Video Transcription
Good morning. That means all y’all back there. I’m the mean mom. Okay, we have some prayer requests this morning, so if anybody else has one after I read these off, then just raise your hand and let me know and we’ll pray for them. First off, we’re gonna pray for Kristen’s mother, Carolyn. She had a blood clot last night, and she’s having some side effects from the medicine they gave her. And I don’t know if y’all know, LaDonna’s suitor, and Brent’s suitor, they’ve come and sat on this front row. They haven’t been here for a while. LaDonna’s dad has been really bad, and she’s been helping her mother take care of him. And this week, her mother died. And so that family’s really, really having a hard time right now. And also Rhonda is sick. There’s been a lot of sickness. Brandy’s been sick, Rhonda got sick. I’m not gonna get sick in Jesus’ name. I’m not gonna do it. Anyways, we have… We also need to pray for our first responders at the border. Miranda’s got a couple friends that are down there, and they’re actually preparing for riots there. So we need to really, really keep that situation in our prayers. And I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news, but we are engaging in war in the Middle East. So we need to pray for that, too. Just pray for protection over our country. and today we’re gonna start the buckle series because it rains so much that the rain was a mess yesterday so today we start the buckle series at two thirty and then and on february eleventh we’re gonna have our chili cook off and banana pudding contest which i’m gonna win i think anyways So anyways, I usually try to say something every week that God showed me. And this week, I have been distracted. I’m not going to lie. I’m just as real as the rest of y’all. And even this morning, I was like, God, really? I got to have something to get up there and say. And usually it’s just so heavy on my heart. I know and this week I just didn’t pray as much And I knew I didn’t show attention to god like I was supposed to And so it brought this scripture to mind to me this morning. This is john 15 7 And I love the amplified and any of you new believers, if you have a trouble reading the Bible, get you an amplified Bible because it really changes the way you see it. This is 15 seven. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, that is if we are vitally united and my message lives in your heart, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. My father is glorified. and honored by this. When you bear much fruit, improve yourself to be my true disciples.” I just pray, Lord, that he let me abide in him and that I can prove myself to be a true disciple and that’s what we all need to do. So remember that this week as you go through your week. Make some time. I mean, I have to pray on the way to work in my truck. Some days I sat there. driving and I have to think about what I’m gonna pray and I’ll just like be silent and then something come to my mind and I’ll pray it and then other times I’m just praying I’m yelling I’m screaming and then sometimes I just put on praise music and by the time I get to work I’m bawling. And I’m just thanking God I set my track for a little bit and just thank God before I go to work and those days end up being the best days. So try to make some time as you go through your week for God because he’s making he made a lot of time for us. Let’s remember that. So let’s go to prayer. Lord. We just lift every single one of these people up to you. Carolyn and Rhonda and LaDonna and her family and anybody else that’s been sick, Lord, we rebuke that spirit of infirmity out of our church, out of our families. In Jesus name, and we replace it with health and wellness. And we speak the name Jehovah Rafa over these people. And we speak the name of peace that belongs to Jesus over this family that’s lost this mother that was such a sweet, sweet lady. And we just ask you Lord to be with that family God. Be with them and comfort them today. And we just ask you God to just open our ears and our heart today to the message that Jeff is gonna preach and to the music that Bill will sing. and let us see you and Holy Spirit we say come, come to this service now. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty and we need you and we want you here and it’s in Jesus name that we pray, amen. And I want to introduce Bill Baker, he’s one of our favorites, absolutely, we love him and his family. Enjoy this. There’s a song that’s on my mind just a minute ago when I was sitting there and we’re blessed this morning to be with you guys and have some of our extended family from over which tall falls come with us to deal with what we think they’re really doing this morning. But this song was on my mind this morning, it goes like this, it goes, who am I that you are, man, fool, love me? Can’t you hear me? When I Is it true that you… But you love me. It’s amazing me free. I said true that you are thinking of me Thanks for watching! Oh Oh I’ve got something for just a minute. I see these little TikToks all the time about who’s the famous person you have in your phone. And people say, oh, I got this person, I got that person. People are quick to tell you about who they know that’s famous, you know. You understand, they call them name dropouts. What’s wrong with dropping the name of Jesus? Come on. I don’t think you heard me. I said, what’s wrong with dropping the name of Jesus? Come on. That’s famous friends. You know what? They gonna live for a little while and they gonna die like everybody else. But I got one famous friend. He died on a cross 2,000 years ago and he rose to tell all about it. Let’s sing that chorus with me. I am a friend of God. Oh, I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God. He calls me friend. friend of God. He calls me friend. Why don’t you give your friend a hand clap of praise. Come on. There’s one that’ll do it to you every time. Whoa. This is one of my favorite old praise and worship songs. You should sing this in youth with… Jesus, my Savior, Lord there is none like You. my shelter, my tower of refuge and strength. Let every breath and