Silver and Gold Have I None

November 17, 2024 · Acts

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Series · Acts · Week 30 of 120

Scripture referenced 11 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Acts 1 Jesus tells disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit; Judas replaced by casting lots

1 The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,
2 until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
3 To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom.
4 Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me.
5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
9 When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10 While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing,
11 who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.
13 When they had come in, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
14 All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
15 In these days, Peter stood up in the middle of the disciples (and the number of names was about one hundred twenty), and said,
16 “Brothers, it was necessary that this Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus.
17 For he was counted with us, and received his portion in this ministry.
18 Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out.
19 It became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem that in their language that field was called ‘Akeldama,’ that is, ‘The field of blood.’
20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his habitation be made desolate. Let no one dwell therein;’ and, ‘Let another take his office.’
21 “Of the men therefore who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22 beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
23 They put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.
24 They prayed, and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen
25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.”
26 They drew lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.

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Acts 2

Coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost; crowd confused because they understood; Peter preaches and 3000 are added

1 Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3 Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.

4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky.

6 When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language.

7 They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans?

8 How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?

9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,

10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

11 Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!”

12 They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

15 For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.

16 But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.

18 Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.

19 I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and billows of smoke.

20 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

21 It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him among you, even as you yourselves know,

23 him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;

24 whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

25 For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.

26 Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;

27 because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.

28 You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

29 “Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,

31 he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul wasn’t left in Hades, and his flesh didn’t see decay.

32 This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.

33 Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.

34 For David didn’t ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit by my right hand,

35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’

36 “Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

40 With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.

42 They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.

43 Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

44 All who believed were together, and had all things in common.

45 They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.

46 Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,

47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.

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Acts 2:42

All believers devoted themselves to apostles teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer

42 They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.

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Acts 3:1-26

Peter and John heal the lame man at the Beautiful Gate; Peter addresses the crowd at Solomon's colonnade

1 Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

2 A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple.

3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive gifts for the needy.

4 Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, “Look at us.”

5 He listened to them, expecting to receive something from them.

6 But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

7 He took him by the right hand, and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength.

8 Leaping up, he stood, and began to walk. He entered with them into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God.

9 All the people saw him walking and praising God.

10 They recognized him, that it was he who used to sit begging for gifts for the needy at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

11 As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

12 When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk?

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.

14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.

16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

18 But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.

19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

20 and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before,

21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.

22 For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you.

23 It will be that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’

24 Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days.

25 You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘In your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.’

26 God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”

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John 9

Disciples ask Jesus who sinned regarding the blind man, his parents or himself

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Jesus answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.

4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.

5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,

7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?”

9 Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.”

10 They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11 He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”

12 Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”

13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.

14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”

16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them.

17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,

19 and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

20 His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

21 but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.”

22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”

24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

25 He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

26 They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”

28 They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”

30 The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.

31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.

32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.

33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34 They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” They threw him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

36 He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”

37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”

38 He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”

40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”

41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

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Isaiah 35

Messianic prophecy that the lame will leap like a deer and those who cannot speak will sing for joy

1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.

2 It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Lebanon’s glory will be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They will see Yahweh’s glory, the excellence of our God.

3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

4 Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong. Don’t be afraid. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you.

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

6 Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

7 The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.

8 A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.

9 No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous animal go up on it. They will not be found there; but the redeemed will walk there.

10 The Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

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Numbers

Sins committed in ignorance have a different offering but still must be made

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Genesis 12:1-3

God tells Abram to leave his country; promises to bless him and that all families on earth will be blessed through his descendants

1 Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.

2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treates you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

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Exodus 18:15-22

Moses says God will raise up a prophet like him from among the people; anyone who will not listen will be cut off

15 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

16 When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.”

17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good.

18 You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone.

19 Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You represent the people before God, and bring the causes to God.

20 You shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and shall show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do.

21 Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

22 Let them judge the people at all times. It shall be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves. So shall it be easier for you, and they shall share the load with you.

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2 Peter 1:3

Benediction: by God's divine power we have everything we need for living a godly life

3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue;

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Ephesians 2:10

We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works established beforehand

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This message came from Acts 3, the third installment in the pastor's series through the book of Acts. He walked through the healing of a man lame from birth at the Beautiful Gate and Peter's sermon to the crowd that gathered afterward. The whole thing pointed to one conclusion: it was not Peter, it was not John, and it was not their godliness. It was Jesus.

What was said

the pastor opened with a quick recap of Acts 1 and 2 to get everyone on the same footing. In Acts 1, Jesus tells his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit arrives. In Acts 2, the Spirit comes at Pentecost, and Peter preaches to a crowd of Jews from every nation who are confused because, for once, they actually understand. Three thousand are added to the church that day. Those new believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to shared meals, and to prayer. That common life together is the backdrop for what happens next.

Peter and John are heading to the three o'clock prayer service at the temple when they pass a man who has been lame since birth. He is put there every day to beg from the people going in. He sees them coming and asks for money, which was a completely normal thing for him to do. What was not normal was that Peter and John actually stopped and looked at him. Peter told him to look back at them, and that moment of genuine attention is where the story turns.

Peter tells the man he has no silver or gold, but what he does have he will give. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, he tells him to get up and walk, and then takes him by the hand and lifts him. The man's feet and ankles are instantly healed. He had never walked on them a day in his life. He goes into the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God, and the pastor pointed to Isaiah 35, where the prophet had said the lame would leap like a deer. The age of grace had begun, and this man was living proof of it.

