Acts 9:32

Donnie Lane

Citychurch

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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English Standard Version Chapter 9

32 Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. 34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. 35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

A Savior who Heals

English Standard Version Chapter 9

34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you;

Insight: This is the message that Peter was sent to Aeneas to deliver to him.

Application: Do we have a message worth working so hard to share? Is it a “transformative” message? What would be that message?

We have some free bread?

We’re going to eat some free food?

If you let us take your kids off your hands, we can give you a quit hour to do whatever it is that you want to do?

Can what we offer to our city be easily replaced? As soon as little kids can afford their own cheeseburger off the dollar menu at McDonald’s, do we become unnecessary? If they can call a friend and make plans to leave their house and stay somewhere safe or get their hands on a drug that can help them cope, do they need us to “keep them off the street”? I think that the number of children who leave the church as soon as they become old enough to have a cell-phone and a couple of bucks in their pockets have answered the question for us.

Insight: Jesus is a healer of the big hurts; the life hurts. He’s the answer to suicide, sexual and physical abuse, drug addiction, porn addiction, generational sin...

Acts 9:34 (ESV)

34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose.“

Heals you” — present tense // He is in the process of healing you. There is no time when He is not healing you.

His Hands and Feet — Peter

English Standard Version Chapter 9

Peter was proactive

He was personal

Application: All ministry is personal. All true ministry is personal. We can build programs that will help us connect on a personal level, but we need to understand that if we aren’t involved with folks individually, we aren’t engaged in real ministry.

We observe from a safe distance.

We insulate ourselves from the threat of the pain “rubbing off” unto us.

When it comes to Christian ministry, you can’t practice social distancing.

He was compassionate

English Standard Version Chapter 40

11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms;

he will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

A Helpless Man — Aeneas

We need to stop and talk about the reality of this man’s situation. First, he could have been a believer. Second Aeneas story was extremely powerful in transforming his community.

His suffering seemed to be permanent.

Application: Permanent suffering has a power that is far more intense. This type of issue overwhelms any mechanism we might have put into place that we would normally use to cope.

Illustration: Generational poverty vs. Situational poverty. Generational vs. Seasonal spiritual poverty.

Application: The church has forgotten how to engage those who are suffering from generational problems. Peter reminds us that it is this type of problem that Jesus came to rescue us from.

His suffering was public.

Application: The brutality of suffering is that often times, it is carried in the open for everyone to see and comment on.

Children who are living in rebellion.

Drug and Alcohol addiction.

Divorce

Legal trouble

His suffering had paralyzed him.

The Multiplication of Hope.

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