God's Heart For The Lost | Acts 12 (Mar 20) Mike Armstrong

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Well, good morning, uh Redemption Church.

Um that was sweet, right?

That was really great.

Big thanks to uh the worship team uh for leading us here this morning.

It's funny you guys show up uh when you do, but you don't realize that oftentimes things are a dumpster fire in terms of technology and less rehearsal times.

But I love it when the Lord comes through like that and you have uh no clue that that was the case as it was uh this morning.

Now, a couple of things before we get into God's word here.

Uh first of all, just a quick reminder that men's and women's starts up this week.

Okay, so men's happening 6 a.m.

over at our church office, 6 till 7.

Uh the ladies, it's happening on Saturday morning at 8 o'clock, also at the church office, and we're going through the book gentle and lowly.

So if you are the classic sign up at the last minute, you're there.

Congratulations, you're there, you've arrived.

Uh, and you can sign up and uh you can come make sure you get the book as well and show up.

We're gonna be reading the first two chapters for week one.

FYI will send you an email out about all of that.

But really, really looking forward to getting uh together with our men and with our ladies to do that.

Second thing before we open up the Bible is uh the uh just a little update on the church in Ukraine.

Uh we have a church part of the GCC that is ministering right in Kiev where a lot of the conflict is really happening, and the Terasov family uh is serving on the ground.

Uh, we got a bit of an update this week as to how things were going, and here's what I loved about it.

There wasn't details about the war, it wasn't details about where, you know, where everybody is at.

It was more like, hey, let's just, would you pray for us uh that we would make it take every opportunity to minister Christ in these difficult times?

So I just love where their focus is at and uh where it's at.

So we want to continue to pray uh for those very things.

Uh but then also if you want to give financially to this, uh, you have an opportunity to do that.

Our elders have have put aside some of our benevolence fund that we're gonna be sending there, but we want to open it up to you.

If you want to also give to that, and uh you can send an e-transfer to special offerings at redemptionnewmarket.ca and uh you can give as the Lord leads you.

If you're not the online giving type person, we got blue envelopes at the back.

There's a box there where you can put your offering.

Uh, if you're still old school and you prefer it that way, you just need to write on the envelope or in the e-transfer subject line Ukraine so that we know exactly where uh this is going, and that will help us out so much.

But I just want to pray now for these things and pray as we get into the scriptures here, into the book of Acts.

And so join me as we do that.

Lord, uh, we come again as a church needy, Lord.

We need you.

We we are nothing without you.

We don't have wisdom, we don't have strength, we don't have know-how.

Uh, we don't.

But Lord, you do.

You have all of those things in abundance, Lord.

You never run out of all of that.

So, Lord, we come before you now as your people, eager.

Lord, eager to get a word from you, eager uh to uh be encouraged, eager to have you draw near.

And so, Lord, I pray that you uh would do that as you have been doing that already uh this morning, Lord.

And uh God, we want to lift up, of course, Ukraine uh and just the conflict that continues to go over there, Lord.

We want we pray for people's protection, we pray for their safety, Lord, all of that.

Uh but Lord, as Pastor Alex uh reminded me and us this week, uh Lord, that they would again take every moment they can to point people to the hope that they have in Jesus Christ.

That is only found in Jesus Christ.

Lord, that anybody who might be a nominal believer over there, or someone who believes in God in general, would come to see and know the person of Jesus Christ, Lord.

Would you use uh this family, would you use the believers over there to uh to accomplish the work of the mission, Lord?

So this morning we're gonna see that mission continue to move forward through uh the book of Acts in chapter 12.

Would you speak to us?

Would you encourage us?

Would you motivate us to this great idea of praying, Lord?

I pray that we would be fervent and eager and all of that.

And so, God, teach us this morning.

Uh, we pray uh glory to Jesus Christ alone.

That is what our hearts cry for, Lord.

So uh do all of these things again to your glory, amen.

Amen.

