Do any of you find submarines to be fascinating?
Think about it. These machines that like a hundred
years ago, maybe even longer, were inconceivable,
that can go down into the greatest depths of
the ocean. I personally can't understand how
they do it, but they go down and they go deeper
and deeper under this serious pressure. And the
reason they're so fascinating is because they
can go down and withstand all of this pressure
and not break. They don't implode. You can drop
a submarine into the deepest ocean and push it
down deeper and deeper, and every square inch
is just gaining more and more force on it, force
that would crush anything else that was not built
to handle this. It would make our bodies crumble
up like a Coke can, yet this submarine can go
down and withstand all of that pressure. So when
a submarine is built well, it can go down and
survive. Now I want you to contrast that with
three years ago, this past week actually, a submersible
called the Titan was journeying down to go down
and explore and see the shipwreck of the Titanic.
And in this submersible, five people died because
it imploded. Investigators spent the last few
years trying to figure out exactly what went
wrong with the Titan, why it was able to go down,
because it had gone down before. It had gone
on these journeys before, but this time it goes
down and it implodes. And if you've ever heard
the audio or you've seen some of the visuals
that people have made of it, it's crazy how quickly
it happened. And it really is kind of like a
Coke can. It just kind of crushes. And these
people in an instant lost their lives. The conclusion
that investigators came to was that the hull
of the ship was never what it was supposed to
be. It wasn't as... strong as it was supposed
to be. It looked like it was supposed to look.
It looked like a good submarine. It looked nice.
It looked strong. And it had made some trips
before, and so they felt good about it. But what
they didn't know, or what maybe they just didn't
care to know, was that the true strength of this
submersible was never properly tested. And so
dive after dive, the damage was building up until
one day the pressure was so strong that the weakness
of the Titan And that's the first point I want
us to know this morning that we have to identify
is that pressure does not create weakness. When
bad times happen, when bad things happen, when
life gets rough, that's not what creates the
weakness in our lives. Pressure simply reveals
the weakness. It shows you where you're weakest.
It's the hard times that happen and you find
yourself caving in to peer pressure or you find
yourself caving in to the stress and you realize,
maybe not in the moment, but after a while you
realize that that weakness had been there all
along. You were predisposed to it. It just showed
up in a crazy way when the bad stuff happened,
when the pressure came. It's kind of like during
COVID. When you saw people... lose their lives
or at least be seriously afflicted by this virus
because they had these predisposed conditions.
These things that were already there. that maybe
they didn't realize were there, but they were
there, that they struggled with. It's why we
wanted to be extra cautious for our friends that
had diabetes, or we wanted to be extra cautious
for our friends that maybe were struggling with
cancer, or we wanted to be extra cautious for
the person with the autoimmune disorder. So we
had to be very careful, but because we knew there
was a weakness there that under that type of
pressure would not withstand. And I want you
to hold on to that because this morning in Acts
chapter 12, we'll see the pressure mount on the
early church that we find in the book of Acts.
We'll see it mount on the man trying to crush
the church. And as we do, I want you to hold
on to the question, when pressure comes, how
do we respond? Because in many people's lives,
when pressure comes, they start drinking. In
many people's lives, when pressure comes, they
turn to drugs. In many people's lives, when the
pressure comes, they start running away or they
hide and they find the darkest place that nobody
will find them and they go there. I think of
Harry Potter in the first movie where you see
the family that Harry's living with and the letters
keep coming in. And they're like, all right,
that's it. We got to go somewhere where they
can't find us. And so they go away and they go
to like this remote island out in the ocean where
nobody can find them until someone finally does.
Because no matter what you do, no matter where
you go, the pressure will find you. And so when
it does, what will you do? And communally, for
us as a church, what does a faithful church do
when it's at the mercy of this pressure, this
seemingly crushing and destructive force? So
hold on to this question, and if you've got it,
I need you to say, I've got it. Okay, let's try
that again. If you've got it, I need you to say,
I've got it. You got it. What do we do when the
pressure comes? Okay, now let's get into Acts
chapter 12, starting in verses one through four.
