5/24/26 - Acts 3: Our Eyes - Steve Gee

Good morning.

Oh, okay.

Well, welcome back.

You know, it's good to be back uh after a couple weeks out.

Uh it's the longest I've been away.

And uh I think two weeks and it felt it it's it's it's been it feels like it's been a long time.

But it's good to be back here today.

Uh you know, I uh I you know kind of set the course for the Sunday school.

We're gonna go through Acts and today was Acts three in Sunday school.

And you know, we finished Romans, so I thought, what are we gonna talk about?

And I just thought, I want to talk about Acts 3 in the sermon.

So if you were in Sunday school and you're here right now, which if you can hear me, that's assumed, uh, we're gonna get a double dose of Acts 3.

But it's a whole chapter, so there's plenty, there's plenty of there.

There's a lot of meat on the bone.

Uh and so uh that's where we're gonna be.

So if you have a Bible, Acts 3.

I remember uh it's probably well, I could probably do the math.

It was uh no, I can't do math.

Okay, 2016.

Uh I was serving in uh in Plano, Texas as a missions pastor, and I was uh we we we said it's okay, it was time um the there's gonna be a next season in in uh a church in Vancouver, British Columbia called and uh asked me to come up and be the teaching pastor there.

Up until that point, I was a missions pastor, so which you know if you're looking at the get in ministry, I I would encourage you to start there.

It's a good it's a good job.

And uh so I was uh being called to be a missions or a teaching pastor in British Columbia, and I remember thinking, and I've I think I've shared this story from here before, but just it kind of goes along with what we're gonna be talking about this Sunday in Acts 3.

But I remember telling, uh going into my prayer closet and thinking, uh praying to God, quite literally, my resume back to God, just in case he wasn't aware.

I was like, God, here are my here are my qualifications, here are I can give you some references, uh, like this is who I am, and now you're asking me to go up there and teach 50 weeks a year.

Uh, I don't, in a in a city that is, you know, you know, less than 1%, you know, Christian.

And so I was like, I don't, God, I don't think, I think you might, you might, I I, this might be somebody else's mail that that I just received.

And I remember praying that.

I remember what you know, 1 Peter 5 says that uh Jesus, Jesus is the chief shepherd, and and and through that word and through the work of the Spirit in my heart, in the prayer, I remember thinking, but Steve, you're not, I'm not calling you to go be the chief shepherd.

That job's already filled.

I'm calling you to go point to the chief shepherd.

Can you do that?

And I, like in my prayer, I'm thinking, oh wait, I like I'm pretty good at pointing.

Like ever since I was a little toddler, again, I'm not bragging, I've been able to point.

So, okay, I'm now gonna be an adult who goes up and points.

I can do that with by your grace and through the authority of your word, not my resume.

This morning, we jump into this passage in which we are going to take a look at the true and better shepherd, the chief shepherd, and how Peter and John also say, Oh, look at me.

Look at him.

So I'm gonna read this focal text, 11 through 16.

I'll just, we're gonna, that'll kind of be the main part of it.

Again, if you were in uh Sunday school, you've got the rest of it.

So let me look at, I'm gonna read 11 through 16 out loud with us.

I'm reading from the English Standard Version.

Here's what it says.

While he clung to Peter and John, this is the lame man who was lame since birth, but now he, uh Peter and John, uh, through the work of God, through the work of the Spirit, uh, he was healed.

And so uh, while he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's.

And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us as though through our own power or piety we've made him walk?

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.

But you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.

And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead to this we are witnesses, and his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.

And that and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man, this man or the man, this perfect health in the presence of you all.

And so that'll be kind of the main thing that we're trying maybe try to, as he said, unfold here uh this morning.

Let me pray and we'll jump in.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.

Father God, it is well with our soul.

Not because we've got under th everything under control, not because there's there's no storms on the horizon or we're not currently going through something.

Father God, it is well with our soul because we know you go with us into these things.

And so, Father God, we can we can breathe.

We can, as Justin unfolded last week, we can find rest because the work of our justification, if we are children of God who do not fear condemnation, we do not fear the one who can destroy the body.

And so it is well with our souls.

