Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24458 - It’s Never Too Late to Pray - Acts 12:4-25

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#24458 - It’s Never Too Late to Pray - Acts 12:4-25 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Amen. Take your Bibles.
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Open them to Acts Chapter 12. We're going to pick up where we
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left off last time. Acts chapter 12.
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And I've entitled our Bible study.
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It's never too late to pray. That may just be the answer to
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what's been on your heart lately.
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Is it too late to pray? No, it's never too late to pray.
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It's never too late to get right with the Lord.
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It's never too late to start over.
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It's never too late to repent. Never, ever.
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Ever. And it's especially never too
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late to pray. We left off last time with Herod
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coming against the church. Remember in verse one it says
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now about that time we read over phrases like that, but we
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shouldn't. We should stop and say what time
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is he talking about. And because we study verse by
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verse, we know what time he's talking about.
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The time in Chapter 11, the church is in another mini
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revival. God is pouring out his spirit
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upon the church in Antioch. It's an exciting time.
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It's a wonderful time. People are getting saved, lives
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are being transformed, families are being rescued, The Gospels
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going forward, the Gentiles just an outpouring of God's spirit on
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Gentiles, seeing so many get saved, a great number believed
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and turned to the Lord, Chapter 11 says.
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And it was that time, Time of great progress, time of of
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excitement, time of great blessing, that Herod, it says.
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The king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church.
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Notice how he did it. He took James verse 2, the
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brother of John, and killed him with the sword many believe cut
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his head off. That's how he did it.
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To demoralize and discourage, he took out a beloved brother.
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He took out someone that was loved and cared for a leader in
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the church, and because he saw that it pleased the Jews.
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He proceeded further to seize Peter also, and it was during
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the days of unlovened bread. And so when he apprehended him,
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he put him in prison and delivered into four squads of
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soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people
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after Passover. Now that that the intention of
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Herod was to bring him before the people after Passover, so
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he's waiting for the holidays for this.
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But later on in the chapter we see that after Peter gets broken
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out of prison, the the the soldiers received the death
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penalty for allowing him to escape.
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And it was common for the soldiers, if they made a mistake
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for the guards and the soldiers, if they made a mistake with
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something that someone that was entrusted to them and you know,
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somebody escaped or something happened to them, they would
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receive the penalty that the prisoner was going to get.
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And so we see that they got, they got the death penalty.
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Because I believe it wasn't just Herod bringing out Peter
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afterwards that he wanted to use the opportunity to Curry the
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favor of the Jews once again and then end up killing Peter had a
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death sentence over him in prison here.
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And we have to ask a few questions before we handle the
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rest of the text. And the first question is why?
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So much evil. Because if you put yourself in
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the Church, Church of Shoes here, or even Peter Sandals if
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you will, sitting in prison, you're like, what is going on?
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What's going on? This is not fair.
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I mean, Peter has his own response to the loss of James.
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And you have that intellectual approach like, OK, I understand
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this thing happens. Jesus said we experienced
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persecution, But for goodness sake, James did nothing.
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And just because Harrod was a politician, I mean, this is
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really the first political oppression or persecution of the
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church. And Harrods is totally doing
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this for political favor. And he cuts a guy's head off and
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then takes beloved Peter and puts him in prison.
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And you're like, what is going on?
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It may not be that bad for you, but certainly there have been
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times in our lives where we look at the difficulties in our lives
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and go, what is going on? What is this?
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Yeah, sometimes we bring it on ourselves.
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Sometimes, you know, that's our bad decisions and we get a
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little bit of understanding of why it's happening.
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But other times it's just sin and evil.
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And you may ask this question or you may have people that ask
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this question. That has stumbled a lot of
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people. This one question holds so many
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people back from worshiping God because they think if they would
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just get the answer to this question and understand the ways
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of God, they would follow God. And it's this question.
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You ready? How can a good God allow so much
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evil? And it's a lot of variations to
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that. But how can a good God let stuff
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like this happen? If your God is so good, then why
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is someone got their head cut off and why is someone in prison
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awaiting death? I do think it's a valid
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question. It's one that we need to wrestle
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with because we understand how God has revealed himself and
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we've experienced the goodness of God.
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I mean, us just being alive, just life in itself is the gift
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that God has given to us, that we don't argue that God is good.
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But then we live in a world that's just filled with evil.
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Especially here in the last days where the Bible says that
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perilous times will come. Well, here we are.
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And then in the last days, lawlessness will abound.
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And here we are. And so how do we answer this
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question? Well, I I can't.
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I I just want you to know ahead of time, I cannot answer this
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question for you. That will satisfy you.
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So you might be a skeptic here today or listening to me on the
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radio or wherever, and you're like, well, you know, I'm
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waiting, Pastor. You give me the answer.
