Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 872 | Miss Kay ‘Loses’ a Neighbor at the Hospital & Jase’s Plane Is Forced into Emergency Landing

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

Jase dubiously attempts to comfort a nervous fellow traveler using his recent death-defying airplane troubles, and Miss Kay is sad when her hospital room neighbor moves on. The guys explore the meaning in Acts 12 of “earnest prayer,” and Phil reckons that by praying for things that God wants, rather than ourselves, we can see his work in all sorts of small and big ways. In this episode: Acts 12; Acts 1, verse 1; 1 Peter 2, verse 9 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to the Unashamed podcast. I feel like the dust is settled. We're back to normal. Zach's back in North Carolina. Welcome, Zach. And you just got there, right, today. Yeah, I did. It's been crazy because it was a couple of days ago, we had for King and Country and Rebecca St. James. The small bones were here. They left a note behind Jay's. It's right here on the table when I got here. Phil, Jace, Alan, Zach.

Thank you so much for having us on Unashamed. We're not only grateful, but so inspired by your family, many things. So just a reminder, that was kind of a whirlwind day because they were doing our podcast. They did the Duck Call Room. They also did Sadie's. It's called the Robertson Gauntlet. That's what that is. The gauntlet.

They came through the Robertson Gauntlet. But they seem pretty excited about it. excited about meeting us as we were about meeting them. I mean, it seemed that way. Well, I just said, they may get back and say those people, I'll never go back to Louisiana again. No, well, I have breaking news.

Breaking news. Hang on. Hang on. Now it's three clicked. So after they left, we exchanged numbers. Because I'm going to tell you, I told you all before we got started today, I was impressed with that group of people

and that family more than anybody else I've ever met in my life in that short of time. I mean, they love the Lord. And look, I'll tell this, because this happened off camera and we didn't mention it. But before we got started, I think you brought up that we had had the previous podcast Lisa was on, and she was sharing about her, finding out about breast cancer. Well, Joel was like, oh, ho, hey, let's stop and pray about this right now. We called Lisa over. and I mean, and prayed for us and our families, which Ralph the bat, I'm like, okay, these guys got my attention, you know.

I mean, they're concerned enough about us to do that. So, yes, I could not agree more. Well, and Rebecca said a prayer before the duck call room podcast, which when you think about it, if you're doing a podcast with Si, you never know where that's going to go. And so maybe it was a. Was she praying for her? Was she praying for protection? She just prayed, but then it's like it almost transformed Sye into a person I couldn't recognize because I prepared them. I said, no, the duck call room.

They said, what's this going to be like? I don't know. Who knows? It's going to be chaos and nonsense. You were a young book. We took a trip to New Zealand. New Zealand. Took a trip to New Zealand.

Which is in the neighborhood of Australia. They carried ducks over in about 1920. It was a duck hunter president we had. So they sent some ducks over there, and there's no predators on them. So they really made a deal. But all I told you earlier, I said, Jay, you should have been there because when I preached the gospel to them, there was a, they said the Brits, it cranked it up. They all get together at once when they don't like something.

And it was like this. And I said, what is that? And he said, they're speaking against you. They don't like what you're doing. However, after the thing, some of them would walk by, and we had a few duck calls on a table, you know, and they would do this. They would look around like that.

And then they would tell me, we appreciate that. But they had to do that. it like this and through the internet they they were a little more bold about we heard your speech and and we we we are we're feeling sorry for the way we treated you but but that's they've grown some you all saw those people so maybe it's uh well we're all children of the crown because you know we all were brits at one point the Aussies I'm assuming the Kiwis in New Zealand and us. And so we were laughing about it because they were like, you know, we're still fighting

the crowd. We were like, well, we left a long time ago. I guess we're a lot more polled in what we do. Yeah, but that slogan for king and country, I mean, the Brits came up with that to put their lives on the line for king and country. The king and country is a bigger. That's a higher. That the small bones are referring to.

I think they're referring to. I don't think I. The king. The king of kings. Yes. And this new country that Hebrews 11 discusses, you remember when Abraham, they were looking for a better country. Yeah, that's it. Yeah.

