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So our reading this morning from Psalms 149 is kind of a lead into what we're gonna be sharing this morning out of Acts chapter three. In that, I always, I just always look at, you know, Christians and I always look at those that are, you know, sons and daughters of our Lord and how, how we ought to be joyful in our lives and how we ought to be the most joyous of all people.
And unfortunately, most, most people that I know that are Christians don't have that joy that they express. They don't have that happiness. They don't have that bounce in their step. And yet we read, you know, that, let us praise his name and dancing and make a melody to him with timbrel and leer for the Lord takes pleasure in his people.
He adorns the humble with victory and let the faithful exalt in glory. And we ought to, we ought to live our lives like that. When we come into God's presence, our lives ought to be like that. We ought to be dancing.
We ought to be leaping with joy. So let's open in prayer and we'll get started in Acts chapter three. Heavenly father, we thank you so much for just bringing us together this morning, that Lord, that we can, we can come here to worship you and to give you praise and honor, all that is due to you.
And Lord, we just thank you for your word as it strengthens us, gives us, gives us joy. Lord, it builds our faith. It just draws us closer to you. Lord, as we open your word this morning, we just ask that, that your Holy spirit would be present, guiding and directing us.
And as he's already put this together this morning, that Lord, we are here assembled as a body. Jesus, your name we pray, amen. So Acts chapter three is where we will ultimately end up being, but a little prelude to that.
As we, as we go into the book of Acts, and we see all, you know, Jesus is, his 50 days have come to an end and it's time for him to be ascended into heaven. And he, and he draws his disciples in Acts chapter one, and he'll draw his disciples to him.
And as he talks to them and he assures them of this in verse eight of chapter one, but you shall receive the power when the Holy spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
And Jesus is now departing his disciples and he's ascending into heaven. And he says, he says, he says, just, just be patient. Cause the Holy spirit is going to come upon you. And when he comes upon you, you will have this power and you will want to go out and be my witnesses in all, all of this area, all, all of Jerusalem, all of Judea, all of Samaria and to the end of the earth.
And that's what, that's what we as Christians need to be about. That we need to be about being his witness as he draws us there. And we ought to be joyful in doing that. And then, and then they go and they go into this upper room and the disciples are all together and it's apostles are all together and everything's coming to this, to the end.
And, and all of a sudden, you know, and there's one thing I really truly believe is that there are no coincidences with God. You know, the Passover was the time that Jesus would take and be going to the cross.
And now we're 50 days later and people have now ascending again in multitudes back into Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost. That day of another celebration of their, of their feasts. And they're all back into Jerusalem once again.
And in this upper room, all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles and comes upon the disciples. And these tongues of fire are there. You can just imagine, just imagine the heartfelt that they have going on in this room.
As they, as, as the Holy Spirit is filling their lives and all of a sudden they have the boldness to be able to go out and the boldness to be able to go out and to share God's word. And it says, and they shared it in all the different languages of the people that were, so we can just imagine all these people that have assembled into Jerusalem have now come into, into the temple and they're hearing the gospel being preached to them in their own language for a first time.
And how exciting that must've been for the apostles. Just all of a sudden, they're just speaking out in boldness, speaking out in what God has given to them and the excitement and all that, all that is climax.
And we go through, you know, we go through chapter two and chapter two is that mighty Pentecostal sermon that Peter will give. And, you know, and he just gets up in boldness to the people and is sharing that testimony of what has happened.
What, you know, look at, you know, we talk about we need to recognize our sinfulness before we can come to the grace of the throne. Look at what he is, what Peter is proclaiming to these people. Look at what you did.
You took, you took, and you hung him, Jesus, our savior on the cross.
You did that.
And it just burning in their hearts. When we recognize our sinfulness, it just burns in our hearts and it burns in their hearts. And they say to him, what do we need to do? What do we need to do about this?
And Jesus' answer is really simple. Repent. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Real simple, real simple. We make it really complicated, but it's really simple. And God just says, that's what we need to be able to proclaim.
And these people, all of a sudden we see 3 ,000 people are saved in this one setting. And it says, and the church starts to grow and it starts to flourish and they're all of one accord and they're sharing and they're breaking the bread.
And I really, I have really come in just probably the last couple of months to really understand this breaking of bread together and what that really truly means to be in fellowship with one another and one accord, that we can join together and share in the goodnesses of God.
