Acts 12 - How to Get God to Hear Me

good morning sandals Church man I'm glad you guys are here today I don't know if you guys like to read but I'm addicted to reading and learning and one of the things that fascinates me is that NASA and all the billions of dollars that we spend on things that they do and one of the things in America that we spent billions and billions of dollars on is listening I don't know if you know this but we said we have all of these huge huge microphones that are tuned into the universe listening we send out signals and we're listening for signals and this past week nASA has announced for the first time in human history we believe that we have recorded discernible sound coming back to us and so once again scientists are in a in a frizzy all over the world asking this question are we alone in the universe when the Bible has said for thousands of years no no you're not alone and I want you to know that you're not alone that you're not a cosmic accident okay okay there's no such thing as accidental children there's just accidental parents you are not an accident you were planned by God you are made by God and you don't have to spend billions and billions of dollars to hear from God God will listen to you for free and we're gonna talk today about how to get God to hear you because there's gonna be a time in some of your lives where you need God to hear you it could be man you don't know whether you're supposed to date or not right big decision you don't know if you're supposed to go to school or not you don't know if you're supposed to you know get married or not have kids or not take this job or not there's gonna be times in your life or maybe it's a life-or-death situation when somebody that you love is sick or dying or dead and you need God and you need to hear from him okay and this is this is how to call 911 today and just know that God is gonna hear you so I don't know where you are but I want you to know this no matter where you are god hears you no matter what you're going through God hears you and we're gonna talk today about how to amplify your voice to be assured that God hears your requests in your time of need so let's begin with a time of Prayer and just ask God to bless your ears my word so week here his truth let's pray together Heavenly Father God we thank you so much for the truth of who you are God we need to hear your words and God I know that you want to hear from us and so I pray that today we would know beyond a shadow of a doubt God that you hear us so teach us today Lord from your word from Acts chapter 12 how to be heard by you we pray this in Christ's name Amen so let's take a look at Acts 12:1 the church needs to be heard by God two things are going to happen today in the message one of the most famous apostles in the Gospels is killed there's two really really famous guys in the Gospels their brothers their names are James and John they got like WWE wrestling names they're called the sons of thunder pretty cool right the sons of thunder James and John and their excitable guys when they go into a town and Jesus isn't received they asked Jesus this do you want us to bring lightning down from the sky and strike these people dead these are the kind of people James and John are now John the younger brother he'll mellow out as he gets older and he will live almost to a hundred years old and he will write the Gospel of John first second and third John and he defines himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved James is not going to live that long James is beheaded 15 years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ for his faith and the church is going to respond to that and the church is not only going to lose James but they're afraid they're gonna lose the Apostle Peter whom Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church and so the church finds itself in a situation where they got to cry out to God and they need to be heard by God because all of a sudden not only are Christians being persecuted but the very apostles the very foundations upon which the church is built they're being killed and they need to be heard by God so let's take a look at acts 12 verse 1 it says at that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some of the believers in the church he had the Apostle James that's John's brother killed with the sword when Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people he also arrested Peter now let me give you a little quick history on why he would be so interested in pleasing the Jewish people here's the number one answer Herod is not Jewish he's not he's from Greek ancestry and he is put in power his family is put in power by first the Greek government and then the Roman government now Herod comes from a long line of Herod's this is not the same Herod who killed all the little babies in Bethlehem that's his grandpa his grandpa was a nasty dude so nasty that his grandpa killed his dad okay literally when he was seven years old so this Herod and his mother fled to Rome and he went to elementary school in Rome and he grew up with little guy in elementary school named Claudio and Claudio eventually became the Roman Emperor now Herod didn't do so well in life he was a womanizer he was bad with money he struggled in life he was an idiot but he had a good friend named Emperor Claudius right and so Emperor Claudius puts him in power and makes him king over Israel and you can imagine you think our candidates for president are knuckleheads you can imagine if you know Britain just sent somebody they wanted off the island to rule us right and that's what happens and so he comes over so he's not Jewish he's an idiot the Jews don't like him and so he discovers hey this makes them excited now let me say this the Bible is not anti-jewish and unfortunately throughout history Christians have read this passage and become anti-semites they become racists against Jews you need to remember Jesus is a Jew the Twelve Apostles are Jew the vast majorities of Christians at this point are Jews this is a schism in the Jewish community they do not represent all Jews okay just like Democrats don't represent all Americans and neither do Republicans there's a political schism and so there's a group of Jews that do not like what's happening in Christianity they cannot stand it and they want it shut down and so like a lot of politicians Herod sees political opportunity and so he seizes it and he kills James and they get excited he says okay well have Peter arrested too and I'm gonna kill him as well the problem is it's Passover now most Christians do not celebrate Passover because we now call it Easter Jesus Christ dies on Easter weekend and he raised from the dead when Passover is over on Sunday morning and we remember the Resurrection during the Passover weekend and so we celebrate it not as Passover but as Easter because Christ rose from the dead but it's the most famous Jewish holiday and so they're celebrating the holiday weekend and so Herod can't kill you know Peter on Christmas weekend or Easter weekend and he says all wait till Monday and I'll kill him so until that time check this out he says throw him in prison look at verse 4 he imprisoned him and he placed him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each ok now Taylor Swift fans she didn't invent the term squad squad means four so four squads means 16 soldiers why would he put 16 soldiers around Peter if you don't know your Christian history Christians can get a little slippery when arrested and or crucified and placed in a tomb so you want to make sure that they stay where they are because sometimes even killing them isn't enough to keep them where they need to be and so right he wants to make sure that Peter stays where he stays so he gives sixteen guards to watch over Peter so that he can kill him on Monday and by the way if you're a guard under Roman law if your prisoner escaped you as the guard suffered whatever penalty they were going to suffer so these sixteen guards are motivated to make sure that Peter Peter dies on Monday morning so he intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover verse five but while Peter was in prison the church underlined this prayed very earnestly for him they prayed very earnestly for him so isn't this interesting James is dead he's beheaded the Bible doesn't say anything about mourning for James it doesn't say anything about preparing for burial for James the church doesn't mourn whatsoever for one of their most charismatic dynamic leaders the church rallies together not for the person who's dead but for the person who still has a chance at life I want you to notice here that the church doesn't rally together and worry any professional warriors in here your spiritual gift right I'm a worrier I am so good at worrying I do the Church doesn't worry what they do is they pray they go to God because they understand this is out of their hands they understand that they need God they understand that without God Peter's dead this is over and it's so sad and so tragic in life that many of us as Christians the very last thing we think to do is pray now this week in college football opened up okay I'm a trojan fan difficult weekend this weekend clearly our team is possessed by something I don't know what's going on but do you know that at the end of the game when you're in absolute desperation and you have to win they throw a pass and it's called a what Z my no it is it's called the Hail Mary think about this what that means is you have no chance whatsoever and so you're gonna cry out to God and throw a pass and hope he answers wouldn't it be better to pray before the game maybe pray during the game maybe repent at halftime confess your sins rededicate everyone's life to the Lord maybe the third quarter the fourth quarter but what is it about the last play of the game where we say God we need you that's just the way we are as human beings we work through every single process some of you your marriages need a Hail Mary but no first thing you're gonna do is see a lawyer because those are helpful next thing you're gonna do is maybe you'll see a counselor that might be helpful you know next thing you're gonna do you're gonna talk to friends on Facebook the last thing you're gonna do is pray and that's so tragic and so sad and I want you to see here that the church rushes together to pray because Peter needs help now this is where the story just gets fantastic and if you're new to Christianity or you don't know your Bibles that well it's gonna feel like an episode of Harry Potter but I assure you this is what happened because magic may not be real but God is and God moves and God does amazing things verse 6 the night before Peter was to be placed on trial he was asleep any would anybody sleep through the night the night before you're gonna be beheaded okay I can't even sleep on airplanes I went to India last month and as we flew over the nation of Iran it was in the middle of the night I was awake the whole night simply staring at this video screaming in front of me with a picture of our plane represented as a dot as we flew over Iran why because the Persians are a little Notty unless of course your Persian I'm glad you're here but your relatives make me nervous that's all I'm saying so I'm saying I got some crazy relatives - so welcome Iranians I'm glad you're here but the whole time man I'm like oh my gosh we're gonna get shot down we're gonna get shot down we're gonna get shot down I am a worrywart man okay that is my spiritual gift the only person that worries more than me is my wife she worries about my worrying that's that's where she is notice Peter's asleep he's on some like Massiah melatonin I don't know what it is but he's like I got to get a good night's sleep I'm gonna be headed tomorrow so he just goes to bed it's interesting this is the same guy who would later write in his letters known as first Peter and second Peter he says cast all your cares upon the Lord for he cares for you everything you're worrying about this guy says throw it to God and take his sleep take it down conk out man I I can't even sleep in the car I can't sleep on planes Peter's gonna be beheaded the next day and he's as he's asleep but it gets even worse the night before Peter was placed on trial he was asleep underlying this fastened with two chains okay with two change between two soldiers guys ever been to a men's retreat sleeping in the room with other men is almost impossible men sleep like bears they wrestle things in their sleep it's bizarre not only is he in the room with other guys but he is chained to them that's awkward unless you're into that and we have counseling for you it's bizarre right okay I would not sleep well chained to two men in a prison cell at night you know in a hall what's Peter doing he's like I'm out and he's just sleeping while these two soldiers are chained to him once again why because Christians have a habit of escaping so other guards stood guard at the prison gate verse 7 suddenly there's a bright light in the cell okay this is the way angels appear man it's glorious a messenger from heaven it's like literally the brightest light you've ever seen appearing in this darkness but the angel shows up glorious and Peter's like I mean he's unmoved absolutely unmoved don't you wish you could sleep like Peter I mean this would be amazing chain between two dudes and angels in the cell right it's crowded it's crazy Peters snoring there's a bright light in the cell and the angel of the Lord stood before Peter underline these words no one knows exactly how to translate this it says the angel struck him he may have kicked him hey hey God is in your midst wake up knucklehead I mean he has to strike can you think that you sleep that deep that an angel is standing before you and they're kicking you get up get up I mean this is like a teenager on Monday morning trying to get up for school I mean nothing can wake this person it's like they're dead come on get up get up get up so he's struck in him to awaken he said quick get up and the chains fell off his wrists and then the angel told him get dressed and put on your sandals okay why cuz we can't have a naked apostle run around the streets he's like get some clothes on which is just bizarre I would have remained clothed if chained between two men that's just me maybe he didn't have an option right maybe he didn't have an option but the angel says get your clothes on put on your sandals and he did he says now put on your coat right I mean it's like Peters to put your shoes on now your shirt now your coat you know the Angels totally irritated at this point and he says now follow me the angel ordered so Peter left the cell following the angel underlined this but all the time he thought it was a vision anybody ever had a dream that was so real so incredibly real that when you wake up you're like oh God thank God Oh anybody had that dream just me anybody ever have a dream that your spouse cheated yeah I have that dream I wake up and I just wait for Tammy get up don't get up get up we're gonna talk about what you did right she wakes up she's like what I'm like well we're gonna talk about what one night man I woke up in the mellah night and I had a dream somebody was trying to get in our bedroom our bedroom door opens to the outside of our house or one of the bedrooms does and I wake up and I realize it's not a dream somebody's rattling the door yeah I freaked out so I jump out of bed ready to pounce with all my manliness and I realized someone's not trying to get in our bedroom someone's trying to escape our bedroom and it's my wife she's sleepwalking and she's at the door and she's rattling the door and I go what are you doing and she's like I gotta get I'm like why she's like there's a bad man in here I'm the bag man and you know why that is listen to me ladies listen to me this is free this isn't in the message okay my wife watches Lifetime TV where all these people get murdered in weird ways and you know who it is it's always the husband the husband always does it I come into the bedroom 10:00 10:30 at night my wife's wrapped up in her you know I don't know who did it I go I know it was a guy now sleep tight you know and then I hear okay so sometimes right we have dreams that seems so real we're thankful when we wake up like huh so Peters not sure you know I mean this is a bizarre night it's not every night that you go to sleep chain between two dudes and a prison cell this is a new experience for him so he's not quite sure what's happening but he thought it was a vision he didn't realize it was actually happening so they passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city I mean the Angels just literally somehow God has put asleep over everyone and nobody can wake up and he's just leading Peter out check this out he led him to the gate leading to the city and this opened for them all by itself in that cult God just like and it opens and suddenly the angel left him Peter finally came to his senses it's really true he said the angel of the Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and all that the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me when he realized this he went to the home of Mary the mother of John Mark this is the guy who wrote the Gospel of Mark who traveled with the Apostle Paul and Barnabus in the book of Acts he says he went to his house where many there had gathered for prayer why are they there praying in the middle of the night they're praying for Peter to be released so he goes there and he knocked on the door of the gate and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it now I want to meet Rhoda in heaven and I'm gonna tease her for all eternity okay cuz here's Rhoda they're all praying right for Peter to be released Peter shows up knocks on the door Rhoda goes to the door to answer it ceases it's Peter she's so excited she runs and leaves Peter standing outside right she freaks out she freaks out she runs and she tells everyone inside Peter is standing at the door listen all these super spiritual Christians verse 15 you're crazy see many times world more asking for a miracle we are so in the business not of not expecting to move were so shocked when he does move we can't even acknowledge it how sad is that you're out of your mind you're crazy you know what there's let me translate this for you it's too late that's stage 4 cancer God couldn't do a miracle they have brain damaged God can't bring him back all that marriage is over it's done with it's finished God could never revive that love oh you're financially wrecked forever this is what we tell herself you were out of your mind God can't help your situation guess what he did you're out of your mind when she insisted they decided well it must be his angel we would say this it this way well it's his ghost so you know what they're saying not only are you wrong but apparently Peters been killed in prison and this is just his ghost waving to us on his way to heaven these are Christians people of faith this is who changed the world okay they have doubts just like you do just like I do meanwhile where's Peter he's still outside hey guys hey I'm Peter the Apostle let me in when they finally opened the door they saw him and they were so Gleek Swartz amazed amazed so let's talk about how to get God to hear you number one God hears me when I recognize my need for God enough to vocalize it now some of you studied anthropology anthropology is the study of humans and one of the things that just boggles anthropologists Minds is how did human beings learn to speak you know how you learn to speak you learn to speak because your parents spoke to you language is something that we learn when it is spoken to us by someone else so here's the question right it's like what came first the chicken or the egg who learned to speak first someone had to speak to us the Bible says God spoke to you why would God teach us to speak the answer is he wants to hear your voice he wants to hear your voice I got to recognize God my need for God enough to vocalize it some of you will say this and you're Christian you're super spiritually like well God already knows what I need so I don't have to ask listen what James says you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it you don't ask God wants to hear your voice your voice your requests now we have some missionaries from sandals who are back here for the summer and they've been staying with some people in our church and we've got the opportunity to have them with us for the last two weeks and they got little kids and this weekend my wife and I we sent both of our girls off to college and I'm just really really sad and bummed you know and I miss Mike I'm incredibly happy for my girls that they're in college but I'm also deeply sad and so our friends have two little boys and they have one little girl and I just um fallen in love with her she's two and she is the cutest thing you've ever seen and so the other night I'm in bed and I hear this little voice this little voice crying from somewhere in our house okay and she's so cute she's manipulative right she gets what she wants and I am completely destroying her parents parenting because I'll give her whatever she wants because she's awesome and I hear this voice in the middle of our house in the dark daddy daddy I'm in the dark and I like I will come save you when I get on my horse and I'm riding through the house I will save you right her dad doesn't care but I care right know he was outside counseling another member in our church you know doing the Lord's work while I was sleeping and um but I go you know and I'm trying to find her and I just thought what a great picture man what a great picture of us with God I'm not even her dad and I care about her your father in heaven is your father and he cares about your voice and he's waiting for you to acknowledge you're in the dark and you need his help say God daddy my marriage is in the dark my fine are in the dark the doctor says my life is in the dark and God will come to you and he will listen to you and he will hear you but he's waiting for you to speak it he's waiting for you to use your words right what do we tell children use your words use your words why do we say that because we want our children to learn to communicate with us Psalm 77 1 says this I cry out to God yes I shout that God would listen to me you know there's something happening in America that's quite embarrassing for us as Christians in America today all across the United States Fortune 500 companies are building rooms in their offices for Muslims to pray did you know that do you know why companies are building rooms for Muslims to pray during the day because they demand it how sad is it that us as Christians have never ever asked hey I need a place to prayer now we've got a place to smoke but we don't have a place to pray think about how different your work environment would be if people knew that periodically throughout the day you stopped to pray think about how different your work environment your house your home your family life would be if people knew you were praying think about that just taken you don't have to pray forever the Lord's Prayer takes 15 seconds to say 15 seconds why why would God teach us to pray in 15-second intro in increments cuz he knows we have a TD he knows it you have to pray forever but you do need to pray and you need to go before God and say God I need you so let's talk about barriers to crying out to God first one your fear you're afraid you're afraid of being embarrassed you're afraid God won't cure you you're afraid it won't work so there's no three fears I'm afraid that God won't hear me I'm afraid people will make fun of me I'm afraid it won't work and why is that because we've all had a James in our life we've all seen somebody die we've all had an experience where we prayed for our marriage and it didn't work we prayed for our finances and we went bankrupt we prayed for someone to survive cancer and they died and you know what's so tragic we stopped praying because we're afraid I want you to notice here that James is dead but the church still prays the church still prays and here's what's so sad some of you don't pray for your second marriage because you say it didn't work in my first marriage some of you don't pray for your second child because you say it didn't work for my first some of you say well I'm not gonna pray for my finances or my job because last time I prayed I got fired how silly is that you know what you're saying is as a Christian your life is hopeless thank God the church didn't say well you know what James died so it's in God's hands they knew it was in God's hands but you know what they did they still prayed they prayed for the release of Peter and they experienced a miracle how sad would that be if you're missing out on a miracle because you didn't get what you wanted one time or it didn't work out the way you thought it would and so you never ask God again do you know how many people I meet that are that way well I prayed once I prayed once and it didn't work we're gonna talk too about that at the very end but I just want you to know you got to move through your fear look at this verse Psalms 42 three day and night I have only tears for food while my intimately enemies can continually taunt me saying where is this god of yours you know what the psalmist is saying he's afraid his prayers aren't working that's in the Bible in the Book of Psalms the psalmist is praying saying God I don't think this works where are you we got to move past that because God is there next my pride my pride keeps me from praying and I want to speak to the men some of you are like you know what you you you just believe you can do it on your own I can fix my marriage really how did it get where it is I can fix my finances I can pick myself up by my bootstraps about a year ago man you know I love my son but he can be a little bit prideful I don't know where he gets that from right it's his mother no it's me it's me and we went snowboarding anybody ever been snowboarding or skiing okay and if you've never been like snowboarding basically trying to get on one of those boots it's like it's it's I mean it's it takes a rocket scientist to figure out how to get them on and then the shoelaces require an ox and a mule to pool so that you can get them as tight as they need to be and my son's a little guy and he's sitting there and he's working on it and he can't do it and I'm just waiting I'm just staring at him you need help he's like no I'm like you need help like no I can do it on my own I'm like you know there's really nice beautiful snow outside and we've paid a lot of money and we would all like to get on the mountain he's like I got it on my own and finally he's like fine you can help me and then I'm like no but you know that's how we are some of us are like a little boy I keep to it on my uncle find god help me save my marriage fix my finances right and God's like oh thanks for asking listen what the Bible says if my people and you have to decide are you God's person if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves you know the number one reason people don't believe in God it's not because they lack faith it's because they're prideful that's why they don't want to admit they need God if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face face and turn from their wicked ways I will hear from heaven listen this is a promise if you humble yourself God says I'll hear you from heaven and I will forgive their sins and restore their land let me translate this I'll bring healing I'll bring healing if you would just humble yourself but there's two parts so my fear keeps me from praying my pride and then my sin so let's read that verse again then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways you know why many of you won't ask God for help because you don't want God to change your life you don't want to ask God into your relationship because you know there's sin in your relationship you don't want to ask God into your finances because you know you don't honor God with your finances you don't want to ask God to intervene in your business because your business doesn't honor God and you won't repent of your sins God says humble yourself ask for help and oh by the way repent of your wickedness and here's the beauty he says then I'll restore unto you what you need now here's the good news as Christians it doesn't matter what you've done it doesn't matter how you've blown it it doesn't matter how badly you've sinned Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins and the Bible says we can come boldly before the throne of God in our time of need because of Jesus we don't have to be afraid we don't have to be afraid yeah you're a screw-up you're welcome you know we're all screw-ups we're all idiots we've all blown it we've all blown it number two you want to hear from God then I must rally others who love Jesus to my cause first kings thirteen six this is the king jeroboam he's king of the northern tribes of Israel he says in the King said underline this to the man of God where did he go to the man of God he says entreat now the favor of the Lord your God and what pray for me why is it that we're all so afraid to ask for others to pray for us some of you wives you haven't told your husband what's on your heart you haven't invited him to pray with you some of you you have you know you're single you got best friends you haven't told anybody what's going on some of you are students you haven't told your parents you haven't invited other people to pray with you why are you doing that listen when other people pray with you it amplifies your voice to God now it's not just one child crying out but his children are crying out and the Bible says God hears us God hears us let me tell you something man the past month my wife got so irritated with me let me tell you why because I went to India and I haven't been able to go the bathroom right for a month okay this is what she told me she says I need you to do something for me I said what babe she says I need you to stop talking about poop stop talking about poop stop telling people about poop it's embarrassing I need you to stop I said I'm gonna tell everyone about my poop until God heals me okay literally took out heals me I had a woman a random woman literally lay hands on my belly and started praying for me and my daughter was like that awkward I was like who cares who cares okay I want healing I want healing I want it better right I want to have a bowel movement for Jesus that's what I want to have why do I tell everybody because I want to be healed I want to be healed his poop embarrassing yes I was talking with somebody else said yeah I had to go give him a poop sample that's fun go to the hospital hey I'm here drop off something you want this and the nurses are like ah I'll put that over there with that guy I got some feces from India yeah my wife's like you're disgusting I'm like no I'm spiritual you know this weekend and it's in on a serious note I had a friend of mine who called me on the phone because his wife left him and as we're talking on the phone I said where did this come from how did this happen he said all she told me six months ago she was thinking about leaving I said six months ago why are you calling me now you know what he said I was embarrassed what's embarrassed least listen it's a whole lot easier to pray for somebody when they're sick than to pray that God brings them back from the dead so why don't you pray before the marriage is dead why don't you pray you know what it is because we don't want to share our crap see what I did there poop story crap brought it all back it's a master communicator right there you appreciate that on the way home all right Simon said pray for me Ephesians 619 this is the Apostle Paul wrote half the New Testament underlying these words pray for me pray for me while Peter was in prison the church prayed do you know the Lord Jesus Christ on the night that he was crucified he asked the disciples to do two things first one watch you know that means stay awake how they do not good remember peter has sleeping issues he says watch and guess what pray let me ask you this question if Jesus Christ when he was tempted needed prayer how about you how about you are you Jesus are you more holy than Jesus are you more spiritual than Jesus I don't think so I don't think so and here's the thing man religion makes us embarrassed and we don't share what's really going on you know mother Teresa is probably one of the most famous Christians in the last 50 years and after she died what we began to learn about her in her journal was her struggles with faith how sad is it that a person is spiritual and is faithful and as lovely as Mother Teresa how sad is it that she felt that she could never tell anybody how she struggled even people as spiritual as mother Teresa failed to follow Jesus in requesting prayer would you pray from here here's a woman who spent her whole life for others when in reality we know for decades she was lonely and needed people to pray for her you ain't mother Teresa and you're certainly not Jesus ask people to pray for your finances if you're struggling anxiety depression if you're battling lust sex addiction whatever it is look ask people to pray for you get as many people to pray for you as you can that's why you need to be in a small group that's why you need to be in a community group where you say you know what our marriage isn't great I Got News for you lots of marriages aren't great lots of marriages lots of people have crazy kids look around how do you pray for my kids wife there's a devil heck no your son can't be the devil because my son is the devil and you can pray together and pray for your crazy kids pray for your finances pray for your stress and we got to learn to do this because it's amplifying our prayers to God last point I must prepare myself for his answer and not my own now I love my kids and they're fantastic but sometimes they fail I know that's hard for you to understand but this last week my son had a major major failure he talked to his mother in a way that made me want to send him to Jesus right it's like God he's your son I'm gonna send him your way so you can heal him my son was so mouthy so mouthy to his mother that one of his sisters okay growing up with sisters who love Jesus is dangerous one of his sisters got in his face and his sister made him write all of proverbs 31 out in a letter of apology to his mother because proverbs 31 ends with these words her children will rise up and call her blessed amen yeah I came home and you know I told him I said it's a good thing you wrote out that Scripture because I was gonna bless you with these hands you know what happened to my son my son temporarily forgot who's in charge see he is a 13 year old young man all knowing thought he was the parent and he spoke to his mother in a way where he forgot who he was talking to you know it's Christians we need to remember who the parent is and it's God and I Got News for you so here's the question don't send this question in the debrief why did God let James die and save Peter you know what the answer is I don't know he just God doesn't consult me hey Matt you know I was thinking I was thinking I mean that's what politicians do right politicians get test groups in they bring every anybody in you know how does a Hispanic feel how does a black person feel how does a white person feel and that's why we get these fake people God doesn't do that God makes the decisions that are the right decisions and they may not make sense now but one day we know that they will be right Psalms 52 excuse me 57 - I cry out to God Most High to God who will fulfill his purpose for me what is God going to do God is going to fulfill his purpose for me so God's purpose for James was over God's purpose for Peter was not James time was up Peters wasn't it doesn't make sense it's not fair they both followed look man I don't know why some people live and some people die but I know this God calls me to pray upon him because sometimes he will intervene and he will change something miraculously he doesn't promise that he will always do it job who probably suffered more than anybody said this he said I can take it from my mother's womb and I will be naked when I leave the Lord gave me what I have and the Lord has taken it away do you know what happened to job he lost everything his kids died his animals died his house got knocked down his wife his encouraged er his partner said curse God and die anybody been in that marriage right curse God and die that her advice this is what got this is what job said the Lord gave and the Lord took away blessed be the name of the Lord why because God's good god is good look it may not work out the way you think it's supposed to work out now but God will fix it in the end and I'm gonna close with this thought and we we had a family lose a two and a half year old a couple weeks ago at Sandals Church to cancer it was rough I went over there I got to meet with the family broke my heart broke my heart to watch their little girls suffer so bad in the Bible King David of Israel loses a son to Bathsheba Bathsheba's it eventually becomes his wife but she's not at that point but they lose a son listen to this David refuses to eat while the baby's sick David refuses to be comforted he refuses to bathe he doesn't put on clothes he prays to God night and day for his son to be healed his son dies do you know what David does he takes a bath he eats a meal and he celebrates and everyone in the kingdom goes what is wrong with our king you know what David says he says this while my son was alive I prayed for his health now that he's gone I know he's with the Lord and I will join him one day I will see my son again and God will make it right listen you may not get what you want now but in Christ the Bible says God will restore all things to us David says I'm going to see my son again I'm gonna hold my son again and he trusts in God why the Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord if you want God to hear you he needs to know that you know he's gone and he needs to know you know you're you we cry out we pray we ask but in the end God decides and that's worship God isn't just good when we get what we want God is good even when the answer is no listen sandals Church we need to be a praying church the world needs Christians that are committed to prayer your families need you to be committed to prayer our community needs us to be committed to prayer and we need to go to God and we need to cry out to God because we know we know that he says he hears us the blessing of prayer is not that you get what you want the blessing of prayer is that God hears your requests he hears you he hears you he listens to what you need and you are so blessed so blessed call the Oval Office see if Obama will take your requests good guy but he's not gonna listen to you God does God does your great and mighty king in heaven listens when you call he hears you let's pray Heavenly Father God we are so thankful that you hear us when we pray and when we cry god I don't know what people are going through but right now wherever they are I pray that they would cry out to you that they would call upon you Lord regardless of their fear their pride their sin whatever it is that they need to work through God right now if they need prayer for their marriage if they need prayer for relationships something emotional that they're going through their finances whatever it is god I pray that they would just call out to you and say God I need you in this situation and god we know that you will hear us father I pray also that we would have the courage to get in community groups and to share with others what it is that we need God our prayers are more powerful when we pray together help us have the confidence to do this we pray this in Christ's name Amen

Channel: Sandals Church

Views: 10,163

Rating: 4.7793102 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 6omEah6rYm4

Length: 42min 10sec (2530 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 04 2016