Acts chapter number 3, Acts chapter number 3, and we're continuing to look at the life of Peter, and we want to look at a miracle that was done here in Acts chapter 3, really the cripple that was healed. Acts chapter number 3, verse number 1, and we'll take our text there. Acts chapter 3, in verse number 1, the Bible says this. Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon upon him with John said, look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength and he leaping up stood and walked and entered with them into the temple walking and leaping and and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man, which was healed, held Peter and John all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly and wondering. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your goodness to us. I thank you for the opportunity that we have to study your word. And Father, I pray that you would just use me. God, I pray that you would speak through me as we look at the miracle of Peter being healed, or Peter healing this lame man. And God, what a great account of what has taken place. And God, I pray that you would just help us to see all the lessons that can be learned from this passage. And Father, we'll thank you for that. God, I ask all these things in Jesus' precious name, I pray. Amen. As I look at the passage, there's a lot here to look at. We're actually going to look at the entirety of the chapter. The whole thing is really the account and the message that was preached afterwards. But I want to notice just a few things. And John Butler, I get these lessons from him and John Butler, he He had a great devotional thought just even out of the first verse here, and it doesn't really have a lot to do with the lesson, but I wanna look at it nonetheless. It says there in the first verse, now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And he stopped and he wrote this, he said, prayer and service are inseparable. Those who are faithful in prayer will not be without opportunities to serve and serve well. To be faithful in prayer, one will need definite times and places for prayer. Here, it was the hour of prayer at the temple. The times and places may vary with each individual, but unless they are established, one will spend little time in serious prayer and that will hinder one's service." And what a great truth that they had an hour of prayer dedicated at the temple and surely we ought to set aside times in our life to be sure and pray to the Lord because that's true. The old saying, seven days without prayer makes one weak. That's W-E-A-K, weak. Not weak, W-E-E-K. But seven days without prayer makes one weak. And prayer is certainly an important part of the Christian life. And as I said, we're not looking at prayer this morning. We're looking at this miracle that that Peter did, but it is interesting to note that as he was going to prayer, this is when he had an opportunity for service to the Lord. And so, I want to notice the miracle that was done in verses 1 through 10. That's the first part of this lesson is the miracle. You'll notice I only have two points for the lesson, and I'm generally a three-point kind of person, but we have like 15 sub-points, so I think we'll be okay and we'll be lucky to get through it all, to be honest with you. But we have the miracle that was done. And I want you to notice, and I mentioned this last week and it's worth repeating, that in the beginning of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, and I remind you that that's the title because really it is a historical book. It's a history book. telling us what the apostles have done and what has been done and the beginning of a church. It's a wonderful book to go back and study and analyze the records of what took place and how they did things. And we understand that. And I want to state this, that signs were done to substantiate the work of God in the Old Testament. You go back to the Old Testament and you see miracles that God gave to the nation of Israel. Remember too, they didn't have the completed Word of God. All they had was a God that they could not see and prophets that would tell them, thus saith the Lord. And so God substantiated those prophets many times with miracles. Not all of them were performed miracles. But God allowed the nation of Israel to realize and understand, hey, He is a true God, a real God, and though He cannot be seen, He is very powerful. And those miracles established that in the Old Testament. When Jesus walks across the pages of the New Testament, God also substantiated the work of Jesus Christ with miracles. You go back and read the gospel accounts, and you'll find that he healed the lame man, that he healed the deaf man, he healed the blind man, he healed many people, and it was to signify that he was from God. In the beginning of the book of Acts, Jesus has now ascended up into heaven and he gave them the promise that the Holy Spirit would come. And we talked about this last week. And and God, through the the Holy Spirit, substantiates the work of the Holy Spirit again through these miracles. And you'll find as you read the book of Acts, it starts off with miracles. We find we're in chapter three. And we find our first miracle. Well, not our first, you go back to chapter two and you'll find the miracle of them speaking and every man hearing in their own language. That was a miracle done by God. And God was substantiating the work of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the apostles throughout, especially throughout the first part of the book of Acts. But as you read the book of Acts, you'll find that there's less and less miracles that take place. God chose to substantiate them through the very beginning, and then towards the end, not so much. But I'll