The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Friends, come to the Master's table. You'll have abundance. You'll have joy. You'll have peace. You'll have love. You'll have hope. You'll have heaven. You have Jesus in this life. Friend, Jesus is alive.

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Healing Word. Today, we're going to go to the first three chapters of the book of Acts, which chronicles the formation of the early church and the rapid spread of Christianity following Pentecost.

In his message, "Crippled but Healed," Pastor Morris is going to focus on Peter and John and the healing miracle of a man crippled since birth.

Pastor Jack Morris: The book of Acts is the very first chapter of church history. Everything in the book of Acts happened after the death and resurrection of Jesus, immediately after his death and resurrection, the first 30 years after his death and resurrection.

The man who wrote the book is Luke. His name is Luke, the very one who wrote the Gospel of Luke. You know, there's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Well, Luke wrote Luke, and then he wrote the book of Acts. He was a doctor, a physician, an MD, and when you read the Gospel of Luke or read the book of Acts, often he'll refer to the physical body and bodily parts. He was a follower of Jesus and a great apostle.

Not only is this the first book of church history that tells us about Christianity and how it began to spread, people began to receive Christ, and physical bodies were healed, and thousands upon thousands were turning to Jesus. It was the start of the Christian church. And this is also the very first physical healing that was done by the apostles.

Jesus said, "The works that I do shall you do also, and greater works than these shall you do." Friend, listen to me. Have you ever thought about that and where you fit into that statement that Jesus made? "The works that I do shall you do also." What are you doing? What am I doing? How am I fitting into that? What does that really mean to me today?

Well, you know what happened? Last Monday, a week ago tomorrow, Fran and I were doing our morning devotions and sometimes I'll read the scripture, sometimes she'll read. And she was reading Acts chapter three. And I was sitting there listening as she was reading, and the Holy Spirit witnessed to my heart just like that, "You're to preach on that next Sunday." I don't know that that's ever happened in one of our morning devotions.

So all I can say is I'm going to do what I can by the help of the Holy Spirit. There's somebody here today that needs this. Somebody's going to be greatly blessed and greatly helped. This is the witness of the spirit within me telling me exactly, and it came right out of our Monday morning devotions. So I had all week to look at it, to pray about it, to work on it, and to put it together.

Now the principals in this first miracle are Peter, John, and a cripple. Now, Peter and John were together in many ministries in the New Testament. Their names are linked together often. They were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. They were with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And you remember the story how Jesus arose from the dead? Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. Jesus appeared to her and then told her to go tell his disciples. She went and told the disciples, and it was Peter and John who ran to the tomb. Peter, being older, couldn't keep up with John. And John got there first. John stooped and looked in. Peter caught up with him, and Peter went right into the tomb and began to examine the grave clothes of Jesus.

We love everybody, but you know there's sometimes we have some particular friends that we just feel close to. And Peter and John were together, perhaps in business long before they accepted Jesus as their Savior. Because the scripture says Jesus went by the seashore and he spoke to the sons of Zebedee, James and John, and said, "Follow me." He went a little further and he spoke to Peter and Andrew and said, "Follow me." So Peter and John were buddies long before Jesus came into their lives. And when they received Christ as their Savior, they became even closer and more bonded together.

Now the place was the temple. The scripture says one day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three o'clock in the afternoon. The temple. Jesus loved the house of God. Now I know that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, but there is something also about the building, the church building, and God loves the church building as well. Not "as well," but he does love it. When I see a piece of paper around somewhere, I pick it up and I know you do too. We love the house of God, this piece of property that is dedicated to him for worship.

Two times Jesus went into the temple and cleansed it: at the beginning of his ministry and at the conclusion of his ministry. And he said that the people in the temple had made it a den of thieves. And we have to watch out because a lot of things can crowd in on a church and a building that is dedicated to the teaching of the Word of God and to worship can be used for a lot of other things. So we need to be careful. This building belongs to the Lord. You belong to the Lord. Amen! The building belongs to the Lord. It all belongs to Jesus.

They were going to the temple, and there was a particular gate that was referred to and it's called the Beautiful Gate. Now, there are many gates into this big temple that Herod built. This is the second temple that Herod built. He built it right on the site where Solomon built his temple. And this particular gate was the great entrance. The gate stood 75 feet high and there were two gates that would swing out. The gates were made of Corinthian bronze and then overlaid with gold and silver. And when the sun would come up in the morning and hit that gate, there was a reflection of glory that just covered the whole area. It was just absolutely magnificent to look upon.

Well, it was through that gate that Peter and John were going into the temple and there was a beggar there, a crippled man who had been crippled all his life long. The very next chapter of Acts tells us that this man had been crippled from birth and that he was 40 years old. Now think about it for just a moment. The magnificent miracle: his limbs had never walked. His limbs obviously had shriveled up and in atrophy, which makes this miracle even more significant than ever before. You know when God does something, he does it in a big way. He's a great God. He does great and wonderful things.

