Page 81 - Back to Bethlehem 2-5-19

Christ the Nazarene – walk!’ And seizing him by the right
hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles
were strengthened. And with a leap, he stood upright and began
to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and
leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking
and praising God...”

This is the wonderful miracle with John and Peter at the
beautiful gate but they got into a lot of trouble for that story. I
want to read part of the prayer at the end of the story in Acts
4:29-31, “’And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant
that Thy bond-servants may speak Thy word with all
confidence, while Thou dost extend Thy hand to heal, and signs
and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy servant
Jesus.’ And when they had prayed, the place where they had
gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the
Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with
boldness.”

I want to take that scripture and put it in my own words. It’s
easy to picture in your mind because this man was lame from
the time he was born. It appears that a courtesy was taken and
somebody helped this man in front of the temple. We know
from Acts 4:22 that he was more than forty years old. Year
after year picture him sitting there begging for alms for money.
That’s all he got every day. Up until this point, all he had ever
received had never helped him. He was crying out for
something that kept him in the same condition. It did not cure
him. That’s a tragedy; a man full of sympathy and is born
crippled and he sits in front of the church as God’s people are
walking by.

It’s very sad if all we have to offer is something that keeps you
like you were before you heard. Thank God that one day God
interrupted that picture! That lame man expected to be lame
that night, as he was all his yesterdays. Everybody was filing
by and then Peter and John filed by. Verse 5 said that he looked
up expecting to receive something. He had no idea what he