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Andy Stanley - Shining Through Part 1 Why Should We Have Hope · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: One of the objectionable, irrational, easy to criticize things about
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: our faith as Christians is this.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: You've experienced this.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: We actually turn to God when bad things happen, believing
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: he could have kept them from happening in the first place.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Isn't this truth? Don't we all do this?
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  Speaker 1: In fact, we encourage other people to do this. We
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: actually turn to God when something bad happens, and we
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: turn to God with this crazy confidence that, well, God,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: you could have kept this from happening in the first place,
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  Speaker 1: but now that it's happened, I'm going to turn to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the very one who could have kept this from happening.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, most of us feel like
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: we really don't have any choice but to do that.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, where else are we going to turn? Or
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: maybe you've been here before. You find yourself asking God
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to comfort someone else in the aftermath of a loss,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a loss that you are confident God could have prevented
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: in the first place but didn't. So are we crazy?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Are we naive? I mean some would argue yes. In fact,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: for you, this dynamic may be the reason you finally
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: gave up on faith altogether. And I'll just tell you
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  Speaker 1: just between the two of us. I understand that in August.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: This past August, I participated via video in a memorial
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  Speaker 1: service for two teenage boys. They were brothers who passed
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  Speaker 1: away on the same day in circumstances that in circumstances
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: that are so horrific that I'm not going to tell
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  Speaker 1: you their story, primarily because it's not my story to tell.
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  Speaker 1: But if I were to tell you their story, you
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: may not be able to pay attention to anything else
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  Speaker 1: I say in the next few minutes. Weeks I did
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: not know this family weeks after the incident, weeks which
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  Speaker 1: took place in March. The parents actually the husband sent
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: me an email along email and told me the entire
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: story in detail of what happened. There was a statement
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: in his email where he said, it doesn't really matter
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  Speaker 1: what God does now because of what he did not
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  Speaker 1: do then. The story was so difficult to even begin
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  Speaker 1: to imagine that I didn't even want to respond to
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  Speaker 1: the email, and I have since told the family that
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  Speaker 1: when I called, I found myself in a conversation with
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  Speaker 1: a mom fighting fighting to maintain her sanity and her faith.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the entire family was her husband and their
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  Speaker 1: two daughters, and I was not sure their faith would survive.
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  Speaker 1: I even said that to her. I tried not to
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  Speaker 1: say anything patronizing. They already knew all the Bible verses
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  Speaker 1: and all the Bible stories. And in a later conversation
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  Speaker 1: she actually said to me, she said, Andy, the most
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  Speaker 1: helpful thing you said. And when she said that, I thought,
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  Speaker 1: I can't imagine that I said anything helpful, But she said,
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  Speaker 1: the most helpful thing that you said was that if
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: our faith did not survive this, that that was understandable.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: You said that it.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: May take years for our faith to recover, assuming that
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  Speaker 1: it recovers at all. And that is what I said,
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  Speaker 1: and I meant it. And through the weeks that ensued,
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  Speaker 1: we texted several times, and then in June, remember this
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  Speaker 1: event happened in March. In June, she texted me to say, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: we're planning a memorial service for our sons at a church,
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  Speaker 1: one of our partner churches. It'll be in August, and
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  Speaker 1: we would love for you to send a short video
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  Speaker 1: that could be part of the service. And honestly, I
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  Speaker 1: was stunned, not that they asked me to send a video.
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  Speaker 1: I was stunned that their faith had begun to recover
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  Speaker 1: that they were rediscovering faith, but not their old version
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  Speaker 1: of faith. They would be quick to tell you if
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  Speaker 1: they ever tell their story, A much better faith, a
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  Speaker 1: deeper faith, A faith that wasn't propped up by everything
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: is up into the right, a faith that wasn't propped
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: up by well. God will make sure that you get
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  Speaker 1: back to normal eventually, because they will never get back
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  Speaker 1: to normal eventually. And what they recovered was faith in God,
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  Speaker 1: not the promises of God, not the blessings of God,
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  Speaker 1: just God, because all the other stuff, all the other fluff,
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  Speaker 1: had been torn away in a day. Now you may
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  Speaker 1: know someone like that, and perhaps you're hoping for a
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  Speaker 1: recovery like that, and it may help to know.
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  Speaker 2: It certainly helps me to know.
