Great Texts of The Bible | Book of Acts | Pastor William Hixson

you with us this morning

as we continue in our study of the word

of God.

Uh this particular passage deals with

both of the series we're doing in the

great text of the Bible and the

resurrection of Jesus. So we're this

this could be filed under either one of

those. And I call your attention to the

book of Acts chapter 3.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

And we we often call it the acts of the

apostles which is correct but not

completely correct. It's really the acts

of the risen Christ through the

apostles. Right? Because he's doing he's

accomplishing the things that he wants

to accomplished through them. And of

course, the book of Acts

focuses not on all all the apostles,

although they're there uh in chapter 1,

in chapter 15 and other places, but

mainly on Peter and Paul. There's a

reason for that, but we're not going to

get in into that right now. Focuses on

them. There were more acts of the Lord

Jesus through other apostles that are

not recorded here. This is a sample to

give us an it's not meant to be

encyclopedic. It's meant to be a sample

to give a a a clarity

that Jesus isn't dead.

He's alive.

He's ascended. He's returning. And he's

working in the world today through his

people.

Now that's a humbling, shocking

revelation in itself that the risen and

ascended Lord Jesus is using his church,

the Christians that he is saved.

Everybody that's saved is saved for a

purpose.

And part of that purpose is ministry to

others that do not yet know the Lord.

Part of that purpose is ministering to

others who do know the Lord.

So, evangelizing the lost, edifying the

saved, and bringing glory to Jesus in

all of it. So, the book of Acts is one

of my favorite books. I love teaching

this book. I really am always thrilled

whenever I get to do it.

Uh the last time I taught it was 2007 as

a book study. Uh but I loved I love

teaching book of acts.

I call your attention to chapter three.

The day of Pentecost has come and gone

and the church has been born

and the work uh and the work of God has

uh taken off. Amazingly,

2,000 people get saved in one sermon.

I'd say that's a pretty amazing start.

So, we are now in this morning. We're

going to spend our time in chapter

three. And really, the scope of this is

chapters three and four. We cannot get

to everything here in one message. I

think I preached five messages in these

chapters uh years ago, but we'll just

get a touch of it today.

And let's look to the Lord in prayer.

Father, thank you for the time we can

spend together. Direct our thoughts

in

to the ways of our risen Lord. Your ways

aren't our ways. Your thoughts aren't

our thoughts. It's higher the as higher

than the heavens are above the earth. So

your thoughts are higher than our

thoughts and your ways among our ways.

But we're thankful that God who knows

all and is everywhere and has a better

plan than we could ever imagine or even

comprehend

is at work in our lives, in our

churches, and in our world.

So bless us this morning as we come to

this familiar section of scripture in

Jesus name. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Okay, read with me the first part of the

book of Acts if you would. I'll start

reading in chapter 3 verse 1 and go

along in your mind with me as we read.

Now Peter and John went up together into

the temple at the hour of prayer being

the ninth hour

and a certain man lame from his birth. I

want you to underline that in your mind.

This isn't someone who was couldn't walk

because of an accident. This is a man

who'd never walked [snorts]

ever in his whole life. He was lame

from his birth.

There's going to be a miracle here from

the risen Lord on someone

[clears throat] who had never walked,

who had a problem he was born with.

Guess what? You and I have a problem we

were born with.

In sin did my mother conceive me, David

said. He wasn't criticizing his mother.

He was simply describing that the fallen

nature [clears throat] uh uh comes to us

through our parents and it came to them

through their grandparents and the great

great grandparents all the way back to

Adam.

So as Romans chapter 5 says, there's a

Romans 5 · chapter mention

transmission of

Adam's sin to the whole race legally.

Legally.

Uh that comes directly from Adam to us

theologically and legally. That's our

legal standing. We are condemned. We are

a fallen race. We are born

spiritually

crippled.

Can't do anything for God.

But then it's also there's also this

other side physically

we are physically limited because of the

fall of man

legally guilty physically limited and

therefore we don't live forever.

We have we we have a limited lifespan.

We have health problems

and all of that is involved here. And

that's what David was saying. In sin did

my mother conceive me. He wasn't

criticizing his mother. He was

describing a theological fact.