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And if you give me the answer I'm looking for, then I'll
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follow. Christ, it doesn't work that
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way. Because this is one of those
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questions that even if I laid it out theologically for you and I
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gave you a ten part study answering this question and you
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got all the facts, it still is not going to satisfy you.
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Because there's a portion of it that we will never understand.
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Because what do we do? You know what we do?
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We put ourselves in the position of God and we say things like
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this. Well, if I was God, I wouldn't
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do that. Well, we're all glad you're not
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God, believe me. Because you can't give righteous
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judgment. I can't give righteous judgment
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any of the bet on my best day. I don't come close.
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I don't come close to the holiness, righteousness, and
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goodness of my God. He revealed himself.
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I can't give life. I don't have a perfect righteous
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son to give in exchange for you. So even as I share a few
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insights with you today, you just got to be ready.
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It's not going to satisfy you. Only a relationship with Jesus
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Christ will give you the satisfaction you're looking for.
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An answer won't do that. What you're looking for is not
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an answer. What you're looking for is a
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person. And I'm here to declare to you
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that the person, Jesus Christ, God's Son in human flesh, he
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died on your behalf, rose again the 3rd day so that you can have
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a relationship with the creator of the universe.
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And there's what fulfillment lies in a relationship with
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Jesus. So why is there evil on the
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earth today #1? Evil exists because of sin.
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Evil exists because of sin. Evil and its corresponding
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weakness is on the earth because of the sinful failures of Adam
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and Eve. Adam a real man.
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Eve a real woman, put into a pristine perfect garden on the
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earth. I mean, Can you imagine living
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in relationship with God without sin?
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They live that way. We don't know how long, but
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they. I mean, what a joy that must
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have been. But as the temptation comes, the
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decision was made by Eve 1st, and then by Adam to disobey God
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to no longer trust him in his love.
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And in that very moment they died spiritually and separated
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from God in the very same garden, in the same bodies, they
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now have a new existence. And because of their sin, sin
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spread through all humanity. Now the Bible makes it very
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clear, and I'm not going to develop it here, but you can if
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you're interested in this. When I went verse by verse
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through the book of Romans, God places the responsibility of sin
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to be spread through humanity on Adam.
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They actually, he has a name. He he's referred to in Romans as
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the first Adam, which again you look at that and you go, that's
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not fair. I mean so much in life.
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That's not fair. That's wrong.
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That's unfair. How could God do that?
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How could God do that? How could God hold me
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responsible for something that Adam did in the Garden of Eden?
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He doesn't. He holds you responsible for
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your own sin, not for Adam sin. However, the answer to the
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question how did sin arrive? What happened through Adam?
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He's the first Adam and it wasn't an unfair.
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It wasn't unfair from God's perspective because Adam was
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warned and he was taught well and he made his own decision.
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And he paid the price for that decision.
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So you got Eve the Sinner, Adam the Sinner coming together.
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And then what did they create? Little sinners, Kane and Abel.
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And it's happened all throughout the generations till it is to
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this day. And it's for, you know, why
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didn't there needs to be a first atom?
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Because without the first atom, there cannot be what the Bible
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calls the last atom. The first atom is necessary so
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that God can send the last atom, Jesus Christ, to forgive.
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All sin of those that would turn to him.
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Sin is the reason why evil exists.
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When you combine that with men and women's free will decisions,
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then you know why it's multiplied so much.
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I mean, marriages don't end day one.
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It starts with a thought, it starts with a flirtation, it
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starts with and then it grows. It's decision after decision
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after decision after decision and you will be held accountable
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for those decisions. It is not just no, it is your
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personal decision not to keep your covenant with your spouse
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that that is the fact or you know, this is where let's go,
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Let's let's drill it down just a little bit here.
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Let's just say you're going through something so hard and so
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painful and you don't handle it well.
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You respond to pain and hardship with bad decisions, or you could
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even say bad sinful decisions. Then if you complicate things.
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I complicate things because now I'm dealing with the pain and
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the hardship, but I'm also dealing with the consequences of
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my sin. So that when you feel the and
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you sense the Holy Spirit saying you know Ed, you need to deal
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with this in your life. And then I respond.
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Wait a minute, wait a minute. God, I'm hurting right now.
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Well, why are we talking about that?
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Well, we're talking about that, son, because that's not a good
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response to your pain. And I'm like, well, but it's the
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only response I have. And before you know it, there's
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layer upon layer of hardness to your heart because you don't
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listen to the Lord about your free will decisions, for
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example, you've been hurt really deeply, and now all you think
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about is vengeance. So the Lord comes to you, or
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send somebody to you and go stop.
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Stop talking about vengeance. Vengeance is mind.
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Save the Lord and you're like, no, no, no.
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I've been hurt so much and they need to do some.
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No, you need to not be so angry and not to be so bitter and not
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be so vengeful. And you need it.