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  Speaker 1: It may help to know that the men and the
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  Speaker 1: women who brought us the message of Jesus walked through
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  Speaker 1: similar valleys, valleys filled with random acts of violence, unnecessary suffering,
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  Speaker 1: and unanswered prayer. And yet somehow, some way, they believed
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  Speaker 1: and they persevered. Now, last time we were together, and
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  Speaker 1: I hope you were with us. Last time we were together,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: last time we were together, we looked at an episode
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: from the Life of the early Church, where food was
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  Speaker 1: about to become scarce throughout the entire Roman Empire, and
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  Speaker 1: most people in ancient times were already hungry most of
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  Speaker 1: the time, so when a famine struck, people didn't just
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  Speaker 1: eat less. In many parts of the world, there was
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  Speaker 1: literally nothing to eat. And as we discovered the church
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  Speaker 1: in Antioch, instead of turning inward and focusing on their
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  Speaker 1: own needs, they actually stopped to consider who would be
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  Speaker 1: most negatively impacted by the famine, and then they asked
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  Speaker 1: the question, what can we do about it? And in
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  Speaker 1: an unprecedented move and an unprecedented move, they began collecting
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  Speaker 1: funds for a group of people they had never met,
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  Speaker 1: and a part of the world most of them would
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  Speaker 1: never visit, whose culture was nothing like there is. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: this is so important and it was so unprecedented. I
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  Speaker 1: want to give you a visual to help you understand
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  Speaker 1: the magnitude of their decision and what they did. Here's
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  Speaker 1: a map of what we generally considered the Holy Land,
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  Speaker 1: with Galilee in the north, Samaria, Judea, and the city
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  Speaker 1: of Rusalem in the south. Now, these gentile Jesus followers
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  Speaker 1: were located in Antioch, which doesn't even show up on
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  Speaker 1: the map. It is three hundred miles away from Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: And in terms of ancient travel, these two cities.
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  Speaker 2: Take a look.
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  Speaker 1: These two cities were they were an eternity apart, and
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  Speaker 1: culturally speaking, as I said, they were half a world
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  Speaker 1: apart as well. Never before, never before in recorded history
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  Speaker 1: had a local, multicultural group felt responsibility for a group
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  Speaker 1: of people with whom they had virtually nothing in common.
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  Speaker 2: Now here's the question.
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  Speaker 1: Where did where did this politically and socially incorrect behavior
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  Speaker 1: come from? Well, it came from their recognition that for
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  Speaker 1: God so loved the entire world that.
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  Speaker 2: He gave, and so they gave.
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  Speaker 1: They gave because that's what love required of them. So,
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  Speaker 1: picking up where we left off last week, the folks
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  Speaker 1: in Antioch, the gentile believers in Antioch, are beginning to
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  Speaker 1: take up a collect They're concerned about the believers in
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem who are already suffering because they're being persecuted for
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  Speaker 1: their faith. And then there's a famine that's about to
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  Speaker 1: make things even worse. So anyway, back in Jerusalem, something
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  Speaker 1: terrible happens, I mean, something terrible is coming, but something
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  Speaker 1: terrible happens, something random, something seemingly unnecessary, something dark, something
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  Speaker 1: that would leave Jesus follow or scratching their heads and
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  Speaker 1: wondering where in the world was God.
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  Speaker 2: Here's what happened.
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  Speaker 1: The text says that it was about this time, and again,
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  Speaker 1: just to put this into perspective, this is about fifteen
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  Speaker 1: years after the resurrection. It was about this time that
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  Speaker 1: King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending
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  Speaker 1: to torture them. Now, this king Herod is actually the grandson.
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  Speaker 1: This is Herod Agrippa, who is the grandson of Herod
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  Speaker 1: the Great who murdered the babies in Bethlehem after the
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  Speaker 1: birth of Jesus. So violence clearly ran in their family,
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  Speaker 1: and the sum the sum that he intended to arrest
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  Speaker 1: were actually Jesus' original apostles, and his first victim was
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  Speaker 1: a high profile target. In fact, his first victim was
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  Speaker 1: one of Jesus's first apostles. Here's what Luke tells us.
