Please turn with me to the third chapter of the book of Acts today, Acts chapter 3, and I'm going to read the first ten verses of Acts chapter 3. I begin from verse 1. We read, now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer. Being the ninth hour, 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. He, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.

And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Yeshua, the Messiah of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and he lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up, stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they knew that it was he which sat for arms at the beautiful gate of the temple.

And they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And I stop, of course, with verse 10 today, because I want to just to focus on those verses. We will continue with this story here in chapter 3 and chapter 4 as the Lord is going to enable us. But I wanted to say today, when we speak about Acts chapter 3, that even though it is important to see that Acts chapter 3 following with the number after chapter 2 and chapter 1 of the book of Acts, but there is an amazing development in the book of Acts of the growth of the assembly, the body of Messiah, which began in the city of Yerushalayim, the city of Jerusalem, and continuing on to develop and to grow and to go into the uttermost parts of the earth.

We, of course, understand that in Acts chapter 1, Yeshua himself said to the Hebrew disciples there that were around him, he said ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth that's what Yeshua said in Acts 1 and verse 8 to the disciples as he was teaching them concerning the kingdom of God and I like this thought to see of the development and the growth of the body of Messiah which began in Acts 2 and now developing and growing and you can see that it began right here in the city of Jerusalem and moving on later on into the uttermost parts of this earth now act chapter 3 and chapter 4 really go together what we learn in these two chapters Acts 3 and act chapter 4 is the authority that is found in the name of Yeshua the Messiah.

There is power in his name there is an authority in his name there is strength in his name there is blessing in his name and there is healing in the name of Yeshua the Messiah act chapter 3 and 4 really shows us the power that is found in the name of Yeshua the Messiah. Sometimes we ask the question, what is in a name? What's so special about names? And I want you to understand that when we use the word, what is your name? And we ask about the name of a person, when it's come to the biblical names that God had given to people, including the name that he gave to his son, there is a meaning behind it.

It's not only that you just say a name, like we call a person simply by the name, identify him in his name, but we have authority, there is power, there is meaning to names that God had given to anyone in the history of the people of Israel. Here we see. Something that is really unique in connection with the name with the person of our blessed Lord Jesus the Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach and so you know if you remember if you just turn with me for a moment to Exodus chapter 3 there i want to read a verse that has to do with the name of God when Moses was told by God to go to bring out the nation of Israel out of Egypt into the promised land Moses said unto God in verse 13 of Exodus chapter 3 he said behold i come unto the children of Israel and i will say unto them the God of your fathers has sent me unto you and they shall say unto me what is his name and what shall I say unto them Moses asked and so God said unto Moses in verse 14 and 15 I am that I am and he said thus shall you say unto the children of Israel I am has sent me unto you the Hebrew word I am means ehaye asher ehaye I will be that which I.

Will be unto the children of Israel and God said moreover unto Moses thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel Jehovah God of your fathers the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob has sent me unto you and then notice what he's saying at the end of verse 15 this is my name forever and this is my memorial unto all generations you see God said to his people Israel through Moshe through Moses that his name is Yud-Hed-Vav-Heh Jehovah Yehovah which means that I am the provided I have strength I am the God of relationship Israel he's saying to the children of Israel this is my name unto all the generation and now when we come to chapter 3 of the book of Acts and chapter 4 of the book of Acts we see that there is power and authority in the name of Yeshua the Messiah and look and i begin here with the first verse in act chapter 3 and act chapter 3.

Verse 1 says this now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer and it says being the ninth hour now we see here in the first 10 verses the healing that is found in the name of Yeshua the Messiah. What is the occasion that these healings have happened? The occasion that it happened, the time or the area and the time where the healing of a certain man in the city of Jerusalem have happened is the period of time where Peter and John went up to the temple to pray. It seemed to be that the early Jewish believers, even though they were already now part of the known church assembly, ecclesia, they linger a little bit longer and they remain really connected with the temple in Yerushalayim.

