Worth More Than Gold

History is filled with moments of great intrigue, and this is one of them. This story starts over 1500 years ago, and today's authors of thrillers cannot craft a story filled with more suspense, more conspiracy, more political manipulation than many of these stories that have already been part of humanity's past, as it has been said before, sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. The man had a very unique name, Sigelbert. I don't know if that's how you pronounce it officially, but we're going to go with it. In the late fifth century, he was the king of the Franks, the Germanic people living near the present-day city of Cologne. Their ancestry is thought to trace back to the Turkish city of Troy, which, according to legend, felt a grease by the Greeks' deceitful use of a wooden horse known as the Trojan horse. Those who escaped the city are thought to have eventually settled along the banks of the Ryan River and became known as the Franks. Sigelbert was injured in his knee at the Battle of Tobjec, which is in Paris in '84, '96, so he ruled over his people, whether perpetual MP is known historically, as Sigelbert the Lane. He ruled in '85, '09 when he was assassinated by his son, Claudeuric. And I must say, views, opinions, and pronunciations expressed in this podcast are not necessarily those of Pentecostal Resources Group. His son, Claudeuric, assassinated his father at the encouragement of Claude with the first a man who had his own ambitions for the throne. And after, Claudeuric murdered his own father, he offered a large treasure to Clovis to secure his support in Claudeuric's new reign. Clovis sent emissaries to assess the treasure. They asked the new king to plunge his arms into the gold as deeply as he could to convince them that the treasure box was deep, not just a small treasure spread over a false bottom. And once the king had mobilized his arms by plunging them deeply into the gold, rendering him vulnerable and defenseless, Clovis' delegation, who used to support him, assassinated him, leaving the throne vacant. Clovis quickly convinced the people that he should lead them, and he finished his scandalous, conspiratory plan. That sorted story echo some elements of another story, a more inspiring story, which unfolded over 450 years before Clovis schemed his way to the crown. That former story also centered on a man with a disability, who also reached for gold, but this man received something far different than he expected far better than he expected. As recorded in the book of Acts 3, this man received something far more valuable than gold. The healing power of the name of Jesus completely changed his life when two apostolic preachers passed his way. That man laid the gate of the temple, and begged for natural treasure, probably because he didn't understand a greater treasure was available to him through the power of the name of Jesus. But whenever Peter spoke, the man received a miracle, not just a morsel. No matter what type of coin or other generous pastors by had given him previously, what happened on that day, chronicled in today's episode, far surpassed any gift he had ever received, and that's the point, miracles are worth more than gold. Through diligence and persistence, we can amass treasure, but no matter how hard we try on our own, we cannot secure a miracle just by its definition. Miracles are the domain of the Lord Jesus alone. But just as he did for this man in the book of Acts, Jesus is both willing and able to work miracles and provide healing for us as well. And we're going to hear much more about this man's story right after this. Welcome to God's Word for Life, Lesson Companion Podcast. Want to you by word of flame, curriculum, and the Pentecostal publishing house? This podcast encourages adult disciples to think deeply about God's Word, further develop their personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and make a greater commitment to the purpose and plan of God for their lives. Lesson I've been to today's lesson and explore what it means to live out God's Word in our lives. Happy 2025 God's Word for Life Companion Podcast listeners. I'm so glad you're here. My name is L.J. Harry. I'm happy to be your host. And this podcast episode is entitled "Worth More Than Gold." And it comes from Acts chapter 3. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee." In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood and walked and entered with him into the temple walking and leaping. And praising God. It's often been stated that, in fact, it's been stated so often, it's largely become cliche. The greatest ability is availability. And sometimes cliches are off to Peter because they're true. They're not just on bumper stickers. They actually mean what they say. And this is one of those cliches that is true. When God wants to use somebody, that person must be available. When God wants to bless somebody, that person must be available. When God wants to work a miracle for someone, that person must be available. During Jesus' ministry on earth, he often asked something of the individual who wanted to be healed, to the man who had a hand that was with her, Jesus said, "Stretch forth your hand." To the man who could not see Jesus said, "Go wash on the pool of Psylone." To the man who could not walk, Jesus said, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." He also forgave him of his sins. To the man who could not stand, Jesus said, "Stand forth." And every one of them received a miracle. They were not passive participants in their healing. Jesus asked something of them. In a similar way, we must be active participants in miracles of healing, positioning ourselves properly, making our requests passionately respond joyfully. And the man in today's lesson, he checked all those boxes. Before anything else unfolds in the account of this miracle, the Bible pays homage to his faithfulness. He was at the gate beautiful every day. And though being disabled caused him to be excluded from a lot of what was happening in ancient Jerusalem, he was there. We know from Leviticus 21 that a man with a disability could not serve as a priest. And David seemed to expand that prohibition even further by