Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] In the Book of Acts, we have recorded for us the history of the beginning of the Church.
[00:00:14] And in that history, we read about the fulfillment of the great commission that Jesus Christ had given to his apostles, remember, right before he went up into heaven, after his resurrection.
[00:00:34] And so that great commission began to be fulfilled by the Church that Jesus established.
[00:00:47] People went out and began to proclaim the good news, beginning in Judea and then out from Jerusalem and Judea into Samaria and to the uttermost ends of the earth, of which one part we live in, far from any place that they ever would have known about.
[00:01:14] Yet the Gospel is here on another continent now, and indeed all over the world.
[00:01:24] But at the start, the gospel was concentrated the people. The number of people who knew the good news was small. The number of people that had believed the good news was small, and they were all basically just in Jerusalem.
[00:01:48] There began to be persecution against the Church.
[00:01:54] We see the history of that persecution, beginning with Stephen, who preaches a beautiful sermon of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who hated Jesus and those who hated Stephen. The result is that he is killed for his faith.
[00:02:20] And a great persecution begins, and people begin to go out from Jerusalem. And this is the history of persecution in the church that we see it build the church.
[00:02:34] It's a very, what, counterintuitive thing that not always, but generally when there begins to be persecution, the Church ends up growing and being stronger. In the end, The news ends up spreading to more places, more people begin to consider the costs and place their faith in Christ Jesus.
[00:03:19] But it's hard for us to imagine the early Church and the kind of persecution that they were facing.
[00:03:30] So In Acts chapter 12, we read a little bit about that persecution and we read about prayer.
[00:03:41] And so I want to read to you from Acts 12:1, 17, you'll see persecution and prayer at the forefront. Would you please stand for the reading of God's word?
[00:04:01] Now, about that time, Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.
[00:04:10] And he had James, the brother of John, put to death with a sword.
[00:04:15] When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.
[00:04:20] Now, it was during the days of unleavened bread that when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.
[00:04:34] So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the Church of God on the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains.
[00:04:51] And guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.
[00:04:55] And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared. And a light shone in the cell.
[00:05:01] And he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, get up quickly.
[00:05:06] And his chains fell off his hands.
[00:05:09] And the angel said to him, gird yourself and put on your sandals.
[00:05:14] And he did so.
[00:05:15] And he said to him, wrap your cloak around you and follow me.
[00:05:19] And he went out and continued to follow. And he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
[00:05:28] When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself.
[00:05:36] And they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
[00:05:42] When Peter came to himself, he said, now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.
[00:05:55] And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
[00:06:05] When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.
[00:06:11] When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy, she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in the front gate.
[00:06:20] They said to her, you're out of your mind.
[00:06:23] But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, it is his angel.
[00:06:29] But Peter continued knocking.
[00:06:31] And when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.
[00:06:36] But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison.
[00:06:44] And he said, report these things to James and the brethren.
[00:06:49] Then he left and went to another place.
[00:06:53] You may be seated.
[00:07:01] Now. This is a different Herod from the one that put John the Baptist to death. If you remember, John the Baptist was also killed by a Herod.
[00:07:13] This is a man, Herod, who tries to please the people.
[00:07:20] At the beginning of the passage, he puts to death James, the brother of John, who is one of the first three apostles, and was with Jesus at the Transfiguration on the Mount of Olives.
[00:07:34] Mark records some important history for this martyr.
[00:07:38] Listen to this from Mark 10.
[00:07:41] James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus saying, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.
[00:07:50] And he said to them, what do you want me to do for you?
[00:07:56] They said to him, grant that we may sit one on your right and and one on your left in your glory.
[00:08:07] But Jesus said to them, you do not know what you are asking.
[00:08:13] Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?
[00:08:23] They said to him, we are able to.
[00:08:26] Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you shall drink and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.
[00:08:41] It's not exactly what they asked for, is it?
[00:08:48] And yet it is.
[00:08:53] Is this not glorious?
[00:08:56] That James is a martyr for Jesus Christ his Lord?