Okay, so Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 12 uh this morning is where we are going to be, and um, it's been a while, it's been a while since we've had a sermon focused specifically on the topper of uh topic of prayer.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Okay, so I'm excited about this because one of our six distinctives that we have here at Redemption Church is that we're a church committed to fervent prayer.

Hey, fervent prayer, that's what we're committed to, meaning very simply, you and I, we recognize as believers how utterly dependent we are on the Lord for our every need.

And we're dependent on him.

Okay, so so it's armed with that awareness, okay, that that desperation and that faith that we come to him in prayer.

Now, in the same breath, uh I think we can all readily admit here that we're not all that great at this whole prayer thing.

And we're not.

We're not that strong at it.

We don't we don't pray enough.

Uh we don't pray enthusiastically, we don't pray expectantly.

I mean, let's think about it, we don't even know what to pray a lot of the time, right?

We don't.

Okay, but if you've ever heard me preach on this subject before, uh, you also know that I'm not a real big fan of beating us over the head about this either.

I don't think that's helpful.

Heaping guilt and shame, and come on, what's the matter with you?

Like all of that, that kind of angle, I don't think it really motivates anyone properly, you know, to truly grow in prayer and to love prayer and and really to love God as He desires us to.

Okay, so instead of you know just getting punched in the face via sermon today, right, we're we're gonna look at one of the great stories in early church history as a way to remind our souls that the Lord loves, okay?

He loves to respond to a church that prays earnestly.

We pray, he answers.

We grow, he's glorified.

My voice is torched.

Alright, well, I think I know how this is gonna go today for my voice.

Listen, I've uh I've prayed already.

Um we've had our preamble here.

Let's just jump right into it.

I'm not even gonna read the first point because I need to take a drink again and cough.

So just read it.

Here it is.

Alright, when it's when the Lord responds powerfully, when his church prays earnestly.

That's the thing.

That's the thing we're looking at today.

And there are definitely times, as we see there, that that require us to really buckle down, to really get after it.

Now, Acts 12, we see was was definitely one of those times the church, I mean, they just they just knew because of what was going on.

They're like, okay, it's time to pray like our life depends on it.

Uh, because it did.

Okay, or more specifically, uh Peter's life did.

Pardon me, uh, but here's what verse one says.

Take a look.

It says, about that time.

Okay, about that time.

Well, which time?

You know, you might be wondering.

Well, it's the time from just last week, chapter 11, the time that the Antioch Church, remember, they were sending relief to the disciples and uh and taking care of felt needs, real needs during the time of the famine.

Okay, so about that time, Herod the king, okay, which Herod is this?

There's like 80 Herods, it feels like.

Okay, but this is Herod Agrippa I.

Okay, Herod Agrippa I, and he was the he was the grandson of Herod the Great, the absolute menace, uh, who reigned at the time of Jesus' birth.

Okay, so menace ran in the family here.

Uh Herod the king, uh Herod Agrippa I was also uh a real piece of work.

Look what it says.

It says 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, okay, stop right there for a second.

He saw that it pleased the Jews.

Which Jews exactly?

Well, we're talking the the the Jewish religious leaders who had rejected Christ, the Messiah.

Okay, we've been talking a lot about the Jewish religious leaders of the church, you know, particularly in Jerusalem.

It's not those guys, obviously, it's it's the Jewish leaders of the Jewish nation in general who, again, wanted nothing to do with Jesus, the same people that were responsible for for Christ's death.

Okay, so so Herod, he sees that it pleased the Jews, and look what it says next, says he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

Okay, so so clearly Herod is you know, he's trying to gain the favor of the Jewish nation here, and he recognizes that executing a key Christian leader in James gets the job done.

He's like, all right, they they they liked that.

And of course, being the politician, we know how politicians roll, they'll do just about anything to get people to approve of them and keep themselves uh in office and and all of that.

And so to build on this newfound favor that he gets, that he has, Herod outdoes himself by arresting Peter also.

The implication being that Peter's days are also numbered.

All right, now keep going, still in verse 3 there, the last part of it.

It says, This was during the days of unleavened bread.

