Sometimes, we feel too busy to help. We think we’re inadequate to the task, and walk away doing nothing, even when there’s a need. There’s a better way. We might not be able to do ALL we want, but we usually can do something. Let’s talk today about what CAN we do in various situations. And let’s explore what Peter and John DID do, when they came across a guy looking for money.
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Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 129, But What Can You Do? Sharon, that’s a fun question. Tell me why did you title this episode with a question?
Sharon:
Well, this particular question, Nicole, ‘what can I do’ has helped me so much over the years. I need to give a big shout out to my friend Gail Hadden, who did a talk based on this question years ago at a Moms in Prayer event. Gail was helping us see that when we are busy, even if we can’t help to the degree we want to help, we can still do something. Sometimes we’re like, well, I can’t help because I can’t do the big thing. We can do the little thing. So let’s talk about being busy first of all, today. Jesus was often so busy he didn’t even have time to eat. Busy actually happens.
Nicole: Yes, it does.
Sharon: A lot.
Nicole:
It does, more than we want it to sometimes. Here’s a great Bible passage that describes a time like that in Jesus’ life. It’s found in Mark 1:30-34, and I’m gonna read that. So here’s a, a glimpse into the busy life of Jesus. “Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her and she prepared a meal for them. That evening after sunset, many sick and demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.” So this is just one day in Jesus’ life.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
He starts out his day at a loved friend’s house, healing his mother-in-law. And then he stays and has a meal with her, visits with her. Then he goes after sunset and he heals very sick and demon possessed people. The whole town was there. There’s a big crowd. That’s a long day.
Sharon:
It sure is. And it actually started with synagogue. I didn’t put that part in for you to notice.
Nicole: Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
But they were in the synagogue in the morning. And then before sundown, he still heals because Jesus heals on the Sabbath when it’s appropriate. And so he’s healing the mother. And then, after the sunset, oh my goodness, everybody and their brother shows up.
Nicole:
They did. And these these are big things. These aren’t like, oh whatever. This is demon possessed and sick people. So very heavy hurts that he’s dealing with.
Sharon:
Heavy stuff. Absolutely, heavy, heavy stuff. And Jesus was younger than I am now. And also he was Jesus.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But after sunset, I don’t have a lot left in me these days. I’m kind of like needing to slow down my pace and after sunset’s when he’s just getting going. So.
Nicole:
Right. And he started a full day too. He didn’t have the morning off and then heal in the evening.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
So this was a really demanding full day.
Sharon:
It was a very full day. There’s another busy time that I’ve always been fascinated by. It’s in Mark 3:20-21. Let me read it. “One time Jesus entered a house and the crowds began to gather again.” (That seems to be standard right?).
Nicole:
Gathers crowds.
Sharon:
“Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. He’s out of his mind, they said.” So in this case, it got so crazy the people never stopped coming.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
They came and they came and they came. Jesus’ family actually tries to rescue him from this endless mob. They didn’t see how he could possibly cope, but cope he did. Right? Even without eating, evidently. Sometimes Nicole, we are busy due to no fault of our own. I mean, sometimes it is my own fault I’m busy. I say yes to too many things. I haven’t scheduled in rest times, you know. But there are times when we can’t help it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
It’s not a sin. Jesus was busy and he didn’t sin. So having times when it’s hard to eat happen. Right. And we don’t need to blame ourselves if it’s beyond our control. So can you think of some examples? What’s some things that would be beyond our control where, you know, we might schedule our rest times and have a beautiful little plan on paper, that doesn’t work?
Nicole:
Do you know what’s a really great way to disrupt my beautiful little planned out? Sick kiddos. Never fails every time. If I get a month planned out so nicely all my poor kiddos get sick, one after the other. No, sick children, you can’t plan that. You can’t schedule that.
Sharon: Nope.
Nicole:
You have to stop and take care of them. When I worked in the dental office, we would have a nice planned out day with patients every so often, always there were emergencies. And if you’re closing up and leaving, you can’t turn someone away who walks in with a toothache.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
Or a bloody mouth, ’cause they got hit or something else. Emergencies happen. You have to take care of them.
Sharon:
You do. And we don’t schedule in, you know, five blocks for emergencies on a day, do we?
Nicole:
No. Because you can’t make that much space for things.
