Skip to main content

Ask Rewind

Sign in to ask Rewind about this sermon — answers are grounded in the actual transcripts.

The study, discipleship, and teaching platform built on your church's own preaching.

Product

How it works
Pricing
What's new
Churches on Rewind

Solutions

For churches
For teaching teams
For groups
For seminaries
Agency partners

Company

About
Contact

Legal

Trust & your data
Terms
Privacy
How we use AI
Accessibility

© 2026 Rewind

NEW NORMAL | Week 3 | Sermon · Rewind

Rock Point Church

47 min

Pastor Bill Bush · Aug 21, 2023 · 5 min read · 47 min listen

The big idea

The Holy Spirit's power in our lives is always both personal and purposeful — God's love for you is real, but He always connects it to a purpose beyond you, and chasing one without the other means missing the point entirely.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 8The Holy Spirit's power is personal and purposeful, and you need both
Point 2 of 8Peter and John saw the lame man personally before anything else

Point 3 of 8The man got what he needed, not what he asked for
Point 4 of 8Faith means acting before you see the power, not after
Point 5 of 8God's healing made life more purposeful, not easier
Point 6 of 8Jesus delayed healing this man so the miracle could serve a greater purpose
Point 7 of 8Peter preached the gospel, not just the feel-good story
Point 8 of 8The early church's response was to unite around purpose, not just protection
Take it into your week
Transcript

Ask Rewind about this message

Sign in to ask Rewind about this message

Scripture in this message

Acts 3:1-13
Acts 3
Romans 3:23

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Pastor Bill Bush · Aug 21, 2023 · 47 min watch · 2 min read

NEW NORMAL | Week 3 | Sermon

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Acts 3:1-13
Acts 3
Romans 3:23

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

The Holy Spirit's power in our lives is always both personal and purposeful — God's love for you is real, but He always connects it to a purpose beyond you, and chasing one without the other means missing the point entirely.

God genuinely loves you and wants to bless you personally — but His blessing is never just about you. When the Holy Spirit works in our lives, He heals, saves, and empowers us so that we can be swept into His larger purpose for the church and the world. Chase only the personal and you miss what you actually need; chase purpose without first receiving His personal love and you have nothing to give.

Key points

1
1The Holy Spirit's power is personal and purposeful, and you need both
Pastor Bill frames the whole message around this pairing, warning that our Western culture has turned Christianity into a private personal journey with God while dropping the purposeful part we're meant to live out together as the church.
2
2Peter and John saw the lame man personally before anything else
Walking through Acts 3, Pastor Bill shows how Peter and John got down to the beggar's level and said 'look at us,' communicating that he mattered as a person of worth even though his culture assumed his disability was punishment for sin.
3
3The man got what he needed, not what he asked for
He expected money but Peter offered him Jesus' name and a hand instead, and Pastor Bill connects this to his own mission trips to Skid Row where people got angry when offered a meal and relationship instead of cash — a pattern he says shows up in church people too.
4
4Faith means acting before you see the power, not after
Peter and John had no guarantee of a miracle; they simply obeyed by reaching out their hand, and the power came as they acted. Pastor Bill applies this to areas like generosity, marriage, and integrity where people wait for supernatural ease before they'll obey.
5
5God's healing made life more purposeful, not easier
Pastor Bill points out the healed man still had to get a job and figure out life; the blessing didn't remove hardship, it opened the door to being used for something greater — evidenced by the crowd's amazement and Peter's chance to preach.
6
6Jesus delayed healing this man so the miracle could serve a greater purpose
Jesus had walked past this same beggar many times during His earthly ministry without healing him, not because He was unkind but because the miracle needed to happen through Peter and John, by the Holy Spirit, to launch the church's explosive growth.
7
7Peter preached the gospel, not just the feel-good story
Instead of milking the crowd's excitement over the healing, Peter confronted them with their rejection of Jesus and God's raising Him from the dead, showing that the point of the miracle was to reveal who Jesus is, not just to make one man feel better.
8
8The early church's response was to unite around purpose, not just protection
After Peter and John were arrested, the believers prayed for boldness rather than safety, gave their possessions to the cause, and grew from 120 to thousands, showing what it looks like to get 'on the purpose train' together.

