Divine Intervention

Acts 12:1-19

Main Idea: the faith that we are to exercise as Christians in prayer is neither presumptive nor hopeless.

1)Review of Acts 11:19-30

a)To submit to Christ is to obey his every command.

b)Obedience is the best way to live, and brings rest.

c)However, what God calls “best” is not always what we want in the moment.

d)What role does prayer play in affecting the future?

2)The death of James

a)Appears to be the triumph of Herod.

b)In actuality is the fulfillment of prophesy.

“The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,” (Mark 10:39b, ESV)

c)Link with Jesus’ “cup/baptism”:

i)Herod Antipas (son to Herod the Great) gained a political ally over the trial and execution of Jesus.

ii)Herod Agrippa (son to Herod Antipas) gains the favor of the Jews with the execution of James.

d)There is no attempt to explain why.

e)This is faith: not desperate hope, but calm assurance of God’s control

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)

3)The rescue of Peter

a)Peter held because Herod’s goal (favor with Jews) prevented execution during holy festival.

b)Unmistakably divine intervention.

i)Happened while church was praying.

ii)Freed despite four awake soldiers.

iii)Chains fall off in presence of two soldiers.

iv)The soldiers have no idea what happened.

v)It’s so surreal Peter assumes it’s a dream.

c)This is not due to prayer with incredible faith!

i)The servant girl is shocked.

ii)The believers think she’s crazy.

iii)If not crazy, it must be an angel.

iv)They’re astonished to find otherwise.

d)How much “faith” is needed to pray? A sliver.

“For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20b ESV)

4)How should we pray?

a)Pray without presumption.

i)If we had to decide based on our limited perspective, this story might be different.

ii)This doesn’t make us more “loving” than God, just less understanding of Reality.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

iii)Would getting an reason why always help in the way we want anyway?

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”(Psalm 116:15 ESV)

iv)Faith must suffice: God is good and loving.

b)Pray with deeper faith and bigger prayers.

i)We pray to “Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” (Eph. 3:20).

ii)Despite God’s sovereignty, we’re still expected to pray.

“You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:2b-3 ESV)

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:7-8 ESV).

“Does not God take the right views of things? … Why shall we not assume that God sees all events and this one of death in particular, in a far more just light than we do, so that we ought to conform our views to his, and not seem to insist that He ought to conform his to ours? Is not his view more broad and deep and in every way more perfect than ours?”

-C.G. Finney, The Death of Saints Precious

This Week

Read

John 16:16-24 and Romans 8:18-25

Consider

What sorrows currently trouble you?

How might the illustration of the pains of childbirth help you to reconsider the way you endure your current areas of suffering?

Which of the following is more applicable to you, and why?

  1. I need to remember that faith which trusts God for good answers will therefore presume less that he will give me exactly what I ask for.
  2. I need to remember that faith which trusts God to act powerfully will therefore pray more frequently, and for greater things.

Do

Pray for the salvation of someone you know who is not a Christian. Pray that God would use you to tell them about Christ. Pray for your greatest current sorrow or struggle, that God will deliver you through it. Pray that God would teach you the joy of obedience to him. Pray expecting his good answer!