Okay, what's that?

Well, it's it's referring to the week immediately following the Passover.

Okay, so the unleavened bread, that was that was the next seven days after Passover.

It was considered a holy week.

Okay, and so as a holy week, uh definitely not to be treated sacrilegiously with something such as an execution.

Okay, that that just should go without saying.

Okay, so what's happening here?

Why did it tell us this during the week of the unleavened bread?

Well, John, he's the author of Acts, he's letting us in on, he's getting us this info to us to show just how heartless and even bloodthirsty the Jews were.

They were willing to violate the sanctity of these of these seven days, this holy week, uh unleavened bread, as long as it meant that the church was persecuted.

Right?

They were definitely willing to do that.

Okay now, verse 4.

It says, And when he, this is Herod, had seized Peter, he put him in prison, delivering him over to two, uh, over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.

Now, much has been made, you know, by pastors and scholars and all of that about these four squads of soldiers, and maybe you've heard it too, you know, and and you look at that and you're like, wow, that's a lot of guys.

Like, overkill.

Okay, to to guard this one man.

You've got 16 guards guarding one guy.

Okay, and and for sure, there'd be a little bit of overkill in this, okay?

But understand that each squad had four soldiers in them, and and this was really common standard practice, uh, Roman practice.

Okay, so so these these guards, these squads, they would take turns guarding the prisoner um uh over one of the four uh watches of the night.

Okay, so three hours in each of the in each watch, and so there'd be four guys per watch uh throughout the night.

So it's not like there were 17 guys, including Peter, crammed into this little wee tight cell because of some fear that that Peter would would get out or or something like that.

It's not like that, but but you you you you did still have four, okay, four trained killers guarding one former fisherman.

Okay, so so again, it's it's a lot of guys for one guy.

Now you might be thinking, well, Peter was kind of a threat.

I mean, remember he swung his sword and he took off the ear of Malchus when Jesus was arrested.

Well, that's like, I mean, Peter was going for the kill shot there.

Okay, he missed.

It shows he doesn't have a lot of experience with a sword.

Not exactly a major threat, but that, you know, that being said, notice this, verse five.

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

Okay, so this is where we see it.

Okay, yet again, there is this heavy, crushing tidal wave of persecution smashing over the apostles, right?

Over their ministry.

Okay, we've had James already violently murdered, not too long after Stephen was.

Okay, and so Peter, he's obviously on deck to be the next to go.

Okay, leadership of the church attacked in literally the worst way possible.

Okay, so so what does the church do?

How do they handle themselves?

Well, it says there that they go to God in earnest prayer.

Okay, that there's this rallying.

Remember, we used that word last week a bunch, okay, where together they realize that that this is our power move.

Right?

This is our counterattack here, if you will.

It's it's it's prayer.

Okay, and and and what's kind of to jump out at us here, even as we read this in the structure of the sentence, it just it describes the persecution, it describes the oppression, it describes the tyranny, just blitzing the church, and it's awful and it's unjust, and it's it's cruel, it's all of that.

And yet there's that that that little three-letter word that we see right there, but okay, that that word, but it shows us that everything's about to be turned on its head.

Okay, it says, but earnest prayer for him was being made to God by the church, signaling to you and I, the reader here, that something big's about to go down.

Okay, that's that's going to reverse and shift the momentum and take what is what what's where it all seems to be going optically in a very different direction.

Okay, that that little word, but, it's actually always important when it's used in the scripture.

Notice that.

It's always a sh signals a shift in momentum in where the story is going.

Okay, but before we get to all of that, just notice with me again that earnest prayer, that's the immediate response of the church as another one of their own is arrested and faces death.

I mean, this was definitely a you know, a time and a situation that required such a response on behalf of these believers.

And I think it's good for us to recognize that there are times in life that bring about a greater sense of urgency within us than other times.

Okay, that's just true.

And while it is, it is it's true, well, pray without ceasing, as we see it in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, pray without ceasing is always also true.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

They were encouraged to be in regular and constant dialogue with the Lord about everything, out of recognition for our, again, our general neediness.

