So I would like you to turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 12. And the title of my message is The Power of Prayer. And what better way to start a message on prayer? Then to pray.
So let's pray together. Father, we ask your blessing now on this time of Bible study. We want to know more about how to pray. effectively. How to see our prayers answered in the affirmative?
So speak to us as we open your word. We ask it now in Jesus' name. Amen. Acts chapter 12. As we approached the 10th anniversary of 9-11.
I wonder, has America changed? In the immediate aftermath of that unthinkable attack, We saw a dramatic return to faith on the part of Many Americans, you remember the scenes yourself, I'm sure. prayer meetings on Street corners, people gathering together in neighborhoods to hold a vigil. Uh Members of Congress standing on the steps of the Capitol building and spontaneously breaking into God bless America. Church attendance overflowing.
Churches were packed on the Sunday following 9-11. People were trying to make sense of it. Turning to God. But things didn't stay that way very long, did they? One of the things we were praying about was Would we be attacked again?
There was great concern. Would there be another terrorist strike against our nation? And we prayed. And yes, we want to thank God for our security and for our experts out there that do their best to protect our country. But we have to also acknowledge that it has been God's mercy that America has not faced another full-blown terrorist attack since 9-11, though there have been attempts.
But is that what we've done?
Well, it's interesting they're having a commemoration ceremony at ground zero on 9-11 and there's not a single person offering a prayer in that event. Not a single pastor Or minister of any kind, or any person that's going to give thanks to God. Have we forgotten that the Lord came through for us. And this just reminds us that we ask the question, what is it going to take to wake America up to our spiritual need? Let me say this.
The answer is not a political one. We're in a political cycle right now. There's a lot of talk about who the next occupant of the White House will be. And we think about what candidate is the most qualified and so forth. And I think you know that I believe that we as Christians should register and vote and find a candidate that represents a biblical worldview as much as possible.
But at the same time, we understand that no congressman, no senator, or even a president can turn our country around. No single person. It's not a political answer America needs, it's a spiritual answer, and the only real answer is a spiritual awakening. A revival must heal. Get America.
The classic verse. Um You're way more responsive than the first service. They were asleep at this point. I was actually walking, shaking people out of their. No, that's not true.
But. The classic verse that is often quoted, and I think it totally applies, was given initially to the nation Israel, but applies to any nation. It's 2 Chronicles 7.14. You've probably memorized it. God says, if my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.
We want God to heal our lamb. But what does God say if my people, you know, a lot of times we have more focus on who's in the White House than what's going on in God's house? When God looks at a nation that is having problems, he points his finger at his people. If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.
So often we are quick to point out all the problems in culture, etc. But God says, you know, I've been kind of looking at you. You that are called by my name, we that are a part of the body of Christ, we that are in the church, the question is: are we experiencing spiritual revival? Here's what the Lord is saying. If you want to turn a nation around, God's people need to live as they should.
That first century church turned their world upside down. And what do we know about them? We know they were a Bible teaching, gospel preaching, praying, obedient church.
So the question arises: is that where we are at today? I think sadly the answer is no. At a time when we need to engage our culture with a one truth that has any hope of transforming it, many among us have turned away from the answer. We have one pastor who wrote a book, Questmin. The biblical teaching on hell.
Now, of course, that got a lot of... Coverage in the press because most people in the media don't believe in what the Bible teaches.
So they embrace this idea of a so-called evangelical preacher saying that he was not certain that what we have always taught and believed about hell is found in the scripture is really accurate. That doesn't alarm me. There's always gonna be people that will question God's word. What concerns me is that there's even some believers that would read something like that and say, yeah, what about that? Or then I read about a pastor of a megachurch that said this last week.
He thinks we should no longer use the terminology saved or born again in our preaching. Because culture doesn't understand that. Another Christian blogger who is very popular came out and questioned the whole idea of evangelism.