tell you this, well, what do we have? We have a whole lot more than they had. We have a completed Word of God. That cannot be said for the Apostles. That cannot be said for the Apostle Peter. When he was there, he did not have the completed Word of God. And even in the Old Testament, they did not have the completed Word of God. And so we have the completed Word of God, and we are not in need of those miracles to substantiate the work of God. And I won't say that God doesn't move and work, because He does. But he doesn't work like he did in great shows of miracles as he did in those times. But God certainly does heal people, and you can find testimonies of people even today that say, man, my church prayed for me, and the doctors are all amazed, and they don't know what happened, but I know what happened. God took care of it. And again, oftentimes it's not a huge show. And I have to say that because, boy, our world has been carried away. Let me rephrase that. The religious world has been carried away many times with these great signs and wonders. And many times it's all about promoting a man and it's all about promoting a ministry, but it's nothing about promoting God. And so God does not always work through all those ways that he did in the past. And you'll find in the book of Acts that they did fade out. They were far and far or fewer or more time passed between miracles. And eventually there really wasn't many to speak of. And so I just want to mention that as we look into the miracle here that took place. I want you to notice the condition of this man. This man was unable to walk. The Bible says there in verse number two that a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried. And so this guy did not just have a bum leg. He was not somebody that would stumble or walk slowly. He physically could not walk. And they had to carry him everywhere that he went. And boy, what a what a what a What a tough position to be in and have to be carried and be dependent upon those people to take him to this place and that place. And it would have been difficulty. And you say, well, couldn't they have had wheelchairs? Well, they may have had wheelchairs. I'm not going to say they didn't. I mean, they had chariots. They had other things with round wheels. But think of this, their roads weren't asphalt and cement like we have. And I don't know if you've ever tried a wheelchair, but they don't go very well through gravel, and they don't go very well through dirt roads, and they don't go very well through grass and obstacles that are out there. And so this man had to be carried everywhere, and he was dependent upon other people. And listen, you think about that, and really that parallels to sinners not being able to walk in God's way. The reality is, listen, lost people, don't get upset when you see lost people and they look like lost people. Don't get upset when you see the world and they're living like the world. They're not able to live after God's commandment and God's law. They're not saved. By the way, we couldn't either. without God's help. We depend upon God to help us to walk and live in the way of God. And so this man could not walk. He couldn't go anywhere by himself. And he had been that way for a long time. Isn't it interesting? The Bible says in verse number two, and a certain man lame from his mother's womb. In other words, he was born this way. He had this problem his whole life. Boy, that kind of parallels with sin as well, because we're all born with a sin nature. And from the very moment that we're born, we're born with that selfish mindset. You don't believe me? You can go work in the nursery. All right, and you'll find out that... I found out that my sweet little angelic granddaughter in the nursery, yes, that sweet little thing, she just gets toys and she goes off by herself and she plays. And she's pretty good about letting people play with the other stuff, but if one of those kids comes and tries to get one of her toys, buddy, you better put them up because she's gonna start swinging. I mean, that's not good. Why is that? It's that selfish nature that every child's born with. Every person has that. And it's a sin nature, and this man was from his mother's womb, just happened to be paralyzed and have this difficulty. And listen, we can see that very clearly. Matter of fact, the Bible says, you don't have to turn there, but in Acts chapter 4 and verse number 22, the Bible says, for the man was above 40 years old. So he had been that way a long time, his whole life from his mother's womb up until 40 years old, actually above 40 years old, that he had never walked anywhere. And and we know his condition and how it does parallel with that of a sinner many times. And we can see that. But I want you to notice as well the cure in verse number six. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none. Let me just stop right here and mention the silver because that didn't heal this man. This man was sitting outside of the temple and he was asking for money. The idea of begging for alms is that people would give him money and they would help him out. And he would sit there and put out his little tin can or his whatever it would be that he would have, and he was waiting for people to give to him. Most people in the world today think that money is going to solve all their problems. I mean, that's a predominant philosophy in the world. It's a predominant philosophy in our government. It's a predominant philosophy in our state. It's a predominant philosophy everywhere. They're like, well, you know, if you have an education problem, you know what you do? Just throw money at it. If you have a a crime problem, I'll just throw money at it. We need to give more money We got to get we got to spend more listen