So anyway, this man is born. He's lame

from birth. Kind of like the man who was

blind from birth in John nine. Remember

him?

>> [clears throat]

>> And so we these miracles these physical

miracles in the physical realm are

illustrative of what Jesus can do for us

in the physical realm but also in the

spiritual realm which is what's harder

to heal somebody physically or to raise

them from the dead spiritually. I'll

tell you which one it is. The hardest

resurrection is not a physical

resurrection. It's a spiritual one. And

if you're born again, you you've already

been resurrected in your soul. God gave

you eternal life, your old dead soul.

You have the you've been born again. You

were dead in trespasses and sins.

And so the Lord is fully able to take

care of the big problems, the little

problems, the in between problems, and

the problems all all kinds of issues

that people have. So this this poor man,

we don't even know his name. A certain

man lame from his birth. Lame from his

birth

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. Never worked a

day in his life. Never walked a day in

his life.

He was totally dependent on others to

get wherever he needed to go.

who seeing Peter and John about to go

into the temple asked an arms. Now he is

quite good at that because he'd done it

his whole life.

Now this man was over 40.

We'll tell us that later. He was over 40

years old. So he'd been doing this for a

while. That was his life. Every day sit

and beg.

Think of all the things that you've been

able to do because your legs works.

Think of all the places you've been able

to go. Think of all the physical work

you've been able to do just because you

can walk.

That was something that he'd never

experienced ever.

And so he had a congenital problem.

And so seeing Peter and John about to go

into the temple, asked an arms.

Ask an arms. He asked for handout.

And Peter fastening his eyes upon him

with John. They're just the two of them

there.

Said, "Look on us."

And he give he gave heed to them

expecting to receive something from

them.

So they didn't just walk by and didn't

pay attention to him or act like he

wasn't there. They responded to him.

They said, "Look on us." So he's looking

at them.

And Peter and John had a reputation,

especially Peter.

Month and a half before this, he

preached in the temple on the day of

Pentecost and 2,000 people got saved.

And so, uh, I don't know if this man

recognized them or not. I'm sure he'd

heard of them.

He'd been doing there every day.

Every day at the gates of the temple.

I'm sure he'd heard about Jesus even.

I mean, what else will people be talking

about after the day of Pentecost and the

amazing miracle of the Holy Spirit and

speaking in languages you'd never

learned and 2,000 people getting saved,

talking about the resurrection of Jesus,

there is no question in my mind that

this wasn't the first time this man

heard about Jesus or the apostles.

So it says in verse four, Peter fastened

his eyes upon him with John and said,

'Look on us, and he gave heed to them,

expecting to receive something from

them. And Peter said, Silver and gold

have I none.

Now, usually that ends it. Have you ever

had somebody ask for money, beg for

money, and sorry, I'm busted. I don't

have anything. And sometimes that's

true. I have got nothing. I can't give

them anything.

Silver and gold have I none, but such as

I have, I give to thee. In the name of

Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and

walk. Well, that was a surprise.

I I was visiting my son. He was in a

military base in Atlanta in the service.

And um I flew in and I rented a car and

and trying to go to uh wherever he

wherever he was there. It's been a while

ago, not that long ago.

And a big strong African guy came up and

asked me for five bucks.

Well, I decided I'm going to give you

five bucks. [laughter]

Right away when I looked at him, I

thought, I don't know what his I don't

know what his motives are. I'm I'm over

70. I don't think I want to get in a

tangle with this guy. So, I'm gonna

cough up my bucks. But normally, I don't

do that. I was busy and I had to get to

where I was going. Normally, I say,

"Look, I I'm not going to give you any

money because, you know, a lot of people

want to just spend it on dope and stuff

like that. Well, I'll buy you lunch and

I'll sit down and talk to you. That's

usually what I do.

And then

if now if they're want drug money, they

don't even want to eat. They want beer

money. They just want money for drugs.

At least I get to give him the gospel.

Sit down, talk with him, give him the

gospel.

Well, I was in a hurry, so I wasn't able

to do that, but I did give the guy the

gospel and I gave him a track. That's

all I could do.

And um

but you know obviously this was a shock

to this man when Peter said what he

said.

Beggars are used to being told no.

Beggars are used to being ignored.

