Prison Break 4 – It’s Time to Break God Out
1. God’s Prison Breaks found in the Bible
Acts 12:5-11
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. 6 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. 7 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. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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. 11 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."
Acts 16:22-26
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.
In the first case… they prayed… putting their trust into God for Peter’s deliverance. In the second case… they prayed and sang praises to God… putting their trust into God’s hands. And God came in extraordinary might and broke down their walls and released their chains… and set them free. It is a dramatic example of the power, the grace, and the love of our God.
2. What he did for us
But pastor… here I sit comfortably in this church. You can obviously see that I am not in prison. But brother… but sister… don’t you know there are more prisons than those built with bricks and mortar.
Perhaps you are captive to a clock and a calendar… that is Timelock prison. Your schedule, your PDA, your blackberry keep you on-time and on course… but pen you into a cage you can not see. Perhaps you are in the Work-all-the-time prison. Never taking breaks, never taking sick days, working 80 plus hours a week… your job is your prison. Maybe you have, as my son William would put it… an owie that won’t go away… that is the Wounded Heart Prison. A hurt so big that it is crippling you… preventing you from going anywhere or doing anything. Perhaps you are a captive to fear… trapped in a Fear Prison… afraid to venture out. Maybe… what is holding you down is the Sacred Pen of Religion… we have never done it that way before. That is not how we do things at “my” church… and you are locked into one way of thinking. Or is it Angerville State Pen. Perhaps it’s Addictions Jail. It could be Gossip County Lockup that holds you tight. Or perhaps it is something more subtle like Debtors Prison.
The very good news is that God has a way of rescuing and providing for those who put their trust in him. God has a way of delivering those who are persecuted… of healing those who are hurting… of guiding those who are lost… of helping those who are helpless… They simply need to put their trust in him and give themselves to his care.
But pastor, there is so much hurt… so much pain… so much that keeps us captive… HOW, how is God going to help me? I think we need to take a look back… and see what God has ALREADY done for us… with the greatest prison break EVER.
It was a masterful piece of work… escape from a prison that had NEVER been broken out of… I’m not talking about Sing Sing, I’m not talking about Alcatraz, or Leavenworth, or San Quentin, or even Attica. I’m talking about a prison that could not be harmed by any means known to man. Lets take a look at scripture…
Matthew 28:1-8
1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ’He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you." 8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Here we see God’s response to pain in the world, here we see God’s answer to all the things that keep us captive. Through this single mind blowing act of overcoming death, God has broken every single one of us out the most dangerous prison of all time… the prison of death… and the prison of sin. And I have to ask you this… if God has command over life and death, doesn’t he then have command over everything else great and small? And not only that, hasn’t he shown us the price he is willing to pay to deliver his people from their captivity? Whatever prison holds us tight… I know the person who holds the key.
Now, I think we have a small obligation to ask ourselves… what should we do in response? How can we show our thanks for all that God can do… for all that God has done. How do you show thanks to the person who has set you free. Now… finally… let us return one last time to our story of David in 2 Samuel.
We are taking a small trip back to earlier in the book… King David has successfully united the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. He finally has some time to sit and reflect.
2 Samuel 7:1-9
1 After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."
Now, the Ark of the Covenent was kind of like their traveling church… the place that represented “God with them” and they kept it in a tent so it was highly portable wherever they went. But now, they were home… finally. God wouldn’t need that silly tent anymore right. Time to build him a palace!
3 Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you." 4 That night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying: 5 "Go and tell my servant David, ’This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"’ 8 "Now then, tell my servant David, ’This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth.
To translate that language a little bit… the Lord appeared to Nathan… to tell David, DO NOT build me a sanctuary… I belong… in a tent.
SAY TO EACH OTHER – “Don’t fence God in!”
[Room for you to expand to your context]