The crowd that recognized him from his usual spot outside came rushing out to Solomon's colonnade in amazement. The pastor was honest here that this passage makes modern readers uncomfortable, because the question of whether healing gifts are still active today is a real one. He chose not to settle it by systematic argument. What he did say clearly was that Peter and John themselves refused to take credit. Peter asked the crowd why they were staring as though he and John had done this by their own power or godliness. They pointed straight to Jesus.

Peter pressed the point hard in his sermon to the crowd. This is the same Jesus you handed over to Pilate, the same one Pilate declared innocent multiple times, the same one you chose to reject in favor of releasing a known murderer. You killed the author of life. But God raised him from the dead, and they were all witnesses to that fact. He reminded them of Moses' promise that God would raise up a prophet like him, and that anyone who would not listen to that prophet would be cut off. Jesus is that prophet. He reminded them that through Abraham's descendants, all the families of the earth would be blessed, and that descendant is Jesus.

The pastor ended by stepping back from the question of whether any of us should see ourselves in Peter's place, wanting to do what Peter did. His suggestion was quieter than that. Maybe the more honest place for most of us is to see ourselves as the man on the ground, the one who was helpless and got lifted up by the gospel, not by our own seeking or deserving. If that is who we are, the right response is not to look for what gift we might exercise. It is to leap to our feet and praise God for what was done for us, cling to the teaching and the fellowship and the breaking of bread and the prayer, and let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Peter and John looked intently at the lame man and said 'look back at us' before anything else happened. What does that kind of attention and connection look like in your own life when you encounter someone who is suffering or in need?
Peter told the crowd 'silver and gold have I none, but what I do have I will give you.' What do you actually have to give, and are you giving it to others in Jesus' name?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Speaker 1Amen. Thank you, Judy. Would you all stand with me? Here we are together. We're gonna sing about the power.

We're actually gonna see it in the scripture today too. The power of God present to heal in acts.

Speaker 2There's power in the blood. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood. Power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win?

There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. Would you be free of your passion and pride? There's power in the blood.

Power in the blood. Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tithe. There's wonderful There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. Would you be whiter, much whiter There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb.

Would you do service? Would you do service for Jesus your king? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you live daily his praises to sing? There's wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb.

Speaker 1Amen. It all sound like y'all believe that. It's good. It is something to be believed. There is power in the blood.

Leaning on the everlasting arms. Amen.

Speaker 2All arms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear leaning on the everlasting arms? I have blessed peace with my Lord so near.

Leaning on the

Speaker 1Amen. What a gift that is to be able to lean on everlasting arms. Here we are at the announcements and I have a few of em. One of em is Awana happening tomorrow night. It starts about 05:45 right here in this room around this circle, the game circle.

They'll do processional in and kinda just enjoy being together and then spread out all over the church. We have so many kids in Owana right now that it's just amazing. It's wonderful to see. Amen. We're pouring scripture into their minds and allowing them to be together, fellowship together and with us, and we're pouring scripture into their minds to reach their hearts.

And it's wonderful. So kids club tomorrow night, 05:45 starting here goes till 07:30. Today is the day that the boxes for Operation Christmas Child are due. So November 17, that's today. Bring in the boxes.

You can put them in the church office if you haven't done so already. It's $10 per box, but those will go to the very outermost parts. They're going all over the world. There's a way of checking into your box and seeing where it ends up. I don't know what that way is, but there is a way.

Okay? I'm sure it involves scanning something. I don't know exactly how it works. For ladies, women's Christmas luncheon is happening Wednesday, December 11. That is going to happen from twelve to 2PM.

It'll be at the Snow King Resort Ballroom up here. So, Lissa Hunter will be... Lissa and her orchestra. I don't know who she will have, but Lissa is always a great leader. She's wonderful.

At that. Deborah Buckingham will be bringing a message, Christmas message, and that's happening. Seats are limited. If you'll r s b p by December 4, can make sure that you've got your space. That's always a good time.

December 11 on Wednesday from twelve to two, plan on it. Oh, boy. Here we are. The highly anticipated and momentarily accurate church directory. Anytime you put anything in print, it is almost immediately obsolete, but we have it.

It's ready right now. You all have filled out the questionnaire. You have fixed on the clipboards and now it is printed and ready. There are some in the racks by the entry. I still see a couple of them at least back there.

So 2024 edition of Firstbee's directory is ready. And we hope to have more printed by next week. If you see a mistake, please let us know and we'll fix it before we print more. But that's fun. Nick Stern handles information technology and all kinds of stuff.

He's he's an office guy, but this is the kind of stuff that he just shines on. It's really, really good. So if you would like a copy, there should be one back there. Discovery class happens the third Sunday of each month and that was today. So that has happened and we'll have folks in the next couple of weeks.

We're gonna be doing covenant ceremony. So if you'd like to be involved in that and you missed the thing, but you wanna come to just see me, call me. Let me know. We'll we'll have a discovery class on our own and we can get you listed with that number. And I think that's it.

Do you all have anything else that I've forgotten? Skip, any suggestions? No? Recipes? No.

Don't know. Would you all stand? Please stand. And we'll sing this one, and I missed Scott Humphrey this morning. I missed him on the...

So I could sing the bass part. He can take over the melody for a while on the first song and then stuff like this, I can just see him swaying back and forth. The why should he love me so. So Scott, if you're watching, we miss you.

