Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: The word enthusiasm is a godly word. Entheos is where enthusiasm comes from, which means "in God." And if you're in Christ, praise is a natural and necessary response to someone who's been blessed like us.

The abundant grace that healed a cripple is the same grace available to save souls. You were saved from your crippled, sinful condition headed for hell and destruction. And guess what? Christ saved you from that. You and I have reason to be walking and leaping and praising God. Praising God is part of the deal.

Guest (Male): After years of helplessness, the healing of a man lame from birth immediately stood, walked, leaped, and praised God in the temple. But it's more than just the response of the beggar from Acts chapter three that Pastor Brett Meador says we can learn from of the transforming power of the grace of God. In today's word, we'll see the ultimate redemption offered to us all.

Brett Meador: Acts chapter three, verse one. It says, "Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. 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 of them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.

And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, 'Look on us.' And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, 'Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.' And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."

There's some things about this story that are worth noting and I think perhaps we can glean from this story so many things. I'd like to just point out a few of them. First, I want to point out a sad contrast. The contrast here is interesting. We have a crippled beggar who, apart from God's help, is really hopeless, has no hope apart from God.

I want you to keep in the back of your mind as we study this that in a lot of these stories, we have to remember that you and I are the crippled beggar in the story. We've been crippled with sin. We've been doomed and hopeless, but when Jesus comes along, then we realize we have hope in Christ and that's where our only hope will be found. We have heaven to look forward to and healing from our sins.

So you can in some ways kind of keep that tucked away. We're the crippled guy. We're going to see this. But here's something you should know. A crippled guy was not allowed to go to the Temple Mount in those days. And it's by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth he's healed and he gets to go into the temple.

We have the contrast of this religion, the Temple Mount and Jews doing this pious worshiping of God. Meanwhile, there's this poor crippled man outside that has no hope and no help. Jesus is all about fixing that. You're the crippled one in sin. You've been crippled by sin and so have I. But good news, when Peter says by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk, that same healing is available to you today. I love that. The sad contrast is when religion is the wall that keeps people away from Christ.

Now, we also notice in the story, number two on our observations here, we see a sinner seeking. This guy doesn't need just to be healed from his crippled situation. He needs to be saved like everybody else on the planet. But what is this guy seeking? Well, he's seeking one thing, but he really needs another thing.

This is something we see all the time. Remember the crippled guy that was lowered through the roof with Jesus, and they wanted to see him healed from his crippled condition? Jesus said, "Son, your sins are forgiven." And everybody is like, "What? That's not really what we came here for." But Jesus knew that was his greatest need.

To prove that he was able to forgive sins, he healed the guy from his crippled situation. The same thing is really true of this guy. He's a sinner who's seeking and what he's seeking is alms. He's seeking after money. He wants money.

But sometimes what you need to give people is not what they really want. And that leads us to the next point of observation. I love the sensitive saints. Peter and John seem like they're going with great resolve to pray in the temple, and yet they have a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. I call it a Holy Spirit antenna. We have them sensitive to this guy's need.

Not only that, they're sensitive enough to hear that you shouldn't just throw money at him. Don't just flip him a coin and walk in and do your prayer. But actually turn and fasten your eyes. I like the intentional looking into the eyes of this guy and getting his attention and not letting him go. He is going "Alms, alms, alms," with a head on a swivel. Peter says, "Look at me."

And he expects to get something from him, but what he gets is not money. He gets what he needs. And that is Jesus. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means as a Christian having your spiritual antenna up and dialed in when the Lord prompts you to do something. Sometimes you have to just say, "This is not on my schedule today," but sometimes the worst distractions are actually divine appointments and you have to be ready for those.

So they fastened their eyes on him and said—now what they said was great. "Silver and gold have I none." Question: did Peter and John have any silver and gold at that time? What happened in chapter two? The people sold all their possessions and gave all their money and put it at the apostles' feet. We're going to see that more in the book of Acts. They had everything in common and they took care of each other that way.

Well, is Peter lying? No, I don't think he's lying. I think what he would say, maybe he didn't have any money on him, that could be true. But in a sense you might sense silver and gold have I none for you. That's kind of what I think happened. Peter could have mustered up some money with the church, the 3,000 saints, and said, "Hey, we got this crippled guy who needs some money." I'm pretty sure Peter could have got some money for this guy.

If you look at the context of the story, it seems like Peter had access to that. But the idea is silver and gold have I none because that's not what you need. "But such as I have give I to thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." Which is much better than silver and gold, by the way.

This is something you have to be careful of when you're seeing someone who's in need. Don't just throw money at that. You can, and that can be a part of the deal. But could it be just food or prayer? Could it be prayer for healing? Could it be someone hearing the gospel and being saved? We have to remember that it's not all about the money.