[00:09:07] Is it not a glory?
[00:09:16] You might be confused because there's a James mentioned at the end of the passage in Acts, that James is almost certainly James, the brother of Jesus, who became a leader of the church in Jerusalem and was eventually martyred himself shortly before Jerusalem was destroyed. But this James, of course, is James, the brother of John.
[00:09:43] And Jesus says, the cup that I drink, you shall drink. Did Jesus enjoy drinking the cup?
[00:09:50] He prayed that it would be possible for this cup to pass from him.
[00:09:57] Did James enjoy being put to death with a sword?
[00:10:03] Certainly not.
[00:10:08] It's very true that they did not know what they were asking.
[00:10:16] And yet Jesus does say, you shall drink of the cup and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. Church history records also.
[00:10:30] How John ended up living, Eventually dying.
[00:10:42] He makes a point of that himself.
[00:10:46] Jesus didn't say I was going to live forever.
[00:10:59] Herod arrests Peter after this.
[00:11:06] What is his intent? His intent is to bring him out to the people and to publicly do away with him.
[00:11:14] It's an approval ratings plan.
[00:11:21] You know, when you see that you attack a group of people and your approval ratings go up, what do you do?
[00:11:31] Keep attacking the people who are unpopular.
[00:11:36] That's all it takes.
[00:11:41] That's Herod's plan.
[00:11:45] There are many reasons that persecution happens.
[00:11:50] This particular time is motivated by Herod's desire for personal gain.
[00:12:00] This is at the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is when the church would be celebrating Easter, the resurrection of Jesus.
[00:12:10] But this year it's a sad time when they've just lost the Apostle James and now are on the verge of losing Peter as well.
[00:12:19] And Herod's plan was for Peter to die the next day, and he had him guarded by 16 men in rotations so that nobody was ever asleep.
[00:12:38] There's basically nothing more, humanly speaking, that can be done for Peter.
[00:12:49] So the church begins to pray.
[00:12:52] They turn to their Lord and Savior Their God and Father. And how are they praying?
[00:13:01] They're gathered together in small groups throughout the city.
[00:13:09] I don't mean to deny that people prayed one by one. I'm sure they did. Throughout the day, pray without ceasing.
[00:13:19] I'm sure that the thought of losing another apostle would cause many people to be afraid at this time, to be anxious.
[00:13:37] So surely they prayed.
[00:13:40] Whenever this horror of the loss of their beloved apostle James and the about to be loss of Peter would come to them, they would pray.
[00:13:53] They also gather together in small groups.
[00:13:59] And what are you going to, what are you going to gain by gathering together in small groups to pray?
[00:14:13] Well, you'll be strengthened and encouraged in your faith and in your ability to pray by having other people pray with you.
[00:14:28] But more than that, Jesus says that wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, he will be present with them.
[00:14:38] And so they do as they're told. They gather together.
[00:14:47] How else do they pray? They pray fervently.
[00:14:51] The church prays together.
[00:14:54] The church prays fervently.
[00:14:59] What does fervently mean?
[00:15:02] Any of you kids know that word?
[00:15:05] That's a tough one to define.
[00:15:07] I won't call on anybody fervently.
[00:15:14] It's a good Bible word. It's used a number of places.
[00:15:24] Fervently.
[00:15:30] What's your favorite sports team?
[00:15:36] Bengals. Got some Bengals out there.
[00:15:39] How about iu?
[00:15:41] How about Ohio State?
[00:15:43] Okay, got some. Got some favorite teams.
[00:15:48] Nobody's willing to admit it fervently, but when you cheer and it's your favorite team, when you watch them play and it's a close game or it's your rival, you fervently desire that they will win.
[00:16:13] That feeling where you really, really want it, that's fervor.
[00:16:21] Now we can pray with fervor.
[00:16:25] We can pray fervently.
[00:16:28] Part of it is about the earnest desire, the earnest desire that Peter would be saved. It's not as though the people are like, I mean, Peter's kind of a pain in the butt and he's always got a big mouth. And so, you know, I do want him, of course, I don't want him to die, but you know, like, nobody's going to miss him that much.
