The Successors to Jesus.
Scripture: 2 Peter 1:1
Simon Peter, a servant, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Later, after Pentecost, we see the effects of Jesus\’ efforts. We see Peter, for example, acting just like Him. If we could have followed Peter around, we would have thought that we were seeing Jesus. He was bold, like Jesus. He healed, like Jesus. He walked in authority, like Jesus. He cast out devils, like Jesus. He even started teaching the lifestyle of faith to others, just as Jesus had done. The devil, however, knew that he couldn\’t take such developments lying down. He realized that if this lineage of faith were established, it would control his operations in the earth. So he fought back by trying to convince these new believers to turn faith from a lifestyle into a religious term. Eventually he succeeded in getting the Word of God completely out of the hands of ordinary men and hidden away in monasteries. The absence of God\’s Word during that time gave birth to what history calls the Dark Ages.
But God raised up a man named Martin Luther.
Luther started digging around in those places where the Word of God was hidden, and he came out Preaching, \”The just shall live by faith!” My life before all must be an example of faith. I am held responsible by God not only for passing the life of faith to my children, but also for seeing to it that they, in turn, pass it down to their children. We do not suggest we pass religion to our children but active working faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.