God Changes The Ordinary Into Extraordinary
Acts 3:1-4:22
Audio Link to hear this sermon: http://chirb.it/6xyE3J
INTRODUCTION:
1.) Have you ever got out of bed thinking this is going to be an ordinary run of the mill day, but by the end of the day, you found it was anything but?
2.) That is exactly the kind of picture we see in our text today.
3.) As we look at this account of Scripture it was just your regular boring, dull, normal, and average kind of day until 3:00 that afternoon.
4.) But the few remaining hours of that day were far from ordinary.
5.) There are a number of characters involved in this Scripture, and for each of them it turned out to be a day that was different than they had expected.
A.) We see a crippled man over forty years of age who thought this would be just another day of lying beside the gate of the temple begging for money.
aa.) For him, this ordinary day turned very unordinary as he experienced firsthand the miraculous healing power of God.
B.) Peter and John were going to an ordinary prayer meeting but this also became quite extraordonary, when God used them to heal this man.
C.) The healing miracle presented Peter the opportunity to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, which turned into a quite extraordonary experience and even some conflict.
ca.) In fact, in the middle of his sermon he was interrupted by the Jewish religious leaders.
caa.) This interruption ended the preaching and resulted in Peter and John being arrested and thrown into prison for the night.
D.) The people who witnessed this miracle were filled with awe and wonder and found it to be more than just an ordinary day as, the church grew to 5,000 men.
da.) Certainly for a day everyone thought would be ordinary, God made it extraordinary.
6.) Let us take a few minutes and examine four things that changed this day from the ordinary to the extraordinary:
I. A PRAYERFUL PEOPLE.
1.) It Was an hour of prayer.
A.) Jewish people recognized three hours a day for prayer.
aa.) At 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. many of the Jewish people would go to the temple for a time of prayer.
B.) After the establishment of the Church many of the early Jewish Christians continued with these three times of daily prayer.
ba.) Certainly it was an action from the people of God that moved the church closer to God, so that God could change the ordinary into extraordinary.
bb.) In the history of the church, prayer has many times moved the church closer to God.
bc.) When the church is actively seeking God, we should believe that God will choose to do something great and wonderful; something that is bigger than ourselves, and clearly by the power of God.
bca.) Prayer is the doorway that takes us from the workings of man, to the power and working of God.
bcb.) For many of the church, this was a time of seeking God and the great power that comes from His Almighty hand.
.01) But for this crippled beggar he was thinking of something quite different.
.011) This beggar may not have been so focused on the time of prayer as he was focused on getting enough money so he could have supper that night.
.02) For him:
2.) It was an hour of opportunity.
A.) The crippled man was placed at the Gate called beautiful.
aa.) This particular gate was called beautiful because it had been specially adorned, and had been a thing of great beauty.
ab.) This was the most popular entrance to the temple.
B.) It has been long known that many times the people of God are generous and given to acts of kindness.
ba.) Certainly this was even more the case as they went up for prayer at the temple.
bb.) Acts 3:1-2
C.) Each day this man would lie there, and beg those coming to the temple for some money.
ca.) This day started out no different than most other days.
caa.) This man did what he normally did, and the people going to the temple would have likely responded with either love and generosity, or indifference or even negativity as they would do each time they passed by this man.
D.) This particular day as Peter and John were passing by, this man asked them for some money as well.
da.) Acts 3:3
db.) We will see what transpires in this account as I come to my second point of:
II. A POWERFUL HEALING.
1.) Peter and John give heed to the man.
A.) Acts 3:4-5
B.) This man lifts his head and looks at Peter and John expecting to receive some money.
ba.) That is the only reason this man looked up.
bb.) If you can picture the scene, this man lies there daily; he cannot work, he cannot support himself; he can only lie there and beg.
bba.) For the entirety of this man’s 40 plus years on this earth, (Acts 4:22) his only hope for survival was to lie there and beg for money
bbb.) In society, beggars are not usually respected or looked up to.
bbc.) Beggars are not usually people we like to see as we walk down the street.
.01) They are people of whom society tends to look down on and reject for one reason or another.
.02) I expect that for much of this man’s life, he had been subject to ridicule, mockery, eyes that would not look at him, and also contempt.
.021) This was the man that everyone dreaded to see because they knew he would ask them for money.
.03) Many would have seen this man as invisible.
.031) People walked by looking in another direction, or consciously striking up conversation with someone going into the temple so they would not have to speak to this man, or even make eye contact with him.
bc.) Peter and John were different. They stopped and grabbed this man’s attention.
bca.) They forced this man to look directly at them.
2.) Peter and John make a declaration of their finances.
A.) Acts 3:6a.
B.) They tell this man we have no money to give you.
ba.) Probably at this point the man’s head may have again dropped down as he expected to hear some mockery, or disrespectful statements, or some other word or action of disrespect and hatred.
bb.) But that was not the reason Peter and John had got this man’s attention.
bba.) They had no desire to further insult or harm this man.
3.) Peter and John gave this man more than he had dreamed.
A.) The Holy Spirit of God had directed these Apostles to work through this man to prove that Jesus is the Christ.
aa.) We have to remember that this was very early in the life of the church.
ab.) The church was still only a few weeks to perhaps a month or more old in its existence.
aba.) At this point, the church consisted of an entirely Jewish audience.
ac.) Among the larger Jewish population, the majority still had never come to faith in Jesus Christ.
aca.) When we look at this text, it would seem the entire purpose of this miracle was to bring the Jewish people more evidence so they could come to faith in Jesus as the Christ or Messiah of God.