If it's underlined, I'd love for you to read
it along with me so I know that you're awake
because I think a lot of you had already fallen
asleep. Are we ready? All right. About that time,
Herod the king laid violent hands on some who
belonged to the church. He killed James, the
brother of John, with the sword. And when he
saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to
arrest Peter also. This was during the days of
unleavened bread. And when he had seized him,
he put him in prison, delivering him over to
four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending
after the Passover to bring him out to the people.
Several weeks ago, our brother Truman preached
to us about the murder, the martyrdom of Stephen,
this first Christian killed for his faith. And
from that moment on, the church had to be very
mindful. They had to be very careful about how
they proceeded in society. Now, they were bold.
They didn't pretend that they didn't know this
Jesus. They didn't pretend that they weren't
Christians. They didn't hide it. They were just
cautious because they had to be. They wanted
to obey the call of Christ to go in all the world,
proclaim the gospel, and live in radical community.
But they also didn't want to die because nobody
wants to die, right? And so they had to be mindful
of how they operated. Now, here in Acts 12, we
see that this persecution is starting to kind
of build up. It's becoming a more serious issue.
As we said with our submarine, the pressure is
starting to mount. Herod begins by attacking
the church. The way he does this, he starts off
with killing. John's brother, James, making him
the first of Jesus's 12 apostles to be killed
for his faith. And then he sees that this makes
the Jews happy. So like this is a political stunt
where he's like, okay, killing this man makes
these people happy. And if I can make these people
happy, they'll like me and they'll approve of
what I do. So let me keep on killing the Christians.
And so he arrests Peter. And he throws him in
prison on a Jewish holiday. And it seems that
the plan was for him to bring Peter out after
the days of unleavened bread. And so what he's
going to do is he's going to bring Peter out
before this great crowd of people, just like
he did when he had Jesus on trial. He's going
to bring him out and he's going to show him.
And he's going to say, what do y 'all want me
to do with this man? And you know what they're
going to say, right? Kill him. They may want
to crucify him like they did Jesus. They may
want to hang him in the streets. I don't know
how, but their plan is to exterminate the Christians,
the church. And so when Herod does this, he makes
sure to have a large number of guards, 16 guards
to watch Peter. And I don't imagine Peter was
a big, very capable fighter. I don't imagine
he was like a Houdini type guy that could escape
any situation. I think... Herod just knew that
there was something about Peter where he finds
a way to escape these situations. And if you
remember Peter's rabbi, Jesus would do that too.
People would come up in crowds to stone him and
he would just mysteriously get away. Well, Peter
has done this a time or two. And so Herod wants
to be sure that this prisoner that he has will
not get away. And so he knows that if he can
kill an apostle of Jesus, one of the guys that
was of the 12 that walked and lived with Jesus,
well, he can make a pretty bold statement. And
so he's putting pressure on the disciples to
give it up, to quit with this Jesus business.
And that's serious pressure, pressure that honestly
we can hardly imagine. We can't really understand
that type of pressure because we don't live in
a society where the literal government is threatening
to take our lives away for following Jesus. We
don't have to face that fear. We have never in
the history of America had to face that fear.
And I'm grateful for that. And I'm grateful for
the people that make that a possibility. But
we do still face pressure, do we not? I would
be a fool to stand up here and act like we don't
face pressure because we do live in a society
where holding on to what Jesus taught can cost
you a friendship. It can cost you relationships.
It can cost you a reputation. We live in a society
where following Jesus can cost us. We're doing
the right thing when nobody else will can leave
you standing alone. Our pressure exists. It's
just different. Our lack of physical death -type
persecution doesn't mean we don't have pressure.
It's still there. And so we revisit our question
earlier of when pressure comes, how does the
church respond? Because it's going to come. And
it may not be a persecution -type pressure. It
may be an internal pressure that we deal with
in our family or that we deal with in our personal
life. Maybe it's a sickness. That you just feel
like you've prayed and you've prayed and you've
prayed, but you can't shake. And it doesn't make
sense to you why you're still having to deal
with the weight of this. Or maybe it's like the
loss of a loved one just hits after hit after
hit. And you just feel like everybody's falling
around me. And I keep praying that God would
help my family, but it doesn't seem to be working.