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And you're like, stop it, Lord, stop it.
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I don't want to hear that anymore.
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And you stop coming to church. You stop reading the Bible, you
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stop praying, you stop living in relationship with God.
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And it all started with a pain point.
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And through that pain point, with bad responses, you don't
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want to take personal responsibility.
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So I know we like to look at all the evil in the world, but the
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reality is, is that let's just make sure that it's one less
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evil action on our part and that we walk in the spirit.
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Secondly, why does evil exist in the world or why hasn't God
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dealt with it yet? And and I want you to use the
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keyword yet because he hasn't dealt with it yet, even though
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sometimes he does deal with it here and now.
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Some things we're experiencing won't be dealt with until the
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Kingdom comes. Until King Jesus rules and
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reigns. But secondly, I want you to
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understand God is long-suffering and that is a good thing,
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something to celebrate. God is patient and
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long-suffering and the Bible is very clear about the patience
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and long-suffering of God. It is for salvation.
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I want you to know the reason why God hasn't dealt with evil
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yet is for salvation. I want you to think about it.
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Just take your calendar and and, you know, undo it for a little
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bit. I'll take you back to the 90s.
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God was patient with evil in the world until 1991, February 1991.
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And I am personally grateful that God was patient through
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1991, because it was in February 91 that I got saved because if
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he would have come in 1990. I would have been done.
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It would have been over. I would have been judged.
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I would have died in my sins and paid an eternal price for my
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free will. Rebellious decisions against
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God. But because God was patient and
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his patience lasted through the 90s, the Lord saved me.
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I bet you have a similar story. Here's what the Bible says.
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Second Peter 3, verse 14. Therefore beloved.
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Looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him
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in peace without spot and blameless.
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And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord is
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salvation. This is His purpose.
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He's not willing. God's.
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The Bible says God is not willing, that any should perish,
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but that all will come to repentance.
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God was patient with you and me before salvation, and He
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continues to be patient. This is His character.
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This is his. Nature.
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Now, while I don't have the answer, you know some big answer
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that might satisfy you on this topic.
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I do know this. I do know this for sure, and
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this is a satisfying thought. God has a specific will and
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purpose for all of our lives. He is.
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This is not a haphazard, confusing it might be to us cuz
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we don't see the pieces. We don't understand how it's all
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gonna go together. It might feel that way to us,
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but I assure you it is not that way to God.
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He knows what he's doing with you.
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He knows how to redeem these situations.
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He knows how to get you through them.
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You know, there, I don't know how it's all going to go down in
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eternity. Like how how everything is going
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to be, you know, laid out, how we're going to have
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conversations, how God is going to share with us the truth and
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answer our questions. I I don't know how that's all
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going to go down. But.
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But if it did, just consider, just consider.
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It's going to be 30 seconds and you're going to stand in front
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of a screen like this and God is just going to say okay.
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Michael, play the reel for Ed. Ed Taylor.
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Yeah, that one. The one from Aurora.
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Yeah, that one. Play him.
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And I'm going to watch the screen for 30 seconds and and
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God's going to let me watch. And he's going to say, now you
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understand. And I'm going to say, Oh yes,
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God. Now I understand.
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He's going to give me when I know what God knows, when I
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know, when God knows, I'll agree with God.
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That's just the way it is. When I know what God knows.
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And he that's why reading the Bible is so important.
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Because when I learn what God knows and what God says, I agree
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with him, I agree with him. He teaches me.
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He renews my mind. So when you think of James here
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being killed, God's using James life right now in the 21st
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century, when you think of Peter being in prison, just know God
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used that prison, that imprisonment for a lot of
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different reasons that we don't even know yet.
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And it's true for you. And I don't want you to forget
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this. It's true for you what you're
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currently facing, the layers of complexity, the confusing
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situation. God has a plan for your life.
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And he is using it. I mean, you guys, you guys need
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to be here midweek. They're so the best Bible
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studies are being taught midweek.
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We are in the book of Genesis, and we are studying the life of
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Joseph like you need to hear Joseph's life.
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And more attention is given to Joseph in Genesis than any of
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the patriarchs. That's how important he is.
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Of course, one greater than Joseph comes, but he shows us
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how to persevere. I mean, Joseph's life is even
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more important than reading Job. Although breeding Job is
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important because you've realized man, guy that's going
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through it. A guy, a guy or a gal that's
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going through it is going to think a lot of things that are
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wrong. I mean, that's Job.
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Even though God restores everything to Job.
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With Joseph, we don't even read anything going on.
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We just watch his life and he goes through one thing after
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another after another. So at the end of Genesis,
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Genesis chapter 50, his brothers are there and he can wipe them
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out. You would talk about vengeance.
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Joseph has second command in the world.
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These guys have done him dirty multiple times.
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Just lay him out. They lied to his dad.
