“What Happens When Christians Pray Together” | Sunday Message

Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie encouraging you.

If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. 90% wanted shorter sermons, and the other 90% wanted their sermons longer. Hey, this is good news for preachers. So I'm gonna give you a three-hour sermon. Are you ready? Fasten your seatbelts.

I'm just kidding. It'll be around the normal length of my messages, but the title of my message for you is What Happens When Christians Pray Together? And we'll be in Acts chapter 12. What happens when Christians pray together? Why don't we start with prayer? Now, Father, as we talk about prayer, teach us to pray. We remember that story in Scripture where the disciples came to you, Jesus, and said, Lord, teach us to pray, and then you taught them to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and on it went, pointing us to you. So now, Lord, we pray that you will teach us how to pray.

We commit this Bible study to you in Jesus' name, amen. I heard a story about three men that were hiking through a forest, and they came to a large, raging river. So they decided to pray, always a good idea, because they needed to get over the river. So the first man prayed, Lord, I pray that you will give me the strength to cross the river. Boom, suddenly he has bulging biceps and strong legs, and he dives in and starts swimming across it.

It took him about six hours. He almost drowned twice, but he got to the other side. So the other two guys are watching this, and the second guy says, Lord, I pray that you will give me the strength and the tools to cross the river. He, too, had bulging biceps and strong legs, but also a boat, so he got in that little rowboat and made his way across. It took him about three hours, and it capsized twice, but he made it. So the third guy said, Lord, I pray that you will give me the strength and the tools and the intelligence to cross the river. Improved, suddenly he became a woman.

She consulted the map, walked a few feet up the riverbank, and walked over the bridge. So it comes down to this. There's a right and there's a wrong way to pray. Maybe I'm talking to somebody right now that is in a very difficult situation. You don't see any way out of your situation, or you have a great need that only God can provide. Or maybe you're facing an uncertain future, and it seems as though you can't fix it. It's just a big mess, your life.

Well, here's what you need to know. Things can change when you pray. One thing that will stand out in the story we're gonna read in a few moments is prayer can dramatically change situations, people, and even the very course of nature.

It's been said, when you're swept off your feet, it's time to get on your knees. Listen, prayer can change things, but most of all, prayer changes you. Because there are times in life where God will allow hardship, or a time of great need, or perhaps even a tragedy, so he can reveal himself to you. So you will learn to call upon him, so he can put his glory on display. See, really, when I pray, I'm acknowledging that I'm weak.

I'm acknowledging I need help. And a lot of people don't like to do this, especially men. Why is it that men don't think they need help?

Simple answer, because they're stupid. Remember my story I just told you in the beginning? Listen, who was the strongest man who ever lived? Don't say Superman, he's not real. You might say, well, Samson, he was strong for sure, but he was not the strongest man who ever lived. The strongest man who ever lived was Jesus Christ. He had unlimited strength.

He was omnipotent, all powerful. But yet, we read story after story in the gospels of Jesus praying. Jesus staying up into the late hours of night and praying.

And if Jesus, the strongest man who ever lived, needed to pray, how much more do we need to pray? So here before us in Acts chapter 12 is the story of the power of prayer. The early church was facing a very difficult set of problems, and so they realized the only way around it or through it was with the help of God. So what is happening now in the church of the first century is a new wave of persecution has come against them.

This is not the first wave, it's just another wave. That first wave of persecution came when Stephen, that courageous young man full of faith, was put to death for following Jesus Christ and proclaiming the gospel to the religious leaders. But then God infiltrated, God intervened, and God turned around the chief persecutor of the church who was known as Saul of Tarsus. Now he was the apostle Paul. So when Saul was doing his dirty work and attacking the church, they started to spread out. But now they're going to spread out even more because God has spoken to Simon Peter, who at that moment was the leader of the church, and showed him that he was to take the gospel to the Gentiles. And Peter came face to face with the Roman centurion Cornelius, and it was a whole new movement in the church. If you're driving a stick shift car, you just went from first to second gear.

You're picking up momentum. The church is on the move. And it's a good reminder that God wants the church to infiltrate, not to isolate. The commission of the church is not to wait for the world to show up. The great commission to the church is to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Jesus did not say the whole world should go to church, but he did say the church should go to the whole world.

