Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here's Adrian Rogers. Hey, God's word. And find with me, please, Axe.
Chapter 12. We're continuing through the book of Acts under the theme that old time Religion. And I remind you that that old-time religion is the new time religion, the all-time religion, the every time religion. and the any time religion. Today I want to talk to you about prayer.
Not just now I lay me down to sleep kind of prayer. but victorious prayer. As you read the book of Acts, ladies and gentlemen, There is the ring of victory and the shout of triumph. on every page in the book of Acts. These people learned how to pray.
And they saturated their lives with prayer, and God gave. The victory.
Now compare that with the average Christian today. Compare that with the average church today. Compare that with Christendom as a whole today. We are failing in our battle against the world. The flesh and the devil.
And the reason that we fail, ladies and gentlemen, is primarily, fundamentally. We do not know How? To pray. There's not a failure in your life or in my life. That is not a prayer failure if you properly analyze it.
There's not a need in my life. Or in your life. That could not be met. If we knew how to pray. and would practice What we No.
There's not a sin in my life or in your life. That proper prayer would not have avoided As Jesus said, watch and pray. lest ye enter into temptation. How important it is that we learn. How?
To pray. The 12th chapter of the book of Acts. has a wonderful lesson on prayer. And we're going to look at it.
Now I want us to begin reading now in verse 1. And about that time, Herod, and by the way, Herod was a vile. Venomous. king about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James, the brother of John, with a sword.
He's a murderous man, you see. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread, and when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison. and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers, that's 16 soldiers. to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Peter, therefore, was kept in prison. But now I want you to notice the key to this passage, but... Prayer was made. without ceasing of the church. Under God for him.
When Herod would have brought him forth the same night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him. And a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out and followed him, and wist not that it was true, which was done by the angel. but thought he saw a vision.
And when they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed on through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety That the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people. of the Jews.
Now there's some things I want you to learn. about Victoria's Prayer. And the very first is this. It's what I'm going to call the freedom to pray or the freedom of this prayer.
Now you notice, the Bible says that Peter was in prison. But Prayer was made.
Now, can you imagine how hopeless it is? It is for this man. I mean, outwardly. Here he is in a dark dungeon, in a deep, secure dungeon. He's such an important prisoner, there's 16 people that are assigned to him personally.
The guardian.
Furthermore, they want to make so certain that he doesn't escape. That they have chains on him. He's chained on one side to a soldier. and his chain on the other side. to a soldier.
Now, they're going to put him to death. Murderous. Old Herod has already killed James with the sword. I imagine he beheaded James. And he saw that he gained so much popularity with the enemies of the gospel, he said, I'll do the same to Peter.
He's the big fisherman, they all like him. I'll put him to death. And I'm going to do it in just a few days. And he announced the day that Peter is to be executed.
Now what are these disciples going to do? I mean, how are they going to get Peter out of prison? Are they going to organize a mob? and storm the prison? Hmm.
Not a chance, that little handful. Motley crew?
Well, what are they going to do? Are they going to get some petitions up? Are they going to say, now, look, we are influential citizens. in this city, and we demand that you release. Simon Peter.
They had no influence. What are they going to do? Are they going to take a collection and get a lot of money and go in and bribe Herod? They didn't have any money. Silver and gold have we none.
And what they had, they had distributed to feed the poor and to take care of those who were in distress in that time. What were they going to do? I'll tell you what they were going to do. They were going to pray.
Now, the intelligentsia would sneer and say, look at the money. At these silly people down on their knees. in prayer. I'll tell you one person who didn't sneer. And it was the devil.
It has well been said that Satan trembles. when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. There is the freedom to pray. Every other door was closed, but there was one that was open, it went straight up. And they could pray.
Our friend. The devil may do many things to inhibit you. But there's one thing he can't do. He can't stop you. you from praying.
I mean there may be iron doors all around you. There may be chains all over you. There may be people all against you, but you can pray. We talk about, oh, kids can't pray in school. That's ridiculous.
You can pray anywhere. Anytime, any place in prison, in school, in the office, any place. You can pray. And that wonderful, the freedom to pray. The freedom to pray.
But Prayer was made.
Prayer. should not be our last. Our last resort. It ought to be our first thought. our first opportunity.
There is the freedom to pray. Would to God that we could learn how to pray and to take advantage of the opportunity of this freedom. But I want you to notice something else. I want you to notice not only the freedom of that prayer. But I want you to notice what I'm going to call the faithfulness of that prayer.
Look again, if you will, in God's word in verse 5. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing. without ceasing. the faithfulness of this prayer. They prayed and they prayed.
