Normal or Supernatural – 7

Normal or Supernatural – 7

Subject – Supernatural Healing

By Rick Welborne

Acts 3:1-8 (NKJV)
¹  Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
²  And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;
³  who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.
⁴  And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us."
⁵  So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
⁶  Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
⁷  And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
⁸  So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God. 

--Last week we discussed how, as we go from the normal to the supernatural, the laity of the church must be involved and they must be filled with Holy Spirit power. They are not exempt. 

--I hope and pray that you are seeking God with all your heart to be filled with Holy Spirit and that you are attempting to be extremely sensitive to what He wants to do. 

--Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother and Holy Spirit is another Counselor Who will be right there with you at all times. He is another just like Jesus.

John 14:16-18 (NIV)
¹⁶  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--
¹⁷  the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
¹⁸  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

--I recently was sharing with our pastoral staff how much I love having Holy Spirit being with me everywhere I go, being able to hear when He speaks, and to follow as He leads. It’s amazing!

--Today we are continuing through the book of Acts (if you want to learn more about Holy Spirit, read this book over and over) and we will again see how God wants to take us from normal to supernatural. 

--In Acts 2 we see the disciples (120) have been filled with power (You shall receive power) and God is using them to be witnesses in Jerusalem and eventually all over.

--As we move on to Acts 3 we once again see that Jesus is wanting the disciples to be witnesses but in a different way. Lives are about to be transformed because someone’s body is about to be healed.

--As has been stated in this series already, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost and He always has salvation on His mind. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

--As this story continues in Acts 4 we find out that this man is over 40 years old. Can you imagine being born cripple and being laid at the church’s door daily to beg. 

--Church people passed him every day but no one had anything that could help him until now. Holy Spirit had not been poured out, but now, supernatural power has been given to the disciples.

--I always think it is so significant about naming children or naming churches. In this case a gate Beautiful!

--I am sure those who named the gate Beautiful years before had no real idea that Holy Spirit was about to be poured out and neither did they know there would be a miraculous healing. God knew!

--Obviously, I believe it is significant what we named our church. Life Church. Living in freedom every day! I believe God intended for us to have this name because He wanted people to find true life here.

John 10:10 (NKJV)
¹⁰  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

--This nameless beggar sees Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asks for alms, and the text says that he looked at them expecting to receive something from them.

--I have never brought this out before, but do you just suppose this beggar could see something different about these men. I am sure their demeanor had changed because of Holy Spirit’s presence. 

--Peter and John have gone from fearful to bold, from timid to looking for opportunities to witness, and they have gone from normal to supernatural. 

--Peter tells the man “Look at us!” Silver and gold we do not have! They said we are Pentecostal preachers and we don’t have money. We have something greater for you than money.

--Don’t ever miss this, behind every cry from the lost in our communities and in our world, what they are asking for is not all they need. They need Jesus and they need the power of Holy Spirit which is in you.

--Protesters may be crying out for justice for George Floyd but what they also need is Jesus. People may ask for food but they need Jehovah Jireh. Don’t forget, people need Jesus.

--Behind people’s pain, behind their anger, behind their need, is a cry of a broken heart that says they need Jesus. Jesus came to heal their broken hearts.

Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV)
¹⁸  "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
¹⁹  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." 

--Today I want us to look at this miraculous healing and how it was again, “You shall receive power when Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses.” Let’s look at Peter’s words.

1. What I do have!

--What did Peter have? What do we have? When we are confronted with situations where supernatural power is needed, can we say like Peter, “What I do have.”

--Anyone who reads the gospels knows that Peter was not always in the same place he is in this story with this beggar. What I do have was not that much.

--What I am about to share with you about Peter has a two-fold purpose. First, to share how messed up we can be and second, the hope when we receive Holy Spirit power.

--Jesus has just questioned the disciples about who people are saying He is. Peter has the answer, “You are the Christ” and is commended by Jesus. Flesh and blood has not revealed this but My Father.

