There is no power shortages with God
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· 157 viewsFake teachers can have false power, and Revelations 12 says that the Antichrist will have great power; however, Jesus has all the power according to Mateo 28:18.
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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 mother’s womb 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; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter 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. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.
I love the book of Acts. Many call it "Acts of the Apostles." However, I believe this to be a false title for this book. Because this is not a book of the "Acts of the Apostles," but rather it’s a book of the “Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles.”
We can take these same truths and have a working of the Holy Spirit in our lives today! Why? Because today we have the exact same Holy Spirit as the Apostles did here in the book of Acts. And whats the bible say? “He's the same yesterday, today and forever.”
Introduction:
It's interesting how many times we have lost power in our house in Mexico. Especially when we lived in Monterey, we lost power all the time and sometimes all day.
How many of you have lost power at your hose before? anyone for longer than a day? Yeah well it’s not fun especially when you live in an extremely HOT climate and your wife is pregnant!
However, there is more important power than the power offered by the electrical company.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
We are going to look at this power that the Apostles had in their time and how we can have the same power to preach the gospel with authority today! First we see…
1. The Prayer of the Apostles (v 1)
1. The Prayer of the Apostles (v 1)
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
we see that Peter and John made a priority of prayer. For the early church, prayer was a constant presence in their daily lives. Although they prayed intensely in times of crisis, they also in the good times as well. Why? Because prayer mattered to them. It was as normal for them as eating or working.
Does Prayer matter to you?
The Bible says in
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
This verse tells us that the early Church daily continuously prayed. One of the main features in the early church was prayer. If they had a slogan in their church about prayer it might have said this "No prayer means no power."
How's prayer in your life? Without prayer in your life, you CANNOT live Christian life effectively. CAN NOT!
Church, the importance of prayer cannot be expressed enough in our lives. We have many examples of great men and women throughout scripture who prayed. But the greatest example we have is Jesus Christ. He gives us the ultimate example and we as his followers MUST follow the example he has given us in his word.
We also see that they had a prayer pattern or a regular time to pray. The shows us that this was a regular scheduled activity for Peter and John. There was a "prayer hour" observed in the temple, and the apostles apparently did that as part of their daily routine.
Personally I have my prayer hour is every morning when I do my devotions. So I have a set time to pray every day. Do you have a time to be alone with God? If you want to grow in your walk with Him you will have to set time aside to be with Him.
I've made people tell me they're struggling in their Christian walk and that they afraid to talk to others about the gospel. Friends, the only place where fear will be abolished and we will grow is down on your knees in the prayer closet.
You may wonder why Preachers preach so much about prayer. It's because there's POWER in prayer! And we CANNOT live without prayer in our lives!
We see Peter and John going to pray together. After Pentecost, these two previous rivals seemed inseparable. The Holy Spirit will bring unity to the church and it will be done through prayer.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
With prayer the Holy Spirit can work in our lives and bring unity to the church. Even for those who have a bad past and have never gotten along! The Holy Ghost can do amazing things in and through us if we communicate with him.
What am I trying to say then? Pray to my friends pray!
So we see the First 1. The Prayer of the Disciples. and now look with me secondly in verses 2-6.
2. The Purpose of Disciples (vs 2-6)
2. The Purpose of Disciples (vs 2-6)
And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb 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; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter 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.
Their first purpose was to see the needs of others. This crippled man was definitely alive during the Ministry of Jesus, but Jesus had not chosen to heal him. Jesus always has a purpose in his time. One purpose to leave people unhealthy was to validate the Ministry of Apostles through the exercise of temporary signs.
Peter saw the need of this man. He looked at him, which indicates a strong focus.
My prayer is that we would become a church concerned about those around us. That we would first worry about the eternal destiny of their souls! Because God has called us as a church to share the gospel with the lost world around us.
Let me ask you a question. Are you so busy, even in worship, that you do not see the needs of others? Are you so caught up in you own life that you forget there are lost and dying souls around you heading to Hell?
We also see that their purpose was also to SATISFY the needs of others. They couldn't offer silver or gold, but they offered a manifestation of God's power.
