WEBVTT 00:00:32.829 --> 00:00:38.750 This morning we're really coming to an end of the series that we've had in the past weeks. 00:00:40.989 --> 00:00:49.710 Over the past I think six or seven weeks or so, we've been looking at how we can cultivate that relationship between us and God and Roman and prayer life. 00:00:49.869 --> 00:00:59.230 We've looked at what happens when we answer our prayers just how we can approach God's both and the posture that we should have before going with prayer. 00:00:59.869 --> 00:01:04.670 We've talked a lot about our relationship between us and God and prayer. 00:01:05.310 --> 00:01:13.310 And this morning, just as we finished this series, really I want you to look at what happens when the church prays together. 00:01:13.549 --> 00:01:18.990 What happens when we gather as Christians and before God and pray together? 00:01:19.150 --> 00:01:22.109 And to do that, I want us to look at Acts chapter 12. 00:01:22.430 --> 00:01:29.549 If you have your Bible with you, we need to turn to Acts chapter 12 before we go on to follow the text. 00:01:29.789 --> 00:01:32.270 I think it was our harder to read every weekend. 00:01:33.389 --> 00:01:34.990 But it's up there anyway. 00:01:36.349 --> 00:01:47.949 We're really going to work our way through Acts chapter 12 this morning and look at what happened when the early church came together and really see how that can challenge us, hopefully. 00:01:48.349 --> 00:01:54.030 We're going to read the first five verses of Acts chapter 12 just now. 00:01:54.270 --> 00:01:55.310 It says this. 00:01:57.150 --> 00:02:07.150 About that time, King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church, and he executed James, John's brother, with the sword. 00:02:07.389 --> 00:02:14.909 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the festival of uneven bread. 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:25.789 After the arrest, they put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers, each to guard him, intending to bring him up to the people after the Passover. 00:02:26.430 --> 00:02:33.069 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him. 00:02:34.030 --> 00:02:35.789 I will stop there just now. 00:02:37.069 --> 00:02:43.150 You see, chapel 12 really is like a flashbird, it moves to the early church in Jerusalem. 00:02:43.310 --> 00:02:45.469 Acts just not to this beforehand. 00:02:45.549 --> 00:02:48.989 It was really focusing on Paul and the Baptist moving in Antioch. 00:02:49.629 --> 00:03:00.429 And actually what they were doing just before this, they were trying to get the church in Antioch to raise an offering to give to the church in Jerusalem because they were facing a famine at the time. 00:03:01.069 --> 00:03:06.590 And then just as we start chapter 12, it's almost a different look at this is what went on in Jerusalem. 00:03:06.750 --> 00:03:09.310 And as if a famine wasn't bad enough. 00:03:09.469 --> 00:03:13.069 And we read that they have a lot more than just that to be ended with. 00:03:23.789 --> 00:03:31.549 This grandfather Herod the Great ordered that all males born were to be put to death. 00:03:32.909 --> 00:03:42.909 This King Herod's uncle was Herod Antibas, who actually put Jesus on trial and even ordered the execution of John the Baptist. 00:03:43.629 --> 00:03:53.389 So this King Herod that we would have there came about a lineage really of kings who persecuted Jesus and his father's. 00:03:53.469 --> 00:03:55.389 It was almost as if that was his families. 00:03:57.310 --> 00:04:00.189 But he wanted to keep the peace at the time. 00:04:00.269 --> 00:04:04.829 And so he disliked minorities who threatened to disrupt that. 00:04:05.150 --> 00:04:09.069 And the church at this time were disruptive to that. 00:04:09.549 --> 00:04:13.229 Because he also wanted to integrate himself with the Jewish people. 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:16.670 People didn't like the early church. 00:04:17.709 --> 00:04:22.750 This is why Axel starts off today that he executed James. 00:04:23.150 --> 00:04:26.590 This is James, who was one of Jesus' first disciples. 00:04:26.750 --> 00:04:29.310 He was in the inner circle of Jesus' disciples. 00:04:29.550 --> 00:04:39.709 A lot of the stories in the Gospel, you read how Jesus had this inner circle of Peter, James, and John, the people that he relied on, that he would minister with the majority of the time. 00:04:39.949 --> 00:04:42.509 And that is this James that he executes. 