Leaping, Walking, Praising

Acts 3:1-10

If you've got your Bibles go to Acts chapter 3.

For the next several weeks are going to talk about being bold.

Can I just be honest— We are not a very bold people. We like to think we are— but most of us aren’t. not really.

We're just not— we live probably in the safest country in the world during the safest time and we probably live in the safest part of the safest country in the world and yet, we are some of the most cautious believers to ever live.

So, for the next few weeks as we walk through Acts chapters three and four we are going to talk about what it looks like to be bold in our faith. Not weird, but bold.

Not dumb either and we're not talking about the kind of bold that goes streaking at the Georgia Florida game.

That's bold but that doesn't have anything to do with faith all. So we're going to be talking about what it looks like to have bold faith in action.

Even when it feels uncomfortable. Most of the time, biblical boldness does not feel heroic in the moment. It can feel a little awkward. It feels risky. It feels like your stomach is in knots while you’re trying to be faithful anyway.

Sometimes obedience to Jesus feels like standing in front of the class for a presentation you forgot was due. You know your palms are sweating, knees weak, something about mom’s spaghetti. But you step forward anyway. because you only get one shot so do not miss your chance to blow...

That’s what boldness is in the Christian life. It is not the absence of fear. It is loving and trusting Jesus enough to obey Him in the middle of the fear.

Boldness is speaking the truth when it would be easier to stay quiet. And for a lot of us— we think biting our tongue is being bold. We think the 11th commandment is thou Shall be nice.

Bonhoeffer— once said “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.”

So you think people who aren’t Christian are evil?

No, but they aren’t on team Jesus. And if we don’t speak up, they will spend an eternity in hell all because we weren’t bold enough to open up our mouths and talk about Jesus.

We share the gospel even when we are afraid someone might think you are strange. It is standing on God’s Word in a culture that wants you to compromise. It is choosing obedience over comfort.

The disciples in Acts were not naturally fearless men. These were ordinary people. Peter denied Jesus around a campfire because of fear, and later he stood in the streets preaching Christ publicly. What changed? The Holy Spirit filled him, and he became more concerned with honoring Jesus than protecting himself.

A lot of Christians want the results of bold faith without the discomfort of bold obedience. But following Jesus will place you in moments where your flesh wants to retreat while the Spirit calls you to step forward. And often, the moments that feel the most uncomfortable become the moments God uses the most powerfully.

But lets read the first 10 verses in chapter 3

Acts 3:1–10 ESV

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, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he 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. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood 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 at what had happened to him.

What I want to do is just talk about three things from this one verse.

First of all, oftentimes God’s “no” is actually His blessing.

This man was asking for money. And what he heard at first was, “I don’t have any money.” Before Peter could even finish the sentence, I imagine this guy probably thought, Well, great. Here we go again. Immediate disappointment. Immediate frustration. Probably thinking, Surely you’ve got something.

But the reality is, the “no” was setting him up for something far greater than what he originally asked for.

And I’m just telling you, some of us are asking God for things right now, and the truth is, His “no” may actually be one of the greatest blessings in our lives.

You know how I know that? Because I think back on some of the prayers I prayed when I was sixteen years old. Praise God He didn’t answer all of those prayers. If He had, I probably would’ve had a race car as my first vehicle. And let’s be honest, I probably wouldn’t be standing here today if that had happened.

At sixteen, I thought I knew exactly what I needed. I thought I knew what would make me happy. I thought I knew what would satisfy me. But God, in His wisdom, knew better than I did.

And that’s hard for us sometimes, because we tend to think that God’s love always looks like “yes.” But sometimes His love says “no” because He sees what we cannot see. Sometimes His love says “wait.” Sometimes His love redirects us entirely.

This man thought he needed silver and gold, but what he really needed was healing. He was asking for provision for one more day, while God was preparing to completely change his life.

Not only is God’s “no” oftentimes His blessing, but a lot of the time we are not even really asking for what we actually need.

You ever notice that?

This man is pursuing silver and gold, but silver and gold are not actually his greatest need. What does he really need? He needs a miracle. He needs healing. He needs to walk.

But all he can see in front of him is surviving one more day.

