ACTS: Powerful, Public, Proven

We’re picking up right where we left off last week in the book of ACTS. If you remember, last week we heard about a guy named Saul. Saul was the Commander-in-Chief of Destroying the Gospel and murdering any Christian he came across. He hated Jesus. He hated Christians. He persecuted Christians to death.
 
Then, something happened.
 
Jesus appeared to him.
Jesus spoke to him.
Jesus brought him to repentance.
Jesus forgave him.

And Saul came to faith. He was baptized. He learned from other Christians and soon began preaching the very message he had been persecuting.
 
Jesus visibly appeared to Saul.
And empowered Saul to turn his life around.

QUESTION:
Do you ever wish Jesus would do that to you?
Do you ever wish he would appear to you in the flesh, holes in hands, a reassuring pat on the back and a few magic tricks to prove that your faith is the truth?

Today we’re going to follow the Gospel as it makes its way to a few different cities filled with people who didn’t get to personally see Jesus and who hadn’t gotten to witness His miracles. Our goal is to discover, along with those people, that the Gospel is ABSOLUTELY TRUE. It’s powerful. It’s public. It’s proven.
 
 But before we do that, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. Two Stories of the Gospel’s Power

The true stories we want to look at start in Acts 9:32. Both these stories center around the Apostle Peter. He is one of the original 12 disciples. He lived with Jesus, worked with Jesus, and learned from Jesus. He saw Jesus die. He saw Jesus rise from the dead. He was personally commissioned by Jesus to “go and preach the good news of forgiveness in Jesus.” 
 
At this point – Peter had done that. He had preached a sermon to over 3000 people at Pentecost. He had stood up for the Gospel in front of the enemies of Jesus. He had taught, commissioned and sent out newer disciples to share the Gospel.
 
Peter is kinda like District President (DP) Don Tollefson.

Who’s Don Tollefson? He’s a pastor. But a Pastor of a lot of people. Pastor Tollefson is the President of the North Atlantic District of our group of Lutheran churches. He encourages all the churches in the district. He helps facilitate ministry ideas. He shares resources. He travels from city to city to city, up and down the North Atlantic Coast uplifting congregations with the Gospel. Over the past couple of weeks, I know he’s been to Harrisburg, PA to help a mission congregation ready to get a pastor; he went up to Orleans, Ontario, Canada to commission a new pastor for our congregation up there; he made his way to Milwaukee, WI to meet with other District Presidents and develop plans for continuing to share the Gospel throughout the U.S In short, district presidents rack up quite the good number of frequent flier miles.

Peter was doing something very similar – without the frequent flier miles. He was travelling about the country. And he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. (v.32) Lydda was 27 miles to the Northwest of Jerusalem. Christians from Jerusalem had fled there during Saul’s persecution in Jerusalem and a tiny congregation had formed. Peter went to that small congregation at Lydda to encourage them.

While he was there, Peter did what pastors sometimes do when they visit other pastors. He went with local leadership into the community. Maybe grabbed some local fare, stopped by the local coffee shop and went by the park. It’s good to get to know the leaders of the local church and their community so that you can offer the proper advice and encouragement.

While Peter was doing this, he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for 8 years. (v.33)
 
He hasn’t been able to walk.
He lays on the side of the street.
He never leaves the bed-like mat that his friends set up.

And the local congregation leaders must have been like: “Oh him!?! He’s there all the time. It’s a sad story really. He can’t get a job. He doesn’t have a lot of money. Sometimes we stop and give him bits of leftover sandwich from our last potluck, but…he’s kind of a lost cause. Anyways Peter, have you ever tried Potato Rounds before…eh…What are you doing?”

Peter moved away from the other leaders.
Peter moved towards the bedridden man.
Peter said to him:

“Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.”
And immediately Aeneas got up. (v.34)
 
Let that sink in.
No physical therapy.
No pills.
No medicine.
No injection.
No knee braces.
No robotics.
Not even an Essential Oil treatment.

Just words spoken in the name of Jesus.
And immediate, incredible, complete healing.

Meanwhile – 11 miles Northwest of this miracle – another congregation is having a tough time. In the town of Joppa, a very important member of the congregation had just passed away. Her name is Tabitha. According to Scripture, Tabitha was always doing good and helping the poor. (v.36)

It appears she made clothes for them.
She made food for them.
She delivered food to them.
She helped a lot of people.