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  Speaker 1: He said he had James, the brother of John, not
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  Speaker 1: James the brother of Jesus. He had James, the brother
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  Speaker 1: of John, put to death with the sword. He had
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  Speaker 1: James the brother of John, beheaded, Peter Andrew James and John. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this was a huge blow to morale for the Jesus
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  Speaker 1: followers in Jerusalem, but it won Herod political points with
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  Speaker 1: his constituency. In fact, here's what the text says. When
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  Speaker 1: he saw when he saw that this met with approval
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  Speaker 1: among the Judeans, Harod proceeded to seize Peter. Also, now
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  Speaker 1: Peter is a really big fish. In fact, next to Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: this is the biggest fish. And this would keep the
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  Speaker 1: taxpayers happy, and perhaps it would quell some of the
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  Speaker 1: anti Roman sentiment that was usually very high during Passover season.
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  Speaker 1: So Herod followed through with his threat after arresting him.
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  Speaker 1: After arresting Peter, so he arrested him, He puts him
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  Speaker 1: in prison, handed him over to be guarded by four
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  Speaker 1: squads of four soldiers each. So Peter is being guarded
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  Speaker 1: by four soldiers at all times, and this happened at
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of Passover, and Herod intended to bring him
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  Speaker 1: out for public trial after passover. Luke continues, He says,
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  Speaker 1: so Peter, Peter was kept in prison. But here it is,
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  Speaker 1: but the church was earnestly praying to God for Peter.
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  Speaker 1: They were praying specifically for Peter's release, and there it is.
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  Speaker 1: This is one of the many places where the experience
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  Speaker 1: of first generation believers intersects with ours. Think about it,
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  Speaker 1: the Jesus followers in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 2: Think about it.
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  Speaker 1: The Jesus followers in Jerusalem are asking God to deliver
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  Speaker 1: Peter days after God.
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  Speaker 2: Did not deliver James.
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  Speaker 1: Again, the Jesus followers, they're asking God, They're praying, They're
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  Speaker 1: asking God to deliver Peter from prison, just days after
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  Speaker 1: God did not deliver James.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, why bother.
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  Speaker 1: If God was concerned about Peter, he wouldn't have allowed
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  Speaker 1: Peter to be arrested in the first place, right, So
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  Speaker 1: if God didn't stop Peter from being arrested, why turn
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  Speaker 1: to God after he's arrested? And if God didn't protect James,
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  Speaker 1: why should they expect him to protect Peter. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: they were as crazy as we are. Actually we are
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  Speaker 1: as crazy as they were, because apart from there crazy,
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  Speaker 1: we would not be having this conversation. Apart from there crazy,
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  Speaker 1: the message of Jesus would have never survived the first century.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, it turns out that they weren't crazy and
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  Speaker 1: their faith was not misplaced, and neither is yours. So
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  Speaker 1: for me, Narratives like this one are comforting on two levels. First,
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  Speaker 1: the people closest to the action.
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  Speaker 2: Think about this.
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  Speaker 1: The people closest to the action, the men and women
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  Speaker 1: who actually knew Jesus personally and chose to follow him
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  Speaker 1: because of the resurrection. They were not immune to random,
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  Speaker 1: inexplicable tragedy and loss. And in spite of believing that
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  Speaker 1: God could have kept these bad things from happening, they
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  Speaker 1: turned to Him for comfort and help anyway right after
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  Speaker 1: they happened. So we may be crazy, but we are
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  Speaker 1: in good company. We are not the first. And they
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  Speaker 1: didn't continue trusting and turning to God because it all
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  Speaker 1: made sense. They continue trusting it and turning to God
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  Speaker 1: because the thing that made the least sense of all,
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  Speaker 1: the crucifixion of God's Messiah, resulted in the greatest possible
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  Speaker 1: good for all, the salvation of the world, forgiveness of sin,
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  Speaker 1: and on ramp to our relationship with God.
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  Speaker 2: And here's the thing. To the degree, to the degree
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  Speaker 2: that our faith.
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  Speaker 1: Is anchored to those same ancient events, our confidence in
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  Speaker 1: God will sustain us through the random, inexplicable God. Where
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: are you, valleys of life, So when you find yourself
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  Speaker 1: praying to the very God who did not come through
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  Speaker 1: for you, to begin with the way you wanted him to,
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  Speaker 1: the way you expected him to, the way he came
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  Speaker 1: through for the person.
