The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him (Acts 5:30-32).
" + "Surely, all of us can admit our holding a grudge or grudges against someone or a group of people. Not only are we able to remember the drama, that is, the incident, and all the players, or culprits, but we are also able to recount all the details of the story. Namely, we can give the setting, we are quite adept at describing the rising action — sometimes embellishing the finer points to highlight how truly painful and cruel a certain incident or incidents were to us and that ours is the morally superior position. Yet, there is never a falling action, or denouement, to our retelling of the drama(s). Alas, the drama(s) remains unresolved, and the players in the drama(s) remain guilty. Remarkable, isn't it, how masterfully we weave these stories of our endurance of pain and how conveniently we forget the parts we played and still play in other people's dramas, that is, the ways in which we inflict pain?
" + "We can learn much from this passage from Acts. Here, Peter addresses the same high priest, captain of the temple, and chief priests, who arrested him and some of the other apostles, commanding them not to teach in Jesus' name. Nevertheless, they preached because their allegiance was not to the court of public opinion, but, rather to the kingdom of God. They preached that the crucified and rejected Jesus is the Resurrected One. It is rather interesting how Peter reminds his audiences of this particular fact whenever he preaches (Acts 2:22 — 23; Acts 3:13 — 16; Acts 5:30 — 32). The question is: Is Peter only reminding his audience
" + "Surely, we remember Peter. This Peter assured Jesus of his allegiance even unto death (Matthew 26:31 — 35; Mark 14:27 — 31; Luke 22:31 — 34; John 13:36 — 38). Yet, this same Peter, when the opportunity came to stand with Jesus, denied him three times and fled in disgrace. Nevertheless, we must not forget that Jesus had already forgiven him; Jesus informed Peter of the betrayal. Jesus alerted Peter of Satan's foul intentions, and Jesus prayed that Peter's strength remain so that when he returned to his brethren he might strengthen his brethren (Luke 22:31 — 32). See, Peter's sermons were, for the apostle, a rehearsal not only of the story of his betrayal and his ":victimization": by the devil, but also of the forgiveness Jesus made available to him, that is, the mercy and grace of God operating in his life. Peter could only preach forgiveness of sins because of his walking in forgiven-ness.
" + "The truth is that we wrestle with unforgiveness because we relate most to the crucified Jesus, that is, we see the crucifixion as validating our suffering, indeed as placing our suffering above the pain and suffering we inflict. This perversion of Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary, this idolatry of suffering, ultimately leads to the satanic statement: ‘Nothing I've done to you compares to what you've done to me.' Brothers and sisters, we fail to see how fluid the intercourse of oppressing and being oppressed is. Such judgment, unforgiveness, bitterness, and unmercifulness imprison us in crippling despair and disallow us to perceive the Resurrected One in our midst. These things keep us in the past and prevent us from discerning hope in the present and for the future. The Resurrected One comes to us bearing the wounds from his crucifixion (John 20:24 — 29), and Jesus keeps on coming inviting us into his forgiving embrace that we might go forth and do the same.
" + "Thus, our prayer should not only be ":Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,": (Luke 23:34) but we should also pray ":Father, forgive me for sometimes I knew not and still know not what I do.": We should pray that God reveal to us the pain we have inflicted and still may be inflicting. We should pray that God continues to reveal to us the ways in which we are still imprisoned in unforgiveness and the ways in which we have not shown mercy to and still judge those, who may have hurt us. We must release them. In so doing, we release ourselves. Jesus Christ has already released us. He told us that Satan desires to ":sift us like wheat": (Luke 22:31), but our Advocate and Mediator continues to make intercession for us to the Father. And, if we but obey his command to strengthen our brothers and sisters when we have been converted — though it be difficult — do not forget that we have another Comforter, because ":where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty": (2 Corinthians 3:17).
" + "Brothers and sisters, let's resolve to re-write these dramas in our lives, by committing to write the denouement, or falling action, right on through the resolution in Jesus Christ. Let us break down the walls of pride and hate, judgment, unforgiveness and unmercifulness that continue to separate us from others. We know who we must we forgive. Let's do it. In this way, we bypass the issues of the flesh that have heretofore imprisoned us and defined our way of being in the world and touch the heart of Christ, which quickens us and allows us the live the Resurrected Life in the here now. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all!
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