In this sermon, I emphasized the importance of prayer and its power to transform impossible situations into miracles. I highlighted the significance of praying for others, not just in thought but in action, seizing opportunities to pray with and for people in our daily lives. I also stressed the importance of praying over our surroundings, such as our church, our homes, and our communities. I shared personal experiences to illustrate the impact of prayer on individuals and how it can change lives. I encouraged the congregation to cultivate a heart of humility, giving glory to God for their blessings, and to pray expectantly, believing in God's ability to answer prayers in ways that may astonish us.

Key Takeaways:
- Prayer is a powerful tool that can transform impossible situations into miracles. ([01:18:10])
- We should seize opportunities to pray with and for others in our daily lives, not just in thought but in action. ([01:21:12])
- It's important to pray over our surroundings, such as our church, our homes, and our communities. ([01:07:27])
- Cultivate a heart of humility, giving glory to God for your blessings. ([01:10:13])
- Pray expectantly, believing in God's ability to answer prayers in ways that may astonish us. ([01:09:27])

Bible Passages:
1. Acts 12:1-4
2. Acts 12:23
3. James 4:2

Key Points from the sermon:
1. Prayer is a crucial lifeline for Christians, not just a religious ritual.
2. Prayer is a way to navigate through difficult times and seemingly impossible situations.
3. The power of prayer is not dependent on eloquence or length, but on faith and sincerity.
4. Prayer is not just a personal activity, but also a communal one. It's important to pray with and for others.

Observation Questions:
1. In Acts 12:1-4, what situation was the early church facing?
2. How does Acts 12:23 describe the fate of Herod?
3. What does James 4:2 say about why we sometimes don't receive what we need or desire?

Interpretation Questions:
1. What does the situation in Acts 12:1-4 teach us about the importance of prayer in times of crisis?
2. How does the story of Herod in Acts 12:23 illustrate the consequences of arrogance and lack of acknowledgment of God?
3. How does James 4:2 challenge our understanding of prayer and our relationship with God?

Application Questions:
1. How can we incorporate prayer into our daily routines and make it a lifeline rather than a last resort?
2. How can we cultivate a sincere and faith-filled prayer life, regardless of our eloquence or the length of our prayers?
3. How can we better engage in communal prayer, praying with and for others in our church and community?

Day 1: The Importance of Personal and Shared Prayer

Prayer is a vital part of our relationship with God. It is through prayer that we communicate with Him, express our gratitude, seek His guidance, and intercede for others. Personal prayer allows us to have a one-on-one conversation with God, while shared prayer strengthens our bond with fellow believers and creates a sense of unity in the body of Christ.

Matthew 18:20 - "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

Reflection: Reflect on your personal prayer life. Do you feel it is consistent and meaningful? How can you incorporate shared prayer into your routine, perhaps by praying with a family member or friend?

Day 2: Trusting God with Our Loved Ones

Trusting God with the well-being of our loved ones can be a challenging task. However, God's promises in the scriptures assure us of His love and care for those we hold dear.

Isaiah 44:3-4 - "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams."

Reflection: Can you recall a time when you had to trust God with the well-being of a loved one? How did that experience shape your faith and trust in God's promises, as stated in Isaiah 44:3-4?

Day 3: God's Judgment on the Arrogant

God's word warns us against pride and arrogance. The story of King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel is a stark reminder of God's judgment on those who exalt themselves above Him.

Daniel 4:37 - "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble."

Reflection: Reflect on a time when you may have been prideful or arrogant. How did that affect your relationship with God and others? How can you ensure humility in your actions and thoughts, remembering the story of King Nebuchadnezzar?

Day 4: The Power of Intercessory Prayer

Intercessory prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of believers. It is through such prayers that we stand in the gap for others, seeking God's intervention in their lives.

Ephesians 6:18 - "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."

Reflection: Who in your life needs your prayers right now? How can you commit to regularly interceding for them, following the guidance of Ephesians 6:18?

Day 5: The Role of Prayer in the Church

Prayer plays a crucial role in the life of the church. It is through prayer that we seek God's guidance, intercede for others, and express our gratitude for His blessings.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 - "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."

Reflection: How can you actively participate in the prayer life of your church community? Are there specific people or situations you feel led to pray for, as suggested in 1 Timothy 2:1-2?

1. "What one word best describes how you feel about prayer? Someone said connection, crucial, Lifeline, daily. Somebody said frustrated, somebody else said inept. Prayer is such a big subject." 33:21

2. "Get ready this week for opportunities that will come to you to pray for somebody else. I'm so thankful that I was talkable and I'm so thankful that I took time to pray with her. I'll never forget it, she wiped her tears, she said this prayer and this day it changed my life." 01:23:08

3. "Why don't we ask when a condition or a tragedy comes? Why is the first thing we run to see what the internet says about that, pick up a phone call somebody else and then we worry about it together instead of praying? You have not because he has not." 49:58

4. "Rely on prayer to navigate through difficult times. Some of you right now are facing impossible situations. But what if those impossible situations were really disguised as great opportunities for God to break through and to bring glory and answer some prayers and he gets to Glory." 51:48

5. "Some of you today need to break some agreements that you've made. Yeah, I may be anxious but I'm claiming the perfect peace to those whose minds are stayed on the Lord. That's what I'm agreeing with. I'm not going to come in agreement with death or depression." 44:12

Well, welcome! It's so good to see you here today, and those of you that are watching online, we've got people watching from Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, so many places. We just welcome you! If you're in this area, we hope you'll join us.

