Sermon Central
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Open The Door
Contributed by John Dobbs on Jun 9, 2020 (message contributor)
Summary: Emerging from a time of crisis is not easy - and everyone is dealing with that on their own terms. In our text today the Christians in Jerusalem are in a firestorm of persecution and trouble - a time of crisis that became a time of prayer.
Open The Door
Acts 12:1–11
Introduction
As we enter Phase Two in Louisiana, doors are opening that have not been. More churches are meeting - although with recommended restrictions to keep people as safe as possible from the virus.
Emerging from a time of crisis is not easy - and everyone is dealing with that on their own terms. In our text today the Christians in Jerusalem are in a firestorm of persecution and trouble - a time of crisis that became a time of prayer. In Acts 12... King Herod was arresting Christians with the intention to persecute them.
This King Herod is the grandson of Herod the Great- who ordered the killing of the children when Jesus was a child. The Herods were ruthless and cruel authorities.
James, the brother of John, is put to death. James and John were among the first to follow Jesus. Peter is arrested. Herod intends to make a public spectacle of him before executing him. He is in prison, guarded by 16 soldiers, bound with two chains. Peter is a well known Christian leader in the church at this point. Do you think that if we were facing this kind of crisis we would be on our knees in prayer? That’s what the church was doing - “earnestly praying”. While Peter was sleeping in Prison an angel awakened him and led him through all the guards and gates to freedom. He decided to go to the house of Mary (12:12) “where many people had gathered and were praying.” The Church in crisis, gathered to pray, and God began to answer their prayers.
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 she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 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 other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.
I want to encourage you to...
1. OPEN THE DOOR WITH PRAYER
Prayer opens doors in our faith. We trust that God hears us and acts on our prayers in His wisdom and in
His time. God is answering prayers at this moment. Some were prayed long ago, some seconds ago. Some answers we will never see, some will surprise us.
2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their
land.
“hear from heaven” is a phrase the Chronicler uses several times. When we pray God hears from heaven and moves in our behalf.
Prayer opens doors in situations when we have no control - but God can intervene. We intercede on behalf of others. What doors need to open in the lives of other people? our country? our loved ones? Are we praying for doors to open? Doors of addiction, poverty, fear, or distress?
Prayer opens doors when we do not understand the answers. God knows what is best, even when we do not understand. In this chapter we have the execution of the disciple James. We find it nearly impossible to explain the workings of God, we just continue to pray through them.
Steven Cole: There are times when evil seems to be winning the day. Wicked men get away with murder and their popularity goes up, not down. The righteous suffer terribly. Their loved ones are bereaved. It’s easy at such times to wonder, “Where is God in all of this? Why did He allow this to happen? How can any good come out of such awful wickedness?”
Prayer opens doors that we did not even know were there. Sometimes God answers prayers in ways we could not have predicted, and can only see later. Kind of like when God led Peter out of a prison cell to Mary’s house, even though no one expected it!
Colossians 4:2-4 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
Open the Door With Prayer. Sometimes there is a problem here.
2. HAVE WE LEFT THE DOOR CLOSED?
