Finding Peace in the Peril

Introduction

Introduce Self

Dismiss Children

Connection Moment: Did you all know this building is about 30 years old? Yea. There are a couple places that don’t look it. The auditorium here and the foyer have been recently updated. We’ve got plans to complete a downstairs remodel that will be about $25k.

How could you help with that? First pray. Pray that God would provide the means through ways only He can to make this happen. Second, give. give regularly to the general operations of the church and then consider giving towards the building fund that helps us make improvements to the property.

We’ve done a lot to this building in 4 years. More importantly, we’ve seen God do a great work in the hearts of the men, women, and children, that have come to this building to hear about Jesus. That’s why we do what we do here. We multiply followers of Jesus that multiply followers of Jesus to love, serve, and invest in our community.

Thanks for being apart of it so far and buckle up, because I can’t wait to see where God takes us.

This morning we are closing out our series on prayer. In this series we have foundd how to get unstuck and move forward with the Lord, the proper posture of prayer, and the importance of our devotion in the midst of distraction to Jesus.

Today we are going to look at a situation in scripture where we find what could be a perilous situation that could consume the people involved but instead they turn to God and see Him answer their prayer in a way only He can.

As we go through this passage this morning I hope that you will see that when we choose to turn to God, He responds. You should also see that each answer He gives to your prayers is a miracle and act of grace.

You should feel encouraged knowing there is a God that loves you as His own child. Not because of anything you’ve done but because of what Jesus did. He not only gave you Jesus He has given you a community of believers to love and support you if you’ll open up to them.

That’s something we all need to know. There is a community here to support you.

And you can find comfort in knowing that your community is here for you as well as your God who loves you. When you choose to relinquish the battles to Him and His ways, you’ll find His results.

That’s what the disciples in Acts 12 did.

Acts 12 takes place in approximately 44 AD. 11 years after the resurrection of Jesus. King Herod Agrippa has been in power 3 years now and is making moves that seem to be pollitically driven to earn the favor of the Jews.

Look with me at the situation he puts the discciples in

Acts 12:1-4 “1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. 2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) 4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.”

Exegete:

We have the death of the first Apostle with James, the brother of John dieing by beheading here. This is one of the sons of thunder that argued over who would have a seat at the right hand of Jesus.

When the king saw this pleased the jews, he arrested Peter.

One of the leaders of the church at this point has been martyrd and the one the church looks to as the leader is now arrested.

Things look bleak and difficult.

The church is in a tough position right now and they have to accept that. I mean…what else could they do?

I’m sure you’ve been in tough positions before. I’m sure you’ve known people that have been in touch positions. You may be in the middle of one right now.

One of the best things you can do is to accept that.

Recognizing the circumstances you are is the first step in seeing God work.

Now, I know you may be sitting there thinking “Why is he even bringing this up? Isn’t recognizing the circumstances are in an obvious thing?” That’s a great question to be asking.

According to research surrounding how we process change and grief or sadness, the initial phases concern themselves with denial of the accctual event taking place.

For instance, when a person is delievered terrible news, what is often the response? NO, no no...

That’s denial however small.

When we don’t accept our circumstances we can’t do anything about it. It’s like trying to clean your home with a blindfold on.

Illustrate:

Think with me for a moment:

Picture walking into a room where there is trash, crumbs, and all sorts of nasty stuff laying round. It’s probably a teenagers room.

Now, when you walk in....you put a blindfold on.

Is the problem going to be solved? Nope.

Now it doesn’t bother you any more becucase you don’t see it, but it doesn’t mean the problem isn’t there.

Apply:

The problem the early church faced was persecution by their government. We don’t see that right now.

The problems you face could be your own emotional health, your relationship with your spouse, the relationship with yoru children, maybe you have a poor work ethic, or an addiction to something.

The first step in seeing God work in any of the situations is to

I. Recognize the circumstances you are in

Had the disciples not accepted that they were in dire circumstances they may not have taken the next step to see God work.

Until you accept that you are a sinner, you will not see your need for a savior.

For those who are Christians, until you see how you are falling short of Christ in an area, you will never see God work in your heart on it.

What did the disciples do next?

Acts 12:5-6 “5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. 6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.”

Exegete:

They prayed. They gathered together and prayed for Peter.

And what did Peter do on the eve of his death in a roman prison? he slept. I’d be a wreck I don’t know about you. it would seem he had some measure of faith about not dieing but that’s pure speculation.

They knew the circumstances they were in and intead of stagin a prison break what ddid they do? They prayed.

They prayed not becuase of the circumstances they recognied bu because of the position they remembered.

They were not victims, they were not defeated, they were children of God by faith in Jesus and they remembered that no matter what was going on around them, there was safety, security, and victory found in Jesus.

Illustrate:

You know what it reminds me of? Have you ever seen that show on netflix or had kids play the game “Floor is Lava?”

