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Issue link: http://magazine.kcm.org/i/1491863
It was a bold thing to do because, in the natural, the man was a hopeless case. He'd been lame from birth, and like most everybody else who frequented the Temple in Jerusalem, Peter and John knew it. Yet Peter fastened his eyes on the man and said to him: 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, and 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 praising God (Acts 3:6-8). When the people in the Temple that day saw that the man had been made whole, they were fi lled with wonder and amazement. They also made the same mistake a lot of people do today. They assumed Peter and John worked that miracle. They thought God had given them some kind of special power because they were super holy or something. "Well," somebody might say, "Peter and John actually did have special power. After all, they were apostles." Yes, but their being apostles had nothing to do with this event. How do we know? Peter said so. When everybody started making a fuss over him and John, he said to 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? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorifi ed his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up…. whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know" (verses 12-13, 15-16). It wasn't their apostleship that Peter and John had on their minds that day. It was the Name of Jesus. It was by faith in that Name they ministered the miracle-working power of God to the lame man at the Temple gate. They were able to raise him up because they knew and believed what we are still fi nding out: Jesus' Name can do anything He did when He was on earth. His Name can do anything He can do now. His Name can bring to pass anything He said. Faith in Jesus' Name is faith in Him. Have faith in His Name! There was once a famous stage actor who sold out theaters. People came from far and wide to see him. They hung on his performances, marveling at how he brought his characters to life. One day, a local clergyman whose large church had dwindling numbers, approached him. He couldn't help but ask the actor, "How is it that you can pack out theaters, but I'm preaching to empty pews?" The actor replied, "Because an actor acts as if his fi ction is true…while a clergyman preaches by Jesse Duplantis B V O V : 9 » "FOR THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS FOOLISHNESSTO THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING, BUT TO US WHO ARE BEING SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD." (1 Corinthians 1:18 , New International Version) WHY WE PREACH