Acts 03 Round Two: Give What You Have Received

A man sits at the edge of worship, asking for coins and expecting little. We walk with Peter and John to the Beautiful Gate, where a simple pause, a steady gaze, and the name of Jesus transform a lifetime of waiting into a first step, then a leap. What starts as a quiet act of compassion turns into a public invitation, as Peter explains the miracle and points an amazed crowd back to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who raised Jesus and is still at work—here, now.

We explore why signs and wonders show up in Acts not as party tricks, but as living proof of a resurrected King and a kingdom breaking in. Peter pulls no punches: the crowd rejected Jesus, yet God’s plan was never off track. The cross fulfilled what the prophets promised, and the resurrection launched a movement of ordinary people carrying extraordinary power through the Holy Spirit. From Moses to Samuel to Abraham, the story has always aimed at blessing the nations, and this healing becomes a doorway for grace to flow through an unlikely witness.

If you’ve ever felt too ordinary to make a difference, this conversation will steady your courage. We talk about giving what you have—even when it isn’t silver or gold—trusting Jesus with outcomes, and inviting others to experience “times of refreshing” from the presence of the Lord. You’ll hear practical encouragements on sharing your story, naming Jesus without hogging the spotlight, and letting compassion lead you to pray bold prayers at the thresholds of people’s pain.

Listen now, share it with someone who needs hope today, and tell us: when was the last time you offered what you had and watched God do more than you imagined? If this encouraged you, follow the show, leave a review, and pass it along to a friend who’s exploring Acts.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's wordtogether.
Well hello, everybody.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
Today, Acts chapter three.

(00:22):
If I were to give this a title,it would be Give What You Have
Received.
Nothing more, but definitelynothing less.
We're going to see that today isnow this brand new baby church
is starting to get its footing,starting to figure out what's
going on.
And they don't know anydifferent than to just give what
they've received.
It reminds me of when my kidswere real little.

(00:42):
I know that that kids sometimescan be selfish and self-centered
and all that, but they're alsovery giving in a lot of ways.
And I would just get so tickledhow I would be holding one of my
daughters and she'd have asucker or something to drink and
she'd see somebody.
Well, she just handed to them.
She didn't know any differentthat I can give you what I have
and I'm gonna have some too.
And it's just this idea isfreely you have given or been

(01:03):
given, freely give to others.
We're gonna get into that injust a moment.
But as always, if you like whatwe're doing here, make sure you
like, share, and subscribe ourYouTube videos.
Make sure you are sending themto other people so they can read
God's word with us.
Also, make sure if you'relistening to the podcast, leave
us a five-star review and acomment.
It really does help us get itout to more people so that when

(01:23):
they search for the Bible, thiswill come up.
And I would love for you to goto our Bible breakdown
discussion or on the Facebookvideo, leave it.
And I want to ask you thisquestion Have you ever shared
your story with somebody?
You ever shared your story ofhow God rescued you?
And I want to know how it went.
You don't have to give me thewhole story if you've unless
you'd like to, but I want toknow how did it go?

(01:43):
Did it go well?
Did it not go so well?
That's part of the journey, butI want to hear about it today.
And that's what we're gonna lookat.
But before we get there, I wantyou to remember that this is the
investigative journalist, doctorturned investigative journalist
Luke, who gave us the gospel ofLuke.
And now the Holy Spirit hasinspired him to talk to good old
Theo Theopolis and say, hey,this is what happened in early

(02:06):
church.
And the book of Acts is thechronicling of the first 30 to
35 years of the church as it istaking off and it is going to
grow into what we know it to betoday, through the power of the
Holy Spirit.
And the overall theme of it isthat if you were voted most
likely to succeed, ifeverything's always gone your
way and you've never had a badday, I've got good news for you,

(02:28):
and that is God can still useyou.
But what God usually do does ishe uses those who are the least
likely to succeed, those whowould be considered ordinary
folks.
God does the best work throughthe least likely places.
And if God can use ordinaryfishermen and a used up Pharisee

(02:48):
named Paul to shake the world,what can he do through you and
me if we just decide that we'regonna follow Jesus and allow the
Holy Spirit to fill us up fromthe inside out?
And that's what we've beenseeing.
We have we see that Jesus saidin chapter one, stay in
Jerusalem, and you are gonna befilled with the Holy Spirit.
And then after that, you aregoing to then do great things.

(03:12):
Well, Acts two happens, and theBible said at the beginning that
on the day of Pentecost, theJewish holiday, that the Holy
Spirit filled everyone who wasthere.
And then he began to immediatelyuse them to do the work of
ministry.
And so they went out of therebecause what they needed to do
is spread the gospelimmediately.
They began to speak in otherlanguages as the Holy Spirit
gave them the ability.
Well, the next thing they neededis they needed somebody to stand

(03:35):
up and preach to these fools.
And so Peter was filled with theHoly Spirit and with boldness.
And he got up there and he said,Hey, you jokers, y'all is the
ones that kill Jesus, but he'sback.
And he's bringing forgivenesswith him.
And over 3,000 people gave theirlives to God that day.
And then they were able to befilled with the Holy Spirit.

(03:58):
Well, now that's what happenedwith the crowd.
Now we get to see what happensin the one-on-ones.
Because in chapter three, Peterand John, they don't know any
different.
Freely they have been given,freely they want to give.
And that sometimes works outreal well.
And it definitely draws a crowd.
And so we're going to look andsee what happens when a man who

(04:19):
is born crippled is able toexperience healing.
And then we're going to see whatPeter once again uses the
opportunity to share the messageof the gospel.
And there's a great lesson inhere for all of us.
Let's dive into this.
If you have your NLT New LivingTranslations open to Acts
chapter 3, let's read together.
Peter and John went to thetemple one afternoon to take
part in the three o'clock prayerservice.

