Acts: Recognizing God’s Sovereignty

Well, it's good to see you all this morning. Welcome to But that

is the acts chapter twelve. Turn in your Bibles. You have your Bibles

with you, if you will show those two hang those up, Hi.

If you ever fall in us, find okay support for you. Bring the

Word of God right and be in the Word of God. And I hope

this week. No, you've brought your word, but I encourage you to

be in the Word last week and this coming week reading your Bibles. I

want to start this morning just by prayer. So would you pray with me?

Father. We thank you Lord for this morning, and we thank you

for the time that you allow us to come together and to be in your

word, to study your word. We thank you for those that you've brought

in person, and many are watching online and on TV this morning. And

we thank you Lord for the time that you give us to be together in

your Word. So Lord, we pray today as we Lord look and understand

more of who you are and God, who God you are, and what

your plan is for us. Lord, your power in our life or I

pray Lord this morning we are drawn Lord to you. Father, Lord,

will not be moved by emotions. By God. We'd be moved by your

power. So Lord, lead us, Lord through your word. I pray

Lord that you would give me clarity of thought, clarity of speech. Lord,

you know the things that are on my mind. The Lord, I

pray that my sole attention, Lord would be to just give you all the

praise and all the glory, and that God, you would clearly lead through

this morning. So Lord, I pray that I would decrease and you would

increase. And Lord, the words that I would declare and would not be

my own, Lord, would be yours. So Lord, have your willing

way. Now, Lord, we give you this time and your name.

We pray. Man, Well, I want to just start this morning,

I asked Chapter twelve. This morning. The time of my sermon is recognizing

God's sovereignty. Now many of you know that my dad's a pilot and a

few years ago before Dad got sick, I went visit him. I used

to go on Fridays and visit Dad and spend time together. And this particular

Friday we were together, we decided we were going to go flying. And

Dad around seventy got cancer and had Hodgkins lymphoma and week through chemo. So

there was a period of time, about a year or two, he wasn't

able to fly, and this was he had gotten stronger. He was able

to fly, and so we went to the airport together. I helped him

get the airplane out, like many times as a little boy. I mean

I flew with him from when I was basically a baby and so and as

I grew up, I learned it to help him just get the plane out

of the hangar, get it ready for flight. And we did that that

day, and and then I noticed that we'd gotten a plane out of the

hanger. And I noticed that that was in the hanger and he was sitting

in a chair and he was changing his shoes, and so I went,

I said that, what what are you doing. He says, well,

I'm putting on my flying shoes. I said, well, what does that

mean? And he says, well, you know, ever since I had

cancer, I've gotten auropity in my feet and I really kind of lose the

feeling in my feet. And so I found out that I really I can't

really feel in those tennis shoes. So I got these other shoes and they

really got a stronger, firmer foundation in them, and I can feel the

pedals a little bit better when I'm in these shoes. He says, you

know, it's not that really big of deal until we go to land.

And when we go to land, I updn't really feel the pedals to stop

the plane. So I figured out I should wear I said, yes,

let's definitely wear those shoes, Daddy. And so but you know that day

we got up and we got in the air we we flew and it was

great. And but you know that day I hadn't follown him with many years,

but that day I didn't hesitate. I didn't hesitate to get the plane

with him. I didn't hesitate to fly with him. I didn't hesitate that

he had these special flying shoes because I knew the one who was in control,

and I knew my dad had the power to over that plane, and

so I didn't I wasn't worried about it. Now, if you would say

to me, pastor, if you went to that airport and Dad says he

gets a plane out, and he says, now, Johnathan, I don't

know if you've ever met Steve, but Steve was one of my buddies,

and he's gonna get you. I'm gonna let him fly you in my plane,

and I look over and Steve's putting shoes on it. I'm telling you,

I'll probably not gonna get in the plane, you understand, And the

reason why is because I don't know his power. Right Well, this morning,

as we come to this passage scripture, it's very important for us to

recognize God's sovereign power in our lives. God's sovereign control in our lives,

