Impact



Acts 2:37-41
37Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
40And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”
41So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Have you ever had one of those life-altering moments when everything comes together all at once? You’re in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. I've had a few of those in my life but the first one I can remember is teaching a theology class in a High School. I was a student teacher standing in front of 27 high school juniors and seniors teaching Old Testament history. First we had to establish that I was not 14 (as they claimed I looked) but instead 22 and ready to teach the class. A few minutes into the class, my supervising teacher, who had been observing from the back got up and with a small wave, walked out. I was on my own. I can even still remember the topic of the lesson. It was on what it means to be created in the image of God. My purpose snapped into focus and I’ve never looked back.

Peter is having just such a moment (on a far grander and more important scale) in our reading for today. He has just found out what it means to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through you and has delivered an amazing sermon. He is in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing and he never looks back. Because the Holy Spirit is using Peter inside of the purpose for which he was created the impact is magnificent. Three thousand people become believers in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The Kingdom of God experiences exponential growth. Not only does the Holy Spirit come upon the Peter, enabling his witness, He comes upon the people who hear the message, enabling their faith to be born.

All of us have been created by God to be used for magnificent purposes. When those purposes are defined by God and used by God amazing things happen. What we must be careful with is defining that word “magnificent”. Yes, three thousand souls saved is an amazing thing. But so is a mother holding a child and a dad teaching a kid how to catch a ball. You are capable of magnificent things because God made you to be so. Maybe it’s time to praise God for all of those times when we were allowed to have a positive impact because we were in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.

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