Acts 4:11-12
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
Dear Lord Jesus,
Even though you fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies that you were to be the one chosen to save mankind from sin’s fate, you were rejected by the religious leaders who should have recognized you. You were an illogical choice for them, and they looked for the wrong thing—they wanted an earthly king to save them. For those builders and their logic, they thought salvation would come by keeping your laws, but that’s impossible. We can try to be good, but we slip up and fail, even when we say nice things and do kind, loving things for others; as you said, even our thoughts convict us. Ezekiel wrote, “The soul who sins that one will die,” and sin is in everyone.
However, you did not leave us in our sinful condition. Instead, you willingly became part of your creation, lived the perfect life demanded of us, and then, as you took to be your bride, you—who knew no sin—assumed our sin into yourself. You suffered our punishment when you went to the cross; as Isaiah wrote, “By your stripes, we are healed.” You are our Savior because you restored us to the Father through your life and death. There is no other name or way to be saved other than you. We are saved by believing in and trusting what you have done for us. Here is what is incredible: You also send us your Holy Spirit to spark faith in our hearts that we will confidently know all you have done and trust in the forgiveness you won for us.
So we pray, trusting in your forgiveness, that you will remove all our sins; they shove us from you. Strengthen our trust in You; let our love for You, our cornerstone, motivate us to share Your Word with those who do not know You. So that the Holy Spirit will begin saving faith in them through Your Word. Amen.
Written through Pastor Roger Emmons
We all have faith in something; the foundation on which you place your trust makes all the difference, whether it collapses or stands. Yourself? Others? Or the Creator of the universe? Christ will never shift or change; He is the solid rock and cornerstone.