But

Peter said look on us. And then he 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

there. I've told this story before. I've

read it in church history. There was one

of the Catholic popes. I don't remember

which one. Don't even remember what year

it was in. But he was bragging about all

the gold and silver he's got. And he

said, "Peter," he said to somebody,

"Peter, uh, we don't have to say with

Peter anymore. Silver and gold have I

none." And the fellow he said, "Yeah,

that's true. But neither can we say rise

up and walk?"

And what would you rather have? the

ability to give money away or the

ability to minister to people with a

lifechanging

message

and a lifechanging

work of God in their life.

Peter had what this man needed. You have

what people need.

And so it says, "In the name of Jesus,

rise up and walk." And he didn't. Peter

didn't even wait. He took him by the

right hand and lifted him up.

And he'd never stood up before.

He took him by the right hand and lifted

him up. Immediately his feet and ankle

bones receive strength.

>> [clears throat]

>> This is an amazing miracle by the risen

Lord. And Peter gave Jesus all the

credit. In the name of Jesus Christ,

rise up and walk. Don't look at me.

Don't get excited about me. In the name

of Jesus, rise up and walk.

I don't have any silver. I have any

gold. I got something better.

So, it's a marvelous [clears throat]

thing. And then in verse eight, and he

leaping up, stood and walked. I would

have loved to have seen that. Can you

He's standing first time in his life.

He's walking in the first time in his

life. And he's walking perfectly.

He's There's nothing wobbly. He doesn't

need uh uh therapy. [laughter]

His bis muscles are all tuned up all of

a sudden after 40 years of never

walking.

So he he leaped up, stood and walked,

entered with them into the temple,

walking and leaping and praising God. He

wasn't just walking. He's leaping and

he's trying out those legs. It's a

beautiful picture

of an individual. How many people in

heaven have been Christians, but they've

got a physical affliction?

They crippled them either from birth or

from an accident.

and they think, "Oh, if I could just

stand up again. Oh, if I could just do

this again."

Don't you think the streets of gold are

going to be interesting?

I like to talk at nursing home when I we

preach in Hickory Creek every day and

Bob preaches in times, not every day,

every week. And he preaches there. But I

love to tell people in the nursing home,

won't it be fun when we can get in the

streets of gold in the new Jerusalem and

we can you we will not have any

wheelchairs in heaven.

We're leaving those behind.

It's good to say things like that to

people that need to hear it.

And not everybody's healed in this life,

but if you're saved, you're going to be

healed in the next. You're going to be

better than your best.

So of course this miracle was extremely

public

and they they it's right outside the

temple and then they walk into the

temple and all the people saw him

walking and praising God and they knew

they knew that it was he who sat for

arms at the beautiful gate of the temple

and they're filled with wonder and

amazement at that which had happened to

him.

This guy was well known. 40 years pagan

at the temple. Now just think about

this. This is right after Jesus arose

from the dead. Jesus was 33 when he died

and rose again. This man had been

begging before Jesus was born.

Think about that.

And how he and Jesus never connected.

Who knows? Because Jesus went to the

temple many times. But for whatever

reason, you know, if you've been to

Jerusalem, you know there's many ways to

get in and out of there. And for

whatever reason, he missed the Lord

Jesus.

And God had a reason.

And if God doesn't answer your prayers

now, and if God lets you to go through

something longer than you ever want to

go through it,

there's a reason for his glory and your

good.

So this man missed Jesus. Never met

probably met him because if you met him

he'd have healed him.

So

if you're not a Christian and you've

never known the Lord, you say, "Well,

other people got to know him early, but

I don't know him. It's too late for me."

God saves old sinners.

He doesn't just save young sinners and

teenage sinners and 20year-old sinners.

He say he's old sinners. Ask Nicodemus.

How can a man be born again when he's

old? Can he go back in his mother and be

born? No, no, no.

But you can be born again. Don't need

another physical birth, but you need a

spiritual one.

So anyway, this is a fascinating section

of scripture,

and it concludes with Peter's sermon in

verse 12.

And then Peter preaches the gospel.

So you know healing ministries are good

and healing and helping people is good.

