Peter's Escape

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

All right, you can always tell who the new guy is in the house when you have to say, Is it my time? Is it me? Is this for me right now? I want to thank Drew very much for the opportunity to be here today to join you in worship this morning and to kind of experience what God is doing here at South Burleson Baptist Church. Apparently, I walked in too quickly. I passed the tables, whatever, because I didn't get a name tag. I see everyone in the place has a name tag on, but I don't have a name tag on, and so I kind of feel like the odd man out, so to speak. So let me help you out. My name is Scott Sharman. Scott Sharman. It'll be easy to remember because I'm the only guy you'll ever meet that has two toilet paper names. Okay, Scott Sharman. But the really crazy thing is my mother long before marketing had made its impact. She gave me the middle name, Northern.

Northern Tish, you know. Not really. It's Scott Sharman though. I live here in Burleson. I've been a resident of Burleson for a long, long time, and I was the pastor at Alsbury Baptist Church for about 30 years or so. And I got some friends in the house today who came over. I put something on Facebook saying, if you're without a church home, come join us tomorrow morning at South Burleson Baptist Church. And I would never embarrass anybody, but Bobby and Katrina right over here, long time friends, and they're two precious, precious children. And Bobby reminded me earlier that I officiated your wedding. Yeah, you know, at my age, we forget those things sometimes. You may wish that you could forget those things too. I don't know. And then Charlie and Lisa, and Lisa's mother right here on this row. It was good to see y'all here. Charlie's a plumber, and he's been in my house many times because I tend to break things at my house.

And then Rose, right back there, raise your hand, Rose, because people need... Raise your hand, Rose. There you go. People need to know who you are. And then it's so great to see very dear friends, Drew and Danny over here. Now, it takes me a while when I see Drew from this side, because we ride bikes together, or we used to a lot. We've ridden the multiple score, the MS rides. We've ridden those many times together. They're 100 miles in length. But most of the time, I don't see Drew from this perspective, I see his backside as he's kind of up there ahead of me, and I'm doing my very best to hang on his back tire for as long as I possibly can. And I guess I've known the two of you since about the time you got married. So it's been a few years. How long have you been married now? Go ahead, Drew. How many? Yeah, there you go. And they're precious, precious little daughter in the nursery, I'm assuming, or not nursery,

with the kids here in church. Again, thanks to Drew for the opportunity to be with you. I was supposed to be here about a year ago, and I actually was riding my bike between Grandview and Alvarado when a dog came out of a parked car, and I hit the dog with my bike, and I flew off the bike, and I fractured my hip. And so I sent a note to Drew, I said, I don't know if I can make it this Sunday or not. And so we rescheduled, and he gave me a year to kind of get in place for this. We're gonna continue what you as a church family have been following, and that's a walk through the Book of Acts with a sermon series that Drew has entitled Past the Edges. As we've been dealing with the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea, through Samaria, and ultimately to the ends of the earth. That kind of includes us. We're a long ways from Jerusalem, and the gospel has spread through the generations.

God has done a work generation after generation after generation and he's continuing to do that work today. That's been the emphasis that I've been listening to. I've listened to several sermons online. Steve Beckwith I think was here last Sunday, correct? And I've known Steve for many, many, many years. And so I listened to his message last week, I listened to some from Drew. And the emphasis is that God wants to continue to do this work of spreading the gospel all over the world. He wants to do it right here at South Burleson Baptist Church. He wants to spread it through this congregation and beyond into the community all around us. So we're going to look actually at Acts chapter 11 verses 27 to the end of the chapter and then we'll pick up in Acts chapter 12 verses 1 through 25. Let's begin with verses 27 through 30 of Acts chapter 11. If you have your Bible with you, I hope you'll open it.