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I mean, these guys are wicked, rotten men, but they're standing
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there in this epic scene. Joseph looks down on them and he
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tells them this. And I'll paraphrase what you
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guys meant for evil because it was real evil.
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What you meant for evil against me, your own brother.
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God overruled you. And he turned it around for good
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to bring it about as it is this day.
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Even the evil thoughts you had, God turned it all the way around
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so we could be together today and God could have a future
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nation through you. And that's the same story with
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you. Genesis 5020 is the same the the
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Old Testament equivalent of what we learn in Romans chapter 8,
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verse 28. God's working all things
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together for the good. Not all things are good, but
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he's working it all together and he's going to use James Loss.
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And he's going to use Peter in prison.
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And I know for some of you in the midst of pain right now,
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these aren't these aren't super encouraging words.
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I I understand. They will be, though.
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They will be. Maybe not so close to the pain,
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but they will be over time as you start to see the pieces come
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together. And while God may not reveal
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everything to us, He'll reveal just enough so our faith will
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grow in him and we'll become the men and women that he wants us
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to be. Well, notice it says in verse
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five. It says Peter was therefore kept
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in prison. And mark these, mark these
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words. But constant prayer was offered
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to God for him by the Church. That's the proper response.
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This is where everything changes.
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Constant prayer. The church started praying for
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Peter. God, get him out of prison.
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Deliver him, protect him, keep him safe.
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Change herods. All the stuff that you would be
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requesting. Constant prayer, dedicated
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prayer, continual prayer. That's what they're talking
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about here. That's what the church does.
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The church prays. They pray together.
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It's not just scheduled, but we are constantly in prayer.
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Never cease praying. That's the life of the church.
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Only the church can talk to God and have a relationship with
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God. You have to have constant prayer
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in your life to be strong. So notice for six when Herod was
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about to bring him out that night, Peter was sleeping bound
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with two chains between two soldiers and the guards before
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the door were keeping the prison.
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So let's pause there for a second and notice this.
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Peter is in a very difficult situation.
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And what is he doing Sleeping Now?
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We have you Bible students know that.
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We have other examples of Peter sleeping in times he shouldn't
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be sleeping. This isn't one of them, I
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believe. Yeah, there was a time Peter was
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supposed to be praying, and he was sleeping, all right?
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He learned his lesson up on the Mount of Transfiguration.
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All right? He learned his lesson.
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But here he's sleeping again. And I believe this sleeping is
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more consistent with faith and trust in God than failure or
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than human weakness. You go what?
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Ed, what do you mean? How do you see that?
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Well, I want you to consider something.
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This is where you put some verses together and you read in
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a broader sense, the Bible. That's why going through the
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whole Bible is so important. You'll remember that time when
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Jesus was speaking directly to Peter, when he just used this
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phrase. You just read over and not pay
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attention to it. But he used the phrase with
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Peter. He looked at Peter and he says
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when you are older, remember that he just told him when
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you're older and he started talking to him about what was
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going to happen when he was older.
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Peter right now is not older. He's still a young man, much
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closer to his time with Jesus. And what I think is happening
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with Peter is he's like, no matter what's happening right
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now, no matter how unfair it is right now, no matter if Herod's
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in control, it doesn't matter where I am, how many guards are
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connected with to me. Jesus told me I was going to get
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older, and I'm not older, so good night.
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I trust the Lord. You need to have the same
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confidence, Church. You need to know that God has
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given you a word and you're going to cling to it no matter
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what. You're going to hold on to it
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when all things look, I mean, if you were looking at Peter's
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life, everything looked against him, though.
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I'm just holding on to a scripture.
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You're right. I'm holding on to a scripture.
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God gave that to me. He gave his word to me so I
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could base my life upon his truth.
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I mean, this happens all the time.
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I mean, just like, you know, Peter's like good night.
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You know, Marie's like this. So I will be up and we'll be
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talking about something at 9 and I'm all stressing out and
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anxious. And Ed, let's just go to bed.
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No, no, Marie, stay out here and worry with me for a while.
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Let's talk about this. He says, no, I'm just going to
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bed, man. You stay down here and worry.
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I'll come up and you'll, we'll worry together, you know, up in
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our bedroom. He's like, no, no, Ed, just
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believe God's word. Just get out of your own head
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and get back in the spirit. That's where I think Peter is.
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That's why you're never going to cease to hear it from me.
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You need to read your Bible and pray every day.
22:53
You got to you, you, you. You need to read.
22:55
And as you're reading it, take notes and write in your Bible.
22:58
And then there it is. You, some of you have scriptures
23:00
where it has a date written to it next to it.
23:02
Why? Because God gave you that
23:03
scripture back in 1987, and it was true then and it's true now.
23:09
And then there's another scripture and another scripture
23:11
and a circle and a color and a highlight.