00:04:43.790 --> 00:04:51.790 He's the first apostle to be martyred here in his story, not the first Christian, but the first apostle to be martyred, killed for his faith. 00:04:52.350 --> 00:05:00.430 What's interesting is if you read the story of James and the Apostles, Jesus actually warns James that something like this was going to happen to him. 00:05:00.830 --> 00:05:07.310 James and his brother John asked Jesus, really when they get to heaven and say, Jesus, can we have the best seeds to have this? 00:05:07.629 --> 00:05:10.590 Can we sit alongside you when we get there? 00:05:10.750 --> 00:05:16.430 And Jesus says to him that they would drink his cup and share his baptism. 00:05:16.510 --> 00:05:17.390 And that comes in March. 00:05:26.350 --> 00:05:31.790 You're going to share my sufferings and to share the gospel across the world. 00:05:32.030 --> 00:05:34.430 And we see that's exactly what happens to James. 00:05:34.590 --> 00:05:40.350 He wants to be good because he's a follower of Jesus, because he's going out and sharing the gospel. 00:05:41.870 --> 00:05:48.350 Headed violently, it tells attacks some people from the church and he executes James with the sword. 00:05:48.510 --> 00:05:52.350 That's what's going on in the church in Jerusalem at this point. 00:05:52.830 --> 00:05:56.189 And he sees that doing this pleases the Jewish people. 00:05:56.350 --> 00:05:58.350 And he's trying to get alongside them. 00:05:58.430 --> 00:05:59.710 And so he says, Do you know what? 00:05:59.790 --> 00:06:02.670 If that pleased him, why don't I go after that other one? 00:06:03.069 --> 00:06:09.150 And he arrests Peter, another apostle, a figurehead of the early truck scene in Jerusalem. 00:06:09.390 --> 00:06:14.270 They can't execute him yet because it tells us it's a festival of unleaten bread. 00:06:14.350 --> 00:06:16.750 It comes just after Passover. 00:06:17.710 --> 00:06:22.350 Jewish law wouldn't permit me to kill during that time, to execute someone. 00:06:22.430 --> 00:06:29.629 So there's no point in killing Peter to please the Jewish people if they'll be annoyed at him for doing it over that period. 00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:32.270 And so he locks them up. 00:06:32.350 --> 00:06:36.590 And he locks them up in what can only be described as maximum security. 00:06:36.750 --> 00:06:42.270 There's four guards with four soldiers, 16 soldiers in total, just watching one man. 00:06:42.750 --> 00:06:46.030 There's two in a cell and the rest outside the cell. 00:06:46.270 --> 00:06:55.230 He's chained, each arm on each leg, they reckon to a soldier each situation seems bleak at best. 00:06:55.870 --> 00:06:58.670 Seems bleak for the Christians, it seems bleak for Peter. 00:06:58.830 --> 00:07:01.069 It seems hopeless. 00:07:01.950 --> 00:07:04.910 There is no real possibility that Peter can escape. 00:07:05.069 --> 00:07:08.030 He's in maximum security, prison. 00:07:08.750 --> 00:07:14.189 So what could the church do against this might or against this night? 00:07:15.390 --> 00:07:16.270 What could they do? 00:07:19.069 --> 00:07:20.189 Did they pipe back? 00:07:20.590 --> 00:07:21.790 Did they protest? 00:07:22.750 --> 00:07:25.150 Verse 5 tells us what they do. 00:07:25.230 --> 00:07:27.069 It says this in verse 5. 00:07:27.550 --> 00:07:29.710 Not that, but it tells us this. 00:07:30.110 --> 00:07:33.790 The church was praying fervently to God for him. 00:07:34.110 --> 00:07:37.950 The church was praying fervently to God for him. 00:07:38.590 --> 00:07:41.550 And I think this tells us two things about the early church. 00:07:41.790 --> 00:07:44.910 First one is that prayer was their response. 00:07:45.230 --> 00:07:47.069 Prayer was the response. 00:07:47.150 --> 00:07:50.350 This is how they chose to respond in this situation. 00:07:51.710 --> 00:07:56.189 James's execution doesn't stop them from going to God in prayer. 00:07:56.590 --> 00:08:01.390 They still trusted that God would and could answer their prayers. 00:08:01.790 --> 00:08:04.750 They won't have forgotten Peter's first two imprisoners. 00:08:04.830 --> 00:08:07.950 Peter's already been imprisoned twice before this. 00:08:09.310 --> 00:08:16.189 Not at the hand of Rome, but at the hands of the Satan Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, the first time comes in Acts chapter 4. 