Father's House, would you welcome the church online that is watching with us today? It looks so good to see you here today. Just look around you and see all the wonderful people that are here, and we are so thankful for that.

By the way, after service, Commissioner Allen will be out in the lobby to answer any questions you have about the Blue Foundations 5K, and he'll give you a discount card for signing up. Just think about it: take a picture of this on Saturday and then show it to your grandkids and say, "They shut down the airport for me to run, walk, and crawl this 5K to make a difference!" All right, so it's going to be really, really good.

Well, if you have your Bible, turn with me to Acts chapter 12. But before you do that, let's make our confession today. If you have your Bible, your iPhone, your iPad, whatever you use, let's say it together:

"This is my Bible. It is the word of God. It is life to me today. I receive the word. I confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive, I am obedient, and I will never be the same again in Jesus' name. Amen."

Well, I really believe that this new series that we're starting, "When the Church Prays," is a time-sensitive subject that God is going to have us look at for the next several weeks. I think when we talk about prayer, there are a lot of different words and emotions that come up. For instance, this week on Facebook, we posed the question: "What one word best describes how you feel about prayer?"

Someone said "connection," another said "crucial," "Lifeline," "daily." Somebody said "frustrated," and someone else said "inept." I also asked people individually, and some people gave me some of these responses. What I find is that a lot of times when we ask a question on Facebook or somewhere else, we often answer that by what will make us look good.

So even though you may say "awesome," "daily," "wonderful," the whole time you're doing that, you think, "I suck." I'm just going to go in there right now, okay? Because you're saying all these things about prayer, but your personal prayer life is not measuring up to that. And guess what? You're not alone. Others said, "I don't understand how it works." Someone said to me, "Prayer is a mystery." Someone said, "I really want to do it better. I really wish somebody would help me to know that my prayers were really making a difference."

So prayer is such a big subject. You know, I thought, "Well, where do we start? How do we go even in the title of this?" So, you know, I went to where everyone goes as a great source of world information: Amazon.com. I typed in "prayer," and it brought up 136,000 books on prayer. Then I thought, "Well, I'll just one-up this." I went to the god of Google and typed in "prayer." 136 million web pages about prayer came up, 4 million videos on prayer came up, 4 million books on prayer, 6 million news articles on prayer. Wow!

So I thought, "Well, it's certainly not a lack of information." I mean, we're not living in a third-world country somewhere where you can't have access to some of those. We have access at our fingertips. So millions of books and thousands of hours of looking at something. So when we look at that, our problem is not that information. In fact, we've all heard sermons on prayer. How many of you have heard sermons on prayer? Look at that! Almost 100 sermons on prayer in our life.

We've taken classes on prayer. Anybody taken classes on prayer? Right? You've done prayer walks, you've attended prayer seminars, you've even written encouragement to others about prayer, right? All of those things. So I wonder then, why does it come down to the fact that we really feel like, "Well, I know prayer is real, and I know that God created prayer for us to communicate with Him, and we become His partners when we pray."

But why do I just feel like it's not hitting there? You know, it's like we used to say, "My truck's not hitting on all eight cylinders." You know, so it's just hard that it's there. I think really it's because the enemy knows and fears the weapon of prayer more than anything else. More than anything else.

I think about this: the disciples walked with Jesus every day. He taught powerful sermons, He healed lots of people, and when it came down to them asking Him what's most important, they said, "Jesus, would you teach us how to pray?"

And think about the Apostle Paul, extraordinaire! I mean, missionary extraordinaire! He writes over half the New Testament, and he says this: "Sometimes I don't know how to pray as I ought." I just don't know. But the Holy Spirit helps me. That's our theme verse for the next weeks. We're going to look at Romans 15:30 because I'm really titling this whole thing today about "We're Partners in Prayer." It's not that we're alone, but we're partners in prayer.

Here's what it says: "I plead with you because of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ, because we're both believers. I want you to be partners with me in your prayers to God." Look at your neighbor and say, "Be a prayer partner with me."

Be a prayer partner with me! Look at that! Paul's saying, "I want you to be a prayer partner with me as we pray to God, my dear brothers and sisters in faith. We love and we share in the Holy Spirit." Read this last line with me: "Fight alongside me in prayer." Let's say it again: "Fight alongside me in prayer."

So that's what I'm hoping today, that corporately as a church, we can look at one another and say, "You know what? I'm not in this by myself, but I want you to fight with me. Fight with me alongside me in prayer."

So if I read that right, then he's saying, "I realize that prayer is more than just me praying by myself." Some of you are great solo prayers. You pray those, and some of you don't even pray out loud. You're so good; you pray in your mind.

So many people say, "Well, I just don't pray out loud. I just feel a little nervous. I feel like I don't say the right things and do the right things." All I know is Jesus said this when His disciples said, "Teach us to pray." He said, "When you pray, say." So last time I heard, if I'm going to say something, it's going to be out loud.