So that takes us up to Acts chapter three. And things have been going on and the church has been going on now for a little while, not a long time, but a little while, and things are going on. And Peter and John are on their way to the temple and we're going to, we'll take and read this, but they're on their way to the temple, it's their custom twice a day to be in prayer.
And that prayer is not just a simple, you know, howdy doody God, I'm the sinner and I'm on my way. No, they spent hours there in prayer twice a day. And their thing was, they were heading there. So chapter three, verse one.
And now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried and whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of those who entered the temple.
And seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him. And John also. And said, look at us. And he fixed his attention upon them, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up. And immediately his feet and his ankles were made strong.
And leaping up, he stood and walked and entered into 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 for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple.
And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened. So Peter and John are entering into the temple. And I really like to do that visually in my mind of what that must have been like. And they're walking into the temple and here's this man sitting at the gate asking for alms.
This man is, and we saw in chapter four, this man was 40 years old. He's 40 years old. He's been sitting there asking for alms his whole life outside of the temple, outside. And asking for alms, he's looking for that.
What we do as sinful man, we're always looking for our own needs. Taking care of day-to-day living, taking care of ourselves. I'm not looking for anything else. I can't get into the temple because they weren't allowed because he was a cripple.
He wasn't allowed in the temple. He had to remain outside of the temple. So all he was caring about was, what do I need to survive here? Not about God, not about, you know, just give me some alms so I can take care of my personal needs, my daily needs.
That's what he was asking for. But Peter says, I don't have those things, but I got one thing else that's better. I got something that's better for you. And he reached out his hand and he says, take my hand.
Take my hand and walk. The man's been crippled for 40 years. Can you imagine just what was kind of going through his mind at the time? All of a sudden this man's reaching down, gazing at him. I mean, he gave him his attention.
Do we do that when somebody comes to us? Do we really give them our attention? When somebody says, how's it going? Do you really want to know? Most of the time you go, eh, yep, yep, yep, yep. You don't want to give them the time.
You don't want to look at them in the eyes. You don't want to give them that look. Well, Peter and John gives them that look and says, take my hand. Take my hand and walk. And it says that immediately his ankles and his feet were healed.
Immediately he was able to leap up from the ground, leap up and walk. And where was he going to go? What was the first place he was going to go when he was healed? Into the temple, into the presence of God.
We go into the presence of God healed. This man is healed from his infirmity. He is healed and he walks into the temple. Not only does he walk in, it says he's leaping with joy and dancing and praising God.
We can only imagine what that whole assembly looked like. All of a sudden, here's this guy. For 40 years, he's been sitting outside. Well, I don't know if he was sitting outside when he was little, but for 40 years, he's been crippled.
And these men have been walking past him. And Peter and John probably had walked past him too in those few days, but all of a sudden he is healed, brought into the temple, brought into the presence of God, praising God, I can walk.
I've been healed from my infirmities and I have nothing but great joy to do, but to praise God for that. And it says the entire assembly sees that. Sees him walking and dancing and all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one.
So they knew who that was, was when Jesus heals the blind man sitting outside of the temple. And he was blind from birth and Jesus heals him. It's the same reaction. He gets up, he can see, he goes in, he follows Jesus.
And this man's following Jesus. I mean, following disciples, but he's following Jesus. And he is praising God and people recognize him as the one who sat outside blind. Was this man blind his whole life?
Was he not blind from his birth? Was this man not crippled from his birth? And yet now he is able to walk and he is able to leap and he is able to dance and joy. Just like Psalm 149 says, we ought to be doing in the presence of God.
He was able to do that when he was in the presence of God, when he finally entered into the temple. When he finally got into the temple, into the presence of the Lord, where the Lord has come to him and he's given glory unto him.
And then in verse 11, and while he clung onto, while he followed Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the protocol called Solomon's Astounded. 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 by our own power or piety, we have made him walk. The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.
But you demanded a Pilate when he denied to release him, but you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and 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 of the faith which is through Jesus and has given the man his perfect health in the presence of you all.
Nothing to do with us. You're thinking that it was us, you're thinking that we have this special power, you're thinking that, he said, no, no, it wasn't us. It was the God that you, it was the God that you hung on the cross.
It was the God that you demanded his life. It was him that has granted us that power. We do not have that power. It is only the power through him that this man walks, that this man is healed, that we are healed.
It is through his power. It's not about another person you're presenting. It's not, it's about the power of the Holy Spirit. And he says, and that man is healed because of that and that only. And that's what we need to take from this little glimpse.