Speaker 2Love sent my savior to die in my stead. Why should he love me so? Beakly to Calvary's cross, he was led. Why should he love me so? Why should he love me so?

Why should he love me so? Why should my savior to Calvary go? Why should he love me so? Rails pierced his hands and his feet for my sin. Why should he love me so?

He suffered sore my salvation to win. Why should he love me so? Why should he love me so? Why should he love me so? Why should my savior to Calvary go?

Why should he love me so? Oh, how he agonized there in my place. Why should he love me so? Nothing withholding my sin to efface. Why should he love me so?

Why should he love me so? Why should he love me so? Why should my savior to Calvary?

Speaker 1Amen. And we'll sing this one. This is a Bill and Gloria Gaither song, I Will Serve Thee Because I Love Thee.

Speaker 2I will serve thee because I love thee. You have given life to me. I was nothing before you found me. You have given life to me. Heartaches, broken You have given life to me.

Let's sing it again. I will serve thee because I love thee. You have given life to me. I was nothing before you found me. You have given life to me.

Heart hates broken pieces. Ruined lives are why you died on Calvary. Your touch was what I longed for. You have given life

Speaker 1and y'all can have a seat and I'll invite the ushers to come forward. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Francis. And Bob. Would you all pray with me?

God, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for showing us new stuff about you. I was overwhelmed this morning, lord, with it and I had somebody after the first service say, I learned something new every Sunday and I don't. Usually, lord, I don't feel like I learn much on Sunday but I did this morning and I'm humbled and blessed by it. So, thank you.

Thank you that you are continually doing your work, lord. I pray that you would give us the grace of understanding how we can be a part of it. Would you show us the next step that you want for us to make? Would you show us your will in your way and empower us by your spirit to be walking in those steps? We know that you're doing it.

We know that we've been saved by grace through faith but lord, we also are your workmanship that was created in Christ Jesus to do some good works that you've got established for us. Lord, would you show us what they are individually and collectively and would you bless this offering to do your kingdom's work, Lord. We want it to be because we're being obedient. We want it to be traveling through us. Lord, not in spite of us just because we're stiff necked and hard headed.

Lord God Almighty, show us, us, show us. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Judy. So we have gotten to Acts three, just up to Acts three.

So I did Acts one a few weeks ago, Acts two last week, and we're starting with Acts three. If you're looking at that, you're going Acts three through 41... Four thirty one. That's a lot of scripture. That's a whole chapter and most of the next chapter.

We probably are not gonna cover the whole thing, but this is the next section. If you're looking at it as sections, there's something that happens and then there's the aftermath of that. And all of it, I think needs to be considered at once, but I'm only gonna preach half of it today. Okay? So I wanna present today's as the first half, a couple of a situation and then the aftermath is what's going on.

If you want to read ahead, read up to four thirty one and then this though is just going to be chapter three. So, if you are here and you hadn't heard the other two sermons, I'll give you a real quick summary. Acts one, we see that Jesus tells his disciples that they're gonna be his witnesses. He has asked them to stay in Jerusalem until they're blessed with the gift that God would give the Holy Spirit. And he says, stay together and be there until this happens.

Don't leave until this happens. And so they were obedient to him. They also figured that they needed to replace Judas, the betrayer, and so they cast lots. They used a random game of chance is the way we would look at it, cast lots to determine who would replace Judas and that's weird to me because as a New Testament Christian, Acts two is the very next text. Acts two is the coming down of the Holy Spirit.

The comforter has come and he will lead us into the truth. He'll convict us of our sin. He'll comfort us and he'll show us God's righteousness, and we don't have to depend on just random games of chance to figure out what God wants. We don't have to flip a coin. We don't have to number things or draw straws.

So in Acts two, we do see the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Jesus's after the Passover, Jesus's crucifixion. So, the fiftieth day, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes down and I think the best way, my favorite line for how to describe what happens in Acts two is there were Jews from every nation present in Jerusalem at that time and when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, capital a apostles, those that were present right there, it says, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues. This is my favorite line and they were confused because they understood. Oh, can we be confused because we understand. That that's not the norm for humanity up to that point.

It was not normal to understand the ways of God or to be able to understand in a language that was your mother tongue. It says that the apostles though they were from Galilee and the crowd of first of Jewish people from every try... From every place around them, they were gathered in one place and when the Holy Spirit came, they were confused because they understood. And they understand and and you can hear it in the way that the people speak and they say, listen, we're from everywhere and we hear this bunch of backwater hicks from Galilee and yet they're speaking in language that I can understand in my mother tongue. This is a special event.

This is a special time where God is reversing Babel. It's great. They were confused because they understood. So we get through that in chapter two and we hear Peter takes great advantage of the situation and says, hey, I know it's confusing and I know it's wonderful, but go back to the prophet Joel. He said this, go back to the...

To David. He said this, it's always accompanied by the proclamation of God's word. So here we are in Acts three, we'll go from there. I wanna do one more little summary statement in Acts two after the whole deal about the Holy Spirit and 3,000 were added to their number. All of the believers, it says in 242, all of the believers devoted themselves to four things.

One, to the apostles teaching. And at this point, the the sermon that yielded results, 3,000, probably 3,000 guys, not including women and children, but at least 3,000 people come into the kingdom and they're believers and they devote themselves to what the apostles are teaching. What they're teaching is Jesus, the Messiah, crucified and resurrected. That's the apostles teaching and to fellowship, being together is important and sharing in meals including the Lord's Supper and to prayer. And it goes on from there.

