These small group Bible studies of Acts 3 contain commentary, discussion questions, and practical application. Visit our library of inductive Bible studies for more in depth inductive studies on this and other books of the Bible you can use in your small group.
Acts 3:1-10 Bible Study Guide – Walking and Leaping and Praising God
I. A lame beggar healed (1-10)
Discussion Questions
• Where were Peter and John going? What does this show us about the Christians at that time in church history?
• How did the lame man get to the gate of the temple each day?
• What was he asking for?
• What did Peter give him? Why do you think Peter had the confidence to make this bold statement?
• What does this event teach us about God?
• Can you share an example of how God answered your prayer differently or better than expected?
• If the spiritual is more important than the physical, why did Peter even bother to help with his physical needs?
• What does this teach us about helping people’s physical needs?
• How complete was this miracle?
• How did this man respond after being healed?
• What can you learn from him about the proper response to God’s blessings in our lives?
• Do others see you “walking and leaping and praising God?”
• What testimony can you share of God’s goodness in your life?
Cross-References
Proverbs 22:9 – Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
Proverbs 19:17 – Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
Deuteronomy 15:11 – For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.
1 John 5:14-15 – And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
Hebrews 13:15 – Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
Psalms 115:1 – Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
Psalms 71:8 – My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1. Peter and John were going to the temple –
In the very early New Testament church period, the Christians were primarily Jewish believers. They had not split from Judaism. Rather, their belief in Christ was the most natural thing in the world for Jews. The disciples were what we now call “Messianic Jews,” that is Jews who believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
Their belief in Jesus was not a rejection of the Jewish Scriptures and Mosaic Covenant, but rather a fulfillment of them.
Later the Messianic Jews would be forced to leave Judaism because they were put out of the temple and synagogues by leaders who did not believe in Jesus.
2. Unnamed people help this beggar to the gate –
Verse 2 mentions that some people, named “they” in the text carried this beggar and daily laid him at the temple gate. We don’t know their names. They served in the background. They don’t receive any recognition for what they did. But without their humble act of service, this story would not have happened.
There are many people, like them, who do humble acts of kindness in the background. Not everyone is in the spotlight like Peter or John. For every Peter, there are hundreds of quiet and unassuming people serving in the background without recognition.
Reflect – Are you content to serve in the background or do you crave recognition?
Jesus taught us to remember that God sees and rewards all work done for Him, even if it is unseen by others.
Matthew 6:3-4 – But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Application – Practice makes perfect. If you struggle with the desire for praise from people, then train yourself to serve without it. Pick a job that is out of the spotlight. That could be at home, the office, or church. Do it faithfully and don’t mention it to a soul. Take delight in serving others without their knowledge.
3. Opportunities to serve God come up during our routines –
It was a normal day for Peter and John. It was evidently their habit to go to the temple at this time of day to pray. It was the “hour of prayer,” so many others would have been hurriedly making their way there.
However, on the way to their place of worship, they encountered this lame beggar.
Reflect – What would most people do if they encountered him?
Most people would hardly give the beggar a second look. To many, he would be an annoyance. To others, he would be an eyesore. Some would likely avoid eye contact and walk around, perhaps trying to suppress a feeling of guilt at ignoring him.
Some might perhaps feel a twinge of compassion or pity. Most of those would keep on going because they had a place to be and something important to do. A few might stop and give a token coin out of obligation. Fewer still of these would feel genuine kindness. How many stopped to have a conversation? How many asked this many how he was doing and what they could really do to help?
The truth is, that we live busy lives. Almost eight billion people are in the world today. That is a lot of people with a lot of needs. Some of those needs are very serious. It is so easy to walk past going to our destination, keeping our routine, and following our schedule.
Peter and John didn’t do this. They stopped. They helped.
Perhaps they remembered Jesus also stopping to help those in need.
Mark 10:48-49 – And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”
We have schedules and routines. Most of us wake up each day with a plan of what we are supposed to do that day. But God may have a different plan. God may put someone unexpected into your path whom He desires you to spend time to help. That may require stopping what you are doing. It may mean changing your plan or going out of the way.
Reflect – Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to give up control and let God steer you? Are you sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading and ready to go through those open doors when they come? Are you willing to stop and inconvenience yourself for the sake of others who need help?