There is a story about a time in the medieval days when Tom de Aquino visited the Pope. During the visit, the Pope shows Thomas all the riches from around the world. With a smile on his face, the Pope said, "Look, Brother Thomas, we can't say the same thing as Peter: "Silver and gold have I not." Then Thomas looked at the Pope and responded without fear. "No, but nor we can't say, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk."
Church, we are called to not only notice the need of the lost, but we are called to do something about it. I'm not talking about their physical needs. Although that is something sometimes we can help with. But I'm talking about their spiritual need.
As Paul said: “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee” What we have to give to the world is much better than money or even food. We have eternal life to offer them!
We must warn them that they are guilty before God for violating his law. That they are liers, thieves, murders and adulterers at heart and who will suffer forever in Hell for their crimes against a holy God.
But that they can be forgiven for their sins if they repent and trust Christ alone, to save them from that eternal damnation. Just like they would trust a parachute to save them from a fall so they must trust in Christ alone to save them from the damnation of Hell!
This is being worried about the lost and doing something about it. This is the most loving thing you can do for a lost person, even more than giving them a meal. Because their eternal soul is what will live forever.
You must have a desire to see the lost saved! For many Christians it is not a lack of desire, rather Its a lack of love, many have a lack of love for the lost, so pray that God would give you more love for the lost.
We saw verse 1 “The prayer of the Disciples” and verses 2 to 6 “The Purpose of Disciples”, and now lastly, we see in verses 7 to 11...
3. The Power of the Disciples (vs 7-11)
3. The Power of the Disciples (vs 7-11)
And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.
Their power was in the name of the Lord. The power to heal the lame was not Peter's power, it was the power of the Holy Spirit working through Peter. The glory and honour for all the good that is achieved through our work for the Lord belongs to Him, not to us.
This the reason why this book should be called “the acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles”.
When God heals, it is with great power. And the apostles testified to the power of God.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
Friends the same Holy Spirit who gave power to the Apostles then is the same Holy Spirit who wants to give you power today.
Here we see the true power of the Holy Spirit. It would be impossible for this man to walk if it weren't for a miracle and it's the same for us. We could never be forgiven of our sins on our own. We needed a miracle to make that happen and that the miracle was Jesus Christ dying on the Cross and raising from the dead! When we couldn't do anything, he did everything!
And there is power in the Lord Jesus Christ!
There is nothing like a transformed life to attract people's attention. Can you imagine being there? Seeing this man who couldn't walk and now is healed? What a sight it must have been! What a testimony he must have had!
Never be afraid to use your own personal testimony as a tool to share the Gospel. The fact that God has changes lives is a powerful example that can arouse interest in the lost to hear the gospel message.
Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness,
And for his wonderful works to the children of men!
For he satisfieth the longing soul,
And filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
John Wesley dijo “Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.”
It's been good for me to travel some because my desire to be on fire for the gospel has grown even more in me. How are your zeal for the gospel? Has it started to decrease? If so then pray for more love for the lost!
If you saw a child drown in a pool, you wouldn't stand by and watch him drown. You'd jump and try to save him! Why? Because you care about children’s lives!
There are some people you know who have never heard the Gospel and are in much more danger than drowning in the pool, because they are heading to hell where they will be punished for eternity for three sins.
Here in our text we see that as a result of this man's cure, we see a crowd gathering around Peter. So what did he do? He didn't take an offering or sell prayer rags; he preached the Gospel.
What are you doing with your life? Are you using it for God or for yourself?
Remember this saying the next time you are afraid to be a witness to Christ. “There is no shortage of power with God.”
Conclusion:
False teachers may have imitation power, and Revelation 12 says that the Antichrist will have great power; yet the bible says that Jesus has all power
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
So don't be ashamed to do something for God because he will give you the power to do it.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
If you have personally violated God's law by lying, stealing or breaking any other of the other ten commandments, then right where you are I beg you before you stir an inch repent today of your sins and trust Christ only to save you from hell.
Let us, Christians, remember this. We have access to all the power we'll need and more. and we get that power by spending time on our knees in the prayer closet.
Prayer:
Father, we come to you humbly and ready to receive the power you promised if we ask, give us the strength to overcome the obstacles of our life that prevent us from serving you and help that lost sinner to be convicted of their sins and be deliver unto eternal life to you today. In Jesus name i pray, amen.