This is sort of a summary statement in general terms and then we're going to find ourselves coming from the general to the very specific Peter and John. So that's what we're covering today. But if you think of this, a deep sense of awe came over all of them and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders, nonchalantly it's it seems. And all the believers met together in one place and they shared what they had, they sold their property and their possessions, they shared the money with those in need, they worshiped together at the temple as was their custom. There's a morning service, there's an afternoon service.

They worship together at the temple. Each day, they met in homes for the Lord's Supper and they shared their meals with great joy and with great generosity. All the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people and each day, the Lord added to their fellowship, those who were being saved. That last line, doesn't it sound like a place that would be adding to their fellowship every day? That's that's kind of the Christian ideal is the way that they were right there And each day, the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Peter and John, very specific now. Peter and John, one day, they went to the temple one afternoon. Luke, the Gentile physician, historian, is telling the story. Peter and John went to the temple one afternoon to take part in the 03:00 prayer service, the oblation service. And as they were going, it says, as they approached the temple, a man lame from birth, lame from his mother's womb, the Greek text says.

So, congenital condition, he had never been able to walk, he'd never been able to stand on his own. He was a man who was lame from birth and he was being carried in. And when you hear being carried in, does anybody else flashback to that time in Capernaum where there's a roof crumbling overhead? Jesus is there packed room and then somebody dangles down in front of him. I do.

I immediately go back there. I can't hear this without hearing that. As they approached the temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in. Each day, he was put beside the temple gate. The one that was called the beautiful Gate, most people think it was the Nekainer Gate.

It's prettier than the other one, so therefore the beautiful gate. It's hard to say. There are a couple of them that could be, but most people think it was the Nekainer Gate. Each day he was put beside the temple gate, the one called the Beautiful Gate, so that he could beg from the people going into the temple. It's a good place to be.

These are the devout ones. It's okay to go there. It was okay for that man to be there asking for alms, asking for people to give. That's okay for him to be there. But you know what?

It it holds with it a little bit of the theology. Right? Even the disciples in John nine, when they passed by a blind man, they said, who sinned? This guy or his parents. So there's a little bit of, oh, poor guy, but he must have done something or maybe his parents did something.

That's just kind of the primitive religion or even the religion of the time. It was kind of traditional. Not true. Jesus said it's for the glory of God. Right?

But each day, he was brought there. He's put there at the temple gate, the one called the beautiful gate so that he could beg from people going in. Now, when he saw Peter and John about to enter, he wasn't blind. He was lame. When he saw them coming, he asked them for some money.

That's what he did. And Peter and John looked at him intently. Now, I'll say, let me back back up right here. When he saw Peter and John, now he's looking for everybody that's coming, but what do people usually do when they see somebody begging from afar? Let's go another way.

Cross the street, maybe go around the block. It's like, oh, I hope that guy. I wish he'd stop looking at me. I don't really wanna read that cardboard sign. It's uncomfortable or just pretend he's not looking at you and just keep going.

When he saw Peter and John, they're about to enter. He asked them for some money and Peter and John looked at him intently. They looked at him intently and Peter said, look back at us. Here, I want a connection with you. Look back at us.

And the lame man looked at them eagerly. Of course, did because they weren't ignoring him. They looked like, hey, these guys these guys might might want to show off for their friends. They might want to show how good they are by giving me something. He looked at them eagerly expecting some money.

The text says so. But Peter says, I don't have any silver and gold for you. Now, we've been told in the last chapter that they kept all their goods in common. Maybe Peter didn't have it, literally didn't have any money on him because he'd given it. Who knows?

But Doctor Larkin, my professor was responsible for this translation. He said, don't have any silver or gold for you. But for you, I think he kinda added. It says silver and gold have I none. That's what the text says.

Silver and gold have I none. But what I do have, I'll give you. But I'll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, get up and walk. Now, that's a bold...

Peter's bold. That's a bold thing to to say to the guy and it was a bold thing for Jesus to say, take up your pallet and go to that guy that was dangling through the roof. Right? It's really bold. Peter said, I don't have any silver and gold for you but I'll give you what I do have.

In the name of Jesus Christ and Nazarene, get up and walk. And then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and he helped him up and as he did, the man's feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. Now think about that, he had never walked on those. He had never stood on those. This was lame from his mother's womb and immediately healed and strengthened.

Silver and gold have I none, but what I do have I'll give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, get up. And he does. And then, he jumped up. Can you can you feel it?

Like there's an there's an eagerness and an anticipation right here. He jumped up. He stood to his feet. He began to walk. And then walking and leaping and praising God, he went into the temple with them.

Now, he had sat outside of that place for so long. Right? And then, he got up and he went in with them. Isaiah 35. Isaiah's got so many messianic prophecies and the time of the age of grace is forecast, the time of the church age is forecasted and Isaiah had said, and then the lame will leap like a deer and those who cannot speak will sing for joy.

And this man had become the embodiment of that. That's pretty cool. That's great. The the age of grace had commenced and this guy is evidence of that. All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God.

And when they realized that he was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the beautiful gate, This guy's friends brought him in regularly and all the people who show up... Listen. Are y'all mostly the people who keep on showing up? The people who show up every day or the people who show up every day. And they saw that guy sitting there.