The following verse in Ephesians reminds us that God prepares good works for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
In an Easter Egg hunt the parent will put out eggs for his child to find. Sometimes those are slightly out of sight and partially covered up. Other times, they are easier to spot. Either way, the parent intends for the child to find and collect all of those eggs. If the kid walked around, saw the eggs, and then went on her merry way without picking them up, that would be weird. Someone might ask, “What is the matter with her?” A good egg hunter scours the grounds carefully to make sure that not a single egg is missed. After collecting them all, she can sit back and be happy about a job well done.
Our life is a bit like this. Each day, God puts certain opportunities for doing good in our path. He intends for us to see those and act on them. Our job is to hunt for those opportunities and when we see them to respond and complete that good deed for His glory. Let us not go through life avoiding those eggs or walking the other way. Instead, let us scour our path and diligently seek out every opportunity to do good to others.
Galatians 6:10 – So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
4. Sometimes God gives us much better (and different) than what we ask for –
The man wanted money. It was a reasonable request. He needed money to live. It was part of his routine to ask for it. Day after day, his request was the same. He likely had various lines that he memorized for talking to passersby and asking for help.
Yet on this day, God was going to do something different. God was going to do something that this man had not asked for and could not anticipate. It was far better than anything he could have hoped.
The Lord decided to heal this man. Healing him would also totally solve his need to beg and ask for money.
While the man was only looking for help to solve one immediate problem (money) God solved three for him.
• His need to beg was gone. He would be able to provide for himself from now on instead of relying on others. This was the material need.
• His body was healed. That solved many other issues in the man’s life that he did not even mention here. This was the physical need.
• His heart was changed. In all likelihood, this beggar became a follower of Jesus. How much anger and bitterness had been stored up? When was the last time this man genuinely praised God? Now he was “walking and leaping and praising God.” This was the spiritual need.
God saw the big picture. He did what was best though it was unexpected. He met the man’s needs on every level.
The Lord often does not answer our prayers as we expect Him to.
Reflect – In what other Biblical examples did God work in a very unexpected way? Can you share a testimony of God working in your life in an unexpected way? Perhaps a better way than what you hoped?
5. Peter was confident in God’s healing power –
Peter confidently commanded that this man be healed. We see that Peter had great faith in Jesus.
Mark 11:23-24 – Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
6. Serving people’s physical needs is a means to reaching them spiritually –
Many charities reach out only to people’s physical needs. They do all kinds of important services like providing clean water, food, and health care.
Other groups focus only on the spiritual.
Jesus and His disciples did both. They used the physical needs as a pat to reach the soul.
Do not merely feed a starving man and then go on your way without telling him why you are doing it. His stomach will be satiated, but he will be ignorant of the gospel.
At the same time, do not merely preach the gospel to a starving man. Feed him. Tell him God loves him. Then share the gospel with him. Those tangible acts of kindness will show God’s love, soften the heart, and make the listener more receptive to the message.
Application – Consider what organizations and charities you give to. Why give to a secular organization that only provides physical care when you can give to a Christian organization that provides physical and spiritual help? Many people who don’t believe in Jesus will fund these secular organizations, but they will rarely support the gospel-oriented mission.
Don’t just pick the first charity that comes to mind. Instead, do research and pick one where your dollars will be used to help care for people and spread the good news of salvation through Jesus.
7. The healed man reacted by praising God publicly –
I love this man’s reaction. It is one of the best examples of praising God in Scripture.
Acts 3:8 – And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
He wasted no time. His praise for God was not subdued or shy. It wasn’t only words. You could say he praised God with every fiber of his being. He had good reason to! He had been healed!
We have good reason to praise the Lord too.
Reflect – What reasons do you have to praise God? Do you verbalize your praise for God in public? Why or why not?
8. His testimony touched many others –
By praising God publicly, this man’s testimony touched many others.
“They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”
Throughout Scripture, we see that God wants us to share with others the good things He has done in our lives. This can encourage others, give hope, and provide comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). It helps all of us fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 11:2).
This world can be a very discouraging place. We often see bad news plastered all over the place. But all is not darkness. Believers should be vocally testifying of the light of God’s goodness.
James 1:17 – Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Reflect – Can you recall someone else’s shared testimony that has touched you?
Application – Think about one of the reasons you have to praise God. Share this testimony with others so that they can rejoice with you (Romans 12:15).
Leave A Comment