A better city. And that's very evident by the movie, which we talked about extensively on the podcast. The message that I got from that movie was that, Jay, because they went up from Australia to hear. But there's no doubt. It was their relationship with Christ that carried the day. for them. And I don't know, Dad, you weren't on with us, but it reminded me so much of our story in that when you and mom got Jesus on the throne in your lives, how that changes everything, and I think they went through similar. You know, you look at the time frame. It was when these

people were here, it's been about, oh, 25, 30 years since I made that trip. So it's, it's probably been more than that, yeah, over 30. Over 30 since you were there. But I planted a seed at least. You did. And I was telling you that there's a city, one of the major cities in New Zealand's called Christchurch, New Zealand. So somebody came through there with some good news message at some point. Yeah.

Or they wouldn't have named the city that, which is pretty cool. First Peter, two, nine comes to mind. You're a chosen people, a royal, kingly priesthood, a holy, nation for king and country. Yep. Okay, I just thought I'd throw that in. So we're in the book of Acts, and I had a story that I didn't share with you

that I think goes along, because when you think, well, what does this look like now? You know, I made a point when we had for King and Country on about when Jesus told them in Acts 1-8, that you start here at Jerusalem, you go to Samaria, Judea, and to the uttermost ends of the earth. And I think the backwoods of Louisiana and Australia fall into that category.

They said our backwoods reminded them of their outback, so there you go. And keeping in mind that you remember, I don't know if we've made reference to this, surely we did, but when Luke started his first writing, he started it saying, this is, I'll read the verse, just so I'll get it accurately. This is Luke one.

It's in the first three. Since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also for me to write an orderly account to you. Yeah, and so he gives this, he's going to carefully investigate who, Jesus, and he's going to give an account. Right. So then when he gets to Acts 1, that's where I was wanting to go, it's such a good phraseology, because he says in Acts 1-1 in my former book, Theophilus, because he wrote to Theophilus in Luke, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do. do and to teach until the day he was taken up into heaven. So it gives you the impression.

Still got some teaching going on? This is what's next. Yeah, yeah, that's good. And so I think when you fast forward 2,000 years, you say, well, what is he doing? So I thought I'd tell you this story that happened. Because there's a lot of principles that are happening in Acts that I saw in this one little conversation in an airport terminal. So.

Do you ever wonder why they call an airport, the place you go a terminal? Because that's not a good, that's not a good, you don't like to be thinking about terminal. I think it means like the end, like you're at the end of the. So then you're flying from the end? It's like it's just where the, this is where the land ends and you get on the point. I mean, I'm nervous enough about flying without calling a terminal. Anyway, that's, no, it's an interesting.

interesting thought because I was coming back from South America. So the guy who sat beside me from South America to Atlanta, he said, can you open the window? This is how our conversation started. In the airplay? Oh, you mean like, I'm afraid of say, I don't know if you can open the window. Well, that's exactly what I said. And I said, well. The shade, the shade. In a moment of stupidity, I said, now you realize that. that window's not coming up. He's like, no, I have a fear of flying. Then I was looking around for the bag, make sure he had one.

He said, but I've noticed if I can see the ground when we take off, it alleviates my stress. And I said, well, you know what you need? And he said, what's that? I said, you need an emergency landing. and he said, what do you mean? I was like, well, I used to have a fear of flying because I was thinking this is a good opportunity to get in a conversation about Jesus.

So I said, I just was terrified of flying and I said, but I was going around the country speaking about Jesus, which is kind of weird because I believe in the resurrection. So I'd already planted the seed right there. I've declared, and unleashed the power that is in the gospel, but I did it in a, oh, by the way.

And I said, so here I am doing that, but I have a fear of flying. And I always have of height and being claustrophobic. It's like all my fears are coming together in a plane. I said, so we used to, back in the day, we were quite busy, and sometimes we'd have to take a private plane and a guy would lend us his plane.

sometimes because he was also a believer. So I'm kind of setting the stage here for what I'm involved in. And so I said, I'm in the cockpit. He's flying. My wife's in the back. I think I've told this story before. But I'm listening to all the chatter at the air traffic control. So then all of a sudden I hear about an emergency landing.

