Message: In Acts 3 Peter and John were headed to the temple for the hour of prayer when they came across the lame man who always sat there begging for alms. The man reached for a hand-out and instead received a hand-up. Literally up to his feet. He was completely healed and whole. This caused quite a stirring and opened another opportunity for Peter to preach that this miracle came from the one they had killed but God had raised. He told them that they had done it out of ignorance but now needed to repent and follow Jesus. What really struck me the most out of this is that if they had just tossed the man some food or money everything would have carried on as usual. This was an every day occurrence. What was different about this was that the miracle was a life-changing one. His disability made it impossible for him to work or care for himself. There were no welfare or disability programs for this. You had to have a family taking care of you or you were doomed to die or live on the streets. It’s easy to look at this as a physical healing because it was, but it was so much deeper. Many of us are physically well but have other debilitating problems that keep us relying on other people in order to live or function. God wants to free us of our dependency so that we can live and move in freedom. This doesn’t take away the fact that this story happened in a real and physical way, but sometimes we feel we don’t relate to stories like these because our legs work and we aren’t begging on the streets. There are times I have been the lame man and there are times I have been like Peter in this story. Quite honestly there are more times I have just been the bystander. This story has provoked me to look deeper with people in my life who are emotionally hurting and struggling. Peter pulled this man to his feet when he didn’t previously have the ability. We can call people to emotional and spiritual healing also because that’s what Jesus did and he has called us to do what he did and more.