you know, sovereignty. And Wayne Grudam's a theologian, and he wrote a

book called Systematic Theology, and in his book he defines God's sovereignty as God's

exercise of power over his creation. You know, I trusted in Dad because

I understood Dad had power over that plane. And I've been with him many

many times, and I recognized that his ability and his power over his plane

was a lot greater than mine. So therefore I trusted him. And so

this morning, it's so important that we recognize not only as I recognize Dad's

power, that we recognize God's sovereign power in our life. And by understanding

and acknowledging and knowing his power and knowing his sovereignty, it strengthens our trust

in him. And so that's what I want us to do this morning.

Through Acts Chapter twelve, I think Luke shows us how you and I should

recognize god sovereignty. So this morning we're gonna read through the whole chapter.

And so in order to do that, what we're going to readsection out of

time and as we read a portion of scripture, I want you to as

we read, to try to see if you can recognize God's sovereignty in the

passive Scripture the first part this morning, we're going to recognize God's sovereign plan.

God's sovereign plan. So let's stand together and let's read this the first

portion. We'll read verses one through five. And as you read, and

as you listen to me read, look for try to recognize God's sovereign plan.

Listen to what says here in verse one. It says about the time

here the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church, and

he killed James, the brother John with the sword. And when he saw

that they pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also, and this

was during the days of unliving bread. And when he had sieged him,

he put him into prison and delivering by the four squads of soldiers to guard

him. He attended after the passover to bring him out to the people.

So Peter was kept in prison, but Ernest's prayer for him was made to

God by the church and may be seated. As you look at this passage

of scripture, I want you to recognize that God's sovereign plan that the Bible

says Herod he is heret Agrippa. This is the grandson of Herod the Great.

Herod the Great was the one who was in power when Jesus was born,

says this is his grandson, Herod Agrippa. And Herod Agrippa's scripture tells

us as we start this pastor of scripture, that he laid violent hands on

some who belonged to the church, and who particular in that verse two tells

us it was James, the brother of John, and he he only lays

violent hands on when prescription tells us that he kills us. Now killed him.

Now we know in our life, and we've seen in our life in

our world that a lot of times when you think of things, someone doing

something that was political, many times we associate use someone using political power as

someone using their politics or their power to do something to please a certain group

of people. And we see that in our lives. We see people who

used their political power to do something to please a certain group. And that's

what's happening here here in this passive scripture. Herod is the king, and

he wants to please a group of people. Who is the people you want

to please? He wants to please the Jews. The Jews hate the Christians,

and we've seen that all through the Bookstudy and acts. They hate the

Christians. They threatened them at the beginning, and then they beat them,

and when the beating didn't work, they killed Stephen. So we know the

Jews hate the Christians, and so because of that they tried to come to

the king and they try to get the king to kill the Christians. And

then that's what happened here. In the Bible says that Herod laid hands on

those in the church and he killed James. But look what happened in verse

two. And he killed James. The brother of John was a sword and

when he saw when Herod saw what it leads the Jews, he proceeded to

also arrest Peter. And so this is Herod who's in power. He wants

to please the Jews, and what better way to fall upon the good graces

of those in Judea and the Israel than to listen to the Jews and kill

the Christians. He's just trying to get He's just trying to please a group

of people that they might follow him. So he does that, and the

Bible tells us he kills James. Now who is James That most of you

may remember that Jesus has a brother named James, But this is not Jesus's

brother. The scripture defiant tells us that this is James, the brother of

John, you remember. And as we ever read through the Gospel, comes

a story in Matthew twenty. Turn to Matthew twenty. We're gonna look at

in just a second, Matthew twenty. Jesus is there and this mom comes

to Jesus, and she has two sons with her, and their names are

James and John's. They are, also, understanding scripture, are called the

sons of Zebedee, you remember. And these two she this mom comes up

to Jesus. And by the way, if you know that a little bit

of your history, this is Mary Jesus' mom's sister by the way, and

she comes to Jesus and two of her sons are two of Jesus's disciples.

