SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_00: We're so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Each week we share a message from God's Word to encourage your heart, strengthen your faith, and help you grow in your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We hope this time blesses you and draws you closer to the heart of God.
SPEAKER_01: So most of y'all know I used to teach music many, many years ago.
SPEAKER_01: I taught uh music in a in a private school, a Christian school.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, I got to see a lot of kids that that were that were very talented, and some that that started not so talented, but with time became talented, and that was always really cool.
SPEAKER_01: And I got to teach elementary all the way through high school, so I got to see these kids develop over years of uh of of um practice and study.
SPEAKER_01: And and for a lot of them, there was always this point where it was it was just so clear that they went from being a student of music to being a musician.
SPEAKER_01: And that was like, oh, that was just a good feeling for a music teacher.
SPEAKER_01: They went from being a student of music to being a musician.
SPEAKER_01: And and you knew that happened when they were when they were uh uh observing like the real base the very basics of musicianship and the very basics of their craft when they could do that without thinking about it.
SPEAKER_01: Like like the kids that that were uh uh singing, you know, in my music program, the kids in the choir and taking voice lessons and stuff, you know, they when you see them, they get to that point where they're they're not even thinking about correct breathing and posture and and relaxation and all those things that that mechanically your body needs to do to be able to sing well when they're not thinking about that anymore, and now they can think about the way they're singing it, the interpretation, the improvisation, all of that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's when they went from wow, this kid is no longer a student of music, this kid is a musician.
SPEAKER_01: He knows what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like that with any discipline.
SPEAKER_01: Even like I was watching uh uh clips of Larry Bird uh played for the Celtics years ago, I guess back in the 80s.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: You know, unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: The way he just handled that ball was like an extension of his body.
SPEAKER_01: And that's because he wasn't thinking about the basics anymore.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't thinking, okay, I have to dribble, I have to keep this ball moving.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't thinking about that.
SPEAKER_01: He was thinking about everything around him and how he can make that next play happen.
SPEAKER_01: And everything like that, whether it's musicianship or athleticism, whatever it is, all of that comes with maturity at whatever you're doing.
SPEAKER_01: When you reach a level of maturity, that's in music, that's when you go from being a student of music to being a musician.
SPEAKER_01: When you reach a level of maturity, that's when you go from being John Mozinko in a basketball and Larry Bird in a basketball.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a huge difference.
SPEAKER_01: Really big difference.
SPEAKER_01: And as we've studied the life of Peter over the last few weeks, we got to see Peter go from a very uh very new Christian, new believer, new follower of Jesus, all the way to becoming the a godly man who lead who led the church.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we we were there, you know, we saw him when when Jesus first met him and said, Follow me and I'll make you fishers of people.
SPEAKER_01: I'll teach you to fish for people.
SPEAKER_01: We saw him there.
SPEAKER_01: We saw him when he when he spoke too soon and he spoke too much.
SPEAKER_01: We saw him when he denied Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And we saw him when Christ came back to him after that denial and and he was and he was broken and hurting because of uh the way he abandoned Jesus and Jesus restored him.
SPEAKER_01: And God used all of that experience where Peter at the time thought, man, I'm a I'm such a failure.
SPEAKER_01: I'm such a failure.
SPEAKER_01: God used all of that, all of those feelings of being a failure, all of those mistakes that he made, God used them to turn him into a mature man of God who would lead the church.
SPEAKER_01: Mature man of God who would lead the church.
SPEAKER_01: And and uh, you know, if you're if you're here today and you're hurting or suffering and and you know you're you're walking through the valley just like we sang, and you feel that, you know, just know that God's not punishing you.
SPEAKER_01: You may you may be dealing with the consequences of your actions or the consequences of your sin, but God is not punishing you.
SPEAKER_01: God is not out to get you, but God is allowing you to walk through those tough times so that you can become a mature follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And it's when you go through those difficult times and you stick to it and you stay following that that you become mature.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter said this later when Peter wrote his two letters, uh he said this about walking through those times of suffering.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter 5.10.
SPEAKER_01: He says, In his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever you're going through right now, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how painful it might be, no matter how uh taxing it is on your emotions and your mental health and your physical body, whatever it is, whatever you're going through right now, God will use that to restore, support, and strengthen you.
SPEAKER_01: He'll use that to restore, support, and strengthen you.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter wrote that because he experienced it.