money does not solve all our problems And it money could not solve this man's problem, and I realized you know he he was trying to have something so that he could Take care of himself. We understand that we see that but here this man was was asking for money And I love the fact that Peter says silver and gold have I not? But such have I, give I unto thee, but such as I have, give I thee. What a great statement. And I can't tell you, oftentimes, boy, we get people who call the church or come by the church and they're looking for literally a handout. That's what they want. And that happens on a regular basis. And I've settled into a nice routine. When I ask them, I say, hey, where do you go to church? You know what? They always respond. I've yet to have somebody say, well, I attend this church. You know what they tell me? I don't go to church. And I stopped him right there, I said, listen, you need to get into a church. I said, because people that will know you are more likely to help you. And besides that, you have a spiritual need, not a physical need. You know how much salvation solves of the world's problems? If people would get saved, listen, if they would put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, those who just follow the Bible and live after God's law, I'm not saying we're perfect. We're not. But we're far less likely to have all the problems that the world has. We're far less likely to come up in all the difficulties that the world has. And this man was there and he was looking for silver. But Peter addressed that immediately and said, silver and gold have I none. He was probably a good Baptist boy right there. He said, I don't have any money. Look at me. And we find here that in verse number six, he said not only that he didn't have silver, but he named the source of the solution. Look at what he says. He says, but such as such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And Peter said, listen, I'm not the answer to your problems. John, that's with me, is not the answer to your problems. You know who is the answer to your problems? It is Jesus Christ. And he named the source of the power. And listen, what a great miracle that was done as this man was healed. Notice in verse number seven, we notice the speed of the cure. He says in verse number seven, and he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and notice this and. Immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. Isn't it funny? I've had quite I've had some run ins here or there with with these healer, these healing people. And, um, I remember being in Peru, and we worked at a deaf ministry, and so the deaf ministry was a deaf children's home, deaf school, deaf church, and so it was very involved. And I remember, man, this big healing thing came to Lima, Peru, where we were working. And our deaf, man, the deaf started chattering. Boy, not chattering as in talking, but they were, They were signing. I mean, they were, they were all about this. They said, man, we got, they, they were, they were going, um, I mean, they were like, man, we, we might be able to be made to hear. And, and I told our deaf people, I said, if, if one person goes and, and comes out hearing, we'll close our ministry down and send all the people over there. But you know what happened? None of them came back hearing. They have all these healings, and I've talked to people, I've been around them, and I know what takes place. One guy, he said he had back issues, and it was a different circumstance. They end up at this healing meeting, and they threw him on the ground three times, and he got tired of being thrown down, and he said, yeah, I'm healed. You put your hands on me again, you're gonna need a healer. I mean, you know, you don't see people that are lame coming out walking. You don't see people that are blind coming out seeing. You don't see people, they're not as genuine as the miracles that take place in the Bible. The miracles that take place in the Bible are God's miracles. And it's very clear that God did this. Immediately the Bible says, It is the speed of this miracle. It was not something that was delayed. His feet and his ankles, for 40 years this man had not walked anywhere. And that day he stood up on his feet. We read it in the text and he was what? Man, he was, woo! He was leaping and he was running and he was, man, his feet had been healed. And how many people have struggled? I had an injury one time and I was laid up and you know what? I did not immediately start running. And when I could move my feet, you know what happened? I had to go to therapy. I was a teenager. I had to go to therapy because I couldn't hardly bend my knee. Why? Because it had been kept straight for so long and I couldn't bend it. And I had to, man, they forced me to bend it further than I want. I promise you, I was not leaping and running. All right. It hurt and I didn't enjoy it. And you've been there and you know what that's like. That makes this miracle A miracle. Because listen, this man didn't need therapy. This man didn't need to reform. This man immediately, the Bible says, that his life and his feet were healed and changed that day. And listen, boy, what a parallel to the life of a Christian. The Bible says that all things become new when we get saved. Hey, listen, God changes lives. And he doesn't make mistakes. And we see this man's cure was we see that silver was not the answer. We see the source was Christ. We see the speed was immediately. And then notice in verse number eight, we see the sufficiency. He says there in verse number eight. And he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. Boy, what a sufficient healing that this man immediately was able to leap, was able to walk, was able to do everything without therapy, without