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 Today in Acts chapter 12, it’s really a whole story about the power of prayer.

And I just want to start by asking you, what is your relationship to prayer? What is your definition of prayer? to prayer. Are you somebody who prays in season, out of season? You are a praying person, or does it take a lot for you to set aside that time? Dallas Willard, one of our favorites around here, author and, and pastor, he defines prayer simply as, quote, talking to God about what we are doing together.

I love that definition. And he goes on to say in that talk, he said, so if you don’t have anything to talk to God about, it’s because you’re not seeking first the kingdom. Because when you do the hard work of peacemaking, when you are engaged in hospitality, when you are in church, there’s always things to talk about with God.

And so I want to really be helpful today and kind of just talking about what prayer is and what it isn’t. And so maybe you’re like me. I grew up kind of understanding there’s four ways to pray. And it was the Acts Method, which I find fitting because we’re here in the book of Acts. Anybody know the Acts Method?

It’ll be on the screen. Acts is adoration, confession, thanksgiving. And supplication. Uh, I messed up on that screen. Actipa, apparently. Uh, that is all me. I have no one to blame except myself. I made those slides this morning. Praise the Lord. We got a, we got a good start. I also broke my watch this morning for clapping after the first song.

So, you can see the tan line. It’s wonderful. Praise the Lord. Uh, so it should say, And so supplication, let me just explain all of those briefly. Adoration is what? When you begin to pray, just pray to God, thank Him, adore Him, worship Him for who He is. Then you move on to confession, which is what we just did in communion together.

We acknowledge the sin that we’ve done, but we also confess that In Christ, we are the righteousness of God. We confess, though I have sinned, I am now made righteous because of the cross. And then Thanksgiving, so you start to list all the great things God has done in your life, and then you end with supplication.

Essentially, praying for the needs of yourself, God, which you supply this, this, and this, and also for those around you. Those are the four ways to pray, but I want to really talk about today the four seasons of prayer. I think there’s different types of prayers and the different moments and marathons. of your life.

So one season some of you may be in is what I would call the planting season. When you’re in a planting season of your life, and this I think happens throughout your life, really the call for you is not to pray for a victory, it’s to pray for a vision. So many of us, we don’t know what to pray for. So we’re saying, God, I want victory in my life, but we don’t know what the victory is for.

And so some of us are in a season of what I would call like a discernment. God, what is the next thing you’re calling me to? Whether it be with my career or in starting a family or whatever it is, you are praying in the planting season for a vision of what’s next. Then your prayers should change as you kind of figure out where God is leading you into a waiting season.

This is very agricultural, right? You, you plant and then you wait. This is hard for us in our culture today, but in this season, you don’t pray for proof, you pray for patience. I know for me, anytime I ask God to give me a vision, what is next, I then get a little nervous, a little doubtful. Is this actually what you wanted?

And so we often think, God, I need proof. If you do this every time it storms, God, if the lightning hits right now, you know, then I know it’s you. No, you don’t need to pray for proof. In this season of life, you’re praying for proof. God, give me the endurance I need just as I am in this waiting season. And then you have the harvesting season.

And I think in many ways this has been lately a season of our church that we ventured into. And, and in this season, it’s so funny, you finally get everything you prayed for. And you will notice, When you get the things you prayed for, you’re tempted to pray for deliverance. You’re tempted to say, God, I know I asked for these things, but I didn’t know it’d be this hard.

So can you get rid of it? And so what we need to pray for is not deliverance. It’s resilience. It’s, oh, the harvest has come. Guess what? Now the real hard work begins. I love that proverb that talks about the clean stable is what happens when you don’t have a harvest. Harvest makes things messy, but what a joy to have a harvest.

You now need to raise that child you always prayed for. You now need to forgive and reconcile with those friends that you’ve been asking God for for so long. Oftentimes, it’s shocking how hard the harvest season is. It’s what we long for until we get it. But there’s a fourth season that I think Acts 12 addresses and this season is what, how do you pray when it’s storming?

When the storm comes, when, when you have a plan, you’ve planted, you’ve waited, you’re, you’re maybe harvesting or waiting for a harvest and then everything goes haywire because a storm runs through. Anybody seen Twisters yet? It just came out Friday. What a wonderful film. I just want to say that. But what do you do when the storm rolls through your neighborhood?