So he’s asking for a little bit of money so he can buy a little bit of food, so he can make it through the day, so somebody can carry him back out tomorrow and sit him on the same mat all over again. He’s asking for enough to sustain his condition, while God is preparing to completely transform his life.

He’s asking for a handout, but what he really needs is a miracle.

And honestly, a lot of us do the exact same thing.

There are some people in this room right now praying for a boyfriend or a girlfriend. But the reality is, you do not just need a relationship. What you really need is intimacy. You want somebody to fill a void in your life that only Christ can actually satisfy. And the sad thing is, sometimes we settle for temporary affection when God desires something so much deeper for us.

There are some of you asking God for more money. You think, If I just made a little bit more, all my problems would disappear. But the truth is, there are people with far more money than you who are still empty, still anxious, still miserable.

What you actually need is contentment.

What God wants for you is what Paul talks about in Philippians 4 when he says he learned the secret of being content in every circumstance. Because if you are not content with what you have now, more money will not suddenly heal your heart. You are looking for peace in a paycheck, while God is offering peace in His presence.

And then there are some people who are just chasing emotional experiences. You want that feeling during worship. You want goosebumps during a song. You want one emotional moment a week where you feel close to God.

But what you actually need is not a weekly spiritual high. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You do not just need an experience with God every now and then. God desires for you to abide in Him daily.

That’s the difference.

So often we come to God asking for small things to help us cope, while God is saying, “I want to completely change your life.”

Some of you are just pursuing the right medication— trying to treat the symptoms instead of the issue, and what you actually need, what God has for you, is peace that surpasses all understanding. And you keep thinking, If I could just get this figured out… if I could just get this right… and God is saying, “No, I have so much more in store for you.” Not just temporary relief, but a peace that transcends understanding.

Some of you are praying for a better job, but what you really need is a calling. You need to live your life on mission for God and not just pursue a more convenient job for yourself.

Some of you are looking for church attendance when what you really need is Jesus.

Some of you are looking for better moral behavior, a better version of yourself, but what you really need is to be reborn. Sin is not just making you bad, it is making you dead. And you do not just need to become a slightly improved version of yourself where you cuss less, drink less, yell at your kids less, and try to quit a few bad habits. No, that is not enough.

It might help you survive a little better sitting on the mat, asking for more tomorrow, but what God has for you is to rise up and walk.

Why? Because He is a good Father and He wants to bless you.

You see, our problem is not that we ask for too much. Our real problem is that we are satisfied with too little. We get just enough of this world and we say, “Okay, I’m good now.” Not really content, but easily satisfied. Meanwhile, God has so much more for us.

What if you were bold enough to ask God for more? Not more stuff, but more of what really matters.

Because again, God’s “no” might actually be His blessing, and often we are not even asking for what we truly need.

Now— I want you to think about this from Peter’s perspective for a moment.

Peter and John are walking into the temple, and this guy asks them for money. And Peter says, “I don’t have any money, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

Now listen, once you say that, it is out there. You understand that, right? Like there is no taking that back.

Because what happens if he doesn’t walk?

What happens if nothing happens?

I don’t know if you’ve ever watched some of those TV preacher healing guys before. I do sometimes. It’s kind of part of my profession. It’s like if you’re a professional fisherman, you probably stop and watch fishing shows for a minute. Same thing. I’ll watch them sometimes.

And you know the healing guys. People walk up, they pray over them, and suddenly people are falling out everywhere.

Now I’m just telling y’all, when I pray for people, nobody falls out.

I have prayed for a lot of people. Not one time have I ever prayed, “In the name of Jesus…” and somebody just collapsed backwards while the keyboard player started going crazy in the background.

That has never happened to me.

I’ll pray over somebody like, “Lord Jesus, we pray healing over them in Your name, amen.”

And then everybody just kind of stands there awkwardly like, “Alright… see y’all next week.”

But seriously, think about the boldness this took from Peter.

This is not private. This is not behind closed doors. This is at the temple gate with crowds of people around. And Peter steps out in faith and publicly declares healing over a man who has never walked a day in his life.

That takes boldness.

Because boldness is speaking and acting in obedience to Jesus even when there is a chance you might look foolish if God does not come through the way you expect.

