What A Miracle Looks Like

Today, I want to take a look at the life of a man that was radically changed by the power of God. But most importantly I want to look at his faith and his reaction to Jesus.

As the story open up, we see that this was a man that was paralyzed. He had never known what it was to walk. What he had known was a life of dependence on others and a life of suffering. Unfortunately, during his era there were no work programs for handicapped people in the ancient Middle East. The government didn’t send him a check every month. And to add insult to injure the paralyzed man also carried the cultural stigma that went along with his condition, which was a heavy burden to carry.

Let’s look at his routine. This man’s days consisted of being carried to a place daily to beg for money so that he could help in some tangible way with his upkeep. This was a man that lived by faith. It was a Faith of the goodness in hopes that God move on the hearts of others to help him.

Our story is erected out of the book of Acts chapter 3, verses 1 through 11. And as we examine the story we see a man who was doing all he could when he was met by God. Now what we see in these eleven verses is a spectacular, miraculous story about a miracle performed through the apostles Peter and John. We see a man’s life changed by the power of God. And how many of you know that God’s still changes lives today?

As I prepared this study, I see that our story is being laid out in five points. We see the Scene, the Situation, the Solicitation, the Supernatural, and the Spectacle.

The Scene (Acts 3:1) 1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. The first thing I want us to notice here is that Peter and John are together. Some people have questioned why that is. The answer is simple. If you remember, in the gospels, Jesus sent out the disciples in pairs to do the work of the ministry. So, pairing up to do ministry was already established.

We also see back in Luke chapter 5, verse 10 that Peter and John, along with John’s brother James had a fishing business together before they were called by the Lord to become his disciples.

And they went to the temple to do ministry that day. They went at the hour of prayer, now the verb tense used here tells us that they went to the temple frequently at the hour of prayer. One thing worth noting here is that two things were going on in this span of time. First there was the hour of sacrifice, and then there was the hour of prayer. And Peter and John had several divine appointments that day. We see the

first appointment in verse 2. Which was the The Situation (Acts 3:2) because the bible says that: And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; so, their appointment was with a lame man.

Now this lame man’s situation consisted of being carried into the temple, and being laid at the beautiful gate of the temple, to seek a handout from those going in. And we know that he was not a Con artist because the bible says that the man was lame from birth. This was more than likely a birth defect that afflicted the man.

So, here is the picture. Peter and John are walking through the temple to reach the court of Israel, and they run into this lame man, at the second gate they get to. In verses 3 through 5, we will see the lame man’s request, which leads me to my third point the Solicitation.

In Acts 3:3-5 it says 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

The lame man saw Peter and John walking to the gate. As I said earlier, they were going from one court in the temple to another. He probably saw the joy on their faces. These guys were filled with the Holy Spirit, and I would imagine that this would look pretty different from the religious establishment that came in and out of the temple daily. The lame man wanted support because of his condition. He wanted support from those that could afford it, and from those that were willing to help.