You Matter
Text: Acts 9:32-43
Introduction
1. Illustration: George Muller was born in Prussia on September 27, 1805. His father was a collector of taxes and George seemed to inherit his father’s ability with figures.
When Muller was converted to Christ he was impressed by the many recurring statements of Jesus for us "to ask." At this point in Muller’s life he and his wife launched into a daring experiment. First, they gave away all of their household goods. The next step was even more daring, he refused all regular salary from the small mission he had been serving. He then set out to establish an orphan home to care for the homeless children of England.
The first home was dedicated in a rented building on April 21, 1836. Within a matter of days, 43 orphans were being cared for. Muller and his co-workers decided their experiment would be set up with the following guidelines:
1- No funds would ever be solicited.
2- No debts were ever to be incurred.
3- No money contributed for a specific purpose would ever be used for any other purpose.
4- All accounts would be audited annually.
5- No ego-pandering by the publication of donor’s names.
6- No "names" of prominent people would be sought for the board or to advertise the institution.
7- The success of the orphanage would be measured not by the numbers served or by the amount of money taken in, but by God’s blessing on the work, which Muller expected to be in direct proportion to the time spent in prayer.
When the first building was constructed, Muller and his friends remained true to their convictions. The public was amazed when a second building was opened six months after the first. They kept concentrating on prayer and eventually there were five new buildings, 110 workers, and 2,050 orphans being cared for.
George Muller not only counted on God to provide, but he believed that God would provide abundantly. For over 60 years Muller recorded every specific prayer request and the results. Muller was responsible for the care of 9,500 orphans during his life. These children never went without a meal. Muller never asked for help from anyone but God. $7,500,000 came to him over the course of his life and he vows it was all in answer to believing prayer.
2. George Muller was successful because he trusted God. He believed that God would meet their needs.
3. Why should we believe that God would meet our needs? Because we matter to God. And because we matter to God...
A. He Wants To Heal Our Hurts
B. He Sees The Good You Do
C. He Hears Your Prayers
4. Let's stand together as we read Acts 9:32-43
Proposition: God will meet your needs because He cares for you.
Transition: Because you matter to God...
I. He Wants To Heal Your Hurts (32-35).
A. Jesus Christ Heals You
1. Now that the church is experiencing a time of peace, Peter is able to come out of hiding and move outside of Jerusalem.
2. Luke tells us at the beginning of this section of Acts, "Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place, and he came down to visit the believers in the town of Lydda."
A. Luke begins a sequence that leads to Peter's taking the gospel to the Gentiles in Caesarea.
B. Since the conditions in Jerusalem had become peaceful, Peter could leave the city.
C. So he began to travel throughout "Judea, Galilee and Samaria" (v. 31).
D. As he journeyed "he went to visit the believers in Lydda," which was about twenty-four miles northwest of Jerusalem on the road to Joppa (Horton, 191).
E. We are not told how they had become believers. Perhaps they received the gospel from some who were originally at Pentecost, or from some who were forced to flee Jerusalem during the persecution of the Church.
F. But however they came to commit themselves to Jesus as God's Messiah, Peter viewed them as within the sphere of his ministry (Tenney, 381).
3. Once he arrived in Lydda, "There he met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years."
A. At Lydda Peter came upon Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years.
B. Luke does not say that Aeneas was a Jew nationally or a Christian by faith, though presumably, despite his thoroughly Greek name, he was both.
C. It would hardly have been consistent with Luke's purpose to show Peter ministering to a Gentile before his encounter with Cornelius, and the "there" of the sentence points back to the believers at Lydda and not just the city itself (Tenney, The Expositor's Bible Commentary – Volume 9: John and Acts, 381).
D. Luke does not say whether Aeneas was paralyzed due to a stroke, an illness such as polio, or an injury.
E. In any case, his paralysis was beyond the abilities of the limited medical knowledge of that day.
F. He had already been bedridden eight years, and faced that prospect for the rest of his life (MacArthur, 281).
4. So Peter looks at this man and says, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly."
A. Peter's words, "Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your sleeping mat," are recorded in the present tense by Luke.
B. They should be understood as "this moment Jesus Christ heals you"
(Tenney, 381).
C. Jesus (not Peter) healed him instantaneously and completely.
D. Then Peter challenges Aeneas to respond to God's gift of healing and tells him to stand up, and this man who hadn't stood in over eight years stands up with no problems.
