David Hathaway Ministry of David Hathaway

In Acts 4:1-13, Peter and John are brought before the Jewish religious leaders for teaching about Jesus and performing a miraculous healing. The leaders are disturbed by their actions and begin to question them. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly defends their actions, declaring that the healing was done in the name of Jesus Christ. He emphasises that salvation is found only in Jesus. The leaders, recognising the boldness of Peter and John, are astonished because they were uneducated men, yet they spoke with power and authority. They realise that they had been with Jesus.
'The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.
'The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.' (Acts 4.1-13, NIV)

The Acts of the Apostles is the story of what men did in the Name of Jesus through the Power of the Holy Spirit. It reveals how the Church should be today; we should be experiencing all the things we read about in the Acts of the Apostles – and greater! Christ’s last words in Mark 16 were, “Go out, preach the Gospel… These signs will follow those who believe, they will lay hands on the sick and they shall be healed…” When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive Power from God. But that Power needs to be demonstrated! I sense that much of the Church today is not searching for nor seeking the real demonstration of the Power of the Holy Spirit. I would question, what change has the Holy Spirit made in your life? 
In these very troublesome times – war in Ukraine, in Israel, worldwide turmoil and unrest – let me remind you that at the very moment of this miracle, when Peter is preaching Christ and the Resurrection, he says, v21, Jesus HAD to be taken into Heaven ‘for a time’. But then, when that time is fulfilled, HE COMES BACK! He comes back to rule the world! The Christmas message of Isaiah 9 is that the Government SHALL be on HIS shoulders! 
Until then we have a job to do. We must live our lives in the Power of the Holy Spirit in such a way that our lives will continue, even complete the Book of the Acts of the Apostles! I want to encourage you to really get to know and see the Power of God in your life, in Jesus’ Name.

“Why are you so amazed at this? Why do you look on us, as if by our own power or holiness we made this man walk? The God of our fathers has glorified His Son Jesus! – Jesus whom you delivered up and whom you rejected when Pilate was determined to release Him. You denied the Holy One, you killed the Prince of Life whom God has raised from the dead – of which we are witnesses! It’s His Name, through faith in His Name that has made this man – whom you know – strong and given him perfect healing in front of you all. It is faith given him by Jesus that has created this miracle!”
Peter and John are trying to turn attention away from themselves: “It’s not us! We did not work the miracle! It’s the Name of Jesus, through faith in believing who Jesus is, that created the miracle.” When I pray with the sick, I teach the people that I am not a healer, I’m not a miracle-worker. Jesus is the Healer. I’m all the time turning attention away from myself, because people get the idea that I’m some kind of ‘miracle-worker’, someone special, some ‘holy man’. I’m not. And just as Peter and John had to turn the attention of the people to Jesus, I always try to make it quite clear that it’s Jesus and faith in Him that works the miracle, not us. He’s the Healer, and the miracles are the evidence that He is alive, and He’s the Son of God with Power!
For this reason, Peter uses this healing as a strong opportunity to preach the Gospel: “Jesus – whom you denied – is the Prince of Life – and we are witnesses of the miracle of His Resurrection. It is faith in this that has made the miracle.” But Peter excuses their ignorance in v17ff, “I understand your ignorance and that of your spiritual rulers, but if you had understood what God foretold through all the prophets that Christ would suffer, you would have known that Jesus is the fulfilment of your Jewish prophecy! Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out!” Conversion is ‘change’. It’s not just ‘believing’, it’s ‘changing’! A complete change! You can change a car and make it float! You can take wood and change it into furniture! Repentance must be accompanied by a change, so that sin is blotted out and you can receive God’s blessing in your life, ‘refreshing from the Presence of the Lord’!