So some of you who simply say, "Well, I just feel a little nervous about that," no! You want to start saying out loud, praying out loud. Start when you're by yourself, riding along. Pray out loud. There's no reuse doing it just by yourself.

So here's the verse: Matthew 18:19. "Again, I give you an eternal truth: If two of you agree to ask God for something in a symphony of prayer, my heavenly Father will do it for you." Notice what it says: it doesn't say if you pray alone. It doesn't say that. But it says if you pray with others in a symphony of prayer.

Look at this now; I'm going to help you out a little bit. It helps me, okay? If two of you agree, say the word "agree." That word in Greek is "symphonio," from which we get our word "symphony."

So let me tell you what this is really saying: there are different instruments that, when put together, bring a greater level of harmony, and the sum is greater than the parts. In other words, we have some great musicians up here. Aren't you thankful, God, for our new musicians? Yeah!

And we have a new musician up there today, Molly. Boy, I love your smile, Molly! You look like you enjoyed worshiping. Thank you for using your gift. I know there are others that have gifts, and you need to get on your gifts, all right? Because God wants to do something special in your life.

But I think about that: Molly or Matt or any of them could do a solo, and we'd say, "Wow, that's good!" You know, I mean, Matt brings up these old country rock and roll things from years ago, and somebody says, "You know what song that was?" I said, "No, tell me what it was."

And then when they tell me, I say, "Oh yeah, I like that song! Sure, that's it!" And they can do all that. But isn't it amazing when you have the drums with Jared, and you have the other bass, you have the other accompaniments, you had the harmonica? Who ever thought about a harmonica? Isn't that crazy? That's awesome!

Wonderful! Pull it together! You think, "Oh man, it's like that's so good!" You see, there are some masterpieces that you can never appreciate outside of hearing it played by a symphony. And that's what Jesus is saying. That's the word that He's using here. He said, "If you'll bring your individual prayer and someone else's individual prayer, and you will come into a symphony, whatever you ask according to God's will will be done for you."

So maybe one of the reasons is that we've just been praying by ourselves, and we haven't understood the power of when the church prays together. He says when you come into agreement.

I just feel like I need to stop for a moment today and ask: Who are you in agreement with, and what are you in agreement with? I think sometimes somebody says, "Well, yeah, you know, that's a big issue you have in your life right now, and I've known four people who died from that sickness, and you know, you might as well get things in order because I think that's it."

And then you begin agreeing with that, thinking, "Well, I talked to Bertrude." I use that name because I don't think anybody's named Bertrude. And Bertrude said, "14 people died with what I've got, so maybe I'm..." So we begin to agree.

I'm going to tell you, some of you today need to break some agreements that you've made. You need to break some agreements that you've made. Yeah, a little anxiety, but you know what? I'm not claiming it. You see, here's what you do: we claim things as "mine." "My addiction, my cancer, my anxiety, my depression." Why are you claiming things that He doesn't want us to claim?

Yeah, I may be anxious, but I'm claiming the perfect peace to those whose minds are stayed on the Lord. That's what I'm agreeing with. I'm not going to come in agreement with death or depression. You need to break some of the agreements that you've made.

Well, you know, in our family, we've had 14 divorces in our family. Everybody has cancer in our family. It seems like we got a generational curse that comes down the line. Today is the day to say, "You know what? I'm not coming in agreement with that anymore. We may have had divorce in our family, but it ends with me. We may have had cancer, but it ends with me."

In fact, I didn't do it in the first service, but I feel like we need to break some of those agreements right now. So I'm not going to embarrass you. I'm not going to call you out. I'm not going to tell you anything. But if you feel like in your mind when I said that a few minutes ago, you said, "That's it! You hit something! I'm agreeing and coming in agreement with something that's not mine, that shouldn't be mine. Why have I said it's mine? Why have I said it's my depression?"

So if there's an area in your life where you say, "You know what? Today I'm going to break the agreement with that, and I'm going to start agreeing with God about what He says about me." If that's you, if there's an area that we can help you pray about today, I want you to stand to your feet right now because I want to pray with you.

I felt like just a minute ago the Lord said, "You didn't do it in the first service, but you need to do it this week." We're going to break the power of agreement that you've said, "Well, I guess, you know what? I'm going to probably die young like everybody else. You know, my dad died at 76, and here I am 73. Wow, three years! I better count it down, man!"

Things work. No! I'm going to live beyond that! I'm not accepting that! I'm not accepting that! I've got the greatest doctors I know of. My doctor is here in the first service, and he tells me stuff. But after he tells me stuff, because he knows what he needs to tell me because he's smart, I use doctors. It's part of the process. But then he'll say, "Let's pray about it."

I'm telling you what I know, but we also know that there's a God that comes in. So I say, "I agree with that; I don't agree with that one, but I agree with that one." So I don't know what it is for you.

Oh man, I just feel this right now. I don't know what that is, but I want you to just pray this prayer with me:

"Father God, You just thumped my heart about the power of agreement, and I've been agreeing with something that doesn't agree with Your word. So I break that agreement with the world, with all the bad reports, with what somebody said to me, and I ask You to cleanse my mind that I can agree with You and the power of Your word.

I am victorious. I am the head and not the tail. I am more than enough. When I pray to You, You answer my prayers. It doesn't matter what I'm going through, but You're going to bring me through what I'm going through because You're still sitting on the throne.

