When God’s Kingdom Moves Forward

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Holy Spirit, we're glad you're in this place.

God, thank you that we get to say, send me.

All we're doing is we get to be missional because you were first missional.

A God who is completely other than us came here into this world to save us.

Not to condemn us, but to save us.

God, thank you for the rest of our lives.

We get to be copycats in your name.

We get to be missional in your name.

God, right now, as we transition from a time of singing to a time of reading your scriptures, I pray that you can um fill people with conviction and invitation.

Thank you for preserving these truths here for us.

Would you open up our minds and our hearts to receive them?

Again, Holy Spirit, we're glad you're in this place.

Thank you for who you are.

It's in your beautiful name I pray, Lord.

Amen.

And you can be seated.

Good morning.

How are we?

It's so great to be with you.

Hey, if you have your Bibles, would you go ahead and grab those?

Go to Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Um, Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

We're gonna continue in our study of Acts.

If you don't have your Bible, you can just relax as the the text I'm gonna be reading from is gonna be here on the screen.

Our story today has torture, angels, humor, prison chains, you name it.

And I want I want all of us to be looking at the same thing together.

We're gonna be doing that um in Acts chapter 12, verses 1 through 19.

Acts 12:1–19

Now, um, last thing we saw in our in our study was we saw the the sprouting or the beginnings of the first international church.

Okay, Antioch was the first international church, and what you saw in the last chapter is an unlikely people, Gentiles, doing an unlikely thing, worshiping Jesus.

That was unexpected.

As a matter of fact, that's what chapters 10 and 11 were all about.

The gospel moving to unexpected places, it's moving out, not just to the rule followers, the gospel is moving out to the rule breakers as well.

So let me just give you the summary of what's happening underneath chapters 10 and 11, what we just read.

Here's what's happening.

So if I loaded us up on charter buses and just to drive us from here to California, the westernmost part of California, and I had us all on a beach and I had us all pick up a rock and say, all right, guys, listen, let's see who can hit Japan from here.

How would that go?

Okay, we would all fall short of Japan.

And listen, it wouldn't matter which one of us has a baseball background.

It wouldn't matter which one of us works out or has good form.

In that same way, in that same way, all have fallen short and sinned.

Okay, religious background or not, all means all.

Okay, some of you have been in trouble since you were in kindergarten.

Others of you, okay, you read the terms and conditions before you press I agree.

And besides the fact that these people typically marry each other, okay, they both fall short.

Okay, no one is hitting Japan.

They both fall short.

His grace is a gift that's needed on both sides.

So that's what's happening in chapters 10 and 11.

The gospel is going to both sides, it's spreading now like wildfire.

And we're gonna drop in in chapter 12 and look here at this story.

Let me this is verses 1 through 19.

It says this.

About that time, Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.

He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.

And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

This was during the days of unleavened bread.

And when he had seized them, seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to the four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.

So Peter was kept in prison.

But earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Now, when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping in between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door regarding the prison.

And behold, the angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, Get up quickly.

And the chains fell off his hands.

And the angel said to him, Dress yourself and put on your sandals.

And he did so.

And he said to him, Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.

And he went out and followed him.

And he did not know that he was what was being done by the angel was real, and but thought what he was seeing was a vision.

And when they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city.

And it opened for them on its own accord.

And they went out and went along the street, and immediately the angel left him.

When Peter came to himself, he said, Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.

When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.

And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.

Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy, she did not open the gate, but ran inside and reported that Peter was standing at the gate.

They said to her, You're out of your mind.

But she kept insisting that insisting that it was so.

And she and they kept saying, It is his angel.

But Peter continued knocking.

And when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.

But motioning them with his hand to be silent, he described to them that the Lord had brought to him brought him out of prison and said, Tell these things to James and the brothers.

And he departed and went to another place.

And when he and when that and when that and when they came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what he had done, what had become of Peter.

And after Herod searched him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death.

Then he went down to Judea to Cess to Caesarea and spent time there.

It's the word of the Lord.

Now, um before this, um, whenever Jesus preached, he was typically preaching to people who couldn't read and couldn't write.

Okay, the vast majority of Jesus' audience was illiterate.

Therefore, he had to teach in stories, okay?

So he told these things called parables.

These are these small stories with the gigantic truth.

And in one of the stories, he talks about the kingdom of God, and he has this image right here in their head.

I have a picture here for you.

