Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• Example from the Hymn: "How sweet the name"
• Acts 3: a time of spiritual harvest
• Peter called the Gentiles to turn away from their iniquities
• 4:4 - about 5'000 men were converted
• Example of Stuart Dainty
• There are times of great harvest in the history of the Church
• We are living in days of difficulty - with few conversions
• Some churches during certain periods know great blessings
• Generally we are seeing little fruit
• We must remind ourselves that God is blessing in many others parts of the world
• Example of UK vs Brazil
• God is at work
• We remind ourselves we are never to despise the day of small things
• We remind ourselves that after times of sowing comes times of reaping
• Looking at how the blessing of God had come - the means that God used

Blessings come when God's people walk in the Spirit

• Two men - Peter & John
• Walking in the Spirit
• Initially blessed one man before blessing many others
• They must have preached a lot
• Peter - spontaneous, impetuous, denied Jesus, but chosen by God to lead the church
• John - the son of thunder, now the disciple of love
• Friends
• Preaching in the temple
• Going up to prayer at 3pm
• Keeping the Jewish customs
• Not only where they preachers, they were prayers
• Encounter a beggar at the Beautiful gate
• They were not so focused on the prayer meeting that they forgot everything around them
• They were aware of other people's needs
• Those who honour God and walk in the Spirit - have time for people
• We can be more work orientated than people orientated
• Example of Jesus and Jairus & the bleeding woman, the woman at the well, Nicodemus
• We must be mindful of distractions
• Their actions
• They have no money
• They perform a miracle
• How can Peter heal the beggar?
• Did he believe Jesus' words of the power of prayer?
• Did he see the man's faith to be healed?
• Was he constrained by the Holy Spirit?
• Peter is asking in faith (v6)
• The healing is a creation miracle - explanation
• Spurgeon - Peter helped him in his weakness in faith
• How do we apply this?
• There are people struggling around us
• We need to be in the Spirit and know how to help
• We can pray and give encouragement
• We may be able to help those in debt
• We need to point people to the Lord Jesus
• Blessings come when God's people walk in the Spirit

Blessings come from the name of Jesus

• v16
• Faith in the name of Christ
• Who had faith: Peter & John, the lame man?
• Surely all three
• Without faith it is impossible to please God
• We must not diminish the importance of faith
• Christ could do no miracles where there was unbelief and doubt
• The object of faith matters - we must exercise faith
• May we be people of faith

Blessings come through God given opportunities

• Peter & John could never have planned this
• This lame man is filled with joy - he is leaping and shouting for joy
• The people around cannot doubt this miracle
• Because of his healing a great crowd gathers (v11)
• One act can be a doorway to others - a chain of events
• We must pray Lord open doors
• We also need to be in the way of blessing and be obedient to God

Blessings come through the preaching of Jesus Christ

• Above all - the blessing came through the preaching of Jesus Christ
• Peter does not focus on the miracle
• He explains it - but his whole focus is on the person of Christ
• His preaching:
• Their guilt
• The work of the cross
• Call to repentance
• Calling for an immediate response
• Peter deflected attention away from himself - he pointed to Jesus
• Bold preaching
• He preached boldly before the Sanhedrin
• So boldly that he is put in prison
• Peter spoke true facts
• God honoured Peter's bold preaching
• Conviction comes to this people
• Promises in preaching
• Blessing in Jesus Christ
• The forgiveness of sin
• A call to turn away from sin and iniquity
• Many believe when Peter preaches
• 5'000 men

Concluding Remarks

• We must take courage that what God has done in the past, He is able to do today
• Maybe we need to look at ourselves
• We know there are times of judgment and blessing
• Blessings come in times of real repentance