January 16, 2011 – The Shock of Answered Prayer
What would you do if you suffered some great injustice that wasn’t your fault? Would you hire an attorney? Get some publicity through the local news? Peter was arrested for no good reason and slated to be executed just to increase the popularity of a local governmental official. What could he do? His friends couldn’t hire an attorney or get local publicity. It wasn’t a free country; Jews had absolutely no rights.
What did they do? They prayed. They got down on their knees and fervently, insistently, and without stopping prayed night and day. And the night before Peter was to be executed God rescued him from jail miraculously. The rescue was so miraculous that those who prayed didn’t even believe it.
Do you turn to prayer when you are in trouble? Or do you exclaim, “Oh no, has it come to that?” Prayer needs to be our “first response.” Let’s learn the power of prayer. That’s what we’ll talk about Sunday. NOTHING is better!
The choir, directed by Andrew Dittman, will sing “Nothing Is Impossible, a powerful song about prayer. Steve Bayless plays the bass. You will love it. See you then!
To prepare, READ Acts 12:1-24 and Psalm 17:1-15
READ THE SERMON: The Shock of Answered Prayer