Looking For Answers In All The Wrong Places

Gtcotr/ws113022

The prophet Elijah was born 900 years before Christ in the city of Tishbe which was a small town located in Gilead and situated about 35 miles east of the city of Jezreel, across the Jordan River in what is now the country of Jordan. In Elijah’s time it was the land of Gilead. Elijah was a Tishbite.

Elijah was about 26 years old when Ahab became King of Israel. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel led the people of Israel to worship false gods and filled the nation with wicked and evil practices. They gained and maintained complete control by means of fear and intimidation as well as by hunting down and destroying anyone who disagreed with them, especially the priests who lived and taught the word of God.

When Elijah was about 30 years old, he was sent by God to prophesy to King Ahab that the heavens would be closed and there would be no rain upon the land. This began a 3½ year drought and famine in Israel. King Ahab looked everywhere trying to find the prophet Elijah so he could kill him. Ahab and Jezebel believed if they destroyed those who opposed them that everything would be ok.

During this time God miraculously hid and took care of the prophet first near the brook called Cherith not far from Elijah’s birthplace, and then some 100 miles away by a widow in the town of Zarephath. No doubt it was a long and tiring 3½ years for everyone, especially 30 something year old Elijah.

2 Kings 18 gives us the account of Elijah meeting with King Ahab and 850 of Jezebel’s false prophets on Mount Carmel. I’ve stood in that very place overlooking the Jezreel Valley probably 2 dozen times and many of you have gone there with me. Next September, 50 more of you will be making that trip along with me again and we will read the story we are hearing from the spot where all of this took place.

That day Elijah prayed, and God answered with fire from heaven. The false prophets of Jezebel were all killed, and Elijah told King Ahab to hurry home before the heavy rains made it impossible to travel by chariot across the valley.

The Bible records the amazing ability of someone anointed by God by telling of Elijah tying his clothes on tightly and then outrunning the chariot of King Ahab for more than 15 miles, all the way to the town of Jezreel where Ahab and Jezebel lived.

We pick up the story with the first verse of the 19^th Chapter of the book of 2 Kings. Elijah is about 34 years old and about to have a panic attack.

2 Kings 19 NKJV

1 ¶  And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword.

2  Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”

3  And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

·        That’s 100 miles to the south! And he didn’t go by bus …

4  But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

·        You would have thought the exercise, fresh air, and change of scenery would have made things better for Elijah …

·        But he just wanted to die!

·        Actually, he wanted God to kill him.

·        Partly because by this time he is feeling worthless …

5  Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

6  Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.

·        Ate

·        Drank

·        Slept

·        Now there’s the sign of depression …

7  And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”

8  So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

·        Another 200 miles … now he is at least two months and 350 miles from Jezebel, the drought, the executions, the fire, the problems, and what he hopes is the responsibility for having to deal with it all anymore.

·        No one but God knows where he is, and he likes it that way.

·        He gets to the mountain of God where Moses received the 10 commandments …

9 ¶  And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

·        I love this … finally when he hears the word of the LORD, God said:

·        “What are you doing here?”

10  So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

·        Poor me …

·        You don’t understand …

·        I’m the only one who is right and just and true and good …

·        I’m alone

·        I’m left

·        Nobody else cares … they want to kill me!

11  Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;

12  and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

13  So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14  And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

·        Repeat …

·        This is God saying … I don’t have anything else to say to you except … You’re looking for answers in all the wrong places …

·        And on top of that, you’re wrong …

15  Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.

16  “Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

17  “It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.

18  “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Elijah was looking for answers in all the wrong places. The answers were yet in the hands of those God would anoint to take care of things beyond Elijah’s calling. God continued to use Elijah for another 15 years or so before taking him to heaven in a whirlwind at about the age of 51. But not before Elijah finished what God had called him to do.

One of the greatest lessons I have learned in life from the full account of Elijah’s panic attack is that:

“If I am the only one who is right, I’m probably wrong.”