And I'm thinking, oh, wow, somebody, I'm getting to listen to all the secrets, you know. So when I looked at our pilot, he had turned a different. shade of white. And really, he looked like he had become ill. And that's when I realized, oh, we're the ones that need an emergency landing because we had just taken off. And so we started turning around. Our fuel pump had gone out in our plane later because I checked back and tried to

figure out later, why did we have the emergency landing? And so we just kind of like a ride at an amusement park. We just went straight down in a real quick manner. But in that time, because I thought we're having emergency landing, and as we began to fall, you know, I just kind of felt a piece come over me, which is shocking. I was as shocked as anybody because I thought, well, because I look back at Missy, And she looked concerned.

And she's like, is there a problem? And I'm like, we're fine. Because in the moment, I just thought. You were being to protect her. Yeah, I just didn't want her to stress out. I knew I was fixed to see her again anyway in some capacity. Because you think, well, it's over. But I thought this is where it is.

And so what I was so fearful about, I really wasn't scared in the moment. And I contribute that to the Holy Spirit. and so I told him that. And his response was funny. He's like, Jace, I know who you are. I know you will blow smoke. No, I think he was just saying.

That's exactly what he meant. I know your story, you know, and he said, I am also a believer, but I don't think I need an emergency landing. And I said, oh, I'm going to disagree with you. I think you do. I said, if you believe in the resurrection of Jesus, Jesus. I said, I don't think it'll be as bad as you think. And I said, I just got over it. So now I get on the plane and no matter what happens, I'm like, here we go. The man, just told you he's afraid of

fly it and you start talking about near misses and crashing. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's funny. You were like, you were leading him to that place. Well, it didn't offend him that much because we talked for four and a half hours. That's funny. Let's take a break. Well, that was not the story I was going to tell. Well, when you said that about Terminal, it popped. Well, it made me Let me just verify this because I did say terminal was the end of. This is the definition of forming or situated at the end or extremity of something. So I think that's the idea we're talking about. I guess it.

Now I get it. I guess they were thinking the jumping off place. It's like yesterday. So my mom's been in a rehab deal getting ready to come home, hopefully soon. and she's in good spirits. I know you guys have been praying for. And she's doing great. But I come in.

So, you know, I've been coming by and seeing her because I'm in town a lot now. So I came by. So I met this guy that's across the hall from her, Mr. Peppers. And he's a funny old guy. And so we talked in the hall. And so I come in yesterday and she says, well, we lost Mr. Pepper's yesterday. And I was like, oh, no, I really like that guy. I was like, did something happen during the night or what?

And she said, oh, no, he just went home. And I was like, Mom. The way you put that. When you're staying in a place like this, don't say we lost the guy, like, I mean, because that either means he wandered off or he moved on, you know. Before I left town, I was warned by three different people. You better go see Kay before you leave. Well, she had already said, she heard you were coming down.

She said, if Zach does not come see me while he's in town, then he is. is anathema. I mean, she didn't use that word, but she said. I did go by and see her. And she looked great. She, when I walked in, Missy was in there, Jase. And she was eating Missy's meatloaf.

Oh, that's a funny story. But go ahead. See, had meatloaf mashed potatoes and a sonic drink, a Route 44. I don't know what was in. It was unsweet tea. Yeah, she's getting away. I asked, but Phil, I asked her how.

I said, how's Phil handling you being gone? She said, oh, he's so worried about not getting groceries. I told him to send Dan down there to get the groceries. She said you were worried you're not eating, Dad. She's worried you're not eating, Phil. The ace in the hole was the man from Jersey Joe. Jersey, Jersey Joe.

He's been cooking for Dad. He has been stepping up, Jersey Joe. And that's high calorie food. Converting to Christ, his wife, their children. And he is a great cook. And he's been supplying me a steady stream of cooked food ready to go. Yeah, that's good. So you want me to tell you this story?

Yeah, that tells us. So that wasn't the story. That was an interjection of this story. That was the story to introduce the story. This is the real call-day from right here. Well, one of the keys. Jason's stories have stories that set up the stories. Well, here's the way I look at it.

How I look at it is that we are indwelling by the Holy Spirit. And we are making Jesus known. And one of the ways I feel that, people who are disciples of Jesus should do that is to have conversations with people along the way day to day and look for opportunities to insert Jesus. I just gave you an example. This guy happened to be a believer. So then I move to the terminal and I have a three or four hour layover, which is what that means is podcast study time. So I sit at a down amongst the throng of people waiting for my gate to change because it always does when

you're in Monroe, but it's always in the same little section. So I get my Bible out, and I'm oblivious to my surroundings, and I get deep into the book of Acts. And I think at that time, we were in chapter 10 talking about the Gentiles, the entrance of the Gentiles, which is everyone that's not from Israel. So all of you listening that are not, not from Israel. We're talking about our birthplace here, how this all got started. I'm reading. Well, I feel a tap on the shoulder, and I looked up, and there's an elderly woman. She said, excuse me, are you a pastor? And, you know, in that moment, I'm oblivious to even what I'm doing. I said, well, no. And she just looked puzzled. And then I realized she's watching me stuff.

studying my Bible. I said, I'm a believer. And she said, really? She said, well, I just got off a plane where there was another guy studying his Bible. And she said, as I look around in this world, I get so depressed and I get angry. And she said, but all of a sudden in a span of just a few minutes, I see two people studying the Word of God. and I just want to ask you, am I missing something? It was quite a question.

Instead of saying, I'm so glad if it was done, she's like, I'm missing that. Am I missing something? And I said, well, Jesus is alive. That was my response. I was like, I hope you haven't missed that. I was like, this book is about, because I was thinking she was inquiring about. You wasn't sure whether she knew anything about the Bible. Right.

Yeah, I got you. It was an elderly woman. And I just didn't know what she was talking about. I mean, culturally, I'm thinking she's taking an act of courage because she didn't know who I was tapping me on the shoulder, somebody that looks like me. Most people don't do that if they don't know how I am because they think, this old boy looks a little rough.

But when I said Jesus is alive, she went in to thank you. She said, thank you, Jesus. And I thought, well, she's, she said, thank you, Jesus. Well, she's, all of a sudden, I could tell she was a believer. And she was like, she just wanted to know what you're studying now. That's right. Yeah, I got it. And she said, this just warms my soul.

She says, I don't travel much. But she said, I've just been so depressed about the direction that our world is going. And she gave a speech about families and the breakdown of the family. And she's like in her neighborhood. She said, I'm working from daylight to talk. dark with these kids because their fathers are not present. And so it just, it wound up being about a three-hour conversation. I had no steady time.

It was a three-hour conversation about what me and her, she was from Virginia. And I said, I'm from Louisiana. And we kind of made a pack with each other to be representatives of Jesus in our culture and to try to do something about the breakdown of the family. And we talked about forever families and, you know, I can tell you that in that short period of time, she was a sister. But to try to describe that to other human beings who don't follow Jesus, it's almost impossible because you thought, what scenario, what discussion, what subject, what do you have in common that you could have that kind of dynamic appear out of nowhere in a terminal at an airport.

You would just think that we don't line up culturally. We have nothing in common. We're different colors. And it was amazing how that went. And so she was just looking for revival. And she saw two people publicly studying the Bible, and she thought, now we're talking. Yeah. This, and it inspired her.

I could tell. And look, I don't know how old she was. She's old. But she had a young, energized spirit about that conversation. And I thought, boy, look out Virginia. Sometimes we pass along new information to people. Sometimes we pass along old information to people to inspire them. But then sometimes we just validate what people know in their hearts.

but then that really lights a fire in people. So that's the beauty of these conversations about the Bible. That's what they do. And so they hit us all in different places. It's why the Bible says about itself that in the Hebrew writer said that it's living and active and like a double-edged sword. It always cuts because the thing about it is we're in different places. That's why, I mean, on this podcast, we've been studying books of the Bible.

But I don't know about y'all, but every time we go through a book that I've studied, and most of them I've taught before, I learn completely new stuff because I'm in a different place now than I was five years ago, 10 years ago, and certainly 20 or 30 years ago. Well, that was my point. And look, what came out of that was

because I thought, well, I've got no prep time now. And it's taken this three or four podcasts for me to tell that story because we've had other things going on. But it made me realize that, you know, I make fun of Zach all the time over these big words, the apologetic approach.

And he deserves. But in all fairness, when you look at the book of Acts, they're not doing that. They're not going into these philosophical arguments. They are declaring the same message, which is how God worked out his scheme of redemption through the nation of Israel and brought Jesus, and then he died for their sins and that he was resurrected. And I looked it up. There's 13 different times in the book of Acts where the resurrection is discussed in detail, not counting all the times where they went down and preached the Word of God or they preached the gospel. Just specifically, let me explain to you what I said that Jesus is alive. You missed him. He's alive. And that is the power that is unleashed. You're exactly right. And even though we're going to start in Acts 12 today, just to give you a little preview,

maybe the next podcast will get there on Acts 13. I thought the same thing, Jay's because here was Paul with a completely different background, with a completely different set of circumstances for how he came to Christ. And when he does his first public sermon that we, I'm sure he had preached before, but that we actually get recorded when Luke recorded in Acts 13.

Guess what? It was just like Peters. In fact, he used some of the same points in some of the same scriptures from the Psalms. And so to your point, it was just simple truth of what had impacted his life. And yet here these guys were, and they hadn't spent that much time together. We've established that when we look here.

And yet, why did they have the same similar message? Because they have the same Lord. I mean, there's a place to talk about different translations and different doctrines and different things. And wonder about what happens after we die. I mean, all those things that people are. It should be less than 1%. We are here to declare who Jesus is.

That was God's idea. And that's where the power is. That's what Romans 1 says. Agreed. For in that is the power of salvation. I agree. I like it. So let's get back to Acts 12.

Because we've kind of false started here about three times in this text. Last time we had Lisa on, we were kind of getting into it. And then we got into this idea about, you know, why things happened to you, which we talked about quite a bit in a couple of podcasts. But the setting was, so the. the persecution has ramped up. And I didn't want to make one point, Jess, you made it real subtle,

a couple, maybe three podcasts ago, but when you said that when, when Peter goes to Cornelius, and he goes to Sessria, and now the Gentiles are welcomed in, that was a seismic shift in now how the Jews were going to be preached to and talked to,

because this was a big deal. And so that, one of the reasons behind this whole, new persecution we read about in Acts 12, it really came about because of that one event, because now Herod is using that against Christians and against these leaders because it's like, well, these guys are bringing the Gentiles in. So it's not, it's not going to be hard to stir up the Jews for the rest of the book of Acts. There's going to be an early departure for him. Exactly. And so that's what's happened. That's what's led into this situation. So we read,

I'll just start out verse one. It was about that time that King, inherited some who belong to the church, intending to persecute them. So now it's picked up. And now we've got actually political figures that have stepped into the persecution. This is more than just the Jewish leadership. And it's more now than just a religious argument. This is a nationalistic persecution that's going on. And he has the power to kill people. And that was one of the things that didn't happen before. He had James, the brother of John, one of the sons of thunder, put to death with the sword. So now one of the original is martyred. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. Now, the

implication there is to kill him. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So this is going to be, when you combine that with the Passover, we're talking about an eight-day deal here. So he's going to put him in jail. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. And the significance there is normal. If you had even a high target prisoner, four soldiers would normally suffice. But he quadruples that to 16 soldiers guarding one man. This is unheard of. But I think the reason why is because this is the third time Peter's been arrested.

And both the other times, one, they let him go. The second time, you know, they just got out. They just appeared back in the temple. So he's making sure that's not going to happen, he thinks. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So that's why there's a delay. So Peter was kept in prison during this eight-day stretch. But the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

This is where we left off last time with this text because we talked about bringing in spiritual warfare. Because, you know, the church has no means to go. And it's not like today where they're going to protest or they're going to somehow. raise an army, but they actually had a greater weapon. That is, they're asking God to do something about Peter's situation. So it says in verse 6, the night before Herod was to bring him to trial. So now we're right here. And when this trial goes public, the idea is they're going to kill him.

Right there on the spot. There's no doubt about it. So this is the night before Peter's death, Herod thinks. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains. So just imagine that two of the 16 soldiers that are guarding him are literally sitting in the cell chained to him, one on either side. And centuries also stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared in a light shown in the cell. And so just imagine what that would look like. But Peter is sleeping and apparently deeply sleeping because he struck Peter on the

side and woke him up, quick, get up, he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrist. Now remember, there's two guards that are sitting there as well. Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes and sandals, and Peter did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me. The angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. This whole scene reminds me of like when I get my grandkids up and we have to go somewhere. They're just like zombies. You know, I'm having to say, here, put your clothes.

We got to go. Get dressed here. They passed the first and second guards and then came to the Iron Gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. So he literally leads him out of jail, and none of the guards, including the two chain next to him, seem to be none the wiser as to what happens. So let's talk about that aspect of the story, and then we'll go on from there.

I mean, because that's an amazing story. And I would call it a supernatural prison break at the highest level. That's what it was. Yeah. There's so many things here because you think, well, how come the angel said, get up, do it, quickly because you would think, well, he, or however you want to gender neutral, call it an angel, he definitely, if he has the power to make your chains fall off and to open doors without a clicker.

And to mask it where the people sitting right next to you either don't wake up if they were asleep or don't notice what you're doing. So I think it tells you that there are spiritual forces for the good and the evil. That's the only thing that I could think of that, because he's saying, come on, I mean, let's get out of here. But what is the angel scared of? Right. I would presume the spiritual forces of darkness. They would enact their forces.

It's like the evil one, the time when Jesus said he was a murder from the beginning. and Hebrews too, the reason he came is destroy him who had the, who control people by their fear of death. You know, I was talking about the plane ride and being afraid of flying. You know, the evil one uses that somehow. And he's been a murderer from the beginning. And in essence, his work in doing that is how Jesus outwitted him by dying on a cross. Because from the evil one's perspective, he thought, took care of that. I mean, that's just what he does.

Right. And so I think he should get a lot more blame for the death and mayhem that happens to get people. Sometimes we get to thinking we wouldn't see our God wouldn't do little things, but he will do little things. That's a good point, Ed. And listen, right? Yeah. Yeah. So let's take another break.

No, that's a great point, Dad. And then also, because that, look, Luke for some reason put in the church was praying for. He put that in before. He said the church was praying for it. I mean, in other words, God was listening. But, you know, one of the things that got to me about this, and I think, Jay, as you mentioned this before, is that Peter is a man. Remember how he reacted to everything leading up to Jesus' death, including the denials? But he also, he's the one that cut the guy's ear off.

And so I would say I would call him kind of jumpy, you know. But he's grown. He's grown. And the reason you know he's grown is because here he is sitting here chained to these two guys the night before they're going to kill him. And he's sleeping so soundly that an angel literally has to punch him in the ribs. He's not quite sure what's going on. It's not like he's sitting there just sweating. And, I mean, he's just like.

If it's been you or me. Oh, I mean, that'd be a mess. And man, I look up and I start seeing chains fall off. people. I'm like, I don't think it's a vision. I'm thinking, no, there's something going on here. But he didn't. But it said it wasn't that they were praying. It said they were earnestly praying. And I looked up that word. And when you, in the definition I came up with are the results from sincere and intense conviction. Yeah. So just think about prayers and earnest prayers. So sincere, you're recognizing that God is really alive and powerful in who he is.

Yep. And you're convicted of that in an intense way. I would think that's a different sort of prayer than what we do. But God finally does away with him. I mean, he, I say does away with him. Brought him over on the other side. He did just bring him on over. Oh, he was eventually.

He told him, he said. He was eventually martyred. and knew he was going to be. Jesus had told him. Yeah. Well, that's the point is. Somebody said they read where they crucified him upside down. Yeah, historically, that's what's been said.

And we even saw that supposedly the place in Rome, you know, they've got a place marked there. I don't know if it was the actual spot, but they claim it is. Well, for $10, it's the spot. That's right. But you made this idea, this point that Peter, I mean, man, I mean, just to me in this moment, he steps up and he shines so brightly, just going forward out of this moment. And yet it came about because of this earnest prayer is what I call a, you know, we all pray in different ways and we're concerned about people. But then there's what I would call a 911 prayer.

Well, it is. Where you've got something going on and you're like, your blood, sweating tears over this prayer. It's interesting. They could have, these writers, and God, through the writers, could have made it much clearer than it is. Because you've got to remember, Peter was, I mean, he hit the road because, you know, they picked, in his mind, he said, they picked to kill me. So he got out of there. And that had been only a few years prior, so it's not like they had been a lot of times. You think about the earnest prayer.

and if you look at your own life, I think anybody who's walked with Jesus for an extended period of time know this. When I look back at my life, it's been in the moments where I felt under bondage, maybe of some or under attack. And I didn't know where to turn

that it's in those moments of desperation. Probably that's the best way of saying. It's in the moments of desperation that the most earnest of prayers are lifted to God. And that's why we often look back and say, man, I was so close to God in this period of my life. And a lot of times that's coupled with a period of suffering, a period of desperation, because it's in those moments that we do realize.