Now I expect this kind of behavior from non-believers, but from people in the church, it causes me to be concerned. To these misled people and those that would follow them, I would say this. There has never been a time where it is more significant for us to warn people about the reality of hell and tell them that yes, they need to be saved and born again. And yes, we need to do it through evangelism. And that's why we're going to Los Angeles with the message of the gospel.
We're going to put feet to our faith. You remember that the Apostle Paul felt led by the Lord to go to Rome? Why Rome? Because Rome was effectively the epicenter of the planet at that time culturally and historically. And in many ways, Los Angeles is one of the most influential cities, not only in our nation, but in all of the world.
So we want to go to the place that influences the country. We want to influence the influencers. But some would say, oh, Greg, you know, the whole idea of crusade evangelism, that's so passe, that's so over with. Really? Tell that to over 100,000 people that filled Angel Stadium a few weeks ago.
Tell that to the over 11,000 people that came forward to make a commitment to Christ. Listen, crusade evangelism, which is simply presenting the gospel to as many people as possible, is never going to be over with. It has its origins back in the book of Acts and the day of Pentecost or Paul and Mars Hill. God will always honor the preaching of his word. The gospel will always be the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.
It never goes out of date. It never goes out of style. C.S. Lewis said, quote, Go ahead and clap if you want. I don't want to interrupt it.
C.S. Lewis said, quote, all that is not eternal is eternally out of date, end quote. The gospel message is eternal.
Now, Let's think about this early church that changed their world. turning it upside down. Is that what we're doing today? Or is the world turning us upside down? I mean, think about the daunting challenge the church of the first century faced.
They had no political base. No voting bloc in the Roman Senate. No emperor of Rome that was sympathetic toward them. These first Christians did not out-argue the pagans, they outlived them. Christianity made no attempts to conquer paganism and dead Judaism blow by blow.
Instead, the Christians of the first century outfought, outlived, and outprayed the non-believers. And that's because they recognized that their weapons were not physical, they were spiritual. We don't read that the Christians armed themselves and led a revolt against Rome. My goodness, Rome had the most powerful military on the face of the earth at that time. No, the first century believers said, let's fight fire with fire.
Let's recognize this as a spiritual battle and let's use spiritual weaponry. And what is that spiritual weaponry that God has given us to fight the battle today? It's primarily prayer and the preaching of the gospel. Again, prayer and the preaching of the gospel. The problem is, we don't use this weaponry.
We use political means or other avenues trying to solve the problems and We end up like a person trying to put a forest fire out with a squirt gun. Let's use the weapons that God has given us. Let's start praying. And that brings us to Acts 12, because it's a classic chapter. chapter on how to face difficulty.
And if you've come here today facing any kind of a challenge or hardship, There's something hanging over you right now. Maybe your marriage is in serious trouble. Maybe you have a physical problem and you need God's healing touch. Maybe you have a prodigal son or daughter. Maybe you Have problems at work, or a lack of work, or whatever it is you are facing.
Here are some things you need to know. about prayer. Acts chapter 12 is our text. And I'm going to read verses 1 to 5.
Now, about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass.
Some from the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And because he sought to please the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also.
Now it was during the days of unleavened bread.
So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. But Peter was kept in prison.
Now, I want you to underline. The latter part of verse 12, this is very important. But constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Underline that. Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
We're going to break that verse apart. But who was this wicked man? known as Herrot.
Well, there's a lot of Herods mentioned in the New Testament, and we might think it's all the same guy, but actually, we're dealing with a number of different people, all with the same name, all from the same family. The here at Before Is here is your consummate career politician. The main thing for him is he just wants to stay in power.
So he has James arrested and executes him. He sees that Curry's favor with his constituents, if you will.
So now he is going to execute Peter as well. But this is not the same herit we read about. earlier in the Gospel of Matthew. First of all, there was Herod the Great. Herod the Great was the herod that was in Power during the time of the birth of Christ.