But we got something we know they're

they have more needs than physical needs

or financial needs or other kind of

needs. They have spiritual needs. Their

social needs. Social needs are big. Uh

physical needs are big. Financial needs

are big. But we know above all those and

beyond all those is experience the Lord

Jesus because there is nothing more

important in your life or mine than to

know him and have him work in our life.

Even if you're a job sitting on the ash

heap alone,

God's got purposes for that. You'll be

delivered in God's time.

So anyway, this is a particular miracle

in the book of acts. It's a par power

marvelous thing. It's a marvelous thing.

And uh you know what happened?

It's kind of fascinating what is said

here.

Uh the church grew mightily. 2,000 got

saved at Pentecost. Excuse me. 3,000 got

saved at Pentecost. Peter preached that

sermon. 5,000 plus got saved here.

One sermon.

It says to men that that mean that's

that's not saying there were no women

there or children. That's that's a way

of saying it. There was 5,000 men 5,000

[clears throat] plus their family.

The 2,000 at Pentecost, same thing. So

you know what's happened in this by this

miracle? The biggest religious group in

Israel, excuse me, in Jerusalem is now

the church.

There were um

there was maybe I'm forgetting the

figure. I've forgotten it. There might

have been a couple of thousand

Pharisees, maybe that many. But the the

Sadducees were a very smaller group.

There were just a couple hundred of

those. and the uh Herodians there

there's probably a little bigger the

biggest group in Jerusalem the city of

Jerusalem a city of normally 50,000

people at that time growing during the

feast days but and then back down to 50

was the church of Jesus Christ at this

moment

you think that didn't get attention

this was a major

major invasion

of Satan's territory

by the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus

Christ.

Now, I've been preaching for 55 years.

I've never preached to this many people.

Never.

And I've had times when I preached a few

hundred, but my biggest was in Africa. I

had 1,200 high school kids getting ready

to go into school. And I got to preach

the gospel to them for 15 minutes.

That's the biggest crowd this old guy's

ever preached to preach preached to.

Whatever happened here was a big deal.

And the it was a very big deal. It got

the attention of the authorities.

They didn't like this.

What are you doing coming in our temple

doing this stuff? This is we run it in.

Satan doesn't like Athens Bible Church

poking around in Athens.

or any church in any city

or neighborhood.

And so this is what's going on now.

Uh so may the Lord help us to get what

we need to get here.

Now it's impossible really to imagine a

better start for the church. I mean

here's the city that murdered Jesus and

he told them, "I want you to start at

Jerusalem. Don't go somewhere else and

start start at the place that killed me.

Start in Jerusalem.

And that's what they did. If God wants

you someplace, that's where you need to

be, right?

So if he makes that clear, that's where

you need to be. And that's what they

did.

And but my ministry, your ministry, the

ministry of every church, uh is not

something that's done by ourselves. We

have the Lord with us. Though I'm with

you always, even to the end of the age.

And this is an important point. The

ministry of one leads to ministry to

others.

I cannot tell you in all the years I've

been ministering in Athens on the

campus, sometimes we've had Bible

classes or 40 or 50 kids, university

students. Sometimes it's been down

to a few.

And some of those Bible classes went

down to two.

I had a Bible class down to two at Baker

Center. one gal and one guy that she

brought.

The guy was a Jew and he got saved

because his rabbis couldn't answer

[clears throat] his questions, but I

could.

The gal got saved and went wonder went

on for the Lord wonderfully.

And so we still have contact still get

Christmas cards from her. She was she uh

gave me an ear test. She used it hot

aiology.

She said, "Pastor, you need a hearing

aid." Well, she told me that 20 years

ago.

So, but anyway, um I thank God for hit

that class and that was very productive.

Never get discouraged because you don't

have a lot of people coming.

Nothing with the Lord whether with many

or with few. It's a Bible principle.

You don't know when you're doing big

things.

Neither do I.

Lord, I don't know.

So anyway, this this was a tremendous

event, a very powerful event. And

ministry to one often leads to the

ministry of others. So the ministry to

that one man led to the salvation of

millions of people.

Um

every effect must have a cause.

God of often works to one so he can

reach others. How about the lady at the

well of Samaria? Jesus reached one. But

what did what happened then?

He went into the city and brought

everybody out. The apostles went in. All

they got was groceries.