Well, while all of that is true, there's also the reality that there will definitely be uniquely intense times and situations, these moments, these seasons in life that require you and I to truly, to really buckle down and and and and gather and get after it in urgent, fervent prayer.

Okay, perhaps for you, you're not in one of those seasons right now.

Things aren't super desperate.

And I would just say, if not, that's great.

Enjoy this time, enjoy these days, this season for you.

See it as God's grace towards yourself.

And allow your prayers during those days to be full of joy, to be full of thanksgiving and worship and gratitude and all of that.

Okay, but when something intense or or heavy does come your way or our way collectively as a body, it is good for the posture of our prayers to be earnest, to be desperate.

So, with all that said, uh, write this down if you're a note taker, or memorize it if you're super smart.

Okay, why should we commit to being a church that prays earnestly?

Okay, why?

Why should we commit to this?

Why should we try and go after this?

Why should we try and grow in this way?

Well, three reasons for you.

First one here, it reveals an awareness of our need for the Lord.

Okay, it reveals an awareness of our need for the Lord, which is a good thing.

Is it a comfortable thing?

No.

Right?

When you're desperate, when when you are super needy, when it feels like, Lord, you have to come through now or or it's all over.

Okay, as as terrifying, frankly, as as those moments, those seasons can be, it's actually a really good thing.

Right?

Because you're aware of how much you need the Lord.

It's acute, it's it's crystal clear.

You ever looked back on those times in your life where you're like, man, that was hard.

And we we were crying out from a desperation more than ever before, and it was painful and all of that.

But isn't it interesting how we look back on those seasons as like, man, that was sweet too.

Like, how awesome was it that you know we we had to cry because the Lord was so gracious to us and he drew near and and he was very present and he encouraged us, and it was emotional, certainly, and a bit of a roller coaster for sure.

But man, how sweet is it when we are aware of our need for the Lord.

Right?

It's a very good thing because when we're aware, we're we're in a place of humility.

Because we also know how easy it is to not be super aware of our needs.

And to we can go through the day, we can go through a week, a month, years even.

Where we don't really pray and we're not aware of our needs, we're very kind of self-sustaining, and we let we think that we can do it all, and we live in a in a culture that is all about you know doing the doing it yourself, being a self-made man, working hard, you know, you have to get after it, no one else is going to for you.

And that can that that mentality can bleed into our faith, into our relationship with Christ.

So, why should we commit to being a church that prays earnestly?

Well, it reveals an awareness of our need for the Lord.

That's the first one.

Second one, it unifies us all around what truly matters.

It's very unifying, you know, when we're praying earnestly and things are difficult.

Like when someone's hurting and we know that and we're aware of that, we we go to bat for them.

We see that happening here with the church and Peter.

Peter's suffering.

It's this is this is scary.

He thinks he's about to die.

All of those things, and so they gather together, and death really they're praying for him.

That's what really matters in that moment.

They're probably not thinking about some of the details of their day-to-day life.

No, they're like, this is this is all important.

We have to pray for our brother here who's in a bad way, and as we think about the big picture of the church, like like the enemy is coming after us, and this is threatening, and this is difficult.

But it unified them, and that's what it should do with us.

Helps us focus on what really matters, earnest prayers and the circumstances that lead us to pray like that.

Have this have this way of just kind of melt this way of melting away those, you know, our self-focused earthly desires that compete for our ultimate attention and affection and energy, but ultimately aren't really as important at all as what God has called us to.

Desperate times and the prayers that follow serve to rally us to God's mission.

That's what matters most.

Third thing here, why should we commit to being a church that prays earnestly?

Well, it compels God to leap into action on our behalf.

You can't you can't miss that as you read this passage.

You know, in this, we we we kind of gain insight into the heart that God has for his church, the heart that he has for believers.

You know, as we pray, he is compelled.

And again, we're gonna see that here in this very next thing as it plays out in the rest of the story.

So let's get to it.

