Greg Laurie - Why and How Prayer Changes Things (04/04/2018)
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Pastor Greg Laurie opens Acts 12 to show how constant, fervent prayer by the church led to Peter’s miraculous deliverance from prison and Herod’s judgment. Facing national decline, he calls believers to humble prayer for revival, confessing sin and seeking God’s face so He might heal the land and awaken America again.
Introduction and National Concern
Let’s grab our Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 12. And the title of my message is, “Why and How Prayer Changes Things.” You know, some things seem impossible, right? But with God, nothing is impossible. And we look at our country right now. I think we would all agree in noting our country is going downhill fast. Really fast. Such a breakdown morally. Such a breakdown spiritually. Violent crime. Oh, I could just go on and on. I don’t think I even have to tell you what’s wrong with our country.
But here’s the question. Can a country ever turn around again? I hope we all have gotten the memo that the solution is not political. No politician from any party is going to be able to turn this country around. Our primary problem is spiritual. And the only solution to turn our nation around is again spiritual. And that will come as a result of people praying.
The National Day of Prayer is approaching. I have the privilege of serving as the honorary chairman this year. And I’ll speak and lead in prayer in Washington, D.C. So I’m excited about that. But I’ll have an opportunity to speak at the Pentagon and other places.
Judgment or Revival: America’s Only Options
And here’s my view. I think America has two options before us. And those options are judgment or revival. And if we don’t have a revival, we are in big trouble in the United States. Now look, we know this much. Judgment is coming to America one day. That’s inevitable. Because we know judgment is coming to all of the world. But my prayer is before that judgment does come, we will have at least one more spiritual awakening.
Peter Marshall was the chaplain to the U.S. Senate. And he once made this statement. And I quote, “The choice before us is plain. Christ or chaos. Conviction or compromise. Discipline or disintegration.” End quote. How true.
America’s History of Great Awakenings
And you know, America has had a number of revivals, or what we call great awakenings historically that have turned our nation around. The first was in the early 1700s. And such names as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield were a part of that. And during two years of this revival, from 1740 to 1742, some 25,000 to 50,000 people came to believe in Jesus Christ. That’s out of a population that was only 300,000. That was the first awakening.
The second great awakening was in the days of the early frontier, the Wild West. And it was the 1790s to 1840. Preachers like Charles Finney were out there proclaiming the gospel at this time. But law was disregarded. Sexual sin was rampant. And they would have these things they called camp meetings. They would set up in the middle of a forest. And they would erect a makeshift little structure. And people would come from everywhere. And that’s where the phrase, walking the sawdust trail came from. Because they would throw sawdust on the ground. And these frontier preachers that would go from place to place on a horseback would bring the gospel.
And one lanky young lawyer was dramatically impacted in one of those sawdust revivals in the second awakening. His name was Abraham Lincoln, later to become one of our greatest presidents.
The Third Great Awakening and Prayer’s Role
The third great awakening in America was from 1857 to 1859. How this particular revival began is unique. A 48-year-old businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier began a prayer meeting on Fulton Street in New York. At first, not a lot of people attended this prayer meeting. This revival started slow, but it began to build. But then the stock market crashed. And soon, hundreds of New Yorkers were gathering for prayer. And within six months, 10,000 people were gathering daily for prayer throughout New York City.
It’s reported that 50,000 New Yorkers came to faith from March to May. And they saw some one million people come to the Lord during that particular revival. And I bring this up because sometimes, you know, we want to pray that we’ll have a robust, strong economy. And sometimes when things are not so strong economically, or when there is a threat militarily, or other things that we’re concerned about, we will turn to God.
Do you remember how many Americans showed up in churches in the aftermath of 9-11? It almost seemed like an awakening of sorts. Do you remember the members of Congress standing on the steps outside of the Capitol building and spontaneously breaking into, God bless America? Yeah.
The Jesus Movement and Our Prayer Today
Our country needs a spiritual awakening. So we’ve had three. Maybe we’ve had four. Because I think you could call the Jesus Movement a genuine revival in the United States. It turned a generation around of thousands and thousands of young people. But those that came to faith in the Jesus Movement are grandparents now. You know how I know this? I’m one of them.
