Prayers of Acts (Acts 10:9)

God Speaks to Peter During His Prayer Time.

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH, on Sunday, May 17, 2026

I remember being in high school and listening to a sermon. The pastor shared that he was in prayer when the phone rang. He shared, “That phone is not more important than God.” That is true, but maybe sometimes the phone call is God’s answer to our prayers. Several years later, in the summer of 2004, while Meagan was spending time in prayer, her phone rang. She answered the call and received a job offer. I don’t know if she was praying for a job at that time, but the job was an answer to prayer.

Have you ever been convicted to change your prayer life? Has God ever answered your prayers in different ways?

We are in a year-long focus on prayer. Recently, we have been looking at prayers in the book of Acts.

My theme: God speaks to Peter during his prayer time.

1. What is happening in Acts 10?
   9. Our focus will be on one verse: Acts 10:9. But we must talk about the context.
   10. What is the context?
   11. In Acts 10:1-9, God instructs a Gentile man on how to find Peter. This was a gentile centurion, who was a God-fearer. This means that he was non-Jewish but interested in Jewish matters. He prayed and gave gifts to the poor (Acts 10:2).
   12. Cornelius was a centurion, a commander of 100 men, and a member of the Italian Cohort. (A “cohort” consisted of 600 men under the command of six centurions, but with auxiliary forces in remote areas such as Judea a “cohort” might have as many as 1,000 men.) Ten cohorts formed a “legion.” Centurions were paid very well (as much as five times the pay of an ordinary soldier), so Cornelius would have been socially prominent and wealthy.^[1]
   13. In Acts 10:7-8, he had sent servants to Joppa to find Peter.
   14. Cornelius is a man of prayer. We see this in Acts 10:2. God says that his prayers and alms have been heard (Acts 10:4). Now, we see Peter praying.
   15. Acts 10:9–12 (ESV)
   16. ⁹ The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. ¹⁰ And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance ¹¹ and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. ¹² In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.
   17. The servants are on their journey, and Peter goes up on the housetop to pray.
   18. This is about the sixth hour.
   19. Houses in Judea typically had flat roofs accessible by ladders or stairs.^[2]
   20. This would have been about noon.^[3]
   21. Noon was not a regular hour of prayer (3:1), so Peter prays in addition to the traditional hours followed by many of his contemporaries.^[4]
   22. In Acts 10:10, we see that Peter is hungry.
   23. Peter is not hungry from any special fast; noon was the normal time for a meal in Rome and may have been in Joppa as well. Philo described the state here attributed to Peter as “divine intoxication,” when the soul is so filled with God that one loses touch with one’s surroundings; but in contrast to Philo and apocalyptists who sought mystical experiences, Peter has done nothing intentionally to bring it about.^[5]
   24. He falls into a trance.
   25. In verse 11, he sees the heavens opened…
   26. What was this like?
   27. The “heavens” likely refers to the sky opening. Though it could refer to another dimension opening.
   28. In Acts 10:12, we see the description of what he saw.
   29. IVP BBC NT: Even Palestinian Jews most lenient in other regards kept kosher. Thus this vision would present a horrifying situation for any first-century Palestinian Jew (and the vast majority of foreign Jews as well): God commands Peter to eat all these unclean, forbidden creatures. Hungry he may be (10:10), but he is not that hungry!^[6]
   30. ESV SB: Jewish law forbade the consumption of unclean animals (see Lev. 11:2–47).^[7]
   31. See Mark 7:19, in which Jesus made all foods clean.
2. The command (10:13–16)
   1. Acts 10:13–16 (ESV)
   2. ¹³ And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” ¹⁵ And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
   3. God’s order (Acts 10:13): “Kill and eat them.”
   4. Peter’s objection (Acts 10:14): “Never, Lord, I have never in all my life eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws.”
   5. God’s overrule (Acts 10:15–16): “If God says something is acceptable, don’t say it isn’t.”
   6. The confusion (10:17-18): Peter wonders what all this means.
