Rev. David Holwick ZD
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 5, 1993
Acts 12:1-12
|
I. Desperate situations.
A. Executions and imprisonment.
1) King Herod was seeking local political support, and hitting
Christians was a popular move.
2) Peter had good reason to be pessimistic.
B. Everyone here will face times of desperation.
1) Problems we will face:
a) If no one has died in your immediate family, they will.
b) Your financial security could change overnight.
c) Your health may deteriorate.
2) How will you handle it?
a) Some will be defeated, and curse God.
b) Others will discover that the Lord is a living God, and
he still delivers his people from trouble.
II. Praying for deliverance.
A. The church prayed fervently. 12:5
1) Same word used of Jesus in Gethsemane. Luke 22:44
2) Assume they also prayed "thy will be done."
B. Prayer comes easiest in desperate situations.
1) On June 6, 1944, a German soldier woke up, peered outside
his pillbox and saw the entire Allied fleet before him.
The invasion of Europe was unfolding before him.
What did he do? The same as you - he prayed!
"Not a church-prayer, but a real one!"
#2536
2) It is normal for prayer to be more intense when our needs
are intense.
C. Salvation is not just for heaven.
1) Idea originally dealt with here-and-now situations.
2) Psalms especially focus on current needs.
a) Lord, they've surrounded me! Help me!
III. Should we expect miracles?
A. Peter was not expecting anything.
1) He was sound asleep, and had to be kicked awake. 12:7
a) What does an angel's voice sound like?
b) "Get up!!!!"
2) Even leaving the prison, he thought he was dreaming. 12:9
B. The church was not really expecting anything.
1) They prayed for his deliverance, and then wouldn't believe it.
a) Humor as Rhoda screams for joy and runs back in.
b) Peter has to bang away. 12:16
2) God can do more than we expect, even when we have faith.
a) Believing this should take away our anxiety.
b) God wants to deliver us from evil.
C. Miracles still happen today.
A striking modern parallel is found in the experiences of
Sundar Singh.
Sundar lived in northern India in the 1920's.
As a young man he was a devout Hindu and persecuted Christians
in his village.
One day he was praying in his room and a great light appeared.
He looked into the light and saw the form of Jesus Christ.
A voice spoke to Sundar in Hindustani:
"How long will you persecute me?
I have come to save you; you were praying to know the right way."
Though totally unaware of the story of Paul's conversion,
at that point Sundar became a believer in Jesus.
He was so committed he became a missionary to the villages
of Tibet.
One spiritual leader there became so upset with him he had him
thrown into a dry well.
The lid was securely locked and he was left there to die.
The bones and rotting flesh of many others lay around him.
On the third night, when he had been crying to God in prayer,
Sundar heard someone unlocking the lid of the well.
The lid was removed, and a voice spoke, telling him to take
hold of the rope that was being lowered.
Sundar did so, and was glad to find a loop at the bottom of the
rope in which he could place his foot, for his right arm had
been injured before he was thrown down.
He was then drawn up, and when he looked around to thank his
rescuer, he could find no trace of him.
The fresh air revived him, and his injured arm felt whole again.
When morning came, Sundar returned to the city where he had
been arrested, and he began preaching again.
News was brought to the spiritual leader that the man who had
been thrown into the execution-well for preaching had been
set free and was preaching again.
Sundar Singh was brought before the leader and questioned, and
he told the story of his release.
The leader declared that someone must have gotten the key and
let him out, but when they searched for the key, it was
found attached to the leader's own belt!
#2535
A more recent example comes from the family of someone in our
own church.
Iris' Tardive's husband Bill received the news that can cause
the ultimate dread: the doctor told him he had cancer.
An operation was planned immediately.
On the morning of the operation their nephew Michael, a preacher,
talked to him about faith and encouraged him.
Bill believed in God, but Michael stressed that the Lord would
be able to help him through any situation that developed.
The surgery was more than five hours long.
As he came to in the recovery room, Bill was astounded at how
painful it was.
He thought he was tough enough to stand anything, but this had
him doubled over in agony.
He remembered Michael's words, and said a simple prayer to God.
"Lord, help me to bear this."
Bill didn't expect all of it to go away, but he just wanted to
be able to take it.
He felt two hands move down his abdomen, past his own hands,
and into the wound.
The hands seemed to press down, and immediately the pain
disappeared.
Bill insists he was not groggy and doped-up, but completely
alert.
The relief from pain was so abrupt it shook him up.
More than ever, he realized God can answer prayer.
#2537
IV. Ultimate deliverance.
A. Not every prayer is answered dramatically.
1) Note that chapter 12 begins with the martyrdom of James.
2) Yet in Bible's perspective, even James had a victory.
B. Death and disease are no defeat for Christians.
1) Jesus has conquered them, if not in this life, then in the
next.
2) We can be physically fit, but on our way to doom:
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill
the soul.
Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and
body in hell."
Matthew 10:28
C. Are you humble enough to seek God's help?
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Free HTML Help documentation generator