Rev. David Holwick  ZD
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 5, 1993
                                                           Acts 12:1-12
                            
                              RESCUE ME


  I. Desperate situations.
      A. Executions and imprisonment.
          1) King Herod was seeking local political support, and hitting
                Christians was a popular move.
          2) Peter had good reason to be pessimistic.

      B. Everyone here will face times of desperation.
          1) Problems we will face:
              a) If no one has died in your immediate family, they will.
              b) Your financial security could change overnight.
              c) Your health may deteriorate.
          2) How will you handle it?
              a) Some will be defeated, and curse God.
              b) Others will discover that the Lord is a living God, and
                    he still delivers his people from trouble.

 II. Praying for deliverance. 
      A. The church prayed fervently.                                12:5
          1) Same word used of Jesus in Gethsemane.             Luke 22:44
          2) Assume they also prayed "thy will be done."

      B. Prayer comes easiest in desperate situations.
          1) On June 6, 1944, a German soldier woke up, peered outside
                his pillbox and saw the entire Allied fleet before him.
             The invasion of Europe was unfolding before him.
                What did he do?  The same as you - he prayed!
                   "Not a church-prayer, but a real one!"
                                                                    #2536
          2) It is normal for prayer to be more intense when our needs
                are intense.

      C. Salvation is not just for heaven.
          1) Idea originally dealt with here-and-now situations.
          2) Psalms especially focus on current needs.
              a) Lord, they've surrounded me!  Help me!

III. Should we expect miracles?
      A. Peter was not expecting anything.
          1) He was sound asleep, and had to be kicked awake.        12:7
              a) What does an angel's voice sound like?
              b) "Get up!!!!"
          2) Even leaving the prison, he thought he was dreaming.    12:9

      B. The church was not really expecting anything.
          1) They prayed for his deliverance, and then wouldn't believe it.
              a) Humor as Rhoda screams for joy and runs back in.
              b) Peter has to bang away.                             12:16
          2) God can do more than we expect, even when we have faith.
              a) Believing this should take away our anxiety.
              b) God wants to deliver us from evil.

      C. Miracles still happen today.

         A striking modern parallel is found in the experiences of
            Sundar Singh.
         Sundar lived in northern India in the 1920's.
         As a young man he was a devout Hindu and persecuted Christians
            in his village.
         One day he was praying in his room and a great light appeared.
            He looked into the light and saw the form of Jesus Christ.
         A voice spoke to Sundar in Hindustani:
         "How long will you persecute me?
           I have come to save you; you were praying to know the right way."

         Though totally unaware of the story of Paul's conversion,
            at that point Sundar became a believer in Jesus.
         He was so committed he became a missionary to the villages
            of Tibet.
         One spiritual leader there became so upset with him he had him
            thrown into a dry well.
         The lid was securely locked and he was left there to die.
            The bones and rotting flesh of many others lay around him.

         On the third night, when he had been crying to God in prayer,
            Sundar heard someone unlocking the lid of the well.
         The lid was removed, and a voice spoke, telling him to take
            hold of the rope that was being lowered.
         Sundar did so, and was glad to find a loop at the bottom of the
            rope in which he could place his foot, for his right arm had
               been injured before he was thrown down.
         He was then drawn up, and when he looked around to thank his
            rescuer, he could find no trace of him.
         The fresh air revived him, and his injured arm felt whole again.

         When morning came, Sundar returned to the city where he had
            been arrested, and he began preaching again.
         News was brought to the spiritual leader that the man who had
            been thrown into the execution-well for preaching had been
               set free and was preaching again.
         Sundar Singh was brought before the leader and questioned, and
            he told the story of his release.
         The leader declared that someone must have gotten the key and
            let him out, but when they searched for the key, it was
               found attached to the leader's own belt!
                                                                    #2535

         A more recent example comes from the family of someone in our
            own church.
         Iris' Tardive's husband Bill received the news that can cause
            the ultimate dread:  the doctor told him he had cancer.
         An operation was planned immediately.
         On the morning of the operation their nephew Michael, a preacher,
            talked to him about faith and encouraged him.
         Bill believed in God, but Michael stressed that the Lord would
            be able to help him through any situation that developed.

         The surgery was more than five hours long.
         As he came to in the recovery room, Bill was astounded at how
            painful it was.
         He thought he was tough enough to stand anything, but this had
            him doubled over in agony.
         He remembered Michael's words, and said a simple prayer to God.
            "Lord, help me to bear this."

         Bill didn't expect all of it to go away, but he just wanted to
            be able to take it.
         He felt two hands move down his abdomen, past his own hands,
            and into the wound.
         The hands seemed to press down, and immediately the pain
            disappeared.
         Bill insists he was not groggy and doped-up, but completely
            alert.
         The relief from pain was so abrupt it shook him up.
            More than ever, he realized God can answer prayer.
                                                                    #2537

 IV.  Ultimate deliverance.
      A. Not every prayer is answered dramatically.
          1) Note that chapter 12 begins with the martyrdom of James.
          2) Yet in Bible's perspective, even James had a victory.

      B. Death and disease are no defeat for Christians.
          1) Jesus has conquered them, if not in this life, then in the
                next.
          2) We can be physically fit, but on our way to doom:

          "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill
             the soul.
           Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and
             body in hell."
                                                         Matthew 10:28
      C. Are you humble enough to seek God's help?


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