   7. Without the vision it is unlikely that Peter would have met with the messengers from Cornelius and gone with them to Caesarea. In a vision that lasted only minutes Peter determined to obey God even if it was contrary to many of the biases he had held for a lifetime.^[8]
   8. I read the following:
   9. I recently heard about a missionary in a dangerous part of the Middle East who started an underground church. Locals tried to discover the location of that assembly in order to persecute the believers there, but they could never find it. Late one night, however, the missionary heard a knock on the door of the secret church. He cautiously opened it to see a tribesman standing there. The man explained that he had walked for days in order to find the missionary. He said, “I had a vision three days ago that there would be a man standing at this address who would tell me how to get to heaven. Sir, are you this man?” That tribesman, like Cornelius, was given a vision leading him to an evangelist who would teach him how to cross from spiritual death to abundant life.
   10. An old classmate was recently ministering to Muslims in Washington, DC. One day a Muslim man approached him and asked, “Who is ‘I Am’? I keep seeing ‘I Am’ in my dreams.” After giving a summary explanation, he gave the seeker a Bible and encouraged him to read the Gospel of John. It wasn’t long until he led the man to faith in Jesus, and at that point the convert confessed, “Many of the ‘I am’ statements I read in John I heard first in my dreams!” This story, too, reminds us that even when God uses visions to nudge people toward faith in Christ, evangelists must still do the exciting work of explaining the gospel to them that they might understand and embrace it with confidence.^[9]
   11. In the next few verses, we see Cornelius’s servants arrive.
3.  Application:
   1. Pray, pray, and pray.
   2. In this passage, Peter is praying, but it is not a normal prayer time.
   3. That is not the key point of the passage, but I do find it interesting that Peter and Cornelius are both men of prayer.
   4. I think it is important to have regular prayer times and to pray whenever we are led.
   5. For some reason, Peter felt compelled to pray, and God gave him a vision.
   6. Do our devotions ever get stuck?
   7. Do we ever feel like we are praying the same way, all the time?
   8. Do we need to change something?
   9. Try a different way to mix up your spiritual disciplines.
   10. The sexton [custodian] of a metropolitan church noticed scraps of paper in a certain pew in the sanctuary after each Sunday service. One day he made bold to examine the crumpled pieces of paper. He found such notes as: “Mary—ill; Bob, needs job; her rent due; my needs …” After a few weeks of this, the faithful custodian shared the mystery with the pastor, who alerted several members who sat in the area where messages were found to please identify, if possible, the person who was leaving tidbits of information each Sunday. The quiet plan succeeded. In due time, the minister adroitly engaged the lady in conversation in his study about the intriguing practice of leaving notes addressed to various people in her pew.
   11. Smiling, the gentle lady declared that the bits of paper had deep meaning for her. “You will think it silly, but sometime ago I read, ‘Take your troubles to church with you.’ So I write down my concerns, burdens, and needs on little pieces of paper, take them to church, pray about them, and leave them there. I feel God is taking care of them!”^[10]
   12. Maybe some of us need to be like Peter and pray at noon for a few days.
   13. Maybe we need to write our prayers, or try praying scripture, or ask the Lord to increase our faith.
   14. Maybe a few of us need to pray and watch. Watch for the Lord to answer in various ways.
   15. Maybe we need to be reminded to consistently pray.
   16. We must keep praying, don’t give up.
   17. There are needs, and all of our needs go back to the Lord. We need His help.

Jim Cymbala writes: (footnote below)

All my talking about prayer faced a severe test several years ago when Carol and I went through the darkest two-and-a-half-year tunnel we could imagine.

Our oldest daughter, Chrissy, had been a model child growing up. But around age sixteen she started to stray. I admit I was slow to notice this—I was too occupied with the church, starting branch congregations, overseeing projects, and all the rest that ministry entails.

Meanwhile, Chrissy not only drew away from us, but also away from God. In time, she even left our home. There were many nights when we had no idea where she was.

