Good Morning,
Read Acts 3
Today’s passage takes us to Peter and John healing this man who was crippled from birth, and then his fiery message afterwards.
I am surprised every time I read Acts 3 of how the disciples and others continue to go to worship at the temple. It makes sense that this is where they worship Jesus as he was the fulfillment of Israel’s story and led people to worship the God of Israel. Yet, I think in my head, I always assume there was a nice clean break from Judaism to Christianity. But there wasn’t. Most 1st generation Christians would have called themselves Jews, people faithfully following the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while also worshiping Jesus as the revelation of God’s love in the world, the Word of God made flesh.
The verse I want to highlight as well is verse 6 when the man who is crippled expects Peter and John to give him some money, and Peter says, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” Some of us may have an abundance of money to give, some of us have other gifts and valuable skills to give for God’s kingdom.
But I think the big question we each need to wrestle with is do we have Jesus to give? Is there enough Jesus in us to give and share with others? Even if we are down on our luck, with nothing to our name, do we bear the name of Jesus in our lives that we can still give Jesus to others? What would it look like to you to tell someone, “I don’t have the specific thing you asked for, but I do have Jesus and I’ll give him to you.” What would you give?
Grace and Peace,
Matt
P.S. Let me know if you would like to have the Zoom link sent to you for tomorrow night’s Bible Study at 6:30. I’m looking forward to the ways God is speaking to us through Acts.
Inductive Questions: (These will be included each day and your work on them will be the foundation we build upon at our Wednesday evening in-person and Zoom Bible Study as we explore the church, mission, and Holy Spirit in Acts.)
Pick at least one of these to be a focus for all of Acts, but answer as many of them as you want.
- What does the church look like in Acts? Who is a part of it? What do they do? How is it formed? How does it relate to mission and the Spirit? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the ecclesiology of Acts?
- What does mission look like in Acts? Who does it? What do they do? How does it happen? How does it relate to the church and the Spirit? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the missiology of Acts?
- What does the Holy Spirit look like in Acts? What does the Spirit do? How is the Spirit active? How does it relate to church and mission? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the pneumatology of Acts?
Answer the question with the language of Acts as much as possible and cite the chapter and verse reference in your notes.