Silver and Gold Have None

In one paragraph

Pastor John walked through Acts 3:1-26, the healing of a lame man at the Beautiful Gate and Peter's sermon to the crowd that gathered afterward. The point was not to settle debates about miracles but to see what Peter actually said about who gets the credit and why it matters. The sermon opened with a quick look back at where Acts has been: the Holy Spirit's arrival in chapter two, Peter's first...

Read together

1. Psalm 100 read to lead congregation into worship at the opening of the service
2. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 quoted during worship as always be joyful, never stop praying, be thankful in all circumstances
3. 1 John 4:9-10 read to remind congregation that God loved us first and sent Christ as a sacrifice
4. John 13:35 quoted before the offering as Jesus saying love for one another proves we are his disciples
5. Acts 2 (summary passage) describes believers devoting themselves to teaching, fellowship, meals, and prayer after 3,000 were added
6. Acts 3:1-26 primary preaching text covering Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate and Peter's sermon to the crowd
7. Isaiah (lame leaping like a deer passage) cited as prophecy looking forward to the time when the lame would leap and the mute sing for joy
8. Genesis 12:1-3 quoted as God's promise to Abraham that all families on earth would be blessed through his descendants
9. Exodus 18:15-22 cited as Moses prophesying that God would raise up a prophet like him whom the people must listen to
10. 2 Peter 1:3 read as benediction that by God's divine power we have everything we need for living a godly life

Talk about it

1. Peter and John were going about a completely ordinary day when they stopped and really looked at the man at the Beautiful Gate. What does it look like in your own routine to genuinely see someone who is suffering rather than hoping they do not notice you?
2. Peter told the crowd that the healing happened in the name of Jesus, not by his own power or godliness. Where in your own life are you tempted to take credit, or give credit to an instrument, for something that Jesus actually did?
3. Peter called what the crowd did an act of ignorance, but still called them to repent and turn. Have you ever realized you had been reasoning through scripture or life and reached a wrong conclusion? What prompted you to turn?
4. The pastor pointed out that repentance is not a sandwich-board cartoon but simply a change of mind and direction. How does that framing change the way you think about your own ongoing need to repent?
5. At the end of the sermon, the pastor said maybe we should stop trying to see ourselves as Peter and John and instead see ourselves as the beggar who was helplessly laid down and miraculously lifted up. How does looking at your own salvation that way change how you feel about praising God and how you relate to people who are still in the ditch?