They're fishermen, and they left their fishermen, the very wealthy fishermen, and

they left their fishing industry to follow Jesus. And this mom comes to Jesus

and she comes with her two sons who are disciples, and scripture says,

she bows before Jesus. You know what she says to Jesus. She comes

in Matthew twenty, and she says, Jesus said, she bows before him.

When you come into power, will you let one of my sons said

at your right hand, and one of my sons be at your left hand.

You remember that story. And Jesus says, you don't know what you're

asking. You're asking for them to have power in my kingdom, but you

don't know what you're asking. And then he says to the mom, are

they able to drink of the cup that I'm about to drink? You remember

that? And Jesus talking about the cup that he's about to drink is about

the up with the wrath of God and that he's going to die on the

Cross for their sins, and he says to them, are you able to

drink of that cup? And you rememberen The mom says yep, and she

looked at their boys, and the boy said, yep, we can do

it, mamah, we can do it, you know. And so and

listen to what happens in Matthew chapter twenty. In Matthew chapter twenty, and

you're there look at twenty two and Jesus answered, you do not know what

you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup I'm I about to drink?

And they said to him, we are able, And he said,

then listen to this. This is very important for this morning. You will

drink of my cup, but instead up my right hand and my left hand

is not mine to grant. It is for those who have been prepared by

my father. You know what Jesus told those two men and the mom that

day. He asked him, we'll you're able to drink in my cup?

And they said yes. And Jesus looked at James and John. He says,

you will, James, You're going to die as I die as you

come to act chapter twelve. HEROD, listen to this, HEROD lays hand

on violent hands on the church, and he does and gets one of the

early apostles. And which one does he grab? He grabs James, the

very James that Jesus says, you will drink of my cup and he wought.

He kills him with a sword and listen as to fulfill God's plan that

God said to him there before his mom As you come to this passage scripture,

you see that James's death is part of God's sovereign plan for Jamesus's life.

Now here's the real struggle with this passage of scripture, and I'm going

to just hit you with you before we can get to it as you come

to As you come to this passage at chapter twelve, you see that was

God's plan for James to die in just a minute. We also see that

he captures Peter, but Peter is saved. You know what the biggest struggle

for you and I when we struggle with the God's plan for our life and

God's plan for in our world is why does some people die when some people

live? Why does that person get cancer and their miraculously healed and the other

person dies within three months? God? Why does one person able to have

children and another person is not able to have children? God, why am

I having such trouble with my faunid that says that I'm trying to live for

the Lord and another person they're not trying to live for you, and they're

just prospering. God, Why it doesn't seem fair? God? Of why

certain things happen to good things happen to certain people, and some people things

fall apart. Some people have great marriages, some people struggle with their marriages.

God, Why why why this? Some people are spared and some people

some people die and some people will live. As we come to this passage

scripture, we have to recognize that God exercises his power to fulfill his plan

for your life. And part of recognizing God's sovereign plan is that God,

I may not understand what you're doing. I may not understand why things are

happening in my life and why things happen in others lives. God, I

recognize the day that you have the power over my life and you have a

plan for my life. It's not by any accident, God, you have

a plan. Secondly, no, we should recognize God's soveregn plan, but

also we ought to recognize God's sovereign protection. Let's read the pastor of scripture,

and I want you to recognize as we read god sovereign protection. Look

at what scripture says here, the Bible says now when here was about to

bring him out on that On that very night, Peter was sleeping between two

soldiers, bound with two chains, and centuries before the door reguarding the prison.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and

the light shone on the cell, and he shrugk Peter on the side and

woke him, and he said get up quickly, and the chains fell off

his hands, and the angel said him, dress yourself, put on your

sandals, and he did so. When he said to him, wrap your

cloak around you, and followed me. And he went out, and he

followed to me. He did not know that what was was being done by

the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. And when

they had passed the first and second guard, that came to the iron gate

leading in the city, and he opened for and it opened for them of

its own accord. And they went out and went along the street, and

an immediately angel left him. And when Peter came to himself. He said,

now, I'm sure that Lord has sent his angel and rescuing me from

the hand of Herod from all the Jewish people were expecting, the Bible says

in this pastor of scripture, and only see God's sovereign playable. We see

God's sovereign protection. The Bible says, here Peter is at the same time.