But she had gotten sick and died.
When the disciples in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”  (v.37)
 
Because this was a hard one.
Tabitha was such a blessing to the church and the community. Why would God take her? Why would she die?
Her death was confusing, maddening and saddening!

They needed answers. They needed comfort. They needed someone with a connection to Jesus like Peter had to uplift them with Godly words.

And Peter quickly realized this. He hurried up to Lydda. He went to Tabitha’s home.
 
When he arrived, it was filled with people.
Mourning.
In tears.
Holding up shawls and dresses that Tabitha had made for them.
Handing him a piece of cake – in the style of which Tabitha used to make.
Falling to their knees and asking Peter, “Why?”

Eventually, they led him upstairs.
They showed him to the room where there lay Tabitha’s body.
Her cold, dead body.

Peter fought back tears.
If only he had gotten here earlier. He could have asked Jesus to do what he did for Aeneas.
He could have helped her.
He could have healed her just like Jesus had done.

But…
Then again…
There was something else Jesus had done, too…

Peter asked everyone to leave the room.
They obliged because – “Peter probably needs a moment or two to process…”
When he was alone, he fell to his knees.
He prayed.  

Then, he looked up.
He turned to Tabitha’s cold, lifeless body and said:

“Tabitha, get up!”
She opened her eyes and seeing Peter she sat up. (v.40)

Alive.
 
II. Three Truths about the Gospel

There are a lot of interesting themes to explore in these two stories. We could talk about the importance of working for the Lord like Tabitha. We could talk about the value of getting into the community how Peter found Aeneas. We could discuss the value in sending Synod Leadership to encourage congregations in faith.

But the heart of these stories – is the heart of the entire Bible – Jesus.  
And Jesus is directly tied to the Gospel.
 
Here are three truths about the Gospel from these lessons:

(1) Jesus is Powerful
 
Look closely. Peter didn’t do the healing by himself.

Peter said to Aeneas, “Jesus Christ heals you.” (v.34)
Peter got down on his knees and prayed. Then Tabitha was healed. (v.40)

Notice Peter didn’t say: “I heal you,” nor did he get down on his knees and pray: “Dear Me, Please help Me and Heal this lady for me.”
Nope.

Peter turns to God.
Peter turns to his Savior.
Peter turns to Jesus.

Jesus heals Aeneas and Tabitha!

To be fair – we shouldn’t be surprised! Jesus did the same thing while he physically walked the earth. He made the blind to see; the deaf to hear; the lame to walk; the sick to be well; the water to become a walking surface; the storms to become quiet; the bread to multiply; the water to become wine; the dead to come back to life.
 
But – I guess the only incredible caveat with these miracles, is that Jesus does them while he’s not even physically, visibly, tangibly there!

I’ve got some power. Sometimes the Office Supply company we work with delivers boxes of paper. Each box holds about 10 packages of 500 sheets of paper. They’re pretty heavy. About 50 pounds.
 
If I am around, I can lift it and put it away.
If I’m not around, I can’t do squat.
 
Jesus wasn’t even physically around, yet his power was able to:
 
(1) Instantly heal a man who had not been able to walk for the last 8 years.
(2) Bring to life a woman who had died!

Jesus is still Powerful.

He removes all your sins.
He destroys all your guilt.
He busts through the gates of hell itself.
He powerfully penetrates the preventive walls of unbelief and brings believers into his family.
 
(2)  Jesus is Public
 
But you might say:
Yeah, right! Peter is in on it! It’s all a big scam. Aeneas pretended to be unable to walk for 8 years just so that Peter could appear to be the hero with the message of Jesus – even though Peter probably wasn’t even a follower of Jesus when Aeneas began his ruse?
 
And Tabitha pretended to be dead – she held her breath (for days?) and got the hundreds of people mourning at the house to believe that she was dead just so that Jesus would “appear” powerful.
 
Really?

Here’s the deal. Both of these miracles are extremely public.
They aren’t done in private.
 
In regard to Aeneas it says: All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas and turned to the Lord. (v.35)
Notice it doesn’t say “All of Aeneas’ friends who were in on the 8-year ruse.” Nope. All the city. Everyone. Even the people who were kind of annoyed with Aeneas being bedridden, asking for money, day after day after day. Peter meets Aeneas. Many are watching. Aeneas stands up. They don’t think: “Faker.” They think: “Savior.”

