HOW TO GET "UNSTUCK" IN LIFE

“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.” Acts 3:19-20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I often hear from people who tell me that they are in a “dry season” or that they are “not as close to God” as they used to.

I understand them as I’ve been there many times before.

It is the feeling that you are just existing and going through life - often just spinning your wheels.  You get to the end of your day and wonder if you really accomplished something or not. 

It is when you go to church and everything sounds “blah, blah, blah.”  It is opening your Bible and the words just blur from one to the other.  It is trying to pray and feeling that there is a ceiling between you and God.

I get it.

So, how do we get “unstuck?” What type of environment does it take for God’s presence to flow again in our lives.

Our passage today is from Acts 3:19-20 but I would like you to read vv. 1-20.

It’s 3 PM in the afternoon (the hour of prayer in the Temple), Peter and John head up to join the throng at the great House of God.

And on the way in, as they came to the Gate called Beautiful (a gate inlayed with gold and precious stones, situated as an entrance in the Eastern side of the Temple courts) - they came across this man who had been crippled since birth. A man so lame that he couldn’t even hobble along with the aid of a crutch, but instead he had to be carried everywhere. And so he had some good friends who would carry him every day and lay him at this entrance to the Temple to beg from the people going up to pray.

YOU SEE he wasn’t allowed inside the Temple to join in prayer, because he was a cripple. Because of their spiritual pride they felt that he was blemished - not fit for the house of God. And so he sat on the steps and begged. And people gave him their loose change (to ease their consciences as they went to prayer!)

He was stuck.

But, as Peter and John approached this particular day he saw them, and so he asked them for alms. (Peter and John had just recently been filled with the Holy Spirit, and so they were just full of joy and life - so this lame man felt sure to get a good offering from these guys).

Peter and John stopped as he spoke to them (not like everyone else who tried to get past him without looking), and Peter said to him: "LOOK AT US!" - perhaps the man’s head was bowed down, he never looked into the eyes of those who came by for fear of offending them. He didn’t want to embarrass, so he kept his head low - but here is Peter saying "Look at us!" So he looked up at them "expecting to receive something from them." Peter said: "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."

With that, Peter took hold of the man’s right hand and lifted him up, AND IN THAT MOMENT OF TIME "STRENGTH" came into that man’s feet and ankle bones for the very first time in his life. And he lept up! And he began to dance around - before all the hundreds of Jews coming in for prayer - and he praised God!

What a great miracle! Talk about getting unstuck.  In a quick moment - the power of God fell and this crippled man was leaping and shouting and praising God for his healing.

THE QUESTION IS: In what kind of environment WILL God’s power flow for a miracle to happen or for a season of refreshing to touch us again.

I see a number of principles here that help us get “unstuck” in life.

1. GOD’S POWER FLOWS WHERE HE IS.

Sounds simple and obvious, doesn’t it? God’s power flows where God is.

Look at this lame man’s predicament with me for a moment. He had been sat at the entrance of the Temple for YEARS (4:22 says he was "over 40 years of age"). The Temple was supposedly the very House of God - the "HOME" of God’s presence - and yet here he was all his life camped at its gates AND HE WAS STILL A CRIPPLE! 

In all their religious fervour, there was NOTHING that these people could offer him! The best they could do was a few copper coins to ease their consciences as they passed by - an act of pity.

In truth, these people were going to worship God but God wasn’t with them.  It was routine and boring and predictable.  Then God showed up and shook things up.

God had been absent from their worship for centuries.  “The Glory had departed.”

But two men (Peter and John) showed up with the presence of God and a miracle of huge proportions showed up also.

Peter "fixed his eyes on" the man. No-one else would have anything to do with him. You see the Jews believed that such a man must be a sinner (or perhaps his parents were) to be afflicted by such an infirmity - this was the punishment of God. But as Peter saw him perhaps he heard the words of Jesus ringing in his ears: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."

And so Peter reaches out and heals the man and the lame man was healed because GOD’S POWER FLOWS WHEREVER HE IS. 

2. GOD’S POWER FLOWS WHERE THERE IS 
    EXPECTANCY - [read v4-5]

The word "expectancy" here means: "TO WAIT FOR SOMETHING IN SUSPENSE". There was something about these two men who would bother to talk to him that made this lame man WAIT IN SUSPENSE, expecting something good. He may have only been thinking about silver and gold - BUT AT LEAST HE WAS EXPECTING SOMETHING.

How many know that God does "exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think"?! The problem is that so often we come to God not expecting anything at all! We come to church ready for "just another Sunday service"; we’ll sing some choruses, pray, take communion, and providing that preacher does the right thing we’ll be out and home for lunch by 12.00pm.

It’s so important to come to church longing to hear God speak. Nothing is sadder than going to church when you aren’t expecting anything to happen - and worst still when you are positively sure that nothing is going to happen! I tell you, if it gets to the stage that Pentecostals come to church not expecting anything to happen, then "WE ARE OF ALL MEN MOST MISERABLE." When you feel that way, what a surprise - nothing does happen! Yet so many people throughout the world go to church every Sunday feeling just that way.

This lame man EXPECTED something - and he got far more than he ever expected. GOD’S POWER FLOWS WHERE THERE IS EXPECTANCY. We need to develop an attitude of expectancy.

Hebrews 11:6 - "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

God ALWAYS answers my prayers, but sometimes the answer is NO! Or sometimes He answers with a different provision than I requested. It’s here that we need to recognize the LORDSHIP of Christ. We sing "He is Lord" and "All to Jesus I Surrender", here is where the rubber meets the road! Accepting what God decides is best for our lives.

When it’s not His will, God says "NO!"
When it’s not His time, God says "SLOW!"
But when it’s His will, and the time is right, God says "GO!"
(Bill Hybels)

THE BIBLE CALLS US TO HAVE AN EXPECTANCY IN GOD THAT ALLOWS HIM TO BE GOD!

This kind of expectancy ought to characterize every area of the believer’s life. For instance:

- You Can Expect God to Direct Your Life.
- You Can Expect God to Save You out of Dire  
       Circumstances.
- You Can Expect God to Provide.
- You Can Expect God to Heal.

Hudson Taylor’s life motto was this: "Attempt great things for God, EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD!"

To get “unstuck” in your spiritual life - you must with a sense of expectancy that God can and will do something.

3. GOD’S POWER FLOWS WHERE HE WILL RECEIVE 
    THE GLORY. [Read v8-10]

Upon receiving his healing - this man immediately jumps up and begins to give praise to God. I believe that God’s power flows where He will receive the glory!

If it is all about you - then why would God bring a miracle your way?  It has to be about Him - about bringing Him glory and honor and praise!

God’s power flows WHERE HE WILL RECEIVE THE GLORY!

4. GOD’S POWER FLOWS WHERE REPENTANCE IS   
    SHOWN. [Read vv. 19-20]

The promise given is that when repentance comes from our heart - “there will be times of refreshment” that will come into our hearts.

Are you stuck today?  Are you in a place of routine and lifelessness before God?  Does it seem that God is far away?

May I encourage you...

- God’s Power Flows Where He Is
- God’s Power Flows Where There Is Expectancy
- God’s Power Flows Where He Alone Will Receive The 
        Glory
- God’s Power Flows Where Repentance Is Shown