Acts 3:1

Acts 3:1 says, Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. Peter and John are now moving openly and going into the temple to pray.  Peter is no longer hiding or denying Jesus.  We must have faith to step out into the world and declare the gospel of Christ.  Verse two adds, 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 of them that entered into the temple; Peter and John met a lame man. This occurred while Peter and John were on their way to the Temple.  Verse three continues, Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. They were going to worship God when a lame beggar interrupted them, asking them for alms, or begging in other words..  What would we do today?  Would we question his need or maybe be annoyed by his interruption> Peter and John stopped and to borrow from a song, "looked beyond his wants and saw his needs."  Verse four states,  And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.  Peter asked the man to look at them, and if we are going to help each other today, we must first look at each other.  Verse five adds, And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them.  People are still willing to take heed of us today if they believe that they are going to receive some material benefit from doing so.  Verse six continues, Then Peter said, 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.  Peter said tha he had no silver or gold to give the man.  We might have left it at I have nothing to give you and gone on our way to worship.  Would we truly have believed we had more to offer?  Peter gave the lame man something worth more than silver and gold and told him in the name of Jesus to rise up and walk.  Verse seven declare, And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.  Peter didn’t just tell the man to rise up and walk, but he helped him to rise.  It is good to share the gospel with others, but we should also help them up when they have been so spiritually weak for a long time.  Verse eight adds, And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.  This took faith on the part of two people, Peter and the lame man.  The lame man jumped up rejoicing and Peter started preaching and praising God. The faith of both having been rewarded.  Verse ten continues, And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.  All the people saw him walking and praising God.  They knew who he was and that he had been lame for years, and nobody could dispute what had happened to him.  People may question a lot about God, but they can never really dispute your salvation experience.