You will see later on as the growth of the body of Messiah developed and as the believers grew and came more and more believers, you'll see that they understood that really now the place of worship is not merely in the temple which later on going to be destroyed in 70 AD but the meeting of the believers the gathering of the believers will be in a place where the center is the Lord Yeshua the Messiah as we have in Matthew 18 20 where two or three are gathered together unto my name he says to be there in the midst of the believers but they went to the city of Jerusalem and they went to the temple at the hour of prayer now notice that it says here in verse 1 that it was in the ninth hour these two expressions number one the hour of prayer number two it is the ninth hour these two expressions are very important why is it and when did they come to a point.

That they are saying that there will be an hour of prayer you know the Jewish people the people of Israel, over their generation, have come to understand something that is very precious. They came to understand throughout the history that there are periods of time of the day in which the sacrifice will be offered. There will be a morning sacrifice, there will be an evening sacrifice, and those morning and evening sacrifices will be a time where the nation will gather together and there will be a time where that sacrifice will be offered unto the Lord and the longing of the people that God will accept the sacrifice and forgive their sins.

And over the generations it became to be an hour of the gathering of the people. And as of course we know that in Acts chapter 3 the temple still stood their sacrifices still remain even though we know that the Messiah finished the work on the cross on the tree but the system of sacrifices and worship have continued in the temple in Jerusalem so the believers even though they were already forgiven through Yeshua the Messiah they still lingered in the temple for a while later on things would change but they went at the hour of prayer and the hour of prayer was always in connection with the sacrifice we read earlier in Numbers chapter 28 if you remember in the reading and in Numbers chapter 28 it was clearly given to the nation of Israel by God instruction concerning the sacrifices and God through Moses spoke unto Aaron and to the nation of Israel and he said to them in Numbers chapter 28 he says thou shalt say unto the children of Israel this is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the Lord and he gave them two lambs of the first year.

Without spot day by day there were sacrifices that were offered every day by the children of Israel it's called in the Bible a continual burnt offering a continual it's a non-stop it's continuing day by day it was morning sacrifices and there was evening sacrifice in Numbers chapter 28 and verse 4 he says one lamb shall you offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer in the evening now this is so important brothers and sisters because all the sacrifices that have been offered by our people Israel of all spoke of the sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah that's why it says here you notice in Acts chapter 3 and verse 1 it was in the hour of prayer and it tells us it was the ninth hour now if you have your record correct and you will look throughout history and you will look in biblical history you'll find out that when Yeshua died when the Lord Jesus the Messiah died it was in the ninth hour when the Lord Jesus the Messiah died it was in the ninth.

Hour and the ninth hour in the biblical account it is 3 p.m three o'clock in afternoon it was in between the evening between 3 p.m to about 6 p.m when the new day began so when the hour of prayer was done by the Israelis by the Jewish people in the temple in Jerusalem it was connected with the sacrifices given in Numbers and it was always morning and evening and morning and evening and speaking to us about the time where the Lord Yeshua the Messiah died now let me show you one more thing before we're going to move on to the healing of this man if you go to the gospel of Mark if you turn there for one moment you will notice in Mark chapter 15 at the time where our blessed Lord Yeshua the Messiah died look what we read talking about the ninth hour it says in verse 24 of Mark 15 when they crucified him they parted his garment casting lots upon them.

What every man should take and it was the third hour and they crucified him you know when Yeshua was hanging on the cross it began on the third hour at about nine o'clock in the morning if you move on a little bit further down in this chapter and you notice now in verse 33 it says and when it was the sixth hour when it was come there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour he was placed on the tree on the third hour in the middle of the day at noon the sixth hour there was darkness upon all the face of this land and in the ninth hour it says in verse 34 Yeshua cried with a loud voice and he said Elohi Elohi lama shvaktani that is to say my God my God why did you forsake me?

You see, the ninth hour, it was when the sacrifice was offered. And it was in the ninth hour when Yeshua died on the tree for our sins. And it was in the ninth hour when the believers, along with the rest of the worshipers in Israel, went to the temple at the hour of prayer. And beloved brothers and sisters, is so precious because while they went along with other Israelis who were not believers in Yeshua both came at the same time and the time was when the Lord Jesus the Messiah gave his life on the tree for our sins the unbelievers Jewish people who went to the temple they did not understand that it was fulfilled in Yeshua but they knew that they had to do it because of what God had given to Israel in the past but the Jewish believers understood that he spoke to them about the death of the Messiah so the occasion where this one man was there being healed in the power of the name of Yeshua the occasion the time was when they went to the temple in the hour of prayer you and i today we don't have necessarily a morning and evening meetings in general but we have a time where we can gather together and spend time in occupying ourselves with the person of Yeshua in prayer in praise in worship in singing and in the reading of the Scripture and being.