00:08:16.270 --> 00:08:18.830 And Peter at that point is released the first time. 00:08:18.910 --> 00:08:24.990 And what's interesting when he's released the first time, you think he'd be praying to God, God protect me from that in the future. 00:08:25.230 --> 00:08:27.950 But what happens is they actually go out when they pray for boldness. 00:08:28.110 --> 00:08:31.150 God helped him be bolder in proclaiming the good news. 00:08:31.629 --> 00:08:36.590 And because he's a bit bolder, he gets arrested a second time, comes in Acts chapter 5. 00:08:37.149 --> 00:08:40.750 And God miraculously frees them in that occasion. 00:08:41.549 --> 00:08:45.710 So surely this church must have been thinking, we've seen God do it before. 00:08:45.870 --> 00:08:48.029 We've seen him answer our prayers before. 00:08:48.350 --> 00:08:48.990 Could he do it? 00:08:50.189 --> 00:08:52.429 And so prayer was our response. 00:08:52.750 --> 00:08:55.870 Same thing that we see from that small verse. 00:08:56.110 --> 00:08:57.870 So prayer was their team. 00:08:58.350 --> 00:09:01.069 That is what they did as a church. 00:09:01.629 --> 00:09:05.389 You see, there's no explanation in the passage given to it. 00:09:06.829 --> 00:09:13.389 Luke, who Isaac, expects us to understand that this didn't just part of what the church did together. 00:09:14.189 --> 00:09:17.870 They were there in church, and so they prayed to God together. 00:09:18.189 --> 00:09:23.230 Tells us that they gather together, uses the word together, tells us that they gather to pray for us. 00:09:23.629 --> 00:09:33.469 The word that is used in that word, the Greek word epenos, and also me continuously or continuously. 00:09:33.629 --> 00:09:38.269 That's the idea that he's trying to get across that they were praying non-stop for people. 00:09:39.309 --> 00:09:43.389 It suggests that prayer was going on as the church. 00:09:43.629 --> 00:09:47.549 So this early church could see that prayer was the response. 00:09:47.789 --> 00:09:49.709 They faced an impossible situation. 00:09:49.789 --> 00:09:53.309 They were feeling for the life of one and the others. 00:09:54.029 --> 00:09:55.549 What was the response? 00:09:55.789 --> 00:09:57.230 It was to pray. 00:09:57.549 --> 00:09:59.549 And we see that prayer was a routine. 00:09:59.789 --> 00:10:03.389 Crisis came our way, but prayer was already a rhythm of our life. 00:10:03.469 --> 00:10:07.469 It was a routine of what we would do as a church. 00:10:08.269 --> 00:10:11.709 There's two communities in contrast in this passage. 00:10:12.029 --> 00:10:14.189 We have the world and we have the church. 00:10:15.069 --> 00:10:25.949 Building an appropriate weapon, the world has the authority of head, the power of the sword, the security of the prison that they appear in. 00:10:26.669 --> 00:10:29.469 And the church, they have prayer. 00:10:30.029 --> 00:10:32.429 The only power that they possess. 00:10:33.549 --> 00:10:39.469 So this morning, really, what I want us to look at is what happens when the church prays? 00:10:40.029 --> 00:10:42.509 What happens when this church prays in this sex region? 00:10:42.829 --> 00:10:46.829 What happens for us today when the church gathers to pray? 00:10:47.230 --> 00:10:48.750 We're going to read on it. 00:10:49.309 --> 00:10:50.990 I think it's got even smaller. 00:10:51.309 --> 00:10:53.230 So if you're Bible in front of you, you can turn to it. 00:10:53.389 --> 00:10:55.149 We're going to read verse 6. 00:10:55.629 --> 00:10:57.069 And it says this. 00:10:59.629 --> 00:11:12.829 When Herod was about to bring him up for trial, that very night Peter, bound to a change, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison. 00:11:12.990 --> 00:11:18.829 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shot in the cell, striking Peter on the side. 00:11:19.069 --> 00:11:23.549 He woke him up and said, Quick, get up, and chain colour and rest. 00:11:24.349 --> 00:11:27.949 Then the angel called him and put on their flaws, and he did. 00:11:28.189 --> 00:11:31.069 Wrap a cloak around him and called him and followed me. 00:11:31.469 --> 00:11:38.349 So he went out and followed, and he did not know what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision. 00:11:38.589 --> 00:11:46.349 After they passed the first and sent parts, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. 