Sharon: No. No.
Nicole:
And we have several friends that foster children and they’re called at a moment’s notice.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
To pick up a child, maybe an infant, maybe a child in crisis. And those again, they’re instantly very busy.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
And they can’t control that.
Sharon:
They can’t control it. When I took care of Dad Gamble, it was a two hour process to get him up and going in the morning.
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
So I’d have a day planned with an aide coming to do the two hours.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And she’d call in sick.
Nicole: Oh, no.
Sharon:
Well, there goes that two hour block of time. Right? So yes, sometimes busy happens. Living a full life is not wrong.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So I wanna establish that first, because sometimes we feel guilty if we’re busy and it’s not always our fault. So. What are some in instances from your own life when busyness has happened to you? Not just the sickness, but You’ve got four daughters in school and a puppy business.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I guess just normal is busy. Right?
Nicole:
It’s so funny. Just normal is busy. That’s a tagline I’ve used a lot now. We have four daughters and we have them only do one activity a season if they choose.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
But if it’s drama and volleyball, you gotta pick one, Honey. Because even with just one, it’s one times four.
Sharon: Yes, it is.
Nicole:
And they’re in different grades and different volleyball schedules and basketball schedules and drama. So it’s a lot. Just on a very paired down schedule. We don’t do a lot of extras. But we still find we’re busy and there’s youth group and there’s kids choir and kids club and all these great things.
Sharon:
So many good things.
Nicole:
And it’s busy.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Even keeping it paired down.
Sharon:
Yes. And it is even for Ray and me. Because we do home group and we do welcome center and my parents still need us.
Nicole: Oh, yes.
Sharon:
And my daughters love to call me and talk to me and I love to talk to them.
Nicole:
Right. That’s good.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
But it’s hard even with, you know, good, good things keep us busy.
Sharon:
Yes. Well, so what happens then when someone in our church has a huge need? Let’s say a mama is hospitalized and she’s got little kids at home and her poor husband’s still trying to hold down a job to take care of the hospital bills. What do we do as a church family? Well, we share the load. There’s probably no one at our church who at a moment’s notice can just kind of move in and take care of the children, you know full-time?
Nicole:
Like step into their life and jump in.
Sharon:
Yeah. Right. Right. But if each of us ask that question, we’re getting back to our theme title again. What can I do? Together we can serve. So what in your season of life, what could you do for that hospitalized mom? Because you can’t move in.
Nicole:
Right, cause I have my four kiddos.
Sharon:
What could you do?
Nicole:
If they have a little girl, we could take on one kiddo and help keep one kiddo for a few days. Or we could arrange for meals and I could bring a meal over. Or I could see if they have dogs and maybe walk their dogs one day. We could gather with other people and make a schedule for helping, but I can’t take on everything. So just saying, I can’t help at all, there’s probably something I could do.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
One day, one meal, one something.
Sharon:
Yeah. And if we all ask that question, like I could go over and take a shift.
Nicole: Right. Right.
Sharon:
I could say, I’ll do the afternoon, or I’ll do a morning or whatever. I could buy groceries. (Nicole: Yes) And bring them by. Things like that. I think too often it seems so overwhelmingly big. (Right) And we look at our already overwhelmingly big lives.
Nicole:
Yes. And go, how can we fit this in?
Sharon:
Right. And instead if we could just say, well, what can I do? And even if it’s a small something,
Nicole:
Even if it feels like, oh, it’s only one meal, that’s one whole meal that they don’t have to worry about.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
That’s a big thing. It adds up.
Sharon:
Absolutely. Sometimes the smallest things mean so much. I remember when I gave birth to Katherine and my mom and my grandmother could only stay like three days. And then they left me.
Nicole: Oh no.
Sharon:
Because my grandmother had to go back to England. It wasn’t her fault, she had a ticket. And I’m looking at this little baby thinking, I can’t do this.
Nicole:
What do I do?
Sharon:
She’ll not survive my ineptness. And one lady brought me one meal in a crockpot and I can’t tell you how much it meant.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so sweet.
Sharon:
That’s all she did.