It was a normal matter. Normal life was that guy sitting outside and us passing him to get inside. And maybe we give him some every once in a while, I don't know. I'm not giving that guy anything. I was I was riding through Downtown Atlanta when I was in high school one time.

I was going to a concert. I was riding with a friend, and I saw a guy at a red light up in front of us, and he had a bottle, probably a little soap in it, some water, and he was cleaning windshields. The guy who's driving the car that I was riding in said, if he cleans my windshield, he's gonna have done his good deed for the day. And I wanted to sink into the earth because I was like, he's he's trying his best. You know, I I wanted to see the guy and help him and he like, nope.

Not helping that guy. Just encouraging it. And he had this kind of thing. And I think that you develop your pattern. You know, maybe you do something every once in a while.

But what was normal was they went in and he sat outside. And then something different happened that day. When they realized it was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the beautiful gate, they were absolutely astounded. The confusion continues in chapter three. And they all rushed out in amazement.

They rushed out to Solomon's colonnade where the man was holding tightly to Peter and to John. This is a temple mount kind of a little architectural idea. You've got the temple up here, and of course, the holy of holies we usually point to, and then there's the temple... I mean, the the court for Israel, the women's court, and then outside of that is the court of the Gentiles. Well, they come out of the interior part of the of the temple grounds and out from the women's court, and they come to Solomon's portico or colonnade over here.

I don't know if it was raining, but there was a roof over that, and that was a good place. We see the apostles teaching there later on in Acts a couple of times. See Jesus there once. Interesting that that's where they are. They all rushed out in amazement.

Everybody that was at the prayer service that afternoon got to see something different and new and they hung around afterwards. That man was holding on tightly to Peter and John and Peter saw his opportunity. Oh, he's a preacher. He saw the opportunity and he addressed the crowd and he said, people of Israel. Now, he's already said that one time in the last chapter.

He recognized the moment and it says in that last chapter, it says and he went on and on. He preached for a long time. People of Israel, he said, what's so surprising about this? Now, Peter had had three years to get used to weird stuff happening. Peter had three years to get used to Christ doing things that were just outlandish And he had accustomed...

He had been more accustomed than most. And he had had a couple of months, you know, almost fifty days in in there somewhere. He got a couple of months to kind of get used to this age of grace opening up and things being different now. And he says, what's so surprising about this? Y'all been reading the prophets?

You've been reading this for a long time. Why is it that you're staring at us as though we had made this man walk? Now, the man himself was clinging to them, it says. That sounds like even he thought maybe it might have been because of them. Why are y'all staring at us as though we made this man walk by our own power or godliness?

If I back up and I go, how is it that they did? Let me back up. Let me go, go, go, go, go. Okay. Peter and John looked intently at him, look at us.

Okay. They made a connection. The lame man looked at the meagerly expected money and Peter says, I don't have any money, but what I do have I'm gonna give to you. Now, in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, and that is it's Jesus that's doing this, not me. I've already said I don't have anything, but because I've been with Jesus and he sent Peter out specifically while Jesus was still alive.

He sent them out two by two and they had already done this sort of stuff before. Peter knew it was not him. John knew it was not him. They both knew that it was Jesus, actual Jesus. Continuing as Luke says, I told you about all the stuff he began to do and preach.

He's still doing it at this time. Get up and walk. So, I'll go back to where I was. Here we are. Peter saw his opportunity to dress crowd people of Israel.

What's so surprising about this? Why are you all staring at us as though we made this man walk by our own power or godliness? I know that in our day, this is an uncomfortable passage. Okay? It's uncomfortable.

We can see it as history and we can say, okay, that happened, but it makes me uncomfortable because is the gift for today or not? That's the question. Now, Tanya got the first version of this sermon on Friday. We rode together and I said, the section of scriptures three one through four thirty one, that's what I'm planning on doing. She says, if you run through this scripture that fast, you are gonna be guilty of just going past all the questions everybody has and saying it fast so that you don't have to be nailed down to anything.

Well, thank you for that rebuke. I don't want to be guilty of that, but I also don't want to say, well, based on this, the gifts are not for today. I don't always understand exactly how God works or why. I do see what it says. What it says is that on that day, situation normal was upset.

A miracle happened because of Jesus. I agree with Peter and John. It was not them. It was not because of their power, and it was not because of their godliness. Now, if you're sitting there thinking, I wish I could do that.

Yes, so did Simon the magician and so did the fellow who said, in the name of Jesus that Paul preaches and the demon said, I know Jesus and I know Paul. Who are you? Right? I think that it is an error for us to think, I wanna be able to do that. You know, they recognize the moment, seeing the man, he saw them.

The power of God was present to heal. And Peter says it's not by our power nor is it by our godliness. I know what I'm like. Peter said that. I know I denied Christ.

I know he rebuked me on multiple occasions because I was just so far off. It's not by my godliness, it's not by my power. It is in the name. Actually, says, he attributes it to, think of his audience, people of Israel, people at the temple, and it could have been Gentiles at this point too because they're at Solomon's Colony. You know, it's a mixed audience.

It is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of all of our ancestors. God Almighty has done this and he brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. He did it, not us. This is the same Jesus, bold as he can be, Peter. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over.

You handed him over, you didn't believe him, you're exposed to the same miracles that we were really. You have the same texts that we have. You've heard all the prophets. Now, Peter has had the benefit of being with Jesus for forty days after the resurrection and hearing all of the ways that the prophets were confirmed and fulfilled in Jesus. The...