I’m just telling you, if I’m in that situation, I know what I probably would do. I’d probably do one of those silent prayers, you know? Just quietly pray under my breath. And then if he gets healed, awesome. Praise God. And if he doesn’t, well… at least I didn’t put it out there for everybody to hear.

But Peter doesn’t do that.

Peter looks at this man and publicly says, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

And here’s what’s crazy to me: it’s Peter doing this.

Because just a few weeks earlier, this same Peter was not even bold enough to admit to a servant girl that he knew Jesus.

If you grew up in church, you know the story. Jesus is arrested, Peter is standing around the fire, and a servant girl says, “Weren’t you with Him?”

And Peter folds immediately.

“Nope. Not me. Don’t know the guy.”

A little girl asks if he follows Jesus, and Peter starts denying everything.

But now? A few weeks later? He is standing in public, in the middle of the temple courts, looking at a man who has never walked and boldly declaring healing in the name of Jesus.

What changed?

The resurrection changed him. The Holy Spirit changed him.

Peter went from being terrified of what people thought about him to being completely surrendered to what Jesus wanted to do through him.

Now Peter is standing in front of the temple, in front of all these people, proclaiming out loud before anything even happens, “I don’t have any money, but here’s what I do have. I have Jesus. And in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk.”

And he puts it out there.

Let me tell you something as we talk about boldness: God will always give you exactly what you need for what He has called you to do.

Know that.

God gives you exactly what you need to accomplish what He has called you to accomplish.

The reason Peter and John did not have money is because that was not what was needed in that moment. I mean, one, they were preachers, so let’s be honest, there probably was not much money there to begin with. But more importantly, money was not the answer to this man’s problem.

What they had was exactly what was needed.

They had Jesus.

They had the power of the Holy Spirit.

They had everything necessary for the moment God had called them into.

That’s why 2 Peter 1:3 says that “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (ESV).

Not some things. Not partial things. All things.

We just got back from North Carolina late Friday night- graduating from Southeastern for my Doctor of Ministry, and I had one of those moments where the Lord just kind of reminded me of this truth in a really practical way.

Now if you know me, you know I’m not really good at slowing down. Even on a trip that’s supposed to be celebratory, my brain is still moving a hundred miles an hour. I’m thinking about church, sermons, what’s next, emails I need to answer, all of it.

And so one morning while we were up there, I got up early before everybody else was awake. I had my Bible open, and I’m sitting there praying, “Lord, you are the head of the church, what do You have for Cedar Bay? What’s next? Help me lead well. Help me shepherd well.”

And if I’m honest, there’s part of me that feels inadequate stepping into moments like that.

Because you finish a doctorate and people assume, “Well now you’ve arrived. Now you know everything.”

Hahaha- Absolutely not.

If anything, you realize even more how much you don’t know.

And I started thinking about all the different situations people walk into every week.

Conversations where you’re trying to share your faith. Parenting struggles. Marriage struggles. Financial pressure. Ministry decisions. Hospital rooms. Funeral homes. Moments where people are looking at you for answers and internally you’re thinking, Lord, I don’t know if I have what it takes for this.

And it was like the Lord reminded me right there of 2 Peter 1:3:

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (ESV).

Everything we need.

Not everything we want. Not every detail in advance. But everything we need to obey Him in the moment He has called us to.

That’s what Peter understood standing at the temple gate.

Peter says, “I don’t have silver and gold.”

In other words, “I don’t have what you think you need.”

“But what I do have, I give to you.”

Rise up and walk.

I mean, this is a bold faith move, isn’t it?

Peter says, “Rise up and walk.”

And then here’s the crazy part: he doesn’t just leave it there.

He doesn’t say, “Alright man, good luck with that. Hope it works out for you. Send me a Facebook update later and let me know if your legs start working.”

No, Peter actually acts like God can do what he just said He could do.

Do you see that?

He says, “What I have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,” and then he reaches out his hand and pulls the man up.

That’s bold faith.

Some of us think faith just means believing something in our heads. Like faith is just mentally agreeing with spiritual truths you cannot see.

But biblical faith always moves.

Faith behaves as if it really believes.

That’s your second truth right there: faith is behaving as if you really do believe.

Faith puts action behind what your mouth says you believe.

So when Peter says, “Jesus can heal you,” he does not just stand there waiting to see what happens. He reaches down and helps the man up because he genuinely believes Jesus is able to do what he promised.