And they prayed some more. They did not quit praying. Do you know what's wrong with many of our prayers? We have a take it or leave it attitude toward prayer. We ask God to do something for us.
And if God doesn't seemingly answer right away, then we just kind of stop praying. But these people didn't. They prayed. And they prayed and they prayed again.
Now, I don't know why God doesn't always immediately answer our prayers. There's a mystery to prayer. But I'll tell you this much about it. Our God says that we are to keep on praying. As a matter of fact, the Lord Jesus gave a special parable.
It's found in Luke chapter 18. Don't turn to it right now. You might put it in your margin. But that story begins, and he spake a parable unto them to this end. That men ought always to pray and not to faint.
That means not to stop. Praying. Be not weary and well-doing, in due season you will reap. If you faint not. Jesus said, ask and it shall be given you.
Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. And the Greek language? He is literally saying Keep on asking. Keep on seeking.
Keep on knocking. Don't quit. He spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint. They prayed constantly. They prayed faithfully.
They prayed without ceasing, the faithfulness of their prayers.
Now I want you to notice something else. I want you to notice. the fervency of their prayer. Because, look again in verse 5. This word without ceasing may be translated.
fervently. fervently. It's one of those kind of words that has a double meaning. And it means that they prayed with intensity. They prayed with fire.
And with fervency. I'll tell you something else that's wrong with many of our prayers. We pray with such casualness. With half-heartedness. Half-heartedness is an insult to God.
The Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 13, Ye shall seek me. And finally, When ye search for me, With all Your Heart. With all your heart. A double-minded man. He is unstable in all of his ways.
These people prayed fervently. I read of the Lord Jesus when Jesus prayed, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, he prayed with strong crying and tears. When's the last time you prayed with tears? I read where our Lord Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. That the perspiration, the sweat, was as drops of blood upon his brow.
as the minute capillaries ruptured. He was in such intensity as he prayed. Prayer is hard work. That's the reason that many of us don't pray. It requires concentration.
It requires effort. It's harder to pray than it is to preach. It's harder to pray than it is to study. It's harder to pray than it is to sing. It is harder to pray than almost anything because prayer is work.
I'll tell you, dear friend, prayer is warfare. When you pray, you enter into spiritual warfare, you enter into the heavenlies, and the devil will oppose you when you're praying.
Now the devil doesn't mind everything else we do. As long as we leave out prayer. He'll say, go ahead and have your magnificent choir program. Go ahead and have your sermons. Go ahead and have your Sunday school.
Go ahead and have your fellowship. Go ahead and have your visitation program. Go ahead and do all of it as long as you leave out the power of Almighty God that comes through fervent prayer. The devil sneers at our organization. The devil laughs at our personalities, but he fears our prayers.
And that's the reason, dear friend, that when you go to pray, you're going to feel opposition. Do you ever feel opposition when you pray? Of course you do. The flesh doesn't want to pray. The Bible says the flesh is enmity against God.
There's that old nature that doesn't want to pray. And not only do you have that inward predisposition against prayer in your flesh, but you have that outward opposition against prayer. And the devil will cause your mind to wander? The doorbell will ring. The beans will burn, the baby will cry, it doesn't matter what will happen, something will happen to keep you from praying.
Why? Because it is warfare. It is warfare. Let me give you a verse of scripture. Paul said in Romans chapter 15, verse 30, Now I beseech you brethren.
For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. And for the love of the Spirit. That you strive together with me. Notice the word strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Strive.
That's a word that means to labor. Friend, there is the rest of faith, but there is the fight of faith also. We need to learn how to pray. Fervently. to mean business with God.
I want to tell you one more time. God does business. With those that mean business. Ye shall search for me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. There have been times when I've known I didn't want to pray.
Don't look so pious. You've been the same way. And I'll tell you, dear friend. When you don't feel like praying, that's the time you better pray. You pray when you feel like it.
You pray when you don't feel like it and you pray until you do feel like it. I have found out sometimes that my carnal flesh doesn't want to pray, and I just make an announcement. And I say, dear God, I don't feel like praying, but I know you want me to pray, and I'm going to pray. And if I die on my knees, I'm going to stay on my knees until I make contact with you. And about that time, I'm already there.
About that time. When I just make up my mind. That fears may beset me and foes may oppose me, yet.
Well, I enter in. There's a fervency. How about prayer? I mean, we need to pray, dear friend. With a fervency.
With God. Strive together. In your prayer. The freedom of the prayer. They could pray.
The faithfulness of their prayer, they prayed without ceasing. The fervency of their prayer. They did business with God because, dear friend, they were desperate. I want you to notice also what I'm going to call the fellowship of their prayer. They prayed together.