She went in and brought out everybody in

town.

Jesus minister to one, but the one

brought many.

So you never know who that one is that

God's going to use beyond and above

anything you've imagined. So help us to

never never think that

this Bible class is too small, this

ministry is too small. I you never know

what's God's working or not. Sometimes

the small classes are better than the

bigger ones.

So that's that's the first point and I

think it's a good point.

Uh now a second point and a very

important point is the great works of

God through the Lord Jesus Christ

are

preceded by prayer.

If you want a God work, you want God to

work, you got to be praying. Where were

Peter and John going? To prayer,

right?

That's and you look in the book of Acts

often they're going to prayer before

something big happens or they're already

praying. Peter was in the upper room

when that sheet came down and a vision

from God. Rise Peter, kill and eat. He

was he went up there to pray and then he

got the vision to reach out to the

Gentiles. He didn't want to do it. But

the Lord told him to do something he

didn't want to do. Rise Peter, kill and

eat. No, I've never had Italian.

No. Rise, Peter. Kill and eat. I don't

eat. That's Gentile food.

And And then Peter had to say, "The

Lord's taught me not to call anybody

unclean."

So, he had one focus and God was

broadening him.

Some people say, "Your church is so

conservative. You're so conservative.

You You're so narrow. You could see with

a key to a keyhole with both eyes.

Well,

listen.

If it's conservative in a right way in

that we take the word of God seriously

and we take the work of God seriously,

that's a good kind of conservatism. I'm

not talking about politics now. I'm

talking about conservative Christianity,

which is really the only Christianity

there is.

Liberal Christianity is not

Christianity.

James Misham Grac Machan at Princeton

wrote a whole book on that. The

liberalism is not Christianity. It's not

a legitimate variation of the real

thing. It's a false thing. That's a

great book, by the way. Quite dated. He

wrote it in the 30s.

But the great works of God for Jesus

Christ are preceded not just by

preaching, but by prayer. Prayer first,

then ministry.

By the way, that's what was going on at

Pentecost. They were all 120 of them in

one place. What were they doing?

Praying.

And so all these things the book of Acts

is teaching you a pattern here uh that

is important forever. It's also

important to engage people

in need. May God help us to engage

people in need. there's all kinds and we

we we

trust that God has a purpose for that

need in their life and then maybe we can

utilize that as a ministry and that's

what Peter did.

Another point is very important. We

point people to Jesus Christ not

ourselves.

We point people to Jesus Christ, not our

church.

We're not here to preach Athens Bible

Church or any other church. We're not

here to promote ourselves. We want to

invite people to our church. And but

that's we don't focus on

all the great things we have as a

church. We talk to people about Jesus,

right? That's what they did. They

preached to him Jesus. That's what they

did and that's what caused the results

that needed to happen.

And they said in the name of Jesus

Christ of Nazareth, rise up. And then

all the people came to death together.

And the man in verse 11 is hanging on to

Peter and John. And he's just loving on

them. And all the people ran together to

the porch called Solomon greatly

wondering. And when Peter saw it, what

did he do do? He promoted the risen

savior. He did just what he needed to

do. Don't let people get you off

subject.

You try to witness to somebody. You try

to talk to them about Jesus and they

want to talk about anything and

everything except that. Have you ever

noticed that?

I don't believe the Bible calls. I don't

believe a fish could swallow a man. I

don't believe the Bible calls. I believe

in evolution. I don't believe the Bible

bl other and a lot of roads. And the way

to answer that is to do this. That's a

good question. I'd be very glad to

answer that.

But first things first, we need to look

about Jesus. This is first. This is the

most important. Once this question is

answered, we can go to other questions.

They'll divert you. They want the

conversation to go, "Oh, the Bible's got

mistakes in it." Or any number of

things.

Peter did just what he needed to do.

He did just what he needed to do. Watch

it. Verse 12.

When Peter saw it, he answered the

people, "Uh, you men of Israel, why

marvel you at this? Or why you look you

so earnestly on us as though we by our

own power of holiness we made this man

walk?" Stop looking at us. Stop getting

excited about us. Don't get focused on

us. The God of Abraham and Isaac and

Jacob, the God of our fathers, has

glorified his son Jesus, whom you

delivered up and denied in the presence

of Pilate, when he was determined to let

him go. You've denied the Holy One and

the just, and desired a murder to be

granted to you, and killed the prince of

life, whom God has raised from the dead,

of which were witnesses.