Occupied with our blessed Lord Jesus the Messiah and so in the occasion what happened in those verses is that as Peter and John went up together to pray by the way Peter and John have done a lot of things together you can see in the Scripture many times that you find Peter and John they were fishing together in the past in Luke chapter 5 we read of them fishing together they have gone together to prepare the Pesach the Passover for the Lord to celebrate before he died in Luke in chapter 22 they have gone also to do this together in fact we find them running together towards the tomb of Yeshua the Messiah in the Gospel of John and then of course John outrun Peter because John was younger but they were doing this together they in fact later on went to Samaria in Acts chapter 8 together when Philip have shared the message of the Gospel with the Samaritans they have gone there together but here we see also that they pray together it's so precious.

To see that they pray together they fish together they share the word together they prepare for the Passover together they have run to the tomb of Yeshua together they were working together how we need that and here you can see how they are being used by God together as they are going towards the temple in the ninth hour for the time of prayer and so what happened in that occasion dear brothers and sisters in the next verses in act chapter 3 there was a lame man at the gate of the temple as they were going towards the time of worship at the temple look at the next two verses 2 and 3, we find out about that man.

It says, And a certain man, laying 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 which enter into the temple. He, seeing Peter and John, about to go into the temple, he asked elms of them. Now here's the person that the Lord is. Setting before us. Now this is very precious because it says a certain man. The whole Gospel of Luke, if you read it, you'll find many times this expression, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He went to a certain village and a certain man. When the Bible used that expression, a certain man, God really want to say when using this expression to really apply it to every individual, that it may be any one of us.

Of course, it was a certain man specifically here in Acts chapter 3, but it could be really applying to all people, to all mankind, a certain man, a certain woman, a certain person. Here he is speaking about a certain man, and this man had a great need. It says here that he was lame from his mother's womb. You and I do not have any idea the inability of walking. It's one thing when one person used to walk once and then became lame and then he saw the changes but this man apparently was lame from his mother's womb. He never knew in the whole history of his life he never knew what it meant to walk in fact the Bible teaches us that he was old enough that years passed by if you read in act chapter 4 and verse 22 he was for 40 years already lame for 40 years he never knew the experience of walking how sad it must have been to see a person unable to walk from his mother's when he was born he was born lame by the way Mephibosheth in the Old Testament in the book of Samuel 2nd Samuel who was the son of Yonatan he was a grandson of Shaul the king of Israel he knew how to walk but when he was about four years old he fell from the hands of his nurse she dropped him and he fell and he became lame on both of his feet but here we see a man that never ever was able to walk the entire life he was lame from the time that he was born and what does he do what we find out about him.

Not only that he was lame but he also was poor because the Bible tells us that he was carried whom they lay daily verse 2 at the gate of the temple which is called beautiful to ask alms of them that entered into the temple not only that this man could not walk but this man also had nothing to meet his needs he needed to be carried every day he needed to be carried by somebody else to bring him to the gate of the temple And there he was asking constantly for alms, for money, for those who were passing by. He was sitting there and begging for money, begging for that which he needed to meet his livelihood.

And so the expression here in verse 2 is interesting expression because it would describe the condition of all of us, beloved brothers and sisters. We had two things that we had a problem with number one we were lame we could never walk spiritually speaking number two we were poor with unable for us to pay for the price of our redemption that's what this man described for us his condition is a description of the whole human race, poor and lame. But not only that, if you notice, it says they carried him to the gate of the temple, and we find out that he was an outside of the gate of the temple.

It's not only that he was lame, he was also poor, but he was also outside of the temple itself, sitting by the gate. If you remember in the past we have talked many times about the courts at the temple they're different between the courts of the tabernacles and the courts of the temple because the courts of the temple which herod had enlarged had actually five courts there's the court of the Gentiles which was the furthest one and then there was the court of the women and then the court of the men and then as you get closer you have the court of the priest and ultimately the Holy of Holies which is the place of the high priest there were five courts really and the court between the courts of the Gentiles and the courts of the women there was a gate that is called the beautiful gate to there by the way only the Jewish women could enter in and then further on there was the court of the men that only the Jewish men could enter in.