refusing them to enter the house of the Lord at all. Find that reference in 2 Samuel chapter 5. And yet this man was willing to face daily rejection and maybe ridicule by being placed just outside the entrance to a location forbidden to him. A location he probably would have given anything to be able to go to the temple. The one place he would love to have gone is the one place he was not allowed to go. And is the one place he needed to go? A place where he could talk with God, hear from God, get a hold of God. He was so close, he was at the gate. But he might as well have been 500 furlongs away because that was forbidden to him. Every day his worshipers passed by him on their way to the temple. They would see him trying to eke out a living by begging for money from those coming to worship. His broken body prevented him from making a living any other way. He had no choice but to beg for charity from others passing by. It had to be humiliating. But it was a necessary evil in his world. It's just every day for him. Every day those who carried him, he would ask them, "Can you get me as close as you can to the house of God as close as I'm allowed?" I imagine maybe even sometimes they took him a little further than he was allowed and just banked on mercy for him to be able to stay there. He was hoping to receive something that would help meet his daily needs, his faithful attendance to church, if you will, positioned him perfectly when his day for a miracle came. Imagine if he had weiried of the struggle and decided that just not worth it. And he was missing on the day Peter and John came to pray. He would have missed out on a miracle, a supernatural life-changing moment. His commitment to being a daily presence at the gate called beautiful allowed him to be a recipient of a miracle. First question, and it's a probing one, "If your calendar could testify, how important would faithfulness to your spiritual disciplines be to you?" His faithfulness was not just evident by his constant presence at the gate. He also continually asked for alms. Every person who came by could count on hearing his voice. Nobody got a pass. Those who had already given to him in the past, they didn't get a pass. He would ask them again. Now, I have a rule. If somebody asks me for money for the school projects like candy or candles or cookies, apparently everything has to start with the sea, I would say, "First one who gets me wins." I would give to the first one who comes up to me with her catalog and says, "Hey, would you please buy this from me?" Yep, I'll buy something from you and here and then the next one who came to ask me, "Unless I was related or I had extra cash just kind of burning a hole in my wallet, I would tell them, 'I'm sorry, I already bought.' That excuse did not work. He did not care. If they dropped coins in the beggar's cup the day before, he needed money for meals today, so he would ask again, hoping that they might be as generous today as they were yesterday. Faithful attendance coupled with faithful requests seemed to be key to him receiving a miracle. Maybe that's why Jesus instructed in Matthew 7, "Ask and it shall be given you seek, and you shall find knock and it shall be open unto you." For everyone who asks it, receive it and he that seek it, find it and to him that knock it, it shall be open." Another translation says, "Ask and keep on asking and seek and keep on seeking and knock and keep on knocking." It's progressive. We don't just ask once and then hope for the best. We ask and we ask again and we seek and we seek again and we knock and we knock again. That's exactly what the man in Acts 3 did. And Jesus gave us president for that. He told us. code two sister parables in the same chapter in the book of Luke, where one of them was a widow who needed an unjust judge to rule in her favor, and she asked him and asked and asked and asked and petition over and over and over until finally he said, "Fine, fine whatever, I'll just rule in your favor, leave me alone." And then Jesus said, "If he was willing to do that, how much more would your Heavenly Father rule in your favor?" And then the same chapter, there was a man who had a friend who came at midnight and obviously he should have had some more groceries, but he didn't, so he went to his friend's house and said, "Hey, would you give me some groceries?" And his friend said, "Leave me alone, bro, it's 12 o'clock at night." And he just kept knocking and kept knocking and kept knocking until finally he was about to wake up the family. And his friend finally just passed some bread through the door and said, "Here, just get out of here, leave me alone." Trying to go to sleep. How much more? While our Heavenly Father take care of us if we simply ask and don't stop asking. When we need a miracle, we must properly position ourselves for a miracle. God has blessed us, given us a church to attend, but we bear the responsibility of making sure we're there. Can God heal those kids at home? Absolutely. But our willingness to be faithful to corporate worship, with our church family demonstrates something about our faith in Jesus, our hunger for an answer is demonstrated by our desire to be close to worship at every opportunity. Scripture even instructs us to initiate the call for prayer and not to sit and wait for somebody else to call us to pray. James said in chapter 5 of his book, "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer, faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." James 5 verses 14 through 15. Let me just mention this when I pastored our church family, it was so good to us. When they were in the hospital many times they would not text, not call, because they did not want to bother me. But as the shepherd, I wanted to know when sheep in the flock God had given me to care for where in the hospital or were struggling. And so I let them know, "Please, you're not a bother. I want to be there." But let me just say this, if you don't reach out to your pastor or whomever at the church family and let them know you're in the hospital, you're struggling with something, don't be upset if they don't show up because they don't know if you need something. Don't be afraid to reach out and call or text or however