Better Days IV

I invite you to take your outline out of your North Way notes and we're going to jump right into the message for today. Love these wonderful warm summer days. It feels like we're finally like settling in to the pace of summer and enjoying the freedom of being outdoors more and connecting more with people. You know, here on Friday night at the Wexford campus, we had over 8,000 people that gathered for the car cruise and it was an amazing night of just connecting. Yeah, I mean it's, I had someone tell me this morning when I was getting my coffee on my way over to work and my message that they said, you know, there's just, here's what they said, there's nothing else like it anywhere. And what they meant was not the cars, it's the environment. It's the way people treat each other and talk and engage and so that's the kind of thing that happens this time of year and if you've not ever tried that or been to one of those events, come sometime and bring a friend and I invited one person specifically. I found out today that he brought his family with him and they had a great evening and so those kinds of things, this is the time of year we do that. But there's also something that seems to be happening more and more in my view and the conversations that I'm entering into with people that are a little more serious, this percolates up a bit and here's what it is. More than I can recall in a long, long time, it seems to me that people are dealing with really serious issues in their life. It can be something that's, you know, dealing with economics, it could be something with a relationship, it could be something that's just, you know, personal health issues and even though we're talking about better days for the church, we're going to look at that here in a moment, I want you to think about your life because every message that I bring, I want you to recognize there's an application for your life and where you are. You might be here today and you want to lean into the message and you want to lean into the whole time but in the forefront of your mind is the fact that maybe on Monday you're expecting a foreclosure notice in your house. There might be a few of you here who just wonder if Monday morning your job will be there because unemployment just bumped up again and people are being laid off all over the country. Maybe you're here and there's a teenager in your family that's giving you a really hard time and you haven't talked to them honestly, don't even know what they're doing when they go out at night and you feel broken about that. These are deep issues. The company you work for may not survive. The calling that you've been engaged in, well it just may evaporate. I was talking to a person that you would recognize, most of you have been around the area for a long time. He's been part of a ministry that's pretty well recognized and he told me on Friday, he said if something significant doesn't happen within the next six months, that ministry will likely evaporate, it will go away. And I looked at him, you know, and this was an emotional moment for me. He wasn't just saying this with any sense of glee, it was a sense of desperation, like what do I do? How do I address this? And I think this is what I'm sensing, you know, it's a serious time for many people. And in some cases it's just pure economics, you know, in some cases it's just we have this national debt issue which is causing all kinds of uncertainty and investments and all that. And then there's, you know, rising fuel costs and unemployment. In some cases it was just bad decisions and people not taking seriously the need to do diligence in their own lives and maybe they got over committed trying to get too much or achieve too much or whatever. In some cases though, it's opposition. It's just there's people who seem to be set on getting in the way of what someone's honestly trying to do. I don't know if any of you all saw the story that I did in one of the tornado-wracked cities that we've been hearing about. An elderly woman was being interviewed and FEMA, the government agency, had shown up there in record time apparently with one of those temporary trailers because this woman's house was blown, shattered totally apart, I mean, it's just gone. And so they had one of these trailers that, you know, works as a temporary housing solution for up to 18 months. And the mayor of the town pulled out some old ordinance that would forbid people to have mobile homes. And so here's this older lady with no place to live and the mayor driving around in his SUV saying, no, we're not going to have that here. And I'm thinking, you know, what kind, I mean, what kind of heart can be that cold? I don't know. I just don't get that kind of thinking. But those are the kinds of heavy issues that I'm seeing more and more of. And that's what we see and that's why I sort of, I changed the direction of the message just a bit. I'm calling it, When It's All on the Line. I mean, when everything's sort of like hanging in the balance and that's, it's a little different title, but that's really what was going on in the church. So let's look at this together because as we understand the emergence of the church and we've, our guys have done a great job in bringing us to this point. I want to just sort of review for you