"Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God."

"In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory."

         The Holy Spirit forms the church. In Acts chapter 2 we see the form that the church takes, its shape, the routines of its people. The church devotes itself to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. There are miracles done with the authority of the risen Christ. People hold possessions in common and everyone in need is cared for. This routine takes place between home and temple, and they are glad and sincere and they enjoy the favor of the surrounding community.

         Now chapter 3 shows how this pattern is lived out in the particular. It is good to have a pattern or routine to live by, a kind of order to Christian life, but whenever you deal with an individual, things become more complicated. Each person, each need, is different and calls for a particular response. What we see in chapter 3 is that as the church acts to meet needs in individuals, it encounters obstacles and resistance, as well as victory.

         Peter and John, fishermen from Galilee, take on the new life of the Holy Spirit-formed church. They take on a new routine, a life of regular prayer in homes and at the temple; a life of teaching, fellowship, and healing miracles. So one day they are going through this new routine, they are on their way to the temple for prayer at 3 in the afternoon. Bu their routine is interrupted by a beggar, a man who was placed in a location where many righteous people would be walking. Giving to the poor was a significant virtue in Judaism and a requirement of the law. It was difficult for a righteous person to walk past a beggar, even one who had been placed in their path. Peter and John do not walk by. Their prayer meeting gets interrupted.

         God uses interruptions in our lives. He uses the people and situations that get placed in our path. That is often how the routines of discipleship become the work of God. We pray, we study, we worship together and it can feel like a routine. But then an interruption comes, an obstacle to our pleasant routine. We hold a VBS and children not from our church actually come, and some of them cry, or do not sit still. And then God has an opportunity to work.

         At the Covenant Annual Meeting I heard a story about the ministry of Pastor Rocky Cook in Fresno, California. We knew Rocky and Karen when they were in Aberdeen,Washington. They moved to Fresno, where the Covenant Church is located in a rather troubled area of the city. There is a grade school across the street from the church, and through the years the relationship between the school and the church has not been good. I don't know just why, but I suppose there has been vandalism or disrespect of the church property. The principal of the school is not a believer, and had little regard for the church. So Rocky, whose routines of pastoral life were getting interrupted by the behavior of the school children, walked into the principal's office one day and asked if he could have the five worst discipline cases in the school for one hour each day. He wanted to teach them a class on "character." The principal agreed. God worked through that class. One of the boys later came to faith and was baptized. The principal, who wanted nothing to do with church, has now invited Rocky to teach the class again, but this time not just to a small group, but to the whole school.

         It is when our routines are interrupted that God begins to work.

         So Peter and John encounter an interruption in their routine of prayer. The lame man asks them directly for money. We just learned in chapter 2 that there was a common treasury and that "they gave to anyone as he had need." So they may not have had silver and gold in their pockets, but there was a way to get money to this beggar. They do not give to this beggar, they minister to him. They heal him in the name, or authority, of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

This was not simply a "random act of kindness." It was an action of God that came directly from Isaiah 35:6 – a prophecy that in the Messianic age "the lame will leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy." The prophecy says, "Strengthen the feeble hands, and steady the knees that give way."

So this lame man begins to walk and then to jump and praise God, and he interrupts the temple prayer meeting. The people who were praying come running to see this man walk, and Peter ends up preaching about Jesus Christ crucified and risen, with the result that 2,000 more people come to faith . . . and also he and John get thrown in prison.

         So, one way of looking at it is to say that Peter and John lose control of their lives. They lose their fishing routine, which was predictable, perhaps monotonous, but very secure. They traded that for a spiritual routine of prayer, worship, study and fellowship. That too might become monotonous with time. Except for the interruptions that lead to the work of Christ.

Paul writes in Ephesians 1 that we were chosen to be for the praise of his glory. To be for the praise of his glory means that we intentionally commit ourselves to a spiritual routine or discipline that leads to growth in Christ.

We worship.

We pray.

We study God's Word.

We share our faith.

We give.

         Nothing really happens until we give ourselves in a committed way to these routines. The lame man does not get healed if Peter and John are not intentional about their prayer life.

         So in our committed spiritual routine we do a VBS for children and invite our neighbors. We go on a mission trip to Miami to help our brothers and sisters in Christ.

         But the work of Christ is not about routines. It is about the interruptions of those routines. At the VBS a child, or a family, has a need. On the roof in Miami an opportunity to minister to someone becomes known. When we pay attention to those interruptions, that is when we see Christ working in our lives.

         From one perspective we are no longer in control. But in saying that we can also say we are not adrift, lost or caught in chaos either. Rather, that is just when we discover what it means to be led by Christ. Peter and John were not just practicing spiritual routines and responding to interruptions. They were being led by Christ.

         There is an old hymn, written by Joseph Gilmore, a man who knew that through a life of routines and interruptions, he was being led by Christ.

         Here is his discovery:

"He leadeth me, O blessed thought!

O words with heavenly comfort fraught!

Whatever I do, wherever I be,

Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me."

         Listen to the last verse:

"And when my task on earth is done,

When by thy grace the victory's won,

Even death's cold wave I will not flee,

Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

He leadeth me, he leadeth me,

By his own hand he leadeth me;

His faithful follower I would be,

For by his hand he leadeth me."

          Let's sing that as we come to communion today.