Today's script reading is from the book of Acts, Chapter 12, verses 1 through 11. James is killed and Peter is imprisoned, and about that time, King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. He had the Apostle James killed with a sword, and when Herod saw how much displeased as Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of force-wise the four soldiers each.
Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial over the Passover, but while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. All the others stood guard at the prison gate. Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter.
The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, quick, get up, and the chains fell off of his wrists. Then the angel told him, get dressed and put on your sandals, and he did. Now put on your coat and follow me at the angel order. So Peter left the cell, following the angel, but all the time he thought it was a vision.
He didn't realize it was actually happening. They passed the first and second guard post and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him. Peter finally came to his senses.
It's really true, he said. The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod, and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me, the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks, Peter God. Thank you, Adrian.
So y'all can tell I'm excited this morning. Man, good things, good things are happening, and there are reasons to just truly be joyful. So I'm excited this morning, and I hope I can contain my energy and reign it all in enough, and I'm going to try to be aware of my time because I know that I like to go over a little bit of scare people away. So I'm sorry if I do, but just know that when the spirit moves, the spirit moves, and that's just what happens.
So Adrian just read a scripture here for us, and you see up there the sun on the screen says a praying church. Now, I was working this week, and Lindsay asked me, she said, do you have your sermon, your scripture yet? And I said, yes, but. That but is when the Lord says that's good and all, but that's not what you're going to do.
I'm like, I don't know about that. And so we had to kind of argue back and forth a little bit this week, and you know, preachers do that, demons do that. We argue with God sometimes, don't we? We kind of like to have that control, or we like to think we do.
I was like, okay, Lord, I don't know that this is what I want to preach, but okay, I guess I will. So I told him in Sunday school, I said, all I could say was buckle up, buttercup, because here we go, because I will not shy away from whatever he lays on my heart. And I think the more that we go through these hard truths, and we learn things about ourselves and about who we are, and who God is calling us to be, the more and the better that we're going to become, the more we're going to grow, and the better we will become, the more like Christ we will become. So we have this Scripture here this morning, and we see that Peter is in prison, and James has died.
I don't want to be too, too, too, gruesome but James died, and he died very violently. Some of you may know that story, but with littles in here, I don't want to hear them, but James died a very violent death. death. And so when we read the scripture, we like to see that an angel came and Peter was rescued and oh it was wonderful because God had this mighty role in this and that's what we like to kind of focus on is the rescuing because that's kind of what we see in the story, is the rescuing.
But what I want us to look at this morning is particularly in verse 4 there where it says at the very bottom, or excuse me, verse 5, so Peter was Kevin for his number, the church was praying fervently to God for him. And that's where I want us to go this morning. You see the church, if we were to back up into chapter 11, the church was being attacked. And James is mentioned because James was a very important person, he was an important leader and I find it interesting that they talk about his death, but they never talk about having prayed for him.
So it was the result of his death that shook them so much that calls them to be praying. But in chapter 11 when we back up, we see that God's spirit was moving and working in Antioch. It was a great season, kind of like now that we're experiencing an confoundry. This is the first time that the disciples would be called Christians.
Good things were happening, but when they left Antioch and they went into Jerusalem, the enemy was vicious. It was almost like a 180. And so James was killed and now Peter is jailed because they don't want anyone going out and talking about all of the goodness of God and all the work that was being done. And so James will be the first apostle to be martyred.
And because of that, the church is almost afraid now. Everything was going so well. I have to say it's all good to it, isn't it? Do you know that?
Everything's good to it's not. So everything was going well. Antioch was blooming and blossoming and the Christians were on the scene and the church was flourishing and lives were being changed and souls were being saved. And then the breaks were put on because in Jerusalem everything else is going to rock.
It's very different. And people were being martyred and killed and imprisoned. And so the church of Antioch, those strong people, the ones that all they knew to do was to pray. They knew to pray.