Any area of my life where I believed a bad report, I believe today with Your word today changes it all. I'm going to walk in Your healing. I'm going to walk in Your victory. I'm going to walk with a renewed mind in the truth of You, Jesus."

Now, if you claim that, give Him a hand clap and say, "Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!" Come on! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! I break the power of that. You may be seated.

And it happens exponentially. Deuteronomy 32:30 says, "If one can put a thousand to flight, two can put ten thousand to flight." That means I stand alone, and in my prayer, I can put a thousand to flight. But when I come in agreement with Edwin this morning, that means I can put ten thousand demons to flight.

I'm not a mathematician, but some of you figure it out today and let me know. Six or seven hundred adults come on a Sunday morning. Imagine what would happen when we put our prayer together and stand. It says when the church prays, not the individual alone, but when the church prays.

I want you to turn to Acts chapter 12. In that, we're going to look at some lessons that we can learn today. But before we do that, let me give you this quote from Ian Bounds. I'm just going to skip it because it's so long, but I just got to go to that back then.

Look on the sky Bible: "The life of the church is the highest life, and its office is to what? Its prayer life is the highest life, the most fragrant, the most conspicuous. When God's house on the earth is a house of prayer, then God's house in heaven is busy and powerful in its plans and its movements.

From my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, says our God. Then His earthly armies are clothed with triumphs and spoils of victory, and His enemies are defeated on every hand. The very life and prosperity of God's cause, even its very existence, depend on what? Depend on prayer.

And the advance and triumph of His cause depend on one thing. Say it with me: that we ask of Him. You said you have not because you asked not. So why don't we ask? When a condition or a tragedy comes, why is the first thing we run to see what the internet says about that? Pick up a phone, call somebody else, and then we worry about it together instead of praying.

You have not because He has not. So why don't we ask? Well, Terry, I just don't want to ask wrong because I heard somebody say if I ask more than once, I'm asking in lack of faith. That's not true! Well, I guess then that person that knows everything about prayer should go back and read the Bible when it says that Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane went back and prayed the same prayer again.

He prayed the same prayer again. So I know people get us off, and we get in this quandary that, "Well, I just, if I can't do it right, then maybe I should just back away and hope that somebody prays about it." No! What if you are the missing link? What if you are the one that God wants to motivate today that you need to be praying with the church?

And sometimes it's not what we talk about this next week, and sometimes it's not always the long prayers. Sometimes it's that short prayer but with intensity and truth, right?

So Acts chapter 12. If you're taking notes, here's what you need to fill in:

**Line one: Rely on prayer to navigate through difficult times.**

Rely on prayer to navigate through difficult times. Some of you right now are facing impossible situations. Impossible situations. Maybe it's in your life, maybe it's in the life of your kids, maybe it's in the life of some of your employees, maybe it's in life somewhere else, but you're facing some impossible situations.

If that's you, would you raise your hand? Say, "Yep, I'm identifying with that. I've got some impossible situations." So I'm glad I'm teaching the right people today. But what if those impossible situations were really disguised as great opportunities for God to break through and to bring glory and answer some prayers, and He gets the glory?

I'm telling you, listen to me today: reprogram your mind. This is not an impossible situation; this is a great opportunity for me to agree with the church in prayer and see it as a symphony as we pray together and see how God can answer this so we can give Him the glory and the praise. Amen? Amen!

So let's look at this: verses 1 through 4. "Now about that time, Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church, and he killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded farther to seize Peter also. Now it was during the days of unleavened bread. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison."

That's where some of you feel like you're in today—in prison. "He delivered him to four squads of soldiers." That's 16 soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after the Passover. 16 soldiers, 24 hours a day, two of them are tied, chained to Peter, who's in prison. So there's never a chance that he could escape.

But this story is not about escaping. If you're praying for an escape, you're praying the wrong thing. God's not the God of escape; He's a God of deliverance. He's a God of deliverance.

Now, when we read Herod here, we can get confused because there's a lot of Herods in the Bible. It's sort of like Smiths; there are a lot of Smiths. All right? The most infamous Herod was Herod the Great, who tried to kill baby Jesus. He was quite a study in sociology. He murdered three of his sons because he didn't want them to take the throne from him. He married 10 wives and killed most of them. He killed other family members.

This guy in this story right now in Acts is his grandson, Herod Agrippa. So as he was a young man, his dad was killed. This Herod, so he was sent to Rome to be educated. He became friends with Caligula. Those who studied Roman history know that wouldn't be the greatest person to be hooked onto. Herod Tiberius was the emperor at that time, and Herod made the comment to several people, "I wish Tiberius were dead and Caligula were the emperor because he would know how to do things."

Well, when Tiberius heard about it, guess what he did with Herod? He put him in jail. He chained him up and tied him. Six months later, Tiberius died, and when Caligula was enthroned upon the throne, he set Herod free. He had a gold chain made that weighed the same as the chains that had bound Herod while he was in prison. He gave that to him and then sent him back to Jerusalem to be over all the Jews and take care of everything there.