Nicole:
Isn’t that great? Those are the best meals. They taste so good when they’re delivered. Even if it’s like you get four lasagnas, they’re so special because, we, with one of our kiddos, we got seven lasagnas. But you know what? I was just, I was so tickled that someone thought, ’cause as a mom who cooks the meals, it’s a lot of work.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And you’re exhausted. And the baby does not know it’s supper time for the rest of your family and they’re always hungry at that time. So one meal makes such a big difference.
Sharon:
It does. It really does. You know, I remember even being overwhelmed by the number of missionaries our church supports, feeling like I’ve gotta pray for them all, but, but there’s so many of them. And shoot, we have five pastors too. I need to pray for the pastors and their families. And, oh, what about the elders? I should be praying for the elders and the children’s directors and the women’s ministry director. They need prayer, you know?
Nicole:
There’s so many of them.
Sharon:
Yeah. And feel like super overwhelmed. So I asked the question, well, what can I do? Right. And God gave me a system that really works for me, where I just pray regularly for each one, one day at a time. So they sure don’t all get prayed for daily or even weekly. But when I do land on their names, they get prayed for deeply.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
And that’s so satisfying to me that I can go deep for them, even if I have to space them out. We actually have a YouTube channel, and if you wanna learn more about ‘organizing your personal prayer life’, that’s what the series is called. You can go to our six part series on that topic. I love that prayer method. I’ve been doing it for years. Each video’s about 12 minutes long. They’re called Tuesday Talks. Anyway, I can’t pray for everyone I love in depth.
Nicole:
Right. Every day, all the time.
Sharon:
And if you wanna learn more about how I figure that one out, go to our YouTube channel. What I can do is organize a prayer life. So over time I pray for them deeply. So.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that. I’ve saved those videos. I’m looking forward to watching them and doing that. I’m almost there. I’ve been trying to make space in my life to have a more organized prayer life’ ’cause I love that, ’cause you can do a little bit. You can pray for this person every Tuesday or whatever it is. I love that idea. It’s really great.
Sharon:
It’s really fun. Because it’s a surprise every day. I’m like, oh, it’s Pastor Joel’s turn. Oh, cool. So I pray for Joel and Heather and you know, and they come up so seldom because there’s so many of them that it’s always a surprise and it’s always fun.
Nicole:
And you know what? I bet that person has something special happen that day, there’s some blessing to them and they’re like, oh, someone’s praying for me somewhere. And that’s just, I love how God works that way.
Sharon:
He does. And I can feel that too when people are praying for me. I’m like, oh, I just got this rush of joy. Lord, who’s praying for me.
Nicole:
Yeah. I love that. I feel like it’s so sad. But prayer gets vilified now in our culture and oh, we’ll pray for you, and people dismiss it and think it’s not important. But the value of prayer cannot be overstated. It’s such an important, it’s such a beautiful encouragement and a great thing to add to practical help.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
And if you truly can’t do a meal or take a child, prayer is not a, well, I’ll just pray for you then. That’s huge.
Sharon:
It is huge. Because prayer is work.
Nicole:
It is work.
Sharon:
And when you pray deep for someone, your mind is engaged, your heart is engaged, your time is engaged.
Nicole:
Yes. Well, watching your videos and how you organize your prayer, it is time and effort.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And it’s a sacrifice of your mental capacity, of your organization skills and your time to sit and pray for someone even once every six weeks.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
So it is a gift you can give someone. So don’t belittle prayer.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
It’s such a beautiful thing, friends.
Sharon:
Absolutely. It’s what we can do. Yes.
Nicole:
Yes. And that’s a huge thing.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So.
Nicole:
Well, our passage today is taken from Acts 3:1-11. It’s all about a healing where Peter and John did what they could do for a lame man. Sharon, I’ll start reading at verse one and let’s go back and forth.
Sharon: Alright.
Nicole:
“So Peter and John went to the temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service.”
Sharon:
“As they approached the temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in each day. He was put beside the temple gate, the one called the beautiful gate so he could beg from the people going into the temple.”
Nicole:
“When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money.”
Sharon:
“Peter and John looked at him intently and Peter said, look at us.”
Nicole:
“The lame man looked at them eagerly expecting some money.”
Sharon:
“But Peter said, I don’t have any silver or gold for you, but I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, get up and walk.”
Nicole:
“Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened.”
Sharon:
“He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. And then walking, leaping and praising God, he went into the temple with them.”