What do we do when we're afraid? We pray usually. I did a Facebook poll this week because when I say Buckle up we got a three week series on prayer we're about to do. But I asked some folks this week on Facebook and in our Foundry page, when is it hard as to pray?
When is it easiest to pray? Do you like to pray alone or together? What keeps you from praying? Several questions.
The general consensus for every single person that answered was it's easy to pray when life is hard. When you need something from God. It's hard to pray when life is good. But it's also hard to pray when you just don't know what to pray.
That was an answer. You don't know what to do. It's hard to pray when you're busy. Life is busy.
I get distracted. Those are the common answers. What keeps you? I'm busy.
One of the questions, what is the posture of your prayer? And I think it goes with our busyness and I'm not saying this is bad. Don't get me wrong, please. The posture of the prayer, some folks didn't even know what I meant by that.
And they were like, usually my car on the go in my bed at night, here and there walking. The posture of prayer really made me think that it was just whenever I could squeeze it in. Whenever I could think about it. Y'all, how many times you fall asleep praying?
I mean, we're real here. So our posture of prayer is really just whenever we can get it done. And the one that I think bothered me the most though, do you pray alone or with someone? And most people are like, I don't want to do that.
I don't want to talk out loud. I'm okay as long as you don't ask me to pray. And I laugh because I've been there and I get it. But it isn't that what the church is supposed to do.
This is what the church was doing here collectively as the body of Christ. There was a need and they came together and they were battling a prayer for the brother in prison. Now the reason that this has been laid on my heart so strongly is I have recently been diving into an audible book and it was so good. And the Lord blessed me I know he did because I went to the bookstore and they had 49 books.
About 13 of them. I have a tendency to hoard books. It drives the Jason crazy. I love books.
But the book that I have been listening to on audible, I thought, I won't buy this book. It's so good. I need to write it and mark it up and read it and read it. And I went to the bookstore and there it was.
Okay, Lord, I did it. And I began to listen more and more and the spirit was certain within me and I'm like, oh, we need this. And then I get a call this week and somebody said, hey, we need to come lay hands on somebody and pray. I said, oh Lord, you are dealing.
I'm getting it. I'm stubborn. Ooh, I'm stubborn. I said, okay, Lord.
You see what I have been listening to is Jim Simballa. Does anybody know who Jim Simballa is? I love it when nobody knows though because then you get to keep something new. So if I mess up anything, Chandler, you can correct me.
But Jim Simballa has a book that is probably from the 90s and it's called Freshman Fresh Fire. And I stumbled upon it haphazardly and it is so good because it talks about a church that he didn't want. He had never been to any type of training and his father law was like, oh, you can just go fill in and help and it's going to be okay. And he was like, I don't know what to do with it.
I don't know how to have a church. And so two weeks in, the lead pastor says, I'm gone. I'm leaving. Let your father law know.
No, no two weeks notice there. I'm checking out at the door. And so he inherited maybe six people in the beginning, six people. They were broke.
And Jim Simballa did not know what to do. He didn't know what to do. And so he just began to just cry out to the Lord and just kind of, you know, where are we at? What are we going to do?
It was so bad at one point that, and this is funny when you think about it. Their loan note, their bank note, I think is how he referred it was $260. They didn't have $260. And so he said, Lord, the bank knows about you.
We're not to default. We're not going to have a church and we're problem solved. And so he thought I'm just going to pray. And so he was praying and he was fervently praying and like me, he was like, Lord, I know that if I go check the mail that there's going to be a church on the honey in their hearts, I'm going to feel like they need to give.
And so he prayed and he jumped up and he went to check the mail and nothing but dust in there. And so he got up and said, it went back to his office. He said, Lord, and he prayed and prayed. He prayed and prayed for Lord.
And then he remembered there was a mailbox across town like a post office, actual post office box. So that's it, Lord. I know when I go that there's going to be something in the mail. And so he bebots over there expecting believing that there's going to be something in the mail and he opens it up and there's nothing.
