In Case Of Emergency: Break This | Pastor Shane Idleman

Where we find ourselves this morning, the title is, In Case of Emergency, Break This. In Case of Emergency, Break This. And it's been a few weeks in Acts 12 still, of course. But I wanted to really camp out for a little while, and that's where the message came from a few Sundays ago, when your world falls apart. And then the dark night of the soul. And now, in case of emergency, break this. Make sure you listen to all three of those. Believe it or not, I came across someone who's actually putting those messages down on paper, and I'm going to turn them into a booklet or an article for the church. Each message is about 13 or 14 pages. And so we're editing those because the content is so important on trusting in God's sovereignty. And if your world hasn't fallen apart yet, just keep living. If you don't know what the dark night of the soul is, just keep living. Christians are faced with enormous challenges. And we really have to just trust in God's sovereignty. And obviously, in case of emergency, break this, the message is on prayer that the early church prayed. And I want to submit to you that although that's a catchy title,

you don't wait until an emergency to break this. Prayer should be part of who you are. Part of your life and your lifestyle. It's really the heartbeat of a Christian. I believe it was Ian Bowne said, when faith ceases to pray, faith ceases to live. It's our heartbeat. It's who we are. And it's not just a quick prayer here and there. It's a church that prays and worships and looks to God's Word. That's the three-fold cord or whatever, the strand that is not easily broken. So let's look at Acts 12. We are going through verse by verse. I do it a little bit differently because some things really pop and I want to camp out sometimes. And it's usually on the rabbit trails that have the most benefits to the congregation. They say, that spoke directly to me. And I'm like, well, it did me too, because I just thought of it this morning. God put it in my heart, I believe. Acts 12, 5-17. So remember, Peter's in prison and he was kept in prison. Here's an interesting word, but constant prayer was offered to God

for him by the church. So while Peter sits in prison, the church prays. They do not know the outcome. They do not control the situation, but they refuse to do nothing. They refuse to do nothing. So as you're going through, we've got handouts. Give your kids a dollar if they can fill in all the words. Keep them interested. And you'll see throughout that there are some important words that come out of this. And that word is constant. And it's interesting, in the Bible, prayer is called wrestling. Prayer is called, and it uses terms such as fervent. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. Prayer is fire. It's called agony. It's labor. It's striving. So this is why it's difficult for us to have a prayer life. It's not just some, let me just put this aside

and let me just sit here and be bored. Most people feel that boredom because they don't realize it's a wrestling match with the satanic realm. There's an agony. There's a laboring. There's a striving because your flesh doesn't want to do it. So that's where the battle is. But once you overcome that hurdle and you say, come on flesh, we're doing it anyway, and you have that breakthrough. Many of you know about the breakthrough. Many of you don't. And I want to encourage you to just keep seeking God and that breakthrough will come when prayer actually becomes more important than food. It's the breath you must breathe in the morning. It's that time with the Lord because you've been refreshed and renewed with God. And your heart's right with Him. And what stifles prayer more than anything else is sin and pride and a critical heart

and contention and bitterness. All these things. The sick heart keeps us away from the prayer closet. And you can tell when that has drifted into your heart, you become cynical. You become kind of cranky. Have you ever been there? Attitude. You're not real fun to be around. You're upset. It's because when the Christian loses their prayer life, they lose the spiritual life that keeps them living and vibrant and healthy and filled with joy. But praise God, you can get back this morning. You can just say, Lord, I need to get that back. Lord, I need to get that back. I love what Ian Bowne said, men would pray better if they lived better. Boy, let that sink in. Men would pray better if they lived better. You could reverse that. Men would live better if they prayed better. They go together. The greatest hindrance to a strong prayer life is a lack of holiness. The old saints, 1700s, 1800s, a lot of those old books I have,

that was a pivotal message was that life of prayer and holiness. And this is not a Pharisee type of holiness. This is a type of holiness that says, I don't want to do that because I love my prayer life and I love my relationship with the Lord. And the more I seek after God and want to live that life, the stronger my prayer life becomes. And that's when you really will see a lot more answered prayers. When you're in right alignment with God, your prayers aren't missing because you're asking amiss. How you might spend it on your fleshly desires. Anybody ever change their prayer halfway through? And you realize, Lord, just whatever You want. I'm being selfish. Lord, even if this doesn't work out. You're praying for a job. You're praying for a job. You know what, Lord, even if this doesn't happen, what do You want? Because your heart's changing. It's lining up with the character and nature of God. Because He's your pursuit. And so what happened, King Herod is about ready to bring Peter out to kill him. And that night, Peter was sleeping. Okay, you see my bullet point here? Who'd be sleeping?