Nicole:
“All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God.”
Sharon:
“When they realized it was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the beautiful gate they were absolutely astounded.”
Nicole:
“They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon’s Colonade, where the man was holding tightly to Peter and John.”
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. He must’ve been in shock. He’s holding onto them like, whoa, whoa. What has just happened to my legs?
Nicole:
Is it gonna stay? Is it gonna keep, am I gonna fall?
Sharon:
I think it’s so cool. Well, okay, so in this story, seeing we’re talking about what can we do?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
What couldn’t Peter and John do? What didn’t they have?
Nicole:
They did not have money, Sharon.
Sharon:
A familiar state for me as well.
Nicole:
Well. Yeah. You know, this is so often the case with many of us, you know. In our family too, we have allocated all of our money to various funds, paying for school, tithe, home repairs, missions, puppies. So when another need comes up, sometimes it’s hard to find money to help.
Sharon:
It sure is. Us too. We love supporting missionaries and good causes, like our local pregnancy center, the House of Hope mission, (Nicole: Yes) that provides meals for people. But there are always more causes and needs (Always, yes) than there are resources it seems. It’s why when we ask for money for Sweet Selah Ministries, we always ask God to give us just enough because there’s so many needs out there. I only want enough to pay our bills with a tiny surplus for emergencies. You know? (Yes) We don’t have to have this huge coffer ’cause there’s a lot of needs. (Absolutely) There’s a lot of needs.
Nicole:
Yeah. And our lame beggar today got a lot more, even if it wasn’t money.
Sharon:
Exactly. What could they do? Oh my goodness. What they could do was in the name of Jesus, heal him.
Nicole:
And isn’t that so much more than a momentary, oh, well thank you for this mea;, this money to get a meal for my hungry tummy for the next six hours.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
Oh. And now I can walk, so maybe now I can go provide for myself, or I can help others who are worse off than me.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
So what they gave him was so much more lasting and so much more profound than a quick fix.
Sharon:
It sure was. You know I love how it starts with Peter saying, look at us.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And he had the man actually look at him. I think another gift, a sort of side gift that Peter gave him, was seeing him, really seeing him. I mean, people notice the beggar, but probably most of the time they walked by fast.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Or they tossed him something quick. They didn’t engage him. When you look in someone’s eyes and you ask them to really engage you, you’re dignifying them.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
You know what I mean? You really are. And I’m guilty sometimes of walking fast by people that feel uncomfortable to me.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
And not engaging them because I’m a little scared.
Nicole:
Right. Because don’t we all long to be truly seen in love.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And to take the moment to stop and to look into the eyes of someone who’s suffering. That’s huge.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
Because we’re sitting there in their discomfort, in their pain with them for a moment. (Sharon: Right) And that makes us uncomfortable. And we have to acknowledge their pain and suffering.
Sharon:
It does. It does. Absolutely.
Nicole:
And then acknowledge, what can I do? Because if we look into their eyes, we can’t just walk away.
Sharon:
We can’t just walk away. Which is why the Good Samaritan story is so fascinating that the Rabbi and the Levite or whoever the guys were that ignored the guy in the ditch, they go to the other side of the road. Da da da da. Not looking. Not looking.
Nicole:
Isn’t that funny? That’s right. Just because they don’t catch his eyes. They don’t have to feel compelled to engage.
Sharon: Exactly
Nicole:
There’s something in us. I think there’s something called the mirror neurons in our head. If we’re close to someone and we’re watching them our body responds subconsciously. If you smile, I’ll smile back. If you itch your head, I might itch it too.
Sharon: Yawning.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
It works for yawning too.
Nicole:
It’s true. We’re compelled when we’re close to someone, we’re compelled to help. So that’s a great way, they looked at him intently.
Sharon:
Yeah. And dear Peter and John, they were actually going to be part of a three o’clock prayer service. I mean, there was a start time do the prayer service.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s true. They were going to do something good.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And they were interruptible. I love that about them. They stopped. Peter looked in his eyes and then Peter takes advantage of the opportunity and he declares in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, you just get up and walk.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. And then he does, I also like that Peter takes him by the right hand to help him.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And he doesn’t, it says, and as the man gets helped up, as the man grabs back as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed. It’s not until the man grips back and, and kind of receives what Peter’s offered.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
That the healing takes place.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Isn’t that fascinating?