Or maybe it's a financial pressure that you've
been dealing with. And you just, you feel like
you haven't been able to escape it. Pressure.
is going to come for every one of us if it's
not already there. And we have to ask the question
of how do we respond? How does the church respond?
And I want you to see how the church responds
in Acts 12, verse 5. So Peter was kept in prison,
but earnest prayer for him was made to God by
the church. You notice they didn't panic. It
doesn't say the church freaked out and they ran
away and they hid in their holes. It doesn't
say the church got scared and so they went and
they got pitchforks and swords and they just
decided if we don't fight, then we're going to
be killed. So we've got to fight first. That's
not what happens. The church goes and they pray.
Despite the anxiety and the fear I imagine they
were feeling, their response is a response of
faith. It's earnestly praying. While Herod had
the weight of the government, while Herod had
the soldiers and the chains and the prisons and
the entire kingdom at his disposal, the church
prayed earnestly. And what that means is they
prayed with a serious intent. That they prayed
the serious, dedicated, zealous prayer. Other
translations say they prayed without ceasing,
that they would pray in a way that held some
weight, that they would pray constantly, unrelenting,
that they did not give up praying, that they
did not stop praying, that that was their defense
against the darkness, was to pray, to plead with
the God of heaven and earth, the king of the
universe, and ask him to come down, show his
power, show his presence, and free them from
this pressure. They prayed earnestly. This wasn't
a, Lord, would you please be with Peter? He's
hurting right now, and he's scared. It wasn't
a sweet little mention of Peter in their bedtime
prayers. It wasn't just a casual, hey, y 'all
be praying for Peter. This was war, that they
were fighting with words, that they were fighting
with their feelings. You think about Jesus in
the garden when he's praying and he's praying
with sweat drops like blood. I think that's what
this prayer was. It was shouts of proclaiming
God's goodness and saying, God, we know you can
do it. We just ask that you will. I imagine it
being this constant vocal and vibrant prayer
session of the church. whether they were together
in a gathering place or in their homes, in their
prayer rooms. I imagine this was white knuckles
on your knees, hands outstretched, pleading with
God. Because a church that's going to withstand
the pressures that come, the pressures that surround
us, a church that is going to withstand the pressures
that sometimes find themselves in the church,
a church that's going to withstand The darkness
is a church that is going to pray earnestly.
It's a family that's going to put their faith
in God. And they're going to show that faith
in the way they communicate with God. They're
going to show that faith in the way they plead
with God to come down and show His power, to
show His might, to show His love, His compassion.
A church that is going to withstand is going
to be a church that puts prayer as their first
line of defense and offense. Because if God is
the one empowering and enabling this mission,
then he has to be the one we go to first when
things get tough. God has to be the one. Not
the preacher, not the elders, not the person
that you think is wisest. God has to be the one.
God has to be the one that we pray to and say,
God, would you give us direction? God, would
you give us strength? God, would you give us
power? God, would you help us handle these hard
times? If it's going to be God's mission, it
is going to be God's provision, and we need to
make sure we always remember that. And now I
want you to see how God chooses to show up after
the prayers of his church. Because if you remember
earlier, I said in the welcome that God loves
to show up where his people are hungry for him.
And in this moment, God shows up where his people
are hungry for him. Peter's there in a prison.
And after all this time of waiting, he's sleeping.
And now this is the day that Peter is set to
stand trial where his life is probably going
to be taken. And as he's sleeping between two
soldiers that are there guarding him, where he's
chained up, I want you to see how God shows up.
Look with me at verses seven through 10. An angel
of the Lord stood next to him and a light shone
in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and
woke him saying, get up quickly. And the chains
fell off his hands and he went out and followed
him. When they had passed the first and the second
guard, they came to the iron gate leading into
the city. It opened for them of its own accord.