Even the disciples on the road to Emmaus when they got to the house, they saw all of the ways from the prophets. All of these, they were starting to see scripture in a new light and since Peter was one degree ahead of him, like you can teach in college if you're one degree ahead of your students. Right? Peter was one degree ahead of him. He understood this better than they did and the Holy Spirit used that knowledge.

This is the same Jesus whom y'all handed over to and rejected before Pilate, governor. Right? Pilate, despite Pilate's decision to release him, reread that text. You'll see at least seven times where he's declared innocent and Pilate is responsible for four or five of those. He, the governor, the one who gets to say whether the man's innocent or not, he declares him innocent over and over and they crucified him anyway.

One of the worst miscarriage of justice but still God's way. Right? This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate despite Pilate's decision to release him, y'all rejected this holy righteous one, the holy one of Israel that kind of brings conjures that imagery in my mind. It brings it up. The righteous one like no other.

Y'all rejected the holy righteous one and instead, y'all demanded the release of a murderer that you knew was a murderer. But it was politically expedient to you to get what you wanted and politics makes very strange that fellas. You rejected this holy righteous one and instead, demanded the release of murder. You killed the crown prince, the author, the instigator, the architect, archegos is the word, the beginning. You killed the author of life.

But God, amen, but God, you did this, but God raised him from the dead and we are all witnesses of this fact. He said that in chapter one. We're all witnesses of this fact. He'll say that again throughout up until Paul takes over and then Paul will talk about what he witnessed. Acts three sixteen tells how the guy was healed.

It's not by Peter's power or John's, not by their godliness. It's through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed. And y'all know how crippled he was before. You walk past him every day. You saw him out there.

Whether you helped him or not, you knew he was not faking it. You don't last like that. Through faith in the name of Jesus, the man was healed. It's sort of a kiosk construction actually and y'all know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus name has healed him before your very eyes.

Now, there's an argument every time that the word faith comes up in the New Testament when it's faith in Jesus, there's a little bit of an argument between scholars that says, is it our faith in Jesus or is it Jesus' faithfulness? And yes. It's both of those things. And in this case, it's obvious that it's both of those things. Now, whose faith was it?

Was it that man's faith? The one that's still clinging on to Peter and John? Did he have faith in Jesus? Did he just hear that name that one time? Had he met Jesus, known about Jesus?

We don't... We're not given all of that information. But when Jesus looked up at from the man dangling from the ceiling, he said, their faith was what? Did it. Their faith was why he healed the guy.

Whoo. That messenger that you're with your theology a little bit too. Don't stop praying for anybody. Keep on praying for him. Right?

Faith in Jesus name has healed him before your very eyes. You saw how crippled he was and because of Jesus, he's not crippled anymore. He's saved. He is completely whole. It goes from people of Israel to friends.

That's a good preacher, right? Friends. Friends, I realized that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. I mean, I I realized that I'm speaking to people who very likely were screaming out, crucify him, crucify him, right after I denied him and was crying about it. Right?

In the midst of all of that, goodness gracious. Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. If you go back to Exodus or Leviticus or couple of different places in the law, Numbers in particular, Numbers, there's a place where it says, for sins committed in ignorance. Like, is that different? I mean, the law is the law.

Right? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. But for sins committed in ignorance, God has made a way. You're still responsible for the sin that you did even if you didn't know about it. Ignorance.

I know what you did was an... It is a mitigating factor though. And the offering in the Old Testament was a little different for it. It was. But it still had to be made.

Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. I know that you didn't know and it's not just for your sins. Peter could say, it's for my sins too. What you did, you did in ignorance. But God has made a way even for sins that we do in ignorance.

I know that it was done in ignorance, but God... That's the second time we've heard that in Peter's sermon. But God's a good sermon. There's a sticky situations abounding, but God. Right?

But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about Messiah, the anointed one that he must suffer these things and if you think back, Peter is preaching. Peter has been with Jesus this time for three years or so and he's had forty days with him after the resurrection from time to time, the text says, and he's empowered now by the Holy Spirit to preach and proclaim the good news. God was fulfilling all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah. When I hear that, I hear about those two disciples on the road to Emmaus when they're walking looking sad. Jesus comes alongside.

They don't recognize him and he says, but didn't it say that the Messiah had to suffer these things? Look back at the text. Do you remember where it said this in Isaiah? Remember where it said this in these places? Yeah.

It was all new covenant stuff and then when he broke bed and they recognized him and said, oh, didn't our hearts burn within us? When he told us all of the ways from the prophets. You know, Jesus had told them that. Peter is now saying this to the people who should have recognized him. Think about this.

When Jesus said, listen, I'm saying all this stuff because it's gonna be hard without me. But I'm gonna send a comforter but I'm gonna be crucified. This is the message. He tells them over and over and over and when he says, I'm gonna be crucified. Evil men are gonna come and they're gonna take me and I'm gonna be betrayed and and Peter says, no, that's not gonna happen.

And Christ says, get behind me, Satan. Don't even tempt me with that. It is the way that it's gonna come down. I'm just warning you of it, that he must suffer these things and here comes his major application point of this. Y'all, what you did, you did an ignorance, you've seen further evidence after the fact that Jesus inaugurated the age of grace and what I'm saying to you is that's open to you.