real quickly. It wasn't but about, I don't know, seven or eight years prior to this that we read in Acts chapter two that the early church, you can read Acts 247, found favor amidst all the people. So in other words, the Jews and the Romans and everybody else were looking at these converts and these new Christians and saying, wow, this is awesome. I mean, we are seeing community. We're seeing love. We're seeing a demonstration of power we can't explain. They found favor, it says, amongst all the people. Now, just move ahead about five years later and you read chapters, chapter eight and verse one, that the story of Stephen being persecuted for his faith. And that was just five years later, and then finally stoned to death. And the next couple chapters are about Saul and his conversion, and then that lands us here to Acts chapter twelve, which is now 40 A.D., so just seven years after Jesus is raised from the dead, the church goes from being in favor with all the people to being persecuted. It says in Acts chapter eight and following that a great persecution, we've heard of the Great Depression, but imagine a great persecution when people are looking for you for the purpose of killing you, of destroying you. These were difficult times for the early church. Now, there were better days in the sense, as we'll see, that the church learned what to do, and that's what I hope we'll take out of this today. It's a period of intense struggle, but on the other side of it, God shows His power and favor. And I know as I was reading through this and sort of meditating on it, it was a great chapter for me to be in this week. I needed it myself. How many of you know life can go from being really good to being really bad just like that? I don't know, you can just be cruising along and things are great, and then one thing, you know, traffic accident, or whatever it could be. I mean, I don't want to paint a stark picture, but I don't know, life can just pivot just like that. One phone call. And so, we do well, if we're in a good space right now, to know how do I respond to those moments? What do I do when it's all on the line? And even though there's so much in this passage I was tempted to go into, talking about the miraculous deliverance of Peter, or this, you know, I mean, it's a great story to read. You got to go and just read the whole narrative. I'm not going to do that. It's a great, almost like a, reads like a novel, the way he's delivered. Then there's the whole issue of the angels that appear, and I don't know what you believe about angelology. I can't even say it right, but the ministry of angels. That's an important doctrine. Clearly, the early church believed that angels, personal angels, existed. If you read through that passage, you'll see it. And I'd like to talk a bit about God's judgment on Herod for his pride, but I'll leave that up to you to read and maybe study a little bit. By the way, I pause here and say, if you're a person that's serious about growing in your faith, the modern study Bibles of today are like mobile seminaries. I mean, they're intimidating. If you're a pastor, you feel outgunned by the person with a good study Bible. I mean, I'm sitting in my small group, and we're having our study, and these people are pulling up these, yeah, but the nuance of this meeting is, I studied that for four years and didn't get that in seminary. I mean, those are great tools, so invest a few bucks in a great study Bible, and it'll greatly enlarge your capacity to understand. I mean, they put these things in timelines, and it makes sense, and so, you know, don't be left out. Just pick up a good study Bible, and it's a great tool to help you to grow. Now, I'm going to reduce this down to what I'm basically going to say is this. On your outline, I begin by saying, in this period of seven years, from 33 AD to 40 AD, the church went from being in great favor to becoming the object of severe persecution. But I just want to make two points for today, just two. Out of probably ten, I could easily make two points, and then I'm going to let you just dig into the passage afterwards, or maybe in your small group as we do. We usually read the passage and study it mid-week. I encourage you to do that. Let's take a look at these two points, all right? Here's the first one. Life is not fair, but God is sovereign. Now, I don't want you to jump up and down and get excited, but I want you just to think about that for a moment. One of the most pervasive misunderstandings I hear from people in general is that they think, well, if God's fair, then... and you draw the conclusion. For example, if God is fair, I do more good things than bad things, therefore I'll end up in heaven. I mean, that's one of the common sort of inappropriate conclusions people draw. God does not operate in a fairness system. How many of you know that's true? If God were fair, how many of you would feel good about your chances of making it to heaven? Because the basic minimum requirement for getting to heaven is perfection, okay? So if God's fair, and He judges you just fairly, how many of you have a good shot at that based on today's behaviors, let alone your whole life? Okay, I'm grateful that God doesn't... is not about fairness, but He is just, and He is holy, and for the purposes of today, I want us to see that He's sovereign. Really important. Now, in this story, we're going to read... as I read this text, I want you... you're going to grasp some amazingly difficult realities, because it's all on the line. So let's take a look at this, and I'm going to read something that's just going to jolt you. Here we go. You ready? Acts chapter 12, verses 1 through 5. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church... and by the way, this is Herod number 5. I don't know how many Herods there were. Actually, Agrippa I is his formal name, but he discovered that the Jews who initially had accepted these Jewish converts to Christianity were now turning the other way, and he wanted to get the Jews in sort of his sort of side of the ballpark, and so wouldn't you know that he started arresting Christians? And then look at the next verse. He intended to persecute them, and look at verse 2. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. I want to pause right now and just remind you of which James this is. This is the James that in Mark chapter 9, verse 2, it says this. It might be up on the screens. After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him, and led them up a high mountain where they were all alone, and there He was transfigured before them. This is James who is one of the intimate, closest apostles to the heart of Jesus. This is the James that Herod had killed with the sword, and it's interesting, most people read Acts chapter 12 and jump right over that verse, but this is one of the great loved leaders of the church who's killed, and I have to say it's not really fair, is it? But let's see what becomes of this. See, the balance of the whole chapter is about Peter and his incredible deliverance and how the fact that angels show up, one angel, I should say, shows up and paralyzes basically and puts to sleep two sets of guards who are chained to Peter, and his chains just fall off. Peter just walks out with the angel, passed two sets of guards, and a big iron gate into freedom. And the guards are just dead, knocked out, without any motion or commotion, boom. And we celebrate, that's awesome, it's a great deliverance, but keep in mind to the church, James, the beloved apostle, is dead. And it begs this question, and maybe it begs it in your mind too, why do some Christians seem to thrive in the faith and others struggle? Everyone there by that? Why do some churches thrive and grow and others with sincere people don't go anywhere and even die off? Let's be a little more personal. Why do some people succeed at whatever they seem to put their hand to and others who work just as hard never seem to get up out of the hole, they just seem to struggle along all through life? I've asked that question. Any honest person, I'm sure you've struggled with that. Why are some children, they're born, they seem to be naturally bright and inquisitive and you know, they've got all kinds of talents and other children are born and they might have a disability and they struggle their whole life with that, why? See, God isn't fair the way we understand fairness. But here's what I think balances that all out. I want to introduce the idea of sovereignty. God is sovereign. Now on your outline, and friends, I could easily take 12 weeks and do a 12-week series on the topic of sovereignty and actually have thought about imposing my will on the teaching team and saying we're going to do this, but I'm not at that place right now, we'll do it some other time, maybe do it as a special class, something like that. Because the sovereignty of God is an expansive topic throughout Scripture and it's what helps to make sense of these things that don't seem fair to us. On your outline, here's just a little one-sentence thing. Sovereignty is a conviction that God controls, directs, leads all things according to His perfect will. Sovereignty is the biblical doctrine that God rules. Our God reigns, we used to sing. God rules over everything. There's a wonderful prayer in the book of Luke, this isn't on your outline, but I want to take just a moment and read it to you. It's when Jesus was being presented for His dedication before the Lord, and this is usually read at Christmastime, Simeon raises the Lord up, and here's what it says, I'm going to read it for you. It might be on the screens, it says this, Luke chapter 2, moved by the Spirit, He went to the temple courts, when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what the custom of the law required, Simeon took Him in his arms and praised God saying, look, Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss Your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all the people, a light for revelation of the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel. The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about Him. So Simeon blessed the Lord and said, Sovereign God, God who rules, I now see Your deliverance. I now see the one that You promised, the Messiah that we've been waiting for. And over and over again, the word Sovereign appears. In Acts chapter 4, there's a powerful prayer where it says, the whole church gathered in one voice and said, O Sovereign Lord, and then they just cry out to God for His strength and power to deliver them from the people that had set themselves to perhaps