5. As a result of Aeneas' healing, "the whole population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they turned to the Lord."
A. News of Aeneas's healing spread throughout Lydda and into the Plain of Sharon to the north.
B. Luke says "all those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord."
C. The Plain of Sharon is the largest of the maritime plains of northern Palestine, stretching from Joppa to Mount Carmel and with Caesarea on the coast.
D. So, Luke tells us, there was a further widening of the Christian mission within the Jewish nation, preparing the way for the accounts of Peter's ministry at Joppa in and at Caesarea (Tenney, 381).
B. By His Stripes
1. Illustration: "The Master does not want us to reason things out, for carnal reasoning will always land us in a bog of unbelief. He wants us simply to obey." (Smith Wiggelsworth, Healing).
2. Receiving God's healing requires obeying God's Word.
A. James 5:14-15 (NLT)
Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
B. The fact that God wants to heal us is a given; as Peter would later write, quoting Is. 53:5, "By his wounds you HAVE BEEN HEALED."
C. The question becomes are we willing to do what God requires to be healed?
D. Are we willing to pray for our healing?
E. Are we willing to go to the Elders of the church and be anointed with oil?
F. Are we willing to believe that God will heal us?
G. Are we willing to confess our sins to God and be forgiven?
H. Believe in a miracle; pray for a miracle; reach out for a miracle, and God will deliver one!
Transition: We also matter to God because...
II. He Sees The Good You Do (36-38).
A. Always Doing Kind Things
1. When we do things that are blessings to others people notice, and so does God. That was the case in the life of a believer named Tabitha.
2. Listen to what Luke tells us about her. He writes, "There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor."
A. At Joppa, a seaport on the Mediterranean coast about eleven miles northwest of Lydda and thirty-five miles from Jerusalem, lived a woman "a believer," Tabitha.
B. She was also known by the corresponding Greek name, Dorcas which means "gazelle," an antelope that was considered a symbol of gracefulness.
C. She was "always doing kind things for others," especially deeds for the poor. Some commentators believe her ministry is an example of the gift of helps (Horton, 192).
3. Then, Luke tells us, that something tragic happened in her life. He says, "About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room."
A. Naturally when at that time she fell sick and died, it was a serious blow to the believers in Joppa. They washed her body in preparation for burial, as was customary.
B. However, instead of burying her immediately, as was also customary, they laid her body in an upper room. Evidently, they had something else in mind.
C. What that was becomes immediately apparent. Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples heard that Peter was there. No doubt they had also heard of his healing of Aeneas, which gave them an idea (MacArthur, 284).
D. You see when we do good for others word gets around, but word also gets around when God is using you in a powerful way.
E. Peter was no different from us. The reason that Peter was so used of God was that he opened up himself and made himself available to the Holy Spirit!
F. Have you made yourself available to the Holy Spirit? The same Holy Spirit that flowed out of Peter is the same Holy Spirit that lives in you! Are you willing to let him have control the way that Peter did?
4. Look what happens next. "But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”
A. They heard that Peter was in the area and what God had been doing through him.
B. So they sent two men to beg him to come at once. The verb used here for beg means "'to ask for (earnestly), to request, to plead for" (Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
C. Luke does not say what they expected from him or asked him to do. But since (1) Tabitha's body was washed but not anointed for burial and (2) her good deeds were told Peter when he arrived, they apparently wanted him to restore her to life.
D. Having heard of Aeneas's healing, they seem to have thought it merely a slight extension of divine power to raise the dead (Tenney, 382).
E. Although Peter was very busy with large groups of people, he was never too busy to come to the aid of someone in need, especially someone who had been so faithful in helping others.
B. Let Your Good Deeds Shine
1. The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. You cannot earn you way to heaven, but you can earn a good reputation on earth.
A. Matthew 5:16 (NLT)
In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
B. We are saved by grace through faith, but that doesn't give us the right to be means as a snake toward people for whom Jesus gave his life.
C. Jesus commands to do good things for others so that they will praise our Heavenly Father.
D. Elsewhere Paul writes, 1 Timothy 6:18 (NLT) ...They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others."
E. Hebrews 10:24 (NLT)
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.
F. James 2:26 (NLT)
Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
G. We cannot earn our way to heaven, but we are commanded to live our lives in such a way that we are a reflection of an all loving, all giving, and all compassionate God.
