Focus 50 Fifth Sunday's Message

March 18, 2012

Acts 12:6-7; 12-17

The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison.  Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. He went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying.  When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.” Meanwhile Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed.  He motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

Peter was facing death.  Herod was going to have him killed and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.  He was out of options.  He had no way to win.  Then the angel of the Lord tapped him on the shoulder, set him free, and led him out of prison.  Why did this happen?  It was an answer to prayer.  In Peter’s desperate hour the church was at prayer for him.  Their prayer was answered.  God answers prayer.  Prayer makes the impossible, possible. 

What do we do when we feel weak, lost, or find ourselves in out-of-control situations?  We pray.  We ask others to pray with us.  We have an instinct that connects prayer to the power to change things.  While the church was gathered in prayer for Peter…Peter came knocking on the door.  God answered their prayer.  They were shocked by it.  They could not believe it.  Yet they also could not deny what God had done.  God’s work is amazing.  It leaves us in awe.  It is fuel for the passion we each need as followers of Jesus.  Whose lives were changed by this?  Herod was taught a lesson by God.  The church witnessed God’s direct involvement in their lives.  Peter was about to continue his ministry and the message of Christ was spread.  Prayer changes us.  It changes out situation.  It connects us to God’s work.  How can our church pray like this church?  Let’s be amazed by God.