You know you're going to die the next day. And it's not lethal injection where you just fall asleep. It's pretty brutal. And you're sleeping. How is that possible? In between two chains, between two soldiers, and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him and the light shone in this whole prison area. So Peter's sleeping. Now he could be exhausted. I don't know, I don't want to read. I mean, the Bible doesn't say exactly why, but I have a tendency to believe it's because he's trusting in God's sovereignty. When you've seen the risen Savior, you're going to sleep in the midst of, or maybe he's ready to go see his Lord. As you get older, do you ever say, come Lord Jesus? The body falls apart and you're like, come Lord Jesus. I am ready. I am ready. Many of you know I got a root canal pulled recently, completely. I didn't realize what I was getting into. And then they're like, and next we want to get the molars out. I'm like, oh, this is wonderful.

Jesus, just come. And this happens, and this happens, and this happens. And you're like, and Peter was maybe ready to go. I don't know. I'm not sure. You don't have to send me stuff on how bad root canals are. I know already. Got them a long time ago. But the greatest peace you will ever find is resting in God's sovereign arms. The greatest peace you will ever find, somebody needs to hear that this morning, is resting in God's sovereign arms. Because we try to find peace in our situation. How many of you, your moods change when your situation changes? And I've been searching for peace for weeks or months, many of you, or years. But it's elusive. It's elusive because now my job is not working out. Now my finances, you have to get to a point where yes, obey God, live in what is right, and obey His Word, and focus on Him, but eventually you've got to just rest in His sovereignty. And I've been really getting that point across a lot lately. Because that's where your sanity is going to come from. Resting in the arms of the person, the only person who is in control. And it's a good reminder, it's very simple.

But it's not easy. There's not a complex math equation you have to put together. Do this, do this, and the next week do this, and the next week... Resting in His sovereignty is a choice. It's taking those thoughts captive. It's so simple. Lord, I've been focusing on the wrong things. I've been letting fear come in and dominate my life. I'm just going to trust in Your sovereignty. It's so simple. Not very easy though. Because as you're doing that, other thoughts are coming in. Those fiery darts of fear and fear of God. things that are going on in our lives, and it's hard to trust God because we get those opposing thoughts. So it is very simple. Make the decision. Lord, I want to trust in Your sovereignty. It doesn't mean you have to like what He's doing, but you have to trust what He's doing. Big difference. And always remember, in the darkest prison, there is always light. Thank God. In the darkest times of life, there is always light.

It's God's light. I remember when I came to the Lord, I couldn't stop reading a lot of books and I had a lot of time. Happens when you're single. You have a lot more time to read books. And you would read stories of how atheists died versus Christians dying. And it's like night and day, literally. And it's horror stories, reading how some of these atheists spent their last days. Because there's no light. There's no light. And when you get down to that time, you realize maybe there is something to this. Did I live my whole life? But a believer, even though it's challenging and difficult, that light is still there in the darkest times. I talked about Horatio Spadford. I think he had five daughters. I think it's actually four. He lost in the Atlantic Ocean when his vessel hit another vessel. And then from that came that wonderful hymn, It is well, it is well with my soul. And this applies. Because there was the light of seeing his family again.

Knowing that we say it and it's contrite. You don't want to say it at the wrong time, but they are in a better spot now. As hard as that would be, they're with their Savior. And focusing on that. And as with Peter and with us, God often slows us down. Puts us in jail, some people. He slows us down to increase or to awaken our pursuit of Him. Have you seen that happen in your own life? Busy doing this, busy going here. You've got maybe kids and grandkids and life and a busy schedule. And then something happens where He slows you down. He'll slow you down to get your attention. You might get that phone call, that diagnosis, or that challenging situation, and He uses that to slow us down. Now, it should increase our pursuit of Him. Sometimes if you're running in the wrong direction, God says, wait, let Me change that direction. Let Me get your pursuit back on Me and not on what's going on around you. So here's the first key. Activity cannot run past intimacy. I wish I could say that came from me, but I heard it from a pastor actually this week.

Activity, and I just had to write it down and share it with you because isn't that true? Your activity cannot run past your intimacy with God. Active, busy, busy, busy, busy. And that happens. The whole point was most pastors, it was a message to pastors, that they get so busy and active that it runs past their intimacy. And that's where you're going to fall. Anybody will fall. Their intimacy must be the pursuit. And then everything else falls into place. So the angel struck Peter on the side and he raised him up basically. Woke him up. Says, get up quickly. And his chains fell off his hands. So he went out and followed the angel. And he did not know what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. I couldn't relate. Can you? Right, you're sleeping and he wakes you up. You're like, oh yeah, right, okay. Might as well follow suit. Let's see where this goes. And so he was making his way out of the prison. But I like when the angels tell people to hurry up. They've done that a few times in Scriptures. And you wonder why.

Because they also told Lot to flee Sodom quickly. Get out quickly. And God's will often involves action as well as obedience. God's will often involves actions as well as obedience. So the next key is, delays can be disastrous. Get up quickly. Because we don't know. In Lot's case, what about if he would have... hung around Sodom and didn't want to... He probably would have perished. What about if Peter didn't believe and say, no, no, this can't be real. I'm just going to sit here and wait. You don't want to delay. Now I'm talking to those people. You know that God wants you to do something. It's clear. And you keep avoiding it. Any hands? Balcony? A couple people here. Those things you don't want to delay on. I'm not talking about things where it's like, Lord, is this you? I don't know. It's good to wait on Him, but if you know He's told you to do something, that delay can be disastrous. From repairing a marriage to maybe a pursuit or something.