So we thank God for what He’s done in the past. But here’s our prayer. Do it again, Lord. Say that with me. Do it again, Lord. That needs to be our prayer. That God would do it again. We need another Jesus Movement. Another great awakening. Another revival.
Biblical Prayers for Revival
The prophet Habakkuk understood this when he prayed the prayer in Habakkuk 3:2. “I’ve heard all about you, Lord. I’m filled with awe by the amazing things you’ve done in this time of our deep need. Revive your work as you did in years gone by. Show us your power to save us. And in your anger, remember your mercy.”
You know, many of you are younger. Some of you think you’re younger. But listen, maybe some of you who are younger heard about the Jesus Movement, the good old days. And you say, yeah, that’s cool. But I wasn’t around then. And well, you need your own Jesus Movement. And we need to pray to that end that God would send this revival.
Psalm 85:6 says, “Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you?”
What True Revival Really Means
You say you keep using this word revival. What does that word even mean? Well, I think it’s kind of obvious. Revive. To bring back to life again. We could use the word restoration in its place just as easily to restore something to its original state. So we are praying for a restoration. We are praying for a revival.
What is that? One author who wrote a book on revival said, Revival is an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results. Another said, Revival is a community saturated with God. A.W. Tozer defined revival as, quote, “that which changes the moral climate of a community.”
Listen, a revival is an invasion from heaven. It’s when God is at work and you can’t explain it. That’s what I want to see again. Or we are just saying we don’t know how it started or what is totally going on. All we know is people are packing out churches. People are coming to Christ. People are praying. That is what we need to see again.
Revival in the Church Produces Evangelism
Now listen. Revival is kind of a church word. And by that I mean the world, the secular culture, non-believers don’t need revival. They need evangelism. Now here is the interesting thing. Evangelism doesn’t necessarily produce revival. But revival always produces evangelism. Whenever there has been an awakening, there has been an evangelistic thrust that has come as a result.
So when God’s people are awakened, when they are restored, when they are revived, then they go out and start doing what they should have been doing all along, which is proclaiming the gospel. So we pray that the church will have revival. And we pray that our culture will hear the gospel. We need revival. The world needs the gospel. So let’s pray that God will revive us.
God’s Prescription for National Healing
So will revival ever come to the United States? Well, no one can say with certainty, but I hope it will. And God gives the prescription for the healing of a nation in 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14, a well-known passage. God says, “If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”
See, that is what we want. Lord, heal our land. Lord, turn America back in the right direction again. Turn America back toward you. Well, what needs to happen? God says, My people, which are called by my name, need to humble themselves and pray and seek my face. And they need to turn from their wicked ways. Then God says, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.
Prayer for Every Need in Life
So let’s pray to that end. And not just pray for our nation. But we need to pray for all things that concern us in life. Our physical needs. Financial needs. Our needs to be led. Needs for wisdom, protection. All the things we need in life. God says, When you are in need, you need to pray.
Philippians 4 and 6 says, “Don’t worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need. And thank Him for all that He has done. And the peace of God that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.”
Did you know worry doesn’t help at all? Did you know worry actually makes things worse? Worry chokes you. Worry holds you back. Worry adds to your problems. So don’t worry about anything, the Bible says, but pray about everything.
Persistent Prayer in Spiritual Warfare
Ephesians 6, 18 says, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”
Well, I want to tell you a story now about a sleepless church that was in desperate and deep prayer. Let’s read it together. Acts 12, verse 1. “Now about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. He killed James the brother of John with a sword. And because he sought to please the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. Now this was during the days of unleavened bread.”
The Persecution Under Herod
“And so when he had arrested him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. Peter was therefore kept in prison. Now I want you to underline the latter part of verse 5, Acts 12. But constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.”
Again, constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. We’ll stop there.
Now as our story begins, we see harsh persecution coming to the church. It had been some time since the last attack which resulted in the martyrdom of Stephen. But God used that for his glory. You see, the problem was the church was tending to want to sort of hang back in Jerusalem and have sort of a little holy huddle.
But Jesus had told them to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and they weren’t really doing that. So when persecution came, the church spread out. So it actually had a good result ultimately. And they remembered that their objective was not to isolate from culture, but to infiltrate the culture.