As the situation grew more serious, I tried everything. I begged, I pleaded, I scolded, I argued, I tried to control her with money. Looking back, I recognize the foolishness of my actions. Nothing worked; she just hardened more and more. Her boyfriend was everything we did not want for our child.

How I kept functioning through that period I don’t know. Many a Sunday morning I would put on my suit, get into the car to drive to the Tabernacle early, ahead of Carol . . . and cry for the next twenty-five minutes, all the way to the church door. “God, how am I going to get through three meetings today? I don’t want to make myself the center of attention. The people have problems of their own—they’re coming for help and encouragement. But what about me? I’m hanging by a thread. Oh, God, please . . . my firstborn, my Chrissy.”

Somehow God would pull my nerves together enough for me to function through another long Sunday. There were moments, however, as we were worshiping God and singing, that my spirit would almost seem to run away from the meeting to intercede for Chrissy. I had to control myself to stay focused on the people and their needs.

While this was going on, we learned that Carol needed an operation—a hysterectomy. As she tried to adjust afterward, the devil took the opportunity to come after her and say, You might have this big choir, and you’re making albums and doing outreaches at Radio City Music Hall and all the rest. Fine, you and your husband can go ahead to reach the world for Christ—but I’m going to have your children. I’ve already got the first one. I’m coming for the next two.

Like any mother who loves her children, Carol was smitten with tremendous fear and distress. Her family meant more to her than a choir. One day she said to me, “Listen, we need to leave New York. I’m serious. This atmosphere has already swallowed up our daughter. We can’t keep raising kids here. If you want to stay, you can—but I’m getting our other children out.” She wasn’t kidding.

I said, “Carol, we just can’t do that. We can’t unilaterally take off without knowing what God wants us to do.”

Carol wasn’t being rebellious; she was just depressed after the surgery. She elected not to pack up and run after all. And it was at that low point that she went to the piano one day, and God gave her a song that has touched more people than perhaps anything else she has written:

In my moments of fear,

Through every pain, every tear,

There’s a God who’s been faithful to me.

When my strength was all gone,

When my heart had no song,

Still in love he’s proved faithful to me.

Every word he’s promised is true;

What I thought was impossible, I see my God do.

He’s been faithful, faithful to me,

Looking back, his love and mercy I see.

Though in my heart I have questioned,

Even failed to believe,

Yet he’s been faithful, faithful to me.

When my heart looked away,

The many times I could not pray,

Still my God, he was faithful to me.

The days I spent so selfishly,

Reaching out for what pleased me;

Even then God was faithful to me

Every time I come back to him,

He is waiting with open arms,

And I see once again.

He’s been faithful, faithful to me. . . .

Were we calling on the Lord through all of this? In a sense we were. But I couldn’t help jumping in to take action on my own too. I was still, to some degree, the point guard wanting to grab the basketball, push it down the floor, make something happen, press through any hole in the defense I could find. But the more I pressed, the worse Chrissy got.

Then one November, I was alone in Florida when I received a call from a minister whom I had persuaded Chrissy to talk to. “Jim,” he said, “I love you and your wife, but the truth of the matter is, Chrissy’s going to do what Chrissy’s going to do. You don’t really have much choice, now that she’s eighteen. She’s determined. You’re going to have to accept whatever she decides.”

I hung up the phone. Something very deep within me began to cry out. “Never! I will never accept Chrissy being away from you, Lord!” I knew that if she continued on the present path, there would be nothing but destruction awaiting her.

Once again, as back in 1972, there came a divine showdown. God strongly impressed me to stop crying, screaming, or talking to anyone else about Chrissy. I was to converse with no one but God. In fact, I knew I should have no further contact with Chrissy—until God acted! I was just to believe and obey what I had preached so often—

Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will answer you.

I dissolved in a flood of tears. I knew I had to let go of this situation.