SPEAKER_01: Peter wrote that God would use our suffering to restore, support, and strengthen because that's exactly what God did in his life.
SPEAKER_01: God supported him.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning, I want to give you five marks of a mature follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: These are five things.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a mature follower of Jesus, these things are part of your life.
SPEAKER_01: And and you may look at this and go, wow, I haven't gotten there yet.
SPEAKER_01: I haven't gotten there.
SPEAKER_01: I haven't reached that place yet where I could call myself a mature follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Well, knowing what it is gives you the opportunity to take steps in that direction and to do the things that a mature follower of Jesus would do.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you're not practicing, if you're not studying, you're not learning how to do this, you're never going to reach that level of maturity.
SPEAKER_01: The kids, the kids I used to teach, unless they were working hard on their own and doing what they were told as far as musicianship goes, they never got to that point where they became musicians instead of students.
SPEAKER_01: An athlete never gets to the point where he where everything comes natural without hours and hours of practice.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we have to do as believers, is to put these things into practice, and then we'll become mature followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to look at Acts chapter 12 this morning.
SPEAKER_01: This takes place about 10 years after Jesus' resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: And King Herod Agrippa is the leader in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: He is the king there in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: He was the grandson of Herod the Great, who was king in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified.
SPEAKER_01: Herod the Great.
SPEAKER_01: And so two generations later, Herod Agrippa is now the king.
SPEAKER_01: Herod the Great was a great leader.
SPEAKER_01: He rebuilt Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: He rebuilt the temple and a palace and did great things as far as the city goes.
SPEAKER_01: Herod Agrippa was a weak leader.
SPEAKER_01: He was a weak leader.
SPEAKER_01: He was more concerned about his popularity than he was about the safety and success of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: He was more concerned about himself.
SPEAKER_01: And Herod Agrippa ordered the execution of the apostle James.
SPEAKER_01: He was the first apostle that was martyred.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and here's what it says.
SPEAKER_01: Acts 12, verse 2 and 3, it says, he had the apostle James, who is John's brother, killed with a sword.
SPEAKER_01: When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter.
SPEAKER_01: This took place during the Passover celebration.
SPEAKER_01: So Jerusalem is busy, lots of people there.
SPEAKER_01: It would be like doing this during Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: Lots of people are going to notice.
SPEAKER_01: And so Herod orders the execution of James, and he's so blown away by the response of the people, he thought, wow, let's kill another apostle.
SPEAKER_01: If that made me popular, doing another one is going to make me even more popular.
SPEAKER_01: So he arrested Peter, probably thinking this is going to get me so many likes on Instagram.
SPEAKER_01: But that's what drove him was that popularity.
SPEAKER_01: So he arrested Peter and put him in the prison.
SPEAKER_01: And this was not Peter's first time to be arrested.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he was we we talked about it last week in chapters three and four.
SPEAKER_01: Peter was arrested with the other apostles, but the the council let them go because they were afraid that if they arrested him and punished them, it would start a riot.
SPEAKER_01: So they let him go.
SPEAKER_01: Then at chapter five, Peter and the apostles are arrested again, but this time an angel just comes and opens all the doors and they all just walk out.
SPEAKER_01: They all just walk out.
SPEAKER_01: So this time, Herod's like, There's no way I'm gonna let anybody walk out of my prison.
SPEAKER_01: This isn't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: So he assigned 16 guards specifically to Peter.
SPEAKER_01: They would work four at a time in six-hour shifts.
SPEAKER_01: So 24 hours a day, he had four guards that were there just for Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Two of them stood at the at the at the door of his cell or gate or whatever, stood at the entrance to his cell.
SPEAKER_01: They stood there, stood guard for 24 hours.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody was at his cell.
SPEAKER_01: The other two were chained to Peter, one on each side.
SPEAKER_01: So 24 hours a day, there's two guys chained to Peter, one on each side, two guys at the door, plus all the other guards throughout the prison.
SPEAKER_01: Herod was determined not to let Peter get out of that prison.
SPEAKER_01: And while all of this was happening, while all that was happening, look at what the church was doing.
SPEAKER_01: This this is this is an important verse.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a powerful verse because this sums up the responsibility of God's church.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Look at this verse.
SPEAKER_01: Acts 12, 5.
SPEAKER_01: But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever we're going through, whatever God's taking us through right now, when the church prays, God responds.
