Testifying Boldly Series

Acts 3 & 4 - Testifying Boldly -  February 5, 2014

Turn with me this morning to the book of Acts, chapter 3.  The Book of Acts is the record of the “first” experiences of the Church. We see the first Gospel sermon preached by Peter, the first invitation given, the first salvations experienced, the first baptisms, and the first commitments of the believers. Today we are going to look at the first detailed miraculous healing in the early Church. Remember in 2:43 we see that everyone was filled with awe - the power of God is being displayed in a way that causes people to be amazed.  And here in this miracle, the same thing happens.  It gets people’s attention.  This is a familiar story for us - Peter & John heal a man with physical impairments.  The danger as we read this passage is that we simply see a nice story of how God helped the lame man.  But the DUTY that each of us faces today as we come to the text is to identify the truths that stand out in the passage and to discern the relevance of what this miracle that happened 2,000 years ago has to do with our lives today.  And to help make that connection, we need God’s Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the truth.  So let’s pause right now and pray.  PRAYER

Did you ever find yourself in the situation where you greet someone - maybe even Sunday morning at church - and you say Hi, how are you?  Do you really want to know how they are?  Or is that just a way of saying Hello.  Often regardless of what they say, we simply reply Oh, that’s good or Oh, that’s too bad!  And then we continue on with our conversation.  Why is that?  The purpose of asking the question is to work like an ice breaker to ease us into conversation, but the truth is that often we are clueless about how the people around us are doing.  And this incident here in Acts 3 is a vivid reminder for us to never just use “how are you” as a trite meaningless expression, but to truly CARE about others we meet.  This morning, we are going to see the example of Peter and John, who are stopped in their tracks by the need of a man, and we see how they gave him nothing he asked for, but everything he hoped for.  Let’s read the story here in Acts 3.

Read Acts 3

We’ve just read the text, and seen the story, now let’s go back through and see what God might bring to our attention.  I’m going to share some things that I see - you may see something totally different, and that is GREAT!  The key is to ACT on what you see.  If God speaks to your heart through something in the text, listen to the quiet prompting of the Holy Spirit and make sure you take action on what you see.

The first thing we take notice of is in verse 1.

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon.

Here are Peter and John - two of Jesus’ key disciples - Peter who has just preached in chapter 2 and has seen 3,000 people come forward for the altar call.  You would think if there was anyone who didn’t need prayer, it was them.  After all, they have been waiting and praying for days now.  But they readily admit their desperate need of prayer.

Often we think we are “too busy” to pray.  But the reality is that we are just too busy.  We allow trivial, unimportant, inconsequential things to fill up our day.  And as a result, we end up neglecting the most important thing we could do - stay connected to the God of all creation.

What are the things that fill your day?  Keeping up with all the facebook updates your friends post?  Watching ballgames, tv shows, talking on the phone, doing crossword puzzles.  There are many thing that we do that are not necessarily sinful, but they rob us of time.  

If you find that when you evaluate your schedule that you haven’t been praying as you should, one of the best things you can do is pick a set time to pray.  It might be 6 AM, 2 PM, or 10 PM - but find a time that works for you and set that time aside as a time when you will pray.  This is what we see the disciples doing: 3 in the afternoon was the time when the Jews gathered for prayer.  The disciples gather at the temple to pray.  Even though they are transitioning out of all the Jewish rituals, they still come together there for worship.  And the disciples set aside that time of day to pray themselves.  The disciples prioritize prayer, and so should we.