Good Morning.  Here’s Today’s Nugget to chew on:

“Your Expectation”

Acts 3:1-16 New King James Version (NKJV)

1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour [3 PM].  2 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; 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.  6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”  7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.  8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.

9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.  10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.  11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.  12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.  14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.  16 And His name [Jesus], through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
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Further Thought:  A lot is happening in today’s passage, but I want to focus on the man lame from his mother’s womb, who never had walked, who was healed.  Let’s recognize a few things in today’s passage.  The man and those who brought him to the temple daily must have had some belief in the church.  Shouldn’t the church be the place to find the answers we need?  Think about it: there is no record that the lame man in today’s passage had heard a sermon other than the testimonies of those entering the temple daily.  I want to remind you that Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 that if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing would be impossible for you.  So, the lame man in today’s passage reminds us of two things:  1.  We don’t need much faith; we simply have to use what we have.  The lame man used the little faith he had to expect to receive from Peter and John [see verse 5 above].   2.  God wants us on our feet so we can be a blessing to others and not have to worry about life’s everyday needs [see Matthew 6:25-34].   The lame man, I believe, was expecting to receive money, but the little faith he had and used positioned him to receive exceeding, abundantly, above all that he could ask or think according to the power that was at work in him [see Ephesians 3:20].  The power that was working in him [lame man] was he expected to receive from those who entered God’s House.  Now that you have your church family, pastor, a bible with multiple translations, and God’s Holy Spirit living in you, what are we expecting today?  Your expectation is powerful.

Have a great day, and keep chewing on God’s Word.

Additional references:  Romans 12:1-2; Romans 10:17; Proverbs 4:20-22; Proverbs 23:7a and 1 John 5:14-15

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“2025 Stop & Listen”

Today’s Recommended Reading Luke 7