Shane Hughes 8-24-25

Here. And it's a delight if you're new, as Robert said. I'm so glad you're with us. Whether you're starting a new semester at on campus or you're just trying to find a place that you want to call home, we're glad that you're here. We're in a series, it's going to be a few more weeks, about the the power of the Holy Spirit.

And we're specifically looking at the story in Acts. It's the story of the early church, how the Holy Spirit drives the narrative of what's happening. And last week we were in Acts chapter two. And what we saw is the power of the Spirit being poured out at Pentecost over the disciples and the people that were there. And what we learned from this is that God is interested in embracing everyone from every nation, from every language.

And the power of God reaching out to all people unwinds the sin of Babel. Where God's language was confused, languages were confused, God brings together through the power of the Spirit. But you can't control the Holy Spirit. It's going to blow like a wind. You can't steer it or direct it.

You can just go along with the ride. And so today we're going to be in Acts chapter three, and we're going to see what Luke has to tell us. But before we do that, I want to jump into a little game I like to call this or that. We're going to choose a few things, and this is just your opportunity to kind of say what your favorite is or which one's better. And I want you to say it out loud so that the people around you can hear it.

Now, first service did this and they loved it. So I think you're going to love, too. All right, so you're going to say it out loud. Ready? This or that, in and out or whataburger.

A lot of whataburger. I think that we might be in Texas. That's fine. That's all good. All right, this one's a little more complicated.

An all subs burrito or Buc EE's Beaver Nuggets. If you're going on a road trip, that better be a short trip if you're getting that burrito, because you may not get very far. All right, this one's for Abilene. J's or the Shed.

Wow. First service said overwhelmingly the Shed. I heard a lot of J's here, but you may need, like, you know, couples intervention therapy at lunch today. But talk about it. You know, work it out.

This is good conversation for your family. All right, this is the last one. And I'm going to tell you, when we were meeting, in our worship meeting this week, I told them, hey, this is what I'm thinking about doing for this or that. And they all said, do not include this last one because it's so ridiculous. Everyone's going to say the exact same thing.

I don't believe them, but maybe they're right. All right, is it Disney animation or live action remakes?

Any remakes?

They were right. But look. Look how cute that little lion is. Simba, he's adorable. All right.

I had this interesting task this summer. I was speaking at a summer camp. It was for teenagers and for me as a preacher, teenagers are the most terrifying audience that I can speak in front of because they do not hesitate to tell you that I have disengaged from this conversation. Right? They will not lie to you at all.

They're so authentic. You. You're going to see exactly the moment when you lose them in a talk. Adults are at least polite enough to, like, ignore you in their head instead of on their face. But so.

So I was. I was already nervous going into this. And the. The person said to me, like, hey, we also, we're doing this theme called Upside Down Kingdom, and we're going to use Disney theme throughout the whole thing. So can you please try to cram within your sermon, like a Disney reference or two?

And I thought, this is impossible. Like, these movies are ridiculous. There's no way that I can use this to tell story. How's this going to work? And I was talking to a friend of mine about it, and they're like, dude, here's the thing.

All of Disney movies, all, nearly all of them are remakes of, like, classic fables and ancient tales. You know, they're borrowing from Germany, you know, or they're borrowing from Frozen's not brand new. Like, that's a Scandinavian folktale. Like, all of these stories are from old things, and these stories have meaning and power. So you're going to be fine.

And I thought about it and I thought about it, and then it dawned on me. Aladdin. Now there is a good story. Now, I don't care if you think Robin Williams is better than Will Smith. Obviously this room has an opinion that we've already articulated about the genie.

But the story of Aladdin is fundamentally this story. Here is the crisis in that movie. The question that the movie is asking is, will Aladdin use the power of the genie to coerce Jasmine to love him back. Right at the beginning of the story, you know who Aladdin is? He's like a street rat.

He's homeless. He's somebody that's not valued. He's on the outside of his society. But through some, like, kind of blind luck, he comes into possession of a genie lamp, a gin, and he can. He gets three wishes, and they're incredible wishes.

You can do anything you want with these wishes. It's going to give him all sorts of power. But what he wants more than anything else is. Is to be put into the middle of society. He's tired of being on the outside.

He wants to be on the inside. And the way he figures that is that if I can marry the princess, then I will be in the center of this whole story. And so he has to be made a prince so that he can marry the princess. And then he meets Jasmine and he realizes, I don't want to just be in the center of power, this community. I want to be in love.

And so every step after that moment in Aladdin, he's asking the question, am I going to use the power at hand, the wishes that I have to make her love me? Can I coerce love?

And in our story today, in Acts chapter three, we have a man who's been crippled from birth. And that. That puts in our head the memory of another encounter that Jesus had with the Pharisees of a man who's been born blind. And the Pharisees have a question for him. It's really a trap.