He has this hidden this image right here come up in their mind describing the kingdom of God as this is like a mustard seed.

The smallest of seeds is gonna sprout to be the biggest of trees.

And what we've seen so far in the book of Acts is that this tree is not only sprouting, but it's actually growing.

The tree is growing.

We've seen the day of Pentecost.

Thousands of people came to faith.

We've seen Samaritans come to faith, we've seen the Ethiopian eunuch come to faith, we've seen Saul of Tarsus come to faith, and we saw Cornelius come to faith, and then we see an international church, Antioch come to faith.

The tree is sprouting.

And listen, as we keep reading this, and as we keep seeing more of these, okay, as we keep seeing more of these, a part of you should be saying yourself, I want in on this.

Okay, I want in on this.

Listen, nobody was saved to sit.

Nobody was saved to sit.

Listen, I've been a bench warmer.

It's no fun.

Okay, my high school sports highlights look like what you're doing right now.

Just a lot of and the worst part of it was after the game, my teammates are gloriously sweaty, and my jerseys still smell like detergent.

I still smell like the cologne from four hours ago.

And my mindset was coach, use me, use me, use me in that same way.

What should be developing in you is that Isaiah 6, send me.

And what this passage answers, it answers the question here.

Listen, what are we to expect as God's kingdom moves forward?

What are we to expect as God's kingdom moves forward?

Well, number one, we can expect resistance from the enemy.

We can expect resistance from the enemy.

Listen, spiritual growth invites spiritual warfare.

Spiritual growth invites spiritual warfare.

This is for the individual as well as the church as a collective.

So think of the young lady here in Sugarland who's been a Christian for a long time, but just going through the motion.

So think of the young lady here, the 23-year-old that goes, you know what?

No.

Instead of obsessing about who I'm gonna marry or where I'm gonna live or what's God's will for what I'm gonna work, God's will for my life is my sanctification.

I'm gonna invest in that.

I'm gonna invest in spiritual things.

I'm gonna go wholeheartedly.

I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna fast, I'm gonna dive directly into worship, I'm gonna serve my church, I'm gonna be generous, I'm gonna take the spiritual things seriously.

Think of her.

On the other hand, think of the church that wants to not go instead of being attractional, they want to be biblical.

They want to say, listen, let's put the lasers and helicopters away, let's stop giving out beers and massages.

Okay, let's just focus on what the Bible says.

Let's pray biblically, let's preach biblically, and let's see what the Holy Spirit does.

Do you know what these two have in common?

Okay, they impress us, they please the Father, but they set off all sorts of alarms in hell.

They're setting off all sorts of alarms, and what you just read here, what's happening here in this passage is the natural pendulum swing of the church.

Okay, expansion and opposition, okay?

Growth, okay, uh, shrinkage, advance, retreat.

Look again at these first four for first four goodness.

One through four again.

This is what happens when I'm excited.

So about that time.

About that time.

When is this time?

This is during the winning streak.

About that time, Herod the king laid violent hands.

Okay, rest assured, this was public and brutal persecution of believers.

He laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.

He killed James, the brother of John, with a sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

This was during the days of unleavened bread.

And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.

Now, verse 2 tells us that James was killed, and this is a beheading.

One, killed with the sword.

This is a beheading, and two, this is a huge morph for the church.

They're sitting around thinking, they're killing apostles now.

At first, you have Paul dragging people out of their houses, just regular congregants like you and I, and then it's deacons.

Now they're killing apostles.

Okay, this is a scary morph.

And then verse three, he goes one step further, and it's Peter's turn.

Okay, Peter just finished leading a Gentile family to faith, and what that causes is that causes the entire church to change their mind about what salvation actually looked like.

God is moving out to the rule breakers as well.

And then he gets arrested and trial awaits.

Why?

Because spiritual growth invites spiritual warfare.

Now, why do I call it spiritual warfare?

This is this is not um uh some people, uh as I say spiritual warfare, you might be thinking, but that's a little bit dramatic, okay?

Matter of fact, in these first four verses, you don't see anything about demons or angels directly in there.

But what does the church do in verse 5?

Look at verse 5, you just need your Bible again.

What does the church do?

What's the response?

Is there a response saying, let's go to the let's go to the courthouse and get Herod impeached?

No, it's let's go to our knees and go to our God.

Because they understand their battle is not Ephesians 6.12.

They do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

They understand Herod's a puppet.

