For this crippled man, every day is the same.
• The same spot, the same crowd, the same scene, the same routine.
• Every day he would be carried and dropped at Temple gate called Beautiful.
• The congregation recognised him “as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate…”
He has become a permanent feature of that place.
• For him, today will just be like the day before, or any other day.
• For others, today will also be just like any other day, with the same beggar sitting at the same spot, probably in the same clothes, asking for the same thing.
• Nothing has changed. Nothing will probably change.
Have we gotten into such a mode?
• Day in and day out we find ourselves doing the same things, sitting at the same seat, facing the same people, going through the same routine.
• You end up letting time goes by without doing anything significant.
• God is not going to allow that to go on for this man. There is more to life than that!
• He is going to encounter God and experience a total change in his life.
I see two things that make it difficult for this man to expect a change.
• One, he is crippled. And it is from birth. He has never walked before. He has been in this way for over 40 years. 4:22 tells us that.
• Two, he has been begging probably all his life. He is a professional beggar, very accustomed to being carried to this spot every day.
• If there can be a change, if doctors can find a way to help him, it would have happened long ago. If someone can give him a decent job, he would have disappeared from the scene long ago.
For years his only means of survival is to beg. Everyday he begs. He lives only for the three meals each day.
• Frankly you do not need to be a crippled to do that. Many are living such a life today. They live only for their daily meals.
• They have no higher purpose than to get enough to feed themselves, or their families.
• That’s not the life God intended. We need a goal, a vision for our life, Rev Lee said. Every one of us needs to have a goal, a purpose in life.
What this man really need is not money. God knows better.
• Money can buy him 3 meals a day but not a meaningful purpose to life.
• He survived 40 over years begging, and would probably be able to survive for another 40 years the same way. This was not God’s plan for his life.
• He needs to know Jesus Christ. He needs an encounter with God and experience His grace and power. He needs a new life.
• That is what every one of us need – a relationship with Christ. It’s good to have money, to have a house, to have a stable job, to have a good education, but ultimately we need a relationship with God, an intimate one.
But things can change, and will change, if you allow God to.
• God is not going to allow this man to sit there for another 40 years.
• His disciples Peter and John will be walking by soon, and He is going to change this man’s life.
• God does not need any precedent. He just steps in and does His work.
• This man may be crippled from birth, but it doesn’t matter to God. He will make this man to jump up and glorify His Name.
He can do that for anyone who dares to put their trust in Christ, when given the chance.
• God needs no precedent. No matter how impossible your situation, how difficult, and for how long you have been in this problem, when God acts, He can surprise you.
• Eph 3:20 says God can do things "exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think". So if you can ask it, that’s not it. If you can think it, that’s not it too.
• But can we really believe Him?
This man did. When Peter asked him to rise up and walk, verses 7-8: “Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the Temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God.”
• Although we cannot really see his heart, we can sense from the description here that this man did not resist nor ridicule Peter’s preposterous suggestion.
• He could have, if you have not walked for 40 years.
Peter saw his faith. When he explained what had happened, Acts 3:16 “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.”
• Peter saw this man’s faith. He did not resist him. This man did not ask why or how. He responded with a real attempt to stand up.
• This is remarkable, considering the fact that he has never learnt walking. In fact, he has never even stood before, not to mention walking and jumping.
• And this was what he did. He went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God!
• He did not praise Peter. He praised God. It was an act of God and he knew it.
We all need encounters with God. We need to experience His touch.
• Once that happen, you cannot help but worship and praise Him with joy.
• A revived spirit comes from close encounters with God, where you are touched by His grace, His power, and His love.
• We need to get into places, events, services, seminars that expose us to the workings of God, where you can see Him and hear Him.
This man will not be able to hear the Name of Christ if not for Peter and John.
• They are the agents of change. We are all agents of change in someone’s life.
• 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." (v.6)
• Peter has nothing in himself to help this man. He doesn’t even have the simplest gifts – silver or gold. But he has Jesus Christ.
• What do we have today? Jesus Christ. We know Him. We worship Him.
• We have nothing in ourselves to change a person life, but we know Christ. We pray so that people can experience the power of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is no longer physically present. But His work did not stop with His departure.
• We read about His miracles in the Gospels, and now we’re reading it in Acts.
• Apparently nothing has changed. Christ is still at work on earth. His power remains.
• When the disciples prayed, He acted, just as if He was physically present with them.
J. Hudson Taylor: "Many Christians estimate difficulties in the light of their own resources, and thus attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt. All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and presence with them."
The work of Christ did not stop with His departure. We continue His work today.
• Peter and John played a critical role. God led them to this man.
• When they leave their house that day, they did not expect to meet a beggar. They did not even bring any money with them.
• Stopping by and healing a crippled man was not planned. It wasn’t in their agenda, but it was in God’s. The appointment was divine.
I believe there are many divine appointments in our lives.
• We may bump into strangers or people in need. They are not incidental. God lead us to them. We crossed paths because God caused it to happen.
• Why? Because God loves them. They need Christ, and we have Christ.
CONCLUSION
At the end of the day, God’s Name is glorified and the people are drawn to Him.
• The religious leaders wanted to arrest Peter and John - see Acts 4:21
"...they could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened."
We have been looking at 1 Peter 4:7-11 over the past few days at the retreat.
• The thing that stands out for me is the practicality of the Christian faith.
• Peter says we are to pray and love each other deeply, be hospitable, use our gifts to serve others.
• Our faith in God, our love for God, has to do with people. It touches another life. If our Christian faith is dormant and inactive, something is amiss.
John also says in 1 John 4:20 that if we do not love our brother whom we can see, we cannot love God whom we have not seen,
• Both Peter and John lived out their faith in very practical, down-to-earth manner. They pray and touch lives with Christ’s love and power. So must we.
• Let us reach out and touch someone. What are you DOING with your faith?
