Christ of Every Crisis

Adriene Rogers was a motivator, an encourager, and a leader of the faith. He was also passionate about presenting scriptural application to everyday life circumstances, and you'll hear that in today's message.

Now, let's join Adriene Rogers. Would you turn to Acts chapter 12, please? And I want us to think today about the Christ of every crisis. Now, we all have troubles.

We all have troubles. They come every day, but ever so often, we come to a crisis. I mean an industrial strength crisis, and we really don't know where to turn unless we turn to the Lord. And a crisis may come unexpectedly. It may come ferociously, just out of the blue.

I mean a full-blown crisis. Somebody said, if you can keep your head when all of those around about you are losing theirs, it just may be a sign that you don't understand the situation, or it may be that you do understand some things that I'm going to be sharing with you today from the Word of God. Chapter 12, verse 1. Now, 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. 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, that is Peter, in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him intending after Easter, that literally means after Passover, to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

And 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. 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 the chains fell off from his hands, and the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, 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 whisked not and knew 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 second ward, they came unto the iron gate, which 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."

Now, stop there. We'll take up the reading here a little later, but let me give you the background again and reiterate what happened. Herod was a wild, a ruthless, a wicked, and a vile man. He wanted to torture, to vex, to disturb the church. He had already taken James, the brother of John, and had put him to death. He saw that place the multitude. He said, all right, I'll get the big guy. I'll get Peter. And so he put Peter in prison, said after Passover, I'm going to bring him out, and I'll make him a foot shorter at the top. I'll take off his head.

He was absolutely ferocious, vile, wicked, and cruel. Now, that's the situation, and it was indeed a great, great crisis. How do you handle a crisis? What do you do in times of crisis? I want to give you four thoughts today. Put them down because you will need them.

You may need them right now. Some of you who are listening to me right now are in the very midst of a genuine crisis, but if not, you will be. Number one, we should respect, respect the mystery of God's providence, of God's providence. As you look in this chapter, there's one word that comes through.

It is providence. That is, you're going to see the hidden hand of God. God is going to be working in a mysterious way, an inexplicable way. God is going to be in the shadows arranging things, moving things that people cannot see, and that may be very true in your life right now. God is working, but you cannot see God working. You may be in the middle of chaos right now. Nothing seems to be making sense.

Everything that you thought you had nailed down is coming loose, and the devil is pulling nails. Now, listen to me. Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean that it does not make sense.

Many of us have many questions. As we look at this chapter, we would say, well, why didn't God let Herod be king anyway? Isn't God God? How could God let a rascal like Herod be the king? If I were God, I'd turn him into a frog. And why should James be killed and Peter released?

Why is that? Does God have favorites? Is God capricious or has God lost control? And why all of these things happen? Now, friend, I want to tell you something. We do not live by explanations.

Life is not a problem to be solved. It is a mystery to be lived. And you have to back off sometimes and just simply see what I'm going to call the hidden hand of God, and you need to respect that. Have you ever watched a painter paint a picture, put his colors on canvas? Sometimes I get great recreation watching this old man who paints while you watch.

He can, in one half hour, do a beautiful painting. Some of you have seen him. He's an old guy. He's got some sort of an accent. I don't know what kind it is, but this is yada.

I put this on, yes. And he's just splashing the colors on that canvas, and he's mixing this. He says, I think a little more yellow. And he's just putting it there. And you know, I look and I see, man, that guy is so good. How does he do that?

Everything just turns out good. And then the guy will reach in and he'll get some colors and he'll go, oh, you ruined it. You ruined it. He put some big old splashy thing on there. Maybe it's going to be a tree in the foreground. And I said, mister, you really messed up.

Let's see how you're going to get out of this. And then all of a sudden it just comes together. It's a masterpiece. Sometimes we look at what God does is God puts his colors on the canvas and we say, Lord, you're really doing good. And then all of a sudden God just goes, Lord, you have messed things up.

Have you ever felt that way? God, how did you let this happen? Now, it doesn't make sense to me when I watch that man do it, but it makes sense to him.

And just because things are not making sense to you, do not think that they don't make sense. And just because you can't see God working doesn't mean God is not working. Here's Herod's ungodly power. Here is James' death.

Here's Peter's release. Yet all of these things are working together. We call that the sovereignty of God. We call that the providence of God.