Sometimes there are supernatural forces that hide behind regular opposition.

Supernatural forces hiding behind regular conflict.

And this is actually on display in a book of your Bible called Ezra.

Ezra documents the story of God's people coming back into the promised land.

So if you know your Bible, you know that the the God's people come to the Promised Land and they disobey so much, the land vomits them back out.

They vomit get vomited out.

But after 70 years, they come back after exile and they're building the temple.

A time of renewal, let's go.

Good things, spiritual growth, good things.

And what happens is they get pushback, political pushback.

And it from just the natural view, if you're just looking at it naturally, you would think these are just some sassy politicians who are hating on us.

That's what's happening.

They're just hating on the work of God.

But afterwards, a prophet comes in, his name is Zechariah.

Okay?

And he he he's ministering to the two leaders of Israel, which is Joshua the high priest and a man named Zerubbabel.

And he um he he documents in this is Zechariah chapter 3, he says um that he has a vision of Jeshua the high priest doing his job, ministering before the Lord, representing the people, ministering before the Lord, and he's being accused.

Zechariah 3 · chapter mention

But in his vision, he's not being accused by politicians, he's being accused by Satan himself.

He's being accused by Satan himself.

They think the attack is natural, but it's actually supernatural and satanic, and that's what's happening here now.

I I like my food already dead when I see it.

Okay?

What that means is I don't I don't hunt.

Okay, I don't, I've never touched, I'm from Africa, I've never touched a spear in my life.

Okay, but even I know you don't wear a neon to go hunting.

What do you wear?

Camouflage.

Sometimes the enemy camouflages himself in the pushback against the saints, and that's what's happening here.

As you grow, as we grow, we should expect resistance from the enemy.

And I'm not telling you this to make you afraid, but I'm telling you this to make you aware.

So I'm gonna get on the exit ramp of this point by saying just two things.

Number one, if you are currently feeling that resistance, okay, you heard LJ just talking.

If you are currently feeling that resistance, okay, let me just that may be a good sign.

Okay, we're in the West, and I remember listening to podcasts years ago talk about how um um the invention of aspirin has changed our relationship to pain.

So when you feel pain, we go, oh, pain is bad.

Get it away from me.

Okay, that's why it's as coached, that's a thing that way.

But okay, in this case, it may be a sign.

I don't crave pain, I'm not a glutton for punishment.

I like happiness.

Think about that when you're Christmas shopping, Leo likes happiness.

But the same way a person that has dumbbells in the gym, when he's going like this, that that's the like resistance may be good.

So whether it's family members insisting you calm it down a little bit with this whole Jesus thing, or your unwillingness to compromise your faith at work is getting you into a little bit of trouble, or it's even just weird things happening since you decided to start reading your Bible.

No matter what it is, I want to encourage you by telling you this Jesus isn't up there pacing, he's not up there frazzled, he's sitting.

In fact, in John 15, he puts it like this if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember that the word that I said, the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

This is the pushback, the holy pushback that we get.

Okay, so um I one of the biggest compliments ever.

So in April of 2019, I I came here to preach.

I was not a on staff, but I came here to preach.

And what happened was if you were here, uh, you remember his first service over there, as I'm preaching, I go, oh no, I'm about to faint.

I'm about to faint.

I never get sick.

When I do get sick, the world's ending, right?

My body started shutting down mid-sermon.

Okay, and I I stopped preaching.

I asked somebody to bring up a chair, and I finished the rest of my sermon sitting down, and I was mortified.

That was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.

And I'm going, This is over.

They're probably not gonna call me back.

This is very embarrassed.

And I remember going to an office, there's a woman here.

I don't know who you are, maybe you're still here, but there's a woman who grabbed me by the hand like I was a child, grabbed me by the hand, and she sat me down and she gave me food and it watched me eat it in front of her.

And and as I was trying to rationalize, going, Yeah, you know, I just haven't been sleeping very well, stressed out.

I was trying to rationalize it, and she heard me goes, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

And then she hit me with the you know, every time you come, okay, people look at how encouraging you are, how enthusiastic you are about the Bible, and then how young you are.

It is so encouraging.

This may be a spiritual attack.

Okay.

In a weird way, her telling me that my preaching might incite forces of darkness was so sweet.

I know because I know resistance is a good sign, not a bad one.

Now, on the other hand, if you've never felt any resistance to your faith, could it be that when you talk about God, you put makeup on him and present him on your own image?

