Please take a seat up your Bibles to the book of Acts
Chapter 11. We're going to do 11 and 12
through to verse 17 tonight and it's pretty easy because Chapter
11 is pretty much a carbon copy of chapter 10.
After the Holy Spirit fell on the House of Cornelius, Acts
chapter 10, Peter has a vision. Remember the animals, unclean
things that aren't kosher are low down as Peter's on Simon the
Tanner's house. Meanwhile, 48 kilometres to the
north on the beach Caesarea Romans under a centurion called
Cornelius, Cornelius is visited by an Angel and tells him send
someone. God tells him, send some people
to get Peter, bring Peter up and Peter will have words to tell
you as Peter comes down because he said, no, I'm not going to do
that, Lord, as he views these animals.
So I've never eaten any of those creeping things and crawling
things, none of those things. They're not kosher.
And God says, hey, what I tell you to eat, what I tell you is
clean and it's no longer common. It's clean three times he's told
that as Peter comes down knock on the door.
Cornelius has sent a soldier that serves under him two
servants. You Peter.
Yes, come with us. No, we'll stay overnight.
So Gentiles and Hebrews because the church is basically in
Jerusalem being all Hebrew to this point.
Peter knows I got to go with him because God said you got to go
with him goes the 48 kilometres. They finally get there.
The next day they take off. Peter's starts preaching.
He said, why are you? Why are you here?
Well, he's Cornelius because an Angel appeared to me.
He said you're going to be on the House and I had to come some
down. And then they connect the two.
What's going on? And so he says, well, what do
you want me to say? Cornelius said, well, God said,
tell us what's what? You'd have the words.
So Peter begins to talk and gives them the gospel of Jesus
Christ. He's part way through.
When the Holy Spirit falls upon the Gentiles, they start
speaking in tongues, which means they are praising the Lord.
So it's like a Gentile Pentecost.
All they hear is praising the Lord.
Peter says, oh man, this is what this is about.
I truly understand what's going on.
You aren't common at all because they've been great racial
prejudice breaking Jew and Gentile.
And So what happened is Peter says there's no reason I can't,
you shouldn't be baptised. So they were baptised.
Now Peter heads back. The news gets to Jerusalem as he
heads back. Troubles waiting.
As always. When God moves, Satan will seek
to torpedo such, and usually it's from a place we normally
don't expect. The problem from within the
church. Peter arrives back in Jerusalem
and waiting for him was a great and angry opposition.
Christians, Jews and it says in Acts 11 verse 2, when Peter came
up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him.
I looked it up contended in the Greek means disputed.
Now when a Jew disputes man, you go to Israel even when they're
just talking about what what shop they're going to go and do
how much coffee is they they go off, you know, and opposed
Peter. That's what that word contended.
So Peter explains in great detail.
He goes through exactly when it while I was on the roof, some of
the Tanners and meanwhile this happened verse 17, he says Peter
lances the argument of going how can you even be in the house
with these Gentiles, Romans as well Italians.
Peter explains that God did a work there and he saw the Holy
Spirit. He says in Acts 1117.
If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us, what
was the gift, The gift of the Holy Spirit?
When we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I
could withstand God? This is God.
Peter says Acts verse 181118 when they heard these things.
This is how you argue. You can argue opinions and you
can argue you know what you think and what I you know
perception, but the word finishes the argument.
When they heard these things, they became silent and they
glorified God saying then God has also granted to the Gentiles
repentance to life. So that was a massive race shift
and thinking to the Hebrew church now that God has Gentiles
in the church as well. And it says the verse 24 that
the gospel spread yet again, broke out more souls being saved
and added to the church. And for the first time in verse
25, it says they're there in the book of Acts 11, that the
disciples of Christ were called Christians for the very first
time. But you know, Satan never rests.
And I don't know about you, but he doesn't rest, does he?
You know you can't break. Take a break.
He's just there all the time. You can't have a spell, can you?
One of the things I'm looking forward to going to heaven is
resting from the battle. Even though I know we fight from
victory, we're still in the battle.
He never rests because he's got he wants.
He wants your soul. He wants your marriage.
He wants to destroy your children.
And He's waiting for you every day to confront you.
But so too, thankfully, is our Lord, the Good Shepherd, and He
continues to watch over us, Jesus Christ, and protect us so
that Satan cannot snatch us out of our Father's hand, no matter
how much he tries. John 1028 And I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Note that that's you. You and I will never perish,
neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.
