A Personal Gospel

Introduction

A Personal Gospel

The first two chapters of Acts have been an introduction to the early church

We have seen Jesus promise them power to be His witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes

The apostles select Matthias to replace Judas

The day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes and the Lord adds 3000 souls that were saved

We have a unified church that the Lord adds to each and everyday

Today, we see the gospel become personal

We like collective

When there are events, other people like to know who is going before they sign up

I used to think this was a teenager thing as a Youth Pastor, but I realize that adults do the same thing

Jesus died for the sins of his people… For God loved the world…

we forget, the gospel is personal, the gospel is for you

Acts 3 (CSB)

1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.

2 A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple.

3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money.

4 Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.”

5 So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them.

6 But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

7 Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong.

8 So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.

9 All the people saw him walking and praising God,

10 and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

11 While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade.

12 When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness?

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.

14 You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you.

15 You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.

16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

17 “And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did.

18 In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets—that his Messiah would suffer.

19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out,

20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.

21 Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.

22 Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you.

23 And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people.

24 “In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days.

25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.

26 God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

PRAY

Luke is telling us a story of the early church

last week we ended the passage with the phrase, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

understanding the purpose of the overall book, to tell the story of the early church, Luke is now going on to tell us how the Lord did just that

in such a thought, we have this story about the man being healed at the temple, many people hearing the gospel,

all because Peter and John were doing what they normally did

go to the temple at the traditional time for prayer

We cannot be so caught up in the things going on around us that we miss the gospel opportunities that are in front of us.

A Personal Gift

Peter and John were walking into the temple about 3 in the afternoon

this was a normal time of prayer, so the people who would be begging would be there, knowing that people would be coming to the temple at that time

this was how they provided for themselves, their family that took care of them

their family or friends would have been the ones that brought his to this place

great way of making some money as well for themselves

after all they have been providing for these people who have no way of providing for themselves and they want to recoup some of that money

Acts 3:1–11 (CSB)

1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.

2 A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple.

3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money.

4 Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.”

5 So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them.

6 But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

7 Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong.

8 So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.

9 All the people saw him walking and praising God,

10 and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

11 While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade.

This was not the only crippled person at the temple that day, but he was the one chosen for this healing

What about Joe the cripple…

He has been there for a long time too, he has been asking for money, he is Jewish he is…

but for him, there was no healing… it is one of two things

either God does not care about Joe

which is how we feel when we see other people blessed and we are still in our pain

or the gift that God is bringing about is not about the healing at all

there was a greater healing that needed to take place

the souls of those in Israel were lost

they were supposed to be God’s people and they did not recognize God when he came

yes he died for them,

Romans 10:17 (CSB)

17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Too often we are so focused on the things of this world that we need, especially with our health, but we are not as concerned about our souls

we will pray that people get healed of certain illnesses, hurts, we do not pray for their soul that will be cast into Hell we are missing the point

The apostles were there for time of prayer and worship - they were spiritually minded

allowed the Spirit to lead them

they were not so caught up in the task of getting to the temple that they were not sensitive to the spirit leading them

They shared the personal gift that they had received

the crippled man did not ask to be healed

maybe he did not know that was an option

he was over 40 years old according to chapter 4, he had been there for years, maybe decades and nobody had healed

there is so much we could look at just with him, about asking for the big things from God

we should not be afraid to ask God for the big

I am not talking about Lord give me more to hoard, give me more so that I can feel secure

I have met those people, more is never enough

but we should not be afraid to ask God for the big things we need

he is a personal God

he will not always give us big

some of us cannot handle a lot, it would not be good for us

Rejoice for the gift God has given you

we can rejoice in the Lord regardless of if we get the big answer or not

because he gives us the biggest gift, himself

he has offered himself for us

no matter what we are going through, no matter what answer we get for our requests, we still have reasons to praise!

Like the apostles, we must be ready to give what we have as well - does that mean that we need to run out and tell the lame to walk, maybe

are you ready to be used by God

the question to start is not, what you should be trying to do for God, but are you truly willing to be used by God

are you ready to praise the Lord

are you ready to praise God when he heals and when he doesn’t

are you ready to praise God when we see the miracle and when we do not

are you ready to praise God when he uses you to further his kingdom

are you ready to receive his gift, it is because you have not realized you own personal guilt

we all have sin, but your sin is only yours

A Personal Guilt

Peter did not miss the opportunity to share the gospel with the amazed masses

Some people do not like it when you make a scene

I remember driving the church van to an event… as we were leaving there were some that were back at the van before I was, as they grabbed the door handle I set off the alarm

this person did not like the attention that was being brought upon them, so they walked about a block away from the van quickly so that people were not looking at them

Peter did not mind the attention, but he quickly put the attention right where it needed to be

Acts 3:12–15 (CSB)

12 When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness?

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.