Back home in New York, I began to pray with an intensity and growing faith as never before. Whatever bad news I would receive about Chrissy, I kept interceding and actually began praising God for what I knew he would do soon. I made no attempts to see her. Carol and I endured the Christmas season with real sadness. I was pathetic, sitting around trying to open presents with our other two children, without Chrissy.

February came. One cold Tuesday night during the prayer meeting, I talked from Acts 4 about the church boldly calling on God in the face of persecution. We entered into a time of prayer, everyone reaching out to the Lord simultaneously.

An usher handed me a note. A young woman whom I felt to be spiritually sensitive had written: “Pastor Cymbala, I feel impressed that we should stop the meeting and all pray for your daughter.”

I hesitated. Was it right to change the flow of the service and focus on my personal need?

Yet something in the note seemed to ring true. In a few minutes I picked up a microphone and told the congregation what had just happened. “The truth of the matter,” I said, “although I haven’t talked much about it, is that my daughter is very far from God these days. She thinks up is down, and down is up; dark is light, and light is dark. But I know God can break through to her, and so I’m going to ask Pastor Boekstaaf to lead us in praying for Chrissy. Let’s all join hands across the sanctuary.”

As my associate began to lead the people, I stood behind him with my hand on his back. My tear ducts had run dry, but I prayed as best I knew.

To describe what happened in the next minutes, I can only employ a metaphor: The church turned into a labor room. The sounds of women giving birth are not pleasant, but the results are wonderful. Paul knew this when he wrote, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you . . .” (Gal. 4:19).

There arose a groaning, a sense of desperate determination, as if to say, “Satan, you will not have this girl. Take your hands off her—she’s coming back!” I was overwhelmed. The force of that vast throng calling on God almost literally knocked me over.

When I got home that night, Carol was waiting up for me. We sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee, and I said, “It’s over.”

“What’s over?” she wondered.

“It’s over with Chrissy. You would have had to be in the prayer meeting tonight. I tell you, if there’s a God in heaven, this whole nightmare is finally over.” I described what had taken place.

BACK FROM THE ABYSS

Thirty-two hours later, on Thursday morning, as I was shaving, Carol suddenly burst through the door, her eyes wide. “Go downstairs!” she blurted. “Chrissy’s here.”

“Chrissy’s here?”

“Yes! Go down!”

“But Carol—I—”

“Just go down,” she urged. “It’s you she wants to see.”

I wiped off the shaving foam and headed down the stairs, my heart pounding. As I came around the corner, I saw my daughter on the kitchen floor, rocking on her hands and knees, sobbing. Cautiously I spoke her name:

“Chrissy?”

She grabbed my pant leg and began pouring out her anguish. “Daddy—Daddy—I’ve sinned against God. I’ve sinned against myself. I’ve sinned against you and Mommy. Please forgive me—”

My vision was as clouded by tears as hers. I pulled her up from the floor and held her close as we cried together.

Suddenly she drew back. “Daddy,” she said with a start, “who was praying for me? Who was praying for me?” Her voice was like that of a cross-examining attorney.

“What do you mean, Chrissy?”

“On Tuesday night, Daddy—who was praying for me?” I didn’t say anything, so she continued:

“In the middle of the night, God woke me and showed me I was heading toward this abyss. There was no bottom to it—it scared me to death. I was so frightened. I realized how hard I’ve been, how wrong, how rebellious.

“But at the same time, it was like God wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. He kept me from sliding any farther as he said, ‘I still love you.’

“Daddy, tell me the truth—who was praying for me Tuesday night?”

I looked into her bloodshot eyes, and once again I recognized the daughter we had raised.

Chrissy’s return to the Lord became evident immediately. By that fall, God had opened a miraculous door for her to enroll at a Bible college, where she not only undertook studies but soon began directing music groups and a large choir, just like her mother. Today she is a pastor’s wife in the Midwest with three wonderful children. Through all this, Carol and I learned as never before that persistent calling upon the Lord breaks through every stronghold of the devil, for nothing is impossible with God.