And you just put there in your margin, Romans 8.28. And we know, we know, K-N-O-W, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to his purpose. Now, most of us, most of us have the idea that we go through life and life is all good and then life gets bad, then it gets good again.

Generally, it's not that way. Life is not like 40 miles of good road and then 10 miles of bad road and then 60 miles of good road. No, generally life is more like a railroad track, one rail good and one rail bad. And the good and the bad seem to be running parallel.

Have you ever noticed that? There seems to be certain troubles in life and we can't always just make them work out together. Good and bad seem to run on parallel tracks.

Now, many of us don't understand that. So we're wanting to get to the time of life where there won't be any bad things happening. So I'll be glad when all of this is over and so then we can do what we want to do. If you're in school, I'll be glad when school's over. Then I can start doing what I want to do. If the children are little, I'll be glad when the children are grown. So then I can do what I want to do. When I'm sick, I'll be glad when I get well so then I can begin to serve God as I want.

No, no, the good and the bad, they are there and they are working together. Sometimes we would like to just live life without the bad. Here's a girl who marries a boy and the parents say, don't marry him. Sweetheart, the boy doesn't have the character. He doesn't have what we believe it takes to make a good husband, but she says she loves him. She's gonna marry him. And so the parents try to make the best they can out of the situation. They want to love their prospective son-in-law. They get married and a little baby comes along. Then after a while, he turns out to be a philanderer. He turns out to be the person the parents were afraid that he might be and he leaves her. Well, I want to ask you, mother, if you could, would you just turn the clock back and say, no, they won't get married. Would you do it?

Be careful how you answer because if you say yes, you're gonna have to give up that grandbaby, that little baby that you've come to love so much. You see, isn't life mysterious? Isn't life mysterious? There's the bad things, the good things, God in the crucible of His wisdom. He mixes these things together for His glory.

And we know that all things work together for good. You don't live by explanations, friend. You will never, ever explain God.

You live by promises. And so you'll never get it all figured out. You know, if you're a kid, you wonder why does God put the vitamins in spinach and not in ice cream? Let God be God. You should respect, listen to this, the mystery, the mystery of God's providence. Allow God to be God. And just because it doesn't make sense to you, doesn't mean it doesn't make sense.

And if you're in a crisis, don't demand to understand, okay? Number two, you should request the ministry of God's people. Now, what is the ministry of God's people? It is prayer. Look now in verse five, Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. That is a great verse on prayer.

Look at it again. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. Now, there seems to be no hope for Peter. Peter is in maximum security. The prison is guarded on the outside with two guards by the door. There's 16 guards who are guarding Peter.

He must've been fairly important for 16 personal guards to guard him. And besides all of that, he's chained to a guard on this hand and he's chained to a guard on that hand. Talk about a man who is in a pickle, he's in a pickle.

He's in a pickle and on top of that, he is sentenced to death and a wicked king says, soon I'm going to execute you. Now, that friend is a crisis. You may think you have a crisis, but Peter is really in a crisis. There seems to be no hope for Peter. Every door is shut, every door except one.

And that's the one that goes straight up. That was the door they could not shut. In a crisis, there's always prayer. And when there's no hope on the horizontal level, there's always hope on the vertical level. Now I want us to look at this prayer and I want us to just pull over and park here for a moment because when there's the mystery of God's providence, there's the ministry of God's people.

Now watch it. I want you to see, first of all, what I'm going to call the frequency of the prayer. Look at verse five. Prayer was made without ceasing. Now they prayed and they did not stop praying. And they may have asked, why doesn't God answer our prayer?

Peter's kept in prison and God doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get him out. But God is trying to teach them a lesson about prayer and one of the great lessons about prayer is persistence. The Bible says, ask, seek and knock, but it literally says, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. And in Luke chapter 18 and verse one, the Bible says, and Jesus spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint. That is not to stop praying. And you need to learn that God's delays are not denials.

Okay? There's the frequency of the prayer. And then also notice the fervency of the prayer.

Got it? The fervency of the prayer. This word without ceasing may be translated intensely. They were praying intensely. I wonder what do we know about intense prayer? I'll tell you one thing, when you're in a crisis, you learn how to pray with intensity, don't you?