So now the church is moving quickly. They're reaching even more people, both Jew and Gentile, and the devil is not happy. Listen, Satan hates God, and he hates those that follow God. But if there's one thing that Satan really hates, it's evangelism. Because when we evangelize, and if you don't know what that word means, it means sharing your faith. When we tell others about Jesus, we are invading enemy territory. And when we have the privilege of leading others to Christ, that's taking captives from Satan. And he's not going to take that lying down as evidenced in the story before us, because Satan works through a powerful king named Herod, who begins a horrible time of persecution against the church.

Let's read about it, Acts chapter 12, I'm going to read verses one to five. Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some of the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also.

Now this was during the days of unleavened bread. And so when he had arrested him and put him in prison, he delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. Peter was therefore kept in prison, but underline this verse. But constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Okay, so King Herod kills James, the brother of John. How devastating this was for the church. How unbelievably hard it was for James, brother John. These guys did everything together. Jesus even gave them a nickname, the Sons of Thunder. These guys knew how to mix it up.

They went everywhere together. In fact, on one occasion, the mother of James and John named Salome came to Jesus and said, Lord, I'm thinking that when you reign in your glory, you should let my son sit on your right and left hand. Jesus said, no, I can't do that for you. And you know, it's a good thing he didn't answer that prayer. Because when we look at where Jesus ended up on the cross, on his right and left hand were two criminals.

So sometimes we should thank God for unanswered prayers, right? But James and John, these guys loved each other. And now, James has been killed and the church can't believe this has actually happened.

This was a devastating moment. Now, let me say a couple of words about Herod. We read the name of Herod many times in the New Testament. And you need to know that there were many Harrods. They were all related.

They were a devilish dynasty, if you will. The first was Herod the Great. Not because he was great, but because he was a great builder. And in fact, you can go to Israel today and still see structures that were built by Herod the Great. The second temple in Jerusalem was beautified and built out by Herod the Great. Herod also built this retreat called Masada that still stands today. So he was a great builder, but he was also a wicked man, a paranoid man, a very insecure man. He reigned from about 40 B.C.

to 37 B.C. And he was dubbed the King of the Jews by Octavius in the Roman Senate. So when those wise men came from the east, remember in the Christmas story, and they said, we're looking for the one who's been born called the King of the Jews, they could not have used more inflammatory rhetoric in the presence of King Herod because he thought he was the King of the Jews. So he brought in scholars and said, where is this Messiah supposed to be born?

And they accurately said, well sire, he is supposed to be born in Bethlehem. And you remember that it was King Herod that had those innocent Jewish boys slaughtered hoping to stop the King of the Jews from coming. So that's the first Herod, King Herod, or Herod the Great. Now the Herod before us in this story is Herod Agrippa I. He was the grandson of Herod the Great. So we already know he's responsible for the martyrdom of James, and now he wants to put Simon Peter to death as well.

Later, the apostle Paul would stand before his son, Herod Agrippa II. And you want to talk about a wicked family. The Bible talks about the sins of the parents being visited on the children. This is not speaking of some mystical curse that can come upon a family. This is simply speaking of the fact that sin can be passed on. You set a bad example and your children pick up that bad example and they pass it on to their children.

But the good news is Christ can break a cycle of sin in a family and turn everything around. Example, I came from an alcoholic family. My mother was alcoholic and the men she married were alcoholics and she was divorced seven times. So chances are that I should have been an alcoholic because there's a far higher chance of you being an alcoholic if your parents were. And I should have been married and divorced multiple times. Well, thank God I'm not an alcoholic. Actually, I don't drink at all.

And I've been married for over 47 years. So hey, God can intervene and change the story. Christ can change the arc.

He can change the narrative if you let him. But these wicked Herod's passed this sin on from generation to generation. So Herod thought, okay, now I gotta be extra careful.

I can't leave anything to chance. So we read in verse four, Peter was delivered to four squads of soldiers to keep him. So here's Simon Peter. He's been arrested. He's behind two gates.

He's chained to two guards and he's guarded by 14 more. There is no way Peter is gonna get out of that prison cell. And so I'm sure that those soldiers heard the gospel being chained to Simon Peter, probably told them all about Jesus. And what I'm really amazed by is in the story how Peter was able to sleep through all that he was facing.