He was known as Herod the Great because of his great architectural skills. He was the one that rebuilt the second temple. Herod was the one that built many other edifices still standing to this very day. You can visit. Here's our retreat.
uh known as Masada in Israel. And this was a man that built huge buildings, but he was also known for his tyranny and his cruelty. This is Herod who had members of his own family executed because he thought they might be a threat to his throne.
So, when these wise men came from the east, looking for the one that was born king of the Jews, there's not a Worst thing you could have said to a paranoid tyrant like Herod. This is the same Herod that had all those little innocent baby boys killed in Bethlehem thinking one of them might be the Messiah. That's Herod number one, Herod the Great. He had a son known as Herod Antipas. That is the hair that was in power.
and had John the Baptist put to death. And that is the same Herod that was so wicked that when Christ appeared before him, he did not speak a single word.
Now that brings us to Herod number three. And that's the Herod in our story now here in Acts chapter 12. This Herod is the grandson of Herod the Great and the son of Herod Antipas. He has James murdered. He has Peter in prison.
And he wanted to take every precaution so Peter would not escape. Verse 4 says, he delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him. Why?
Well, because Peter had been in prison before and got out. And Herod knew this. And a matter of fact, the angel delivered Peter on that occasion, and the angel would deliver him again, unbeknownst to Herod.
So he took every precaution. Peter was behind two gates, chained to two guards, and guarded by 14 more.
So what did the church do?
Well we read here that They organized a boycott of all products made in Rome.
Some of you are going, I didn't see that verse there. Yeah, that's because it's not there.
So, what did the church do when Peter was in prison?
Well, they. developed a writing campaign to have Herod overthrown and someone else put in his place. No, we don't read that either, do we? What did they do? They did something we don't do enough of these days, they pray.
Again, verse 5. Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Though all doors remained closed, one was still open, the door of prayer. Have you ever played knock and run? How many of you have played knock and run?
You know what knock and run is? You knock endors and run, right? Sad thing is, is I still do that at the age of 58. I do.
So if you've had a mysterious knock in your door, And you saw a bald man running down the street. That was probably Pastor Jeff. No, but even in hotels, this is true. I'll be walking through a hallway of a hotel and I'll knock on doors. I'll usually do it when people are around me.
I'll knock on the door and say, we better run. And they'll run down the hallway and I'll laugh. Because I knocked on doors of closets, but they didn't notice that, see? I thought I knocked on a person's door. But we can be that way in prayer.
We'll come to God and we'll pray, Lord, I pray that, and then we'll run off because we don't expect an answer. The early church did. They believe that God answered prayer. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, and I quote, of all the blessings of Christian salvation, none is greater than this, that we have access to God in prayer.
So, here in this chapter, we're going to find out how to have prayers that will get answered. in the affirmative. See, in effect, God answers all prayer, right? Yes, no, and wait.
Sometimes God will say no to our prayer. We'll say, Well, God never answers my prayers. No, He answered it. You just didn't like the answer. But how can we have our prayers answered more often in the affirmative?
Is there anything that we can do to cause God to say yes instead of no?
Well, I believe the answer to that is yes. and we'll find them right here in this story. Principle number one. The prayer that has power. is the prayer that is offered to God.
Again, the prayer that has power is the prayer that is offered to God.
Now, I know some of you are thinking, well, that is like. The stupidest thing I've ever heard. I mean, isn't all prayer offered to God? No, it isn't. Why would you think that?
Haven't you ever prayed? And had your mind wander? I mean, while you're actually praying, usually it's when someone else is usually praying, you're going, oh, yes, Lord, oh, hallelujah, amen. And really, what you're thinking is, did I turn the iron off when I left the house? I don't know if I, oh, I need to call so-and-so.
Oh, you know, for lunch, I think I'm going to get a hamburger. Yeah, these are the thoughts that are going through your mind. They're not evil thoughts necessarily. They're just other thoughts, and they're certainly not thoughts that are preoccupied with God's glory.
