Desperation in Prayer

Those of you who are visiting, we are teaching through the book of Acts. Even as the Philistines cried, it is his God who has done it. And so Lord, may we all learn to be weak in ourselves, but yet trust in a mighty God to do great things for us.

So Lord, we submit ourselves now to the word of God, and may you speak to each one of our hearts in different areas of our life. Bless me as I try to share, in Jesus' name, amen. Starting in verse number 11, we're going to pick up here.

And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary. Evidently, he understood that there was probably something going on at Mary's house.

It could have been a main place for the church to gather at that time. So he comes to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together, praying. Now I want to stop here and talk about what is stimulating this prayer meeting.

And it's an all-night prayer meeting. Obviously, Peter has been sleeping. It's probably 1, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning when Peter knocks at the gate.

And there are people inside the house, praying. And I don't believe that they called an all-night prayer meeting. Maybe they did.

But the thing that really stimulated this prayer meeting was the fact that there was an urgent need that had arisen. And that urgent need had come because of the persecution of Herod. And you'll find, as I thought about this in the New Testament, especially in the book of Acts, that persecution often is the thing that promotes prayer meetings.

Do you remember the last prayer meeting we looked at in Acts chapter 4? The early church was threatened, and they came back to their people, and they shared how they were being threatened, and they couldn't speak anymore in the name of Jesus, or they were going to be thrown into prison. And that drove them into a prayer meeting. They began to cry out to God, And, of course, in both of these prayer meetings, God amazingly answers them.

Because the persecution is driving them to an urgency. An urgency for grace. An urgency to endure the persecution.

And here, an urgency to save a brother's life. Because Peter is now on the verge of getting his head chopped off. I think when the Bible says that Herod took James with a sword, it meant that James lost his head.

And so Peter is in the same predicament. And so you have two great prayer meetings here in the first part of the book of Acts, and two great results, wonderful things that God does. But both of these prayer meetings are being brought about because, especially the leaders of the church are under persecution for preaching the Word of God and spreading the Word of God.

If you look down to verse 24 in Acts chapter 12, it says, But the Word of God grew and multiplied. And behind the scenes of all this, I've shared this with you before, but Jesus had commanded them to go and preach the Gospel. He wanted the Word of God to go to the ends of the earth, to spread, and to multiply.

And the devil is trying to find some way to stop that work. And he is stopping it by imprisoning the preachers. He is stopping it by trying to kill the preachers.

He is stopping it by trying to threaten the preachers. And yet the preachers are still standing strong, getting grace from God, being delivered from prisons. This is not the first time that Peter is delivered.

You remember in Acts 5, he is thrown into prison. An angel comes and sets him free. And what does that angel say to Peter? As soon as he is set free, go, stand, and speak in the temple all the words of this life.

So this is a war. It's a war going through the book of Acts. The Gospel going forth, and the devil trying to stop it.

So God is supplying whatever needs are necessary to get the Gospel forth. And I still think today we ought to have the great confidence that if your heart desires to take the Gospel to your neighborhood, to the city, to campuses, to the ends of the earth, that God will supply the need to get it done. And he will do it miraculously.

So I don't have any doubt about that. So here the Lord is doing that very thing. But one thing I want to remind you of as I thought about this, these prayer meetings are brought on because there are great needs.

These are not just prayer meetings that are brought about by no real need amongst the people of God, but there's great needs. The first prayer meeting, there was great need for boldness. And this prayer meeting, there is a need for deliverance for a dear brother, Peter, who is in prison and is about to face death.

And these prayer meetings are going to arise spontaneously. We ought to ask ourselves this question. When's the last time we had an all-night prayer meeting that arose spontaneously because of some urgent need? And we need to be careful that we as a congregation are not turning into Laodicea.

We are rich and increased with goods and have what? Need of nothing. We have no needs. All of our physical needs are taken care of, and we cannot actually say that.

We have plenty. Our needs are nothing. Why do we need to have urgency in prayer and have all-night prayer meetings? What's the purpose? We have all of our needs met, and that's the attitude that Laodicea had.

