FBC Daily Devotional – November 9, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. How are you doing this day? I hope you had a good night of rest and are ready and raring to go to serve the

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Lord today in whatever area of life he's called you to serve him. I trust you'll serve effectively.

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Well today as we begin the day, I want to think of what's going on in Acts chapter 3 and the performance of this miracle with a man at Solomon's Porch.

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It's an area at the temple complex in Jerusalem. Now, I read some of these miracles in the

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New Testament, especially in the book of Acts and well, even the miracles that Jesus performed.

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You had some of the Pharisees who came to Jesus and demanded a sign of him, a miracle to be performed and so forth.

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And it reminds me of the fact that human nature is kind of like the

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Pharisees or kind of like the crowd that comes and surrounds Jesus just waiting for a miracle to be performed.

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People, I think, want to see miracles just for their entertainment value. They want to be wowed even if they don't particularly need one themselves.

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They just want to see some spectacular thing happen in the life of somebody else.

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Think about these faith healers who advertise weeks ahead of time that they're coming to some city and they're going to have a healing crusade and bring the people and all this kind of thing.

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And a lot of people show up at these things. They don't have any physical problems. They don't need the faith healer to do anything for them.

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But they just want to see the show. They just want to watch what happens up on the stage. And, of course, the faith healer, he's just there because he wants to wow the crowd and he wants to generate some income.

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And he generates an awful lot of income. And that's another whole story altogether. But nevertheless, the miracles that you see performed in the

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New Testament, and particularly this one that you see here in Acts chapter 3, isn't done for its monetary value.

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The person who receives this miracle, this lame man who's graciously and powerfully and able to walk, he doesn't have anything to give and nothing is asked of him for that miracle that's been performed.

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And Peter, having performed this miracle of this lame man, he doesn't turn to the crowd that happens to see it and say, okay, who's gonna make some donations now?

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Let's keep this thing going. No, not at all. So the recipient of the miracle is not there to be wowed.

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He's not even expecting it. The ones performing the miracle, Peter in this case, the

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Apostles in other cases, they don't perform the miracle to wow a crowd.

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They don't do it to generate an income and they don't do it in order to exploit people, to take advantage of them for their own fame and their own prestige.

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Instead, the miracles that they perform are designed to do one thing and that is to turn attention to Jesus.

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So when this miracle is performed and you know people realize that this is the guy that was begging at the gate for alms and now look, he's completely whole.

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He actually got up from his his seat where he was previously unable to walk and he went running into the temple, leaping and jumping and praising

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God as he went and everybody is wondering what in the world happened here?

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What's going on? Peter does not take any credit for this whatsoever.

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Instead, in verses 11 and following, he turns the attention to Jesus and when he gets to the end of that attention turned to Jesus, he makes the application.

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He says this Jesus he suffered and died for sinners like you and then he says in verse 19, repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out.

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So he doesn't he doesn't appeal for anybody else need healing. Come and I the great

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Peter will will do you a great miracle. Just throw a few shekels my way.

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No, not at all. Yes, a great miracle has been performed. This man was lame.

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Now he can walk, he can leap, he can jump. But the praise goes to God, the praise goes to Christ and the

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Christ who died for your sins turn from those sins, repent and be converted that you may be saved and enjoy the refreshing that comes from this salvation that he comes to offer.

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So use that as a use that fact, that reality as a means of discernment.

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If you ever happen to watch and I don't waste my time with it, but if you ever happen to watch some of these faith healers on TV or whatever you know be discerning and realize they're in it for the show.

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Everyone else is in it for the show. I remember years ago, a long time ago back in the 80s, we were living in Indiana and just for entertainment sake

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I used to turn on this little black and white TV and I used to turn on this TV on Saturday evenings and watch the

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Ernest Ainsley hour. I don't know if you ever heard of him, but old sweet Ernie, he would talk about, you know, this little sending you a little vial of water from the

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Jordan River and it'll bring you healing and all this kind of stuff. Just send a donation, just send a donation.

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That's what they're all about. Peter and the Apostles who performed these miracles are all about Jesus and the salvation from sin that Jesus came to offer.

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So be discerning. See the real need. Our Father and our

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God, we do thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ and thank you Father for the salvation that he came to offer.

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He came to provide through his death on the cross. I pray that in this day and age of so much entertainment and everything looked at for its entertainment value that attention would be turned to Jesus.

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We wouldn't be people caught up in the spirit of that age where all we want is to be entertained.

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We would see Jesus. May we see him, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. All right.