14 You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you.

15 You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.

Knowing his audience, Peter points the people to the God that they came to the temple to worship

there are a lot of people who would come… we are too worried about stuff to ask

What initially brought you to church?

6-8% Walked in by own initiative

2-3% Liked a program offered

8-10% Liked the pastor

3-4% Had a need met by the church.

1-2% Were Evangelized

3-4% Attracted by Sunday School

70-85% Invited by a relative or friend!

invites are good… I encourage you to do it, invite everyone you know to come

We need to get used to, move conversations to spiritual ones

I am not saying that we run around pointing out sin

I saw a group of people this week, street preachers and preaching over a loud speaker that people are doomed!

You can be better that your pastor and have a little tact, but we have to not be afraid of walking a fine line of loving our neighbor and saying sin is sin

when evangelizing we must point out personal guilt, but the order is important

Matthew 7 Jesus tells us about helping our neighbor

why would you try to take the splinter out of your neighbor’s eye with a beam sticking out of yours

you have sin… you have specific sin… your sin put Jesus on the cross

this is important for us to know, to understand that we are sinful

it is at that point that we can go humbly to help

I imagine, as bold as Peter is with the truth that he preaching, that he is the most humble knowing the forgiveness he received after denying Christ

people may be offended, we do not like our sin pointed out

but we have to begin to worry less about being offensive and more concerned with people being saved!

All of this must be done out of love and desire to see people saved

not a place of pride

pride says, “I can fix you.”

love says I know the road you are on, and I do not want to see you going that way

we should desire that people taste the grace that we have received

this means that we ourselves admit our sin, and tell how the Lord has rescued and healed us from that sin

A Personal Grace

They were people of the Law

Peter gives them truth of faith and grace

Acts 3:16–26 (CSB)

16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

17 “And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did.

18 In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets—that his Messiah would suffer.

19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out,

20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.

21 Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.

22 Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you.

23 And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people.

24 “In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days.

25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.

26 God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

This man was healed through faith

faith of the man… maybe - faith of the apostles… maybe

there has been a rebuke of healing not able to be done, but it was the ones attempting to heal that was rebuked for their lack of faith, not the recipient

the apostles attempted to heal the boy that was possessed by a demon

we also know that Nazareth did have many miracles performed because of their lack of faith

either way, it was faith that came through Jesus…

we can get caught up in the whose faith, how much faith conversation, but that would take away from the point

the point is that this man was healed in the name of Christ, with the faith that comes through Christ so the message that the apostles were preaching would be seen as valid

Peter directs their faith where it should be God

not the law

they came for the law of things, they came because that is what they were supposed to do at this time

God has told them all along what was going to happen

now opening their spiritual eyes to see

in the same way that the disciples eyes were open when Jesus broke the bread after teaching them on the road to Emmaus.

Now these people were having the gospel explained using the very prophets that they trusted in all along

God did not do this simply for a collected people

v26 to bless you and turn you from your sin

in the same way that you have specific sin all your own, you receive grace

yes there is notice the you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

yes you were dead in your trespasses and sin

Ephesians 2:4–5 (CSB)

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,

5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

The Lord is revealing your sin to you now.

but he is offering grace to all who will personally come

maybe you have repented

are you ready to share this grace that you have received

what you have, are you ready to give it to those who are in desperate need of healing from their sin

If you have truly tasted the grace of the Lord you cannot be quiet!

You have sinned! But PRAISE GOD He has given you grace. How can we stay quiet!

Exalting Jesus in Acts Reflect and Discuss

Reflect and Discuss

1. What is the most challenging aspect of this text for you?

2. What aspect of this text do you think your church needs to hear the most?

3. Why should Christians care for people in need?

4. What are you doing to care for the broken?

5. What does this text teach about caring for both physical and spiritual needs?

6. What about this miracle most resonates with you? Why?

7. Does God heal people today? Explain.

8. How do you think this sermon should influence how we read and teach the Bible?

9. Is there anyone in your life whom you are trying to lead to salvation in Christ? If so, how does this text inspire and instruct you?

10. How should the authority of Jesus impact the way you live this week?