Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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I'm Pastor Mark Howard and I'm
here with my co-host my brother
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Pastor Jim Howard. We are so
excited to be studying the book
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of Acts with you. I hope
you have your Bibles today.
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We're going to dive right into
our study after a brief word of
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prayer. We're going to be in
Acts chapter 3 today and it's
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an exciting story, but let's
begin with a word of prayer.
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Father in heaven we do thank you
for your word. We thank you for
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the Spirit of truth given to
lead us into truth and we just
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pray that he would lead our
study today. In Jesus name we
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pray. Amen. Now
we've already seen some
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exciting things in the book
of Acts and how the early church
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was just exploding under
the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Now we come to chapter 3 and
we run into what starts out as
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just kind of a regular day in
the life of the apostles and I
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suppose maybe it ends like a
regular day in the life of the
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apostles the way we see things
go here, but we're going to Acts
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chapter 3, verse 1, and the
Bible says here: Now Peter and
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John went up together to the
temple at the hour of prayer,
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the ninth hour, and a certain
man, lame from his mother's womb
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was carried, whom they laid
daily at the gate of the temple
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which was called Beautiful to
ask alms from those who entered
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the temple, who seeing Peter and
John about to go into the temple
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asked for alms. And fixing his
eyes on him with John Peter said
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Look at us. So he gave them his
attention expecting to receive
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something from them. Then Peter
said, silver and gold I do not
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have but what I do have I give
you. In the name of Jesus Christ
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of Nazareth rise up and walk.
And he took him by the right
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hand and lifted him up and
immediately (the Bible says)
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his feet and ankle bones
received strength so he, leaping
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up, stood and walked and entered
the temple with them walking and
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leaping and praising God. And
all the people saw him walking
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and praising God and they knew
that it was he who sat begging
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alms at the Beautiful gate of
the temple and they were filled
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with wonder and amazement
at what had happened to him.
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Amazing story.
That's a powerful story.
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So what we see here, there's
a few things that we pick up on.
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I suppose we could look at this
and say well Peter and John went
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to the temple that day to heal
the man. I think it's important
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to note, and we're going to see
this other places in the book of
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Acts, that sometimes people
get the idea today that the New
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Testament church was
disconnected from the
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practices of Judaism excepting
that they felt a need to reach
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the Jews. But what we find is
that the religion of Judaism was
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full of gospel illustrations
that were pointing people
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forward to and preparing them
for the reception of Christ.
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It was the religion that God had
given to his people. And so here
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we find Peter and John going up
to the temple. And somebody may
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say well they went up to the
temple because they knew they
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knew they were going to find a
man there. But we don't see that
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because the Bible says they went
up because it was the hour of
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prayer and it says that they
were about to go into the temple
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so they had no intention, they
weren't there to heal the lame
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man. They had no intention of
healing the lame man but it was
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as they were passing by that he
called out to them and asked for
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alms and arrested their
attention. It says there in
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verse 3, Seeing them about to go
into the temple asked for alms.
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Yeah, it's funny though when
you say that he arrested their
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attention, it doesn't appear
that they had yet arrested his.
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That's right. It's
almost like at the toll
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booth or somewhere where
someone is mindlessly sort of
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going through the motions. He's
probably been asking for alms
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people walking by and he's kind
of become a little bit numb to
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the reality that most people are
not really doing much to help
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him. Well I think
to myself of as you
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mentioned somebody who's
in a routine. You think of the
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Salvation Army bell ringers
at the holiday seasons. They're
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ringing that bell and when I
give I don't stop often and get
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into a long conversation.
I'll throw something in and move
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and they're used to that and
they're ringing and thank you
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and thank you and they're not
really paying a lot of attention
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and it's very likely that
people have tossed money his way
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but there was no long
interchange with anybody.
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Right. No bonding happening.
But it's important that the
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apostles wanted his attention.