all that I hear never cease to worship you and shout to the Lord on the earth, let us sing. Praise to the king. Mountains bow down and the seas will roll At the sound of your prayer. single joy had to work stand and nothing compares to the promise I have in you. I shout to the Lord all the earth, let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the King, for the mountains bow down and the seas below at the sound of your name. I sing for joy at the work of your hand, Lord forever I love you. Forever I stand And nothing compares to the promise I have in you I have more than nothing compares to in you If you’re grateful for his promise, give him some love, amen. Amen, amen. Hands go it’s so glad morning when this life is over Celestial High Just a few more happy days in the end I never end your glory I’ll fly away in the morning and when I die I’ll love you bye I said now we Yeah! Amen. Well, we’re all in the house. You may be seated. I tell you. Still you feel like choose. I’ll end up the same old way, at the same old place. But take a turn, you never took. And say things you never say Return to Jesus And he’ll say sweet He’ll be set free And cross sleep. the same way. I was scared, and I was alone Then I read… Jesus died for me and you. Jesus, turn to the cross Find salvation, forgive the small flaws Sad and free You’ll be set free From a payphone at the fairy grins, they called her like a thousand times. Tell her about the rodeo, counting the days till it be home. There’s time when she had to Rockin’ from a payphone at the fairgrounds They call it like .. Tell her about the roadie hole Countin’ the days that he’d be home This time when she answered His voice cracked when he said hello For a moment our hearts sank For fear of what was wrong He said I met Jesus Out behind the shield Yeah Go to church with me Oh, I can’t explain it But I feel brand new Just thought you’d all know God won the rodeo Out behind the show I was a wild man, I run scared most of my life. Thank God for praying, mama. I am the patient one came in from Omaha I was drunk and mad in me listen here I’ve been washed in the blood Jesus set me free see I met Jesus out behind the shoes When I get high Church with you Oh, I can’t explain it But I feel brand new I just thought you all alone God won the road to your Out behind the scenes I just thought you all alone God won the road Out behind the show I stood headed for the dance I saw a crowd of people pulling on So rocky, you could hear it in a bargain line Swingin’ notes on what it would, what I thought They stood on their building, holding out a scourge of town. They had pickup trucks with cowboy hats and honky-donks and all. But it was all about Jesus, and how he is loved by that man. My Oscar fan Let’s have a You see the sign it did not lie Well, it fit me to a T Cause I was out looking for The future used to be Oh, but I heard Oh, Brother James Bull Someone make it home They had a milled on, homie hound, skirts of town They had big-upper trucks with cowboy hats and honky-tonks now It was all about Jesus, now here’s love to man. That night I pulled into the drive of a place called Lost and Found. It was all about Jesus, now here’s love to man. At night I pulled into the draughts of a place called Lost and Found. and land. We’re gonna get Billy Joe Diffy Cyrus up here. Why don’t you pick them shoes out, because they match your hat. Stoop the street. at least simply over the stage. been few long summers. I was always old boy swan. Do you know the words to… I just can’t remember the words to it. That’s what I ask you. up the street. Mommy used to send me over with these. song. That one’s old boy Swain. He said he was in a war room in the Navy. Lost his wife, lost his baby. Broke down and I asked him one time, I said, how you keep from going crazy? He said, I seen my wife and my son just a little while. I asked him what he meant. He just looked at me and smiled. He said, I raised my hands. I’m finding more and more truth in words written in red Oh, they tell me that there’s more to life It’s just what I can see, oh, how I live In some outs, it’s a small town alive She said, oh, by the way, son, old man Wrigley’s down. I was thinking about it Thought about them long lost summers Didn’t know whether to cry or laugh See if there was ever anybody Who served a ticket to the other side It had been that sweet old man Who looked me in the eye Said I raised my hands And bowed my head in words written in red. Oh, they tell me that there’s more to life than just what I can see, oh, how I live. I can’t quote the book, the chapter or the verse But you can’t tell me that it all ends In a slow ride in a hearse You know I’m more and more convinced That you’re older than I live Lord, this can’t be, oh this can’t be Oh, this can’t be all there is So I raise my hand In words written in red Oh, they tell me that there’s moonlight That’s just what I can see, oh, I believe Mm-mm-mm See ya. for not remembering the words to this song. I took a month off, because I, if you’ve kept up, how many of y’all keep up with me on social media? The rest of you can before the day’s over. But I keep a pretty full schedule, and I run pretty hard for about four years, and didn’t take much time off. We took basically the bulk majority of the month of January off, and. If I picked up a guitar, I didn’t sing my songs, I was playing something else. I just, I needed that. And anyway, we was back at Young County last week. We’re here this week. We’ll be here next week. And if you don’t like me with a guitar, well then come back next week. I’ll have a whole band and you can not like all of us. But the plan is next week. I think the band’s coming with me. That’s the plan. We’ve talked about it. So. Anyone. The whole country dance turns its true What the sun a good I used to hide in the darkness They held me so tight I was sitting on a bar stool reading captions on the TV And like they were talking about The silence was soaring And I started praying in the night That I find my way Jim Beam, I turned on John 3-16, I turned my rec light for the moon. In sin’s chains, praise God, I’ve been changed. I