Sunday Follow Up: Life and Hope in Jesus
February 23rd, 2009 by Brett Wagner
As a follow up to our study in Acts 9 on Sunday, I thought I would post the quote from John Piper I shared at the close of the message:
The book of Acts is written to encourage us again and again that the Jesus who began to do and to teach on earth is now alive with omnipotent power and continues to do what he began to do and teach…He is turning things around all over the world—from huge political upheavals to personal periods of gloom and discouragement.
The point of the book of Acts—the point of the kingdom of God, the point of the Christian life—is that Jesus is alive and in charge of the world and that he butts in and changes things. He does not like fatalistic attitudes. He does not like pessimistic cyclical views of history or personal life or family life—views that say: things just go in circles; they don’t get anywhere. The yo-yo of fate never comes off its string and sails in some wonderfully unexpected arc through the sky.
But it does! The world is not a machine. It’s a drama. And there is a live author-director, named Jesus, who can and does jump on the set anytime he wants to and boggle the minds of the actors who think they know the script.
What a great reminder to know Jesus is alive, the tomb is empty and anything is possible! Jesus is able to turn things around!
(1) Saul the persecutor of Jesus becomes Paul the proclaimer of Jesus
(2) Aenas the bedridden paralytic is able to walk
(3) Tabitha is brought back from the dead
QUESTION: What has Jesus done in your life that has turned everything around?
