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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's Word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in. Acts, chapter 12 and verse 1. Now, about that time, this was about 10 years after the resurrection of Jesus, the grandson of the man who had killed all the babies in Bethlehem, his family was at it again. You know, some people are just evil and there's nothing you could do about it. There's just nothing you could do about it. You know, people who are not happy with themselves will never be happy with you. And you have to learn to make peace with that fact. And it says here that King Herod Agrippa, who was the grandson of the original Herod, stretched out his hands to harass some from the church. A comic quipped. He said people are more violently opposed to people wearing fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than a motorcycle gang. What Herod was doing was pure opportunism. He only struck those who could not strike back. Then he killed James. Now, James was one of the twelve apostles, twelve disciples. He was part of Christ's inner circle. When he left all the other 12 disciples or nine disciples behind, he would take James, John and Peter. So he was one of the major leaders of the disciples. And the Bible goes on and says that, yeah, he was in fact the brother of John and they killed him with the sword. Now, until this event, the apostles were on a ten year winning streak. When they preached, signs and wonders followed. Thousands turned to the Lord. When they were put in jail, God would get them out. Miraculously, their backs were sometimes bloodied, but they were no worse for the wear. And no matter the situation, they all left singing God's praises. And this went on for about a decade. These men were unstoppable, unflinchable, unflappable, unrelenting. Until one day, James the Apostle was killed. And the murder of James struck to the very heart of the Jesus movement. But someone said we could never be brave if only good things happen to us. And because Herod saw that it pleased the Jews and not all Jews. He was speaking of the Jewish religious establishment, the powers that be at that time. Because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. How many of you know, give the devil an inch? You want to take a yard? Yeah. Herod thought that because he was successful killing James, he could also strike Peter next and he could really finish off the movement. You know, the downside of being a leader Is that the further out front that God pushes you, the larger the target you wear on your head. So James had a target. John also had a target, but so did Peter. Now, it was during the days of unleavened bread, and this was a festival where hundreds of thousands, Josephus said actually it was over a million, but at least hundreds of thousands of pilgrims would come to Jerusalem from all over Palestine and all over the world. Herod considered this season, and you know, he's a scoundrel. And he was like, this is a perfect time to humiliate Peter and do it in a way that it would have its farest impact. So when he arrested Peter, he put Peter in prison and he delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people right after or after, forgive me, Passover. So what you need to know here is we're reading this in hindsight, you know, after it happened. But Peter was in the middle of this thing. This thing was very, very fresh to him. Even the crucifixion of Jesus was still relatively fresh. These were the same soldiers who beheaded John the Baptist. These were the soldiers that had just cut off the head of James. So here's the question. Why should Peter think that his outcome would be any different than these other righteous men? Jesus looked at John the Baptist, said, you know, there's no greater prophets risen up among women than John the Baptist. But he was beheaded. James is part of the same circle, but he was killed. So how might Peter think that things might go different for him? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I'm about to show you. It was different for Peter because God gave Peter a word for his life. And God's word has the final say, no matter what anybody else says or what else happens. Let's take a look really quick right after the resurrection. Watch what Jesus said to Peter. 21 and 18 John, he said, most assuredly in Aramaic, it's Amin. Amin. Jesus spoke in Aramaic. If it was American, it would be Amen. Amen. This was a double affirmation. You know, Jesus could not say, as the prophets of old would say, thus saith the Lord. He couldn't say, thus saith the Lord because he was the Lord. So the only thing he could say is, I said it, I meant it. Verily, verily, I say unto you. But also this double affirmation was his way of getting Peter's attention and also making sure Peter understood that he could take what he was about to say and take that check to the bank and Cash it. By the way, for those of you under 25, a check was something your parents or your grandparents used to use before. Pay app or cash app. Forgive me. It looks something like that. You see it on the screen, you can Google it. You might even be able to go to Smithsonian and see such things. They still exist. But Jesus was like, listen, Peter, you can take this check to the bank. It will not bounce. It will not come back. Insufficient funds. I have the power to fulfill everything I say. You can take this to the bank and you can cash it. Watch what Jesus said and pay attention closely. He said, amen. Amen, most assuredly, Peter, I say to who? You. I'm not talking to anybody else, Peter. I'm talking to you. Now, God has a general word we call the Bible. How many y' all believe that's true? And the Scriptures are the ultimate standard and the litmus test for anything God might say in the future. However, God also has specific words for specific people that we must also believe in hear in order for them to come to pass. You know, most Christians do not hear God's spoken voice because they've already decided not to follow his written voice. And if you're not faithful with what God has already documented through the apostles, why should he trust you with any more? So he's speaking to Peter, and if you keep reading down, he then addresses, says some things about John, but this is a specific conversation just with Jesus and Peter. And he said, peter, when you were younger, you were a free spirit. You girded yourself and walked where you wished. When you were younger, you had less responsibility. Peter, you had freedom to eat what you want, stay up as late as you want, run as fast and as far as you wanted. But Peter, when that's not a question mark, he didn't say if. When you are old. The Greek is even more emphatic. The Greek says, you shall be old and then, or you shall grow old and then. Now, Peter was married when he met Jesus. How many of you know that from the scriptures? He was probably one of the oldest disciples. Many scholars think that Peter was actually close to Jesus age. So my best guess is that Peter was somewhere between 20 and 30 years old when Jesus made him this promise. He said, peter, I know you're a young guy now, and you got strength and vigor and all the rest, but when you're old, you will stretch out your hands just like you saw me stretch out mine on the cross. You too will one day stretch out yours on that cross. And by the way, God is A God of the second chance. Peter denied the Lord three times when he was scared that he might face the same consequences that Jesus was facing when they beat him and later crucified him. But Jesus, when he grew older, he matured him. And some things you can't do right out of the gate. God loves you, still has a plan for your life, but he will develop you and mature you and get to the place where you could do that thing you once couldn't do if you hang on there with God. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you. You're just not going to do what you want and will carry you where you don't wish. Jesus didn't want to go to the cross. Neither did Peter. No one in their right mind would want to be crucified. But Peter didn't flinch back and neither did Jesus. This is important. Jesus did not make this promise to James. He made this promise to Peter. Our relationships with God are individual and they are personal. Although we can learn from one another, we must learn from one another. We must never try to relate to God through others. Because God has no grandchildren. God doesn't have children that are not his immediate sons and daughters. During COVID a couple here, they were in their 60s, so the COVID period was very, very dangerous for them. And in that season, God spoke to them to not get the shots. Also, they didn't wear masks, and God would protect them. Now, fortunately, they were very, very humble and gracious people. And I required everyone here to wear a mask. And you got to consider your brother and you don't want to upset them. And your faith may be in one place, theirs may not. Be. So they would graciously submit to their pastor, Richard and Fran, and they would wear the mask during worship. But everyone else was pretty much masked up. These two people went through Covid, so they'd leave here, go to the supermarket, and they had grandchildren. You don't know. Grandchildren would carry a whole bunch of stuff and all the rest of the. And they never got Covid. Now, here's the deal. I got the shots, but I got it twice. So what I'm saying to you, what's for you is for you. And what was for them was for them. Now, it might have been presumptuous to apply what God said to them and try to take that from me. I was preoccupied with believing and focusing on other things. And that was really, I guess, not my main. I don't know. As a matter of fact, I didn't really get Covid until the whole thing was over. I don't know why, you know, I got it right at the end. But the point I'm trying to say is you were born an original. You can get killed trying to be a copy. Yeah, it's dangerous to try to live off of other people's faith. I want you to imagine when Jesus said to Peter, Peter said, jesus, can I come to you? And Jesus said, come. Now I don't believe Peter walked underwater. I believe he walked on the instructions of Jesus. Peter walked on God's word. I'm not sure about it, but if any of the other disciples would have stepped into that water, we might have had a problem. Jesus might have said, I wasn't talking to you. Peter asked me if he can walk on the water and I said, come, I didn't say anything to you. So Peter and Jesus might have had to go on a life saving mission there. But the short of it is some things are alive in some people and not so much alive in other people. And you can't impose your faith on others. Are you with me, by the way? I'm not talking about the core essentials of the faith. I'm talking about things such as we just spoke about. Let's take a look at this then. It says in verse 19, this he spoke, signifying by what death, Peter would glorify God. So Peter knew he was going to die, but Jesus told him the way he would die before he died and also when he would die. Now the challenge was, was it was only a decade later. Acts 12 happens pretty much 10 years after the resurrection of Jesus. So 10 years later, Herod captures Peter to kill him. And in Jewish culture, the onset, also Roman culture, the onset of old age started around 60 years old. Now you were of a respectable old age, around 70 plus. But the onset started around 60. And at this time then Peter would have only been in his 30s or his 40s. So Peter's attitude was, you know what, I'm going to die one day, but not today. And you got to learn to say with Peter, I may die, but I'm not dying today. You got to take it sometimes one day at a time. And the reason I'm not dying is because I'm not done yet. I have other people to reach and more things to do. And because I'm not done, I'm not going home unless Christ comes. Acts 12:5. Let's go back. Therefore, Peter was therefore kept in prison. He was chained between four sets of two smelly soldiers they were on six hour rotations. The Romans were very efficient, very careful about how they guarded people. They wanted to keep the soldiers fresh. And they did this for a whole week. But despite all that was going on, Peter had a word from God in his heart. And it says, and constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. This is important. Just because you have a word from God doesn't mean it won't require prayer. I have built everything in my life based on a word or a few things God said to me over 40 years ago. But no word God has ever spoken to me has ever come to pass apart from prayer. Now it's not so much that I'm praying for the word to come to pass as much as I'm praying that I might hold on. I'm praying that I might not make a stupid mistake. I'm praying to stay close so I don't cause it to linger too long and cause the thing to not come to pass in the right time. So it's not so much that the word of God needs my prayer. It's I need God's prayer again to hold on. And when you finally want God more than anything else, he will make sure you're not disappointed. And some things, even some promises, I'm not sure you're going to receive unless you stay close. And when. Herod was about to bring him out now. So he waits till right before Passover. God has a habit of waiting until the very last moment, right when we want to shrug our shoulders and start to think it's too late. That's when God shows up. Right when I get to the end of myself, I can't imagine a way forward. I start thinking, if God was going to do it, he would have done it by now. That's the time when God shows up. And watch this. That night, Peter was sleeping. Who in their right mind sleeps when hours later you're about to leave your wife of how many years, your children your responsibility? Who in their right mind sleeps when just a couple hours. You're not going to be able to pray for anyone again. You're not going to be able to speak to anyone again. But the Bible says Peter was not only sleeping in a closet to we're about to discover he was sleeping so deeply that the angel had to strike him, not tap him, had to strike him hard to wake him up. But you see, Peter was not resting on a pillow. He was resting on God's promises. And I'll tell you, your sleep can be sweet when you learn to rest on his promises. When God promises it, he's not saying, I'm going to try. He means I can and I will because I am God and there's none beside me. When I spoke to you, I already calculated everything that needed to happen for it to happen. Don't second guess me. I am God. Bound between two chains, between two. Soldiers and guards were at the door and keeping the prison. But Peter was free on the inside because he had a promise. When you take hold of God's promises, people will panic on your left, people will panic on your right. But it shall not come near you because you have something hidden in your heart. You have a word from God with your particular name on it. Now, there are promises that don't have my name on it, but there are some problems with my particular name on it. The peace God promises only comes to those resting on his promises. So here's the question. What promises? Have you followed Jesus long enough and closely enough to hear? Peter had betrayed Jesus three times right before the resurrection. After the resurrection, Jesus was standing on the shore. The men went back fishing. They went back to their old business and job. They gave up the ministry. Peter stood on the shore and said, hey, young man, did you catch any fish yet? And Peter jumped. Actually, they caught a whole bunch of fish, just came in the boat. But Peter immediately jumped in the water because the boat wasn't going fast enough. Jumped in the water, swam to shore, got to the shore ahead of the boat to be with Jesus. And what we see here is Peter failed. But because he was willing to still follow Jesus closely enough, he was able to hear these words that we just read. You know what, Peter? When you grow old, XYZ is going to happen. But he only heard this because he stayed with Jesus. So the point is, even when you fail, stay with Jesus. Do not miss the word that God has over your particular life, whether it was these soldiers guarding him. And I'm going to paraphrase, my pastor used to say this. The greatest failure in life is not death. It's never discovering your assignment. And I don't want to leave here till I'm done with my assignment. Now, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the prison. And he struck again. Not Tab. He struck Peter on the side. The goal I have for the rest of my life is to be able to live in this Peter type of peace, that peace that passes understanding. But the Bible says the peace of God. See, we have peace with God because of the blood. We have peace with God when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. But the Bible speaks of something different than peace with God. It speaks of the peace of God, and it says that we're to pray and petition and with all supplication. And then the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ. So I have peace with God. But the peace of God only comes through prayer. And many of us don't have the peace of God because we don't really pray through. We don't spend enough time on our knees. I get as troubled as anyone else in this room. But I've learned to find God on my knees and I seek him until peace comes. And I know that God's God got the situation, you understand, that I'm dealing with in my life. I want to spend the rest of my life discovering this Peter type of peace. Meaning, no matter what the Herods of this world try to do to me, my prayer is that my soul rests soundly on God's promises. The Bible says the angel snatched him up. That's what it says saying, arise quickly, meaning Peter, he was startled. Like, who hit me? You know, I don't know. Peter, being Peter, probably wanted to pop him back. Don't know. And Peter a little reluctant, but the angel stopped. Man, we got work to do. And his chains miraculously fell off his hands. And, you know, the end of the story. The angel led him to freedom. Doors just started opening, and it was just a miracle that took place. So miraculous that Peter really had to come to himself. He's like, did this really happen? So when he had considered this all that was just done, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark. This is the writer of the second Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, where many were gathered together praying. Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, said this. He said, I've been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go. I'm most comfortable with praying people because praying people get me, because they also have no other place to go but God. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. Her name means rose. Now, we can complain because the rose bushes have thorns, or we can rejoice and be thankful because thorn bushes have roses. You see, we can look at these verses and complain about how God could you let the apostle James die? Or we could rejoice over the fact that God calls Peter to live. You see, I have read through the Bible, so Many times. I can't count them. I study the Bible. I read the Bible every day. I mean, I don't know how many hours, but thousands and thousands of hours have I studied God's word. But with all I know, I still can't explain all of God's decisions. I just know what. When bitter comes before sweet, it makes the sweet taste even sweeter. And the death of John only caused Peter's deliverance to be more miraculous. I don't understand all God's algebra. I failed calculus several times. But I do know that he who knows everything about everything has holes in his hands, holes in his feet, a hole in his side because of his love for me. And if he decided that that was the best way to go, I am going to trust him. I'm going to trust him. I'm going to trust him. And you ought to trust him too. Verse 14. When she recognized Peter's voice. When you have a real pastor, you know the people of that pastor will begin to learn that pastor's voice as sure as they learn the voice of their mother. I mean, when the word of God becomes precious to you and you're hanging onto it for dear life, and God sends people to deliver that word to you, you learn to recognize that voice. She recognized Peter's voice because of her gladness. By the way, it didn't say she saw him, she just recognized his voice. But because of her gladness, she didn't open the gate. She was overjoyed about God's answer to prayer. So much so she didn't open the gate. But I want to add something here. She was probably a servant girl. If this was a house large enough at this point, the church is huge. If this house is large enough to hold a prayer meeting, this was obviously a house of some size. And Mark's family probably was a family of. Of some means here. So the odds are this was the servant girl who probably became a Christian. And if she had not become a Christian, she was sympathizing with the prayers of the people in John Mark's house. So he hears the voice at the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But Rhoda, you need to open your own door. You don't need permission from the pastor. You don't need permission from the church board. You don't need permission from the mission society. You gotta open the door to your own miracle for yourself. You have to receive your own answers to prayer for yourself. Watch this. But they said to her, you're crazy. You're beside yourself. Even those who were praying could not believe what had just happened. They had prayed for seven days. How is it when they know that Peter's good is dead, all of a sudden he's going to show up? But here's what I want to say to you. God's about to do something in your life and in my life that will completely blow your mind. And after it's over, you're not going to be able to believe it. I'm telling you, by the word of the Lord, God wants to completely blow your mind. But watch this, watch this. I feel my help coming here. Yet. Yet. She kept insisting that it was so. You need to be able to stand up for your testimony, even under pressure. You know what God did for you. You were in the room. You saw it for yourself. And even if church folk have been around for a long time, don't believe it. You gotta stand up for what God has done in your life. The miracle that you have seen in your life. And you gotta insist sometimes I ain't crazy. I know it's so. So they began to spiritualize the way we do. They said, it's an angel. But let me tell you something. God doesn't just want to heal your spiritual heart. He also cares about your literal body. Yes, he will meet your spiritual needs, but my Bible says he will also supply your every natural need according to his riches in glory. Don't over spiritualize the Scripture. Now, Peter continued knocking because they didn't open up. But I need you to understand, delay can be dangerous. Peter was an escaped convict, and he was out there in those streets. And if you don't answer when God knocks, you can complicate things that God wants to do quickly because you're too slow to recognize what God has done. And when they opened the door and saw him, I feel like God's saying to a few people, you better open that door before it's too late. When they opened that door, they were astonished. But Peter motioned to them with his hands to keep silent. He's like, y' all need to calm down. Is there anything too hard for God? Can't he who promised deliver? It's not in the Bible, but I believe Peter said, when the doctor says no, God could say yes. When the banker says no, God can say yes. When your boss says no, God says yes. When the judge says no, God says yes. Even when the warden told Peter no, God said yes. Even when your own self, like Rhoda, your own self says you don't qualify to open that Door. God said, oh, yes, you do. Oh yes, you do. You better open that door. You better open that door. You better. You better open that door. Open that door. The final clause, and I'm done. This morning, Peter's like, y' all need to calm down. He motioned to them, stop it. And then he began to declare. Tell his testimony of how the Lord had brought him out of prison, how God had brought him through. God wants to give you a testimony so impossible, so far fetched, so bananas. You hear what I'm saying? That you will hardly be able to believe it after it happens. Scripture says it this way. Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard. Neither has it entered the heart and mind of man. What God's prepared for those who love him say one more thing, and I'm about to wrap up. The disciples were in a storm. And then they saw this figure coming toward them, walking on the water. And the disciples said, it's a ghost in the King James. But literally they thought it was a demon or some type of spirit, some type of phantom, because they didn't expect God to show up that way. What I want to tell you, I've been in lots of crises in my life. In every crisis, God never did what I thought he should. He never did it when I thought he should or the way I thought he should. It was always a surprise. Those of you in a crisis, you trying to figure it out, stop it. You will never be able to figure it out. Peter was like, you know what? Me and the other disciples were in jail and we just kind of, you know, God did a miracle that way, but this one was so crazy where all of us, the soldiers are sleeping and he's walking and making noise and they're not waking up and doors are opening. And it absolutely blew his mind. He had walked with Jesus for years, but he was still surprised. So much so he had to collect himself. And I want to tell you, God is the most interesting person you'll ever have a relationship with. He is not boring. He will surprise you time and time again. Just like his mercies are new every morning, so is the way he expresses himself and solves our problems. He does it in new and fresh ways. So he declared to them, how you know that he would come out? I think he knew how he would come out. He didn't know. And I know that you're in a problem. How you come up, I don't know. But when it's all over, I do want to hear how he brought you out, because it will encourage my Faith. A lot of times we try to just try to think too much. We say it's impossible because we think we know so much. But there's nothing impossible with God. He has the combination to every lock, a key to every door. He's God all by himself. And what I want to close with is even with a little bit of faith. Because it seems that those people in that prayer meeting didn't have a lot of faith. By the seventh day in the Passover day, you know what they didn't believe that Peter might be at the door. They couldn't wrap their head around it. But this encourages me. Even a little faith can do great things when put in the promises of our great God. Your faith doesn't have to be perfect. Just a little bit of faith. He looked at Peter. Peter was thinking, oh, you of little faith. Do you know a little faith got him out the boat, walking on water. O you of little faith. God is saying to us, listen, I could do abundantly above all that, you could ask or think. Use the faith you have. Start where you are and I will meet you. I won't despise you. I won't look down on you. I will meet you there if you just give me everything you got so I can give you what I got. Thank you for joining us. Until next time, remember you have what it takes in Christ to live big. We also invite you to partner with Derek Rear Ministries in bringing the life changing and impactful teachings of God's Word to the world. Get started by visiting Derek rear.com by clicking the link in the description.