learning, without relearning how to use those muscles. God had had given him everything that he needed. And it was truly a cure. We see the condition. We see the cure. Notice with me the confirmation. Verse number eight. And he leaping up, stood and walked. and entered with them into the temple. Listen, he was walking. Hey, listen, somebody who gets saved, somebody whose life is touched by God ought to have something to show for that that says, oh, they did get saved. I'm not a fan of people who get saved and nothing changes. They don't come to church. They don't have any desire to read their Bible. They don't have any desire to be in church. They don't have any desire. There's no change there now. I can't I can't see their soul. I don't know the true decision that was made. But I tell you what, I do like it when I see, oh, them leaping up. and them walking and their life is different. Not that it's going to be perfect. This guy, maybe he was clumsy. Maybe he fell as he was learning. Maybe he had to watch out where he was going. He probably never, he never had to do that before. And so maybe he did stumble. Maybe he did fall here or there. We don't see that immediately in the text. But, you know, the next weeks and months as he was like, man, I got this new ability to walk and and all of that. But I'm just saying that, listen, when somebody gets saved, when their life is changed, hey, there ought to be a change that takes place. There ought to be something that we can see. And again, I'm not expecting perfection. But I think there ought to be some kind of evidence of their salvation. And this man, there was very clear walking. He was different, but not just his walk. I want you to notice in the end of verse number eight, the Bible says, and praising God. Boy, he was glad about the change that took place, and he was not about to be silenced. He wanted people to know, I have been healed, and I thank the Lord for the change that he made in my life, and for how he has fixed my life, and he wanted to let people know, and there was a change that was made. This man praised God. We're noticing the confirmations in his life of this healing and the miracle that was done. And there's a lot of parallels of that and salvation. And I'm just saying that we can see some of those things. And we notice that this truly was a miracle that was done. by God. Look with me now in the second half of the text in verses 11 down through 26. We'll not read it all for time's sake. We'll read it as we go. But I want you to notice the second thing. The first thing is the miracle. The second thing is the message that was preached. And I love the fact that Peter doesn't miss a beat. Peter takes full advantage of the opportunity to preach the gospel to those that had gathered around. Look with me again in verse number 11 as we see what takes place. And as the lame man, which was healed, held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. I mean, could you imagine the chatter that would take place? The the the. Here's this man, he's on the porch, he's begging. And all of a sudden, Peter, just spontaneously, I think of the Lord, obviously looks at this man and says, hey, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And this man was healed in that moment. And maybe Peter was surprised. I think probably if I were there, I probably would have been surprised. I would have been like, What just happened? Like here's Peter and he's contemplating. And then all there were people that were coming in and they look and they see this man that is laid by the temple gate probably for years. They probably knew him by name and they would see it. And here he is for the first time that they had ever in their entire life saw this man standing up. And they're like, what? let's just call him James, I don't have no idea what his name was, but James is standing, and the whisper would go through the crowd, and James is standing, James has been healed, James the beggar, he was the guy that was always at the gate, laying down and asking for alms, he's out there standing up, a miracle has just taken place, and as it would spread through the audience, boy, even the people that were going in, they started turning around and coming back out, and when people inside saw people walking out, They're like, hey, something's going on, you know? Whenever a crowd gathers, just people start to flood and go to the same direction. They're like, well, I wanna see what's going on, you know? And so they're all flooding out there. And before you know it, there is a gathering of people that are around Peter and John and whatever this fellow's name was that was healed. I doubt his name was James, but they were there. And notice with me verse number 12. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness, we had made this man to walk? Peter instantly says, listen, this is not me. This was not my power. This was not my strength. And Peter is instantly saying, hey, hey, this was not by my ability. And Peter noticed that all eyes were fixed on him. I mean, here, I'm just kind of imagining Peter and this healed man and John right there beside him and they're just three standing there and probably their mouths were gaped open. And then Peter looks up and realizes, man, I got a whole crowd gathered around me. He said, it wasn't by my power. I don't have this ability. I don't have this strength. But what he does is he gives God the glory. Look with me in verse number 13. He says in verse 12, he says it wasn't me. It was by God in verse 13. The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. You'll notice in verse number 13, he was glorifying Jesus Christ. This miracle was accomplished, how? In the name of Jesus Christ. It wasn't Peter saying, hey, I command you to stand up. No, it