See he saw that it please listen to this. He saw that it

pleased Herod, saw that it pleased the Jews to kill James. So he

said, man, let me get another one. And see he gets Peter,

Scripture says, and he puts him in prison. But it was passover.

If you know anything about historically the Bible, it was it was unlawful

for the Jews to kill anybody during any kind of festival or any kind of

yeah festival, And so here's the festival. Passover is unlawful for the Jews.

He knew, okay, it's going to please the Jews for me to

kill one, but it really would be bad if I killed him during the

passover. So he waits, and Scripture says that he waits through during the

passover he has in prison. It's the night before pastover is about to end

on a Saturday, and it's Saturday night. It's about the end, and

he's he's about to bring Peter out. The Bible says that when he put

him in prison. You remember a scripture tells us that Peter was putting in

prison earlier. Remember, and Peter escaped. Man Herod says, I ain't

gonna take that chance. He had four squadron of soldiers which are for each

and they would go through different four hour shifts, and he had two guards

at the gate, and he had two guards, one on each side of

Peter. Chain to Peter, and the Bible says that night, just before

the it came the night before he brought him out to kill him. The

Bible says, an angel of the Lord. Listen to look at the passage

scripture in verse seven, and behold an angel the Lord stood next him,

and a light shone around the sail. That night, God sent God's sovereign

hand protect Peter. And God's by his miraculous power, sent this angel to

Peter. He woke him up, he told him to get himself dress,

He led him through this. Can I show you that in this pastor of

scripture God is showing us that God exercised his sovereign power in Peter's life to

protect him. Do you understand today that when Peter got out of this scripture

tells us as Peter is walking through this piece is if you look at verse

eleven says, when he came to himself, it gives this idea that Peter

really wasn't sure what was going on when this happening. He kind of felt

like this was a dream. And when he got out out of the prison

and into the city, verse eleven says, and when Peter came to himself,

he says, listen to this. Now, I am sure that the

Lord has sent his angel to rescue me from the hands of Herod from all

the Jewish people were expecting. Listen to this. Peter says, this was

not me. God did that. God, by his sovereign power, protected

me and delivered me. He recognized that it was God's sovereign hand to protect

him. And if you think about it just for a minute, really things

were stacked against Peter. Right James was killed, four squads of soldiers.

It's the night before his execution, and when all these things were stacked against

him, God moved and power. God's sovereign hand protected him. God have

power over the chains. God had power of the prison doors. God have

power over heard. God have power over the Jews. God have power to

rescue him. I tell you that because there's some of you come today and

you know what you said. Pastors. You don't know what's going on in

my life. You don't know the things that have at work. You don't

know the struggles that I have at work. You don't know about my unbelieving

boss and how difficult it is, you may say, Pastor, you don't

know how difficult it is in my home I have an unbelieving spouse, or

I have an unbelieving family member. You don't know what kind of struggle that

causes on the relationship. Pastor, you don't understand what's going on in my

finances. Lord, I'm trying to give I'm trying to do what the Lord

wants me to do. But there's things, and it seems like right now

in my life that even my help, there's coming against me. And it

seems like I've got I got something coming against me at work, I got

something coming against me at home, I got something coming against me, and

my finances, God, it seems like everything stacking against me. Can I

tell you today, as you look at the Word of God, and according

to the power of the Word of God, God has power over everything in

your life. He is sovereign of your family. He's sovereign over in your

boss. He's soveriging under your unbelieving family members. He's sovereign over your finances,

