In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the desire to be used by God and to have a hunger for greater impact in ministry. The story of Peter and John encountering a lame beggar at the temple gate called Beautiful is highlighted. Despite the presence of many other needs and beggars, Peter and John focus on this particular man. They heal him in the name of Jesus Christ, and he is able to walk and praise God. The speaker encourages the audience to have open channels to God, expecting supernatural thoughts and creative ideas from Him.

Let's focus in on a promise here that all of us, whether you're heading the drama ministry, you're in no ministry, but you wanna be in a ministry, you wanna be used by God. I have such a hunger to be used greater by God this year. Freddie has the same hunger. How many just wanna explode for God this year, just move out into like other things? Okay. One day, Peter and John, this is Acts 3, were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. Now, a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. Lame from birth, he's a beggar, placed, begs. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. That's what beggars were doing there. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. There's all kinds of other needs, all kinds of people milling around that gate. Wasn't one beggar, might've been 100 beggars. Not one sick person, might've been hundreds. Then Peter looked straight at him, as did John, and then Peter said, look at us. So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. No hint, though, of faith in God, just wanted a handout. Then Peter said, silver or gold, I do not have, but what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. Now, this is setting up the second sermon of the Christian church. Acts 2 has the first sermon that Peter preached. That was when the Spirit was poured out. Remember we talked about that on Wednesday and everyone was speaking in tongues that were known to the people who had come from around the world for the Feast of Pentecost, and the noise was so great that they gathered and then Peter preached and 3,000 were baptized. Now, this is sometime later. When Peter saw this, the crowd gathering, he said to them, fellow Israelites, now listen closely, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we have made this man walk? Why do you look at us as if by our own power or godliness, devotion to God, that we made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed. You talk about a non-friendly sermon or user unfriendly, seeker insensitive. How about telling your audience you killed him? You'd leave it out and say, you know he died and we're not sure who did it. He looks right up and says, you handed him over to be killed and you disowned him before Pilate, though Pilate, he had decided to let him go. So Peter knew that Pilate was looking for a way out, wanted to release Jesus, but these people who he's talking to, saying you're the ones that forced him to get crucified. You disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you. Always remember that. When you reject life, you get death. Barabbas is a sign of the murderer, the death. They rejected Jesus and said, crucify him, we'll take Barabbas, and that's what happens when we turn away from the Lord, right? People turn away from the Lord. They think they're living, but they're dying. You killed the author of life. Imagine that phrase. You killed the one who gives life. You killed the author of life, but God raised them from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. So let's listen. By faith in the name of Jesus. Name there means his character, what he stands for, his authority. By faith in the name of Jesus, the man whom you see and know was made strong. Now listen. It is Jesus's name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you all can see. That's quite a verse. While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them, fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness, we have made this man walk? Notice this man who did the miracle just less than two months before had denied the Lord three times and cursed on the third time. Yet he's doing the miracle. So he was humble for the rest of his life. So he's saying, why do you look at us like we're so consecrated and godly that we pull this off or we have some power in us? No. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised them from the dead. We are witnesses of this. Now, by faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. That's basic theology that we would follow, that when you pray for people, the authority and the power rests in the name of Jesus. How many are with me on that say amen? So in other words, by faith in the name of Jesus, not faith in a denomination, not faith in us, not faith in how godly we are, not faith how long we've been Christians, not faith about what visions or experiences we've had with God, none of that. By faith in the name of Jesus, this authority that's in his name, this man whom you see and know was made strong. But here's the verse, the phrase. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can now all see. It's not just that we prayed in Jesus' name and there's authority in Jesus' name. Miraculous faith was just exercised. It definitely was not exercised by the lame man. There's no hint that he had faith to be healed. This seems to be done totally by an outside source. But my question, which has always been since I went in the ministry is, how did Peter know to pray for that man? He didn't pray for everybody. He didn't heal 20 people. Nowhere in the New Testament do healings happen by request. In fact, sometimes when Paul is being almost stoned, you would wish that he could just say, stop, stop, before you stone me, just bring me somebody sick and I'll heal them. Never did that once. The ways of God are very mysterious. So healings, because you have a gift, don't seem to exist just like that where you do it. One of the greatest men in the 20th century that used by God in supernatural gifts, who I happened to see when I was a kid, had a great impact on me. He was used by God to do amazing things. But his first wife died and he could do nothing. And it was a mystery. First wife got sick and just died. My late father-in-law knew him, was an acquaintance of his. So my question is, how did Peter know to go, they're all begging, they're all sick, you, you look at me, and then speak those words? The answer seems to be in not that he prayed just in Jesus' name. That is where the authority lies, amen? But where did the faith come in that name for that man? It was Peter's faith, it wasn't the man. Where did this gift of supernatural faith, where did this direction from God come from? This direction, these words, how did he know to do that? He said, it's not just faith in