·        It can’t always be someone else.

I’m at my best for God, for myself, and my family, when I recognize God is working in the lives of others as much as He is working in and on me.

God will take note of, and He will punish the truly evil and unrepentant people, but I am not alone, and I am not responsible for the sins of others.

My salvation and my sanity are not in my enemy’s defeat, they are found in my healthy relationship with God. We won’t find the right answers looking in the wrong places. Maybe you just need to go back home and let God fix it.

Count Your Blessings

Gtcotr/ss112722

Genesis 4 NKJV

1 ¶  Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.”

·        After your last worst mistake and even after your greatest sin, life goes on, and you can too.

2  Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

·        Coming of age to make your own decisions and to be what you choose to be.

3 ¶  And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.

4a  Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat.

·        These boys had evidently been taught and shown the importance of offerings.

·        Each year they must have watched their parents bring and dedicate offerings to the LORD.

In the process of time – (Hebrew) at the end of days: denoting the end of a day, week, season, or year. Specifically referring here to the season of the year in which crops have been harvested, also the time in which lambs are about 6 months old and weaned. At the end of a natural time.

Typically the autumn time of the year, the natural time of counting your blessings and giving of thanks, and presenting your offerings to the Lord for His goodness.

This time of the year coincides with the New Year for God. A time in which the Jewish Rabbis teach, and we believe is the anniversary of:

·        The creation of Adam and Eve

·        The dedication of the Temple

·        The coming of Messiah

·        It is a time to count our blessings and make our offerings to God.

It is not only the end of days, but immediately following is the new beginning of a next season to come.

Genesis 8:22  “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”

4b  And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,

5  but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

·        Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat.

o   No doubt just as his father had taught him.

§  The first and the best belong to God … even the fat.

·        Cain just brought some of the harvest … nothing special.

o   It wasn’t just Cain’s offering that God would not respect, it was his heart. In all that we know about Cain, he seems a grumpy sort of person who is a bit self-centered and complaintive.

·        The Bible says God loves a cheerful giver … someone who gives because they want to give, with a heart of thanksgiving.

2 Corinthians 9:7  So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

·        Cain may have felt compelled to give. It is evident he was not really happy about it, and neither was God.

·        Maybe because Cain didn’t see God there working beside him in the fields, he didn’t think God had anything to do with his harvest.

o   But tell me … where did Cain get the dirt, the seed, the rain, or the strength to work the fields?

·        Cain should have opened his eyes a little wider and he could have seen God working all around him … so can we!

6 ¶  So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?"

·        Cain was angry in much the same way as the men were angry in the parable Jesus told in Matthew 21 about the workers who felt they didn’t owe the owner of the vineyard anything from their harvest.

·        Sin makes a sad person. It’s hard to be happy when you’re not pleasing God.

7  “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

·        Sin wants to rule you … but you should rule over it …

Here are three things I believe this passage teaches us today:

1.   There comes a time when every person is responsible to God for their actions.

2.   Doing well is a personal decision completely within our reach.

3.   Sin knows no boundaries … it will take as much ground as you give it.

Genesis 4:8  Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

We are in the season of counting our blessings.

Be thankful from your heart and make sure you don’t forget to be a cheerful giver.

How can you please the Lord this year?

·        First by giving your heart to Him.

Romans 10:13  For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

·        And then by honoring the LORD with your substance and with the first fruits of all your increase.

Proverbs 3

9  Honor the LORD with your substance, And with the first fruits of all your increase;

10  So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.

The time is ripe for you to make a decision … count your blessings and begin your new life right now!

“We have forgotten God.”

Gtcotr/ws112322

2 Chronicles 7:14  If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

These words were spoken from heaven by God and recorded at the dedication of the Temple during the reign of King Solomon in Jerusalem in about 956BC. God wanted His children to know they could turn to Him at any time and that He would listen, forgive, and heal them from their seasons of trouble. Specifically the trouble which they brought on themselves as a result of their own wickedness.