23:14
Why? Because God's word is alive and
23:16
powerful. How can you sleep in the midst
23:19
of a storm? How can you sleep when you're
23:22
unfairly accused or your head's going to get cut off or whatever
23:25
it is, whatever. How can you sleep when your kids
23:27
out in the world right now? You can sleep by trusting in the
23:31
Lord and He will give you the rest.
23:33
Because if anyone knows this to be true, it's me.
23:35
When you don't sleep, it makes everything worse.
23:39
It's just like physical sleep, but also spiritually.
23:42
God wants to give you a peace that passes all understanding,
23:45
and he does constant prayer. Peter's asleep, verse seven.
23:50
When God works, remember this. When God works, he works.
23:53
Quick verse 7. Now behold, an Angel of the Lord
23:57
stood by him and a light shone around in the prison and struck
24:01
Peter on the side and raised him up, saying arise quickly and his
24:05
chains fell off his hands. And then the Angel said to him,
24:08
gorge yourself and tie on your sandals.
24:10
And so he did. And he said to him, put on your
24:13
garment and follow me. And so we went out and followed
24:15
him, and did not know that was done by the Angel was real, but
24:19
thought he was just seeing a vision.
24:21
And when they were past the 1st and the 2nd guard post, they
24:24
came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened them
24:28
of its own accord. And they went out and went down
24:30
one street and immediately the Angel departed from him.
24:33
And so Peter's just like, what is going on?
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I'm sure you've had those moments where you're woke, you
24:38
woke up, but you're still half asleep and everything's
24:40
happening. What's going on?
24:42
And And that God is moving. You know, I was thinking about
24:45
this. Some of you've been waiting for
24:47
years for something. And I'm telling you, when God
24:50
does it, it's going to happen like that.
24:52
You're not even going to remember the 10 years.
24:54
You're not even going to care about the 15 years.
24:56
Because when God works, he works very fast.
24:59
And don't let the Herods in life.
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Don't let the Herods and the people in control, you know,
25:03
Don't let politics. Don't let the situation at work.
25:07
Don't let your ex. Don't let these things take your
25:10
all of your attention. Right.
25:11
Because chapter one, now about that time Herod the King
25:14
stretched out his hand. OK, great, About that time Herod
25:17
thinks he's a big deal. But notice now behold and Angel,
25:21
the Lord comes. So which one are you going to
25:22
focus on? Like, oh, poor me, Look at
25:24
Herod. Look at Herod.
25:25
What's he going to do? No, no, no.
25:27
I'm praying for the hand of God. And when the Angel comes, who's
25:30
Herod? Who's Herod again?
25:33
Who is that guy? He's nobody.
25:36
He's always been nobody. He always will be nobody,
25:39
because God sits on the throne. Not Herod.
25:42
And just there is a God in heaven that cares about your
25:44
life, Church. And now, behold, an Angel.
25:48
The Lord erases it all. God takes control.
25:52
And Peter, it says in verse 11, came to himself.
25:54
And then he knew for certain that the Lord had sent the Angel
25:57
and delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the
26:00
expectation of the Jewish people.
26:02
He delivered me from death. That's what that's what Peter's
26:07
saying. This is the hand of God, and
26:09
there's so many things in your life right now that God is doing
26:13
that you don't know about, you're not certain about.
26:15
You don't see clarity about it. But there's a day coming where
26:18
you're going to come to your senses and you're going to say,
26:20
now I know that God is moving in my life now.
26:25
I know now. I know I can look back at so
26:30
many times in my life where I lived a very reckless life, a
26:34
very dangerous life, a very dumb life, consumed with alcohol and
26:39
drugs and all kinds of just dangerous situations.
26:44
And we would come out of them to go to the next party, and we'd
26:47
come out of them to go to the next thing.
26:49
But when I look back on now, I can see God delivered me from
26:53
them all. He was merciful and kind and
26:56
caring to me in no way of proving of my life.
26:59
But you couldn't have convinced me back then.
27:02
But you could have come to me in 1986.
27:05
So you could have came to me in 1990.
27:07
You could have come to me anytime and go.
27:08
You know, Ed, you are one jacked up guy, but God has a plan for
27:12
your life. I'm like, are you serious?
27:15
Let's go back to the first part. I am a jacked up guy.
27:17
I want to live there. That's where I find the most
27:20
comfort, the most ease, which was just a lie.
27:23
I wonder if there's someone here listening like that's your
27:25
that's your life. You're the party scene gal.
27:27
You're the party scene guy. So I just love it.
27:29
It's not no dangerous to me. Well, I'm going to declare to
27:32
you right now, God has a plan for your life and it doesn't
27:36
include all that nonsense. He's going to deliver you from
27:39
it. You are going to leave it and
27:41
walk away from it as you turn your life to him.
27:46
It's hard to understand. But Peter, you know, he's a
27:48
believer, so he gets it much faster.
