12-16 When Peter saw he had a congregation, he addressed the people:
“Oh, Israelites, why does this take you by such complete surprise, and why stare at us as if our power or piety made him walk? The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his Son Jesus. The very One that Pilate called innocent, you repudiated. You repudiated the Holy One, the Just One, and asked for a murderer in his place. You no sooner killed the Author of Life than God raised him from the dead—and we’re the witnesses. Faith in Jesus’ name put this man, whose condition you know so well, on his feet—yes, faith and nothing but faith put this man healed and whole right before your eyes.
17-18 “And now, friends, I know you had no idea what you were doing when you killed Jesus, and neither did your leaders. But God, who through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that his Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfill his plans.
19-23 “Now it’s time to change your ways! Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you, and send you the Messiah he prepared for you, namely, Jesus. For the time being he must remain out of sight in heaven until everything is restored to order again just the way God, through the preaching of his holy prophets of old, said it would be. Moses, for instance, said, ‘Your God will raise up for you a prophet just like me from your family. Listen to every word he speaks to you. Every last living soul who refuses to listen to that prophet will be wiped out from the people.’
24-26 “All the prophets from Samuel on down said the same thing, said most emphatically that these days would come. These prophets, along with the covenant God made with your ancestors, are your family tree. God’s covenant-word to Abraham provides the text: ‘By your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’ But you are first in line: God, having raised up his Son, sent him to bless you as you turn, one by one, from your evil ways.”
Peter, being filled up by the Holy Spirit, healed the man who was crippled since his birth, and addressed the people as directed by the Holy Spirit. Peter preached with the Spirit to verify that Jesus the crucified was the one promised by God to their ancestors Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. The Holy Spirit illuminated Peter to grasp the full meaning of the Scriptures that he never had before, and the Spirit also empowered Peter to powerfully preach to the inner souls of the audience and invite them to turn their faces to God. Understanding and preaching of the words of God are not merely based on intellectual human faculties but due to the powerful illumination and empowering of the Holy Spirit in Peter's ministry.
My dear Holy Spirit, I also deeply hunger for your works in my life, illuminating my mind that I can grasp the meaning of Your promises in your words, filling up my life with God's love and Jesus' image that I can witness Jesus as the Lord in my ministry. Pl. show me the signs of God's grace in my life that my faith can be strengthened and my way can be straightened as I faithfully follow Your will to glorify your name.
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