Earnest Prayer and Persecution

Father, we are grateful today for Jesus. We're grateful that

you're pulling everything together for our good. Help us to

grow in the Word of God in Jesus in his name, Amen.

Corey ten Boone once wrote, in fact, she asked the question.

When she did this, she said, is prayer your steering

will or your spare tire? Martin Luther King put it

like this, To be a Christian without prayer is no

more possible than to be alive without breathing.

So do we need prayer as Christians?

It is so essential that without prayer we fail in

the Christian life. Friend, Prayer is the life and breath

of the soul. The early Apostolic Church was alive because

of prayer, and because the Apostolic Church prayed, God worked

miracles in the night, miracles in the day. The church grew,

souls were saved, character was transformed because of prayer. When

faced with severe difficulties, the early Christians prayed when challenged

by say they prayed when their leaders died at the

edge of the sword. They prayed for more faith, more life,

better leaders, so that the legacy of sacrifice would be

met by greater sacrifice to the glory of God. Their

early Apostolic church was full of people that prayed fervently,

and the final church that will usher in the second

coming of Christ will be a praying church and nothing less. Friends,

God's people who yearn for the coming of Jesus will

get on their knees and pray for Christ to return.

They will work for it, they will die for it,

they will sacrifice for it, they will go for broke

at the time of the end. Now, I was praying

last night, and as I was praying, I was praying

long as I felt pressed to my cell phone has

my Bible, and a message came through it, this flash

of the news. We are at war today. The world

is changing as we speak. The least is being rewritten.

What we knew and what will be is intention, and

it will not be the same, And lives will be

lost and lives will be saved. And only God knows

the calculus. If you think you can coast along and

your life, you're wrong. We are living at the time

of the end, and it is time for us to

get our agendas out of our life and to focus

on the needs of others and the needs of God's

work and.

Pray like we have never prayed.

In the Book of Acts, we encounter a most unusual

story of a man of God in trouble with the law,

and the people of God who prayed for him to

get out of trouble. It is the story of Peter

and his nemesis, King Herod, who tried to take both

Peter and the Church down by persecution. It is the

story of a deadly plot against Peter and the church's

prayer plot to overcome the deadly plot. Look at Acts twelve,

verse one. Let's begin the story about that time Herod,

the king laid violent hands upon some who belonged to

the church. In other words, he beat him up. The

look at verse two. He killed James, the brother of John,

with the sword. That's real violent. And when he saw

that it pleased the Jews. He's a politician, he proceeded

to rest Peter. Also, this was during the days of

unloved Bread. That's the time shortly after Passover when Jesus died.

It's similar. What the church is going through is mirroring

what Jesus went through. Now, so much is said in

these verses. The time spoken of in verse two one,

excuse me, is the time when Christians begin to be

called for the first time. In Antioch, Christians that the

name has become Christian. Acts eleven twenty six. Paul was

there at Antioch when he got hard. In Judea, the

Church had brought him back. There was a famine the land,

prophesied by Agabus, the prophet whose name means low. Now,

so the prophet Agabus predicted there would be a famine,

and his name means locus. I guess people listen to him.

A famine presupposes trouble, that locals will come in eat

everything up, both temporal and spiritual in the context, and

so an offering was taken up at Antioch. A well

to do, healthy church began to think about a church

in need, and they took up an offering to help

the Christians.

In Judea.

In verse one, the Bible says that King Herod laid

hands on some of the Christians. The Greek text says

he laid hands on them to treat them badly or

to harm them literally, to bad them up, to bad

them up, to whack them up, to inflict evil upon them.

Thus his plot is clear in the context. He was

bent on hurting the church violently wounding the church. In

verse two, Herod had James, the brother of John, killed

with the sword. Most likely he'd be aheaded him, just

like another Herod had beheaded John the Baptist. We get

our word annihilate from the Greek word used to kill. Here,

he annihilated James, didn't just cut him cut him up.

And like any politician who is no moral sinner, Herod

wanted to kill Peter also to please the crowds. That

is exactly what will happen in end time events. Forces

will be marshaled against God's people to kill them because

it pleases the crowds. Peter was a Jew. He didn't

care about Peter as a brother of his nation. Evil

operates that way. It's not concerned with others, doesn't care

about the individual, only the collective, the crowds. What the

masses say, we go with the vote. Kill him now.

