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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 would receive. He thought he would just get a coin or two.
He expected to be the same that night that he was the day before.
But this day his life would be changed forever. Peter and John
were different. They weren’t different in what they had.

Every Christian has Christ. Not every Christian knows
it. Some don’t rely upon it. They have Christ but they don’t
depend upon the Lord. Acts 3:4, “And Peter, along with John,
fixed his gaze upon him and said, ‘Look at us!’” Peter said,
“Look at us!” What was he saying? Was he saying, “We are
the answer to your problem? Look at us. We’re important. We
have what you need. Look at us.” I know he didn’t mean that
because of Acts 3:12, “But when Peter saw this, he replied to