But in the early church, they had needs, and those needs were largely spiritual needs. They were in a war. They were in a battle.

And they needed to pray. They needed to win the battle. And I think if we get involved in the battle, there will arise needs for spontaneous prayer.

And so when we focus in our hearts on this natural world and we're concerned about paying our bills and getting in houses and having the things that we need to physically survive, we take on this idea of I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. That's not a good place to be. But when we focus ourselves on this spiritual world and the war that's going on, then you can get some urgency arising in your heart.

And we'll talk about some areas where we ought to have some urgencies in our hearts. But lukewarmness is certainly a plague, and it's a plague where churches have riches. They have plenty, and their cupboards are full, and their wallets are full, and there just seems to be so much stuff.

And we preoccupy ourselves with those things, and yet underneath all of it is a spiritual battle that we're losing. And that battle is being lost because we have not vision. We can't see clearly what's really important.

Life. So this prayer meeting was birthed because of a great need, a spiritual need. And in this prayer meeting, in one word, I remember preaching on this many years ago, but there's a word that comes out of this prayer meeting, and that's this word desperation.

Desperation. Peter's life is on the line, and it's going to end in probably a couple of days, and these people are desperate. And this is where earnestness comes out of prayer.

The effectual earnestness, zealousness, the prayer of a righteous man avails much. I'd have loved to have been in this prayer meeting. I'd have loved to have been in the one in Acts chapter 4. You'd have probably heard people pray with earnestness.

They're not falling asleep in their prayer. Because their dear brother's over here in a prison cell, and he might die in the morning, and so they are crying out to God in earnestness, just like Elijah. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain on the earth, and then he prayed again, and the rains came.

You know, when you're out without water for three years, that ought to spur you to pray earnestly. So he did. He prayed earnestly.

And so there's an earnestness here. And if you go back and read this story, Peter may be losing his life shortly here. And so there's an all-night effort.

It probably would continue into the next day, but an urgent need. And if you go through the Bible, and I just thought about some of these, but if you go through the Bible, you'll find that most of the great answers of prayer come during times of desperation, when there's urgent needs. I think of the time there when they came down to the Red Sea, and you had the armies of Egypt coming behind them, and you had the mountains on both sides, and you had this huge body of water before them.

And they look like they're going to be just destroyed and trampled, and yet in their urgency they cried out to God. And boy, that was probably a cry. There wasn't any sleeping in their prayers then.

They were crying out to God because their life depended on it, and God answered with a notable miracle. You know, I think of Daniel in the lion's den, a man who was urgent in his prayers, and God delivered him, the three Hebrew children. I love the centurion, and many examples.

The centurion come to Jesus, and he was in desperate straits. My servant is lying at home sick, and he's about to die, and he was urgent in his request. And many examples of this.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and this is a desperate time. And I wonder sometimes whether or not we're in the spiritual warfare and in the spiritual battle, whether or not we come in times of our life where things are desperate or things are just smooth for us. You know, we've got everything taken care of.

You know, we've got the bills. We've got money, and it's just smooth. But in the early church, it wasn't a matter of, you know, I couldn't pay my bills this week, let's have an all-night prayer meeting, or we don't have any food.

It was because there was a war, a spiritual war that's going on here, and that there's a desperate need for God to intervene and to help them. I thought of those men who came and tore the roof off to get a man who was paralyzed down to the Lord. And the Lord honored that because of their desperation.

Desperation is something you see a lot in the Bible. And here in Acts 12, it's a very desperate moment. And oftentimes, desperate moments call for desperate measures.

I remember feeling that way. Here we are, three little families. We're being persecuted.

What are we going to do? It's a desperate situation. We're either going to make it or we're not. Let's spend three days just fasting and spend a night in prayer and cry out to God.

We're in desperate straits. And, of course, I believe the Lord very much intervened for us in our lives. I'm going to ask you a question here and ask you to think about this.

