Rise up and walk

Rise up and walk

Acts 3 : 1-10
We are emotional people
Emotions of the voices of our souls
If our hearts are happy
What comes out of our mouth’s?
Excited, angry, sad,
Scripture seldom describes to us the emotions which people experienced during the time of Jesus ministry walking the earth.
But because we have all experienced emotion, we can relate to the emotions of others
Example
Imagine you have never had a holiday, never been on an airplane, or even left your home town.
You’ve heard about how beautiful parts of the world are, seen photos
Someone comes and offers to take you to the place of your dreams. No cost.
How excited would you be, the closer the day gets the more excited you become.
A few days before the trip, your sponsor has an accident, you are told he dies in the accident.
Imagine how your emotions would crash. The anguish in your heart, for the sponsor
Your dreams coming to an end.
On the morning your trip , your door bell rings, answering the door
Your sponsor is standing at the door. Luggage in hand
What would happen? How would your emotions react?
Think about the emotions experienced in the time of Jesus
The excitement in Israel, the Hope, the expectation
Everywhere Jesus went
People were being touched by his love, healed, delivered. Dead people were living.
Then one day, tragedy
He is crucified
Imagine the shock, the pain, the disappointment the darkness over the whole land.
Then Jesus is resurrected.
How would the people have responded to that?
He ascends to heaven
He leaves a people behind who are now motivated, excited, expectant
Actually believing him
40 days after Jesus ascension the Holy Spirit poured out
Peters sermon 3000
The change is remarkable
The people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as King
Are the same ones who a week later
Shouted crucify him
Are now serving each other. Loving one another.
Selling properties, helping one another
Meeting daily in the temple
Breaking bread in homes together.
Praising God.
Imagine all of this excitement.
Whilst Jesus had been on the earth
He and his family and disciples
Had been to the temple in Jerusalem many times
Jesus first visit inside the Temple was when he was a baby
Later when 12 years old
Mostly as an adult
So the Temple was a place where Jesus had visited many, many times.
Acts 3 Beggar
Another man had also visited the Temple many times
Every day, for 40 years he had been at the Temple
Yet he had never been inside,
Every day, he was carried to the gate beautiful,
He was carried because he was lame (Crippled)
He was also a beggar
Have you ever thought about how many times he must have encountered Jesus going into the Temple
How many times had Jesus walked passed him?
Jesus had healed many in Jerusalem, performed miracles, chased people out of the temple,
This lame, crippled beggar had heard and seen many of these things.
He must have heard of Jesus resurrection
Peters sermon,
Seen all the things going on around him.
Seen and watched how emotions were high and low,
Why was he not healed, why could he not walk, experience everything everyone else was experiencing?
Why did Jesus not heal him, even pay any attention to him?
No reason for his condition to continue
Jesus had healed the lame, deaf, raised the dead.
So healing was available to him
Yet he did not experience healing.
The problem with this man
He was not just lame or crippled in his legs
He was lame, crippled in his thinking
He had always been lame
His circumstances had turned him into a beggar
His whole life revolved around begging,
Begging for money. Silver and Gold.
I’m sure he must have begged for money, when Jesus passed by.
In this ever increasingly glorious time
Everyone else around him was enjoying life, selling possessions, loving, caring, sharing. Rejoicing, worshipping,
He was still begging, until he encountered Peter, That day
Even though he begged Peter for alms
Peter spoke to him
Said, Look on us
Not look at us
Peter was saying. look at what we are experiencing, about to go into the Temple for worship.
Look at what you are missing,
Once upon a time, just a short while ago.
All of us were beggars just like you
life for us was also about Silver and Gold
Now everyone is giving away the Silver and Gold, except you.
Perhaps none of those people had experienced physical lameness or crippled as he was.
But life had made all of them crippled in some way.
When the lame man realized this
Peter, John everyone, rich poor, sick, healthy had been just like him.
The Faith of God in him arose,
Peter took him by the right hand
The hand of authority
And helped him up.
Spoke to him in the name of Jesus
He was healed
From that moment, for the first time in his life he was able to go into the temple
Into the presence of God, together with all the other people who had been as lame.
Application
Just like Peter John, the lame man, all those in Jerusalem
Most of us have been or are lame, crippled
Believe that silver and Gold is the solution to our lameness
Our lameness, being crippled turns us into beggars
Even some believers are living like beggars
Because of being crippled
Watching others enjoy the blessing of God
Sitting outside the temple, looking at others passing by.
As many of us know
Life on this planet is difficult
Its Harsh, painful, crushing many times.
As a result, we have become lame (crippled ) in our thinking, emotions, and understanding
Harsh words, Harsh circumstances, Harsh conditions turned us into beggars.
We falsely, unconsciously, ignorantly
Believe that Silver and Gold will solve our problems.
Once the words of Peter became revelation to the beggar, healing which had been available all the time was received by him.
Peter taking the lame beggar by the hand helped him out of his lameness
His ankles strengthened and he went into the Temple
Walking, leaping and praising God.
Question ?
Perhaps you are lame in some way.
We have no idea of this mans wealth, or poverty
But if he had been sitting in that same spot for 40 years I can well imagine it was because he was receiving
No beggar is going to stay sitting in a place which doesn’t give him what he is asking for.
Perhaps you might have stored up silver and gold, wealth for yourself
But you actually might still be a beggar
Believing that silver and gold are the solutions to your life’s pain and problems.
The man in our picture
His name
Nick Vujicic
He is lame crippled, Physically,
No Arms, No legs
Yet living in abundance
He is a mighty man of God, international speaker and evangelist
He was not only crippled In his body. He too was lame (crippled in his thinking)
Until he encountered Jesus.
I was a lame, crippled beggar sitting on the outside of the Temple
Believing that
Money, power, position were the solutions to my life struggles
Until I had this revelation
I heard the word of Jesus, Rise up and walk.
My life has been the most exhilarating experience ever since then.
My desire is that you would look upon Peter and John tonight
Look upon those experiencing the full blessing tonight
Examine yourself
See the lameness which has turned you into a beggar
Until we have had the revelation
No matter how much silver and Gold we have
We will remain lame beggars
Sitting outside of all that is available to those on the inside
Even using Jesus to achieve our aim of satisfying our deep rooted selfish desires which are a result of the lameness this life
Gods word comes to you tonight
I invite you into the fullness of God
Look upon me
In the name of Jesus
Rise and be healed.