Responding. Turning, Trusting, and Beginning to Walk With God

Read the passage first

Read Acts 2:36–42, then Romans 10:9–13 and Ephesians 2:1–10. Finish with John 1:12 and Matthew 6:9–13.

This is the last lesson on the path. The earlier lessons told what God has done. This one is about what remains: how we respond. And that is a question for today.

What happens in this passage

The first question from people who heard the news (Acts 2:36 to 42). After Jesus rose from the dead he stayed with his disciples another forty days, then returned to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to be with them as he had promised. That day Peter, the same man who had once denied Jesus out of fear, stands up in the middle of Jerusalem and tells the whole story to thousands of people, ending with a heavy sentence: the Jesus they crucified, God has made both Lord and Christ.

The hearers are cut to the heart, and they ask the most direct question in the Bible: then what should we do? (verse 37). Peter answers: repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, so that your sins will be forgiven, and you will receive the Holy Spirit. About three thousand people respond that day, and verse 42 tells what they did afterward: they learned the teaching, lived life together, ate together, and prayed together. Responding to Jesus does not end with one person's decision. It begins a new life shared with others.

Paul's short summary (Romans 10:9 to 13). Paul sums up what to do in a single sentence: if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. The two go together: a heart that trusts, and a mouth that dares to say it. And he stresses that this offer has no exceptions. Whatever nation, whatever background, everyone who calls on him will be saved (verse 13). There is no "except people who grew up the way you did."

The gift first, then the new life (Ephesians 2:1 to 10). Paul explains that before this we were like dead people where God is concerned, not merely sick but dead, and a dead person cannot help himself. Then God, full of love, made us alive together with Christ. Verses 8 to 9 are the heart of the whole book: we are saved by grace, through faith, not because of anything we did. It is a gift, and God made it a gift precisely so that no one could boast of having achieved it.

But do not stop reading at verse 9. Verse 10 goes on to say that God made us new in order that we would do good. The order matters enormously. Not doing good in order to be saved, but being saved and therefore doing good. Like the son in Jesus' story, who did not work to buy his way home, but once home lived as a son. Good works are the fruit of the tree, not the price of planting it.

Being a child, and calling him Father (John 1:12 and Matthew 6:9 to 13). John says that everyone who receives Jesus and believes in him is given by God the right to be a child of God. Not a hired hand, not a follower who has to prove himself, but a child. And Jesus teaches us to pray beginning with the word Father, and then to talk about ordinary things: that God's kingdom would come, bread for today, forgiveness, protection from evil. This prayer is not a chant to be recited correctly. It is an example of how a child talks to a father.

How this points to Jesus

The whole path you have walked, from the garden of Eden to the empty tomb, ends in a single question: how will you respond to Jesus? I want to be clear about what that question means, and what it does not mean.

• It is not changing your nationality or your culture. Responding to Jesus does not mean you stop being Thai, stop loving your family, or look down on what your parents taught you. Thai people who trust Jesus are still fully Thai, still honor their parents, still love their homeland. What changes is that one person becomes the center of life instead of yourself: Jesus.
• It is not making yourself good enough first. The thief on the cross came with empty hands. The three thousand in Acts 2 had been in the city that shouted for Jesus to be crucified only weeks before. Paul himself had hunted Christians. No one in the Bible came to Jesus because they were ready. Everyone came because they needed him.
• It is trusting a person. The heart of this is not agreeing with every point of doctrine, or understanding everything first. It is turning to trust Jesus: that he is who he said he is, and that what he did on the cross was for you, and then letting him be the owner of your life. Like looking at the serpent on the pole. Like sitting inside the house with blood on the door.
• And this invitation belongs to today. Jesus began his work by announcing that the time has come, the kingdom of God has drawn near: repent and believe the good news (Mark 1:15, which we read in lesson 11). Paul writes that now is the time of God's favor; today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). And the Bible warns: if you hear his voice today, do not harden your heart (Hebrews 3:15).
• Because time is not in our hands. No one knows what tomorrow will bring. Our life is like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14). Time is in God's hands, not ours, and for some people tomorrow will not come. The thief on the cross had no tomorrow. The three thousand in Acts 2 did not go home to think it over for years; they responded the same day they heard. If God has not yet brought everything to an end today, it is not because he is slow. It is because he is patient, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to repent (2 Peter 3:9). His patience is time given for us to turn back, not time to put it off.
• Do not wait. You do not have to understand everything first. Bring the questions you still have to him. But do not put off your answer. God warns us about this because he loves us, not to threaten us. If you have read this far and know in your heart that this is true, today is the day to respond. Speak to God now, in your own words, or use the prayer at the end of this lesson.

If you say yes today, the next steps are simple. There are four.

• Tell the person walking through this with you. They will be overjoyed, and will help you find a Thai-speaking church to keep walking with.
• Keep reading the Bible every day. A good place to start is the book of Luke or John, the whole book, one chapter at a time, without hurry.
• Pray every day. Talk to God simply, the way a child talks to a father: thank him, ask for help, confess, tell him what is going on.
• Ask every question you have. No question is foolish. Use the question box in this app, or ask the person walking with you.

Words to know

The word baptism (บัพติศมา) means being dipped in water in front of others, to declare that you trust Jesus and are beginning a new life with him. It is not a ceremony that saves. It announces a faith that is already there, the way a wedding announces a love that already exists. It is usually done at a church, with other believers present.

The word church (คริสตจักร) does not mean a building. It means the people who trust Jesus and gather together to learn the Bible, pray, sing, and care for one another, like the people in Acts 2:42. In Thailand there are Thai-speaking churches in nearly every province.

The phrase child of God (ลูกของพระเจ้า, or บุตรของพระเจ้า), when used of believers, means the new relationship God gives: not that we become God, but that we become children in his household, with the right to call him Father.

Reflect

1. The people in Acts 2 asked, "Then what should we do?" and answered that same day. If you asked God that question today, what would the answer be for you, and what is still holding you back?
2. Ephesians 2:8 to 10 says salvation is a gift and good works are the fruit that follows. Is that order different from what you had thought? If so, where is it hardest to accept?
3. Looking back over all fourteen lessons, which lesson or which picture has stayed with you most? Why do you think that is?

Pray

"God, I understand now that I have turned my back on you, and that I cannot make myself clean. Thank you that Jesus died in my place and rose from the dead. I turn back to you. I believe in Jesus, and I ask him to be the owner of my life from today. Let the Holy Spirit come and be with me, and teach me to walk with you. Amen."