Caution - God At Work

Everyday that I drive down Killian Hill Road on my way to work, I have to drive slowly and carefully through some of the construction areas.

As you drive in those areas, there are all sorts of signs.

"Speeding fines doubled in work zones."

“Left lane ends, merge right"

“Caution – Men At Work.”

In the book of Acts, you could almost take that sign and have it read, “Caution – God at Work.”

Our New Testament Lesson shows us that God is at work.

In particular this text teaches us that God is at work in the ordinary times of our lives.

Luke writes, "One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon" Acts 3:1 (NIV)

He doesn’t write, "One day, Peter and John went out so they could do some miracles."

He doesn’t say, "When Peter and John woke up that morning, they knew that this day would be different from any other."

From all evidence, we see that this is just an ordinary day – but God was at work!

Peter and John were on their way to the Temple at 3:00 in the afternoon.

It is interesting that the writer of the Book of Acts would bother with telling us that it was 3:00 in the afternoon. That’s an interesting time, because it is such an ordinary time.

For the devout Jew, there were 3 special times of prayer: 9 AM, 12 Noon and 3 PM. Ordinary, routine times.

Sometimes God works in extra-ordinary ways on extra-ordinary days.

There are times when the Holy Spirit comes to us in dramatic ways, such as with flames of fire and the blowing of a great wind.

But God also works in just every day ordinary ways.

Peter and John were on their way to church.

I don’t know what it is like in your home and in your car before you get to church. For my family, it is just a casual day. We sleep a little later than usual. Get dressed and start the day. We watch a little news to see if anything unusual has happened during the night.

Just an ordinary day.

But it is in the middle of such days that God is at work.

Peter and John were going to the Temple, as usual. An ordinary day.

They were going to worship. Just an ordinary experience.

They were there to pray. To give their tithes. These things might seem ordinary to others, but to the Christian these are the ordinary things that bring about the extra-ordinary visitation by God Himself into our lives!

Moses was called by God while he was tending sheep.

Samuel was called by God while he was asleep, or at least trying to get some sleep.

Peter was called from his fishing trip.

Ordinary times, and yet God is at work in our lives even in our most ordinary times.

We need to be ready and expectant that God will be at work – at any time.

God not only works in ordinary times of our lives...but He works in ordinary men and women!

Our nation has been blessed with great leaders. In the past few days our nation lost a man that both political parties admired, whether they agreed with President Reagan or not, everyone had great respect for him as a great American.

We’ve had other great presidents -- George Washington. Abraham Lincoln and others.

We’ve had leaders in the development and improvement of Civil Rights, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.

We’ve had great explorers like Amelia Earhart and Neil Armstrong.

And we often think that if you are to accomplish anything, you must be a great leader, a great person.

But God often works through the ordinary person.

Moses was no Charlton Heston. Inspite of that wonderful old movie, “The Ten Commandments,” Moses was a fairly ordinary sort of person. He was not great speaker. In fact, he was so unimpressive as a speaker, he asked God to let his brother Aaron help him.

David conquered Goliath, but before the battle, everyone kept telling him, “You can’t do it, you are too ordinary.”

His brothers told him to go home and take care of the sheep, because that was all they thought he was good for.

King Saul took one look at David and reminded him that Goliath was a professional soldier who had been trained since youth.

Goliath took one look at David and was insulted that the opposing army would send out such an ordinary, small, boy.

But we all know how the story goes – David kills Goliath.

God works through ordinary people.

In our New Testament lesson, we read about the healing of a crippled man. He is an ordinary man. You’ve seen him – or at least you have seen his brethren. Whenever I come out of a sporting event, I see beggars like this gentlemen from Acts.