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“Look at me. Now, Look at Him.”
In Acts 3, we see a perfect, temporal depiction of what Jesus taught is to be an eternal, church-wide reality. A lame man saw Peter and John approaching and asked them for help. John and Peter responded, “Look at us!” Their first move was to put themselves in the limelight—not an action typically encouraged by the church today.
We must ask ourselves, why would the lame man know that Peter and John, who traveled daily to this place to pray, had something to offer? The two men must have had a reputation for meeting needs. Secondly, would there be an empty place in our community if our church closed its doors? If we were not in existence? If the answer is no... it’s time to reorganize. We SHOULD be making a difference to the world around us, and we SHOULD NOT be ashamed to direct people’s attention to us. We have the words of eternal life.
The apostles’ second command to the lame man subsequently directs his attention from them to the One from which eternal life springs. Peter says, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6, NIV). Take note that Peter was confident in what he had received and what he was empowered to give. The authority he possessed was as real to him as the cell phone in your pocket right now. When Jesus commissioned the church, His marching orders included this: Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:8).
You can't give what you don't have, and you can't receive something by faith unless you believe. Peter was simply passing on what had been freely given to him through his faith. That which was purchased for and given to him was far better than anything he could build on his own.
What then was the result of this miraculous healing of the lame man in Acts? All of the people watching were amazed. When Peter saw the crowd’s astonishment, he responded, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus” (Acts 3:12-13, NASB). This was a perfect example of of Jesus’s desire for the church to be His visual representation on this planet.
"Look at us. Now, look at Him."
Peter would never have had the opportunity to exalt His savior in this way without first believing that he possessed all that Jesus paid for and then stepping out in that faith.
And this is Jesus’s desire for you as well.
In Acts 3, we see a perfect, temporal depiction of what Jesus taught is to be an eternal, church-wide reality. A lame man saw Peter and John approaching and asked them for help. John and Peter responded, “Look at us!” Their first move was to put themselves in the limelight—not an action typically encouraged by the church today.
We must ask ourselves, why would the lame man know that Peter and John, who traveled daily to this place to pray, had something to offer? The two men must have had a reputation for meeting needs. Secondly, would there be an empty place in our community if our church closed its doors? If we were not in existence? If the answer is no... it’s time to reorganize. We SHOULD be making a difference to the world around us, and we SHOULD NOT be ashamed to direct people’s attention to us. We have the words of eternal life.
The apostles’ second command to the lame man subsequently directs his attention from them to the One from which eternal life springs. Peter says, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6, NIV). Take note that Peter was confident in what he had received and what he was empowered to give. The authority he possessed was as real to him as the cell phone in your pocket right now. When Jesus commissioned the church, His marching orders included this: Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:8).
You can't give what you don't have, and you can't receive something by faith unless you believe. Peter was simply passing on what had been freely given to him through his faith. That which was purchased for and given to him was far better than anything he could build on his own.
What then was the result of this miraculous healing of the lame man in Acts? All of the people watching were amazed. When Peter saw the crowd’s astonishment, he responded, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus” (Acts 3:12-13, NASB). This was a perfect example of of Jesus’s desire for the church to be His visual representation on this planet.
"Look at us. Now, look at Him."
Peter would never have had the opportunity to exalt His savior in this way without first believing that he possessed all that Jesus paid for and then stepping out in that faith.
And this is Jesus’s desire for you as well.
Scripture
About this Plan
What Jesus bought is so much better than what we can build. What if Jesus paid for His Church to be famous, instead of living mundane, non-consequential lives? What if we've just never learned to abound? This plan unfolds Jesus's remarkable design for HIS Church based on His Word.
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