So this man was laid at the gate. It was the hour of prayer, three o'clock in the afternoon. Now all devout Jews worshipped and prayed at nine o'clock in the morning, twelve o'clock at noon, and three o'clock in the afternoon. It was three o'clock in the afternoon that the Jews offered their evening sacrifice. It was three o'clock in the afternoon that Jesus hung on the cross, who is the true Lamb of God, the true sacrifice of God, and he cried out. It was three o'clock in the afternoon that Peter and John were going up to the temple. It's interesting how after the church began, Jews continued the same similar practices that they had been following before.

And so here Peter and John continued on. They would worship on Saturday, their Sabbath, but they would also worship on Sunday, the day that Jesus arose from the dead. And every time Jesus made his appearance after his resurrection, it was always on the first day of the week, Sunday. So after a while they stopped worshipping there on Saturday and they moved it all then to Sundays and that's why we are worshipping today because this is the day the Lord arose. The first day of the week, the first day of the week ought to be so important to every Christian. They ought to be where God's people are worshipping the Lord because every Sunday, well, every day should be Easter, Resurrection Day to the child of God.

So here it is, three o'clock in the afternoon. Jesus had been on the cross. The disciples were remembering. They were going to the temple and the occasion was the time of prayer. Then something marvelous happened. Friend, I want to tell you something today. I'm so concerned. I've been a pastor for so many years, but I think coming to church sometimes has become just maybe old hat, you know. We don't expect something marvelous to happen when we come to the house of God. But I am truly expecting something marvelous to happen today to somebody in this church. Somebody's going to receive something marvelous from the Lord.

Peter and John were going up there. Here's this crippled man only expecting to get some money, just an ordinary beggar at the temple. Now look at verse two: "Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the gate called Beautiful where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple." And he looked up and he saw two men coming, Peter and John.

I'm told that beggars are really brilliant people. They're really smart. I'm not saying if you want to be smart, you need to be a beggar, but they can study a person's face. They can study a person's countenance and they can just about predict who's going to put something in their cup and who's not. And they will focus on certain people; other people, they'll just let them go on by. But there was something on the countenance apparently of Peter and John that this man was expecting to receive something from because he read their face.

This beggar at the gate was reading Peter and John's face and he saw an opportunity. And then look what happened. Peter looked straight at him as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Now when Peter said "Look at us," the man had already been looking at them. That's why he asked for something. He read their face. But a beggar, he knew he had them or he felt that he did, he's pretty sure that he did, but then he starts casing the people coming after him. "I need more money than what they're going to give me." And when Peter—when he looked at the other people, Peter called his attention, "Hey, get your attention back here. Look at us! Not them, but look at us!"

And the scripture said, so the man gave his attention, expecting to get something from them. And oh, my, did he ever get something from him! Not what he expected, but more than he ever in this world. I mean, a man forty years with limbs atrophied, never playing with other boys and girls, never able to walk and run and play ball or whatever they did back then in sports. He never stood upright, erect anytime in all of his life. You know, friend, when God does a miracle, he does a miracle.

Did you ever look for something, hope for something, and get something more than you expected? Did you ever pray to God and got something more than what you expected, what you were asking for? You know when God gives, he gives in abundance, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, does God give. In Ephesians chapter three, verse 20 said, God is able to do much more, abundantly, exceedingly more than anything that we can ask or think.

Do you believe that? Then why aren't we asking and thinking? We're not getting this superabundance simply because we're not accepting, expecting, and we're not asking and we're not thinking. Come on, let's use our imagination and say I serve a big God, an almighty God. He is a great God, having all power in heaven and in earth. I mean, begin to talk to him like that and believe like that and you're going to get a miracle, something that maybe you didn't even imagine or possibly think that you were going to get. Wow, did this man get something!

Now we need to be a giving people. We need to give to the poor, we need to give to one another. There's opportunities all about us. And Peter said, "Such as I have, give I unto thee." These men had Jesus and they spoke the name of Jesus. Now the man was expecting something else, but he got something of great value, much more value.

When Peter said "Look on us," no doubt I'm thinking the man must have reached out his hand, thinking he was going to get something. Well, with that hand being reached out, Peter reached out and took that hand. He didn't put any money in it, but he put the name of Jesus in it. And the name of Jesus went to the heart of that beggar and he said, "Rise up, walk." And that man, never walked in his life, with atrophied limbs, jumped to his feet and he walked and he jumped, he shouted. Who wouldn't?

And he went into the temple enthused and happy and excited about Jesus. You know, that's how I want to come to church. That's how I want to be in church. I want to be excited about Jesus, excited about the words that I'm singing out of the hymnal or the praise chorus, excited about the word that is coming from the service and from the sermon, excited about Jesus. And he walked into the temple glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now when he said, when Peter said "In the name of Jesus," when we use the name Jesus, it's not a formula that we tack on to the end of a prayer. Most of us pray and we get to the end, we let ourselves know and we let everyone else know that I'm ending this prayer. And then we say "In the name of Jesus." That is it, you know. Now we say the "Amen" and it's over. So I mean it just sort of comes out automatically. But when Peter said "In the name of Jesus," he meant in the name of the one that was born of the virgin, in the name of the miracles that he performed, in the name of him who died and rose again. When you speak the name Jesus, you speak of all that he ever did. You mention a person's name and everything comes back to you. You mention a person's name and you'll say, "Oh, stay away from that person," you know. Or you mention a person, "Oh, he's a great person, she's a great person." The name of the person.

