"Change Affects Others"

Change Affects Others

(Acts 3:1-10)

Intro:

A.  It was just a day like any other day.  He was dressed with help and then carried to his usual spot at the temple gate called Beautiful.  It was just a day like any other day.  The sky wasn’t any bluer, the birds didn’t sing any louder and the sun didn’t shine any brighter.  Yet, before the day was done it would be very different than any other day.

B.  He lay on his cot with his legs shriveled or twisted.  I would guess there was little different going through his mind.  He would call out to those going to pray for alms, hoping that maybe their spirit of compassion could be touched as they went to pray to a God of all compassion.  Yet many simply walked by.  Many probably didn’t even want to look his direction.  Many walked on the other side.

C.  He had never been able to use his leg because he was born lame forty years ago.  He never ran as a boy, never walked as a man.  He was not whole, not good enough to go into the temple, but at the gate he would seek help.  He would grow old and die and history would never know he even existed.  But it was a day that Biblical history would never forget.  For on this day, a lame man walked.  On that day we now have a picture of what transformation looks like.

D.  Peter and John would go to the temple to pray at 3:00, when many assembled to pray.  Would you pray with me?

I.  The Beggar’s Transformation

A.  Here was a man who like sinners today, sat helpless to his own situation.  The most he could was to cry out for help.  Peter said, “Look at us.”  Let me ask you, church, do we want the world to look at us?  Do we want to let them see us as transformed people that help them to see Jesus?  1 Pet. 3:15 says that we should always be ready to give a defense of the hope that is within us.

B.  In one sense, here was a man looking at a dead religion to sustain him.  This dead religion found him a beggar and left him a beggar.  It could not change what he was, but he looked into the eyes of two fishermen, transformed by Jesus, and received power.

C.  Peter and John did not have alms for the poor, but they had something far greater.  In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk!  And rise he did.  He not only walked, but he jumped to his feet, walking, leaping and praising God.

D.  1 Pet. 2:9-12.  Do we as Christian live transformed lives?  Are we made whole spiritually in the power of Christ’s blood?  Yes!  Does the world look at us and see our good deeds and glorify God?  Transformation, Proclamation, Service, Worship.  Those are things God has called us to and we need to be the church who does them, not just talks about them.  Are we walking, leaping and praising God in a spiritual manner?  Does our faith excite us to see the transformation from our old man of sin and darkness to our new man of light and praise?  Peter writes that we should “live as aliens and strangers in the world.”  That change affects us and others.

II.  Our Transformation Is Noticed

A.  Look at what happened as this crippled beggar was healed (verse 9-10).  The physical transformation, the healing, was so great and so obvious that the people were filled with wonder and amazement.  Our spiritual transformation can affect people in the same way.

B.  When spiritual change happens, it happens because of the power of Jesus.  Even in this physical healing, look at what happens (Verses 12-16).  Peter takes this physical healing and turns it into a spiritual teaching (vs 16).  The complete healing was not a reference to the man walking, but to the man believing in Jesus the Christ.

D.  Peter then begins to talk about spiritual transformation.  He tells them that in repentance and turning to God their very sins can we wiped out and a time of refreshing will come from the Lord.  Doesn’t that sound good to you?  Your change from living in a way that hurts your relationship with God and others, brings about a life that is refreshed.  But the opposite, Peter says, is also true.  Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off.  The truth is, Transformation is either something you do and live, or not do and die.  That is the extent of the choice.  (read verse 26)  God at work.

III.  Unliked Transformation

A.  Not everyone likes to see the power of Jesus at work.  Not every responds positively to the changes that come when God is at work in you.

B.  Look at the response that came from the priests and the Sadducees (Acts 4:1-3).  But they could not stop the power of God at work in the lives of those who believe.  (verse 4)

C.  Change affects others.  Some like what they see, desire the same refreshing feeling of salvation, and listen to your story.  But others see the effects and feel only fear and refuse to listen even to truth.  They don’t like it, don’t want it, and don’t want others to follow it.  As Peter writes about in 1 Pet. 4:3-4.

D.  Follow our story in Acts 4:13-22.  Unliked Transformation.  They knew truth, they saw the people respond by praising God, and all they wanted to do was to stop it.  Brethren, the more God radically changes you, creating in you the image of Jesus, accept that some will hate it and you because of it.  But don’t back down in fear.  Don’t stop letting God work in you and be all that He desires for you to be.  It is Satan’s attack and he wants us as church to fail.  The last thing Satan wants is for us to come together as a church and begin to talk, plan and pray about how God desires to transform us as church family and look forward to wholehearted devotion to God.  When we gather to plan and hear God at work in us starting on Wednesday night, the number one thing Satan desires is for you to stay home.  Don’t participate.  Don’t get involved.  Don’t share what God is laying on your heart.  Instead, stay home, discourage others, or simply talk down anything that is discussed.  Don’t you see that is what Satan was trying to do with Peter and John through the Sanhedrin and what he wants to do with us?

Conclusion:

A.  There is one conclusion – Acts 4:23-31.  Pray.  Pray that God will make us bold.  Pray that God will enable us as His servants.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will shake us over the next few weeks as we seek to think about ways God wants us to proclaim, transform, serve and worship.  These next three Wednesday nights are more than a class, they are an opportunity for us to move in God’s direction and we need your help.