God appeared to King Solomon in the night and encouraged him to look beyond the drought, beyond the famine, beyond the pestilence, and look to Him. God wanted Solomon, in all his wisdom, to tell the whole world to look beyond the problem and see the promise.

2 Chronicles 7

15  “Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.

16  “For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.”

The house God was referring to in that passage was the physical Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem, which of course no longer exists. King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon destroyed the Temple King Solomon built for the Lord to house the Ark of the Covenant in the year 586BC, some 2608 years ago. Even though heaven and earth shall pass away, God’s Word endures forever.

Seeing we can’t go to the Temple to pray, how can this word apply to our lives today?

Corinthians 3:16 ¶  Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

God hears our prayers today as much as He ever has. And you are His Temple, and He has sanctified you by Jesus Christ. (John 17:17) You have been made to be the righteousness God in Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 1:30)

1 Peter 3:12  For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.

I believe this is what saved our nation in one of the most critical times in America.  Since we are celebrating Thanksgiving Day in United States tomorrow, allow me to read the Thanksgiving Proclamation written by President Abraham Lincoln during the middle of the war between the States. Listen to what this great man, who was a professed believer in Jesus Christ and the Word of God, had to say to a nation and indeed a world in great need. These words of truth still ring loud today.

Abraham Lincoln's 
1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation  

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world.  May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God.  We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.  Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.  I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens.

A. Lincoln
October 3, 1863

The hardest part is not the praying we all need to do … it’s turning from our wicked ways that must accompany any petition to God for salvation.

Let us pray a prayer of thanksgiving and petition to God trusting that He will hear, forgive, and heal our land this Thanksgiving season.

Right on Time

Gtcotr/ss112022

Herod the Great tried to kill Jesus in Bethlehem.

Matthew 2:16  Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

Members of the synagogue tried to kill Jesus in Nazareth.

Luke 4

28  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

29  and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.

30  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

The Pharisees tried to kill Jesus in the Temple.

John 8:59  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

The Jews tried to kill Jesus at the Feast of Dedication.

John 10

31  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.

32  Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”

39 ¶  Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.

So many people, all inspired by the devil, tried to kill Jesus so many times and guess what … they finally did … but not before it was God’s time.

There are two eternal truths I want to share this morning that are meant to be foundation stones in the Believer’s life.

1.  It’s not people, it’s the devil.

Ephesians 6:12  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

1 Peter 5

8 ¶  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

9  Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

2 Corinthians 10

4  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

5  casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

The devil cannot do anything unless he can find at least one person to work with him.

·        Pray for your enemies.

·        Some people have no idea they are being used by the devil.

·        Others know they are doing you wrong and do it anyway.

·        Remember, it’s not people … it’s the devil.

Resist the roar of the devil in your mind and be steadfast in faith.

The second foundation stone in the Believer’s life I want to share this morning is the eternal truth that:

2.  Nothing happens before its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:1  To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.

The word time is recorded 700 times in the AV of the Bible. The first 5 times talk about the in process of time; at the set time; at the appointed time; and at the time of life.

·        In Joshua, God appointed a set time for the walls of Jericho to fall.

·        Galatians 4:4 says that in the fulness of time, God sent His Son.

·        Romans 5:6 says that in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

·        Romans 13:11 says it is high time we awake out of our sleep.

·        1 Corinthians 4:5 tells us to not judge anything before the time.

·        2 Corinthians 6:2 declares that now is the accepted time …

·        2 Timothy 4:6 Paul said the time of his departure was at hand.

·        Revelation 14:15 Thrust in your sickle for the time is come …

God created the universe, established the galaxies, and set the world in order. He knows every second and changes lives in the twinkling of an eye.

Nothing happens without God’s notice or before God’s time.

