God is in the business of transforming lives. As I look back on the five churches I served, several stories stand out.
The first two people who came to the Lord through my ministry both grew in faith. One became the lead singer of a gospel group, and the other became a key leader in his local church.
In my second church, a racist and bigoted man found Jesus. His life changed, and his racism greatly decreased.
In my third church, the town’s tough guy met Jesus as his Savior.
In the fourth church I served, a man was close to death. As I was leaving town to move to another church, I stopped to talk with him. I said, “I only have a few minutes before I have to go. Are you ready to meet Jesus?” He said he was, and he did.
In my last church, I saw numerous people from difficult backgrounds meet Jesus and discover that He is real and alive.
Yes, when we step into faith, we also step into the wholeness God has for us.
Running, Jumping, and Praising God
Acts 3 tells of Peter and John going to the temple, where they met a man who had been unable to walk for 40 years. He looked at them, hoping to receive alms, but they gave him something far greater.
Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God (Acts 3:6-8).
I had hip replacement surgery three months ago. If someone asked me to run or jump today, I would politely say, “No, thank you.”
What is amazing about this man is that he had never walked in his life. Yet, through the power of God, he was able to jump, run, and praise God. Muscles that had weakened from years of not being used were suddenly strengthened by God’s power. No wonder the whole crowd was amazed by what happened.
I have not seen healing miracles like the one described in Acts 3. However, I have seen people who were spiritually dead come to life. I have seen people far from God, with broken lives, meet Jesus and find spiritual and emotional healing, much like the man who could walk, leap, and praise God.
I am sure you know people like this too. This is a good time for us to pause and thank God for His transforming power through love, grace, and the Holy Spirit.
Not Me, but Jesus
The great British preacher Charles Spurgeon once said that a preacher is like an arrow. He needs to be straight and have good feathers. But that is all the credit the preacher receives, because God is the one who shoots the arrow and aims it well. Peter understood this principle long before Spurgeon ever said it.
When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “Fellow Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” (Acts 3:12).
Spurgeon once took a visitor to the basement of his church and said, “I want to show you the furnace room.” Why would a visitor want to see a furnace room?
It was not really a furnace room. It was 500 people praying and asking God for strength and power as Spurgeon preached.
Spurgeon understood this truth: the only power any minister has, whether speaking one-on-one or to thousands, comes through the Holy Spirit.
The Heart of the Message
Every salvation experience has two parts. One is God’s part. He works in us and graciously draws us to Christ. The other is human responsibility. We must accept what God has done.
When Peter spoke to the crowd, he stressed human responsibility. He said, “You failed to do your part.”
“But you rejected the holy and righteous one and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses” (Acts 3:14-15).
Peter then explained the foundation of every salvation experience and every healing. It is not human effort, but God’s power working through willing people.
“And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you” (Acts 3:16).
The difference between faith and human autonomy is significant. Faith says, “I trust God to work in my life.” Human autonomy may say, “I believe in God,” but live like a practical atheist, believing we must solve our own problems.
The path to spiritual, physical, and emotional safety is to put our faith in God and trust Him to work in our lives.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed Acts 3:1-16 on YouTube today.