You present Jesus as just like a cherry on top of a good life, or could it be that you don't live differently at all?

Like if Christianity became illegal tomorrow and they're giving out cash prizes for turning in Christians, no one would suspect you again.

I don't crave suffering, I don't crave punishment.

Persecute, that's not me.

I remember in college, this was a big thing.

I had a roommate that was like, I want this house to be a place where the where the enemy attacks consistently, I want to see exorcism, I want to do see things in this house.

And I was like, I'm good, I'm cool.

I had too much homework for that.

I thanks.

So I'm not a glutton for punishment, but I will say this.

Now consider just the words that Paul uses to describe the Christian faith.

I press on towards the goal, I fight the good fight of faith.

I labor in prayer.

None of those words denote lazy river as much as I love lazy river, but those are language of resistance and pushing against resistance.

That's the norm, not not ease.

Ease is not the norm.

If you've been a Christian for a long time and felt no resistance, could it be that you are not a threat to the kingdom of darkness at all?

Again, as you grow as we go, what should we expect?

We should expect resistance from the enemy.

Furthermore, we also should expect earnest prayer to be required and answered.

Earnest prayer to be required and answered.

Look at verses 6 through 10.

Now, when Herod was about to break him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, Get up quickly.

And the chains fell off his hands.

And the angel said to him, Dress yourself and put on your sandals.

And he did so.

And he said to him, Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.

And he went out and followed him.

He did not know what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city.

It opened for them on its own accord, and they went out.

It went out and went along the street, and immediately the angel left him.

What just happened?

Okay, Peter is in prison and he's Asleep next to two guards.

He's in between two guards.

He's probably chained up with both guards.

He's chained up between both guards and he gets slapped awake by an angel.

An angel shows up in his cell.

He gets slapped awake by an angel.

Okay?

I had a joke I was gonna say, but I'm gonna I'm about to say I wake up to an angel every morning.

So babe.

It is what it is.

Um and the angel leads him out, okay?

He's getting led out, and now Peter in his brain thinks he's dreaming, which would make sense.

Acts chapter 10, he's on the rooftop of the house and he's having a vision, and God teaches him about salvation through the vision, okay?

Acts 10 · chapter mention

So he thinks this is one of those visions, and he's going along with it, but he doesn't realize, no, no, no, this feels surreal, but this is a miracle in motion.

This is happening.

You're alive, you're awake.

It's a miracle in motion.

And they pass by one guard, pass by two guards, they the gate opens up and they walk through the gate, and then when they get to the street, the angel leaves them, and then only in verse 11 does it says this when Peter came to himself, he said, Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.

Now, this is an incredible passage.

And what we do typically is we go, Oh my goodness, I want to know about angels.

Rightfully so.

This is unbelievable.

Okay, we're tempted in this story to view the angel as the hero, okay, because angels are awesome.

Angels were created by God.

Angels are extremely powerful.

Angels do protect people.

Angels carry out God's plan.

Angels are not omnipresent, but there are millions and millions and millions and millions of them.

There are different types of angels, there are a hierarchy of angels.

Angels are amazing and they glorify God.

You know what else about angels?

They're not the point of the story at all.

Look at how Luke prefaces it in verse 5 again.

What is he?

How does he preface the story in verse 5?

He says this.

Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

What he's doing here, he's saying, what you're about to see is an answer to prayer.

In fact, one scholar puts it this way Um, an angel fetched Peter out of jail, but earnest prayer fetched the angel out of heaven.

Listen, God uses the prayers of the saints in a mysterious way.

God uses the prayers of the saints to move the mountains of history.

So here they use the only available weapon of prayer.

And listen, this is astonishing.

The most astonishing piece of this is not to me, it's not the angel, but it's them praying when God's already said no before.

They're praying fervently, earnestly, when they've already heard God say no.

James was in this same situation not long before this, and I guarantee they're praying very hard for their apostle James.

They're praying very, very hard.

And yet James gets beheaded.

And here they are, continuing to pray.

Can your faith survive a no from God?

How much do you trust God after he says no?

Like, would you would you still go to him fervently in prayer after he says no, or would you retreat and trust in something else?

And if you continue to pray after God, let's say God says no right here, and if you continue to pray after that, what's your posture in prayer?

What is it?

Is it hey God, hey, listen, you owe me.

I got like four no's back there.

You owe me now.

What's up?