your church handles all of that. Make sure you reach out to somebody and say, "Hey, would you pray with us about this? Would you have time to come and visit?" And if they do great and if they don't, perhaps they could send somebody else. So just reach out. We're not bothering. They want to know. We must be willing to ask, we're clearly told in Philippians chapter 4 to make our requests, known to God, and we must be willing to ask repeatedly. God always answers prayer. Sometimes He answers, yes, and we're like, "Yes!" And sometimes He answers, no, and we're like, "Ehhh!" And sometimes He tells us just to wait. However He answers, just ask. And then if He tells you to stop asking, then stop asking. Here's another question. How do you respond when God says no or wait? There are a few types of prayer we might offer to God. One is called repentance, of course. That's where we ask God to forgive us. One is called petition. That's when we ask God for something we need. It could be a miracle, could be healing, could be financial, could be physical, could be spiritual. One is called intercession. That's when we ask God for something somebody else needs and we pray. For them, one is called supplication. And that's when we come to God knowing we absolutely need Him. It's really not much different from petition or intercession. It just literally means to ask earnestly, almost to beg. And certainly we know God cares. God loves us. But sometimes we just go to Him, broken, burdened, and as a supplicant we ask God and we know, we know He hears us. Back to our story. Around three o'clock in the afternoon Peter and John, who had recently been baptized with a Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, they were headed to the temple for prayer. Outside of the Bible there's really no record of one of the gates being called beautiful, but most likely the gate referenced in Acts 3 was the double gate and it was spectacular. In the southern wall of the temple mount it was large, would have been heavily trafficked. As in real estate this man understood, location, location. Peter and John passed by him, he looked to them. Two apostles, two preachers, John's for some cash to help sustain him for another meal. There was no social safety net begging was his only option. It's doubtful he knew anything about the apostles or about their newfound faith and spiritual experience or about their testimony. But with hopeful expectation the man merely anticipated the potential clanging of a couple coins falling into us cup maybe two since there were two preachers. After many days by that self-same gate he'd been disappointed more than a few times when worshipers dropped narrowed an area of denarius into us cup but he did not let those disappointments damage his faith. The Bible records he looked at Peter and John expecting to receive something from them. He just had no idea what he was about to receive. Peter stopped and spoke the famed words to him. Silver and gold have I none and he probably thought, "Ah, but don't tune them out yet for such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk." Peter was telling him, "I don't have any money to give you, but I do have something better." He had access to the healing power of the name of Jesus and the one who bears that name. The results stunned everybody on the temple grounds. Peter took him by the right hand, lifted him up and immediately Luke, who was a physician, wrote this beautifully. Immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength and he leaping up, stood, walked and entered with him into the temple, walking, leaping and praising God. It is a notable miracle because it's the first one performed by God in direct response to the express faith of one of the apostles after Pentecost. They'd witnessed Jesus heal numerous people and they had been promised that type of authority and power after they were born again. But that moment of the gate of the temple was the first time they put Jesus' words to the test. And as he always does, Jesus proved true to his word and the healed man was the blessed beneficiary. Here's a question. If other beggars were near this man, how would that miracle they just witnessed affect their faith? Sometimes we're intimidated by what we don't have rather than boldness in what we do. Every spirit-filled child of God is an ambassador for Jesus Christ. We go with the delegated authority of heaven in our lives. We have the capacity to pray the same types of prayers recorded in the Book of Acts. Peter and John were human, just like we are, subject to the same human frailties and challenges and questions and doubts. But they operated in the power of the Spirit through faith in Jesus' name and so can we. I would love to seek God-work miracles like He worked through the apostles, through us. But for countless people around us, Jesus is their only answer. Physical maladies plague them and medical science with all of its spectacular advancements and thank God for them cannot remedy everything. Emotional turmoil has taken a toll on our society and left behind hopelessness in its wake so much so that suicide deaths are hitting all time highs. Each of us has neighbors with relational carnage in their paths, spiritual ruin, a balance on all sides of us and the lives of people with whom we interact daily. We routinely mirror the interaction in Acts 3. Someone on the way to prayer meets someone on the way to nowhere. And while we're busily engaged in sanctified pursuits, we pass by people whose lives are filled with needs that demand a miracle. That thought will be terrifying if we were expected to produce a miracle. But we're not. We're just expected to look to Jesus and ask Him to produce a miracle. Maybe the challenge is that many times we just don't ask big enough. But what would happen if we follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit and we walked in faith and we prayed big prayers? Prayers that unless God answered, there is no answer. We would see more miracles. How many of us would simply have cast a coin into the beggar's cup and walked on? Or if we did pray, just would have prayed for God to bless Him and meet His needs and help Him throughout His day. And He saw a massive miracle. And we might