Well, Herod didn't make the best friends while he was in Rome, but he understood that if I persecute the Christians and if I appease the religious Jewish system, I'll probably last because Rome will like me. So he picks out James, one of the leaders of the church, and he had him executed. And he saw that it pleased the Jews, who would please the Romans.

So now he's arrested Peter, and the next day he's going to take Peter's head off also. But when I read this passage, there's something I notice. Did you catch it? A church that prays, but a church that there's no mention of prayer about James.

Now, I don't know if the church was praying or not, but Dr. Luke, who wrote Acts, didn't say anything about the church meeting together corporately when the church prays. Maybe John, James' brother, was praying. Maybe his mother, I don't know. Maybe two life groups were praying, but it doesn't say the church was praying.

Sometimes we get in our mind because we've heard people say this: "God is sovereign, and everything happens is God's will." So if you get sickness, it's God's will for you to get sick. If you're going through a storm, it's God's will. It's God's will. And then if it's His will, that if it's His will to heal you, He'll heal you.

That's interesting because it's not biblical. He is sovereign, but there are things that happen when we pray. There are things that happen when we pray. When the church prays, for instance, God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. How many of you believe that? Because it's a scripture. But how many of you believe everybody's being saved? No!

So what is it? There is where we partner in our relationship with helping people, sharing the gospel, and also praying for them. When the church prays, when the church prays. So don't fall into that, "Well, if it's going to be, it will just be." It's not. No! Pray about it! Does it line up with God's word? Pray in that! Pray in agreement!

**Number two: Prioritize prayer. Let prayer pray first.**

We say around here, right? Don't reach for the aspirin bottle or the Tylenol and then pray. Parents, lay your hands on your kids. Begin teaching them that you believe in divine healing. Don't let the first thing be, "Oh, Mom, I got this rash right here."

"Okay, let me go to Facebook, see what somebody says. Look at that picture of that rash. What is it? Well, that's too much, and 14 people's legs fell off." No! Let's start teaching our kids, "Well, we'll check that out. We'll do everything we need. We'll go see the doctor if we need to, but first of all, we're going to pray. We're going to give God a chance to work a miracle."

We're going to give God a chance to show you as a kid what He can do in your life. When you become a teenager or when you become an adult, come up against something you don't know what to face. How about church? We prioritize prayer, and we pray first, right?

So look at this verse: 5. "Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant, earnest prayer." See that? Earnest prayer was offered to God for him by the church. See, some of you are trying to fight spiritual battles in yourself and using the internet. You're not going to have a breakthrough like that. You're a spiritual being with an earthly experience, and prayer is your weapon.

It said they prayed earnestly. What's that word earnestly mean? It means passionately. It means with some exuberance, all right? I mean, it was not like, "Okay, now I lay me down to sleep. Thank you, Lord, for this food we eat." You know, we say all this, and we did our prayers, and we're a million miles away.

Sometimes people say prayer is communication with God. I'm going to share with you in the next couple of weeks, prayer is more than communication with God. There has to be a connection. There has to be a connection with you in your mind, in your heart, in your spirit with God as you pray for prayer to work because it's not just a genie in a bottle.

Is that a song? Oh, sorry. Knowing me, it's probably not a good song, so forget about it. Fast forward! Prayer is not just this hocus pocus. Hocus pocus, you say to your husband, "You will be a good husband," and hocus pocus, he doesn't become a good husband. It's more than that. Do you hear what I'm saying?

**Prioritize prayer.**

Look at verses 6 through 11. "When Herod was about to bring him out that night, Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers, and the guards before the door were kept in prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and the light shone into the prison and struck him."

Literally, it means it says it kicked him. He kicked him! He's laying there asleep, and I mean the presence of the Lord is in the room. Peter's sleeping. He's not nail-biting. He's not checking his internet posts to see who else was in the condition like this. He knows that James was killed just a few hours prior. He's sleeping!

So the angel has to kick him on the side and raise him up, and he says to him, "Arise quickly!" Look at that! The chains fell off of him. He didn't even need a key! You think you've got an impossible thing for God? Come on! Measure it up with the truth, with the word, and then the angel said, "Well, come on, tighten up your clothes. Let's get out of here. Put on your sandals. Put up, follow me."

So he went out and followed him, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but he thought he was seeing a vision. Like when our prayers are answered, we think, "Well, how could this be?" You know, I think we need to get over that.

How could this be? And begin to give God thanks in everything and know that when I pray, I'm expecting the chains to fall off. I'm expecting the door to open. I'm expecting to walk out victoriously, right? [Applause]

You got outside, the angel departed from him. When Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectations of the Jewish people."

Chained to two soldiers, and know they're going to take your head off tomorrow. I mean, and we say, "I just can't sleep at night. I'm worried about this. I've taken three of these pills and four of these. Do you know something else? Do you have a hookup for me that you can get me off something off the street that might help me right now?"

You know, I'm just so... We put our confidence in a lot of other things, right? But how can he sleep at a time like that? That's why we need to balance the scripture because in John chapter 21, just a few weeks prior, Jesus looked at him and He said, "Peter, you're not going to die till you're an old man, and when you're an old man, you're going to be crucified upside down."

So Peter is in prison, hooked to some soldiers, should be worrying, but he doesn't worry. Why? "That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed, stayed on the Lord."