And that’s what I want to look at today in Acts chapter 12. Let’s pray as we begin. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we just look to you today for guidance. We ask you, oh Lord, that you would soften our hearts to your word. God, I’m reminded, Jesus, that you often said that your family are not those who just hear the word, but they do it.

And so God, I just pray that we would cling to this word today, that we would obey it. Even when we don’t feel like it, may we be submissive to the authority of your scriptures. And I just pray that we’d leave here hopeful. Leave here encouraged. May you stir up our faith to love and good works. In Jesus name I pray.

Everybody says? Amen. Amen. Amen. Let’s go. Acts chapter 12, starting in verse one. About that time, King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church, and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the festival of Unleavened Bread.

bread. Let me give you some context before we go any further. Who is Herod? This is confusing because it’s kind of a lot like Caesar. Herod, there’s a lot of Herods. This one, uh, is not to be confused with Herod the Great. So, uh, this Herod’s grandfather was Herod the Great, the one that we always talk about during the Christmas season.

It was Herod the Great that ordered the genocide, uh, in the, where Jesus was being raised because he heard that this new king was coming and so he tried to kill all of those sons in order to get rid. of Jesus. Of course, we know he was a failure in that. Herod the Great is an interesting character. If you travel to Israel, you’ll actually hear a lot about Herod the Great.

He was actually known most for his architecture that is still standing today. One of the most fascinating lessons I learned when I was in, uh, Israel is they pointed to a mountain and they said, actually, this mountain was made by Herod. And so it actually gave a whole new context because Jesus says, what?

You have faith to move. Mountains, Herod moved mountains, not by faith, but by slave labor. And so this was for decades, they would take men and order them to take down one mountain, take all the rocks and the dirt and put it on this new mountain. Why? He determined this hill needed to be turned into a mountain because it was the perfect spot to build a palace to be Judea.

And so it actually is still there today, and it’s quite brilliant. When you get up there, you literally can see everywhere. You can see the Dead Sea, you can see the temple. And so he made this. So Herod is known as a terrible man, but also kind of a brilliant man. This is his grandson that we’re talking about here.

Also, some more context, Herod’s father, um, was actually killed by his grandfather. So in other words, Herod the Great killed his own son. So this is how dysfunctional this family is. And so there’s another Herod that you’ll read in the New Testament. The Herod that encountered Jesus on the day of his crucifixion during the trial.

This was Herod of Antipas. He was the one, uh, who was actually the uncle of this Herod. Anybody else just confused with the family tree yet? Like when I, I’m like, Third cousin what? Like, I get so confused, but all that to say, there’s a lot of Herods. This Herod is none of those. He is just one who is honestly, we see him in the book of Acts, he is a politician’s politician.

He knew how to string the line between making Rome happy and keeping the Jewish people happy. And we know that was kind of Rome’s way of doing life. Keep the people happy as much as possible and they’re easier to dominate and to rule over. And this is what Herod would do. And so Herod here in this chapter, he’s testing the appetite of the Jews.

He’s like, I, I don’t like this Christian movement. Let me kill one of their leaders, but not their top leader. And let’s see how they feel. And so they go and kill James. Who’s James? James was a part of the inner three. Jesus had the three, then the 12, then the 72, then the 500 and all of that. The three were like, were with him in all of those major moments.

James was one of them. James’s brother’s name was John. John wrote what? John, first, second, third John and Revelation. The one a lot of us try to read these days, right? This was his brother James. So he kills them and what happens? The people were pleased. So he goes, okay, this is working. I’m going to crank it up even more.

He gets bloodthirsty and now he arrests Peter, assuming what’s going to happen next. Peter’s about to get killed as well. Verse four, after the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers, that equals 16, right? Each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

Remember these Passover tones? What happened at the Passover just a few years before this? Who died? Jesus, right? The Lamb of God. This is having those same vibes. Peter’s probably thinking, oh no, this is Passover, I am now about to get killed. And Peter knows he’s gonna get killed because Jesus says he will in John 21.

Hey, you’re not gonna die of old age. You’re gonna be put to death. So imagine Peter’s anxiety. What’s funny is he’s not even that anxious as we read, but Peter kinda knows I’m about to die. Verse five. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying, underline this word, fervently to God for him.

This word fervently can also be translated earnestly. It’s the Greek word ektenos. Ektenos means to strive. Imagine an image where you are in a jail cell and the keys are just out of reach, right? With everything in you, you’re willing to Get muscle cramps. Anybody do that? I’m at that age now. You reach to my, oh no, now my neck’s locked up, right?