We're always in His hand. My father who has given them to
me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out
of my father's hand. So Satan attacks the church head
on. Now this is big time and and
this is what's going to be kind of like a snapshot of the last
days, very last days. And also during the tribulation
period as Herod in Acts chapter 12 when we pick up the story
verse one. Now about that time Herod the
king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church and
he killed James the brother of John with the sword took off his
head because he saw that it pleased the Jews.
He proceeded further to seize Peter, also arrested Peter.
Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread, so when he had
arrested him, Herod put him in prison, delivered him to 4
squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before
the people after Passover. Why?
To kill him. And Peter's been in gaol before,
but this time, notice there's four squads of soldiers.
This time the battle, the attack from Satan is really horrific.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where there seems,
and I have no practical logical way out, Like where you're
you're in this, you know, it's a spiritual attack and there's
just no practical way out. A place in which you know and
takes the true meaning of what it really is to be actually
helpless? Well, the Bible is full of such
situations. In the gospel of Mark and in
Luke's gospel, remember a fellow called Jairus, his daughter, 12
years old, she's dying. She's ill in a bed on a bed.
He's rushed down Jairus. He's trying to get to Jesus.
Jesus in there's in the middle of the pack of crowd people.
He can't, you know, and there's no, you know, there's, he can't
just burst through. Everyone's wanting to get to
Jesus as well. Then he finally gets the fright
face Jesus, and then he's told by a servant he's come down and
they don't bother with the master because your daughter's
dead. Like devastated, Jesus hears
that. He tells Joris, hey, have faith,
have faith. It's in that same passage that
in that crowd where Joris was trying to get through was a
woman who had been haemorrhaging for 12 years.
You mean losing blood for 12 years?
How weak she would have been, how anaemic she would have been.
She'd spent all her earnings, all that she had on doctors and
cures and none of them are working.
And she is at her last moment and she's trying to get to touch
Jesus. She's just a frail, frail woman.
She's got no chance to get through the crowd tonight.
God wants you and I to learn and know and then experience the
absolute wonder and power on what happens when there is
constant, heartfelt prayer. God wants us this evening to
know that at those most helpless of times, that's when you pray
the best. When storms of dismay have
blackened out the sky, seemingly blocking heaven from us, when
the waves of hurt relentlessly pound, you're in agony.
Wash over. In our lives, our situations,
our loved ones can be turned by prayer.
Prayers that without ceasing can turn a storm quiet a storm and
can reach the very throne of God to get us an answer.
Because it's the powerful, constant prayer that turns a
hopeless situation to one of hope. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4.
You all know it. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal. Stop fighting.
Stop fighting your wars yourself.
You lose. Stop.
But they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
impossibles, Jericho's giants. James 516.
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much
Herod. He's one of the several of
Herod's found in the Bible, a wicked dynasty in Palestine.
This one is a grip of the first, his grandfather being Herod the
Great. And so Herod has James, the
brother of John, beheaded by sword.
It's an enormous attack on the church, a massive blow to the
apostles. Why, yes, Stephen has been
killed, but this is one of the apostles.
This is one of the 12, This is one of the 12 that Jesus said.
You guys are going to go into the world.
You're going to turn the world right way around and one's been
killed. Remember back in Mark chapter 10
verse 35, James and John, the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus
said, teacher, we want to you to do for us whatever we ask.
Can you do that? And he said to them, well, what
do you want me to do for you? They said to him, grant us that
we can sit one on right and one on the left when you come into
your Kingdom. Jesus said to them, you don't,
you don't know what you're asking.
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptised
with the baptism that I'm baptised with?
It was going to cost them. Why did God allow James to be
taken and not Peter? You've been in a hospital ward
in someone's past and they why did God allow this?
Who is to say what a person's length of life is to be?
Therefore we ought to live every day as it indeed may be our very
last, because one day it will be.
Psalm 90 verse 10 says 70 years are given to us, some even live
to 80. But even the best years are
filled with pain and trouble. Soon they disappear and we fly
away. Teach us to realise the brevity,
the frailness of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.
What does that mean? It means don't waste your time
on stuff that is not important. You know what's important?
People, relationships, people, relationships.
We all live to the time God has appointed.
I will die and you will die when God says it's time.
Not until then. For James, it was time to come
home for Stephen. One message, 1 sermon.
