Bright Thursday; The Holy Virgins and Martyrs Agapia, Irene and Chionia (284-305)
Read
John 3:1-15; Acts 2:38-4
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
In today’s epistle, we hear about some of the earliest evangelical preaching in the Church. The message is simple: Repent, be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In this one day, three thousand were converted to Christ!
For us, what does this mean? First, we need to take Peter’s preaching to heart in our own lives. We need to repent continually—to continually turn our hearts back to Jesus Christ. In order to do this, we should examine ourselves regularly in order both to identify God’s blessings in our lives and to identify where we fall short and sin. Having done this, we know where to begin in our turning back to Christ. If we do this continually, we will be richly blessed. We will have lives full of joy and generosity. We may not perform many wonders and signs as the apostles did, but our lives will exude the grace of Christ and will inevitably win souls for Christ!
Second, Peter’s simple preaching should provide a blueprint for us when we bring the Gospel to others. It’s simple! Repent, be baptized in the name of Him Who is risen from the dead, and you will receive the Holy Spirit. We need to tailor this message to the audience we are trying to reach, but the core message is remarkably simple. We don’t need to go into the theology of the Trinity or the Incarnation or this or that at first (this comes later!). We need to simply speak of what wonders the Lord has worked in our lives and how we live as a result. For someone whose heart is open to Christ, this will speak to them.