Acts 3 is a challenge to you and me. It is the immediate follow up to the Day of Pentecost, when Peter, under the Anointing of the Holy Spirit, preached Christ for the very first time and 3000 were converted and baptised that same day! The new converts continued daily in the Temple, breaking bread together from house to house, praising God, having favour with the people – and the Lord added daily to the Church those that should be saved. Acts 2:41-47. I wish that this would happen today, daily! 
So now we find in Acts 3 Peter and John going up to the Temple ‘at the hour of prayer’ – they are still following the Jewish routine and traditions. And as they go in, they pass a certain man born as a cripple. Every day he was carried to the Temple and laid down at the gate called ‘Beautiful’ to beg for his living. Obviously, he expected that those who were entering to pray to God would be more willing to give him something… Seeing Peter and John, the cripple asked for money. That’s all he was looking for…
Peter simply commanded, “In the Name of Jesus, rise up and walk!” – And he took the cripple by the hand, lifted him up onto his feet, and immediately his feet and ankle bones became strong! He leapt up, stood and walked with Peter and John into the Temple. I love the description: he was walking and leaping! You know, this man had never learned to walk, I picture him not knowing how to put one foot in front of the other, leaping and praising God in excitement at this miracle!

The reason I am speaking to you from this chapter in the Acts of the Apostles is that it is absolutely clear: what happened on the Day of Pentecost CAN and SHOULD happen today! This was not just a one-off. This is an experience that is to last throughout the Church Age as the evidence, demonstration and proof of who Jesus is. Today WE should be the witnesses! I wasn’t alive 2000 years ago, nor was I a witness of the crucifixion and Resurrection. But I know, the evidence is there, Jesus is the Son of God, He died for our sin, He rose from the dead, ascended to His Father in Heaven – and then gave the Holy Spirit to US so that WE also could become the witnesses! 
The whole secret of my ministry right throughout the whole of my life for more than 73 years is the Holy Spirit whom I received as a teenager, when my father told me nothing serious would happen in my life UNTIL I received the Holy Spirit. As a result, as a teenager I sought God and prayed until that Power came on me – the SAME Fire, the SAME Power that was in Jesus, and that fell on Peter and on the 120 in the Upper Room! The reason my ministry continues today, aged 92, is that the Power of the Holy Spirit in me doesn’t change, doesn’t lessen, weaken or diminish. I would say, quite the opposite! The longer I live, the greater the Power in me. Because the more I know about the work of Jesus and the more I understand about the Power of the Holy Spirit, the more I desire this stronger Power that is from God. People who work with me, especially those on the mission field, testify that the Power in me doesn’t get less with age – it gets greater, stronger, and more powerful.
This is the KEY that I want to give YOU! If you really receive your personal Pentecost, that is only the beginning… That Fire, that Power in YOU should increase! 
We should be seeing, living the same miracles we read in the Acts of the Apostles! This should be in the Church today! This MUST be in the Church today! I want you to understand, the KEY to the Power is here, in the Scripture!

When as a teenager I received the Holy Spirit, no, I didn’t see tongues of Fire, but on that Easter Monday, aged 14, in the Westminster Central Hall in London when they laid hands on me, it was as if the whole of Heaven opened up and Fire came down – I spoke with tongues, praising God. To me it was the ‘latter rain’ as prophesied by Joel. That experience has never left me in the almost 80 years since it took place. I still have the same Power, the same Anointing. Or rather, the Power and Anointing are stronger and more evident now that I’m over 90 years of age, than when I was a teenager! I take the literal interpretation of Joel 2:23 as a Power which will increase until all the Harvest is in – and Jesus returns!
And now Peter continues to address the crowd in v22, “You men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did by Him in front of you!” Peter is very clear, the evidence that Jesus was the Son of God was the miracles He did and which the people saw. I’m absolutely convinced that the greatest evidence of the Power of God even today is in the miraculous. When I preach the Gospel, I pray for the sick – and miracles happen. These miracles prove the Truth and the Power of the Gospel I preach. It happens all the time. Not just occasionally. The Power that fell on the Day of Pentecost and the miracles that Jesus worked and greater, still can, and should, happen today.