And so you’re doing everything you can, you’re sweating to get the key. This is that word picture Luke is using to describe this church. They’re saying, okay, James just died. We don’t want Peter to die too. Let’s gather together. And they’re just pouring their hearts out, fervently praying for God to do a miracle.

What’s interesting, Luke wrote the book of Acts. What else did he write? The gospel of Luke. Luke used this word, ectenos, when he speaks about Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane just before getting crucified. And he is so earnestly praying, what is happening? He is bleeding from his head. So this is that same word picture we’re supposed to remember.

Now, what, what do we even see just from these first five, five verses about prayer? Luke shows us prayer, hear me, demands effort. But it denies earning. This is a very important theological concept for us to understand. Jesus, actually, during his time, um, on earth, he addresses a lot of the right ways to pray and the wrong ways to pray.

In Matthew 6, for example, he says, When you pray, don’t babble like the pagans, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. What he’s saying is, Don’t try to earn God’s attention through your performance. Don’t think that God hears you because you hurt yourself and that you speak so loud. God hears you because he’s a good father and he loves you.

So, so, let us, when they’re earnestly praying here in verse 5, it’s not like they’re hurting themselves so that God would hear them. Their just soul is completely consumed in this moment. But an overreaction we often have when we hear Jesus say, hey, don’t babble, uh, they think they’re gonna be heard for their many words.

Our overreaction is to think, okay, so prayer shouldn’t be hard. Because if I’m praying hard and I’m saying these things over a long period of time, that’s me trying to earn it. So I’m just going to say it once and hope that God hears me. But that’s not the case either. Because think about what Jesus said, for example, Luke 18.

He shares this parable of this persistent widow. And he says, look, this widow got what she wanted because she kept asking, kept seeking, and kept knocking. He literally was giving us permission. Jesus was saying, annoy the father and he will answer you. That’s essentially what his lesson is in the persistent widow.

So, okay, we can’t earn God’s favor. It’s not like we perform and now God looks at us, but at the same time, he’s like, knock and keep knocking and keep knocking and an answer will happen. And so these are the people of God are doing here. James four also has that wonderful phrase. You do not have, because what you do not.

So we have to keep this tension here as we wrestle with this text. To put it another way, prayer isn’t earning God’s attention, it’s churning your attention. See the difference? Prayer is not like, oh, God already knows, but he does, he invites us to participate in the kingdom of God. For some reason, and I don’t fully understand this, but God sometimes doesn’t do something because we fail to ask for it.

Now, sometimes God does things even though we didn’t ask for it. In fact, that probably happens more often than not. But at the same time, it’s so strange, but I think it’s a beautiful invitation for you and me, because it means our prayers matter. Sometimes things happen. Because we prayed. I remember a pastor, uh, once gave an illustration.

He said, and, and, and you can take this too far, but he says, imagine these gifts, these, these answers you’re praying for on a conveyor belt. And every time you pray, it moves just that much more. And he said, how many of us, there’s a gift that is the last leg of the conveyor belt. And if you just prayed one more time, it would come down.

Now, again, hear me, you can take that too far, and we’re actually going to address this a little bit later. But there is something to. Not stopping and just pleading to the Lord for him to do what only he can do. And so, what happens as a result of their fervent prayer? Let’s keep going. Verse six. When Herod was about to bring him out for trial.

It’s actually because the Passover, the Jews would have been upset killing at then. So now that the unleavened bread was over, now it’s time to kill. So Herod was about to bring him out for trial. That very night, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.

Is this guy paranoid? Absolutely. Absolutely. He’s thinking, I heard about this Jesus who rose from the dead. We’re going to make sure he’s going to sleep between two guards, and there’s going to be two guards outside of the jail cell, and they’re actually just on a three hour shift. There is no falling asleep, and they’re going around the clock to make sure Peter doesn’t escape.

And suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell, striking Peter on the side. He woke him up and said, Quick, get up! Which just shows his faith, by the way. I would not be sleeping that night if I knew I was about to be executed the next day. And the chains fell off of his wrists.

Get dressed, the angel told him, and put on your sandals. And he did. Wrap your cloak around you, he told him, and follow me. So, he went out and followed, and he did not know what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision. Anybody else just have those crazy vivid dreams you just knew they were real?