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  Speaker 2: Next to you.
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  Speaker 1: You are in good company, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Mary, Martha,
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  Speaker 1: the men and women whose faith lay the groundwork for
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  Speaker 1: the evangelization of the entire world.
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  Speaker 2: They're irrational in spite of where are you God?
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  Speaker 1: Faith is why the message of Jesus made its way
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  Speaker 1: into the twenty first century. In fact, spoiler alert, Herod
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  Speaker 1: doesn't execute Peter, but we'll get back to that in
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  Speaker 1: just a minute.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: Several years after Peter was arrested in Jerusalem, he actually
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  Speaker 1: sits down and he dictates a letter to Christians living
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  Speaker 1: in a variety of regions scattered around the Roman Empire,
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  Speaker 1: Christians who like himself and his friends in Jerusalem, were
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  Speaker 1: so because of their faith. Now, before I read you
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  Speaker 1: what he writes, keep in mind, by the time he's
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  Speaker 1: writing this letter, he's been arrested multiple times. He's been
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  Speaker 1: living as a fugitive for years. In fact, he kept
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: his whereabouts so concealed nobody even knows for sure where
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  Speaker 1: Peter was between his arrest in Jerusalem and his execution
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  Speaker 1: in Rome maybe nine or ten or years later. Yet
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  Speaker 1: in spite of this, in spite of this, in spite
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  Speaker 1: of the fact that he's living on the run, here's
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  Speaker 1: what he says. He writes to Christians who are experiencing
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  Speaker 1: some of the same things he is. He says, Praise,
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  Speaker 1: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: It's like, wait, wait, wait, Peter, Peter.
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  Speaker 1: You've been arrested multiple times, You've been flogged, you are
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  Speaker 1: scarred for life, and the God and Father of our Lord,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ did nothing to stop it. I mean, you
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  Speaker 1: have a price on your head. Stephen is dead, James
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  Speaker 1: is dead.
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  Speaker 2: The apostles are all scattered. Well, what do you talking about?
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  Speaker 2: And he would say, here's what I'm talking about.
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  Speaker 1: In his great mercy, he has given us a new birth,
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  Speaker 1: a different kind of relationship with God. He has given
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: us a new birth into a living hope through the
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  Speaker 1: resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an
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  Speaker 1: inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: your prayers may not all get answered, and you may
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  Speaker 1: never understand the randomness of life. But you have hope,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: and your hope isn't anchored to theology. It's not anchored
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  Speaker 1: to belief, and it's not anchored.
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  Speaker 2: To a book. Peter says that our hope.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Is anchored to an event, an event that rekindled his hope,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the resurrection of Jesus. And then he says this, in
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  Speaker 1: all of this, all of this suffering, in all of this,
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  Speaker 1: you greatly rejoice. Oh now, for a little while, you
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  Speaker 1: may have had to suffer grief of all kinds of trials,
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  Speaker 1: in all kinds of trials. In other words, he says,
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  Speaker 1: in light of all that God has done for you, you
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  Speaker 1: can find joy and you can rejoice in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of it. There's not joy because of their trials. There's
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  Speaker 1: joy in spite of the trials, because of what God
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  Speaker 1: has done for you. And Peter, again, who has suffered
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  Speaker 1: in ways we can't even begin to imagine, says that
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  Speaker 1: this suffering is just for a little while, and he
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  Speaker 1: could have added in all kinds of trials like I
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  Speaker 1: have to which we say, so wait again, Peter, Grief, trials, suffering,
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  Speaker 1: randomness are not evidence that God's not listening, that God's
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  Speaker 1: not involved. They don't indicate that things are spinning out
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  Speaker 1: of control, that we need a revival, that Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: returning soon, or maybe we've done something wrong. And Peter
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  Speaker 1: would say, no, not at all. These these trials have
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  Speaker 1: These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith,
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  Speaker 1: the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold,
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  Speaker 1: which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: other words, there's gonna be a result, may result in praise, glory,
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  Speaker 1: and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed again, to which
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  Speaker 1: we would say, so, Peter, we should, we should expect this,
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  Speaker 1: to which Peter would say yes. And people are watching
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  Speaker 1: people who are suffering as you suffer, or watching people
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  Speaker 1: suffering without hope, will be drawn to your hope, your peace.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, they may be drawn to the object of.