Luca is careful to say that this happened during the

days of the Feast of Unloving Bread. It was at

the tail end of the Passover. The anniversary of Jesus'

death was to be met with more death. The Feast

of Unloving Bread lasted for seven days, and the church

was not feasting. They were fasting and praying, begging God

to save the life of Peter Verses four and five.

And when he had seized him Peter, he put him

in prison. He delivered him to the four squads of

soldiers to guard him, intending after the passover to bring

him out to the people verse five. So Peter was

kept in prison, and I like this, but earnest prayer

for him was made to God by the church. I mean,

we got to underline that verse and underline it many times,

earnest prayer. The plot was clear in Herod's mind. When

the feast should end, he the king, would finish the

festivities by having Peter whacked to death. And when the

feat should end, he would look good and Peter be dead,

and so on. He would let the mob have Peter

like Pilot did Jesus, and he would put Peter to

death in front of them.

All.

The text says Peter was kept in prison, and that's

how the plot goes until the word but appears in

the text in verse five. But earnest prayer for him

was made by the church. Oh what that every church

with it. Our church was in the business of earnest

prayer when we face challenges in trouble. I don't know

about you, but from me today, the service has been longer.

I don't want to make it too long, but I'm

telling you. When Sister Marilyn prayed that prayer today, she

didn't know that. When I came up here, I needed

the very prayer she prayed. How many of you felt

the same. And it went longer for my good.

It menaced. And then think of what she's been going through.

She brought it to God, and we knelt and praise

God for earnest prayer. Not fake praying, but earnest prayer.

The plot was clear in Harry's mind. Killed Peter, Please

the crowds now. The word ernest is the keyword here

in verse five and describing the sincere prayers of the saints.

The Greek can mean fervent, intense, and eager kind of prayer.

The King James version says prayer without ceasing. So as

the nation was feasting, the church was fasting and praying

that God would spare Peter from Herod. That's a good

thing to do in trouble. This persecution plotted by King

Herod was meant to end the faith enterprise that was

the early Apostolic church. He would take it out with

a blow Peter. The rock would be smashed to pieces.

No more church. So why did the persecution come? Why

did God allow this?

Friends?

It came because things were going too good for Christians

at that time. There was danger of a false security,

of just being happy with success, of settling down and

doing nothing, and God allowed persecution to come. I don't

know about you, but boy, that could happen to us.

I mean, this year we're doing all right, it looks,

but next year we could all be running for our lives.

We could be an end time events predicted of the revelation,

our lives, our faith could be on the line. The

church was on the line. The church was growing like hotcakes,

but it was expanding outward to save the lost. And

yet there was a danger of settling down and becoming

laid a sea, And like in its complacency, it came.

Persecution came because the apostles and preachers were servants of

God who preached the word of God, who did not

compromise the God. Now I have found in my life

that when I get into the word of God, I

commit myself to personal obedience and surrender to Jesus, and

I do my best with the power of God not mine,

to proclaim God's word. All gahinnah breaks out against me.

Now that's the Greek word for you know, it breaks

out against me. It breaks out against you. And God

is in the business of saving his people from persecution.

So it looked like, after the death of James Peter

would be next in line. The kind of Christianity that

teaches people that they don't need to give anything up

to be a Christian is an abuse of the faith. Friends,

when God calls a man or woman to follow him,

he calls that person come and die. The kind of

Christianity that teaches prosperity without sacrifice is false Christianity. He

rejects the true virtue, the humility, the commitment of the

Apostolic Church. Friends, God calls for a one hundred percent

commitment from his people, nothing less. And when Jesus calls

his people, he bids that man or woman come and

die to self, and if necessary, he calls them to

laid down their life for the glory of God. Now

there's only one thing harder than laying down your life

or the glory of God. It's living for God every

day of your life with consistency and commitments. People who

will not live for God with total commitment, will not

be committed have to die for Him if they are

called to do it. So the test comes every day,

and you know in your heart whether or not you

pass the test by being committed to Jesus when no

one else is looking. Look, when I'm tempted, when I'm

alone to think thoughts that are harsh, or to go

through my scripting and my memory of what's happened here

to me or whatever, friends, I have to get out

and pray to realign my thinking to be subject to

the Holy Spirit. Is anybody else in that group? Here

we must every thought must be brought into captivity. Prayer

meeting is not optional for the Christian. I don't know

about you. We have a worship service on Sabbath. We

come in the middle of the week. I need to

be with Christians who are praying.

Now.