Nicole:
Again, it’s that up close, personal contact.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
They could have walked by in a hurry and said, oh, we’ve got five minutes to make it to the meeting. Hey, you’re healed. Like, throw it and keep going.
Sharon:
Right, right, right.
Nicole:
But the fact that they stayed, they spoke, they looked and then they helped him.
Sharon:
And gripped him as well. I just think that is so, so beautiful. And then what’d you think of the guy’s response?
Nicole:
How beautiful. He leaped up and he is praising, I love that he praised God right away.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
I love that he acknowledged, I don’t know where he was in his faith walk, or what he knew about Jesus, but the fact that he recognized that. Peter and John did a really good job explaining where that healing came from.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes they did. And he heard that. He said that Jesus the Nazarene and the lame man recognized that, yeah, you’re right. He praised God.
Nicole:
So he received the whole thing well instead of, I think with the lepers sometimes the nine that kind of went with like, oh, thanks for the healing, I’m out of here. But maybe when they looked at him intently, they saw he was ready for something more. Like, who knows.
Sharon: Yes. Yeah.
Nicole:
The Spirit must have prompted ’cause the Holy Spirit was in them now.
Sharon: That’s right.
Nicole:
He could have prompted like, this man is ready for that complete healing inside and out.
Sharon:
Yep. And Peter was abiding in Christ enough that he heard the Spirit’s nudge and stopped, gave up on that three o’clock meeting. He ends up having his own speech, which we’ll read about next week instead.
Nicole:
I know. It’s so funny.
Sharon:
So are we as willing to let God change our agenda? That is the question.
Nicole:
That is a great question. It’s so hard. CS Lewis said that about children, like children are not interruptions from the work, from the right work. They are the work.
Sharon: They are.
Nicole:
And these moments, these are the moments where Jesus truly works. It’s in our interruptions.
Sharon:
It actually is.
Nicole:
It’s never like our big planned events, the big speaking engagements, the big good deeds for God. It’s on our way to them where we’re like, wait a minute, why are you interrupting my perfectly planned out Jesus mission?
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And that’s where God works best.
Sharon:
Isn’t it beautiful?
Nicole:
Which is so funny ’cause we dismiss those. I get so annoyed with interruptions, Sharon.
Sharon:
Oh, I do too.
Nicole: It’s awful.
Sharon:
Because I like my agendas.
Nicole:
Yes. I love my plan. It’s tidy and it works. And I know that good work will be done at three o’clock at that prayer meeting. What? You want me to stop? This is uncomfortable. I don’t wanna talk to a man who’s crippled. What? But those are the moments, you know? My kids interrupt me with those questions.
Sharon:
Yeah. And God chose a man to be healed who would not be quiet about it.
Nicole:
Yeah. He certainly wasn’t.
Sharon:
He was walking and leaping and praising God.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
That’s the coolest thing.
Nicole:
Well, he drew quite a crowd too.
Sharon:
Yes, he did. And so next week when we talk about Peter’s talk, we see that even that’s part of God’s plan ’cause now you’ve got all these people going, Wow, you know?
Nicole:
What’s just happened? What do we do with this?
Sharon:
I know. I know. So, such a fun story. It really is. It reminds me a little bit of I think it’s Bartholomew, blind, maybe that’s Bartimaeus, Bartimaeus, the blind guy.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Who kept shouting and everybody’s like, pipe it down. And he’s like, no, I’m gonna scream until Jesus sees me, you know? He was a great guy to heal because he was loud about it.
Nicole:
Yes. Oh, that’s funny. Well, I wonder it said that his feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. I wonder if they saw, if they were somehow deformed or twisted. I wonder if Peter and John got to actually see the healing?
Sharon:
Kind of yeah, back in shape again. You’re right.
Nicole:
Yeah. I wondered about the actual mechanics, like how, ’cause they helped him stand up, but I wonder if they were able to actually see. Like how cool that would’ve been.
Sharon:
I know, ’cause even if, you know, they were healed without a miracle, you know, something got fixed, like they were paralyzed (Nicole: Sure) and they weren’t paralyzed, you’d normally have to do therapy and work on the atrophied muscles and do all the things, right?