found grace, 100 proof. I said and wondered how and why Did I ever live this long? They had a time, and they had a plan. He say in spite of me, he saved my soul He forgave what I could never again He washed me in his blood, he wrapped me in his love And it’s a night that I won’t ever forget Jim Bane, my turn on John 3, 16, I trade my recline for a new. Incense change, praise God Heaven changed the boundaries 100 proof In sin’s chains, praise God, I’ve been changed. I found grace, a hundred brooms. The other day I took a tree up An airplane ride And that big old bird did shuck As it climbed toward the sky Well the cat done come on And he said it’s a beautiful day I got all annoyed and this is what I had to say going up. Jesus comes by name The coming of the Lord is near. They buy every lie that the devil sells. for all that sin that they show. Yeah, but my river waits me on heaven’s golden shore when I’m going up. Jesus calls my name going about These days, I said I’m going up, going up One of these days Amen. Let’s see here. I want us all to sing this song right here together before Brother Jeff comes to preach. It goes like this, goes. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how Oh So how I love Jesus because he feels To me, he is so wonderful. Oh. Please, so one Because he first loved Jesus, oh how I love Jesus, oh how I love Jesus because he first Y’all give Bill a big hand this morning. Give the Lord a hand. Wow. Bill? You said if we don’t like you, we don’t like you. We love you brother. Am I right? I’ve. Where’s my phone? I was like, where’s my phone at? It’s good to see y’all this morning. And if you brought your Bible, open to Acts chapter 12. And I want to say to those watching online, joining us on Facebook, we’re glad that you’ve chosen to worship with us. As you look around the building this morning, there’s a lot of people that ain’t here. And, um… If I was in a city church, I would have said, aren’t here, but I’m in a cowboy church, I’m gonna say, wait here, all right? Y’all say amen right there. And there’s a lot of folks sick this morning, you pray for them. Man, it’s just that time of year that… Uh… the crud is going around and I hope you and your family haven’t had it but if you have, we’re praying for your healing. I do wanna ask you to remember one family in your prayers, the Souter family, they a lot of times are set right directly in front of me right there and LaDonna’s mother passed away this past Friday. I think I’ll be doing the funeral service on Tuesday but you pray for that family because it was kind of a, she’s been taking care of both her parents and and just kind of an unexpected sudden loss of her mom. So you just pray for that family right now because they’re having a hard time. Bill mentioned just a moment ago that you could follow him on social media. Now I don’t know all about TikTok. I got this fixed since last week. Twitter, no. X, yeah, I don’t wanna go where I went last week. Some of y’all were here, you know what kind of… I stuck in my mouth. But I do know he’s got a Facebook page, Bill Baker and Country 316. Go, matter of fact, pull your phones out right now. Let’s just do some good stuff. I want you to pull it out on Facebook. Look up Bill Baker, Country 316 and like, follow, share, whatever. Do that right now because I want you to follow him. He’s going to be back next week and he’s bringing his band. And if you’ve never heard his whole band, Country 316, man, they are awesome. And you’re in for a blessing. I do want to tell you today, he’s got a… a few CDs back there, some ball caps, right, and stickers, bumper stickers and stuff. Stop by, visit that, pick up one. They do cost. You just, it’s a donation to his ministry, but it blesses his ministry and helps him go to churches like ours and minister and bless people, all right? And I promise you will be blessed by picking up something he’s got back there today. He’s got the coolest, I mean, he and his brand is just cool. I mean, we’ve talked about it this morning. It’s kind of the cross-twin, a team roper and a bull rider brand. I don’t know. But no, it’s good. And then Guy, how about Guy on the harmonica wall ago? Y’all give it up for Guy. That’s his son right there. You’re going to see it in the bull riding here in a little while. He brought his barrel. This is like a barrel. It’s a real deal barrel man right here. Funny guy. He’s going to be in the barrel in the bull riding today. He’s actually becoming world famous. He was in a big magazine this past week. You don’t want to miss him today. He’ll have all the garb on and stuff. You will enjoy watching him, but I enjoyed you playing the harmonica today. That was awesome, man. All right Acts chapter 12. We do have a bull riding today. We it’s a number you bull riders you know, we canceled yesterday because of the mud and the rain and As well as a lot of our help is sick, okay, so we’re gonna get through it today and There’s some rank, rank sheep on their way. No, I’m kidding. There’s some bulls up there. There’s some calves. We’re gonna have a good day. That sounded, I’ve always wanted to say that. Seven million dollar mutton buster. So y’all know what I’m talking about. All right, Acts chapter 12. And I want to share with you, and I’m going to really try to preach fast, so you know what that means, absolutely nothing. Every time I say that, I’m 12, 31 o’clock for finishing preaching, but I really am gonna try to preach fast today, because we got a full day ahead of us up there, and it’s gonna be an exciting and a good day. But in Acts chapter 12, you have the story of the Apostle Peter, and I always, when I’m preaching and I introduce a portion of the scripture to you, I’ll say you have the story of the Apostle Peter, or you have the story of Jesus doing this. And one of the things that, that I think we often do when reading the Bible is we read the Bible. and we read a story in the Bible and we almost compartmentalize it in our mind like it was it’s just that it’s just a story and we forget how real the people were in it they were people just like you and I going through things very similar to what you and I go