Acts 3-4:4
New International
Version (NIV)
3 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.
11 While the man held on to
Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the
place called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he
said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare
at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You
handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had
decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy
and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of
life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of
Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and
the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all
see.
17 “Now, fellow Israelites,
I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God
fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his
Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn
to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come
from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the
Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him
until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago
through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The
Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own
people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not
listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’[a]
24 “Indeed, beginning with
Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the
prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham,
‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’[b] 26 When God raised up his
servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your
wicked ways.”
4 The priests and the
captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while
they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly
disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus
the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and
John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the
message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five
thousand.
This
is such a great passage and I did not see how it could be split it up. So often we pray for healing and we pray, “that
your Name will be glorified”. When the
healing takes place everyone tries to give the medical field the praise. Or we may think they maybe they weren’t as
sick as everyone thought. Why is that?
In
this passage the crowd could have accused this man of faking his illness so
that he could just sit and get paid from others hard earned money. But no, they were curious because they knew
this man was lame and now he could walk.
They wanted to know more about these men but what they learned was far
more valuable.
Peter
was not shy at all at telling them the way it was and what he witnessed. He was plain in spelling out to them the
Gospel, explaining the prophecies, and just exactly what they did when they
killed Jesus. He also was also clear in
telling them how they could repent and find salvation. Because of his boldness they were arrested
but what is amazing is that even though he was arrested 5,000 were added to
that number on that day.
What
this told me is that we need to recognize God’s power, we need to proclaim His
power, and we need to share His mercy.
As you seek Him today may you find so much joy in your life with Him
that you share it with others, no matter the cost.
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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