NASHVILLE (BP) — This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, Lifeway publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups.
This week’s Bible study is adapted from the Bible Studies For Life curriculum.
Bible Passage: Acts 2:22-24, 32-41
Discussion Questions:
- What’s your favorite thing to eat straight out of the oven?
Food for Thought by Brad Whitt:*
My daughter has always loved to bake. She started making cookies and cakes and has graduated to baking more complicated and sophisticated things like smoked cheesecake, which is fantastic!
Meanwhile, I can barely boil water. She was explaining one day how she makes her old-fashioned chocolate cake: “Flour, cocoa, butter, buttermilk, sugar, etc. Oh, and one-eighth teaspoon of salt.” I stopped her. “Salt? Why do you need salt? Chocolate cake is supposed to be sweet, not salty.” But she explained that salt is necessary for the cake to taste how it should.
How many people live without the one ingredient that makes all the difference? A personal relationship with Jesus. As Blaise Pascal rightly reminded us, there is a God-shaped vacuum in every human heart that only Jesus can fill.
This study will focus our understanding of God’s truth regarding salvation, fully revealed in Jesus as creation’s Ruler and Reconciler. We’ll see how God sent Jesus to be our Savior, and we’ll learn of the incredible, life-changing difference He makes in our lives when we repent and trust in Him. Here’s the truth the world desperately needs to hear. Jesus saves!
Without fail, religious groups want to come up with their own means of attaining salvation. At the same time, a rising percentage of society doesn’t even think we need salvation. But ultimately, even the most self-focused, self-satisfied people can experience those moments when they sense something is missing, that there must be more to life. That something more is Jesus.
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter stood before the very ones who had called for the death of Jesus. He proclaimed who Jesus is, what He did on the cross and through His resurrection so the people in the crowd could be saved. Peter began by explaining that God sent Jesus to be our Savior. Peter told them that Jesus of Nazareth was “attested to you by God.” This means God demonstrated and proved that Jesus was who He claimed to be in several ways.
Jesus was verified by:
• Miracles that demonstrated His power.
• Wonders that declared His person.
• Signs that displayed His position.
Have you ever had to verify that you are who you claim to be? Maybe it was when you got your driver’s license or opened a bank account, or you had to prove your identity for legal or educational requirements.
God demonstrated that Jesus was the Messiah through miracles, signs and wonders. God also verified Jesus, most dramatically, through His death and bodily resurrection. That’s the most undeniable evidence possible!
Can you imagine what it must have been like to be those people who heard Peter’s sermon that day? It must have been different than us even reading about it today. Hearing that message just 50 days after the resurrection, with the events of that week still fresh, must have been convicting indeed.
I have the picture in my mind of a Jewish man or woman standing in that crowd, hearing Peter preach about Jesus of Nazareth and remembering how they had been in the crowd just a few weeks before shouting, “Crucify him!” I imagine, at the time, they thought the death of this troublemaker and blasphemer would make them feel better. But it didn’t. It only highlighted their emptiness and that something was missing in their lives. When Peter preached about the death and resurrection of Jesus, their eyes were opened, and they realized that Jesus had lived among them, died, and was raised from the dead to give them what they were missing the most.
My hope is that by studying this passage of Acts, we’ll all be secure in that same understanding of what it means to be saved.
*Brad Whitt is senior pastor of Abeline Baptist Church in Martinez, Ga.
Bible Studies for Life
Bible Studies for Life connects the Bible to life for adults, students, and kids. Bible Studies for Life helps individuals and groups know God’s Word through trustworthy content, creates biblical community through engaging and conversational group studies, and helps people engage the culture missionally by unpacking what the Bible says about real-life issues. More information can be found at Lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife.
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