If you don't have a paper Bible, old school Bible, I hope you have some electronic version. You know, years ago I was thinking about the Bible being the word of God, and the Bible, the word of God is the sword of the spirit. You know, and the Bible cuts to the very core of our being. It's the sword that the spirit uses. Then people started carrying, not a full Bible, but like a New Testament, And I realized that's more like a dagger of the Holy Spirit. You know, not the whole sword, but a kind of a dagger that plunges. And then people started carrying the electronic versions, and it's the lightsaber of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to quit using that one, you know, through the years. Okay, we're going to take a look at this fact that the earliest followers of Jesus Christ were committed to the cause, okay? committed to the cause. They were committed to take the gospel everywhere

that Jesus had commanded them to take it. And by taking the gospel and by embracing the cause of Christ, it was more than just going and preaching, but it was to be the hands and the feet of Jesus, to be a physical representation of Jesus wherever they may go. Let's take a look at Acts chapter 11 beginning in verse 27. During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus, stood up and through the spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world." And then parenthetically Luke adds, this happened during the reign of Claudius. It's a reminder to us that this is written after the fact, you know, and it's looking back and it's verifiable and it's, it was seen, it's not just something spoken to, but it was seen as as having been fulfilled. And the disciples, listen, the disciples as each one was able,

decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. This they did sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and by Saul. Now again, these followers of Jesus put their new found faith into practice. It wasn't just, I believe in this one named Jesus, it wasn't just I recognize this man named Jesus who died on the cross, who was buried, who was raised from the dead, but that Jesus Christ is my Lord, that Jesus Christ guides my actions, Jesus Christ guides my steps day by day. And that was just, it was beyond just the, you know, everyday activities, but it included what they did with their finances. When they heard of a need somewhere else, When they heard of a struggle that other believers were having, they stepped up. And they, out of their blessings, met the needs of others. They put their faith into practice. They demonstrated their concern for the people of God.

We need to remember that the Bible challenges us consistently in this area of financial support of other people. In 1 Corinthians 16, Paul, who, along with Barnabas, took up that money and took it to the believers there in the Antioch area. On the first day of every week Paul writes, each one of you, on the first day of every week, each one of you, that's pretty all inclusive, isn't it? All of us, whenever we gather together, should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collection will have to be made. It's almost like Paul is saying, you know, I don't want you to be in a situation knowing there's a need in another part of the world. And then one day you're outside, you're working, and you see this figure walking along the roadway, and you go, oh, it's Paul, he's come to see us. Oh my goodness, we were supposed to take up

an offering for these people, and then you scramble and you get whatever you can. It's a strategic, it's with persistence as the gathering of resources is brought to the house of the Lord for the purpose of ministering to people over the world. And just in case we think this is just some random reference, in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul wrote, each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. So these new believers were allowing their faith to find its way into their wallets, into their pockets, into their checkbooks, into their debit cards, whatever source that you would use to contribute. Now sadly today, we may more likely find people hoarding and stockpiling and prepping for a bad day. In our day and time, when we hear about some problem coming down the road, more often than not, it's, I gotta take care of me and mine.

I gotta make sure that my folks are all taken care of and we don't have the concern for others, more often than not. And that's an inconsistent representation of the heart of Jesus Christ. When we are concerned about our own rather than all people everywhere. The Bible challenges us to love people everywhere and to see other people, to divide people into groups. For instance, to see other people as enemies to oppose rather than neighbors to love is to miss the whole message of Jesus. All people, people we disagree with, people we have differences with, There's still people we are to love, people we are to care for, people that we are to be concerned about and to step forward and help to the best of our ability whenever we have the opportunity. Unity and truly caring for others is a strong evidence of the truth of the gospel. I wanna ask you, is South Burleson Baptist Church,

are you concerned about the well-being of people throughout our community across the state and other parts of the world. Is there a consistency within the people? Okay, a consistency that says we are burdened for people and we will do what we can, along with others, all over the world, to care for people in the name of Jesus. When the church is united in purpose, it is one of the strongest evidences of the truth of the gospel. Now this is especially true in a world as fragmented and as divided as ours, because it's a counter-cultural unity. See, when people come together, it's not like the rest of the world. When we focus our hearts together with all of our diversity, with everything that makes us different one from another, but we come together with this unity to care for people in the name of Jesus. It testifies to the transformational nature of the gospel because we live with new priorities