I am concerned that with some churches and whole denominations, it's all about the money and we've lost our effectiveness. We'll throw money at something when really we should be saying, "No, this is more of a spiritual thing. This person needs to be saved or healed or touched by God." There's an old story told of one of the early saints of the church in Rome who walked in on the Pope as he was counting money.

Realizing that he walked in on something which was private, he started to turn around and walk out. And the Pope said to him, "Ha! No longer can the church say silver and gold have I none." As the saintly man continued to walk out, he said, "Neither can the church say to the impotent man, rise up and walk."

That's an indictment. I hope the church is not all about that. There's a thing out there where people are bashing churches for building a building or putting a parking lot in. I think that that can be a useful thing. A church building is very useful. So these people who are saying, "I can't believe they spent money on a church building"—gathering together as the church is something the Bible tells us to do.

In those days, they were able to use the temple or borrowed buildings and they also met from house to house. But as centuries went by, the church became persecuted. They started building their own church buildings so they could gather and meet, and there's nothing wrong with that.

But I do think if that's all we're about, we can be off course. Some churches are all about that. Of course, there are abuses with money. But I do think it's important for us to say the church is a place where we give of our tithe and offering. That's what I believe is the storehouse.

But more importantly, we need to be caring for the poor and giving to the poor, not just saying silver and gold have I none and so I'm not going to give you any money. That's an important thing. Anyway, using resources wisely, whether it's giving money or not, but being sensitive. That's what I love about Peter. He was sensitive to this particular person's problem.

Now, I also love that Peter was clear in saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." He didn't say, "I command thee, demon of crippledness," or whatever. Have you ever noticed that some of these guys like to get the credit for what they're doing, even though it's not them? It's the Holy Spirit moving through him and in him. I like how Peter says, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." That's where the real power is. The power was not in Pontiff Peter. I say that jokingly for those of you who are concerned. The power was not in John. The power was in the Holy Spirit by the name of Jesus Christ.

This is important. The reason I want to remind you of this is we're starting to see what Jesus was talking about. This is the first hint of something that's important. Do you remember when Jesus said, "Peter, John, guys, it's good that I'm leaving you." Remember John 16:7? "Expedient" is the word the King James uses. It's really good that I'm leaving you. Why? Does anybody remember why it is good he's leaving? For the comforter, the Holy Spirit's going to come. I'm sure the disciples were like, "Great, I guess that's okay, but we don't want you leaving us." Jesus said, "No, it's good that I'm going to leave you because I'm going to send my comforter, the Holy Spirit."

Then Jesus said something that people misinterpret all the time. I've heard bad teachings on this one. But in John 14, let me show you this verse. In John 14:12, Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to my Father."

Now, I've heard sermons how you can be greater than Jesus. If you hear that sermon, you better just turn it off and say, "Wacko. Totally wacko." You and I will never be greater than Jesus. Well, then what's this saying? If you look at the original language, it's a little easier, but it's not greater in like you're going to be greater than Jesus. It's greater not in power, but greater in volume. That's what he's talking about. Greater in number.

There are going to be greater works. Jesus limited himself purposely to be one man. He was God in the flesh, but he was limited. He didn't go to multiple places at one time and start multiplying himself and doing miracle upon miracle everywhere all over the world. He said, "No, I'm going to leave that to you, the church. It's going to be greater in the sense that I'm going to have my power that I have by God's power, the Holy Spirit. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and you guys are going to do the same things that I was doing, only greater in number and you'll be more effective because of the number of people healed."

Here is where now we see Peter performing a miracle just like Jesus. This is a Jesus-level miracle. It's like the guy who was lowered into the house and suddenly he takes up his bed and walks. Same thing. Now we have Peter doing that, and we're going to see the apostles and Paul the apostle. He's going to be Mr. Miracle. People are going to touch his garments and be healed, just like Jesus. So it's not that Peter was greater than Jesus. You can't say that. We are going to do more numerous miracles because the church is going to be filled with the spirit.

Now, you say, "Brett, that's great. So the Holy Spirit can fill me and work through me?" The answer is absolutely yes. How do you get the Holy Spirit? We're going to go through this in the book of Acts even more, but I'll just give you the main gist. Speaking of parents, Jesus says, "If you then, you parents, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

How do you get the Holy Spirit? By asking. James says you have not because you ask not. When was the last time you said, "Lord, would you just fill me afresh with your Holy Spirit that I can move in a way like Peter and John? When I'm going to work, Lord, would your spirit be upon me so I can be sensitive to the situation around me and know people that need to be loved on and cared for, prayed for, the gospel to be shared." Be sensitive to the spirit. How do you get that? You get that by simply asking. Lord, would you help me do this?

I love the supernatural part of this story that we have here, but did you notice there's a part of it that's more supernaturally natural? And this is a part I want to show you before we get to my final point. Did you notice that Peter reaches out? It says here in verse seven, "And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up; and immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength."