27:50
It's like, oh man, I can see God doing.
27:51
He broke me out of jail. Notice in verse verse 12.
27:56
When he considered this Peter, he came to the House of Mary,
28:00
the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many
28:02
were gathered. What were they doing?
28:04
Church together, Say with me. Praying.
28:07
Constant prayer. This way he goes to the prayer
28:09
meeting. God has answered their prayers.
28:13
Notice Peter knocking at the door.
28:16
A girl named Rhoda came to answer.
28:18
She recognized Peter's voice and because of the gladness, you
28:21
didn't even open the gate. She ran in and announced Peter
28:24
stood before the gate. Peter's here, Peter's here.
28:27
God has answered our prayers. But they said to her, you are
28:31
out of your mind, girl, and kept insisting that it was so.
28:37
She kept insisting and they said it's his Angel.
28:40
Let's just pause here for a second and consider this for
28:43
just for a brief moment. The church has gathered
28:46
together. Can you imagine their prayers
28:49
all over the room? God, deliver Peter.
28:51
Protect him. We want to see him again.
28:53
The church needs him. He's so important to us.
28:56
We love him, his family. God.
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God. Oh, please.
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And then Rhoda comes in. Guys, guys, guys, Peter's here.
29:04
Be quiet, Rhoda. We're praying for Peter right
29:06
now. We're praying for him.
29:09
Stop talking. No, no.
29:10
He's at the gate. You won't know you're you're
29:12
seeing things, you're seeing things, you're seeing his Angel
29:16
or a shadow or anything. And wrote is like come on guys,
29:18
please, you got to see this. He is here and it says right
29:23
here in verse 16, it says Peter continued knocking and they
29:28
opened the door and they saw him and were astonished.
29:32
You know what this tells us? This tells us that these mighty
29:35
men of God had seasons in their life where they had very little
29:39
faith and God heard their prayers and answered them
29:43
exceedingly abundantly, above all that they could think of us.
29:46
It's important for you to get this.
29:47
Again, I'm not going to develop this.
29:49
I've done it in different, different Bible studies.
29:51
But this false teaching known as the prosperity of the gospel and
29:55
this false teaching known as the faith movement must be rejected
29:59
on its face, Like on its face the idea that if you just have
30:04
faith, then God will act on your behalf.
30:06
What about these guys? They have no faith.
30:09
They just want to keep praying and that which tells me that
30:12
they're praying for God to deliver Peter, but don't even
30:14
believe it when he does it. You ever felt like that?
30:18
I don't need hands or anything. I'm sure you have.
30:21
And what does God do? He keeps his word.
30:24
It's not your faith that moves God.
30:26
It is God that moves you to have faith.
30:29
It starts with God, it continues with God, and it ends with God.
30:34
And so the Bible even has a scripture for us that are
30:37
faithless from time to time. The Bible says this.
30:40
You ready? That even if you are faithless,
30:44
God remains faithful. He will not deny himself.
30:48
And I. It's a sad state of affairs.
30:50
And at least in the church, well, I mean in the church
30:52
around the world, I just read an article that the fastest segment
30:55
growing that is socalled Christianity is the prosperity
30:59
gospel. And it comes in waves.
31:00
You know that, right? It always comes in waves and it
31:03
usually hits the US in a time of economic distress.
31:07
You know why? Because the the, the, the false
31:10
teaching preys on manipulation and greed.
31:15
So you have to take responsibility for yourself for
31:18
believing it. It's false to think, well, you
31:21
know what? If I just have enough faith and
31:22
I can move the hand of God, Hey, now I'm going to tell you
31:25
something. God's hand is ready to move.
31:27
Just come to him. Oh, you know, I pray so much and
31:30
I never hear an answer that you know what?
31:32
God is answering you every prayer, every day, every moment.
31:35
What you should learn to say is I pray all the time.
31:38
I'm not going to pray anymore because I don't get an answer.
31:40
What you should say is I'm not going to pray anymore because
31:42
God doesn't do what I want him to do.
31:46
That's what you're dealing with. Because even you coming to
31:50
prayer, even though they were faithless, they weren't without
31:52
faith. How do you know that?
31:53
Because they prayed. It's not like they were without
31:56
faith. They just weren't mighty men of
31:59
faith. These are the apostles.
32:02
These are the guys that hung out with Jesus.
32:03
That's not Peter. And it takes Rhoda of the simple
32:07
faith of this beautiful woman in Christ that comes and goes.
32:10
You guys are out of your mind. Get to the gate.
32:13
That doesn't say that, but I'm sure she thought it was their
32:15
inside voice. Like, what is your problem?
32:18
The dude is here. God has answered our prayers.
32:21
And they did, and they were astonished.