Right? I know for me and Pastor Caleb, whenever I talk to him, literally at least once a week, he goes, Did this happen or was I dreaming it? Apparently, like, he has such vivid dreams, he assumes we’ve had conversations that never happened because it’s so vivid. Peter’s the same way. He’s like, Oh, this is probably a dream.

I’m used to this. This is so vivid. When I wake up, I’ll realize this wasn’t a dream. Verse 10. After they passed on, passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. Any time you go to an automatic gate, remember, Peter was the first one to experience it.

2, 000 years ago. Okay? That’s just a word for you to take, just to glorify God with. All right. They went outside and passed one street and suddenly the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people So what’s happening?

I want us, Luke wants us to see the contrast. So Herod, paranoid, jail cell, all of these, these 16 soldiers around the clock, and Peter, sleeping. An angel of God comes and unlocks it all. He just has to walk through, there’s now a thing called an automatic gate, and he gets right through. This reminds me of David in the Psalms 20 verse 7.

He says some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Amen. We’re so tempted to trust in the worldly things and how it protects us, but ultimately God alone is our provider and who protects us. Verse 12. As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary.

The mother of John, who is also called Mark, where many had assembled and were praying. I say this to help you understand the context of Acts. John, who’s also called Mark, which is called John Mark, is Barnabas cousin, and many believe it’s John Mark who wrote the Gospel of Mark. Alright, are you with me?

Also we believe this house was the same house of the upper room where Jesus, uh, where they prayed in Acts 1 waiting for the Holy Spirit. So just some context clues to help kind of tie this whole story together. Verse 13. So he knocked at the door of the outer gate. So we know this is a large house. If you have an outer gate, you’re bawling, right?

And this was, was this man. And a servant named Rhoda came to answer, Rhoda means rose. So she recognized Peter’s voice. And because of her joy. She did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate. You’re out of your mind, they told her, but she kept insisting that it was true, and they said it’s his angel.

Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. So, I love how real life this is. So, I want you to imagine this earnest prayer, this fervent prayer, what are they praying for? In this group, probably some of them are saying, Lord, Give Peter the courage to die a faithful death.

James just died. He’s probably gonna die. God, give him peace as he dies. Don’t you hate those prayers where it’s like you’re just expecting the worst, but just like, come on, man. Let’s pray for something better, but it’s also a holy prayer, I imagine. There’s probably also some in the room saying God give him boldness to share the gospel to those 16 soldiers before they die.

I think it’s a worthy prayer. But there has to be some in that room that were saying God rescue him. You’re the same God who kept Daniel from the lion’s den. You’re the same God who rose Jesus from the dead. We’re just asking you, God, to, to protect Peter. May he even walk out of those, those prison cells completely free.

And as they’re praying these faithful prayers, what does God do? He answers them! And what do they do? They don’t believe it! I love this, uh, uh, N. T. Wright, says that this story is actually supposed to be funny. Now, look at this quote. He says, Because many Christians assume that the Bible can never or should never be funny, they often ignore the humor, even when, as here, it jumps up, wagging its tail, demanding attention.

This is hilarious, folks. They are praying for Peter, and Peter is knocking on their door, and he’s saying, Well, that’s surely not Peter. But God, we just ask you to heal Peter, to save him. Peter’s like, I’m over here. God, we just, we really mean it. This is supposed to be funny. Now, a few perspectives on prayer here, as we kind of guide in what this means for us today.

The first, it’s not on your notes, but this is a really helpful lesson. The object of our faith is more important than the size of our faith. Right? It doesn’t matter how confident I am in this stage. My confidence doesn’t make this stage stable or not. What makes the, what enables me to stand? The strength of the stage, not the strength of my faith.

The same way during the Passover. God called all the people of Israel to put blood over the doorposts. And they said, if blood is over your door, the angel of the Lord will pass over and not kill your firstborn. Now, let’s say Joe It says, great, takes the blood, puts it over the doorpost, sleeps well at night, and says, son, you’re sleeping in your own room tonight, everything’s good.

But let’s say Rick goes, I don’t know, I’m still gonna do it. So he takes the blood, puts it over the doorpost, but he says, you know what, honey? Our son’s sleeping in our room tonight. And they clench, and they don’t sleep a wink. That next morning, whose son passed away? Neither of them. Why? The door was filled with blood.

It wasn’t how much faith they had. All they had to do was put it over. It could be filled with doubts, but if it’s saying, God, I trust you, I believe, help me with my unbelief. That is the message of prayer. The strength of our prayer is not the size of our faith, but the size, the durability of the object, and God is the one that we’re putting our trust in.