Father God, as we look at your word today in Acts 3 through the hand of the careful physician Luke, Father, I pray that we would see these things in a in a in a way that would be transformative.

And Father God, we know the thing that transforms is the face of your son Jesus Christ.

So Father, may we all turn our eyes to him.

It's in the name of your son Jesus Christ that we pray this in all things.

Amen.

Okay, this morning, again, if I were to give you an overarching summary or a purpose statement, this is what I would say.

We are all without the power and piety to walk, but in Christ we find both and are restored by his presence to a priesthood of praise in the already as we await the not yet.

Okay, that's the sentence.

It's a little complicated, so we'll take three points to unpack that sentence.

So today we'll get the following the sign, the power, and the response.

The sign, the power, and the response, the sign being first.

Uh, you know, there, I don't know if you've noticed uh redemption, if you've been around, there are um there are children being born everywhere.

There's a lot of children being born in this place.

Uh I mean, not in this place, it's not a hospital.

Uh, but uh there's just a we're just there's just a lot of infants.

And so it is awesome and it's great.

And I, you know, I remember when uh Kristen and I had infants in our house, and and uh I remember again, especially with our first infant, uh Les, who's now 15.

Uh I remember when we first had Les.

You know, as a as a as a new parent, you're like, you're like, uh, okay, uh, we gotta get this thing to walk.

How are we gonna get this sack of potatoes to walk?

We gotta get them to walk.

Like, how does this happen?

And so we're looking at the sack of potatoes, we're like, come on, walk, you know, three months old.

That feels early.

And like, walk, walk, walk.

And you know, we get to, I don't even remember it was.

I mean, it's it was it was pretty early, I remember.

And we were so proud.

You know, uh, videos and sent it to everybody.

We're so proud, and I'm sure all the people who had already had kids are like, you're gonna regret it.

You're gonna regret it.

And we did, and we did.

Because you know, once they can walk, you can't leave the room anymore.

Again, you can put a sack of potatoes in the cabinet.

We never did that.

You can leave an infant for a second, you can't leave a walker for a millisecond.

You can't even, you're not even allowed to blink.

Like we went on shifts, people holding their eyes open.

Like you cannot, you cannot blink when they can start to walk.

But again, the the idea of a child walking is a normal thing.

It's a normal desire.

It is a normal, like the normative is that a child who, after they've been born, will learn how to walk.

That's normative, right?

So then a child, lay man since birth, that's not normative.

But also, let's go to the other side of that.

I remember, I know I've told this story in this room before, but some of you are new, some of y'all are guests, you haven't heard it before.

A few years back, we were at um uh Yogi Bear.

I what's the Pilahatchie camp?

Okay.

I don't know, it's it's it's complicated.

Uh there's a cartoon bear.

Uh, and and they have a place where you can go and you can rent a cabin and they have this big like trampoline thing.

And I remember I'm I'm at that point, I'm probably 44, 43 years old.

And I remember, you know, I wanted to get on the trampoline because I want to show how cool my cool I was to my kids.

And again, did not know that that no one looks cool on a trampoline, was not aware of that.

Uh I am now I've seen videos.

And so I got on the trampoline and I jumped for like five minutes.

Yeah.

You know what I did for the next hour?

Laid in bed.

I was nauseous.

I was like, I'm gonna go back to the cabin, you kids have fun.

And I laid in bed and I was I was nauseous.

I thought I was about to die.

And I don't know how people are gonna get out to Pelehatch or wherever it is.

Like, you're at the lifeline.

I was feeling sick.

And then I looked it up and I read that as you age, the normative thing for somebody who ages is that they would have a lack of ability to deal with intense movement.

That's normal.

Normal for a child to start walking, normal for, I guess, I don't know, maybe it's early, maybe I peaked early, but at 43, 44, whenever it is, that intense movement starts to make you nauseous that it's just normal.

And so, like, nothing wrong, you'll be fine.

This is normal.

Can I tell you?

A child learning to walk is normal.

But it is not normal that we would then be able not be able to jump and leap when we're 44.

Something has happened.

It is not normal that there is the man who's been lame since birth.

Not normal.

It is not normal that we would get nauseous from jumping and leaping.

