We now worship God through receiving with faith the preaching of his word. Open with me in Acts chapter 3, verses 1 to 11. Acts chapter 3, verses 1 to 11, after which we will open our Trinity Psalter hymnal. And Lord's Day 10, question and answer 27. Acts chapter 3, verses 1 Let me just read up until verse 10. Here now the reading of God's holy word. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, Look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Open with me in Lord's Day 10. The back of your Trinity Psalter, hymnal. Page 876. Question and answer 27. I will ask the question and we will all recite the answer. Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 10, question 27. What do you understand by the providence of God? Answer? Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God, by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things, in fact, come to us not by chance, but by His fatherly hand. Join me in prayer. Our gracious God and loving Heavenly Father, as we open your holy word tonight, again, Lord, we ask that what we know not teach us, what we have not give us, and what we are not make us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. The title of our sermon this evening is A Beautiful Providence. Let me start with a story. I did my summer internship last summer in Pella, and I received a gift after that internship, the most beautiful quilt from a sweet Dutch widow from Pella. Her name's Donna, Donna Fineart. There are hundreds of Finearts in Pella. But imagine a hand-sewn quilt. Right from the front, you see beautiful patterns and colors, each stitch in its place, forming a masterpiece. But if you flip it over, if you look at the inside, it's a mess of tangled threads and knots. It seems chaotic, yet every stitch, even the messy ones, plays a part in the beauty on the front. And this is how God works in our lives, brothers and sisters in Christ. We often see the confusion and pain, and His sovereignty sees the full picture. God sees the full picture, that He is weaving every part of our lives, both good and bad, into something beautiful. And as we turn to our Bible story today, I want you to see your story in the light of God's grand narrative and reflect on how your journey weaves into the stories of others around you and as well as this church. I've invited tonight two of our international students from Mars. from India and Malaysia. They have their own stories of God's providential care, how they came here, and I will share mine later. You have to invite them next year for you to hear their stories. But we see here that God is always working, and he promises that everything he does will work together for the good of those who love him. And we have to remember God is always at work. in you, through you, for his glory and for your good. And this evening, we will look at two layers of our story. The first one is a beautiful miracle, and the second one is a purposeful providence. Now, let's walk through the story. This is a beautiful miracle. In verse 1, it says here, now Peter and John were going up to the temple At the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, the ninth hour is 3 p.m. And they were using a lunar calendar and their day starts at 6 a.m. So Jewish people prayed three times a day, usually 9 a.m., which was known to be instituted by Abraham. 3 p.m., the ninth hour, which was instituted by Jacob, In the nightfall, there was no fixed time, but it's probably between 6 to 9 p.m., which is known to be instituted by Isaac. That's verse 1 for us to set up the context. And then verse 2 introduces us to a man lame from birth. A man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. We see here a man whose life was marked by dependency, right? Dependent on the kindness of others to carry him, dependent on alms to survive. His physical condition had not changed from birth. and neither had his routine. Day after day, he sat in the same place, begging for help, perhaps resigned to the thought that his situation would never change. And we see here a picture of ourselves at times. Aren't we like the man born lame? We do not really see the ordinary and the mundane. as God's means to bring about extraordinary events. Churches now look for the next revival, the next relevant discipleship paradigm, the next program in order to be relevant to the time and age. The next big thing, the next cool pastor. A lot of churches do not really appreciate the boring, the mundane, the ordinary. And we see so much more in the life of this man as we also reflect on our situations, not only individually, but as a church. Now in verse three, tells us that seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, this lame man, this man born lame, asked to receive alms. It's interesting because it's 3 p.m. Everyone's flocking into the temple. There are thousands of people here, as we will see later on in chapter 4 specifically. But it's interesting, the words here tells us that the man knew who they were, who Peter and John were. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. I'm pretty sure he had heard of Jesus and his disciples, right? But instead of asking for healing, he asked for what he thought was within reach, right? Money, alms, the possible, the ordinary, the reasonable. And isn't that often how we are? We ask for what we think is possible, not daring to hope for the miraculous. But here we see in our story, something extraordinary happens in verse four. It says here, and Peter directed his gaze at him, at this man, as did John, and said, look at us, look at us. The man likely didn't expect much. He recognized them and asked for alms and not healing, but he was too distracted maybe. He was trying to ask for alms from everyone. And so Peter told him, look at us. And then in verse five, we see here, and he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. Interesting that he gave them his attention after asking alms from them. He was distracted, even though he recognized what Peter and John are capable of. He wasn't expecting a miracle. But Peter's words shifted his focus, as we see in verses six and seven. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And verse seven, he took him by the right hand and raise him up. And immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. We see here the stage was set for a miracle at the gate called Beautiful. The crowd must have been stunned. People were coming to pray, but now their attention was drawn to this declaration. Could this be real? Would this man, lame from birth, truly walk? And we may have similar questions. Can God still fix a broken life, a broken marriage, a broken relationship? A broken heart, a broken dream, a broken soul, a broken past. Is that possible? The lame man had faith, but not really. Right? There was hesitation. He recognized them, but he was distracted. He did not ask for healing. He asked for alms. He knew Peter and John and probably heard the many miracles they did when Jesus was with them. Was he low-key acting like he did not want to expect so much and was afraid to be disappointed? Right? And therefore just asked for alms? But imagine what happened here in this miracle. Muscles, tendons, and bones which had never been used were suddenly infused with power. And one of the fun things in interpreting the scripture, Sometimes you use your sanctified imagination, right? What happened here? If you've seen a man born lame all his life, you only see bones and skin. What happened here? Did the muscles and, you know, it's like Popeye's when he eats a spinach. Did that happen? Or did he start walking and jumping and running with those skinny bones, skinny legs? What happened here? But everyone in the temple recognized Him. There's only that one man every day seated on that gate called Beautiful. They had passed Him day by day, sitting at the gate begging. But now they saw Him walking and their response, we see in verse 10, and recognized Him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms, and this is the response, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Two things happened that day. Number one, a man lame from birth was healed. Second, and he was healed in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Two responses followed. Number one, the man was raised, I mean, from his feet, praising God, and the people, the second one, the people were filled with awe and wonder. You see, there were still doubts and questions, but none of it caught God by surprise. He had it all figured out, right? Isn't that how God works in our lives too? That we go through seasons feeling stuck, forgotten, ordinary, only to discover that God was preparing something extraordinary all along. I grew up hating the church. I was a missionary's kid, but I hated the church. I hated God. I was the black sheep in the family, kicked out three times in high school. Who would have thought I would be a intern pastor at the farming community in East Martin, town of 400. A 5'5 Filipino among the giants. Right? Who would have thought that? My parents almost sent me to somewhere else. They didn't want to deal with me. The lame man thought it was just another day at the gate. Right? Here we go again. But God had already written His healing into the story. And the same is true for us. Every moment, joyful or painful, is a thread in God's tapestry of grace. Our lives, like His, are part of something far bigger than we realize. And from here, we can close the sermon, and that will be probably the shortest sermon you've ever heard. and I've ever preached, right? But there's more to this story than just a beautiful miracle. This story isn't just about personal healing. It's about something deeper, something eternal. And this brings us to our second point behind this man's healing is not just compassion, but divine purpose. That God isn't only shaping our lives for our own sake, He's orchestrating all things for His redemptive mission. So what exactly was God doing through this miracle? Let's look closer to the story, brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, if you would turn with me in Acts 4, verse 22. Acts 4, verse 22. It says here, For the man on whom the sign of healing was performed, was more than 40 years old. He was more than 40 years old. He had been crippled his entire life. Seven years or more older than Jesus. I'll try to paint the picture now. He's more than, he's around 40 years old, 41, 42. Jesus died in 33. So he's what, seven to nine years old, older than Jesus. Since childhood, this man was placed daily at the gate of the temple called Beautiful to beg for alms. He knew Jesus, right? The carpenter's son. He was an eyewitness. He saw a 12 year old Jesus and he was probably 20. He saw Jesus