So Peter says, "Oh, well, do I believe what I see? Do I believe that I'm in prison? That's real; I'm here. But is this all I see?" Remember last week's teaching? Is this all I see? No!

Okay, so maybe tomorrow, maybe God's going to do something big like going to take me out and put my head on the chopping block, and they're going to sever my head, and it's going to pop back on. I don't know what he was thinking, or maybe he was thinking, "Well, you know, something's going to happen here."

Whatever it is, but he was kept in perfect peace because he trusts in the Lord. Listen, some of you need to hear this: peace is not the absence of trouble but the presence of God. Peace is not the absence of trouble, but it's the presence of God.

Can you sleep through your storms? Can you sleep in the midst of all of that?

**And number three: Pray expectantly.**

When you pray, do you expect an answer? I mean, do we just say prayers? When we first started our church, in fact, just to let you know right now, you're sitting in the seat of some miracles.

We first came to the city almost 30 years ago to start our church. We tried to find a place to rent, but it's hard to find. We finally found a place, the old Shoney's hotel, and then the Women's Club, and then we were able to get a piece of property over in the Boulevard, and then God helped us to get this piece of property.

But as we were starting, we had a lot of people ask us questions about when we were a new church startup. "Okay, what are you guys going to do? How long are you going to be here?" And then also, they'd ask that question a lot: "How long are you going to be in this town?"

Finally, one day I said, "What do you mean? How? I've asked this question; it's come up several times. How long are you going to be in this town?" They said, "Well, because we've had several churches start, and we help a pastor get it going, and then he leaves us and he moves to a bigger city. We helped the TV station, Channel 55, start here in Leesburg. We financially helped them; we gave them a place to start. You know what? Then they up and they took it to Orlando. So how long is it going to be since you just leave because you don't own property? You don't have an investment in this community."

So we said, "Well, we need to do something about this." Couldn't find a place; it's an impossible situation. So we came up with this thing: 10 at 10. We prayed at 10 A.M., 10 minutes, 10 P.M., 10 minutes, every day. And that very week when we started praying, God opened up a piece of property for us to purchase on the Boulevard, and then He helped us sell that church and helped us carry the note for another church to buy that church.

We came here in the middle of a cow pasture and prayed beyond the cow patties and did everything else, and then in '02, we moved into this building that you're sitting in today. And it only happened because of prayer!

I wasn't smart enough to make it happen. When I go a lot of times when I travel now, I go to a lot of places where there are pastors that are just starting and doing, and they say, "Okay, well now tell us how you did this and how you did that."

And I have to just be honest and say, "Time out! I'm not your guy for that! I'm not your guy to tell you about a lot of methods. I can tell you what works for us, but here's what I know that worked: we came into a city that we didn't know anybody but a few people that we just met a few hours ago, and we came about that, and we came across a place that nobody wanted to rent any properties to a church."

We came across that. I'm telling you, the reason that we're here today and we have these services that we have, we have the great building next door, it's because this is a church of prayer. That's how we started; that's how we will continue. And God is calling us back to that place again when the church prays.

So look at verses 12 through 17. "So when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John." Verse 13: "And Peter knocked on the door of the gate, and a girl by the name of Rhoda came to answer. And she recognized Peter's voice because of her gladness. She did not open the gate but ran in and announced, 'Peter's at the gate!' And they said to her, 'You are loony! You're out of your head!' No, it's probably his angel. He's probably been severed from his angel."

But she kept insisting, "No!" And they said, "No, it's his angel. It's not Peter! What have you been doing? We've been praying about an impossible situation. He's at the door!"

"Well, can't be! Can't be! This thing's never happened like this!" So Peter continued to knock, and when they opened the door, they saw him and were astonished. But motioning them with his hand because they must have been really carrying on, now he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

And he said, "Go tell these things to James and to the brethren." And he departed and went to another place. And I know some of you are really thinkers, and you're thinking, "Okay, tell me what was the other place that he went to?" I don't know!

What are you praying for? And when God answers it, you know it! Let's just cut off all the nonsense. There are times we pray prayers, and we do our best at believing, right? Yes! And then when the answer comes, we say, "I never thought this would happen! I never thought I'd get this job! I never thought I'd get that beautiful, good-looking woman there that's been my wife! I mean, I made way over my head! I never thought that God would answer such a prayer like that!"

Isn't it time that we get beyond being astonished by answers to prayer, that we become grateful and thankful for every prayer, but we don't discount how big God can work in our life? It's time to pray expectantly.

**And number four: Cultivate a heart of humility, giving glory to God for your blessings.**

I don't think the early church said, "Oh, how awesome we are! Let's open something else because we're so great at praying!" But I think they just said, "Oh God, we just thank You! We thank You! We thank You! We thank You!"

You see, when the church prays, God often does more than we ask. Ephesians 3:20. Read it with me: "With God's power working in us." Notice, "in us," not "in me," but "in us." When the church prays.

And listen, don't discount—I'm not discounting your personal quiet time. I have my personal quiet time; I pray. But it's also I have times that Anita and I pray together in the mornings. Husbands and wives, you should never leave the mornings without you praying.

I know some of you have weird schedules, and you get up at four o'clock, and you don't want to wake your wife up at four o'clock. But just tell her, "I prayed over you before I left this morning," okay? And she'll pray for you. You don't want to cause Tim to have marriage counseling this week because you woke somebody up.

