"When all you have is a Prayer"

Date: July 24th, 2011

Speaker: Pastor Kevin Snyder

Title: When All You Have is a Prayer

Text: Acts 12

INTRODUCTION

Today we want to talk about prayer. Start with a few children’s prayers

Dear God,

Thank you for the baby brother but what I asked for was a puppy. I

Never asked for anything before. You can look it up.

Joyce

> ******************

Dear God,

I wish you would not make it so easy for people to come apart. I had

To have 3 stitches and a shot.

Janet

> *******************

Dear God,

If we come back as somebody else, please don't let me be Jennifer

Horton because I hate her.

Denise

> **************************************

God,

I read the bible. What does begat mean? Nobody will tell me.

Love, Alison

> **************************************

Dear God,

Is it true my Father won't get in Heaven if he uses his golf words

in the house?

Anita

> **************************************

Dear God,

I bet it's very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole

world. > There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it.

Nan

Dear God,

You don't have to worry about me. I always look both ways before I

cross the street.

Dean

> ************************************

Religious Maxine

Maxine was driving down the street in a sweat because she had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place.
Looking up toward heaven, she said, 'Lord, take pity on me.
If you find me a parking place I will go to church every Sunday for the rest of my life and give up sex and tequila.'
Miraculously, a parking place appeared.
She looked up again and said, 'Never mind. I found one.'

TRANSITION

In our Text (Acts 12) we are reminded of what can happen when God’s people pray.

Story:

Acts 12: 1 – 5

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

Church is feeling discouragement
Wind going against them
Satan seems to be winning. James , one of apostles is executed. Herod is strengthened by it and plans to do the same to Peter on the anniversary of the Lord’s death.

B. God’s People are Powerless

What could they do about it?

The problem of imprisoned Peter stood Goliath-tall over them. He who had the power made the rules.

They had no recourse.
No lawyers to employ.
No clout.
No political chips to cash.
They had nothing but dread over the trends. “Who’s next? First James, then Peter. Is Herod going to purge the church leadership?”

Application

Have you been there?

Times when it seems the world is so strong, and God is so silent or weak.

The pressure and tides are so big and we seem to have no defenses.

How do we win the battle over our entertainment driven culture with millions of dollars behind it…How do we not feel boring?
How do battle the giant of relativism that makes the message of objective truth and absolute moral values seem so small-minded and irrelevant?
How do we battle a Hedonistic culture that pushes recreational sex, and party drinking with it’s massive advertising campaign?
How do we battle the spirit of the age that seems to be increasingly hostile towards Cn message and Cn church?
How do we battle the pressures of secularism which continue to marginalize the church and it’s messages to the fringes of our schedules?

This story serves as an encouragement to us when we face discouragement and when we feel powerless.

4 ENCOURAGING TRUTHS

1. Pray 1st.

Acts 12: 5 - “But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.”

They didn’t picket the prison.
They didn’t petition the government.
They didn’t protest the arrest.
They didn’t prepare for Peter’s funeral.

None of those things were what they were taught. No, the example they had been taught was – in trouble – pray. They prayed as if it was there only hope.

I ran across a quote that has served me well when I have felt discouraged or powerless.

It reads:

If you want to be distressed – LOOK WITHIN

If you want to be defeated – LOOK BACK

If you want to be distracted – LOOK AROUND

If you want to be dismayed – LOOK AHEAD

If you want to be delivered – LOOK UP

That’s what this church did. They could have looked around and been distracted and distressed at what was happening

They saw the momentum of persecution against their leaders rising and as they looked ahead they could be dismayed.

But in the midst of all the trouble and fear of trouble they made a choice to look up.

They prayed.

i.e.

Mountain climbers – reached peak and man stood to look and experienced one pulled him to his knees….and said “Up here the only safe place is on your knees.”

The New Testament church encourages us to make prayer our 1st choice , not our last option. To turn to Christ first…

The Psalmist wrote the same words when he said

“I lift my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help…”

i.e.

Accident – daughter - sat in emergency vehicle – “Dad, can we pray.”

It was what she learned in our family as the 1st response to trouble – pray.