and heard about him putting the Pharisees and the Sadducees in their place when Jesus was 12 years old, right? Imagine how many times he would have seen Jesus passing by. Jesus regularly visited the temple, right, when he was 12. And then when he started his ministry, almost every day he will be at the temple. He healed countless others in Jerusalem. Pyrolytics, the blind, the lame, But for some reason, this man was never healed by Jesus during his earthly ministry. Why? He must have shouted every name that he heard people call Jesus. Rabbi, Jesus, the Son of God, Jesus, the Son of Man, Jesus, the Son of David, have mercy and heal me. How many times did he try to crawl to Jesus and hope to touch even just the hem of Jesus' cloak? He probably did after hearing about the healing of the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. He must have shouted, Jesus, do it again. He was probably there when Jesus performed countless miracles, turning the blind to see, making well the sick, giving strength to the weak, feeding the hungry, and especially raising someone from the dead. Several times. What are these limp legs compared to a rotten dead body? Every time Jesus passed by, why didn't he stop for him? And we may have the same question. Why me? Why now? Right? Why like this? How long? But this was intentional. This was divine timing. This wasn't just a beautiful miracle waiting to happen. It was a purposeful providence. Think about it. Jesus' resurrection had occurred just around 100 days. around that ballpark before this miracle happened. The question, especially in Jerusalem, right, of whether Jesus truly rose from the dead was still hot news. Everyone's still talking about it. Imagine the headlines, risen or stolen, the mystery of the missing Messiah. And one TV station is probably focusing on the disciples and how Jesus rose from the dead. And you have, on the other hand, supporting the testimony of the Pharisees that Christ's body was stolen. So there was still doubt in the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding towns. But God had carefully orchestrated the healing of this man to take place just at the right moment to answer that question definitively. In Acts chapter 4 verse 4, if you would turn to me, in Acts chapter 4 verse 4, But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000. After this miracle, Peter preached the gospel. And about 5,000 believed. 5,000. Think about that for a minute. Imagine the family and friends of the lame man. They must have wondered why Jesus healed others but left their loved one in his condition. It might have seemed unfair or like Jesus was playing favorites. Why did he beat cancer? And my child didn't. But the truth was this, God's purpose was greater than they could understand at that time. This man's condition was not a mistake. It was part of God's plan. his sickness, his suffering, and even his location at the temple gate called beautiful were all orchestrated by God for this exact moment in human history. The real story here isn't just the healing. It's what came out of the healing, the preaching of the gospel of Christ and the salvations of thousands of men. The miracle was not primarily about the man-born lame taken by the hand to rise up and walk. It was ultimately about proclaiming the Christ who is risen. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. It's not about the man-born lame rising. It's about Jesus Christ. He is risen. And this truth speaks to our own lives as well. We're often tested not in times of abundance, but in times of need. Our faith is not sharpened in comfort, but in hardship. Imagine those 5,000 men. And the book of Acts is about the gospel going global. How many missionaries came from the line of those 5,000 men? who went to Europe, who went to Asia, India, Malaysia, the Philippines. Imagine, and that's because Jesus didn't heal this man when he was still in his ministry. God turns the worst situation into a message of eternal worth. And this is the theme of the cross. We preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. But as the Apostle Paul says, Christ crucified is the power and wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man and the weakness of God is stronger than man. This is a beautiful providence. And how should we respond to God's purposeful providence in our own lives? The first one is this. Live your ordinary life with an extraordinary awareness of God. Be sensitive to His presence in your daily routines. Let the Spirit lead you. Even small acts of love can become moments of grace. And the question for us is this, where might God be calling me to show kindness or compassion this week? Live your life ordinarily, but being kind. Showing compassion and kindness. The second application for us is this, trust that your trials are not accidents. Like the man born lame, your pain is not wasted. God uses weakness and waiting to display His mercy, turns sorrow into trust, and trouble into faith. And that's this wonderful message of the gospel. God uses our weaknesses to proclaim His glorious power in the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And third application for us is this, believe that your presence here today is not by chance. Whether you've been here for years or only recently, God brought you here on purpose and ask him to show you why. So we ask the question, what