Like, we don't have as near as much controls we think we do. And even Peter, who had these powers from God, I mean, he's in prison. And so I know this is in some regard, like the churches, they believe in the promise of God, but they also are living in the reality that they're being persecuted. And I think that if you think about churches now, we want the blessings of God, but we don't want to pursue God in prayer earnestly because it takes up too much time,

or we don't believe it's actually God's answering prayers or whatever. But I would argue that if you want to see this kind of stuff in your own life, this kind of power unfold in your church, you show me a church that will get on their knees. and earnestly pray to God for their members for each other, to him. That's a church that's going to experience revival. Yeah. I believe that.

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. I think the difference is when you think about the difference in just praying, because look, I've done it before. I've said a prayer because it was time to pray, like for the food or whatever. And it was without an acknowledgement of this actually being a real, heaven open interaction. It just came out of my mouth

and I moved on. I mean, it happens all the time. But here, you know, I kind of analyze this because when we get to the end of the story, well, their prayer is answered. And Peter is broken out of jail

and is knocking on the door. And they won't open it. And they won't open it because they don't believe it. That's right. And there's something there. But I wanted to, to say to echo what Zach said, I think part of this earnest prayer is praying to God about what he cares about. And my point is, most of the time in my own life, you know, I'm praying about

what I care about. And it may be a small thing or whatever. But this is a completely unselfish prayer as a community coming up. Peter's in prison, and they are earnestly with conviction and sincerity, praying to God. And look, this is something that God cares about. We're talking about the introduction of the church and how we are to declare Jesus and one of their main pillars has been shut down for no good reason.

And I think they realize God cares about this. I know he cares about this, and we care about this, and there's a love. And remember the purpose of this persecution, back to how this story starts was to stamp out because his thinking was well I got one of them but if I get Peter if I cut the head off the snake I'm going to King Harrod thought I'm going to end the movement I'm going to do just like all these other movements because they've never believed in who Jesus was but these people did believe let's let's take our last break and then

I want to read the rest of this text by the way it's the same thing Saul uh Paul um you know when he persecuted church earlier and killed Stephen, again, we're going to stamp this thing out. No, you're not going to stamp it. That's right. You know, and, and I just, I want to reiterate the power of prayer in that what Jace just said is, is what exactly what Jesus said when he gave us instructions on how to pray. Because what did he say? When you pray, you pray like this, and, and you say, our father who are in heaven, how will be your holy name, that kingdom come, your will be done. Where on earth?

Like how? Like it is in heaven? So we're praying for the will of God to be to be accomplished on earth is what is what the prayer is supposed to be. And so when we face moments of persecution, social marginalization, because a lot of people say, oh, you're not being persecuted like they are in other. And that's true. But persecution comes in a lot of different forms. and in our culture it comes in the form of marginalization, being made fun of, being excluded.

But that's a thing, right? And then even inside like a church body where there's pain and there's hurt and there's broken families and there's people that are coming in who have experienced horrible abuses and there's all of that going on, when a church will come around that and they're going to love on the body and then they're going to pray for God's will to be done. We ask for the things we want, but at the end of the day, our hands are open, and we're saying,

but God, it is your will, and we don't have the vantage point that you have to see this. So we're earnestly lifting these prayers up. We're expressing our pain. Our brother Peter is in prison. We don't know what's going to happen to him. He's probably going to be killed because we just saw one of our other brothers killed, and Peter's probably going to be killed.

them. We don't know what to do with this guy. God, would you come, would you save him? But if it is not your will, Lord, would you give us peace? And so you're, you're crying up and you're earnestly lifting up these prayers to God. And it's in that type of vulnerability that we get to experience the kingdom, because you can't explain the explosion of the kingdom in the book of Acts with this going on. What would attract people? to come into a movement where they could most likely lose their lives. They were certainly going to be socially ostracized and marginalized. What do they get from coming into this kingdom?