And he's broken and he's downtried and he's thought, what do I, I don't even know how to keep this church alive financially. We have no money. We have no people. It's in a broke down neighborhood.
This is not ideal. I just want to walk away. I mean, it was so bad. He even thought, well, if I can just step out from that bus, then problem solved.
I mean, he was desperate. And so he hung his head and he walked back to the church and he got fairly close to the door or something called his eye. And there on the ground was a white envelope unmarked. No identity.
No idea where it came from with $250 bills. You see, they had $160 in the bank that's all they had. But they needed $260. And now they had $260.
And so he said, okay, Lord, we're going to make it. So, Jim Zimbala began to foster this idea and Charles Spurgeon is where he, yes, I'm quoting this, but Charles Spurgeon says this, a prayerful church is a powerful church. And if we want the church to excel, then we've got to be people of prayer. We have to be praying about our finances and we have to be praying about those in attendance.
And we have to be praying about those on the streets that haven't yet come through those doors. But we have to be praying. And so what he did is he went old school and he started a prayer meeting. And they would meet and pray every week.
And they would pray boldly, fervently, without worry or fear about who's in the room and who's hearing them. And lives were beginning to change within the church. And they began to go out into the neighborhood. And there's more to the story.
But people were coming in and they were the true ragamuffins. I'm trying to pick my words a little bit. They were the people that dress different. They were the people that identify different sexually.
They were the folks that were addicts and strong outs. They were the ladies that made a living in a very previous way. They were the least and the lowly. But they began to come.
And this church began to evolve. But they just kept praying. This church is in Brooklyn. So now you kind of get the dynamics of the neighborhood.
And it was an old school Brooklyn. One of the things that began to happen at this church is that Jim Simbaalah's wife was musically inclined. And there was another guy that was musically inclined. And they began to get these other people that were musically inclined.
And they looked like addicts. And they looked like the least and the lowly. And people began to hear them sing from the streets. And they would flock in.
And this church was growing. But it was centered and anchored around prayer. This church today is known as the Brooklyn tabernacle. And his wife Carol leads the Brooklyn tabernacle choir.
It started from nothing but prayer and desperation. And God has now led them to have many campuses and a congregation of 6,000. The Brooklyn tabernacle choir has received, is it emmys that you get from music? Has received emmys?
They're changing lines. And do you know that those aren't quote unquote cradle Christians in that choir? There are people off the streets. There are the ragamuffins in the misfits.
But this church was growing and fighting for the people in their neighborhoods. Fiding for so many things in prayer. Just like the church was fighting for Peter. Those prayers that those people prayed for Peter.
Those prayers should prison gates free. How many of us today when we start to think about it? How many of us need that kind of prayer that releases us from the things that bind us? Because prayer does that.
Prayer changes things. Prayer changes people. And so the church when it prayed, it rattled prison doors and it set Peter free. The church today can still pray.
Foundry is the church can still pray in such a way that we are rattling prison doors, setting people free and shaking things up. Because that is what God is calling us to do. Not to be complacent. Not to settle.
I'm excited that we have 56 people in Sunday school. But I can guarantee you there's 56 more out there. The church needs to be praying and praying fervently for our future. What do we look like as the body of Christ?
Who are we as Foundry have said that before? A praying church rescues the dying. Peter was really on the brink of death. James had already died.
It was inevitable what was going to happen to him. But the power of the praying church and God hearing those prayers allows him to live. What? Who in your life is dying spiritually?
Is it a relationship? Is it your job? Is it your finances? What is it in your life that is dying that you need to be praying about?
You see the thing is I get fired up. I told you all some days I don't know if I need to be over at the Pinnockallster church where I need to be. No offense if they're watching. But I get fired up.
But when we think about it, that's what we need. Jeremiah said there was a fire inside my bones and indeed I will not close it off. I will not be quiet about the fire that the Lord sets inside of our souls. We just sang that.