From Saul to Herod: Waves of Persecution
And actually the man who was the primary person behind the martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution of the church at that time was known as Saul of Tarsus. If you said his name, it would sound shivers down the backbone of a first century believer.
Well you all know what happened with Saul of Tarsus. On the Damascus road on this way to hunt down, torture, and execute Christians, he met Jesus Christ and then became the apostle Paul.
Well now this is a new wave of persecution led by Herod. This whole family of Herods, they were all corrupt. Going back to the first Herod, Herod the Great that slaughtered the little babies during the time of Christ when he heard a Messiah had been born on through his son and his grandson. So here is another of the line of Herods.
And this one has gone and murdered James. By the way this is James the brother of John, one of the two sons of thunder who was one of the earliest disciples. Thus James was the first of the apostles to be martyred. Stephen was not an apostle. He was the first martyr of the church. James was the first apostle that was martyred.
So Herod being the consummate politician saw this pleased his constituents. And then he had the undisputed leader of the church arrested, Simon Peter. Pretty much everyone looked up to Peter. He wasn’t the Pope, but he was a spiritual leader. And he was admired by many. And now it looks like Peter is next for execution.
Peter’s Imprisonment and the Church’s Response
Verse 4, Peter was delivered to four squads of soldiers to keep him. Listen, Simon Peter was behind two gates, chained to two guards, and guarded by fourteen more.
So what did the church do? Verse 5, constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
You see, all the other doors may have been closed. But one door remained open. The door of prayer. The door into the presence of God. The way through to Peter was the one through God.
But often prayer is what? The last resort. Right? After I have tried everything else, after I have maxed out all of my credit cards, and called all of my friends, and exhausted all of my resources, I say, Oh right, God! A Lord help?
The first thing you should have done was pray about it. And that is what the church did. They brought their prayers before the Lord.
It has been said, And Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Saint upon his knees. The last thing the devil ever wants a Christian to do is pray.
Key Principles of Powerful Prayer
So now we are going to learn some important principles about prayers that make a difference.
Number one, if you are taking notes, write this down. The prayer that changes things is the prayer that is offered to God. Let me repeat that. The prayer that changes things is the prayer that is offered to God.
Verse 5, constant prayer was offered to God. Now you are thinking, What do you mean the prayer that is offered to God? Isn’t all prayer offered to God? Not necessarily.
Prayer Must Be Directed to God Alone
Jesus said in Matthew 15:8, “These people honor me with their lips and their hearts are far from me.” Listen to me. You can sing praise songs. You can offer prayers to God and have no thought of God. You know why? Because you are thinking about you. Or you are thinking about somebody else. Looking at the way somebody else looks. Or thinking about how good you are looking.
Jesus told the story of a Pharisee who went to pray. And he said, And the Pharisee prayed thus with himself. You know why I said that? Because that Pharisee’s prayers didn’t go any higher than the ceiling. He was just, this was all about the Pharisee putting a show on. And his prayer was not heard by God.
So yes, our prayer needs to be to God. Think about this. When you pray you are talking to God Almighty. That is why if you have the luxury of a little time, just slow down a little bit. And just contemplate the awesomeness of God.
The ACTS Model for God-Centered Prayer
You know? I think a good acronym to help you remember a good way to pray is ACTS. A-C-T-S. A stands for adoration. C stands for confession. T stands for Thanksgiving. And S stands for supplication.
So when you pray, start with A in ACTS. Adoration. Don’t cut to the chase and go straight to your petitions. It is okay to pray for things. It is okay to bring your needs before the Lord. But start with some adoration. And get a sense of the awesomeness of God.
And the more you realize how great God is, the smaller your problem will get in His presence.
Jesus taught us to pray. When you pray, pray after this manner. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done.
So they prayed to God. And here is the key. When I contemplate the awesomeness of God, my goal is to get my will in alignment with His. Did you know the purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what I want Him to do? The purpose of prayer is to get me to do what God wants to do.
Prayer is not getting my will in heaven. It is getting God’s will on earth.
Passion and Persistence in Prayer
Number two, they prayed with passion and persistence. They prayed with passion and persistence. Verse five, constant prayer was offered to God for Him by the church. It is an interesting phrase. Constant prayer. It could be translated, they prayed with agony.
