His Power Through His People

Welcome to Verse by Verse. Thank you so much for joining us as we take a look at the book of Acts. We take things nice and slowly as we look and see what God is doing in the big picture of expanding the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. My name is David Humphrey, and I'm the pastoral care and missions pastor here at United City Church in Humboldt, Texas. We're excited to be your church family while you're incarcerated, but we're gonna be even more excited when you get out and you can come and be a part of our church in person. We love you very much. Please grab your Bible and a journal, perhaps a pen, and be ready to take some notes and let's learn together through the book of Acts. Much for joining us. Those of you that are online, we're so glad that you're here and getting to watch as we jump back into Acts chapter three. We're already there, and so that's exciting. I want to share just a little bit that is related to Bible reading and not just Acts three in the beginning, because our groups team just finished this book. This is about a 20-year-old book. If you've never read it, I encourage you to do so.

It's called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, and it's written by Eugene Peterson. He was a pastor for decades. He helped in the development of the message, which was a version of the Bible that translated into modern vernacular. It's a great, great version. This is a book that goes through the Psalms of ascents and just shares some really great things about it. Peterson is a great, great read. We just finished that. Four things that stood out to me from this book, and I just want to share this with you because it's just so great about your own personal Bible reading. My hope is that as you learn the Bible in this room, that some of the ways that we learn about the Bible, you're actually, that translates into the way you read the Bible at home. That's what I want. I want you to learn to better digest the word of God for yourself, right? To be self-feeders. Remember when your kids were little and you fed them? Guess what? Nobody in here's little, right? We have to learn to self-feed, to open that Bible and know how to take it in. So this is the four words that he used to encourage you how to engage with the Bible,

and I agree with all of them. The first one is read it slowly. Read it slowly. I think we're really good at that in here, okay? We read it slowly. And what's the benefit of reading it slowly? You digest it better, you understand it better. Guys, all of us in the room, we've read the same thing over and over and over, and it just, there's new life in it every time. So I think one of the biggest things that people miss in Bible reading is they go too fast. They're just, oh, I gotta read chapter three. Oh, I did it, great. And that is great. And what did you read? Like, it is great. Anytime you can ingest the word of God is great. So I'm not throwing stones at anybody. I'm just telling you, slow down. And sometimes for me, slow down is read it and then read it again and then again. Like, you cannot overdose on the Bible, okay? Read it slowly. Read it, this is what I like, imaginatively. Imaginatively. So I think this is something else that we do in here pretty well. What did I mean by that? Use your holy imagination to fill in some of the gaps, okay?

What I mean is it's sort of like some of you guys like the chosen, okay? The chosen is not word for word every single thing that the Bible says. They have to take some liberties to imagine what might have been the look on Mary's face, right? Or what might have been happening around them. And so we try, as we study the Bible together, to look at some of those things and think about them. But you just have to use your holy imagination. It's not like your holy imagination. You're not adding things to the Bible. The Bible says what the Bible says, and it says everything that we need. But think behind it. Think about, I wonder what Peter was thinking when he said that. Tonight we're gonna talk about a lame man being healed. I wonder what his family thought when their baby, who from birth he was lame, and all of a sudden he's walking and jumping and praising God. That's what I mean by being imaginative. Think beyond the words on the page because these are stories of real life accounts. So read it slowly, read it imaginatively. Imaginatively, I love this one, read it prayerfully. Okay, what does that mean? It means a lot of things. Pray the Bible.

I don't know if any of you have, have any of you in the room ever taken a passage and prayed that passage in the Bible? Guys, that's a great thing to do. Like Psalms is the easiest one to do it because you know, you can literally just kind of read it out to the Lord, you know? But that's not the only one. Like if you read Peter and John, we're going to the temple at the hour of prayer and a man lame from birth was being carried, you know what, you could stop and pray that. God, don't let me miss someone when I'm going into church today. Let the scripture speak into your prayers and also be prayerful like, God, I want to hear what you have to say. I'm feeling keyed up, slow me down. So read it prayerfully. And the last one is read it obediently. Guys, we need to bow to the Bible. Sometimes in the scripture, as in the passage tonight, there is an example to follow, right? So that's read it obediently. Sometimes the obedience of reading your Bible is there's a sin I need to confess. Maybe there's an action you need to take. So those four, I think those are four really great words for how to read your Bible. Read it slowly, read it imaginatively,

