Dr. Michael Youssef, inviting you to experience God's power for daily living. If you have never experienced victory over sin, You are in one of two conditions. You either have never experienced the power of salvation, the liberating power of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. Or You have experienced the liberating salvation of Jesus Christ, but you're living in disobedience.
The good news is Today, you can be set free. Do you ever feel like hope is just evaporating? Maybe your marriage is crumpling or your job is uncertain or there are health challenges that are just multiplying. Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.
Acts chapter 3 details what looks like a chance encounter that Peter and John had with a man living in hopelessness. and today experience this man's victory. Oh, and you can experience victory as you encounter Jesus. Here now is Dr. Michael Youssef with Leading the Way Audio.
Turn with me, please, in your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 3. I believe this chapter Clearly spells out the biblical understanding, the true and accurate biblical understanding of miracles. The true and biblical understanding of signs and wonders. This is a magnificent chapter. Acts chapter 3 tells us unequivocally.
That God's supernatural intervention is not for showbiz. Acts chapter 3 tells us without a shadow of doubt That God's supernatural interventions and dealings in the lives of his children. Are only for serving God's ultimate purpose, namely the salvation of the souls of the lost people. This was the first miracle that was performed by the apostles since the day of Pentecost. But it was the second message, the second sermon that was preached by Peter.
Namely, the first one was. the sermon during the day of Pentecost. What is this first miracle?
Well, remember, of course, Peter and John. have been business partners. It's not unusual for them to be together. Peter and John. have had close friendship.
Peter and John, together with James, made the inner circle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter and John were entrusted by the Lord Jesus to go and make preparation. for the Passover meal. Peter and John. We were alone of all the 12 followed Jesus into the house of Caiaphas the high priest after Jesus was arrested.
Peter and John. were the first disciples to visit the empty tomb.
So, this is a close friendship, and here we see them in the book of Acts. Partners in ministry. Together. Ministering to the needs of others. Ministering the Word of God.
This was about three o'clock in the afternoon. You see, the Jews Prayed three times a day. They prayed in the morning. They prayed at noon and then they prayed in evening. The evening time was the highest peak in terms of the crowd near the temple.
That as they were walking, what happened? They were confronted with human hopelessness. And you notice, of course, Dr. Luke, as a physician, is obviously very interested in this man's. Physical condition, congenital condition.
He's interested in that, and therefore he tells us some details. Look at, for example, at chapter 2. Dr. Luke tells us. That this man was born crippled.
He was born that way. In Acts 4, 22, he tells us that he was in his condition for 40 years. This man was severely crippled.
So much so that he was totally and utterly and completely dependent on others to carry him from one place to another. They will pick him up in the morning and they will put him somewhere and then when he needs somebody to take him somewhere else they have he has to motion to them, they have to pick him up and they have to carry him and then have to bring him back and carry him and put him back. For 40,000 Ears. And all that this man was hoping for was just barely. The physical necessities.
What this man was only hoping for, begging for, was whatever he can get in order to exist. That's all he wanted. Please listen carefully. Because this The condition of every one of us. Every one of us were born crippled with the disease of sin.
Every one of us. We're all born with eternal hopelessness written all over our foreheads. Whether you are born in a mansion or you're born in a hut, whether you're born rich or poor, whether you're born black or white. We're all born crippled with the disease of sin. We're born heading for destruction.
Throughout our lives, Jesus used somebody in your life. I don't know who, and I don't care, I want to know who, but God used somebody in your life that pulled you off. your crippling condition of sin. Jesus used somebody who stretched his or her hand to lift you out of your begging, spiritually speaking condition of sin. Jesus sends somebody to you to stretch out his hand or her hand to rescue you from the gutter of hopelessness and the gutter of the pain of guilt.
Jesus sent somebody and stretched out his or her hand. and delivered you from the destiny of eternal destruction. Peter said to the man, Silver and gold I have none. But at the name of Jesus Christ, What does it mean when you do something in the name of Jesus Christ? What does it mean?
When you do something in the name of Jesus Christ means that you are acting consistently with His will. When you do something in the name of Jesus Christ, it means. that you are doing something that he himself would do. When you do something in the name of Jesus Christ, It is doing something. On his authority.
Doing something in the name of Jesus Christ is doing something with His delegated power to you. And so Peter commands the beggar to get up. And did he get up? Look at healings. Response, healing's evidence, the man's.
Joy and excitement knew no bounds. He wasn't merely walking, that wasn't enough for him. He was jumping. He was nearly killed himself running down those steps. He was leaping.
Like a kid with a new toy that he waited for for over a year. The shekels have been broken. The crippling is no more. The chains that held him to the ground were torn asunder. Please hear me right on this one.
If you have never experienced victory over sin, If you have never experienced victory over addiction, If you have never experienced victory over your love of money and things. If you have never had victory over your false guilt. You are in one of two conditions. You are either have never experienced The power of salvation, the liberating power of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. Or You have experienced the liberating salvation of Jesus Christ, but you're living in disobedience.
