Acts 3: When All You Have Is the Name of Jesus

Introduction

"When you have nothing but the name of Jesus, you have healing in your hands." Jason Elsmore, pastor of Gateway Baptist Church in Australia, devotes this message to a simple question: what really happens when you pray in the name of Jesus?

He begins with a week of mourning. The church has just lost a man of faith, a member of the community for about ten years, whom he describes as joyful, in love with the Word of God and a great encourager. He prays for the family, then opens the message with an unexpected subject: names.

A name has a meaning, it reveals an identity, it is personal, and it carries power in certain places. The name of Jesus has all of that, but its power does not stop at certain places. The preacher then asks the congregation: does the name of Jesus have as much power today as it did 2,000 years ago? Then he opens Acts 3 and 4.

Outline of the Message

1. What a Name Says

Jason means "healer" or "the one who heals." The pastor warns with humor: if you have a rash that needs examining, don't come to him.
He gave his son the name of the young king Josiah, who led the nation back to God. The parents prayed that he would be used in a great move of God in the country. But everyone has called him by a short nickname for twenty years, one that means "baby kangaroo," "not quite as inspiring."
A name is personal: only one person in his state still calls him "Jay," his wife, because they grew up together.
A name has power in certain places. An email signed with his name will be followed by most of the church staff. The same email sent at home, where there are only two of them, would not have the same effect.
The name of Jesus means "the Lord saves." Joseph is told to call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
It is the best-known name on earth. Two thousand years later, when it is spoken, people think of the miracles, his teachings, the cross and the resurrection, even when it is used as a curse word.

2. Praying in the Name of Jesus Is Not Reciting a Mantra

"When you pray in the name of Jesus, you are not reciting a mantra." It is not transactional, it is relational.
You are asking a person. You are asking that the power, character, identity and strength of Jesus come into the situation you are living through.
The preacher reads Philippians 2:6-11, one of the earliest hymns of the church: Jesus emptied himself, became obedient to death on a cross, and God gave him "the name which is above every name."
At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is the most powerful name on the planet.

3. At the Gate Called Beautiful

A few weeks after Jesus' ascension, Peter and John go up to the temple at three in the afternoon to pray. An ordinary day, with a beggar at the gate, as every day (Acts 3:1-2).
The preacher explains that this is the Nicanor Gate, cast in bronze and inlaid with gold and silver. It separated the Court of the Gentiles from the Court of the Women.
A beautiful gate, but not for this man. It reminded him every day of his poverty, his lack of work, his inability to walk. Above all, it reminded him that he could not go any further toward the presence of God.
"Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" (Acts 3:6). Peter takes him by the right hand, his feet and ankles become strong, and he enters the temple walking, leaping and praising God.
He was holding out his hand for a few coins and a meal. He received a miracle from heaven. For the first time in his life, he was no longer stuck at that gate.

4. When You Have Nothing but the Name of Jesus

We often measure what is possible by what we have in our hands: money, strength, skills.
The pastor laughs as he tells how, at his last three medical appointments, the person caring for him was each time someone from the church. Many in the congregation have healthcare skills. Peter and John, for their part, had nothing in their hands for this man who had been lame from birth.
"When you have nothing but the name of Jesus, you have healing in your hands. You have salvation in your hands. You have power in your hands."
He quotes Corrie ten Boom: "You may never know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have."
He suggests a simple prayer to say on the way to the school gate, the office or the university: "God, who do you want me to notice today? Who needs a touch from heaven today?"
Peter explains the healing: neither his power nor his godliness (Acts 3:12-16). "It's not because I spent time with Jesus, or because one day I'll be called Saint Peter." It is faith in the name of Jesus that made this man strong.

5. No Other Name by Which to Be Saved

The authorities imprison Peter and John. Yet about five thousand people believe the message (Acts 4:4).
The next day they are asked: "By what power, or in what name, have you done this?" Peter answers: by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead (Acts 4:7-10).
"There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men by which we must be saved!" (Acts 4:12).
We were all kept at a distance from the presence of God because of our sin. The one who knew no sin was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). He took the penalty of sin, death, and he rose on the third day.
No other name can save from sin and death, because no other person has gone through death and come out victorious.
Faith in Christ is more than a ticket to heaven after death: it is walking, starting today, in power over sin and evil.