He's sovereign over your health. And today, can I just call you

according the Word of God? Would you just say simply, God, I

recognize God, you have a sovereign plan for me. But God, I

recognize you can sovereignly protect me. And today, God, I want to

trust you now longer you see God's sovereign plan, you see God's sovereign protection,

but you also see God's sovereign punishment. The Bible says, let's look

at this together, and I'm going to read it for you, and I

want you as I read, to listen a se if you recognize God's sovereign

punishment. The Bible says in verse twenty nine, what Herod was angry with

the people of tire and side, and that came to him with one accord,

having persuaded blasts the king's chamberlain, and they asked for peace because their

country was depending upon the King's country for food. On a point of day,

Herod put on his royal robes, and he took the seed upon the

throne and delivered an oritation to them. The people shouted the voice of God

and not of man, and immediately Angel the Lord struck him down because he

did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathe

a lass word of God. Increase and multiply, the Bible says, when

on recognize that God's sovereign plan, only should recognize God's sovereign protection. But

lastly we should recognize God's sovereign punishment. The Bible says, hear it here

after. If you go back, you go back and read, you're actually

seeing versus verses eighteen through nineteen. When here's what happens to Peter. He

does an investigation. He brings these soldiers in, he investigates them. He

tries to look for Peter, and Camp finds him. If you go back

and you understand anything about Greco Roman world, if you are a guard and

you were in charge of guarding a prisoner in that prisoner escape, you would

actually be sentenced to what the prisoner will sentenced to. So he brings these

guards in, he investigates him, he can't find Peter, and then he

actually executes these sixteen different soldiers. Then the Bible says that scripture tells us

story kind of goes on from there and tells us a story that Herod and

tyron Side on these two cities were feuding. If you will, it says

he left Jerusalem and he went to he actually went to Cesarea. Cesarea was

the Roman seat for Israel at the time, So he goes kind of goes

back to its heads quarters if you if you will, just the best way

to describe it. And there it tells us that Tyronside and which were by

the way, just the Cesarea, Tyronside and were on the Mediterranean city.

There were coastal towns tyron Side and went north and they were in an area

called Phoenicia. What happened at the time is there became a few between tyron

Side and with King Herod, and because of that here got mad and he

cut off their supply chain and said they tyron Side and depend upon the king

for supplies for food, for basic necessities life. Because there were coastal towns.

Hair got mad at them. He shut them off. He cut them

off. Man, they were starving. People are starving to death. So

they decide what they're doing. We've made him mad and we're not going to

eat if we don't do something about this. And so tyron Side and representatives

and they went to the king and they went through a guy named Blastis was

named he was a king's chamberlain. That's basically in our terminology. He'd be

the king's chief of staff. They go to Blasts and say, hey,

we've got to work out something, and they work out a peace agreement between

King Agrippa and tyron Side and therefore restore the supplies from tyron Side. This

is a great thing for the world at the time, and so that's why

Luke talks about. Everybody knew about it. Even there's a scholar named Josephus,

and he records about this very thing. And then on March fifth they

would have this Every year, they would have this festival that celebrate the creation

of Cesarea, the town of Cesarea, And so on March fifth they come

together and they have this huge celebration and King Agrippa comes out. Josephus actually

tells us about this Jewish historian first century Jewish. He says, when King

Agrippa came out, he has this long robe, and he had silver that

was built into the robe. And when the sun hid it, he shine.

He glimmered, and he spoke, and everybody was rejoicing. Man,

he brought peace between these two cities, and he brought peace between the world.

And everybody's celebrating. And listen to what they say in this passive of

scripture. When they're celebrating in verse twenty two, the people start shouting the

voice of God and not man. He says. They start looking at Grippa

and he's shining and said, man, that's not a man talking, that's

God talking. And the Bible says, hare doesn't stop them. And listen

at that moment, listen to this. The sovereign hand of God. Just

like the sovereign hand sent an angel to protect Peter, God's sovereign hand send

an angel to struck Herod and killing. You see, God has a sovereign

plan, and God knows the sovereign can protect. But God also sovereignly can

punish those who come against his people. Can I tell you we live in

a world today, Make no doubts about it. We live in the world

today that there are evil men, just like they're were inherent. There are

evil men who are coming in against Christians. There's an article this this week

in our news that came about one of the largest banks in the United States.

