The Book of Acts 9:32-43 - Peter Ministry
Acts 9:32-43 · Bob Eckel · Jun 1, 2014
Acts (2014), No. 22
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926429432735

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Roger took us through the fun part of Max now. And I was saying to Margaret, thinking about preparing for this, gee, I think I have 40 verses to go. I just heard there are only 11. Man, this is a snack. So anyway, today's lesson is entitled Pew's Ministry.

And this is kind of the beginning of a long, long sequence of events that we're going to study in accent. We tend to think of Acts as a story, and it is kind of a story, but it's more than a story. So I think we have to kind of see where doctrine shows up and where it doesn't, and look at the story as how it reflects the glory of God and the apostolic game. So let's use that as kind of a framework going before us. Let's move ahead. Why don't we read the whole passage? It's only 11 verses and then we'll kind of deal with it.

So Roger could you read Acts 9.32-43 please.

Now it came about that as Peter was traveling through all those parts, he came down to the saints who lived at Lydia. And there he found a certain man named Aeneas. could have been bedridden for eight years, for he was paralyzed. And Peter said to Nicias, Jesus Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed. And immediately he arose.

And all who lived in Lydia and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Now in Joppa, there was a certain disciple named Amical, which translated in Greek is called Dorcas. This woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity. which she continually did. And it came about at that time that she fell sick and died. And when they had washed her body and laid it in an upper room, and since Lydia was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, entreating him, do not delay to come to us.

And Peter arose and went with them. And when he had come, they brought him into the room. And all the windows, I'm sorry, And all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all their tunics and garments that Dorcas had used to make while she was with him. But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said, Tabitha arrives.

And she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and raised her up. And calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And it came about that he stayed many days in Joppa, where a certain tanner named Recyclus. OK, thanks very much, Robert. All right, so I've entitled this first section, the first three verses, is basically Peter and Aeneas. I'm glad you just read that. So let's put this into perspective in terms of the map.

And if you look at the map, basically we're northwest of Jerusalem now. And ultimately, Lydia is here. And here's Joppa, where we're going to be venturing to right on the coast. So these are about 10 miles apart. But this is, you know, northwest of Jerusalem and kind of reflects, I think, the ultimate journey of Peter after the persecution in Jerusalem. Remember, people are spreading out now, away from the center of the persecution. It turns out in modern day that Tel Aviv is right next door to what we call the Jaffa for that time.

It's now Yafo, but not much of a sound change. Yeah, you're looking ahead at the handout. There were saints already in Lydda. This is actually Lod or Lod, a lot of the Old Testament. We don't have to turn to Ezra, but that's an area that was actually labeled Lod or Lod in the Old Testament and that's stated in the book of Ezra. So Lod, Lydda are the same place.

And I think as I just mentioned, this is evidence that the saints there really had spread from Jerusalem. Remember, we're talking about ultimately the foundation of the church, and ultimately the persecutions that we've read about in Acts in Jerusalem, and now people are spreading out. So again, Jerusalem is down here, and ultimately this is northwest of Jerusalem. outside of Jerusalem, and we're talking about maybe Morrison versus Denver.

We're not talking about great distances here. Israel's pretty small. But of course at that time they didn't exactly have... No, they walked. They had to walk. If you had to walk to Golden from here, it would be... How long would it take to walk from here to Golden? Five hours maybe if you were a two-year-old. Maybe more than that. and a half days journey.

Right. So it's desert there, too. We're making this stuff up. It's desert and it's fairly hilly. Jerusalem. I mean, that whole area is pretty hilly. All right. A day only because it's downgrade. What was that Tom? And that was only because it's downgrade from Jeru Hill. Yeah, Jeru is up on the hill, right? So this would have been a downhill walk. Yeah, going toward the sea. Did they have a backpack? Aeneas, not quite a name of the nation of Israel. I mean, this is a Greek name.

But he must have believed in the healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ, or did he? Did Aeneas have to believe to have Peter enact this healing ministry on him? Remember, he'd been in bed for eight years. What do you think? Do we have evidence in the text that Aeneas was a believer? It says, There Peter found a man named Aeneas who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ kills you.

