Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:04] Hey, everybody, it's Pastor Chuck Allen, and I'm back with another weekday podcast. Today I want to jump into Acts, chapter three and the first 11 verses from the New Living translation. And I want to invite you to listen as if you've never heard this story before, and just let it surprise you, let it possibly unsettle you. Because sometimes that's where the spirit starts to move. And here's what's happening. Peter and John are heading to the temple for the three o' clock prayer service. Remember, it's always three o' clock somewhere. It's a normal day, a rhythm, a routine. And as they approach the gate, the one called beautiful, there's a man being carried in. He's been lame from birth. Every day he's placed at a gate to beg from those going in. This is his life, totally dependent, overlooked, surviving on the margins. He sees Peter and John. He asks for money because he's pretty sure that's what he needs. Peter stops, looks at him, really looks at him, and says, look at us. The man looks up, expecting a coin and a handout, but Peter says, I don't have any silver or gold for you, but I'll give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ of the Nazarene, get up and walk. And Peter reach out, grabs his hand and helps him up. Instantly, the man's feet and ankles are healed. He jumps up. He stands. He starts walking, leaping, praising God. He follows them into the temple, and everyone sees him walking, leaping and praising. The crowd, stunned, they know this man. They've seen him begging day after day. Now he's dancing. Come on, is that a story or what? I want you to see what's happening here. This isn't just a story about a miracle. It's a story about presence, about seeing, about refusing to walk by the pain at the edge of our routines.
[00:01:44] Peter and John don't have money, but they have something else. They have the name of Jesus, the power to call forth life where there is only survival.
[00:01:55] Stop. Just pause on that for a second. How many times do we walk past the beautiful gate, past the places where people sit, hoping for scraps, for somebody to notice, to see them, to recognize them, for something to change. And how often do we settle for giving what's easy, a spare buck, a quick prayer, a polite smile, when maybe what's needed is presence, attention, tension, a hand stretch out in faith. Peter says, look at us.
[00:02:24] He invites this guy into relationship, into dignity, and then he offers what he has. Jesus, not a magic trick. Not a transaction, but an invitation into wholeness. And the dude, he doesn't just talk, he doesn't just walk, he leaps. He dances. I mean, he shouts, he praises. He becomes a living sign that God is still at work, still healing, still inviting us to move from the margins into the center of the story.
[00:02:53] Maybe the invitation for us today is to see, to really honest to goodness see, to notice the people at the gates of our lives, the ones we pass by, the ones we overlook, the ones who are waiting for someone to stop, to look, to reach out. And maybe it's also to remember that what we have, Jesus, and in him, hope, faith, presence is more than enough that the power of God can break into the most ordinary moments, the most broken places, and bring healing, joy and wonder.
[00:03:27] So as you go about your day today, pay attention to the gates, pay attention to the people, pay attention to the moments when you can offer more than just what's in your pocket. Because sometimes the most beautiful thing we can give is ourselves, our presence, and most especially our faith, our willingness to say, get up and walk, friends. Go in peace and know, listen, Jesus is still in that miracle working business. And some of us need to walk out in faith, like Peter, and say, look at us. I want to bring you Jesus. God bless you, friend. Have a great day. Bye now.