read it prayerfully and read it obediently. So long obedience in the same direction, Eugene Peterson, great, great book. All right, now back to our slow, imaginative, prayerful and obedient study, right, of the book of Acts. All right, so I want us to get caught up before we launch into chapter three. It's been a couple of weeks. Obviously the Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Holy Trinity has arrived to stay. He is alive in the lives of every Christ believer. And when the Holy Spirit fell, he gave them supernatural abilities to share the gospel in a language they didn't know how to speak. That's just what we've been talking about, right? For the last several weeks, 12 or so, I think. So that was amazing. And you know what I got to thinking? How many of you have ever known someone and you wondered, are they a believer or not? Everybody, right? Sometimes we're just like, they sort of act like a believer, but I'm just not 100% sure, right, that they truly accept it. You know, on this day, there was no doubt who was a believer and who wasn't. I thought that was really cool to think about that, right? I mean, the Spirit fell on the ones that were truly believing, there was no hiding. God said, these are the ones

and these are the ones that are not. Pretty powerful to think about that, right? Kind of be nice sometimes if we're like, can I just be sure? You know, because we've all maybe got someone you know, someone you care about, and you're just a little bit iffy. Well, this day, there was no iffy. We knew, because tongues of fire were over their heads. Right, it's like, these are the ones. So that day, we remember over 3,000 turned to Christ when Peter preached. Then they start organizing themselves and they committed themselves to the Word of God, to doing life together in community. Remember, they ate together, they worshiped together, they prayed together, they had the Lord's Supper together. And then God just kept adding to them daily, more and more, all just people getting saved all the time. So that's pretty much Acts chapter one and Acts chapter two. So we're really getting into some interesting stuff starting tonight, guys. Because we just thought it was good so far, we're really just barely getting started. Acts chapter three, we're gonna read verses one through 10 tonight, this story of what happened next. Okay, so Acts chapter three, verse one says the following. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried,

whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said, look at us. He fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. He took him by the right hand and raised him up and immediately his feet and ankles were made. strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Right? I mean, guys, this is something. I mean, remember chapter two, verse 43 had said that the apostles were doing signs and wonders. So what we don't know about that, that verse, because it says all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done by the hands of the apostles. We don't know if that means there were other signs and wonders that happened before this one, or if verse chapter two, verse 43 is just describing now what's happening because, you know, Luke is writing it from the, you know, afterward. But what we know is this is the first miracle recorded in the Bible at the hands of the apostles. It's the first time one of the apostles has done what Jesus had been doing. Okay. What was the difference maker? The Holy Spirit, the main character of this whole book. They didn't have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. And we've talked about that. The Holy Spirit, he said, Jesus said, you will receive what when the Holy Spirit comes power. Well, guess what? They are plugged in.

They're doing stuff that they couldn't do before. So I want us to see sort of what's happening. It's possible that there may have been other miracles before this, but this was the one that Luke recorded. Excuse me. So let's just walk our way through it. Like we like to do verse one, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. So why are Peter and John going to the temple going to pray? Okay. That's pretty obvious. If you remember the description of the way that they were doing things in verse 46 of chapter two, it said day by day, they were attending where the temple together. So chapter three, we see it. Okay. They're doing what they said. This was normal. This is what they were doing. These guys, you have to remember, we're still Jewish. They are believers, but they are still Jewish. They are participating in the worship that their people had experienced for centuries. So they didn't say, oh, the temple's bad and gone. And what they did is they were doing, going into the temple as they had been. Don't you know, they saw everything that was happening in the temple through a totally different lens. Oh, it's making more sense now because they understood the Messiah and they had him and they had the Holy Spirit, but they kept going to the temple. And now they're also gathering in homes and gathering around the apostles teaching and those things. So that's, so they didn't take away the temple. They added to it. You remember, Jesus also spent a lot of time in the temple because those were places where whether the people were saved or not, they were gathering to seek God, right? So they were, that was a place where you could go and spend time with people that, that that was their, that what they did. So I will tell you just a spoiler alert, a little bit later in the book of Acts, there's actually going to be a break where the believers are not going to keep going to the temple. Okay. So we'll see that a little bit later in Christian history, but that has not happened yet. They are still going to the temple each day at the time of prayer. I didn't even look it up. Does anybody remember what the hour of prayer, the ninth hour is? I know it's not nine o'clock, three o'clock. Okay. So at the three o'clock let's go. They had regular spiritual rhythms. Okay. I encourage you. You need to have some rhythms in your life. Like there should be time set aside for this and for that. Yes, Dave. You know, back to talk about how to read the Bible. I can't help, but as I read this, they're going to the temple, that curtain that separated the holy of holies was... That's right.

