Acts 12
He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.
Sermon Transcript:
You know, we just sang about the power of your name. And sometimes I think the power of your name, we think, well, that means we’re gonna do miraculous works. It’s God it’s God that does the miraculous works. That’s a miraculous work, right? Um, the greatest work is not ultimately physical healing. It’s spiritual healing.
It’s changing us from the inside out. I invite you to take your Bibles this morning. We, we look at the book of acts chapter 12 this morning and quell. Thanks so much for doing that acts chapter 12. We’re gonna be looking at this passage together. I wanna give you some background. Uh, we’re continuing our series today in the book of acts the spirit at work to the ends of the earth.
We are at a significant juncture in the book of acts because we are completing the first two seasons. The first season was acts chapter one through chapter seven, the story of the spirit of God at work in the church, growing the church in the area of the city of Jerusalem and the amazing things he did with Pentecost and the subsequent events after that season two began with chapter eight and is ending here at chapter 12, where in season two, God is taking the church and is extending the ministry of the gospel going out of just the city of Jerusalem and its confines into the area of Judea and then north into Samaria and even spilling up into, uh, Northern regions above that.
It has taken us in chapter 11, as we saw last week. To, to Antioch a city 250 miles north, which will actually become after this chapter, the epicenter for the church, it will become the sending center to this work of season three, which is where the church is going to go to the ends of the known earth of that time.
For 11 chapters, the church has been growing and expanding like waves that are, that are spreading father and fathering out with their ripple effect. But in chapter 12, we return as Dr. Luke takes us back to Jerusalem and gives us a look 15 years after the day of Pentecost. And as we return, we find a stunning development.
There is a climactic battle taking place. It’s a battle of two Kings king Jesus. And king hear it. It reminds us that as Jesus kingdom spreads, it is not without opposition. To this point. The opposition has primarily been from the Jewish leaders. Now it is civil authorities. The Roman empire is actually getting engaged.
We are treated here to one of the most interesting events in the entire book of acts. And I’d like to read aloud versus, well, this chapter, I’m gonna read it through quickly. Chapter 12 of acts about that time herd the king laid violent hands on some who belong to the church. He killed James, the brother of John with the sword.
And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter. Also, this was during the days of 11 bread and when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him intending after the Passover, to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but Ernest’s prayer for him was made to God by the church.
Now inherit was about to bring him out on that very night. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and centuries before the door were guarding the prison and behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him in a light shown in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him saying, get up quickly.
And the change fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, dress yourself and put on your sandals. And as he did, and he did so, and he said to him, wrap your cloth, cloak around you and follow me. And he went and followed him. He did not know what was being done was done by the angel was. But thought he was seeing a vision when they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate, leading into the city.
It opened for them of its own accord. And they went out and went along one street and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, now I am sure that the Lord has sent the, his angel and rescued me from the hand of herd. And from all the Jewish people were expecting. When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda, came to answer recognizing Peter’s voice in her joy. She did not open the gate, but ran and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, you are outta your mind, but she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying it is his angel, but Peter continued knocking.
And when they had opened, they saw him and were amazed, but meant motioning to him, to them with his hand to be silent. He. Described to them, how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, tell these things to James and to the brothers. Then he departed and went to another place. Now, when the day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter and, and after herd searched for him and did not find him.
He examined centuries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. Now, Herod was angry with the people of tire and side, and they came to him with one accord and having persuaded blast us the King’s Chamberlain. They asked for peace because their country depended on the King’s country for food on an appointed day herd put on his Royal robes, took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to them.
And the people were shouting the voice of a God and not of a man immediately. An angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God as glory. And he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them, John, whose other name was mark Lord, we look to you this morning, God, we read this incredible story and it reminds us of what an incredible God we know and serve.
Lord, teach us through these moments together that we might embrace, that we might have our own perspective of life adjusted to align with what we see in the lives of these believers here. As they saw the power of God in such a miraculous way in Jesus’ name. I pray this amen. The passage that we read this morning and are going to be focused on, on is about power.
The book of acts is about power and acts one eight, the theme of the book, as we’ve highlighted it, many times you shall receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you’ll be witnesses to me, the events of chapter 12, there is no human reason that the power of Imperial Rome was overcome by a rag tag group of no names.
