Pastor Austin Humphreys Offers Insights Based on Events Proximate to the "Beautiful Gate"

A Sermon on the Power of the Name of Jesus

 

PASTOR AUSTIN HUMPHREYS DRAWS SOME LESSONS FROM ACTS 3: THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN BY PETER

As an act of unforgivable vanity, and shameless self-promotion (not to mention an exhibition of a serious lack of discernment), here is a link to a SONG that coincidentally (or is it coincidence?) covers the topic covered by Pastor Humphreys in the Wednesday night, March 16 session of the “War Room.” Peter, en route to the Temple with John, is importuned by a lame man for some largesse. “Silver and gold have I none,” Peter informs the cripple, but manages to give him something beyond price. Peter heals the man. And, even though Peter has the power to do this himself (“… greater works than these shall he do…” John 14:12), he choses to unambiguously place the credit for the miracle where all credit is due, to Jesus. As the song says (not mine, as it is a good one), there is power in the name of Jesus.

Pastor Humphreys read aloud of the incident from Acts Chapter 3. He began his commentaries with reference to the famous “gate called “Beautiful.” It must have been a sight to behold, as the pastor informed us that it was fashioned from brass and gold, “the very thing that the man was begging for.” (Cross-reference #1: in a previous War Room sermon, “Just Hang in There ,” Pastor Humphreys described a walk on the water, by Jesus, to His imperiled disciples as being a treading upon the very substance that was trying to kill everyone.)

Because of his physical deformities, the lame man was not allowed to go into the Temple with the less afflicted Hebrews to worship. He was stuck outside, beside the gate. The folks who passed by the beggar had the opportunity to do one last good deed before passing into the Temple. They could throw a few coppers to the lame man. But, Pastor Humphreys noted, most just “stepped over” the man, and went on about their business. It was relatively late in the day (the ninth hour) when Peter and John approached the spot where the beggar lay. The beggar had probably not met with much success so far, but must persist in soliciting alms. As the disciples neared, Pastor Humphreys stated that his solicitation may have been something like this, “Listen, brothers, do you mind sparing me some coin?” Peter and John, unlike the vast majority of passersby, cannot simply “step over” the man. They cannot do this because Jesus has not “stepped over” them. They were aware that God had been “too good to them!”

A detail from one of the many “beautiful gates” associated with the Palace of Versailles, seat of Louis IXV, the “Sun King”

The pastor issued a caution to the assembly. He observed that many people attend worship services who look just like we used to look. “We overlook these people,” he said, “but forget that we used to be just as messed up.” (Cross-reference #2: Here is a quote from guest Pastor Michael Kelly’s “War Room” sermon, one expressing the same sentiment: “When people come into the church, they are told that they cannot do certain things. Sometimes, they may look around and note that some other people are still doing things that they themselves believe to be forbidden.” Pastor Kelly said that these people may just be in a different stage of their relationship with Jesus, one not quite as advanced.)

The beggar looked at Peter and John as they neared him, expectant of a possible windfall. Pastor Humphreys paraphrased what Peter’s attitude towards the lame man’s needs might have been, “the symptoms I can’t fix, but the root of the problem I can.” Pastor Humphreys informed us that the beggar may have gotten “comfortable in the mess he was in.” (Cross-reference #3: The “comfortable rut” that the lame man that lay by the Pool of Bethesda may have inhabited formed a major component of a Dec. 26, 2015 sermon by guest Pastor Tyrone Boyd entitled “You Got to Have to Want to.”)

Returning briefly to the topic of judgmental attitudes by some church-going types, Pastor Humphreys said that, prior to healing the beggar, Peter did not:

• Ask him what denomination he was in.
• Ask him what he had been eating.

Now the all-important subject of the “name” was introduced. As previously noted, Peter had plenty of power and authority delegated to him by Jesus. He could have healed the beggar on his own, should he have chosen to do so. But [perhaps for evangelical reasons] Peter decided that this miracle would transpire “not in my name, but in the name of a greater authority.” (Cross-reference #4 shall be cited not as a footnote to the pastor’s next anecdote, but as a preface. Pastor Humphreys delivered a Dec. 5, 2015 Sabbath sermon that featured some comments on the value of a good “name,” citing the “name” recognition value inherent in designer merchandise. The title of the sermon is “I Refuse to Turn Back Now,” and features the woman who informed Jesus that “yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”)

Detail from another “beautiful gate” at the Palace of Versailles, one that restates the theme of the previous image.

The pastor told the congregation that he had been having some car problems, and needed to get a battery. He went to the store, and informed the sales clerk that he needed “the cheapest battery that you have.” The knowledgeable salesman told the pastor that, if he wanted his car to perform at peak capacity, he ought not settle for a regular battery. What the pastor really needed was a “name brand” battery. Pastor Humphreys stated that “I had to spend a little more for something that would bless me for the rest of my days.” He added that a similar investment in making Jesus a priority would also bless us for the rest of our days.

Peter, upon approaching the lame beggar of Acts 3, said to himself, “I am not going to step over this man, because I can see the potential of the situation.” Peter, as noted, did not wish for personal glory to be the result of the healing. Credit would go where credit was due. When the powerful word of Jesus was enunciated, the beggar “immediately” was healed. (Cross-reference #5: the practically instantaneous effect of a divine intervention in one’s affairs was also a secondary theme of one of Pastor Humphreys’ sermons, the previously linked “Just Hang in There,” and was mentioned in regard to the “immediate” ending of the storm as Jesus stepped into His disciple’s boat.)
A tie-in to the pending “radical” series of upcoming presentations at Berean was promulgated. Pastor Humphreys reminded us that the events under discussion occurred at the “ninth hour.” At this hour, a rather boring ritual was offered in the sanctuary of the Temple. When the healed man, alongside Peter and John, enters into the Temple with a “radical” grace, the praise that flows spontaneously from him is of a type so extreme, that none present had ever witnessed it before. The thankful beggar is not worshipping “tradition,” but “Jesus!” Pastor Humphreys took his listeners into the minds of these witnesses, stating that they thought to themselves, “This was the guy who used to be messed up. If something this great can happen, then there must be something to this ‘Jesus.'”

A third detail from a “beautiful gate” at Versailles, featuring, yet again, the “Sun King,” Louis IXV

This kind of “radical” praise is not covered in the church manual, the pastor said. He urged us not to be the kind of person who “steps over” a problem. (Cross-reference #6, and the last. Your attention is directed to Luke 25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.) “You don’t come to church as a social event. You don’t attend church as a spectator sport,” the pastor exhorted. He noted that he was currently reading a book, Revolution (by Christian pollster George Barna, whose last name betrays Hungarian ancestry), and that this book was changing his thinking. These revolutionaries are so hungry for God, Pastor Humphreys said [I sure hope I’ve go the right book linked], “their only goal is to magnify the name of God, and then to share that with other people.” The pastor told us that we should be “so in love with Jesus that we cannot help but talk about Him” We are rich in blessings as Bereans, and owe a debt of gratitude to our predecessors. “God wants to do some incredible things in our lives!” Notice was taken of the old Berean church facility where the “War Room is located, a 1963 structure built under the leadership of H.L. Cleveland. “We have been blessed to be beneficiaries of the works of people who were not dedicated to a building, but to Jesus.”
The theme of “stepping over” was touched upon in a prayer that closed Pastor Humphreys’ message. It featured the phrase, “thank you for not ‘stepping over’ us, even when we deserved it!”