Acts 9:32-35 Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Today, Pastor Willie Nolte continued in our Sunday sermon series through the book of Acts. In the passages preached upon this morning, he stated that the central message was that God’s plan and desire is to work obviously, powerfully and even miraculously in the church. In the name and power of Jesus, God definitively works to meet our challenges, desires, needs and problems in life.
The perpetual Fall of mankind into sin creates opportunities for God in His overarching plan of redemption, restoration, reconciliation and salvation to show up in clear and evident ways. Not only is His work a benefit to us individually, but also to the entire body of Christ in the universal Church. Jesus Christ heals the paralyzed, whether physically, soulfully or spiritually, which creates opportunities for you and I to work and bless others.
The Apostle Paul proclaims in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. And asserts in Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Keep on working daily in that which God calls you to do.
We are not sponges that only soak up all the knowledge and good that the world has to offer, but are to be also squeezed to pour out that knowledge and good in order to benefit our fellow man. We are to receive and give, love and serve, always giving the credit to the Lord behind the power. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” This pouring out affords the opportunities for others to be drawn to faith in Jesus.
Your story is important in the witness of what God has done in past, is doing now and is going to do in the future for you. But equally, it’s about what God does with your story, so go tells others. It is an opportunity to bring glory to God. God is in the business of showing up. He wants us to be free, with liberty and justice for all. Ephesians 3:21 declares, “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
In Christ, Brian
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