So you can be praying. You can have your hands folded, your eyes closed, and not be praying at all. Have you ever been praying, and as someone else is praying, you open your eyes and you're looking around and you make eye contact with someone else doing the same thing? Kind of an awkward moment, you know. Kind of like you cheated in prayer.
The reality is, you can pray with your eyes open. That's why, when you drive, you should always pray with your eyes open. You can pray with your eyes closed. In the Bible, we have people praying with their eyes open, their eyes closed, their eyes lifted to heaven. We have them on their knees, laying on their face.
lifting their hands Any posture is acceptable, but the main thing is your prayer should be unto God. Jesus told the story of the Pharisee that prayed thus with himself, meaning his prayers effectively went no higher than the ceiling because there was no thought whatsoever of the God he was addressing.
So. Our prayer needs to be offered to God. And that is why Jesus gave us the model for all prayer and what we call the Lord's Prayer. The disciples came to our Lord and said, teach us to pray. They didn't say teach us a prayer.
Though there's nothing wrong with praying the Lord's prayer verbatim. It's a beautiful prayer. But it really is more of a model or a template for prayer. For Christ began by saying, After this manner, therefore, you should pray. Guys, this is sort of a form for prayer, if you will.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Now, if we wrote the Lord's Prayer, it would probably go along the lines of, Our Father who art in heaven, give us this day our daily bread. I mean, let's just get to this thing. But Jesus says, no, when you pray. Pray our Father.
So, right off the bat, our Father speaks of intimacy. It speaks of relationship. It speaks of closeness. Our Father, who art in heaven, That speaks of the majesty and the greatness and the power of God, our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be your name.
Lord, I glorify you. I worship you. I praise you. I acknowledge your greatness. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Lord, before I offer a word of personal petition, I want to just say, I want your will more than my own. If you take more time to contemplate the greatness of God, I think it will affect your prayer. Mm. In some occasions, your prayer might be shorter. In other occasions, it might be longer.
But certainly it's going to be effective because you recognize I am speaking to God Almighty. And here's the objective of prayer. Listen to this. to get my will in alignment with God's will. Prayer is not trying to get God to do what I want Him to do.
Prayer is getting me to do what God wants to do. It's aligning my will with His.
So the thing I need to ask myself is, is this prayer that I am praying according to the will of God? Say, well, Greg, how would I know that? through careful study of the Scripture. 1 John 5, 14 says, This is the confidence we have in him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us, and we know that he hears us whatever we ask, and we will have the petitions that we have asked of him.
Listen, nothing lies outside of the reach of prayer except that which is outside of the will of God.
So, am I praying according to his will? If I am, Jesus says, you will have the petitions you have just prayed. God answers the request that He inspires. Thus, I need a good working knowledge of the scripture.
So when I pray for provision, say I might Say, well, Lord, you've told us in your word that you'll supply all of my needs according to your riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
Now, why would I say that? To educate God? You think God's saying, well, I didn't know that. That is good stuff.
Well, you wrote it, Lord. No, no, no. I'm reminding myself. And I'm basing my prayer request on a clear promise of Scripture. Lord, you have promised to provide for me.
I'm claiming that promise, taking hold of it. And it also bolsters my faith because now I am about to come to the Lord and ask for him. To answer that prayer, quoting scripture in prayer. In Acts 4:25 to 26, the apostles quoted scripture when they pray. Jesus said in John 15, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
or a better translation from the Greek. would be Christ speaking, if you maintain a living communion with me and my words are at home in you, you shall ask at once for yourself whatever your heart desires and it will be yours.
Now God's not a genie. It's going to answer every request you offer. But God Will answer your prayers if you are maintaining a living communion with Him and His Word is at home in you because you will be praying for what God wants you to pray for.
So our prayers should be unto God. That's principle. Number one. And here's another thing to consider. When we're praying for someone to come to Christ.
