishop complained that he was not having the same impact in his ministry as did the first apostles. He said, “Everywhere Paul went, there was a riot. Everywhere I go, they serve tea.” What was true of Paul was also true of Peter and John. They dared to venture into uncharted waters where all they had going for them was faith in Jesus. Their actions remind me of a quote from Corrie ten Boom, “You will never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.”

When questioned about the crippled man’s healing, Peter immediately attributed the healing to faith in Jesus. Peter was doing ministry beyond his power, in places well beyond where you would expect a fisherman to stand and preach. When the people saw something as astonishing as the lame man being healed, Peter seized the moment to proclaim the power of faith in the resurrected Jesus.

Notice the continuity in Peter’s preaching. He is serving the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Peter actually quoted a passage from Exodus 3, which Jesus also had quoted. The context for Peter naming the patriarchs of Judaism was Moses standing before the burning bush and receiving an assignment from God to go and set God’s people free.  Peter was proclaiming that God was doing it again. He was continuing the story of redemption by setting the people free from sin and death through faith in the resurrected Jesus.

My Takeaway: I am writing this meditation on the morning after Cheryl and I visited a church to partake of Holy Communion. In the service, we affirmed our faith with the words of the Nicene Creed, which includes our entire theological heritage. In today’s reading, I am reminded of the importance of our holding onto the whole story of Jesus, or as Peter put it, “You handed him over to be killed, you disowned the Holy and Righteous One, you killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him.” (v. 13-16)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.