But this individual, they placed him, notice here, at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful. That part is actually between the court of the Gentiles and the court of the women, there was a gate which was called the Beautiful. Apparently, there were more than eight or nine gates at that time to enter into the temple, but he was placed here in that temple gate called Beautiful. And what was he doing there? It says in verse 3, he saw Peter and John about to go to enter into the temple, and he began to ask from them for alms. Now how sad this statement here in those verses 2 and 3, to show to us a man that is lame for 40 years, that is poor, unable to lift himself up and to purchase for himself anything, and sitting outside of the gate of the temple in the city of Jerusalem.

He didn't actually even go even to the men's court. He was sitting there at the gate called Beautiful. That is the interesting thing. By the way, just to mention in Scripture, in the Bible, a man that was lame could never be, even if he was of the line of the priesthood, could never function as a priest. Because God would not allow anyone that had any blemish to function in the priesthood service. The Bible teaches us clearly in Leviticus 21 that anybody that had any blemish or was lame could not function in the priestly service. But God never wanted the people of Israel to neglect the poor and the needy.

They always were exhorted to minister to the poor and to the needy. I want to show you a verse in Deuteronomy chapter 15. Can you turn there for a moment? In Deuteronomy chapter 15, verse 7, God said to Israel, If there be among you a poor man of one of your brethren, within any of thy gates in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother. Israel, Ganesh said to the nation, he said, if you have a poor brother from among you, from among the nation of Israel, he says, listen, you shall not shut your hand from the poor brother, and you shall not harden your heart towards him.

He continued to tell us, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, you shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth. Beware, God is warning Israel, that there be not a thought in your wicked heart saying, the seventh year, the year of release is at hand, and thine eyes be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him not. And he cried unto the Lord against thee and it will be a sin unto thee thou shalt surely give him and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him because for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou putest thine hand to do he said for for the poor shall never seize out of the land.

See, amazing, the lessons that we learn here, that he was lame, but he was also poor, and God reminded Israel never to forget those that are poor. The poor shall never seize from being in the midst of the nation of Israel. And so here we find that man, lame for 40 years, Poor, without anything to have to meet his need. And also outside, unable to enter in. Fully dependent upon others to meet his needs. So here we see him again looking at Peter and John. And he's looking at them, he asks from them for alms. He's looking at them steadfastly, expecting from them to give him something to meet his need.

And so, how graciously we find out in the next verses how this man's need is being met. His need being met much more than what he had expected. God had provided for him through the servants of the Lord much more than what he expected to receive from Peter and John. And it is all happening through the name of Yeshua the Messiah. Notice that in the next verses, verses 4, 5, 6, and 7, We find out the lame man need is being met. First of all, notice Peter and John, as they are walking inside. Verse 4, he says, Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John. Peter and John looked at this man.

They fastened their eyes upon him and they looked at him. They saw the need. They saw, they took notice of this man. By the way, he is for 40 years in such a condition. We do not know how many times he was placed. It says that he was daily, but maybe not right away when he was a baby. But for years he was there at the temple. For years he was sitting outside the gate, the beautiful gate. This time Peter and John are coming. And as they are walking towards the gate, he looked at them expecting for them to receive from them something. Peter told him, you look at us, look on us.

He might have been probably so used to lift up his hand and people passing by and passing by, and some gave him, some didn't, but they're passing by, and he's probably already, his head is down, and he's just lifting his hands or maybe opening something and having a box or something ready to receive something from the people who were passing by, but this time Peter and John asking him to look at them. And so Peter asking him to look on them, he gave heed. It says in verse 5, he gave heed unto them in the expecting to receive something from them. The Greek here is suggesting that he is really anticipating to get something bigger from them, something larger from them.

