The Pantheon in Rome

Rome

Oxygen from Acts 4

While Peter and John were addressing the people, the priests, the chief of the Temple police, and some Sadducees came up, indignant that these upstart apostles were instructing the people and proclaiming that the resurrection from the dead had taken place in Jesus. 

They arrested them and threw them in jail until morning, for by now it was late in the evening. But many of those who listened had already believed the Message—in round numbers about five thousand!  The next day a meeting was called in Jerusalem. The rulers, religious leaders, religion scholars, Annas the Chief Priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander—everybody who was anybody was there. They stood Peter and John in the middle of the room and grilled them: "Who put you in charge here? What business do you have doing this?"

(Acts 4:1-7)

Great and Eternal God:

Your kingdom almost never explodes

     from the franchise of the priestly,

but from solitary, Spirit-drenched missionaries

     and healed beggars

     proclaiming the risen Savior's name.

Five thousand new believers

     inside the Temple -- of all places!

No wonder the police were fetched,

     no wonder the know-it-alls

     and their snotty supervisors

        come on the run.

Something exploded the franchise.

Tradition's precincts have been crossed!

It's a five-alarm Holy Spirit fire

     that every Torquemada is keen to quench. 

Peter and John -- mere "laymen"!

The shock, the unmittigated gall,

     that their words could be,

     would be The Evangel.

They're not licensed by the windbags;

         they're not qualified by elders.

They were not born to priestly family

     or inducted to the party in power.

Still, they bear a sweeter authority,

     their calling from Christ

     and the fruits of their proclamation

     is proof of apostolicity. 

    

Forgive Your church, O Lord, when we,

     like Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-25) or Balaam(Acts  2 Peter 2:14-16), 

     wish to pay the professionals

     to do our study,

     to lead our worship ,

     to care for the sick and dying,

     to bear a ministry rightfully ours.

Is it any wonder these churches become

     little more than preacher unions,

     pension plans pretending sanctimony.

Where there is no prophetic proclamation of Your Word,

     the people, Lord, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18).

Heal Your church, O Lord, when we seem intent

     on dividing somebodies from nobodies,

     perpetuating medieval myths

         of clergy and laity,

         nobility and peasant,

         erudite and unwashed;

Dividing that which Christ united,

         male and female,

         slave and free,

         ins and outs.  (Colossians 3:11)

Save us from the Temple curtain-hangers 

     who would repair the torn veil

     and limit entrance to Your mercy seat. (Matthew 27:51)

Send Your church, O Lord, a new reformation

     that puts all believers in touch with mystery,

     accountable and capable of changing the world,

         having Word and authority

         to explode Your Kingdom

         into every situation singed by Satan's lie.

Save your church, O Lord, from those 

     who have tied the Faustian knot

     to succumb to the Temptor's offers

        of empty worship, 

        humanitarian showmanship.  (Matthew 4:1-11)

        

Thank you that the Kingdom has no franchise,

     that Church is not tradition.

Thank you that you do not give 

     kingdom keys to pedigreed autocrats,

     but to those who proclaim the truth

         of the living, reigning Christ

         come to save, and heal,

         and release His prisoners of grace

              into a world of lesser thrones.

Open my mouth, Lord, and let me tell

     those You bring across my path

     the gracious mercy of Your love,

     the wondrous news that Heaven laughs.

Bless Thy faithful churches all

     who gather round the bread and cup

     in living room or high cathedral,

     struck down, but never giving up.

     

Amen.

---

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation(safety, deliverance, healing) in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:11-12)

The Lord God says, "I am the one laying a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: the trusting will never be toppled."

(Isaiah 28:16)

Jesus, Precious Cornerstone:

I recall the day my father laid a cornerstone

    at our little country church.

I was eight or ten and watched those saints

    now long departed gather round the empty place

    that soon would hold one gleaming white stone.

Behind the stone a concave space was carved

    to hold a time capsule in which was a Bible

    and lesser words that defined us then.

Nothing structural hung on that stone,

    only our hopes that posterity might find

    a memorial to faith.

How different the cornerstone of ancient times;

    not symbol, but architectural necessity.

That massive monolith must both

    bear the weight and align the structure.

Were it not perpendicular and true, 

    the walls would fall.

Were it not free of fault,

    the temple would topple.

We praise You, Jesus, that You are True

   and fault-free, able to bear the weight

   of Calvary and all my sin.

