Acts 3:6-8,11-13b,16
[Seeing the lame man] 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... 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... 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."
What an amazing story! Peter and John healed a man who had been unable to walk since birth! If you were standing there, what do you think your response would have been? I'm going to bet it would have been like all the Israelites there who looked at Peter and John like they were some kind of super heroes. But then Peter said something amazing: "Why do you stare at us as if by our own power we have made him walk?" Peter was saying, "Look, there's nothing special about me; this man doesn't walk because of me. I'm no super man, I have a super God."
Is this not an amazing encouragement? The heroes of the faith weren't so powerful because they were so pious, they had power because they trusted in a powerful God! Peter was powerful not because he was so religious (I mean gosh, he denied Christ thrice in one day). He was filled with power because he trusted in the miraculously strong Creator of the universe. When people looked at him in awe, he pointed away saying, "It's not me; it's all Him."
Another example of this idea is found in James 5:17
"Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth."
Think about that; Elijah prayed and it didn't rain for three and a half whole years! Now James is saying that he's a man just like us? What could he possibly mean? We as humans often look up to people like Peter or Elijah and think of how mightily God worked in them and forget that the same God lives in us. We get so struck in awe when thinking about it not raining for forty two months, but we forget that the actually power that stopped up the clouds, lives in us. Elijah was a man just like us, the difference is, he trusted in a God with unbounded resources.
There's a song by Jeremy Camp that well describes this idea. It says:
The same power that rose Jesus from the grave, the same power that commands the dead to wake, lives in us... The same power that moves mountains when He speaks, the same power that can calm the raging sea, lives in us.
The same God that created the universe, the same Yahweh that parted the sea for Israel, the same Spirit that rushed in at Pentecost lives in us. Let us never underestimate His power in our lives.
[Seeing the lame man] 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... 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... 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."
What an amazing story! Peter and John healed a man who had been unable to walk since birth! If you were standing there, what do you think your response would have been? I'm going to bet it would have been like all the Israelites there who looked at Peter and John like they were some kind of super heroes. But then Peter said something amazing: "Why do you stare at us as if by our own power we have made him walk?" Peter was saying, "Look, there's nothing special about me; this man doesn't walk because of me. I'm no super man, I have a super God."
Is this not an amazing encouragement? The heroes of the faith weren't so powerful because they were so pious, they had power because they trusted in a powerful God! Peter was powerful not because he was so religious (I mean gosh, he denied Christ thrice in one day). He was filled with power because he trusted in the miraculously strong Creator of the universe. When people looked at him in awe, he pointed away saying, "It's not me; it's all Him."
Another example of this idea is found in James 5:17
"Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth."
Think about that; Elijah prayed and it didn't rain for three and a half whole years! Now James is saying that he's a man just like us? What could he possibly mean? We as humans often look up to people like Peter or Elijah and think of how mightily God worked in them and forget that the same God lives in us. We get so struck in awe when thinking about it not raining for forty two months, but we forget that the actually power that stopped up the clouds, lives in us. Elijah was a man just like us, the difference is, he trusted in a God with unbounded resources.
There's a song by Jeremy Camp that well describes this idea. It says:
The same power that rose Jesus from the grave, the same power that commands the dead to wake, lives in us... The same power that moves mountains when He speaks, the same power that can calm the raging sea, lives in us.
The same God that created the universe, the same Yahweh that parted the sea for Israel, the same Spirit that rushed in at Pentecost lives in us. Let us never underestimate His power in our lives.