The good news is Today you can be set free. No matter where you are. No matter what condition you're in, today You can be set free. Let me tell you something. Whatever you are, whatever your condition may be, that's the good news of the gospel.
Today you can be set free. Listen. Don't trust in your silver and gold. You say, What's wrong with silver and gold? Nothing wrong with them.
But when they become the object of your comfort and the object of your security, there's everything wrong with them. Don't trust in your intellectual ability. Nothing wrong with being intellectual. But when your intellect becomes the source of your pride, You're in terrible danger. Don't trust in your family connections.
Nothing wrong with family connections. I thank God for my family. But they will not bring you the grace of God that you desperately need today. That's simply Allow the power of the Holy Spirit to come into your life. to set you free.
Would you do that? Right now Bow your heads in prayer. I haven't finished the sermon yet. But I feel the Spirit of God is going to set some people at this moment. At this moment, I'm led of the Spirit of God.
Bow your heads in prayer, please. And if you're a person that you've been enslaved, whatever it is. You've been addicted to whatever it is. God set me free today. Will you do that?
It's between you and heaven. Nobody else's business, it's your business. You get to the internet and you addicted to pornography. God set me free today. You face a problem, and the first thing you do is you go to that bottle and say, God set me free today.
I believe the power of God the Holy Spirit will set you free if you ask Him sincerely and if you ask Him today. Will you do that? God bless you. My God, honor you, because God said He'll honor those who honor Him. Father God, in the name of Jesus.
As I do this in obedience to you, I pray that your Holy Spirit will set your people free. Father God, I pray in the name of Jesus that your Holy Spirit will come into these precious people who love you, who trust you, because they believe that you can when they can't. and that you'll loose them and set them free. And Lord, I receive that on their behalf, and they receive that from you in Jesus' name. Amen.
First there was a miracle. Then there was the message. I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm going to tell you, but this is biblical to the core. The miracle is always A servant to the message. The miracle is always subservient to the message.
The miracle is always inferior to the message. What do I mean by this? Because the miracle is temporary, But the message is permanent. Because the miracle is finite, But the message is eternal. Because the miracle is for a season, but the message is forever, therefore, the miracle.
has to be subservient to the message. When Jesus Christ walked into the tomb of Lazarus, who has been dead for four days, and he cried out in a loud voice, saying, Lazarus, come out! Lazarus got up. And walked. And the Bible said people believed.
Lazarus died again. But those who were saved were eternally saved. Amen? This man, Peter, walks into the near the beautiful gate and near the temple, and he tells him, Silver and gold have I none, but at the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And the man gets up and walked.
The Bible said many believed. That man died again. But those who believed were eternally saved. And so Peter begins his message. By identifying They'll be sitting of sin.
You see, if it was just a miracle taking place, And that was the end of it. Everybody said, isn't that nice? Is that great? Boy, this man must have some power. And a few people might go around and say, hey, tell us about this power.
As we know later, some Sorcerers were trying to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. They actually thought they could purchase it. But the message is superior to the miracle. And that is why Peter goes on to preach the message. And the message that Peter preached.
And those who are saved as a result of that message will live forever, and you and I are going to see them in heaven. That's why he begins by the besitting of sin. Let me tell you something. All preaching, all teaching, all ministry, all witnessing, I don't care where it is, where it's done in a church, outside of the church, if it does not begin with sin and repentance of sin. It will not have salvation with it.
Somebody told me years ago. And this is what I tell everybody, he said. I tell them all you need to do. To be saved is just Take Jesus. into your life.
I said, this is like telling somebody. with a shotgun wound. All you need to do is to put a big band-aid on it. The bullet's still inside. When I read the Bible from cover to cover, I find particularly all of the preaching, all of the teaching, all of the witnessing, all of the ministry that is done by the apostles.
They had to begin by identifying sin. It had to begin by confessing sin. It had to begin by repenting of that sin. And then Salvation takes place. Look at verses 13, 14, and 15 of the book of Acts, chapter 3.
Peter identified their sin. What was it? Here's what he said. He said, The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God whom you claim to worship. The God who brought your forefathers out of the slavery of Egypt.
That very God who promised to you long ago through Moses that he would raise a prophet like unto myself, referring to Jesus. This God who told Abraham even before that that through you and your seed the whole family of the earth shall be blessed, referring to Jesus. The God who gave all these promises about Jesus in the Old Testament, the God who promised through Isaiah there's going to be a suffering servant who's going to come and die for your sin. The same God sent you, His Messiah, sent you his Son, but what have you done? You crucified him.
You rejected him. You delivered him up to Pontius Pilate. You disowned your only hope for salvation. You disavow the only one. whom God honored.
Have you ever read this passage and you kind of scratch your head and say, Isn't that ironic? Listen to who's talking. Peter. This wasn't John, who was quietly there, you know, followed the Lord all the way to the cross. This wasn't one of the quiet ones.
