Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 3:1-10 (August 18, 2025)

August 18, 2025:  Monday Bible Study on Acts 3:1-10

Good Monday morning dear friends in Christ.

If your house is like ours, that means that you also got no real rain over the weekend. However, the church building was hit with a microburst with downpour rain, and 70 - 80 MPH winds. We had some damage, but considering the strength of that storm, we faired pretty well. My personal thanks to Robert and his nephews, Barney and Glenn. They worked to mop up and take care of minor repairs, including the church roof which came up on the east side of the Sanctuary. It lifted just a bit, and Robert was able to get it reattached. That was just one corner. Let's give thanks to God for the minor damage to our church building and pray for people who had much more damage in the neighborhood. I have my new phone now, but it’s taking some time to get used to it. I can get calls and messages now, but the changed formats mean it’s hard to find some things as easily as the phone that quit last week. In our city it is a time of great change once again as U of A students start their move-in this week. Our family van will be taking Logan Burt’s move-in items to Flagstaff where he is enrolled in NAU for the fall semester. That drive up will be Wednesday afternoon, with our return during the nighttime hours to Tucson. I am Praying for The LORD'S Speed in our travels this Wednesday, and for Logan's getting settled in easily as he gets ready for classes to start. In our reading for today from Acts 3:1-10, there is another who is moving too, but in quite a different way. This time it will be a move from infirmity to mobility and great joy.

In previous weeks we have talked about the kinds of messages which the disciples will bring to the people as the new church begins to take shape. In today's reading we discover that the leaders of the new Christians are still attending the temple in Jerusalem for prayer every afternoon. Considering how threatened the temple authorities were by Jesus when He was there, it is really a wonder that his followers are still allowed to enter the temple in any way! In the Jewish faith in Jerusalem there were three times each day when the "rules" called for prayer. It could be offered anywhere at 9AM, or Noon, or 3PM, but for the faithful Jew it was always a double blessing if those prayers were offered at the temple during those times. So here are Peter and John coming to the temple for prayer, which I am confident they had watched Jesus do frequently when He was in Jerusalem, and I am certain that they had been with Him, or close enough to know what was happening.  So, Peter and John were still holding to their training in the Jewish faith, and yet, it does seem clear that they also knew that for their mission to be a success there would need to be a lasting connection between their Jesus cult and the traditions of the people in the temple practices.  But now there is something new. It is not the words of Peter's and John's speaking that will move people on this day! We will see Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate to the temple, entering for prayer, but there is a man at the gate who begs for money every day, brought by his friends and set in that place, and it is here that the disciples take that next step in proclaiming the Gospel Truth of the Living Christ.  With no money to give, probably a sign of things to come for the disciples in their mission to the Jews, Peter chose to act to bring healing to this man with the very same confidence that was Christ's. He spoke words in the Name of Jesus, that this man should walk, and he did! Not only is the man at the Beautiful Gate healed, but he also enters the temple filled with joy and excitement, walking and leaping like a young boy. His joy and excitement are all that is needed for the people to know that something extraordinary has taken place, and they have been, and are, close to it. Like us, they too, are all curious about what must have happened, after all, they have seen this man's physical challenges every day as they went to prayer, buy they were not expecting the miracle of God's answer to prayer to be amid their prayers that afternoon.  In this text we see the power of Peter's and John's faith in Jesus Christ. They have come to know that this is their power too, and in our reading for today they have used it. There is no doubt that there will be questions, people are shocked to see such a thing. They will come to Peter seeking answers about this. And Peter is prepared to offer answers to all these questions. That will be our reading for tomorrow. I wonder how Peter will handle it. Will he address the crowds with the compassion and gentleness as Jesus did? We will see. I can tell you that many years ago a very spiritual individual, one who was able to sense the Spirit's presence in others, came to me, telling me that I have the gift of healing. In only one instance did I see it take place. I was in a hospital in Ann Arbor, and as I passed a room, a woman suffering with brain cancer lay in her hospital bed with her entire head like it was on fire. She was literally burning up which I assumed was from her radiation treatments. I stepped into the room where the family was gathered around her and asked if they would like a laying on of hands and prayer for this woman. They invited me to do what I had suggested. I moved around to the head of the bed, laid my hands on her head, and prayed while closing my eyes. When I stopped praying and took my hands from her head, there was normal skin tone all over her head. Before I left the room to continue to my other calls at that hospital, the fire red had returned, but for those few moments God gave her relief in her struggle. I have never had another such experience, but I do know that very same healing is present in my preaching too. It is by God's grace that I have shared His gift in my life of exhortation and preaching. I will tell you, that is not where I thought my greatest gifts would be, but I know today, what Peter knew 2000 years ago, it is the Spirit's present gift of Christ in our lives, that makes it possible to move beyond ourselves, and to reach out with the words of faith in Christ which calls us all to be His Living Presence today for all people!

Please be reminded that if you are doing the Psalm study with me on Thursday, there will not be one this week. I will be on the road until 2AM on Thursday morning coming back from a late move-in into the dorms at NAU. So, I hope to be resting on Thursday morning.

With Love in Christ Jesus our LORD, Pastor Kim