Application

Pastor Bill frames the choice as whether you just want the meal, or you want the train ride.

Accept God's personal love first
Before anything else, receive that God sees you and loves you personally, the way Peter told the lame man to look at him — this is where the journey has to start.
Act in faith before you see the power
Don't wait for things to get easy or for proof before obeying God in generosity, marriage, work integrity, or service — reach out your hand like Peter and John did, trusting God to meet you in the obedience.
Stop just begging for what you want
Examine whether you come to God and church only asking for what feels good or comfortable, and be willing to receive what you actually need instead.
Get on the purpose train together
Move beyond a private, personal-only faith and join the church body in its purpose — give your time, money, and life to reaching others, the way the early believers sold land and prayed for boldness.
Respond to the gospel by reaching your hand up
If you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, confess you're a sinner under God's judgment, and receive His love and grace by declaring Him Savior and Lord.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Sign in to ask Rewind about this sermon

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“I just wanna walk through chapter three, the first 13 verses, and just show how this holy spirit's power is both personal and purposeful, and what that means to us”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“So here we go. Chapter three. It says Peter and John went to the temple one afternoon to take part in the 03:00 prayer service”
From the transcript
“He said, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Meaning if you wanna earn a spot besides God in his presence, you have to be perfect”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Day 1

There is something quietly stunning about the moment Peter looks at the lame man and says, 'Look at us.' In a culture where beggars were background noise — part of the scenery at the temple gate — Peter stops. He sees him. Not as a problem to solve or a crowd to impress, but as a person worth meeting eye to eye. Pastor Bill made the point that the Holy Spirit's power is deeply personal. God does not work at arm's length. He comes down to your level. He knows your name. He sees the specific ache you carry through the gate every single day, even when the people stepping over you have long since stopped noticing. This is not a small thing. It is easy to believe God is powerful in the abstract — working in history, moving nations, doing big things somewhere else. It is harder, and more important, to believe that the same God who holds the cosmos together also looks intently at you. Not past you. At you. If that truth has grown thin for you, today is a good day to sit with it again. You are not invisible to God. You are not a number in a crowd. The same Spirit who moved through Peter's gaze is present with you right now, and He is not looking away.

For reflection

When was the last time you genuinely felt seen by God — and what made it easy or hard to receive that?

Pray

Pray for a fresh awareness of God's personal attention on your life today.

Day 2

The lame man asked for money. Peter gave him his legs. It is easy to read past that gap, but Pastor Bill pressed on it hard: God gives us what we need, not always what we ask for, and those two things are not always the same. The man had a system. Show up at the gate, ask for coins, survive another day. It made sense given everything he had ever known. But what he thought was his greatest need — enough silver to get through the week — was actually a small answer inside a far larger one God was preparing. That tension is real for most of us. We come to God with a specific request, sometimes a desperate one, and when He seems to answer differently — or doesn't seem to answer at all — it is easy to walk away confused or even quietly angry. Pastor Bill called this 'confusing the meal for the train ride.' The meal is real. The hunger is real. But God's vision for your life is bigger than getting through today, and He refuses to let a smaller answer replace a greater one. This is not a call to pretend your needs are not real. Bring them honestly. But hold them openly, with room for God to answer in a way that is better than what you thought to ask for.

For reflection

Is there an area of your life where you may be asking God for a meal when He is actually offering you something much larger?

Pray

Pray for the humility to trust God's answer even when it looks different from what you asked.