This was not a sort of a flippant, you know, sort of yawn, Lord please save Simon Peter or whatever. This was a storm from the gates of heaven prayer. Lord save Peter.
You know I wonder if they prayed as fervently for James. Maybe they thought, oh he will get out of it. Oh he is in prayer. Sorry he got arrested. All that happened. You know. He will get out. And then they get the news James has been killed. What? What? Yeah James was killed. And now Peter is arrested. Oh Lord.
Now they are seeing how desperate the situation is. Now they are seeing how much they need God. Now they are seeing if God doesn’t come through for us. There is no way. There is no way.
So they were really praying. Have you seen the urgency of your situation yet? Have you prayed like this for your marriage? For your family? For your children? For your husband? For your wife? Have you prayed like this for your church? Have you prayed like this for your country?
James 4:3 says, “You have not because you ask not.” And I am telling you a lot of times we don’t have what we need in life because we don’t pray for it. And when we do pray for it there is no heart in it. And if we don’t put any heart in our prayers God will put a lot of heart in answering our prayers.
God promises that His people will find Him when they search for Him with all of their heart.
God’s Timing and Our Perseverance
Peter was not released until the very night before the planned execution. God could have answered their prayers straight away. But instead He took His sweet time. Because it was His perfect time. That means the disciples prayed to the night. They had no guarantee this prayer would be answered in the affirmative. They didn’t know if Peter would be delivered. After all James wasn’t.
James was murdered. So how does that work? How could God allow that to happen? You know, people come up with their fanciful ideas about why God takes some and leaves others. Listen, I’ve heard them all. And they’re all pretty stupid. Because I’ve had them said to me when our son died. I’ve had the most ridiculous things said to me in the aftermath of that.
Here’s the bottom line. You don’t know and I don’t know. And I actually can live with that. I don’t know why. And maybe I’ll never know why this side of heaven. I know maybe five seconds after I’m in heaven I’ll know why. I’ll get it then. But we’ll say, oh well this is why that person died at this age. No, you don’t know anything about that, okay? So don’t even try to figure it out.
Listen, our days are numbered. God decides who will go when. Somehow in His Providence He wanted James to go and He left Peter. And ultimately, you know, spoiler alert, Peter gets sprung. If you haven’t read this story, sorry. Probably should have left that out. Kind of build to it. But you know, God has His purposes.
The Bible says our times are in His hands. That’s why we’re told in Psalm 90, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
The Power of United Prayer
So here is the church. They’re praying. James is gone. Peter is in prison. The church is praying. Constant prayer is being offered. And that’s part of the problem is we give up too soon. We just give up. Well, it must not be God’s will. I prayed for my husband to come to Christ and prayed three times. He didn’t come. So I guess it’s not God’s will.
Hey, keep praying. Keep seeking. Keep asking. That’s what the Bible tells us to do. And this is what this church did. They prayed. And they continued to bring their need before the Lord. And this is one of the reasons that their prayer was answered.
Number three. They prayed together. Verse five. Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Did you know that there is power in united prayer? It’s good to pray with other people. And Jesus told us, if two of you will agree on earth, touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 18, 19.
Agree or touching on something. What does this mean? Now it doesn’t mean that two people get together and pray for something stupid. They are going to get it. But it’s two people with the same God given burden. Being led by the Spirit. Praying for something. There is power as we pray together.
And I think that is why it is so great if you have a loved one that isn’t a believer and you say to a Christian friend, would you pray for this person with me? And if there is someone that you know that isn’t a believer, I will pray with you for them.
Even Doubtful Prayer Can Move God
Now the fourth thing about their prayer is not commendable. But it is so truthful. And that is why I love the honesty of Scripture. You ready for point number four? They prayed doubtingly. Did I hear you right? Yeah, that is right. They prayed doubtingly.
It comes out clear in this story. Yes, they prayed to God. Yes, they prayed with passion. Yes, they prayed together. And yes, they also prayed with doubt. But even though their prayer was weakened, it was still mightier than Herod and it was mightier than hell.
Let’s read the rest of the story. Acts 12 verse 6. “The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, chained between two soldiers, with others standing guard at the prison gate. Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before him. The angel tapped him on the side to awaken him and said, Quick, get up. And the chains fell off of his wrists.”