Only God, the church conquers not by political might or leverage, not by winning popularity votes and having famous spokespeople in pop stars and prominent cultural icons. The church conquers by God’s spirit being unleashed through God’s people crying out to him. This final episode in series two reminds us of where the church’s true power lies.
I’d like to look at three things as quick as I can. This this morning. Number one, we see the believers faced a furious power in king. Her just a little historical background of who this guy is that we’re talking about here in, in, in acts chapter 12, there were actually three members of what was known as the hero Rodian dynasty that are very prominent in the new Testament.
The first of those is a guy named herd. The great herd. The great was the one that killed the children in Bethlehem. When Jesus was born herd, the great was an individual that was actually from the country of ed Eden, which is down. If you think of Israel here, em was down in the Southeast corner of that.
When the Romans were trying to penetrate the very Eastern border of the Mediterranean sea and to extend their empire there, it was a local guy named Harriet who was the greatest warrior for Rome and was ultimately honored by them. When Rome did conquer all of the Eastern border of the Mediterranean sea, he was called herd.
The great, because he was a powerful leader. Not only was he powerful mil militarily, but he was a brilliant builder. He was the one that built the giant temple of Jerusalem. It’s why it’s called heritage temple. He was the one that built palaces and other edifices throughout Judea and Samaria. And, and up into the, the, the Eastern sides of the Jordan river.
He was prominent, many have called him the most powerful leader of this part of the ancient near east. For three centuries. This is a big time guy inherit. The great was honored by the Roman leadership by being given the, the Lordship over that whole region of the Eastern part of the Mediterranean sea.
His son was a man named her anus. We see him in the new Testament as well. Actually, I put one third. I, I, I miswrote, it. He actually, when her the great died, his kingdom was divided into four parts. And one of those was given to her anus. He was the one over Judea. He was the one that interviewed Jesus when Jesus was crucified.
But now we come to our featured performer and his name is hero APA. It’s what he’s known as historically her APA, the first he was the grandson of hero, the great her APA, the first. Was an individual and I’m gonna bring up a map here to just walk this through quickly. He was raised in Rome and while in Rome, that is pretty tiny.
Isn’t it? T grip was raised in Rome and he was childhood friends, students with two guys named Caligula who became the emperor and Claudia, who became the emperor when Caligula was assassinated. These were buds of herd, a GRPA as he was growing up as a student and they were lifelong associates. Here grip.
If you look at these regions, then I’m just gonna point this on one of them. If you look at the region in yellow, that was given to him by Calla, when he was emperor in 37 ad the lighter green was given to him by Calla in 39 ad the larger portion, which includes Judea and Samaria was given to him in 41 ad.
And this area up in the north was given to him. Uh, the red part was given to him by col by Claudias right before the events we’re reading about. In other words, in the last three years hero, a GRPA has been given all of the problem. He has almost the entire region that heroed the great had. He is an incredibly powerful leader.
He is literally the buddy. Of the emperor, the two emperors of Rome. And the second one that got in Claudias got in, because there were a few, uh, leaders in the Roman empire that supported him. One of whom was HERDA GRPA. He is an individual that basically controls all of this area. He was given the title king, which was unusual for the Romans to do, but they recognized such loyalty inherited GRPA.
They recognized that he, that he was the, uh, the potentate over such a prominent position. He’s the Eastern edge of the Roman empire that they let him call himself king. He is in a strategic position. This is a terrible guy to have as an enemy,
but it isn’t only that that the church is facing here. The populace and religious leadership are against them. We’ve, we’ve read in the early part of the book of acts, how they, it, they, it said the church had favor with all the people, not so much anymore. It’s been 15 years. And the animosity of the religious leadership that is constantly speaking against the, the, the Christian sect, as they viewed, it has begun to wear on people, their detention, the, the animosity has grown the favor with the populace has soured during these 15 years, so that when herd a GRPA right before the feast of, of Passover and, and leaven bread, which was an eight day feast, right before that, when he takes James, the brother of John, one of the three bigs, James, John, and Peter, with a triumvirate of, of apostles, Confidants of Jesus.