And I think what they get is a authentic, tangible, real experience of intimacy with God and with each other that they see in the church. They see that in the church as they earnestly lift up their prayers. So there's something, happens to be something more powerful than everything that, they're losing. It's the only thing that explains how in this environment that we're reading about right here, that the church exploded, and now we're a part of that some 2,000 years later. No, and I think you're right. The prayer did more than just accomplish his rescue. It also did something to him, because listen to this next verse, and I love the way this is phrased, and you could take this a lot of different ways. Verse 11 says, then Peter came to himself.

Now this is after the angel leaves him. He realized that he's awake now fully. And then he says this is a really interesting statement. Now I know without a doubt. Let me just stop right there before I go further. This is a man that's been prone to doubting. I mean, that's fair to say, right? Because of what happened to him.

Now I know without a doubt. So it's more than just I think he was awake in the moment. I think this energized him for the rest of his ministry in life. Now I know without a doubt. that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating, meaning his public, probably was going to be an ugly display of killing him. And he's like, God had another plan for me. When this had dawned on him, so this is a moment. Peter has a moment here.

He went to the house of Mary, the mother of John. This is John Mark. He was also called Mark. where many people had gathered and were praying. So here's the people that have been praying for him. And remember, John Mark is kind of like his scribe or his protege, young guy. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was overjoyed.

And she ran back without opening it, which is typical for somebody who's so excited. And she tells everybody, Peter is at the door. And I love this response of the faithful people, Jay. You're out of your mind, they told her. When she kept insisting it was so, they said, it must be his angel, which is an interesting take. But Peter kept on knocking when they opened the door and saw him. They were astonished. Peter in motioned with his hand for them to be quiet.

So they're yelling, screaming. He described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. Tell James, so this is obviously not Son of Thunder James. This is James, the leader in the church, the half brother of Jesus. tell James and the brothers about this, he said. And then he left for another place. In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become a Peter. After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.

So they got killed over it. So they wound up dying. Good night. Because the angel brought him out. Kind of sad, really. It is. What is your excuse? There was an angel from heaven that did this.

And they didn't even know really what happened. They just, you know what to remind you. Who knows what they really knew or saw? You know what it reminded me of, Jay. Remember the movie Showshank Redemption, which is one of my all-time favorites? Whenever they go in the cell and Andy Dufrain is not in the cell. And so the warden gets called in. He looks at the guards.

He's like, where is he? You know, I mean, he was here when you called Role, wasn't he? There's his name. Yep. Well, he's not here now. Did he just fly away? Where'd he go? You know, because it was inexplicable.

And what they didn't know was there was a hole in the wall behind the poster. Well, he started looking at that loosely dressed woman on a poster. What about you? What do you call her? Cisle Bridges or something? What about you? You got anything? And he throws a rock.

It goes through the thing. It reminded me at this moment because here's Herod thinking he's, thinking he's finally got his clutches around Peter, and he's asking these guys, where did he go? Nobody has an answer. He's messing with the wrong bunch. And all he can do is take it out on them, right? Yeah.

Exactly. So there's no answer for the deal, which I think is pretty amazing. Are we going to read the last section? Well, we'll save that for the next because we're almost saying. Well, I was just going to say that I think here you see, you know, I thought I have was that there's going to be no surprises. when we all stand before God. And to tie this in with prayer,

and how many movies do you see where people start writing each other and they've never met, and then one day they meet, and, you know, in the movie world, sometimes we're duped. You know, you thought it was somebody. But these conversations that you're having with God

through your prayer life, believing that he is true and that he exists, they start to compound, and that's part of your relationship. And so what I mean by there's no surprises, and people use the vision of hell as a deterrent to follow God. They're like, well, how could it be a God of love and punish people? And there'll be no surprises because God knows us intimately. And in this case, unlike a movie, he knows our heart.

And so I think the actual meeting face to face, like Revelation 21 says, there'll be no doubt of your standing with God. He knows your heart. And those who don't care about God, there'll be no misunderstanding. Yeah, that's a good point. There'll be like, huh, I didn't think you were here. And he's like, I know it. I wish you would have. And so I think Peter is galvanized by what happens here for here to the rest of his ministry,

even though that's the last time we read about him. Well, I think that's why he was so confident, is what I'm saying. He's like, he rescued that I know without a doubt. I mean, this is real, because I'm sure he prayed, the church prayed, and it happened. And it happened. And he was prepared either way. So, all right, we're out of time. We'll pick up the last part of the story in the next Unashamed podcast.

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