Is there anything in your life that you're desperate about? And I think we ought to have some desperation in our life, a desperation that causes us to be urgent. And I wonder sometimes when we say we have a hard time praying or we have a hard time getting up in the morning or we have a hard time staying awake when we pray, I don't think we would have those difficulties if we sensed a desperation and an urgency for the things that we're actually praying about. Let me give you some thoughts of what you ought to be desperate for.

I know you can't pay the bills, maybe, and all these things. And you know you'd like a nicer car. And, oh, God, give me a nicer car.

And I know these things, the natural things. But I don't think those are the things that God wants us to become desperate about. But certainly there's areas where we ought to be desperate.

Here's an example. How about being desperate regarding the souls that are perishing all around us? What do you think about that? Is there any desperation in the heart of each one of us that there is a world around us where people are perishing? And, you know, I think if we would see them when they die just drop off a cliff and scream into eternity, it might awaken us to the reality that this is a desperate situation that the world is in and that we as a church are called upon to try to save those souls that are perishing. And I thought of Paul's statement here, which is a desperate statement, and this was his heart.

In Romans chapter 9 he said, I say the truth in Christ, don't doubt me here. I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. I am in a desperate state.

I have a continual sorrow in my heart and great heaviness because I would be willing to go to hell and be a curse from Christ if my brethren could be saved. Now you wonder why Paul stayed up and prayed all night. I wonder why Paul endured what he did.

I wonder why Paul fasted. And these things, he didn't have to kind of motivate himself. God motivated him.

You know why he was so motivated? Because he was focused on the things that were eternal. And in his heart he had a great heaviness. You know, you don't get a great heaviness in your heart by thinking about things for five minutes a week.

Did you know that? You carry a heaviness and a sorrow in your heart because this consumes the mind. And he was consumed. And everybody, every one of us are going to stand someday on the Day of Judgment when it's all over and say, boy, I should have been more concerned about eternal things.

I wrapped myself up in the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things. And, you know, those things just drowned in me. And so there are souls that are perishing.

Chapter 10, verse 1, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. And, you know, I can see that in our hearts. You know, you get people who literally, I know there's probably nobody here, I cannot say this, but could literally say, my heart desires to be accursed from Christ if this body of people could be saved.

What an amazing heart that is. I'd be willing to go to hell if cursed from Christ. Now, you take a heart like that, and that heart's going to spend nights in prayer.

You take a heart like that, that heart is going to fast and cry unto God because that heart sees eternity and sees the things that are important in life. Amen? So you think about desperation. What are you desperate for? You know, this is where the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man comes.

And that effectual prayer avails much. Fervency oftentimes will come out of a desperate heart. I remember when we were building our house over here, where we are right now, back in 1999, we had a man that came with a dump truck.

I ordered a bunch of stones, some of those big ones, and they poured stones and laid a foundation there to our house up that driveway. And I was across the road helping a widow over there, Mrs. Snore. I don't know what I was doing over there, maybe cutting some wood for her.

And all of a sudden I heard a man screaming, top of his lungs, over there in my driveway. And I ran over, and here is a man, the truck driver who had his arm inside that back gate that was opening and closing to let the stone out. He had reached in there to loosen some things up and something was caught, and that gate collapsed on his hand.

And he was a desperate individual. He was crying out for help. And I ran over to him.

And that desperation got a lot of people's attention. The Bible says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. And you know, when our hearts get desperate for things, that's what causes God to pay attention.

You know, it's not something we can just make up. No, I'm just going to try to be desperate. It's something that comes out of the affections of our heart.

What really makes us tick? Well, something else I think we can get desperate for is our wayward children. Maybe there's children that are wayward. You know, does that keep us up at night? Does that keep us up at night in prayer? Does it keep us up fasting and seeking the face of God? Wayward children.

There's many things that ought to cause us to be desperate. You know, I think a church that's functioning well ought to be calling prayer meetings. I have a desperate need.

I have a child that's wayward. I have a desperate need. We're ministering to people in Columbus, and these people are way out.

They're going to go to hell, and we care about them. We've got to do something. We need to get desperate.

How about sin in this world? We're in the church. You know, how desperate are we about it? I'd like you to turn. Here's an interesting passage.

Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 9. It's an interesting story. In Ezekiel, God is dealing with the nation of Israel, and they are at a state of apathy and lukewarmness. And in Ezekiel chapter 9, he speaks to Ezekiel.

Ezekiel has a heart for God, much like Paul. He's a man that has a spiritual vision. But he says here in Ezekiel 9 verse 1, He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charged over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.

And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand, and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. These are probably angelic. And they went in and stood beside the brazen altar.

The brazen altar is the altar of judgment, not the altar of mercy. Verse 3, And the glory of the Lord of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side.

And the Lord said unto him, this is the Lord speaking, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. I want you to go, and this is from God now, I want you to find the people who have a burden for the sin that's going on in the city of Jerusalem and in nations that sigh. Oh, God.

And that cry because of these abominations. That's a good way to tell where our hearts are here this morning is how we feel about the sin that's going on all over the place. You know, how do you feel about the transgenders and the homosexuals? And how do you feel about the divorce? And how do you feel about the worldliness in the church? And how do you feel about those things? Ah, it doesn't bother me.

I've got too many things to do. But here the Lord tells these six men to go and find those who sigh and cry. He doesn't say those who are critical and judgmental.

It says those who are deeply burdened about what is happening in their crime. Verse 5, unto the others he said unto mine ear, And go ye after him through the city, and smite. Let not your eyes spare, and neither have you pity.

Boy, this is an interesting scene here. Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women. But come not near any man upon whom is the mark, and begin.

This is interesting. Begin at my sanctuary. Begin with the leadership.

Begin with the priests, those who are leading. Start with them. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.

He said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go ye forth. And they went forth and slew in the city.

Can you imagine? The 80-year-olds, the 60-year-olds, the 70-year-olds who are preoccupied with this present world, and their burdens are bills, and their burdens are getting a better chariot, and buying better horses. Instead of them having a burden for God's work, and a burden for the condition of the nation and of the city. And so God is concerned about what we're concerned about here.

And I don't know that we'll desire to pray and to seek the face of God as a people until we get real spiritual vision for what's important in life. So desperation, that's something that's happening here in Acts chapter 12. These are people who are desperate.

They're desperate for the apostle's life, for the gospel to go forth, and so they're spending a night in prayer. And this is an organic prayer meeting. It's spontaneously come from hearts who have vision.

I don't know. Maybe you can ask yourself this question. Have you ever desired because of some spiritual urgency in your heart for an all-night prayer meeting and gathered a sister or a brother and said, let's just pray? Maybe there's two or three that have the same burden.

Let's just pray, spend the night, and pray. So this is happening here in Acts, and so I think we can learn from this prayer meeting, the prayer meeting that comes out of desperation. Let's keep reading here in Acts chapter 12.

And in verse 13 it says, And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, name Rhoda. Now, in most third-world countries, there's these gates that are outside in the front yard, and you've got to get in that gate first before you get to the house. You know, in America, I guess this ought to be a we're blessed.

We ought to be thankful. But in America, we've had law and order. We've had peace.

And we've grown accustomed to not having a gate before our door. People can just drive in, walk right up to our front door. And sometimes, like our house, we don't even lock it.

And they can walk right into our house. But in most countries, you have a gate out there, and you have a locked door here. So they go out to the gate, and Peter is out there knocking on the door, and Rhoda comes.

And verse 14, And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. Now, Rhoda here seems to have faith. She believes that Peter has been delivered and that God has answered their prayer.

But the congregation seems to have a struggle here. And verse 15, And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so.

Then said they, It is his angel. I don't know how they come up with that idea. But Peter continued knocking.

And when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. They were astonished. Now, let me just stand up for these people who are seemingly unbelieving.

And this is a strange night. And yes, it's the middle of the night. But if you go over here to verse number 8, I want you to notice what happens here with Peter.

Peter doesn't even believe it himself. And in verse number 8, it says, And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did.

And he said unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out and followed him, and wist not that it was true, which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. Now, even Peter, on his way out, is kind of foggy, and he's not even sure.