There's times where we've got to move quickly. The Bible doesn't talk too highly of procrastination. I haven't found one verse yet that supports procrastination. But I see a lot that says today, today when you hear His voice, harden not your heart. Today is the day of salvation. Get up, Peter, let's go. Let's go, Lot. Let's go. And so finally, Peter, when he was past the first and then the second guard post, they came to the iron gate that leads out to the city, and it opened up on its own. And they went out and went down the street and immediately the angel departed from him. Now, there was a lot I was going to say on here, and that might be some other time, but there are times where God will lead you. He'll hold your hand. He's right there, but there's other times where, I mean, can you imagine, okay, great, now what? He's gone. It's like, okay, now, what am I supposed to do? And you'll notice that. Don't get frustrated as you get older in your faith.

I sometimes get, like, Lord, remember when I was... He would show me so much and hold my hand and just make things clear. And as you get older, it's kind of like when you teach a little baby to walk. I still can remember some of my kids' first steps, right? And you're right there. And then eventually though, you need to trust and walk on your own. And He will do that. That's what I talked about last week on that dark night of the soul. Sometimes it feels like He's not there. But it's in those deep moments that trust is built. The stronger the faith you have, the stronger the trust you have in God, it's because God went deep with you. I've never met anybody with strong faith, trust in the Lord, who hasn't dug that foundation deep through pain and disappointment and confusion. And those roots run deep, deep into the soil. It may appear that God doesn't walk as closely with us as He once did, but He's still there.

He's still there. I don't know why, I've always loved it. I remember the first time I read it, that little poem or whatever with those footprints in the sand. It's like, Lord, where were You? First, there's two footprints, and then there's just mine. Where'd You go? He said, oh no, those are My footprints carrying You. I've never forgot that. Because that's true. There's never a point where God's over by Jupiter and you're here. Jupiter's far. Have you ever looked at that up? I mean, when they start to say this is how far it takes light to get there, you know it's far. But that light is always here. And sometimes you want that comfort, you want that security, but sometimes you're not going to feel it. That's another key here. The anchor is tested in the storm. The anchor is tested in the storm. Many of you guys know when you fish, you throw out that anchor, and if it doesn't stick,

where are you going to be in about 30 minutes halfway down the lake? What's happening is it's just dragging. It's not sticking. It's not grabbing anything. Or I've done that before. I throw it out there and the boat's drifting and I pull it in and the anchor came off the rope. It wasn't tied good. And there's nothing I can do at that point. This is when the anchor is tested. Your faith is actually tested in the storm. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is tested. where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is tested." That quote's attributed to Martin Luther in the 1500's even though we can't locate exactly where he said it. And I love this part too. And when Peter had come to himself... Do you know what? There's a point, obviously, unbelievers, but there's even a point where many Christians have to come to themselves and say I'm tired of being distant from God. I'm tired of being bitter and angry and frustrated. I'm tired of it. And you come to yourself

and you return to the Lord. How many recognize that phrase from the book of Luke? Who else came to themselves after he was eating with pigs? The prodigal son. And he came to himself. It's interesting too, if you break down the Greek words, and sometimes we frame words when we translate, but it's like a realization of look where I'm at. I don't want to be here anymore. And I'm making different decisions. I come to myself, realize where I'm really at. I'm not going to stay grounded in bitterness and anger and frustration and failure and anger. I'm going to come to myself. I'm going to repent. And I'm going to turn back to God. Many Christians have to do that. I've went through seasons of that. Because that bitterness and anger or frustration can become a stronghold. What about indifference? Complacency? If you study the Old Testament,

what have you liked the Old Testament to? You just go through it. It's so good. Here's why you have to read the whole Bible. It shows you the character and nature of God. All of it goes together. Oh, that's the God of the Old Testament. No, it's the same God. There's no God of the Old Testament. Boy, back then He was mean. Now He's loving. It's the same God. And the New Testament's only written over like 30 years in the book of Acts, and they wrote some of the Gospels. Maybe let's just be conservative 60 years, 70 year period, depending on Revelation. But the Old Testament is written over a couple thousand years. If you go back for creation, you've got 4,000 years of Old Testament history and the nature of God. And you'll always see with the children of Israel, primarily because they're the children of God, you'll see this in Assyria and the Babylonians and the Egyptians as well. It starts with complacency. Apathy.