SPEAKER_01: When the church prays, God responds.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk more about that in a few minutes.
SPEAKER_01: But the first mark of a mature believer is a strong connection to the church.
SPEAKER_01: Peter was in prison, the church was praying because he had a strong connection to those people in the church.
SPEAKER_01: And that connection is important.
SPEAKER_01: When Peter was in trouble, the church was church had his back.
SPEAKER_01: He was walking through a valley, so there's a house full of people from the church, not too far away, that were committed to praying for him.
SPEAKER_01: And when Peter wrote his two letters later on, he emphasized the importance of having a strong connection to the church.
SPEAKER_01: And he he did it several times.
SPEAKER_01: Look at 1 Peter 1 22.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth.
SPEAKER_01: So now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters love each other deeply with all your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Christ saved you.
SPEAKER_01: Now you need to love your brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And he uses two different words for love.
SPEAKER_01: We see the word love in there twice.
SPEAKER_01: It's two different Greek words.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is the Greek word for love that is phileo.
SPEAKER_01: That's like brotherly love.
SPEAKER_01: So he's saying, you gotta love the people in that in your church like family.
SPEAKER_01: They're family.
SPEAKER_01: That's how deep your connection to them need to be.
SPEAKER_01: Then he uses the word agape, and that's unconditional love.
SPEAKER_01: That's that's to the believer, that's a love that is associated with action.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're incapable of feeling unconditional love, but we are capable of acting with unconditional love.
SPEAKER_01: The demonstration of Christ's love to others.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's when you say, look, I don't know you.
SPEAKER_01: You may not deserve this, but I'm gonna share the love of Christ with you anyway.
SPEAKER_01: So basically, Peter is saying you need to have a tight connection with the church, just like their family, and it is a place where you demonstrate that love in the church.
SPEAKER_01: You demonstrate that unconditional love, even to people you don't know, people you don't like, you demonstrate the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he was talking about.
SPEAKER_01: Then in verse uh three, chapter, 1 Peter 3, verse 8, he says, Finally, all of you should be of one mind, sympathize with each other, love each other as brothers and sisters, be tender hearted, and keep hum keep a humble attitude.
SPEAKER_01: Be humble, have one mind, be tender hearted, have a good attitude.
SPEAKER_01: That's unity.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to have unity.
SPEAKER_01: Unity means you are acting as one.
SPEAKER_01: You're coming, coming along behind the same purpose.
SPEAKER_01: So he wants he says we need to act as a church, we need to be in unity.
SPEAKER_01: So as as a as an individual, as a follower of Jesus, you need to be so connected to the church that you have unity with those people.
SPEAKER_01: Then he says in 1 Peter 4 10, God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_01: Use them well to serve one another.
SPEAKER_01: God didn't design the church to be a weekend pastime where you come in, you sit for an hour, you get encouraged to face the rest of the day.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what church is all about.
SPEAKER_01: Church is supposed to be a central part of your life.
SPEAKER_01: Your life is supposed to be that connected to the church.
SPEAKER_01: And he says that God has equipped all of us with a spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_01: When you were saved, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you and gifts you to do specific things in the church.
SPEAKER_01: And that those things are uh those spiritual gifts are designed so that you can help others to grow to be like Christ.
SPEAKER_01: As you use your spiritual gift, you grow and you help others to grow.
SPEAKER_01: That's the point of the spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_01: And there's no way to effectively for that to effectively happen if you are not connected, closely connected to the church.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if I were, I'm gonna go off script here for a minute, if I were to ask and take a poll and say, okay, raise your hand if you know what your spiritual gift is, because they are very specific.
SPEAKER_01: I thought I said if I were going to, some of you raised your hand.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have to raise your hand, but that's awesome if you did.
SPEAKER_01: But if you know it, if I asked you, some a lot of you would raise your hand because you've been around a while, you've studied it, you you know, people have helped you understand what your spiritual gift is.
SPEAKER_01: But probably most of you would go, I'm not sure, or I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01: And you wouldn't raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're gonna have a close connection to the church, it's important you understand here is a spiritual gift, and there is a specific list of gifts that that the Bible gives us.
SPEAKER_01: And we are given one, two, three of those gifts.
SPEAKER_01: For instance, my my my spiritual gifts, like teaching, is a spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_01: That's one of my gifts.
SPEAKER_01: Administration is a spiritual gift, that's one of my gifts.