Who sinned to cause this problem? But this is the same situation. It is a person that has been crippled from birth. And I want you to reflect with me for just a minute. I want you to imagine with me his experience, the irony of begging with withered, twisted legs at a gate called Beautiful.

And he's raising up his arms in a begging gesture to make up for his useless legs. But there's also a brilliance in this man's choice of position. Because he's begging right in the front of the house of worship. Right in front. This is one of the ways you get into the temple to worship God.

And so there are people that are coming up through these gates all the time. And so there's always traffic, so it's a good place to be. But also there's a lot of people coming in with a lot of different feelings as they're coming into church, Right? And some of them might feel guilty about the things that they've done, or they feel dissatisfied about their relationship to God. And so this opportunity that this lame man presents, right as they're coming up to do a little bit of a good work, drop a little almond, maybe I'll earn a little credit for God before I go in to meet God.

That makes a little bit of sense. On the other hand, this is also Jerusalem. And so there's lots of pilgrims from all sorts of places coming in, and they're going to see the temple. And when you're on vacation, when you're on a pilgrimage, of course you want to do all the good things. And so this man is kind of brilliant in the way that he is begging right in front of the house of worship.

And Peter and John say, look at me. Look me in the eyes.

What does this lame man see when he looks in Peter's eyes?

What does he see in my imagination? And as I live deeper and deeper into the story, I see eyes of compassion and I see eyes of grace. And then Peter says, probably the worst thing that this man would ever expect to heal this man is Peter has stopped to say, look at me. Because this man knows exactly what to do. He just puts his arms out.

He's ready to beg. He's probably saying, alms for the poor or help a lame man who knows what he's saying. But you know exactly where this person's at, because you've walked past a ticket taker at a movie theater that's just ripping your ticket, saying, third on the left, third on the left, third on the left. They're in this rote place where their mind is free. But when Peter says, look at me, he interrupts that motion.

He says, the worst thing possible. Silver and gold have I none. That's how I learned it, from the song, which is probably about the last thing that this guy wants to hear, right? I'm not going to give you any money because. Because what comes next is going to be a lecture.

It's going to be judgment.

Why doesn't Peter have any money?

He gave it all away. In Acts, chapter two, at the end of Acts chapter two, at the day of Pentecost, when this huge miracle happens, the Ecclesia is gathered. Ecclesia is gathered together. And they're selling property and they're giving to one another so that everybody has what they need and nobody is wanted. So Peter probably has no money because he was so motivated.

He gave it all away. Silver and gold have I none but this is what I can give to you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, get up and walk.

And the next thing in the story is just pure and utter joy. This is so much more than just walking. I mean, this man is skipping. He is a 40 year old grown man bouncing down the street. I cannot tell you the last time I saw an adult male skipping by choice.

But children know how to do this. Their bodies, they naturally know how to express that joy in their body. He is bouncing, he is jumping, he is dancing into the temple. It's probably the first time that he has ever been invited to worship where he's always sat at the gate running and walking and jumping and jogging. It's kind of like the first time I danced at a wedding.

Now I grew up Church of Christ and so our weddings were 15 minutes long. If it went 20 minutes, there was a problem, something had gone wrong terribly. And then we were immediately dismissed down to the basement of the church where you received nuts, those little mints that were squishy in your mouth, they tasted terrible. And then like Sprite with sherbet ice cream dropped into it, right? The, the reception was over in 12 minutes and you were done like that was it for the wedding.

The first time that I went to a wedding that actually had dancing in it. I was like 23 years old and I had no idea what to do. But that day I learned the cha cha slide. I learned, it's. It's like the.

Bernie, what's this one? The wobble, right. I learned that one and it was amazing. And now if there's not dancing at a wedding, I'm not sure I even want to attend because it's so much better, right? I left that church dancing because it was so much fun.

This man got to dance at a wedding.

This man got to kneel in prayer for the first time in his life.

And I think there's something here about seeing people that the world considers invisible. There's something here about seeing the people that kind of just function like non player characters. NPCs in this world, they almost function as window dressing in your life. They're not a person, they're just a story. But what is clear is that what Peter and John are doing here is not.

It's not magic, it's something so much more. Magic is the power to somehow manipulate and control the powerful forces of nature around you. And it's good for Christians to remember that, that our power, our faith and our prayers are not magic. It's not Peter's power or John's power or even the power of the church that allows this man to walk again. And it's not that our religiousness or our piety, our own righteousness that this miracle has occurred.

It's something else. And frankly, it's a little bit frustrating because the Holy Spirit, it seems, is slippery. Because you want the Holy Spirit to do what you want it to do. You have this opportunity and you see a purpose and a willingness, and you just kind of want the Holy Spirit to slip in there, but as you reach, it just falls out of your hand. You can't control it.

The wind blows where it's going to blow, and you can't help it. All you can do.