So I mean, that had to be something for them as believers. Right. Understanding what happened. Yeah. So dramatically different temple, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's interesting. And as you look at Christian history unfold, the worship in the temple actually just kind of starts to fade out because what they had been doing. Very, very different. So that is where we are. That's how we've got it. So I want us to see that they were just going and doing what all the others were doing. So now let's take a look at what was what happened. Says they got there three o'clock and kind of on their way in. There was a man, lame from birth, who was being carried. And they laid him daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. It's logical why they would choose that as a place that we might we might get a little help here. Does anyone know what alms means? Yeah, it is usually financial help. But in the Jewish tradition and in a lot of world religions, not just Christianity, alms is it's part of the religion. It's that we give to help the poor. OK, I remember I think it was early last year. Might have been. Yeah, I believe it was early 2024. We were in India and I was on a mission trip and we were at a holy site that we were going out. It was kind of out on a on a jutted out place. And that's where a place where they believe one of their holy priests or something. I don't remember what they had done. It didn't make a lot of impact on me, the story of what had happened at this site. But it was a it was a tourist type site. And so we went and as we walked out on that sort of little isthmus, there were there were beggars and lepers and all sorts of people along the way. You know, with you, maybe some of you have experienced this or seen this in places, disfigured. And they just had their little hands out or they might have a little cup because they thought, oh, OK, religious people are in the mindset of doing something good. Right. Of thinking about God.

This is a place where I might get some help. So a couple of things I think about. Number one, I wonder if Peter and John were walking to the temple expecting to do a miracle. You don't think so? The Bible doesn't tell us. So I think it is within the realm of possibility that they could have been walking up with expectant hearts. But but because it doesn't say that, it makes me think maybe they're just doing their normal thing. Yeah, maybe so. I think I kind of feel like they're just their spiritual discipline is, hey, three o'clock we go, you know, and just there we are. So maybe they were just going through that. But let's look at this man and look at how he is described. First of all, a man, of course, as we said, lame from birth. Guys, it's one thing to have had an accident. Right. And to lose your ability to walk. That happens. Or even with, you know, even just with old age or something like that, that can happen. We know that. But guys, this man has never walked a day in his life. This little baby, when the other little babies his age at two are toddling around, nothing, no, no crawling, no toddling, no anything. And so we don't know how old this man was. He might have been 20. He might have been 80. There's no description. But look at how he got to the gate. How did he get to the gate? Carried. So you wonder, OK, who carried him? Might have been friends. Might have been family. You know, could have been his brothers or something. We we don't know that. How often did they carry him? Daily. Guys, I think that would be number one. Think about life from that man's perspective. Every day. Maybe I'll get a little something, but he wasn't going every day with an expectation that I'm going to be healed. He was going every day with an expectation that these religious people are going to give me a little something, something, and I can make it another day till they carry me home. Denise. Yeah, it definitely is possible. I mean, you know, the news was getting out. But but what he had not ever heard was they're doing miracles at the temple gate because there's no other you know, there's there's no other recording of this as being the practice.