Get up and make your bed. Do we have any evidence that Aeneas was a believer and believed? I don't think it was about Aeneas. I don't think so either. He woke up after he stood up and made his bed. I thought he might have been thinking there's something going on here, right? He might have been because it says that he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. So if he was coming to the saints, then Peter might have been a believer, not Peter. Aeneas may have been a believer. Well I don't think, it's somewhat academic.

The text says that Peter said I'm healing you of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Get up and make your bed. Well Jesus Christ must not have been much of a stranger to him. For him not to go into extra paragraphs. This is who Jesus is. Bobbity bobbity bop.

Correct. But Luke reports this from a physician's perspective of someone being paralyzed and now walks. Going beyond the medicine of the age right? But there was a command to perform the nap, make your bed. I think that's kind of interesting. Are you kidding me? I've been flat in bed now for eight years. I'm supposed to get up and make my bed? What is this? I've been laying in bed for eight years.

So a precedent set by the Lord Jesus Christ, wasn't it? If we look at these various texts, why don't we look at just one? Let's look at John 5 and through 12. The idea that after a healing ministry, Christ, there are three examples. Pull people together and do something. It wasn't a matter of just you're healed, get up. So whoever can pull John 5, 10 through 12.

And so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath, the law forbids you to carry your mat. But he replied, the man who made me well said to me, pick up your mat and walk. So they asked him, who is that fellow who told you to pick it up and walk? OK, so it wasn't just he got up, but he was able to pick up his mat and walk.

All right, this could have been simply evidence of the healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ without necessarily Aeneas coming to a saving relationship. I mean, we can't read between the lines here. He may have been a believer, and he may have believed that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ through Peter was capable of healing him. I don't know. We don't have enough information. It doesn't make any difference. This really is evidence of the continuing power of the miraculous healing of the Lord Jesus Christ in the apostolic age. That's simply what it is.

And all Atlita and Sharon, meaning the plains of Sharon, turn to the Lord. Now the plains of Sharon on your map, if you can see it, is in the upper left hand corner. So the plains of Sharon go along the Mediterranean. Did the map turn out? Yes, so all the way along, there's about 25 miles which are called the plains of Sharon. Sharon is not a location. Sharon is a plateau along the ocean.

And so this is a very fertile area, apparently, where Israel is probably most capable of growing crops. And Acts 11.21 says, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.

So the point here is turning unto the Lord assumes belief. We don't have to turn to the Lord. Doesn't mean you're looking at him, or you're picking up a book to read about him. Turning to the Lord implies a spiritual bond and an atmosphere of biblical belief.

So this work of Peter, Northwest of Jerusalem, probably took place, interestingly enough, at a time following Roger's lesson last week, when Paul's sojourn into Arabia was occurring. Kind of interesting. Paul much time after his conversion to be taken away by the Lord Jesus Christ for these three years of individualized education. Any questions at this point? All right, let's move on to the second segment, which I've partitioned out called Peter is Called When Dorcas Died. So this is 36 through 38.

Now in Jaffa, there was a disciple named Tabitha, which translated to Greek is called Dorcas. This woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity, which she continually did. And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died. And when she had washed her body, a lady in the upper room. And since Liv was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him, do not delay in coming to us. Joppa.

And we've already been educated here by Tom this morning. Jaffa today is a suburb of Tel Aviv and it's about 10 miles northwest of Lydda on the sea. So if you've been there, Margaret and I have landed in Tel Aviv and spent a little time there. That's exactly where it is, right on the ocean. It's a beautiful place actually. Tel Aviv is really very, very, very special because you're right on the Mediterranean on the coast there.

And the meaning of Tel Aviv is Hill of Spring. Is it? Hill of Spring. One of the months of spring is Aviv. Okay, good. Thank you, John. Alright, this was the seaport of Jerusalem. It basically still is. Jerusalem is up on the hill. Tel Aviv or Jaffa or Daba is right at the ocean. Tabitha means gazelle, interesting, or antelope. Or Dorcas was a disciple.