I don't need to go to church as much. Well, back then, they didn't. Let's say the tabernacle or whatever they did. Do you ever get apathetic? Every hand should go up because that's the battle Christians face. Apathy. Complacency. God is boring this week. That's a good certain title I think. God becomes boring. The Bible's boring. Church is boring. Prayers aren't getting answered. And we get complacent. The key is to notice it, repent, and turn from it. But they didn't do that. What did they do? They stayed complacent. Actually, their blessing became their curse. That's why you've got to watch out for the blessings of God. Because if you don't stay humble, that's exactly what's happening to America. We're eating the fruit from seeds that were planted hundreds of years ago. And our apathy has led to complacency. And every succeeding generation seems to get a little weaker. That's why they call it the World War II generation. Remember those tough guys?

I remember that. Man, compared to today, it's like what is going on? And you become complacent, apathetical. And then the next thing that moved in was ungodly influence. And that's when you're open to that. You're apathetic. And then now this ungodly influence begins to capture your heart. And so the children of Israel would begin to practice the worship of the false gods. Because they're apathetic, complacent. God's blessing them. That's why the false prophets would say, peace, peace, God loves us. God loves us right now. Even though they're burning their children in the searing arms of Molech. They're following Ashtoreth and all these false gods. They were deceived, which is the third point, pride. You'll see that pattern time and time again. Complacency, apathy. the wrong influence. They give in to that wrong influence and then they get prideful and they don't think they need to repent and return.

It's a deadly three-punch combo that will get Christians as well if we're not careful. Some of the worst pride I've ever seen can be in Christians. I mean, you see it clear as day. Any of you, you've done counseling, you've counseled people, whether it's marriage, singles, and it's like, oh my goodness. And then they'll turn it back on you and you're the problem. You're the fault. Guys, they don't see it. That's what pride does. It blinds you. It blinds you because you think you're going in a great direction. You deserve these things. So back to the point, the anchors tested in the storm, and then Peter came to himself and he said, now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel. In other words, he woke up. His eyes were probably... he wasn't sleepy. He says, I'm not in a vision. Now I'm out in the street. It'd be like down in Los Angeles and Twin Towers and those L.A. prisons.

And you get out and you're on the street. There's a liquor store over there in downtown L.A. It's not real great. And you're like out there. Now what? It's dark. And you get out of town. He comes to himself. Oh, the angel did deliver me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectations of the Jewish people. So do you think Peter's excited? Here's another reason why you've got to trust in God's sovereignty. Years from now, Peter's going to be arrested and the tradition says he was hung upside down. Crucified upside down. I can picture him in that prison going, God, You're going to get me out of this one too? You're going to get me out of this one too? I know the Lord. I see that upside down cross, but I'm not going there. God, okay, where's that angel? Where is that angel? Lord... And here comes the guards. Lord, let's do it again.

Let's do it again. Come on, come on. And at some point, he may realize this is it. And he has to rest in sovereignty. It's one thing I've seen with Christians too over the years is God sometimes doesn't do things the way He did them in the past. Sometimes we have to go through it. We've seen people healed and then ten years later, something returns. And now all their joy's gone because they thought God would do what He did back then. And that's why trusting in that sovereignty is so important. Also, sometimes it takes time to process God's will. It's okay. Processing God's will takes time. He was there. Everything fell off. He got up and here's soldiers asleep. He's probably still not knowing exactly what is going on. And same with us. It takes time to process God's will from time to time. Many Christians have echoed the same words

over the centuries, like Peter, now I know for certain... now I know for certain... and God will give you those moments. You can say that now. I know for certain that God is who He is. Because He's brought me out of that furnace. He's brought me out of that flood that overcame me. Here's the key. It's okay to question the situation you're in, but not God's character. Make sure your questioning doesn't turn into bitterness and anger against God. It's okay to question things. It's part of our journey. And so when Peter had considered this, he went all the way to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, and they were all together there praying. And as Peter knocked at the door, here comes Rhoda. Rhoda, she probably opened the door. It's Peter! And then she closed the door and runs back. And she was so excited. Have you ever been there when God answers that prayer and you're like, no, no, no. Lord, really? Is this You?

And you get overwhelmed and excited. And because of her gladness, she didn't open the gate. Maybe it wasn't a little thing. Maybe it was a gate out front she saw. But she ran in and told the church. They said to her, but you're beside yourself. But she said, no, no, no, Peter is out front. So they must have said, well, then it must be his angel. It's the early church that saw signs and wonders and miracles still had a hard time believing that God delivered Him. And so Peter continued knocking. Anybody need to hear that this morning? Do you think of a Bible verse where Jesus said, continue knocking, continue asking, continue seeking. And sometimes I find myself saying, how do you know? Why am I doing this? But it's more for my benefit than His. You know you've never changed God's mind or caught Him off guard? Now the Bible does talk about God relenting. Certain prayers might change the course of things, and I believe in that. But it doesn't catch God off guard.