We thank you, Jesus, that you have made us

   living stones in the temple of Your Body (1 Peter 2:5),

   rubbed by the friction of our imperfections

       into tighter interlock.

May Your precious sacrifice,

   be the foundation of all our hopes.

May we look to you alone,

   as the only name and source

       of God's salvation.

We repent of the the detritis 

   with which we've sought to build our futures,

from lesser things that will not bear the weight

   and raise a crooked dividing wall.

Set us straight. Clear the rubble.

Smash all pretensions to Your Throne

   upon the Rock higher than I (Psalm 61:2).

Let us sing of Zion's Savior,

   Let us be Your living stones.

Amen.

 

---

The (members of the Sanhedrin) couldn't take their eyes off them—Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Scripture or formal education. They recognized they had been with Jesus, but with the man right before them, seeing him standing there so upright—so healed!—what could 

they say against that?

They sent them out of the room so they could work out a plan. They talked it over: "What can we do with these men? By now it's known all over town that a miracle has occurred, and that they are behind it. There is no way we can refute that. But so that it doesn't go any

further, let's silence them with threats so they won't dare to use Jesus' name ever again with anyone."

They called them back and warned them that they were on no account ever again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John spoke right back, "Whether it's right in God's eyes to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. As for us, there's no 

question—we can't keep quiet about what we've seen and heard." 

(Acts 4:13-20)

Lord Jesus:

In this chapter begins the sad saga

     that continues to our very day,

of saints harassed and hounded,

     threatened and even killed for faith.

Would our persecuters recognize 

     that we have been with you?

You told us that if we live Your life

     that we would be persecuted. (John 15:18-20)

So what does it mean that we have no perseuctors,

     that we are so well thought of,

     that we, conditioned by political correctness,

         choke on Your name for fear of giving offense?

Peter would later write that we followers of Christ

     should not be surprised

     when fiery trials come to test us (I Peter 4:12-19).

So why do we act so shocked 

     when the world slanders our Savior

     and portrays his people 

         as superstitious dangers to the commonweal?

Why are we surprised 

     when prayer is pitched from public schools 

     and Christmas made the Winter Holiday?

These first-world pains are nothing compared to pastors jailed

     and threatened with their lives in China and Iran.

But how we yearn for Christendom,

     the good old days when people knew

     who Jesus was, when Presidents prayed,

         and Coke was a nickel.

It is far easier to be the majority,

     but Your true Church is and always has been

     watered by the blood of martyrs,

         confessing Christ to tyrrants.

Teach us your resources for meeting persecution,

     as you gave to Peter and John

     that historic day persecution began.

Give us faith in the Promise of our Lord --

     that He will give us words to say

     when we stand toe-to-toe with Satan's bunch. (Mark 13:11)

Give us Poise as you did Simon Peter

     who, not seven weeks, before,

denied His Lord to a milkmaid;

     yet here stands the Fisherman

before the Supreme Council with confidence,

     proclaiming the resurrected Jesus 

     and calling out their travesty of justice 

     for what it was -- murder.

Give us Proof of Your ever-present help in trouble;

 Let the trophies of your grace

     like the beggar healed and upright

    number us among their intercessors.

Connect us to bleeding believers

     who praise You for Your faithfulness,

         and tell of miracles only martyrs see.

Give us Partners for the struggle,

     like that early fellowship, 

people who will have our back,

     not fair-weathered pollyannas

         who cozy up with tyrrants

         and keep their guilty silence

         as martyrs are led away.

And teach us the true power of Prayer

     as did those friends of Peter,

to trust in Your predestined plan

         when we have made all wrong choices;

to know Your Word is true

     and Your saints secure

     beneanth the Cross.

        

So let us meet the trials each day

    equipped and ready by Your Word

to answer back our Adversary,

    Christ is Lord o'er all the world.

Amen.

---

As soon as Peter and John were let go, they went to their friends and told them what the high priests and religious leaders had said. Hearing the report, they lifted their voices in a wonderful harmony in prayer: "Strong God, you made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. By the Holy Spirit you spoke through the mouth of your servant and our father, David: 

   Why the big noise, nations?
   Why the mean plots, peoples?
   Earth's leaders push for position,
   Potentates meet for summit talks,
   The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers!

"For in fact they did meet—Herod and Pontius Pilate with nations and peoples, even Israel itself!—met in this very city to plot against your holy Son Jesus, the One you made Messiah, to carry out the plans you long ago set in motion.