The Miraculous Deliverance of Peter
Verse 8. “Then the angel told him, Get dressed and put on your sandals. And he did. Now put on your coat and follow me, the angel ordered. So Peter left the cell following the angel. But all the time he thought he was having a vision. He didn’t realize it was really happening.”
“They passed the first and the second guard post. They came to the iron gate to the street, and it opened to them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and suddenly the angel left him.”
“Peter finally realized what had happened. It’s really true, he said to himself. The Lord has sent his angel, and he saved me from Herod and from the Jews that were hoping to do this to me.”
“After a little thought, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people were gathered together for prayer. He knocks at the door in the gate. A servant girl named Rhoda comes to open it. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed, and instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone and said, Peter is standing at the door.”
“You’re out of your mind, they said. When she insisted, they decided it must be his angel. Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally went out and opened the door, they were amazed.”
I mean, that is such a classic story, isn’t it? I mean, you see the humor, don’t you? See, despite their lack of faith, God still came through. And you know, sometimes there is a lack of faith in our prayers. And no doubt there have been times when we may have hindered the work of God in our life because of unbelief.
Scripture tells us that Jesus could do no mighty work in his hometown because of unbelief. So clearly there is a place for faith in prayer. However, I disagree with these people that say it is all about faith. And if your prayer is unanswered, it is always because you lack faith.
Because you know, sometimes I only have so much faith. And I think of that one guy that needed the Lord to touch his child. And he said to Jesus, Lord, I believe. And then he said, help my unbelief. And we read Jesus touched that boy and delivered him from demon powers.
You know why? It was an honest prayer. Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. Lord, I believe, but sometimes I have lapses. Sometimes I have doubts.
Faith Comes by Hearing God’s Word
How many of you have ever doubted in prayer? Raise your hand up. How many of you have never doubted in prayer? You never had a doubt in prayer? Okay. Glad there are no liars here. I have had doubts. Everybody has doubts. It is not a bad thing. It is humanity.
But we take the word of God. And apply it to that doubt. Because faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. Right?
So they had their doubts. But they prayed.
Peter’s Peace Amid Crisis
Why didn’t God answer this prayer sooner? To teach the church perseverance. And to teach Peter faith. It is a reminder that prayer is warfare. And that battle is not one through human strength. But on the knees.
It has been said prayer is striking the winning blow. Service is gathering up the results. It is like in prayer we attack. Let us pray. Let us go. And we start barraging God’s throne with requests that will bring glory to His name.
So they prayed. Now here is the thing that I love about this story. Verse 6 says Peter was sleeping. What? He was sleeping. The church seemed to be up that night praying for the apostle. He is chained to two Roman soldiers facing the possibility of being executed the next day and yet he is sleeping. He is probably the only Christian that was sleeping that night.
In fact it sounds as though he was so deep in sleep the angel had to kind of whack him to wake up. So he is sleeping. The angel is like he appears. Wake up. Peter is still sleeping. Wake up. He is still... Wake up. Peter is like what? Come on. We are getting out of here. I mean that is pretty much what happened.
The Source of Peter’s Peace
What gave Peter such confidence and peace? Well he knew people were praying for him. And I do not want to try to sound too mystical but it is almost as though I can feel prayers at times. Well we do our crusades. Man I know people are praying for me. And I really appreciate that by the way. I just feel prayed for. And I thank the Lord for that.
And it is a great thing when you know others are praying for you. When someone comes up and says I have been praying for you. Well that is comforting.
But you see he was at peace. Psalm 4:8 says “I will lie down and sleep in peace. For you alone O Lord make me to dwell in safety.” Psalm 127. He gives his beloved sleep.
Do you sleep in peace or do you sleep in turmoil? I mean listen. We have all woken up in the middle of the night. I do not know what it is. But for me the magic time is three o’clock in the morning. A really bad time to wake up. Because it is too early to get up. You know. And so you are just told. And I will tell you when I wake up sometimes I will have things that are on my mind and I just pray. I pray and I commit them to the Lord.
