Jailhouse prayer
Acts 12:1-12:19
Introduction-
Jailhouse prayer because we have all prayed desperation prayers when we were in a jam.
We have been in the book of Acts looking at the life of the early church.
We saw what a Barnabas church would look like in generosity and service.
The challenge last week was to be a person of service and a person of generosity. To be looking at ways that you can build and help the people of God.
This morning I want to look at chapter 12 of Acts and see God’s provision for Peter when he was imprisoned for preaching the gospel.
This week’s challenge would be what would this community look like if we were a praying church? A church that actually believed that God is bigger than what we are going through.
I like prison movies.
Cool hand Luke from the sixties with Paul Newman and George Kennedy, a nice guy who gets into trouble and attempts a few escapes and get caught for it.
Alcatraz, to this day they cannot figure how a prisoner was able to escape the prison, Catalina Island, a bay with frigid cold water and sharks.
Shawshank redemption, an innocent man that spends 20+ years for a crime he did not commit digging a way out with a spoon and a pick. A movie full of excitement and drama and where the evil warden gets punished for his cruelty and crimes.
The text this morning has all the drama, excitement, suspense, and you throw in a miracle and a few angels and you got another great movie. The only problem is it is not a movie, but actually God intervening in Peter’s life in a real way.
Acts chapter 12:1-12:19 read from the Bible
Let me give you some background and history
The church was growing and expanding out in new areas. That will make the devil mad and cause him to put obstacles in our way and try to discourage us from accomplishing what we were meant to do.
James has already been beheaded for his faith.
The church is facing persecution from the Jews for exalting Jesus and His claim of being the Son of God and from the Romans because the disciples were politically making trouble.
The book of Acts tells us how the church will grow and it is usually during a time of persecution and trials in our lives.
Shows us that God will do amazing things out of the ordinary for those people and churches that are praying and believing God. Do nothing and nothing usually happens. Be hungry for God and trust that He will accomplish these things and we see God doing miracles on a regular basis.
The problem today is not that God does not do miracles, it is that people are not praying and expecting to see God do them anymore.
Think about this a minute
In Mark chapter 6, the disciples were in trouble. They were in trouble a lot.
They had just set sail to go across a lake to Bethsaida when a storm came up. When Jesus saw they were in trouble, He came to their aid.
“About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on water.”
That one verse says a lot about Jesus. He sees and He reacts. He is able to defy physics and is not bound by gravity, He can defeat the storm. Whatever storm you are up against.
Have you ever been blown off course? You had no intention of being where you are today. You have blown off course by situations you couldn’t control. You feel like you should be where you intended to go and all you want is to get back on course.
We are told to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. There is a time that He expects us to come to Him. At His calling, we are to come. But there are other times, like when these disciples were in a boat on rough waters where they could not come to Him, Jesus had to come to them.
We have to know the difference and hear his voice to know what to do.
Jesus shows up when we are desperate for Him. Notice this instance, He did not tell them to come to Him, He came to them.
Rick Warren makes a comment on this verse- Jesus did not stand on the shore and shout instructions. When you are in a storm, you don’t need advice, you need a miracle. You need somebody to show up. He intervened in the disciples’ storm.
Back to our text.
Peter was doing what he was told to do. Spread the gospel, be a servant for the Lord Jesus Christ.
What happens? Not for any reason of his own, he is placed in jail, he is put in prison, he is being detained and persecuted for something the Lord Himself told him to do.
There are two ways you can react.
(1) Be mad at God and give up, say and think that this Christianity stuff does not work. Stop going to church, stop fellowshipping with God’s people.
(2) Know that you are doing all that you know to do and be praying that God will honor what you are doing and intercede and do something amazing.
Trust Him that He has not forgotten you and that no matter if He intervenes or not that you are going to do what is right, not what is easy or popular.
2 sides to every situation- one we can see and one usually we presume or guess what is happening. Most times on the presuming side we get it wrong and do more harm than good.