And they went out and went along one street,
and immediately the angel left him. You see,
deliverance comes for Peter, but not before a
long period of waiting, or maybe we'll call it
a little period of waiting, but deliverance comes
after Peter has to wait a little while, after
Peter has to sweat. After Peter has to stress
a little bit, deliverance does come, but not
after a little suffering. See, God works. He
always works. He may work on his own timing,
and it may not always look how we want it to
look, but God always works. I was thinking last
night about a series of lessons I want to write
or maybe a blog or something. I don't know, but
I'm driving and I'm thinking, and the thought
came to my head. It will all be okay. And then
I thought about it. Okay is kind of a bleh word.
Like it's not, you know, like if somebody asks
you, hey, how was that meal I cooked for you?
And you're like, oh, it was okay. You'd be insulted.
If somebody asks you, hey, how does my hair look?
It's okay. And so then I thought maybe the title
for this or the working title will be, it will
be, and then in parentheses and small letters,
better than okay. And I was like, I feel like
you maybe got to put a qualifier, maybe a subtitle
for this. It'll be good. And not good in the
sense that we use good, but good in the sense
like when God looks at his creation after the
seven days of work, God looks at it and he says,
it is very good. And the word there for good
actually translates to lovely. It's delightful.
In fact, Eden translates to delight. And so God
looks at all of this and he says, it's lovely.
And I think about my suffering. And I think about
the hard times that I've had in my life. I think
about all the days when I was a kid where I just
prayed and prayed and prayed that God would place
me, like just magically place me in another family,
one that had a dad so I could have somebody there
to raise me, somebody there to help me grow as
a man. And I think about all of those moments
where I was just praying to be anywhere but where
I was. But after a little bit of suffering, instead
of giving me exactly what I prayed for, God gave
me what I needed, and it was better than what
I would have asked for. It was lovely. It was
delightful. See, God always works. And when he
works, it's not okay. It's not just all right.
It's good. It's lovely. And what happens here
with Peter is awesome. Like God could have easily
just said. hey, Herod, release my guy or I'm
going to strike you down. But instead, God sends
an angel to walk with Peter, free him from his
chains, out of the gate. And it's this cool story
and it shows deliverance that only God could
provide. And so I don't want you to look at this
and say, well, God hasn't delivered me. I don't
want you to look at this and say, well, God hasn't
delivered my loved one that's hurting. God hasn't
delivered my friend that's been suffering. God
hasn't delivered these people that are in chains
still. I don't want you to look at this and say,
well, what about them? Because the truth is that
it doesn't always work the same. It doesn't always
look the same, but God does always work. And
we could look at this and we could say, well,
how come James had to die, but Peter gets freed
from prison? And we could look at this, and if
you're not sure you even believe all this yet,
you may sit there and you might be asking the
question of, well, why would a good God rescue
one and not the other? So before we go any further,
I just want to be clear for a second in what
I'm not saying. I'm not saying God killed James,
nor am I saying that if you just pray hard enough,
God will free you from physical pain and persecution.
That's not what I'm saying. Some of you have
prayed hard, yet the chains feel like they are
tighter now than they ever have been. And I won't
sit up here and pretend like that's not a reality
for many of you. We've all seen people who have
begged God. We are in this room praying for people
who are begging God for a different outcome.
And it may not come. And it may not have come.
And so I wouldn't dare try to dress it up and
say something, make it something prettier than
it is because the truth, the honest truth is
I don't fully know why James died, yet Peter
walked free. And neither did the people in the
early church. But here's what I am saying. I
am saying that God sustains his people. God carries
his people through hardships when they depend
on him to persevere. Like I said, God loves to
show up where He's wanted. And in your darkest
moments, in your hardest times, if you will let
God in, He'll work. God is near to the brokenhearted.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. All throughout
Scripture we see... that God wants to comfort
those who need comfort. God wants to give peace
to those who need it. God wants to heal those
who are hurting. We see that through scripture.
But do you know what the constant is? He has
to be invited in. Now, sometimes God just shows
up and does his own thing, and that's awesome.