And so Peter keeps knocking. And they opened the door. They saw Him. They were astonished. But he said, he motioned with his hands, shh, shh, shh, keep quiet. They don't want to get out. And he showed them, told them everything that had happened in the prison. And he said, now go and tell these things to James and to the brethren. And he departed and went to another place. What I love about this too is I'm not going to get into a lot of detail about it as we keep reading, but many people have probably been scared and hid somewhere for a while. He said, go tell them, and he went to a different place probably preaching the Gospel the whole way. Not allowing that fear to dominate him. So that's as far as we're getting today, but there's three points that we can gleam from what we just read. Number one, this is without a doubt, the most important, prayer was a priority. Prayer was a priority. Prayer becomes a priority when seeking God is the priority. Here's the thing, if you want to make prayer a priority in your life,

make seeking God the priority. As you seek God, that prayer becomes a priority. And if we took a survey, I'm pretty sure most of you want to go deeper with your prayer life. You're not satisfied with prayer. It's okay. I bet pretty much every hand would go up. Because I don't know if I've ever been to a spot where I've said, you know what? Man, my prayer life is perfect. I'm good now for a while. I just keep, man, this is great, I'm right there. Why? Because there's things always challenging your faith. There's things always trying to knock you off track. There's things always trying to discourage you and pull you away because what they're trying to do, they're trying to pull you away from the life source. Just like sometimes when somebody's in the hospital, they're hooked up to the life source. And what happens, the enemy wants to pull the plug and get you away from the prayer closet. That's the most important thing you can do as a believer. Reminding you again of Matthew 6.33, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. To give context, believers were wondering,

how am I going to be fed? How am I going to be clothed? Have you ever think of those things? How am I going to retire, anybody? How am I going to retire? How is this going to happen? I don't know how. We're having a baby and I don't know how we're going to afford this. Or you just, but he said, but seek first. And I found this to be true. So have you, many of you. Seek first God's kingdom and everything else seems to fall into place. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. This is why this is important too. Seek the kingdom of God is in our thought life, I believe primarily. Seeking God's kingdom, we're in prayer, we're in worship, are taking our thoughts captive, we're seeking the heart of God, but also and seek His righteousness, which is a holy lifestyle. So you live like the character of God. So when you have your thoughts and your actions lined up, then all these other things are added to you. The power of obedience. The power of seeking God and obeying His Word.

In case you need a reminder, the power of the Word of God, many of us know, we believe, the Word of God has power, doesn't it? It's living. The Bible says it's actually living and it's active. It's sharper than a sword. It cuts, it divides it. But the power of the Word of God is in the application. It's not in just knowing it. Many people come in, they hear it. Oh man, yeah. I'm glad I heard that today. I really needed to hear that today. Guess what has to follow? Application. Many people never really grow in their Christian faith or experience because the application part is what gets us. Don't just be hearers of the Word, but be doers as well. Because if you're just hearers of the Word and not doers, you will live in, I will live in deception. How many times have you seen this? Christians. They're not living like they should be. They are living in deception. But how do they post things on social media?

Why do they say these certain things? Because they have knowledge. When they hear it, they know what to say. And they think because they know what to say that the knowledge is enough. Knowledge is not enough. It's the application of the Scripture. That's why actually the Bible separates knowledge from wisdom. Knowledge is knowing that. Wisdom is actually doing it. And therefore, get wisdom, the Bible says in Proverbs. Get wisdom. And all you're getting, get understanding. She will exalt you. She will promote you. She will show you the right course of action. But it's so important. Seek first the Kingdom of God. I wish I could tell you this every Sunday as a reminder, but I won't. But that word is so profound because it's like losing a child at the mall. What about if you lost your child here? Let's say you go and they say, no, there's no child here in children's ministry. Alright, I'll look for them later. I'll go get lunch.

You guys see if you can find them. I'm going to go eat lunch. Get some Mexican food. And I'll come back. Guys, what happens? What? We don't go into second service either. We go find the child. It stops the church. It stops the church. We had this happen in Lancaster. We stopped the service and we went out and looked for the kid. Where was he? Was he like under the front row? Yeah, he's hiding. That was real funny, wasn't it? I'm hopping over the block wall in the school. We've got people saying, where's he at? That's seeking. Everything changes. Everything changes. You don't have to use the restroom. You don't have to get lunch. You're not going to start another service. Why? Because that is the priority. When you make seeking God your priority, and again, nobody does it perfectly. You know, we get going throughout the day. Oh, I've got to get back.

But that should be your priority. To seek God with all of your heart. Seeking God sparks the inner fire of the Spirit. Seeking God sparks the inner fire of the Spirit. Many people get busy in ministry so busy that they forget to seek God. The life-giver. The giver of life. The giver of spiritual life. And so seeking will begin to spark that inner fire of the Spirit again. And it will maintain. It will keep going throughout your life. It's the difference between vibrant Christian faith and dead orthodoxy. It's the difference. Seeking God is the difference. Without that, people are just going through motions. And that's why going through motions isn't very powerful, because you're going through motions. You're not really pursuing God. You're checking things off a checklist. Okay, I went to church today. Read my Bible. Okay, I'm good. That's a checklist. Seeking God involves all that, but it's a pursuit of Him.