We have a Monday night prayer group that gets on

the phone Mervin. One of these days we had to

post it, and Debbie, you've got to lead out in

that with Mervin. Debbie's right here. Debbie, Raise your hand.

Yeah.

Debbie prays a long list for people in our study.

On Monday night, which is a little prayer meeting online,

we have another prayer meeting led by doctor Schaeffer who

coordinates speakers.

Doctor Schaeffer, raise your hand, Raise your hand. Hi.

Okay, she's humble, but that when people come in their

online we pray, good stuff happens. And we have one John,

I think on Tuesday nights where a group meets through

zoom Raise your hand, John, and they pray and they

study the Bible. So there's opportunities here to attend something

again to prayer meeting. We need the gathering that is

prayer meeting. Give me a second here. John ten ten

is the exact center of the Gospel of John, and

Jesus says, the thief comes only to steal and kill

and destroy. But I came that they may have life.

And what kind of life does Christ want us to have?

In that verse? Life?

Bad life, a kind life, abundant life. Friends, Jesus wants

you to have a great life, but you don't yet

to spend time with Him and prayer and fellowship to

get the great abundant life. When people gather in the

week to pray. They recognize that they are dead in

themselves and they need God's life in their life. They

need more than just their efforts to get through the week.

Steps to Christ page eleven, actually page ninety eight, Chapter eleven.

Unceasing prayer is the unbroken union of the soul with God,

so that life from God flows into our life, and

from our life, purity and holiness flow back to God.

Awesome benefit of prayer. If you're trying to overcome in

life and you've opted out of a fervent prayer life,

you're failing. Testimonies of Church, Volume nine, page one twenty six.

In the Visions of the Night, representations passed before me

have a great reformatory movement of God's among God's people.

Many were praising God, the sick were healed, and other

miracles were wrought. A spirit of intercession was seen even

as was manifested for the great day of Pentecost. She

goes on to write, hundreds and thousands were seen visiting

families and opening before them the Word of God. Hearts

were convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit, and

a spirit of genuine conversion was manifest. When people gather,

people pray, lives are transformed Steps to Christ, Page ninety eight.

Seek every opportunity to go where prayers want to be made.

Now, she says, seek what what does she say?

Every opportunity to go where prayers want to be made.

Those who are really seeking for communion with God will

be seen in the prayer meeting, faithful to their duty

and earnest and anxious to reap all the benefits they

can gain, not with agendas, not trying to prove something,

not trying to show off how smart they are, but

because they need help, they go, and they gather and

they pray. She goes on to say, they will improve

every opportunity of placing themselves where they can receive the

rays of light from heaven. We don't get it because

we're gifted. We get it because we get together and

we pray and Acts twelve five. Earnest prayers were offered

for Peter by the church, and thus the church's prayer

plot begins to counteract King Herod's not prayer plot, evil

plot to kill Peter. We see two forces at odds.

Acts twelve six. That very night, when Harrod was about

to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers.

I mean, this is amazing how the story moves Peter's snoring.

Just imagine Peter, oh Man, you know, snoring. He may

have had sleep apnea. He was sleeping between two soldiers

bound with how many chains was Tex say, two centuries

before the door were guarding the prison. Peter's condition is

a mix of things. The night in prison before he

was to die. Here's a good question. What does a

Christian do when he or she is about to die?

For Jesus, For Peter, he wanted to get a good

night's sleep so he could be ready for the next day.

That's different.

He was snoring or sleeping because he was resting in Christ,

so to speak, when he should have been praying.

He was sleeping.

Peter had messed up like this before. And Matthew twenty six,

just before Jesus died, when Christ was praying, Peter went

to sleep with the other disciples Matthew twenty six forty

Look what.

He did next verse click cut.

Yes, and he came to the disciples and found them

what sleeping? And he said to whom to Peter, so see,

could you not watch with me for one hour? So

who should have remembered to stay awake and not be

sleeping when the times were hard.

Peter and verse. Peter knew better than to sleep, And in.

Next twelve he was so stressed out, he was so tired,

I mean, he was getting ready to die.

He just went to sleep.

Friends, Peter is the apostle that learned his lessons slowly

in the Bible, but he did learn them. Have you

ever been a person who learns the lesson of faith slowly?

God has to prod and work with you. I think

Peter was sleeping because he had resigned himself to the

fact that he was going to die, so go to

sleep anyway. How many times have we slept in difficult

times in the church instead of praying. Notice the paradox

in the story. The church is praying for Peter without ceasing,

with earnest prayer, while Peter is sleeping and not praying.

