When the Answer Keeps Knocking
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
When most of us think about prayer for peoples need, our minds leap to something we want God to do or change
Prayer is not just to get God to do something, but to help us realize what God has already done.
It is not an argument to convince God of what we need, but a conversation in which he shows our our need to recognize what he has previously done and is doing
Intercessory prayer for people is not for the purpose of getting God to change His mind about them, but for us to discover His mind for our relationship to them
Talking to God in prayer not only puts us in touch with him but puts us in touch with people.
What do We expect from Prayer
What do We expect from Prayer
What did the early church expect
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.
He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Did the church think God would free Peter or did they just think God would be with him or help him witness to the guards
Harold learned that persecuting Christians strengthen his relationship to the Jews
The church knew that nothing was to great for Christ, but did they really believe it.
16 Soldiers were guarding Peter, Real intimidation
Luke does not tell us what they actually prayed for
That question is forced on us by the amazing fact that when the Lord answered their prayers, they could not fully appreciate what happened
The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.
Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him.
Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.
They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”
When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.
Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door.
When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
A angel set peter free
Peter knocked on the gate, interrupting their prayer meeting but they sent a maid to see who was interrupting their meeting
She recognizes the voice but does not open the gate
She returns and tell the meeting that Peter is at the gate.
They don’t believe her
The church was so engrossed in praying for Peter that they could not accept Peter
Many of us would rather go on praying than open the gate an accept God’s personalized answer
But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the brothers about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.
In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.
After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while.
What does God expect from us in Prayer
What does God expect from us in Prayer
Prayer is as much appreciation as it is expectations
We often do not appreciate God answers
There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him
This passage tells us much about the early prayer life of the early church and more than we may want to know about our own
Our prayers are often limited by our preconceptions of what we think God will do
What would it take for me to be convinced that with God all things are possible
Miraculous answers to prayer had attended the early years of church growth
The core cause of unadventuresome some prayers of the church, perhaps, is that they believed more about the formidable powers of man that they believed about he unlimited power of God
Many of us are afraid of bold prayers because we do not want to be embarrassed by an answer which is less than or different from what we asked
Their are times we are so occupied in praying for an answer that we can’t recognize it when it comes
That was the problem with the Church’s prayer for Peter
The Lord interrupted their prayer time for Peter with the Apostle himself
They weren’t ready for that
WE seem to find comfortable security in persistent , preoccupied praying about a problem
Often our prayers complain more about people than they confess our trust in God
We complain the God about what needs to be changed or corrected in a person but then we find it demands too much when we are asked to confirm that change
A church prayed for their preaching to be revived or removed and din’t recognize God working in him
A father prayed for his son and when someone suggested he spend more time with is son, he just continued to pray
The church was so intent in Prayer for Peter, they did not enjoy Peter and the answer to their prayers
What great disappointment he must have felt when the church found it difficult to accept is living appearance as the answer to their prayers
There is not mention of delight and exultation in the church’s response to Peter’s liberation
The church had not discovered that the purpose of prayer for a person is to break us open to relish the wonder of that person for himself
How many of the persons I pray for know how much I enjoy them
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Conclusion
the answer keeps knocking until we accept the person himself as God himself as God’s precious gift