I love the sovereignty of God. But sometimes,
most of the time, we need to say, God, would
you come and work in this situation? God, would
you come and bring healing? God, would you come
and bring comfort? Or in Peter's situation, God,
would you come and break those chains? Because
here's what we do know. Both James and Peter
were delivered. It didn't look the same. But
James was delivered. He was delivered from this
evil world, this broken world, into the very
presence of the God that he died for. And if
you ask me, that is a good deliverance. Because
this world, let's be honest, sometimes it stinks.
Can I get an amen? But God's world, the place
that God is bringing us, the place that God desires
for us to live for all of eternity, that place,
that place is good. It's not just okay. It is
lovely. It is delightful. It is the presence
of the king of the universe. And if you ask me,
I will take that over this every day of the week.
I love my place here. I love my family, and I
love all of you. But being in the presence of
God, now that's deliverance. So James was delivered.
It just didn't look the same. And it was a little
bit quicker than Peter's. And Peter was delivered
from the chains Herod had him in. Why it looked
different, we don't know. But what we do know
is both men were delivered because both men belonged
to a faithful God. When we trust in God, even
when things seem dark, even when things seem
heavy, God will sustain us. He will work. As
Paul says, God works all things together for
good. As Joseph said, when he's in Egypt and
his brothers are like, could you forgive us?
Are you going to hurt us? What's this relationship
going to be like? And Joseph says, what you meant
for evil, my God meant for good. God. works all
things. And he always works. And now as the story
goes on, we see that when Peter returns to his
church family, he finds them in the home of John
Mark's mother, Mary. And you know what he finds
them doing, right? They're praying. They're praying.
They're still pleading with God. Now, Peter's
been in prison for a little bit. He's been in
there for a couple of days, yet they are still
together praying. They're pleading with God.
He finds the church together, remaining. The
church was doing exactly what the church is supposed
to do when times get tough, what we're supposed
to do when times look like they may be getting
tough, what the church is supposed to do in all
times. They are remaining faithful despite their
worry, despite their fear, despite the pressure,
despite the uncertainty. The church is remaining
faithful in their commitment to talking and pleading
and praying with God when one member is struggling.
When one of us is in bondage, when one of us
is carrying a weight that is far too heavy for
us to hold on our own, we remain faithful in
our prayer for one another. Because a faithful
church is a community that shows up. It's a community
that prays together, a community that bears the
weight of one another's burdens together. And
that's what Peter finds when he shows up. He
comes. Home. He's freed. It's first day out,
and he comes out, and he sees that they are just
praying for him, that they are praying for his
deliverance, that they are praying for this persecution
that they are under, that they are praying that
the word of God will spread, that they are praying
that they are remaining faithful. And here's
something that I love. Peter shows up at the
door, and this servant girl named Rhoda, she's
so overjoyed, and she runs to tell everybody,
and every, well, first of all, she forgets to
let him in. So I can just imagine the scene,
like maybe in a TV show, like Peter knocks on
the door. She opens it. She goes. She slams the
door shut. She runs back. She's like, Peter's
back. And the church, the ones who had been praying
without ceasing this entire time, they had been
praying for this exact thing. They tell her,
you're out of your mind, kid. Are you crazy?
Peter's in prison. He's going to die. They were
praying for Peter's release. Yet they didn't
believe it when it happened. And I find that
strangely comforting. And this is why, because
it tells me that a faithful church isn't a church
that has it all figured out. It's not a church
that has a perfect faith. It is a church that
still lacks to see what God sees. It's a church
that still sometimes can't quite comprehend the
ways that God works. But it is a church that
keeps showing up to pray, even. when they don't
understand how it'll all work. It's a church
that prays with wonder, that prays with awe.
And maybe, I hope you've felt that before. You
felt the prayers of people. You felt the prayers
of people finally in you. You show up and you
know that you've been prayed for. Maybe you've
had moments that were darker and heavier than
you ever imagined that you've had to endure,
but you didn't have to endure it alone because
you had a faithful church that was going to pray
with you and pray for you through it. Or maybe
you finally gave your life to the Lord and you
found out after the fact that an entire church
or an entire small group had been faithfully
praying for you. make that decision. In our small
group years ago when we were members of the Landmark
Church in Montgomery, we used to pray for the
empty chair. We would always, we would have one
chair that would be empty, sometimes intentional,
and we would pray for that chair. That that chair
would be filled. That somebody out there that
needed to be a part of a faith -based, a Christ
-based community, that somebody out there would
fill that chair. And we would pray for that.