(04:41):
As they approached the temple, aman who is lame from birth began
or was being carried in.
Each day they would put himbeside the temple gate and the
one called the beautiful gate.
And so he could beg from thepeople going into the temple.
But when he saw Peter and Johnabout to enter, he asked them
for some money.
Now pause for a moment.
The reason why they put himthere is that the lame, the

(05:04):
blind, the crippled were notallowed to enter the temple.
And so I wonder for a moment,this man had spent likely his
entire life at the gates of thetemple, but never able to enter
in.
When we hear about how thetemple was made, and we hear
about how, even though theoriginal temple by Solomon was
destroyed, it was later rebuiltby uh Ezra and different ones,

(05:28):
and then it was added on to byHerod, and it was beautiful the
way they describe it.
So you imagine his entire life,he's at the door of the temple,
never able to enter.
But today is the day that hisdream is going to come true.
The Bible said that he saw Peterand John, and look what
happened.
Verse 4 Peter and John looked athim intently, and Peter said,

(05:49):
Look at us.
The lame man looked at themeagerly, expecting to get his
next meal, expecting some money.
And he said, I don't have anysilver and gold for you, but
I'll give you what I do have.
In the name of Jesus Christ theNazarene, get up and walk.
And then Peter took the lame manby the right hand and helped him
up.
In other words, Peter was nottaking no for an answer.

(06:10):
I wonder if in that moment hewas like, Get up.
And the guy just looked at him.
He's like, Oh, no, no, no, no,no.
We ain't doing that, my friend.
Get up.
And he helped him get up.
As he did, the man's feet andankles were instantly healed and
strengthened.
And then he probably startedwalking around like a brand new
baby giraffe for a second,right?
Just kind of figuring it out.
But he jumped up, stood to hisfeet, and began to walk, likely

(06:35):
badly.
But he's walking, so who cares?
Then he walked, leaping andpraising God, and went into the
temple with them.
His dreams finally coming true.
Verse 9.
Then all the people saw himwalking and heard him praising
God.
And when they realized that hewas the lame beggar that they
had seen often at the beautifulgate, they were absolutely

(06:59):
astounded.
And they all rushed out inamazement to Solomon's uh
colonnade, just an area outsidethe temple where the man was
holding tightly to Peter andJohn.
In other words, he got scared todeath.
He's still trying to learn howto walk.
And so he's probably holding onto them, trying to figure it
out.
And now there's just a group ofpeople everywhere.
And here's the thing miraclesand healings are always intended

(07:21):
to point back to the goodness ofthe gospel.
And that's what we see righthere in verse 12.
Peter saw his opportunity andaddressed the crowd.
People of Israel, what is sosurprising about this?
Why stare at us as though wehave made this man walk by our
own power, our godliness?
For it is the God of Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob, the God of all

(07:43):
our ancestors, who has broughtglory to his servant Jesus by
doing this.
This is the same Jesus to whomyou handed over and rejected
before Pilate, despite Pilate'sdecision to release him.
You rejected his holy andrighteous one, and instead
demanded the release of amurderer, which by the way was
Barabbas, if you look back inthe Gospels.

(08:05):
You killed the author of life,but God raised him from the
dead.
And we are witnesses of thisfact.
Through faith in the name ofJesus, this guy walking around
like a baby giraffe was healed.
And now how crippled, you knowhow crippled he was before.
Faith in Jesus' name has healedhim before your eyes.

(08:28):
Friends, I realize that you andyour leaders did to Jesus what
y'all did was in ignorance.
But God was fulfilling what allthe prophets had foretold about
the Messiah, that he must sufferall these things.
Now, repent of your sins andturn to God, so that your sins
may be wiped away.

(08:48):
The times of refreshing willcome from the presence of the
Lord, and you will again, or hewill he will again send you
Jesus, the appointed Messiah,for he must remain in heaven
until the time of the finalrestoration of all things, as
God promised long ago throughhis holy prophets.
Moses said, The Lord your Godwill raise up to you a prophet

(09:08):
like me from among your ownpeople.
Listen carefully to everythinghe tells you.
Then Moses said, Anyone who willnot listen to that prophet will
be completely cut off from God'speople.
Starting with Samuel, everyprophet spoke about this
happening today.
You are the children of thoseprophets.
You are included in the covenantof God's God promised your

(09:29):
ancestors.
For God said to Abraham, Throughyour descendants, all the
families of the earth will beblessed.
When God raised up his servantJesus, he sent him first to you,
people of Israel, to bless youby turning each of you back from
your sinful ways.
What I love about this is that,first of all, Peter and John,

(09:51):
they realized they didn't haveany power in themselves, but
they didn't have to.
They knew a guy and his name wasJesus.
And if they would give Jesus theopportunity, he was going to do
something amazing that thenwould point to the goodness of
God.
Do you know why God healspeople?
Number one, because he lovesthem.
But number two, because it is avisible representation of the

(10:14):
power of the invisible God.
God heals people to point backto himself.
And so one of the wonderfulthings is when we see a healing,
we get to see God in action.
And that's what we get to seehere.
So that it can point back to hisgoodness.
And so I'm going to say thisagain to you.
God has given us the Holy Spiritso that ordinary people combined

(10:38):
with an extraordinary, amazingGod, can do amazing things.
Let's pray together and we'll bedone for today.
Father, thank you so much.
You're for us and not againstus.
You fill us with your power andyour goodness.
I pray you will help us walk inthat every day so we can know
you more.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.

(10:58):
Jesus said in Acts 1.8, you willreceive power when the Holy
Spirit comes upon you.
And you will be my witnesses tothe ends of the earth.
My prayer for you is that youwill experience the power of the
Holy Spirit so that you can be awitness to your world today.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Actschapter 4.