So she's a believer. And she's always about doing good. And she sows for the widows as an example of her doing good. And this was exemplary of her doing good. Let's turn to 1 Timothy 2, 9, and 10, and I think relate to this. In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly rags, but which becometh woman professing godliness with good works. Let the woman learn in silence and all subjection. I mean, here's an example of that, isn't it? The women I think of the apostolic age were about good deeds. I think women today are about good deeds. They are much more caring, much more concerning of others than we guys are. I think this is just an example of that.

So Dorcas really, having died, was really quite an event here at his time. Apparently, it was customary for Jews in a seaport town to have both a Jewish and Greek name. So that's why, presumably, that was stated here in Acts. Dorcas died, and her body was washed, which was typical. In fact, I think it's still typical of the Jewish family.

But it wasn't buried and burned, but placed in the upper room. So why do you think that occurred? Why was there something different done here? The word was out. Jesus heals even after his resurrection. So you think there was an atmosphere of expectation here? At least confidence, if not expectation. Isn't that Jewish tradition that they lay the body out overnight or something and somebody... I thought that was even today still.

Well, this is the upper room. No, they don't. They pretty much, after a... Burials within 24 hours. Yeah, it's pretty quick. It's pretty quick. Even today. They don't hesitate to, they have a service, I mean like right away. And they go right to the burial. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know whether it's laid out for us for a period of hours or something, but typically within 24 hours today. But the issue here is the upper room. What do you think that has any? Well, it seems like it alludes to it right in the in your text there.

Having heard that Peter was, you know, they have they heard about Peter. I mean, they like Tom was saying, the word was out. In fact, they actually it's pretty amazing. It's almost like they assume something's going to happen here. We'll get the body ready. Well, I think that's certainly one point. The other thing is, apparently, one of the commentators I read, I don't remember whether it was Constable or somebody else, indicated that the upper room kind of maybe, resembling the upper room of the Last Supper was kind of a place where saints gathered. This was kind of a sanctuary if you will.

I don't know how valid that is, but one commentator thought that was true. So anyway, this upper room being a place to put Dorcas really had some kind of spiritual connotation. And two men were sent to implore Peter, not to say, hey Peter, what are you doing this afternoon? Why do you think Dorcas is so special in recording scripture in this regard? What are your thoughts?

Especially that she was a woman. There are not many women mentioned in the ministry. How many other faiths in the world really put a woman in the place that scripture does? There's a lot more about men than there are women, but yet here's Dorcas as one of many, at least several women who are notarized.

I noticed when we went through the account of Saul's conversion. He realized that women believed too. They were believing in the Lord Jesus. He went after the women too. It says men and women were dragged back to Jerusalem. Women were a lot more in view here when the Lord came.

And what is Dorcas called in this text? What else is she called? She's labeled as something. A disciple. How much of that do you see in the Muslim faith? Not even minorly. And if you look at the Old Testament, how often are women who are Jews identified and honored. You think of Ruth, Esther, a lot of them. We hear a lot of their stories, a lot of women's stories that are witnesses. But think of the gospel camp, how many times the women who were really surrounding the Lord Jesus Christ were honored in terms of the way they were dedicated in worship. Anyway, Dorcas is forever known because of her ministry, and she's a disciple. So I think this is really great. So Peter, again, people are hearing about what this guy is doing.

So now the third part of this 9.39.43 Peter raises Dodous from the dead. So Peter arose and went up to them and when he arrived they brought him into the upper room. Doesn't that kind of make your spine tingle a little bit? And all the widows stood beside him weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with him. a shop you might find along the way with all this clothing that Peter sent them all. Notice the sequence here. Peter sent them all out of the room. 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. And calling the saints and widows, come on back in here, guys, he presented her alive. And it became known all over Joppa. Many believed in the Lord. Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon. Okay, let's look at this. Let's talk briefly about this.

You know, death is separation, right? That's the way we translate death. For the believer, it's separation from God, but it's still death. What are all these widows doing here? They've outlived their husbands. Well, that's one. I think we could have a small group meet over here and discuss the rationale. It still happens today. And Margaret's counting on it. It's OK with me. Press it in the body. Anyway. What were all the widows doing there? They were ministering to her and her death. Is the weeping ministering to her? They probably washed the body. We lose a brother and sister in the Lord today. Is weeping wrong? When did Christ cry?