through experiencing emotions very much like you and I experience and going through difficulties that we go through this really no different it may have been long ago but how many of you know the Bible tells us There’s nothing new under the sun. In other words, the things you and I experience, I promise you, they experienced long ago. I remember I had a young guy one time, he was about 16, and he told me, he said, Pastor Jeff, you just don’t understand, in my generation, man, we have peer pressure. Peer pressure. And I’m like, oh, well, explain peer pressure to me. And he said, it’s like, if you don’t do this and do that and keep up with them and keep up with those and you’re not hanging out over here, people kind of shun you or they put you down, that’s peer pressure. And I said, hey, Sparky, I got a good word for you. It don’t go away when you turn 17 or 18. I’m 50 and still got peer pressure. In other words, there’s nothing new. And by the way, I also said to a young man one time, he said, man, you don’t understand 16 years old is a hard thing to do. I’m like I’m I know I know I was 16 for a whole year one time and then I lived to be 17 for a whole year one time. many moons ago, but I’ve been there. What I’m trying to tell you is, there’s nothing new under the sun. In other words, when you read about people’s lives in the Bible, we may not go through the very same thing, but our experiences are probably very similar and what might have been difficult for them and what may be difficult for you is probably difficult for someone else. And so the apostle Peter, who… I love his life. I love reading about Peter of all the disciples. And if you’ve been here long, you’ve heard me talk about it. The reason I love Peter was because of the things he did. I mean, he was a guy that, yes, he made a lot of mistakes. People can look at Peter and go, oh, yeah, he’s the one to get out of the boat, the walk on water and say, but he’s the only one that got out of the boat. He’s the only one with the courage to get out of the boat. Imagine being an old guy with the other disciples. I don’t know how long they live. They live to be real old. But imagine being an old guy sitting around a campfire at night and talking about the days when they were walking with Jesus. And I don’t know about you, but that would have been pretty cool to be sitting around like, hey, you remember when we went with him and we traveled to this place and that place? And then inevitably it had to come up, During a storm to get out of the boat and walk on water with Jesus because he was the only person that ever did it That that’s you know People can say things to you and about you, and it’s okay, and they may even criticize you for your failures, and that’s okay too, because let me tell you something, the only way in life you’re going to guarantee not having failure is to do nothing, and then that by definition, you have really failed there too. In other words, I don’t mind failure. Failure is just an event. It’s not final. And so whenever you do find yourself stumbling and falling and failing, I like what I heard one preacher say years ago, just choose to fail forward. In other words, don’t let it be a setback. The Bible says a righteous man falls seven times, but he gets up again. That means he’s gonna get up, he may fall seven times, but he gets up eight times. So Peter was that kind of guy. That’s why I love Peter, and I love the things that he did. So in Acts chapter 12, if you began in verse number one, and for sake of time, I’m just gonna paraphrase through it and give you, we’re gonna go a little quicker. In Acts chapter 12, verse one, the disciples have been preaching and the Bible says that Herod, the king, stretched out his hand to harass the church. In other words, to persecute the church. And as he did, he put these two disciples, James and Peter, in jail. And he put him in jail for preaching the gospel, and they had actually been told, hey, look, we don’t want you to preach. And actually he came down on them so hard that he had James put to death. James was the brother of John and Peter is left and the church at that time was really worried and how would you not be because one of the two has just been beheaded and now they’re, they’re in jail. left there and the church does what it should do and they began to pray. How many of you know part of the reason a church that we exist is so that we be a house of prayer? Jesus never said that we’re to be a house of preaching or even be a house of singing but we were to be a house of prayer. In other words, whenever you have a brother or sister in Christ here that is in need, we should pray for them. Don’t just tell them you’ll pray for them. I mean really pray in American history and in church history where we better learn to pray for one another if we’re going to survive what’s coming. You say, man, I don’t know about you pastors, you’re always talking this gloom and doom stuff of what’s coming. Just turn on the news for about five minutes and you’ll understand where I’m coming from. And if you don’t think things are about to come unraveled, you’ve got your head in the sand somewhere. You need to realize we’re were experiencing right here in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 12. And so look at verse number five. Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Why? Because he’s in prison. Herod put him in prison. They’ve already killed James. So what does the church do? They assemble, they gather, and they began to pray for Peter. You remember several weeks ago I preached a message to you on making a memorial before God and that was the fact that whenever you pray and you pray before as Paul told Timothy he said I make a memorial in prayer for you meaning I stack the courtroom of God with you your name in other words every time you and I go before God and we lift someone’s name before him we’re establishing almost like a memorial and the equivalent I could say would be like a statue in the courtroom of God to remind God that we’re lifting our brother or sister up in prayer. And so they’re doing that on Peter’s behalf. They’re saying, look, we got to pray for him and we’re going to do it constant prayer. Now let me ask you something. And by the way, let me just say before we get into, before I make you feel bad about this, I am guilty as charged and guilty as anybody. How long has it been since you’ve spent some real time in prayer? I don’t mean, you know, praying over your food. Lord, bless this mess and help it digest, okay? Well, that’s my McDonald’s prayer. When I go to Casa Torres here in the canter, I have a little bit longer prayer. Lord, I thank you for this bountiful meal that we are about to receive and the wonderful hands that made it. And while this is good Mexican food, I know it will be at the judgment seat, or the marriage supper of the lamb, I’m sure of it. Thank you, Jesus, amen. But when I go to McDonald’s or Taco Bell, Lord, bless this mess and help me digest. And help me not get diarrhea, I’m sorry. We’ll get that out. But they make constant prayer, they’re praying. They’re not giving up in prayer because they believe in prayer, not just that they believe in prayer, but they believe in the God in whom they pray to. In other words, when you know and you believe the word of God, and when you know what God’s word has said, and you know what God’s will is, and by the way, you can’t know God’s will without knowing God’s word. You can’t. Well, I know the Lord told me this. Well, what the Bible say about it? Because I’m gonna tell you something, anytime somebody comes to you and says, the Lord told me this, and by the way, I believe God speaks through his Holy Spirit to each of us, but when someone tells me that, I’m not just buying what you say, I’m gonna line up what you say God said according to his word, because the Holy Spirit wrote this word, and he will never contradict himself. And so I’m gonna line that up, and it says, Look at verse number six. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers, and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel, the Lord stood by him and the light shone in the prison, and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise quickly. Let me stop right there and explain that. Now Herod had just put James, the brother of John, to death by beheading him. But then the Passover came and he wanted to do it on the Passover. So he’s going to wait until after Passover and then he’s doing something to… for political expedience. In other words, Herod wants to keep the Jewish leaders happy. He’s not really concerned about the church because they kind of look at Christians like some new cult that started. And he’s just wanting to please the Jewish leaders so that the Jewish people are happy, because they’re really unhappy over this thing called Christianity. And so he’s about to, the Bible says, he’s about to, read that again, he was about to bring him out. In other words, the next day, Peter’s fate is going to be what James’s fate was, he’s going to get beheaded. Now, how many of you in here, if you were arrested… because of your faith in Jesus. And I like to say this about people who we live in a time today, and I tell you, it’s gonna be dangerous times. Paul said this, he said, know this, that in the last days, perilous, dangerous times would come. That’s gonna happen. How many of you know that, and I don’t know if you’ve read this week, or you’ve listened to anything you think about, for a lot of activists, people who pray at abortion clinics, they be… make myself clear, abortion is murder. It’s murder. And they’re praying. They were simply praying and now they were charged and that will be possibly sentenced up to 10 years of peace in prison for praying at an abortion clinic. You think the tide isn’t beginning to change? We can march and act like idiots and throw fits over people who were drug addicts, got killed in the street, and then when we’re killing babies, we arrest people? Because they’re praying for the lives of those babies? See, we’re really close to where they were, but how many of you, if you were in prison for your faith, and your buddy got arrested with you and they beheaded your buddy and they killed him or take him out and shot him and you know you’re next. How many of you could sleep? I’m not even going to ask you this, but how many of you have ever been to jail? Don’t raise your hand. I know that’s over half of you, but don’t raise your hand yet. I’ve been there, and it ain’t a comfortable place to sleep. You all know what I’m talking about? It is hard to find a place to be comfortable. But Peter, the Bible says, is in jail. And he knows that Herod’s going to bring him out the next day and have him put to death. And what is he doing? He’s sleeping. I don’t think I could have slept. I think I’d have been up, wringing my hands a little bit, worried. I’d have been writing a note. I’d have been trying to call somebody. Hey, give me one more call. Something. Somebody contact my attorney. I mean, we would have been doing something. But Peter’s asleep. That’s telling me the guy’s got some peace. And he’s sleeping. And notice how he’s sleeping. He’s not sleeping on a cot with a microwave just watching TV. He’s sleeping bound with two chains and a guard chain to him. Others keeping the door because they wanted to make sure Peter stayed in jail because there’s already been an instance several chapters before where they put him in jail and they got out. And so here’s the part I want you to get this morning. Peter is sleeping. An angel appears. Notice what it says right there in verse seven. The angel of the Lord stood by him. And a light shone in the prison. That tells me it was dark in there. It was not time. And he struck Peter on the side and said to him, arise quickly. And his chains fell off his hands. Then the angel said to him, and here’s what I want to get, gird yourself. and tie on your sandals. And so he did. And he said to him, put on your garment and follow me. Now, I want you to get the picture because I told you this is real life people going through real life experiences. Peter’s in prison. He’s already heard that James has been killed. And he’s in prison in chains. Now let me just stop and say something real quick. He’s