00:11:46.750 --> 00:11:50.589 They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him. 00:11:50.829 --> 00:12:01.709 When Peter came to himself, he said, Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from heaven's grasp and from all the Jewish people expected. 00:12:02.829 --> 00:12:05.469 What happens with the church praise? 00:12:06.110 --> 00:12:08.990 We see that captives are set free. 00:12:09.309 --> 00:12:11.629 Captives are set free. 00:12:11.949 --> 00:12:15.709 What happens next in this story, just after the church praise? 00:12:16.110 --> 00:12:19.629 It's that Peter is miraculously set free. 00:12:20.349 --> 00:12:25.069 God has answered this church's prayer and set Peter free. 00:12:25.549 --> 00:12:28.029 Just as a side note, I find it interesting. 00:12:28.269 --> 00:12:30.750 The decision Peter was fast asleep. 00:12:30.909 --> 00:12:35.789 I don't know about you, but I was in maximum security prison about the executed. 00:12:35.870 --> 00:12:41.629 I think I'd awaited the cell, panicking, worrying, trying to get myself out of there. 00:12:42.029 --> 00:12:43.870 But Peter was fast asleep. 00:12:44.029 --> 00:12:47.870 I think it shows that he had complete trust in God in that moment. 00:12:49.870 --> 00:12:56.750 Sometimes the challenges that we face seemed so impossible that the only option that we have left is to trust God. 00:12:57.149 --> 00:12:58.829 I think that's where Peter was. 00:12:59.149 --> 00:13:00.990 All he could do is to trust in God. 00:13:01.149 --> 00:13:05.069 There was no physical way he could get himself out of that situation. 00:13:05.949 --> 00:13:11.949 Trust Burton has the famous quote, I thank the wave that throws me on the rock of Aegis. 00:13:12.509 --> 00:13:19.549 What he's saying is, I thank God for the storms that throw me into hell with the trust in him. 00:13:19.789 --> 00:13:21.870 Because there's a lot of option in that moment. 00:13:22.750 --> 00:13:27.149 Peter, in my opinion, had nothing left to do other than trust. 00:13:27.709 --> 00:13:30.509 And that's what he does, so he is fast asleep. 00:13:30.750 --> 00:13:35.629 And then we see that the angel appears, strikes Peter on the side and says, Quick, get up. 00:13:35.870 --> 00:13:40.909 The chains fall off his wrists, and he follows the angel out of the prison. 00:13:40.990 --> 00:13:44.429 And tells us the iron gate of the carceral and opens more than happy. 00:13:45.149 --> 00:13:47.069 Again, this can seem like adolescence. 00:13:47.549 --> 00:13:50.669 But it's not a wee gate that didn't have in the garden path. 00:13:50.829 --> 00:13:55.469 They reckon that this gate was 16 feet wide and about 30 feet tall. 00:13:55.789 --> 00:14:01.629 One person could open this gate without multiple people, and yet it tells us that it opened itself. 00:14:02.429 --> 00:14:06.429 God made a way for them when I've seen to be no way. 00:14:15.549 --> 00:14:17.709 God had answered by prayer. 00:14:18.349 --> 00:14:22.429 Peter was held captive, and now he's free. 00:14:22.829 --> 00:14:26.029 That's what he did then when the church prayed. 00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:30.909 And today, God is still in the business of setting people free. 00:14:31.549 --> 00:14:39.949 The famous ignorer Charles Wesley, who's a leader in the early Methodist church in the 18th century, wrote part of the head of the angels sing. 00:14:40.189 --> 00:14:43.149 I'm sure most of the year sung that at one point in our life. 00:14:43.469 --> 00:14:47.230 But he describes his own conversion to Christianity as this. 00:14:47.629 --> 00:14:57.789 He says it was as if coming out of a dark dungeon, the Spirit of God came upon him, his chains fell off, and he stood up and followed after Christ. 00:14:58.189 --> 00:14:59.230 Sounds familiar. 00:14:59.469 --> 00:15:01.789 Sounds a lot like Peter's experience. 00:15:02.349 --> 00:15:06.509 You see, when the church prays, this captive Peter was set free. 00:15:06.750 --> 00:15:11.069 When the church prays today, captives are set free. 00:15:11.549 --> 00:15:14.829 The Bible tells us that we're all captive to sin. 00:15:15.709 --> 00:15:21.230 John 8, Jesus says, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 00:15:21.629 --> 00:15:24.189 We're held captive of life. 00:15:24.589 --> 00:15:26.189 It separates us from God. 00:15:26.269 --> 00:15:31.149 And there's nothing that people can do for a very long time to get free from that sin. 00:15:31.949 --> 00:15:38.909 So God sent Jesus to earth to be one, to live the perfect life, and then to die on that cross. 