There are times when leaders in the church work so

hard that they are trapped by their very efforts, so

they slumber and sleep out of exhaustion. And yet if

the church is praying for them in the prayer meeting,

miracles of God can still happen to save the leader

of the church. And the future for the glory of God.

Matthew twenty six forty one. Jesus said, watch and pray

that you may not what what does it say help

me enter into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but

the flesh is weak. We're not strong people. That's why

we need to pray. Peter was sleeping, his people were

in prayer meeting, and Heaven was getting ready to do

something for Peter to wake him up. As Harod plotted

to kill Peter. The people plotted to pray for Peter,

and Peter did not know this because he was sleeping

when he should have been prayed. Herod's plot was good

in a wicked kind of way, but not good enough

to end the church. Verse six says the two chains

were put around Peter, not one, two for Peter. There

were two soldiers on each side of Peter, not one,

but two guarding Peter, and Peter was in the middle

snoring the night away before his certain execution the next day.

Amazing picture. And to make it more secure, the king

had sentries placed at the door to keep Peter from

getting out. High security lock up. Has anybody ever been

to jail? Keep your hands down I almost went to well,

actually twice, I almost went to jail, was arrested twice.

When I was a young person, I threw a smoke

bomb at a hospital. A bad idea to hang around

with kids who do that. In Montgomery County. You know,

we had children just this week, young teenagers in the

streets breaking police car windows. Made national news, a riot

like it would be in Paris or something in the

World Summit, right here down the street in Silver Spring, Maryland.

I mean, I did some of that stuff, and I'm

not proud of it at all. And so I mean,

I got hauled into jail. The police arrested me and

my friends.

And they let us go.

We talked our way out of it, but I thought

to myself, this is the wrong way to go. I

didn't mean to share all that with you. It kind

of came out all right. To make it more secure.

The king had those sentries placed there. Peter was not

getting out. The King had plotted to destroy him. The

king's plot was at odds with that night with the

prayer plot to save Peter's life X twelve five says Earnest.

Prayer was made for him to God by the church

friends as a minister, I need earnest prayer in this church.

Our a head elder needs earnest prayer. The Sabascool teachers

need earnest prayer, and you need earnest prayer. And that's

why I've pledged to go to prayer meeting. And I

have two events of the three I just mentioned that

I can attend where I can be energized by prayer

and I can pray for you. Hugely important and Act

twelve seven, God answered the church's prayer in a bold

kind of way. In the prayer plot, God sent one angel,

I mean an angel? What's an angel? E t on steroids?

God sent one angel from heaven to spank Peter for

sleeping and to save Peter in the church from his slumber.

Look at verse seven, and behold an angel of the

Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. I

don't know if they use flashlights or what. He struck

Peter on the side and walk him up, saying get

up quickly, and the chains fell off his hands. Now,

the Greek word for struck is not the normal word

for a little tap, you know where he just taps Peter,

Wake up, Peter, wake up?

You know, come on, come up.

You know the word is potasso in Greek and it

means to strike hard violence. Smack bam. I asked you

the question this morning, how many heart, how many? How hard?

Does God have to smack you in your life to

wake you up so you can pray with those who

pray for the church? Smack bam. Are you having trouble?

God's maybe smacking you so you can realign your faith

and your experience. On the night of his betrayal, Jesus said, Peter,

could you not and pray for one hour? We call

that prayer meeting in the middle of the week. And

so one good angel shows up smacks Peter hard. I

believe on them. I personally think he smacked him on

the behind smack, you know, a little spanking from heaven.

And when he did so, he woke up now loving smack.

The angel loved Peter, Jesus says, as many as I

love a discipline. Well, the angel's discipline, and the angels say,

get up quickly. And his chains fell off. When the

people of God pray when the angels show up that

you cannot see chains fall off. People's lives are liberated.

A person can recover quickly from the devil's snare when

saints are praying fervently for them. Now, you can't pray

fervently for someone if you are knocking them down by

criticizing and gossiping about them.

Am I right?

You gotta be praying for them, not diminishing them. A

person can recover quickly from the devil snare if they're

prayed for. They can be crushed if they're not prayed for.

People overcome addiction and are cured because God's people pray

for them. There's a young man in my life. I've

been praying for years for him that he will give

up his addiction. He's been here, he was baptized here.