in a literal prison with literal chains. But you recognize that the same enemy that you and I have today was the same enemy he had and really the demonic force behind this was Satan who had put him in prison to shut him up and the purpose was to intimidate, to scare and to keep him from doing what God called him to do. And you realize this morning that while you might not be sitting up at Wise County Jail this morning, the devil will come alongside you and get you in bondage to something put chains and eventually your own prison. It may be a prison of your own making, but it’s demonically led and you find yourself bound in chains and unable to free yourself. Peter couldn’t get out by himself, but in that moment while others were praying for him, the Bible says an angel of the Lord showed up. Do you know what’s happening? It’s called deliverance. Deliverance. The Lord is supernaturally intervening in this man’s life. Some of y’all look at you, well, I don’t do drugs, well, I’m not in bondage, I’m not in chains, or I don’t drink, but you may be hooked to pornography, you may be addicted to your phone, you may be addicted to food. You in some kind of bondage this morning, if you walked in here without the freedom to worship Jesus, without what anybody else would think or say about you. If you walked in here today worried about what someone would say if they knew about your life, you are in bondage to something. And this guy, Peter, he’s there because he’s been preaching the gospel, but he’s got chains on. And I want you to know what happens next. He needs a miracle. How many of you would agree he needs a miracle of God? Listen to me. There are things in our lives that God will provide, things in our life that God will provide to help us get free from things in our life. Don’t misunderstand me. And if it’s addiction, if it’s alcoholism, if it’s pornography, I mean, we could just go all the way down the list of all kinds of things that anyone could be addicted to and in bondage to. But I want you to understand something. At the end of the day. Even though you may have this program, that program, this thing, that thing, some people find it difficult to get free from whatever they’re in bondage to. And the thing I want you to know today is what you need. And what I believe God wants for you today, here in this service, in this moment, is to know that Jesus showed up and he can set you free forever. He can break those chains and set you free. Deliverance is yours, but here’s what you gotta do. You’ve got to do your part. How many of you, and don’t raise your hand, how many of you ever go, man, I need deliverance from this and I’ve had someone pray over me, but I just can’t seem to get there. Can I tell you why? Because you’re not desperate yet. You’re not, your back ain’t against the wall. You keep leaving yourself for now. You’ve got every excuse in the world that you consider making except to say, God, I’m spiritually, emotionally, physically bankrupt. I’ve got no other option. If there’s gonna be a change in my life, it’s going to have to be you and I will surrender everything to you. And until you’re at that place, you’ll never know real deliverance and freedom from something. And so notice what he says. The Bible says this angel stands next to him and nudges him. I think he kicked him. Hey, get up. Get up. And Peter gets up and he stands up, you know, and he’s waking up and sleeping. And he looks and all of his chains fall off. And notice what the angel says. He says something to him. He says, gird yourself and put on or tie your sandals. Hold on a minute. And in the next verse he says, and put on your garment and follow me. Don’t think I’m perverted here. I’m just telling you what I’m picturing in my mind. So here Peter is, he’s probably in his underwear. And he’s chained up, he’s been sleeping. And the angel shows up and he says, hey, put on your stuff, we gots to go. We’re making a Holy Ghost jailbreak. What do I like to call it? We made a Holy Ghost jailbreak, get up. And so he’s like, I’m a little bit hard headed. I probably would have argued with the angel. Hey, I tell you what, if we break it out of here, I don’t need none of that. You just lead the way, I’m running with you. I’ll leave it all behind, they can keep it. Part of the bail bonds or something. I don’t know, I’m out, I’m gone, bye. But then the angel did that, he said, hey, put on yourself, gurgle, and they would put on their robe and they’d have to tie it up right here. It would bring their robe up a little bit, and put on your shoes and fasten, tie your shoes. I’d be like, man, we got to hurry. We got to go. That’s what I’d have been saying. Like, come on, angel. I don’t have time to do this. And so he went to the angel. But the angel said, do that. Why do you think the angel told him to do that? Because every time I read of a miracle in the Bible, a miracle, let me give you what a miracle is. A miracle is not what you have power control over. If it’s something that you can do on your own, it may be no wonderful thing, but it’s not a miracle. A miracle is when all your options are gone, and when all natural options are gone, and God steps in and does. something totally miraculous supernatural with no explanation except it was God. I’ve seen it I’ve seen it in hospitals I’ve seen it in church services I’ve seen it in jails I’ve seen it every place in the world but I’m telling you if it’s something you can do that’s not a miracle it’s just something great happening but for Peter he kind of needed a miracle because come tomorrow they’re gonna outfit his head and he says put on your shoes. but on your garment. Why do you think he asked him to do that? Because every miracle that God will perform in your life, God wants you to have a step and a measure of obedience and faith before he does it. We’ll give you some examples. Martha, do you believe your brother will rise again? Martha was the sister of the dead man named Lazarus. Yes, Lord, I believe he will. Okay, take me where you laid him. And he take me where you laid him, he said, roll that stone there. And Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth. I