SPEAKER_01: Melinda's spiritual gift is prophecy, being able to communicate the truth of God's word effectively.
SPEAKER_01: That's her spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_01: She, you some of y'all have heard her speak before.
SPEAKER_01: She's better at this than I am, because God has given her that gift of being able to communicate the truth of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and so there are there are a dozen or more different gifts, and and God has equipped you with one or more of those for the sp specific purpose of using that within the church so that you will grow and so that others will grow.
SPEAKER_01: And and I I can't stress this enough.
SPEAKER_01: If you if you're like, I I don't know what my gift is, but I want to find out.
SPEAKER_01: I've invited you to this before.
SPEAKER_01: The Discover Family class is all about who we are as a church, how we grow as a believer, and how to find out what is your spiritual gift and how has God created you to serve within his church.
SPEAKER_01: And when you know that and you you understand it and you you plug in using your spiritual gifts, you are gonna grow.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're at a place in your spiritual walk where you feel like, hey, I feel like I've kind of plateaued, I don't know what's next.
SPEAKER_01: I'm you know, figure that out.
SPEAKER_01: Figure out your spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the third class in Discover Family is all about.
SPEAKER_01: So figure that out, put it into practice, and you're gonna go, okay, now I get it.
SPEAKER_01: Now I get it.
SPEAKER_01: So Discover Family starts next week.
SPEAKER_01: You can sign up online.
SPEAKER_01: Uh there is a QR code on your uh uh sermon notes there.
SPEAKER_01: But if you haven't done it, sign up for that class.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not doing, you know, I don't have this class just to have a class so I can fill it up, you know, every other month.
SPEAKER_01: I do this class because this is how you understand how to plug in at the church, how to find out what we're all about, how to find out uh how God has equipped you to be part of this church.
SPEAKER_01: So I can't stress it enough uh to become to sign up for Discover Family and figure out, okay, what is my next step?
SPEAKER_01: Number two, the next but the next uh uh characteristic of a mature follower of Jesus is that a mature follower of Jesus has c is confident that God is in control.
SPEAKER_01: Confident that God is in control.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Acts 12, 6.
SPEAKER_01: The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers, others stood guard at the prison gate.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Peter's fast asleep.
SPEAKER_01: You know, who sleeps like a baby the night before they're gonna probably get a death sentence?
SPEAKER_01: Who sleeps during that?
SPEAKER_01: Who sleeps who gets a good night's sleep when they know that's about to happen?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'll tell you who it is.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody who's confident that God is in control.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter knew God was in control.
SPEAKER_01: He spent enough time trying to be be in control himself, he learned the hard way that God is in control.
SPEAKER_01: And if God is in control, he knew tomorrow morning, if I get a death sentence, God's in control.
SPEAKER_01: Or tomorrow morning, if I get a pardon, God's in control.
SPEAKER_01: So knowing that God's in control is a mark of somebody who is a mature believer.
SPEAKER_01: And and when we suffer emotionally or mentally or physically, more often than not, we say, Where is God when I need him?
SPEAKER_01: Where is he?
SPEAKER_01: And but a mature follower trusts that God is always in control.
SPEAKER_01: And every time you have to walk through that valley, you know that God is walking with you.
SPEAKER_01: A mature follower knows that we are never out of God's care or out of God's sight.
SPEAKER_01: Never.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Psalm 139, 7 through 10.
SPEAKER_01: I can never escape from your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: I can never get away from your presence.
SPEAKER_01: If I go up to heaven, you're there.
SPEAKER_01: If I go down to the grave, you're there.
SPEAKER_01: If I ride on the wings of the morning, if I dwell in the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me.
SPEAKER_01: You can't go anywhere where God is not there.
SPEAKER_01: He is always, he is always looking out for you.
SPEAKER_01: You are always in his care and always in his sight.
SPEAKER_01: Always.
SPEAKER_01: My son Jacob is 28 years old.
SPEAKER_01: He's got a wife and a kid now, lives in North Carolina, uh, is uh in the 82nd airborne, and uh very proud of him.
SPEAKER_01: But but uh, you know, he was a high schooler once.
SPEAKER_01: So there were a lot of moments that I was not proud.
SPEAKER_01: And so he got a job at Wendy's over in Warrington, and uh um he uh uh was working there and had had a late shift one time, and I don't know what happened, but he did something, and and and I had to punish him, and it made him very angry.