Children learning to walk, leaping, and jumping was how it was meant to be, and that walking and leaping was not meant to be temporary, a temporary thing that 40 years, 40-year-olds lost.

It was the created order that God set in place.

But man, when he rebelled against the created order, the normative order of creator and creature, that relationship, when man rebelled against it, when man rejected his creaturliness and wanted to be God, everything was subjected to futility, to decay, to brokenness.

And so our bodies groan and we complain and we ache and we are confronted with our own mortality as we are slowly being undone.

And the reason it feels so unfair is that we've been created for life, yet we keep returning to dust.

It feels unfair.

Why?

Because we've been created for something greater.

In his orderly account of the situation, Dr.

Luke writes this.

And again, who better to talk about a lame man than the doctor?

He writes this in verse 2 of Acts 3 A man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid that daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms or charity of those entering the temple.

The man's physical ailments necessitated, see it, the man's physical ailments necessitated that he be carried and laid down at the temple gate each day.

So what do we see in this first verse here that we're looking at?

This man could not even put himself in a place to receive charity.

He had to be carried.

The only way he could be sustained is by an alien or an outside mercy from himself.

You hear it?

He couldn't even put himself in a place to receive mercy.

He had to be carried by the mercy of his friends to receive mercy from the strangers going into worship God.

And also, in the man's lameness, he was not only cut off from the normal life, the normative, but also from entering the presence of God.

We see it in the laws and the regulations of the priests in Leviticus 21, 16 through 18.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron, in the line of the priest, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God, for no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or limb too long.

So uh in the litical law, and they would have known this, this lame man knew that not only was he not normal, he could not walk, he could not even put himself in a place to receive mercy, he would never, like again, if he were a priest, he wouldn't even be allowed to go into the presence of God.

He was cut off, he was sitting outside the gate.

And so this man sat in his inability, hopeless and cut off from normal and dependent on charity.

Luke Luke continues this account in verse 3.

Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, we asked to receive alms, and Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said, Look at us, and he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you.

So the man sees Peter and John and he makes his request, and Peter directed his gaze at him and told the man to look at them.

And then in verse 5, see it, it's in your Bible, it's on the screen.

We read that he fixed his attention on Peter and John, expecting to receive something from them.

What were the man's expectations?

Money.

He was looking for alms, for charity, that he would just be able to be sustained that day.

This is all he was looking for.

Those were his expectations each day.

Could I just get enough to survive each day?

And for a second, let's consider money.

Money is the power of man, it is the power to eat, to find shelter, to afford rest, to provide comfort.

Money is how we enable, or we are enabled and take hold of life.

It is the power of man, is it not?

But Peter said, I have no silver and gold.

In other words, I do not have the power that you were expecting when you fixed your attention on me.

But the power I do have, the power of God who created you, the power that the disciples had to sit and wait for at Pentecost, I give to you.

Okay, we're reading a lot of the text here today.

This is what Luke records.

Again, this is a historical account.

And he took him and began to walk and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement of what had happened to him.

So see the response of the hopeless.

Walking and leaping and praising God, and then he did what?

He entered the temple.

Walking, leaping, praising.

Go see God.

There was no amount of silver and gold that would have made this man well.

Do you get that?

Peter and John would have had 200 billion dollars worth of silver and gold.

Bitcoin, I don't know.

If he would have given it to them, he might have been able to eat for a very long time, but he would have never been able to walk.

And this is the power of God restoring that which was meant to be normal.

I've heard somebody say once all the miracles of God are not supernatural, they are actually supernormal.

They are returning things to the normal way.

The man was meant to walk.

It's right for a baby to learn how to walk.

And while we and while he knew where the praise went, the onlookers did not know.

They were filled with wonder and they turned their eyes toward Peter and John, which brings us to our next point, the power.

Verse 11 through 16.

And so they ran to Peter and John.

The people, the onlookers, ran to Peter and John, and Peter saw it and he addressed the people, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?

Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety, think righteousness, as though it's only by our own power and righteousness that we have made this man walk?

Why do you wonder at this, at us?

Why do you stare at us?

Why are you turning toward us?

To use modern language, why are you trying to like and subscribe to us?

As if it were by our power and piety that healed this man, as if it were by our strength and righteousness that made this man walk.

