Acts 3

Well, I suppose it’s about time I share something of actual substance. I guess lounging around the house all day, with the occasional trip out does not result in much deep insight. Oh well.. ANYWAYS!

I was reading Acts chapter 3 last night, and came across something that caught my attention. For those of you who don’t know what Acts 3 is about (or those of you who are too lazy to walk across your room to get your Bible’s out!), I will give you a brief overview.

In Acts 1 & 2 we read about Jesus’ ascension, Matthias replacing Judas, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and finally a sermon preached by the ever-awesome Peter. In the beginning of Acts 3, Peter and John are going to the Temple “to take part in the three o’clock prayer service” (v. 1). Outside the gates they find a lame beggar. After watching him for a while, they start talking to him, and eventually tell him to “get up and walk!” (v. 6). After being healed, they went into the Temple all together.
The crowds were pretty wowed by the whole ordeal, and kept staring at their lil group. Peter saw what was happening and jumped at the opportunity that he had just been given and preached another one of his awesome sermons.

Now, three major things stood out to me in this passage…. and guess what? I’m gonna share them with you!

1.) “Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service” (v. 1)
--> Peter and John were pretty busy dudes! But they didn’t forget to set time aside for prayer and worship. It may not have been the “quiet times” that we so often are preached to about, but they made sure they took time away from all of their preaching, teaching, and working to pray. Now, I’m not advocating substituting quiet times for public prayer and worship”, I don’t think that is the point. The point is that no matter how busy you are, don’t forget to take time away from all of it to focus on God and God alone, to pray, to focus on his attributes, to praise him, etc..

2.) “Peter and John looked at him intently” (v. 4)
--> These guys did not make any hasty decisions, or jump right in to help this guy out. They watched him intently.. What were they looking for? I think that they were watching to see if he was who he says he was.
Coming from a background in a country where street beggars are often not necessarily who they say they are! All too often you see “mothers” begging for money for food for their infant children, day after day. Yet they ALWAYS have an infant! The baby never really gets any older, nor are they ever really pregnant. Curious? I Think so! Dig a little deeper and you will find that these “mothers” rent babies from their true parents in order to raise money on the streets.
If things like this go on today in poor, desperate areas of the world, isn’t it feasible that it may have gone on in the past as well? If that is the case, Peter and John were exercising great wisdom in how they interacted with the man. They watched him intently, and it wasn’t until they saw his sincere need that they chose to react and interact with the man.

3.) “Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd.” (v. 12a)
--> This is probably my favorite verse out of this passage. I think we can learn a lot from Peter and John out of this passage, but this is the most important lesson of all.. Peter saw an opportunity, and he TOOK IT.. How many times a week, or even daily, do we see an opportunity and not take it. Peter and John were not so focused on their way to the temple that they overlooked the lame man. And once the miracle had happened and they were worshiping inside, they did not completely close themselves off to what was going on around them.
Peter and John went in to the Temple to worship, and ended up worshiping in a manner far greater than they probably expected. They probably expected, just as you and I would, to worship through prayer. After all, it was a prayer service! Yet they were presented with an opportunity and took it, an act which far outweighs simple prayer! They glorified God by doing what He asked them to! Not only that, but they glorified God by preaching his Word to the people there, while their attention was captured.
Now, I’m not really thinking that the next time you or I go to church, we need to stop everything in the middle of prayer and just begin to preach. Again, that’s not the point here. The point is that for that particular situation, God provided them with an opportunity to serve him and to serve others. So what we need to learn from this situation is not when to preach and when not to, but to merely keep our eyes and our minds open to see what God would have us to do, and then DO IT!


--> Remember, these are just my thoughts on what I’ve read. These are notes you’d probably find in my journal if I wasn’t too lazy to write them twice.. I’m not some biblical scholar, these are just my Ideas. Please don’t quote me on them. If you are a biblical scholar, or have a different idea, feel free to comment! By all means! I’m up for hearing other people’s opinions.



Blessings,
~Kat K.