--What this shows me is that people who are not filled with Holy Spirit power can be used by God and even have wonderful revelations but they need more.

--Jesus continues and tells the disciples that He will go to Jerusalem, be arrested, and eventually will die. Peter rebukes Jesus (that’s funny) and tells Him that will never happen. This is the normal Simon Peter.

Matthew 16:23 (NKJV)
²³  But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." 

--I have heard people who are much smarter than I am and people who have greater ministries than I do say that Jesus was not saying this to Peter but to Satan. Okay Jesus did address Satan but the verse says…

--He turned and said to Peter…I am no genius or great Bible scholar but if it says He said to Peter, I just take the Word for what it says. We all do this…Angel, you didn’t do your homework!

--I don’t want to belabor the point about how Peter was lacking in “What I do have” but he did sleep while Jesus was in the garden. He did desert Jesus and he did deny Him three times as predicted. 

--Even after Jesus had been raised from the dead and had already appeared to them twice, Peter still makes the decision to go back to the normal…fishing. What I do have is not much. 

--But now, something has changed, something has been transformed, someone has moved from the normal to the supernatural. He has just preached to thousands and watched three thousand be born again.

--There is a power, there is a holy confidence, there is a supernatural spirit (Holy Spirit) upon him and indwelling in his life. He has something with which to help this man.

--I am not sure why there has been what appears to me to be a concerted effort to purposely leave out or ignore the third person of the Trinity.

--Some churches, even some A/G churches, act like they are embarrassed to acknowledge Holy Spirit much less to invite Him into their services and lives. 

--I do acknowledge there have been abuses in churches where people do crazy things, act out in crazy ways, and then, attribute what is happening to the Spirit. It was a spirit but not Holy Spirit.

--Peter, after the baptism in Holy Spirit power, could look at a man who has been crippled for more than 40 years and declare to him…What I do have! Holy Spirit power!

2. I give you!

Acts 3:6 (NKJV)
⁶  Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." 

--Maybe this is the key to why people ignore Holy Spirit…you become givers…I give you! We become witnesses, we become martyrs, we lay done our lives, our pride, to touch others.

--Holy Spirit was not given or poured out so the disciples could stay in Jerusalem and have exciting church services. Tongues and interpretations, prophecy. This is good but there is more…being witnesses. Giving!

--As I started thinking about the people in our church who are used in the vocal gifts of Holy Spirit, I asked myself the question, are these people witnesses in their communities and everywhere they go? Yes.

Mark 16:15-18 (NKJV)
¹⁵  And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
¹⁶  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 

¹⁷  And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
¹⁸  they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

--The Great Commissions screams to the world…I give you! I give you the gospel! I give you freedom from demons! I give you power to pray! I give you protection! I give you healing! I give you Jesus!

--Holy Spirit power is not about kooky or cool but to make you a witness and a giver! What I do have, I give you!

--When you move from normal to supernatural you become a giver of the greatest kind. Peter and John didn’t have money but they had power to heal from Holy Spirit. The beggar was healed!

3. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!

--Holy Spirit is on you, Holy Spirit is in you, Holy Spirit power is available to you, but hear this, it is never nor should it ever be about you. It is about Jesus!

Acts 3:6 (NKJV)
⁶  Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." 

--Another hurtful thing to the church and to Pentecostal believers is when we make what Holy Spirit is doing is about the person being used. The focus must be on Jesus always.

--This truth God dropped into my spirit during this study is that, yes, Holy Spirit is given so we can have power to see the sick healed, but nothing surpasses the power to be witnesses. 

--The healing was more than just a man being able to walk again. It was about the gospel being preached and souls being save. Because of his healing Peter got to preach again. The healing itself is a witness. 

Acts 4:4 (NKJV)
⁴  However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. 

--This cripple experienced going from his normal (not being able to walk) to the supernatural (walking, leaping, and praising God!) Why? So Jesus would be lifted up and souls saved!