And we would all have our person in mind that
we were thinking they could fill that chair.
They could be that person that if they would
sit in that chair, maybe their life would be
changed, transformed by God. That if they would
sit in that chair, that they would feel the goodness
of a faithful community. And we would pray for
them. And it would be the coolest, most awesome
thing when someone would show up and fill that
chair. When someone would be delivered from the
darkness by God because they were now a part
of the faith. Even more amazing to see that happen.
It's always amazing to see someone delivered,
but it's even more amazing to know that earnest
prayers were part of that story. And so this
morning, can I encourage you? I just want to
give you some encouragement. I've been challenging
us a lot the last, well, really the last year,
and now I want to give you a little encouragement.
to stay steadfast, to keep the faith. When it's
hard, when it's heavy, when life doesn't make
sense, when things just don't add up, when it
is very, very hard to keep moving forward or
to keep going deeper, when the pressure is mounting,
earnestly pray without ceasing. Stay connected
and be faithful to the church, even when we don't
immediately see the outcomes that we want, even
if we never see the outcomes that we want, understanding
that God's way is far greater than our way. Gather
with one another, carry one another, and refuse
to let a brother or sister walk alone through
the hard times, through the heavy times, that
this life, that this world, that the enemy throws
at us. And so now as we close, I want to go back
to Herod. Because I told you we were going to
see how the church would respond to the pressure.
And I also told you that the guy trying to crush
the church would face some pressure of his own.
Herod, he had every advantage over the church.
He had the government, the strong army. He had
the soldiers, the crowd's applause. He looked
strong. Yet in verse 23, what we see is Herod
is struck down for not giving glory to God. Herod,
in all of his earthly glory, Herod is struck
down. The same pressure that revealed the church
to be sound revealed Herod to be hollow. Herod
looked like he was supposed to look. He looked
like he had everything going for him, but he
had nothing underneath of substance. He had no
faith. He had no trust in God, no glory given
where it was due. And so when the moment came,
there was nothing to sustain him. But in verse
24, I want you to see what happens. Awesome.
Could you read this with me? The Word of God
increased and multiplied in the midst of persecution.
In the midst of danger, in the midst of pressure
like nobody could imagine, the Word of God spread.
The Word of God went how it was supposed to go.
The Word of God touched people's lives in this
world of danger. See, when a well -made submarine
endures pressure, it's able to accomplish its
mission, come what may. Likewise, the faithful
church holds up under pressure, not because the
pressure lets up, not because it gets easier,
but because of what the church is made of. And
I believe a faithful church is made up of prayer
and a dependence on God and one another. A faithful
church is made up of... Faith. It's made up of
a people that desire the presence of God and
believe that He will come down and work among
us. Y 'all, we can't escape the pressure. We
can't escape the bad things that happen in life.
And even when one issue goes away, another will
come. Herod was struck down, but the rest of
the New Testament and church history proves that
pressure would continue to come and pressure
is still coming for the church. But if we will
remain, If we will keep our eyes on the mission,
the mission to spread the word of God and multiply
his kingdom, that mission will continue on because
this thing will be made up of the right stuff.
And so this morning, if you're enduring pressure,
if all of this seems too heavy to bear on your
own, whatever it is that you're struggling with,
if you're ready to find the deliverance that
can only come from God's power, I ask you to
come down to the front row here. to come down
here and allow us to earnestly pray with you,
to earnestly pray for you, to gather together
around you. Whatever it is that you need, if
you need to respond to the call of Jesus, to
come home, to lay your burdens down, we are inviting
you to respond so that we can be the faithful
church that prays earnestly for you. If you need
that, come now as we stand and as we sing.