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  Speaker 1: Your faith, because the darker it gets, the brighter your hope,
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  Speaker 1: the brighter your response shines. And then he would say, perhaps,
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  Speaker 1: as Jesus said, so, as you suffer, and as you
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  Speaker 1: try to explain the inexplicable, as you navigate yourself and
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  Speaker 1: navigate your way through things you never anticipated and for
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  Speaker 1: which there are no answers, let your light shine in
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  Speaker 1: such a way, in such a way that people see
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  Speaker 1: your response and they look up. Then he continues, he says,
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  Speaker 1: though you have not seen him. And I love this
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  Speaker 1: because remember he's writing to people who had never actually
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  Speaker 1: seen Jesus the way that Peter had seen Jesus. He said,
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  Speaker 1: though you never met him, though you've never seen him,
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  Speaker 1: you love him based on my testimony about him. You
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  Speaker 1: love him, and even though you do not see him
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  Speaker 1: now you believe in him, and you are filled with
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  Speaker 1: an inexpressible and glorious joy because you are receiving the
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  Speaker 1: end results of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
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  Speaker 2: So once again we push back.
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  Speaker 1: So, Peter, so what you're saying is this that the
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  Speaker 1: inconsistency and the randomness of life, it doesn't throw you off,
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't undermine your confidence. I mean, come on, they
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: got James, they came for you. And Peter would say, no,
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  Speaker 1: my faith, my faith doesn't depend on consistency or certainty
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  Speaker 1: or my ability to explain things. My faith is not
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  Speaker 1: shaken by the randomness of life. Come on, I saw
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  Speaker 1: the best possible person suffer the worst possible death. It
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  Speaker 1: made no sense at all, none, and God brought him
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  Speaker 1: back to life. So while there's a lot I can't explain,
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  Speaker 1: and there's a lot I don't understand, I just got
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  Speaker 1: to tell you after the resurrection, the rest is just detail.
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  Speaker 1: And then in the same letter, Peter gives his audience
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: and gives us the strangest to do list. But we're
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: going to talk about that next time. Now, I want
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: to get back to the storyline real quick, so to
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: catch us up. So God allows Herod to execute James.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: He allows Herod to arrest Peter and put him in jail.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: That Jesus followers in Jerusalem are praying and asking God
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to facilitate Peter's release, no that Herod may be coming
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  Speaker 1: for them next and then for reasons that made absolutely
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: no sense to them at the time but would become
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: clearer later. The night before check this out. The night
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: before Herod was to bring Peter to trial and then
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: have him executed, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: with two chains, and Century stood guard at the entrance.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: And then suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: a light shone in the cell, and the angel struck
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: He said, and the chains fell off of Peter's wrist.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: and sandals, and Peter did so, wrap your cloak around you,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: and follow.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Me, the angel told him.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: And so, of course, Peter followed him out of the prison.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: But he had no idea that what the angel was
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: vision or maybe having a dream. And then they passed
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: the first and the second guards, and they came to
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: them by itself, and they went through it. And then
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: when they had walked the length of one street, suddenly
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the angel left him. Now I know what you're thinking,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: because I think the same thing, really really, and why
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: doesn't God do that kind of thing anymore? And why
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: doesn't God do that kind of thing for me anymore?
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: But let me tell you what Peter and his friends
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: were wondering, why didn't God do that for James, our friend?
