A Study in the Book of Acts
The New Testament Church in Action
Part 3
Faith in His Name
Today we go into chapter 3 and maybe into chapter 4. Acts 3 has a very famous event, it is the healing of the lame man who sat at the Gate Beautiful every day. I want you to remember that the goal of our study is to see the New Testament Church in action.
Act3:1-9: 1. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3. who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us.'' 5. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.'' 7. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking, leaping, and praising God. 9. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
Four things in this passage are important:
- Pater and John went daily to the temple to pray. This means they prayed continuously. Pray must be a very important part of our lives and ministry.
- Verse 6 shows Peter doing 2 things. One sharing what He has been given.
He has been given the power of the Name of Jesus, the authority to use it and this was what He did. He did as the Lord commanded and He healed the lame. Peter is faith in action. He is now empowered by the Holy Spirit and He is walking confidently in that power.
This is what we, as New Testament believers are to do. Walk in the authority and power every day that we have been given.
- Peter, John and the man expected something to happen. They may not have believed in the same thing to happen, Peter and John were sharing Jesus and healing, the man expecting alms. But in the end Jesus answered all expectations, with the miracle of healing.
I think this is where we miss it a lot. We do not truly expect a miracle. We hope, in the general way not the scriptural way, for something to happen and are not surprised when nothing does but are awed when a miracle occurs. If you notice in the following verses Peter and John were ready in season the explain the miracle and use it to share the Gospel. They were ready and so must we be at all times.
It is faith in the power of Jesus that something will happen that should be our touchstone. Not “if” it will but “when it does”. We have been so conditioned to wait and see that we do not give God the opportunity to act because of our unbelief. If you remember in
Matthew 13: 57-58: 57. So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.'' 58. And He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
We must pray for God to strengthen our belief, to help our unbelief, as that unbelief hinders the work God is able and has planned to do. Amen?
- Peter acted, he reached out, took the man by the hand and pulled him up. We must be willing to act on our beliefs. This is where our faith must be strong.
Let’s jump over to chapter 4.
Act 4: 4. However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Five Thousand men believed the Word of the Gospel as taught by Peter that day in the Temple. Five Thousand! They saw what God had done, then the miracle was followed by the preaching of the Word and Five thousand were added to the church.
Yes, I know that many teach this was a miraculous event that God performed to start the growth of the New Testament Church. Two things I want us to take away from this is
- Miracles are for today. They should be used to show the unbeliever the mighty power of God, soften their heart and draw them to God
- The Preaching of the Word, the Gospel and faith in the name of Jesus is what saves not the belief in the miracle. Also, Repentance and forgiveness are essential to the process. We must be ready to share this where ever we go.
Let’s go back to Acts 3
Acts 3: 11-12,16,19: 11. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. 12. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? …16. "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all… 19. "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
Now as you remember, because of this event Peter and James are arrested by the temple guard and the Sadducees. The next day, they go before the rules, scribes and High Priests. Notice what is said in verse 13.
Acts 4:13: 13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
They saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized they had been with Jesus.
Ladies this is how we must be!
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary boldness is defined as fearless before danger, showing or requiring a fearless daring spirit, assured, confident.
We must be assured and confident, a fearless daring spirit who is able to show Jesus to the world no matter what! I know there are many times we feel beat down. We feel discouraged mentally, physically and emotionally. We know people who are going through is a lot. Sometimes we must be the strong one for that person. We must share our strength. We must support them when they are too weak to continue. This is what we as daughters of the King, Sisters in Christ must do for each other.
Remember Ruth? She gave up her natural family to go with Naomi to return to Israel after the death of her husband, Naomi’s son. She went to be with Naomi, live with her and help her.
Let’s look at another famous event.
Exodus 17: 8-13: 8. Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9. And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.'' 10. So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11. And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12. But Moses' hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Moses held up His hand to show the Israelites that God was the director of this battle. That victory was in His Hand and His alone, but it took the strength of man to show this.
If Moses became tired and His hand faltered, the Israelites began to lose. How many times have we seen this in our own battles, we become weak, tired, sick, discouraged or disheartened? We lose sight of our Victor, we lose the close connection we had with Jesus and we need someone to come along and hold us up, strengthen us with their strength to insure the battle. This is what we must do for each other and anyone the Lord puts in our paths. We cannot judge, we must strengthen and teach. This is hard for me at times. I feel that we all should be strong and untiring, once someone has come along side us.
Even though I have gone through a lot and spent many dry days in the wilderness, I want others to come out victorious faster than I did. I have to realize that we all deal with and process things differently. The main thing we all need to understand is that we are all “strong in the Lord and the power of His might” Amen?
I want us to take away several things today
We must expect out faith to produce miracles.
We must be willing to act on our faith.
We must be bold in preaching the Gospel and in acting on our faith.
We must support each other through prayer, words of encouragement and actions when needed. We must never be judgmental, but patient and kind.
We must stay in prayer to strengthen our faith and our spirits.
We will continue in chapter 4 next week.