It seems like a lot of times with miracles in the Bible, there needs to be a natural movement before the supernatural movement. It reminds me of when the priests had to cross the Jordan River, but it was flooded. The Lord told the priests you need to go start walking into the water, carrying the ark of the covenant of all things.

They went to their ankles and then they went to their knees and then they went deeper and deeper like, is this going to work? But they had to naturally start wading into the river and eventually when it got deep enough, finally the river parted and they were able to walk on dry land. Sometimes you have to do the natural thing first, a little movement.

Remember the guy that had the withered hand in Capernaum and Jesus said, "Stretch forth your hand." The guy could have said, "Are you kidding? That's the whole point. I can't stretch forth—I have a withered hand. Hello?" He could have said that. But before his supernatural thing would happen, he had to naturally attempt to say, "Okay, I'm going to do something I can't do. I'm going to stretch forth my hand."

In the same way, you see that in miracles a lot of times. Sometimes there needs to be a little bit of a natural movement like Peter reaching down with his right hand and pulling this guy up. Before he even knew, are his ankles okay for this? Are they healed yet? Sometimes we need to help on a natural level.

What does that look like? I remember my dad and a few of his friends, they had a buddy at church who was a raging alcoholic and he'd lost his job and lost his family. He was about to lose his life. He was at that point of pretty much going to die. My dad and a few other buddies said, "If it kills us, we're going to get this guy sober."

One of the guys had a cabin and they put this guy in a cabin and then my dad and his buddies rotated watching this guy. They prayed for the power of the spirit. They prayed that the Lord would heal him of his alcoholism, but they practically helped him naturally to say, "We're going to be there and we're going to stand with you."

If you would, it's like all those guys with their right hand pulling this guy out of that hole. Eventually, the Lord was able to do the miracle part where the guy no longer drinks alcohol, is no longer messed up, and his life is restored. Sometimes the Lord will require a little bit of work on your part, the right hand pulling up part, as well as the supernatural.

Anyway, a lot of stuff in this story. But this is the fun part, the last one. Notice this. If you've been following with us, we have the sad contrast, the sinner seeking, the sensitive saints. I love all of these attributes. But finally, notice the sweet praise at the end. How does he praise God? I think it's great. It's a threefold thing. Verse eight: walking, leaping, and praising God.

First of all, walking. In the Bible, having a walk with the Lord is a common thread throughout the whole Bible. Who is the most famous guy in the Bible who was known to walk with God? Enoch. There's not much in the Bible about Enoch. We don't know much about him at all. There are only a few verses given him, but he's one of the greats in the Bible because there's no record of sin that he did. It just says in Genesis chapter five, "Enoch walked with God." That's it. In the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 11, it says, "Enoch walked with God and pleased God." That's it. He walked with God and pleased God.

But if I got my name in the Bible, I think I'd want it like that. I wouldn't want it like David. David got his name in the Bible and David committed adultery and murdered a guy and was kind of a weirdo sometimes and did stupid stuff. He did some nice things too. But Enoch goes down as the dude that walked with God.

What does walk imply? Steady progress. Just a steady walk. Not a sprint where you get tired out and you stop and sit down and give up. But just a walk, steady progress. How we need Christians who are walking with God. Having a walk with Christ is what you need. Are you walking with the Lord, reading your Word daily, praying daily? Are you fellowshipping with other Christians, walking with the Lord and making that a part of your daily walk?

I'm thankful that I had people in my life as a kid who had steady walks with the Lord. Growing up in my family, there were things that were non-negotiable. Going to church on Sunday: non-negotiable. It's so sad to me how school sports have ruined a lot of families. I love sports. I'm pro kids playing sports, a huge fan of that. But I'm so thankful that I had a family that said Sunday is what you do. Or Saturday night.

I'm thankful that my family had a walk that was so steady. Church was—not just Sunday, by the way. Wednesday night Bible study was non-negotiable. I remember when my football practices were told to go later on in the mid part of the week, and I had to tell my coaches, "Sorry, Coach, I can't do later on Wednesdays because I have church on Wednesday." "Oh, come on, you can do that." And I said, "Nope." They even threatened, "Well, you may not be a starter next week in the game then because we don't let people who don't show up to practice start."

I was a starter from the first day of my life in freshman football. We were hiring our cheerleaders to play football at my high school. I was the only guy on the team over 200 pounds my senior year. We were hurting. So I just said, "Well, sorry, Coach." It wasn't even an option. I knew my dad would say no. Wednesday night's a priority. Me going to Wednesday night Bible study with a pastor who went verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, and not skipping that for four years of my life paid off way more than had I played a couple of extra football games.

The Lord worked out the football thing. The coaches weren't really willing to not have me play. So it worked out nicely. But I want to say, I fear that this steady walk is something that people chalk off because we're shockingly busy with other things and we don't have time for the Lord.

