PETER HEALS A MAN WHO COULD NOT WALK
MEMORY VERSE
2 Timothy 1:7, ESV
...for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
DAY 1
Acts 2:42-47, NIrV
42 The believers studied what the apostles taught. They shared their lives together. They ate and prayed together. 43 Everyone was amazed at what God was doing. They were amazed when the apostles performed many wonders and signs. 44 All the believers were together. They shared everything they had. 45 They sold property and other things they owned. They gave to anyone who needed something. 46 Every day they met together in the temple courtyard. They ate meals together in their homes. Their hearts were glad and sincere. 47 They praised God. They were respected by all the people. Every day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.
BIBLE STUDY
On Pentecost day, when the Holy Spirit came, 3000 people believed the good news about Jesus and were baptized! That meant the disciples (now called "apostles") had a big job to do: teach thousands of brand-new believers all that Jesus had taught them! So each day, the very first Christians met and prayed together. They shared meals and shared their stuff, too. As they listened to the apostles tell the true tales of Jesus’ mighty miracles, God gave his people the power to do miracles, too! And each and every day, new faces appeared in their gatherings as more people believed in Jesus!
+ Why were these new Christians selling the things they owned? (vs. 45)
+ Who was the one who added new Christians to the church day by day? (vs. 47)
DAY 2
Acts 3:1-10, NIrV
1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. It was the time for prayer. 2 A man unable to walk was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful. He had been that way since he was born. Every day someone put him near the gate. There he would beg from people going into the temple courtyards. 3 He saw that Peter and John were about to enter. So he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, and so did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man watched them closely. He expected to get something from them.
6 Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold. But I’ll give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk.” 7 Then Peter took him by the right hand and helped him up. At once the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. He went with Peter and John into the temple courtyards. He walked and jumped and praised God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 They recognized him as the same man who used to sit and beg at the temple gate called Beautiful. They were filled with wonder. They were amazed at what had happened to him.
BIBLE STUDY
Years before the story we read today, a man who could not walk was carried to Jesus. Peter and John were there that day to hear Jesus tell that man: “Pick up your mat and walk home!” And they saw with their own eyes as the man picked up his mat and started walking home! So when Peter and John met another man with the same problem, I’m certain they remembered that miraculous moment with Jesus. However, the words they spoke to the man were a tiny bit different: “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.” They knew that the power to do miracles belonged to Jesus, not to them!
+ Whose power healed the man who could not walk? (vs. 6)
+ What did the man do after his legs were healed? (vs. 8-9)
DAY 3
Acts 3:11-16, 19, NIrV
11 The man was holding on to Peter and John. All the people were amazed. They came running to them at the place called Solomon’s Porch. 12 When Peter saw this, he said, “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us? It’s not as if we’ve made this man walk by our own power or godliness. 13 The God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has done this. God has brought glory to Jesus, who serves him. But you handed Jesus over to be killed. Pilate had decided to let him go. But you spoke against Jesus when he was in Pilate’s court. 14 You spoke against the Holy and Blameless One. You asked for a murderer to be set free instead. 15 You killed the one who gives life. But God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 This man whom you see and know was made strong because of faith in Jesus’ name. Faith in Jesus has healed him completely. You can see it with your own eyes.
...
19 So turn away from your sins. Turn to God. Then your sins will be wiped away. The time will come when the Lord will make everything new.
BIBLE STUDY
Back on Pentecost day, God gave the disciples power to speak in languages they’d never learned. After hearing that strange sound, a crowd gathered to figure out what in the world was happening. Since he had their attention, Peter told that crowd the good news about Jesus! Well, once again, a crowd had gathered around Peter, this time to figure out how a man, who had not been able to walk, was now jumping around and celebrating like a kid in a candy store! Since he had this crowd’s attention, can you guess what Peter did? He told them the good news about Jesus, of course!
+ Who did Peter say healed the man’s legs? (vs. 16)
+ What did Peter tell the crowd to do? What did Peter say would happen? (vs. 19)
DAY 4
Acts 4:1-4, NIRV
1 Peter and John were speaking to the people. The priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees came up to the apostles. 2 They were very upset by what the apostles were teaching the people. The apostles were saying that people can be raised from the dead. They said this can happen because Jesus rose from the dead. 3 So the temple authorities arrested Peter and John. It was already evening, so they put them in prison until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed. The number of men who believed grew to about 5,000.
BIBLE STUDY
Because they didn’t like the things he taught, the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and ordered him to die. After nailing him to the cross, they thought their “Jesus problem” was over. So they were not happy at all to hear that Peter and John had healed a man in Jesus’ name and told people that he had risen from the dead. They locked the two men in jail for the night. But this “Jesus problem” wasn’t something that could be stopped by the iron bars of a jail or the nails of Jesus’ cross. In fact, the number of Jesus’ followers had exploded all the way to 5,000, and that’s only counting the guys!