disrupt the work of God. Sovereignty, if you don't understand God being in control, then you wonder, well, what's going to happen? Is it just random? And if you question God's rule, then here's my question for you. If God doesn't rule, then who does? Now some people would say, well, maybe it's Satan, but I don't believe that most of you think that. You know who most people think rules? Themselves. That's right. I'll give God X, Y, Z of my life, but I'm going to keep A through X, and I'm going to control that. And they blame God for this, and they blame God when that doesn't happen, and they get mad at Him, and they doubt Him, and in fact, some just reject Him because life doesn't go the way they expect. And in the end, see, the ultimate sin is we want to be God. We want to be God of our own lives. Sovereignty, when applied to a situation like this with James, who dies, and Peter who's delivered, is helpful because it assures us that it wasn't an accident that James died, that God was in control, and it wasn't an accident that Peter was delivered. God had a purpose for Peter, and we'll read more about that as we go forward in this study. Let me just add this. Sovereignty also has to do with the fact that God loves you as a perfect father. Now think about this. We're coming up on Father's Day. It's hard to know what to get for dads, isn't it? I'll just give you a little hint. I want one of those, I think it's called RoboStirs. You know, you've seen those? Yeah, you put them in the pot, and instead of you having to do this with the spoon while you're, you just pop it in, and it goes around, and it mixes the gravy. It sounds kind of gross, but it's cool. It moves around inside and, you know, mixes up the gravy or the sauce, and then it just pops out in your throat. And I say, a RoboStir. And actually, if you call now, you can get two for one with extra shipping and handling. RoboStir. Look it up. RoboStir.com. It's a great Father's Day present. But if you're one of those guys that the wife says, you stir that while I do this. Anyhow, I got off on that, and I have no idea how. Here's how. I was talking about the love of fathers. I know two fathers very, very well. One of them is my son, David. And here's a picture, I hope we have that one ready, of his little girl. Let's throw it up if we have it. There she is. There's little Allie. Yeah. Oh man, is she a heartbreaker. Woo. Nine months old. And then my other son-in-law, Jay, or J.D. as you know him, J.D. Ambrosio. Here's a picture of his nearly one-year-old son, Luke. Obviously headed to Grove City College, it looks like. And there's not one bone, one thought in the mind of either of those dads to harm these two kids. They would do anything to love them, protect them, care for them, provide for them. So understand, God loves you infinitely more than an earthly dad loves a beautiful child. So understand sovereignty from that perspective, okay? That means that God will apply Himself to see that you have your needs met, to see that you're cared for. And when things befall you that don't seem to fit your plan, then it just behooves you to grab hold of the fact that He loves you and say, you know, Lord, that's not what I would have done. I don't like this, but I believe you love me with the perfect love and you're going to make this thing work out for my good. Why? Because He's sovereign and in control, even if it doesn't go the way you'd like it to go. I just want to say those pictures, you know, I just thought they were really cute. So this issue of sovereignty is very reassuring, but can I say this? It takes humility to accept it. It takes someone with a humility that says, Lord, I don't understand this. I don't know why this is happening to me. I didn't do anything to deserve this. This isn't fair, but you're in control. And that's what the early church understood. James dies at the sword, but Peter's delivered and God is in control. And what it requires along the way, if you're catching my drift here, is that when things happen that don't appear to fit your plan is when you need to engage your will and say, Lord, even so, not my will, but Thine be done. I love the way Martin Luther said it. And this should be up on the screen for you. And his wonderful hymn, A Mighty Fortress. How about this part? I think this is the verse that I love the most. And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. Read it with me. The prince of darkness scrim, tremble not at Him. His rage we can endure, for lo, His doom is sure. One little word shall fell Him. Oh yeah, Martin Luther understood the sovereignty of God when united with the will of the people of God to enact the power of God in any situation. So that's the first point. God isn't fair in the way we understand fairness, but He is sovereign and in control. The second thing is simply this, earnest prayer, earnest prayer still moves the hand of God. And let me just quickly touch on this. I could talk for, again, another twelve weeks on prayer. Fortunately, I must say, as I look back over the history of my tenure here at North Way, we've done a lot of teaching on prayer. And it's probably time to refresh some of those teachings, but there's a lot of good stuff way back in the archives, and we know the importance of prayer. And when it's all on the line, loved