Day 3

Peter did not tell the man to sit and wait for sensation to arrive. He reached down, took the man's hand, and helped him up. And as he rose, strength flooded into his ankles and feet. The healing did not happen before the movement — it happened in it. Pastor Bill pointed to this as one of the most practical truths in the whole passage: faith precedes the miraculous. The man had to reach back. He had to let Peter pull him upright. There was a moment where the outcome was still unknown and he chose to move anyway. Faith in the biblical sense is not the absence of doubt or the presence of certainty. It is a movement toward God even when the outcome isn't guaranteed yet. It looks like reaching up when you are not sure your legs will hold. It looks like taking a next step in obedience when you cannot yet see the full staircase. This is not about manufacturing confidence you do not feel. It is about directing your trust toward Jesus — honestly, imperfectly — and letting Him do what only He can do once you are in motion. The lame man's first steps were wobbly and new. Yours might be too. That is okay. The hand holding yours is steady.

For reflection

What is one step of faith you have been hesitating to take, and what would it look like to reach up and take Jesus' hand in that area?

Pray

Pray for courage to take one concrete step of faith this week, even before you can see how it ends.

Day 4

The newly healed man did not slip quietly into the crowd. He went into the temple courts walking and leaping and praising God, and the people who saw him were absolutely astonished. A scene erupted. And that scene — that beautiful, undeniable commotion — became the stage for Peter's sermon. Pastor Bill made the point that this was not accidental. Jesus had passed through that very gate and passed by that very man, not because He didn't care, but because the timing was part a larger plan. The healing was meant to draw a crowd. The crowd was meant to hear the gospel. And that gospel would eventually fuel a church of 15,000 people. God's power is purposeful. What He does in your life is not just for you. Your healing, your restored relationship, your season of unexpected provision — these are not private property. They are meant to create a commotion that points people to Jesus. You don't have to manufacture that or perform it. You just have to be honest about what God has done, the way the healed man was honest with his whole body. The question is not whether your story matters. It does. The question is whether you are letting it be seen.

For reflection

Is there something God has done in your life that you have been keeping quiet — and who in your world might need to hear it?

Pray

Pray for the willingness to let your story point someone else toward Jesus this week.

Day 5

Peter had a crowd in the palm of his hand. A miracle had just happened. The momentum was enormous. And he used every bit of it to talk about Jesus — specifically the Jesus this crowd had rejected and handed over to be crucified. He did not soften the message. He did not let the miracle be the whole point. Pastor Bill highlighted that Peter's sermon moved immediately from the sign to the Savior: this healing is not about us, it is about Him — the risen Jesus, the Holy and Righteous One. This is the pattern God's power keeps following in Acts. Something breaks open. A crowd gathers. And the Spirit-filled response is always to turn the attention toward Jesus, not toward the miracle worker, not toward the institution, not toward a system of religious practice. There is an honest challenge buried in this for anyone who follows Jesus: it is possible to celebrate what God does in our lives without ever pointing others to who He is. The healing becomes the story, but the Healer stays in the background. Peter refused that. He named Jesus plainly, even when it was costly, because a miracle without the gospel is just a wonder that fades. What God has done in your life is a door. Jesus is what is on the other side of it.

For reflection

When you tell people about good things God has done for you, how naturally do you connect that to who Jesus actually is?

Pray

Pray for boldness to name Jesus clearly when God opens a natural door in conversation.

Day 6

Pastor Bill drew a line from the healing in Acts 3 all the way to the problem the gospel is actually solving: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It is a verse many people know by memory, but familiarity can dull its weight. The lame man at the gate is a vivid picture of the human condition before the gospel. Unable to stand on his own. Sitting outside the place of worship, not inside it. Dependent on the charity of others. He was not there because of some personal moral failure the text names — he was simply broken in a way he could not fix. That is the Bible's honest assessment of all of us before grace arrives. Not primarily bad behavior, but a deep structural brokenness — a falling short — that we are powerless to repair on our own. No amount of religious effort gets us through the gate under our own strength. But — and this is the whole gospel — that brokenness is exactly where Jesus shows up. He does not wait for us to limp our way to health before He extends His hand. He meets us at the gate. He looks intently at us. And He offers not a coin, not a temporary relief, but a complete restoration that only He can give. The gospel is not good advice for almost-okay people. It is good news for people who know they cannot get up on their own.