SPEAKER_01: And and I don't even remember what happened, but I remember I took him to work that day, and that was the quietest ride to work we ever had.
SPEAKER_01: And so I went, I dropped him off, and I said, I'll be back at 11 to pick you up.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Don't bother, I'm walking.
SPEAKER_01: So I thought, yeah, by the time, by the time work's over, and by the time I get back, he'll be fine.
SPEAKER_01: You know, he'll cooler heads will prevail and and he'll get in the car and go home.
SPEAKER_01: So so I went back at 11 o'clock, parked where I always parked, and uh waited for him to get off.
SPEAKER_01: He clocked out, walked out of the building, didn't look at me, walked right past my car, out of the parking lot, and right up Broadview Avenue in Warrington.
SPEAKER_01: And we live five miles from there.
SPEAKER_01: And this was 11 o'clock at night.
SPEAKER_01: And so he walked up Broadview, then the bypass, then 29, then Dumfries Road.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that was his plan.
SPEAKER_01: He was gonna walk five miles home.
SPEAKER_01: That's like two hours that he was gonna walk.
SPEAKER_01: And so I was thinking, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna leave him by himself.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm not gonna do that, you know, because if he needs me, you know, if he changes his mind and wants to ride, if it starts raining or whatever, I want to be there.
SPEAKER_01: You know, if he gets in trouble on the way, I want to be there.
SPEAKER_01: So for two hours, I drove as slow as I could, and then I pull off every now and then, and I go a little bit further and pull off.
SPEAKER_01: And for two hours, I watched him walk that entire time.
SPEAKER_01: There wasn't a moment that he was not out of my sight and not out of my care.
SPEAKER_01: And even in even in his moment of anger and total rebellion, he was never out of my sight and never out of my care.
SPEAKER_01: And the same thing is true for us as believers.
SPEAKER_01: And a mature follower knows that God is always in control, we're never out of his sight and never out of his care.
SPEAKER_01: And even if we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, even if we're walking in rebellion, God is right there.
SPEAKER_01: We're never out of his sight and never out of his care.
SPEAKER_01: Next, a mature follower shows a relentless effort to be obedient.
SPEAKER_01: A relentless effort to be obedient.
SPEAKER_01: Back to Acts 12, verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter.
SPEAKER_01: The angel struck him on the side to waken, wake to awaken him.
SPEAKER_01: That that's how I know he was sleeping like a baby.
SPEAKER_01: The angel had to hit him to wake him up.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Quick, get up.
SPEAKER_01: And the chains fell off his wrist.
SPEAKER_01: And the angel said to him, Get dressed, put on your sandals, and he did.
SPEAKER_01: Now put on your coat and follow me.
SPEAKER_01: The angel ordered, uh, the angel ordered.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter left the cell following the angel, but all the time he thought it was a vision.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't realize it was actually happening.
SPEAKER_01: They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself.
SPEAKER_01: So they passed through and started walking down the street, and the angel suddenly left him.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, sound asleep, in prison, awaiting his death sentence.
SPEAKER_01: And somebody wakes him up.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if that were me and that happened, and somebody said, and I'm I'm like awaiting my death sentence, and somebody said, Come on, we're leaving.
SPEAKER_01: I'd be like, I got a couple questions.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: But who are you?
SPEAKER_01: Where are we going?
SPEAKER_01: Who said you could do that?
SPEAKER_01: You know, that that would be my response.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter obeyed immediately.
SPEAKER_01: Peter didn't ask questions.
SPEAKER_01: Peter did what he was told, when he was told, and he followed God, or in that case, God's messenger, without question.
SPEAKER_01: When we get to a place when we're when we're uh in those moments of suffering, like uh the apostle Peter called it, where we're going through difficult times with relationships or jobs or whatever, it becomes very easy to go with what feels right, even if we know what's wrong.
SPEAKER_01: We take matters into our own hands and we say, I'm gonna do this, even though it's probably not the right thing to do.
SPEAKER_01: You know, sometimes it's easier to lie than it is to accept the consequences for your actions.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's easier to walk away from a marriage than it is to put in the effort to heal that marriage.
SPEAKER_01: It feels right.
SPEAKER_01: You know, kids, sometimes it feels right to cheat on a test instead of studying because boy, that grade is so important.
SPEAKER_01: You know, but just because it feels right doesn't mean that it is right.