It's a pursuit of Him until the day you breathe your last breath, you are pursuing after God. Seeking Him leads to a deeper, a deeper, more intimate prayer life. It ignites worship and it interrupts sin. In its absence, the coldness of carnality sets in and the flame of passion becomes lukewarm. Guys, this is where everything hinges. When a person becomes cold and carnal or lukewarm or apathetic or too busy, the death sets in. and spiritual death sets in. And you have to reignite that by pursuing God. That's why prayer and worship, I call this all the time and so do many of you, prayer and worship are often called fire. Have you ever said that before? Prayer and worship are often called fire because they ignite. Man, worship was fire. I've had some of you in the prayer team on certain mornings, especially she likes to kid with me. Man, prayer was fire this morning. The one time I'm not there. Right, Chris? You guys, you should have been in that prayer room.

That was fire. Worship was fire. And if we're fortunate, the message was fire. Right? I mean, that's what we should be pursuing. The fire of the Spirit that warms things up. It heats. It melts a cold, callous heart. Prayer can become fire. You can ignite that in your heart. How many of you have heard of Gene Easley? Probably not very many. He's wrote a couple books on revival. Not a well-known person, but the fire of God was in his pen. I'll tell you that much. Just find him on Amazon. Order some old books from Gene Easley. He said the fire of God is gone from many churches and too many of those who once knew it are sitting in pews and watching as they gradually lose that fire. We can no longer just go with the flow when the flow is drifting away from God. Guys, isn't that true? I'm not a church hopper anymore, but back in my church-hopping days and visiting churches outside the valley, there's not a lot of churches on fire for God. And I don't say that with pride

because we can drift there real easily too. The leadership becomes lukewarm. The church becomes lukewarm. It's often reflected in the heart of those leading the church. We've got to keep that fire going in our hearts. John Wesley would tell pastors, set yourself on fire and people will come and watch you burn. That really is the key to ministry, to preaching, to worship leading, to be on fire for God. That's where everything flows from. The fire from God, because then the Holy Spirit is convicting and drawing and people want to come back or they don't want to come back if they're convicted. Have you ever seen that before? That guy is way too loud and bold and in my face. I'm not coming back. I don't want to be confronted. I just want to come in and be lulled back to sleep. Night, little baby, down in the mountains. I'm not going to talk about sin. I'm not going to talk about judgment. I'm not going to talk about repentance. No hell is preached in this place. Go back to sleep. There's nothing to see here.

There's no fire burning. Isn't that the majority of the Christian church? I want to wake up this baby. But I do. I want to wake up that baby. Don't you? Don't you? Well, that applies spiritually because practically, it was so hard to get the baby to sleep. You guys know. Isn't it hard to get the baby to sleep? Man, you've got all kinds of tricks in the book. All kinds of tricks in the book to keep the baby asleep. The church is to be on fire for God. And yes, that encourages. It does. It encourages. We hear that more than anything. I was so encouraged. Even on the convicting message. Wait a minute. You're so encouraged, right? Because when I get back right with the Lord, I'm encouraged. I'm very encouraged when I get back on fire for the Lord. 2. So prayer was a priority we see for the church here. 2. Constant pursuit is always rewarded. Constant. They were in prayer constantly for Peter.

Don't give up. Look up. Constant pursuit is always rewarded. You will always be rewarded when you pursue God. Now, you might not find the answer to your prayer, but you will find Him. That's what I found sometimes. Oh, but Shane, my prayer wasn't answered. That's not true. I wasn't rewarded. He is your reward. He is an ever-present help. He's who you seek after. He's like a deer who you pant after as you're so long for that living water. If I could just drink of this water, I will never thirst again. Put all my prayer together. Quest aside and just give me Christ and Christ alone. That's all I want. I don't know about you. Lord, don't answer any of my prayers, but just let me have you. Intimacy, constant pursuit is always rewarded. And sometimes I hear that I'm giving up on God. My prayers aren't being answered. Well, number one, welcome to the club. How many unanswered prayers do we have? Stacks, big ones, little ones, and many in between. But I'll tell you what, that constant pursuit is always rewarded.

Because I do know this, little lamb, you've got a good, good shepherd. So you have to get to the point of, because this is where it gets caught up in our heart. You have to get to the point where you say, Lord, you know best. Because if you don't get to that point, you think you know best. And you get bitter and you get upset. I'm not going back to church. I'll go to the liquor store. That'll fix my problem. I'll get hooked up in a bad relationship again. I'm mad at God. But we have to say no means no. Or it could mean wait. It's not the right time yet. He obviously knows what is best. Maybe that prayer request would have destroyed you. I've seen that. People get this dream job. Never at church. Marriage is suffering. But they got their dream job and it pulled them away from the Lord. Apathy, wrong influence, pride. You try to talk to them. You're just jealous. Yeah, I'm really jealous of a destructive lifestyle where your wife's about ready to leave.