Am I dreaming? Am I sleepwalking? Is this a vision? If you go down here, it says in verse 10, When they were past the first and second ward, they came into the iron gate that lead them to the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed on through one street and forthwith. The angel departed from him.

And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent an angel delivered. So Peter is also in a dark cloud. And maybe the angel did that to keep him quiet.

He's just kind of in a fog. Like, is this a dream? Am I in a vision? Half awake, half asleep, like a sleepwalking state. So Peter then comes to the house, and there is also there in the house some unbelief.

But I'm encouraged here that there can be some unbelief in the midst of belief. And thank God he answers their prayer. And I'm reminded of that man who came to Jesus with a demonic young boy.

And the disciples could not cast the demon out. And the man, the father, said to the Lord, Lord, I believe. Help Thou mine unbelief.

I believe, Lord, but there's some issues in my heart. There's some issues of unbelief. And I like that story because I think there's a good lesson there if you're having unbelief in your heart.

And I know there's some, maybe some young people who have unbelief about salvation and those kind of things. But this man did a wise thing, and I think it's a lesson if you have some unbelief in your heart. You read that story in Mark chapter 9 after Jesus told him, you know, all things are possible to him that believes.

And then this man says, Lord, I believe. Help Thou mine unbelief. In other words, his heart was convicted when the Lord said everything is possible to anyone who believes.

His heart was, Lord, I'm not sure my heart can believe. Help Thou mine unbelief. And I think one of the lessons that we can learn from that story is this.

Even though your heart is unbelieving, keep crying out to God. Keep crying out to God. Lord, I know my heart doesn't believe, but Lord, help Thou mine unbelief.

Keep praying. Finally, the Lord said, okay, I'll take care of this matter. And this young boy was delivered.

Now, the first thought that I had when I read through this story and preparing this message was this thought, and I'd like to share a little bit on this here. Why does God make mention of this unbelief in His people? I mean, don't you realize that the Lord could have said, and Peter got to the door, and they welcomed him in and everything was fine. You know, the Lord doesn't have to share about their saying you're mad and they didn't believe.

And why does the Lord share that? There's many times in the Bible where you wonder, well, Lord, you could skip over that. I mean, the story's just a fine story. You didn't have to tell about the people's unbelief and mention that in the scriptures of all places where people are going to read them throughout all of eternity.

And your church for the next 2,000 years are going to read about this. So why does God mention this? And there's many places in the Bible where I wonder sometimes why does God mention the flaws of His people? If I was a God, you know what I'd do? I'd make a Bible where every Christian was perfect. You know? Every Christian did the perfect thing.

I wouldn't bother with these less than perfect people because it kind of ruins the image of my church. My church is this beautiful thing that never has any problems. But you know, the Lord wrote this.

And He tells us about Ananias and Sapphira. He didn't have to tell us about those two. He tells us about Simon the Sorcerer.

We've been following this. Simon's a believer, but Simon's got all kinds of issues. He's going to actually air out the laundry here in a little bit and tell us about Paul and Barnabas contending with each other to such an extent there was a serious strife amongst them.

Lord, we could have passed that up. You didn't have to put that in there. It just doesn't make your people look good.

And here, you know, you read the story, it's like, wow, even the early church were unbelievers. You know, God, why did You do that? And I thought about, you know, historically throughout the Bible, the Lord has shown the frailty of His people. Moses smote the rock.

We didn't have to know that story. Moses of all people made a big mistake. Jacob.

Why do you have to hear about Jacob's lying and deceiving? And Noah, that's a sad story to me. Noah drunken, Solomon. A lot of these stories, Noah's drunk in his tent.

You know, Lord, we could have passed that story up. Why do we have to put that one in the Bible? And all the things that happened there. These things could have been avoided.

And maybe some of you have thoughts. I have a few thoughts about why the Lord puts these stories in. Why does the Lord show us some of the dirty laundry in the early church? And He could have just represented perfection.