"And now they're at it again! Take care of their threats and give your servants fearless confidence in preaching your Message, as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your holy servant Jesus."

While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God's Word with fearless confidence.  The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! 

(Acts 4:23-33)

Strong God:

We pray to You as those first Christians prayed,

     that you would protect those persecuted

     for the sake of Christ.

We pray for believers in China and in Egypt

     and throughout the Muslim world,

     where Ishmael still plots revenge on Israel.

In our country, pastors who rightly profess

     that Islam is not a true religion

     are hounded in the press

         and candidates who profess any faith

         are ridiculed for their stand.

In our living rooms each night

     by the boob-tube's crackling fire

     homosexuals and atheists are the norm, 

           Christians, the plotters and crackpot cult.

     

Help us when and if the day should come

     that we must face such persuction

     that we will not fear nor cower

     at the feet of infidels.

Show from Your Word how to overcome

     every sin and intimidation.

Drive us to our knees,

     confessing Your Sovereign love and power;

     that nothing happens to Your faithful

         without your permission and divine rule.

Drive us to Your Word for comfort,

     and as our faithful forebears found,

     knowledge of demonic tactics

     turned to Kingdom strategy.

Drive us to Your Spirit's cover

     when all about the world is shaking,

     when signs and wonders from above

         give witness to Your impending entry.

Drive us to such generosoity

     that we might have each other's back

     and there take the slings and arrows

         meant for friends who claim Your name.

Protect dear Becky in East Asia,

     and faithful Sonam in Ladakh.

For the saints in Guambiano,

     for every witness known to You.

Let your grace descend upon us,

     in this and every time of trial

that we lose not sights of glory

     as we walk the second mile.

May the enemies of your Christ,

     be confounded and distressed, 

May thier plans for mayhem falter

     and turn to You, Your Christ confess.

Amen.   

---

Friends:

It's not coincidental that God has lead us to Acts 4 this week for my daily Oxygen.

The persecution of believers is definitely on the rise. 

O God, why do the heathen rage? (Acts 4:25)

You told us the world hated you and it will hate us,

    That the disciple is not above his or her Master.

Protect these believers so far away fro us,

    but in the center of your care and will.

Show us how we may help,

    how we may share their suffering and rejection,

    how to be faithful in spite of those who take offense

        at our witness.

Those who have no use for You, O God,

    are a daily offense to You;

Every minute of their lives is lived under

    Your coming wrath and judgement.

So, while You tarry for the sake of Your elect,

    protect them from these scoundrels

    who act in ignorance but still

        offend Your grace.

There is no joy in imprecatory prayers,

    but confound the intentions of Your enemies,

    bring to nothing their plans for mayhem.

Open our hearts and hands to do Your will,

    not just in my local sphere

    but for the Kingdom come in Ladoch

         and wherever Your Spirit calls

         to You those being saved.

"Lord Jesus, look upon their threats

     and grant to your servants boldness

     to speak Your Word while You stretch

     Your hand to heal and work Your signs and wonders

         through your Holy Servant and our Savior, Jesus." (Acts 4:29)

Amen.

---

The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, "That's mine; you can't have it." They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them. 

(Acts 4:32-33)

Lord Jesus:

How glorious when brothers dwell 

     together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)

How absolutely privileged we are

    whenever we catch a glimpse 

    of that unity of Spirit, heart, and mind

    in ours or any fellowship.

How rare it is in this world of pledge drives,

    building funds and cleric's pay

to find a people who, if asked,

    would give it all away.

How I thank You for our Gatherings, 

    united in Your Holy Spirit --

    that we have not been divided,

        although as Peter, John and their friends soon discovered,

        we have been persecuted by frocked folks

        who told us we cannot meet

        nor lift your Holy Name above the broken bread and cup.

I thank you that your unity

       can break out anywhere!

And for the grace that overcomes 

       our reluctance to freely share.

Now hold us steady that we fear not sacrifice

    if a borther or sister stands in need

    for all our possessions are given us in trust;

    all is Yours, and never is prosperity so at risk

        as when we do not share.

It's what we mean when we say,

    "I've got your back."

Lord, you have our front;

    now lead and we will follow.

You own it all and we cannot truly say,

    "That's mine -- you can't have it,"

     although we lie to ourselves continually

        about our stewardship.

Set us in your Victory cyle --

     persecution leads to prayer,

     prayer leads to sharing,

     sharing leads to bolder witness,

     bolder witness leads to grace and growth.