Set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain and I can't control. Are we brave enough to really be praying those kind of things? Are we willing with someone calls and says I need you to lay hands on so and so because they're struggling. Are you willing to say yes?
Because our prayers have the power to change things. It's time that we rise up and become the church. Our greatest example is Jesus. Jesus prayed for himself.
He prayed for his disciples and while dying, he prayed for the center. He prayed for his enemies. I'm not struggling with these hard truths anymore because when you acknowledge truth, I think they'll say this in counseling and therapy, when you acknowledge the truth of a situation, it has the power to set you free. And do you know what the Bible says?
Let me just turn here and read it for you. John 8, verse 32 says, then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him. If you continue in power, do you really arm my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The more we're in the Word, the more we're praying, the more we will understand these hard truths.
And that is what will set us free. Free to walk in the ways that Jesus has before us. You know, if we were to back up to Acts chapter 5, about verse 17, it said, then the high priest rose up. He and all who were with him, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees were filled with jealousy.
So they arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But an angel, the Lord opened the doors of the jail during the night, brought them out and said, go. You see, the church wasn't really afraid because, you know, the apostles had been jailed before. And the angel of the Lord had come before in second three.
But there was something different when James died. You see, it takes hard things. It takes hard truths, hard realities for us to get it. It takes us losing sometimes to really be those who pray.
When we talk about posture of prayer, do we hit our knees? Have we ever laid prostrate on the floor, face down? I've done that before. It'll change you.
Face down, nothing to lose. Everything to gain. All to surrender. The church I'm going to encourage us in this season, in the next few weeks, I told you that we're already going to be praying about our commitment, our pledge cards, our gratitude cards, whatever we would call them, but are giving to the church.
I want us to be praying about your calling to the church. What is God calling you to this season? Is it going on a retreat? Is it teaching Sunday school?
Is it reading the word? Is it starting a Bible study? If we're not praying and we're not seeking, we're not going to get the right answer, the calling us to do. And that comes through communication, through praying, asking, seeking.
His word says, ask, seek, not. You will find. Allahimites says, if you search for me with your whole heart, you will find me. When you're going through difficult things, don't just pray for an answer, but pray for God to draw close, pray for him to guide you, pray for his will.
But the greatest thing is, we don't know how to pray. You know, that's sad when we realize that the church, we don't know how to pray. I'll try to get a majority's senses. And there's several things that are told you that are in the works.
But I have to let for us to have one night a week where we just come and pray. When we come and pray, if you come and you come, if you come, if you can't, there's no pressure. But what if we just came as those like in the early church gathering together for saking nothing in praying, praying for our children that go astray, praying for the church, praying for our neighbor, praying for the lost, whatever it may be, what happens when we come together and we lift our voices before God. It takes vulnerability.
It takes sacrifice because you have to come and to be vulnerable. You have to come with a willing spirit to be taught. Even the disciples Lord teach us to pray. But we'll have one night a week, we'll get a general consensus on what the majority might do.
But y'all, I believe prayer changes things. I believe it's time for us to model that to our children. I'm going to go to the church and pray, bring your kids, teach them to pray. But I want us to have one night a week devoted to prayer.
I read somewhere and I can't remember who said it. I sent the gem symbol to the chamber and I can help me if I get wrong. But you find out about a person how dedicated they are to the church. No, to the pastor chamber.
How dedicated they are to the pastor when they show up on Sunday morning. You find out how dedicated they are to the church and they show up on Sunday night. You've got the pastor, you've got the church. But you really find out how dedicated people are to the Lord when they show up to the prayer meeting.
And I remember thinking, whoa, that's good. So I've already told you to buckle up a little bit about it. I want us to be stretched. I want us to be challenged because the church is too busy getting comfortable.
And we don't know who we are. And we don't know what we stand for. And we won't know those things if we're not searching from the true source. So it's time for the church to rise up.
It's time for the church to rise up. That's me. That's all of us.