Peter was saying, Don't assume that the lame leap because of my rightness before God.

And I wonder, as if the as I wonder if, as the people's gaze fell on Peter, he was picturing himself outside during the trial of Jesus.

He knew, Peter knew firsthand that in his power, a servant girl's interrogation would melt his courage and lead him to deny the name of Christ.

Peter knew his power.

And also, see the great reversal for Peter.

Y'all remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, not that you were there, but it's in the Bible.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter used his hand to make a strong soldier lame by cutting off his ear.

Peter's power with the sword, cutting off a lame man's ear, or a strong man's ear, making the strong man lame.

But now in Christ, he was using his hand to restore the one who was lame since birth.

See that reversal?

Peter uses his hand to cut people's ears off.

That's what the power of man does.

It destroys, it exploits, it ruins, it undoes.

But in Christ, the hand of Peter was used to restore the lame man since birth.

Peter knew it wasn't him.

Peter was aware of his own strength.

And it was not restorative.

Luke makes it very clear that anything that happens in the book of Acts is not really of the apostles, it is actually through the apostles.

And I know that may disagree with the way your Bible and my Bible starts the Acts as Acts of the Apostles.

I get that.

I'm not trying to be pedantic, but it's actually the Acts through the Apostles.

The things that Christ was doing through the Apostles in those 28 chapters.

So then, moving on.

The power and righteousness that restore the lame since birth are alien to Peter and John.

It is from outside of themselves.

And just think about it, what if the story of Pentecost, they're early on in Acts, what uh was that they were praying, say they were all praying there at Pentecost, and a bunch of silver and gold fell from the ceiling to fund their ministry?

Or what if as they were praying, Peter stood up and said, Hey, listen, our man is gone, Jesus has ascended, it's okay, next man up.

I've made some mistakes, but I'm good now.

We got this, let me lead you, and we'll go out into the whole world.

Silver and gold, or the strength of Peter, if that were the thing that they walked out of the upper room with, then we know, as we hear later on in the book of Acts, it would have died away.

If it was by the power of man, it would have died away.

If it was by the power of God, don't you dare stand against it.

Peter then looks to the gathered crowd and explains that they too are in need.

He wants them to see their need.

And the first problem is that they don't see themselves as lame.

They see themselves as spiritually healthy.

Hey, they're going to temple.

And so Peter says, but you denied the holy and righteous one and asked the murderer, asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead.

To this we saw it.

We're witnesses.

And hear the paradox there as well.

They spared the murderer, the one who took life, Barabbas.

They spared the murderer, and they crucified the one who gave life.

Hear what Peter's doing here?

Hear what Luke is recording?

At the trial of Jesus, they quite literally denied life and chose death.

But they were unable to see it.

They were healthy in their own eyes, and they didn't need anything outside of themselves.

Their eyes were spiritually lame.

Their pride blinded them to their true need.

They thought they were soldiers who needed a man to lead them to battle against the government, but in reality they were all dry bones in the valley of death.

They thought they were fine.

Look, we can walk.

We can go to temple.

What could the man named Jesus from Nazareth have given them that they didn't already have?

He didn't even have a place to lay his own head, and so they spat on him and they slapped him because that's what men do with their power.

They tear down and destroy.

And his robe, the robe of Christ, and his humanity were stripped from him as they mocked him for being too weak to even save himself on the cross.

But now, Peter declares that it is only by faith in the name of Jesus that the lame leap and are restored to perfect health.

Third and final.

Verses 17 through 26.

If you have a life-threatening disease that leads you to coughing, so let's say you have a life-threatening disease and you don't know what it is, and you just start coughing, and if you went to a doctor and the doctor said, hey, listen, it's just a cold, don't worry, take some cough drops, you'll stop coughing, it'll be fine, that other thing will go away.

That's not only a bad diagnosis, and not only are they a bad doctor, but you're also in great danger.

Does that make sense?

If you have a life-threatening disease and you're coughing and you're given a cough drop to cover the cough or to soothe the cough, the symptom, you are in great danger.

Point being, if you're truly sick and told everything will be fine, you're in a bad place.

In this final section of Acts 3, Peter cites the Old Testament prophets who foretold the Messiah.