He points it out right here in
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verse 4 where it says, And
fixing his eyes on him with John
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Peter said, Look at us. So he's
calling his attention to them.
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And in verse 5 it says, So
he gave them his attention and
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then he expects to receive
something from them. This just
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reminds me of so many places in
the Bible where there is a very
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intentional effort to draw the
attention of someone who's about
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to receive healing or receive
some gift from God to get their
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wholehearted attention. I think
of the blind man who Jesus asked
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a question that seemed a little
bit odd at the time. He said,
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what do you want me to do
for you? And he said, That I may
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receive my sight. It seemed
obvious but Jesus wanted to draw
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out of that man his full
attention and his whole heart.
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I think of the woman who wanted
to have her flow of blood healed
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and she's looking to find a
way to get to Jesus and she goes
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ahead and reaches out and
touches the hem of his garment,
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and the Bible says virtue
or power came out from Jesus.
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But he didn't just keep walking
and let her sneak off like she
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wanted to. He stopped and
he said, Who touched me? And he
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wanted to get her attention.
He wanted to have that encounter
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with her. And I find that this
story draws out the fact that
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God does not give healing, give
power, give forgiveness, give
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overcoming victory to the
Christian that is halfhearted
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and casual and just holding
out a bucket and hoping God will
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throw something in it.
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You know that makes me think of
and I have something to add on
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that, but it makes me think of a
statement in one of my favorite
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books, Steps to Christ. There's
a chapter that deals with the
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important of our wholehearted
consecration to God and it makes
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a point that because God wants
to cleanse and transform the
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whole heart, he needs the
whole heart in order to do that.
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So I can't help but think in
these examples that the Lord, if
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he's going to change the whole
person then he has to have the
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whole person.
That's right. And it's not
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something that he is arbitrarily
requiring but something that's
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a necessity if any
change is really going to come.
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That's what happened here. It
takes me back to that very well
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known, but I think, very
important passage that we need
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to remember here in Jeremiah
29:13 where the promise is
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given there. It's during the
time of the Babylonian captivity
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but ultimately it speaks down to
our day where he says You will
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seek me and find me when
you search for me with all your
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heart. And it's all our heart
that God is asking for. Right
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here these apostles, they point
to this man and say look at me.
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They need to know that he is
expecting something and that he
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is looking longingly and
they need his heart before this
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miracle can be a reality.
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And he needs our attention. I
think that's important for us to
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remember and for our viewers
to remember today that sometimes
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in the Christian experience we
can feel like God's not hearing
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us, but there are many times
when we are holding back from
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him. We are not letting
go, we're not opening our whole
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heart to him and we know it.
Conviction is telling us, the
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Holy Spirit is telling us, give
everything over to him and we're
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saying well I'm not ready for
that yet. We're going to kind of
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play this half and half wait and
see. But we'll never experience
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that transforming and that
forgiving and redemptive power
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of Christ until we're
willing to give him all.
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Amen. Now Peter had a very
different type of interaction
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here. In fact, as you read
through the account in some ways
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there was almost a nonchalance.
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To me this is one of the most
amazing parts of the passage.
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I want to rephrase that. It's
one of the greatest rebukes to
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me when I read through this.
Because when Peter heals the
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man... Now you're looking at
this man. He's been lame from
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his mother's womb. When your
lame from the womb, I mean...
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It's one of those situations
that is a healing of a person
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who's lame from the womb is a
mighty miracle, as if it would
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not be a miracle anyway. But the
whole crowd is amazed. That's
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what it says at the end of verse
10, They were filled with wonder
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and amazement at what
had happened to the lame man.
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But then we read on. It says
in verse 11, Now as the lame man
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who was healed held onto Peter
and John. All the people ran
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together to them in the
porch which is called Solomon's
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greatly amazed. So when Peter
saw it he said I'm amazed too.
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No, he says men of Israel, why
do you marvel at this? Why do
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do you marvel or why do you look
so intently at us as though by
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our own power or godliness
we have made this man walk.