When he takes one of him, he takes him and he takes some other people leaders in the church and he beheads James. He senses the favor of the people, the statement it says here, it pleased the J so the next thing he does is he grabs Peter. The most prominent voice in the early church brings him in and only doesn’t behead him because he doesn’t wanna offend the Jews who, who would not allow such a thing.
They would consider such a thing as sacrilege, even if they supported the event to happen during the high feast days. So he is waiting. It is now the final day of the feast. The final day has actually ended at sunset. It is now nighttime. The next morning, Peter is due to lose his head. This is the scenario.
The populace is against them. There’s another thing that’s going on that I think would’ve added to the, to the sense of just feeling overwhelmed and intimidated to the church. This is the feast of PA Passover in tabernacle. I want you to think of ocean city for a minute. Have you ever been there? Ocean city, New Jersey.
There are about 12,000 residents in November, in July. There’s over 150,000 residents, 12 and a half times as many people that’s exactly Jerusalem. There were about 80,000 people during the high feast day of Passover and tab of Fe, uh, um, 11 bread Josefa says there were a million people that came a Jewish historian of, of the first century, 12 and a half times.
It’s ocean city. In July 4th weekend, it’s crazy down there. That’s what’s happening in Jerusalem and all this is going on. And most of these Jews from the other parts of the world are not Christians yet have not been exposed to the gospel. So now you’re surrounded and, and not only is the majority voice of people in Jerusalem, contrary to church, even though you’ve seen amazing things happen, you still, you feel this.
I mean, this is 15 years later. This is heart. This is intimidating. And this is what they’re facing when they face king herd planning the next morning to kill the guy that is clearly the voice of the early church, but the believers, secondly, aligned with a far greater power. In king Jesus. Notice what they did.
First of all, they remembered what their king had done. 15 years ago was Pentecost. They have remembered 3000 people on that day, embracing Christ to savior. They have remembered as the God at the book of acts tells us that many of the priests have embraced Jesus as their savior. The Samaritans have believed the CFO from Ethiopia has believed Saul.
The scholar turned prime percu. The hit dog of the religious leaders has astonishingly the, a proponent and a defender of the faith of Jesus. A pagan Roman officer in chapter 10 and his household have believed. and now they’re meeting in houses around the city, as they’ve always done, they’re not doing some of the things we’ve always done.
We don’t read of the meeting in the, in the, in the, in the temple anymore. Remember how they all preached and taught every day in Solomon’s Portico. We don’t hear that anymore. Now they have moved in. They’ve gone back to life 15 years. I mean, you, you, you can’t have evangelistic meetings every day. For 15 years, they’ve gone back and doing business.
The Christians are doing life, but there’s one thing that they have. They have founded their lives on. They’re constantly meeting in houses. They’re constantly gathering together for fellowship, the breaking of bread, the opening of the word and prayer. This is their default mode. They have lost. Prestige to some degree because of the, the continual wearing opposition of the religious leadership now added to that as the civil leadership, but they are remembering and they are embracing and they are counting on the all powerful Jesus being with them.
So what they do is they pursue their king with ENT prayer. We read this in verse five. So Peter was kept in prison during the days of the feast. That is, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. This word earnest is actually from two words, stretch. Out. It means they, they, they were all in it’s it’s, you know, athletic terms.
We say, leave it all in the field. I mean, just put everything out there. It’s used of Jesus in Luke 22, 44, when he was in the garden, it says this and being in agony, he prayed earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. The church is crying out to God, the church, not only in this one house, but the church in houses all over Jerusalem is praying together, crying out to God.
Romans power structure is fully operational in Romans 12. but so is the churches, it wasn’t on the throne of Jerusalem. It was in a house over here in a house over here in a house over there where people just folks are gathering together. There’s nobody that we read of in this passage, in Mary’s house.
That is one of the muck mucks. He says, rather Peter says to them, tell James, who’s the head of the church. Now the brother of Jesus and tell the other leaders, this is just one house, but it is a group of people that are crying out to God. The church is at war. So they call up to up the commander, the commander who shuts lion’s mouths, who crushes Pharaoh’s chariots.
Who makes roads through the sea who sends fire from heaven, who breaks chains and opens prison’s door. This was a church movement that went forward on its niece.