He will give it up and give in to Jesus,

and only prayer will break it. Sinners become saints because

the Church of God prays for them. Chains fall off

that bind dead lives because the Church prays for people

in bondage so they can live. Paul says the Galatians

five to one for freedom. Christ has set us free,

So pray for a freedom on your knees to be

revived for Jesus' cause, don't pray for more chains for

someone in life, pray for God to set them free.

The Greek text says literally that the angel resurrected Peter.

It's an amazing Greek expression. Peter's sleep was like the

sleep of death, and God said to Peter live and

Peter got up when he should have died. Friend, you

won't die one day earlier than the day God lets

you die. So let God lead you, Let God infuse

you with life. Every day of your life, pray and

let the prayers of God benefit you. I would not

be a Christian today if it weren't for the fact

that my father was praying for me at the age

of fifteen before he would die, that somehow God would

find his son, connect him to him and reverse his

failures as a father to give us a future. Prayer

brought me to God, and when my dad died, God

brought people one after another into my life. To this day,

they're there who have prayed for me. I would be

nothing without prayer. The prayer plot interrupted Herod's mean plot

because God heard the church's prayer. God, here's prayer. That's

why Peter's chains fell off his hands. That night when

Lazarus was raised from the dead, Jesus said in John

eleven forty four, unbind him and let him go.

God likes doing that when people pray in the church.

If you're struggling with sin, you're struggling with evil, self esteem,

bad grades, you're hanging around the wrong crowd friends. When

the church prays for you and you pray, chains fall off.

At this point in the plot, the Angel has something

to say to Peter. Look at verse eight, and the

Angel said to him, dress yourself. Put on your sandals.

And he did so. And he said to him, wrap

your mantle around you and follow me. He sounds like

a little baby doesn't know how to clothe himself. I mean,

it's amazing what's going on here. Think about it. The

angel said, dress yourself. The original language in verse eight

uses the verb for girding yourself when you don't have

clothes on. We get a picture. Peter was sleeping with

two chains between two soldiers, storing away. Herod had made

sure he would can get away easily, so he was naked.

He was there without his clothes on. Job said, naked,

came out into the world naked. Shall I return? Blessed

be the name of the Lord. The angel in a way, says,

wake up, put your clothes on, Peter. No time to

be naked, no time to not pray. The angel told

Peter also to put his shoes on.

Peter.

Peter tied those sandals tight, and by the way he

put his coat on also quickly, Peter, get going. Friends,

When God answers prayer in your life, he sends an

angel to quickly clothe you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Did you hear me?

You may be naked and unable to stand before a

righteous God, and God will clothe you with a righteousness

that is not yours, but as a gift from God.

You can't follow angels into the night without the robe

of God that provide for you acceptance and a record

as if you had never sinned. The Reformation rediscovered the

great truth of Christ, our righteousness. We must be clothed

with Christ, committed to Christ. At prayer meeting we pray

for the righteousness of Christ, so we will not be

found naked in the last days. Now Jesus gives this

warning to the Church of Sardists and the Church of

Latescy and Relation sixteen fifteen, because they need this. He says,

behold lo, I am coming like a thief. And that

doesn't mean he's coming where he can't be seen. It

means he's coming quickly. It'll be a global event Revelation

one point seven. Every eye will see him, the nations,

the earth will marn. There'll be more eyes on the

what's in the clouds, then there will be what's in

on Iran. Right now, as bombs are taking out the

terrorist organizations, and it says, lo, I'm coming like a thief.

Blessed is he who is awake, keeping his garments that

he may not go naked. We need the righteousness of God,

or we are naked before. We cannot stand before God

and claim that we are good enough unless we've God

on our knees and said, Lord, we're not. I can't

even obey. Clothe me with Jesus, and he will. He will,

keeping his garments that he may not go naked and

be seen exposed. Paul says in Ephesian six fifteen that

our feet need to be shod with the Gospel of Peace,

the gospel Jesus died for my sins. Jesus was resurrected

to take away my sins, and Jesus was raised for

my justification. He was buried to remove my sins, raised

for my justification, my acceptance. Everything I need is in

what Jesus did and is death, his burial, and his

resurrection is life. If I'm in Christ, Christ, righteousness is mine.

The one Angel put Peter's shoes on also so we

could get busy for God. And next twelve nine, it

says Peter went out and he didn't know what the

angels doing. The count reads that he thought it was

a vision. The Angel let Peter pass the first guard

and then the second guard, gliding by them all, gliding

by them all, and then the angel took Peter to

the iron gate that led into the city.