I love Jeremiah 29 verse 13 where God says, and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. One of the things that I'm trying to cure myself of is casual prayer. Do you know the Bible calls prayer wrestling?

Romans chapter 15 verse 30, Paul said, Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that you strive together. Have you ever thought of prayer as striving, as wrestling? How much genuine agonizing do we do in prayer?

If you really get into intercession, you're going to find out that the devil will fight you and oppose you. Prayer is work. I'd rather preach for an hour than to pray for a half an hour so far as the labor that it takes for genuine prayer. There's the frequency of the prayer. There's the fervency of the prayer. Sometimes we don't feel like praying, so we say we'll not pray. Friend, if there's ever a time when you need to pray is when you don't feel like it. Now you pray till you do feel like it.

But pray, pray not only frequently but fervently. And then there's the fellowship of the prayer. The Bible says that it was made of the church.

Look in verse five again. Prayer was made without ceasing of the church. That is, they came together to pray. Didn't Jesus say, where two or three of you are gathered together in my name, for there am I in the midst of them?

And if any two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it will be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. God is pleased when his children pray, but God is more pleased when his children pray in fellowship. There's nothing that will bind us together as a church more than praying.

If you've ever had a prayer partner, you know that your heart and his heart or her heart are linked together. There are times when God comes, when the church prays, that is glorious and wonderful. It is what we call the fellowship of prayer. This prayer was made of the church for Peter. And then I want you to notice the faith of the prayer. The prayer was unto God. It was unto God. Prayer was made unto God. They were not praying to one another. They were not praying to impress one another.

So many of our prayers are little memorized prayers. I heard about a young lawyer, just got his degree, opened up his brand spanking new law offices. He didn't have any clients, but didn't even really have a secretary, but he had a shingle out front, heard footfalls in the hallway, thought his first client was coming. So he picked up the phone like he was busy and said, hello, yes, no, I'm sorry, I can't, no, no. Perhaps next Thursday I have a heavy corporation case coming up on Wednesday and so forth.

Perhaps we can arrange it. And he put the phone down. By this time the man was standing in front of his desk and he said, yes, sir, good, sir, what may I do for you? He said, well, I'm from the telephone company.

I came to hook up your telephone. Many times our prayers are that way, trying to impress somebody else, but there's no one on the line. These people, they weren't trying to impress anybody else.

They were desperate. Their prayer was unto God. You know, today I think the reason we don't pray with frequency and fervency is because we think we can do it without prayer. You know, perhaps the worst thing about us is not our prayerlessness, but our pride. I mean, we have our machinery. We have our plans.

We have our methods. We have our pastors. We have our choirs. We have our Bible fellowships. We have our buildings. We have this, we have that. And so we come to church and think, well, we'll do it. We know how to do it. And you know what the devil does?

The devil stands in the corner and smirks. And he says, you can have your buildings. You can have your choirs. You can have your fellowships. You can have your preacher.

You can have all everything you want. You can even have your Bible studies as long as you leave out the power of God that comes with fervent prayer and will not take no for an answer. The devil mocks at our schemes, laughs at our organizations, ridicules our talents, but he fears our prayers. Now, these people are going to pray. Peter's in prison. They're going to pray.

They don't have money to bribe Herod to get him out of prison. They don't have political influence, but they're going to pray. And the world may laugh. But friend, the devil didn't laugh. Someone has wisely said the devil trembles when he sees the weakest Saint upon his knees. The prayer is unto God and God is God and God controls the universe. We need to learn that, that when we're speaking, when we're praying, we are praying to God. And so there's the faith of the prayer. And then there's the focus of the prayer. Look in verse five again. The Bible says, therefore prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God.

Now watch this, for him. They were praying for Peter. It was a prayer, not only with intensity, but specificity. What did you pray for this morning? Do you know so many of our prayers are so vague, if God were to answer them, we wouldn't know it. And if God didn't answer them, we wouldn't have to admit it.

Lord, save the lost this morning. Well, if somebody gets saved, you can say, well, I prayed for somebody to be saved and that lost person got saved. How do you know that was your prayer? I didn't know it wasn't my prayer, somebody else's prayer. We have these vague general prayers, at least when they're praying for Peter and the answer came, they knew it was an answer to prayer. Isn't that right?