And this bank in the United States has targeted Christian ministries and have shut

down their accounts. There's one ministry in Memphis, it's called Additioned As People.

And what they did was this ministry works with people in Uganda and to

provide food and for orphans, provide education. And this bank found out about

them and they shut them down. They shut down their bank accounts. These

are what they said to the companies. By the way, the attorney generals

from Montana, Virginia, Arkansas, South Carolina, South Dakota, Indiana,

Missouri, and Nebraska have all sent letters to this bank wanting to know one

they're doing this. This is what they said to that ministry called Indigenous Events.

You are operating a business type. We have chosen no longer to serve

that their bank, their ministry, or no longer aligns with the bank's risk

tolerance even so that this bank. Listen to this, because I want you

to know this is really happening. Just what happened in their heriage time.

We saw that it please to shut off and to come against the Christians.

There are real people, real evils in our world who will come against you

if you believe in Jesus Christ. This bank not only shut down this ministry,

but they found a church who donated listen to this, donated to this

ministry, and they shut down that church's account as well. I tell you

that because understand you're going to live. Why you say you tell me that

pasture, because if you live for the Lord, you're going to face persecution.

But listen, you don't. You should not allow that to you live

that you should rest in the one who has power over them. The Bible

says God have power over Agrippa to punishing. The Bible says that one Peter

three twelve. For the eyes the Lord are on the righteous, and his

ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against

those who do evil. Listen to this. The face of the Lord is

against those who do evil. Listen. No, we should recognize God's sovereign

plan. We should recognize God's sovereign protection, We should recognize God's sovereign punishment.

But then I want to just bring you as we close in this morning,

how are you and I? How should we trust him? How do

we grow in our trust in God's sovereignty? How do we grow in our

trusting God's sovereign plan? How do we grow in our trust in God sovereign

that God you will protect me? How do I trust greater that God you

will punish those who do evil against me and evil against his people? Number

one, We do that by prayer? First? How do we trust in

God's sovereignty? We do that first by prayer? You remember what happened.

Hered comes and he gets James and he kills him with the sword. The

Bible says that Peter was in prison, and look at this passive scripture quickly

with me. And in verse five it says, so when Peter was kept

in prison, but earnest prayer for him was being made to God. The

Bible says, when Peter gets out of prison, he goes He's so excited

about God. What God did? He runs to the church and there's a

house church that's meeting and what does he finding doing? They're praying, how

do you and I grow and trust in God? We do that by prayer.

We do by saying, Lord, I don't understand your plan and I

don't understand how you have power to protect me in the midst of what I'm

going through. God, I don't know. I don't understand how you will

punish. But God, I will pray to you. There's a story there

was a Leon of Maderna was a Jewish scholar Rope in sixteen seventeenth century,

and he talks about prayer. You know, one of things that we ask

of why do I pray? If God's already has a plan? Maybe his

plan is not my plan, So what's the purpose of praying? Well?

Leon and Maderna had an illustration to describe this. He says that prayer sometimes