and radically different views in the world around us and a steadfast commitment to follow Jesus regardless of the cost or the consequence. Unity among followers of Christ will always have shared mission as its foundation. Because again, we're as different as night and day, all of us here. Everything about us, we're all very unique individuals, we have unique interests, we have unique desires, we have unique perspectives on things. We look at the same news story, for instance, and we may respond to it differently because there's diversity within the body of Christ but there is unity of purpose. We are together to take the gospel to all people everywhere that all people would know the grace and the goodness of Jesus. I wanna thank David and Caroline as they led in worship a little bit ago. And as we were singing a song that I had never heard before but I will run to the Father again and again

and again and again. I just found myself so thankful that my Father, our Father welcomes us to run to Him and doesn't put obstacles in the way. And then my mind went a little bit deeper and I began to think of the parable of Jesus when he spoke about the prodigal son. Not only does God welcome us running to him, but he runs to us. He runs to meet us on the road. And the love of God made personal through the person of Jesus Christ, does that make sense? That is available and it should be known by all people everywhere. And we have this shared mission of taking the gospel to our neighbors, whether they be across the street or around the world. the shared mission of being a body of believers that will impact the world for the cause of Christ. And that's what unites a highly diversified group of people, that common mission that we share. All right, let's take a look at Acts chapter 12,

beginning in verse one, because when you have a commitment to the cause, it will prompt opposition from the enemy. Make no mistake about it. When we, as the followers of Jesus, are committed to the cause of taking the name of Jesus to all people everywhere, we will face opposition. Verses one through four of chapter 12. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. And then one of the most troubling verses in the Bible, verse three, when he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. Do you understand what Luke is telling us? He puts James to death and people liked it. And so it kind of gave him confidence, well, I'm gonna do this again. The people liked that I put this man to death, so I'm gonna put another one to death.

And he has Peter arrested, and that's his intention to execute him as well. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 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, and you can read into that, and an execution that was followed after the Passover. Again, make no mistake about it, our resolve to follow Jesus will prompt opposition. You will find opposition when you say, I'm gonna stand for Jesus, and I'm gonna impact the world around me in the name of Jesus. It was James, not the one who was executed, but James, the half brother of Jesus, who wrote, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, for you know, because you've experienced it. You know, because you've seen it. You know, because you've seen others experience it.

You know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Yes, persecution will come, but God is going to use that persecution to change our lives in the journey. And then Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter four, dear friends, do not be surprised. Don't be caught off guard. Don't look at the situations and saying, Why in the world is this happening? Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you as though something strange were happening, something odd and out of place. But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you're insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed. For the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it shouldn't be as a murderer or thief

or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. And of course, in 2 Timothy chapter three, Paul says, anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Not this generation, when Paul's writing, not for a few years, but anybody of any generation in any season who wants to has the desire for a godly life in Christ Jesus. That person will face persecution and opposition. So if you make a commitment as an individual, or if you make a commitment as a church, family, to represent Jesus well in this community, to be his hands and feet, to minister to people, to make the name of Jesus famous, you will face opposition, no question about it. Did you know that it's estimated that 70 to 80% of American churches have either plateaued or they are declining?

70 to 80%. So if you drove here today from some distance and you passed 10 churches, eight of those churches are either plateaued, experiencing no growth, or they are declining. They are fading away over time. And many of the churches that are actually growing in our community or around the world, many of the churches that say, look at us, how we're growing, their growth is really in transfer growth more often than not. You know, it's that churches in America, evangelical churches in America, are growing by about 1% per year, okay? 1% per year, which is not very much. And a lot of these churches that are blowing and going, they're the latest thing in town, they're the most wonderful attraction, they're drawing all kinds of people, they're really drawing people from other churches. And that's not growth. I've spoken to friends who say, you know, our church has really, really grown.