But I give you three things here that I thought about that are biblical concepts. The first one is, I'll read it to you, you don't have to turn there, in Hebrews 4. It says this, Seeing that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not, listen to this, we have not a high priest which cannot be touched. That means he cannot be without pity with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

In other words, we have a high priest who is over the house of God who is touched with your weaknesses, with your infirmities. And then he says this, Because of that, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now let me ask you a question, if the Bible were written and every Christian in the Bible were just this perfect person, and there were no faults, when you fail, how would you feel? Would you be willing to come boldly unto the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help? I mean, I would think, Lord, none of your Christians ever did anything wrong, and here am I. I'm probably not even a Christian.

I'm not perfect. And yet the high priest says, I am touched with the feeling of your infirmities. I want you to come boldly.

You know how many times it may have happened in your life and happens in my life if I fail in some area of life. I am encouraged to come boldly unto the throne of grace because I've seen others in the Bible who do the same thing. Praise God.

For that, if God represented His people as perfect, then we who fail would have no recourse. And our recourse here is to come boldly unto the throne of grace. Now, I know there's a balance there, and I know God, He represents His people as holy, but He also shows some of their infirmities.

And there's a balance in that. There's something also that's very similar here. The second thing is that the Scripture says that we through the comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

And you know, if we don't have any hope when we fail, we won't have any comfort at all. And again, if the Scriptures represent God's people as always perfect, then I can have no comfort. I mean, what a condemnation that would be.

Nobody ever failed in the church. Here I am. And so God gives us these Scriptures with showing the frailty of humanity to give us comfort.

The Lord does this a lot throughout the Bible. I think of Saul. You know, Saul's own testimony is in the Word of God.

He says, you know, God saved me, a man who was a blasphemer, a man who actually encouraged other people to blaspheme the name of the Lord. I was a murderer. I was injurious.

God saved me to show other people how far He's willing to go. Save them. So there's some examples the Lord gives us.

And here's the third reason. I think it's probably one of the most important is that if God would represent the church as being perfect without fault, then we would not be willing at all to confess our faults one to another. You know, if perfection, the only thing we saw, then that's what we would have to represent.

I'm perfect. Chris, aren't you perfect? We're all perfect. The Bible says every Christian ought to be perfect.

And yet, the Scriptures encourage us to confess our faults one to another. Who would confess if there was no room for infirmity and be honest with each other? And by the way, I share this illustration. You've heard it before.

Some of you are new, if not. But the Lord taught me the importance of confession in the church a few years ago. We had a family, Brian and Melanie Snow.

Brian's actually a pastor at Fredericktown at a Baptist church right now, but they were here for about seven, eight, nine years. And we decided that as a congregation, we were going to have two nights, Friday and Saturday night, of confessing our faults one to another. And it was before a revival meeting.

Somebody had the idea, let's just get together and confess our faults one to another and prepare our hearts, humble ourselves, and prepare our hearts for this revival meeting. I forget who was coming to preach for us. Maybe Brother Denny.

And so we got together. It was probably a dozen families in the church back then. And we were meeting up in Hyatt Road at a church there, and we set the chairs in a big circle, and the families got together, and we met, and we sang a few songs, and then we just started to confess our sins.

And as an elder, Joe Thompson and I were the elders, I figured I'll just start us off. And I was trying to be as honest as I possibly could, and I stood up and said, well, here's where I struggle. Here's where I fail.

And here's where I need to confess and just acknowledge my sin. I tried to be as honest as I could. And then afterwards, I got down and everyone prayed over me.

Confess your faults and pray one for another. So this went on, and my family and my wife did, and Joe Thompson and his wife did, and we got about halfway around the crowd, and it was Friday night, and we said, well, let's just stop here and we'll do the other half the next day, and it was Saturday. So we came back, and it was Saturday, and we had the whole crowd there.

But interesting enough, Brian and Melanie were a part of the crowd, and they brought a visitor. Her name was Angie, and she was a friend of Melanie's from way back. And I thought to myself, my mind, here's what the Lord taught me.

My mind thought, well, what a time to bring a visitor to church. Here you got all these people just confessing their sins. This poor lady's going to think, you guys aren't a church.

