27th July 2010

Acts 2:14-41 – Peter addresses the Crowd

• Peter uses a form of Jewish exegesis and drashes the Psalms.
• To help move people forward and to help them successfully repent there are a number of things he does that I can learn from.
• He links the past to the future. This is important – we will see why shortly. He shows how what has just happened was all part of a historical plan. This is not a new direction that God has had to think up on the spot because He was outmaneuvered.
• He still loves; he is strong but has not given up on those he is trying to influence.
• These things are important because it enables the crowd to do the things it needs to do to successfully repent.
• They still call him brother. They don’t shoot the messenger but appreciate the one bringing the message as stinging as it is to their hearts.
• They do not wait to be told that they should change but they pro-actively ask; what should we do?
• The Jewish word for repentance is t’shuvah – meaning; turning; returning.
• Perhaps the biggest failure in the way we repent. The thing that stops me seeing any real change is because my understanding of the English word repent does not give me a full understanding of repentance.
• We turn but we rarely return.
• We turn away from something and ask forgiveness but rarely pro-actively ask what we should return to.
• A great prayer for successful repentance?
• “Turn us to you, O Adonai, and we will be turned” – Lamentations 5:21
• The signs of failing repentance that does not change us:
• We shoot the messenger.
• We are forced to change.
• We turn from but do not return to.