SPEAKER_01: If the Bible says it's right, it's right.
SPEAKER_01: If the Bible says it's wrong, it's wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And a mature follower does what the scripture says, even if it means we have to accept the consequences for our actions, even if it means we have to put in extra effort, even if it means life's gonna get a little harder before it gets easier.
SPEAKER_01: We choose to do things the way God tells us to do it.
SPEAKER_01: We choose relentless obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Number four.
SPEAKER_01: A mature believer believes the unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: He believes the unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: Peter finally came to his senses.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: It's really true, he said.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Remember, he was chained up in the cell, thought he was having a vision of an angel, and finally, when he got out and the angel left, he goes, That was real.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my word, that was real.
SPEAKER_01: That really just happened.
SPEAKER_01: He believed the unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: Our entire belief system is based on the idea that we believe what is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: Everything about our faith is because we believe what is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we believe that man was created, or man, man was created from the dust of the earth, and God breathed the breath of life in him.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that Moses parted the Red Sea when he stuck his staff in it.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that Jonah lived in the belly of a great fish for three days.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that that Jesus took the lunch of a little boy and was and blessed it and fed 5,000 people with it.
SPEAKER_01: Then he raised Lazarus from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: All of this is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: All of this in human terms is impossible.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus did it.
SPEAKER_01: And then after torture and beating and an excruciating, very public execution.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone saw happen.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone in Jerusalem knew that that happened.
SPEAKER_01: Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Our whole belief system is based on believing what is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: And a mature Christian believes that God can do the unbelievable in our life.
SPEAKER_01: When it comes to our situation, when it comes to whatever we need to be uh uh uh rescued from or healed of or whatever, we believe that God can do the unbelievable, and God can do the unbelievable in your life, and finally, the mature follower of Jesus depends on the power of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We talked about this a second ago.
SPEAKER_01: I said we'd come back to it.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John and Mark, where many were gathered uh for prayer.
SPEAKER_01: He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it.
SPEAKER_01: When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter's outside, knocking on the door, let me in, Rhoda, got it, you gotta let me in.
SPEAKER_01: She's like, Oh, it's Peter, and she runs back and tells everybody she forgets to let Peter in.
SPEAKER_01: She goes and tells everybody, and everybody's like, You're crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Look what it says next.
SPEAKER_01: So she ran back inside and told everyone, Peter is standing at the door.
SPEAKER_01: You're out of your mind, they said.
SPEAKER_01: When she insisted, they decided it must be his angel, thinking that an angel was coming uh uh to represent Peter.
SPEAKER_01: So they were believing the unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking.
SPEAKER_01: When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.
SPEAKER_01: As they were praying, God answered their prayer.
SPEAKER_01: A mature follower of Jesus depends, not just believes, not just not just acknowledges, they depend on the power of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: When you go through difficult times, you depend on the power of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And you need a church around you that is gonna pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: And many of you have experienced that in the last couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Our men's group that meets on Wednesday nights had a young man, hey, I need a job.
SPEAKER_01: Some of those men got together and prayed for him, got a job.
SPEAKER_01: Had another family going through a difficult court case, custody battle.
SPEAKER_01: Said, we need we need people to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Victory.
SPEAKER_01: Health problems.
SPEAKER_01: Last week we talked about uh Kim Withers, who who had a uh just all out of the blue, no warning, nothing, had a bowel obstruction, had to have three feet of her bow of her lower intestine removed.
SPEAKER_01: As somebody was praying for her, as she was in pain and hyperventilating, as somebody was praying for her, she calmed down, regained her breath, and some of the pain subsided.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: A mature believer depends on the power of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: They don't just acknowledge it, they don't just pray because it's it's what we're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_01: They depend on it.
SPEAKER_01: And you learn to depend on the power of prayer when you choose to believe the power of prayer when you're going through the tough circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: If if if your health, if it's a health issue, if it's a financial issue, if it's a relationship issue, whatever it is, if you depend on the power of prayer, God responds to prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Now, does that mean you're gonna get what you want?
SPEAKER_01: Not always.
SPEAKER_01: Does that mean it's gonna get easy instantly?
SPEAKER_01: Not always.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes God's gonna answer that prayer by by making that road a little bit harder so that you can learn more.
SPEAKER_01: It's not always gonna be an instant answer and everything you want.