Right. So he might have heard, you know, who knows if maybe that guy had heard of Jesus. It's not you know, it's not too long before this that Jesus had walked the earth doing the same exact kind of miracles. Right so yeah exactly so you just may not have had the expectation you just don't know but this is what I'm talking about that Peterson was talking about this is see we're being imaginative right now in our Bible reading thinking about how it might have been so does this does this guy remind you of anyone in the Gospels yeah remember the guy Jesus was teaching the crowds were gathered around so much and so they remember what they did with the roof they got up on top of the house carry the guy up there scratch his way and then lowered him down like this this is a wild story and and then Jesus said he was actually forgiving the guy's sins remember and then he got him walk that was just another story all together you can look that one up it's a great one but this is a this is an interesting spot this this gate that they actually I didn't just talk about it's just a gate they actually give it a name because this is a specific place called the beautiful gate and they they believe there's we're not absolutely certain but but most archaeologists believe that this is a gate that was actually there's a there's a spot there and the I think it was on the eastern side but it's actually a made this gate is actually truly beautiful it's made of imported Corinthian bronze so this is like a spectacular sight that they saw and and a one commentator that I looked at said that in Greek the word beautiful actually carries the sense of like ripe or perfectly developed or at the right time so I kind of think maybe there's there's a little something that that God is saying there like this is the right time for this guy he wasn't expecting his miracle but but like his miracle is about to happen and I also find it interesting as we as we look at at miracles and the way they play out because I don't know if you've noticed by now but I've never seen two miracles take place the same way in the Bible you know sometimes we're getting mud on the ground and sticking on your eyes and sometimes the person who is receiving the miracle is required to have faith other times it doesn't say anything about their faith like there's there's

nothing about this man's faith in this miracle maybe he had faith maybe he didn't we know afterward he started having faith and we'll talk about that but we see no evidence of his faith beforehand anyway so I I like the way that he lays it out if you look at verse 3 seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple he asked to receive alms so I suspect he asked most everybody that went by he wasn't just waiting for somebody to get pointed he's like anybody that will so it's not that they just got it but but it says seeing Peter and John they were about to go in he asked for alms then look at look at how Luke says this Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said look at us okay he probably did he probably did cuz he's actually gonna get more forceful with the next statement that he's about to say I think he probably spoke you know he probably like hey look over here he's like hey look at us Peter is suddenly full of authority but even before he said that I want to comment for just a second at the beginning of verse 4 Peter directed his gaze at him every one of us in this room have experienced seeing someone in our path in extreme need and we do not always direct our gaze do we sometimes what do we do right you see him here on the road and you're like I'm not gonna make eye contact I'm not gonna make eye contact because if I make eye contact I'm gonna feel even worse and there can be good reasons not you know just I understand all this so we don't need to go into the ins and outs of who you should help and all those things I think we need to be careful with that doesn't mean that we do not help but guys it's dangerous when you actually fix your eyes on somebody because you know I was I was driving through on my trip a couple of weeks ago I drove through New Orleans and guys New Orleans has a lot of homeless people you think we have a lot in Houston New Orleans is a lot more homeless people and when you look at a homeless person you need to remember that is somebody's son. That is someone's daughter. That is a man, that is a woman for whom Christ died. Someone's father, someone's mother, right? There's so, there are a million reasons why a person could be homeless or in need like that, but that was kind of something I thought about, sort of related to this. Things changed

when Peter fixed his gaze. He fixed his attention on that man. I almost feel like the Holy Spirit was like, this one, something's about to happen here. So that's what happened. He says, he fixed his gaze on him as did John. So they both looked and said, look at us. So look who else, the next guy fixes his attention. He fixed his attention on them, but he was expecting what? To receive something. What do you think he was expecting to receive? Money. Yeah, just another couple of guys. These guys look nice. You know, maybe they'll help. They were, he was not expecting what was coming, but it says he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. I like to think of it this way. He had asked too little. He didn't know he had asked too little. He just asked the only thing he thought about asking, but he didn't have the faith to ask for a miracle. I think, you know what? He expected to get money, but just like Peter and John, we have the privilege as people of faith of pointing people's gaze higher than their current thought. He was just thinking like this, you know, just, and Peter and John were like, oh no, no, no, no. Let's look up here. Right? Wait, there's more. Then Peter's statement, like this is just, this is classic. I love it. Peter said, I have no silver or gold, but what I do have, I give to you. And here comes the next forceful statement. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And there's an exclamation point there. Guys, he did not say, Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you try this and let's see if I've got enough faith for it. He is telling a man who has never stood up a day in his life in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Wow. Let's think about what he said and how he said it. It's a command. It was not a question. It was not a suggestion. It's like, you know, it's one thing we've, a lot of us in the room are parents, right? And it's one thing when you give your kid, Hey, here's something that you could do. It's another thing when you say, go clean up your room. And then they don't do it. And we're like, did you not understand what I said? And they're like, they're treating, and we've all said it as parents, right? That was not a suggestion, right? That was an imperative. So that's, that's not what we got. He's speaking an imperative, do this. And then look, but I love how he says it. He says

