WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.400 I know we've got some Tolkien fans in here because I talk about them every three weeks and sometimes get some nods of approval when I do that. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:16.160 There's a scene late in The Lord of the Rings, even if you didn't read the books, maybe you saw uh one or two of the films. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:21.600 But there's a scene late in the story where Frodo and Sam are worn down to nothing. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:24.399 I mean, they've got nothing left. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:28.719 And the ring that they're carrying is heavier than it's ever been. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:34.000 The danger that they've been experiencing is as close as it's ever been. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:38.320 And for just a minute, they stop and they talk. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:50.560 And they begin talking about the old stories that they grew up on, the ones about the impossible odds and the heroes who didn't know that their story or how their story would end. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:53.439 And then Sam says something interesting out loud. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:58.799 He says, he says that the greatest stories never feel great while you're living in them. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:00.799 They they feel like this. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:03.039 I'm getting some sort of playback here, Corey. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:06.480 Can you hear that by any chance coming out of this speaker here? 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:07.840 This is a little bit of an echo. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:09.760 As long as you guys can't hear it, I think we're okay. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:10.959 Can anybody hear anything? 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:12.079 Okay, I'm just gonna. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:19.840 Maybe that's in my own mind, and it's quite possible, but I've been up late watching soccer, so you'll forgive me if I'm hearing things. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:22.239 What do the stories we're living in feel like? 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:23.519 They feel like this. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:25.120 They feel like this. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:28.560 They feel tired and they feel afraid and not sure. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:30.879 And are they going to work out? 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:37.280 And then Frodo asks him something like, Do you think we're in one of those stories right now? 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:41.120 Now you gotta be able to hear this. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:42.640 Yeah, now they can hear it. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:52.959 Corey, we got some sort of like something coming through here, like it's me, but it's delayed, and I feel really weird as I'm hearing it. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:57.280 I'm gonna keep going, and we're just gonna trust the Holy Spirit and Corey and the team to work it out. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:57.760 All right. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:01:59.439 Come, Holy Spirit. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:00.400 All right. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:03.599 We're all living in a story. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:06.239 Some of us get done. 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:08.639 We're all living in a story. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:14.479 Every one of us makes sense of our life through some kind of story. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:15.840 It's how God has made us. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:24.639 Whether we've ever stopped and named the story we're actually living in, we all live in some sort of me, something that gives a framework that gives meaning to our lives. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:28.960 In other words, we don't just live through events as they happen in our lives. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:32.319 We explain those events to ourselves. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:38.960 We give them shape, a beginning, a middle, and a preferred end, something we hope for. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:43.280 And that shape is the story that we're all actually living inside. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:47.919 I want you to just think about the potential story that you're living in. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:51.280 Let me give you a few potential stories today. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:56.960 There's the self-made man or self-made woman story that some of us are living in. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:03.120 That the one where you built the life that you have with your own two hands. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:07.520 And everything's going to be okay as long as you keep building and as long as you can protect that. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:09.439 Some of us are living in a self-made story. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:13.039 Some of us are living in a scoreboard story. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:23.280 The story where, whether you realize it or not, your value, your worth is all tied up in and determined by your daily successes and your failures. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:27.520 Some of us are living in a suffering story. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:35.360 That's the one where you've been hurt somewhere along the way, and nobody seems to understand. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.400 And nobody seems to care. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:51.199 Some of us are living in a someday story, the one where your life you believe will start once you find the right person, or once you land the right job, or once you have the right money. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:52.639 I'll give you one more. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:56.879 There's the star of the show story that some of us are living in today. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:06.960 The one where you're the protagonist and everybody else exists to support you, to help you shine, to make you happy. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:12.960 And if you're not supported or shining or happy, it's everybody else's fault. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:15.759 That's the star of the show story. 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:18.160 Every single one of us is living in a story. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:23.439 And for those of you, and I know some of you here this morning, for those of you who think you're not living in a story, guess what? 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:26.399 That's just another story that people are living in. 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:33.759 And so here's what I need you to know this morning, and this is maybe, well, at least one of the most important things I think I might say today. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:36.800 It's that not all stories are true. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:42.000 Not all stories can be trusted, including the ones that we're living in. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:43.920 Stories are made up. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:53.199 And our stories maybe served us well when we were little, because we needed a world in which we could be safe. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:58.800 We all needed a place where we could make mistakes and still be accepted. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:06.079 We all needed a place where we could be looked after and nurtured and loved, but that wasn't true for everybody. 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:08.160 So we had to create it for ourselves. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.079 But the problem is this this morning. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:13.759 It's the problem that we're confronted with by the gospel. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:29.120 The problem is that continuing to live in our stories, the ones we've made up to keep us safe and loved, continuing to live in our stories is keeping us from living in the one true story. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:34.399 There's only one story that makes room for both our suffering and our joy. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:40.399 There's only one true story that makes sense of both the curse and the blessing. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:49.120 Only one true story that makes sense of death and life where we can hold those things in tension and still live the story that God has made us to live. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:53.680 It's a story, the story that's being written by Jesus, the author of life. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:56.079 I'm going to give that story a name this morning. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:59.360 Let's call it an Exodus story. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:01.920 That's the story we're all living in. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.319 Now, we're not going to turn to Exodus this morning. 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:06.000 We're going to actually turn to Acts. 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:12.480 So let's turn to Acts chapter 12 as we continue a teaching series through the book of Acts. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:15.279 That we're calling what now? 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:24.240 What are we to know and understand, and how are we to live now in light of the resurrection of Jesus? 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:37.519 This is how the early believers post-resurrection began to experience resurrection life and sort out how to live in the true story that God was writing. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.959 So, Acts chapter 12, we're going to start in verse 1. 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:43.199 Let's just read the first three verses here together. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:44.319 I'll read it out loud. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:45.120 You can follow along. 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:52.959 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:54.480 Let me just pause for a second. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:07:05.040 So far in the story, it's it's primarily Rome in cahoots with sort of the religious leaders of the day that are persecuting the church. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:08.639 Now we see this coming from the very top, King Herod, King of the Jews. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:09.040 Okay? 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:12.800 Now he's persecuting those who belong to the way, members of the church. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:14.000 And then we continue here. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:16.560 It says, He had James, the brother of John. 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:18.560 Remember him from the Gospels? 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:22.639 James, the brother of John, he had him put to death with the sword. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:27.519 And when he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:31.839 And this happened during the festival of unleavened bread. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:37.839 I find it shocking that in one sentence, James is just gone. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:42.000 He's out of the story, out of the picture. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:48.959 I mean, James was a main character in the story of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:59.600 He wasn't just one of the 12 disciples, he was one of the three disciples closest to Jesus Peter, James, and John. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:02.399 There's no trial. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:08.879 We don't know James's last words, no miracle swooping in to save James. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.759 He's just put to death by the sword. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:12.639 And the story goes on. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:20.319 And there are people in this room who know what that kind of sudden interruption, that sudden loss feels like. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:24.720 A bad diagnosis that has come back unexpectedly. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:28.480 A phone call with bad news in the middle of the night. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:32.240 Life usually doesn't give you a warning before it gets hard. 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:35.440 It just suddenly gets hard. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:40.399 I find it interesting that this happens during the festival of the unleavened bread. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:41.200 What is that? 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:44.000 The festival of the unleavened bread is Passover. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:56.720 It was the night that every year Israel remembers God breaking an empire's grip and walking his people out of slavery into or toward the promised land. 00:08:57.440 --> 00:08:59.840 And now here's Herod, the king of the Jews. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:07.919 He picks this exact week to play Pharaoh, killing one of the apostles and locking up another one. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:12.240 Every generation has its own Herod or Herod's plural. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:14.960 I mean, for some of you, it's an employer, maybe. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:18.080 You're feeling this more on a sort of an acute level. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:21.519 It's an employer who treats you like you're replaceable. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:30.879 For some of you, like I mentioned, maybe it's a diagnosis, or it could be a debt, or maybe an addiction, or a family situation that has you in chains. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:35.279 Herod isn't unique to the story, to this story. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:41.120 There is a Herod in the story that Jesus is telling and shows up in all kinds of ways. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:48.080 This is Herod in this story, is just the latest version of power that's been bullying people since the beginning of time. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:49.840 Look at verse 4. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:57.360 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:03.519 Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover, and so Peter was kept in prison. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:07.840 But the church was earnestly praying to God for him. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:17.279 You know, you might find this a little bit over the top until you really think about sixteers guarding one little tiny fisherman. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:22.080 Sixteen soldiers for this one little guy, Peter. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:26.240 But if you've been reading the book of Acts, you understand why. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.120 Peter's raised the dead. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:32.320 The spirit through Peter has done all sorts of miracles. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:39.919 He's set prisoners free, set captives free, seen demon-possessed people set free, he's seen people healed. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:44.480 All kinds of things have happened through this Peter who keeps proclaiming the name of Jesus. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:49.360 Oh, who, by the way, Herod was around for and thought he had defeated. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:57.279 But now there are these bizarre stories, and there's no body, and there's an empty tomb, and Herod isn't taking any chances with Peter. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:03.600 This is how you squash a rebellion, you kill the leader, and then you go after his lieutenants, and that's exactly what's happened. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.600 James has been put to death, and there are two more, Peter and John. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:12.799 And he's got Peter behind chains, behind behind bars and chains. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:30.159 The word that Luke, the author of Acts here, uses for how the church prayed means something like stretched out or pulled tight, taught, like a like a like a line that's under heavy weight. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:33.519 And he wants us to know that the church isn't just praying a quick prayer. 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:34.639 Hey, should we pray for the meal? 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:36.000 Yes, God, thank you for this food. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:37.840 Set Peter free in Jesus' name, amen. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:39.120 That wasn't the prayer they were praying. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:50.000 They were, it was the kind of praying you do when you've been waiting on test results, the kind of praying you do when you're waiting to hear if the job came through, or the the or waiting for your kid to call and tell you that they're okay. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:53.039 It's not eloquent praying. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:58.399 It's raw and it's weighty, and the church was praying. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:09.120 Verse 6: the night before Herod was to bring them to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:14.000 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and light shone in the cell. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:16.559 He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:18.000 Get up, he said. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:18.960 Quick. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:22.639 And the chains fell off of Peter's wrists. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:26.159 Now you see, Herod wasn't concerned about nothing, right? 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:30.559 Here's Peter at the church is praying, and an angel shows up. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:36.399 I find it interesting that Peter, what's he doing? 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.240 What's Peter doing? 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:39.679 Sleeping. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:41.440 He's sleeping. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:46.480 Do you remember the story of the disciples on the boat when the storm comes up? 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:50.320 And Peter was there and they're all sort of freaking out. 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:52.720 And uh they look for Jesus. 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:54.559 And where do they find Jesus? 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:56.159 In the bottom of the boat, and what's he doing? 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:57.679 He's sleeping. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:00.960 Peter goes from freaking to sleeping. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:03.360 He's seen some stuff. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:04.720 And here he is. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:06.240 He's he's sleeping, he's calm. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:15.360 Not because his circumstances have gotten any better, or there's any promise of his circumstances getting better, but he's calm because I think he's given up trying to control the outcome. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:19.120 There is a certain kind of freedom where you say, What will be, will be. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:20.799 I trust in God. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:22.639 And that's where Peter's at. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:24.240 And we should take a lesson here. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:27.039 Suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:30.399 I think because some of us have a chain like that right now. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:37.840 It maybe it's it's a habit, possibly, that that you can't outdiscipline your way through. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:41.200 You can't get free from it, even though you've tried all sorts of methods. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:42.960 You just keep coming back to this habit. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.639 Maybe it's a relationship that just won't heal. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:51.600 It won't get better no matter how many times you've tried to fix it yourself. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:59.039 And what I want to point out is I think this part of the story isn't telling us to try harder this morning. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:05.440 I think this part of the story is telling us that chains don't come off because of our effort. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:17.279 There's very little we can do within our control to actually cause the chains to come off, but our chains come off because someone stronger than our chain does something on our behalf. 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:24.399 Peter has no way of escaping, but an angel of the Lord suddenly appears. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:27.840 I don't know the significance of the angel being kind of rough with Peter. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:30.159 He hits him in the side, and then there's an exclamation. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:34.320 I mean, if you can quite how do you quietly yell, get up? 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:35.840 That's what the angel does here. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:37.120 Maybe it's a miracle of some kind. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:38.879 He quietly yells, get up. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:43.679 And then in verse 8, look, the angel said to him, Put on your clothes and sandals. 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:45.919 Put something on. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:47.679 And Peter did so. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.440 Wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the angel told him. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:56.879 And so Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.840 He thought he was seeing a vision, he thought he's dreaming. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:08.559 And they passed the first and second guards, and they came to an the iron gate leading to the city, and it opened for them by itself. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:11.279 And they went through it. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:16.480 An iron gate opens on its own. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:21.919 A red sea that just parts. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:30.960 A stone in front of a tomb is rolled away. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:33.279 You see the story we're living in? 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:35.440 It's an Exodus story. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:41.759 Because this is what Jesus does with locked things, beginning with sin and death. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:43.200 He opens them. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:47.360 The Exodus was always pointing to Jesus. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:53.120 On the cross, he let the same powers that stand behind every Pharaoh and every Herod. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:58.159 He allowed them to throw everything they had at him, sin and death included. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:04.000 And he walked out of the tomb the way that Peter walked out of the cell, the way that Moses and the people walked through the Red Sea. 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:06.240 This is what God does. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:21.200 And so if you've spent years assuming that your particular lock is too old, it's too complicated, it's too specific to you and your story for God to bother with, I think that's worth reconsidering this morning. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:28.320 God's opened more difficult locks before than yours. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:33.759 He's opened heavier gates than the one that stands between you and the life that He's made you for. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:38.240 The story that we're living in today is still an Exodus story. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:40.080 We're in the middle of the story. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.279 It's helpful to know where we're at in the story. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:50.480 You know, while we were singing, I had to just write down these lyrics this morning as we were singing because I found them to be so poignant. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:17:12.480 If I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail, if I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered, then why does James get a sword and Peter get an out? 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:18.960 If God always shows up, why does this happen? 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:24.559 Why, why some of you you've prayed just as hard as that church prayed and you're still waiting. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:32.400 Someone in this room or some ones in this room have been praying for a marriage for years with no movement. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:37.279 Someone in here has buried a spouse or a child. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:49.680 Someone has prayed over the same addiction through multiple relapses, and you keep praying and you keep praying and you keep wondering if God's so faithful, why am I still in this? 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:53.599 Does that mean then that your prayer has failed? 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:56.720 No easy answers here. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:01.279 Does that mean then that God can't be trusted? 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:04.559 We see Peter walking out, oh, that's so beautiful. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:08.640 Let's not forget about James and what happened to him. 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:09.599 What does that mean? 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:15.440 See, most of us don't have a story capable of holding these things in tension. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:20.160 Some of us, the stories we got in church aren't very helpful either. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:26.640 That God always comes through, that things are always going to be okay, that that person is always going to be healed if you just have enough faith. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:28.319 And I want to tell you, that's not true. 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:30.000 Faithful people die. 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:32.799 Faithful people get sick. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:42.400 We need a story that's true enough to hold real life in tension, the way real life is. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:43.599 So what does it mean? 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.000 Does our is our prayers are our prayers failing? 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:46.799 Is God failing? 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:48.000 Well, here's what I think it means. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:19:00.559 I think it means that you and I are living in the same time, the same in-between time that the church that we're reading about today lived in. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:06.240 A time where the kingdom has already appeared, but it's not yet complete. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:15.599 That means that there's some cells opening up this year, but there are going to be some cells that are going to stay locked a little while longer. 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:21.200 Unanswered prayer doesn't mean that God has stopped listening. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:23.759 It means that our story isn't over yet. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:25.119 That's what it means. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:27.119 These aren't easy answers. 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:28.720 Look at verse 11. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:43.359 When it finally dawns on Peter that this isn't a dream, Peter went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people gathered and were praying. 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:48.400 And Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:54.160 And when she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:58.640 She just left Peter at the door, exclaiming, Peter is at the door. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:05.599 And of course, everyone thanked Rhoda because she's so respected and they loved her and they trusted her and they rushed to the door and let Peter in. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:06.799 That's not at all what happened. 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:09.519 You're out of your mind, they told her. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:15.119 And when she kept insisting that it was so, they said, It must be his angel. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:16.559 I don't know what that means. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:18.160 I don't know if they know what that means. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:20.240 Maybe it's his spirit, maybe it's an angel. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:24.799 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:26.240 I guess they would be. 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:27.440 Here's Rhoda. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:28.079 Who is she? 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.920 Rhoda's a servant. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:35.279 She's the person with the least amount of standing in the house. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:39.839 And here she is the only one who believes what her eyes see. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:44.240 I want you to think about who plays Rhoda in your workplace or your family. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:51.440 There are all kinds of people in our story, living out their story, that we don't really factor in very much. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:58.640 Whether it's their position or whatever it is about them, we just overlook them, people who are easy to overlook. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:07.119 And I think the story says, pay attention to that person. 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:09.119 We're praying, we're praying. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:09.759 Here are the people. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:12.240 They're praying, the church, they're praying, praying, praying. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:16.720 This really exhaustive and maybe exhausting prayer. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:20.079 God, save our brother Peter, save our brother Peter. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:25.519 And then they overlook the person who tells them that God has answered their prayer. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:30.960 I don't know that this is a parallel to any of our stories in particular right now, but it could be. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:33.119 We're praying and we think, God, where are you? 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:33.680 Where are you? 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:34.319 Where are you? 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:35.680 Are we listening? 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:36.799 Are we looking? 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:42.240 Are we open to God actually showing up in our story as we pray? 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:43.759 Look at verse 17. 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:49.039 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:50.480 You know, so like piped down. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:53.440 Like, I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you everything that happened here. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:57.359 And then he says, Tell James. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:59.519 Now, this is obviously a different James. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.039 Perhaps James, the brother of Jesus. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:08.160 Because he says, Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:12.640 And then he left for another place. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:20.400 And in the morning there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:30.160 This isn't in our teaching text this morning, but in the following verse, what we find is Herod is so enraged by what's happened that he puts the soldiers to death. 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:33.119 Now, Peter doesn't stop to explain how it happened. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:37.759 He just tells them what the Lord did, and then he moves on to whatever it is that's next. 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.160 And Herod's chapter in the story doesn't really get resolved yet. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:47.440 He's still on the throne, he's still confused, he's still convinced that he's in charge. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:57.039 And I want to speak to those of you this morning who might be living inside of a chapter like this right now, where the threat hasn't been dealt with yet. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:00.720 And you don't get to see how it ends quite yet. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:03.039 You're still living in this place. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:05.119 So what do we do? 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:06.000 What do we do? 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:15.839 I just want to give you just very quickly two ways that we might respond to the true story that God is telling and that we're living in this week. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:19.359 What do we do when we find ourselves living in this kind of story? 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:21.920 A James and Peter story. 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:29.200 One, we keep praying with the same stubbornness that the church had. 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:33.119 Don't stop praying. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:39.599 Don't stop praying for the thing that you've been praying for, maybe even for years, with very little or nothing to show for it. 00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:41.599 Keep praying. 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:45.519 Straining prayer isn't wasted just because the answer hasn't come. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:47.839 What am I wasting my breath for? 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:49.839 No, we keep praying. 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:52.240 You're not outside the story. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:55.039 You're not in some way disconnected. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:56.559 This is how the story goes. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:00.319 You're in the hardest chapter of the story. 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:11.119 And the same God who let that chapter happen is still writing the promise or toward the promise that God has not broken and God will not break. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:16.400 So, first, if you're struggling through this chapter of your life, keep praying. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:34.319 And two, let me just encourage you with this when something does open up for you, a door or a job, or a diagnosis that comes back clean, or a relationship that finally starts to heal, I want to encourage you, brothers and sisters, don't manage it quietly by yourself. 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:43.680 Tell somebody the way that Peter told the church, the way that Rhoda ran to tell all of the people in the room that day, tell somebody. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:55.680 Because your specific story about what God is doing is useful to someone else who's still locked up and needs a reason to keep praying. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:12.160 What we read in Acts chapter 12 is bigger than Peter's story, and it's bigger than any of our individual stories. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:26.799 It's the biblical story, it's the Jesus' story, it's the story of how the true king finally showed up in the world and did what every Pharaoh and every Caesar and every Herod could not do. 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:33.279 Jesus didn't just deliver one nation from one empire for one lifetime. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:42.960 Jesus went into the deepest depths of slavery there is, into sin and to death themselves. 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:48.000 And on the cross, he let those powers throw everything that they had at them. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:50.400 And it killed them. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:58.079 But on the third day, we know that Jesus walked out of the tomb, the way that Peter walked out of the cell, the way that the people walked through the Red Sea. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:03.279 Jesus walks out of the tomb, not escaping the world. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:08.720 Jesus doesn't set us free to escape the world. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:16.400 Jesus walks out of the tomb to break back into the world to serve as the world's rightful king. 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:19.359 That's what resurrection is. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:26.240 It's not a rescue out of creation, it's not a rescue out of our lives, but it's the beginning of creation being set right. 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:32.880 The first sign of the whole world is being liberated from the powers that have held it captive since Eden. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:36.000 That was Jesus walking out of the tomb. 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:42.960 We're living in this Exodus story, and Jesus is the one who's already crossed the sea, as it were. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.720 So the chains that Jesus broke when he did that, they weren't only Peter's. 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:51.119 They were sin's grip on us. 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:53.680 They were death's claim on us. 00:26:54.079 --> 00:27:02.000 And every Herod's illusion that he or someone else is really in charge, Jesus has dealt with that. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:06.160 Now we're living in a time where the empire hasn't fully fallen yet, right? 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:17.440 We still live in this already not yet sort of space in between, still praying in cells that haven't opened and still waiting on gates that haven't swung open wide for us yet. 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:19.519 Let's be honest about that. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:25.119 But King Jesus has already won the deciding victory. 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:38.079 And every small deliverance since Peter's and ours is a sign of the new creation that's breaking into our world, even as we speak today. 00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:49.440 Here's the key today You can't live in the true story that Jesus is writing and still live in the story that you've been living in. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:55.039 You can't take on Jesus' story and hold on to your story as well. 00:27:57.759 --> 00:27:59.759 You've got to make a choice. 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:04.000 And so here is a prayer that I want to pray over you this morning. 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:18.880 Lord, give us all the courage to leave the world we've created in order to be safe and loved, so that we might actually be saved and receive your love through Jesus, our deliverer. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:19.839 Amen. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:21.680 Let's all stand together.