Peter’s greatest failures did not come when he was a vulnerable new believer but when he was a mature follower of Jesus. When that happens you will be confronted by two dangers. One is to dismiss what happened and simply move on. The other is to the opposite. Far from dismissing what happened, your sin leads you to a sense of despair questioning your salvation.
“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”
“Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
The life of Moses shows us that God will use a situation that is meant to destroy you, to elevate you. It is in the difficulty that God opens up the door for opportunity. Opposition is an action of resisting, or combating, protesting something, someone, or the state of being opposed by way of comparison or contrast. An opportunity is an appropriate or favorable time or occasion: a good position, chance, or prospect, as for advancement or success… In reference to the wind, “in front of; toward” God used Pharoah to save and groom Moses for his purpose. He used the very same man who wanted to kill all Hebrew boys, to groom Moses so that he could rescue his nation. Paul reminds us of this in his letter to the Philippians. Imprisoned because of the opposition he faced, the apostle writes,
“And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear”
Philippians 1:14
Paul recognized that opposition is not a bad thing, as long as it doesn’t derail your focus on what God has called you to accomplish.
Many people consider our faith in Christ foolish or they at least have some significant questions about our belief. And so it is important to explain ourselves. We defend our faith: gently, respectfully, confidently, boldly, persuasively, and prayerfully. This is the wonderful example the apostle Paul gives us in Acts 26.
Whenever Jesus exposes your rebellion, repent of your sin and turn to God in faith, receiving grace form Jesus that overflows from His heart and it transforms lives. And then spend your life performing deeds in keeping with your repentance, seeking in all that you do to honour your good and gracious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul beloved that God raises the dead. He believed that God made a promise of resurrection to His people. And most importantly he believed that God was fulfilling this promise in Jesus Christ. And those who stood apposed to this hope of resurrection, being fulfilled in Christ, stood opposed to Paul. So, he stands on trail and his faith being tested.
“Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?”
The greatest need in the church is always a greater vision of God. But we live in this world with all its distractions where our vision get blurry, our focus gets fractured, and our devotions falter. But God speaks to us through His Word. He enlightens the eyes of our hearts and strengthen our faith. And that fills us with confident hope and great expectation as we draw near to Christ.
God speaks to us through His Word, enlightening the eyes of our hearts and strengthening our faith. The power of God’s Word was Jeremiah’s confidence throughout his entire life and is our confidence too. Every single one of God’s promises will come to pass. Therefore we can go into this world, believing and proclaiming all that He has said and do that with absolute confidence.
In Isaiah’s day God’s presence filled one building in one city among one people. In our day God’s presence fills every believer in every church everywhere His people are found on the earth. As we see with the eyes of our hearts that God is in control, that He is near, His presence then is a source of encouragement in difficult times.
Isaiah 65 gives us a window into the heart of God as He identifies two groups of people. In the first group God seeks out people who don’t know God. In the second group God sorts out people who claim to know Him.
“I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me. I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call on My name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I!
The Christian Campus 