So … with these two things in mind, what is our part? (The devil & time)

Acts 1

6 ¶  Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Jesus, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7  And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

8  “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

When it looks like the devil is working overtime and you feel like your whole world has gone crazy, remember:

·        It’s not people … it’s the devil!

o   Pray for the Holy Spirit to come upon you with the power to be a witness to others who are in the darkness of this world.

·        Nothing happens without God’s notice or before God’s time.

o   God is not slow to act … you can trust His timing.

The Power of Prayer

Gtcotr/ws111622 

History tells us that in AD44, Herod Agrippa died in Caesarea. In Acts 12, the Bible gives us the account of why. Let’s go back one year and one chapter to AD43 and Acts 11, as we begin tonight’s message on the power and the importance of prayer.

At this point a young and very well-known Jewish lawyer had been converted to Christianity and had been brought to join the Church at Antioch by a seasoned and very trusted minister of the Gospel, Barnabas. Saul had spent a whole year proving himself at the Church when some prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch.

Acts 11 NKJV

27 ¶  And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch.

28  Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.

29  Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.

30  This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Now let’s go all the way down to:

Acts 12:25  And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.

This evening we are going to use these two passages as bookends to look and see what we can learn from the things that took place while Barnabas and Saul, (the young Apostle Paul in training), were in Jerusalem in about the year AD43/44.

Acts 12

1 ¶  Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church.

·        Herod Agrippa: Grandson of Herod the Great; Nephew of Herod Antipas who was married to his niece who was also his former sister-in-law, Herodias; Brother and twice nephew of Herodias who is responsible for the death of John the Baptist.

·        The same Herod that got eaten by worms in Caesarea … later …

2  Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

·        James the elder brother of the Apostle John, both sons of Zebedee, called as the first disciples of Jesus.

·        A sword was quick and private and somewhat an insult as opposed to a public execution with an axe.

3  And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

·        Because it pleased the Jews – It is a difficult trap to be poll driven.

·        He was emboldened and encouraged to go further in his evil harassment.

·        It was Passover … family time … everyone who was anyone was in Jerusalem.

4  So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

·        Publicly arrested and a huge 16 guard assigned to him. 4 at a time for 6-hour watches each.

·        Didn’t want to run the risk of having to follow custom and let Peter go, like happened to Barabbas perhaps.

·        But wanted a public execution this time … going to bring before the people.

5 ¶  Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

·        We see something different than what happened with James.

·        I don’t think the Church ever expected James to be killed … I think it shocked them and provoked them to get up and get involved.

·        The Church called an important prayer meeting to see if they could petition heaven for help. – Constant Prayer!!!

6  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.

7  Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands.

8  Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.”

9  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.

10  When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

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 from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”

·        When Peter had come to himself …

12  So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.

·        Mary was the mother of John Mark.

·        Mary was also the sister of Barnabas.

·        It was Passover – the most important family gathering of the year.

·        Barnabas was in town and most likely as shocked as anyone that James had been beheaded and that Peter was in prison and was going to be executed in a couple of days.

·        It would be unreasonable to imagine Barnabas was not at his sister’s house and in that prayer meeting with his young protégé, Saul of Tarsus.

·        Yes, I have great reason to believe the young Apostle Paul was at that prayer meeting.

13  And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer.

14  When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.

15  But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.”

16  Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

17  But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.

·        James, pastor of the Church.

·        Peter is an escaped prisoner on the run.

18  Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.

19  But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.

20 ¶  Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country.

21  So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.

22  And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”

23  Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.

24  But the word of God grew and multiplied.

25  And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.

Some things I find interesting about this narrative:

·        Herod and Herodias, brother and sister, were responsible for the quick executions of John the Baptist and of Apostle James.

·        The young Apostle Paul was most likely at the prayer meeting in Mary’s house.

·        The intercessors, which probably included some very important people, weren’t necessarily expecting God to answer their prayers in such a quick and tangible way.

·        Prayer was what made the difference between James being killed and Peter being delivered.

My Take-Away includes:

·        The Power and the Importance of Prayer.