Committing Worries to God at Night
And I will effectively say now Lord it is three o’clock in the morning. There is nothing I can do about these things. And I am going back to sleep so you worry about this. Okay. Now I mean I know God is not going to worry about it. But I am effectively acknowledging I can’t fix it anyway. And God is in control.
So you commit it back to the Lord. That goes back to the verse we quoted earlier in Philippians. Don’t worry about anything. Pray about everything. And what? And the peace of God that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and mind.
But one thing that keeps this up at night is a guilty conscience. And it is a great thing to go to sleep with a clean conscience. Because there is no sin you are afraid will be now revealed. Or something that will come out or whatever. He says, Hey man I have got it right with God. And I have committed it to the Lord.
Peter was asleep. Asleep. He was rested. Here is the way Peter looked at it. You know maybe tomorrow I will die. If I die go to heaven. And if I live then I will keep preaching the gospel. Man this guy really changed. Is this the same guy that denied the Lord three times by a fire? Yeah it is the same guy. It is the same guy that had deepened in his walk with the Lord. And now he is completely at peace trusting the Lord.
The Miraculous Escape and the Church’s Reaction
Well in this instance he was not going to die. He was going to be delivered. Verse 7. The chains fell off of his wrists. That is so cool. He is just in a row. He is just come off. Now he could have run out of there at full speed. Here is the problem. He would have hit an iron door. There is timing for everything.
Chains fall off his wrists. He is just come on now. Come on. Come with me. Come. Come. Come. And they walk right past these guards. And now the door opens just like in the supermarket. Right. When you step down and the little pad just opens up. And they walk out.
Verse 10. Immediately the angel departed from him. See Peter needed a miracle to get out of prison. But he could reach Mary’s house without one. Angel did his job. I am out of here. I have other things to do. See ya.
And now Peter is outside. He is finally figuring out this is not a vision. This is not a dream. He has been literally delivered. And so now he says, well I am going over to where I know the believers are gathered. Note they are having a prayer meeting.
So he goes to the place where they are having a prayer meeting. And he probably heard what they were praying for. And it probably went something along these lines. Lord. Lord. Deliver Peter. Lord. Intervene. Hear our prayers. Send an angel Lord we pray. And get Peter out of prison. Oh Lord. Deliver Peter. Oh Lord.
Stop the knocking. Lord deliver. Rhoda. Would you get that? Rhoda comes back. Lord deliver Peter. Ah guys. Peter is at the front door. Right. You are crazy. No. Peter is at the front door. Well it is just his angel. Wouldn’t you even open the door for his angel? I mean what? Oh it is his angel. We don’t have time for angels. We are too busy praying.
The Church’s Astonishment at Answered Prayer
But I love this verse. Verse 15. They said you are out of your mind. It is from the Greek. Vida loco. We get the English. La vida loco. No we don’t. Living la vida loca. It is a bad joke. Kind of an old song anyway. It doesn’t make sense anymore. Some of you don’t even know what that fang is. That was a dated joke right? Living la vida loca. Never liked it. Okay.
But I want you to notice something. It sounds as though they opened the door together. Because it says when this happened that they were amazed and they opened the door. Verse 16. They opened the door. Not just one person. I will get it. It is almost like they all kind of approach. Like all of them are kind of... And then they go to the door... And all of them reach down and open the door knob. And they are all looking over the side. And there is Peter like, hello. Took you long enough.
And of course they were overjoyed. Because God had answered their prayer.
The Reversal: Herod’s Judgment and God’s Triumph
You know this is an amazing story because it ends with the great Herod giving a speech that was met with adulation. After he was done speaking the people cried out, it is the voice of a God and not of a man. Herod said, thank you very much. Thank you. The band played. Never mind. Okay. That was a really old cultural reference.
But he soaked up their praise. There is an interesting thing where history that is secular converges with biblical history. I mean remember that this is a book inspired by God but it is also a really accurate history book. And when it gives us historical details that are always confirmed by archaeological discoveries. Never contradicted. Always confirmed. It gives us little points in time so we can go and research it and see what else was going on.
And there was a well known historian of this time named Josephus that wrote a lot about these events that happened in Scripture. And he points out that when Herod gave this speech that he was dressed head to toe in a reflective silver garment. So the sun reflected off of him. So that is an interesting detail.