be tempted to say, "Well, that was Simon Peter in your right, it was." But he was a child of God and we are too. The Bible doesn't say signs will follow just the apostle Peter or even just the twelve apostles. It promises these signs will follow them that believe in my name. They shall cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents that they drink any deadly thing. It shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, Mark chapter 16. As believers, praying for the miraculous and seeing God work the miraculous, that's all part of our rich spiritual heritage. So today, let's pray big prayers and let's let God be God. Let's leave the miracle up to Him and the praying up to us. Second to last question. What miracle would you love to witness most in your lifetime? And while you mull over that miracle, let's wrap this up. In many regards, it was a Sunday much like any other. The district camp meeting had finished and the guest speaker from the camp stayed over to preach at the local church that weekend. Service was great. Marked by heartfelt passionate worship, and at the close of the message, a large number of people gathered around the altar to fervently seek after God. And suddenly, from the center aisle, great praise erupted. The excitement was palpable from across the room, the speaker made his way toward the celebration, and when he arrived, he was greeted by a scene he will never forget. A lady who was blind since birth was cupping the face of her grown daughter and staring with wonder at the face she had only been able to imagine up to that point. In one miraculous moment, and in response to the prayers of common believers, not apostles, God had healed her eyes and given her sight for the first time in her life. When she left that service, she left it out her white cane. It was laying across the pulpit for everybody to see, including her. I wish I could have been a fly on the counter when she went to apply for her first driver's license after that. I'm sorry, why haven't you driven before? Oh, because I was blind before. Well, are you not blind now? No, no, I was in church one Sunday. God healed me. Now I can see what a testimony. But miracles are part of our spiritual DNA. We should expect them. God hasn't changed. And people's needs have not changed. So he still works in our lives if we would ask. Just as those who popularly the pages of the book of Acts frequently experienced, God's suspending natural laws, we should expect the same. Those of us who walk in the same truth as they did should see the same sites they saw. One of the most misquoted verses in the Bible is Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20. It reads this, now undo him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that work within us. It does not say he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Obviously, that's true. But Paul was pointing out that God's ability is far beyond what we do ask or think. The unspoken lesson is that we should think and ask bigger. What we are currently presenting is certainly not taxing the unlimited resources of Almighty God. This week is we go through life. Let's look for opportunities to pray for a miracle. And I'll tell you, it takes boldness, it takes courage, it takes faith. We ask all the time what if God doesn't? But why don't we bury our doubt, resurrect our faith and ask simply, but what if God does in the grocery store? Stop and ask the lady who is suffering in physical pain if you could pray for her. Pause to listen to the lonely man on the city bus or the subway and ask if you can pray for him. Tell the down and out despondent teenager you meet on the street that God can heal her depression. Don't be intimidated by the magnitude of the need. Be bold in the majesty of the Almighty God. Massive miracles still happen when we pray big prayers. Last question. For whom can you pray big prayers this week, expecting God to work miracles? And let's pray right now for God to increase our faith to believe him for miracles and give us boldness to pray big prayers, expecting him to work those miracles. Lord Jesus, I know you can do anything and I know I have doubted and questioned if you would do what I had prayed or should have prayed you to do. Forgive me, I pray and help us, God, give us boldness, give us faith to believe you're not only able but also willing and to be willing ourselves and bold enough to pray big prayers to trust that you know what you're doing and you know how to answer every one of our prayers. Help us to stop trying to be God. Help us to just have faith in you that you will do what is right every time and give us faith and boldness and courage to pay pray big prayers and trust you to take care of the rest. We leave the results and the answers to you. We'll simply pray in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. Hey, thanks so much God's word for life listeners. Hope this has been a blessing. Do you be sure to subscribe, follow, like, notify and share with others so they also can hear about God's word for life. Lesson companion podcast. Head over to penicostralpublishing.com. Pick up all the God's word for life. Curriculum. Quite soon our spring God's word for life curriculum will go live and you can pick all that up at penicostralpublishing.com and you can pick up Bible, Bible studies, music, books, other resources to help you and your walk with God and help others and their walk with God as well. So so glad you're with me on this God's word for life episode. Next week we continue through these miracles in the book of Acts and next week's episode is entitled Anyone Anywhere. We're going forward to sharing a wonderful miracle God worked for a man who probably thought he was beyond a miracle. But God said yes. I'm looking forward to sharing that with you next week and always look forward to learning and living out God's word for life. Thank you for listening to God's word for life lesson companion podcast where together we explore what it means to live out God's word in our lives. If you haven't yet make sure to subscribe to this podcast and if you are looking for other Bible study tools and resources to encourage you in your walk with God visit us today at penicostralpublishing.com