think about the man who was blind and he cried, Jesus, have mercy on me. And Jesus goes and he spits on the ground, makes mud put on his eyes. Could Jesus have made the man see without doing it? Of course he could have. But he says, go wash yourself in the pool. What I’m telling you is as you look through scriptures, you’re gonna find different. The woman who had the issue of blood, if I could just talk to Jesus, and finally she gets close enough, she thinks if I can just reach out and touch the hem of his garment. What you see about every person in the Bible who received a miracle from God was number one, they had to get desperate and seek for him. Can I just tell you something? No, not one place, not one place in the Bible that Jesus did a miracle for a skeptic. He’s didn’t. Well, I really want God to do something, you know, we’re not gonna let people lay hands on me and pray. I don’t know about that. Well, you probably don’t, you probably shouldn’t expect much either. Don’t worry about the people laying hands on you, worry about the God who they’re calling on you. If they call on the right God, I’m gonna believe it. I’m gonna trust him. He’s my confidence, he’s my faith, he’s my anchor, he’s my deliverer, and he’s the one I’m looking forward to, to bring a miracle about in my life. And so he says, look, Put on your shoes, put on your garment and follow me. And then look what happens in verse nine. So he went out and followed him and did not know that what was done by the angel was real but thought he was seeing a vision. Or in other words, he was dreaming. Man, I don’t know, had some, that was some stout spaghetti they served for dinner last night here in the jail. I don’t know if this is real or not. Verse 10, when they passed the first and the second guardpost, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them in its own accord. In other words, the gate just opened all by itself. And they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. Verse 11, and when Peter had come to himself, he said, now I know for certain. that the Lord has sent his angel and has delivered me. Remember I told you this is about deliverance? Has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectations of the Jewish people. Boy, I could go on and tell you, and if you have time today, go home and read the rest of that story. You’ll find he gets to the church where they all praying, and he goes up and he knocks on the door, and a little old gal named Rhoda comes to the door and she looks and sees him and shuts the door. sets the door on him. And they’ve been praying, Lord, deliver Peter. And she runs back in and she goes, oh, I ain’t gonna believe this. I just, I heard a knock on the door and opened the door and it was Peter’s ghost. Are you sure about that? Then they go back and it’s really Peter. He’s like, hey, I’m here. Sometimes we’re that way, aren’t we? We pray for something and then when God does it, we can’t believe it. Wow, I prayed for him. I didn’t know he’d really do it. Of course he would. If you prayed believing, he said he’d do it. Well, I want you to see what happened for Peter, and I want you to know this can happen for you today. Number one, I believe Peter, I believe Peter laying in that jail cell was sleeping because he had the peace of God, and he had great faith and confidence in God. He had walked with Jesus for three and a half years while Jesus was on earth. And can I tell you why he had peace and tell you why you can have peace? Because I think Peter could look back over those years of following Jesus. And he could see that Jesus had always been faithful to do what he said he would do. And by the way, there’s something else. Peter had already known that God had a plan for his life. And you notice… in this story, Peter was not afraid to die. There’s nothing about it. A man about to be beheaded, but he’s sleeping the night before, he ain’t afraid of death, okay? How did he get there? Well, when you followed the one who rose from the dead, and you witnessed that with your own eyes, what’s death got on you? I mean, what are they gonna do, kill me? I remember years ago I was in a mess, in a pickle in the church I was pastoring. And I had this older man, sweet old man, he’s in heaven with Jesus now, with Pete Peterson. And I remember going over to talk to Brother Pete, remember Pete was one of them old time Pentecostal men. I don’t know how many of y’all know them, they believed in what they called praying through. And brother, when he’d start praying, we’d pray, and sometimes he’d pray for me for an hour and I just, I mean I’m praying. Yes Lord, that’s when I look up and he’s just praying. And he was praying for me and we got through praying and I’m thinking, man, I’ve been to church out here in the woods. I mean, we lived, he lived out in the woods. I did too. And we’ve been to church. And then we forget he put his hand on my shoulder. He said, look, brother, he said, it’s going to be OK. He said, they ain’t going to kill you. It’s against the law to eat you. So you’re going to be all right. And I never forget thinking, I ain’t what I wanted to hear, but as I began to think about it, he began to do what he was trying to tell me, well, there’s a whole lot of worse things that could happen. And he’s like, don’t worry. We prayed about this, we entrusted it to God. And so when you’ve walked with Jesus and you know his track record, by the way, he’s got a real good track record. He’s never had to say, oops, I’m sorry, I made a mistake, not one single time. And you won’t be the first one he ever has to apologize to. And so when he gives you a promise, and when he gives you assurance, yeah, you can sleep in the midst of a storm. You can sleep while sitting in a jail cell the night before they’re gonna behead you. And he did. Number two, here’s the part I want you to get, I’m done. I want you to notice that Peter, when he recognizes what God was doing, he was obedient. and acted in faith. Now you say, well, that didn’t take much faith. Well, I think it did because I just said, let’s go, let’s run, I’m leaving everything behind. But he did and was obedient to