ones, I want you to notice what it says there in verse 5. So, Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. I want to just kind of wrap things up by talking about earnest prayer. Let me talk... There's all kinds of prayer. There's the simple prayer on the fly, like, Lord, watch over me today and bless me as I go through my day, amen. You know, there's the intercessory prayer where we pray for someone else who can't pray for themselves. There's what we call spiritual warfare kind of praying where we understand the powers of darkness and we take a stand to push them back. There's petition praying, which is asking God for things. There's worshipful, intimate prayer where we just quietly get before God and connect with Him heart to heart. There's supplication or deep appealing to God, and that's what earnest prayer is about. The word for earnest here is the word ektenos in the Greek, which means to be stretched out. Now, there's two particular or potential meanings here. One is stretched out like over a period of time, but more likely it has to do with stretched out in posture, with arms raised or perhaps laying on the ground, bowed down, stretched out before God. How do I know that? Well, because that same word is used in Luke 22, verse 44. If we have that, let's put that up. Here is what Jesus did. The same Greek word appears, and being in anguish, He prayed earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Jesus prayed earnestly. And loved ones, I want to say, I understand that most of the time we're not compelled to pray that way. We're too busy, we're in a hurry, life's full of things. But every once in a while, when all is on the line, let me just exhort you and encourage you and appeal to you and plead with you to understand what earnest prayer is. Earnest prayer is to pour out your heart and stretch yourself out and lift your voice before God and say, God, You've got to come through. God, I'm counting on You. Lord, if You don't do this, it's not going to happen. I can't make it happen. I can't survive it without You. It's being 100% confident that God will listen to you and passionately, without reservation, calling out to God. And can I just say this? It's just odd to me that in so many ways people can get passionate, music, sports, all the rest. But when it comes to like spiritual things, you know, they want to be real controlled. Well, let me tell you something. When it's all on the line, if you can't get passionate then, then, loved ones, it's likely that what's going to befall you is not what you desire. God heard the prayer, the earnest prayer of the church. And the story goes on, and I'll just encapsulate it for you. Peter gets released, as I described, and he knows that the church is praying. And he finds his way down to the street where the church is, and he knocks on the door where he knows the church has gathered to pray. And Rhoda comes to the door, I love that name, Rhoda. And Rhoda's knocking and says, Who is it? And it's Peter. And she recognizes the voice. Doesn't even open the door. She runs back and tells the praying, earnestly praying church, Hey, Peter's at the door. They say, Get out of here. It's just a ghost or his angel. It can't be Peter. How do you appreciate the faith of a church like that? I mean, they're praying for his release. He's there. They say, No, Rhoda, get a life. Come on. That can't be him. She goes back, opens the door, and wouldn't you know, it's Peter. And I got to tell you, I imagine the church was absolutely blown away that, in fact, God heard. And there's two things to take from that. One is this. Friends, you don't have to have perfect faith. Are you catching me? In other words, passionate prayer, earnest prayer moves the heart of God, even if you don't really know if you have the faith to believe it can happen. A lot of you are hung up on this. You think, I don't have that kind of faith, Jay. I don't have faith to believe for healing. I don't have faith to believe for provision or faith to believe for breakthrough. Well, you know what? I don't either sometimes. But that's when I crank up the passion side of it. And I say, Oh God, and I just, really, I mean, I just oftentimes go to a quiet place where nobody else is, and they can't hear me, and I just let it rip because without God, I won't make it. So, you don't have to have perfect faith. You just need to have the passion. And how do I know this? Here's the second part of it. Passionate prayer can actually alter the plan of God. In other words, even though God is sovereign and executes everything according to His will, do you know there's illustrations in Scripture where God catches now, some of you are going to challenge me on this, I've got theologians in the audience, I've got wise people listening, God literally changed His mind about a couple of things. I remember when Moses prayed for the people for forty days and nights, and interceded for them because they had so embarrassed themselves, and there's a wonderful story about all this that you can read in the book of Acts, how because of Moses' earnest prayer, God spares the people and doesn't destroy them all. So, it just, it overwhelms me to think that somehow, if we get earnest about certain things, God could change what He thought He was going to do when He seized the passion