I mean, we sing those old songs like, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.”

Okay… do we actually believe that?

Because if we really believed Jesus changes lives, we would talk about Him differently. If we really believed the gospel saves people, we would share it more boldly. If we really believed prayer changes things, we would pray more often. If we really believed God was faithful, we would stop living in constant fear and anxiety.

Faith is not just saying something with your mouth on Sunday morning.

Faith is living Monday through Saturday as if it is actually true.

Faith is acting like you actually believe it. Faith is living like you truly believe you are no longer in bondage, that in Christ you actually walk in freedom.

And if you notice something in the text, this is really important.

When Peter says, “Rise up and walk,” does the man immediately stand up and walk?

No.

He is still laying there.

Look closely at the text. It says Peter “took him by the right hand and raised him up.”

The man did not stand up on his own.

Peter says, “Rise up and walk,” and the guy does not get up, because he can’t. He has never walked before in his life.

But Peter has faith in Jesus.

And it seems to me that as Peter is helping the man up, that is when the miracle happens.

Do you see that in the text?

“He took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong” (Acts 3:7, ESV).

So here is what it makes me wonder:

What if the miracle did not happen when Peter proclaimed it?

What if the miracle happened when Peter acted on what he said he believed?

What if the strengthening came in the middle of the obedience?

Because a lot of us are waiting for God to do something before we take the step of faith.

We are saying, “God, if You show me everything first, then I’ll trust You.” “God, if You guarantee the outcome, then I’ll obey.” “God, if You remove all the risk, then I’ll step out.”

But throughout Scripture, so often God moves as people obey.

The priests carrying the ark had to step into the Jordan before the waters parted. The Israelites had to start marching before the walls of Jericho fell. Peter had to get out of the boat before he walked on water.

And here, Peter reaches down and starts pulling this man up before there is any evidence that his legs even work.

That is faith.

Faith is not waiting until everything feels safe and guaranteed. Faith is obeying God enough to take the next step, trusting that He will meet you there.

So the question becomes: should healings like the one in Acts 3 be our everyday expectation?

And honestly, I think the answer is yes and no.

Yes, because God can do anything.

Nothing in Scripture says God has stopped being able to heal people. God still works miracles. God still heals. God still intervenes. He is still sovereign, still powerful, still able.

And part of me just wants to say “yes” and move on.

But I also want to help you think realistically and biblically about what is happening in Acts 3.

Because notice something about Peter here: Peter heals on demand.

He does not stop and pray about it first. He does not say, “Lord, if it be Your will.” He does not ask God to heal the man.

He simply says, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

That is an extraordinary level of apostolic authority and power.

And interestingly enough, even throughout the book of Acts, you begin to see that level of miraculous power fading even among the apostles themselves.

For example, in 2 Timothy 4:20, Paul says, “Trophimus I left ill at Miletus” (ESV).

Now think about that.

This is the Apostle Paul. Earlier in Acts, people are being healed by handkerchiefs that touched him. And yet later in his ministry, one of his coworkers is sick, and Paul leaves him sick.

So what is happening?

Did the apostles suddenly lose power? Is the spiritual Iron Man arc reactor running low? Did Satan discover apostolic kryptonite?

No.

Remember the verse we looked at earlier from Hebrews 2:

“Our great salvation… was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit” (Hebrews 2:3–4, ESV).

In other words, God gave the apostles a unique and unusual endowment of miraculous power for a specific purpose: to authenticate that He was speaking to the world through them.

These miracles were signs pointing to the authority of Christ and the truth of the gospel message.

So should we pray for healing today? Absolutely.

Should we believe God still heals? Yes.

But we also need to understand that the apostles occupied a unique role in redemptive history. What we see in Acts is not necessarily meant to be the ordinary everyday experience of every believer in every generation.

The miracle itself was never the main point anyway.

The miracle was pointing people to Jesus.

That does not mean God does not still do these things anymore. He most certainly does. And honestly, I have experienced some of those things personally.

It is just that we should not expect them to be as regular or normative as they are in the book of Acts because this was, by any definition, a unique time.

So if you see somebody in a wheelchair at the mall, do not walk up and think, “Well, Peter did it, so I must always be able to do it too.” Remember- don’t be weird. thats weird.