Nicole:
Yes. You can see they haven’t been used.
Sharon:
Right. Not this, everything just, life just kind of poured right back into those ankles and feet.
Nicole:
Yeah. If he’s leaping, that’s a complete healing.
Sharon:
That’s like super complete.
Nicole:
He didn’t need eight weeks of PT for that.
Sharon:
No, no PT for him.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. I think he was clinging to Peter and John more in shock than in need.
Nicole:
Oh sure. Yeah. Like, wait, what is happening? It’s so beautiful. I love this.
Sharon:
So cool. So cool. Well, let’s go on to our key questions. What was your favorite verse in this passage, Nicole, and why? Tell me. Tell me.
Nicole:
Well, I first picked seven, but I’m gonna change it and go back to six now, because I love what Peter says in verse six. Peter said, I don’t have silver or gold for you, but I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene get up and walk. And I love how he said that. Like, sometimes I feel like it’s like, oh, I’m so sorry I don’t have money. We feel kind of bad, but you know, I can pray for you. Or I can heal you. But he said it was such like, I have no gold or silver for you, but I’ll give you what I have.
Sharon:
I’ve got something better.
Nicole:
And he knew what he had was more valuable. And you can see it in his boldness, the way he said it. Like, actually, and then we’ll help you walk through Jesus. So I love that he saw the value of prayer and help in Jesus more than the value of silver and gold.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
He didn’t apologize for not having a worldly practical solution to the man’s problem.
Sharon:
Right. No apology at all. Instead, there’s enthusiasm.
Nicole:
Yeah. It’s like, I got something better.
Sharon:
Oh, I got something way better.
Nicole:
And I love that about Peter. I thought that was really neat.
Sharon:
That’s an awesome line. I love it. I love it. I liked four. Peter and John looked at him intently and Peter said, look at us. That eye contact, that truly seeing. I’ve told this story before, but it really drove it home to me. This eye contact thing and people noticing you? The day that I walked in Ogunquit with this old army jacket on and a hat. And I was walking up the Marginal Way. And then I looked at this beautiful hotel and decided I would like to see what it would cost to stay there. And so I go into the hotel lobby and there’s this man who’s on the phone and I’m pulling off my hat and what I don’t realize is my hair is standing straight up in the air. I look really weird. And I’ve got this old coat on that’s stained and everything. I mean, it’s really a ratty coat.
Nicole:
Yeah. But it’s your warm walking coat.
Sharon:
It was my warm walking coat. It was not my pretty coat. He never looked at me. He pushed buttons, pretended he stayed on the phone.
Nicole:
Oh my word.
Sharon:
He never engaged me. And until I went to the restroom and looked at my face I didn’t understand why. Then I understood why. He thought I was not sane.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
The way I looked, I wasn’t.
Nicole:
You’re like, Oh, hello Sharon.
Sharon:
But it highlighted for me the sadness of not being noticed. It was a very strange feeling to be invisible and to be a non person in someone’s eyes. I’m glad it happened to me.
Nicole:
Yeah. You’re treated differently how you’re dressed and how you’re presented.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
If I’m dressed up well, people receive that really well if you go to different places. If you go to, you know, dental conferences you’re received differently than if you’re just in absolutely comfortable not so nice clothes.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
There’s a very big difference.
Sharon:
A very big difference. So I just love the intentness of the looking. So.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Okay. Well I’ll answer this one first. The next question is, what did we learn about God from this passage? Well, I learned that God can call us to do extraordinary things while we’re just on our way to church, being ordinary.
Nicole:
I have to remember that the next time I’m like, get in the car kids. Ah, where’s your bible? Where’s your shoes? Girls, something great might happen on the way to church.
Sharon:
On the way to church. Who knows? And I learned that I need to watch for his interruptions.
Nicole: Oh yes.
Sharon:
And see them as his instead of the annoyance I normally feel. What did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
He sees the overlooked. He saw that man with his little crippled ankles. Peter and John were his disciples and they were men about his business and kingdom work. And they were going to the prayer meeting. But he saw that beggar who was sitting there with his broken ankles. And I thought that was so sweet. (Sharon: Yes) So God sees the overlooked and he uses broken ordinary people.
Sharon: He does.
