Rev. David Holwick  X
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 25, 1993
                                                           Acts 3:1-12
                   
                     BROTHERS, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?


  I. How do you handle a beggar?
      A. Local high school ethics teacher - when you encounter homeless
            beggars, do you avoid looking at them?
          1) Debases them as non-human.
          2) A student told of giving out ten quarters each visit to NYC.

      B. Personal encounter with homeless people in New York City.
          1) I didn't look them in the eye.
          2) One man begged from half a dozen people before I rejected him.
          3) Use money for drugs or booze?  Often addicts or mentally ill.

 II. Peter and John faced the same dilemma.                     Acts 3
      A. Beggar had to be carried in, as he had for years.
          1) Perhaps even Jesus had passed by him.
          2) He chose a religious setting to boost his chances.      3:2

      B. He asks for money, probably expecting nothing.              3:3
          1) Peter looks at him.  His expectations climb.            3:4
          2) They tell him they don't have any cash.  Expectations crash.

      C. They heal him in name of Jesus.                             3:6
          1) Much more than he expected.
          2) He praised God and held on to them.                     3:11

III. Our world still has intense physical needs.
      A. Everyone is surrounded by them.
          1) Homeless week in Roxbury.
          2) Floods in Midwest; war in Yugoslavia and elsewhere.

      B. Christians are supposed to give in love.
          1) Jesus made helping the poor a high goal for us.
              a) Rich young ruler - give possessions to poor.   Mark 10:21
              b) Same instructions for us.                      Luke 12:33
              c) Invite them to your parties.                   Luke 14:13
          2) Neglecting the poor is a spiritual sin.            James 2:2f

      C. Yet helping the helpless can be frustrating.
          1) Jesus himself said the poor are always with you.   Mark 14:7
          2) Lottie Moon and frustration of giving entire savings to
                make a scratch in famine in China.      "From Jerusalem...", p. 238
          3) Millions for welfare in Morris (and $8 million to
                administer) but enrollment keeps increasing.

 IV. Our spiritual needs are even greater.
      A. The apostles' healing miracle had a spiritual dimension.
          1) Beggar gave God the credit.
          2) Healings still lead people to God.
             (Mission message from Rev. Shawyer, BIM-ABC in Mexico.)

         A peasant named Hueleo in Elsareo, Mexico, had a serious foot
            injury and was taken to the hospital.
         The doctors told him that it looked bad and they would give it
            a few days but expected to have to amputate it.
         This would mean he would have no way to farm, and thus no way
            to support his family except by begging.
         He became very despondent.

         His father-in-law gave him a Bible to read for encouragement.
            They were Catholic but there was no priest in their small town.
         Hueleo read the Bible and was moved by the miracles and teachings
            of Jesus.
         He prayed to Jesus for salvation and in a few days was able to
            walk out of the hospital.
         He visited a local Baptist church and made a public profession
            of his faith and was baptized.

         His whole family soon came to know the Lord and their neighbors
            made threats against him.
         The family persevered and in the next decade more than 70 converts
            from their witness gathered in gathered into a congregation.

                                                                    #1611
      B. What do you have when you have Jesus?
          1) Many reduce spiritual matters to this world.
              a) "Faith" becomes confidence in yourself.
              b) "Salvation" is coming to a psychological breakthrough
                    in your life.
              c) Even many Christian ministries have lost their spiritual
                    thrust and only meet physical needs.
          2) Salvation is real and goes beyond this life.
              a) We need to get right with God.
                  1> Jesus calls us to be obedient to him.
              b) The crippled beggar wasn't the only one who needed help.
                  1> Everyone needs salvation, even the powerful.  3:12,19
                  2> A double-edged message of salvation - or damnation.

  V. You have something when you have Jesus, and you do something.
      A. Souls and bodies go together.
           Amy Carmichael, missionary to India:
           She was a radiant Christian and charmed everyone.
           Her key ministry was in setting up the Dohnavur Fellowship,
              an orphanage for abandoned children.
           Amy ministered to the whole person and emphasized their
              physical needs, education, and character-building.
           To those who charged she was not evangelistic enough, Amy
              responded,
           "...One cannot save and then pitchfork souls into heaven....
              Souls are more or less securely fastened to bodies...
            and as you cannot get the souls out and deal with them
              separately, you have to take them both together."
                                                                   #2525
      B. Faith without works is dead.                      James 2:14-17
          1) What evidence are you showing of your faith?
          2) Many dream of someday doing something for God.
              a) Why not now?

 VI. You can have a tremendous impact on another person's life.
      A. Just as Peter raised the beggar's expectations, so can we.

        Norman Vincent Peale tells about a young man named Mike.
        Mike's school attendance and grades were worsening, and he was
           developing a surly disposition.
        He was exhorted, lectured, and punished, but to no avail.
           Finally, he landed in the superintendent's office.
        The teacher's recommendation was that he be expelled from school
           for being unreachable and therefore unteachable.

        The superintendent talked to Mike but was obviously getting
           nowhere.
        To Mike's surprise the superintendent said,
        "Mike, hold out your hands.
         Mike, you've got wonderful hands, long and slender but strong,
            which is surprising for your stocky build.
         Boy, you've got the hands of a surgeon.
            Maybe that's what you are intended to be.
         Get going, Mike, and good luck."

        He said nothing about punishment, let alone expulsion.
           It was genuine motivation, esteem, admiration.
        Mike became, in the words of the superintendent, "one of the best
           surgeons" in the land.
        All Mike needed was someone to offer a word of encouragement--to
           tell him what he might be.

        Many of us need that same kind of encouragement.
        We need a friend who will say to us, "Don't say, `I'm only this'
           or `I'm only that.'
        I've got great plans for you."
        We have such a friend in God.
           He sees possibilities within us we never dreamed possible.
        If we believe in Him and if we believe in His dream for our lives,
           we can accomplish more than we ever dreamed possible.
                                                                   #1950


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