Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 77
3:1-23
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Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three
o’clock prayer service. As they approached the Temple, a man lame from
birth was being carried in. Each day he was put beside the Temple gate,
the one called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going
into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked
them for some money.
Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!” The
lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said,
“I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the
name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”
Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And
as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking,
leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them.
All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God. When
they realized he was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the Beautiful Gate, they were absolutely astounded! They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon’s Colonnade, where the man was holding tightly to Peter
and John.
Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. “People of Israel,”
he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though
we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? For it is the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who
has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus
whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision
to release him. You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded
the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him
from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!
“Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed—and you
know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him
before your very eyes.
“Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done
in ignorance. But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold
about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things. Now repent of your
sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of
refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again
send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven
until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long
ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise
up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’ Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not
listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from God’s people.’
