Bible Studies For Life
Mission Opportunities Seize the Day: Embracing Missions with Purpose Session 8 19 APR 26
ACTS 3:1 The place and time is Jerusalem in A.D. 30 following the day of Pentecost. These Jerusalem Christians were Judaizers. Though they were saved by faith in Jesus as their Lord Messiah, they continued to observe Jewish worship. This is because they believed Jesus only saved Jewish people. So their witness to the Plan of Salvation was that any Gentile had to first become a Jew before they could become a Christian. Therefore they did the vast majority of witnessing to only the Jews. The Greek shows Peter and John were ascending the terraces to the temple court for prayer time. The Jews were told to pray three times a day: 9 AM, noon, and 3 PM. They figured day time from sunrise to sunset.
ACTS 3:2-3 Dr. Herschel H. Hobbs in his Studying Life and Work Lessons, Apr-Jun 1993, page 36 wrote “Prayer, alms giving, and fasting were the three most important actions Jewish worship. Here two of these are mentioned in one setting. Peter and John were going to the temple to pray. This lame beggar was asking for alms. The entrance to the temple was a favorite lace for beggars. People in a worshipful mood would be most likely to give alms.” The lame man was around 40 years old. See Roman Life Expectancy. Mary was present at the Day of Pentecost, but then she disappears from history. One tradition says she lived in Jerusalem until she died, in A.D. 48, at about age 66. Another says she moved to Ephesus. Still another, asserted by Gregory of Tours (d. 593) based on earlier apocryphal writings, says that when she died, her body was "borne on a cloud into paradise, where it was reunited with her soul and now rejoices with the elect." Mary may have died not long after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even if she was very young when she gave birth to Jesus she would have been in her forties, at the youngest, at this stage, which is already very good by ancient life expectancy, especially for a woman who’s given birth.
ACTS 3:4-6 Dr. Hobbs, page 36 “The beggar in our Scripture had been lame from birth. He presented a most difficult case. Assuming his family could not or would not support him financially, he was forced into begging. Daily someone carried him to this place and laid him down. Both "carried" and "laid" are imperfect tenses showing that these were customary actions. We can assume this ad been going on or years. The lame man was a familiar figure whose condition was well known. And this day began as routinely as hundreds of others. But it was to be a day never to be forgotten. The lame man asked Peter and John for alms, but he received much more…. Notice that the man just sat there.”
ACTS 3:7-8 Dr. Hobbs, page 37 “When the lame man failed to respond to Peter's command to walk, Peter took action to prop up the lame man's hesitant faith.” It was Peter’s faith that allowed the healing by the Holy Spirit. Jesus healed many people who had no saving faith, and even those who did not know him at all. Now, almost every preacher would quote (James 1:6 RSV) "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." That verse is in context of asking for wisdom. Does it also have validity here? It does in the sense that God responds to his children living in the faith of their commitment to Jesus as Lord of their lives. But it is not a blank check to ask anything to get any miracle. (Mat 7:7 RSV) ""Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Ask, seek, and knock are present imperative. Thus one is to start and keep on doing each. This might seem counter to what Jesus said in (Mat 6:7 RSV) ""And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words." But Jesus is not talking about repetition but sincere persistence. God will respond. However, Jesus is not offering a blank spiritual check to Christians. This is yet another Bible passage often memorized but used out of context. Jesus clearly said (John 15:16 RSV) "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." If a Christian is not going and bearing spiritual fruit, the Father will not give to you. Jesus said this in a different way in (John 14:13-14 RSV) "Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; {14} if you ask anything in my name, I will do it."
ACTS 3:9-10 The results was obvious to all witnesses. (Acts 3:9-10 RSV) "And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him."
Opportunities are stopped if real Christians do not go about (As you go) and do not witness to “make disciples” which is Acts 20:21!
APPLY THE WHOLE BIBLE BEFORE YOU STATE A DOCTRINE!
Best Study Guide: How to Study the Bible Principles with Bible, A Study Sources by Orin T. Binkley.
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