Second point the Lord responds powerfully when his church prays earnestly, anticipating that he'll come through whenever and however he sees fit.

Okay, so this is where we see God's powerful response.

Okay, this is it.

And it's awesome and it's unique and it's certainly miraculous.

Take a look at it starting in verse 6.

It says, when now when Herod was about to bring him, that's Peter, out on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with chains, and then sentries.

So you got the two soldiers right next to him, bound to them, and then the two sentries before the door were guarding the prison.

Alright, so you think about it, the squad here, they've got him locked right down to the point where he can't even move.

Okay, without without alerting the soldiers that are chained to him.

Okay, soldiers who are very much awake, mind you.

I think when I read this as a kid and I was told this story, I think my mind, I don't think anyone taught me this specifically, but in my mind, I pictured these soldiers asleep with him.

That's not the case.

They went through three hours, you know, chunks of time where they were alert and they were watching him out of fear of death if they if they blew it.

Okay, well, look what happens next.

Verse 7.

It says, 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.

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.

This is interesting.

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

Okay, so I like was he sleepy?

Was he still wiping the sleep out of his eyes?

Like he's not really aware of what's happening.

It feels surreal to him.

Now, verse 10 when they when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city.

It opened for them of its own accord.

And they went out and went along one 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.

Okay, so at once Peter realizes that this was, in fact, a miracle.

The Lord had done something uh incredible.

He'd been in some kind of trance or something at, you know, as all of this was unfolding.

The guards themselves were uh you know were obviously blinded by the Lord from being able to have any awareness whatsoever of what was taking place.

Remember, the light shone in the cell.

They didn't see that.

Remember, they're awake.

You know, Peter slips out.

Again, they are blinded from all of this, from having from knowing what was going on.

Okay, and because of the loving grace of God, Peter's able to slip out of the chains, okay, out of the locked cell, past all those four guards, past the locked city gate, gate of freedom.

Showing Peter, showing the believers, as we'll see in a second here, and then us ultimately as well, the the Lord's powerful response to their prayers.

Now, here it is, watch how they all react to this.

Okay, when they when he realized this, this Peter, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark.

Okay, so this is John Mark.

He's gonna play a prominent role for us in the next couple of chapters.

We'll see more of him later on.

And this was his mom's house, Mary.

Okay.

Okay, so he he goes to John Mark's house, where many, it says, were gathered together and were praying.

Okay, so don't miss that.

It's as they were praying for Peter that Peter gets rescued and shows up at their front door.

It's like simultaneous.

Pretty incredible.

Verse 13.

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

Recognizing Peter's voice, okay, you didn't even see him, recognizing his voice, in her joy, she did not open the gates, but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate.

So this is actually supposed to be a little bit funny.

It's a little bit funny.

It's a bit of levity inserted into what was a very intense uh little mo uh situation here for Peter and for the church.

She just bails on him and runs back to tell all her friends.

She doesn't even let him in.

And look at how they respond to it, verse 15.

They said, You're out of your mind.

Right?

It's like they're not expecting, they're not anticipating that God actually will or would answer their prayers.

Okay, but but she kept insisting that it was so, it says.

And they kept saying, It is his angel.

Now, what does that mean?

Well, we know that the Jews did believe in the idea of guardian angels for every believer.

And if you want to jot down Matthew 18, verse 10, it seems to suggest that that is in fact true.

Matthew 18:10

Okay, but but I think what's what's also going on here is that they're just in a bit of shock about all of this.

Who wouldn't be?

Right?

They they like they they don't want to give themselves permission to to hope, right?

To to to to believe out of out of fear that Rhoda really was mistaken, then they'd have to deal with just the the major disappointment of, oh, you thought it was Peter, but it's some other guy, right?

Like, I think that's what was going on here.

I think that's something that I'm sure we can all empathize with.

I don't think we need to beat the disciples here for not immediately believing Rhoda or anything like that.

Not at all.

Now, verse 16.

But Peter, you know, left hanging big time, continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.