But we also know from the Old Testament that some claim to be prophets.

Think about doctrine and the metaphor in the illustration.

Some claim to be prophets of God, yet they did not speak for him.

We talk about this passage a lot.

In Jeremiah 8 11, we read that the false prophets healed the wound of God's people, lightly saying, peace, peace when there is no peace.

In other words, hey, you're fine.

Just take a cough drop.

It's okay.

We know in the last days, Peter said, or Paul tells Timothy that people will gather teachers for themselves who do what?

Say what their itching ears want to hear.

In other words, people will gather teachers and prophets who will say, hey, listen, take a cough drop.

It's okay.

Your sin's okay.

Come as you are, stay as you are, it's alright.

Let me just give you an encouraging word today.

Maybe some behavior modification.

Maybe good community, maybe a good dinner club.

It's okay, though.

You're fine.

We're all in the prop process.

You'll be perfect when you reach heaven.

It's okay.

Don't worry.

Sin's okay.

You don't need to obey God.

The Great Commission's a great suggestion.

You're alright.

Don't worry.

You don't need to be ashamed of your sin.

In other words, the people of God were being told by the Old Testament prophets, everything's fine.

You're at peace with God.

Your sin, your rebellion, your idolatry, there is no consequence to them.

Hide your symptom with a cough drop.

Jeremiah goes on to say they didn't even know how to blush in their shame.

The false prophets sought to comfort the people.

That was their main goal.

Comfort the people.

Why?

Giving them the good news of their minor ailments.

Why?

They did that because the truth would have taken the prophets' positions away.

Tell them their stiff necks and hard hearts are not only understandable but acceptable.

And the false prophets told the sinful children of Israel that they had peace with God.

When in truth there was no peace.

They healed their wounds lightly and neglected the truth that their illness was turning them to dust.

And we know that these false prophets peddled spiritual band-aids instead of truth because they were greedy for unjust gain and the power of man.

Tell people an encouraging word about Jesus and not the problem of their sin, and they'll keep you in power.

Tell them that the king of the universe just wants them to be financially healthy.

And they'll keep you in power.

Prophets, if you give people an encouraging word about themselves and a gentle prescription or a strategy for behavior modification, they'll keep you in power, but you'll never walk by the power of God.

You'll never find life.

But not Peter.

Not the Peter who has seen his desperate need and received the power and piety of God in Christ Jesus.

And he stands before the people and gives them an accurate diagnosis.

He tells them to stop looking to man for their healing.

He explains that he cannot restore their health.

But what he can do is point them to the one who can.

And so Peter tells in this, verse 19 and 20 Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that the times of refreshing may come from the presence, from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.

So Peter makes the turn.

He goes from the sign of God's power to the doctrine of God's power, and now to what is meant to lead people to God.

And we see it in the word, therefore.

So because of what you just saw, the lame man since birth, walking and leaping and praising God and entering the temple, because of who Jesus was and what you did, and how you chose and continue to choose death, therefore, he tells the people, hey, it's okay.

He doesn't tell the people, hey, it's okay.

Just stick with Peter and John.

We got you.

No, he says what?

Repent.

And here it is for us today.

Are we needy?

Do we feel like we have lost our ability to walk and leap?

Do we feel like we cannot even put ourselves in a position to receive healing?

Have we lost the joy of our salvation?

Do we look at the Jesus of the Bible and put him on trial and feel like he's powerless to give us refreshment and life?

And so instead of choosing life, we choose created things to soothe, heal, and escape the groaning of our appetites?

And we are left in rhythms of decay, choosing that which takes life instead of the author of life.

Peter loves the sheep of Christ, and he refuses like words of healing, and he says to them and to us, repent, repent and turn back from all the ways in which we fix our eyes on man and turn our eyes away from our Lord and Savior.

And it is then in repentance of our faith in man and turning to faith in Christ that our sins are blotted out.

It's in your text.

That our sins are blotted out, that we'll find refreshment and restoration.

The kingdom of man declares that life can be found from within, and we are lame at the gate of the temple.

But the kingdom of God declares that we are meant for a true and better king.

A king who came to serve and not be served.

A king who emptied himself of his position and veiled his beauty in flesh, so that all those who see that they are lame could walk and leap in him.