+ Why wasn’t Jesus’ death the end of their “Jesus problem?”
+ If there were as many women who believed as men, how many believers were there?
DAY 5
Acts 4:5-12, NIRV
5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas, the high priest, was there. So were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and other people in the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought to them. They wanted to question them. “By what power did you do this?” they asked. “And through whose name?”
8 Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. He said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 Are you asking us to explain our actions today? Do you want to know why we were kind to a man who couldn’t walk? Are you asking how he was healed? 10 Then listen to this, you and all the people of Israel! You nailed Jesus Christ of Nazareth to the cross. But God raised him from the dead. It is through Jesus’ name that this man stands healed in front of you. 11 Scripture says that Jesus is
“ ‘the stone you builders did not accept.
But it has become the most important stone of all.’ (Psalm 118:22)
12 You can’t be saved by believing in anyone else. God has given people no other name under heaven that will save them.”
BIBLE STUDY
The Jewish leaders asked Peter and John a simple question: “By whose powerful name did you heal this man’s legs?” In school, if you answer a question correctly, your teacher might give you a gold star. But if Peter and John told the truth, they could wind up dead! Why? Because the correct answer was “In Jesus’ name.” And these Jewish leaders hated anything to do with Jesus! But Peter and John didn’t chicken out. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter not only answered their question truthfully, he also bravely told these bloodthirsty bad guys the good news about Jesus!
+ Can you think of a time in his past when Peter was too afraid to tell the truth?
+ Who gave Peter the courage to tell the Jewish leaders about Jesus? (vs. 8)
DAY 6
Acts 4:13-22, NIRV
13 The leaders saw how bold Peter and John were. They also realized that Peter and John were ordinary men with no training. This surprised the leaders. They realized that these men had been with Jesus. 14 The leaders could see the man who had been healed. He was standing there with them. So there was nothing they could say. 15 They ordered Peter and John to leave the Sanhedrin. Then they talked things over. 16 “What can we do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed an unusual miracle. We can’t say it didn’t happen. 17 We have to stop this thing. It must not spread any further among the people. We have to warn these men. They must never speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.”
18 Once again the leaders called in Peter and John. They commanded them not to speak or teach at all in Jesus’ name. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right from God’s point of view? Should we listen to you? Or should we listen to God? You be the judges! 20 There’s nothing else we can do. We have to speak about the things we’ve seen and heard.”
21 The leaders warned them again. Then they let them go. They couldn’t decide how to punish Peter and John. They knew that all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 The man who had been healed by the miracle was over 40 years old.
BIBLE STUDY
After listening to Peter and John, the Jewish leaders were amazed. They weren’t amazed that a man who hadn’t been able to walk for 40 years was now jumping around like a happy kangaroo. And they also weren’t amazed at the news that Jesus might have risen from the dead.
Instead, they were amazed that Peter and John, two ordinary fisherman, had spoken to them so boldly and bravely. It was clear to them – there was something different about these two men who had spent so much time with Jesus!
They had a big decision to make: “What should we do with these two troublemakers?” By now, the good news of Peter’s miracle was starting to spread throughout the city. If they punished Peter and John for healing the legs of a man who could not walk, it would most likely lead to an angry mob of people pounding on their door!
In the end, the leaders gave Peter and John a warning. “You are free to leave,” they said, “but we order you to stop spreading all this nonsense about Jesus!” This, of course, was an order that Peter and John simply could not obey. Why? Because someone much more powerful than these Jewish leaders had told them to do the complete opposite. Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus had ordered all of his disciples to share the good news of his death and resurrection all over the world.
Despite all of their evil plans, the Jewish leaders couldn’t stop Jesus. When they ordered him to be killed on a cross, he rose back to life on the third day!
They also couldn’t stop him from growing his church, the people who believed in him. When they tried to scare his disciples from sharing the good news, the Holy Spirit gave them courage to keep doing it anyway. And now, there weren’t just twelve disciples of Jesus to deal with, but thousands and thousands of them. And every single one of these believers was filled with God’s powerful Holy Spirit, too!
The Holy-Spirit-powered bravery that Peter and John showed before the Jewish leaders isn’t something that has to be stuck in the past. It can be part of your story, too! If you believe the good news about Jesus, the same Holy Spirit that gave Peter and John the guts to share the good news with the Jewish leaders can also give you the courage to share the good news with the people you meet!
+ Why were Peter and John so brave in front of the Jewish leaders?
+ What did seeing the miracle cause the people to do? (vs. 21)
© 2023 Andrew Doane. All rights reserved.