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The God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, the God of our fathers
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glorified his servant
Jesus whom you delivered up and
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denied in the presence of
Pilate. You know, you bring the
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convicting sermon. But what hits
me here is if I were to rephrase
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it Peter basically says, I
mean the crowd is amazed and
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Peter basically responds
by saying what do you expect?
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This is the power of Jesus. I
think to myself of a friend of
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mine who was doing Bible work in
an area. In fact, he and another
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guy, partner, were doing Bible
work, they were going around
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that is they were going house
to house and they were offering
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to study the Bible with people.
They came across one woman who
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had had several people
by of different persuasions,
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denominational persuasions, and
she said you know I'm studying
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with all these other people
and honestly I think I'm pretty
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booked up with studies, thanks
for coming by, etc., and they
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said well they gave her their
material and they said well we'd
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like to stop back. Well sure,
but I'm going to tell you right
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now I'm probably going to
be tied up with other studies.
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Anyway they went and they prayed
about it and asked the Lord to
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intervene. And the next week
they came back and when they
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went into this woman's home
she said all her other material
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she'd gotten rid of and she
says I'm studying with you guys.
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So they asked her what made the
difference and she said I prayed
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about it and the Lord spoke
to me and he said this is who I
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want you to study with. Anyway,
they go out to the car after
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that visit and my friend is just
like Hallelujah, praise the Lord
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I can't believe it. Did you hear
that. And he was looking at his
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friend and he said did you hear
that. And his friend looks at
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him and he says well what did
you expect. You know, we asked
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the Lord. And that's what I see
with Peter and that's where I
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say it's a rebuke to me. I
think to myself, Peter had an
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expectant faith. In other words,
he believed that the Lord was...
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What does Paul say that he who
comes to the Lord must believe
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that he is and that he is a
rewarder of those who diligently
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seek him. And that's what we
were just talking about. Peter
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believed. He was expectant and
that expectation paid off and I
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wonder to myself sometimes as
I look at my experience, am I as
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expectant as Peter was. And too
often I have to say that I need
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to say Lord increase my faith.
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Amen. Me too, me too. You
know this particular miracle is
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fascinating and it is really the
opening of the way for the early
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church in terms of miracles. We
saw in Acts 2 this supernatural
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outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
But in terms of a miracle, like
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the people were used to seeing
when Jesus walked the earth this
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is the first time where they see
something like that happen and
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you now you have to think there
was a period there when people
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began to be a little bit
discouraged because Jesus had
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gone and lame and crippled
and others who had come to the
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temple to be healed by Jesus
found nothing, no hope. And so
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here we have this new hope
that is given when the disciples
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are found to have the same
power of God that Jesus had.
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This is an incredible miracle
and furthermore it's a very
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public miracle. I noticed that
as you look through the book of
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Acts, especially in the founding
of the early church, God was
00:13:07.93\00:13:11.47
establishing the credibility
of the early church with these
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supernatural manifestations
throughout the book of Acts
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and especially here in the
beginning. This created a stir
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among the people and that's
what God was attempting to do.
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I mean right here as you stated
in verse 2 it says a certain man
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lame from his mother's womb.
That's why it says in verse 10
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that they were fill with wonder
and amazement at what happened
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to him because this was not
any ordinary miracle, this was a
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case of impossibility. This
is somebody who didn't have the
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raw materials in their body,
they had never been able to walk
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before so how would they
possibly be able to walk now.
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Here with this healing God was
getting their attention and he
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was about to have another large
harvest of souls because of this
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opening miracle. So we're going
to find out how Peter follows
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this miracle with a very
powerful address. But before we
00:14:01.12\00:14:04.76
do we have to go to a break.
So at this time we're going to
00:14:04.79\00:14:07.95
take a short break and we'll be
back to study the Book of Acts
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after a few moments.
00:14:11.14\00:14:12.51