Think about it. Everything around them is death and destruction. The lava will consume them if they don’t focus on the things keeping them safe.

They have definitely accepted their circumstances and to complete the game they ahve to remembeer their position.

They have to remember they dont’ have to fall in. They don’t have to focus on the destruction around them.

They can choose to find safety and security on the things they can walk or jump on to get across the course.

Apply:

As believers in Jesus we can choose the safety and security of faith and prayer or we can give into the destruction around us.

Why? becuase we are so great? no not at all. Because if we do we alway get what we want? Nope.

We can choose the afety and seccurity of prayer becuase in all circumtance we must

II. Remember the position you are in

The position of a child of God. The position of one Jesus gave his life for.

The position of one that has been told

Hebrews 4:16 “16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Recognize your circumstances and remember your position.

Having a relationship with Jesus doesn’t keep you from trials, it keeps you through them.

It keeps us through them as we turn to him during them.

If the disciples had not had turned to prayer or Peter not had the peacec to sleep, I wonder if God would have showed up the way He did.

While He may not alwayys show up in miraculous ways, He always shows up becuase He is always present.

and in the moments the church and peter needed Him most, He showed up in a big way this time.

Acts 12:7-16 “7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. 8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. 9 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. 11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. 12 And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. 13 And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. 14 And when she knew Peter’s voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. 15 And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. 16 But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.”

Exegete:

Wow. Did God show up or what?

And when He did, how did the church respond? When Peter showed up, did they welcome him with open arms?

No. They were skeptical. They didn’t believe Rhoda. They thought she was crazy.

They took the time to pray but when God answered their prayer they didn’t believe it to be possible.

Now, you may find yourself in a situation where it would be easy to believe a miracle like this taking place.

I don’t think I need to question your belief of God working in this way…however…what if he worked in a non-miraculous way, woudl you still believe it was Him?

Even better: If God anwered your prayer in a non-miraculou way that you not only didn’t expect but didn’t want, would you still accept the answer?

We often look at prayer as the means of going to God and requeting of Him to make this life what we want it to be. To prolong life, to make money appear, and rescue us from our bad decisions.

Prayer is not about us getting God on our page, it is about us getting on God’s page.

His ways are higher than ours. His thoughts higher.

This doesn’t mean He won’t answer your prayer. He may say No. He may say wait. Or He may say ok, but not that way.

When we refuse to accept His answer to our prayer we refusing to accknowledge Him as God.

Illustrate:

How many of you remember Rand Mcnally maps?

Sarah and I, along with three kids were on our way back to SW Arizona from NE Tennessee and were traveling through west texas.

I love west Texas. On a two lane country road the speed limit…not the speed I was doing but the actual speed limit, was 80.

While traveling between fort worth and el Paso we turned into this small tall while I was following my GPS.

I stopped at a stop sign and then went straight when I was suppoed to turn. This in’t uncommon in my life. If you have ever ridden with me and got me talking you know…we could end up anywhere.

When I did this is podunk west texas though, the GPS on my phone began to re route…and instead of quickly telling me anything to do it continued to spin its little circle of death.

It became apparent to us that we had no cell service. And I don’t mean we had a bar or two…I mean none.

So I see a welcome center in this town with one street and no red lights, and we go in there…no one there, no maps, nothing.

I go to the gas station across the way and walk in. I go straight to the counter and ask, “Where could I find the maps?”

Her first response was not to direct me to where the maps were. No. She asked “Do you have verizon?”

I said yes and she then informed me that verizon doesn’t have any service there and this happens alll the time.

I filtered my response to “O…well..thanks for the map.”

Some signage would have been nice though.

In our moment of turmoil though, I found the answer to my problem through a good ol rand macnally instead of my trusty iPhone GPS.

Apply:

What if I had refused the map? What if I said “nope, it’s my way or the highway.”

Wouldn’t have got where we wanted to go would we?

You see

Praying doesn’t guarantee you the answer you want to overcome the trial. It gives the trial over to the one that has the answer.

Had God answered in the way the church may have thought, it coudl have been through the legal system, or a jail break. Either would have still been an opporutnity to give glory to God. mayybe not the jail break but we can debate that.

God answered this prayer in His way just as He does all of them.

He answered Paul, who asked for an infirmity to be removed from him with a solid “No.”

What circumstances are you facing right now? What areas of your life are not aligned with God?

Have you accepted that? Do you recognize the circumstances your in?

Have you turned to God remembering your position as a child of the King?

When you’ve done that, all you have left to do is

III. Receive the answer He gives

don’t push against it. Don’t be surprised. Rejoice in the Lord, glorify God, and while sometimes you may not understand why the prayer was answered the way it was or wasn’t answered at all, remember…if you understood all about God and His ways, you would be God.

Time of Response