00:15:39.149 --> 00:15:42.990 Because the Bible tells us that the one for our sin is death. 00:15:43.230 --> 00:15:45.949 That's what we deserve for the sins in our life. 00:15:46.110 --> 00:15:48.750 That's what was separate us between us and God. 00:15:48.829 --> 00:15:52.349 There was a chasm that we could not cross by ourselves. 00:15:52.669 --> 00:15:56.509 God sent his only son, Jesus, to pay that for us. 00:15:56.829 --> 00:15:59.469 And he rose again three days later. 00:15:59.629 --> 00:16:10.189 And so now when we put our baby in Jesus, when we know what he did on that cross was followed, and we repent and turn away from our sin. 00:16:11.789 --> 00:16:18.269 Jesus finishes John 8 by saying, So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:25.469 When we accept Jesus as our Saviour, we're no longer captives to sin, but we're free indeed. 00:16:26.110 --> 00:16:29.230 We have been set free from the punishment of sin. 00:16:29.789 --> 00:16:34.829 There will come a day where we all stand before God and have to give a camp for our lives. 00:16:35.549 --> 00:16:41.389 If we've accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we will all stand there and judge for the sin of our life. 00:16:41.629 --> 00:16:46.829 We'll see it as the righteousness, it's the goodness of the Son, Jesus Christ. 00:16:51.389 --> 00:16:54.909 We no longer have to go on through our lives living this life to sin. 00:16:55.149 --> 00:16:57.069 But he set us free from that. 00:16:59.230 --> 00:17:06.269 But we still have family members, friends, colleagues who are captives. 00:17:06.430 --> 00:17:07.150 So that's it. 00:17:07.390 --> 00:17:12.750 They do not know the truth of the God, they don't know that Jesus Christ, what he's offered to them. 00:17:13.710 --> 00:17:18.029 So why are we not responding to that like the other church does? 00:17:19.470 --> 00:17:25.230 A friend is held captive and they pray for him, and they say, friends, family. 00:17:26.349 --> 00:17:29.470 People in our lives are held captive to sin. 00:17:29.789 --> 00:17:32.269 They do not know the goodness of Jesus Christ. 00:17:33.230 --> 00:17:35.069 And they were slow to put it for them. 00:17:36.670 --> 00:17:45.869 We've seen that when the church prays captives are set free, Jesus says in John 10, 10, I've come to give you life and give it to the foe. 00:17:46.589 --> 00:17:53.389 It's not about an eternal life for God, but you mean like that's for a better life than a life free from sin than Jesus Christ. 00:17:53.869 --> 00:17:57.470 It's the only way to heaven and the only way to God. 00:17:58.029 --> 00:18:04.109 We were once those captives, and someone prayed for us, and God set us free. 00:18:04.589 --> 00:18:08.349 When the church is, no one is too far from the grace of God. 00:18:08.750 --> 00:18:14.990 Peter wasn't too far, but God was able to set into that situation and set us free. 00:18:15.950 --> 00:18:18.589 When the church prays, captives are set free. 00:18:18.750 --> 00:18:24.829 And then secondly this morning, when the church prays, joy breaks out. 00:18:25.069 --> 00:18:26.670 Joy breaks out. 00:18:32.430 --> 00:18:33.149 It says this. 00:18:33.789 --> 00:18:41.629 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many had assembled and were praying. 00:18:41.869 --> 00:18:46.509 He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Laura came to answer. 00:18:46.909 --> 00:18:54.750 She recognized Peter's voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate. 00:18:54.909 --> 00:19:01.309 You're out of your mind, they told her, but she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, It's his angel. 00:19:01.710 --> 00:19:08.029 Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. 00:19:09.549 --> 00:19:16.430 Just for a second, imagine being Peter, you've just been around to race within God and evil to knock the door of the church, and no one believes you. 00:19:18.190 --> 00:19:20.670 This is an act where we first meet John Mark. 00:19:20.990 --> 00:19:24.909 John Mark, after this, goes on to a missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas. 00:19:25.470 --> 00:19:28.190 And he's got a long story that you can read for yourself. 