Acts 3:1-10
Now Peter and John went up together
into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
2 And a certain man lame from his
mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which
is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
3 Who seeing Peter and John about to
go into the temple asked an alms.
4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon
him with John, said, Look on us.
5 And he gave heed unto them,
expecting to receive something of them.
6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold
have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth rise up and walk.
7 And he took him by the right hand,
and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8 And he leaping up stood, and
walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and
praising God.
9 And all the people saw him walking
and praising God:
10 And they knew that it was he which
sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with
wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
During the course of a week there were probably hundreds of
new believers that passed by this lame beggar.
After all, it says in Acts 2 that over 3 thousand were added to their
number on the day of Pentecost and I’m convinced that Peter and John were not the only believers that went
to the temple to pray. It is likely that
most them had a testimony of what God had done for them, and the difference
Jesus had made in their lives.
I bet if I were to ask all of you to comment and give an
example of how Jesus had worked in your life, I would be busy for days reading
your testimonies. Some of you have
walked away from accidents where no one should have survived it, but here you
are. Some of you have survived addictions;
you should be dead, or worse, strung out in some mental hospital, and yet here
you are saved sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost. Someone else might share how God restored
your marriage. And I am positive that
some would tell me how the doctors had done everything they could do and
finally gave up, and then Jesus, the Great Physician, took your case and did a
miracle.
It doesn’t matter how long you have been a Christian, if you
have been set free from the bondage of sin, wrestled out of the hands of Satan,
and washed in the blood of Jesus, then you have a testimony of God’s power!
And many of these other believers may have stopped from time
to time and shared an exciting testimony and personal experience with the lame
man, but when the testimony was done they went on into the temple and left this
man in the same condition he was when they found him. Why? Because
their testimony was not enough. Our experiences are good and our testimony can
be enough to remind us of what God has done so that we can overcome our hard
times, but when it comes to touching someone else’s situation and bringing life
to the lost, there has to be more than experience, there has to be some power!
Matthew 28:18 – “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost:”
Then one day Jesus said: I am going away, I have to leave
you but when I go the power will go too, and I can’t expect you to do my work
with no power. So he tells them to Tarry
in Jerusalem till ye be endued with POWER from on High. Then he tells them in Acts 1:8 “Ye shall
receive POWER after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And you shall be my
witnesses…”
When Peter and John came walking through that day they had
just left the board meeting of heaven, where the power of the Holy Ghost came
like cloven tongues of fire and rushing mighty wind and filled them with
power. They didn’t just have a
testimony, they had a manifestation! They were plugged into the power of God. To
put it plainly, they didn’t just have a story to tell of what God had done for
them in the past, they had a manifestation of the very power that raised Christ
from the dead living inside of them, and they recognized it, so they manifested
the power of God toward this cripple man.
They channeled Gods Power into that lame man's life.
What was the difference? Why didn't any of the other Christians that most likely passed him by help him? Most of the other believers, like the majority of the church today, knew
that something had happened to them because of God’s power. They could remember
their experience, they could even tell someone about it, but that was as far as
their faith would take them. But Peter
and John had gone to another level: they were plugged into to God's power that was in them by the baptism in the Holy Ghost!
I know that there are some of you that are tired of the same
old thing, you’re ready for a deeper experience of God’s power. You’re sick and tired of the same old level
in your walk, the same old level in your marriage, the same old level of the
anointing, you’re want to go to another level. I want to make a prophetic declaration:
God is getting ready to shift somebody, He's getting rready to plug you into His power!
Peter and John came on the scene and they were a positive
looking for a negative to release Gods power.
They were a blessing looking for a place to Happen. They understood what Jesus was telling them
when He said go and make disciples. He
was saying, “Go make things happen, heal the sick, release those who are in
bondage to sin, make dead marriages live again, and call the prodigals home!”
There are only three types of people in the Body of Christ:
those that watch things happen, those that wonder what happened, and those that
make things happen because they are plugged into God's power. Which one are you?
Excellent message.
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