H. When people think of you what is their opinion?
I. When people see you do they see you or Jesus?
J. Does you reputation precede you? And is that a good or a bad thing?
Transition: Because you matter to God...
III. He Hears Your Prayers (39-43).
A. He Knelt And Prayed
1. There is no greater power in this world than the power of prayer. We can plainly see that in the life of Tabitha.
2. Luke tells us, "So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them."
A. In probably about three hours Peter arrived. In the upper room, all the widows were standing around weeping and "showing him the coats" and the long, flowing outer garments Dorcas was (always) making "while she was still with them."
B. By this they showed their desire to see Dorcas restored to life. Nevertheless, they were in tears.
C. The Bible encourages us to weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15). But these weeping women who had expressed such faith and expectation in sending for Peter were still overwhelmed by the fact that Dorcas was really dead.
D. Perhaps also they had a little self-pity because they thought no one else would care for them as Dorcas had.
E. The church's responsibility to care for widows, though often neglected today, was taken seriously in the early church.
F. Employment opportunities for women were severely limited, and widows without family to care for them were often left destitute. The loss of Dorcas, therefore, was a serious blow to these widows (MacArthur,284).
G. Some may have been feeling guilty for not showing more appreciation to her while she was alive. So, in spite of their initial faith, their grief was probably giving way to hopeless sorrow (Horton, 193).
3. After assessing the situation, Peter immediately takes action. Luke tells us, "But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive."
A. Peter had been instrumental in a number of physical healings, and even pronounced the death sentence on Ananias and Sapphira. Yet raising people from the dead was something new to him.
B. Nevertheless, knowing himself to be an apostle of Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit—and probably remembering his lord's raising of Jairus's daughter Peter responded to the urgent call.
C. As he had seen Jesus do in the case of Jairus's daughter, he ordered the mourners out of the room and prayed.
D. Some might think that Peter, who had been involved in countless healings, should have simply commanded Dorcas to rise.
E. He knew, however, the source of his power and presumed nothing about the will of God. So, he knelt down and prayed.
F. Essential to all successful ministry, prayer acknowledges dependence on God. Prayer realizes that God is "able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to [His] power that works within us" (Eph. 3:20) (MacArthur, 285).
G. Then he spoke these words: "Tabitha, get up." When she opened her eyes and sat up, he took her by the hand, helped her to her feet, and presented her alive to the Christians who stood by.
H. It was an exceptional exhibit of God's mercy and the Spirit's power, and "many people believed in the Lord" (Tenney, 382-383).
I. When God moves people take notice, and when we pray God acts!
B. Prayer Matters
1. Illustration: A heart-broken little girl began to kneel and pour out her heart to God in the altar at her local church. She did not know what to say. As she wept speechless, she began to remember what her Father had told her, "God knows your needs even before you pray, and he can answer when you don’t even know for what to ask." So she began to say her alphabet. A concerned adult from that church knelt beside her and heard her sobbing and saying her ABC’s and inquired what exactly she was trying to do. The little girl told this caring adult, "I’m praying to God from my heart." But the adult answered, "It sounds to me more like your are saying the alphabet!"
"Yes," she said, "But God knows more about what I need than I do, and he can take all these letters and arrange them in just the right way to hear and answer my prayers!"
2. Your prayers matter to God because you matter to God!
A. Matthew 6:7-8 (NLT)
“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!"
B. God loves you and cares for you so intimately that he knows what you need before you ask.
C. Then why do we need to pray if God already knows what we need?
D. Because he wants you to realize the need you have in your life for him.
E. He wants you to know that everything you have and everything that you are is dependent upon his love and mercy.
F. He wants you to love him as much as he loves you.
G. He longs for fellowship with you, and in fact he created you for that purpose.
H. Because he love you that much he will answer your prayers.
I. When you back is against the wall pray and God will answer.
J. When you have nowhere else to go pray and God will answer.
K. When all your hope seem gone pray and God will answer.
L. When you don't know what to pray ask the Holy Spirit to pray for you, and God will answer your prayer.
Conclusion
1. Why should we believe that God would meet our needs? Because we matter to God. And because we matter to God...
A. He Wants To Heal Our Hurts
B. He Sees The Good You Do
C. He Hears Your Prayers
2. 1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
3. Do you have a need today? Give that need to God and he will fill it because God cares about you!