And now we see what their king did in response. I’m just gonna summarize verse six in following Peter’s course chain. We’re told how it is he’s. If there’s ever a maximum security environment, it was this one he’s in Antonio’s fortress, which was that, that Roman Garrison, that was right next to the, uh, temple.
And apparently he’s put in there and they give very unusual. Usually if you have a dangerous prisoner, a Roman guard would be chained to you in your cell. Peter has two, one on each. He also has two guys that are outside his, uh, this doesn’t mean they’re, they’re all over the prison, but four of them are right around Peter’s room.
And there are four different shifts and every few hours, the shift changes, two more guys manacled to Peter and two more guys outside. He is in utterly shut, down maximum security environment, but here’s what we read, what their king did with Peter. And every part of the account is just highlighting that Peter had nothing to do with this Peter’s asleep.
When the angel comes, the angel has to prod him awake and into action. The change fall off. He has to be told to dress as if he’s being given a series of numbers. This is one of my favorite parts. First he says, put on your clothes. Put on your shoes, then he says, uh, wrap your clock around. You follow me. I mean, it’s like 1, 2, 3, come on.
You can do this, Peter, you can do this. And he does. And he sort of staggering along and they go and a door opens and another door opens and then they come to the outer gate. And there’s this amazing statement that’s that we read about in verse 10. Here’s what it says. And the gate of the prison opened for them of its own accord.
The word of its own accord is actually the word in the greed mater. When I guess what that’s from, it’s an automatic door. The angel brings his angelic easy pass. And just, just so scooting through as the door opens, it’s an automatic door before. They go out in the city. Peter’s not finally for the first time realizes for sure.
He’s not dreaming. This entire thing is all God, not only do we see what the king did for Peter, but we have to see what the king did to herd. And then I’m gonna try to wrap all this together herd when he wakes up the next morning, beginning in verse 18 and he calls and it they’re ready for the execution.
You know, this is, this is execution day. I mean, this is gonna really win the populace his way. When he takes the top dog, the guy’s gone. He executes the, the guards, cuz that was normally what you did. If, if you had a prisoner escape, you would then take his sentence and say were executed. Then we read an interesting account where if I can bring that map up again, that.
Herd who again, I told you all these colored sections are herd’s region, but if you look up in the orange there, along the sea, that up here there’s tire inside, those are a province that were separate, but are very much dependent on herd’s domain. He goes to a city called Caesarea and these guys all come down tire inside and come down.
And that’s where they make the they’re just trying to suck up to him because they depend on him with all the food stuffs, all the produce of Judea and they, they want him on their side and he’s mad at him for some reason. And so they declare this isn’t the voice of a man is the voice of a God Josephus.
The, the first century historian actually records this historic event. And he says, his statement is the people were crying. This is not a mere mortal. And at that moment, her who has stood against king Jesus long enough. Accepting the very praise of God to himself. God takes his life. And the story that Luke is recording is just saying this amazingly powerful man was vanquished by the true king.
There’s a last part of this sermon. I wanna focus on cuz I really wanna put some shoes to it, to us, the believers experience the power of king Jesus. Why you say well, because God sovereignly chose to. Yes, I agree with that, but why them? Why not us? This kind of thing. God chooses the seasons and the times when he is going to make himself known.
But it just seems so otherworldly to imagine. There are two things that I wanna highlight here. These people were utterly convinced of their desperation for Christ. You know, you think about this, that’s going on and, and, and you hear how, how, uh, herd has now come to Jerusalem. And he’s now, man, he’s really feeling it.
He, he, his, his realm is just expanding and expanding. And Judea is the center of his, his new realm. He’s only had it a couple years. He’s there in Jerusalem and, and he’s feeling it out. And he takes Ja. He doesn’t like what he hears about the, this Christian sect. And so he basically tries a trial balloon and he takes James one of the key apostles and he beheads him and, and he gets good response.
You know, people, they dig this. Do we use dig anymore? Sorry, all millennials. If you’re wondering what that means, it means they enjoyed it, but they, they, so here you are in the church and you say, okay, let’s get a protest going. I mean, let’s get out there. I mean, this guy obviously cares about public opinion.