Another thing we learned from this, God loves to answer us in ways we couldn’t think, ask, or imagine. Of all the scenarios, they could not imagine Peter actually walking in and being like, Hey! Your prayer was answered. They literally were like, there’s no way. God loves to surprise us. And the third thing I think we learned, is God loves to answer us even when we have doubt in our hearts.

I, I know for me, I’m often worried. God, I’m, I’m praying. I, I feel like you’re not going to answer me because I feel doubts. And so, God, uh, I wanted you to answer this prayer, but because I’m worried, I don’t think you will. What’s funny is here, they literally were like, you’re out of your mind, Rhoda. There is no way Peter is here, and yet God answers their prayer.

Alright, so a lot of lessons here from prayer. And I want us to acknowledge this is a feel good story, but it’s also not, right? I, I know when, when we look at Acts 12, we kind of like quickly pass over the fact that James died and we just love the story of Peter. But hear me, Acts 12 ends well for Peter, but it doesn’t end well for James.

Now, James, he’s not just any guy. He’s in the inner circle of Jesus, right? James was a wonderful man of God. Of all the people that deserve to live a happy life, James is very high on that list. And yet, he’s killed. Not just killed, he’s killed with a sword. We have to wrestle with this as Christians. A lot of us have this idea, oh, as long as I’m good, life will be good.

But here’s the reality. Acts 12 alone tells us life is hard. It often feels really random. Despite what you may think, you are not in control. And welcome to church, but you’re going to die. Now, for me, this is the scariest part of the Christian life. Because life isn’t a formula. And that terrifies me. James, great man of God, killed with a sword.

Peter, great man of God, gets to escape this prison cell. But, He does eventually die for his faith, and most believe, legend says, how does he die? He’s crucified upside down. So it’s a great story for Peter now, but he still dies an early death. And then John, who’s James brother, who’s Peter’s homeboy, John doesn’t die a martyr’s death.

He lives to his 90s and writes more work and, and he is isolated in Patmos, but he gets to live a full life. See, growing up, my understanding of God was more straightforward than it should have been. It was this idea, do good, and good will be done unto you. Um, pray with faith, and he will answer you. You will reap what you sow.

And I like to call that a Proverbs faith. A proverb’s faith is this idea that the proverbs are promises, but they’re not promises, they’re just probabilities. For example, the proverbs say, raise up a child in the way he should walk, and when they grow old, they will not depart from it. Yes, amen, about 80 percent of the time.

I don’t know about you, but I, I have friends. Parented well, loved Jesus well, and yet right now, their child is far from God. It’s not their fault. See, the proverb was a probability. But it wasn’t a promise, but we want to make it a promise because we want formulas so that we can trust in it and we feel like we’re in control.

But many of us, we’ve lived life long enough to know there’s not many promises we can, we can bank on, is there? I know for me, my wife, um, we often struggled when she was going through her miscarriages and at one time we thought maybe she was losing her life because she was being ignored and losing so much blood.

But I remember saying to God, God, I’ve sacrificed so much for your kingdom. Why would you do this to us? Now, theologically, I know that’s incorrect, but in the moment, that’s what I was praying. Right? And that comes to us. I know for me, it’s like, God, why are you tossing us to and fro? Why is life so hard because we are actually following you?

Shouldn’t it be easier because we followed you? The hardest thing for me that I’ve had to really wrestle with in life is, um, is the fact that my, one of my groomsmen, um, 13 years ago, uh, I had one of my favorite groomsmen. He was in all the photos a couple of years ago, though. He was diagnosed with cancer, very rare cancer.

And he winds up, he, he died at the age 31. There’s not a week that goes by, but I don’t think about him. He was the life of the party. He was a good person. He loved the Lord, generous, humorous. He was the guy who always drove everywhere. So I just got to chill. It was just one of the best guys. And he had faithful friends.

We were all praying fervently to God to heal this man. And he didn’t answer our prayers. We had to fly to California and see my friend, a 31 years old, get buried. Why does God do that? Acts chapter 12 is a lot like life. There’s a lot to celebrate, but there’s also a lot of sorrow and grief. And so I want us to answer the question, how do we pray in the middle of a storm?

When life is so chaotic, it doesn’t make sense. Write this down. When it’s storming, you don’t grasp onto a formula. You grasp onto the Father. Here’s what the formula does, just in Acts 12. The formula would say, okay, James died. So verse 5, hey church, don’t fervently pray. James died, this is the new formula.