Is that according to the will of God? In other words, does God want people to be saved? Does God want people to be saved? Yes or no? Good, good answer.
Because We're told that In 2 Peter 3, 9. A God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
So, when we're praying for the salvation of someone, we are praying according to the will of God. In fact, Paul specifically asked for prayer as he preached the gospel. In Ephesians 6:18 and 19, he said, Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert, be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. And then he says, And pray for me too.
Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God's secret plan and the good news is for the Gentiles, too. Hey, pray for me. That God would give me boldness and the right words. You know, people will sometimes come to me and say, Greg, how can we pray for you? as the crusade approaches.
And and my response It's the same as Paul's. I would say, pray for me that the Lord would give me the right words. I take what I do very seriously. Believe it or not, I spend a lot of time preparing my messages and I write them out word for word. I actually have notes that I preach from, you know.
But there are times when I get up to speak. When Some thought will come to me that I had not considered previously. It's not in my notes, and I'll share it. And I've had people come to me later and say, It's when you said that one thing that I decided I wanted to become a Christian. I mean, think back in the day that you became a believer.
And if it was through preaching, you'll probably remember one thing that was said. We don't remember, oh, point number four was very good, but point number five really resonated. And I enjoyed these other verses. No, you don't remember that stuff. You just came, you heard it, and something just jumped out and got your heart, right?
So I pray for those right words as I get up to speak. And we all need to pray for those right words from the Lord, but we're praying for non-believers.
However, That doesn't mean we can just claim someone to be saved. I claim that this person will be saved in Jesus' name.
Well, you can claim it all day long. But they still have to respond to the gospel. God wants people to be saved, but he has also given us a free will.
So rather, your prayer should be, Lord, open their eyes and show them their need for Jesus Christ. Why do we pray that? Because we're told over in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that Satan has blinded the eyes of those that don't believe. And then Paul tells us over in Acts 26. That when conversion takes place, a person's eyes are open and they turn from darkness to light.
When you're praying for a non-believer, pray something like this. We know that you want people to be saved.
So I pray for, insert name here. And I pray that you will open their eyes and show them their need for Jesus Christ. Lord, wherever they are right now, Lord, get their attention. and show them how much they need you. Yes.
Our prayers should be unto God. Our prayers should be aligned with the will of God. Principle number two. The prayer that prevails. is the prayer that is prayed with intensity.
The prayer that is offered continually and passionately. I mean think about what these guys were facing. James, the beloved apostle. James the who was always there with John, James and John. He was gone to heaven now.
Must have been a shock. They were mourning the loss of this great man of God. And now Herod has arrested Peter. And it's the night before his trial and potential execution.
So they're praying. But this is not just kind of a kickback yawn, Lord. Help out Peter what's for dinner. This is O Lord. Yeah.
Help Peter. Oh Lord. Deliver Peter. In fact, the word that is used here for a constant can be translated earnestly. Or another way to translate it, Stretched.
Outwardly. Praying with agony. It's the idea of a soul and a stretch of earnest desire to pray with intensity. The same word, by the way, is used of Jesus in Luke 22, 44. We're in the Garden of Gethsemane, we read he prayed more.
Earnestly, and a lot of times our prayers are just so, you know. Lay back. Oh yes, Lord, I pray you'll just save them. I really want this person to come to Christ. Really?
When's the last time you prayed for them? It was Yeah. Month ago? Really? Maybe you should pray more often.
Maybe it should be a prayer you offer every day. And maybe you're just going about your business and they come to your mind. Pray for them right now. Oh, Lord. Save this person.
Lord, bring this person to you. And you keep bringing this request to God over and over and over again. Listen, the prayer that prevails with God is the prayer into which we put our whole soul stretching out toward God in intense and agonizing desire. Much of our prayer has no power in it because there is no heart in it. If we put so little heart in our prayers, we can't expect God to put much heart in answering them.