And so, basically, Peter's saying, "You

think this guy had a problem? How about

your problem?

You just killed your Messiah.

Your problem's bigger than his.

But then he shows them the God who dealt

with his problem can deal with your

problem.

Don't you put limits on God. That person

will never get saved.

God loves to surprise you.

Not many wise, not many mighty are

called, God called the foolish things of

the world to confound the wise. He loves

to take that person that you think is

the hardest person, the most difficult

person, the person beyond hope that

you've given up hope on

and do a work in their life.

My brother-in-law Jim Lusher is going to

preach in this church very soon.

>> [clears throat]

>> Um he's he was a pastor and he went to

seminary after I did, although he's

older than me. But there were several

brothers in his family. His dad was a

pastor of a Baptist church I grew up in

and got saved in. His dad said to me, "I

couldn't do anything with Jim."

The other brothers were straight arrows.

Jim wasn't.

is that I can't do anything. Here's a

man who had a church of several hundred

people, wonderful pre pastor, wonderful

preacher. I couldn't do anything.

Have you ever felt helpless?

I can't do anything with my family

member. I can't do anything with this

loved one. They're not listening to me.

They're not. Of course, you can't.

Peter couldn't raised Peter couldn't

make this man walk. Why are you looking

at us as if we made this guy?

Jesus did it.

And so God will often take the hard

case. Now, that's no excuse for being a

hard case. You know,

I I that's no excuse for being a hard

case, but God will often take the person

you think least likely to be interested

in spiritual things.

And and that's and that's what happened

here with this man.

Nobody thought this man would ever walk.

Nobody. I don't think anybody was

praying for him to walk. It was a

congenital birth defect.

Just something you have to live with and

die with.

But the Lord, the creator who became our

redeemer did it.

So may God help us if but if you want to

talk to men about God, you got to talk

to God about men. That's a basic

principle, right? You got to be going to

prayer like Peter and John were. You got

to be engaged. And there are people who

will never let you talk with them. I've

I've had them. You've had them. They

don't want to hear it. They shut you

down. First sentence out of your mouth.

I don't want to hear that.

They can stop you from talking to them

about God. You know what they can't do?

They can't stop you from talking to God

about them.

So may God give us wisdom in that.

And really talking to God about them is

more important than talking to them

about God because God's got to open

their heart and make them willing.

And so Peter knew where the power was.

He knew where what had to happen. And he

began to preach to them Jesus. And he

was very confrontational.

He says in verse 15, you killed the

prince of life whom God raised from the

dead. God raised him. You killed him.

God raised him. And we're we're

witnesses.

Verse 16. And his name through faith in

his name has made this man strong whom

you see and know. Yay, the faith which

is by him has given this him perfect

soundness in the presence of you all.

I don't know about you, but if I killed

somebody, if I murdered somebody and

then I found out they were they were

doing miracles,

that would be a little intimidating.

I killed them, God raised them, and

they're out there doing stuff. Uh,

what's going to happen to me?

So, he says in verse 17, "Now, brethren,

I know through ignorance you did it, as

did your rulers."

Ignorance. Ignorance. This people were

people of the book, supposed to know the

Bible, supposed to be people that knew

what other people didn't know.

Ignorance.

Because if you don't have the Holy

Spirit working in your mind and heart,

you're going to be ignorant. You're not

going to see it.

The Bible is clear, but our minds

aren't.

God's thoughts aren't our thoughts.

God's ways aren't our ways. That's what

Isaiah says. And we we need the Holy

Spirit of God to work in our open our

understanding, open our heart as the

Lord opens Lydia's heart in Acts 16 that

she could attend to the things spoken by

Paul. She wasn't a pagan. She was a

woman that was trying to worship the

true God. She was going to Bible study.

She was having prayer with other women

like her, Jewish women.

She was a wealthy woman. She was a

successful woman. She she'd succeeded in

the world. Who knows what happened to

her husband?

But she had she

couldn't understand the gospel until God

opened her heart.