in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Now, why do you think he said Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Clarifying which Jesus. Okay. I think, I think he's, I think he's trying to speak a lot specifically about who this Jesus is with that statement. Cause he could have just said in the name of Jesus. Nope. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You know that guy, son of God, Jesus Christ, because Christ means Messiah. He could have just as well. Basically what he was saying is Jesus, the Messiah. Oh, you know, the one that's that same Jesus kid that grew up in Nazareth, just right down the road. That one, that's who I'm speaking of. He is the Christ. He is the son of the living God. Remember what, when Peter said that, Jesus said, who do you say that I am? He said, you're the Christ. You're the son of the living God. And then Jesus said on this rock, which is that statement, the rock of your statement, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So he spoke out in the name of Jesus, the Messiah who came from Nazareth. He is son of God, Jesus. Christ, right, he's from heaven, but he's also from Nazareth, son of man, all right there. So, he's also saying in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to say by what authority he is commanding him to do something. He's like, I'm not saying this in my name. He said, I am Peter, now get up and walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Because think about what Jesus said. Remember when Jesus said, I give you what, what did he say he gave to the disciples? Power and authority. In other words, you got my authority, guys, I have some authority in this church. Look, I've got keys that you don't have. I can get into places that you don't have. Guess what? Lane doesn't have all these keys either. Lane has some keys.

Yeah. He's got one of these. He's got a fob, but so he can get in the door over here. Y'all like, that's why I'm gonna call Lane next time. David doesn't answer the phone right, but guys, but you see, I've been given some authority and there are times when I'll hand Lane these keys and then he can go get into places that he couldn't get into because I have the authority to give him because I've been given that authority. I've been entrusted with authority. So the disciples had been entrusted with authority to do things in the name of Jesus that they couldn't do in their own names. So that's what's happening here and it just, it just gets better and better guys. Take a look at what happens here. I love, I love this. Not only did he, they say in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. He actually then did what? He took his hand. He didn't just say, rise and walk. Come on. Up, up, up. I just think this is a beautiful mixture of, I expect God is doing a miracle right now, but I'm also, I'm a part of it. Dave, what were you thinking? If you read this in the Amplified Bible. Oh yeah, let's hear it. There in the verse where he says, stand up and walk. It says, begin to walk and go on walking. Okay. It says that, but then it, you know, again, it comes alive, it's Peter, keep that in mind, the big fisherman. Yeah.

But he, it says, he seized the man's right hand with a firm grip and raised him up. Yeah. So you could see Peter just grab him and say, you know, cause that guy may not have believed that he could stand up. Exactly. And I, that's why I think this is a beautiful mixture of the faith of Peter helping call out the faith of this man. Carol, what were you going to say? I think we mimic God. Yes. A lot of times. That he can, he can do above and beyond the faith or even a magic. Yes. He can do. We don't think that we have the power to ask for, but we do have the power to ask. We do. We do. We have the power to do this and to, and to, and to speak and help them with their faith. To me, that's what the picture is. I think the man was probably kind of struggling with his faith, you know, like I've never, I've never, you know, can I do that? But Peter's like, no, no, no. You can, you can. Kathy? So question, would they have been untouchable, like the lepers? Like you're not supposed to, would that have been? That's a great question. I don't think that a lame person had that same status. Now they were definitely kind of a low, you know, I mean, there were people were often would think, oh, a person is dealing with this because of sin.

Maybe the sin of the parents. Remember when Jesus was brought the, who did this? Was it because of his parents sins or whose? So I think that could have been part of it, but this is not the same as, as like a leper. Yes, Denise? I think it comes every day of his life out there, probably zero interaction with anybody. And then not only does Peter and John stop to talk to him, but then they speak with power and authority and tell him to get up. And you can just see him going, okay. I know. Yes. Yes. Greg, were you gonna say something? Yeah. Before we became believers, we were formed like this guy was, by our sins. And the Holy Spirit convicted us to accept Christ as our Savior. It's kind of an analogy, the same type of thing here. It is. It's a beautiful analogy, right? Of like Jesus himself. Yes. down to us in our helpless condition, right? In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, come back to life. Wow, yes. I was thinking that even as Christians, sometimes we're trying to do things on our own, and we will do this for this person and this for this person, and then we'll say, well, all we can do is pray, when that should be the very first thing.