And so we are told in this story that he gave the speech that people said, It is a voice of a God and not of a man. Herod absorbed that praise and worship. Did not reject it. And both Josephus and Luke, the author of Acts, came to the same conclusion. Herod died. He died. He was judged.
So look at how the story ends. At the beginning of the chapter, Herod is on the rampage, arresting and persecuting church leaders. In the end, he himself is struck down and he dies.
The chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison, and Herod triumphing. The chapter ends with Herod dead, Peter free, and the Word of God triumphing. It ain’t over till it is over.
So maybe you are in the middle of your story right now. You are not in the getting out of prison part. You are in the prison part still. You are thinking this is not going to end well. And I don’t think anything is going to turn it around. Listen, don’t underestimate the power of prayer.
Ask people to pray for you. Pray for your own needs. Let’s pray for our nation. God could send an awakening. Let’s pray for our Southern California crusade. Let’s pray for Harvest America. Pray for those loved ones you know that don’t yet know the Lord. Pray for broken and hurting marriages. God can do it.
A Prayer for National Revival
I was asked to write down a prayer for the National Day of Prayer ahead of time. And they have it on their website. And this is the prayer I will pray in Washington, D.C. Would you like to hear the prayer? I won’t pray it. I will just read it to you. But here it is.
“Father, we come to you to pray for our nation, the United States of America. How you have blessed us through the years, Lord. We rightly sing America, America. God shed his grace on thee. Yet we see trouble in our culture today. We see the breakdown of the family, crippling addictions, random acts of horrific violence. Lord, we need your help in America.”
“In recent days we have done our best to remove your word and your counsel from our courtrooms, classrooms, and culture. It seems, as President Lincoln once said, that we have forgotten God. But Lord, you have not forgotten us. You can bless and help and revive our country again.”
“Scripture tells us righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. So Lord, in your mercy we ask that you would exalt our country again. We have had a number of great awakenings in America. We have experienced times of refreshing and revivals that change not only the spiritual, but also the moral landscape.”
“As the psalmist said, will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you. That is our prayer for America today, Lord. Send a mighty spiritual awakening that will turn the hearts of men and women, boys and girls, back to you.”
“You have told us if we will humble ourselves and pray, and seek your face, and turn from our wicked ways, you will forgive our sins and heal our land. Forgive us today, Lord, and heal this troubled land that we love so much. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”
So that is my prayer for our country.
The Foundation of Effective Prayer
Now you might say, wow. You know, I would like to really pray to a God that powerful. Well you can. But here is the thing you need to know. Prayer is open to everybody. But if you really want to develop a relationship with God, this only comes when you pray this prayer. God, forgive me for my sin.
See, until you pray that prayer, you will never have a prayer life. Because if you have sin in your life that is not dealt with, if you have sin in your life that is unconfessed, it is like you cut off communication with God. It is like you forgot to charge your cell phone and you are redlining. Worse, your service has been cut off. And you can talk all day long, but no one is hearing you.
So you have got to ask God to restore service. You have got to ask God to restore communication. And that happens when you admit your sin and turn from it.
Dealing with Unconfessed Sin
You know, so often we rationalize sin. We have a whole new vocabulary for it. Well, I have made mistakes. And I am human. And I have my weaknesses. Shut up with that. Use biblical language. Sin. Sin. That is the word. Lord, I have sinned. I have broken that commandment. I have fallen short of your standard. And I am sorry for my sin.
The Bible says that we will confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So don’t say, oh, I am sick. No. Say, I have sinned. I have sinned. It is a sin. And I am going to call it what it is because that is what God calls it. And I am sorry for it. And I turn from it.
And I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for that sin and absorbed God’s wrath in my place and then Rose again from the dead. See, that is the only way to get rid of your sin. God will only forgive the sins we confess. God cannot forgive the sin. That we will not confess. But if we confess it, He will forgive it.
So maybe some of you here are believers, but there is unconfessed sin in your life. And by that I mean you have done things you know are wrong. You have somehow rationalized them. Maybe you are still doing them. You are wondering why your prayer life isn’t going anywhere. I am going to tell you right now it is because of unconfessed sin.