6. A Spiritual Battle Won in the Name of Jesus

The pastor tells a recent story. His daughter and her family had been going through "a perfect storm" since they moved in: children in hospital, a serious workplace accident for his son-in-law, grandchildren woken every night by night terrors. She asks him whether they should pray through the house.
The next day, his son talks with a woman who has been praying for their family for twenty years. She remembers a word received long ago by a brother in Uganda, which she had passed on to the pastor: the enemy was seeking to sift them like chaff, and it would not happen. The pastor admits he had not taken it as seriously as he should have.
One Sunday evening at nine o'clock, after a day of preaching, seven of them stand on the building site of the house, phone flashlights on. His daughter insists on walking around the house seven times, praying in the name of Jesus, as at Jericho (Joshua 6).
At one particular spot in the yard, he feels a sense of death and evil. It weakens with each lap, and by the seventh it is gone. Since then, something has changed in his daughter's faith, and the grandchildren sleep through the night.
"I don't know exactly what happened. I only know that we are in a spiritual battle, but that Jesus has won the victory." He makes clear that he is not asking anyone to walk around their house seven times, but that we are called to fight and to win.
Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities and triumphed over them by the cross (Colossians 2:15). The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10): he also steals dreams of the future and leaves a passive, apathetic life. Jesus redeems what was stolen, restores what was destroyed and raises what was dead.

7. No One Can Stop the Name of Jesus

Peter and John are ordered to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. They answer: "We can't help telling about the things which we saw and heard" (Acts 4:18-20). The man who was healed was over forty years old (Acts 4:22).
Prison, flogging, then the stoning of Stephen, the persecution under Nero and Domitian: the church is scattered, but everywhere it proclaims the name of Jesus. Tertullian summed it up this way: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
Closer to our time, the Soviet Union imprisoned clergy and banned evangelism. The church survived. In Ukraine, according to the preacher, there are now 2,300 Baptist churches, twice as many as in Australia. In four years of conflict, they have planted 80 churches, become centers of aid and baptized 13,000 new believers.
Under threat, the apostles pray: "stretching out your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus" (Acts 4:29-30). This is the pastor's prayer for today.
Jesus fulfills and embodies all the names of God: Elohim, the Creator; Adonai, Lord of all; El Shaddai, God Almighty; El Roi, the God who sees you; Jehovah Jireh, the one who provides; Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals; Jehovah Shalom, the God of peace. He is Lord of lords and King of kings.

Key Takeaways

Praying in the name of Jesus is not a formula. It is asking a person to act with his power and his character.
When you have nothing but the name of Jesus, you still have healing, salvation and power in your hands.
Healing depends neither on your strength nor on your level of godliness, but on faith in the name of Jesus.
There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved, and the victory of the cross applies starting today.
No prison and no persecution has been able to stop the name of Jesus.

Personal Application

When you pray "in the name of Jesus," is it a closing formula or a request addressed to a person?
In what situation do you measure what is possible only by what you have in your hands?
Who does God want you to notice this week, on the way to school, work or university?
Is there a battle in your home or family that you have put down to coincidence?
What concrete step can you take to keep walking in the victory of Jesus, for example having a few people who pray for you regularly?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens when you pray in the name of Jesus?

For Jason Elsmore, praying in the name of Jesus is not reciting a mantra or closing a transaction. It is a relational act: you ask a person, Jesus, to bring his power, his character, his identity and his strength into the situation you are going through.

Does the name of Jesus have the same power today as it did 2,000 years ago?

Yes, answers the preacher. In Acts 3, Peter and John had no silver, no gold, no medical training and no political influence. They had faith in the name of Jesus, and a man lame from birth walked. Jason Elsmore believes this name still has the power to heal, on an ordinary day, at three in the afternoon.

Why does Peter say the healing does not come from his godliness?

In Acts 3:12-16, Peter refuses to let people look at him as though the man had been healed by his own power or his own godliness. It is faith in the name of Jesus that made this man strong. Jason Elsmore sees this as an encouragement: healing does not depend on your level of holiness, but on the power of the name of Jesus.