And then I asked the question, How many people are you baptizing? And the response is, well, not that many. Well, then you're not growing. All right, you're just shuffling the deck. You're just moving people around. You're not growing. Yes, your little piece of real estate, your little spot in the world might be adding more people, but that's not kingdom growth. Okay, and we see that in the church in great numbers where many churches are declining and other churches are growing, but it's not really growth. But if you go to closed majority Muslim countries,

countries like Iraq and Iran and Afghanistan, okay, you go to those countries and you look at the church there. The churches there are growing on average by 20% per year, 20% per year, every year. And these are people who are coming into the church with all kinds of costs. And there's no buildings, okay, there's no budgets, there's very little staff people. It's very unlike the Western church. but there's the message of Jesus and the message of hope and the message of salvation being preached and people are finding Christ and finding the life that Jesus brings, they're finding what we sang about as we worship together and their lives are being radically changed. In places where the true gospel is being preached and where people understand the cost of following Jesus, there is substantial growth. Remember that, as we strive to grow our churches, as we strive to reach our community

and to make a difference in the world around us. Now, folks, you're gonna face opposition, all right? Just buckle in. Get ready, because if you're committed to reaching this community with the gospel of Jesus Christ, you're gonna face opposition. The first opposition, I think of three primary areas. One is the world around us. Okay, the world around us does not accept the message we preach. The world around us does not accept the Bible we preach from. And that's just the reality. The world pushes against us. And the world challenges us in the message that we proclaim. The world will be antagonistic towards us. It's kind of like a fish, okay? A fish swimming upstream against the current. And we swim against the current of the culture around us. And it's challenging and there'll be opposition, but the reward is worth it. You just keep on swimming, you keep on pressing forward in the name of Jesus.

The second area is very personal, it's the area of the flesh. Because to walk with Jesus and to understand the cost of walking with Jesus, it'll challenge you to say, hey, I don't know that I wanna do this. I don't know that I'm ready to pay the price. I don't know that I embrace this discomfort and this challenge and the opposition that is coming. So we have the challenge within ourselves. We have this challenge in ourselves, Do I really want to follow Jesus with all of my heart? Or do I just kind of want to hang with Jesus until that day I breathe my last and then slip into the presence of the saints in heaven? You know, do I want the reward or do I want the journey taking me to the reward? And so, I mean, I experience it. You'll experience too, as we make commitments to follow Jesus, there's this pushback even from within ourselves. But the third area is really the real area

of opposition and that's the devil himself. Your commitment to the cause will not escape his notice. Now do you understand as a church family, if you just get the latest bells and whistles and you do everything you can to attract a big crowd, but it's not leading to people coming out of their sins into fellowship with Jesus Christ, being born again, finding salvation, do you understand if you're just moving people around, the devil says knock yourself out. Go ahead, keep doing it. But if you're serious about reaching the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ, he'll be serious in coming against you to hinder the work you're doing. It's why the apostle Paul wrote, put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world,

and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, not if, not in the unlikely case that the day of evil comes, but when that day comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything to continue to stand. Our success in the cause depends upon our unified acceptance of the cost. You understand that? This church's success in fulfilling what you've been called to fulfill, called by Jesus, it is completely dependent upon this unified willingness to pay the price, this willingness to suffer the cost cost because the goal is worth it because the goal is greater than any pain we experience along the pathway. Now we've cheapened the call in Western culture. I mean let's just be honest we've cheapened the call of Christ. What we teach so often is hey just pray this prayer. Just bow your head. Just just

pray the prayer, here I can even help you. Just say Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner, I know I've fallen short of your glory, but I give you my life and I want you to forgive me of my sins and come live in my heart, amen. And then we just kind of dunk them, you know, we baptize them real quick so we can put another notch on the baptistry and then we just kind of send them off their way and we're hoping to find somebody else. And we're not, we're not challenging people to live this total in all sold out commitment to Jesus Christ regardless of the cost, regardless of the opposition, regardless of the struggles.

You know, I saw on Facebook just this last week, and I tried to find it again so I could actually read the specifics of it, but it was an application for baptism in an Asian country. I don't know which one, but somewhere in the Far East, it was an application that people in the church fill out if they want to be baptized. Okay, if this church is like the church I pastored for so many years, if someone says, I wanna be baptized, we say, well, let me put it on the calendar, that kind of an idea. But these folks, when they fill out the application, it has questions like this. Are you prepared to lose your job by identifying with Jesus Christ? Are you prepared to be cut off from your family because you've committed your life to Jesus Christ? It continues with those kind of questions, but at the end of it, it says, Are you prepared to lose your life for the sake of Jesus?