Of what's going on is that Peter and John recognize it. As John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God who's coming, that I might decrease that he must increase. We need to understand that we need to step aside because it is about him, not about us.
And Peter and John recognizes that. They realize it's not about them. It's about the testimony and testifying of who God is and of his greatness and his glory and his riches upon us. Because it was him that gave this man the power to be healed.
And then verse 17, and now brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance as did your rulers, but God foretold of the mouth of the prophets that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that you may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus whom heaven must receive until the time of establishing all that God spoke of by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.
And Moses said, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up. He shall listen to him, whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul that does not listen to the prophets shall be destroyed from the people.
And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came afterwards also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that which God gave to your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your posterity shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And God, having raised up his servant, sent him to be first to bless you and turning every one of you from your wickedness. Do you remember when Jesus is walking on the road to Emmaus and he's talking to the two guys and he proclaims to those two guys, he says, all that was written of him, all that was written of him in the Old Testament, Jesus proclaims to them on this road.
And that's what now all of a sudden Peter is doing to them. They're saying, listen up. This is what you, you know, these things, you know, these writings, you know, these scriptures because you've been taught them from a young age.
Now you need to believe them. Now it's time for you to believe them and turn from your wickedness, turn from your sinfulness and receive him onto yourself that you might be saved because that's why he came.
He came to share that good news. He came, he came that you might be saved. We need to be like that guy on the gates. We need to be like Peter and John. We need to reach out. We need to let God guide and direct us and reach out to those that need to be healed, not just healed of their infirmities, but healed of their sins.
And that's now what Peter is proclaiming to them. You need to be healed inside.
It's time.
The prophets have written it. These things have been fulfilled. It's time for you to be healed. And it says in chapter four, but many of those who heard the words believed and the number of men came to about 5 ,000.
So now they're estimating that the new church in these early days, in these very beginning days is now up to approximately probably 10 ,000 people. We started off on the first day with 3 ,000 and it has grown now to almost 10 ,000.
And what is it growing from? It's growing from the proclamation of the word. When Peter shared at the Pentecostal sermon, it was the gospel of the word. When Peter's sharing with these men, it's the gospel of the word.
It's through the power of the word that these men are being enlightened. It's through the power of the word that their eyes are being opened. And we too need to be able to share that word in boldness and enjoy and excitement in our lives that we have that bounce in our steps.
When people come, they see a difference in us. I don't know if you've ever been around somebody, I remember years ago, and I said to my wife, we had this youth event, and I said, I said, did you not feel the continence of the Lord with this guy that was up there sharing and his presence when he was up there singing?
I said, didn't he just glow? It was like he was glowing. And we just feel the presence of God when people are glowing, when we're excited about who we are and what Christ has made us. And we ought to be the most joyful of all creation.
We ought to be the most joyful of all. Not that God has given us riches, not that he's given us silver or gold, but that he's given himself for us. That we ought to be joyful, that we ought to be singing and dancing in his presence so that all might see what God has done for you.
Amen?
So Acts chapter four, verse 12, and there is no salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And in that, you know, we come to that, you know, the Passover where Christ is telling his disciples, it's time, it's time that we go and celebrate the Passover, go get the rooming and get it prepared.
And he goes in with them for that time. And we're going to have that opportunity to share in that here in the next moment, to share in that what God has given to us, that we share in the Lord's suffering, communion with one another, that we recognize what God has done for us, that we have a need for repentance, that we need to come to God and be repentant of what we've done for what he has done for us.
If we can't recognize what we have done and our sinfulness, if we can't recognize that, it's hard to recognize what he's done for us. We need to recognize what we've done. We need to be repentant of what we've done.
We need to make sure that we are repenting of what we've done, that we can recognize the great things that he is going to do for us, that the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon each one of us, as we have received Christ into our lives, that the Holy Spirit has come and he has anointed us with his power.
But in that, we need to recognize who we are, and that's the sinful men and women, that we need to repent of that.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for just this time that the word, Lord, of who you are, the great love that you have for us, that we come into your presence this morning, Lord, and recognizing that, and we ask for forgiveness of our sins, that we might be holy.
For none, Lord, none is righteous. We have all sinned and fallen short of you, Lord. And Lord, that you came here for one great thing, and that was to save us. And Lord, you would lay your life on that cross, knowing that's why you came, and we just praise you for that, the great things that you have done for us.
Just, Lord, we just thank you so much for that, and just to be with us.