God still heals. God still works miracles. But the frequency and intensity with which He was doing these things in the opening chapters of Acts was connected to authenticating the message He was giving through the apostles.

That is what God was doing.

And let me also say this because this is important: the hope of supernatural healing should never replace normal medical procedures.

Never.

The Bible never says that.

Luke, the author of Acts, was a doctor.

So apparently being godly and going to the doctor are not opposites.

When I go to the hospital with somebody, I pray for both. I pray for healing, and I pray for the doctors. I pray for God to intervene, and I pray for wisdom for the nurses and surgeons and everyone involved.

Because ultimately all healing comes from God anyway.

I believe God heals through prayers, people, pills, and procedures.

Sometimes God heals miraculously. Sometimes God heals through medicine. Sometimes God heals over time.

But nowhere in Scripture are we told to reject the normal means God has provided.

So this leads to another question- Will everyone who prays in faith receive healing?

So should we expect all Christians to be healed?

Yes and no.

Eventually, yes.

The day is coming when God will restore all things. The dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible. There will be no more disease, no more pain, no more mourning, no more crying.

That day is coming.

For the believer, healing is not a possibility. It is a promise.

But in the short term, no.

Because sometimes God has bigger purposes on this earth than giving us immediate physical healing.

Sometimes God allows us to know Him more deeply through pain. Sometimes He uses suffering to shape us. Sometimes He even uses our suffering to bring other people to Himself.

Voddie Baucham said it this way: "Sometimes God is glorified when sick saints get well. But more often than not, God is glorified when sick saints die well"

And I know that is hard for us to hear.

Because we all know people who prayed and were not healed the way they hoped. Some of you have probably wrestled with disappointment toward God because of that very thing.

But if we truly understand the greatness of what God has already given us in Christ, then even the worst suffering in this life is temporary compared to the glory that is coming.

That does not make the pain fake. It does not make suffering easy. It just means suffering does not get the final word.

Jesus does.

As John Wesley said, “Our people die well.”

Why?

Because for the Christian, death is not the end. It is the doorway into the full healing and restoration we have been promised in Christ.

So what part of the church’s mission should be focused on healing?

All of it.

And honestly, that brings us back to this whole idea of bold faith.

Because bold faith is not just standing on a stage preaching loudly. Bold faith is believing that God can use ordinary people like us to bring healing into broken places.

Yes, as faithful witnesses, there are moments where we must say hard things. There are moments where we stand on truth even when it is unpopular. But all of that should happen in the middle of radical love, mercy, compassion, and healing.

Bold faith looks like stepping into broken situations believing the gospel actually changes things.

Our community ought to know us as the people who show up when there is hurt. When there is addiction. When there is loneliness. When there is confusion. When there is brokenness.

The church should be known as the place where healing can be found for every area the community is broken.

Need counseling? We will help. Need groceries? We will help. Need somebody to pray with you? We will help. Need friendship and community? We will help. Need guidance? We will help. Need help getting back on your feet? We will help. Need somebody to point you to Jesus? We will help.

That is bold faith.

Bold faith is not just believing God changes lives on Sunday morning. It is living like we actually believe it Monday through Saturday.

It is believing that the gospel is powerful enough to restore marriages, rescue prodigals, break addictions, heal wounds, and bring dead people to life spiritually.

N.T. Wright says in Surprised by Hope that evangelism flourishes best when the church proclaims the gospel while also giving itself to works of mercy and beauty that point people to the love and justice of God.

In other words, we preach the gospel with our mouths, and we demonstrate the gospel with our lives.

That is what Peter is doing in Acts 3.

He is boldly proclaiming Jesus, and then he reaches down and helps a broken man up.

Now hear me, I’m not saying everybody has to run around the room and go crazy.

There is a difference between genuine worship and emotional chaos.

But there is also a difference between reverent worship and lazy indifference.

Worship is our response to God for who He is and what He has done.

And the reality is, if you do not think God is that big, and you do not think He has done that much for you, your worship will reflect that.

But if you were a crippled man laying outside the temple your entire life, and suddenly you could walk, you would not casually stroll into church.

You would leap.

