Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Holy and righteous Father, I know that now is the time you want me to be fruitful. Today you want me to live for you with passion. Help me put off my religious procrastination. Bless me as I seek to lay aside my fears and inhibitions about following you. Empower me to live with holiness, urgency, and a sense of joyous expectation. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

At that time some people were there with Jesus. These people told Jesus about what happened to some people from Galilee. Pilate killed those people while they were worshiping. Pilate mixed their blood with the blood of the animals they were sacrificing {to God}. Jesus answered, "Do you think this happened to those people because they were more sinful than all other people from Galilee? No, they were not! But if all of you don't change your hearts and lives, then you will be destroyed like those people were! What about those 18 people that died when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think those people were more sinful than all the people that live in Jerusalem? They were not! But I tell you if you don't change your hearts and lives, then you will all be destroyed too!" Jesus told this story: "A man had a fig tree. He planted the tree in his garden. The man came looking for some fruit on the tree, but he found none. The man had a servant that took care of his garden. So the man said to his servant, 'I have been looking for fruit on this tree for three years, but I never find any. Cut it down! Why should it waste the ground?' But the servant answered, 'Master, let the tree have one more year to make fruit. Let me dig up the dirt around it and put on some plant food. Maybe the tree will make fruit next year. If the tree still does not make fruit, then you can cut it down.'"

Related Scripture Readings

God wanted the people to look for him. Maybe they could search all around for him and find him. But he is not far from any of us: 'We live with him. We walk with him. We are with him.' Some of your own writers have said: 'For we are his children.' That's right. We are God's children. So, you must not think that God is like something that people imagine or make. He is not like gold, silver, or rock. In the past, people did not understand God, but God ignored this. But now, God tells every person in the world to change his heart and life. God has decided a day when he will judge all the people in the world. He will be fair. He will use a man (Jesus) to do this. God chose this man long ago. And God has proved this to every person; God proved it by raising that man from death!"

"So, all the Jewish people should know this truly: God has made Jesus to be Lord and Christ. He is the man you nailed to the cross!" When the people heard this, they felt very, very sorry. They asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Peter said to them, "Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Then God will forgive your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you. It is also for your children and for the people that are far away. It is for every person that the Lord our God calls to himself." Peter warned them with many other words; he begged them, "Save yourselves from the evil of the people that live now!" Then those people who accepted (believed) what Peter said were baptized. On that day about 3,000 people were added to the group of believers.

"My brothers, I know you did those things to Jesus because you did not understand what you were doing. Your leaders also did not understand. God said that these things would happen. God said through the prophets that his Christ would suffer and die. I have told you how God made this happen. So you must change your hearts and lives! Come back to God and he will forgive your sins. Then the Lord (God) will give you times of spiritual rest. He will give you Jesus, the One he chose to be the Christ.