Stephen home. Remember, Jesus stood up.
He didn't. He didn't stop the stones.
He welcomed Stephen home. Stephen, you've done everything
I want you to do. Come home because he's going to
impact a fellow called Saul and Saul's going to impact the
world. James was dead.
Stephen was dead. Peter is in prison.
He was next for the executioner. Peter's on death row.
Things are truly crashing around.
The church is really in a, in a, in a in a bind.
And it appears on the church they go, what are we going to
do? James is dead.
Peter's next. You know, the heads have fallen
down. We're we're going to be
rattleless now. Herod knew Peter escaped from
prison before back in Acts chapter 5.
Remember, the guards were still on guard.
They didn't know. They didn't know they weren't in
there. So this time Peter is guarded by
4 squads of four soldiers each. He's not going to escape this
time. Two were chained to him.
Two were standing guard outside. They were each on guard for six
hour shifts. What could the church do?
What would the modern church do? Well, maybe we could boycott all
the goods from Rome. I'm not going to buy anything
from Rome. Maybe they're going to have a
sit down protest in the main market area.
We're just going to sit down there and stop all the traffic.
Maybe they can get up a petition.
Yes, everyone sign a petition, go online.
I started up a petition. Sign it.
Sign it to their local Roman member.
It says in verse 5. But while Peter was in prison,
the church prayed. Notice this.
It says very earnestly for him. That's a new living translation
in the new King James that said Peter was therefore kept in
prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the
church, not just a few. The word fervent means without
ceasing. He was ongoing the church's
secret weapon. What is it?
What was it? The door to the throne of God
was open through prayer. Sadly, often we're in such
situations of hopelessness ourselves.
We only do this these days when we have exhausted every other
option. Have you heard someone?
Well, I guess we just have to pray.
I guess we just have to trust the prayer.
You kind of go, oh, God bless it, really.
It's kind of like the kid coming into you.
You go and they tell you this great problem.
Well, I guess you know, just we'll help you out.
I guess it's just, we'll see what mum and dad, if they can
help. It's kind of like, oh really,
really good. How does God feel when we go?
No, I guess we just have to pray, you know, try everything
else. It's the last resort.
In our text, it was the first thing the church did.
Again, listen carefully and I'm going to say this, the devil
does not want you to pray. Simple, the devil does not want
you to pray because you become God's powerful weapon.
When you take the position of prayer, people often say, what's
your position on this? What's your position on that?
Our position is on our knees. The prayer that has power is the
one that's offered to God. Well, but Keith, I'm confused.
All prayers offered to God. No, I do not believe it because
I can rattle off a set of words without a thought of God.
It says James, an effectual fervent prayer.
Jesus gave us a model prayer, didn't he?
A pattern, not so much the prayer, but we still pray.
And our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
But more so how we should learn to pray.
Jesus said pray in this manner. That's what he said.
How did this pat and this model come to be?
The disciples saw Jesus knew Jesus, how much Jesus spent time
and prayer constant, how much he prayed.
He prayed all the time. If Jesus wasn't with him, where
was he? He was praying.
So they asked Jesus teach us how to pray like you pray and This
is why Jesus said after this manner, therefore pray you.
Matthew 69. Notice the structure of the
prayer. But today we've changed the
Lord's Prayer. We've adapted it.
We get straight to our needs. Oh Lord, here I am.
We need this. I need you to do this, Don't we?
Before we say a word to God, think about him as your father.
Father, your name is holy. Come in with respect and or
worship. Father, your name is to be
honoured, how great you are. Father, your name is to be
revealed. How wonderful you are.
Haven't asked for anything yet. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be
done before we get to our needs. That's what the prayer model
teaches us. Before we get to our needs.
Just what is God's will for this situation, the situation we find
ourselves in, you ask? You know that there are times,
some things that you do not have to pray about.
I'm baffled when people come for prayer sometimes and they say
pray about this and I'm going, we don't need to pray about that
example. Well, I'm thinking of robbing a
bank. Don't worry, if it's a big hit
and it goes well, I'll tithe to the church.
Would you pray for me concerning that this little operation goes
well? I'm thinking about marrying
someone who does not know Christ.
That happens a fair bit today, and I ask that you would pray
for me. What should I do when we know
what the Bible says? But let me qualify that.
I want you to, before you think, consider marriage.