Forgive us for playing it safe,

     for taking as our model 

     the man who buried his Master's money

          until the day of final accounting; (Matthew 25:14-30)

     for clustering in our church and houses

     as solitary individualists,

        clutching our stuff like dying folk

        clutch their heart and find it gone.

Come to earth in every place

     Your precious Name is called,

and let the measure of our sharing

     be the share of grace outpoured.  

       

Amen.

---

And so it turned out that not a person among the early church was needy. Those who owned fields or 

houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of 

it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person's need.

Joseph, called by the apostles "Barnabas" (which means "Son of Comfort"), a Levite born in 

Cyprus, sold a field that he owned, brought the money, and made an offering of it to the 

apostles.  But a man named Ananias—his wife, Sapphira, conniving in this with him—sold a 

piece of land, secretly kept part of the price for himself, and then brought the rest to 

the apostles and made an offering of it.

Peter said, "Ananias, how did Satan get you to lie to the Holy Spirit and secretly keep 

back part of the price of the field? Before you sold it, it was all yours, and after you 

sold it, the money was yours to do with as you wished. So what got into you to pull a trick 

like this? You didn't lie to men but to God." Ananias, when he heard those words, fell down 

dead. That put the fear of God into everyone who heard of it.

(Acts 4:35-5:6)

Holy God:

Your Word pulls no punches.

Had this been written by propagandists

     as skeptics claim

we would have no record of such duplicity,

     only a golden age of communal sharing.

But here is recorded the history of Your people,

    like Cromwell's portrait,

    warts and all.

Skeptics declare "The Church is full of hypocrites,"

    as the reason they won't attend;

And it's true -- the order of Ananias

    occupies many a pew.

For since that day in Jerusalem

    two streams of Christianity diverge,

one small and narrow,

    fast-flowing toward sharing, love and grace

the other broad and sluggish

    toward self and empty rituals

    of compartmentalized devotion. 

Satan is always close by Your Elect,

     to offer temptations as a test

     which You use to strengthen 

     justified sinners struggling

         with Your sanctification.

This is the first recorded episode

     of Satan's testing of the Church.

Satan's MO is all over this,

     same as when the Temptor

showed his guile to another couple

     in Eden's garden,

showed his cunning to our Savior

     in the wilderness.

Turn stones to bread --

     force God to act,

Bow down to cunning and deceit.

     And Ananias took the bait.

As do we all when we want to be seen

     as generous when in fact

     we ache with greed;

when we compare ourselves to others

     and take our eyes off Christ

     and make of faith hypocrisy.

Thank you that you do not strike down

     every uncalled believer 

     who ultimately proves faithless.

But this event was the very first of its kind

     and You wanted to make the point,

     and you did, for great fear

          came on the entire church,

          now fifteen to twenty thousand strong,

          that You are a God to be reckoned with.

I want to be like Barnabas,

     not Ananias or his wife.

Help me to faithfully declare

     the truth about my life.

I want to hold things loosely

     and cling to people dear.

Help me be a "son of comfort"

     bringing Godly cheer.

I want to live by truth, not guile,

     and bring to Jesus' feet

The offering of a contrite heart,

     faith that begs be made complete.

Amen.

     

From Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

A Letter from the Christian Pastor Imprisoned in Iran

Pray for believers in 2/3's of the world who are actively persecuted for their faith in Jesus.

Pisa

Monaco: Lots of Yachts, a few small churches

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia in Barcelona Spain

Your Spiritual Breakthrough Means Healing

The Granbury Gathering is studying the New Testament book of Acts from the perspective of making a spiritual breakthrough.  Acts tells the story of the breakthrough of the Gospel from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.  But God invites each of us to experience the breakthrough of His Holy Spirit to bring growth and renewed purpose to living.

Acts 3 tells about the first healing the Apostles Peter and John performed.  A 40-year -old man sat everyday at the eastern gate to the Temple begging for money.  Dr. Luke, who wrote this account, gives us the medical history that he had been born with a club foot.  Recently I was traveling in the Mediterranean.  As we were exploring the ancient site of Ephesus we saw a man with a club foot sitting on a dirty mat begging from tourists.  Crowds streamed pass him, separating either side of the man as a stream around a rock. It wasn't unlike the rush of people trying to get to afternoon prayers in the Temple that afternoon.  But Peter and John stop and intentionally looked at the man for some time it seems.