is like someone standing far off and they see a boat that's in a lake

or a body of that's near the shore, and that boat has a rope

that's tied off to the shore. And as you see the boat away from

the shore and they've got a rope tide and they're pulling it may look like

they're pulling the coast or the shore closer to the boat. But the reality

is as a man on the boat pulling the rope, he's not pulling the

shore. What he's not moving the shore, He's moving the boat. Right,

you understand that? And Leon and Maderna explained that when we pray,

we're not moving God. Listen. When we're pulling rope by rope, pull

by pull, listen to this, we're getting closer to God. And by

close, getting closer to God. Listen, and getting closer to our Lord's

side. We understood more of his plan. Can I tell you how do

we grow and trust in God? We trust God through praying, but also

we trust God through by obedience. You know, you remember in the passage

of scripture that Peter's there and he's sleeping and the angel shows up. The

Lord sends that angel will protect him. The angel shows up and he wakes

up Peter. He said, Peter, get your clothes on. You notice

in the passage the scripture and that rip twelve Angel says didn't go in and

he just I mean he he had all the power to do that, right,

He didn't just go in to pick up Peter and carry him out and

then go outside the gate and lay him down. You don't do that,

the angel says, Peter, wake up. Peter wakes up, Peter,

gets your clothes on, Peter puts his clothes on. Peter, put your

cloak on, put your jacket on. Peter following me. Peter follows him,

and the Bible says, Peter don't really know what he's doing, and

it doesn't really make sense, but he just obeyed the Lord. He gets

outside of the gate and he says, Lord, Lord, you did this.

Can I tell you? Part of trusting God is not only saying God,

I'm going to pray to you because I get closer to you and know

your plan. But God, sometimes also if I trust you, sometimes that

just means simply obeying you when it doesn't make sense. You know, sometimes

God is going to ask you to do things at times in your life and

it's not going to make sense to anybody. I know a lady that I've

known through the years, and she lost a baby. She lost a child,

right, aren't you? She lost a child. She found out her

husband was having an affair of the last year of the child's life. Everybody

in her friend group, everybody she knew, says, you need to leave

him for doing that to you and your much critical, vulnerable time. He

was not faithful to you. You need a leave him. You know what.

She's a woman of God, and she loved God, and she believed

God had a plan, and she never gave up on her husband, was

obedient to the Lord's command even when it didn't make sense to others, and

God rescued her marriage. Can I tell you today not only are we going

to trust God through our prayers, but sometimes trusting God means trusting God to

be obedient when God tells us to do something, and that mean me,

Lord, I'm gonna be I'm gonna join that church. God, I'm gonna

be faithful to read my Bible. It may not make sense, I'm gonna

be faithful in this relationship. God, I'm gonna do I'm gonna follow you.

I'm gonna be obedient to what you asked me to do, even when

others think I'm crazy. God, I'm gonna behave what you asked me to

do. Second, thirdly was how do we submit to God sorrognty by prayer,

by obedience, lastly, by faith. You know the Bible says that,

and I have trying to read this for today. I want to just

tell you the story, but you can go back and read it later.

The Bible says, when Peter gets out of prison, he's so excited,

he's so pumped up. He decides he's gonna he's gonna go to the word

of the church, the church, and there, the Bible says, he

finds on praying right, and he goes to the gate and he knocks on

the gate and there's this little girl named servant, girl named Rhoda. And

Rhoda comes outside and she sees Peter, and she's so excited she just runs

back into the church. Peter's still out the gate. She didn't even let

him in, and she runs into the church. She said, he's alive.

He's alive. Peter's alive. And she says, they look at her

like you're crazy. They said, you're crazy. He's not alive. He's

dead. You know what that tells you. They didn't believe he was gonna

make it. They believe Jay's died, and they sure, sure as God

made little green apples, that Peter's going to die too. In their mind,

and so they look her. It says nothing to know he's dead,

you're crazy, Rhoda and Da and they said no, no, She kept

saying no, no, no, no, no, no, he's alive.

I'm telling you I saw him. And they said, I bet he's

dead, and it's his ghost and it came back. He's at the gate.

Finally, the Bible says that they go outside to investigate. Rhoda's so

determined that they go outside and there's Peter and they don't know what to say.

There was so excited, but you know when Peter Peter says, they're

like there's a there's a clamor going on. There are just they're they're just

talking to praise and who knows. And Peter says, listen, I've got

to tell you this. Listen what he says, look at you can go

with me in verse seventeen, but motioned them with his hands to be silent.