You know, there's a lot of phrases that came through my mind, but I refuse to say every one of them right now. Don't diminish that! And gentlemen, don't leave all the praying to your wife. "Well, I let my wife pray because she says prayer is better."

Okay, who's reading who in heaven? Where does it say in the scripture God is sitting up there with a rating number, and He's reading, "Well, Anita prayed about an eight there, Terry, there's about a three, and I'm giving him grace at that."

God knows some of you have a bigger mouth than others, and God knows some of you say a lot of things out of your mouth without thinking in your brain, and you could pray if you were drunk. In fact, I've seen love-drunk people pray!

God's not rating you! But here's what happens: sometimes we pray a prayer, and we say, "Okay, in our mind, we say I'm really believing, but I really don't know how it's going to happen. I raised my kids to serve God; now they're far from Him. And when I talk to them about God, they just stiff-arm me."

They'll know teenagers now; they're young adults now; they're doing all that. So I don't know that, but here's how I do: we come back and we put them in the hands of the Lord, and we trust Him. And then one day, you'll be prominent in your life group, and you'll say, "You will not believe it! You know my son Hector? Hector's been asking about church! I would have never believed it!"

Can we get to the place that we know and understand that God, as His people, wants us to pray? So we need to pray. We need to be...

Let me tell you, God does more than what we could ever ask. Remember, at first, it was like Herod's causing problems. But in verse 23, it says, "Look at this! You got to see this! That was the last straw! When Herod now lifts himself up and he says, 'Worship me because I am worthy to worship!' And then this is what God says: 'That's the last straw! God had had enough of Herod's arrogance and sent an angel to strike him down.'"

Herod had given God no credit for anything. Down he went, rotten to the core, a maggoty old man if there ever was one. He died. Josephus, the church's Roman historian, actually talks about this in history, and he says that Herod got what they call a dog worm, which came through handling feces and different things and meat not taken care of.

And it's worms that actually begin eating out your insides. So graphically, Josephus and some historians talk about this, that the worms literally ate up his insides until he collapsed. Overly, and he right out of his butt came all these worms, and it was a horrible death—so unprofessional, unkingly.

You see, he was taking all the glory to himself, but the church was giving God the glory. And look at verse 24: "Meanwhile, the ministry of God's word grew by leaps and bounds."

Please listen to me! I know you have a quiet time, and I know you pray, but I'm asking us to listen to this call: be prayer partners with me as we pray. Join our prayer and praise group on Facebook. You see it right there? Just got to pull up on Facebook, "Prayer and Praise," and you see the join the group.

Even Tim and I are members of this, and we're Yellow Page guys. But people from all over, not just here at the Father's House, will text and say, "Going through a real crisis right now, and I'm reaching out for prayer for somebody to help me pray."

And it won't be 10 seconds before somebody on "Prayer and Praise," Joe and his team will say, "Hey, we're praying for you! God's got you! God's got you!" That's an opportunity for you to be involved.

Another opportunity is with the Brotherhood prayer walks. Another opportunity to be part of Celebrate Recovery on Monday nights, where people get together, and you're not by yourself, but they surround you with the love and the hope of the Lord and with prayer.

Get involved in a life group! I'm believing and hoping there will be a lot of life groups this fall on prayer, and I'm hoping that we'll spend as much time praying in our life group as we do eating. When life group comes around, some of you gain 10 pounds.

There's nothing wrong with eating, but please pray! It's a life group! Pray in our life group! A bunch of men that say, "Hey, you have a need? I got this need!" Right? Renee, Renee says, "Hey, would you guys pray with me about this? Agree with me!" And nobody says, "Oh, that's beneath us!"

All the guys who say, "Hey, we're going to pray with you!" And throughout the week, they'll send you a text: "Hey, Renee, how you doing? Checking up!" That's the church that prays! That's the church that prays!

How about our Thursday prayer team that prays here? How about our intercessors who pray every Sunday after church and sometimes between services? You see, if you have that desire, you want to learn more about prayer, just put that on your connection card: "I need more information about prayer."

I'm telling you, Pastor Tim's going to hook you up with the right person, and we're going to help you with that. I told Andrea today, I said, "You guys practice well every Thursday night. How awesome would it be if we had some people who really loved the worship?"

And maybe you're like me; you can't carry a beat, and you have no rhythm, but you really love what happens on Sunday with our praise and worship team. I told Andrea, I said, "Andrea, would it bother you if we invited some people in to come and pray on Thursday nights?"

This door is open right here. She said, "No! We're talking about you coming and praying over these seats, stretching out your hand and praying over them." Not going up to them and giving them 14,000 prophetic words. You know, somebody wants a platform for a ministry. No!

We're talking about soaking this team in prayer, and I'm sure that they would all agree with you. There are times they get up here, and they don't feel like it. Like in the first service, I almost passed out! They bring me a chair out! You know, just my doctor said I wasn't hydrated.

Renee, I know! Drink water! Drink water! Right? But how awesome would it be to saturate this room on Thursday nights with prayer? Lisa said if somebody wants to come, we'll open up next door.