I want you to witness to that person that you're with, lead
them to Christ. Be upfront about your faith, how
your relationship with God is the most important thing in your
life and God is the one that that guides you and directs you
with your decisions. Pray that the person you
minister to will truly love you and the very God you serve as
well. That's that's that's the way and
desire to be part of your devotion to God as well.
Ladies are being taught Tuesdays by Helen on the book of Ruth,
because that's what Ruth did with Naomi.
Ruth 116 But Ruth said, entreat me not to leave you or to turn
back from following after you. For wherever you go, I'll go.
Wherever you lodge, I'll lodge. Your people shall be my people.
Your God shall be my God. If that person loves you, I'll
go. I want Jesus Christ.
If you love Jesus Christ, I want what you love.
If not, stop. Simple as that.
We've been praying about living together before marriage.
You don't pray about that. You don't do it.
You don't have to pray. Well, I'm praying.
No, you don't pray about that. Would you pray for us on this
decision? No, I won't.
Just do what the Bible says. Don't need me to pray about
that. You don't need to pray about it.
You need to obey what? What the Bible says on the
matter. But there are many things we can
and need to pray about and fall. We can pray for wisdom, and I
need that, especially as I'm getting older.
I just want to know why I came into this room for I'm here for
something. Maybe if we go back out of this
room and come back in again, God will tell me why I went in there
in the first place. James on five, if any of you
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally
and without reproach, and will be given to him.
Don't make a decision on your own.
I learnt that. You know how to learn it by
making lots and lots of bad decisions.
We can pray for our needs, and we're going to be doing that.
The war in the Middle East, everyone's going up coast.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The bananas now are for $15 a
pound. It's just all of a sudden
changed overnight because of what Iran's doing.
Bananas, tomatoes, Philippians 419 My God shall supply all your
needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
We can pray for the protection. Psalm 91.1.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall
abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
The key to prayer is getting our will in line with God's will.
You know that's why you pray. If you are a Bible reader and a
prayer, then what happens is your will ended up being
dissipated when? John 514 Now this is the
confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, guess what, He hears us.
So I read the Bible, I see this is what God's will is for his
people. I go, God, your word says this,
Hey, come on, please. God only answers the requests He
inspires. How do you know God's will then
when you ask by reading His word, by reading His word.
Because if you were just to go through your Bible and underline
everywhere, it says God's will, God's will, God for you, God's
will, you got enough to do. You don't have to worry about
anything else. Pray that a prayer that is
powerful is offered without ceasing.
Paul says pray without what ceasing?
Verse 5. Peter was therefore kept in
prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the
church. It means regularly praying.
It means praying earnestly. It means praying with agony.
It means to be reaching out, stretching to the Lord.
Oh, God mean really praying. It means really applying
yourself to your prayers with all your heart.
Would you answer this prayer, God?
Deuteronomy 429 But if from hence thence you shall ask the
Lord your God, you shall find him, or seek the Lord your God.
You shall find him if you seek him with all your heart and with
all your soul. It is this praying for that
loved one. God says keep on praying because
the Bible says He's willing. Who should perish?
None. That all should come to
repentance. So we say, God, your word says
this, I'm praying this. The timing of God's answer is in
the Lord's hands, but the praying is in your hands.
The timing is in God's hands to answer it, but the praying is in
your hands to pray. Thirdly, prayer that is powerful
is united prayer. They prayed together for Peter's
life. Two or more gathered agree and
gather together. What happens?
Jesus says you're there, you are on the midst of them, and He'll,
He'll answer that. Look at the foundation of the
powerful early church. Jesus ascends into heaven.
What do we read of the church doing together?
Well, they went and had a fight at a jumble sale.
Then they went on a this, they did that and they had a harmony
time together and they went bowling together and play golf
together and surfing together. No Acts 112 And they returned to
Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a Sabbath day journey. When they had ended they went up
into the upper room where they were staying.
Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholium,
Matthew, James and all those these all continued with 1
accord in snooker, prayer and supplication with the women and
Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers.
When Peter and John were threatened with death back in
Acts chapter 4, the church when they heard that they raised
their voice to God with 1 accord and said Lord your God who made
heaven and earth, the sea and all is in them, they prayed.
But listen also it did not require as you read through the
book of Acts a critical incident.
Neither should it just require. I only pray when things go
wrong. A critical incident in my life
of for this church over the early church to gather together
to pray for what do we find the church doing?