Why?

Because her heart was closed.

And so Peter's just telling them what's

going on.

And he says in 17, I know through

ignorance you did it as did your rulers,

but those things which God has shown by

the mouth of all his prophets that

Christ should suffer, he has so

fulfilled. Read your own Bibles. Go back

and read them again, and you'll

understand that the Messiah is going to

die. And he just did, and he rose again.

Now, here comes the invitation. Repent

therefore and be converted and that your

sins may be blotted out when the times

of refreshing shall come from the

presence of the Lord.

There's a call to decision. What is

repentance? What is it? Feel bad.

No,

you can feel bad and still not repent.

Repentance refer it's metanino. It means

a change of mind.

Now that change of mind may bring about

a change of feeling,

but the essence of repentance is a

change of mind that causes a change of

feeling and a change of direction.

And it at its very heart, it's a change

of mind. What's the change of mind? I

don't need this. This isn't for me. I'm

not interested.

A change of mind.

Repentance isn't just for

uh getting drunk or doing drugs or

running over a dog with your in with

your car because you're going too fast.

Repentance is all those things, but it's

much more. It's a change of mind about

yourself and about God. It's a change of

mind that brings about a change in

direction.

It's a change of mind that brings about

a change in thinking.

And it's always followed by saving

faith. Repent and believe the gospel.

Now, the main word for getting saved is

believe. If you just do a mathematical

study, the main word for getting saved

is the word believe.

It's used much more than repent.

So, we should focus on that word. But

they they go together. They're two sides

of the same coin.

If you if you're if you repent

biblically, you're believing. If you

believe, you're repenting. They're not

separated. Repentance is always spoken

of first,

but it goes together with faith.

It's not two stages. Well, now I've

repented. Now I can believe. It just

goes together.

So that's the picture. So he says in

verse 19, repent therefore and be

converted that your sins may be blotted

out when the times of refreshing shall

come from the presence of the Lord. And

he will send Jesus Christ who before was

preached to you. That's the return of

Jesus Christ promised to the Jews who

killed him

when whom the heaven must receive to the

time of restitution of all things which

God has spoken by the mouth of all his

holy prophets since the age began.

And Moses truly said to the fathers, "A

prophet shall the Lord raise up like

unto me of your brethren like unto me

him shall you hear in all things

whatever you'll he shall say to you."

That's a prophecy of Messiah and that's

in the book of Deuteronomy. And it'll

come to pass that every soul who will

not hear that prophet shall be destroyed

from among the people. And all the

prophets from Samuel and those who that

follow as many have spoken have likewise

foretold these things. So what's he

doing? Your Bible's about Jesus. The

Bible you say you believe, the Bible you

say you read, it's all about him.

And you're sons of the prophets and of

the covenant which God made with our

father, saying to Abraham, "In your

seed, shall all kindreds of the earth be

blessed. Unto you first, God having

raised up his son Jesus sent him to

bless you and turning away every one of

you from his iniquities."

Point, this is a very important point.

Point to Jesus, not yourself. Point to

Jesus, not anything else in the Bible.

That's where the power is. That's what

the unsaved need.

They Yes, they have questions that need

answered. I'm not saying that. But as

soon as you can get it to get it to the

Lord because that's what counts. You can

answer a 100 questions and they're still

lost.

So why is this particular miracle in

this particular place?

It's a special illustration number one

of the multitude of miracles that the

apostles had done and were doing uh

through the risen Christ.

And why this particular miracle instead

of one of the others because God works

in individuals not just in crowds.

And this particular miracle set up a

conf confrontation with Jewish

leadership. It not only caused thousands

of others to get saved. When Peter and

John are brought before the Sanhedrin,

this man went with him.

And if I time if I had time, I'd talk to

you about that.

They didn't like it. They hated it.

They did everything to persecute Peter

and John.

They called him out. They tried to

intimidate him. And you know, we

Christians, we have no reason to be

intimidated by anybody when it comes to

the gospel. We should be bold.

We should be in your face in a loving

way. I don't mean in a proud way or

contentious way, but we should not let

the hatred of the world for Jesus

intimidate us. We got the truth that

they need.