But motioning with uh to them with his hand to be silent, okay, it's in the middle of the night, remember, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

And he said, Tell these things to James and to the brothers, and then he departed and went to another place.

Okay, seeing the seeing the Lord respond to the church's prayers like this should should really encourage you and I to believe, right?

To to know that he loves to respond to our prayers as well.

We see him love this church, he loves our church too.

He loves us as well.

And and to not not just to believe that he will, but to actually anticipate that he will.

Right?

And now that said, I know that for many of us, our minds will immediately drift to the thought that, you know, well, it's it's not, you know, exactly every day that you see or you or you hear of God doing something as wild as this, as what's taken place in uh in chapter 12.

And maybe so.

But it's also quite true, if if we're honest here, that that none of us are totally thoroughly aware of or tapped into all the different ways that God does work miracles in the lives of his people and in the church uh globally or worldwide, even today.

Okay, so while a prison escape, like Peter's, may not be the most common event, okay, by the way, it wasn't back then either.

Okay.

That being said, there are there are more recent accounts that maybe you've heard of of the Lord blinding people's eyes.

And I think, for example, of Christians that have smuggled Bibles into closed countries.

You've heard this, and they go and they they take a couple of Bibles and they're hoping that customs agents and and border patrols won't find them, and they do a search and they don't find the Bibles, and they let the they let the Christians go by, and the Christians are like, what's happening here?

And they start to realize, right, the Lord is the Lord is doing this.

This is a miracle.

I mean, this is happening today in countries.

Right to the point where they start to drive these vehicles over, they get so bold, the Christians do.

They drive the vehicles over the border, rammed to the roof full of Bibles.

There's no blanket covering them, they're just out there in the open.

And the customs ages, the border guards, they look in like nothing to see here.

Go on.

This is an amazing miracle, and this is happening.

This is one example.

Okay, so while these things might, again, not be everyday occurrences, what we can take from this and other miraculous accounts is that God will flat out come through for his church.

God will do it whenever and however he wants to.

That's what verse 12 shows us.

Sometimes the the Lord answers our desperate cries very quickly.

It's immediately.

Other times it's it's later.

Okay, here he comes through in this kind of rare prison break.

Other times it's not as dramatic.

The point, though, is that we can and should trust him to, and then actually anticipate that that God Almighty will do whatever it takes, whatever he decides is best, when he decides it's best to do it.

And no matter how or when that shakes out for you and I, it's his power being displayed.

It is.

So, will you and I believe that God can and does respond powerfully to our prayers?

Will we believe that?

Will we cling to that?

Not just a belief that we can say and recite if someone were to ask us, but will that belief, will that faith, govern our hearts and our motives and our affections and get us to the place of praying expectantly?

Will we do that?

And then again, will we anticipate a response?

Like he's going to answer.

The how, the the the the when, that's that's that's totally up to him.

The timing, the details, all of it.

But will we pray like that, knowing that God loves to come through for you and I?

He loves, loves, loves the church.

I mean big C church, I mean small C church, redemption church.

Okay, hopefully, as you're you know, we're going through this story here, you're starting to be filled with a sense of awe.

And you're you're you're reminded of that.

That's being stirred up in you with this this anticipation, there's there's joy again.

You're being reminded of how much God loves you and he loves us.

There's renewed faith in you about all of this.

If you're still like, I don't know, you know, you're still kind of working it through.

Well, maybe this next part here will get you there.

Final thing.

The Lord responds powerfully when his church prays earnestly, full of faith that nothing will ever stop his glory from prevailing.

Nothing.

Verse 18, take a look at that.

It says, Now when when day came, I love how this is worded, there was there was no little disturbance among the soldiers.

Okay, no little disturbance, meaning they were freaking out.

Right?

They were panicking, they wake up, their eyes are open, all of a sudden they realize, guys gone.

He he's he's out of here, and they're running around trying to figure it all out.

Then verse 19 says, And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death.

Right, you guys blew it, it's not really their fault.

We know that this is what the Lord has done, right?

But Herod, again, this is how he rolls and how it worked.