He had to come in the midst of the storm. Okay, so James has been killed. Peter has been arrested.

It's almost certain that Peter will also be executed. So what did the church do? We read here in Acts 12, the church organized a protest and stormed Herod's palace. No, actually, we don't read that. But we do read the church organized a boycott of all products made in Rome. No, they didn't do that either. Nor do we read that the church went down with swords and smote Herod and his soldiers. No, we don't read that. Instead, the church unleashed their secret weapon.

And it's our secret weapon as well. And I'm talking about prayer. I love verse five of Acts 12. Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Though all other doors were closed, one door remained open. The door of prayer. The door into the presence of God.

The way through to Peter was the one through God. But let's be honest. A lot of times prayer is our last resort. We'll try to work it out some other way. Oh, I'll figure it out. I'll resolve this.

But we can't. Oh, well now all we can do is pray. That's the first thing you should have done. The first thing. Paul says in Philippians 4, don't worry about anything. Pray about everything.

And the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. What are you facing right now? Pray about it. Bring it before the Lord. You say, well, this is too small. Is it? Bring it to the Lord. Well, this is too big.

No. The Bible asks the question rhetorically, is anything too hard for the Lord? I love what the Bible tells us about Mary when she was asking about the amazing birth of Jesus that would happen through her and the Lord told her with God, nothing is impossible. So let's see if we can identify some takeaway truths for all of us to learn about prayer as modeled by the early church, the church that turned the world upside down.

If you're taking notes, here's point number one. The prayer that has power is the prayer that is offered to God. The prayer that has power is the prayer that is offered to God. Verse five, constant prayer was offered to God. You might say, wait, isn't all prayer offered to God?

Well, no, not necessarily. Jesus told the story about the Pharisees who loved to stand on the street corners and give long eloquent prayers. Why?

To impress people. By the way, when you go to a restaurant and your food comes, it's a good thing to ask God to bless your food. But don't do long prayers. You don't need to pray for all the missionaries around the world and let the food go cold. Just pray. I've seen people in restaurants make a big deal about it.

No, no, just pray and give thanks to the Lord. Short prayers before the meal. But you see, prayer can sometimes be a performance.

It can be something we do to impress other people. You know, Isaiah in the sixth chapter of his book says, I saw the Lord sitting on his throne. He was high and lifted up and his glory filled the temple. And I said, woe is me. So when Isaiah was in the presence of God, he says, woe is me. But sometimes in prayer, people are saying, look at me. Look at how long my prayer is.

Look at how eloquent my prayer is. Or in worship, which is just prayer set to song, people will worship in such a way to draw attention to themselves. No, you can be praying. You can be worshiping and have no thought of God whatsoever. I mean, think about times you've been in church and there's a worship set going on and you're not praying.

You're thinking about what you're going to have for lunch. Or you're judging what someone in front of you is wearing to church. See, it's very easy to pray with no thought of God. No, constant prayers were offered to God for him by the church. Here's the real objective of prayer. It's to get our will in alignment with God. Jesus said in John 15, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask for yourself what you will and it shall be done for you.

If you were to go back to the original Greek and translate that, it would go along these lines. Jesus speaking, if you maintain a living communion with me and my word is at home in you, you can ask at once for yourself whatever your heart desires and it will be yours. I like that promise, but don't miss the condition. Yes, the promise is ask at once for yourself whatever your heart desires, but if you're maintaining a living communion with Jesus and his word is at home in you, you're going to start praying for what God wants you to have. So the objective of prayer is not to get God to do what I want him to do. It's to get me to do what God wants to do. Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance.

It's taking hold of his willingness. So get your will in alignment with God and make sure your prayer is to God and it's not some kind of a performance. Number two, they prayed with passion and persistence. They prayed with passion and persistence.

Again, look at verse five. Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Constant prayer. This phrase constant prayer could be translated earnest prayer or they were stretching out in prayer. Have you ever had something just beyond your reach?

Maybe you're under your couch and you're trying to reach something that's a little too far. That's the way they were praying. They were just reaching out to heaven like, Lord, hear our prayer right now. Another way this could be translated is they prayed with agony.

It's a word that speaks of intense desire. By the way, it's the same word to describe the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22, verse 44, when it says he prayed more earnestly. This was not some ho-hum, oh, Lord, just save Peter, amen. This was, oh, God, Lord, hear our prayer.