"Look at us," Peter said.  And something must have happened that triggered this fantastic idea in Peter's mind that today was God's moment for this crippled man's spiritual breakthrough.  Perhaps the man in tattered clothes cried out for mercy.  Could it be that he recognized Peter and John as having been with Jesus (See Acts 4:13)?  In any event, the Apostles saw the gift of faith in Christ at work in this beggar.

"I don't have any money," Peter said, "but what I do have I give you freely."  And with that Peter reached out, took hold of the man's arm and pulled him to his feet.  This is exactly the way he had seen Jesus heal his mother-in-law one day in Capernaum.  In verse 8 Luke gives us a whole series of words -- jumped, leaped, walked around -- to demonstrate the complete and total healing of this man.  In fact, he makes such a ruckus that when Peter and John look around they find they have a congregation of people perplexed and amazed and wondering how this poor soul was so wonderfully healed.

Peter tells the crowd, "It's not us -- it's Jesus who healed this man by faith in the name of Israel's Messiah."  After that the Apostles pull no punches with his audience, telling the people they were the ones who choose a murderer rather than the Promised One, the Author of Life, even after Pilate was willing to release him.  Peter confirms the account of a risen Savior by the fact that this man, known to them all, stands and jumps and walks around, and dances.

History records that 5,000 of those Jews in Solomon's Portico that day became believers in Christ through this miraculous event.

What can we learn from this wonderful account about healing in general and about the spiritual breakthrough you may need specifically?

1.  Healing happens in God's perfect timing.

The New Testament tells us Jesus often entered through this gate on his way to Temple.  That means Jesus saw and passed by this beggar multiple times without healing him. Jesus did not ignore his plight, but postponed his healing to the kairos moment.  There are two words for "time" in the New Testament.  One is chronos, from which we get our word chronology.  Chronos is clock-time.  The other word is kairos which means timing, just the right time.  So, healing always happens in God's kairos, just the right time in the unfolding of God's Kingdom come.  Jesus meant it when he promised that his disciples would do what he did and so much more.

2.  Healing requires faith.

You can't be a cynic and be healed.  All healing requires trust and confidence.  You must have faith in your doctor.  The doctor must have faith in her training and knowledge. The healing of that crippled man was the same as the healing of any clubfoot.  His ankles were strengthened.  Miracles are not the suspension of the natural laws God has built into his universe; the miracle is the timing of it; that God did in a moment what takes trained therapists months or years.  Physical healing comes through faith in the many agencies of God's providence.

3.  Healing requires the participation of the sick. 

This is closely related to number 2 above.  But there must be a recognition of need generally before one seeks and receives help for renewed health.  Peter said, "Look at us."  Pay attention here.  This may look like every other day in your life, but something wonderful is about to happen if you are prepared to see it.  Do atheists never see miracles because they don't exist, or because they refuse to see?  The doctor may have the knowledge of knowing what's wrong and can even prescribe that which will relieve the pain.  But there is still the need to take the medicine, in spite of its bad test or side effects.  One must still do what the universe of cause and effect requires. You can't be healed emotionally and shut yourself off from your true feelings.  You can't be healed relationally and harbor bitterness, hatred and resentment toward another.

4. Healing requires accepting the pain of getting better.

I suspect there was a moment of intense pain as that cripple was pulled to his feet.  Healing almost always demands accepting some pain.  The surgeon's scalpel that saves a life produces pain in recovery.  Healing in relationships often means facing the person who has caused you hurt, anger or anxiety.  Healing of the mind may require opening parts of yourself hidden for years or facing a hurtful truth previously unknown to you.  Spiritual healing frequently demands restitution and the denial of pride. Like the long distance runner jogs until his muscles ache, so our breakthrough comes when we persevere long enough for the joy to eclipse the momentary pain.  