32:23
And then Peter says, verse 17 motion of them with his hand to
32:26
keep silent. And this is the great
32:29
declaration. He declared to them how the Lord
32:31
brought him out of that prison. God's ready to do a work in your
32:35
life and bring you out of prison.
32:37
And now the testimony again focuses on God, not on.
32:41
Well, you know, I have so much faith.
32:43
And I just went to sleep because I knew God was going to keep his
32:46
word. And I stop.
32:48
It's all God, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
32:52
You got that it's you read the Bible and you tell me how often
32:57
it's God's. Well, you know your faith is so
32:59
big. I think I'm going to many times
33:01
Jesus would say you're you know, I I haven't seen such great
33:03
faith in all of Israel. But he acted already because it
33:07
was already in them. And then he would look at his
33:10
disciples ye of little faith and we just want to grow in grace up
33:15
or down. The Lord's going to do so.
33:16
He tells them in verse 17. Go tell these things to James
33:19
Again, this is a different James.
33:21
There's many James in the Bible. James earlier was already
33:24
identified as that got his head cut off.
33:26
Was James the brother of John the sons of Thunder?
33:29
But this James is Jesus brother, his half brother and who's
33:32
become a key leader as you'll see in Acts 15 in the Jerusalem
33:37
church. So make sure that the folks in
33:39
Jerusalem know about this. And he departed and went to
33:42
another place. And as soon as it was day, there
33:45
was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become a
33:49
Peter. And when Herod had searched for
33:51
him and didn't find him, he examined the guards and
33:55
commanded them that they should be put to death.
33:57
And he went down from Judea to successoria and stayed there.
34:02
So Peter goes off the scene. Here the focus in the book of
34:06
Acts is going to turn to solve Tarsus, who becomes Paul the
34:10
apostle. We see enough of Peter to
34:13
establish what God wants to do through his life, and then he
34:16
goes off the scene so that we can study the life of Paul and
34:20
the missionary journeys really of Paul and Barnabas also.
34:25
They go, he heads off to Harrod, heads off to Cessaria.
34:30
If you choose to go to Israel with us, this is the first stop
34:34
we are going to stand in that we're going to be in that
34:37
amphitheater in Cesarea by the sea, and that's our first place
34:40
of worship and our first place of Bible study.
34:43
We'll actually mention Herod there.
34:45
I mean, this stuff is still there.
34:46
This is where it happened. And the scene here in verse 20.
34:50
In verse 20, notice took place in Cesarea.
34:53
And Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and
34:56
Sidon, but they came to him with one accord.
34:58
And having made blast this, the King's Chamberlain, their
35:01
friend, they asked for peace because their country was
35:03
supplied with food by the King's country.
35:06
Okay, Pause there. We're almost done.
35:08
But pause there for a second, because as you're reading the
35:09
Bible, you're reading through and you got the story and the
35:12
narrative and you're following along.
35:14
And then verses like this pop up and you stop and go, what is
35:17
this here for? What do I care about Tyre and
35:19
Sidon and the King's Chamberlain and all of that?
35:22
And then that kicks in. If you respond that way, it
35:25
kicks in where you don't pay attention.
35:28
So I'm just want to encourage you when you're reading your
35:29
Bible, just keep paying attention, even if you don't
35:32
understand. Because I believe this little
35:35
section, even though it seems unrelated, actually answers our
35:39
question a couple a couple ways. Remember, our question is we
35:43
started out with why is there evil in the world?
35:46
Will they ever get theirs? Why?
35:47
Why is God letting evil people get away with all of this?
35:51
And why is He and and and we wonder.
35:54
We wonder that, like in Psalm 73, we wonder why is evil so
35:58
rampant? Why is God letting people?
35:59
Well, this section tells us God sometimes judges this side of
36:04
eternity and that nobody gets away with anything, ever.
36:10
They may experience judgment here on earth or for sure for
36:14
all of eternity, but no one gets away with anything, ever.
36:21
Don't forget that. And that's what we learn here.
36:23
Notice of verse 21. On a set day, Herod, a raid in
36:27
royal apparel sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.
36:31
And the people kept shouting the voice of a God and not of a man,
36:35
And immediately an Angel, the Lord struck him because he did
36:38
not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.
36:45
Great bedtime reading for the kids right here.
36:47
They're going to love this one, but judgment.
36:51
Harrod gets his right away. This is so that this is a, you
36:55
know, we we believe the Bible to be true, but this is one of
36:57
those stories that's actually validated by Josephus.
37:00
He writes about it. He gives a little different
37:02
angle of it, but writes about this very moment.
37:05
The judgment of God came upon Herod and people got to see it.
37:10
Now, of course, when you see judgment or you see people
37:12
experience the consequences for their sin, even their sin,
37:15
against you, The Bible is very clear.
37:17
Don't rejoice about it. Don't rejoice and evil coming.