Right. Oh, guess what, guys? We get to pray. We can pray, right? That ought to be our attitude toward it. So I just think this is a beautiful mixture here of Peter's faith, because guys, when Peter said, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk, Peter believed that man was going to get up and walk. I know he had the faith. God, he's just coming off of 3,000 people getting saved and the Holy Spirit coming down, so he is full of faith, and so he's reaching down to someone who is not full of faith to pull them up, and guys, if that's not an analogy for us as believers, guys, we need to reach down to those, not look down like, oh, you should have more faith, but help them. What were you gonna say? Wouldn't you assume that he was there daily? Uh-huh. Wouldn't you assume that Peter and John were going to the temple daily? Mm. So they might have passed him more than once, but the beggar's sitting there with his eyes down. He's not gonna make eye contact with anybody.

He's just gonna hold his hand. Yeah. But the Holy Spirit, at this day, when John and Peter got there, they told him, said, hey, this is what you're gonna do. That's why he stopped them. Yeah, they're being guided by the Holy Spirit now, because they had not had that Holy Spirit. That's a good point. They might have, before the Holy Spirit came, they might have seen this guy 100 times. I was just gonna say that it shows from the very beginning here in this that it's in God's time. It is, yes. Not ours, not anybody else's. Yes, the man was there daily and not expecting anything, but when God, when it was the right time. That's right. Even back then? Mm-hmm, that's right. But he probably wasn't the only person that was there. No, and that's always, when you see scripture and you see Jesus reaching down and healing this one and healing that one, we don't ever talk about all the ones that didn't get healed. Right. But God has his plans and God has what he's gonna do, and this was this man's day, and so he took him by the right hand,

he raised him up, and look, immediately, his feet and ankles were made strong. Guys, immediately is a big word. What's that? There's a sense of urgency about the hole. Yeah, it's all happening pretty fast. He's gonna get up and walk and he's reaching out and grabbing him. Yeah. The beggar has time to think. Well, I don't know how to walk. I know. But yeah, think about what happened in that second. Millisecond, right? Guys, if you don't walk, your legs, you do not have the muscles that will hold you up. Your ankles don't know how, I mean, there's so many things, that's why a baby, right, it is normal for a baby to lay there and they're all kinda pudgy and they're just kinda floppy, and you can hold them and they just, because they don't have strength in their legs yet, and they get it by crawling. You guys know how it works, but all this happened immediately. Immediately, this guy, can you just imagine the infusion into his body? His body that was limp suddenly became muscular,

and he had the strength he needed to just get up. Guys, this is not like rehab. You know, people lose their ability to walk and oh, okay, we're gonna learn to walk again, right? This is like, nope, I know how, immediately. Not only did he know how to walk, he was walking and knew how to jump. Guys, it's one thing to walk, it's another thing to jump. Okay, some of you guys are thinking, I don't wanna, I don't jump anymore, right? But guys, this guy is walking and leaping and praising God. I love that. There's a little kid's song about that, but we won't sing it right now. Some of y'all probably know it. But look, it doesn't, it all happened so fast, he didn't have to do anything. I find that really interesting. Really, because he doesn't even have to reach his hand. You notice that? Peter took him by the hand, by the right hand, raised him up, immediately the feet and ankles were made strong, and then he didn't just stand up, he leaped up. Guys, going from laying down your entire life to leaping up. And it says here, he stood and then began to walk, just like you said, the verb tense of that Greek word is not just walk, but is, and keep on walking. Okay, so it says here that he says he leapt up,

he stood, began to walk, and entered the temple with them. This is, I just love this, walking and leaping and praising God. I wonder how many people on a day-to-day basis were walking and leaping and praising God into the temple. Something tells me that probably wasn't the normal pattern. Okay. I have not seen a single one of you walk into worship, walking and leaping and praising God. Not one. Now feel free. There's nothing wrong with it. Okay. You can do it. Okay. But guys, this guy is walking and leaping. It's just like, I've got energy. I've got muscles. I've got everything. And he's just overwhelmed with joy. Yes, Steve. That's right. Yeah, exactly. Yes. It's like, it's like suddenly every, it's like the nerve synapses in the brain. Kind of caught fire, right? Like, nope, go. It's go time. So guys, this is, this is amazing, amazing stuff. I mean, joints, everything. And it happened immediately because they did it in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