might God be doing in my life through this church community? And how can God use me? in the building up of his body in this beautiful church. And lastly, be amazed by his faithfulness, past, present, and future. Look back and see his grace. Look ahead with confidence that he's not done. We can ask this question, how has God proven faithful in my life, and how can I trust him moving forward? God's providential care is a beautiful doctrine. As I end the sermon, let me share our story, how we came here. In 2020, my wife and I left a Chinese Baptist church in the Philippines, where I serve as an associate pastor. I resigned because my leaning was already into the Reformed theology. So, some of the people in the church were not fond of Reformed theology. And every time I will quote the Heidelberg Catechism question and answer one, or Westminster Shorter Catechism question and answer one, or R.C. Sproul, they will tell me after the service, don't do that. We're not Reformed, we're Baptist. And so there will be time whenever I quote R.C. Sproul or John Calvin, I would just say, a good friend of mine said this and they like it. But I told my wife that it's hard for my conviction to stay in a Baptist church while being reformed. I'm no Martin Luther. And by God's providence, after resigning, I received a full seminary scholarship. This is in 2020, so this is not yet Mars. But we received full scholarship at the local seminary in the Philippines, and that gave me room to be in a seminary under scholarship, providing our needs while transitioning to become members of a confessional Presbyterian church in Metro Manila. My resignation was effective June of 2020. I gave my resignation June 2019. So, I helped the church find a new pastor, and they did February of 2020. Then March, pandemic happened. They already have a pastor, so I had to go. It was pandemic. The seminary did not open. It shut down. So I lost my job. I lost basically my scholarship, good lodging and food. And just a good Asian boy move in with my parents. And out of necessity, since I did not have a work, we started an online bookstore named Coram Deo Books, our online reform bookstore which became our lifeline. It was the only a confessional reform bookstore in the Philippines during that time, and people are just at home. So the bookstore was booming. They keep ordering books. I'm not sure if they read them. They definitely displayed them on the wall and made them a background for their Zoom meeting. But we were able to save up from 2020. And Jason and I had grown up in poverty. And by 2022, we finally saved enough to buy a house. Yep, we're very excited. I'm a missionary's kid. I've told you this story before. I've spent my six elementary years in six different schools. We moved from one place to another. I've always lived at the Parsonage. And now I live at the Parsonage in Michigan. But having to buy our Our own house was the best thing ever. But we discovered that it was a scam. We got scammed. The bank owned the property and not the seller who happened to be our relative. But the story goes like this, that we lost everything. The bank visited us one time and said, you have until June 7 to leave the house. My wife, Jaycee, after receiving that news, cried for days, three days. And you would not believe it, after I hear the news, I started preparing for my pep talk that I have to tell my wife. I told her that night, this is not meaningless. God will use this to make us more like Christ. Those are the words I told her. Of course, in Filipino, you would not understand it if I say it in Filipino. But on the third day, I receive an email from Mid-America Reform Seminary. Brian Blummer sent an email and says that I am admitted to their postgraduate program with full scholarship. The bank ordered us out by June 7, and we arrived in the U.S. on June 8. Through it all, God's sovereignty was our anchor, even when life fell apart. Now, I'm not saying that every scam in one of those 7,400 islands in the Philippines end up at Mid-America Reform Seminary. That's not the point. But God's providence is purposeful. He does not make mistakes. And the same God who orchestrated the healing of the lame man at the beautiful gate is orchestrating the events of your life, of your church. And so trust in His perfect timing, even when you don't understand. He can turn even the most broken parts of your story into a testimony of His grace and power. And just like the lame man, your suffering, my suffering, are not meaningless. It is part of God's eternal masterpiece. And so trust the master weaver because his plans are always good, even when we can't see the full picture yet. Join me in prayer. Our gracious God and loving Heavenly Father, You know us and You know our stories. Story of pain and suffering and trials and troubles. Story of joy and rejoicing and celebrations. Give us eyes to see Your hand at work in and through them. And we pray, Lord, that even in the darkest valleys of our lives, your name will be glorified in us and through us. That your gospel will shine brighter, even in the most bitter circumstance that we are in. And we pray, Lord, that you will use us, just like the lame man, to proclaim your goodness, to proclaim your grace, to the people around us. May you bring this message home into our hearts. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us respond