You see, Peter and John had been to the empty tomb. Now think about it this morning. They'd been to the empty tomb. They saw that he wasn't there. They saw the grave clothes. Peter and John had experienced Jesus in the upper room, the resurrected Christ several times. The awe of his presence was upon them. Peter and John had just been to the upper room on the Day of Pentecost. They had heard the mighty rushing wind. The mighty rushing wind was nothing other than the very breath of God that breathed this word. That's why I hold it in my heart and I pray with you. God is breathing! God is breathing! But is he breathing on you? Is he breathing on me?

The breath of God had entered into them. The tongues of fire came upon them. They began to speak the word of God with boldness in languages that they'd never learned to all of the people, and the people all about them heard of the goodness of the Lord. These men were in a holy atmosphere. They were in the presence of Jesus. Jesus was right there with them and when they said "In the name of Jesus," in the name of the one who is standing with me, in the name of the one who is in my heart, in the name of the one that I love and serve, get up and walk! And the man arose!

Prayers prayed that way move mountains! In the name of Jesus, don't just use it as a formula. Friend, Jesus is alive! Can you say that? Jesus is alive! Jesus answers prayer, say it! Jesus answers prayer! Jesus performs miracles, say it! Jesus performs miracles!

This is our day. This is the day the Lord has made. You see, Easter is not just a one-day-on-the-calendar event, but Easter resurrection is an experience that Peter and John were living in daily. They didn't have to say, "Well, sir, you wait here while I go to a prayer meeting and get my heart right with God until I read some scripture." No, they were ready! They were ready! They were minute-men for Jesus. Jesus was with them and Jesus raised that man from the dead.

Now friend, you have that same Jesus. Oh my God, I've got to say it again. You have that same Jesus! You can have that resurrection experience. You can have the tongues of fire. You can have the mighty rushing wind. You can have it! It is there for you. Receive the Lord! Today is the day the Lord has made for you and me to go out there and to give and for others to receive.

There shouldn't be an empty seat, an empty pew in this place today. If the church were truly the church of Jesus Christ, you would be saying and I would be saying, "Such as I have, I'm going to give to my neighbor, to my husband, to my wife, to my children, to my aunts, to my uncles. I'm going to pray, pray, pray daily. I'm going to call their name every day before the throne of grace, nine o'clock, twelve o'clock, three o'clock. I'm not going to give up until they are part of the kingdom of God."

Friend, you pray that way and your family will be saved and they will come into the kingdom of God. Such as I have. You may not have a lot of earthly material things, but you may. Give what you have, but give the best gift of all: the name of Jesus. And see people who are dead in trespasses and sin, see those people standing up and walking into the house of God and sitting with you, singing and worshipping and praising God because God has used you just like he used Peter and John on that morning.

Now, let's bring it home. There was a cripple. You know, there are people today who are crippled in their mind. Things have happened in their life. They're crippled in their thinking. They're just not thinking right. They think they can have a better time serving the world. Their thinking is crippled. They think that the best thing to do is to make money. They think the best thing to do is to do whatever their imagination and carnal thoughts invite them to do.

There are people who are crippled. But you know, some of those people aren't far from the kingdom of God. Some of those people are near the temple, but they're still on the outside of the temple. They're still—they might be wealthy in the things of this life, but they're still beggars. They're still eating the crumbs that the devil puts out to them and they're thinking that that's the life that they need. That's the life that they want. That's the life that's going to satisfy.

Friends, it's crumbs. Come to the Master's table. You'll have abundance. You'll have joy. You'll have peace. You'll have love. You'll have hope. You'll have heaven. You have Jesus in this life. People who are living just outside the experience of heaven, on the very doorstep of heaven, on the very doorstep of salvation. They're almost in, but they're not in. You and I have got to get them in.

God's not going to send an angel to your family members. He's sending you. You! You're the one that has the spirit of God. You're the one that has the word of God. You're the one who knows how to pray. Let's be that angel, that messenger and take the word of God to them that they too might come into the temple of the Lord.

Now I've got to stop. But next week, I'm going to go to chapter four. Next Sunday is Communion Sunday, and the Lord willing, we're going to see this cripple holding on to Peter and John, going into the temple. Now, I don't know why he was holding on. Maybe he was holding on because he didn't know how to really walk. He'd never walked before. Maybe he was holding on because he didn't want to let them go. I mean, these people that you win and bring into the kingdom of God will so love you, so hold on to you, so learn how to serve Jesus through you.

This is the day the Lord has made. And he made you to be an instrument in his hand.

Guest (Male): God's healing love is available to all who will receive it, and he's waiting to hear from you right now, wherever you happen to be. Take your hurts, concerns, and anxieties to him in prayer and watch the healing power of Almighty God manifest itself just as it did for the crippled man in Acts chapter three. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.