I love it that Peter said it that way, because it's not just because that's where the power source is, it's also because this is the one that gets the glory. This is not in the name of Peter, the apostle who walked on water and fell down, you know, I mean, probably wouldn't bring that up, right. But yeah, it's not in the name of, it's in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He said, that's why I can do this. And I wonder who was more amazed. I wonder if the man was more amazed or if Peter was more amazed or John or everybody got, I just think everybody's going, what just happened here? We know that guy. We've seen him a thousand times and now he is, man, he's on the move. I think it also reminds me of the analogy of our salvation, right? Because in our salvation, we're not just saved to just stand there, but we're saved to testify, right? To share what's happened to me. Like I was lost and now I've been found. Like I was lame and now I can walk, right? This guy had an amazing story to tell. So it's just, just so credibly powerful. And then you look at verses nine and 10, all the people saw him walking and praising God, did they see him leaping? Why didn't it say that? I wonder, anyway, it's just a, it doesn't say that I like, I like that walking and leaping and praising God. But it just says the people saw him walking and praising God. And they're like, that's the one who was always sitting at the gate. We know that guy. And so everybody you see that was in the temple didn't see the miracle happen. They didn't see what happened, but they're like, whoa, whoa, how's that happening?

So, you know, they're now asking questions. They're like, how, how did he do that? What's going on? How, how is that guy here? Like I've seen him there for 20 years, right? Who knows how long, right? Tom, did you say something? Well, he said that that gate was about 60 foot wide. So, you know, a lot of people came through it. Yeah, they did. And they saw him. Yep. And even the ones when he went inside, they were amazed because they had seen him laying. That's right. Exactly. The ones that saw him that day, they saw him walking in that day. How many days did they see him? And they're like, wait, what just happened? What happened to our TV over there? Do you know? Anyway, we're having some TV troubles over there. We hope you're still there, friends. But anyway, he's walking, he's jumping, he's praising God. Everybody knew this guy. And guys, you know what was happening here. God set this whole thing up because he knew this would be a miracle that would be very public. Right. This, you know, the first miracle of the apostles could have been send him to

somebody's house, to some little quiet space where three people got to see something that happened. But God said the first apostolic miracle, we could say, is in like the center of everything. Guys, the temple was the center of community life. Everybody coming and going. Everybody knew probably by this time they knew who the apostles were. Those are those guys that have been with Jesus. We know those guys. And so I can imagine there were some that were right there watching the whole thing. Right. There were people probably walking right there. Can you can't you imagine like a crowd sort of gathering around, you know, somebody there and. And then these guys, they're just walking by in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk and picking them up and the people are just astonished at what's happened. I love it because again, just like chapter 2 verse 43, all came upon every soul, many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. Guys, this was the work of God. It was a miracle that only could be at the hand of more power than they'd ever seen in a human being, except for Jesus. So now what the people are watching and seeing is, oh, we heard that that Jesus Christ guy could do miracles like this. We didn't know his followers were going to do miracles too. You see, remember how we talked about this is the birth of the church. This is a new era in history. Now what came through Jesus, remember Jesus, we said he ascended to the right hand of the throne of the father and then he poured out the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit was the power source for them to be able to do these signs and wonders.