Or is it God?

I'm angry, I'm confused, I don't know what to do.

But you're still good, so I'm still here.

I know that I would want exactly what you're giving me if I knew what you knew.

What's your posture when after he says no?

The story in Daniel 3.

Shadrach, Meshach, and I didn't grow up in church.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

I didn't, I didn't, I didn't.

Oh man.

Again, spiritual warfare.

Like that guy is just Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.

Okay, it's turned into a children's story for us, but it's very relevant on this topic.

Because their feet is held to the fire as well.

What do they say?

They say, listen, I believe God can save us.

In fact, I believe God will save us.

But even if he doesn't, even if he doesn't, even if he doesn't, he's still good.

Even if he doesn't, he's still worthy.

Even if he doesn't, I'll be back here to ask him for something else.

I'm dependent on him, even if he doesn't.

And that's their mindset.

Do you have this mindset when you walk into prayer?

Can you grieve a shut door and yet still trust him?

They kept praying.

And we can learn from their praying.

Okay.

Earnest prayer was made to God by the church.

So they were praying, first off, to God.

Okay?

That's what prayer is.

It's prayer is to God.

Okay, but prayer is by faith through Jesus to God.

By faith means there's a trust.

Okay, prayer is not fueled by positive thinking, self-affirmation, not emptying your mind or catching a feeling.

Okay, you are thinking of a person because you are talking to a person.

Like right now, you are exhibiting faith in that chair you're sitting in.

Okay, you are putting your weight there in that same way.

You have to go into prayer, trusting that one God exists, hears you, and loves you.

So prayer is by faith.

And also prayer is through Jesus.

Okay, one of the ways that you can summarize, summarize the gospel in one word is the word access.

Christ died, and now we we have his access to God.

He gave us his access to God.

Okay, if whenever Jesus was being um crucified, this is only about a football field or so away from the temple.

Whenever Jesus is on the cross, this is pretty close to where the temple was at.

And back then the temple is where the gathering of the saints took place.

And the temple had three different levels.

Okay, you had the outer courts where the commoners, where people could could be out and sacrifice and hear teaching.

And then you had this place called the holy place where people were not allowed.

Only priests were allowed.

And then past that, you have the most holy place.

Okay, only the one person was allowed there at one time per year, the high priest.

And that place was separated from everything else with a very, very thick curtain.

A very thick curtain.

Now, when Jesus was on the cross dying, bizarre things happened.

First off, he screams, rocks cracked, Romans, a couple Romans regretted what they had just done.

And one of the weird things that happened is the veil between the most holy place and everything else just rips apart.

It rips open.

Okay?

And that right there is showing us that the access to the presence of God was not just reserved for religious superstars.

It's for us.

It's for he bought that for us.

It's for us as well.

And what that means is this okay?

Prayer is not an obligation, it's a royal invitation.

You and I are beggars, hopeless and helpless beggars.

And we're invited into the palace of the king, and we get to wear Jesus' robe.

And whenever we say in Jesus' name, that's like our ID card to for the access points all the way to the throne.

Okay, and we get to get to this throne, not as an imposter, but as a son.

So prayer is by faith through Christ, and it's to God.

People say all the time, and prayer is powerful.

My response is kinda God is powerful.

God is powerful.

You are talking to the uncreated creator, the one that's giving you strength to think right now.

Okay, it may seem obvious, but often our prayers are too weak because we're not consciously coming into his presence of our great and holy God, offering our requests to him.

We're thinking about something else.

But his prayers were to God.

Also, their prayers were together.

They're together.

Okay, prayers be made by the church.

Do you have people to pray with you and pray for you?

That is incredibly helpful for your spiritual life.

Do you have people that will pray with you and for you?

The Bible tells us, hey, do not neglect the gathering of the saints.

People hear that and they think, the Bible is telling me to set my alarm on Saturday night to wake up early on Sunday.

There's more to that.

It's not about coming to a building, it's about it's about belonging to a people.

Belonging to a people, therefore, do you have this?

Do you have this?

Having people to pray with and that are committed to praying for you is incredibly important.

In fact, I credit my ministry success, whatever that means, to God answering the people, the people who have prayed for me throughout the years.

And listen, for those who need prayer, for those who actually need to be prayed for, some of us need to cut out of the habit of using prayer request time for everyone except you.

Okay, my great uncle, cousins, my best friends, my dog's cousins over there, he needs help.