You guys are a bunch of heathens. And I'm just sitting here thinking, well, I wonder what this girl's thinking. She's coming to a meeting where all she hears is people standing up and confessing their sins.

So I remember it, and my wife probably remembers it well. Brian and Melanie were over here, and we were starting back here and heading around. And we got all the way around almost to the end.

And we had prayed. I forget who it was that was there. We had prayed over them.

And that person had got up, and all of a sudden, all of a sudden, this Angie, sitting right there, didn't say a word the whole time, got up and just said, I'm a sinner too! Just broke down. And she got down on her face, and we prayed over her. And you know, that night, she was converted to Christ.

She was saved. She just cried out, I was saved. And you know what happened, and the Lord taught me this, all this honesty and transparency was really bringing her under deep conviction.

And she couldn't stand it any longer. She just got up and said, I'm a sinner. Help me.

Pray for me. And you know, the totally opposite thought, I was thinking was, you know, this lady, she's going to have a real bad impression of the church when she hears all of this stuff. She's going to go away from here.

She doesn't want Christianity. But actually, the opposite occurred. The fact that the people of God were honest with one another brought conviction to her heart.

And so God here, he's honest with us. And you know, sometimes that brings conviction. Here's my people.

Sometimes they have faults. And so let's remember that it's nothing, it's no great harm that you have a fault. Probably the greatest harm is that we're unwilling to confess it, amen? In the spiritual world, that we're unwilling to be honest with who we are, and that we put on a front that everything is fine, everything is perfect, with me.

Let's keep reading here in Acts chapter 12, this prayer meeting. Verse 17, But he beckoning unto them with his hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go show these things unto James and to the brethren.

And he departed and went into another place. Now I have no doubt that Peter thinks the authorities are going to come here. They know that the church is probably meeting here.

They know who Mary is. And they know where John lives. And so to get away from this house as soon as possible.

Peter doesn't stay around very long. Now as soon as it was day, verse 18, there was no small stir among the soldiers. What was become of Peter? And when Herod had sought for him and found him not, he examined the keepers and commanded that they should be put to death.

You know, I thought about those guards in the Bible. There's so many times where these guards are guarding some child of God, or guarding the tomb, or guarding Peter, or the Philippian jailer. And boy, it doesn't work out well for them a lot.

A lot of times. The jailer praised God. He probably lost his job.

At least he was converted. But here are these dear guards put to death after this angel delivered. Now let's look down here at this last part.

I want to draw a lesson from Herod. In verse 20, it says, And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon. I don't know why that is.

But they came with one accord to him, and having made Blastus the king's chamberlain, their friend, desired peace, because their country was nourished by the king's country. And upon a set day, Herod arrayed in royal apparel. Why is this story here? Well, we have a lesson.

He sat upon his throne and made an oration unto them, a speech. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory.

And he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. Interesting story thrown right into the midst here. Now Herod, I think one of the principles you can learn here is you reap what you sow.

Herod had just taken the life of James, was trying to get the life of Peter, and now the Lord's going to say, You reap what you sow. You reap what you sow. And just to remind you, I've reminded you of this in the past, when things get difficult and great tribulation comes upon this world, the Bible says in Revelation, He that lives by the sword will what? Die by the sword.

He that leads someone into captivity will himself be taken into captivity. And so always remember that. He that shoots with a gun and destroys a life, he also will himself be shot, or he will reap what he sows.

So here's an example of a man, Herod, who reaped what he sowed. Now there's a beautiful type here, I won't spend a lot of time on it, but in the Old Testament during the Passover, during the same time that we're talking about here, in Exodus, I'm going to read to you in Exodus 12, here's what God did in Exodus 12, verse 12, He says, For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. Now listen to this, And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment, I am the Lord.

Against all the gods, that's a little g there, of Egypt, I'm going to kill and destroy all the gods of Egypt. Now here's a man, who during the Passover, stands up and says, I am a god, or he acknowledges the voice of the people, he doesn't give God the glory. And in the same way in the Passover, God just destroys the gods during that time, and this man, his life is taken, just like Pharaoh's life, and all the gods of Egypt.