It was made for him. Have you ever heard anybody, when you visit somebody and they say to you, y'all come see us sometime. Y'all stop by, y'all come see us sometime. They don't mean that. But I tell you what, if they'll say this, hey, man, I've got some of the finest steaks you've ever seen in the freezer.

Could y'all come by next Saturday at five and we'll have a cookout? They mean it. That's with specificity. What are you praying for? What are you asking God for? When you say, Lord, I want you to do this or do that. If God would answer your prayer, would you even know it? You see, there's the focus of the prayer. It was for Peter and God answered. Now, when you're in a crisis, respect the mystery of God's providence.

Friend, request the ministry of God's people. You know what voicemail is? Do you enjoy voicemail as you call and you get a recording? Aren't you glad that heaven hasn't installed voicemail? Can you imagine praying and hearing the following? Thank you for calling heaven.

Your prayers are important to us. Please select one of the following options. Press one for a request. Press two for Thanksgiving. Press three for complaints. Press four for all other inquiries.

I'm sorry that all the angels are helping other sinners right now. However, your prayer is important to us and we will answer it in the order in which it was received. Please stay on the line. If you're checking on a loved one that has been assigned to heaven, press five and then enter his or her social security number followed by the pound sign. If you get a negative response, please hang up and try area code 666. For reservations at heaven, please enter J-O-H-N followed by the numbers three, one, six.

You'll get that later. For answers to nagging questions about dinosaurs, the age of the earth, life on other planets and where Noah's Ark is, please wait until you arrive. Our computer shows that you have already prayed once today. Please hang up and try again tomorrow.

The office is now closed for the weekend to observe a religious holiday. Please pray again on Monday after 9.30 a.m. If you're calling after hours and need emergency assistance, please contact your local pastor. Thank you for calling heaven.

Aren't you glad it's not that way? Aren't you glad that there's a God who says, call upon me and I will answer thee. Here's the third thing. When you're in a crisis, number three, we should rest in the mastery of God's peace. There's the mystery of his providence. There's the ministry of his people and there is the mastery of his peace in the midst of the storm. Look in verse six, and when Herod would have brought him forth the same night, watch this, Peter was sleeping.

Good night. Peter's sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains. I don't know where they were asleep, but here's old Peter asleep.

And the keepers before the door kept the prison. There he is, the next morning he's to be executed and there he is asleep. And you know, he's sleeping so sound that the angel has to punch him in the ribs to wake him up. Look, if you will, in verse seven, and behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him and a light shined in the prison and he smoked Peter on the side and raised him up.

Can you imagine, hey, Pete, wake up, wake up. Here's Peter sound asleep the night before his scheduled execution. This is peace.

This is peace in the midst of the storm. I thought about this as I read this and I said, why, how could Peter sleep in such a crisis? Well, number one, he's no longer afraid of death. He's seen the risen Christ.

I've told you before, a man is not ready to live until he's no longer afraid to die. Peter has seen the risen Christ and for this man, death holds no real terrorists for him. Number two, he knows that God's people are praying for him. Peter knew those folks were bombarding heaven for him and that's the reason he was asleep. Also, he is aware of God's presence because he knew that the Bible says, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber asleep.

I heard about a man who was in a crisis. He couldn't sleep and he thought about this verse of scripture. He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. He said, well, Lord, there's no need for both of us to stay up all night. Good night.

I'm going to sleep while you stay awake. The Bible says, thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Friend, listen to me. Turn your problem over to him. Roll it on the Lord.

I don't care how big it is. There's the mastery of God's peace. Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Again, Paul says in Philippians 4, be careful for nothing. That means don't worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God.

Listen to it. The peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall guard, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. They thought they were guarding Peter in prison. No, God's peace was guarding him. God's peace had garrisoned them about.

All right. Respect the mystery of God's providence. Request the ministry of God's people prayer. Rest in the mastery of God's peace in the midst of your storm.

I don't care what it is. Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Take your eyes off the storm and put them on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, last of all, rejoice. Rejoice in the majesty of God's power. Now, do you think that God was out of control when James was killed? Do you think that God was out of control when Peter was put in prison? No.

No. God is on his throne. Let's begin in verse seven now. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, that is upon Peter, and a light shined in the prison. And he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, rise 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 wished 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 keep on walking right on past these guards.

