Keep Right...god Working

July 2, 2003

Title: Keep Right, God Working

Text: Acts 3:1-11

Introduction

Thanks for all your prayers for us while we were on vacation! We had a wonderful time!

I’ll have to be honest, I was looking forward to going on vacation...

but I certainly was NOT looking forward to:

the long drive...

all the traffic...

and road construction...

driving through Atlanta...

but in spite of it all...

we made pretty good time...

and we really weren’t hampered by all the road construction.

Throughout all our driving (about 2,300 miles worth),

we occasionally came upon areas where we would see those orange construction signs...

and big orange barrells...

and there would be signs like:

"speeding fines doubled in work zones"

or "men working"

or "left lane ends in 1 mile, merge right"

I even saw one that was written in print like a child might write, "please drive carefully, my daddy is working today".

As we continue our study of Acts, we come to Acts Chapter 3.

Acts 1 has been called: The Holy Spirit is Promised

Acts 2 has been called: The Holy Spirit is Out Poured

Acts 3 has been called: The Holy Spirit at Work!

As Acts chapter 2 comes to an end, Luke writes "Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles" Acts 2:43 (NIV)

And then in Chapter 3, Luke chooses one of these miracles to explain in more detail.

Read Text: Acts 3:1-11

I’ve entitled my devotions for tonight, "Keep Right...God at Work"

Body

1. God works 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.

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

For the devout Jew, there were 3 special times of prayer:

9 AM

12 Noon

3 PM

This would be a good place to interject:

I hope you have found a special time of prayer in your own life.

It would be great if you had ONE special time...perhaps in the morning or the evening.

But if you had THREE special times...I’m sure you would be the better for it.

Just because the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Chapter 2...

that didn’t change the way they felt about making their way to the Temple (the Church)

that didn’t change the way they felt about spending time with God in prayer.

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

sometimes the Holy Spirit comes 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...

One time, early in our marriage, Kay and I had one of our biggest arguments on the way to Church on a Sunday Morning! And yes, it was over something stupid.

And I’m sure that it’s not just us!!

Maybe you know what I mean...

the stress of getting ready for Church...

messing with the kids...

a spouse that doesn’t seem to help...

and you have the ingredients necessary for just an ordinary day, making your way to church.

But... Perhaps if we had our eyes opened to God’s work ...

we might have seen that God could do something tremendous;

even on ordinary days!

God wants us to experience revival and the blesses presence of His Holy Spirit in a special way...

but their comes a time when the revival ends...

and the evangelist leaves...

and its time to go back to work...

But don’t worry...

that’s just the time that God is getting to work too!!

God wants to do miraculous things in our lives...

not just on the mountaintop of revival...

but even in the valley of our work-a-day world!

Dr. Hugh C. Benner said, "So far as the record goes, not one soul was converted in the Upper Room....We must get out of the ’Upper Rooms’ out to where the needy are waiting, and give them our witness to the redeeming love and grace and power of Jesus Christ". (Hugh C. Benner, "The Church in Mission", p. 7)

John Henry Newman wrote these poetic words:

I sought to hear the voice of God

and climbed the topmost steeple:

but God declared: "Go down again---