Lord, don't let Peter be put to death. Maybe they stepped this prayer up more after James died. Did they pray for James when he was in prison?

I think they probably did. But probably not with the same intensity that they had now as they were praying for Peter because these were dire circumstances and they were desperate. They're crying out to God. You know, I think sometimes much of our prayer has no power in it because there's no heart in it. And if we're not going to put any heart in praying our prayer, do we expect God to put heart in answering our prayer? I love this passionate prayer. Constant prayer was offered to him by the church.

And it was constant, not just one prayer. You know, sometimes we give up too easily. We pray for something that doesn't happen. We say, well, it must not be God's will. Lord, I pray that my son will walk with you.

Oh, he's not walking with you. Well, I guess that's the will of God for him to not walk with God. Or I pray for something else. Lord, I need your provision and you don't receive it. Well, I guess God isn't going to give it to me or you're sick and you pray for the Lord to heal you and you're not healed. Oh, I guess God doesn't want to heal me.

Well, maybe that's true. God doesn't heal everyone. God does not always answer our prayers the way that we pray them. But listen, when you're praying for a son or a daughter to come to the Lord, you know you're praying according to the will of God.

Because Scripture tells us God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Now, I mentioned my mother in my last message and the life she lived. And I don't want to tell you, my mom did commit herself to the Lord toward the end of her life. I prayed for her for over 30 years. 30 years.

That's a long time. But the Lord heard those prayers and she finally came around toward the end of her life and committed her life to Jesus Christ. So don't give up praying for your mom and dad or your son and daughter or your husband or wife or anyone you know that is not right with the Lord. Keep praying. Keep asking. Jesus said, Ask and it shall be given. Seeking you shall find.

Knock and the door will be opened. So they're praying. Oh, God, intervene. Oh, God, hear our prayer. Remember, Jesus said it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. God wants to answer your prayer but always according to His will.

That's why it's always a good P.S. in your prayers to add these words. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.

Listen, in a broad sense, every prayer is answered. Yes, no, or wait. See, we think no is not an answer.

It is an answer. Lord, will you do this? No.

Oh, wow. God rejected me. No, God just said no and He has His purposes for that.

And other times He'll say yes and other times He'll say wait. Listen, sometimes God says go. Sometimes God says slow. And sometimes God says grow.

Let me illustrate that. Sometimes God says no. Paul the apostle had what he described as a thorn in the flesh. We don't know what that was exactly. But it appears to have been some kind of a physical ailment. Don't forget Paul was shipwrecked. He was beaten with rods. He was stoned, not that kind of stone, stoned with rocks. And so this guy took a lot of physical abuse.

So it could have been an injury from one of those stonings or something else. But he said three times I asked the Lord to take this away. And God said my grace is sufficient for you. So God effectively said no to Paul, but He gave him His grace.

Number two, sometimes God says slow. Moses, he had the right idea. He was preserved by God and taken into the court of the Pharaoh. And he saw his fellow Jews being treated horribly. And he wanted them to be free. And so one day he just went out and took matters into his own hands and killed some Egyptian dude that was beating a Hebrew.

And he had to go into exile for 40 years. Moses had the right idea. God did eventually want to use him to deliver Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. But Moses kind of messed it up. So God was saying to Moses slow, man, slow down.

You're getting ahead of me here. Same thing happened to Jacob in the book of Genesis. He was to receive the birthright from God from his father Isaac. But he couldn't wait on the Lord's timing. And he took matters into his own hands and made a big mess out of it. But sometimes God says go.

And this is one of those instances. So here they are praying for Peter. And God was going to answer their prayer more quickly than they expected. Point number three, they prayed together. They prayed together.

Again, verse five, constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. You know, remember the title of this message is What Happens When Christians Pray Together? What happens when Christians pray together?

A lot. There's power in united prayer. Jesus said, if any two of you shall agree on earth, touching anything that they shall ask, it will be done for them, of my Father who is in heaven. That's in Matthew 18, 19.

Now when he says agree on earth touching, it means two believers, not just an agreement in general, but two believers with the same God-given burden, sure of his will, aligned with the Spirit of God, praying together. So pray with other Christians. The Bible says bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. So if you have a burden right now, you have a problem right now, call up a Christian friend and say, will you pray for me and with me? Get a bunch of Christians together and say, could we all pray together about this thing?