And so he is now, it says in verse 5, that he gave heed, specifically gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them. And look what Peter is saying to this man. Peter then said to him, in verse 6, he says, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I am going to give unto you. In the name of Yeshua the Messiah, of Nazareth, rise up and walk. What a statement. Peter said to him, Silver and gold I don't have. But what i do have i'm going to give to you and Peter now directing him to the person to the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah he's saying to him in the name of Yeshua the Messiah of Nazareth rise up and walk you notice that he doesn't say in the name of God though he is surely the son of God he doesn't say in the name of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob though it is true that Yeshua is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but he's bringing to the front the name of the Lord Jesus the Messiah in his humanity he's directing this man to the humanity of Yeshua the man from Natseret the man that was despised and rejected of men the name of Yeshua the Messiah he says silver and gold have I none but such as I have I'm going to give unto you in the name of Yeshua the Messiah of Natseret rise up and walk now the thought that we have here.

Somebody had said, and I read this, that years ago, Peter could say, silver and gold have I none. But in the name of Jesus, the Messiah, you can get up and you can walk. There was power in the name of Jesus. Today, we may not be able to say in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk, because the power is not the same. The weakness of the church, the weakness of us, the life of the believer is so far from where God intended it to be. We will never be able to say silver and gold I don't have because we have plenty the Lord had provided for us but we don't have that same power that existed in the church in the beginning the foundation of the church that men were healed in the power of the Lord Jesus in such a way in first century that we know it's not the same today because of the state and the condition of the church so he told him in the name of Jesus the Messiah rise up and walk and what happened in the next verses we find in verse 7 and he took him by the right hand and he lifted him up and immediately his feet and his ankle bones he sees strength this man was healed immediately the verse tell you here in verse 7 immediately no delay immediately his feet and his ankle bone have received strength in fact the next verse it says in verse 8 and he's leaping up and he stood and he walked and he entered into the temple walking and leaping and praising God there was.

Not only the physical emitting of his knees that have happened but also spiritually speaking there was a change in that man's heart he was walking he was leaping and also praising God worshiping the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob now what we see in this man brothers and sisters we see it in us he was born lame he was poor and he was outside the door that's where you and I exactly spiritually speaking we are described here by this man we were also lame could not stand before God we were far from God and God had brought us to himself we were also poor spiritually poor and we were also outside the door and look what happened in the name of Jesus the Messiah in the name of Yeshua the Messiah, he rose up and he began to, as it says here, leaping, he stood up and he walked and he entered into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.

Now we can. See that for a moment, if you turn with me to the book of Ephesians for a second, you can see in Ephesians chapter 2, this illustrated very well by the apostle concerning the Ephesians who became believers in Yeshua the Messiah. Look at what Paul said to them in Ephesians chapter 2. The first thing in connection with being lame, unable to walk. We see it here in Ephesians chapter 2 and verses, the first few verses. He says, you, he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. He made a life he was enabling us to stand but we were dead we were unable to stand that's what he's saying Paul to the Ephesians you hath he quickened made alive gave you the ability to stand because you were dead in trespass and sins and then notice in verse 2 he says wherein in time passed you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit is now working in the children of disobedience that what he's saying to the Ephesians the same thing he said you in the past you walked in a wrong direction you didn't walk in the right direction you were unable to walk right you were like the lame individual but God had made you alive God had quickened you through the person of the Lord Jesus when you were dead in your trespasses and your sins that is the description that we see in a picture of that lame.

Man not only this now notice he was also poor and if you go down you can see that how in verses 8 and 9 of Ephesians Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8 and 9 it says by grace I saved through faith that this is not of yourself you didn't earn it you didn't pay for that it was a gift of God see this man received that gift he was poor but now became rich he could not walk but now he can because of the name of Yeshua the Messiah and so he's saying by grace are he saved through faith it is not of yourself it is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast you see the receiving of our salvation was gift from God we didn't earn it we didn't pay for that because we didn't have the means to pay for that the Lord Jesus the Messiah earned this for us Yeshua the Messiah gave this man the ability to walk it was through the name.

There is power in the name of Yeshua the Messiah not only to give him the ability to stand but also to meet his poverty to meet his need and now same in Ephesians 2 not only we said that he was lame and poor, but he was also outside. He was not inside. He was out. And he brought him in. And notice now in verse 11, 12, and 13 of Ephesians chapter 2. Remember, he's saying to those believers at Ephesus, were you being in pastime Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made by hand, That at that time, ye were without, without what?