And that word “leap” is important because all the Jewish people there would have immediately connected it to Isaiah 35:6:

Isaiah 35:6: Then shall the lame man leap like a deer

That was a Messianic prophecy.

Isaiah said that when the Messiah came, the lame would leap like a deer.

And now here in Acts 3, this man is literally fulfilling that picture right in front of them.

He is worshiping like crazy because he knows what just happened to him.

He knew he was dead, and now he is alive. He knew he was lame, and now he can walk. He knew he had been hopeless, and now he had encountered Jesus.

And church, that is what worship is.

It is the natural response of somebody who realizes what Jesus has done for them.

When we realize what Jesus has done for us, we worship Him.

Do realize why all of this happened? This is vital. All of this happened for the glory of God.

God is glorified through this man because this man begins worshiping God. But not only that, many other people are drawn to the Lord because of what happened to him.

And you know why?

Because changed lives point people to Jesus.

They just do.

I mean, look around this room. It is kind of crazy what God is doing right now. Thursday nights, all these people showing up. When I first said we were going to do Thursday night services, I had pastors tell me, “Thursday night will never work.”

And I thought, “Perfect. Then if it fails, I can stay home and watch college football on Thursday nights.”

But here is what actually happens.

People come in here spiritually lame. Broken. Hopeless. Addicted. Empty. Hurting. Then Jesus changes their life, and now they walk differently.

And people see that.

And when somebody sees a genuinely changed life, they start thinking, Well, if God can save them, maybe there is hope for me too.

That is exactly what starts happening in Acts 3.

Verse 10 says the people “were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him” (ESV).

And honestly, that verse convicted me this week.

When is the last time anybody was filled with wonder and amazement because of your bold faith?

And I do not mean just showing up to church. For some of you, maybe that is a bold step right now, and praise God for it.

But if you have been walking with Jesus for years, when is the last time somebody looked at your life and saw such genuine faith, such genuine transformation, such genuine obedience, that it pointed them toward Jesus?

When is the last time your bold faith created wonder and amazement in somebody else because they saw the reality of Christ in you?

And if that is not happening at all, then maybe we need to stop for a minute and ask ourselves why.

Because it should be, we should be living out of faith as if it matters because it does matter.

And bold faith does not always look loud or dramatic. Sometimes it looks like trusting God in suffering, staying faithful when life is hard, forgiving somebody who hurt you, or continuing to obey Jesus when it would be easier not to.

That is what happened in Acts 3. The people were amazed because they knew the man who had been healed. They had seen him sitting at that gate for years, and now his life was completely different.

Changed lives point people to Jesus.

That is why your obedience matters. There are people connected to your life who may never open a Bible before they first watch the way you live. And what they need to see is not perfection, but evidence that Jesus is real.

And ultimately, that is the goal of all of this.

Not that people would be impressed with us. Not that people would think the church is cool. Not even just that lives would improve.

The goal is that people would see Jesus.

Because that is exactly where Peter goes after this miracle. Peter does not stop and build his own healing ministry. He does not make the moment about himself. He immediately points people to Christ.

Because the miracle was never the main thing. The miracle was meant to point people to the Savior.

And that leads Peter to the real message he wanted the crowd to hear.

Let me close by saying this.

At the end of the day, Peter’s main message in this miracle was not ultimately about healing. It was about repentance.

Peter’s message to the crowd was, “You have been wrong about Jesus.”

You ignored Him. You overlooked Him. You pushed Him aside. You treated Him like somebody you would deal with later when life slowed down and you had more time.

And Peter says, “You cannot keep putting Jesus off.”

God sent His Son to rescue you. Jesus died to save you. God raised Him from the dead in power. And now He stands as Lord over everything.

Without Him, you are lost.

But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus was raised in power so that your life could be made right. So that you could be forgiven. So that you could be transformed. So that you could become part of His mission of bringing healing to a broken world.

That is Peter’s message:

Repent.

Change your heart toward Jesus. Stop running from Him. Stop delaying obedience. Stop treating Him like an optional part of your life.

Listen to the message from heaven calling you home to God.

And the question this morning is simple:

Have you listened?

Because at some point every one of us has to decide what we are going to do with Jesus.

Not just admire Him. Not just know about Him. Not just attend church around Him.

But surrender to Him as Lord.