What an opportunity! Pray over the state-of-the-art building that you can't go into on your own because they got cameras, and we do blood background checks, check everything else. We see if your blood goes back to Adam or Eve. We'll check you out before we let you in there next door.

We have maybe some on a Sunday; we have some 100 kids. Can you imagine you being a prayer warrior walking through that building on Thursday nights, praying for our wonderful teachers? We got wonderful teachers at KCLC! To our wonderful people who serve on Sunday morning when they rock those babies, maybe they're rocking a future missionary.

Maybe they're rocking a future pastor—your replacement, Tim! Maybe somebody right now is rocking that baby, and only when you get to heaven will you know that your prayers made a difference when someone says, "I don't really remember when I got to heaven. The Lord told me I was in a rocking chair over there. I didn't even know it. I came from a split home; our parents didn't turn to church together, but there was a lady, there was a man in that chair that rocked me and prayed over me.

And when they prayed that prayer, God put something in my heart, and I want to give back to the world. I want to make a difference with my life."

You don't want to miss one Sunday of this series. Next week, we're just going to go old school, and we're just going to go simple: "Prayer for Dummies." Not that we're dummies, but I just want to dumb it down—not try to make it something out there you can't reach.

But if the scripture says, "My house shall become a house of prayer," I believe the Lord wants us to know how to do that. Our job is to be obedient; His job is to answer those prayers.

So look at your guide. So here's some next steps: commit to completing Growth Tracker on the first, second, third, and fourth Sunday because they'll help you recognize the importance of prayer. Establish a prayer return.

And let me say this: get ready this week! Get ready this week for opportunities that will come to you to pray for somebody else. I was in the hospital Monday for some tests, and the nurse who was doing all my blood work, she found out I was a pastor, and she said, "Well, what did you preach yesterday?"

And I'm thinking, "Thank you, God, that I can remember!" Because can I be honest? Some Mondays, I don't believe everything I have said. I mean, I believe what I said, but I don't remember what I said, okay?

So thank God I could remember, and I shared it with her. And when she finished poking around, couldn't get my blood thing worked, she had to go over here. She said, "This is not an accident that I'm your nurse today. I'm facing one of the biggest situations I've ever faced in my life," said, "and that scripture helps me."

And then she left, came, and then came back in a few minutes. She said, "I know this is not professional, but could I just ask you? Would you pray for me?"

Now, I got to be honest: grumpy old me on most days when somebody has said, "Tell me what you taught yesterday," I might give you a Reader's Digest version of it because I don't want to talk anymore, okay?

Some of you come up on me at times; I didn't want to talk, and you've given me grace and just let me be like that. But I'm so thankful that I was talkable, and I'm so thankful that I took time to pray with her.

I'll never forget it! She wiped her tears; she said this prayer, and this day it changed my life. Then she came back later, and then she came back later and said, "Could I just give you a hug?" I said, "Sure! Sure!"

And she walked out of the room. I knew I was going to teach us today, and God told me to tell you people to get ready because there's going to be opportunities for them to pray.

You're in Publix; somebody comes up, "Hey, how you doing?" "Well, I've been going through a real crisis." Don't just say, "Well, I'll pray for you." Stop and say, "Would you mind for me to pray with you right now?"

And you don't go grab the microphone out of the office and say, "Now hear this! Everybody stop what you're doing! We're going to pray right now for this need!"

How many answers to prayer have been overlooked because we just said, "I'll pray for you," and then we never do it? But what happens if we stop in Publix, stop at the job, stop at the game, stop at the gym?

Stop it! You're the boss; you got employees; they're going through a crisis. You try to tell them what to do, read a book. I want you to say, "Hey, do you mind? I just pray for you."

You know, I've never had—I've had people that don't believe in God when I ask them, "Can I pray for you?" Because I think everybody down deep on the inside has a desire to pray. Even atheists, when they hit their finger with a hammer, they don't say, "Oh me!" They say, "Oh God!"

On the very inside of them, they got this desire to pray. I hope all that made sense, and that makes sense to you today. If it did, give the Lord a hand clap!

Let's bow our heads.

Lord, we thank You. We thank You, Lord, that You've called us to be partners with You in seeing impossible situations become miracles for Your glory.

Lord, we as a church pray today: teach us to pray. We as a church commit these next several weeks to understanding about prayer. We ask You, Lord, to help us just do it, leave the results to You.

And Lord, I pray today if there's anyone here that's never invited You into their heart and into their life, I pray today would be that day.

Let me lead you in a prayer for those of you that today would say, "Today is the day that I want to surrender my heart to the Lord." Pray this prayer with me:

"Father God, thank You for sending us Your Son Jesus to die for my sins. I ask You to forgive me of the life I've been living. I want to be focused on You. I believe You died for my sins, and You rose from the grave on the third day to give me a fresh start, a new beginning.

As best as I know how, I want to serve You all the days of my life. In Jesus' name, I pray."

Church, would you celebrate with me today with those who prayed that prayer with us?

In just a moment, we're going to stand and sing a little bit more of a worship song. We go out with praise and worship. Our prayer team is coming down front to pray with you. If you prayed that prayer today and gave your heart to the Lord, go to the first steps table over here. We got a Bible and some materials to help you.

And remember, don't miss next week! It's going to be amazing! God bless you! Let's worship God!