Acts 3:1-10

Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It's so wonderful to have you here this morning. This is where every day you and I, we get together. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. In this year, 2022, we'll make it all the way from Acts to Philemon. So glad to have you with me this morning.
Why don't we go ahead and have a little bit of coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day and we thank you for your word. We pray now that as we read your word, that you would be our teacher, guide us and lead us, Lord, in Jesus's name. Amen. Here we go. Acts chapter three, the first 10 verses.
Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gates of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple. who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked for alms and fixing his eyes on him with John, Peter said, look at us. So he gave him them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, silver and gold, I do not have.
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 lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. and all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the beautiful gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him." Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to these words today? What is this about?
Well, Peter and John, they go to the temple. They're going to pray. And as they're going to pray, there's a lame man there, a guy who has been a longtime beggar at the doors of the temple. And as Peter and John are walking into the temple, there he is. He's sitting on the floor like he always is, asking for alms, asking for charity, asking for money of people who are walking in.
And Peter looks him dead in the eyes and he says, look at me. He says, look at us. I don't have money. Peter is a poor Galilean. He's a fisherman. This is what I do have. I give unto you. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, get up and walk. And he takes him by his right hand. I don't know which way this is showing, but it takes him by his right hand. He lifts him up and the man receives strength immediately. This lame man is healed. The lame will walk and the deaf will hear and the blind will have sight.
Just because Jesus Christ is in heaven does not mean that his ministry here on earth is finished, but his apostles go and they do wonderful things bearing witness to the great work of Jesus Christ. This is what happened in that first century and this was what was promised by Christ. that they would do these signs and even greater signs than these, that they would show the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit to the whole world. Isn't it wonderful that God used the apostles with these signs to show the power of the good news that Jesus Christ is truly the King in heaven? So what is this about? Well, Peter heals the lame man.
That's probably what I would write in the margin of my Bible. What would you underline in your Bible? In my Bible, I'm not actually going to underline the story per se, but I want to underline something else. In verse 8, In 9 it says, So he, leaping up, stood and walked, and entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praised God. That's what I just underlined in my Bible in verses 8 and 9.
I think that's what gets at the heart of this. What is the result of this healing? People are praising God. And that's what I'm going to call us to for calling. The reality is that our theology and even the miracles that were done, everything in our lives is meant to culminate in doxology and a praising of God and a worshiping of God and a giving God glory. Is that true in your life? When you thank the Lord for your food, do you bring him glory? Do you praise him? When you go to bed at night, do you thank the Lord for the day that he has given you? And do you give him glory? Do you praise him?
This is what I love about the Westminster Shorter Catechism. In the first question, when it says, what is the chief end of man? That's a fancy way of saying, what's our purpose in life? To glorify God. and to enjoy Him forever is the heart of your soul, is the purpose of your life to praise God. I hope it is. I hope that's what you do today. I hope that's what you do every day because that's what we'll do for eternity in heaven.
We'll worship, we'll praise, we'll bring glory to our great God who's done marvelous things. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much and we do praise you for you are such a good and wonderful and awesome God, healing the lame, making those who cannot walk to walk. You are the one who has taken out our hearts of stone and given us a heart of flesh. God, we pray that we would praise you that we would worship you, that we would walk in your ways and always be marveled at your wondrous deeds. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may you worship God today. May you praise Him. May your day be filled with thanksgiving and your heart filled with the peace that surpasses all understanding as you think upon Christ. And I will see you tomorrow. Bye.