Can we pray for him?

Yeah, that's great, that's beautiful and good.

But gosh, be vulnerable.

Say, hey, I'm sure I had a bad week.

Pray for me.

I need prayer.

Do you have this?

Okay, do you have people to pray with you and pray for you?

So praying to God, they're praying together, and they're praying earnestly.

Earnestly.

The word here is um ectanis.

Okay, so I have a picture here.

Um, who is this uh gentleman right here?

Okay, who is this gentleman?

Say it a little bit louder.

This is stretch armstrong, okay.

This is stretch, pardon the speedo, but this is stretch armstrong.

This is the picture that you should have in your mind with this word earnestly right here, okay?

Because this was funny because you could stretch him out, but there was a point where you couldn't go any further, you couldn't go past a certain point.

And that's it, that's the image you should have here in your mind.

The connotation here for the word earnestly is the word that, hey, a muscle being stretched to its limit.

So think of somebody who can't touch their toes.

You're looking at them.

So when I try to touch my toes, there is a point where it's going good and then my hamstrings go, uh-uh, nope, we're good.

Not a gymnast.

Calm down.

Okay, and I start shaking because I'm at my limit.

That's the thought you have right here.

Um, whenever they said they were praying earnestly.

This means that they were praying eagerly or fervently or constantly.

They were stretching themselves out here in prayer.

This is the same word that's used, talking about Jesus Christ the night before the cross.

He's in the garden praying earnestly.

He's stretching himself out.

This is passionate prayer.

Now, you're probably not gonna pray like this over your food at lunch.

Okay?

It's not supernatural, right?

That's not very natural.

But there are times in your life that requires this.

In fact, is there a time right now or an area of your life right now that requires this type of prayer from you?

And yet you're being casual.

Like, oh, you know what, God, do whatever you're gonna do.

I'll just adjust, I'll adjust accordingly.

Are you being invited into this in any area of your life?

No, think of your your spouse or your kids or your family members or your your addictions or your habits.

Are you being invited into this type of intimacy anywhere in your life?

Whatever is stopping you, push through that because this type of prayer will be required and answered as the kingdom moves forward.

Lastly, what should we expect as the kingdom expands?

Okay, we should expect a God that will not be stopped.

We should expect a God that will not be stopped.

Okay, we'll have more on this on the on the on the next next time we are together, um, studying here through the book of Acts.

But this God would not be stopped.

So, this man right here, um Herod, that we're reading about, um, this is not Herod from the Christmas story.

That's Herod the Great, that's his grandfather.

And this is not the Herod that beheaded John the Baptist, that's his uncle.

Okay?

Horrible family line.

Okay, these are the Herods.

Okay?

Okay, it's a reality TV show um waiting to happen, it are the Herods.

And what he does is he is just following what the people will applaud.

Okay, we used to have all sorts of games in youth ministry where you have to follow the applause.

We used to play like that, Herod leads like that.

Follow the applause.

Okay, me killing James, please the Jews.

Okay, I'll arrest Peter too.

Okay, he's following the applause.

Okay, he is a people pleaser.

And later, when Peter is rescued from jail at the last minute, look at verses 18 and 19.

When they came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.

And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death.

Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

He took the soldiers that were responsible for Peter and had them tortured.

Okay, he had them probably tortured and they had them killed because back there in Roman law, if you're uh you're supposed to guard this prisoner and the prisoner gets away, now you get what he deserved.

Now it's their their punishment is now transferred you.

And in this case, excuse me, it was it was death.

And he runs off to Caesarea probably to save face, faith, save face.

This entire story is showing us not even the Roman authority could prevent the church from growing.

God will not be stopped doing his work, stopped in his work here in the church.

And this is true even today.

It's become very vogue, very attractive, very cool, very normal to just rag on Jesus' bride.

The world is very suspicious about the Jesus, uh, about Jesus' bride, and people here are uh just in America are very, very um, even churchmen are very angry at the church.

I have dear friends who have left the church, but listen to what what Paul says in Ephesians 3:10.

Ephesians 3:10

He says this through the church, the manifold wisdom of God, okay, might uh through the church, that the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be might might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places.

So, like a degree on your doctor's wall, okay, showing to display his wisdom, his competence.

The church is a deplay this display of his manifold wisdom through the entire universe.

And this story here is showing you that listen, no power of hell and no scheme of man is going to stop what God is doing in the church.