And when Peter and John were called on

the carpet by the Sanhedrin,

the Sanhedrin could say nothing against

it. Why? Because that man was healed was

standing right there with him.

Now, there's a role for the church of

Jesus Christ.

You may never be a preacher. You may

never be a big personal worker,

but you can stand with those that are.

We can stand with the missionaries.

We can stand with those who proclaiming

the gospel

even if we're not. Who's good at

witnessing? I don't know anybody's good

at it. Some people are better than

others. I know that.

They're just that's their natural gift.

But uh uh you know even if you don't do

it well, you need to do it.

But the important thing is that uh we

can stand with those that are standing

up for the Lord. Maybe they're the ones

doing the talking, but our life is

standing there with them. That's where

the local church comes in.

The proof of the resurrection is the

existence of the church of Jesus Christ

on the earth.

I'm not talking about the false church.

That's the devil's church. I'm talking

about the genuine church where real

Christianity is, not fake Christian,

false Christian.

So, I hope that this is a challenge to

you to uh serve the Lord as you see fit

and be about God's business as he gives

you business to do. And it's fascinating

in Isaiah 35

it when it talks about the Messiah and

the messianic kingdom, it says, "The

blind will see, the deaf will hear, and

the crippled will walk, and the mute

will shout.

specific prophetic illustrations in

their Bible of messianic blessings that

will prevail under the future messianic

king. And they got a taste of it through

Peter and John and this unnamed person.

The church has got to have a man. The

church has got to have people with saved

different lives.

You got that. You can you can that

argues better than any word you can say.

They can they they don't like your

arguments. They don't like your sermons.

But they can't fight the fact

that you're different than them. You're

different not just from them. You're

different from what you were.

And they see it. You ever heard people

say, "Your wife's speaking so loud I

can't hear what you're saying. Our

life should back up our lips. That

doesn't mean we're going to be sinless

or perfect. God doesn't promise that.

This side of glory, but it does mean we

should be different.

I'm not what I ought to be. I'm not what

I but I'm not what I used to be either.

And so, thank God for that. Well, maybe

there's someone here listening to me

online or or or even here here. You're

not saved yet. You know, you're not.

Maybe you've been discouraged from

churches or this church. Maybe a church

has hurt you or uh or something in life

has been just devastating to you.

Those needs God knows all about,

but he also knows there's something more

you need than have that need met. You

need to know the Lord if you don't know

the Lord.

And I'm reminded by Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

there are no

in there are no impenetrable places.

Start in Jerusalem.

And there are no unimportant people.

Think about this man.

You've never met an unimportant person.

We're created in the image of God.

We're all going to spend eternity

someplace.

This man was the lowest that you could

be on the Jewish social ladder.

He'd been a beggar his whole life. He

had a role to play.

It wasn't a verbal role.

It was a visual role.

Everybody in that Sanhedrin, all 70 of

them had known that man.

They'd walked by him. They may have

given him money.

40 years of it.

And now he's standing

with Peter and John.

When they saw him, they could say

nothing against it.

They could say nothing against it.

Doesn't mean they got saved. It just

means they were

they found it impossible

to argue.

Very interesting. Well, it's this is in

the book of Acts for a reason. And the

book of Acts is the acts of the risen

savior through his people. And uh uh we

may not be able to do apostolic miracles

like Peter and John, but we can be used

to change people's lives. We can be used

as instruments of the risen Savior to

reach out to people nobody else has time

for or interest in, but God does. And

so, be in prayer for who does God want

me to minister to this week.

Father, we thank you for what we've

looked at today, a challenging section

of scripture

um

right in the beginning of the book of

Acts for a reason. God wants us to have

a pattern. Not that we're apostles or

can do the miracles they did, but we are

Christians and we have the same

commission they have and that to preach

the gospel to every creature.

And Lord, help us whether we're in the

hospital with somebody or in the nursing

home with somebody or on the street with

somebody

or in a neighborhood with somebody that

needs to know the Lord. May we have open

hearts, open doors when that's

necessary,

and open mouths

in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Stand. Turn the page. [singing]

As we go from this [music] place,

loving [singing] you more, trusting you

more.

[music]

May the power of your love [singing]

and the light of your word [music] shine

to a sin darkened world as we go from

[singing]

this