Jesus' name, it's Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him in his presence, in relationship with Jesus, in communion with Jesus. Jesus himself deposits the supernatural faith in you, gives you the direction of what to do, tells you where to go, gives you creative thought to do something for God in theater ministry. Tells you in the middle of the night, call that person and pray for them in Jesus' name. And you have a faith that you know. How many have ever had a faith, you know it didn't come from you, it came from God? I've had that several times in my life. I knew I was operating with the faith that God gives. So he says, it's just not faith in Jesus' name. If you wanna know how this man was healed, the faith that I got, I not only prayed in Jesus' name, I got the faith from Jesus. I knew what to do and I knew God wanted to heal him because Jesus put that faith and that direction in my heart. This, brothers and sisters, takes a great deal of stress out of our lives if we would believe it and open ourselves to it. Remember what Jesus said when he was on earth, when they were accusing him and condemning him? He said, why do you condemn me? I only do the things that the Father shows me. I can't do anything, I can't heal anyone. I can't go in a hospital and clean it out, I cannot. I can only heal who the Father shows me to heal. He says, the words I speak that you're fighting against, I don't speak these words, they're not my words. The Father gives me those words. He teaches me what to say. I say what he tells me to say. I do what he shows me to do so that he would get all the glory and all the honor. Jesus not only gives the healing, he gives the faith to have the healing. Do you get what I'm saying? Jesus is it from the beginning to the end. He's the one. So I want this year, I wanna have, like I was saying, I see my daughter do things she's not trained to do, both of them, they're not trained to do that. God supernaturally gifted them. My wife is probably the most gifted by God in my family. Christianity has to be supernatural or it's not Christianity. If we're only operating within our IQs and our gift set or talent set, as they say, then how is that different than the world? No, the touch of God on a person, the gift of faith, a direction of what to do, a word of God in a counseling session, it breaks the yoke. The other day I was sitting, I say this for the glory of God, I was praying three months ago, whatever, and we're ministering to people who came forward toward the beginning of the service. And there's a pregnant lady over there and she's got her hands up and she's praying. And the Lord, I say this before him, as real as this microphone is, he spoke to me and said, give her $100. I didn't have $100. $100. I told her, don't leave the meeting without seeing me. I got the $100 when the meeting was over. Sure enough, she rolled over there and I handed her, I know you're thinking rolled over there. No. You know what, you're not good tonight. You're not good. I meant she went over there. I handed her the money. She didn't know why I wanted her to see her. I handed her the money, I said goodbye. I didn't wanna, I had other people with me. She writes me a letter, emails something, and says, I'm the woman that you prayed for and you handed the $100. And you prayed over my stomach and the baby. And I was fighting anxiety the whole morning about this baby and I ended up coming forward. I'm pouring myself out to God that you would come over to me, say what you said. And I couldn't have money to pay all the bills that I needed and that you handed me $100. It was God saying to me, I'm gonna take care of you. I got this whole thing. Can we give God honor and praise and glory? The man who I said was so used by God, he was a third grade dropout. He couldn't speak really proper English if you heard him preach. From Indiana, Kentucky, kinda had a twang and would say whatever. God builds his church not through intelligentsia and slickness of performance. He builds his church through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, through supernatural faith, through songs that come in the middle of the night. How many times has my wife jumped up in the middle of the night? How can you get a song when you're sleeping? It happens a lot. That song, Pray, she got the melody in the middle of the night and had to go in another room for fear that she would forget it. But I want that this year. How many wanna get things from God like every day? Supernatural thoughts, creative thoughts that come from God that you just know, this is not me, this is God. And Pastor Park, when he's on a missions trip, when we're counseling pastors, that God, we would keep one channel open to God. Yeah, we're talking to people, but keep one channel open. I'll minister to you, I'll talk to you, but I want, you know, Pastor Todd's ministering and movement, he's got the people in front of him, one channel open to God in case God drops something in there. And if you receive it and obey it, wonderful things are gonna happen. Do you want that? I want that. Listen again. It's through Jesus' name and the faith that comes through Jesus. Jesus has to give the faith, just like Jesus has to give the everything. He has to give the wisdom, he has to give the direction. Let's close our eyes. If you're here and you need direction from the Lord, we're all gonna pray, but if you're starting the new year and you need a decision about something involving your family, your children, your finances, a decision you have to make, I know that dilemma. I'm facing some myself this week. I cry to God every night, he knows that, and in my office in the morning. God, show me what to do. Show the pastors what to do. The pastors have been praying that. God, show us what to do. We have certain things before us. Now, show us what to do. We know what's logical or what we might like to do, but you drop something from heaven into our heart. If you need direction from the Lord and you wanna wait on him for a season here, come out of your seat. It is really early. You can pray for a while, you can leave, you can wait on the Lord. There'll be no offering, there's nothing, but those who need direction, come and just kneel down here. And those of you who, while I was speaking, your hearts were just like something triggered in there. That, living in that realm of supernatural faith is my desire. I have a desire to be used in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And I've always had this longing, this interest, and now I see that it's not me straining, it's me receiving from God. Oh, I wanna learn to wait, I wanna learn to have an openness so that God can give me the faith I need, the direction I need. You can pray in your chair, you can come up here. God's gonna honor you. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.