Key points
- 1
1The Holy Spirit's power is personal — God sees every person as someone of worth and value, just as Peter looked intently at the lame man and said, 'Look at us.'
- 2
2God's blessing often does not come in the form we expect or demand — He gives us what we need, not always what we ask for.
Illustration
Taking Orange County students to Skid Row; offering breakfast and a referral instead of cash to people begging, and the mixed reactions that followed
- 3
3God's power is activated as we step out in faith — the lame man was not healed until he took Peter's hand and rose; faith precedes the miraculous.
“God's power comes when you act in faith”
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4The Holy Spirit's power is purposeful — Jesus deliberately passed the lame man so that Peter and John, empowered by the Spirit, could heal him in a way that would point thousands to Christ.
“himself walked right past this guy on multiple occasions and didn't stop and heal him. Is Jesus a jerk? No. Jesus has a purpose. And in healing, there's a purpose in it”
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5Peter's sermon after the healing did not simply celebrate the miracle — he used it as a doorway to declare the gospel of the risen Jesus, the same Jesus the crowd had rejected.
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6What you think about God determines everything else — a distorted, one-sided view of God leads to a distorted, self-centered faith that misses His purpose.
“the Holy Spirit's power in our life, the relationship in our life is very personal, but it can't be disconnected from the purposeful. Because trying to have the personal at the purposeful, there is no power”
“we tend by a secret law of the soul to move towards our mental image of God”
“You're living meal to meal, moment to moment, crisis to crisis. Going, God, here's what I need. God, give me this. God, give me that. And the reason you're living that way is you don't just get on the train”
Illustration
A.W. Tozer quote from 'The Knowledge of the Holy' on how one's mental image of God shapes everything about a person's and a church's direction
A story from life
The preacher's son and daughter-in-law, both 24, took a Verde Valley Railway trip to Sedona; the son was most excited about the meal on the train rather than the scenic ride
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7The gospel itself is both personal and purposeful: God is perfectly loving and perfectly holy, and the cross is where those two attributes meet — dealing with sin while rescuing us in love.
“the Holy Spirit's power is personal and purposeful. Meaning, when God's power comes in our life and he brings a blessing, brings a healing, does something in our life, works through our life, it's not it is very personal. God does love us. He has a plan for our life. All of that is true, But it may be for us, but what God does in our life is not just about us”
Application
Pastor Bill calls each of us to honest self-examination: Are we coming to God only as beggars — asking for what we want and walking away frustrated when He gives us something different? The invitation is to stop confusing the meal for the train ride. God's love for you is deeply personal — He sees you, He knows your name, He came down to your level — but He refuses to let that love stop with you. The same Spirit who healed one man and ignited a church of 15,000 wants to take your story and use it for something far greater than personal comfort. That begins with a simple act of faith: reaching up, taking Jesus' hand, and trusting Him even before the miracle arrives. First comes personal surrender and trust; then comes purposeful life together in the body of Christ — empowered by the Holy Spirit, united around the mission, and used by God in ways you cannot yet imagine.