For Christians in these troubled times, there is simply no other way.[1]

[1] Jim Cymbala and Dean Merrill, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire: What Happens When God’s Spirit Invades the Hearts of His People (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 61–68.

Legend has it that a man was lost in the desert, just dying for a drink of water. He stumbled upon an old shack—a ramshackled, windowless, roofless, weatherbeaten old shack. He looked about this place and found a little shade from the heat of the desert sun. As he glanced around he saw a pump about fifteen feet away—an old, rusty water pump. He stumbled over to it, grabbed the handle, and began to pump up and down, up and down. Nothing came out.

Disappointed, he staggered back. He noticed off to the side an old jug. He looked at it, wiped away the dirt and dust, and read a message that said, “You have to prime the pump with all the water in this jug, my friend. P.S.: Be sure you fill the jug again before you leave.”

He popped the cork out of the jug and sure enough, it was almost full of water! Suddenly, he was faced with a decision. If he drank the water, he could live. Ah, but if he poured all the water in the old rusty pump, maybe it would yield fresh, cool water from down deep in the well, all the water he wanted.

He studied the possibility of both options. What should he do, pour it into the old pump and take a chance on fresh, cool water or drink what was in the old jug and ignore its message? Should he waste all the water on the hopes of those flimsy instructions written, no telling how long ago?

Reluctantly he poured all the water into the pump. Then he grabbed the handle and began to pump, squeak, squeak, squeak. Still nothing came out! Squeak, squeak, squeak. A little bit began to dribble out, then a small stream, and finally it gushed! To his relief fresh, cool water poured out of the rusty pump. Eagerly, he filled the jug and drank from it. He filled it another time and once again drank its refreshing contents.

Then he filled the jug for the next traveler. He filled it to the top, popped the cork back on, and added this little note: “Believe me, it really works. You have to give it all away before you can get anything back.”^[11]

Keep praying and ask the Lord to increase your faith.

Pray

^[1] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2102–2103.

^[2] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2103.

^[3] Stanley E. Porter, “Acts,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1735.

^[4] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ac 10:9.

^[5] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ac 10:10.

^[6] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ac 10:11–13.

^[7] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2103.

^[8] William H. Marty, “Acts,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 1695.

^[9] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Acts (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 148.

^[10] G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 296–297.

^[11] Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 197.

The application: Maternal gifts influence more than biological children.

Today, we celebrate mothers.

Mothers know that when you hear a child flush the toilet and say ‘uh oh’, it’s already too late. 

Mothers know a 3-year old boy’s voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant. 

Mothers know that a puddle is a small body of water that draws other small bodies wearing dry shoes into it. 

Mothers know that the top bunk is where you should never put a little boy wearing Superman pajamas. 

Mothers are also aware of two mysterious people living in the house: Somebody and Nobody. Somebody did it, and Nobody knows who.[1] 

God has gifted us with a family order. God has gifted us with mothers. Most years, I try to create a special sermon for Mother’s Day. Today, I had planned a sermon based on Eph. 6:1-3- honor your father and mother, for this is right. Last night, I realized that the sermon needed to be changed. Think about the many gifts God has given mothers; one is hospitality.

Think about hospitality:

Marcella, who was born to a noble Roman family in 325, was highly revered by Jerome, the 4th-century translator of the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible. This noblewoman offered her palace as a sanctuary for Christians who were being persecuted, and was active in leading Bible classes and prayer meetings among the other noblewomen.

Though widowed at an early age and having no children, she chose to not remarry and instead devoted herself to serving Christ and the church. When Pope Damasus commissioned scholar Jerome to make a newly revised translation of the Gospels, taking the latest available Hebrew and Greek texts and translating them into Latin, Jerome moved into Marcella’s retreat house palace for the duration of his task. For three years, he depended upon Marcella and her other house guests to critique his ongoing work, which eventually became a classic, the Latin Vulgate Bible.

Marcella founded the first convent for women in the Western church, and gave liberally of her wealth to help other Christians, clearly showing to her fellow noblewomen that greater rewards and fulfillment come from storing up treasures in heaven than from hoarding treasures on earth.