Now, notice, Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church. And by the way, these are the only people. that really have the promise that their prayer is going to be answered. Turn with me, if you will, to 1 John 5, verse 13. These things have I written unto you that believe.
on the name of the Son of God. That ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in Him. If we ask Him anything according to His will, He heareth us. And we know that if He hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
Now, who is the us to whom he's referring? To those who have believed on his name, to those who are saved. Prayer is for people who can pray in Jesus' name. Prayer is for the church. Jesus said to his church in Matthew 18, verse 18.
Verily I say unto you, that whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you, that if any two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And that tells us. That if prayer was made of that church so long ago, prayer needs to be made of this church.
I mean, we need to pray, folks. Your Sunday school class needs to be an enclave of prayer. The your deacon group needs to be a time of prayer. Your fellowships ought to open and close with prayer. Committee meetings need to be saturated with prayer.
The orchestra, when you meet, you ought to pray. The choirs, before you get ready to sing, you ought to pray. And I don't mean just say, Lord, bless us now, I mean pray. Everything we do. ought to be saturated.
with prayer. This church ought to run on the engine of prayer. It's the fellowship of prayer.
Now I want you to notice the faith of their prayer. The Bible says again that their prayer was made unto God. Notice again, if you will, in verse 5: Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God. Unto God. This was the faith of their prayer.
They weren't praying to impress one another. They realized That they were coming into the throne room. They were speaking. With God. On a few occasions, I've had the privilege to meet with the President of the United States.
That's a great privilege. And I thought, what would I say? Yeah. How will I maximize this time? Try to consider now.
If I'm going to speak to a man. Who is this important? And who has this much power? Should I not think in my own heart and in my own mind what I will say? Should I not prepare myself?
Ladies and gentlemen, when we pray. We come into the throne room. Of the sovereign of the universe. How thoughtlessly. How carelessly.
How flippantly I am afraid that some of us come before Almighty God in prayer. Their prayer. He's unto God. Unto God. I was in my study one day.
And I had a thought. that I believe was the most staggering thought. I've ever had in my life. I cannot tell you the weight. of that thought as it settled on me.
It just, it shook me to my core. The most staggering thought. I've ever had. I can still remember the impact that it had on me, and still has on me. I won't tell you what it was.
And when I tell you what it was, you're going to say, everybody knows that. And so did I. But yet I cannot tell you the impact that thought had on me. Are you ready for it? Here it is.
God answers prayer. I thought, my soul, is that true? I mean, is that true? That the one who made the universe The God of all eternities. Will hear me.
And I can have influence. in his court. Hey.
Well, hear me. I can pray. And he will hear me and answer me. And he's the one who said, Call upon me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things that thou knowest not. Folks, what a thought.
I mean, what a thought. That we have that privilege. To pray. To God.
Now folks, listen. If that's not true, if God doesn't answer prayer, why don't we just quit playing games and all go home, okay? But if it is true, and it is true. Then we'd better learn how to pray. Amen.
I mean that we can have an audience with the King of Kings. Prayer was made without ceasing. of the church unto God. That's the faith of their prayer. Thou art coming to a king.
Large petitions with thee bring. For his grace and power are such thou canst not ask. Too much. Thank God. For the faith of that prayer.
Then I want you to notice what I'm going to call The focus of that prayer. But prayer was made. without ceasing. of the church. Unto God.
Four. Him. Whom? Peter. He's in prison.
He's going to be beheaded. We need to pray for him. God, we pray for Peter who is in prison. It's a focused prayer. A very specific prayer.
Many of us Pray such a generalized prayer. That we never have to admit whether God heard our prayer or not. Isn't that true? Lord. Save the lost.
Lord Bless the sick. Lord. Comfort the bereaved. Mm-hmm.
Somewhere, somehow, somebody who's been lost is going to be saved, and somebody is going to get well, and you don't know whether it was your prayer or not, right? You see. That's kind of a safe prayer. But we need to pray these specific prayers.
So we have to admit whether or not God answered our prayer. The average person, if you were to ask him what he prayed for yesterday, couldn't tell you. Just repeating these particular things. But when you get concerned, you can tell when a person is concerned when they mean business. They get specific.
You know, have you ever heard anybody say something to you like this? Hey, y'all come see us sometime. On these days y'all have to come over. They don't mean it. Let me tell you how you can tell when they mean it.
I say, hey, look. I've got five of the thickest steaks you've ever seen in the freezer. Saturday At five, I'm going to have the coals hot. We're going to barbecue those steaks. And can y'all be here at 5 Saturday.
Now they mean business, right? They mean business. That's the difference. It's the difference. It's not y'all just come see us sometime.