And I would like to pray for whatever problems you're facing as well. There's power in united prayer. So these believers are praying together. Let's see how God answered their prayer. Go back to Acts 12, verse 6, and I'm reading now from the New Living Translation. The night before Peter was going to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers.

Others stood at the prison gate. Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell, and the angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, get up quickly, and the chains fell off his wrists. And then the angel said, get dressed and put on your sandals. Sounds like a parent trying to get their kid ready for school.

Wake up, wake up, put on your clothes, let's go, right? Put on your sandals and now put on your coat and follow me, the angel ordered. And Peter left the cell following the angel, and all this time he thought it was some kind of vision.

He didn't realize it was actually happening. They passed the first and the second guard post and came to an iron gate, leading to the city, and it opened to them by itself. It's interesting, that comes from a root word in the Greek that's translated automatic. So it's like the supermarket. You come up and the door opens on its own. So now the door is open all by itself. And they pass through, they're walking down the street, and the angel suddenly leaves Peter, and Peter came to his senses and he said, it's really true. The Lord has sent his angel and he has saved me from Herod and from the Jewish leaders and what they had planned to do.

I love this. When did this happen? Notice verse six, the night before Peter was placed on trial. Now this was some fake trial in a kangaroo court. He was gonna be convicted and executed immediately. So right before the trial, why didn't the Lord answer this prayer a little bit earlier?

Well sometimes the Lord allows these things so we will really realize that it's him that got us through it. We read in the gospels about how Jesus came to the disciples fighting a horrible storm in their little boat in the fourth watch. The fourth watch, when is that? That is the last watch of the night. That is right before the dawn breaks.

Right before the sun rises. So the Lord allowed the disciples to be completely exhausted and realize only Jesus could get them through this or out of this and so this happened the night before the Lord heard their prayer. It reminds us that prayer can be warfare. In Ephesians chapter six, it tells us that we're fighting a spiritual battle. We're not fighting with flesh and blood. We're fighting with principalities and powers and supernatural authorities.

So what does the Bible say? It says put on the helmet of salvation. Put on the breastplate of righteousness. Take up this shield of faith and unsheathe the sword of the Spirit and so this is something we need to realize in prayer. It can be spiritual warfare. It's been said prayer is striking the winning blow.

Service is gathering up the results. So what was Peter doing when the angel came to him? Verse six says he was asleep.

I love that. He was asleep. He was probably the only Christian in Jerusalem sleeping that night.

He's chained to two Roman soldiers. He's facing the certainty of an execution the next day and yet he can sleep soundly. I think Peter must have been a deep sleeper. Now I don't know about you but I'm a very light sleeper anything will wake me up. A bird two blocks away chirping in the night will wake me out of a dead sleep. The other night it was not the Fourth of July, New Year's Eve, right? So some family was having a very loud party up the street. That woke me up and I went back to sleep and then like at 1.30 in the morning they're setting up fireworks in the street. I wake up again. My wife Kathy slept through the whole thing.

I don't even know how that's possible. She's a deep sleeper like Peter was and there's multiple times in the Bible when we read about Peter sleeping and they were not good. They're different from this time he was sleeping in the Garden of Gethsemane going back there again. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John. He says watch and pray for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. He goes and prays to the Father comes back.

They're asleep. Then there was the Mount of Transfiguration where again Jesus took Peter, James, and John and he was transfigured shining like the sun. On one side of him was Moses. On the other side was Elijah.

Peter was sleeping. He wakes up, sees Jesus, sees Moses, sees Elijah and blurts out it's good we are here. I wonder if Moses turned to Jesus and said who's that guy, is he with you? Yes, Jesus might have said he's with me.

That's Simon Peter. It's good we are here, Peter says. Let's build three tents. One for Moses, one for Elijah, one for Jesus but the point was he was sleeping when he should have been awake. Actually the Bible says wake up and smell the coffee.

No, the Bible doesn't say that but here's what the Bible does say in Romans 13, 11. You know how late it is. Time is running out. Wake up for your salvation is near than when we first believed.

