Untitled Sermon

Acts 3:1–26 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. While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 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, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you 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, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Q #1 (Acts 3:1-4) How do you respond when a beggar asks you for money?

Lesson: (Acts 3:11-16)

Peter certainly learned from Jesus on how to speak to the religious leaders, spoke truth to power and did not take any of the shine as the religious leaders would have. He wanted all the glory to go to the rightful owner.

Lesson: (Acts 3:24-26)

Telling them they were sons of the prophets, and through them all the families of the earth would be blessed. And that God sent His servant to them first to bless them and have them turn from the evil ways.

Imagine this is the same Peter denied Christ 3 times before the rooster crowed in the morning, yet he sought repentance and was restored by the Master. He unlike Judas Iscariot, who was remorseful, but unrepentant would never have the chance to be used. Peter, now fully committed traded curses for extolling the majesty of Christ, and because of it thousands were brought into the church.

You can never sin enough to disqualify you from being used, if you are willing to repent, turn from you sin and fully commit to being used by Him.

Q #2 (Acts 4:1-4) Has anyone become annoyed because you were teaching and proclaiming things about your faith in Jesus?

Key Verse: (Acts 4:12) - There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.1

1 Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ac 4:12). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

(c.f. Acts 10:43; 1 Tim 2:5)

Lesson: (Acts 4:13) These men were uneducated by the standard of formal religious education, but had much better training by being with Jesus. (c.f. John 7:14-15

Such courage was remarkable in the case of Peter and John because they were regarded as unschooled, ordinary men (anthrōpoi agrammatoi kai idiōtai). The terms used here mean that they were ‘unlettered’ (agrammatoi) and unskilled ‘laymen’ (idiōtai), in the sense that they were not trained as interpreters of Scripture and rabbinic tradition. Their interrogators were astonished, but they also took note (epeginōskon te autous, ‘they recognized them’) that they had been with Jesus (hoti syn tō Iēsou ēsan). They realized who their master had been and the influence he had had upon them. Jesus himself had not been professionally trained (cf. Jn. 7:15), but he was widely acknowledged as ‘Rabbi’ or ‘Teacher’. Peter and John had obviously been taught by Jesus and shared something of his wisdom, insight into the Scriptures, and prophetic authority!1

1 Peterson, D. G. (2009). The Acts of the Apostles (p. 194). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Lesson (Acts 4:18-20)

When they were commanded not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus, the apostles could not comply. To do so would have been to deny their experience of Jesus, his teaching, his death and resurrection, the ascension, and his gift of the Holy Spirit. It would also have been a denial of their commission to be witnesses of the risen Christ (Lk. 24:48; Acts 1:8).1

1 Peterson, D. G. (2009). The Acts of the Apostles (pp. 195–196). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

This gives us a clear mandate, we are to speak of what we know and believe whether it causes us to be in opposition to others that would seek to stifle the word of God.

Lesson (Act 13:4-8)

The early Christians saw their main rivals as being ‘other Near Eastern religions, especially other forms of Judaism; magic in various forms, especially in some combination with Jewish ideas; and traditional Greek deities and philosophies’.1

1 Peterson, D. G. (2009). The Acts of the Apostles (p. 380). Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.