Isaiah 59:1 says, listen, “the Lord is not too weak to save you. He is not becoming deaf. He can hear you when you call. But here is your problem. Your sins have cut you off from God. And because of your sin He has turned away and will not listen anymore.” It is as simple as that.
So what you need to do as a Christian is confess your sin. Ask God to forgive you. And then repent of it. And what that means is, not only do I say God I am sorry for it, but it means I am not going to go out and keep doing it.
See if you do something wrong, and then you come and ask God to forgive you, and then you are planning on doing it as soon as church is over, that is a problem. Right? So you need to confess it and repent of it.
Calling All to True Relationship with God
But maybe some of you who are hearing this message are not believers at all. I mean, you have always offered your prayers and tried to be a good Christian or a religious person or a moral person, but you have never really known God. And it is because you need to ask God to forgive you of your sin and you need to believe in Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can save you from your sin. You have to call out to Him. And if you call out to Him, He will save you.
Sometimes we do not want to do that because we are proud. Right? Years ago I was with my son Jonathan. We were out at the beach. And he is a little guy. And we got caught in a little riptide. Not a big riptide, but a little one. But enough to kind of get me off of my feet.
See I had my feet on the ground. But as the tide kind of was kind of going sideways and being pulled out. And I am holding him above the water. But here is the irony. I am only feet from the shore. So it is frustrating me. It is like the shore is right there. If I can just get my feet on the ground. And now pretty soon I am being pulled out even a little bit more. I am still holding him up.
And some lifeguard sees me. And they start swimming toward me. They are like, I do not want to be saved by a lifeguard. No. I never said help, but they are coming. And I finally got my feet and the guy said, I am good. And I walked two feet and I was there.
That is how close it is. Now it was not two feet away. But you know why I did not want to call out to a lifeguard? Pride. I do not want to admit I need help. I would rather drown. Some people are that way, right? I do not want to admit I need God. I would rather go to hell. You will. Don’t be so proud. Everybody needs God. We all do. Call out to Him.
The Bible says if we will call to the Lord, we will call on the name of the Lord, we will be saved.
And we are going to close now in prayer. And I am going to give you an opportunity to call on His name and be forgiven of your sin.
Let us pray. Father, thank you for your word to us. Thank you for the privilege of prayer. But there are some here that do not yet know you. They do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Lord, would you help them to see their need spiritually? Help them realize that all eternity is at stake and help them to believe in Jesus right now and receive your forgiveness.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we are praying together, how many of you would say, Greg, pray for me. I need God’s forgiveness. I need Jesus Christ in my life. I want to know that when I die, I will go to heaven. I want to have this communication with God and I want to get this sin out of the way. Pray for me. I am ready to say yes to Jesus right now.
If you would like Jesus Christ to come into your life and be your Savior and your Lord, would you raise your hand up right now and let me pray for you wherever you are sitting? Just raise your hand up. God bless you. Just lift your hand up. I will pray for you. You want Christ to come into your life. God bless each one of you. Lift in your hand. Anybody else? Just lift your hand up wherever you are. I can’t see all of you, of course, but this is between you and God.
Lift your hand up. God bless you and you. Maybe there are some of you that are believers that have been living in sin that has never been confessed and you are ready to confess it and get right with God. Would you raise your hand up right now? And I am going to pray for you too.
Alright. Now I am going to ask all of you that have raised your hand if you would please. I want you to stand to your feet. Stand to your feet and I am going to lead you in a prayer right where you stand. Stand up wherever you are. Even if you did not raise your hand but you want to ask Christ to come into your life or you want to come back to Him because you have been living in some kind of unconfessed sin. Stand up now. We are going to pray together.
Anybody else? God bless each one of you standing. Anybody else? Stand now. Let me lead you in this prayer. God bless each one of you. God bless you. There might be a few more of you. Stand now. I will lead you in this prayer. God bless you. One final moment. Anybody else? Stand now. God bless you.
Alright, all of you that are standing, I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. Again, as I pray, you pray this prayer out loud. Pray with me now.
“Lord Jesus, I know I’ve sinned. And I’m sorry for it. And I repent of that sin. And I ask you to forgive me now. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. And paying the price for it. And then rising again from the dead. Now I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my Savior and Lord. Be my God and my friend. Thank you for calling me and forgiving me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”