Walking. The second thing we see him doing is leaping. Walking and leaping. What does leaping imply? I think leaping implies joy. Like leaping for joy. I think that this is a cool expression. This guy was hopeless, sitting there begging for alms, and now he's leaping for joy. I hope you don't lose your joy. The Psalmist said, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." Rejoice in the Lord always; again, Paul said, "I say rejoice." Don't lose your joy. I hope you're a Christian who leaps.

When you think about it, some of the things that the Lord has done for us, we have so much to be thankful for. The word enthusiasm is a godly word. Entheos is where enthusiasm comes from, which means "in God." If you're in Christ, we should show a little more enthusiasm. If we're not careful, we become God's chosen frozen. But you and I have reason to rejoice and if there's ever a good place to rejoice, you should be joyful when we worship. I hope you turn on the switch. Well, Brett, what if I don't feel like it?

Remember David, who was a worship guy? He was Mr. Worship and wrote most of the Psalms. He said, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that's within me, bless his holy name." David had to slap himself and say, "Time to bless the Lord. Come on, let's go." I wonder if you need to say to yourself when you walk into church, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me." With everything you've got. We need you to walk, yes, but we also need you to leap and then thirdly, beautifully praising God.

I think it's so important. Praise is also a non-negotiable. Praise is a natural and necessary response to someone who's been blessed like us. Praising God is part of the deal and we know that because the Bible makes that clear. Psalm 150, verse six: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." And then it finishes with "Praise ye the Lord." This is a word from God's word to you and me.

And you say, "Well, come on, Brett, this guy was crippled and now he's healed. No wonder he's walking and leaping and praising God." But again, remember how we started? You're the crippled person. You were saved from your crippled, sinful condition headed for hell and destruction. Eternity in hell is worse than being crippled in this lifetime. Going to hell is worse than being crippled, and guess what? Christ saved you from that. You and I have reason to be walking and leaping and praising God. Amen?

Guest (Male): Reason to praise God indeed. That's Pastor Brett Meador here on Today's Word with a powerful message of redemption drawn from Acts chapter three in today's word. Pastor Brett will be sharing more about how to receive the saving grace we've heard about today in just a moment.

But first, let me tell you a little bit more about Brett Meador. He's the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. Brett's been the pastor of Athey Creek for 30 years. We invite you to listen each day for more. If you've missed any portion of our study, you'll find all of his messages online at todayswordradio.com. You can also watch full video messages from him by going to todayswordradio.com. Well, now let's rejoin Pastor Brett with some important closing remarks.

Brett Meador: Oh Lord, I pray as we consider this story that our hearts would be stirred to learn so many things that we can think about here. But above all, you saved us from our sins. We didn't deserve it. We didn't earn being touched and healed and being able to walk and leap and praise, but Lord, you did it for us and we're so thankful for that.

I'd like to invite there might be somebody here who is not saved. Maybe you've not been healed. What is a Christian who's saved? It's a person who realizes they are a sinner and acknowledges that before God. To acknowledge that you are a sinner, the word is repent. That means to acknowledge that you have sinned against God and we've all done that. The Bible says no one is guiltless.

But good news: while we were yet sinners, Christ died on the cross for your sins in your place, substitutionarily. He did that, but here's the thing: you must receive that and believe that. That's why John 3:16, that famous verse, "For God so loved the world"—because you might say, "Well, if God loves people, he'd save people." Exactly. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

What does it mean to believe? The Greek word there is an interesting word that means to put your full trust in. To be saved is Romans 10:9 and 10: "If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the Lord Jesus Christ, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." And it's with the mouth confession is made to salvation.

Some people say, "You mean you can just confess with your mouth and believe in your heart and be saved?" Yes. Some people will try to make it worse than that. "Oh, you gotta be better and you gotta do good stuff and pay your money into tithe." No, that's stuff people have added. To be saved is one thing. Good works is another thing. But to be saved, you gotta repent, confess, and believe. That's what the Bible says. If that's you and you're saying, "Brett, I want to accept Christ, I'm going to pray this prayer of confession," let's pray together.

Dear Father in heaven, I believe in your Son, Jesus. I believe that he died on the cross for my sins and that he rose up from the grave and that my sins are forgiven. Help me to walk with you. Thank you for saving me. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. Pastor Brett Meador here on Today's Word. And if you just prayed those words with Pastor Brett, we want to welcome you into the family of God. To help, we put together some teachings that'll assist you as you begin your walk with Jesus. Just go to our website at todayswordradio.com and click on the link that says, "Are you a new believer?" Again, todayswordradio.com and click on the link "New Believer."

Well, we're so glad you've joined us today. Next time, Pastor Brett will continue another verse-by-verse study in the book of Acts. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.