what God instructed the angels to tell him and that was put your shoes on, tie them up. You’re looking for a miracle from God today. And I won’t ask you to raise your hand here, but I guarantee you if people really got all, I really need a miracle today. Maybe it’s in your marriage, maybe it’s in your personal life, maybe it’s at your job, maybe it’s your kids, maybe, we don’t know. But if I just said, how many of you here today really have a place in your life, you need a real breakthrough, miracle of God, I would bet most of you raise your hand. Myself included. Let me ask you this. Are you willing to walk in obedience and faith to what God is asking you to do? What is it to get that miracle, for God to move on your behalf like that, that he’s asking you to do? Are you willing to surrender? Maybe you showed up here this morning, you go, look, hey, I need deliverance today. I’ve been there, you know, and let me tell you how my deliverance came. My deliverance came the day I showed up in church and said, I surrender. Oh, I’m done. I ain’t fighting this fight no more because I’m getting my butt kicked. That’s just Decatur Redneck theology for you. But that’s how I felt about it. And I’m desperate, Lord. I’m desperate. And whenever I came to that place in my life, all the stuff God began to pull me out of and set me free from. And I haven’t been the same since. And I’m here to say that to you today. What did I have to do? I had to walk in and say, I surrender. I surrender. Peter, put on your shoes. It may be as simple as putting on shoes today. It may be as simple as just yarding up. Whatever it is God is asking you to surrender to him, the quickest way to deliverance is just be obedient in faith to whatever he says. And remember, the quickest way up is down in the kingdom of God. Let’s pray. Bill, come on, brother. Well, heads are bowed, eyes are closed for just a moment. How many of you in here today would say, man, Pastor Jeff, I really do have a great need in my life. I really need a breakthrough from God in a certain area of my life. And that’s between you and God, he knows your heart. You say, would you pray for me and pray that I would just be obedient in faith to do what he’s asking me to do? Because I need deliverance from something in my life that is keeping me. from being what God wants me to be and who God created me to be. Anybody like that this morning, just let me be in. Yep, thank you. Well, many hands all over the building. Yes, yes, I see every hand. Thank you, thank you. Let me encourage you this morning, just before I pray for you. Lean in this morning. Lean in close. Listen. What is it? What is it Jesus is asking you to do? What is he asking you to surrender? What area of life is he asking you to be obedient in? Whatever that is, just be obedient and trust him. For Peter, it’s put on your shoes, Peter. Put on your coat, let’s go. God’s wanting to do something in your life. He wants to bring that miracle you’ve been praying for. turn loose, and the things you’re holding on to, surrender to him, be obedient in faith, and trust him. Lord, I love you, I thank you for your word today. Lord, we give you honor and glory in this place. Thank you for the wonderful worship we’ve had. Thank you for the time to spend in your word. Thank you for the afternoon. We’re looking forward to you. Go Bucks and Bulls and do it in. and a time here at Church Lord a week in fellowship with one another. Have a great time doing something and we in the cowboy culture love. Lord, there were many hands raised here today and Lord, not just hands but hearts. I saw hands, you saw hearts. And you know their hearts pray. I pray for strength for my brothers and sisters that they would be able to trust you, to be obedient in faith, believing that you’ll stand by your word. and they can stand on it. Help them through this time, I pray in Jesus’ name. Bless those in our congregation that are sick. Lord. We pray healing for them, restoration for them. Pray for those this week who lost family members. We lift them up to you. We ask you to bless them, help them. I pray for Mike Preston and Helen this morning. They’re not here. I know Lord, they’re sick and they’re down. I pray for my parents. I pray for the Souter family. I pray for the Mons family. Lord, as I look across the auditorium, I see numbers of families that are sick. Some that have lost family members today. Bless them, help them. But Lord, every person in this building… bless them, bless their families, put your favor on them. Lord, bring deliverance to those in bondage today. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen, amen. All right, thank y’all for being here. Bill, appreciate you brother. Is Tyler back there this morning? Yeah, he’s still sick too, all right. Well, God bless you guys, you’re, hey listen, let me say something real quick before you go. I normally do not announce next week’s sermon, okay? I don’t normally announce that because I normally don’t know, all right? Like I normally have no idea what I’m gonna preach till about five minutes before I get up here to preach. It’s just the way the Lord does me, so. But I have been praying about something. And next Sunday… Bill Baker and Country 316, the whole band would be here. But years ago, and some of y’all that are in here, you know me, know me a long time, those watching online, years ago when I was a boy, I heard a preacher preach a message in the Bible on eagles. next week we’re going to be celebrating my dad and Dennis’s birthday. I think Dennis you got a birthday coming up too. But one of my dad’s favorite sermons I ever preached in my life was on eagles and I’m going to preach that sermon next Sunday. Okay so y’all be here invite somebody because it probably the last time I ever preach it unless the Lord says I can somewhere else somewhere down the road. But you don’t want to miss the band next week. Bill’s awesome but when he brings his whole band it’s going to be real good. All right y’all stop by his table back there cap, CD, something like that. God bless you, we love you. See ya at 2.30 or 2? 2. We’ll see y’all at 2 at the arena. God bless you.