00:19:28.670 --> 00:19:31.230 But he ends up scarcely apostle or mark. 00:19:32.029 --> 00:19:35.470 And this was his mother's house that they went to, that Peter went to. 00:19:35.549 --> 00:19:40.029 They reckoned that this house was where the early church in Jerusalem would have met. 00:19:40.269 --> 00:19:44.670 It was a big house that tells us that he was at the outer court when he knocked. 00:19:44.990 --> 00:19:50.109 They reckoned that potentially this is where Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples. 00:19:50.430 --> 00:19:52.269 So Peter knocked on his own. 00:19:53.389 --> 00:20:00.670 And the group who were there, the early church, the ones who were praying, probably we know we can maybe that they didn't assume it was Peter. 00:20:00.909 --> 00:20:05.950 They probably at first maybe thought maybe this is the secret police come to arrest us as well. 00:20:06.829 --> 00:20:13.149 And Rhoda, the servant, goes to answer the door, and that's when we see joy break out. 00:20:13.389 --> 00:20:19.230 She recognizes Peter's voice, and it says, because for joy, she ran to tell others. 00:20:19.470 --> 00:20:25.389 She was so filled with joy that she forgot to let Peter out in the door, and she let him stand in mock home. 00:20:35.549 --> 00:20:37.789 Filled Rora with joy. 00:20:38.349 --> 00:20:40.349 And what is their first reaction? 00:20:41.069 --> 00:20:42.349 Do you have your mind? 00:20:44.109 --> 00:20:45.230 It can't be. 00:20:45.710 --> 00:20:49.230 There's two fuller opposite responses to this miracle. 00:20:50.670 --> 00:20:52.589 And then they try to rationalise it. 00:20:52.750 --> 00:20:54.190 They say it can't be him. 00:20:54.430 --> 00:20:55.629 It must be his angel. 00:20:55.710 --> 00:20:59.549 At the time he believed everyone had a guardian angel, so they thought that's who it was. 00:21:00.430 --> 00:21:02.589 It must be his angel, it can't be him. 00:21:03.629 --> 00:21:05.950 Are we dissimilar than that? 00:21:06.909 --> 00:21:09.710 Someone comes and tells you God did this in the life. 00:21:11.309 --> 00:21:12.750 You say, Are you sure? 00:21:13.549 --> 00:21:14.990 Are you sure it was God? 00:21:15.389 --> 00:21:17.470 Are you sure it wasn't just a coincidence? 00:21:18.430 --> 00:21:21.950 Nikki Gumbo, who does the Alpha Course, he does the bidding's for it. 00:21:22.190 --> 00:21:26.829 He's got a phrase in it that says, The more I pray, the more coincidences happen. 00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:29.950 There's no coincidences in the kingdom of God. 00:21:30.829 --> 00:21:33.149 Our God is the God of the impossible. 00:21:33.389 --> 00:21:36.109 He is the one who can set the captives free. 00:21:36.190 --> 00:21:38.909 He can change our circumstances in an instant. 00:21:38.990 --> 00:21:44.109 He can restore relationships, he can heal us, he can give us peace that surpasses all understanding. 00:21:44.509 --> 00:21:52.269 These people who have been praying so fervently weren't expecting the answer to the prayer to come knocking on the door. 00:21:52.990 --> 00:21:58.509 This morning I want to encourage us to raise our expectations of what God can do in our lives. 00:21:59.069 --> 00:22:05.869 Rhoda is so filled with joy that she's too excited to remember to let Peter in the door. 00:22:06.670 --> 00:22:10.109 She eventually convinces the others to go to the door and open the door. 00:22:10.190 --> 00:22:18.349 And it says, When they opened the door and saw every other amiss, joy breaks out because they see that God has answered their prayers. 00:22:18.670 --> 00:22:20.349 It's the only way that could happen. 00:22:20.509 --> 00:22:25.389 There was no other way that Peter could have ever escaped in that situation that was only thank God. 00:22:28.109 --> 00:22:34.509 Situation is in your life that you are desperate to see that breakthrough in right now? 00:22:35.470 --> 00:22:36.909 Is that a relationship? 00:22:37.069 --> 00:22:38.750 Is that a circumstance? 00:22:39.309 --> 00:22:40.430 Whatever it is. 00:22:40.829 --> 00:22:43.230 My prayer for us is that joy will break out. 00:22:43.470 --> 00:22:51.230 When we gather together as a church and take these situations to God, we'll raise our expectations for Him to answer them. 00:22:51.869 --> 00:22:56.269 When the church prays, captives are set free, joy breaks out. 00:22:56.430 --> 00:23:00.990 We will see God through the might not always be the way we want to. 00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:06.589 But let's not try and rationalise coincidences that happen in our life. 00:23:07.069 --> 00:23:10.269 Let's have a joyful, expecting faith. 