Listen to this people. We have never been closer to the return of Jesus Christ than we are right now. So be ready and be spiritually awake. Well on this occasion, this was a good sleep because Peter had a calm in the midst of the storm. Psalm 4-8 says I'll lie down and sleep in peace for you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 127 says the Lord gives his beloved sleep. So Peter's rest in this set of circumstances came from the acceptance of God's promise. See when you go to bed at night and your mind is flooded with worry, commit it over to the Lord.

Lord, I'm gonna go to bed now. I'll let you worry about it but I cast all of my care upon you because you promise in scripture that you care for me. You know our sleeping pill and tranquilizer saturated society could take a lesson from Peter on trusting God. So there's one final point about the prayers of this early church and this one might surprise you. They prayed doubtingly. They prayed doubtingly. I'm not even sure if doubtingly is a word but it's certainly true in this instance. Oh yes, they prayed with passion. Oh yes, they prayed together but they obviously prayed with doubt because look at what happens next. Go back to Acts 12, verse 12.

Again, I'm reading from the New Living Translation. So here's Peter. He's out of the prison. The chains have come off.

The doors open automatically. The angels split and it's dawning on him. I am free and here's what took place next. When he realized this, verse 12, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. No doubt for Peter. He knocked at the door of the gate and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it and when she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, Peter is standing at the door. Now don't miss verse 15. You're out of your mind, they said.

Another way to translate it, you're crazy. Hmm. But she insisted. They decided it must be his angel. Well, wouldn't you let his angel in? I mean, if an angel knocked on my door, I would certainly let the angel in.

It must be his angel, they say. Meanwhile, Peter's knocking and they finally opened the door and saw him and they were amazed and he motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led them out of prison. Tell James and the other apostles what has happened and then he went to another place. Now you have to see the humor in this story. This is funny. Peter could apparently get out of a prison with God's help but he couldn't get into a prayer meeting.

No doubt, a prayer meeting for him. That is so disappointing. It's so shameful.

It's so like us. Oh, tell me you haven't prayed for something and then been shocked when God answered you. Here are the great apostles of faith. Oh, Lord, save Peter. Oh, Lord, deliver Peter. Oh, Lord, hear our prayer. Oh, Lord, there's a knock at the door.

What is that? Someone get the door. Rhoda, go get the door. Oh, Lord, deliver Peter. Hey, everybody, Peter's here.

Are you crazy? See, they didn't believe it and sometimes we're shocked when God enters our prayer. Notice the plural pronouns there in verse 16 when it says they opened the door and they were amazed. I get the impression that they decided to open the door together. Let's all go together and face this together and they opened the door and they were so thrilled and delighted to see Peter alive and well standing before them that they were so loud, Peter had to say shh.

I'm telling you guys, I don't wanna get re-arrested again. So this was a great moment where God heard their prayers. So let's pull the camera back and see the big picture. Look at how things changed because of passionate, powerful prayer. In the beginning, we see a seemingly all-powerful King Herod wreaking havoc on the church. Herod had the power of government, the power of the sword and the threat of prison but the Christians, they had the power of prayer. The story ends in Acts 12 with the great King Herod giving a speech that was meant by adulation from the people.

They began to chant the words, it's a voice of a God and not of a man. You know, it's interesting, the ancient historian Josephus commenting on the same event says that Herod was dressed from head to toe in silver. So it was probably some kind of a reflective silver cloth he was wearing or thread that caused the sun to reflect off of him. He was shining like the sun. So here's Herod, head to toe in silver, shining in front of the people, gives a great speech.

Oh, you're a God. He's like, thank you very much, thank you very much and God judged him and the Bible tells him he died and worms ate him. So I don't know if that was immediate and he was stricken by worms or if a few days later they realized after he had died that he was infested by worms.

I don't know, pretty gross. But wow, look at this story and how it turned around. At the beginning of the chapter, Herod is on the rampage arresting and persecuting church leaders. At the end, he 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 to this, it's not over till it's over.

So I don't know what you're going through right now and you say this is it, there's no way out. Well, pray. Call out to God. Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And death came.

By the way, little footnote. Those guards that were in charge of keeping Peter in prison were all executed by King Herod. How sad. I'm sure they heard the gospel from Peter. I hope they believed in Jesus Christ because you know what, death is gonna come to every man and every woman. It'll come to the famous, it will come to the unknown, it will come to the rich, it will come to the poor.