Now, what you need to do and he's already said this one time. He's already preached the same message. Repent. Turn. If you were stiff necked and hard headed and you felt like Jesus was an innovator and an interloper and he should not have even been able to say what he was saying, you called him a blasphemer, you need to change your mind about that.

His power is still present, it's still active and it's doing this. It's not me, it's not John. Y'all need to repent of your sins, you need to repent of your legalistic sins, you need to repent of any licentiousness, you might feel like it's all on you and that you're super righteous and you're not, or you might have given up hope and you're living just a profligate lifestyle. Repent of those sins both ways. Repent and turn towards God so that your sins may be wiped away.

And then, when you do that, times of refreshment will come from the very presence of the Lord. All the believers were present in one place and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. It says earlier. Right? And when they believe, they're filled with the power of God.

Is that a time of refreshing? Yes. Thank you, Connor. Amen. It absolutely is.

Times of refreshment will come from the very presence of the Lord and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. That great mighty day of the Lord is still to come and you can still look forward to it, but the times of refreshment are in the here and in the now and it is in the grace of God. For he must remain in heaven until the time comes for the final restoration of all things, just as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. You all know the word and some of that stuff hasn't been revealed, some of that stuff hasn't been coming to pass, but the age of grace is now upon us and it is here. Okay.

Here's my point, Peter says. Moses said this, we all know this. Everybody, people of Israel and the Solomon's colonnade, you all know this already. But don't you remember what Moses said? The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people.

Listen carefully to everything he tells you. That's Exodus eighteen fifteen. And Moses continued to tell all those people, listen, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, the fellow Israelites, and you must listen to him. Who do you think that's pointing to? Jesus.

Prophet, priest, and king. Then Moses said, anyone who will not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from God's people. How is that message gonna fly? Exodus eighteen eighteen, they all knew it. They know the scriptures.

They've seen something that they can't explain in their presence. Moses said it, and then this is eighteen eighteen. This is God saying it to Moses. I am going to raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything that I command them. You remember when Jesus said, I'm not speaking of my own accord.

What the father says to me, I say to y'all. I I give you everything that he gives to me. This is this is what he's done. I will... This is God almighty speaking through Moses.

I will deal... Or to Moses. I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages that that prophet proclaims on my behalf. And the New Living Translation does not capitalize like the prepositions... I mean, I'm sorry, the pronouns of Jesus and it doesn't, but I have to.

The capital p prophet is Jesus. Moses said, I'm gonna raise up for you people prophets, but this is the prophet. If you want to look it up and read it in context, it's Exodus eighteen fifteen through 22. I won't cover that right here right now. But then after Moses, we see Samuel and we can't find a place in specific in first Kings where Samuel is something super super messianic except for through the line of David.

It's going to happen, right? But starting with Samuel, Samuel, every prophet spoke about what's happening today. So, Peter seeing that this new age is inaugurated and that Christ is doing what he said he would do. He is growing his church. He has died for his beloved and now he's growing his church.

Peter recognizing that says, this is what's happening and the miracles authenticate the message. You are the children of those prophets. Now, he doesn't say it, but Jesus said it several times. What did they do to those prophets? Jerusalem.

Oh, Jerusalem. You who kill the prophets. Ignore everything they said. You're still not paying attention, but Peter's giving them grace and saying, y'all are the children of those very prophets and y'all are included in the covenant that God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, Abraham at the time, through your descendants, all the families of the earth will be blessed.

And probably remember that from Genesis twelve one through three. The Lord said to Abram, Abram, leave your native country, leave your relatives and your father's family and go into the land that I will show you. Trust me. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you.

The the New Living says, and I'll make you famous. Father Abraham. We still sing about the guy. You hear about him almost every Sunday. He did make of him great nation and he blessed him and he wasn't perfect.

It wasn't his power. It wasn't his godliness. He did a lot of stuff wrong actually. But God was true to his promise. I'll bless those who bless you and I'll curse those who treat you with contempt and all the families on the earth will be blessed through you.

Actually, through your seed is a good translation there and that is pointing to Jesus without a doubt. Through your descendants or through your descendant, all the families on the earth will be blessed. When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you, people of Israel. It says, it's for the Jew first and then for the Gentile. Paul says that a lot of different times.

Y'all are the ones who had the backstory. You're the ones who had all of this taught since your very youth and you knew to be looking for him and he showed himself to you and you missed him and now, I'm showing you again and this guy who's clinging to me is showing you and if you're missing it again, it's because you're stiff necked. It's because you're not getting it. When God raised up his servant Jesus, he sent him first to you, people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways. So this is not the whole story.

It keeps on going from there. When they present this message and as they present this message, what do you think happens? They're always naysayers. They're gonna they're gonna hit opposition. There's plenty of intrigue and conflict next week.

But just from what we've seen today, the application that we draw from the text, I try to just say what it says and I don't wanna land on a systematic theology. I want for... I feel like I've kind of put some guardrails up there to keep us. I am seeing that there was a power encounter that was necessary at that time without a doubt And does that still happen? I don't want to answer that for you.

I want for acts to hedge itself rather than me hedging it for you. Is God still active in that way? Let's look at this first. Questions for self evaluation. This is me asking me and y'all asking yourself, do I really see people who are suffering?

If I'm looking at it from Peter's perspective or John's perspective, do I actually see the people who are suffering? Do I want for them to see me? I mean, even if I do see him, do I just wanna go, hope he doesn't see me. Diversionary tactics to keep him from seeing or keep him from knowing me. Maybe I wanna protect myself a little much, but they had that connection with him.