00:23:10.589 --> 00:23:11.549 Just like Oda. 00:23:13.230 --> 00:23:15.629 And then last thing, this morning. 00:23:16.509 --> 00:23:27.389 When the church prays, captives are set free, joy breaks out, and the enemy is just going to weep for this. 00:23:30.029 --> 00:23:36.349 At the end of the glory, Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyree and Sidon. 00:23:36.509 --> 00:23:38.829 Together they presented themselves before him. 00:23:39.069 --> 00:23:47.470 After winning over Blastius, who was in charge of the king's bedroom, they asked for peace because their country was supplied with food from the king's country. 00:23:47.789 --> 00:23:53.309 On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them. 00:23:53.549 --> 00:23:58.909 They assembled people began to shout, It's the voice of a God and not of a man. 00:23:59.230 --> 00:24:06.430 At once an angel of the Lord forgotten, because he did not give glory to God, and he eaten by worms and died. 00:24:07.069 --> 00:24:09.950 But the word of God flourished and multiplied. 00:24:12.190 --> 00:24:21.309 After God answered the prayers of the church, after he had set Peter free from prison, the story shifts and it shifts back to Herod. 00:24:22.190 --> 00:24:34.670 This king who had imprisoned Peter, this king who had executed James, this king who had opposed God's people every step of the way, now finds himself facing the judgment of God. 00:24:36.589 --> 00:24:46.349 It tells us then that because Herod accepted the worship of the people instead of glorifying God or giving that glory to God, and the result of the Lord struck him down. 00:24:47.710 --> 00:24:57.470 This man who seemed so powerful, who seemed so untouchable, who seemed so victorious, was defeated in a moment by the hand of God. 00:24:58.670 --> 00:25:04.509 This morning, who or what is the head in your life? 00:25:05.710 --> 00:25:07.710 Might not necessarily be a person. 00:25:08.349 --> 00:25:11.789 Might be a circumstance or an obstacle that you're facing. 00:25:12.029 --> 00:25:15.789 The what process God's work in your life? 00:25:16.269 --> 00:25:17.470 Is it fear? 00:25:18.029 --> 00:25:19.869 What other people might think? 00:25:20.349 --> 00:25:21.549 Is it discouragement? 00:25:21.710 --> 00:25:23.869 You've been praying for something, you've not seen it happen. 00:25:24.750 --> 00:25:29.549 Is it temptations that you're facing to pull you away from the things of God? 00:25:29.950 --> 00:25:33.869 Is it division that the devil's trying to sow into your heart? 00:25:34.190 --> 00:25:35.389 Is it apathy? 00:25:35.629 --> 00:25:40.190 You no longer feel like the entitlement around God or church anymore? 00:25:40.670 --> 00:25:45.470 Is it circumstances beyond your control and it seems insurmountable? 00:25:46.750 --> 00:25:48.509 It can seem overwhelming. 00:25:48.670 --> 00:25:55.549 I'm sure the early church felt overwhelmed when James was executed, when Peter was taken to be executed. 00:25:56.509 --> 00:26:04.269 This passage reminds us that the greatest enemies of God's purposes are never stronger than God himself. 00:26:07.149 --> 00:26:13.869 He had presence, he had authority, he had political influence, but he could not stop the work of God. 00:26:15.789 --> 00:26:24.750 While this church gathered in a house to pray, God was at work to bring down the enemy and to advance his kingdom. 00:26:26.109 --> 00:26:29.230 Who or what is the heritage of your life? 00:26:29.549 --> 00:26:34.430 What's opposing God's work in your life or in the life of the church? 00:26:34.990 --> 00:26:40.109 When the church prays, what we see is that the enemy is defeated. 00:26:41.069 --> 00:26:44.430 There's a powerful contrast at the end of this chapter. 00:26:45.149 --> 00:26:48.829 Herod danced and God's work continues. 00:26:49.470 --> 00:26:54.509 Verse 24 tells us the word of God flourished and multiplied. 00:26:55.789 --> 00:26:58.349 See, Herod's story ended in defeat. 00:26:58.750 --> 00:27:01.549 But God's story continues and victim. 00:27:02.430 --> 00:27:03.950 The enemy was defeated. 00:27:04.430 --> 00:27:06.829 God's work published and multiplied. 00:27:07.389 --> 00:27:11.389 The same God who delivered Peter judged her. 00:27:12.909 --> 00:27:22.829 What we see in this story is that when the church prays, chains God, doors open, hearts are chained, and the enemy is defeated. 