[00:16:52] No, they fervently desire his salvation.
[00:16:57] Right.
[00:16:59] And they fervently pray.
[00:17:02] It's not just about the desire, it's about the way that you pray.
[00:17:08] So when you fervently desire your team to win, you cheer. And you can cheer half heartedly or you can cheer fervently Right.
[00:17:19] You can also pray half heartedly. And you can pray fervently.
[00:17:26] You can give yourself to it with intent, with your whole heart, with integrity of desire being precisely what you're asking for.
[00:17:41] And so they pray fervently.
[00:17:45] And how else do they pray? They pray in groups. They pray fervently and they pray continually, even late into the night, Pray without ceasing, continually giving themselves to this fervent prayer with one another.
[00:18:10] For what? That Peter would be saved.
[00:18:13] But do you think that's the only thing they're praying for when they're gathered together? Of course not.
[00:18:20] They're praying about all the things like the fears that would come up.
[00:18:27] What if Peter dies? What if all the apostles are arrested and killed?
[00:18:34] What if.
[00:18:36] What if my dad. What if my son. What if these are the things that are central to a persecution, fears, concerns. What if I would deny my Lord? What if I would not have the faith necessary?
[00:18:59] If you place yourself in the position of these believers, what else would you be praying about?
[00:19:17] So why are they praying?
[00:19:24] Or what are they really praying for? Is maybe what would you really be praying for?
[00:19:31] The why, why are you praying? Is going to answer the what you're going to be praying for.
[00:19:44] I know some things that I'm sure they were praying for. I just told you. Some of them prayers thinking about themselves, their family prayers, thinking about the church.
[00:20:04] But of course it centers on Peter. Right?
[00:20:11] What do you think they would be praying about?
[00:20:22] Verse 5. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God all the way up until the very night when it's almost too late.
[00:20:43] You think that they would pray that Peter would remain strong and be a man?
[00:20:53] I'd pray that.
[00:21:02] So that the name of God would not be dragged through the mud.
[00:21:09] So that Jesus wouldn't be mocked because his followers were faithless.
[00:21:15] So that the church would be strengthened despite the loss of their leader.
[00:21:23] Maybe the men would pray that Peter would remain strong and be a man. Maybe the women would pray that Peter would be comforted in his distress in the hours leading up to his death.
[00:21:38] I hope that we wouldn't be so sexist, but that both men and women would pray for both of these things.
[00:22:00] Peter's asleep, chained to two guards the night before he is to die.
[00:22:08] I want you to think about that.
[00:22:11] He's asleep the night before he's about to die.
[00:22:18] This prayer was already answered.
[00:22:26] Obviously they're praying ultimately for the release and safety of Peter. But do you have the faith to pray for the release and protection and safety of Peter?
[00:22:38] Not sure I do.
[00:22:44] It's not like they didn't pray for James, right?
[00:22:49] They've seen that sometimes the answer from the Lord is no, But they're praying anyway.
[00:23:05] Do you have the faith to pray anyway?
[00:23:15] Praying for the release and safety of Peter is to pray for the protection and deliverance of the innocent.
[00:23:23] It's to pray for justice.
[00:23:29] I want you to see what's going on here.
[00:23:31] It's not just a relational thing. It's not just a church thing.
[00:23:39] It's about.
[00:23:43] The government doing what it's supposed to do with its authority.
[00:23:49] Or it's about the government abusing its authority to flip everything on its head.
[00:23:57] Don't you think prayers about Herod, about justice would be part of what is being prayed for?
[00:24:09] To pray for the release and safety of Peter is to pray for peace. It's to pray for the end of persecution. Don't you think they're going to ask that? This would end not just Peter, but there wouldn't be another Peter.
[00:24:26] There wouldn't be another James.
[00:24:32] To pray for the release and safety of Peter is to pray for the sake of the church, both themselves who are already a part of it, and those who God would save through Peter's powerful preaching yet to come.
