Acts 3:4-6 NLT. [4] Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!” [5] The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. [6] But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”

Allow me to lay some groundwork before I get to my main point today.  Beggars rely on other people for their provision.  This beggar needed someone else to move him from place to place.  He was begging for money to pay for his basic needs.  Beggars today do the same thing.  They seek help from other people because they are convinced they are not capable of providing for their basic needs by themselves. 

Today’s beggars may have a physical ailment that they believe keeps them from earning a living.  They may have emotional or mental disorders that create a wall around their lives that has one gate to it, and that gate is called dependence on others.  

They may have been taught that other people should supply their needs because of their names or their socio-economic status or even their race or national origin.  Regardless of the reason, they think just like that beggar at the Beautiful Gate thought.  They look for someone else to help them get through life.

Beggars don’t see themselves as being like other people.  This man knew he was lame.  He probably did not believe he was like everyone else who could walk.  Beggars today have that same feeling of being different from normal people.  They think everyone else is blessed, but they will never be blessed in the same way.  Their self image is one of poverty, inability and continual lack.

Today’s beggars could live in a ghetto, or they could live on a cul de sac in suburbia, but they don’t see themselves as ever having enough.  They believe they are ostracized by society because of who they are and will never be given an even playing field by the rest of the people who they think do have enough.  They are bound by the chains of their identity and self-image.  They wear their beggar status like a medal because they believe they are different and should be taken care of by others because they wear that medal.

Beggars are so accustomed to begging that they don’t realize they can change.  

  This man was brought to the temple gate every day to beg.  He only knew begging as a way to exist.  Beggars today do not see themselves as ever being able to break away from being poor, being neglected, being put down by others, being the downtrodden in society.  They feel trapped in their lives and dependency and will often blaim their circumstances on those with wealth or people from different cultures or people of different last names or heritages or races.

Today’s beggars claim they want a better life, but they don’t believe they will ever have that life because other people won’t let them.  They only know dependency as a way of life.  They do not believe they can change because they do not see that they have any say in being able to change.  They blame their beggarhood on society, never admitting that they can change, always denying they can choose to be different.

Beggars need a supernatural experience with the power in the name of Jesus.  

The beggar in our story had no expectations of ever changing his life.  He must have known that nothing that existed in the physical realm would ever help him walk.  He needed a supernatural event in order to have his deeper need met.  Beggars today are just like him.  They are so focused on the physical realm that they never consider that only a supernatural move in the spiritual realm will ever bring change to their lives.  They need someone to bring that spiritual move into their lives.

I believe beggars can be changed when their deeper needs are met.  When the beggar was healed supernaturally, his whole life changed, including his attitudes and responses to life.  He didn’t just walk.  He realized it was God who had touched his life, and he began praising God for that touch.  Beggars today will change completely, too, if they can just receive from God as His servants minister to them under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Beggars today need someone who is willing to help them through a supernatural move of God.

Now for my main point—Peter and John had walked by that beggar daily on the way to worship in the temple.  They had seen him countless times before.  But that day, they looked at him intently and told him to look at them, to pay attention to them.  

That day Peter and John really looked at the beggar.  They stopped what they were doing and paid attention to him.  Then they realized he needed more than money.  He needed to have a deeper need met, and they identified that need through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Then they met that need through the power invested in Jesus Christ.

I have a question for you:  Do you know any modern-day beggars?  If the answer is “No,” are you willing to go out and look for one so you can help him or her?  If the answer is “Yes,” are you willing to help that person?  Deeper needs in the lives of beggars will never be met until someone filled with the power of God will take the initiative to help them.  Will you be that someone?  Will you go from this place of worship out there into the world and look intently at a beggar and help a beggar this week?  

I’m asking you to commit to go outside these walls and look at a beggar.