B.) With that objective in mind a miraculous healing takes place.
ba.) Acts 3:6b.-8
bb.) There were many who may have had trouble with this site. They were in the temple and it was a place for reverence, and respectful attitude, but here this man was jumping, and hopping, and loudly praising God.
bba.) This man was so excited at the working of God in His life, he could not contain himself, but was overflowing with joy and praise.
.01) This man was acting more like a kid the first time at the circus, than a forty year old man. But for the first time in his life he was actually walkng, running, and jumping.
4.) The people were filled with wonder and amazement at the power of God in Peter and John.
A.) Acts 3:9-10
B.) God used this great miracle to open the door so that Peter and John were allowed to accomplish their primary goal which is my third point:
III. A PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.
1.) This healing was not by the power of man.
A.) It would have been very easy for those who were present to believe Peter and John in and of themselves had the power to heal this man.
B.) It is certainly true that Peter and John were the instruments God had used to accomplish this great miracle, but they were not the source of the healing power.
ba.) Scripture tells us the people ran to Peter and John there in Solomon’s Portico.
bb.) The people were drawn to Peter and John because of this great miracle.
bc.) Peter correctly redirected the praise to whom it rightly belonged.
2.) The healing was by the power of God.
A.) The Apostles told everyone that the power came from Almighty God.
aa.) He further identifies the power with a title every Jew would have been familiar with: “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
ab.) Perhaps there was another reason for speaking of God in this way:
aba.) The next phrase in that thirteenth verse says: “the God of our Fathers.”
.01) Peter is making a distinction between their forefathers, and themselves.
.02) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had recognized and worshipped Jehovah God.
ac.) To this point, most of the Jewish people had rejected the Messiah God had sent.
aca.) Peter is telling them that by rejecting Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, they were in fact rejecting God
Himself.
acb.) This was the turning point when Peter went from preaching to stepping on toes in the congregation.
acc. ) Those words would not have been well received. As Jews, they had been able to trace their family trees
back to Abraham, and because of that they felt they were already part of God’s people.
acb.) Yet when God had sent His messiah into this world, the Jewish people had rejected him, choosing a murderer for themselves rather than the Christ or Messiah of God.
.01) By that action they had chosen to not receive the blessings which come through Abraham.
3.) The healing was evidence that Jesus is the Christ.
A.) It was because of a faith in Jesus, as the Christ of God that this man had been healed.
aa.) If Jesus had not been the Christ, then no amount of faith in him would have ever healed this or any man.
ab.) It was only because Jesus was actually from God that he now had the power to bring healing to this man.
aba.) Acts 3:16-17
4.) The healing of this man presented them with the need to put faith in Christ.
A.) They needed to have faith that Jesus is the Christ.
B.) That faith would lead them to also move their lives in obedience to a faith in Christ.
ba.) The next day Peter would speak to them on the need of accepting Jesus as the Christ.
baa.) Acts 4:12
bb.) But at this point in Peter’s message he showed them their need to put faith in Jesus as the Christ, and to repent of their sins.
bba.) Acts 3:19
bba.) Certainly this would include their need for baptism.
.01) That may not directly come out in this account, but the preceding conversion account, and those which come after this in the book of Acts most always include that.
C.) Peter warned that failure to accept Jesus as the Christ would be very dangerous.
ca.) Acts 3:23
D.) To say the least Peter’s sermon was not popular among the Jewish leaders.
da.) They had allowed Peter to preach to this point, but that was the limit of their tolerance.
db.) Peter’s sermon was interrupted and he and John were arrested for preaching that Jesus is the Christ, and that He had been raised from the dead.
dba.) This brings me to my fourth point:
IV. A PERSECUTION OF THE PREACHERS.
1.) Peter and John get to spend the night in Jail.
A.) Acts 4:1-3
2.) Even the imprisonment of the preachers could not prevent the power of the Word of God, in the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.
A.) The Gospel message had been preached.
B.) Once more the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ had been proclaimed.
C.) Peter and John were in prison and may not have immediately seen the results but the church now grows to
5,000 men as well as the women and children.
ca.) Acts 4:4
3.) The next day Peter and John are called to account for their actions.
A.) Acts 4:5-7
B.) When we look at this list everybody who was anybody in the Jewish religion were there to challenge Peter
and John.
ba.) They were challenged by the top brass of the Jewish faith.
4.) Once more Peter takes the opportunity to preach to the Leadership of the Jewish faith that Jesus is the Christ.
A.) Acts 4:8-10
B.) Peter even has the boldness to quote a Messianic prophecy and speak of Jesus as the fulfillment of it.
ba.) Acts 4:10
baa.) Peter was quoting from Ps. 118:22.
C.) Peter is not stopped by these religious leaders, but with full confidence makes another statement:
ca.) Acts 4:12
5.) This was really the turning point when the Jewish people really started persecuting the Church of Jesus
Christ.
A.) Acts 4:13-22
B.) The Gospel message Of Jesus Christ could not be stopped.
ba.) May we today like that church of the first century be a church where the message of Christ cannot be
stopped.
CONCLUSION:
1.) This morning we have seen another message of the church as it is pictured in the book of Acts.
2.) It was a church so opened to the presence of God that God could do great things in the body of Christ.
A.) When the Church is led by Jesus Christ, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, every day is an
extraordinary day that God can do great things in the body of Christ.
B.) May we be that kind of church today.