The gate opened by itself. You know, Peter's in a daze.

That's another way of saying God opened that gate, and

God let Peter out, and the angel kept walking with

Peter along one street, and then the angel vanished out

of his sight. In the story of the Angel hung

in there with Peter until Peter was able to wake up,

figure it out, and come to his senses. Friends, when

you are under the control of evil or I have been,

God hangs in there, his angels hang in there until

we wake up and we pull it together.

And that was the outcome of the.

Church's prayer plot to save Peter, and saved Peter from lethargy.

And that's the point in time when Peter figured it

all out. The haze and the fog dissipated when he

realized he was saved by prayer, Acts twelve eleven. And

Peter I like this, it says. And Peter came to himself,

and we need to come to ourselves. And he said,

now I am sure the Lord has sent his angel

and rescued me from the hand of Herod from all

that the Jewish people were expecting. Peter's almost quoting the

prophet Daniel and Dale six twenty three. Fact is he's

a paraphrasing it Dale six twenty three. Mike, God sent

his angel and shut the lion's mouth. And they have

not hurt me because I was found blameless before him,

and also before you, a king, I have done the wrong.

Next twelve twelve, Peter quickly went to his house and

married the mother of John, the mother of John Mark

who wrote the Gospel of Mark. And that is where

they gathered together and prayed. And we don't hear much

about Mary. Other than that, she prayed. She opened up

her home for prayers. She led the church in prayer,

and that is where they gathered together and prayed. The

people in prayer meeding at John Mark's house were praying

for Peter, and the angel led Peter out so he

could go to prayer meeting. Has God led you to

prayer meeting in your life? Has he led you online?

Check in? Has He led you to a small group

fellowship at this prayer meeting? The angels do that if

God rescues you in life. If God rescues you in life,

dear heart, you had better show up in prayer meeting

of some sort when you can. You can go there

and give God glory because angels lead people to prayer meeting.

The story continues the next twelve thirteen and when he

knocked at the door of the gateway, a maid named

Rhoda came to answer, how many have you meant?

No?

Roda in the Book of Acts. This is her claim

to fame right here. Rhoda's name in Greek means rose.

You remember that rose. Rosie showed up. Rosie showed up

at the gate because Peter was knocking at the door

to get in real loud.

You know. Rosie claims.

Her claim to fame in the Bible is here. It's

her simple willingness to serve God and interact with the door.

She's not ideal at it either. There are people who

can't preach. You can't teach in the church, who you

think would have no gifts and who aren't eloquent. But

they can open the door of the church to let

a person inside. They may be Rose, a simple kind

of name in the minds of some, but a flower

in God's plan. They can serve the church. They can

create a warm environment. That is Rosie beyond belief as

the doors of the church open. Acts twelve fourteen is hilarious.

Recognizing Peter's voice in her joy, she did not open

the gate, but ran in and told that Peter was

standing at the gate. Rosie was so excited Rhoda that

she left the door shut, with Peter standing outside still.

In verse fifteen, the pray people at first couldn't believe

that their prayer was answered dramatically. They said to her,

you are mad, but she insisted that it was so.

They said, it is his angel. The Greek word for

madness is mania. It means insane. Rhoda was lit up

like a torch. She was bouncing up and down, you know,

like this, like a little child.

Was happy. They can't believe that Peter's alive.

Peter's alive, and like those horriflicks I saw when I

was a kid, He's alive and I thought she was crazy.

She wasn't crazy. She was at the gate. The friends,

there are times when God answers our prayers decisively. It

seems too good to be true to stalwart saints who

don't explain expect God to answer their prayers. Look at

verse sixteen. But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened,

they saw.

Him, and they were amazed.

Friends, the churches prayers that night brought Peter out of prison,

dropped his chains off as it brought him in full

freedom to the very door of their prayer meeting. God

performed this miracle for the early Church to teach the

Church in every age the importance of prayer meeting. John

Wesley was converted in a Moravian prayer meeting, and Wesley

won one million people to Christ and averted a revolution

in England. They were so happy when they saw Peter

that they began to get loud. At that point, Peter

took them to calm them down. Hold their peace, Peter

the Rock says, just calm down. He told them how

the Lord had let him out of prison. He didn't

take credit, he says, God save me. He told them

to go to tell James, the brother of Jesus. Not

James who had died, but another James. Jesus had a

brother named James, and the brethren to tell him what

had happened to him. Then Peter went to another place

and Act twelve eighteen, the soldier woke up. They were

very upset about what had happened.