He described them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. You

know, he said, listen, listen, listen, listen. He doesn't

say, hey, let me tell you you ever had someone have a fish

story to catch a big fish? Let me tell you how big that fish

was. Let me tell you what I did. You know, he doesn't

do that He doesn't say, let me tell you what I did. You

know, the angel came in and I broke the chains. The angel came

in, I put my clothes on. The angel told me to walk,

and I walked through that gate and the doors open. He doesn't it does

anything about Peter. It's not anything about Peter's praying. It's not about how

good their prayers, is not anything about how obedient they were. He just

says, let me tell you what God did you see for Peter? What

he wanted them to hear that day is he wanted to say, listen,

if if you pray, if you be obedient, and if you put your

trust in the God who has a plan, if you put your trust in

the God who can protect, if you put your trust in the God who

will punish, listen, God can do amazing things in the three years.

Trusting trusting Today Adrian Rogers said of faith, he made it into an acronym,

says forsaking, Oh, I trust him, Peter says, listen to

Dave, folks, trusting forsake everything else, your abilities, your powers,

your skills, your plans, put that all aside, trusting. Can I

just encourage you today, Church, listen. God has a sovereign plan.

God sovereignly can protect you, and God sovereignly can punish. Will you simply

say today, I want to submit your plan by trusting you more God,

And I do that. By God, I want to commit to you more

by praying, God, don't want to come. Meant to lend me my

life more to obedience to what you've asked me to do in your word.

And God, Lord, I want to not. I don't want to trust

my plan anymore. God, Lord, don't want to trust my abilities anymore.

God, I don't want to trust my talents anymore. God, I

want to trust and I want to put up my faith in you. Lord.

You know that day that Friday, me and Daddy got into plane.

We hooked in our seat belts and we took off on that runway. Man,

we saw the beauty of God's creation. We flew a little bit.

He he always wanted to say, ever since a little boy. He would

he would get it to where we're up in altitude, and and he would

and he would say, all right, Jonathan, you ready to fly?

And He'll showed me what to do and how would take over and I would

fly a little bit, and we flew a little bit and then he landed

it. Don't worry, I didn't do that part. We came back and

he landed it. He had his good shoes on, and we stopped the

plane. That was my last flight with my dad. You know that day,

if I'd have said to Daddy, Daddy, I don't know if I

could trust you. Well, I don't know if you have the power over

this plan any longer, I would have never known the joys of seeing the

power of my dad. Listen to me today. If you don't trust God,

you might never know his plan. If you don't trust God, you

may never see his power to protect you. And if you don't ever trust

God, you may never see his power to punish those who punish you.

So today, would you say the Lord, today is the day I want

to pray? Or today I want to live in obedience, or today I

want to put my trust for saking. Oh, I trust in you.

Will you pray with me every head about every I close? Lord? We

love you. I thank you Lord for your word. Lord, I pray

today that you would Today you're showing us who you are. Lord. There's

folks in this room we've really doubted your plan for their life. Have had

a lot of questions. And today some would say, Lord, I want

to trust your plan. I pray Lord, there'd be those that do that,

or I pray there would be those who said, Lord, as feels

like there's things that are stacked against me. But God, I trust that

God, you have the power over the things in my life. Lord,

I'll trust you. Pray to be those that say, Lord, I'll trust

you to punish those evildoers of this world who come against me. Lord,

I'll trust you to do that. And Lord, today I'll do that by

praying, Lord, I'll commit to being more obedient the Lord you. Lord,

I'll commit to stop trusting in my power and my abilities or my plan

and God, Lord, I want to trust in you, forsake all things

and put my faith in you, Lord, to do the amazing things in

and through me. Or I pray they'd be those who respond to you today.

And it's time of invitation. If somebody need to come to this alter

and pray, I pray they do that. Lord. If somebody pray their

seat wherever or wherever you lead them to respond, I pray they do that.

Lord. If I could pray for someone here at the altar. I'd

love to do that as well, or however you lead us, I pray.

We respond to you in your name, we pray Jesus pain to him