Crippled Man Walks

Acts 3:1-10

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Acts not Reflections

One church member approached a visiting preacher and said, “Preacher, thank you for your message, I have something to reflect upon this week.”
The visiting preacher was puzzled and thought, “Did I spend long hours praying and preparing for that message just for reflection? Why don’t they just buy Christian articles and read from it. It would have been better for them to reflect upon written Christian materials because they can even go back to them.”

Many church-goers regarded sermons as good counseling advice or something for reflection.
Someone commented that the book of Acts of the Apostles was rightly entitled Acts of the Apostles because it narrated about the things that the Apostles acted upon. Christ was very right in choosing His Apostles who had no formal schooling. The Apostles were not logical thinkers, or else the Book of Acts would have been entitled, “the Reflection of the Apostle,” as one preacher thought.

The Word of God is not something to reflect upon but to act upon it. The Scripture is like a medicine to the sick that needs to be swallowed. God’s word is God’s instruction on how to live as children of God not alternatives.

Well, not all sermons that preachers preach come from God, though. We need to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice for us to discern which one is God’s instruction. We need to keep asking God to help us recognize His voice and His instructions. Blessed are those who obey the instruction of God because God will continue to reveal Himself to the obedient.

Praise God for the obedient Apostles because we can have good examples that we can read about God’s wonders and miracles through an obedient believer.

2:43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

Miracles and wonders were the signatures of the Acts of the Apostles. When the Holy Spirit is active in the life of the Apostles, miracles and wonders followed. Our passage is one of the miracles happened in the life of the Apostles. What can we learn from our passage that we can act upon and not just to reflect upon? Prayerfulness was an apparent activity of the first church through the Apostles’ leadership.

1. Prayer

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.
Much time spent in prayers was one remarkable activity that the Apostles did. In the book of Acts, the first church under the leadership of the Apostles continued to meet in prayers to wait for the instructions of God. They did not know–they have no idea how to manage the first church, at that time. They did not have any Board of Trustees–they just waited for instruction of the Lord. Peter and John did not know that the Lord will perform miracle through them. They just went to the temple for the 3 0’clock-prayer-meeting at the temple.

When God does miracles, He will perform it through a prayerful believer.
Get ready: Be prayerful because anytime, anywhere God will perform miracles through you.

2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
The man who was crippled from birth was not a stranger but well-known to many people.
Those who entered the temple through the Beautiful gate knew him begging for money.

Beggars are not necessarily poor. Begging is just their way of living, begging is their source of livelihood.

Landlord

In the late 80s, a friend and I rented a room near the university belt, in Baguio City. Our landlord who is an old man shared us that at one time he pretended as a beggar. He wore old clothes, did not comb his hair wore old hat and sat at Burnham Park. He just had nothing to do but to spend time at the park and tried to live like beggar.
“When I went home that afternoon, you know what? I have collected more than Php 500.00 pesos just sitting in the bench,” he told us.
Php 500.00 is a big amount of money because the minimum at that time was just somewhere Php 100.00.

Baguio City government passed an ordinance that it is unlawful to give alms to beggars. There are many old folks begging as livelihood in Baguio City and they are rich people.

The beggar in our passage was not necessarily poor also. Begging was his livelihood because it was not possible for him to work for any manual job. God allowed him to have that problem for him to see the wonders of God through Peter.

God allows some kind of difficulties and problems in life for us to experience God’s glory. One purpose why God allowed us to have problems is for us to be more prayerful.

The Lord Jesus teaches in Luke 18:17….
17I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
The phrase “kingdom of God” here means the kingship or authority of Christ over us. Christ can Lord over us if we are to be as dependent to Him as an infant depends parents. A little child depends much on his parents to prepare for his bottle of milk. The infant keeps on crying and crying until someone would bring milk to his mouth.

We should pray and cry for our needs like infants before the Lord. When we pray, we should be like beggars begging and praise Him for answered prayers.

2. Praises

4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them

The beggar has been begging for money all his life at the gate of the temple called Beautiful. It was not recorded if he would praise God for the little coins thrown at him. Each day for him was just another day of earning a living until he saw Peter and John. The beggar did not expect anything but some coins from them. Peter full of the Spirit, did not pause to pray for the crippled beggar.

6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
Peter gave what he had, a command in the name of Jesus Christ for the beggar to walk.

What command have we received that we can also give to those who are in need? Christ gave us the command to tell about the gospel, not just to anybody. We need to wait and attentive when God bring to our attention those whom he prepared. We can easily see people if they really have need of the Lord Jesus as their Savior.

7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

The beggar did not hesitate but hold onto Peter’s hand but jumped to his feet and walked. The crippled beggar went into the courts walked, jumped, and praised God. People were filled with wonders and amazement at what happened into his life.

That is exactly what God wants to do to depend upon the Lord. Like a crippled beggar wanting to walk freely, we are to put our faith in Christ for help. Praying should not be an alternative but praying should reflect dependence on God.

Have you seen any miracle healing happening these days like that cripple who was able to walk? Do you have a problem that makes you crippled or paralysed from your daily activities?

God allows difficulties for us to pray as if it is our livelihood just like a crippled beggar begging everyday to earn a living at the gate of the temple called Beautiful.

PK

Pastor’s Kids on PKs have been the source of discouragement among church-goers. Parishioners coming to church would regard PKs as model children. One of the many reasons why people look at PKs as model children is that they expect PKs to have learned much from their father who is a pastor. In short, if PKs behave properly, their father must be a good example of a father.

Not necessarily, because more and more PKs are problems of the church.

One of my classmates in the seminary who is a PK shared his testimony that in his teenage years he explored things just like any street kid would do. He was involved in gang related problems, dealt with illegal activities, at the same time he was active in worship, Youth ministry, Sunday School and other church activities. But when Christ touched his life, it was complete turn around for him. He is now an active church pastor in the United States of America.

No amount of lecture, sermons and discipline can turn a person into an obedient Christian. If God allows problems in the life of pastors, church leaders or just plain church members, God has something great in store. Difficult problems are avenues for the Lord to show His wonders in our life.

What difficult problem has crippled you these days? Are you experiencing difficulties with your work schedule, employment, at home, at work, at school, physical, financial, and relational problems?

Our faith in God is tested when difficult problems comes into our life. Praise God for that difficulty because He sure will show us His wonders if we do not quit.
Be persistent, if possible, each time the problem comes to mind, pause and pray and do not stop praying and crying to God, until that problem is solved.

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