The healing and sermon together, in turn, set up the first instance of persecution of the church in Acts when Peter and John are imprisoned and tried for their actions (Acts 4). This scene is part of a larger story: the healing is really the set up for the sermon Peter gives to the crowd of witnesses in Acts 3:11-26. Luke told us how the church was formed by the gift of the Holy Spirit and baptism and gathered around the apostles’ teaching and now moves on to narrate examples of the apostles’ ministry in Jerusalem. Our praise increases our faith in God, who gives all good things.This passage in which Peter and John heal a lame man is the first scene in the Book of Acts after the story of Pentecost in chapter 2. However, in a way only our Lord could know, we are blessed again by our praise and thanks. This is not because God is in need of our praise and thanks. He also wants us to praise and give thanks to Him for blessings that He has given us. God wants to be called upon when we or our neighbors are in need. Luther’s meaning to the Second Commandment tells us not only how to keep from misusing God’s name but also how to use it rightly. This was a wonderful testimony for those around him that the Lord had healed him. After being healed, he went with them into the temple to praise God. The man knew that he had been healed by a supernatural action and rightly attributed it to the Lord working through Peter and John. The beggar wanted a little money to help him live but ended up with much more than he asked for, receiving bodily healing instead. Then they took him by the hand and he stood, being healed. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, they commanded the man to stand up and walk. On this occasion, Peter and John gave the man something more precious than silver or gold. This was a peculiar ability that the Holy Spirit gave to the apostles. The Book of Acts attests to the apostles, and those with them, working “signs and wonders,” or what we would call miracles (2:43 5:12 6:8 14:3 15:12). The Holy Spirit had filled the apostles with the ability to work miracles of healing. However, Peter’s compassion prompted him to work a miracle in the name of Jesus. They continued to use the Psalms to guide their prayers and even sang psalms and songs in the way they had learned them in the temple.Īs Peter and John approached the temple for prayer, the lame man begging outside the Beautiful Gate asked them for alms (money), but they had none to give him. The Christian Church adopted specific days and times for prayer similar to Jewish tradition. While learning of Jesus through the apostles, new believers still retained the practice of meeting and praying together (Acts 2:42-43). In fact, many of the first Christian prayer disciplines came from Jewish practices. These outward customs for prayer did not end when Jesus died, rose, and ascended. The disciples had the custom of going to the temple at regular hours to pray. People were being baptized and gathering to hear the apostles’ teaching and to partake of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42). The Christian Church began to grow on account of this preaching. On Pentecost, the Spirit came, giving the disciples the ability to preach the Gospel with great ability and confidence. He departed, telling His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Renewed in spirit, I respond with praise and thanks for what God has done.
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