was in the name of Jesus Christ, the son of Nazareth stand. And and this man was healed. And so Peter instantly says, hey, listen, this was this was God through Jesus Christ healed this man. And he starts to be glorified Jesus Christ to this crowd. And notice he points out the rejection of this crowd of Jesus Christ. He says there in verse number 13, he says, whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. Where was Peter going? He was going into the temple. He was not going into the church where the disciples and believers were gathered. He was going into the Jewish temple where they were gathered to pray. Who was it that had delivered Jesus up to Pilate and to the Roman government anyways? It was the Jewish religious leaders. And so he's going back into the temple at the hour of prayer to pray, and Peter is bold to point out that, listen, he said, ye delivered him up. Peter is not there for a political, well, let me see how many friends I can make. That becomes very clear in verse number 13. He says, ye delivered up and denied him. And listen, Peter was direct in his preaching and many preachers, boy, especially today online and on TV, you know what? Many preachers do not address sin at all. There's a lot of preachers out there and you know what they'll do, man, they will tickle your ears and put butterflies in your stomach. And when you're all done listening to them, you will feel really good. But your life's not been changed. And Peter was not afraid to point out their sin. Was bold in declaring, listen, you were the ones that delivered Jesus Christ up. And you were the ones that denied Jesus Christ. And truly, they were the ones that had delivered Jesus to be crucified. And then they did deny him. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 27 and verse 22, you can note it down, Matthew 27, 22, when Jesus was there before Pilate, Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? Pilate's asking the crowd, who was there? All the Jews, because they were the ones that had delivered up Jesus. They consisted of the great crowd that was there. And Pilate's asking them, What shall I do with this Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why? What evil hath he done? But they cried out the more saying, let him be crucified. Pilate was outnumbered. This Jewish population that was there at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ were clamoring for Jesus Christ to be crucified. Pilate said, what shall I do with Jesus? In other words, I've got this guy, I'm proposed to let him go. He had just said, I find no fault in this man. He hasn't done anything wrong. And he's trying to let them go. And the people are crying out, crucify him, crucify him. And finally, Peter, or Pilate caves to the crowd that is there. And Peter is directly pointing out, hey, listen, you're the ones that bear the iniquity. because you're the ones that were there crying out to crucify Jesus Christ. He was offered to be released several times. He was offered to let go, but you absolutely denied him the privilege of being released. and forced him to be crucified. And we find that the people there, the Jewish people as a whole, had rejected Jesus Christ. And Peter points that out to them. But notice the story does not end with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Look with me in verse number Well, we didn't read verse 14. Go with me in verse 14. But ye denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. Well, we could go down that road with Barabbas, but we'll not go there this morning. But look with me in verse number 15. and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." Not only did he talk about the rejection of Christ and the glory of Christ, but he talked about the resurrection of Christ. Listen, next week we celebrate Easter. And you know what we celebrate? We don't celebrate the death of Jesus Christ. We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why? Because Man die all the time. That's really not. celebratory. Now Jesus' death was definitely something spectacular because he didn't deserve death. He did not sin and he should not have died per se. But he took our sins upon himself and he went to the cross willingly and gave up his life so that you and I could be saved. But that's not the end of the story because he rose again from the dead. And Peter brings that out and he says, listen, he said, Him that God hath raised from the dead. And really, he shows the power of God, and the fact that God was behind the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it was God that raised up Jesus from the dead. Not just that, but the proof, he says there at the end of verse number 15, he says, whereof we are witnesses. Not just Peter and John, But Jerusalem, you don't think that story went through? I love the end of, I think it's the gospel of Matthew, if I'm not mistaking, where it says the guards that passed out when the angel appeared and that earthquake and the bright light took place at the tomb of Jesus Christ, they were gone. They got up and man, they went to their superiors and they said, listen, just tell everyone that the disciples came and stole his body. And if this news comes to the governor, we'll pay him off so that he won't pay no mind to it. They were in fear for their life. They should have died because they lost Jesus. They were supposed to guard that tomb and they failed in their mission. And so instead there was a great scam and a coverup that said, hey, let's just cover this all up. And the reality is it was known throughout all Jerusalem. Oh, that was just... There was a government conspiracy theory. There you go, right there in the Bible. It really was. I mean, they tried to cover it up. They don't want people knowing that Jesus rose from