And with Tabitha it’s just as public. Remember – She died. The people washed her body and cleaned it. They sent for Peter. Peter arrived when they were in the middle of the Ancient version of the “wake.” They are throwing Tabitha’s blankets in Peter’s face and everyone is talking about how she is dead and how sad it is.

No one is saying; “I think she’s faking it, Peter.”

After Jesus raises her through Peter: Peter called for the believers, especially the widows and presented Tabitha to them alive. This became known all over Joppa and many people believed in the Lord.  (v.41-42)
 
Because…She was dead and now. She was alive.
 
This is key for you and me. Because what Luke wrote down for us in Acts; he wrote down only a maximum of 10 years later. And this book of Acts was circulated throughout the churches. The people in Lydda read it and said, “Yep. That’s right. I remember when he healed Aeneas.” And the people in Joppa read it and said, “Yes. They got it right. I remember when Tabitha came back to life.”

The point? This stuff is public. It’s real.

It’s not that way in other religion.

It’s not like…
The Prophet Mohammed who went up on a mountain by himself.
Or Joseph Smith, found of Mormonism, who went into the forest by himself.
Or some scientist who hypothesizes this world must have started this way – even though I wasn’t even there.

Nope.

Jesus’ power is public. Real, visible, viewed by many.

Even at the highlight of his story…
Jesus died before hundreds.
He hung on a cross before hundreds.
He was confirmed dead by hundreds.

Then, he rose.
He appeared before hundreds.
He showed himself before hundreds.
He spoke again with hundreds.

Jesus is public!
 
(3) Jesus is Proven
 
This leads to our third “P” word.
If Jesus is powerful and public. Then, Jesus, is also proven.

Throughout the Gospel, Jesus offers visual proof of invisible truth.
Public visual proof of private invisible truth.
 
Aeneas visibly gets to his feet before hundreds.
Tabitha comes back to life before hundreds.
Jesus visibly dies and visibly is buried and visibly comes back to life.

It’s proof.
Proof that the Jesus is truth.
Proof of the invisible miracles that Jesus claims for us:

Proof that your sins are forgiven.
Proof that you have peace with God.
Proof that Jesus is the Savior.
Proof that by believing in him you will enter eternal life.

If you doubt!?! You’re doubting the power of a Savior that has done countless visible miracles in the face of tens of thousands of witnesses.
If you doubt!?! You’re doubting God. You’re doubting the Holy Spirit. You’re doubting Jesus.
Don’t doubt. Believe.
 
III. What Now? 

1. Turn

I don’t mean do a physical turn right here, right now. This isn’t P90x.  
The Bible tells us to “turn” spiritually.

That’s what the people in Lydda did. They saw the power of Jesus in healing Aeneas. They turned to the Lord. (v.35)
They stopped trusting themselves.
They stopped trusting their own abilities.
They stopped trusting some statue god.

They trusted their Savior.

Do the same. Even if you are a longtime Christian! Turn. Because the devil has a way of getting us to turn to ourselves, to money, to things and stuff and to trust them rather than Jesus.

Examine your heart.
See where you’re wrong.
Turn back to Jesus.

And if you’ve never trusted in Jesus, hear God’s plea:  
 
Stop trusting yourself.
Stop trusting your money.
Stop trusting your abilities.
Stop trusting your own modern fake gods and start trusting the real, only true God, Jesus Christ, who died to save you.
 
And he did so.
Powerfully.
Publicly.
 
2. Kneel

Because when Peter was faced with a dire situation. When he came face to face with death in the face of Tabitha. When he said to himself, there is literally nothing I can do to help – he got on his knees and prayed.

Do the same thing.

Too often when things get out of hand; when things are out of  our control; when things are beyond our control we keep thinking:
I can do this. I can figure this out. I can stand.

Jesus doesn’t want us standing.
He wants us kneeling.
Humbly in prayer before our God.

This isn’t necessarily physically; but a ‘kneeling’ in your heart. Humbly agreeing that you are a sinner and the situation is beyond your control and you need your almighty, all powerful, paralyzed man healing, dead widow raising, out of the grave conquering God.

Turn to your God.
Fall on your knees.
Trust in your powerful, public, and proven Savior.

Amen.​