That's not the cost that we experience, is it? Now, I tend to say if we ever got really, really serious about representing Jesus really, really well and making a difference in the world around us, we might see that kind of opposition. The story is told about many years ago that a group of Chinese pastors came to Texas, touring churches and things like that, And these Chinese pastors arrived here in a group of well-meaning Texas pastors met them at the airport. And one of those well-meaning pastors, it could have been a guy like me, walked up to one and with good intentions said, we're so glad you're here, we've been praying for you that the persecution would end. And the Chinese pastor is said to look at the pastor and say, that's odd, because we've been praying that the persecution would begin for you. because the gospel is spreading through places where it's illegal to be a

follower of Jesus. The gospel is spreading where there's a high cost to be a follower of Jesus and the gospel is spreading with great great numbers. For many many years I've worked with the church in Germany in Andernach, Germany. It's called Sydney Church and a few years ago a young man was baptized. He was He's a professional soccer player, okay? Handsome fella, athletic fella, had everything going for him. And when I spoke to my friend, Mike Blanish, when I spoke to my friend about this fella being baptized, he said, oh, he made his decision to follow Jesus a year ago, but he's been a secret follower for a year. This baptism is his coming out day. And I said, what do you mean a secret follower? He said, oh, well, he's from Morocco and his family is Muslim. And he knows that if he gives his life to Jesus, he will no longer have a family. And for the last year,

even though he prayed to receive Christ for a year, he had to pray about do I want to take the next step of obedience to follow Jesus. And he knew the cost, he knew the expense, he knew what it would bring into his life and yet he did it anyway. And I followed that young man for the last several years He is a dynamic voice for the kingdom of God there in the Rhine region of Germany. Yes, amen, amen.

Have we counted the cost? Okay, have I counted the cost? This is something I wrestle with all the time, okay? Have I counted the cost of what it is to follow Jesus? And am I willing to pay the price? Are we as a church family, are we, And I consider myself a part of this church family. Because you understand, we have churches on every corner, right, but we're all one family. You understand that, right? You know, we just happen to gather here. Okay, you're a part of a much larger family. We just happen to be in this building on this particular day, and that's fine, it's great, it's wonderful. I like that we have many churches in town, each one a little different, and each church kind of reaching people in a little different way, and each place providing fellowship in a little bit different manner, but all of us are part of a very large family. There is no church in this community

that is your competition, okay? They're all friends and family. They're our brothers and sisters. And so are we, as a church family, prepared to pay the price of what it means to fully follow Jesus Christ with all of our lives? Okay, let's kinda wrap it up with Acts 12, beginning in verse five. And you're gonna see six essentials and we'll do them quickly okay. Now I am a Baptist preacher and I can stay here all afternoon and just tell you everything I know okay but we're gonna be fairly quick about this. Six essentials as we live our commitment to the cause and we'll take them in in bits and pieces because God shows up for Peter. Remember he's arrested Herod's gonna have him put to death and let's take a look at verse 5 through 7 of Acts chapter 12. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church, the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Understand in this context the church is not a building,

the church is people. And the context is the same today. You didn't go to the church today. You are the church that chose to gather together in this place on this day we are the church and the church was praying earnestly for him the night before Herod was to bring him to trial Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and sentry stood guard at the entrance 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 off Peter's wrists. You and I need to commit ourselves to join others in praying fervently and faithfully. I wanna challenge you, are you a church that prays, I mean, are you a church that prays for the work that God has called you to fulfill? Are you a church that prays for one another and for others who are sharing the gospel

in other parts of the world? Well, let me get very focused. If your personal prayer life is the standard of measurement by which we measure the commitment to prayer of this church, if your personal prayer life is the standard, how committed is this church to prayer? I mean, if you're the one that we use to measure it, how committed are you? I would ask the question, how prominent a place

do we give to prayer upon our congregational calendar? I was a pastor for many many years and since retiring I have been challenged with this area. I was so busy trying to build a church that I kind of lost sight of what it means to build the kingdom. So busy doing all the activities of church that I forgot the call of God to earnestly pray for those who are doing the work on the front lines of the battle. Whether that's across the world or whether it's down the street where people are stepping into the Devil's very backyard and Facing opposition that was fierce and harsh And was I praying for them? Well the church was praying for Peter as Peter finds himself arrested and facing execution And then the second thing I would say is verses 8 through 9 We need to obey the Lord and whatever he reveals through Scripture in prayer verses 8 and 9 Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes and sandal.