These believers probably prayed through the night. Bringing us to principle number three. They prayed together. They prayed together back to verse five. Constant prayer was offered to God for him.
by the church. Know this, there is power in united prayer. It's better to pray with your fellow Christians, than just to praise Solomon. It's great to pray by yourself, but... Get together with other believers.
You say, well, why would that matter? Think about a Roman soldier in battle. Maybe you've seen it depicted in a film, but the the Romans were Great military tacticians, and they used their shields very effectively. They would go into battle. And they would have a wall in front of them.
And if they came under attack, they would pull their shields together on the front, on the side, on the back, and over the top.
So if there was a barrage of arrows, they would just hunker down and they were like just a box. And all the arrows would hit, then they would break out and counter-attack. Very effective. That's what it's like when we pray together. We link our shields together instead of just one person out in the field with your shield and your sword.
No, you're next to me and you're next to that other person and we all stand together as a wall. of prayer warriors. Marching forward. See, that's what it is. That's what we need to do.
And Jesus gave us this promise in Matthew 18, 19, if two of you will agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it will be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Let's understand what that doesn't mean before we understand what it does mean. That doesn't mean that two Christians can just get together and decide to pray for the same thing, and it will automatically happen because. Two of us are agreeing together because two people can. Pray for a stupid thing, right?
In fact, we're told over in James that you have not because you ask not. And when you do ask and you don't get it, it's because your motive is wrong. And you are only praying for your own pleasure.
Sometimes I pray for things that are just not right or things that would be harmful to me, and God will say, No, I'm not going to answer that prayer.
So, just because two misguided believers. Agree about one thing doesn't mean that God will necessarily do it. Go back to point one, which was pray according to the will of God.
So the assumption here is we're in alignment with God's will. And thus we are praying together for something that we know God wants to do. For instance, when we pray for people to be saved, we're praying according to the will of God. When we pray for a spiritual awakening, To sweep our nation, we're praying according to the will of God.
So let's align our will with His. and pray together. That brings us to principle number four. This one's a little different than the first three. In fact, it might come as a bit of a surprise.
But it reminds us that these first century believers were people just like us. They were flawed. They weren't super Christians. Here's principle number four. They prayed.
doubtingly Or another way to state it, they prayed with doubt. That's right. This comes out clearly in the story. Yes, they prayed fervently. Yes, they prayed together.
But they also prayed with an element of doubt. Yet even though their prayer was weakened, it still was mightier than Herod and mightier than hell. Clearly there is a place for faith in our prayers. And no doubt, on many occasions, Our prayers have been hindered because we did not pray with any faith whatsoever. Having said that, I must say that I certainly don't.
agree with the so-called word faith teachers. That would tell us faith is a force that must be harnessed and we speak things into existence as we say this must be done in Jesus' name and you must have a positive confession and believe it is done. I even heard one of these guys say on one occasion: we should never come to God and say, Thy will be done. Instead, we should pray, My will be done. Really?
I don't want to hang around with that guy. When lightning hits him someday, Can you imagine going to God and saying, my will be done? What are you crazy? Jesus taught us, as we already pointed out, at the Lord's Prayer to say, Not my will, but thine be done. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
Even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane said to the Father three times: not my will, but yours be done. Don't ever be afraid to say that.
So this idea of just having your faith, you know, name it and claim it, gab it and grab it. That's stupid. But having pointed that out There is a place for fame. But even if your faith is weak, Come with as much faith as you have. Because as we're going to see in a moment, their faith was honored, though it was somewhat diminished by the re as evidenced by their reaction.
But there's a great story of a man who had a demon-possessed boy. He came to Jesus. He said, Lord, touch my son. Jesus said, if you believe, all things are possible to him who believes. And the father cried out with tears, oh Lord, I believe.
But help my unbelief. And Jesus said, Sorry, bro, that's not good enough. You got a name it and claim it, man. No, Jesus didn't say that. You know what Jesus did?