And so the people are crying out, this is the voice of a god, Herod here is elevating himself, and the Bible says that God is able to abase those that are proud. And boy you see this throughout the Bible, and just a caution for all of us here today, God is able to bring down the proud. He always does.

Nebuchadnezzar was abased, you know this is my kingdom, which I built with the might of my own power, and for my own glory. He looked over Babylon, and all of a sudden he loses his mind. And in the next seven years, he's eating the grass from the field.

Until he finally says, oh boy I should have been much more humble. And he gets wise. Lucifer himself, I will exalt myself, to be like the Most High God, and even in the end, the spirit of Antichrist is, I will be like the Most High God.

Now I want to throw some things out here to teach us some lessons, and I know these are maybe offending some of you, but I think this is the same spirit today, that is in Herod, that's the spirit of Antichrist, that is the spirit that is in Nebuchadnezzar. But I want you to look here for a minute, I will put myself up to be like God. That's not a good thing to do, amen? But I want you to notice something, I want to take parents here, parents, and I want to take a child here, who is supposed to be under the authority of the parents, and children obey your parents, honor your parents, and Romans chapter 13 says this, that every authority, every power, is ordained of God, and whoever resists the power, resists the ordinance of God.

Isn't that right? When we resist the power, we resist the Lord Himself, and so in a real sense, parents are put as authorities by God, in God's place. And I'm not saying parents are gods, but I will say this, when children do this number, and rise up above their parents, they're doing the exact same thing, Herod did. I will be like the Most High, I will rise up above my God-given authority.

That's why God hates children rising up and dishonoring the parents. I could put another one over here, we'll put two more up here. There's the spirit today of a husband, and a wife.

The Bible says a wife is to submit herself under her own husband, as under the Lord. That the husband is the authority in her life. God-given authority.

And when the wife comes and puts herself up here, and begins to try to take the authority from her husband, and actually lead her husband, the same spirit of Satan, I will be like the Most High. It's an antichrist spirit. And you see it all over.

It's inundating our world. But here's one more example, and this is something that gets a little closer, maybe to all of us. And that is this.

I've said these words before, but Jesus said, inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these, you've done it unto what? To me. Right? Inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these, you've done it unto me. So the Bible says that we are to esteem our brother higher or lower than us.

Higher. So another brother and another sister is to esteem their brother higher. Because the Bible says, inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these, you've done it unto me.

That's Jesus Christ. So if I curse my brother, who am I cursing? I'm cursing the Lord because my brother's attached to the vine. If I bless my brother and serve my brother, I'm serving the Lord because my brother's attached to the vine.

But let me ask you this. As a brother, if I esteem my brother higher than me, I'm esteeming the Lord higher than me. Amen? What if I do this? What if I esteem myself above my brother? Inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these, you've done it unto me.

I esteem my brother low. You've done it unto me. You esteem the Lord lowly.

And you raise yourself up above the Lord Himself. And that's why pride is such a dangerous thing. And that's why God judged Herod so severely.

And the Lord judged Nebuchadnezzar. And the Lord judged Lucifer. And the Lord will judge the spirit of Antichrist.

And the Lord judges anyone who wants to rise up above their God-given authority. Can I get an amen from that? And that's why our society is falling apart. Because the spirit of Antichrist is dishonored, discarded, even in the church.

My brother, I'm not esteeming him above me. My sister, I'm not esteeming her above me. I'm going to esteem myself above them.

That's not the spirit that Jesus came with. He humbled Himself and became a servant, a lowly servant, and esteemed others better than Him. Let's keep reading here in verse 24.

But the word of God grew and multiplied, and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry. This is Antioch. When they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.

Now John's going to cause problems here in a little bit. We're going to pick up with some of the issues that John and Mark is going to have. But they take with them John, whose surname is Mark.

And we'll talk about that a little bit later on. All right, so some lessons from this passage. Lessons of humility.

Lessons of having a burden. Having urgency for the things that are eternal. And other things that Lord willing, God spoke to your heart.

Let's open it up. I've done enough talking this morning.