the dead, but they were witnesses. These people knew the truth, that Jesus truly had risen from the dead. Notice the believing of Christ in verse number 16. And His name through faith, whose name? Jesus Christ. And His name through faith and in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know, yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And Peter very clearly attributes that miracle and that changed life that took place to the faith of Jesus Christ, because he believed in Jesus Christ. And and we see that very clearly. Look with me in verse number 17. we see the ignorance. And now, brethren, I want not, through ignorance, ye did it, as did also your rulers." In other words, hey, I don't want you just to be ignorant of this faith. I don't want you to just think, well, man, those things have all passed, and there's nothing that we can go back. He says, I don't want you to be ignorant. But notice the fulfillment of Christ in verse 18. But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Boy, he said all the scripture that you study, all the Old Testament passages, every one of them were fulfilled in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And he made it clear to them in verse number number 19 through 20 he talks about repenting about Christ. He says in verse 19, repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. And he's saying, listen, they had to repent. Repentance is simply turning from their sin. They can't clean it up. They can't stop sinning. They can't fix their life. But turning from their trust in a dead religion and their sin of rejecting Jesus as the Messiah and saying, you know what? We're turning from this to Jesus Christ. and we're asking Him to save us. And they needed to recognize that that sin of unbelief was condemning for them. The Bible says in John chapter three in verse number 18, it says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And the reality is those who do not put their faith and their trust in Jesus Christ are condemned. That's why we have Missions Month. That's why we think it's so important to give financially to our missionaries that are going around the world. What are they doing? They're not just down there digging wells or helping set up medical clinics or helping education or teaching them how to live better. You know what they're doing? They're preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the word of God and Jesus Christ that will change lives. And the reality is the population of the world by and large is condemned because they don't know who Jesus Christ is. And they've not put their faith and trust in him. And he's saying they need to repent and turn to Jesus. And there's this word and be converted. I like that word. The word converted means to be turned or changed in character. You know who does that? It's not man. It's God. And when you turn to Jesus. And you ask him, you call upon him, as the Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. God converts our life and changes us. This man was not converted in his own strength. This man was not healed in his own strength. If he could have been healed in his own strength, trust me, I think he would have done it before he hit some 40 years old, but it wasn't possible. but Jesus came by and touched that man. And that man was made whole. And the reality is that, listen, the world needs Jesus Christ to be converted. The testimony about Christ. Look with me in verse 22 and 23. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me. Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. He goes on and he talks about the prophet. Listen, he took him to the Word of God and says, look, Jesus was foretold that he would come and that he would be a prophet and the greatest prophet who ever came. Look with me in verses 25 and 26. We see the the blessings in Christ. The Bible says. Ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed, unto you first. God, having raised up his son, Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. And he's saying, listen, there's a great blessing in Christ and that first God went to the Jews and truly he did. He walked and lived in Jerusalem. He preached in in in all of Israel and his disciples preached there. And there was a blessing so that they could turn from their old, dead, stale religion to Jesus Christ who could change their life. And there's a great blessing in putting their faith in Jesus Christ. And he did not want them to miss that. The Bible says in John 3, 17, it says, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world. God wasn't trying to condemn the world by sending Jesus Christ. The second half of that verse goes on and says, but that the world through him, might be saved. And the reality is he came to save the world. He came to save sinners. He came to offer himself on the cross of Calvary to die there, to raise again from the dead. Why? So that he took our sins upon himself. And if we put our faith and trust in him, he will save us. What a blessing that we can be blessed with salvation. So we stand to our feet with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. Father, I thank you for your word. And God, I thank you for the miracle. What a parallel of sin and of the sinner's life and the salvation that you offer. But God, the message that Peter preached was spot on. The message of the Savior, the denial, the rejection of Jesus Christ, and how he pointed that out to them so clearly. And that God, they needed to turn from that opinion and place their faith and their trust in Jesus Christ and him alone for salvation. God, what a clear message. I pray, Father, that you would speak to hearts as only you can. Father, we'll thank you for that. God, I ask all these things in Jesus' precious name, I pray. Amen.