Watch The Power of the Gospel Message
32 Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.
34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. 35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.36 Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. 37 In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
Did you notice that Peter no longer lives in Jerusalem? He is going ‘here and there among them all’ after he has fled Jerusalem and the suffering there. He has finally kicked into the ‘ends of the earth’ mode like Jesus said he would.
With all of the attention and fame, Peter still tells the sick who heals them. It’s Jesus who heals, not Peter. It’s Jesus who saves, not any of us. By simply relaying the message that Jesus is here and that He wants to do things in our lives, the Gospel spreads.
Without giving too much away, look at the system by which Peter is traveling: There isn’t one! He is going into these Greek cities and finding believers. These must have been others fleeing from Jerusalem or pilgrim converts from Pentecost.
Either way, Peter visits a pitiful man who has been paralyzed for 8 years, and then hears of a good-deed-doer in another town. Jesus brings the same salvation to all.
If we don’t know what Jesus is doing (like if He’s healing someone or not) we can always fall back to what we know Jesus is doing: loving and forgiving. Sometimes just telling someone that Jesus loves them is enough. Sometimes they need to be reminded that Jesus has forgiven their sins.
This is the number one message that people have heard as kids and may have forgotten as they lost their way in adulthood. Jesus has forgiven your sins. Hebrews 10 says once and for all, one and done. No more sacrifices have to be made for your sins, they are gone.
So if we don’t know from the Holy Spirit what to say, we know that is true: Jesus has died for your sins.
From that proclamation and reminder, we can sit back and watch to see what God does next.