You can never walk and leap in the power of God unless you first understand that you are powerless.

A king who was Kenation, Peter says that our refreshing, that is our relief, our rest, is found where?

In the presence of Jesus.

You want to find joy and refreshment and restoration.

It is only found truly and fully in the presence of Christ, our Savior, our King.

The false prophets preach that peace was found in them.

So keep coming, keep giving.

You want peace?

Come to me.

It's okay, I got you.

Like and subscribe.

Follow.

Hit the affiliate link.

I got you.

And Peter is declaring the peace, rest, wholeness, shalom is only found in the presence of Jesus.

He is the ark that Noah sheltered in.

He is the fourth man in the furnace with Daniel's friends.

He is the well that found the woman at midday.

He is the fish and bread that satisfied the five thousand, and he is the power that makes the lame leap.

He knows that we don't even have the power and piety to put ourselves at the gate of his mercy.

And so he is the friend who did more than carry our lame bodies to the gate.

Rather, he entered into death to come near to where we were.

And so he is the true shepherd who didn't just call sheep to climb up to him.

He descended into the valley to draw near to us.

He walked into, through, and out the other side of the darkest valley there's ever been.

He is the good shepherd whose rod and staff comfort us in hardship and suffering and lead us to green pastures of his fellowship.

And we have no want because he's our full portion.

He's not only the healing that makes us walk, but he is also the joy that leads us to leap.

Praise God because he alone is worthy of our praise, because he alone can heal hearts that are lame, and he alone can carry the weight of our hope for tomorrow.

Your hope is not found on the stage.

Your hope is not found in a mirror.

Your hope is not one click away and two days to deliver.

Your hope and joy is in Jesus.

Let's conclude with a thought.

Did you arrive this morning convinced that the only thing you could possibly receive is an hour of song and preaching?

We all seek refreshment and restoration.

We all long to walk and leap in joy.

These desires are not shameful.

Your desire to walk is normal.

Your desire to leap and not get nauseous is normal.

You've been hardwired for praise.

However, the ancient and current danger is that we look to things like silver and gold or others to give us what only God can give us, and it all falls short of the power that makes us right.

There's never been a time in history when created things could bear the weight of our worship.

There's never been a season in which man could do for himself or others what only God can do.

And to be clear, the answer to our longings is not reducing our expectations.

I think I've told this story before, but early on, I think it was the first sermon I ever preached.

I walked into our worship pastor's office, and it was a large church, and I walked into our worship pastor's office and I said, Hey, let's just get like I just want to let you know this one thing about for the sermon.

I was preaching Colossians uh 3, 1 through 17.

Big passage.

Ought not to be preached in one sermon.

I did it.

Uh and uh so I was preaching Colossians 3, 1 through 17 for the first sermon, and uh I ever preached, and I went into the worship person uh worship pastor's office.

I said, Hey, here's what I'm thinking.

I'm so excited, I just can't wait to see what the Lord does through this work, through his word.

Can't wait to see what the Holy Spirit does through his word and through his work.

I think he's alive, I think he can do things, I think he can make people uh lame people walk and leap.

I think he can do that, I think he can make people sing, I think he can break addictions, I think he can set people free from things they thought they would never be set free from.

I think I'm saying this to the worship pastor.

He's sitting there in his chair, legs crossed, and he looks at me and he says, Steve, I just want you to lower your expectations.

Like, please, I don't.

He was afraid that my hurt my feelings would be hurt if nobody at the end of the service or nobody two weeks later would say, Steve, you don't understand what the Lord did through his word and through the work of the Holy Spirit.

And I, because at that point I was a lot more than I am now, I said to the worship pastor, I will not, I will not lower my expectations, because everything I've read so far in the Bible is that uh his his word is sharper than a two-edged sword.

It's got side on both sides, it has has edges that can that can do their work, that he is the great physician, that his word will not return void.

So I think he can do this.

I think by his power he can do this, and so I'm gonna go in with that expectation that he can do this.

I don't know if he will do this, but even if he doesn't do this, he is my God.

I didn't say all that.

Some of it.

I think all I said was, I will not.

And I walked out.

The rest of it's come to me since I've grown.