The death of Lazarus. Death is still death. You can't put any other spell on it. It's loss. And although we think of death as separation, of separation, separation there that they were separated from a woman that they loved dearly and cared for very much. So anyway, this was the same way we were thinking of death today. In other words, death is still death no matter how you cut it. So anyway, Let's move on.

Peter witnessed the love of Dorcas by the presence of the weeping widows in the many hanging garments she had sewn. So this is all evidence of Dorcas and who she was. The weeping is the missing of her physically and her presence, but the garments reflect what she stood for because this was her ministry of good deeds. sewing garments for these women who presumably were financially stretched. Their husbands no longer, the money makers no longer provided.

There wasn't a TIAC or AFTA, the kind of accounts we have here today. So why did Peter send everyone out of the room? It's sort of like, it's a private affair. I mean, it's not like this is a show. This is like a side show we're going to do here. Not an episode of Bewitched. I don't know.

But other cases, I mean, when the Lord was here, he told Lazarus, come forth. I mean, you know, so the Lord, you know, it's his, it's his doing. And it sounded like, didn't he just do that with Anais? I mean it doesn't say that it was a private. He just said when he came upon him, he said, you know. And that's true.

Get up. So that healing was not private. I'll say more raising from the dead. Raising from the dead. So healing is not raising from the dead. Was the raising of the dead in other examples either in the gospel account or in fact in Acts really done in private? Yeah. When Jesus, remember he raised a little girl? We're going to look at one other example. It's only one other example in Acts where there's a resurrection from the dead. That's Paul. We'll look at that here in a second. Yeah, we'll see that in a second.

So, he then shut the door and knelt and prayed, necessary? So first of all, he got everybody out of the room. Then he knelt and prayed. Was that in the Antichrist? He didn't just go straight away and just give it the magic touch. It was more of, this is your call, Lord, and we're leaving it in your hands. I don't have any special powers now anymore, and I did that.

I like that. So I said, yes, it was necessary. He was the lowly servant. And this indicated his reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out this resurrection. So I think it reflects it. You're right. Peter doesn't have this magic wand and just flip it around here and there. The dependency of this lowly servant is on the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out this act. So I think yes, scripturally it was necessary for him. I don't know if it was necessary for him to be in private, but his prayer needed to be one of great dependency and concentration. I think that's perhaps why he got rid of it.

Maybe if everybody had been there, they would have given the glory to Peter. That's a good point. I like that. Did you hear what Bonnie said? If everybody else had been there witnessing this, Peter would have gotten the the glory, right? That's not where the glory belongs. I think that's good insight and that's a very good point.

So let's look at 2nd Kings 4.31-36. It's my Old Testament example of raising here a child from the dead. This is Elisha. By the way, Elijah did this once too. I like the Elisha account better.

2nd Kings 4.31.36 and whoever gets that, please read. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, the boy has not awakened.

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. and he stretched himself out upon him. The boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. One more verse, okay. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, call the Shunammite. And he did. When she came, he said, take your son.

So anyway, it almost sounds like CPR in terms of mouth to mouth and laying on and everything. But anyway, here's another example to God's glory of resurrection from the dead. And this is an old question. And she opened her eyes and sat up. And this all happened pretty quickly. There wasn't kind of a telemetry or a VKG monitor here. We were kind of gradually seeing her recover. Just like that, she's alive. As Peter witnessed his Lord due to his own mother-in-law. In other words, Peter witnessed the same kind of restoration of life.

This is not really resurrection, this is restoration. I think there's an important distinction between the two. What's the distinction between restoration and resurrection? It's still the old body, the same kind of body that Adam had, and you're stuck with it again. You continue with the second round of dying. You did it once, but you're going to have to do it again. Alright, so restoration is restoring life in the previous existence, right? And resurrection is a whole new body, right? Christ was resurrected, not as he was, but in a new body. Glorified by it.

And the same with us. Let's turn to Mark one thirty one. It's a single verse really reflecting Peter's mother-in-law. Some people could question whether somebody's mother-in-law should be. That's a sex-crossbanger of the world view, right? Remember the old 60s tune, Mother-in-Law. Remember that old song? Mark, not 31, okay. Why don't we read 30 and 31, Bob? Okay, two verses. I can read it, I guess.

Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever, and immediately they spoke to him, the Lord Jesus, about her. And he came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand. The fever left her, and she waited on them. Okay, now she was not restored from the dead. She's sick with a fever. But anyway, I think what Peter probably recalled was his mother-in-law was sick. And the restoration was instantaneous and immediate. And she's well. So here, Dorcas is restored immediately to the fullness of existence. That's why she sat up clearly. Restored from the dead.

And here's the other early example of someone being, if you will, restored or raised from death in Acts, since the Gospel account. So let's turn to this, Acts 20, 9 and 10. Someone want to read that, please? And there was a certain young man named Eutychius sitting on the windowsill. sinking into a deep sleep, and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.

But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, Do not be troubled, for his life is in him. Keep on going. I think that's it. I mean, it's not much detail here. This guy's sleeping up there on the third floor. He falls off and kills himself. It's always the hey, don't don't worry, fella. You're dead here.

But so and then life was restored. By the way. That leads me to the next question. Is this still happening today, these kind of miraculous? No, but there's a reference to it when you're told if you're about to go on for your first act, instead of saying break a leg, they may say knock them dead.

Well Bob, certainly there are those groups of people that make claims about this, but boy, even the ones that make claims about it, you don't see it. Look, these miraculous events of healing and restoration of life from the dead just don't occur anymore. That's not the way the Lord works today, and I think you have to make a strong statement here. These miraculous gifts of healing just aren't here anymore. And actually, I mean, you know, I listened to Jay Vernon, The Way to Work Online, whatever we're doing, one of the gospel accounts, and he was very firmly standing on this point. This just isn't for today. And if people are claiming this, you know, but by the way, in medicine, I see people who look like they're not going to make it, who make it. Does that mean that God can't work through people today to extend life and things? And yeah, absolutely. Is he working that way? I don't know if he is or not, but he can. But that just isn't what we expect today. For the believer to live as Christ and die as gain. And these trials and tribulations we go through today are simply those to build the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in each and every one of us.

We pray selfishly for our loved ones to get better and you know I think Ingrid's mom's an example of sustained life in a circumstance that didn't look very likely. But Lord still got her here, right? So he's working her illness, her cancer through her own life. in belief and through that in her family and through us who really don't know her as well as the family does. We're not going to question whether God has healing capabilities. It was exemplified day in and day out in the apostolic age and by the Lord Jesus himself. I've heard people say that the Lord Jesus Christ healed everybody when he walked this earth. Everybody whose path he crossed he healed.

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I can believe that he didn't. But obviously these healing ministries for the time were evidence of God's power to try to bring people to understand who this God-man of the Lord Jesus Christ really was. And in the apostolic age, Peter, like I said earlier, is getting a reputation here. Here's a guy who heals and potentially can raise from the dead. And we have this recorded for that purpose.

He may have raised others from the dead, as Paul may have also, but they're not recorded. But we have to trust that these types of activities were existent at the time. But don't really put much faith in the fact that these are occurring day in and day out. I guess they could be. But the Lord doesn't need to work in this way anymore.

The result, it became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. It's kind of like turning to the Lord after the healing ministry that occurred in Aeneas earlier in this text. And a similar effect followed when Jesus raised up Lazarus. And we could go to John 12, 11. We don't have to.

But after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, there was all kind of people that believed. in the age and time of the Lord Jesus Christ as the God man here people believed because of the miracles and many people didn't remember Christ went to the cross nobody was coming up to save him from that death so if they believed they believed in him because of the miracle he caused but God had written from time eternal the cross and nobody was going to save him from that event but here After Peter's ministry of restoration of life, many in Joppa believe.

So why did Peter hang around Joppa? And who's this guy, Simon the Tanner? Why did he hang around Joppa? Man, I thought the gospel was on the move here. And by the way, he's going to keep moving. And next week, we'll talk about that next step. But he hung around Joppa. We're not told exactly how long. Well, I don't think there's an answer to the question. We don't know why he stayed there. I mean, I'm just raising it for a point of discussion.

