Peter and John were simply doing their usual thing and going up to the temple to pray around 3 in the afternoon when the two of them witnessed a man lame from birth being placed at the gate called Beautiful to beg.
On this particular occasion it must have registered in Peters spirit that the Holy Ghost wanted to do something. I say this because the lame man is no stranger to the people who go up to the temple. All know his story and are familiar with his suffering in life. He is there to beg regularly. So we can assume Peter and John would know something of this man as well seeing they are not strangers to the temple either.
But on this day, Peter decides to do something. He approaches the man and stretches forth his hand with a simple statement. I have no silver or gold but what I do have I give to you.
What did Peter possess?
He was a possessor of the Kingdom he had Christ living on the inside, he was full of the Holy Ghost. Everything that defies the status of a broken fallen world was residing in Peter and John. It resides as well in us.
What I have I give to you! Where did learn such an extravagant generosity that sets no prerequisites on what a man must do to receive?
Maybe it is revealed in the name he spoke when he told the man to rise up and walk. Peter had witnessed extravagant love unbound, untainted, pure and unsullied expressed through Jesus. He had witnessed the free will offering of Christ, he had seen the generosity and willingness of a savior who would not only do good for those who were seeking help, He would even lay down His life for those who were to be called His own.
At one point in Peters life he had denied, ran away and hid himself, and eventually came out of hiding to go fishing.
Like the rest of us he struggled with his faith and he struggled between what his mind wished to analyze and what his heart desired to believe. Reconciling the two would be a journey for Peter just as it was for all the others who followed Christ and will be for us.
But by this time in Peters life he and the others had at least come to terms on some simple realities.
1) Christ was alive because they had seen Him after he had raised from the dead.
2) The kingdom of God was to go forth in the earth conquering the hearts of men and women everywhere according to God’s will and power at work in them through the gospel.
3) They were commissioned to speak this good news wherever they found themselves.
These three basic realities fueled a fresh motivation in their hearts that stirred their prayers and moved them to action each day they went about their usual business.
About The Author
- Tim Atchley
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.