God bless the lost. No, listen. You get specific. Oh God, my neighbor, my neighbor needs Jesus. Oh God, here's a problem, and God, you know it, and Lord, we lay it before you.
And now, God, we expect you to answer. And give us what we need. And if this isn't what we need, show us it's not what we need. And give us what we need, but we're praying, Lord, for something specific. Here is a prayer.
that is brought into focus.
Now, you ought to have in your heart or in your Bible a list of prayer requests. A date, a prayer record of when you enter it. And when God answers it.
So, you can give him the glory and give him the praise and get specific and focused in your prayer. Because prayer that is channeled is prayer that is powerful. Prayer was made for Peter.
Now last of all I want you to notice what I'm going to call the force of that prayer. The force of that prayer, what happened?
Well, I'll tell you what happened. God answered it. And God delivered Peter from prison.
Now Peter's there in prison and he's asleep. Would you be asleep if you knew the next day they're going to execute you? Sleeping between two smelly soldiers, and chained to one on one hand, and chained to the other on the other hand. And there's Peter, he's sound asleep. I mean, Peter was so asleep when that angel came in there.
If you read it, the Bible says the angel smote Peter and said, Peter, wake up. Get up. He gave Peter an elbow in the side. He actually had to shake him to rouse him. He had to raise him up.
I mean Peter's sawing logs. Why? I've tried to think about it, and I think I know one reason why. In John 21, Jesus, Peter's a young man when this happened to him. In John 21, Jesus said, When you're an old man, they're going to lead you around.
Peter thought, well, they say they're going to kill me, but I'm not old yet. Jesus was talking to me about when I'm an old man.
So, whatever's going to happen, I'm not going to die. I don't know why Peter was so calm. Maybe that was just it, dear friend. You know, I think we'd spend a lot less sleepless nights if we knew the Word of God. Believed the word of God and stood on the promises of God.
But for whatever reason, here is Peter, and he is asleep, and this angel says, All right, now get up. And then he says, put on your shoes. Put on your clothes. Gird yourself. I like that.
We're not sneaking out, we're going out in class.
So dress up. Peter gets up and he dresses up. And then the chains fall off. Sure. They're off.
Peter rises up. He's dressed up, he and the angel walk out. And as they start to walk, they pass this guard and this guard, everybody else evidently asleep or blinded or in a stupor or whatever happened to them. And then they come to this huge iron gate. I mean a big iron gate.
Now remember, this is a prison. This is a fortress. Those gates like having an electric eye just open. Peter and the angel walk right out. That's the force of this prayer.
Now, the answer to this prayer was late. It came at the last minute. God was on time, however. Don't you get antsy. Not only was it late, it was leisurely.
God moves in majesty. They walk out. But I want to tell you something, it was all so limited. The interesting thing is this. But the iron gates opened of their own will.
But when Peter got outside that iron gate, You're going to find out that he said, where will I go?
Well, he said, I better go to the prayer meeting.
Now they were meeting at Mary's house. That was Mary was the mother of John Mark. And they're having a prayer meeting there. And there's a door out there also. There's a door to the courtyard.
And it's a wooden door, I imagine. Peter. Knocks on that door, and they have a maid. She goes to the door and she looks out. She says, Well, would you imagine?
Look, that's Simon Peter. They're in there praying for Simon. Hey, folks. She just leaves him standing there. Peter's at the door.
Oh, they say, well, no, look, Peter's in prison. That must be his ghost. That's an angel or something. Hey Peter, is this really you? Yeah, it's me.
He says it's really him. And the Bible says there that Peter is knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking. He's got red knuckles. The Bible doesn't say that, but that's original Greek. All right, now look.
Here he is knocking. They're all there praying. Point. God Is not going to do for you what you can do for yourself. Peter could never have opened those iron gates.
But they could open that wooden door. Right.
Now, prayer is no substitute for common sense, it's no substitute for labor, it's no substitute for work. Jesus said, you roll away the stone, and then he said, Lazarus, you come forth. They could roll away the stone. But they couldn't raise Lazarus. You understand what I'm saying?
Friend Peter could not have opened that iron gate. But they could have opened that wooden door.
Now God does not do for us what we ought to do for ourselves. But we can never do for ourselves what God alone can do. And when we begin to merge prayer with obedience and common sense, then God begins to work. We must learn, dear friend, that there's a force in prayer. There's a power in prayer.
It's not a substitute for work, it's not a substitute for common sense. But when we began to pray, Then we see what God alone can do. When we depend on organization, we see what organization can do. When we depend upon planning, we see what planning can do. But when we depend on prayer, We see what God Can do.
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