For reflection

How does remembering your own need for grace change the way you see and relate to people around you who are still at the gate?

Pray

Pray for a renewed sense of gratitude for the grace that met you where you were, and compassion for those who haven't yet encountered it.

Day 7

Reading the whole passage again at the end of the week, the shape of it is clearer. A man sits where he has always sat. Two ordinary men walk by, filled with an extraordinary Spirit. Something personal and miraculous happens. And what began as one person's moment of healing becomes the spark for thousands of lives being changed. Pastor Bill's invitation was not complicated, but it was costly: stop begging for what you merely want, and take Jesus' hand by faith. Trust that the ride He has for you is far greater than any single meal you could beg for along the way. All week we have looked at what that means — being seen, receiving God's answer rather than demanding our own, stepping out in faith before the miracle arrives, letting our story point others to Jesus, understanding the gospel that makes all of it possible. These are not seven separate ideas. They are one invitation, looked at from different angles. The same Spirit who moved through Peter and John that day at the Beautiful Gate is present with you now. He is not finished. He sees you. He knows what you need. And He is inviting you — not to a better begging strategy, but to a life surrendered to something far larger and far more alive than you could plan for yourself. Reach up. Take His hand. Trust the ride.

For reflection

Looking back at this week, what is one thing God has clarified, challenged, or stirred in you — and what is your next honest step in response?

Pray

Pray for the faith to surrender your smaller plans to God's larger purpose, and for the community around you to take that journey together.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message centers on a lame man sitting outside a temple gate, expecting a coin — and getting something that changed his life and ignited a movement. Before we dig in, what's one word that comes to mind when you picture that scene?

Discussion questions

1
In Acts 3:4, Peter stops, looks intently at the lame man, and says, 'Look at us.' What do you think that moment of being truly seen meant to someone who had spent his life being stepped over at a gate?
2
In Acts 3:6, Peter tells the man he has no silver or gold — but gives him something entirely different from what the man asked for. What does this exchange suggest about the gap between what we ask God for and what He may actually have in mind for us?
3
Acts 3:7 shows the man wasn't healed the moment Peter spoke — he was healed as he took Peter's hand and rose. What does that sequence tell us about how faith and action work together, before the outcome is certain?
4
After the healing, Peter doesn't let the crowd celebrate the miracle and go home — he uses it as a doorway to preach the risen Jesus in Acts 3:12–15. What does that move tell us about the purpose behind miracles and answered prayer, beyond the blessing itself?
5
Pastor Bill described two sides of God's character that are easy to pull apart: deeply personal love and a purposeful, holy mission. What happens to our faith when we lean too hard on one side and lose sight of the other?
6
Pastor Bill challenged us to ask whether we come to God mostly as beggars — hoping for a specific answer and walking away frustrated when He gives us something different — rather than reaching up and trusting Him with the bigger ride. How might a community of people taking that posture together look different from one where everyone is mostly asking for their own needs?

Pray together

Courage to reach up and take Jesus' hand — trusting His purpose even before we can see where He's leading

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Sign in to save this message.

Go deeper

Continue the series

NEW NORMAL

Week 3 · 4 messages

Where these passages are preached

Acts 3 Romans 3

Explore related topics

Faith and Surrender God's Personal Love Gospel Purpose Healing and Miracles Holy Spirit Power

Related sermons

Love Defined | Week 4
Pastor Bill Bush · Sep 19, 2026
Shares scripture
Weekday Warrior | Week 3
Pastor Chris Hilken · Jul 20, 2026
Shares scripture
Easter at Rock Point 2026
Pastor Bill Bush · Apr 5, 2026
Shares scripture
The Road To Easter | Week 2 | Full Service
Pastor Bill Bush · Mar 29, 2026
Shares scripture
Basics | Week 6 | Sermon
Pastor Bill Bush · Oct 20, 2025
Shares scripture
Evidence of Eternity | Week 1 | Message
Pastor Bill Bush · Jul 28, 2025
Shares scripture

Powered by Rewind · make your church's Rewind →