What are you facing?
What is there on the horizon that distracts you?
What is there that looks forboding and frightens you?

LOOK Up - Pray 1st.

2. GOD CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE IN YOUR SITUATION

Acts 12: 6 – 12

Peter was under the guard of 16 Navy Seal type soldiers who had been told “He escapes, you die.” They bound Peter in chains and secured him 3 steel doors deep in the prison. There was no escape. No human resources they could muster to change the outcome.

But listen to the text of how God breaks him out.

An angel descends from heaven to earth. Only God knows how many demons he had to battle en route. He passes through 3 sets of iron doors and a squad of soldiers until he stands in front of Peter. Brightness explodes like a 1000 watt bulb but Peter sleeps.

“Peter” – but he sleeps

The angel ends up tapping him awake and telling him to get up. Kind of funny – Peter must have still been in a daze because the angel gets really specific. “Get dressed. Put on your sandals. Now your robe…. Follow me.”

Doors begin to swing open in succession. Peter though thinks all the while that this is a dream…doesn’t realize this is really happening. It isn’t till he gets outside in the fresh night air that he comes too.

i.e.

How many of you have ever done some sleep walking?

I remember one time getting up and going outside. I was on the back porch looking out at the yard when I finally came too.

Weird feeling….I imagine that’s how this felt….woke up and realized what he thot was a dream was actually real.

In the morning there was a great commotion as to what happened to Peter because he was gone….no one saw it.

Lesson:

One of the things that give hope is the possibility of a miracle.

Miracle = Something only God can do.

Something that does the extraordinary and changes the game.

The Bible is full of miracle game-changers.

Life is sprinkled with those miracle game changers….enough to remind us that God is all-powerful and active in our world.

Miracles are what keep us from sinking into despair….they are what encourage us to pray. Because we believe God still does mirales.

i.e.

Stan Hoffman – war

Max Lucado – p.162 - Zaire

J Hudson Taylor – miracle of food

Application

What is your prison?
What is the problem you face that looks like there is no way out?
What has the aroma of death swirling around it?

Pray. Ask God for a miracle. Don’t give in…

i.e 2

Kevan – young man we called as our new youth pastor shared this story as an answer to one of the challenges he had overcome a challenge in his life.

“The time I will always remember was when we had the opportunity to minister to the school across the street by offering a hot lunch. We had little money and by that I mean we did not have enough to pay our bills at the end of the month. The cost was 1200.00 and no one wanted to pay it. I insisted that we pay it, because I always think you are better off risking generously, than fading away with the little you have left. The parable of the talents and the widow’s mite are great illustrations of that. Eventually I convinced our board that no one would die if the pastors weren’t paid at the end of the month and we ministered to the school. A week later I had a person who visited the church one time call me and say they would like to make a donation. I was at AYF, so thinking it would be a cheque for $100 or thereabouts, asked them to drop it off in the mailbox. When I came back, I was informed someone had dropped off a cheque for $7500.00. It more than paid our end of the month bills. Later that week we were informed by the city of Medicine Hat that we had been paying residential utility rates for the past 6 years. We got a rebate (Yes from a form of government!) for more than $26,000. I wish things always worked like that, the fact is we have been generous and made do with less money at times, but that story philosophically changed our church. We were no longer scared to obey the missional call God had given us. “

Sometimes things look so bleak…so hopeless…so inevitable…all we have left is a prayer.

But the encouraging news is – sometimes that’s all we need is a prayer.

Be encouraged – God is powerful and active…and still does miracles.

2. ANSWERS OFTEN COME IN THE 11TH HOUR

Acts 12:6

Peter had been put in prison. Herod was waiting until after the Passover …the celebration leading up to that was about a week long.

We hear in v. 6 – “The night before the trial…”

God’s answer came in the 11th hour….the last night.

Have you ever noticed that…God seems to take you the final hour before he comes through. Seldom does it seems to come early in the process of our prayers.

Why is that?

i.e.

Parable of the Persistent Widow & Merciless Judge

Luke 18: 1 – 8

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Troubling story if we see judge as depiction of God – begrudging answers.

But perhaps this parable reflects our perception…our experience. It seems like God is holding out….why?