We need to be heard, get some banners. Let’s do posters. Let’s go out let’s let’s Mar around Jerusalem and say, har, you know, there’s people we want, let Peter go. Let Peter go. Nothing might say, whoa, I, you don’t understand. Wouldn’t have worked. Yeah, probably not. But there’s no sense. These people thought of any other alternatives, but their natural go-to, they prayed.
They cried out to God. That they sensed. This is where our power is the power we read about. I mean, salmon Magus. We’ve talked about him in chapter eight. What he wanted of the church was their power. But I talked about the power that he wanted was a totally different type of power than he than was being offered to the church.
But they wanted the power that enables them to represent Christ, to see Christ alive through their lives. These Christians have seen the devil’s power. They had faced acute persecution. James was beheaded. They had recognized it. Isn’t going to be by winning the political war that they’re going to spiritually win.
It’s never been true. It’s never going to be true. The issue here was they needed to know there was only one real source that could help them. They needed got. They didn’t have plan B to go to the vitality of the church is always a result of the desperation of its members. The church of Jesus is always sickest when it’s members feel self-sufficient that’s of course, what, what John was saying in revelation chapter three, when he is talking to various churches, but he highlights the church of Leo DC.
And he says these startling words in verse 15 and following, I know your works, you’re neither cold nor hot wood that you were either cold or hot. So because you’re Luke warm and neither hot nor cold, I’ll spit you outta my mouth for you say I’m rich, I’ve prospered. And I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
You say, okay, mark. I, I, I hear you. I, I need to be desperate, but I don’t feel desperate. I need to pray, but I don’t pray. I know Jesus has been moments in my life where I’ve felt that, but, but I don’t pray this way now. You don’t pray until you feel desperate. I honestly, that I, I don’t see a lot of value in me standing up here and saying, you need to pray more.
You won’t, you won’t pray until you feel the need to pray. You won’t really seek God until you are compelled to go there. So, so what do you got for me, mark? I mean, yeah, there’s been a few times. I mean, am I supposed to, am I supposed to pursue crisis in calamity and catastrophe? I mean, I’ve had a few of those mark.
I mean, I, I remember when my wife got the report that she might have cancer. Remember when our business was, we were just trying to get it started. I, I remember when I lost my, my position. I remember when I first became a Christian and, and realized that people were, were, were not buying in and, and it was opposition to me and, and people thought I was crazy and all those times, yeah, I, I prayed.
Why cuz you felt desperate, you felt needy, you cried out to God, so, okay. What does that mean? Do we have to, do we have to hope that something happens to us to free you from your lackadaisical perspective? What do I do mark? Do I hope for a crisis? Do I pray for calamity for catastrophe? Is that what you want for us as our pastor?
I’ll tell you quite honestly, in some ways I do in some ways I do hope that for some of you. who are settling for a bla tasting unre, refreshing Unsal, uh, go with the flow meaningless Christian life that God will shake the cage, but there’s also something I’ll offer. That’s a little more positive. I think you can do what these believers were doing.
It is what was true of these believers. You can have an attitude shift about your life, and that’s the second thing we find. They were consumed with their calling from Christ. They were not distracted by settling for too little in their Christian life. Ultimately, they knew that God didn’t give them a job ultimately to make money for their family.
that ultimately God didn’t put them in the school where they, they went to for today. It isn’t, he put you in the college ultimately to get a degree in a school, to be educated on a ball club, to have fun at all those things come, but he puts you in the school and the college and the ball club and the office and the neighborhood you’re in because there’s a mission there because he has called you there, that the issue that he’s talking about, and you say, well, mark, I can’t add anything in my life.
I can’t start now being involved with my neighbors and trying to lead him to Jesus. And I, I, I don’t have, I don’t have no space. I’m already, I mean, it’s big. I’m here this morning because I’m overwhelmed with life. I’m not talking about doing addition. I’m talking about doing adjustment about adjusting our thinking and saying.
How did these Christians look at life? I mean, they’re just average. Joe’s most of them, the big wigs weren’t even at Mary’s house. And yet Peter went there because he knew these were people that would be laying hold of God.
These people saw themselves as representatives of Jesus Christ to their generation. They weren’t just going with the flow. I’ll guarantee you, if you say God, I want an attitude adjustment and how I do my job and how I look at my job about how I look at my neighborhood is how I look at the sports team.
