Acts 3:1-26
I am amazed as I read this chapter to see how much Peter reminds me of Jesus. That should not surprise me, because, after all, that is the Holy Spirits job; to make us more like Jesus. What a wonderful testimony this chapter is to the grace of God, the power of the Spirit and Peter's faithfulness.
PETER PERFORMS A MIRACLE: I guess it would be more accurate to say that God performed a miracle through Peter and John, but the final result was that a lame man leaped. I love to picture this in my mind and try to imagine both the sight as well as the emotion that this man must have felt. At the start of the encounter his greatest hope was to be pitiful enough to convince Peter and John to give him some spare change. When Peter starts talking to him about not having any money I am sure his thoughts were something like this: "yeah right" "if you don't want to give--fine, but don't make excuses just walk on by like everyone else." But then they touched him, picked him up and as they did his ankles got straight and his legs got strong and he started jumping around like an NFL player who just caught the winning touchdown in the Superbowl (Go Packers). What a swing of emotions. This is what God does, he take the hopeless and fills them with joy. Peter and John are just glad to be along for the ride.
PETER PROMOTES THE MESSIAH: As you can imagine, the leaping lame man drew quite a bit of attention and a large crowd as well. They all want to give credit to Peter and John. If ever there was a moment that Peter and John might have been tempted to be popular, this was it. They were celebrities and famous for the day. But Peter and John now know that celebrity status is passing and fame fades away. They are on an eternal mission not performing a "side show" for their fans. Peter puts a halt to their praise of Him and points them to Christ. He makes it clear that the glory for what was done belongs to the resurrected Christ and not to them. As we serve Christ, there may be times when the work that He does is so amazing that people will try to applaud us. We must not be distracted by this or find our motivation in this. We must stay on our God ordained mission of spreading the fame of Christ and give all glory to God.
PETER PROCLAIMS THE MESSAGE: There was a captive audience and Peter was not about to let the opportunity go to waste. He begins his message by convicting them of their sin, but he does not stop there. He tells them that they sinned in ignorance but were guilty none the less. However, and more importantly, he tells them that Christ rose from the dead that Jesus is God and that He has hope for them. They can repent, place their trust in Christ and have their sins "wiped away" (v. 19). However, if they reject this message their lives will be wiped away (v. 23). The choice is clear, have your sin wiped away in repentance or have your life wiped away in rebellion. Does not seem like a hard choice to make, but generations throughout the history of the world have consistently chosen rebellion over repentance and death instead of life. This is the message we have to proclaim. How they respond is between them and the Spirit of God.
When the Spirit of the living God is at work: LAME MEN LEAP, COWARDS TAKE COURAGE and SINNERS GET SAVED
PETER PERFORMS A MIRACLE: I guess it would be more accurate to say that God performed a miracle through Peter and John, but the final result was that a lame man leaped. I love to picture this in my mind and try to imagine both the sight as well as the emotion that this man must have felt. At the start of the encounter his greatest hope was to be pitiful enough to convince Peter and John to give him some spare change. When Peter starts talking to him about not having any money I am sure his thoughts were something like this: "yeah right" "if you don't want to give--fine, but don't make excuses just walk on by like everyone else." But then they touched him, picked him up and as they did his ankles got straight and his legs got strong and he started jumping around like an NFL player who just caught the winning touchdown in the Superbowl (Go Packers). What a swing of emotions. This is what God does, he take the hopeless and fills them with joy. Peter and John are just glad to be along for the ride.
PETER PROMOTES THE MESSIAH: As you can imagine, the leaping lame man drew quite a bit of attention and a large crowd as well. They all want to give credit to Peter and John. If ever there was a moment that Peter and John might have been tempted to be popular, this was it. They were celebrities and famous for the day. But Peter and John now know that celebrity status is passing and fame fades away. They are on an eternal mission not performing a "side show" for their fans. Peter puts a halt to their praise of Him and points them to Christ. He makes it clear that the glory for what was done belongs to the resurrected Christ and not to them. As we serve Christ, there may be times when the work that He does is so amazing that people will try to applaud us. We must not be distracted by this or find our motivation in this. We must stay on our God ordained mission of spreading the fame of Christ and give all glory to God.
PETER PROCLAIMS THE MESSAGE: There was a captive audience and Peter was not about to let the opportunity go to waste. He begins his message by convicting them of their sin, but he does not stop there. He tells them that they sinned in ignorance but were guilty none the less. However, and more importantly, he tells them that Christ rose from the dead that Jesus is God and that He has hope for them. They can repent, place their trust in Christ and have their sins "wiped away" (v. 19). However, if they reject this message their lives will be wiped away (v. 23). The choice is clear, have your sin wiped away in repentance or have your life wiped away in rebellion. Does not seem like a hard choice to make, but generations throughout the history of the world have consistently chosen rebellion over repentance and death instead of life. This is the message we have to proclaim. How they respond is between them and the Spirit of God.
When the Spirit of the living God is at work: LAME MEN LEAP, COWARDS TAKE COURAGE and SINNERS GET SAVED
...I laughed at loud at your packer's add in there =P hahahah! but even with out that this was a great one!
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