5.  Jesus liberates the paralyzed.

This story is really not about the crippled man; it's about the resurrected Jesus operating through the poverty of believers.  Peter and John didn't have a penny between them, but they were connected to the Source of all Breakthroughs.  Peter tells the crowd, "It's not our power or godliness that has healed this man.  It's by the faith the comes from Jesus whom you denied and killed."  Sin is the great crippler and only the grace of Jesus can liberate a paralyzed spirit, a sin-sick world.  Every one that comes to Christ confesses that we were in that crowd that denied and killed the Author of Life.  Nothing we did made us acceptable to God that He should heal us.  We were guilty.  We had nothing to commend ourselves.  But the sovereign God reached out to us on his initiative and empowered our healing from the pernicious problem of sin.  As a free gift we received a spiritual breakthrough that covers us with the faithfulness of Jesus and by which God declares us not guilty of our moral and relational failures.  God gives us the Holy Spirit with which He teaches us day by day to overcome sin and even when we fail, Jesus is our Healer who accepts us, patches us up, gives us some people to lean on, and puts us back in the race for glory.  As Peter proclaims in Acts 4, "There is no other name, no other authority by which we can be saved (healed) than the name of Jesus."

Whatever pain, whatever deformity, whatever paralysis, whatever guilt, whatever sin  -- Jesus is the Healer, the Giver of Breakthroughs, and by faith in his name anything is possible.

Oxygen from Acts 3

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us." And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.   (Acts 3:1-7)

Lord Jesus:

We know you entered Jerusalem many times

    by way of the Beautiful Gate,

    the eastern gate facing the Mount of Olives.

You must have passed by this beggar each time

    he reached up a rag-draped hand

    to beg a coin from you.

I'm sure you looked at him and noticed his infirmity,

    but you were not unmoved.

    You did not ignore his plight

        but postponed his healing to the kairos moment,

        just the right time in the unfolding of your Kingdom come.

You left it to Peter and John

    to reach yout your healing

    in shared ministry.

"Greater things than I do you will do," you told your apostles.

Greater not in quality, but greater in scope,

    beginning in Jerusalem,

    spreading through Judea,

    and reaching the ends of the earth.

Help us, Lord, when it seems our prayers go unanswered,

    that your passing by is not rejection,

    but waiting for the kairos moment,

       just the right time in the unfolding of your Kingdom come.

And this -- may we receive from each other the ability to heal and to bless

    with your own presence and power.

This is how we truly discern your body in Communion,

    to know your incarnational presence

    manifest in the common clay of our humanity.

And when we are that believer who sees another's need

    and for whom we may be the touch of heaven,

    may we not fail the hurting or You.

Let this be our purpose: not the accumulation of gold and silver,

    but the distribution of such grace as each of us

    has received.

In Jesus' name, let us rise up, walk and be strengthened.

Amen.

---

But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.  While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 

(Acts 3:6-11)

Heavenly Father:

You recall to my memory today

     the man with a clubfoot I saw begging

     outside the so-called house of Mary in Ephesus;

     sitting legs all akimbo on a plaited mat,

     one hand raised in pitiful supplication

     while another gaurded a plastic cup

     containing a coin or two.

He occupied a strategic spot, like a rock in a stream,

     as crowds parted around him, flowing from tour busses

     to yet another shrine.

How like the scene Peter and John beheld

     that afternoon going with pilgrims to the hour of prayer.

But unlike us, the apostles stopped -- just stopped,

     and stooped and gazed

     at the deformed beggar.

What drew them up halt?

Did You speak to them in the still small voice?

Did the beggar recognize that they had been with Jesus?

Something happened that the apostles saw faith.

Peter and John stop and look and listen,

     jamming the line of the pious not wanting to be late for prayer.

And then as fast as you can say, "In the name of Jesus Messiah of Nazareth,

     get up an walk,"

     they grasp that beggar by the arm and 

     yank him,

     jolt him to his feet!

No questions -- no qualifications -- no miracle hankies or holy oil.

Just a hard tug on faith that no bootstrap can match.

O God, save us from the cult of virgins and the man-made pieties

     of the vainly superstitous.

May we claim only the name of Jesus, his resurrected power

     and his glorious presence that abides not in shrines

     or rituals, but in hearts touched by grace,

         as that ancient beggar surely was.

We do not know how Peter and John reckoned that 

     the man's kairos moment had arrived,

     but You made it clear in that moment they stopped,

           and stooped, and gazed.

So, help us to know the times and places when You would have us

     pause, pray, and support the weary and forgotten.

We pray for the March of Dimes and its effort to continue

     your healing ministry to children born with clubfeet.

And this -- help us not to hesitate when a brother or sister

     reaches out to yank us to our feet

     when we have settled in for a nice day of begging and self-pity.

Help us know your will is for the healing of body, mind, and spirit

     and, like the man who, 

     in spite of healing still needed to cling to Peter and John,

         may we cling to You and to those You give us

         to be Your Body, to be Your vessels of grace,

            in a world content with silver and gold

            when there's new life and love to be shared.