Maybe there were many people who had questions of Peter. Maybe he was there to minister to the body having witnessed this event. Yeah, for all the world. With all the people believing, that would be the perfect opportunity. Yeah, maybe there were a lot of questions people had and he was teaching. Okay, what about this Simon the Tanner? How many people here would have been able to say, What was the name of the Tanner in Joplin? We should have a quiz before our lesson. Maybe Simon the Tanner is going to show up again.

He doesn't. He doesn't show up again. Peter sure knows who he is. We know one thing about Simon. His home is on the sea. I could think maybe that's why Peter hung around. This is kind of like a resort. He's down there on the Mediterranean. enjoying some time. I don't know. Maybe he did actually. But maybe because Simon is a Tanner, he had resources and was willing to have Simon as a guest. Peter as a guest. But Margaret, there's another message here. I think it's kind of an interesting one.

Tanners were looked upon pretty unfavorably by the Jewish community. Why? Because they were dealing with dead animals. And if you go back to the law, some of these animals probably weren't very acceptable. And I didn't drill down into detail here. But the Tanner wasn't quite like Matthew the tax collector. But these people had reputations that were not really highly favorable among the Jewish elite. Now whether that transcended into the Jewish believer, remember the Jewish believer was still a Jew. Now he or she is a believer. But nevertheless, whether or not that bias, that prejudice existed in the eyes of the bullies is unclear. But anyway, the Tanner was not a popular person. because of their...

Because did it smell bad too? Because all the tanneries I've known, of course that's today, they might use a lot of chemicals, smells really bad. So I don't know if that's part of it or... That's a good point too. In fact, there was one reference that I don't remember again, whether it was JFB or which one it was, brought up the fact that the smell around the tanners We lived near a town where there was a tannery.

Every time he went into it, it was terrible smell. Presumably Peter hung out near the old sign down there. Peter had an issue with dead animals to begin with, didn't he? It was kind of ironic the Lord put him there. Well, he's going to have a problem with animals coming up here. Now we're going to teach you about populations.

I think that this possibly a witness of Peter's freedom in Christ. Here's a guy who was a diehard Jew. And according to, you know, Sumerian kind of synopses, I mean, Peter was there to minister to the Jew. And Paul was sent to the Gentile. although Paul was steeped as anyone in the Jewish tradition. The supreme irony is that decades later there he was jumping away from the uncircumcised at the time of the meeting of the whole church and not just the Jewish contingent and Paul had to call him out on it.

So it's a growing process. And I think this to some extent reflects that. And I think it surpasses the Jewish prejudice that may have existed during the time. Peter's starting to expand a little bit. And I think your point about Paul calling him out, I think is another example of that too. Peter's experiencing some new freedom. And the idea of staying with his tanner may have been an example of that. All right, so I'm going to summarize then. We're stopping a little short. We can open up for further discussions. The text here is pretty straightforward in terms of the story of Peter and Joppa.

In summary, this was a time of the expanding body of believers of Christ. It was a time of miracles. And by the way, because of the miracles, it was a time of the expanding body of Christ. So anyway, the idea is the spreading message, the spreading church, miracles, the spreading church. I mean, this was used as a continuum at that time to get the gospel out.

So, other thoughts about the healing? off the wall but you were unintentionally spiritually minded here because the Holy Spirit came upon us disciples like a bird and here we have the expanded plate of Christ and I'm thinking the Holy Spirit is paramount in all of this whether we realize it or not.

Now we can always count on you to rescue the day. So it's like a boy, right? All right. Another further questions or comments. We can play more than thankful for the word and the central for the fellowship we have around the world is class and the freedom to.

We are thankful for Acts and all that we learned from it about the new age we call the apostolic age where the gospel is being spread. Peter is really a very important part of this text and we are thankful that you shared the a fun story to read, but there's also takeaway messages that we can learn from this. And I think one from this is that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ was there to heal at that time. And today we need to accept that for a time and maybe trust the fact that there's much more in it now that we can see the life of Christ being manifested by our faith. And we don't need these miraculous events anymore to believe in everything that you've shown us in the word of God. And we're thankful for the message that we can take away from this lesson today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.