And so he puts them to death.

Then he, this is Herod, he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

Okay, so what happens now in the rest of the story is this shift taking place.

It's not focusing on Peter or or the church or Judea anymore.

It's now, it's now looking at Herod and what becomes of him.

This is interesting, verse 20.

It says, now Herod, this is kind of interesting, it just says, now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon.

It doesn't tell us why, it doesn't tell us what the situation was exactly, but he was angry, and so they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, that's a cool name, Blastoise, the king's chamberlain, and they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.

And so the people of Tyronsidon, they're looking to appease Herod, who for some reason was not too happy with them.

Now, verse 21.

On the appointed day, on an appointed day, Herod put on his royal robes, he took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.

Okay, verse 22.

And the people were shouting the voice of a god and not a man.

Okay, so they are absolutely just pumping Herod's tires.

They're like, we'll say anything, we will do anything to get this guy to stop being angry, because we kind of need him in order to survive.

Right?

And so they're like, they're calling him a god.

There, it's flattery.

Now, immediately, verse 23 shows us, immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down.

Look at this, because he did not give God the glory.

He he held on to that glory for himself.

And look what it says.

This is like cool and gross, all wrapped up, especially if you're like a teenage boy, right?

And he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

I remember as a kid being like, gross and cool.

Like that's how I thought of that.

Now, the the Jewish historian uh Josephus, I've mentioned him before, he actually recounts this very moment.

Uh, he recorded it for us, and I'll just read it to you what he said.

This is what he said.

He says, When Herod entered the theater, clad in glittering silver garment, his flatterers addressed him as a god.

May you be propitious or favorable to us.

And if we have hitherto feared you as a man, yet henceforth we agree that you are more than mortal in your being.

The king accepted their flattery, then looking upward, saw an owl perched on a rope and took it as a symbol of ill fortune.

At the same time he was seized by violent internal pains and was carried into his palace, where he died after five days of illness.

Kind of interesting to get that extra biblical account of, you know, obviously this is the same story, right?

There's just a few different details.

Yeah, but all of it to say the justice of God prevails.

Right?

Do you see that?

The church, they're praying for Peter, and the Lord comes through for Peter and then just shows even a bigger picture.

Don't worry, I've got this.

Like I will take care of my own, and those who harm my church will answer for it.

Okay?

I love this.

Should we have ever doubted that God would prevail?

He just shows us here.

Lord didn't forget the horrific evil Herod committed against the bride of Christ.

Right?

Through the murder of John, the murder of Peter.

So as a result of that, and maybe as a result, or obviously as a result, of Herod's most arrogant uh act of all, accepting praise that he's he was a god, okay, justice rains down and Herod literally becomes worm food.

Again, it shows us that that nothing will ever stop God's glory from prevailing.

Nothing.

Verse 24 really hammers this home and is itself more evidence that the Lord responds powerfully when his church prays earnestly.

Look what it says, verse 24.

But the word of God increased and multiplied.

Right?

This is the thing ultimately that God said he was going to do.

He said he was gonna use the disciples to do, he's gonna build the church to do, the very thing that enemies of the Lord tried to stop from happening, and again, the very thing that did not stop happening, no matter how awful certain situations got.

Nothing will ever put an end to what the Lord intends to accomplish.

Nothing will put an end to the church, never, despite how bleak the world around us might get at times.

Okay, verse 25 shows us that.

Look at this.

It says, And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark, John Mark.

Okay, so look at it this way.

Long after a guy, a tyrant like Herod, is dead and buried, Christ continues to build his church.

It just happens.

As this whole scene was a shot in the arm to these churches here in the text, you know, so it should be to ours.

It really should.

We should be filled with faith in the unstoppable power of our God.

His glory will prevail one way or another.

No circumstance, no person, nothing will slow him down, nothing will diminish him or defeat him or rob him of the glory that is his alone.

Okay, so as as again, as we absorb all of these things here today, let's let's really pray earnestly when troubled times come.

Full of faith, knowing that God's power, that is going to be the result.