Amen.

---

And when Peter saw the (crowd gathering around the healed beggar) he addressed the people: "Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name this man whom you see and know has been made strong.  The faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.  (Acts 3:12-16)

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:

We praise and bless you for the Name

     that is above every name,

     that name before which every knee will one day bow,

     the precious name of Jesus - Yeshua - The Lord Saves!

To us names are little more than labels

     that convey a conjuction of syllables

     pleasant to the ear.

Some names are memorials to relatives;

     our appelation serving as a challenge to both memory and good behavior.

But among the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles

     the name embodied the character, soul,

     destiny and essence of one's identity.

So as evidence of their conversion of character

     at baptism disciples received their Christian names.

The covenant name of God  -- YHWH --

     was considered so holy as to be unspoken among ancient Jews

     for fear that mispronouncing might offend and disqualify.

So in Temple and synagogue 

     people praised the power and awesomeness of your Name

     without actually naming You.

Now Christ has opened for us the way of access by His grace.

We may come to You with boldness,

     naming Jesus unafraid that we will ever offend

     the Author of Life.

The leaping cripple was healed,

     not by magic shibboleth,

     but by faith through Jesus;

     in Christ's character of faithfulness,

     in Messiah's identity as Glorified Servant,

     by the gift of faith that comes only through Jesus.

Is not all healing by faith?

      Doctors trust their learning and skill.

      Patients trust their physicians.

Who can be healed against their will?

Do health and cynicism really coexist?

Forgive us, Lord, for we are so prone to take credit for our achievements

     rather than to bless You for Your providence and provision

     that makes possible every moment of our being.

We confess that we are apt to claim the power of our own names,

     our reputations,

     our cleverness and self-reliance,

       more than to credit your continuing watchcare of us.

Inspire us to forsake any name that we place 

     higher than His.

Let us know the name by which we have been inscribed

     in the Lamb's Book of Life

for You named us when you claimed us.

Let those lesser names by which we know ourselves --

     Angry, Impulsive, Sorrowful, People-pleaser,

     Failure, Nice, Naughty, Risk-taker,

     Ditzy, or Delightful --

fall away in the unmasking of godly fellowship,

be forgotten in the healing power of Jesus' name.

Amen.

---

(Peter's sermon continues) "...And now, friends, I know you had no idea what you were doing when you killed Jesus, and neither did your leaders. But God, who through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that his Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfill his plans.  Now it's time to change your ways! Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you, and send you the Messiah he prepared for you, namely, Jesus. For the time being he must remain out of sight in heaven until everything is restored to order again just the way God, through the preaching of his holy prophets of old, said it would be...." (Acts 3:17-22)

Author of Life, Universe-Holder:

Your providence and power are astounding!

Who would have thought

     You would re-convene the very crowd

     that shouted "Cruficy" on the black Friday,

     bring them together to hear Your Gospel

         proclaimed by the Christ-Denier

         who knew oh so well

             Your reclaiming grace.

Peter speaks to the people he remembered

     from that awful Passover

     who chose a murderer's release

         and rejected their Messiah.

Would my sermon have been as forgiving as his?

No way -- no way!

He gives them mercy -- that they followed bad leaders in ignorance.

That in spite of their murder

      God brought Jesus back alive

      to give the second chance

           even as the Big Fisherman had been given.

How awful the responsibility of leaders

     who peddle ignorance

     and ignore Your holy Word.

How much more strictly will they be judged,

     James declares.

How awful when leaders stir up their flock

     with trumped-up allegations

     and vindictive jealousy.

How quenching of Your Holy Spirit

     when myths and superstitions substitute

     the clear clarion call to repent and reform.

Holy Jesus, we pray for spiritual leaders

     that they not lose their way

     or cause others to stumble.

How well Peter knew the claws of sinful ignorance.

How well Peter knew the power of forgiveness

     and the call to feed his Master's sheep

     with the precious Gospel of grace;

and to water them with Holy Spirit refreshing.

O Jesus, we need your showers of blessing.

Our land is parched and so, too, our souls.

We need the rest and restoration

   only You can provide.

Even as the shores of our man-made lake

   retreat to the ancient Brazos riverbed,

   so may our minds and hearts return to the channels of grace

      You have dug deep into the bedrock of faith

      and take us into the Arms of God

      now and always for your dear sake.

Amen.