37:21
Just like trust the Lord with the situation whether you see it
37:25
or not. But here Herod gets it.
37:27
And then we get another answer. Why?
37:29
Why James and why Peter? And why Lord?
37:32
Why? Well, we see in verse 24 the
37:35
word of God grew and multiplied. God used it.
37:40
God uses pain to multiply the word of God and to grow the
37:44
church. He uses your pain.
37:46
You connect with so many people you wouldn't have connected with
37:48
before. You care about people you never
37:50
cared about before. You talk about things you never
37:53
talked about before you. You were sharing things you
37:55
never shared before. Why?
37:56
Because God got your attention in a painful moment.
38:00
God got your attention in a painful life.
38:03
God got your attention and drew you to himself.
38:06
And now through your life, the word of God is growing and the
38:10
church is expanding and people's lives.
38:12
You're talking to people right now like you're talking to your
38:14
mom and dad about the things that God, you never in your
38:16
million years would have talked to him about before.
38:19
Why? Because God got your attention.
38:21
You're you're now, you're not all belly aching at work
38:23
anymore, but you're talking to your boss about the things of
38:25
God. Why?
38:26
Because of what God has done. You experience it maybe from a
38:29
distance. I mean, think of it in the in
38:31
the context of our own little church family.
38:34
We all suffered something together in the loss of our
38:36
beloved Pastor Avant, and it changed us.
38:40
It changed some of us a lot. It changed some of us a little.
38:43
But you will not see pastors the same way anymore, because you
38:46
lost one and it hurts, and we miss him.
38:51
And your response will make you a better woman in the hands of
38:56
God, and your response will make you a better man in the hands of
39:00
God. Perhaps it wasn't our beloved
39:02
pastor that got your attention. But something did and something
39:07
will. And as you trust God with it and
39:10
as you come to him in constant prayer, trusting with your life,
39:15
you too will be a part of the word of God grew and multiply.
39:18
Remember the series? Remember we're in Book of Acts.
39:21
Remember it's on behind me on the screen every week.
39:23
God's mandate to Calvary church here is to be the church.
39:26
You are the church and I'll be the church.
39:29
Yeah. Under great political
39:31
persecution. What are we supposed to do at
39:32
how are we supposed to respond? All these rules and all these
39:35
laws are so unfair. Here's the answer be the church.
39:40
Herod is nobody, and neither is whoever is in the current
39:44
president, the current mayor, the current.
39:47
They're nobody. Well, they're going to throw you
39:50
in prison. I guess I'm going to sleep.
39:55
I don't know what to tell you, but the enemy is really slick
39:58
too, because then he has you creating all these hypothetical
40:02
situations. And I learned you bring what if
40:04
this and what if this? And what if this?
40:06
And here's my answer. I don't know.
40:10
We're not there yet, but today God is calling you to himself,
40:13
so how about we just worry about today?
40:15
Don't create all these scenarios in your life, because a lot of
40:18
times hypothetical questions are just scenarios created for the
40:21
future that haven't happened yet to give you permission to
40:24
disobey today. And you don't want to mess
40:27
around with that kind of stuff. You just want to walk humbly
40:30
with your God, just like Lord, I don't know what's happening.
40:32
I don't like it. I hate it.
40:34
I don't want to experience this grief.
40:36
I don't want to go through this difficulty.
40:38
I don't want to see my kid live a product.
40:40
I don't want it. But I love you still, and I
40:44
trust you still. And I don't know what's going to
40:47
come of it, but I do know this God, I want more of you.
40:51
I want to worship you with my life.
40:53
And that's chapter 12, the notice.
40:56
It says in verse 25 Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem,
41:00
fulfilled their ministry, took with them John, Mark, John,
41:04
whose surname is Mark. And then in the church, in verse
41:07
chapter 13 in the church they start praying and there have a
41:10
afterglow. And in God sends out
41:12
missionaries. It's just constantly,
41:14
continually the Lord is doing it work among us.
41:16
So, Father, thank you for your word, and let it be a let it be
41:20
a testimony to your faithfulness today, how you prevail.
41:24
And even though there's sorrow and sadness the Church grew and
41:27
it our church will grow. And despite kings and despite
41:31
people and despite prisons and despite death, and despite the
41:35
government of man. God's where your Word prevails.
41:39
And we declare that we desire to believe it even in our simple
41:43
faith, even in our weak faith. We ask you, God receive what we
41:49
have and we just come to you and we pray for you to strengthen
41:53
us. In Jesus name.
41:56
Amen. We pray that you've been
41:58
encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
42:01
sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
42:03
Call us at 87730 Grace. That's 877-304-7223 to listen to
42:13
this message in its entirety or to join us for our live stream
42:17
services. Visit us online at Calvary Co
42:20
dot church or download our free Calvary Church app Be blessed as
42:25
you worship Jesus this week.