So the answer to our longings is not reducing our expectations.

In fact, the problem is that our expectations are too small and temporary when we enter this place.

We think, uh, just keep your expectations low.

It's okay.

We'll hear maybe we'll hear a sermon, maybe we'll be done in 40 minutes, it'll be fine, it'll be great.

We sing a couple songs, it's always great.

So good.

Come out feeling refreshed, encouraged.

Maybe we'll meet a new person, that'll be great.

Maybe we'll have lunch.

I I want to encourage everybody in this room to check your heart that maybe when you enter this place, when we gather under his word, preach, prayed, sung, and read, that we would say, God, would you I pray that I leave here, walking and leaping in joy, that I'd walk out, and that people would say, What in the world is wrong with that person?

And you would say, Can I tell you about a person named Jesus who met me at the beautiful gate when I couldn't even get them myself there?

Can I tell you about the addictions that were broken?

Can I tell you about how it healed my marriage?

Can I tell you about how it healed my relationship with my child?

And it wasn't my own power because I had tried for 40 years to do it on my own.

I couldn't do it.

In fact, the only thing I could do is cut people's ears off.

So then what should we do?

Where does our gaze go?

Where who should we look to?

2 Corinthians 3.18.

We know this verse.

And all, and we all, that's us, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Do you want rest and transformation?

Do you want hope and joy?

I know uh Justin preached it last week.

Do you want rest?

Maybe we should start there.

Do you want peace?

Do you groan for something that seems to tease you from the edges of reality?

Then the Bible is clear.

Behold Christ.

It is found in the presence of Jesus.

Fix your gaze on him.

True restoration, joy, and life can only be found in him.

And also, I didn't focus on it, but you know I was going to catch it as we close this.

Look at Acts 3.

We'll do 19 and 20, 21.

Okay.

Okay.

This is the second sermon.

It'll be fine.

We'll be fine.

Repent, therefore, turn back, your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.

Look at 21.

Whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring of all things, about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

Of course I'm not going to gloss over that.

I know what day he's talking about.

Until the time of restoring all things.

There will be a day of full restoration when everything that was meant to be normal, children walking, when everything was meant to be normal will be restored.

The early church was continually reminded and assured of how their groaning ultimately ends.

You don't believe me.

Can see it in your face.

Revelation 21, 1 through 4.

Here's what it says.

Isn't that where joy and refreshment and pleasures forevermore are found?

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

That is, everything will be set to normal.

There'll be a day when what was meant to be will be fully restored.

By his power and righteousness, he will return creation to that which was meant to be.

An everlasting day in which we walk in his presence.

Do you believe that?

Do you trust that is true?

Which then leads us to my favorite verse and almost to the close.

My favorite verse in the Bible, you know it, we all know it.

Revelation 22, 4.

Here's what it says.

They will see us, those who have put, remember, uh he talked about, put their faith, right?

Faith is how we take hold, have put their faith in Christ.

That's the day.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

In other words, they will be his and he will be theirs.

All eyes on him.

All eyes on him.

And his name, not our name, not a church name, will be on our foreheads.

He will not only be ours, but we will be his, his presence in full clarity.

Praise the Lord.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day that you've given us.

Father God, we acknowledge that this day is something you gave us.

You command the morning light.

You hold all things together by the word of your power.

It's not by the power of man, it's not by silver and gold that we stand here today.

Nobody purchased the sun to come up today.

Nobody paid the price for that.

You do that by your power.

And so, God, we ask you, Father, in this moment, that you would do for us what we cannot do in our own power.

That no amount of money could buy, that no willpower could grit out.

We want to walk.

We want to leap with joy in your presence.

Father, we're so distracted.

Shiny things make us run towards them.

So, Father God, I pray, lead us not into temptation.

Lead us to you.

Search our hearts, know our hearts.

Lead us in the everlasting way, which is your son Jesus Christ.

Oh, we need you.

Father, may we repent.

We need you.

May our eyes be fixed on your son Jesus Christ, that we would be transformed by one degree to the next into the glory of your son Jesus Christ.

That we would walk out of here and people would say, Who is that?

And we would say, That's my King and Savior.

Father, thank you for Jesus.

It's in his name we pray.

Amen.