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: And they never got a good answer to their question,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and we may never get satisfying answers to ours either.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: When Peter realized that this was not a dream, that
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: he really was safe and outside the city walls, he
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: went to the home of Mary, the mother of John
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: praying for his release. So Peter runs down the street.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: He knows he doesn't have much time. He certainly doesn't
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: want to incriminate his friends, so he runs to the
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: door of a home he'd been too many times. And
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Peter knocked on the outer entrance and a servant named
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Roda came to answer the door, and when she recognized
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Peter's voice because he had been in their home many times, she.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: Was so overjoyed.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: She ran back to the people who were praying without
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: opening the door and exclaimed, Peter is at the door.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Remember they're praying for his release, but apparently they did
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: not really expect God to answer their prayer. In fact,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: listen to their response, and this is important. This is
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: just more evidence that the writers of the New Testament
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: did not write the main characters in as heroes or
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: even people with more than average faith. They didn't experience
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: miracles every day, and they did not expect a miracle
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: this day. Now, when Roda tells the prayers that Peter
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: is at the door, here's what they said. They said, Rhoda,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: you are out of your mind, to which we say, wait,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: weren't you just praying for this, to which they would say, yeah,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: but we didn't really expect anything to happen. When she
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: kept insisting, When she kept insisting that it was so,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: they said, well, then it must be his angel. Uh,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: it must be his spirit counterpart. He must already be
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: dead and it's his ghost. But Peter, But Peter kept
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: they were astonished. Imagine that an actual answer to prayer.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Imagine that Now at this point, they are so delighted,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: they're celebrating, and they're making so much noise in the
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: middle of the night that Peter motions to them with
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: his hand to be quiet. And then he says this,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: tell James, James, the brother of Jesus. Tell James and
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: the other brothers and sisters about this. Let them know
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: that I've been I've been released, that I'm free, he said,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: and then he left for another place. Now this is
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: so interesting, and we're going to come back to this
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: next time. Luke doesn't say where Peter went. Now, remember
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: when he wrote this, Peter was still alive and was
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: still a wanted man. If Luke knew where Peter was,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: he didn't document it lest his document.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Fall into the wrong hands. So Peter went underground.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: In fact, he went underground so successfully that to this
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: day no one has discovered for certain where he went.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: And then Luke gives us even more detail. As you
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: might imagine, in the morning, there was no small commotion
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: And after Herod had a thorough search made for him
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: and did not find him, he cross examined the guards
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and ordered that they be executed. Now Herod is publicly
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: humiliated because he had promised the people that they were
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: going to see the trial of Peter, Jesus' number one follower.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: He's so humiliated he leaves town. He goes to his
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: beach house down by the Mediterranean Sea, and while he's there,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: a group from a neighboring city asked to have an
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: audience with him to show their support because they depended
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: on Herod and his favor for their food supply. And
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Luke tells us about this. Here's what he says. He says,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: on the appointed day when Herod was having this public meeting,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: he was wearing his royal robes, and he sat on
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: his throne, and he delivered a public address to the people. Now,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Jewish historian Josephus says that Herod's robe on this particular
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: day was actually made of silver, and that when the
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: afternoon sun reflected off of the silver robe, that the
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: crowd erupted and declared him a god. Luke says it
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: this way, the crowd shouted, this is the voice of
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: a God, not a man. And immediately, because Herod did
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: And again Josephus confirms this. Here's his version. He says
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: that Herod was seized by a severe pain in his bowels,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: he was rushed off the stage, and several days later
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: he died. Now what do you think? What do you
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: think Peter thought when he got the news. I mean,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: he was probably relieved that Herod was out of the way,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: But he may have thought, God, if you had just
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: taken him a month earlier, James would still be alive
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: as well as for unfortunate prison guards. And then Luke
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: wraps up this account with this statement. But but in
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: other words, in spite of all of this drama, in
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: spite of all this inconsistency, in spite of all of
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: these unanswered questions, but the Word of God continued to
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: spread and flourish. In fact, we know that it did,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: because it's why these texts were created and preserved. It's
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: why the name and the message of Jesus would have
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: eventually circle the globe. But on a personal level, these
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: events and events like these, and the response of our
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: first century brothers and sisters, is why to borrow a
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: phrase from the apostle Paul. It's why we don't grieve.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: It's why we don't mourn as those who have no hope,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: for we believe that Jesus died and rose again. It's
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: why to borrow from Peter's words. It's why we can
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: cast our cares on him, because we know he cares
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: for us. You can know that He cares for you
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: in spite of what you see around you, in spite
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: of what's happening to you. It's why to borrow a
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: phrase from the author of Hebrews. We can approach God's
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: mercy and find grace to help us in our time
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: of need. It's why we have hope even when we
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: don't have explanations.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: If Peter is correct, and he would know.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: If Peter is correct, what strikes us as random, unfair, unnecessary,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: may in fact be random. It's certainly unfair and perhaps unnecessary.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: But in spite of that, if Peter is correct, he
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: assures us, our hope is not misplaced. Our hope, your
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: hope is not in vain because we have a living
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: hope that is anchored not to our ability to predict
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: and interpret circumstances. We have a living hope that is
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: anchored to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,