The sermons of Peter in Acts include, 1. Miracles Jesus performed on earth. 2. The resurrection of Jesus. 3. The second coming of the Lord. Our sermons and evangelization now should not deviate from these three aspects. In chapter 3, Peter and John is at the temple gate called Beautiful. They saw a man who was lame begging from others, and then that man “gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.” Then Peter said to him, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
Today, people are looking at us, expecting to get something from us. What do you think you have to give? Gold? Or the power that comes from the name of Jesus Christ? If you think only of the gold or the power you have, you should know that what you can do with your gold and power is very limited. If you know that you possess much more than the gold on earth, and that you have the power from Heaven, you are no longer confined within your own capability; you can do so much more in the name of Jesus. And yet, before we do anything in Jesus’s name, we should first know His name and obey His words in order to acquire power from His name. We should also know that we do everything not through our own power or piety, but through Jesus who triumphs over death.
God gives to everyone an unique personality, but we should know that there is no righteous man on earth; not even one. We are all purified by the Holy Blood of Jesus and forgiven because of our faith in Jesus Christ; this is why God calls us righteous. So, we can only be released from others’ criticism thorough our understanding of our own limits and flaws. If you consider yourself righteous and good, you would feel wronged very often, because you think you are too good to be criticized. Only when we acknowledge that we are sinners and that we are in need of God’s mercy can salvation comes to us. Only then can we not be convicted and be released.
After Peter, in Jesus’s name, declared God’s healing, he took the right hand of the crippled man and helped him up. My brothers and sisters, we should offer a helping hand besides exercising God’s power. When people are experiencing God, they need our support. We also see that the once crippled man walked, jumped, and praised God. This shows us that there’s nothing we can do to repay God; all we can do after receiving God’s grace is to praise Him. God is so great, how can we humble human beings do anything to repay Him? We should be grateful and praise Him for all our lives.
Message by Elder Yeh / Summary and response by Jim Lin