of the people. Here's another one, Paul is crying out to God, he's in jail and he prays, and I'm not sure if we have this, I think it's in Ephesians, let's look it up here, let me read this for you. This is from P.T. Forsyth in his little book called The Soul of Prayer. Here's what he said, Paul believed that through our prayers we can influence the course of history. He indicated this dual divine human role as he contemplated his release from prison. Here's what he said, this is Philippians 119, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. In other words, he's saying, your prayers and the Spirit of Jesus, the divine sovereign will of God, will turn out for my deliverance. That's Paul, Philippians 119. And so, here's what I'm going to have you think about as we conclude this. How earnest have you been praying about certain things in your life? How about our church? I just want to appeal to you. Our church is in a season right now when we need some earnest prayer. One of the reasons is our nation is in a season when we need earnest prayer, and the only, in my view, the only hope for this nation is a church that's been completely renewed by the power of God's Spirit. That kind of dynamic church full of people who believe what the Word of God says can change a nation. If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then I will heal from heaven, hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. It starts there. On the back of your outline, there's just five things to note. I'm not going to have time to dissect these, but here's what I just wanted you to grab hold of. These are five responses that I've seen, and you just have to decide which one you're going to have apply to your life. Alright? I've seen some people do this. Some people have prayed and they've had a great victory. They've seen God come through. Answers and victories. Second, I've seen people not get the answer they want, but they've seen God blessed and His name raised up. Heavenly gain will come to them later. Number three, I've seen people face a trial, a difficulty, and have their faith completely shattered and they walk away from God. I ran into a guy like that this week who actually showed up in our offices to...he was a rep for some company, and he was at one time a very engaged man of faith, and now he's not because he lost his faith, at least his confidence. Number four, there's confusion and compromise. Some people who say, well, if God isn't going to do that, then I don't know what I believe, and they just kind of want to run. And finally, there's a response from some people that when they face a trial and they call out to God, they refocus on what really matters. And friends, that's I guess where I hope we land with this. They will say, you know what, Lord, a lot's going on that I don't understand, but I want to focus on what really matters. And so I want to end with this. On every campus, in every small group that's gathering together, and every individual person, can I just say this? Would you join with me as we move into the summer months to say, Lord, for this next month, one month, up until the fourth of July weekend, I'm going to call you to earnest prayer. Take what I shared with you today, study it again, you know, check me out, go a little deeper. One month of earnest prayer, and let's see what God does with the different circumstances we've been facing and what you've been facing, share those with people, and let's see what a month, because you know what, I don't think you can be earnest forever and every single day. I think it comes, I mean, just in just different seasons, and this is a season when we need earnest prayer, because loved ones, God will change things when you and I get earnest and pray to Him. He cares about you. He rules today, and He wants to demonstrate that power in your life. Let's stand together. Bow your head, please, and if you have something, I'd like to ask just in the spirit of what's been shared tonight, we're going to pray together, and I'm going to ask you, I talked about earnest being in the Greek, the term for stretched out, so however you're free to, whether it's just to open up your arms in front of you and stretch out, or maybe some of you would lift your hands, or maybe some of you would just open up your arms and just let them be opened down toward your knees. Lord, we stretch out our hearts before You, and in the name of Jesus, we ask You, Lord, to empower us, as You did the early church, to be earnest in this season of prayer. And Lord, if individuals are facing overwhelming circumstances, thank You, God, that You're sovereign. And what might be impossible for man is impossible for God. You can do all things. And Lord, for the church that we love, I ask You, in Jesus' name, Lord, move on behalf of this, Your church, that we call North Way, and pour out a blessing, Lord, that causes us to be reignited in our passion for You, and committed to Your purposes and Your will. Lord, thank You that nothing can stop a church that's devoted to doing the will of God. And finally, Lord, for those that are with us today, I just pray that if there's doubt or fear in their life, that they would trust in the sovereign fatherhood of a God who loves them. Lord, we pray this now in Jesus' name, and everyone say, Amen, Amen.