I am glad that it is once again the end of the week. I am always glad to be posting the Weekend Sermon. I hope that everyone had a good week.
I am especially glad for an end to this week. This has been a very hard week. I am truly thankful that the Lord provided a way for me to meet some of the financial need that I have in my life. Everything is not the way it should be, but a crisis has been survived for now. Please keep praying that the Lord will supply all of my needs.
Please pray for the people in the Philippines. A large typhoon has hit that country, and the damage has been devastating. I know that there is one person who lives in the Philippines who regularly reads this blog. Please be safe.
There is one other thing I would like everyone to pray about this week. I heard a report that there is a serious polio outbreak in Syria. Please pray that this will end, and the children will receive the vaccinations that they need. Pray for peace in Syria.
Last week, I wrote a message about the characteristics of the first believers who trusted in the Lord after Peter's message on the day of Pentecost. At that first sermon, 3,000 people were added to the church. They followed the doctrine and the teachings of the Apostles. They were people of prayer who had fellowship with one another. They also sought equality with one another. If anyone among them had a need, the other Christians did what was necessary to meet that need. That is the way that it should be in the body of Christ today. There should not be extremes of poverty and wealth. We as followers of Christ should help the other members of the body of Christ.
In today's message, I would like to continue with the focus on what was happening in the early church as recorded in Acts chapter 3.
When Acts 3 begins, Peter and John were going to the Temple to pray and proclaim the message of the Risen Lord. While they were there, a man who was lame from birth was begging and asking for alms.
Peter saw this man and told him that he didn't have any silver or gold, but what he did have, he would give to him. He told the man to rise up and walk in the name of Jesus. The man's legs were immediately strengthened, and he went walking and leaping and praising God.
What lessons can we learn from this incident? First of all, Peter and John did for the man what they could do. In this instance, it was to restore him to physical wholeness. We may not have been given the power by God to speak a word of healing as the Apostles were, but each one of us has been given gifts by the Lord to help meet the needs of others.
We live in a hurting world filled with great need. In our own communities there are people who do not have enough to eat or enough money to pay their bills. They need some help. Thankfully, there are Christians that God has blessed financially who are able to meet the needs of those in distress. Others need a word of encouragement or someone to talk to. We can speak a word of hope and lend a listening ear.
All Christians have the task of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and fulfilling the Great Commission. And all of us can pray for those in need.
We have to do what we can to help others in the name of Jesus. Jesus will give us the strength through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
Another important thing that I see in this incident is that the man was completely healed. From what I can see in the Bible, there is no one who was ministered to by Jesus or the Apostles who went away partially healed. They were made whole.
This is something that bothers me a great deal with some of the healing ministers seen today. Someone will claim healing, and they will get out of their wheelchair and still be limping around. In one instance that I saw personally, a healer proclaimed healing to a man, grabbed him out of the wheelchair and pulled him on to the floor. This poor man went crawling on his hands and knees on the floor. The healer said that this was a great healing because now at least the man could crawl. This kind of thing does not follow the Biblical pattern of what constitutes a miracle. When the Lord heals someone, they are healed.
Finally, the man who was healed gave his praise and thanksgiving to God. As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States, let's remember that we have much to be thankful for. The Lord has given us his marvelous salvation. We have food to eat, clothes to wear, transportation. Whatever the Lord has done for us and provided for us, we should always give Him thanks and praise because His love for us is amazing.
This great healing of the lame man got people's attention, and a crowd gathered. Peter used this as an opportunity to proclaim the message of Jesus. Peter told the crowd that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had glorified Jesus by raising Him from the dead. It was in the name of Jesus that the man had been made whole.
Peter then went on to proclaim the message of Jesus and how Jesus was the fulfillment of some important Old Testament prophecies. He urged the people to repent.
In next week's message, I want to focus on the message that Peter preached in more detail. I also want to focus on the reaction of the religious leaders and Peter and John's defense of their actions before the Sanhedrin.
I will post a book review on Wednesday. May God bless you. Amen.
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