And so what we're gonna do this morning as we close off our service, it's been a while since we've done it, but we've done it many, many times, is we're gonna finish with a time of prayer.

And give you the opportunity to gather, whether it's with your family or with a few other people around you, you can spin the chairs around, kind of small group prayer style, and cry out to the Lord.

Cry out earnestly.

What are the needs?

What are the what are the what are the challenges that you're facing right now?

You're not gonna have time to you know everyone go around the circle and share all of those things before you pray.

No, just pray them.

Just go straight to that.

Pray for the needs of the church.

Pray that God's glory would prevail, that the mission would prevail.

Pray hard for these things.

I love that we have the the very practical opportunity to respond to what God's word is showing us today.

So before we get to that though, I want to say uh one really quick thing, and then I'm gonna pray before you do.

Okay, first of all, uh we're gonna have step one.

We've been talking about this a little bit over the last few weeks.

Step one is gonna be happening in the overflow room.

So if you exit this room and go right to your left, you're gonna see a room with chairs and a TV in there.

Step one, this is this is for anybody who just wants to know more about Redemption Church.

You know, what's it about and what's the Lord doing here?

I'd love to get an opportunity to meet you and explain to you uh what God is doing.

If you're interested in in maybe uh getting involved or any of that, I want to take up about a half an hour of your time if you can manage that.

And uh and come on in.

We've got some people signed up, but don't worry, if you haven't signed up, you can come.

That's following the service as soon as it is done.

Okay, but again, I want to pray, and then I'm gonna give you just a few moments uh to pray yourselves.

If you're new here and you're like, oh, this is I don't want to pray with other people, don't sweat.

Just pray on your own.

No, no pressure in that way.

But again, we would love to pray with you.

And then when you're done that, I'm not putting a time limit on it, but when you're done that, um you're free to go.

Okay, so let me let me pray and then we'll we'll get to it.

Lord, we thank you again for this text.

Lord, we thank you for the encouragement that comes from this text.

It just reminds us, Lord, it reminds us that you are in control of all things, you are sovereign.

Nothing, nothing escapes your watchful eye, nothing puts a dent in your plan, uh, nothing surprises you, nothing, Lord.

You you you have said that you will build your church.

You will build your church, gates of hell will not prevail against the church.

And so, Lord, I pray that we would remember that.

We would remember this passage as as things will come at us from time to time.

As a church, individually.

Lord, I pray that we would not hit the panic button and freak out and and and run to whatever our flesh wants, Lord.

I but I pray that we would we would pray fervently, Lord.

That is that is the kind of church that we have set out to be.

Lord, we again recognize our our weakness in this, recognize that none of us are knocking it out of the park when it comes to prayer.

But Lord, none of us are knocking it out of the park when it comes to anything, Lord, and and and and us being awesome is not what it's about.

It's about how how Jesus Christ was perfect in our place.

Jesus Christ is the reason that we can come before you in prayer.

He lived the perfect life that none of us ever could.

We've all sinned.

And and though we deserve punishment from you for that, for going against your laws, for going against you, it was your son Jesus who took that punishment, took that wrath through his death, doing that in our place, where he was a substitute for us.

And so, Lord, I pray that we would, as we recognize our weakness and our neediness, Lord, I pray that we would recognize that.

We are yours through Christ.

I pray that it would fill us with confidence to come before you.

I pray that we would actually anticipate you answering us.

And Lord, that in all things, as you come through, when you come through, however you come through, we would be eager to give you glory.

Not pat ourselves in the back for how great we were at praying or for how immediate our response was to come before you, but to give you the glory for your power coming through, for your mission prevailing.

So, Lord, as we go to prayer now, Lord, I pray that we would be encouraged in these things.

I pray that this would not just be a couple of minute response and then off we go and we forget all about it.

Lord, grow us, encourage us, and Lord, do great things in our church.

We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

So you're loved.

Okay?

Don't want to make don't want to forget to say that.

And you can go to prayer now when you're done.

The service is done.

Have a great week.