So they said, silver and gold have a none, but what I do have, I'm gonna give it. Do I give people what I have to help others in Jesus name? For some of you, it is silver and gold that you have. And I know our benevolence fund here receives from y'all and hands out through Diane, through Nick, through me, through through the church. When we hear of needs, we do distribute that.

But it might be financial in your case. It might also be, I just said this a minute ago, you have to be one one degree ahead of your students. I got to go to seminary for five years. A ninety hour program, and it was amazing. And so I don't feel like I deserve that at all at all.

But I I got to be a step ahead on that. But I'm required, I'm more responsible with that, you know. And not many of you should be teachers and all that, there's a great responsibility there. But I get to. I get to when people call and say, I don't know how God works.

I don't understand this. I don't get this. Can you tell me? Well, I can tell you from scripture it says this, it says that. I can I can help a little?

Yeah. I think so. Do I give what I have to help others in Jesus name? Maybe you have incredible patience for difficult people. Maybe.

Extra grace is required for some people. Right? Whatever it is that you do that God has gifted you to do, do you give that to other people? And I and I should say, in Jesus name, is it because you know that that's a gift from God that you give it? Having been established on the good old gospel way.

So not legalistic thinking we've done it on our own, not abandoning hope and just trying to have some fun while we're here, less consciousness, but established in Christ, before God, knowing that it's not because of us but he saved us, established in the good old gospel way. Am I reaching down and lifting people up from both of those ditches, either of those ditches, both of those ditches. Am I trying to bring people up? And if I do, do I credit Jesus with the save? You all know baseball terminology.

The save, the picture that comes in that saves the game. Right? If I help somebody by taking them to rehab, let's say, do I think, oh, I'm a great guy because I helped that person. I got that guy sober. It's not my power.

It's not my godliness. But I do want you to think about this. Anytime anybody gets set free from their besetting sin, sober, whatever it is, It's a miracle. Anytime anybody gets saved, it's a miracle that they didn't deserve. And so the realization, I prayed about it this morning.

I spent so much time this week trying to decide whether I should lay it out systematic theology wise or not. Let this text just say what it says, Tanya's Tanya's rebuke. I can't preach the whole thing. I gotta I gotta drop back and preach what it says. And then I drew all these questions from just the section we've seen, three one through 26, full chapter three.

And then I got here this morning, we're singing through the song service. We actually are singing through, you're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. We've never sung this in in church before. Here, Carl and I and Nick sat in the office yesterday and ran through it one time.

You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. For from you are all things and to you are all things. Jesus, you deserve the glory. And as I was in here this morning, I thought rather than seeing ourselves in Peter's position, they're capital a apostles.

It's hard to put ourselves in that position. But rather than seeing, which I I had and I drew all these questions from this, from Peter's position or John's position. Rather than seeing ourselves as Peter or John in this text, can we see ourselves as the other guy that miraculously was saved? Maybe. Maybe we shouldn't be worried about being Peter or John or desiring the gift to heal or the gift to do something miraculous.

Maybe we are the one who was stricken and helpless, and we were the ones who were lifted up by the very gospel in the name of Jesus, and maybe what we should be doing is leaping to our feet and praising God for that. Clinging to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Maybe we should see ourselves in the position of having been saved, Let the redeemed of the Lord say, that's what happened for me. So that's it. We'll go into four one through thirty one next time.

I preach which is I think next week. I hope next week. That's the plan. And would you stand with me? Let's leap to our feet.

Praise God together and considering this, we know that it's by grace that we've been saved through faith. It's not of ourselves. It's faith in the name of Jesus. We know that. It's not something we can brag about.

It's not something that we did. It's not by power or by godliness, Peter and John said. We know that. But we are indeed his workmanship and he has stuff for us to do that he established long beforehand that we should be walking in them. So the song today is have thine own way, lord.

Lord, I don't know what it is you want for me to do tomorrow or this afternoon but you do know and so, I'm saying, you have your own way. You're the potter. I'm the clay. I'm not going to question how you do stuff, why you do stuff. I find myself in some weird situations, lord.

Would you use me in the situations that you have placed me in? Have thine own way. Would you sing with me?

Speaker 2Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Thou art the potter. I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will.

While I am waiting, yielded and still. Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Search me and try me. Master today, Have thine own way, Lord.

Have thine own way. Wounded and weary, help me, I pray. Power, all power, surely is thine. Touch me and heal me. Savior, divine.

Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Hold o'er my being absolute sway. Filled with thy spirit till all shall see Christ only, always living in me.

Speaker 1Oh, to be forgotten so that he may be remembered. The benediction this morning from second Peter one three. It is by his divine power that God has given us everything that we need for living a godly life. And we've received all of this by coming to know him. The one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and his excellence.

It really is all about Jesus. Lord, would you help us to be able to understand that and to the best of our abilities be able to articulate it. Lord, would you carry forward your message by the way we live our lives and in the words that we choose to let out of our mouth. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.

Apostles, capital a apostles, those that were present right there, it says they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other tongues. This is my favorite line, and they were confused Amen. Thank you, Judy. So we have... Amen.

Thank you, Judy. So we have Amen. Thank you, Judy. So, we have

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Acts 3 Faith In Jesus Healing Miracle Holy Spirit Repentance Seeing The Needy

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