Without the Messiah, outside of the Messiah. Being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in this world. Notice twice it's mentioned the word without, being out, without the Messiah. Without God. That's the condition of man in general. But now he said to them in the Messiah, in Christ, verse 13, ye who were sometimes far off, he had made kneel by the blood of the Messiah Christ. You see, it's really precious to get the hold of whatever happened to this lame man in the city of Jerusalem. It's applying to the spiritual condition of all the human race.

Lame, unable to stand. Poor, unable to meet their need. Outside, unable to enter in, but through the Messiah Yeshua, through the power of his work, through the power of his name, now we can stand, now we can have what we couldn't earn as a gift, and now we can enter in, and it all wrapped up through the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And so look at him, After, Peter said to him, silver and gold I don't have, but what I do have I am giving to you. In the name of Yeshua the Messiah of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And so lo and behold, immediately, no delay, he took him by the right hand, lifted him up, verse 7, and immediately his feet and ankles, bones, received strength.

And all of a sudden, a man that for 40 years could not walk, we find him leaping up. He entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. What a nice thing to see. The effect on the life of this person, the change that happened in his life because of the name of Yeshua the Messiah. There is authority in the name of Jesus. There is power in the name of Yeshua. There is blessings in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And so the effect on him was tremendous. He went inside and he began to rejoice. Now notice he's no longer sitting at the gate.

He is no longer sad, needy. Now he has what he has never had before. In two ways, his physical need have changed, and also his spiritual need was met. It is all because of what Yeshua has done for him. Because right now, he was inside, he was rejoicing, he was singing, he was praising, he was running, he was walking. And it was really fulfilling what was said by the prophet Isaiah years ago in Isaiah chapter 35, where God promised the nation of Israel. In those verses, he says, the lame man shall live as they hurt, and the tongue of the dumb will sink for the wilderness shall water break out and the streams will be in the desert Isaiah 35 verse 6 now that takes us to the future when the restoration of Israel will come to its place but here we see what the Lord has intended for Israel and for mankind blessing for the people will come to trust in him and so there was a change in the man but look at the effect on others around him you see that's what should happen to us when we have come to know the Lord when we have come to know Yeshua when we were brought into this favored place in relationship with the Lord Jesus others should see the change look what verses 9 and 10 in conclusion all the people saw him walking and praising God they saw it all the people around him all of a sudden they say wait a minute.

This is the man that was sitting that was lame that was outside that was poor and we see the change in his life the people saw him they were amazed they saw him walking and praising God it is amazing to see that there was a different not only in him but there was a change there was evident in them they were convicted this man by the way that he behaved showed that something happened in his life it's important because it's a testimony to others outside what happened to do how you now became so different how it came about and so it says in verse 10 and they knew that it was the one which set for elms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which have happened unto him the testimony of this man have left others amazed and in wonder at the testimony of this man.

That expression here, amazement and wonder, shows us that he actually did communicate with them about the change that happened in his life. Now, of course, they saw him after so many years now walking and leaping, but you also heard him praising God. To God be the glory. It is in the name of Yeshua, the Messiah, that I am at that condition. Isn't it something that you and I can learn from today, brothers and sisters, when you and I are speaking with people outside, how do they look at us? What do they think about us? Do they look at us and say, wow, there is a change in the behavior of this person.

I knew he used to speak like this, but now he's speaking this way. Maybe he used to use his mouth for cursing and now he's using his mouth for praising. There was a change in him. There ought to be a change in us. I know there are many heavy things upon us as believers in our life, but there ought to be a change in our manners, in our behavior, in our action. We fail, we stumble, but the change has to be there. And it is only possible through the person and the name of Yeshua, the Messiah. May the Lord help us to see this. May the Lord help us to change, to have a behavior that will be pleasing to the Lord and drawing others to the person of the Lord.

It was the Song of Solomon where Solomon said, Draw me, and we will go after thee. When God is drawing one and changing one, others follow if they really find a real change, something attractive. May the Lord help us to be those that can attract others to Yeshua the Messiah. And never forget that we were lame, we were poor, and we were outside. And because of Yeshua, we are standing right before God. And He made us rich in Him. And now we are no longer outside. We are right at the presence of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, because of what He has done for us.

Can you say Amen to that? Amen.