They came to the iron gate, which leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of its own accord. Do you remember the first time? Well, no, not you youngsters, but some of you are my age. You remember the first time you saw an automatic door? I can remember. My brother and I went downtown. We walk up that door and it would open. We'd go back outside, come back again, walk that door, and it would open. Most amazing thing I'd ever seen.

Well, that's not new. Here it is right here in Acts chapter 12. This iron gate just opens of its own accord and Peter walks on out. It is an incredible story of God's power.

But now I want you to notice this. It went out and passed on through one street and forthwith, I'm in verse 10, the angel departed from him. The angel took him only so far and then said, all right, Pete, so long. I want you to see how God's power is working here. Some people might've thought that God was weak and couldn't do anything or that God was unconcerned and did not care.

And you may feel that in your problem. You may say, where is God? Where is God? Is God able or doesn't God care? It's a very interesting thing that Peter's deliverance came at the last moment. I mean, God is very leisurely in this thing.

As a matter of fact, all of this story is marked by leisure. When angel comes in, hey, Pete, wake up, get up. Hits him in the rib. Come on, son, get up. What time is it? Nevermind what time it is.

We're going to make a jailbreak. Now, Pete, put on your clothes. Pete, put on your sandals. Now, Pete, put on your coat. I mean, if you're making a jailbreak, do you get dressed up as you're going out?

I mean, putting on your shoes and everything. What are you saying? Hey, Pete, we're going out in class. We're not sneaking out of this place. We're going out in real class.

There's such leisure about the whole thing. God moves in majesty and leisure and they walk out and through the first ward, second ward, here's the iron gate, just swings open. And then the angel leaves him. After that iron gate opens, Peter's going to go where the prayer meeting is. And the people are there at a house.

The door is shut. The front gate is locked and they're having a prayer meeting there. Well, Peter now has made this prison break. So he goes there to where they're having the prayer meeting, knocks on the door. A little maid comes and she looks through the peephole. Whew, it's Peter. She doesn't even say, Peter, come in. So she goes back and says, hey folks, God has heard our prayer. Peter's at the door. They say, Rhoda, you must be having a vision. Would you go leave us alone? We're praying for Peter to get out of prison. Here's Peter over here. Let me in. Did you know it was easier for him to get out of prison than it was to get in that prayer meeting? That's an amazing thing. If the Lord could open a prison gate, don't you think he'd cause that garden gate to open or whatever it was?

I want you to learn a lesson. Prayer is never an excuse for laziness. Now there was no way that Peter could open that prison gate, but there was a way that other gate could have been opened. Now we can't change water into wine, but we can fill earthen pots, can't we? We can't raise Lazarus from the dead, but we can take the grave clothes off, can't we?

You see, there are certain things that we can do and prayer is never an excuse for laziness. Don't you love the balance of the Word of God? But here is God moving in majestic power. God is still on His throne. Now, in the last part of this chapter, and we don't have time to get to it, old King Herod is stricken dead because of his arrogance and his pride and he's eaten of worms.

It's a gruesome type of thing. But you see the hidden hand of God in all of it. And listen to me, if you're in a situation and God doesn't deliver you, remember He didn't deliver James.

It's not because He can't. And if God is not working according to what you can see, it doesn't mean that God is not working. And if evil seems to succeed, just remember that the success of evil is only temporary. Woodrow Wilson once said, I had rather temporarily fail with a cause that must ultimately succeed than to temporarily succeed with a cause which must ultimately fail. Now, if you're in a crisis and some of you are in a real crisis, let me give you four things to remember. Number one, don't demand to understand.

You will never figure it out. Number two, remember the resource of prayer. Number three, put your eyes upon God and rest in His love. And number four, expect God's power to move in His own time and in His own way.

And friend, He will do it. He's the Christ of every crisis. If you want to be saved, you pray a prayer like this. Dear God, I'm a sinner and I'm lost. I need to be saved and I want to be saved. Jesus, you died to save me. You promised to save me if I would trust you.

I do trust you right now with all of my heart. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. Save me, Lord Jesus. Pray it from your heart and mean it.

Save me, Jesus. And then thank Him for doing it. And tell Him that you'll not be ashamed of Him, that you'll make it public, that you will follow Him. Lord, I pray that many will do that today. In your name I pray. Amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org, or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.