A Lame Man Healed Without Money
Acts 3: 1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;
3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.
4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us."
5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
6 Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them --- walking, leaping, and praising God.
9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him
It often goes missing to notice that whenever and wherever we do ministry, we turn that location into a place of worship. This is what Jesus is trying to explain in His conversation with the Woman at the Well. He redefined how and where worship can take place. He said, “Woman believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in Spirit and truth” (Jn. 4: 21 – 24).
Jesus is re-defining when and where worship will take place in the future. It can happen only with people who have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Truth Who is Jesus. The location for worship is anyplace where we do the ministry of the Holy Spirit with the “signs following” (Mk. 16: 17 – 18) and/or the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 12: 6 – 8; 1 Cor. 12: 8 – 10). This means that there is not “permanent place of worship” unless those involved have received Salvation and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. But, whenever people get together who have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit worship can happen there and is supposed to happen.
That’s also the reason why we are told, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, an all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10: 25). So, where ever Baptized in the Spirit Christians do ministry, we turn the place into worship.
God doesn’t need money but He also requires that we give offerings and alms to help do His ministry. Many people think that because Peter and John had no money to give to the lame man that they don’t have to help others financially when we have money. Peter and John were what we call “broke”meaning they had no money to give. But, what they gave the lame man was healing and an introduction to their God, Jesus, who looked after their needs (Philip. 4: 19) and Who will look after the healed lame man. So, when we have money to help people, we are obligated by Jesus to help them with salvation, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, healing, deliverance and/or money.
Yes, God doesn’t need money in some circumstances BUT in other circumstances He requires money. The disciples turned the Beautiful Gate into a place of worship. The only people who didn’t like it were the members of the Sanhedrin because they, themselves didn’t do it and the healing was not done in the authorized place of worship. We get the same criticism today with our House Churches by the modern day Sanhedrins.
WALTER KAMBULOW
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WALT KAM
Gordon
Williams http://gordwilliams.com/
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