Our Only Hope

Dear Friends,

Acts 4:1-31 – whenever the church of Jesus Christ is bold and confident in the message of Jesus, the world tries to silence us. We know in our society that people are trying to silence the church, telling it to keep quiet, and we worry about the future. We must remember that Jesus says that He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it – see Matthew 16.

The early church was not focused on what may happen or the reaction of people. They proclaimed the message of Jesus as Lord and Savour and risen from the dead and they trusted God with the consequences. There is a pattern emerging in the book of Acts that as the church is filled with the Holy Spirit it becomes bold and opposition grows. Peter says that salvation is found only in Jesus – 4:12.

We can’t go to heaven by other routes. Buddhism will not get us there, Islam will not get us there nor will secularism deliver us any hope. In fact secularism says this is all there is and that is why we see the increase of anxiety and depression and hopelessness. Because secularism gives people have nothing to look forward to; if life is bad in this world, then it is very discouraging.

But we have the certain hope of life after death: Jesus has risen from the dead. We must not be intimidated by opposition but instead seek the Lord to be empowered by His Spirit, that we may be bold and, like Peter and John, declare that we must obey God rather than men – 4:19.

We must keep speaking because Jesus is true & He is our Creator & Boss. He commands everyone everywhere to repent of sin and turn to Him. He is our only hope.

God’s blessing David O’Mara

From the 10am Pastor’s Bulletin, 27 Feb 2022