Peter here chooses to believe that God has everything under control.
He is imprisoned, in fact he is heavily guarded and probably uncomfortable, but he is sleeping.
No stress, no anxiety, he is sleeping.
I believe the reason that He is so heavily guarded is because he has gotten out of prison in miraculous ways before and they wanted to make sure that this did not happen again. They wanted no more Houdini style breakouts, no walls shaking.
Peter trusted God to do whatever he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it.
The other side is a bit funny. (V5) says that the church was earnestly praying for Peter. More on that in a minute.
Let’s start with Peters side- that is the side that most of us see- caught up in a situation and what are we going to do and how are we going to act.(looking as the victim)
Peter was asleep resting in the fact that God was in control. He had done what he was supposed to do and this is where he is at. He was trusting God in a bad situation to intervene however He saw fit including leaving him there if that is what God decided to do.
Peter was so sound asleep that he was not sure he was dreaming or God had again chosen to break him out.
Jesus came in the midnight hour, because Peter was soon going to be executed and made a display of as soon as Passover was over.
He began taking shackles off him, opening doors that were closed and things that once bind him he was now sent free of.
God had set him free from the very things that he himself could not get out of.
The other side was the church earnestly praying.
Earnestly means that they were deeply and fervently praying to God that Peter would be released. They had called a meeting where they got together to ask God to set Peter free and intervene on his behalf. Peter shows up after all the things I had told you about happen and he knocks on their door during their prayer meeting to set him free… and a girl answers the door and goes back to the group and says that Peter is at the door, and they don’t believe her.
They were praying but they must not have really believed that God could actually set Peter free.
Praying church –surprised that God would actually answer prayer.
The church should have realized that they went from hopeless to hopeful because God had answered their prayer right while they were praying it.
Prayer appears easy to do, but in reality is hard. Prayer is communication with God and you won’t have a good prayer life if you are not in an active relationship with the Lord.
Peter didn’t find himself in trouble and then start praying, desperately asking God to save him. He was in an active relationship with God and when he found himself in times of trouble was already trusting that God had everything under control.
16 guards around Peter
That was not the time to try to reach Jesus for the first time in a long time with a now I lay me down to sleep prayer.
It was the power of God that provided Peters escape.
It was the power of God that sent the angel.
It was the power of God that loosed those chains.
It was the power of God that opened that gate.
By Peters own admission, he was not even sure if he had dreamed it until he found himself on the outside of the gate.
If you do not believe God answers prayer, why do you pray?
If you are not praying, why be mad at God for not answering prayers that you are not offering up.
If you are double-minded, it could be why you are tossed all over the place when you are in a rough situation.
If you are a Spirit-filled believer filled with the Holy Spirit, why would you not believe that Christ could provide a miracle for you.
There is no magic formula for prayer. It is you communication with God and allowing Him to do what is His will for you at the time.
Pray until something happens or God tells you to stop praying about it.
No name it and claim it.
No magic formula that makes God react to your calling.
It is God being God and wanting to do great things in the life of his people.
He hears me when I am going down a roller coaster and he hears me when I have both feet planted on the ground.
He hears me when I am by myself in my bedroom and he hears me when we are praying as a church.
He hears us! He is touched by us communicating with Him.
Closing,
Our challenge in our own lives and the life of the church is that God still desires to do miracles.
He still wants to be involved in our lives.
He has not stopped doing miracles , people have stopped believing that He will do them.
This church if we would be a praying church would see people lives changes, people would be healed, situations would change.
We would come into church every Sunday expecting God to do something fresh and new- for others and for us! Amen!
What dream have you given up on because you have stop praying?
You may be one prayer away from your miracle. You might be in a situation now, but the Lord has His answer right around the corner- it may be the midnight hour!
How can you become a prayer warrior? One who looks to the impossible because with God all things are possible.
Amen.