Nicole:
Here’s our Peter again.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Bold for Christ and excited and healing people, just to see him following God so faithfully after all that he has gone through. God uses broken, ordinary (Sharon: He does) fishermen (Yes) that have no idea what they’re doing.
Sharon:
Fishermen that just a few short months ago had denied him. Yes.
Nicole:
Yes. He knew nothing about healing and ankles, but he knew his God and he trusted him.
Sharon:
Yep. So cool. Really cool.
Nicole:
And the last thing I learned about God was he gives us so much more than we ask for. And sometimes he doesn’t give us what we ask for. Like, I just need money. All I need is money. He’s like, no, you don’t. You need to be healed.
Sharon:
Oh, that’s so true.
Nicole:
So what he gives us sometimes we’re like, why didn’t you give us what I asked for God? Because what he gives us is more than we ask for, but it’s what we truly need.
Sharon:
I love it. And that is so true, and I’ve experienced that. That’s so cool.
Nicole:
Yeah. So we need to be on the lookout that if we’re not getting–,
Sharon:
We have to trust him.
Nicole:
Yes. We can trust him. And when we ask him and he says, no, wait. Because he has something better.
Sharon:
He’s got something better.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I agree. I agree. Well, how about the early church? How can, what did we learn from that and how can we apply it today?
Nicole:
Their willingness to see. They saw him rushing off to their meeting ’cause we’re, I’m so guilty of that. Too busy doing my own things. I don’t look for the needs. Look for the interruptions like you had said. I think they were willing to look for that and reach out and do what they could to help.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
We don’t have any money, but actually we’re gonna heal you instead.
Sharon: So good.
Nicole:
And they stayed to rejoice with him afterward.
Sharon:
They did. They lingered. Yes.
Nicole:
I love that. It was this complete picture. They saw, they did what they could and they stayed and watched him leap and rejoice and praise God.
Sharon:
They did. They basically laid aside all their own plans (Nicole: Yes) and entered into this guy’s world.
Nicole:
And I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. I love that too. I also was interested in the fact that the early church took part in synagogue life (Nicole: Oh yeah) at that stage, they were going to a prayer meeting at the synagogue. You know?
Nicole:
That’s a great point. They didn’t completely abandon–
Sharon:
No, no. They were still synagogue-Ing at that point until they got thrown out under Paul’s regime. But at this point they’re still going, they’re still praising God. They’re still entering. It’s the same God. You know?
Nicole:
Right. Oh, how neat. I never noticed that.
Sharon:
Yeah. It’s kind of fun to see that. But I also said that the way we can learn from it is their sensitivity to Spirit. Yes. They were interruptible, they noticed the invisible ones. So kind of similar to what you saw, as a church body, we can’t be so rigid in our planning that we’re not interruptible. (Nicole: Right) This past Sunday, Joel talked about how glad he was that we got involved with the orphanage in Ethiopia. Well, that was an interruption. It wasn’t something anybody had on their radar. And then one person in our church got it on her radar. And pretty soon the church is adopting kids right and left. You know?
Nicole:
Oh, I know.
Sharon:
And what a change and what a blessing came out of this need that kind of became our church’s need. (Nicole: Yeah) So we’ve gotta keep that sensitivity to the Spirit. (Right) Because he has full right to interrupt us and say, no, do this. (He does) He really does.
Nicole:
He can completely change our course.
Sharon:
Whether we want him to or not sometimes.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
So, well, let’s pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for this happy story. Thank you for that lame man who dared to grip Peter’s arm and then ended up leaping and praising and walking with joy again. Lord, you bring joy. Help us Father, in our daily lives to see interruptions as allowed by you. Help us to look for the moments when we can talk about Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, in whose name mighty things can happen. Give us courage, Lord, for those times and sensitive hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. We are so happy you chose to listen to Sweet Selah Moments today. We hope you receive some practical help on how to serve others even when you’re busy. Let’s all work together this next week on asking what can we do when we see a need and acting in whatever way, small or big that God leads us? This show does require finances to produce. We know your resources are limited just like ours, but what could you do to support us? Even $5 a month would help, especially if a lot of our listening friends made this decision this week. Want to donate? Head over to SweetSelah.org/donations and donate securely to our nonprofit organization. What a blessing that would be for us, and come back next week for episode 130, Pointing to Jesus. Have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
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