Do You Stand Up For Christ? :: Acts 4:13, 18-20
Before and after photos are fascinating, and weight loss photos are some of the most dramatic. The hit NBC show “The Biggest Loser” has shown us just how shocking such a transformation can be. When you view the before and after photos of the show’s finalists, it’s sometimes hard to believe they’re the same person.
That’s what it’s like to look at Peter in the Book of Acts compared to Peter in the Gospels. For all of his faith and love for Jesus, in the Gospels he’s impulsive and often motivated by his emotions; he displayed fear and insecurity on the night he denied Jesus. In Acts, though, he’s quite the opposite. His faith is mature, and he expertly leads the fledgling church with boldness through threats, imprisonments, and persecution. It’s hard to believe we’re reading about the same Peter.
So, what’s the explanation for Peter’s transformation? The presence of the Holy Spirit. The kind of transformation Peter experienced is only possible when we relinquish our lives to the control and direction of God’s Spirit. He lives within each and every person who has surrendered to Christ, transforming us into the likeness of Jesus and enabling us to do the work to which God has called us. Take a look at your own life. You should be able to tell a difference between the person you were before you met Christ and the person you are today. People who knew you before Christ should be shocked by the transformation the Holy Spirit has made in you.
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This is so true! I am not at all like the person I was before I met Jesus one night on my bedroom floor. My three nieces 21, 16, and 12 had been killed in an automobile wreck the previous year. It was on a Sunday after Christmas and it wasn’t the first time my family had lost young children. This time, I took notice that the 3 children were different from me, they knew Jesus as their personal saviour and here I was 27 and didn’t…God kept dealing with me and I would ask myself where would I go if I died?
I got saved that night right in the floor and didn’t even know it till a co-worker that had been praying for me saw me on the following Monday and said what happened you look different!
I have seen the difference people look after they get saved. It’s an awesosme sight! Bright eyes, wonder, amazement, and ready to go share! I pray for the young adults and college age that I teach in my Sunday School class, that they except the Savior or have, before something like this has to get their attention.
Thanks for taking your time to share! If you want to read more of my story, I have a blog on our church website. My husband is the pastor at Grace Fellowship Baptist Church in Cave Spring, Ga. 30124. We are just outside of Rome, Ga. Our Website is www.gracefbc.org and if you look on our blog page, I write under Life Lessons Learned. I only have a few so far…but I manage to get that book penned out that while righting my blogs that I have always wanted to write: “Lessons from Lost Love One’s”.
Be Blessed, Wendy Evans
1 | Wendy Evans
Sunday, October 28, 2012, at 6:35pm
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