And Peter said, man, I was napping pretty good here, Angel. I was just in the middle of a good dream. You kind of broke into my wife last night, woke me up, and she said, hey, the smoke detector is going off. I said, I'll fix it in the morning. What a ridiculous response, right? I was in the middle of this dream. And I have some crazy dreams. And I was really enjoying this one. And I was in this dream, and she woke me up. And then I realized all I need to do is go take the battery out of the thing, we'll be okay. It was chirping. It wasn't going off like it was a fire in the house. Anyway, Peter didn't respond that way at all. He was obedient. When the angel said, put on your cloak and your sandals, follow me. And Peter did just that. 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.

Folks, I wanna challenge you to respond to what God tells you to do, whether it's through the scripture or whether it's through his response to you as you pray as a congregation. You've got to be obedient to whatever God calls you to do. You know, we talk about that as being faith. Live your life of faith. Faith is not this positive mental attitude. Faith is not I believe it, I believe it, I believe it, no matter what the circumstances are. That's not what faith is. Faith is, listen, faith is confident, obedience to the word of God, regardless of the cost or the consequence. That you say yes to Jesus when he calls you to serve him.

Are you willing to do whatever God calls this congregation to do? I love that Bob and Katrina are here because it was several years ago. As I was pastoring Alsbury, we were experiencing just a tremendous season. Darrell Ovenshine was our worship pastor. He was also our missions pastor. We were birthing churches. We were sending teams all over the world. We were doing wonderful things. And then Darrell began to wrestle with a call from God because he sensed the Lord was telling him, resign at Alsbury and go start a new church in the inner city part of Fort Worth. And I said to Darrell, dude, you don't have to do that.

Because again, I'm looking at my little turf here. I'm looking at my little experience. It was good, it was really good. And people loved Darrell's leadership of worship. And I said, no, no, you can continue to be a part of our family and you can continue to be our missions pastor and you can go birth that church we'll help you birth that church. And Darryl looked at me and said, but that's not what God's asking me to do.

And I was a hindrance to him during that season, okay? And finally, yes, Darryl, I'm with you and I'm for you. And Darryl and Katrina and Bobby and several others went and planted a new church, ministering first and foremost to homeless people who were HIV positive. I think that's the devil's backyard. How many people do you know? How many churches do you know that say we want to reach out to those who are HIV positive? And I don't mean reach out and lead them to Jesus, pray a prayer, and then say, God bless you. We'll see you next Tuesday. No, come and sit at our table. Come and share the meal with us tonight. Come and worship with us. You are our family. And he began to minister to folks that the church overlooks left and right. And I was so deeply challenged in my heart and soul about what this thing is that we call the church. What this thing is that we call the mission of Jesus Christ.

Well, folks, you've got to be obedient, as Peter was. Thirdly, expect God to do the unexpected in response to your prayer and your obedience. Verses 10 and 11, they passed the first and the second guard. Now they is Peter and the angel. They passed the first and the 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. 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. Folks, you need to expect God to do the unexpected in response to your prayers and obedience. Because you and I don't have the insight, we don't have the power, we don't have the skill set to reach this city, much less the rest of the world.

But our God does, and he chooses to use people like us to do it, and you need to expect God to work in ways that you wouldn't know to ask for or to expect. Trust God to do what only God can do, as you as a church family are committed to taking this gospel to the ends of the earth. And then fourthly, never forget the value of a community united in prayer and obedience. Look at verses 12 through 17. When this had dawned on Peter, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that she ran back without opening the door and exclaim, Peter is at the door. And the men of the church said, you are out of your mind. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, it must be his angel, he must be dead.

