May 18, 2025 – Week 3 – The Power of a Praying Church

OPENING: Just read the scripture Acts 12:1-19 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.  I can’t even begin to imagine how traumatic this was for the believers. -Stephen had been murdered, Paul had started persecuting the church.  Now you have James, the brother of John put to death with a sword.  this is the John that you read his letters in the scripture… That guy’s brother tragically murdered, and for what, their belief in the resurrection of the dead through Jesus. 3 When he [Herod] saw that this [killing James] met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This is passover.  It’s the same time of year that Herod had allowed the Romans to put Jesus to death.  He’s now trying to garner popularity with the Jews by putting the leaders of Christianity to death.  He’s already murdered James - now Peter… Can I ask you a question? What do you do if this is you? What do you do when you see tragedy on a major level?   What do you do when you’ve done everything right and you still have a child who rebels and walks away from the Lord? Or you lived a good God honoring life and just got diagnosed with early stages of dementia.. or there is some other major tragedy that seems impossible to overcome? What do you do? b Today, I want to show you what the early church did when they were facing terrifying circumstances. See, the story is going to get wild, Peter’s going to be in prison guarded by four squads of four soldiers each - this is major - they are afraid someone might try something.   Listen to vs 5 though 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Did you notice what the church did? The church gathered and prayed. They sought God on Peter’s behalf and I want you to listen to the results… 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 has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” Peter thinks he’s hallucinating or having a vision and doesn’t realize it’s really happening.  This wasn’t what he was expecting.  And who would?  Who would expect that God was going to send angels to break the chains and walk him out of prison?  But that’s what God did. 12 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. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” I love this.  Rhoda like opens the door sees Peter and slams it in his face and runs back to tell everyone else kind of thing.  He’s left standing there like… hmm de dum… She goes to tell everyone else and they can’t believe it… I love it, they were praying but were not ready for what God was going to do. CLOSING ILLUSTRATION: I need to be honest with you guys.  The past couple of weeks have been some of the hardest I’ve had in ministry.  Lots going on and lots to be thinking about very quickly as a church.  We’ve faced some pretty big hurdles and are continuing to figure out how to overcome them.  But I want to tell you, what has been the most encouraging part has been to see how the Body of Christ still comes together to pray.  Our church a week and a half ago found out that PCA was going to be closing their doors.  That’s a really big deal for everyone in this room whether you realize it or not.  It’s a big deal because our about 20% of our churches budget comes from the rental income from the space the school was renting.   but what I’ve seen is people coming together to pray - you saw that video earlier.  I’ve had so many people come together and tell me they are praying, their connect group is praying.  I mean it’s been a pretty amazing time in the midst of some hard stuff to see the people of God come together and seek God.. Here’s what I want to tell you that has been on my mind through all of this.   We don’t have to wait for tragedy to seek God like this. b We can seek Him with all our heart, like our life depends on it, every day of the week… The church is at her best during tragedy because the Church knows who holds the world in His hands and we trust Him… This is not to say God is always going to fix everything.  A few chapters earlier in the book of Acts Stephen is stoned to death and God doesn’t stop it.  But where God is, is He is with Stephen.  See, what I am certain of is that God does not leave us alone, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.   I want to close by reading one more passage to you to encourage you and then I want to ask us to do something a little crazy.  I want to ask you to gather with a few people around you and pray out  loud.  I will give you a few things to pray for as Anthony plays guitar quietly and for you to pray over these things as the church coming together. Romans 8:35-39 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long;     we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[j] 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [prayer time - Anthony, play softly behind this as I give people things to pray for] Pray for the employees at PCA and the families Pray for the eldership at Harmony as we make decisions Pray for the lost in our community Pray for the churches of our community Pray for the hurting in our church ---------------------- Acts 12:1-19 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 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. 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 has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” 12 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. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” 15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” 16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 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 other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. 18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 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.