The Remarkable Dry Erase Board! | Acts 3:12-26

Takeaway: Verse 19

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.

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Transcription:

Welcome to The Bible for Busy People. I’m Erica Parkerson. This is the place where we meet up to read half a chapter of God’s Word together and remember how loved we are. Jesus extends an amazing invitation to us in the Bible. He says, come to me and I WILL give you rest. This is us RSVPing: Yes!! to that invitation. So, take a deep breath and let’s get started.

Today’s episode is called, “The Remarkable Dry Erase Board”. See what I did there, little play on words. Before we dive into another sermon from the apostle Peter, join me in a word of prayer. Father, we give you this time. We give you the remainder of Acts chapter three. Lord, please open our eyes and our hearts to what you want us to see and understand from your word today. We take a deep breath right now, knowing that you’re with us and we just savor your presence as we would savor a rich sip of dark roast coffee. Mm, thank you for being with us Lord. In Jesus name, amen. 

Okay. So, God uses John and Peter. He taps them to heal a man who had been lame for years. The crowd sees this and is absolutely amazed. We’re gonna pick up this story in verse 12 of Acts, chapter three. “Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. ‘People of Israel,’ he said, ‘what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of all our ancestors, who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release him. You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!'”

Aren’t you so glad that Luke, the doctor wrote these things down? I’m amazed too. “‘Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed, and you know how crippled he was before.'” Remember, these people have been walking by him day after day. ‘”Faith in Jesus’s name has healed him before your very eyes. Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah, that he must suffer these things.'” Here comes our takeaway verse, verse 19. ‘”Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.'” Oh, I love that image. ‘”Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, “The Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.” Then Moses said, “Anyone who will not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from God’s people.” Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today.'”

This is Peter continuing to preach. ‘”You are the children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, “Through your descendants, all the families on earth will be blessed.” When God raised up his servant Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways.'”

I wanna read our takeaway verse again. “Now repent of your sins and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away.” When my son was in kindergarten, he had a wonderful teacher named Miss Hannah. And whenever the kids would do something wrong, she would put a check mark on the board. And if you got three check marks, you were in trouble. Well, one day my son got the three check marks. And so, Miss Hannah sat him down and talked to him, cause he’s a really good kid. He was just having a bad day, and she knew that too. And he cried, he was so repentant, he was so remorseful for what he had done. And Miss Hannah felt so bad for him, she decided to give him grace. And she took the eraser and, she erased the checks off the dry erase board, and they were gone. And it was like, the sun came out on Joshua’s little sweet face. 

This is what God does when you go to him and you say, Father, forgive me in Jesus’ name. I messed up. He gives you a fresh start. He wipes your sins away, it’s what the Bible says. And then he sends refreshment. He cleans us, he makes us whiter than snow. The Bible promises. That is amazing. It’s just amazing. Soak that up today. He wipes our sins away and makes us whiter than snow. I hope the sun is breaking out on your face right now. All right can’t wait till next time. Till then remember, you are loved. 

Thank you so much for listening to the Bible for Busy People. If you need prayer or you’re ready to go a little deeper in your faith, we’ve posted some resources for you in our show notes. We’d love for you to share this podcast with a friend and leave us a review. It helps us reach even more people with the hope of Jesus. This podcast is part of Purposely, a podcast network designed with practical podcasts to help you find and live in God’s purpose for your life. Find more podcasts that will recharge you at onpurposely.com.