According to Roman.

Law, if you sleep at your post as a guard,

you die at the hands of your fellow soldiers. When

Herod examined the guards, he had them executed for sleeping

at their post. Friends, it's a good thing that God

does not execute Christians for sleeping at their post when

they should be praying. Right In Acts twelve nineteen, Herod

went down to Caesarea to stay for a while. It

was the city built by his grandfather, Herod the Great.

It was the administrative center for the whole province of Judea.

The epilogue follows in verse twenty acts twelve twenty. Now

Herod was angry with the people, tire inside, and they

came to him in a body, and having persuaded Blastos,

the King's chamberlain, they asked for peace because their country

depended on the King's country for food. He goes on

to say in verse twenty one, as we moved through

the slide, there next slide, verse twenty one. On an

appointed day, Herod put on his royal robes, took his

seat upon the throne, and made an oration to them.

We call that a long winded speech, and the people

shouted the voice of God and not of man. Now

people often say that the politicians man, this guy is

just God's man. He's like, how could we ever have

a leader like this? And of course he was bragging

a lot to take credit for this. Immediately an aimed

of the Lord smote him because he did not give

God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

Now we know from history Josephus is about five days

later he died, but he died smitting on the spot.

This is not exactly how you want to end a

speech or end of your life either a career. The

man who killed James with the sword, who plotted harm

against the Church to bring it down to crush it.

The man who sought to kill Peter ended up with

worms in his mouth like chewing gum that day. He died.

A few days later, the man who would not let

God have control on the ends died of worms on

the inside. And so it will be for the masses

of the world. The great political leaders that brag a

lot and boast of themselves, and the kings of the

earth at the end of time who plot to destroyed

the Church of Jesus Christ, they will rot from the

inside and God will take them down. Hero was smoked

with a plague of worms by an angel. Why simply

stated he did not give glory to God? So how

much room is there for bragging?

None?

Look, if God does things for our church, who gets

the glory?

Around here? God?

No great leader? There are any great leaders here? I'm

not No one gets glory but God. Harod never figured

that out. The final message of this world is a

call to give glory to God for the hour of

his judgments come first. Angel's message. Peter was quick to

give the Lord all the credit because God saved him

that night. Friends, when prayers are answering your life, when

you see it, how do you respond?

Don't go some.

Testing about how good you are, how talented you are,

how smart you are, how educated you are, what new

idea you have for the church after two thousand years

when the church doesn't know anything, but you know now

you come along. I mean, we could all do that right,

Just say, praise God that he would use a worm

like me and allow me to be used of God

to save others. I am grateful for the mercy of

God in my life. Glory to God. Peter was loose

from prison by the power of God and answer to prayer.

Herod died in agony because he would not give glory

to God like Peter did in prayer meeting. But the

Church grew in spite of the persecutions of the family,

and in fact, it grew because of it, and the

people came to Christ anyway. And Herod was history, and

the Church grew into the future Acts twelve twenty four.

But the Word of God grew and multiplied, and Barnabas

and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission,

bringing them with them. John whose other name was Mark.

Mark is the one who wrote the Gospel of Mark

that tells us so much about Peter. Look records that

the Word of God grew, the Word multiplied in the

end because of earnest prayer. The church's prayer plot prevailed

and Herod's wicked plot to persecute failed. And thus the

church that prayed prevailed. The persecuted church through earnest prayer prevailed.

May God bless you as you overcome through prayer in

your life. God bless you through Heavenly Father. We're not

good people, but were your people, and we ask Father

that you would remember us when you come into your kingdom, Jesus,

when you confess your people before the thought the Holy Angels.

Lord.

I think there's probably more than one person here today

doesn't feel like they're good enough to be saved. It

may feel like maybe God didn't choose them, but they

don't know that God Jesus died from all out there.

And if you're a person.

Says I need faith, I need the benefit of prayer

in my life. I need to come to Christ. I

need to be baptized into Christ to follow the truth.

Any of these things I need revival in my life

for that person. Raise your hand to God right now,

just raise it high, and thank God he heard that prayer,

the earnest prayer. Thank God he does accept you right

now where you're at, as you grow. Bless that dear

person Lord, here and there. Bless us all and thank

you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen,