It's obedience that creates
freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from needing to know the
outcome before you take the step. If he doesn't get up, the chains stay on. If you
don't do what God has told you to do right now, God can't do what he's going to do
that you don't know he's going to do. God already intended to take his chains off, but
if he waits until the chains fall off to get up, he's never going to get up, because
the chains aren't going to fall off. "When I get my financial situation in order,
I'll tell you, I'm going to put God first, because I've heard about that and praising the
Lord and putting him first with the firstfruits of my womb and all of the things the Bible
says. I'm going to do it." No, you're not. Not if you won't do it with a little.
He who is faithful in a little… It's that first step. It's getting up.
Get up, and the chains will fall off. You say, "God, take the chains off, and I'll get
up." No. Get up, and the chains will fall off. I love this part, because there is no indication
in this text that Peter had faith to be free from prison. All he's doing is going through
the motions. Sometimes that's all you can do. Sometimes all you can do is come to church
and fake…I mean, faith it until you feel it. Most of us wouldn't have gotten
a miracle if we were in Acts, chapter 12. If we were in Herod Agrippa the
First's prison, we'd stay right there, because we wouldn't follow instructions
until we knew details. We'd be like… "Get up." "Why? Who are you? Let me see some identification. Is this
God?" No, no, no. He just got up. When you're in a place of rest, you're able to
respond without overthinking it. Just get up. Some of you all think too hard
when we're worshiping in here. You're thinking too hard. "I'm going to
see a victory…" I can't sing that. I don't know if I really am. You need to start
singing it so you can start seeing it, because faith is the substance of things
hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Remember the old Peter who argued all the
time? The old Peter would have been like, "Get up for what? Go out for what? I don't
understand. I was getting some sleep. Why are you interrupting my sleep? I'm trying
to get a good night's sleep. I have a big day tomorrow. It's a really important day.
I need to be sharp so I can defend myself." But he just did it in this place. In
fact, that's exactly what the Bible said. "'Quick, get up!' he said, and the chains fell
off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, 'Put on your clothes and sandals.'" He
has still not told him his destination, but faith is getting dressed even when
you don't know where you're going. "And Peter did so." He got dressed with
no destination. "Is this God? I hope so." No details. Just obedience. Knock, knock. "Hey, Peter, get up. Get dressed."
You know how God knocks? Just little things. And you know it's him. Just little things. The
littlest thing can happen. "Get up. Get dressed. Put on your cloak and sandals." To me, this whole
thing seems very small. "I don't mind getting out of here in my underwear if we're getting out
of prison. What am I getting dressed for?" But that's us trying to make sense of things.
This is a different kind of freedom. This is not a freedom that can be achieved in your mind.
"The angel said to him, 'Put on your clothes and sandals.' And Peter did so." Just that simple.
"'Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,' the angel told him." Notice what Peter didn't
ask. "Where are we going?" He just followed. "I'm just following grace. I'm just following
mercy. I'm just following, cooperating with God. I'm getting my heart in harmony with what he's
doing in this season. I'm coming into agreement and acceptance of the situation he has placed me
in step-by-step." You know the thing on your GPS where if you put it on… At least on mine. I use
Google Maps. It just tells you the next turn, but then if you click on it you can see
details, and that will tell you every turn. For somebody like me who has no sense of
direction, I never put on the details, because it would get me lost. I can't think seven
turns ahead. I just need to know the next one. "We all like sheep have gone astray."
All Peter has to do is the next thing. That's all you have to do: the next thing.
Anything else is too much right now. You don't have to be Peter to be in prison. You don't have to be some
important apostle to be in prison. Addiction is a prison. Depression is a prison.
You don't have to be Peter to be in prison. Mindsets are a prison. Rumination is a prison.
Trauma can be a prison. Isolation can be a prison. Never really engaging in real relationships
can be a prison. Hiding and concealing can be a prison. But if you've been in prison
lately, all you need to do is the next thing. You can't predict the path of your freedom.
You can only respond to the light you have that's shone in your cell. When Peter got up…
This is a very profound moment in Peter's life, and he doesn't know it yet. For all he knows,
he's just dreaming. He doesn't even know yet… Read it in the passage with me. "Peter
followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really
happening; he thought he was seeing a vision." Do you know most of the time you don't even know it
was God until after the fact? While you're in it, it feels so confusing and so uncertain, and
you're like, "I don't even know. I don't know what this is right now." It is only after you
have been through it that Romans 8:28 makes sense. Then you can say, "All things work together
for the good," but it's hard to say that in the process of it. Peter is just going
through the motions. He's just worshiping. He's just moving. He's just obeying. He's just
doing the next practical thing. Then he kind of has this moment. "They passed the first
and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city." Watch what happened
to the gate. "It opened for them by itself…" Do you know God will do for
you what you can't do for you? Y'all aren't going to clap for this one. But
he won't do for you what you can do for you. God opened the gate for Peter, but watch what
Peter did. "…and they went through it." They walked through it. The angel didn't carry Peter
through the gate piggyback style. Peter is too big to be
carried through the gate now. You have to go through it. Do you know how many
people who are listening to me preach right now are standing and knocking at
a door that's already open? The gate was open. You can stand there and knock
all you want, but you have to go through it. Every second we spend not going through it,
every second we spend wishing it wasn't there, every second we spend waiting for
something miraculous to happen, it already happened. The worst thing
that could happen already happened on the cross. It was already transformed
into resurrection power in your spirit. It already happened. It's already
open, but you have to go through it. When you go through it, that is the proof
that you trust God even while you're in it, that you stay in the fire,
that you stay in the furnace, and you still survive. He walked through the gate.
Now the power of God did not prevent the attack, but it protected Peter within it
and enabled him to go through it. "God is going to get me through this. I don't know how, I don't know when, but God is
going to get me through this. The gate is open. The way is made. Faith has already
provided for me the grace I need." "When they had walked the length of one
street, suddenly the angel left him." Now he has to figure out where to go. Suddenly, he wakes up, and he comes to this moment
that I believe we come to sometimes when God knocks on our situation or when the Enemy
knocks to come get us but God won't let him. He comes to this realization. He's like, "I've got
to go." I wonder what door he's going to knock on. See, it's really important that you know
where to knock when you're in trouble. That's how some of us got our hearts broken and
our minds messed up, because we knocked on the wrong door. Do you know what's really weird
about it? Sometimes we run back to the same door that disappointed us last time, knocking on
it as if there's anything inside. That's crazy. And Christians will do this.
They'll pray the Devil away, and when he knocks on the door leave it
wide open for him to come in and put out a fruit basket and welcome him as
a guest with a monogramed towel, just leaving themselves wide open to everything.
When you run around knocking on the wrong doors and the wrong people and the wrong patterns
and you keep going back to that place… It's very important that you know where to knock.
Thank God that Peter knew where to knock. See, he knew about John Mark's mother's house. Apparently,
this was the same place that they had been praying for James, and he knew if he would knock on
that door there would be some praying people. I want to say something to everybody who came to
church today. I don't know what your life is like right now, and I don't know what you need God
to do, but you knocked on the right door today. Everything you need is in the presence of God. God has what you need. The fridge is full. The bed is made. There's a prayer meeting
going on. There's a fire in the kitchen. Watch this. I have to show you something.
Peter said, "Now I know without a doubt it was the Lord coming into my prison cell.
It wasn't Herod's intention that brought me here. It was God's purpose. The Lord sent his
angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish
people were anticipating." Do you know what he was saying? "Herod
came knocking. He came to get me. It came to kill me, but it couldn't have
me. That's how I know God was with me, because it came for me, but it couldn't kill
me. It came for me, but it couldn't take me out. It came for me, but it couldn't have
me, and now I know that God was with me." Verse 12: "When this had dawned on
him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where
many people had gathered and were praying." Isn't it amazing that they were still praying,
still asking, still seeking, still knocking? Really, I don't know if I would have. If I
prayed for James and they cut his head off, I don't know if I would have
faith to pray for Peter. I think a lot of us pray for
things or hope for things or secretly wish for things we really
don't believe could even happen. We sing things we no longer believe really happen. We sing of freedom, but we learned a
long time ago to stop dreaming about it. Peter is out of prison, but they don't
know it yet, but they're still praying. Oh, that takes faith, man. It takes faith to pray
for Peter when you just lost James. It takes faith to believe in this situation. When you've seen
him move the mountain and you believe he can do it again it's one thing, but when that mountain is
still there and you have to pray about that one, this is a difficult moment. Yet it didn't stop
their prayer. It didn't stop their persistence. So, Peter shows up, and they're still praying.
When he got there (verse 13), the Bible says Peter knocked. This is Peter.
You all know Peter is loud. Peter is not knocking like Abbey. Peter is banging on the door, because they're still
looking for him. He just broke out of prison. You knock differently when you're desperate.
You pray differently when you know you need God. "Peter knocked at the outer
entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door." While they
were praying for Peter, and he's at the door. Their prayer request is standing in the
form of an answer on the other side of the door. Look at verse 14. "When she recognized Peter's
voice…" I think she recognized his knock. Nobody is knocking as loudly as
Peter. Nobody knocks like Peter. Nobody is persistent like Peter. Nobody makes it
through denying him three times and comes back to preach on Pentecost. "My failures taught
me persistence." Nobody knocks like Peter. Nobody knocks like the one who
knows, "Even through my mistakes, God is working miracles in this
moment." Nobody knocks like Peter. When she recognized his voice… "Hey!" "…she was
so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and [told the people], 'Peter is at the door!'"
"It's Peter, y'all! Hey, guys, it's Peter!" Rhoda is a 14-year-old white girl
in my mind. "Hey, guys, it's Peter!" Watch what they say. "You're out of your mind." Well, that's a compliment, because
my mind has been my prison all along. That's what I've been trying to get: out of
my mind. That's what's making me miserable: being in my mind, in my thoughts. For
his thoughts are higher than my thoughts, and his ways are higher than my ways. I'm out of my mind. Rhoda said,
"No, no." "When she kept insisting that it was so, they said…" Watch how much
faith they had. "It must be his angel." It was easier for them to believe Peter died and
his angel came to the door than it was actually him. Sometimes it is easier for you to believe
you are worthless; it is easier for you to believe it's over than it is for you to believe dry
bones can live again at the word of the Lord. "But Peter kept on knocking…" I
hear God saying to somebody today, "Don't stop knocking. You're at the right door." Don't stop knocking just because Rhoda
ran back and the people didn't believe. God can use even the imperfect faith of a
hurting church to break Peter out of prison. If you keep knocking, keep asking… I
know you don't have the answers yet, but now you're learning the questions. If
you keep seeking and you keep knocking, I declare, in the name of
Jesus, Peter is at the door.
