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The Promise is Still For You · 5-Minutes of Good News

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: The invitation first heard in Jerusalem still reaches across distance, history, and personal failure.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: This final episode brings the week together with a compassionate call to receive the apostle's message personally.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, Christians.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is Dallas Beecham.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Stand by for good news.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Some promises fade with time.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: They belong to another place, another generation or people whose names have long been forgotten.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: But on the day of Pentecost, Peter announced a promise designed to travel.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: After telling the crowd to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and assuring them that they would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, he said, For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Unto you meant the people standing before him.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: To your children carried the promise into the next generation, and to all that are far off, sent hope toward people Peter had never met, lands he had never seen, and days he would never live to witness.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: That promise has reached us.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: The book of Acts is more than a record of what God once did.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is the inspired witness of how the apostles proclaim Christ and how people responded to their gospel.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Again and again, men and women believed, repented, were baptized in the name of Jesus, and received the Holy Ghost.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Across the centuries, customs changed, nations rose and fell, churches gained influence, divided, reformed, and sometimes allowed human tradition to obscure the simplicity of the apostolic message.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yet the words of Acts remained on the page, waiting to be read again.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: That is part of the story told in my new book, From Acts to America.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the story is not complete until it reaches the individual heart.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: We can admire the courage of the apostles without obeying their message.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is possible to defend Christianity as part of our nation's history without personally answering the question.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: What shall we do?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It is even possible to be deeply religious and never compare our experience with the pattern recorded in Acts.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is not said to condemn sincere people.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Many have faithfully followed all they were taught, but love does not hide an open door.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: If Scripture shows us more, grace invites us to walk forward.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: The good news is not that truth does not matter.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: The good news is that God has made the truth known.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: You can repent, you can be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: The promise was not exhausted in Jerusalem.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is not reserved for a favored nationality, denomination, or family.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Peter finished the promise with these words, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: If the word is stirring your heart, you may be hearing that call.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do not answer it with fear.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do not say I have believed something else too long, or what will people think?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: The people at Pentecost had to respond publicly to the message that overturned their understanding.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: About 3,000 gladly received Peter's word and were baptized.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: You are not being asked to abandon hope.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: You are being invited into the first church with a promise.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Open the book of Acts.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Read the second chapter without hurry.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Ask God for an honest heart.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Then let the apostles' answer become personal.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: The promise crossed oceans and centuries to reach you, and today it is still for whosoever will.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: I hope today's message has touched your heart and causes you to have a good day.