And guys, if you've read on into the book of Acts, we're just getting started. Okay, this is going to be the pattern and there's never going to be another one that looks just like this. There's going to be a lot of different types of miracles. There's also going to be just all sorts of things that are going to happen. And next week we'll see, just like after the miracle of Pentecost and the tongues came, Peter now stands up and preaches a sermon. It's like, okay, the signs and wonders have happened. Now I'm going to preach. I'm going to explain to you a little bit about what happened. So this next is an incredible sermon. You should read ahead. You should slowly and imaginatively and prayerfully and obediently read this sermon of Peter that was right there at Solomon's portico, where we're going to see because everybody's got, he got the people's attention. And so that's, that's what it was for. The miracles are not just for the sake of the miracle itself. That is very important. The apostles were sent out to do miracles to draw attention to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you're ever around, because there are, you know, can God still do miracles today? Absolutely. He can. We do not routinely see physical miracles happen when we gather for worship on a Sunday morning. But can God do a physical miracle today in that room? If, if God so chooses and if we have the faith to look for that. Yes, he can. There are churches that experience that on a regular basis. Don't throw all that out and say, oh, that's just the charismatics or that's just this or that's just that guys. Sometimes we need to learn a thing or two and have some more faith. As you said, Carol, that God can actually do something. However, the miracle is not the point. The mirror.

That's that. That's where the that's where the problem comes in. And when the miracle and the show becomes the point. Give us a bigger show. No, the miracle is meant to point to the gospel and for people to be saved. Because, guys, that's the miracles that we see happen every Sunday in that room. They are quiet little miracles that happen in the hearts of men and women where they are brought from death to life. Every time that we gather in there, guys, people are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Because that's a bigger miracle than any guy getting this getting getting muscles on his legs and being able to walk down the street. So just always remember that. There's nothing wrong with seeing miracles in the house of God. That's a beautiful thing. But, guys, we do see miracles in the house of God. How do we celebrate those miracles almost every Sunday? It's baptism, right? We're like, hey, another miracle happened. She got saved because you don't know who got saved if you don't see them profess their their faith. Because we are a big church, right? Thousands of people here on a Sunday. You don't get to see. What were you going to say, Karen? Oh, well, I was going to say that just because you don't see that that moment, miracles aren't necessarily visualized by you. Yes. That's right. Exactly. That's exactly right. Sometimes a miracle happens and we don't know it's even happened. Right. Some every miracle we're going to see through the book of Acts, just like in the Gospels. Every miracle is a little different.

They play out different ways. Sometimes they're instantaneous. Sometimes they're not. Okay, but it doesn't mean that God's not doing that work. So guys, this is a great story. The story's going to still unfold as we see the rest of that story next week. But I want to thank you guys for coming. Thank you guys for joining us, those of you who are watching us. This has been a great time. I'm going to close us in prayer, and we will move on. Let's all be walking, jumping, and praising God as we leave the room, okay? Let's pray. Father, you are the source of our joy. God, you are so amazing in what you could do, and not only through your son Jesus, but through your sons and your daughters. God, we who have the Spirit of God within our hearts know that there is power. We are carrying power. God, we are sources of life. So let us go out with this in mind, God, that we have the power to raise someone's gaze up to you, Jesus, with the words that we speak and the kindness that we show, God. And I also just pray that we would not miss miracles that come across our path because we're unwilling to fix our gaze. God, I am so guilty. And God, I know every person that I walk past may not be the miracle that you want to use me to be a part of, but God, perhaps I miss some along the way. And perhaps some of us in the room miss some along the way. So I just pray that we would miss less miracles this week than we did last week. We would have your Holy Spirit guiding us as our brother spoke tonight. This one needs some attention today. And that we'd share what we have in Jesus name, amen.

Thank you so much, guys, for joining us. And we will see you next week or Sunday, hopefully. Thanks again for joining us verse by verse through the book of Acts. I hope that you have learned a lot. More importantly, I hope that you'll apply these things to your life this week. Share it with a friend. Great thing for you to just have some discussion with the other people around you, share the things that God is doing in your life. Again, remember the Bible is a book about God, far more than it is a book about us. So let's learn about him. Let's grow to love him more and more. Here at United City, this is not the only thing that we have on the Pando app. We would love for you to follow some of our other content, watch some of our worship services, along with music and the messages, as well as podcasts. We've got a lot of great content and we would love for you to follow that. Also, if you would like to be in touch with us here at United City, the best way to do that is by writing us a letter. You can address that to Prison Ministry at United City Church, 19901 Townsend Boulevard, Humble, Texas 77338. We'll read that, we'll pray for you, and somebody will write you back. God bless you, and we'll see you in the Word.