SPEAKER_01: But that's part of depending on the power of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: If you depend on the power of prayer and you you serve a God that's always in control, then when God answers that prayer, whether it's the answer you wanted or not, you go, okay, I'll take that.
SPEAKER_01: That's an answer.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna do things a little bit different this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna have our prayer team come down.
SPEAKER_01: And some down in the front, some in the back.
SPEAKER_01: And as we've got every head bowed and every eye closed, if you have a prayer need this morning, if you've got something going on in your life that you need to, maybe for the first time, or maybe this is just your go-to, you're gonna depend on the power of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to come down.
SPEAKER_01: While heads are bowed and eyes are closed and the music's playing, I want you to get up out of your seat and walk to one of our prayer team.
SPEAKER_01: They've got the uh uh uh lanyards on.
SPEAKER_01: There's some down front.
SPEAKER_01: I think there's gonna be some in the back, but go to them and just say, I need prayer and let them pray with you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you need prayer, I want you to get up out of your seat and come to these people now.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: Health problems, how's your marriage?
SPEAKER_01: How how are your kids?
SPEAKER_01: Anything anything that needs prayer, come and see these folks.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone else?
SPEAKER_01: Still with heads bowed and eyes closed while these people are still praying.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to rush them.
SPEAKER_01: But I said a minute ago, our whole faith is grounded on the fact that we believe the unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that Christ died on the cross, was buried, and three days later he rose again.
SPEAKER_01: And he did that so that we can have eternity in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: We can spend eternity with God in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the only way.
SPEAKER_01: There's no other way to do that.
SPEAKER_01: You can't be good enough, you can't be kind enough, you can't be generous enough.
SPEAKER_01: There's no other way to spend eternity in heaven than by accepting Christ and what he did on the cross for us.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're here today and you've never accepted Jesus as your Savior, it's simple.
SPEAKER_01: You just you just talk to God and say, I believe this.
SPEAKER_01: I trust in Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: I know that's the only way that can save me, only thing that can save me.
SPEAKER_01: I know that's the only way to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And I trust in the fact that he shed his blood so that I can have forgiveness of sin.
SPEAKER_01: Book of Hebrews said, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus had to shed his blood on the cross so that we can have forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're here today and you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, it's just a matter of talking to God about that.
SPEAKER_01: You can do that however you want.
SPEAKER_01: Or if you if you need help putting uh putting that into words, you can pray something like this and just say, Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because on my own, I could never earn my way to heaven, I could never deserve to go to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you that Jesus paid the price for my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And because of his shed blood, I confess my sin to you and ask for that forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: And because of his death, burial, and resurrection, I know that I can be saved and I can have eternity in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So I accept that today, and I choose to be a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I choose to follow him.
SPEAKER_01: Still with heads bowed and eyes closed.
SPEAKER_01: If you if you just prayed that, you just prayed to receive Christ as your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to do a brave thing.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's looking around.
SPEAKER_01: Just lift your hand up, let me know that you prayed that, you prayed to receive Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Leave it up.
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for thank you for sending Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for paying the price or sending your son to pay the price for our sin, knowing that we could never earn it.
SPEAKER_01: God, how how could we ever earn our way to heaven?
SPEAKER_01: How could we ever earn the right to stand in the presence of a holy God unless somebody paid that price for us?
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, thank you that we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray for all the folks in here today, Lord, that that are hurting, Lord, those that came forward for prayer, Lord, those that are that are going through something right now that didn't come forward, Lord, you know their hearts.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you know the situation, and God, because you are a God that is always in control, you know how that situation is going to end.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that you would just convict hearts this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, if if the the valley they're walking through is is a result of sin or a result of rebellion or or carelessness or whatever, God.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you would convict that heart.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that they would repent of that and choose to do it your way.
SPEAKER_01: Choose to relentlessly follow the obedient way.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that you would use these valleys, the suffering you're going through, Lord, to make them more like your son, not less like their son.
SPEAKER_01: As they're faced with that, help them to choose I'm gonna follow Jesus through this difficult time.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna go my own way.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna do what feels right.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna choose to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do the hard thing so that I can be more like Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, we just pray that you would bless everyone in this room.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, thank you again for Family Church.
SPEAKER_01: What an amazing group of people this is.
SPEAKER_01: God, as we as we grow, as we as we reach people, Lord, help us to always be fishers of people.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to fish for people in our own pond.
SPEAKER_01: So that people can come to know Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we ask all of this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message to encourage you.
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