Acts 424 So when they heard that they raised their voice to God
with 1 accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and
earth and the sea and all that is in them.
And it says in Acts chapter 2 verse 42.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine, Word
of God and fellowship, the breaking of bread.
Oh, and in prayers. It's what made a church finally.
Prayer is one that is prayer that doesn't doubt.
Now the early church were no super Saints.
We had this idea that these people were, you know, they'll
add gowns and walk around. They're just ordinary people
like you and I just ordinary. That's where we we miss it
because got to answer prayer because you know what happened?
An Angel came. Peter's asleep, kicks him on the
side. Peter wake up, wake up.
Chains come off. Peter goes out.
Guards are all they're in La La land.
Peter goes down to Mark's house, knocks on the door.
The prayer meeting is going. Lady comes to the door wants to
know who it is. It's me.
It's Peter, goes back, knocks on the door again and goes back,
tells them that Peter's at the door.
Peter said, yeah, you're quiet. Just.
Yeah, Lord, just release Peter. Calm man.
Peter's going. What's going on?
What does it tell you? They're ordinary people like us.
You see the early church had doubts that they still prayed
and got answered. They are in shock.
It's really you. Isn't that what happens?
You know, you pray and you're really got to answer that for
wow, God should go slap, slap, slap, slap.
What do you expect? You prayed, I answered, that's
what you should expect. When the woman was healed of the
bleeding, it was her faith. When Roman centurion Luke 7 came
to Jesus, as he said, oh man, just you don't have to come to
my house, just say the words and my slave will be healed.
And Jesus said, oh, man, I haven't seen so great a faith in
all Israel as this was a Roman centurion.
But when you go back to the story of Lazarus being raised
from the dead, did Martha have faith she was devastated?
Did Lazarus have faith he's dead?
It was the faith of Christ at that moment but if we are, if
we're all the stone back, he's going to smell.
Roll the stone back. You see, faith is utilised but
it can be in any one of these areas.
How much faith did this prayer group have?
Ones that were praying in Mark's house.
Imagine the night when he realised this.
He goes to the home of of of John Mark and he's knocked at
the door. Rhoda comes, opens.
She recognises Peter's voice slams, slams, slams doesn't open
the door runs back and say everybody, Peter's here and they
go verse 15 and you're living. You're out of your mind.
Quiet. We we we're trying to pray here.
It must be his Angel. So they come up with other
reasons. Meanwhile, Peter continued
knocking. When they finally opened the
door and saw him, they were amazed.
You see, as I read this, you know why it's there.
There's hope for me too, because they were people just like you
and I. When they open the door, they
were astonished. Maybe you tonight find yourself
in a hopeless situation. When Jesus came to Mary and
Martha at the tomb of Lazarus, do you remember the words that
he shared to a distraught, grief stricken Martha?
This situation was utterly hopeless.
Lazarus has been dead 4 days. Beyond that, the brother Jesus
loved him. Why haven't he come?
Jesus said to her what I am the resurrection and the life anyone
who believes in me will live even after dying.
Everyone who lives in me who believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this Martha Jairus situation was hopeless?
Jesus said don't be afraid when the servant said your daughter's
dead, don't bother the master. Jesus said don't be afraid
Jairus, just have faith she'll be healed.
An Angel fetched Peter, but it was prayer that fetched the
Angel. It was prayer when Daniel was
praying 21 days. It was a great battle.
When was the Angel sent? It was Daniel's prayer that
heard God. I've heard to pray Daniel, I'm
sending an Angel 21 days. But Daniel prayed.
Your prayers have an effect. They go directly to God and he
sends these angels to do the work.
So he calls you tonight to pray what's here as we gather, like
tonight, when the power of God is released and the miraculous
occurs, we have to pray for one another.
Remember, the devil doesn't want you to pray because why?
It's the key to the release of our loved ones like Peter who
were chained, chained to sin, chained by the devil, and God
wants them free. Jesus said I've come to set them
free. Luke 418, open the prison doors.
Don't stop. That's why you're here.
Let's pray. Father, guide us now as we pray.
Lead us by the power of your Holy Spirit.
Let us know as we utter your prayers and your will that you
immediately hear. You immediately sit in action to
answer our prayers. Answer our prayers tonight.
Lord, we pray and ask in Jesus holy name, Amen.
Amen.