God is committed to the church and her growth.

And my final question for you is this man if why not commit wholeheartedly to what God commits Himself to?

Who are you to treat casual the things that the God treats as so unbelievably important?

And if you're here and you don't know him at all, why not give yourself under the authority of a better king?

Of a better king.

Okay?

Okay, Herod is how the world thinks.

Jesus is a better king.

Herod is chasing applause while Jesus is rightfully chasing the glory he deserves.

Herod has people flatter him because his throne means wrath.

Jesus invites us into the throne of grace.

Herod says, You made a mistake, you pay the price of death.

Jesus says, You've made a lot of mistakes.

I'll pay your price so you can live.

Why not put yourself underneath this kingship?

What do we expect from God's kingdom as it moves forward?

Resistance from the enemy, earnest prayers to be required and answered, and a God that will not be stopped.

May we be a people individually and collectively that are consistently thinking about that tree.

It started off as a seed, you saw that picture, it started off as a small seed.

May we be people who are obsessed with thinking about that tree and how it's growing and how might you have a glorious part in that.

Let me pray.

Thank you for this passage and your miraculous power to save.

Even now, you're saving people out of out of cells and chains are coming off.

God, thank you for for preserving these truths that we can feast on them so we can know you.

I pray these things in your name.

Amen.

Now, as is our our our ritual, um, we preach the Bible and we give you some soul space to think about it.

So here are some questions here for your mental worship.

You can look at one and just venture off with the Holy Spirit and meditate on one in these next 90 seconds, or you can take a picture of it and just chew on these all week.

But I have these here so the Holy Spirit um can do his work in you after the hearing of his word.

So I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna step back and have you um contemplate these things.

God, thank you for the fact that you bear witness to our souls that we are sons.

No longer slaves, but sons.

So if anything here was um convicting, let it not be, bring shame.

God, would you please just envelop people with invitation?

This real invitation to know you and enjoy you again.

We thank you for preserving these scriptures and having us feast on it.

I pray for these people, these men and women who seek to know you.

And I pray these things in your name.

Amen.

As always, church, um, it is so good to be with you.

Um, my name is Leo.

I'm one of the uh I'm one of the pastors here, I'm the teaching pastor here.

Um, if you're new here, welcome.

We have a number here on the screen.

We'd love for you to text that gives us a record of your visit.

Just text welcome here to this number.

And after our service, we're gonna have some of our pastors here down front ready to meet with you, ready to meet you or process anything you heard, or just ready to pray for you.

Um, and also I'll say this so LJ will actually be here at the mission center after uh after our service.

So he'll be, if you leave the sanctuary to hang out right, he'll be right there, ready to answer any questions about his ministry, his movement that he has going on as well.

So, and also if this is a day that you worship through through giving, we have some boxes around the room that you can do so, or you can do so online as well.

Now, we always want to keep you alerted to what's happening at the life of our church.

Would you please uh point your uh attention to the screen?

Here's what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church.

Did you know that we have a church app?

You can use it to get involved, register for events, listen to sermons, podcasts, and more.

Find it wherever apps are available for your devices.

Did you know we have adult Bible studies during both our Sunday services?

They're organized around different demographic groups and topics.

Currently, they are studying the book of Ruth, 1, 2nd, 3rd John, 2 Timothy, Jesus as our King, and Lamentations.

To connect to the study that's right for you, contact Blake at gramparkway.org.

We're making big plans for our upcoming Family Christmas event on December 2nd from 9.30 through 11:30 a.m.

This year we're calling it our Family Christmas Fest and we'll be advertising it as an outreach to our community.

There will be many fun activities for the whole family, including our live nativity, face painting, train rides, balloon twisters, bounce houses, crafts, games, and food trucks for purchasing food and drinks.

This will be a free event, but if you'd like to sponsor one of the activities as a blessing to our community, there's a place to do so on the registration form.

All families who pre-register will receive a collectible Christmas tree ornament at the event.

Finally, for all adults 60 and over, join us for lunch and to connect on December 7th.

At Grand Parkway, we believe you are the most experienced people that you're still in the game.

Come and invite friends to the varsity.

It's the last one of the year.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Would you stand and like to end with a spoken blessing?

Would you reach your hands out?

Children of God, we have a better king.

So even if we face resistance or shut doors, we know that he is unstoppable and he wins.

So go out now and enjoy him.

I declare these things in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.