Yeah, I'm really jealous on that one. Pride, pride, pride, pride. Lord, why didn't You heal my child? Or why didn't You heal me? Why did this happen? You've got to get to that point where you say He knows best, I trust Him. Because if not, it will take you to a pretty bad spot. Have you ever been to those spots? It's not a good spot. Matthew 7, ask and it will be given to you. God, the funny thing, I thought this sermon was going to be boring today. Man, God often does that. Everyone's like, Lord, this is kind of just standard protocol. He just rips it open. Rips the heart open. I mean, when these words, when the Scripture comes alive, I can tell it's piercing and encouraging and strengthening people. Because if it's doing it to me, I'm just the outflow. Ask and it will be given to you. Man, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds.

And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Just realize this doesn't necessarily have to do with prayers being answered. Although it can, it means you'll find Him. Seek, you'll find. It doesn't say what you'll find. But we know what we'll find. Knock and it will be opened. That means my prayers are going to be answered. Oh, are you sure? Possibly. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer. I love answer of prayers. But this waiting time, waiting on God, strengthens your faith and draws you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. That's why I've taught before, a sermon title was, I'll Never Forget It. Waiting time is not wasted time. Any type A personalities who don't like waiting time? Let's go, let's go. The answer. Guys, it's not right, but I'm just, you know, sometimes after a couple of minutes of Morgan talking, I'm like, you could have told me that right at the beginning. Like just, I don't need the whole story of where you went and you drove here and the mall was crowded and this store

and then we went over here and this and by, just get with, oh, you'll be home at five. That's all, that's all I need to know. Lord, we're ready. Let's do this now. I'm ready Lord, now, now, now, now, now, now, now. Kids are bad too, aren't they? You're giving everything you want. That's impulse. And what the Lord will do is stop having you trust in impulse and wait on Him. And as you're waiting, the impulse dies. Because impulse is reflective. It's I need this. I need this. Any shopaholics? I'm like, why did I buy that? Impulse. Impulse. Impulse. Those ads work on Instagram, don't they? Don't they? You know they work. Impulse. Impulse. But waiting time strengthens your faith and it draws you into that deeper, more intimate relationship with God. Because as you're waiting, there's no other option. And of course, I'm not going to talk too much about this, but number three, they rested in His sovereignty.

They rested in His sovereignty. And that's vital. That's the heartbeat of the Christian faith. This is the only way life makes sense. Is there so much debauchery that's going on in our country? It's beyond. If you would have took somebody back in the 1940s and fast-forwarded them to here, they would think they were dreaming or something. How corrupt this is. And that's why His sovereignty. You have to rest in that. Trusting in sovereignty is the only way to handle unanswered prayers. Here's what sovereignty is. I'll read that for you in case you're wondering. Forgotten by men, but remembered by God. So men will let you down. Your situations will let you down. Circumstances will let you down. Forgotten by man, but remembered by God. That's why Jeremiah 17 says, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. You'll never see these Scriptures say blessed is the man who has tons of gold. Now that could be a by-product of seeking the Lord. But it's always blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.

Blessed is the man who hopes in the Lord. Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scornful, but his hope, he meditates on the Word of God. And then I have to share this one with you. Philippians 4, be anxious for retirement. Be anxious for nothing. Nothing, but in everything. Everything? Whew, that's a lot. By prayer and supplication. Supplication is a certain request. With thanksgiving, how you doing, California residents? Oh boy, we're going to have to camp out in that for a minute until we get our attitudes changed. Everything with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God. So, here's what goes, and the peace of God, it doesn't make sense, it surpasses all understanding, it will guard your heart and your minds through Christ Jesus. But don't miss this, because people say where's the peace of God? I read this, but I don't get it. But are you thankful?

Thankfulness ushers in the peace of God. Lord, I'm thankful. You know what's best. You know what You're doing. And this type of prayer, it rebuilds the broken. It shapes the shattered. It fills the empty. It restores the fallen. It returns the joy to the believer. It comforts the fearful. That's what prayer does. Look at what prayer does. It rebuilds you. It shapes you. It fills you. It restores you. It returns you to the joy of the Lord. And it gives you comfort in the midst of difficult situations. Prayer is not one of many options. It is the only option. You get on your face before God and you begin to cry out and say, Lord, change me. Shape me. Direct me. Oh, church, we must be desperate people again. We must be desperate people again. Where will you go? Where will you flee? Who will you run to? There's a song we sometimes sing. It says, closer than a brother, closer than my breath, rescued out of darkness,

rescued from my sin, my Maker and my Master somehow calls me friend. I kind of have a rewind early in the mornings. It just says caught up in Your presence. Caught up in Your presence. I just want to sit here at Your feet caught up in this holy moment. I don't want to leave. Trust me, you get a quiet hour, a quiet heart, in a quiet place, and you begin to meditate on those things. Let those worship songs come in in your heart. If you want solitude, you need surrender. If you want solitude, you need surrender. There's a closing verse. I don't think we have it on the screen. We might. It's in Job. In Job, of all places. He said, do you not know this of old? And the book of Job is really old. He's saying, don't you know this? This has been around forever. Since man was placed on the earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short. And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. And we're going to read, I think maybe on the next time I teach, Herod, who thought he could silence God,

died a horrible death. Herod thought he would silence God. He dies a horrible death. You don't play with God. You make Him Lord. You make Him Lord. And I love what Adrian Rogers said. I believe it was him. Now they got your attention. He said you don't make Him Lord. You don't make Him Lord. He is already Lord. You have to recognize it. You have to recognize it and fully surrender. Fully surrender. I'm reading this Bible. Like, I'm reading it. I'm dealing with a guy. I'm listening to the pastor. I'm listening to teachers. I'm reading it. I don't understand it. The Bible says God forgives you. He says that this man comes down from heaven. He dies on a cross for all my sins. And all I got to do is just confess that he lived and he died and rose again. And all my sins been washed away. I'm as white as snow. His blood come in.

Man, that don't make no sense to me. I'm like, like, okay, well, those sins, the sins of the God, that's not me. I've done unspeakable crimes. Like, it's not happening for me. Like the, that he says he throws your sins in the sea of forgetfulness. But why do I still have this suffering and this self-hatred and this anger and this bitterness? And why am I, why do I feel, feel like I'm in bondage in my mind? And I remember crying so hard. I'm bawling, I'm bawling, I'm crying. And I'm about to leave. I'm like, man, this Christian thing ain't working. Like, I don't know what to do. Like, I'm more miserable now than I am in prison. Like I was in that jail cell, but for some reason I feel in more bondage and I just can't get past the person in the mirror. I hate the guy standing back. My mom's not answering me. And I just, I really am starting to get a suicidal spirit again. I'm like, God, like you saved me from my life sentence. Why? I'm reading. I'm listening to the pastors, what they're telling me to do. I'm prying out to you.

I'm at the altar every day. I'm making the altar calls. I'm crying. I'm reeling. I'm being dizzy. Why am I still in bondage? Why am I still in chain? Why are you not getting rid of all that? Like it says, you throw my sins away, that you forgive me. Why can't I forgive myself? And I'm crying and I'm bawling. And I, I'm really about to pack my bag and I'm going back to Florida. I'm going back to lifestyle. And Malcolm's walking by and he's like, I said, well, I don't understand it. I said, I hate my, I said, God, I said, I said, Lord, I said, Malcolm, I hate myself, man. I really hate the person I am. And I don't know what I'm going to do with my life. Like I have no job skill. My mom don't answer the phone. I have nothing. This book is supposed to help me. I see the evidence of life being changed around me. I hear testimonies every day. People that are graduating the program, getting married, having kids, getting, buying businesses. It's just, I hate, I hate myself.

Like, I hate the person. I'm like, I want to go get drugs. I want to go get drunk. I want to go numb again. And he said, Brian, I want you to pray this prayer. He said, close your eyes. He said, ask God to open up the eyes of your understanding for us to receive his love and his forgiveness. And I'm telling you, man, I prayed that prayer so hard because I was so angry and so mad at the person standing in the mirror. I just wanted to die. And I prayed that prayer so hard. He said, now continue to read. And I said, God, can you please help me to forgive myself? Can you just please come and live in me? God, can you just take away this bondage? And I kept reading and I came across a verse in the Bible, October 6th. It was 1 Timothy 1, 13. It says, once I was a blasphemer. I was a prosecutor and I was a violent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelieve. See, I didn't understand Paul's life at that time, but I knew everything I've ever did is because I knew God. Not that it was okay. It was that I did it in ignorance. And now that I know that God really has lived, he really did come fully God and fully human

to die on the cross for me. The shedding of his blood was the atonement of my sin. And I really believed that. Man, I felt, I literally felt this weight lift on me. I felt the Holy Spirit come inside of me. And my life changed. And I started having this unspeakable joy. Like I stopped having nightmares. I started understanding the Bible. It started becoming real. Wow. I saw that and I'm like, I don't even have to give a final. That's, I talked to Brian too on Instagram. He's in a different state. He works at a mission now. He had 40 years. 40 years. And God worked behind the scenes. And we shared his whole testimony. He did good. He didn't even cuss once in the whole testimonies. But I share it on my Facebook page and the church Facebook page. It's something like a former one-percenter gives his life to the Lord or shares his testimony. If you don't know what that is, that's okay. But just what a life. And that's what I want to close with.

Maybe you're not here, but those watching, or maybe there are some here, you've never fully surrendered your life. You've never repented. And that's why it's not working. The Gospel doesn't work without repentance. Trying to be a good person. Doing better. All these things that you have to repent and believe that God's love and grace will save you. That's what repent is and believe.