He healed his boy. Because that was good enough for God. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Lord, I'm just going to be honest right now.
I do believe, but I have my moments of doubt. But right now, with as much faith as I can muster, Lord, I believe that is acceptable. Bring as much faith as you have and put it into action.
Well, let's see what happened as a result of their prayers. Acts 12, starting at verse 6. And I'm going to read it to you from the New Living Translation. The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep. chained between two soldiers with others standing guard at the prison gate.
Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell and the angel of the Lord stood before Peter and the angel tapped him on the side to wake him up and said, quick, get up. And the chains fell off of his wrists. The angel said to him, get dressed and put on your sandals. And he did.
Now put on your coat and follow me, the angel ordered.
So Peter left the cell, followed the angel, but all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn't realize it was really happening. They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate to the street and it opened to them all by itself. I love that. It's like a supermarket door just opened up, you know?
So they passed through and started walking down the street and the angel suddenly left him and Peter realized what had happened. It's really true the Lord has sent his angel and has saved me from Herod, from what the Jews were hoping to do to me. After a little thought, He went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where they were gathered for prayer. He knocked at the door of the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed and instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, Peter is standing at the door.
So here it's a prayer meeting. They're probably praying for Peter. Oh Lord, save Peter. Oh Lord, deliver Peter. Guys, guess what?
Peter's at the door. The reaction? Verse 15, you're out of your minds. There's that doubt. When she insisted, they decided, well, it must be his angel.
Meanwhile, Peter kept knocking. When they finally went out and opened the door, they were amazed. And he motioned for them to quiet down and told them what had happened and how the Lord had led him out of jail. This is such a great story. Here is Peter in prison.
And he's asleep. He was probably the only Christian asleep in Jerusalem that night. Everybody else was praying for his deliverance but peter had this confidence In God. Reminds us of Daniel thrown into the lion's den. He got a good night's sleep.
You know, lions make nice pillows. When you're in the will of God.
Meanwhile, the king that had sent him there Was trying to figure out how to get him out.
So the king was up all night in the palace. And Daniel slept like a baby. And the dam. Listen, better to be in a prison with Jesus than in a palace without him.
So Peter slapped. And isn't it a great thing at night to Go to sleep in peace. The Bible tells us in Psalm 4.8. I will lie down and sleep in peace. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 127. He gives his beloved sleep. You know, a lot of times Head night. We're hit with anxiety, right? Worries Oh, what about this?
Oh, what about that? I can't handle this up. Guess what? God has a night watch. I'll just say, all right, Lord, I'm going to bed now.
There's nothing I can do about any of this. I'm going to just leave it in your hands. You can worry about it. I'm going to sleep.
Well, I know God doesn't worry about it at all. But I know God's in control. And just to be able to go to sleep, with a conscience free of guilt. You know, you're not having to lie about lies that you've already told to cover up other lies. Hey, you've.
Your life is right with God. You've confessed your sin. Lord, I committed to you. I can sleep now. Peter could sleep.
His conscience was clear. If you die, He goes to heaven. If he lives... He goes on and serves the Lord. It's all good.
So the Christians were praying, and the Lord answers the prayer and sends an angel. The door opens, he gets out of the prison, but Peter can't get into a prayer meeting. God could get Peter out of a prison, but Peter couldn't get himself into a prayer meeting. The very answer to their prayer is standing at the door, and they did not believe. They said, You're beside yourself, or you're crazy.
Peter keeps knocking, he's persistent.
Now, look at verse 16 again. This is. Humorous to me.
Now Peter continued knocking and when they opened the door and saw him they were astonished Notice the plural pronouns. They opened the door. They were astonished. You almost get the idea that they did all of this together. Peter's at the door, and they all kind of walk together.
Yeah. They all open the door, and then you can see all their heads around the side looking. There's Peter. Hello. Can I come in, please?