My kids are that God, I wanna look at it as all parts of my life are. You have placed me there by sovereign intention, and I wanna be available to you. he will begin to open doors. He’ll begin. There’ll be things that will start to happen. You won’t have to, oh, I gotta add this. You know, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta now reshuffle my entire life.
No, you don’t need to add, you need to adjust. You need to rethink and what you’ll find as you begin to make yourself available to the Lord, you will have things to pray about. There’ll be opposition, there’ll be opportunities. There’ll just be things that begin. But the devil’s greatest cha the greatest issue that he uses in our lives, his threat is to just sideline Christians, Dietrich, Bonhoeffer wrote the book, cost a discipleship.
He was the man who he died at 39 years old in Nazi, Germany killed by Hitler. Dietrich Bon hoer. I was just reading him again recently. And I was struck by a statement. He said he, he made I’m gonna paraphrase it, but I think I’m pretty close. He said the concern I have with Christians is we tend to look at Christianity as it is a, it is a faith of the gaps.
Like when there are gaps in our life, the gaps he describes are things like weaknesses or guilts over our failures. He said, when we have those things, we tend to view that’s where God is involved in our life, in the gaps I need. And when I’m broke and when I’ve lost my job, when I get a scary medical report, when the economy’s bad, I, I, I want ’em to the gaps and I cry out to him when I’ve really screwed up with the internet continually.
And I can’t seem to give, then I begin to, I sense, oh, I need ’em in the gaps. but he said he isn’t God of the gaps. Yes, we are driven to him then, but he says, he is the God of the, all he said, he’s the God of our strengths. He’s the God of our energy. And in those moments where we’re not desperately feeling the gaps like, oh man, life is just terrifying to me.
Oh, I’m broke. And I’m worried. And you say, well, mark, I, I, no, I’m not really fueling those ways. And I don’t have catastrophe going and I, some of you do, but I’m not having, I don’t have all that. So I don’t know. I, I just don’t feel that fired up to pray. I don’t feel that fi and stop looking at God is only available to the gaps that he’s allowed you to be strong.
He’s allowed you to have energy. He’s allowed you to now, you don’t have to live. And in those moments when we’re just overwhelmed with, with heartache and struggle and, and crisis. man, what you’re doing a lot of your Christian life, just holding onto Jesus. Right? But what if you’re not there? What if you’re not in the gaps?
What if you’ve got energy and strength? Where is it going? God says, I’m giving you that opportunity. I’m giving you the season where you are available, but I’m the God of the strengths. I’m the God of the energy moments. I’m God who wants to be center of all your life. These people got it. So when the comedy time came, they did what they did.
They cried out to God, but this isn’t the first time these people prayed. The whole book of acts is they got together and prayed good times, bad times because they saw themselves as people on mission all the time.
They were just folks who saw Jesus was big and they were trying to glorify Jesus in their own lives and were convinced of the need to depend on him, to cry out to him in the gap seasons. And in the times of strength. What about us? We’re ending summer now. You’re all mad at me. If you’re even bringing that up, , we’re looking at a new year of life, settling into new rhythms.
What a beautiful time to say God, I wanna adjust the way I look at life. I wanna not have to wait for calamity in crisis to cry out to you. I wanna have you be God of my strengths, God, of my seasons of pro seeming prosperity. And you say, well, mark, look at the stock ring, stop it compared to where we are.
I’m not even gonna get into what the rest of the world, just, we’re not in desperation, we’re in strength. But John said in the book of Leo to see a boy, be careful, that’s a dangerous time because you don’t feel your desperation and you miss out on the power that is available to you just because you’re not in the gaps, but it’s a season when God can use you for his glory.
Lord, we look to you, God, we’re closing this service now. I want to thank you for quells story Lord, because it’s your story. Thank you for her willingness to exalt you, to praise you, to allow you to use her life as an instrument of praise to you.
Lord. That’s why you’ve brought all of us to you. That we’d be on mission that we see every part of our life belongs to Christ. So God do that, which it, you seem delight to do stir your people. God help us to be people that say not just in the gaps, Lord. But now today, tomorrow, show yourself strong in our lives and Lord buy your grace, bring things into our lives, whatever it means, whatever it needs to make us desperate criers for God in Jesus name.
Amen. Amen.