Sermon Tone Analysis

And many believed in the Lord

And many believed in the Lord!

Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.

There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.

And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.”

And immediately he rose.

And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas.

She was full of good works and acts of charity.

In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.

Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.”

So Peter rose and went with them.

And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room.

All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.

But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.”

And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.

And he gave her his hand and raised her up.

Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

(ESV)

What is the greatest miracle that God can do for us?

Some would call the healing of our body God’s greatest miracle, while others would vote for the raising one from the dead.

However I believe that the greatest miracle God does for us is when He saves us, which heals our body and raising us from our dead state in our sins and trespasses, and brings God glory!

In our passage this morning we find Peter participating in all three miracles: he heals Aeneas, he raises Dorcas from the dead, and his message about Christ bring many to belief in the Lord.

The miracles in the Bible always have the main purpose of confirming God authority, power, and sovereignty in all things.

All miracles have a purpose— there purpose is to prove that there is no one like God, that God has complete control of His creation because He is its source.

Miracles serve to prove and convince us that if God can do miraculous things!

Nothing in our lives is too hard for God to handle.

He wants us to trust Him and know that He can do miracles in our lives as well.

If the miracles did not occur, then how could we trust anything the Bible tells us, especially when it tells us eternal life is available through Christ?

When we begin to call any part of Scripture into doubt, all of God’s marvelous plan becomes suspect, and we open the door for the lies and distortions, which are Satan’s plan to destroy our faith.

, “Be sober-minded; be watchful.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

The Bible is to be read and understood literally, including the miracles.

The spiritual gift of miracles is one of the spiritual gifts listed in , where the NIV calls it “miraculous powers” and the ESV and KJV list it as “the working of miracles.”

The gift of miracles, or miraculous powers, is different from the gift of healing, which is listed separately in verse 9.

Those in the early church who had the gift of miracles had the ability, by the Spirit of God, to do miraculous things, they held tremendous powerful: they casted out of demons (), the struck Elymas blind (), and they healed Aeneas and they raised Tabitha from the dead ().

Some in the early church, besides the apostles, who had the gift of miracles, were Stephen and Philip.

These specific gifts mentioned in are unique to the apostles, a power they used to confer the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit to others through the laying on of hands.

The ability to transfer gifts, peculiar to the apostles, would have been something that set them apart from others and greatly aided in the spread the gospel everywhere.

Paul speaks of his showing “the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles” ().

Miracles are supernatural events that occur outside the bounds of what is natural.

By definition, they are rare and out of the ordinary.

The apostles certainly had the gift of miracles as they laid the foundation of the church and bore witness to the veracity of their message.

The spiritual gift of miracles is mentioned again in

, “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets third teaches, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administration and various kinds of tongues.”

In this context, Paul emphasizes the fact that all gifts have the same source, which is the Holy Spirit, and he encourages equality and unity among the believers.

Paul compares each believer to a part of a larger whole, like parts of the body (verse 12).

Not every part of the body can do everything—not everyone had the gift of miracles (verse 29).

We need one another.

Paul goes on to show in how love is “the most excellent way” and the greatest gift.

The question arises as to whether or not the spiritual gift of miracles is still active today in the church.

Though I believe that the apostles were given the ministry of miracles.

This in no way limits God’s power or ability to work miracles as He sees fit.

I absolutely believe that God still heals and works miracles today.

In today’s message we are looking at two examples of God’s sovereign work through the healing of Aeneas and the raising of Tabitha.

Through the work of the Holy Spirit in Peter’s ministry we see two things: (1) And many believed in the Lord because Jesus Christ heals; (2) and many believed in the Lord because Jesus Christ calls us to rise up; and Jesus Christ has to power to raise us up.

Let us pray…

Jesus Christ heals…

, “Now as Peter went here and there among them all , he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.

There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.

And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.”

And immediately he rose.

And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.”

Peter is now being led by the Holy Spirit to go here and there preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Preaching and teaching by His power and for His purpose.

This last section of reintroduces Peter in preparation for the great events of .

Peter travels to Lydda and then to Joppa, moving further and further away from Jerusalem into Gentile territory.

As he responds to various needs, God blesses his Pastoral and evangelistic endeavors.

Aeneas is healed, Tabbitha (Dorcas) is raised from death, and many people turned to Christ.

So, Peter is validated once more as an authentic representative of the line of prophets who “work signs and wonders among the people.”

His Christ-likeness is highlighted by his obedience to Christ and his focus on doing God’s will.

These two narratives form a pair, with a number of common elements, but with the second account more detailed.

The first focuses on a man and his helplessness, which he overcame through his hope and faith in God.

And the second on a woman, highlighting her good works and the respect she commanded among the believers in Joppa.

Peter approaches Lydda, a town 23 miles northwest of Jerusalem and on the road to Joppa.

Lydda served as a regional administrative town for Judea, and was on an important trade route.

Peter came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.

As in , these ‘saints’ are Jewish Christians, who came from Jerusalem because of the persecution and turned to Christ because of the preaching of Philip, when he journeyed from to Caesarea (8:40).

Lydda was about a day’s journey (25 miles or 40 km.) on the road from Jerusalem towards the coastal town of Joppa (another 12 miles on).

It was situated in the Plain of Sharon and was the capital of one of the ten local government areas in Judea.

In Lydda, Peter found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years, “for eight years had lain on his bed’).

We can only wonder how many times he dreamed of being healed or how many times his hopes had been dashed.

Aeneas (a Greek name) is not specifically identified as a disciple, as Dorcas is, but the mention of his name in the context of visiting the saints suggests that he was one of them.

Peter took the initiative, Peter looked at his condition, and Peter then made his declaration (‘Jesus Christ heals you’), and then the command (‘Get up and roll up your mat’).

Peter saw in his spirit that Aeneas was sick and tired and being sick and tired and that Jesus could and would heal him.

Though narrative is brief, the benefit is miraculous, without any other supportive action Aeneas immediately got up.

Jesus called him to rise up and he rose.

The benefits of this miracle were not only felt in the body of Aeneas, the miracle was felt in the body of Christ.

It was felt in the body of Christ through increase faith and belief in the word of God.

The text tells us that those outside the church, all those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas, remember that he had been paralyzed for over eight years, they saw the miracle and it moved their hearts and many turned to the Lord).

Many unbelievers—in Lydda and the surrounding coastal Plain of Sharon—turned to Jesus as their Savior and Lord of their lives, acknowledging his divine authority and saving power through the actions and words of his apostle.

But what does it mean to turn to Jesus as your Savior and Lord?

To turn to the Jesus as your Savior means to ask the question, who is Jesus Christ?

Many people will acknowledge Jesus Christ as a good man, a great teacher, or even a prophet of God.

These things are definitely true of Jesus, but they do not fully define who He truly is.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is God in the flesh, that Jesus is God in human form.

That Jesus is God who came to earth to teach us, heal us, correct us, forgive us—and die for us!

Jesus Christ is God, the Creator, the sovereign Lord.