But Peter kept on knocking, when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. And Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet, so in my mind, there's this big crowd just rejoicing and he's saying, shh, wait, wait, I've got something to tell you. Be quiet, be still, listen to what I have to say. He described how the Lord had brought him of the prison. Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this he said and then he left for another place. Did you notice the first part? When he went to the house of Mary the mother of John there were many people gathered and praying and he provides names okay. Never lose sight of the value of a community that prays for one another as we do this work Jesus has called us to do. Guard your unity, protect your unity, fight for your unity. Don't fight with each other, fight for the unity that God has placed within the

hearts and minds of your brothers and sisters that call this church home. And then fifthly, we only have six, let God handle the opposition. Verses 43 through to 48. Did I read that right? No, no, it's 18 and 19. That makes sense. In the morning there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. I bet that's the understatement of the year. No small commotion. They wake up at the chains that had them attached to Peter. They're open. The gate is open. Peter's gone and they're What has happened to Peter?

After Herod had a thorough search made for Peter and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and he stayed there. Folks, you will have opposition, but you're not big enough to handle all the opposition, so let God handle your opposition. In Matthew chapter five, Jesus tells us, You know, we're to love our enemies, okay? We are not to overwhelm our enemies, we're to love our enemies. You let God take care of those who come against you. You let God take care of the problems with other people. Because love for other people is a supreme evidence of a life lived for Jesus. Do you understand that? Jesus said, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. And then for me, the most convicting part of that is Jesus saying by this, people will know that you are my disciples, by loving others.

See, they don't know where his disciples by standing on a corner in downtown Fort Worth, yelling at people going into a movie theater. Have you ever seen that down there? Have you ever gone down to that area and you see people screaming at other folks going in and out of a movie theater telling them they're going to hell? That never does anything for the kingdom of God. It simply affirms what people think. were a bunch of angry judgmental folks, but love for one another. Genuine love, unlike what is found in the world, genuine love is what people say, what makes these folks so different? Well, it's Jesus, Jesus who lives in us. And so let God handle the enemies. Let God handle the people who come against you. Yes, people will be ugly and people will push against, let God deal with it. It's his, not ours. Just say, God, I'm gonna love these folks and then you take care of any consequences that need to come.

And then finally, never ever, ever forget who you are and who you serve. Verses 19 through 24 of chapter 12. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace because they depended on the king's country for their food supply. On one appointed day, Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, this is the voice of a god, not of a man. Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, he was eaten by worms, and he died. But the word of God continued to spread and flourish. Folks, you are the body of Christ. You are the people of God. You are his chosen people, his chosen possession,

the building that he is constructing, you are the sheep of his pasture, you are his beloved. Never forget who you are and who you belong to. And when you look at the people around you, they have the same identity. And so there may be things that you see differently in life. Never forget that the person that you may feel like arguing with is also, Also a precious child of the living God. Never forget who you are and never forget who you serve. Never forget that you are the people of the almighty God. And God will use you to reach this community. God will use you to make a difference in the world around us. God is not looking for a bigger church. God is not looking for more talented people. God is not looking for some new church growth model. God is looking for people who are totally devoted to him. And I'm telling you, the world has yet to see what God can do through one person,

one family, one congregation, totally sold out to him. Let's pray together. Father, I wanna thank you for this church. I have been aware of South Burleson Baptist Church for well over 30 years. Lord, I've seen things happen. I've seen high times, I've seen low times, I've seen challenging seasons for this congregation. But it makes absolutely no difference what rests in the past. This is a brand new day. And how exciting it is for a congregation to look at how you began the church there in Jerusalem and it spread to Judea and then to Samaria and we see how it begins to spread throughout the world. And that work has not come to an end. You desire to use this group of people right here, these people, you desire to use them in ways the world has never seen. And Father, we pray today that we would be obedient to you, that we would embrace the vision that you placed upon our hearts,

that you would help us to overcome our own reservations, our own insecurities, Lord, and that we would embrace you and you fully, serving you with all that we are. And it's in your name we pray, amen.