Daily Devotion for May 8, 2011
Prayers
Scripture
Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Prayer for the Morning
O Master and holy God, who is beyond my understanding: at your word, light came forth out of darkness. In your mercy, you gave me rest through sleep, and let me awake to the light of your glory out of the darkness of night.
Now, in your own tender love, accept me and all who adore you and give thanks to you with all of their heart. In the abundance of your mercies, O Lord, remember all your people; all those who pray with me; all my brethren on land, at sea, or in the air, in every place of your domain, who call upon your love for mankind. Upon all of us who pray to you this morning, pour down your great mercy, that we, saved in body and in soul, may persevere unfailingly; and that, in our confidence, we may extol your exalted and blessed name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, always, now and forever.
Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.
Benediction
Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, let me think about these things. What I have learned and received, let me do; and the God of peace be with us all.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
Deuteronomy 11:18, 21
tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
That your days and the days of your children may be many;
As many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Acts 2:32-39 (NKJV)
Peter’s Sermon [3]
“This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:
Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
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. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
Notes on the Scripture
A large crowd has gathered, probably amused and certainly perplexed by the odd actions occurring around the building where the "upper room" was located. The people who had been blessed — Peter, the apostles, and approximately 100 other disciples — have gone out into the street at some point. Having given the crowd a long introduction, with citation to the Old Testament, Peter here gets to the "nitty-gritty" of his message.
When they are told that they have crucified a man whom God had sent, the crowd are "cut to the heart". Peter has convinced them that they have offended God, and they are ashamed and terrified. They beg Peter and the apostles to tell them what to do. Peter tells them to be baptized in Jesus' name; only in this way can they be cleansed of their sins, especially of the sin of killing the Christ.
Peter has wasted no time in carrying out his mission, the mission Jesus left him. He is openly preaching that the crowd should become followers of a man who has recently been convicted of heresy and suffered execution for it. He is either going to create a backlash against the Jewish authorities for their murder of Jesus, or die trying.
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