Doesn't matter if you ride a Harley or a Vespa or drive a Ferrari or a Prius. Everyone eventually will stand before their maker. We were all shocked and surprised to hear the tragic passing of actor Bob Saget at age 65. He was on the show Full House.

He was described by many as America's dad. And also he hosted the show America's Funniest Home Videos and he was out doing a comedy tour and did his performance that night in Florida and went back to his hotel and they found him dead in his hotel room. This tragic event happened on the heels of the death of Betty White who actually made it to age 99. And interestingly, after Betty White died, Bob Saget wrote this on his Instagram in a tribute to her.

He said, and I quote, she always said the love of her life was her husband, Alan Ludden, who she lost in 1981. Well, writes Bob Saget, if things work out in the afterlife, they are reunited. I don't know what happens when we die, but if Betty says you get to be with the love of your life, then I happily defer to Betty on this, end quote. I don't know what happens when we die, wrote Bob Saget.

Well, listen, I do and I don't say that with arrogance. I've just read the Bible. The Bible says there's an afterlife. We leave this life and we go into the afterlife and the Bible says there's the hope and promise of heaven and there is also a hell and we choose in this life where we will spend the afterlife. But if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, you will be reunited with loved ones who have preceded you to the other side. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

This is the promise to the follower of Jesus. Now let me ask you in closing, what if this were your last day on earth, your last night on earth and you had your final meal and you gave your final statement, where will you spend eternity? I know I will go to heaven when I die, not because I'm a good person, because I'm not, but it's because I serve a good God who has promised me forgiveness through Jesus Christ. You see, heaven is not for good people. The idea that is believed by many is heaven is for people who live good lives. Hell is for people who live bad lives. Heaven is not for good people. Heaven is for forgiven people. Have you been forgiven of your sin? Oh, you need to be, because every one of us sins, and by sin I mean we break God's commandments and we fall short of his standards.

The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but the Bible also says while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I was talking to an older gentleman the other day. I was with a friend, we're having a cup of coffee and we're at this little table and this old dude is looking for a place to sit and he says, can I sit here at your table?

We said, sure, sit down. Well, he had an amazing life. He had actually been a little boy during World War II and he had seen the Nazis invade. He was from the Netherlands and he told us a bunch of stories about his life and what he did for a living and so forth. Then he asked me, well, what do you do for a living? I said, well, I'm a pastor. He was a little surprised. And so he started asking questions. Why God allows suffering? Why does this happen?

Why does that happen? And so I got to the subject of Jesus and this man happened to be an engineer and I said, you know, I know it's hard to believe some of the miracles you read about in the Bible, because he said it's hard for me to believe these miracles. I said, you're an engineer.

You know what it takes to build something? And when you look at this world, you realize that God has created it, God has built it, but sin has entered the human race. But then I told him and that's why Jesus came. I said, sir, do you know why Jesus came to this earth?

He looked at me for a moment. He says, no, I don't. I said, he came to die for our sin because we've broken God's commandments. We've fallen short of his glory, but Jesus died for us and rose again from the dead.

And this is what we all need to know. We don't have to be afraid to die if Christ is living in our heart. And is he living in your life right now? Remember how Peter was on the outside of this little prayer meeting knocking? Picking up in that analogy, Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and I knock and if you'll hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. Right now, if you're not a Christian, Jesus Christ is saying, let me into your life. Let me forgive you of your sins. Let's start this relationship together. I'm standing at the door and I'm knocking.

If someone was on your porch knocking at the door of your house or at your apartment door, if you want them to come in, you need to open the door and invite them in. And the same is true of Jesus. If you want him in your life, if you want your sin forgiven, if you wanna go to heaven when you die, only you can open that door to your heart, so to speak. So here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to lead you in a prayer to ask Christ to come into your life. If you want your sin forgiven, if you wanna know that you will go to heaven when you die, if you wanna fill that big hole in your heart, I'm gonna ask you to pray this prayer and I'm gonna lead you in.

So if you would, please just stop what you're doing if you can. You can close your eyes if you like and pray this prayer out loud after me. This is a prayer of asking Christ to come into your heart and life. Pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Jesus, I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my savior and my Lord. Be my God and my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.