[00:24:50] And those who would read his letters yet to come.
[00:25:01] And in the midst of their prayers, God answers.
[00:25:14] Unexpectedly.
[00:25:18] I mean, that's inescapable. It is unexpected.
[00:25:22] They're praying.
[00:25:24] They're praying specifically that Peter be released for his protection. And then they can't believe it when he's released and safe.
[00:25:39] This is the miraculous effectiveness, the power of prayer.
[00:25:45] God answers the prayers of the church beyond what they could ask or think.
[00:25:55] Now you might think, well, they're asking precisely for this. And I would say an angel comes and removes him from his chains. The door opens for him and he's delivered out into the streets and comes to the door, the gate.
[00:26:13] No, nobody thought that.
[00:26:16] Nobody was asking for that.
[00:26:20] Okay, yes, it is precisely what they were asking for, but it is beyond what they could ask. Or.
[00:26:35] Have you ever had prayers answered beyond what you could ask or think?
[00:26:46] Isaiah 65, 24 says, it will come to pass, that before they call, I will answer.
[00:26:54] And while they are still speaking, I will hear.
[00:26:59] They're still speaking.
[00:27:00] They're in the other room praying for Peter and he's knocking on the door.
[00:27:05] Can you please let me in?
[00:27:12] God heard.
[00:27:15] God was answering before they called.
[00:27:26] In fact, it's such A miraculous answer to prayer. It's so far beyond what anybody thought or asked that Peter himself doesn't believe that it's happening.
[00:27:38] Do you notice that he thinks he's seeing a vision or something?
[00:27:44] He's literally standing outside, and all of a sudden he realizes, help, I'm free.
[00:27:53] I'm safe.
[00:27:54] I have been delivered by the Lord.
[00:28:01] Small group, can't believe it when he shows up at the door.
[00:28:09] What do you pray for that you don't have faith to believe?
[00:28:23] Do any of us have faith to pray for Baby Sawyer?
[00:28:30] Anybody lack faith?
[00:28:34] Yeah.
[00:28:41] James is dead.
[00:28:43] Peter's alive.
[00:28:45] At the end of it, there's no accounting for what will happen. We don't know, do we?
[00:28:54] And yet, when the church delivers their requests unto the Lord, he hears, he answers.
[00:29:17] What is it that you lack faith to pray for?
[00:29:33] Is it that you lack faith to pray for deliverance from a besetting sin?
[00:29:43] Why do you lack faith?
[00:29:46] Has God not delivered many, many people from besetting sins?
[00:29:55] Is it truly your desire to remain in the sin?
[00:30:02] Is that why you won't pray?
[00:30:06] Is it because you have prayed many times before and not received what you were asking for?
[00:30:20] What are you going to pray?
[00:30:28] Pray that God will wake you as he woke Peter.
[00:30:34] That God will wake you from your sleeping, open the doors to your dungeon and bring you out from your sin to be part of his people, part of His Church.
[00:30:59] Pray that God will exalt himself and send His Holy Spirit and power so that men will fear him and turn to him.
[00:31:10] Pray for the protection of his church, for the deliverance, body and soul, of his people.
[00:31:34] One of my favorite children's catechism questions is, how can you get the Holy Spirit?
[00:31:48] God has told us to pray to him for the Holy Spirit.
[00:31:56] Do you have the faith to pray for the Holy Spirit?
[00:32:07] So much of that question right there feels very circular.
[00:32:16] How can you have faith without the Holy Spirit?
[00:32:28] You do need God to be at work in you.
[00:32:37] Was God at work here in Jerusalem?
[00:32:42] Was he at work in an unexpected way?
[00:32:48] He certainly was.
[00:32:50] Was he at work in spite of the prayers of his people?
[00:32:55] No. He was at work answering their prayers.
[00:33:01] Was he at work in spite of their faithlessness?
[00:33:05] Absolutely.
[00:33:07] Absolutely.
[00:33:10] So trust him when you pray, even in your faithlessness, he hears, he answers.