Apostles, die for their faith. Don’t even pray because Peter’s gonna die. Or then, at the end of 12, if you’re still trying to live a formulaic life, okay, here’s how it is, guys. James died, Peter lived. It’s 50 50, alright? And it’s every other, so the next prayer we pray, it’s not gonna work. But once that, now the next one will.

And we begin to do these formulas, don’t we? We try to figure out how God is pulling the strings. And formulas will always fail you. Just read the book of Ecclesiastes. The whole thing about it is like, oh wow, life doesn’t always work the way I thought. And so I want us to answer this in a hopeful way. How do we move forward in faith when it storms?

How do we move forward in faith when our prayers aren’t answered? See, our inclination is to try to understand God’s plan, but the invitation is to trust God’s promises. Do you see the difference? When it’s storming, we don’t need to try to figure out, God, what is your plan? We can just say with confidence, God, I am holding on to your promises.

Now that sounds great, but I always ask the question, what are his promises? What can I hold on to? I think the best way to summarize it is these three. When you look at the promises of Scripture, we can know this. God is here, God is able, and God is good. Here, Jesus says in Hebrews, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

He is here. He is here among us today because of the cross, amen? God is able. He is able. Ephesians says he’s able to do far more than you can ever ask, think, or imagine. Jesus says, with man things are impossible, but with God all things are impossible. And God is good. Jesus says, hey, you of you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children.

You don’t give them scorpions. You don’t give them stones. You give them good gifts. How much more your good Heavenly Father gives you good gifts. So, we can know for certain, God is here. He hasn’t left us. God is able. Nothing is too far from his hand. And God is good. But again, but what if he doesn’t answer the prayer?

What I think we need to remember, and these people would know, we are resurrection people, hear me, ultimately, we can say without a doubt in our mind, every promise is yes and amen because. The ultimate promise is the resurrection. Jesus rose again from the dead, conquering sin, Satan, and death, and then says, you will become partakers of this inheritance.

And so we can, maybe God will answer some of his prayers, some of our prayers in this life, but he will all answer everything will come to fruition in the next because in the resurrection is the final yes and amen. To quote J. R. R. Tolkien, because of the resurrection, all that is sad will one day become untrue.

So how do we land this plane? Let me, let me be quick here. Since God is here, since God is able, since God is good, may we be people who pray big prayers of faith. So how do we know? How do we know if we prayed big prayers of faith? It’s simple. You set yourself up to be dazzled or disappointed. That’s kind of the journey we’ve been on as a church.

Um, we moved in here February of last year. And so as a church family, um, it was a big step for us. Uh, cause COVID really knocked us down. And so we finally became, uh, a morning church again. And I remember that Easter. So we were only in here just a couple months. Everybody was trying to make plans for, to be a great Easter.

And so they, everybody kept asking me, what’s the number we should plan for, right? How many breakfast burritos should we make? How many of this, that, how much eggs? And so I was just like terrified. And so I said, uh. Honestly, the number that would like, would blow me away is 150. So everybody’s like, cool, 150.

So the number for that Easter Sunday was 150 and it stressed me out because everybody knew like that morning, Hey, Trey, 150, we’ll see. And I’m just like, Lord answer this. Cause it’ll be very embarrassing if there’s not a hundred. And so what was the scariest is I said this number out loud. I always have numbers in my head, but I’m not sharing them because I get humiliated.

Right? That’s the scary part about it. And it’s scary because for us, we actually planted Passion Creek in 2016. And man, I was so full of energy and hope and I wasn’t hurt yet. So it was great. But when I planted this church, I said every I think every Sunday for three years, I said, God is going to empower us to baptize 200 people within these three years.

And that’s why, anybody seen those Jesus light bulbs? Right? Um, we always bring them out when we do baptisms. Guess how many sockets are in there? 200, because I said 200 baptisms, so I said every, so this is our stage design, within 3 years, the, every bulb is going to be filled. That was great in year 1, that was, that was inspiring.

Year 2, I was like, in 3 years, you know? Then I kept thinking, oh, I need to set a date, what it was 3 years, I kept saying in 3 years, right? No. But I, I began to really embarrass myself, and I kept thinking, well, God, I, I need to be a man of faith, and maybe it’ll happen if I just keep saying it. And I kept saying it.