In case of widow – it increases her intensity. She feels it more desperately with every “no” We see how important, how critical this is to her.
It strengthens faith.
Nothing tests the fibre of faith like waiting.
We want to give up.
Our mind hollers “It’s no use.”
Our spirit is getting weary.
But we persist because faith says “It’s over the next hill”

i.e.

Story of cocoon - snip with scissors – doomed moth to never flying because the struggle is nature’s way of forcing the fluids from the swollen body into the wings. The snip was actually cruel.

Faith is like that. The struggle is what forms it…it’s what pushes us. The struggle to keep believing, and praying, and asking right up to the end is Christ-forming in us.

One of the things that can encourage us is to keep on praying….because often answers come on the final night…in the 11th hour.

Don’t quit…Don’t quit praying for that person in the prison of addiction….of selfishness… of need…Maybe the answer is just around the corner…just over the hill…tomorrow…Don’t give up!

IT’S NOT ALL ON US

Acts 12:. 12 - 18

12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the brothers about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.

The church had gathered to pray for Peter’s release.

How long had they been praying?

All night?
Every night for a week?
We don’t know.

But when Peter shows up they don’t believe it. They think Rhoda is losing it.

I find that encouraging. Because sometimes I have trouble believing that what I’m praying for will actually happen.

I find myself like the man who said to Jesus “I believe but help me in my unbelief.” I believe you can but I don’t know if I believe in my situation here you will.”

And sometimes I feel guilty about that….because “we’re supposed to believe.”

What encourages me is that God’s plan, and the need, and our earnest prayers sometimes trumps my faith. God doesn’t always need me to help others.

He doesn’t put their rescue on my mental gymnastics.
He doesn’t rest someone’s healing on my faith or lack of it.

The encouragement to me is it’s not all on me.

Prayer isn’t magic where we have to say exactly the right words.

Where God won’t act unless I cross some mystical waterline of faith – when go over that waterline -answer guaranteed,
under not a hope. God doesn’t need you to believe everything for him to act.

No, sometimes we are humbled and awakened to the dynamite in our hands when God answers. Sometimes we are encouraged to pray more when we realize how the simple act of praying and asking moves the arm of God.

i.e.

Sometimes we are like children playing with matches on the living room floor. We strike the matches and are intrigued with the flame but we don’t realize how dangerous and powerful is that which we hold in our hands. And when we have been “playing’ at our prayers and God acts…”Whoa, I never realized how powerful is this thing called prayer.”

Application

How often do we quit praying because we lose faith? We aren’t convinced God will do what we ask….so we give up.

This church encourages us – they kept praying. They knew God could. They weren’t convinced God would….but they kept praying anyways.

Sometimes you keep on doing something just because it’s the right thing to do.

You pray because it is the only thing that can help.
You pray because this needs prayer…It needs changing.
You pray because you care.

And thank God all the miracles in life don’t always depend on me & my faith.

That encourages me…it releases me from getting all twisted up and guilty inside and trying to devote all kinds of energy to psych hype.

Don’t get me wrong…faith is a good thing. But just because you haven’t got it all doesn’t mean you can’t pray. You simply pray because you care, the need is there, there is no other answer…it’s the right thing to do.

And God surprises us and supercedes our faith.

CONCLUSION

This morning – invite you to pray.

What situation puts a knot in your stomach and gives you a sense of dread about what’s coming down?

You look ahead and feel dismay. You fear what might happen

What is the prison you can’t break out of on your own?

Addiction
Sickness
Marital
Depression
Spiritual grip
Child, parent, friend, family member

What do you fear if something happens to this or that person? What gap do you fear?

Maybe a family member who is sick and is in danger of dying
A ministry that is devoid of a leader (children’s area)
A marriage wreck if something doesn’t turn around

Where do you need a miracle? Where do you need something that only God can deliver on?

Maybe all you have today is a prayer…and maybe today that is all you need.

Invite you today to bring it to the altar in prayer this morning.

Let’s follow the example of that early church…maybe God has a miracle for us.

Amen

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The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ac 12:1-4

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Lk 18:1-8

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ac 12:12-17