God had answered their prayer. Look how things changed as a result of powerful prayer. In the beginning, we see a seemingly all-powerful Herod wreaking havoc on the church. Herod had the power of the sword and the threat of prison. On the other side, we have the church turning to God in prayer.
By the way, the story ends with the great Herod giving a speech that was met by adulation from the people. who cried out, it's the voice of a God and not of a man. Joseph is a historian. Who is alive at this time tells us that. Herod was dressed.
Head to toe. in silver. that reflected the sun.
So he stood there giving his speech, reflecting the sun off of his silvery robe. The people are saying, You're a god! You're a god! Herod's like, thank you very much, thank you, thank you. God didn't like that.
And he was struck down. Verse 23 says, immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms, and he died. Listen to this. God will always have the last word. At the beginning of the chapter, Herod's on a rampage, arresting and persecuting church leaders.
In the end, he himself is struck down and he dies. The chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison. and Herod triumphing. It closes with Herod dead. Peter Free.
and the word of God triumphing. Listen, it's not over till it's over. The power of prayer.
So What do we need to pray about?
Well, let's think about you for a moment. You've come here today with a burden. for a challenge. or a concern. Or any.
Some are more dramatic than others.
Some of you just need direction. Lord, what do I do next? What's the next step I should take? Maybe you're young and you're thinking about getting married. Is this the right guy, Lord?
Is she the right girl? Should I go to this college? Should I... Go work over here. What should I do, Lord?
I need your wisdom. Others need healing. You've been given bad news by a doctor. Oh Lord, I need your touch today. I need you to touch this body of mine.
Others of you need strength to get through. a trial you're going through. Lord, you got to help me with this. I can't handle this. Others of you need employment.
Lord, I need that job. You gotta help me find one. Others need help with your marriage. It's unraveling. I don't know how to fix this, Father.
It's getting worse every day.
Some of you are having problems with prodigal sons and daughters. Lord, you've got to get hold of them. Or you have a loved one you know, or a friend or a neighbor that is not a Christian, and you're praying for their salvation.
Okay, let's take these principles and put them into practice. And now let's also pray for what God is about to do. at Dodger Stadium. Let's pray right now. Father, we bring our needs before you.
You tell us in Scripture to cast all of our care upon you, for you care for us. You are the almighty God, creator of heaven and earth. Nothing is impossible to you.
So, Lord, we bring these needs to you now. You look at us as a crowd, but you look at us as individuals. You know these things that trouble our hearts. You know these things that cause us anxiety. You know, these things that keep us up at night, we place them in your hands and we ask for your intervention.
And we especially pray for loved ones that we know. Their very names are in our mind right now. their faces flashed before us. People we know that need you. Lord, would you save them?
Would you reach out even now, wherever they are, and wake them up to their need for Jesus Christ? And Lord, we pray for this event at Dodger Stadium next Saturday. We pray that the stadium will be filled with people. We pray, Lord, for a mighty response to the gospel. And we pray that LA, the city, and the county will know about it.
We pray that Southern California will be impacted by it. We pray for thousands of people to believe in Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, for our nation that you will send a spiritual awakening. We pray for a revival. We pray for ourselves.
That we would be revived, that we, your people, would turn from our wicked ways. and walk right with you.
So you would hear from heaven and forgive our sin and heal our land. We commit our lives to you. We commit this church to you. We commit this crusade to you. And we ask all of this in Jesus' name.
Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. Hey, everybody, thanks for listening to my podcast. Before you go, I wanted to let you know about the important work we're doing here at Harvest.
You know, we've had the same goal these last 50 years, which is simply this: we want to know God and we want to make Him known. And we do that in a lot of ways: documentary films, animation, radio, television, large-scale evangelistic events, and more. If you want to be a part of what we're doing to fulfill the great commission, you can support us with whatever you can give at harvest.org/slash donate. Again, that's harvest.org/slash donate, and thanks so much.