This is Peter talking. What an irony. This is the very man who disowned and disavowed any knowledge of Jesus. You say, what is this? Is he a hypocrite?
No, he's not. Beloved, this is the very core of the Christian faith. This is the very heart of the gospel. You say, how can he condemn people for the same sin that he had committed? When I invite you to come to Christ, When you're Dear family member Friend.
Pray for you and invite you to come to Christ. We don't do this out of superiority. Oh, please understand that. Don't do that because we feel any better, no. It's because we have experienced firsthand the besetting of sin.
But also because we know first hand the benefits of repentance. Look at verses 17, 18, and 19. In the book of Acts, the benefits of repentance. Here's Peter said, he said, you acted in ignorance. What is Peter saying?
He is making a well-known Jewish distinction. Old Testament. Distinction. between the sin of omission and the sin of commission. Whether our sins are committed through omission or commission.
The consequences are the same. Ignorance is no excuse. Ignorance is no defence. But when repentance takes place, God in His mercy, God in His grace, is willing to wipe the past sins clean. Not only that, Peter said, but the fear of judgment will also be wiped away.
Not only that, he also said that the much needed refreshment to your soul, that sense of peace, that sense of contentment, that sense of resting. is going to take place. These are the benefits. of repentance and salvation. You know the word wiped out here?
Verse 19. is a picture of an ink that was written on a papyrus. and got wiped out with a wet sponge. You say, how can that happen? You see, the ink back then in the ancient days, not like our ink, did not have the acid content that ours have, therefore the ink did not bite into the papyrus.
So you can simply get a wet sponge and you wipe that page of papyrus and then literally will be as clean as new. You would not know there was anything written on it. And that's what Peter is saying here. When you repent of your sins, when I repent of my sins, God did not merely cross our sins from that list. He, with the sponge of His blood, wiped it all clean.
It was wide beyond the possibility of recall. It was disappeared with no chance of it being found. It had vanished without trace. Peter is saying, just like Jesus when he saw his master. Hanging on that cross.
looking down as his body, dripping with blood, He looked down at those who hammered the nails in his hand and feet. And then he looked up to heaven and he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing. Peter saying. Even the horrible sin of rejecting the Son of God. and executing the Messiah will be wiped out.
When you repent. What a great God. Let me talk for a moment to those of you who are having a hard time. accepting the forgiveness of God. Let me take a minute and talk to those of you who have a hard time forgiving themselves.
Paul said even a conscious Condemn us, but God is greater than our conscience. Let me talk to you just for a second for two. If God Is willing to forgive those who nailed his son to a cross. Would he not? be willing to forgive you.
Ask yourself that question. You say, Michael, you don't understand. You don't understand, oh beloved, I do understand. I really do. I understand what God said.
Whatever the magnitude of your sin, God's grace is greater than your sin. All of us have faced the besitting of sin. Many of us have known the benefits of repentance. But also Many of us know. The blessings.
of surrender. Peter closes his sermon in Acts chapter 3, verses 25 and 26, the last two verses in that chapter, with a hopeful note. Remember, this whole episode began on the note of hopelessness. It began on the note of helplessness, of human hopelessness. And now it concludes with the hope of the blessings of God.
Peter is saying to them, he's saying, you can experience the fulfillment of the promise of God to Abraham that in Jesus Christ the nations of the world will be blessed. Here's the good news. Oh the riches of the blessings of salvation. All of the riches of the blessing of the covenant promises. are available to you Today.
They are yours for the asking. Just as they were available to Peter's hearers in Acts chapter 3. Regardless of what you've done, regardless of the low self-image that you might have, regardless of the guilt that you might be carrying. God will bless you. When you repent.
And surrender. Repentance is not just feeling sorry for what you've done or because you got caught or whatever. That's what the world gives us from the media standpoint. Repentance. is deciding to change course.
Repentance is the crying to God with a desire to change, asking for His power to change you. That's what repentance is all about. And God will visit you. with heavenly refreshment, because that's what he promised. When you turn to him.
A challenge to receive and experience hope that comes through repentance. Thank you for making time for leading the way with Dr. Michael Youssef. If you'd like someone to talk with about your spiritual questions, Reach out to a Leading the Way pastor or counselor. at ltw.org slash jesus.
Have you ever looked at the chaos in the world and confusion in our culture? the struggles in your own life and ask the question. What is really going on there? Why are my loved ones struggling? Why are the church leaders abandoning the faith?
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Now here's the truth straight from the Word of God. behind the headlines and behind the heartaches, There is a real enemy. He would love to go after your mind, your family and your home. Sadly, many Christians, including pastors, are asleep. And many are fighting with the wrong weapons.
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At 866. Four three five six. And of course, you can order online. And learn more about the life-shifting content when you go to ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr.
Michael Yusuf. passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.