00:27:23.309 --> 00:27:30.029 God's purposes will prevail, and his kingdom will continue to advance. 00:27:31.629 --> 00:27:40.269 You see, the truth is the church does not overcome because it's terrible, but it overcomes because it prays to the one who is. 00:27:41.389 --> 00:27:45.069 When the church prays, we see that captives are said to be. 00:27:45.549 --> 00:27:49.789 Who is there in your life that you're desperate for to come to no Christ? 00:27:50.109 --> 00:27:52.909 But still held captive to a life of sin. 00:27:53.389 --> 00:27:59.069 We need to be gathered together and praying for and contending for them, asking us moving our lives. 00:27:59.869 --> 00:28:02.029 When the church prays, joy breaks out. 00:28:02.589 --> 00:28:05.230 Are we expecting that God will answer our prayers? 00:28:07.069 --> 00:28:10.509 Maybe our prayer one day will come knocking on our door. 00:28:10.909 --> 00:28:14.190 Are we expecting that God will bring the answer to us? 00:28:15.549 --> 00:28:18.430 When the church prays the enemy is defeated. 00:28:18.990 --> 00:28:22.829 Our greatest enemies are never stronger than God Himself. 00:28:23.230 --> 00:28:30.029 When someone or something comes against our response in that situation, is it to fight? 00:28:30.509 --> 00:28:31.869 Is it to protest? 00:28:32.670 --> 00:28:34.190 It should be to pray. 00:28:34.349 --> 00:28:36.109 Because prayer is our greatest weapon. 00:28:36.269 --> 00:28:38.269 Because in ourselves we are not strong. 00:28:38.509 --> 00:28:41.629 But we pray to God who's stronger than our own. 00:28:42.909 --> 00:28:45.710 This is why we gather as a church to pray. 00:28:45.869 --> 00:28:49.789 We don't put these prayer meetings on just to get people in the building. 00:28:50.109 --> 00:28:54.029 But we gather to pray because we're desperate to see the captives set free. 00:28:54.109 --> 00:28:56.029 We're desperate to see Joy Purchill. 00:28:56.190 --> 00:29:00.589 We're desperate to see the end of the word at all opportunities. 00:29:03.629 --> 00:29:05.869 We gather to pray as a church. 00:29:06.109 --> 00:29:07.230 Every single week. 00:29:07.389 --> 00:29:14.029 On a Tuesday, quarter past one, on a this Wednesday night we're gathering at 7 o'clock, and on a Sunday, quarter past ten. 00:29:14.909 --> 00:29:19.789 This morning can my encouragement be we as a church need to gather to pray. 00:29:20.029 --> 00:29:27.710 If you look throughout history around the Bible, any revival that happens is always preceded by a move of prayer in the church. 00:29:27.950 --> 00:29:34.029 People crying out for God to move in their lives, their families' lives, their community, their city, their country lives. 00:29:34.269 --> 00:29:36.349 I believe we want to see it happen. 00:29:36.509 --> 00:29:38.349 We can't do that in ourselves. 00:29:38.829 --> 00:29:42.430 But we need to get out of this church and ask God to do that. 00:29:43.470 --> 00:29:48.589 You'd be more than welcome in any of these prayer gatherings, and we would love to see you then. 00:29:49.470 --> 00:29:53.149 We're going to finish this morning just by singing that song. 00:29:53.629 --> 00:29:57.230 This song you might not be aware of, you might need to song a handful of times. 00:29:57.309 --> 00:29:59.710 It's called A Wave for My Soul. 00:30:00.029 --> 00:30:05.389 And I really want you to sing this song as a response to God in your life. 00:30:05.629 --> 00:30:08.909 It says in the song that there's a sound that changes things. 00:30:09.230 --> 00:30:12.269 The sound of those people on their knees. 00:30:12.509 --> 00:30:17.710 What they're saying in that is that when we get on our knees to God and pray together, it changes things. 00:30:17.869 --> 00:30:21.470 Not because we're praying, but because God responds to our prayers. 00:30:28.589 --> 00:30:33.230 When we contact God in prayer, he makes away for us things to be no way. 00:30:33.629 --> 00:30:35.869 He sets the captives free. 00:30:36.029 --> 00:30:37.869 He takes the change off us. 00:30:38.750 --> 00:30:40.990 And the enemy is defeated. 00:30:41.629 --> 00:30:45.789 When he moves, make no mistake, the bowels of hell begin to shake. 00:30:45.950 --> 00:30:49.789 Nothing can stand against him, not even the bowels of hell. 00:30:50.029 --> 00:30:51.789 We're terrified of what God can do. 00:30:52.670 --> 00:30:59.069 This morning, as we stand to sing this, may God awake our souls to pray.