I kept saying it. Three years came and went. We did not get to 200. Great things happened. We have light bulbs in there, but it was not 200, and I was left disappointed. And so now, go up to 2023. Hey, Trey, give us another number. I thought, oh, no. So I said it. So we rolled up in the morning. I said, God, it doesn’t matter.

You know, if, you know, the number doesn’t matter, Lord, this is about making disciples, not attenders. But then I said, but God, if you can do the 150, that would just be so nice, you know? And, um, that Easter Sunday, guess how many showed up? Literally exactly 150. And I don’t know if Jimmy was fudging the numbers to help us, but praise the Lord.

I believed it in faith. We had. I don’t care if he counted flies in the room. We had a hundred and fifty people and I was just like, oh, thank you, Lord. And it kind of became the mantra. for our whole church leadership the rest of that year. Dazzled or disappointed, brothers? Right? We’re gonna say 150, and if it happens, we’re dazzled.

Whoa! And if it doesn’t, we’re disappointed, but we’re gonna keep going. And then I was like, well, let’s just keep doing this. So we’re like, Lord, what are you gonna do? And so we thought, In this next year, we took our leadership team over the summer and said this is crazy, I just can’t imagine. But we’re gonna try to plan with these next 12 months, we’re gonna become a church of 200.

At this time, we’re about a church of 80. So I said, 200, let’s set up systems and let’s do this. And honestly, this summer, we’re bumping up. We’re bumping up to that number, and that’s just the summer. And it’s like, dazzled! This is incredible! But, I was also willing to be disappointed. I was also willing to say, God, in a year, If we have 50, I’ll still say, but God is good.

Amen. It doesn’t matter. I mean, whatever. We’re still gonna stay Faithful and I think for us We are so scared of believing prayers of faith because what if he doesn’t answer them? What if I get discouraged? What if I get embarrassed? What am I gonna do? And it terrifies us and what happens is we begin to stop praying But here’s what’s so great about not trying to come up with a formula, but leaning on to the Father.

What is so great about praying big prayers of faith is that when He does it, when He dazzles us, we give God our gratitude. Thank you Lord, look how incredible you are. You get all the credit. And when it disappoints us, we give God our grief. But God, you are still good, God you are still able, God you are still here, I don’t know all of your plans, but I trust you, and I love you, and this isn’t about a formula, it’s about the Father.

And God, I know I can trust you as Father because you’re such a good Father, you gave your one and only Son so that those who believe may have life and life eternal. So I’m gonna be disappointed in public, I, that’s fine, I would rather live a life of prayer and belief and disappointment instead of hedging my bets, not praying big prayers, not living an extravagant life because I was so scared of getting embarrassed.

And so I actually want us to kind of lead a time here in this moment as we close. In fact, I invite you, if, if, if your way to pray is to close your eyes, go ahead and do that. If it’s not to look up, however you, uh, are most focused on prayer, I want to give you some prayer prompts. Whether you’ve been in a season of being dazzled by God or disappointed by God, I want you right now.

To invite God and just simply say, God, you are here, you are able, and you are good.

And therefore, God, I am praying in faith for, you insert the blank. What’s a prayer of faith God is calling you to pray for?

What’s a prayer of faith God is bringing to mind for you and your family?

Acknowledge that before the Lord. I hope there’s like this sense of nervousness in the room because I’m hoping we’re pushing ourselves.

Now, I invite you to then say, God, what prayer of faith do I need to pray for our church?

What would dazzle us if God came and did what only he can do in Passion Creek? Pray for it.

I encourage you to think about this more on your way home because for the sake of time I’ll just ask you the last question. What does God bring to your mind when you think of your neighbors and your friends? What would dazzle you if God did insert the blank in their life?

Father, God, I pray that even in this moment we have honored you with big prayers. Jesus, I’m reminded that you We’re so disappointed in your own hometown because of their lack of belief. In fact, you couldn’t perform miracles there.

God, may we bring our disappointments to you in this moment. May we bring our fears and our rejections in the past and still declare, God, you are good, you are here, and you are able.

The God in your sovereignty, you’re the one who allowed James to die, but yet rescued Peter. God, you are honored though, when we pray for deliverance. So, God, set us free from the trap of religion, of formulaic petitions. where we think, God, if I do this for you, then you will do that. God, set us free from that immature way of living, and call us to just lean on you, Father, and just trust you.

And trust that even if we get disappointed, you’re gonna love us in the middle of it. But God, may we just honor you by praying bigger prayers. Because you are a big God.