Let’s look at:

Romans 16:13 (ESV)

¹³ Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

My theme today is:

Paul greets Rufus’s mother.

The application: Maternal gifts influence more than biological children.

1. Context:
   16. As I share the context, notice a bonus teaching. Notice all the women in Romans 16.
   17. Romans 16 includes a passage in which Paul is extending greetings to many people.
   18. Paul has shared deep theology in Romans chapters 1-11.
   19. Paul has shared a lot about Christian living in Romans chapters 14-15.
   20. Now, Paul is giving final greetings.
   21. I have heard some share that Paul cannot say “hello” without declaring the Gospel. We see that in this section as we see some great theology in verse 20.
   22. Let’s read verses 1-2, Romans 16:1-2: I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae,² that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.
   23. T. Wright points out that we cannot prove it, but it is likely that the one who delivered the letter read it. In this case, that is Phoebe. This would be a woman giving the public reading of Scripture.
   24. Notice that the ministry of women in the Roman church is quite evident in this chapter. Paul referred to nine prominent women: Phoebe, Prisca, Mary, Tryphena, Thyphosa, Persis, Rufus’ mother, Julia, and Nereus’ sister.^[2]
   25. This is really powerful, how Paul commends Phoebe and calls her a servant. It could actually be rendered as “deaconess.”
   26. This also tells where she is from, “Cenchrea.”
   27. In verse 2, Paul tells them to “welcome” or “receive her,” but receive her “in the Lord.”
   28. Paul wants them to help her in whatever she needs from them.
   29. She has been a patron, or “helper” of many including Paul. Phoebe served as a patron, probably with financial assistance and hospitality.^[3]
   30. Paul sends greetings to 26 individuals (Romans 16:3–16).^[4]
   31. Verse 7: Andronicus and Junia (6 people greeted now). Paul calls them outstanding among the apostles, fellow prisoners, and they were in Christ before Him. Junia is a female.
   32. CSB: The word “apostle” can be used in a nontechnical sense, referring to a messenger rather than a commissioned apostle such as Paul.^[5]
   33. Verse 13: Rufus (16 greeted). Paul says that he is chosen in the Lord. His mother has been a mother to Paul.
2. Who was Rufus?
   1. Mark 15:21 says, “A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.”
   2. Biblical scholars generally agree that he was one of the sons of Simon of Cyrene, the man enlisted to carry Jesus’ cross (cf. Mk 15:21) and was likely saved through that contact with Christ. Mark wrote his gospel in Rome, possibly after the letter to Rome was written, and circulated. Paul would not have mentioned Rufus if that name were not well known to the church in Rome.^[6]
   3. Paul’s allusion to the mother as “his mother … to me as well” suggests deep affection for the family.^[7]
   4. I like what one source shares:
   5. In what way she acted as Paul’s mother may only be surmised—perhaps as one who had cared for his physical needs, perhaps even as a mother ‘in the Lord’ who ministered to his spiritual needs (cf. 2 Tim. 1:5). Theodoret of Cyrrhus says: ‘The mother of Rufus by nature had become Paul’s mother by grace’.³⁷ Jewett observes: ‘To refer to Rufus’s mother as “mine” indicates that she had provided hospitality and patronage in such a manner that Paul has at some point in his career became virtually a member of their family’.^38,[8]
3. The powerful influence of mothers-
   1. Think about this: here is Paul, listing all these people who supported him; he mentions one whose mother was like a mother to him.
   2. This is important.
   3. Paul was traveling the known world, he had a thorn in his side (2 Cor. 12), he had been beaten many times (2 Cor. 11), shipwrecked, and much more. Who was this woman? How much did she mean to the Apostle Paul?
   4. Did she visit him?
   5. Did she write to him?
   6. Did she support him?
   7. Was she a listening ear to him?
   8. Was she hospitable to him?
   9. Did she remind him of his mother?
   10. Can we think of someone who was a stand-in mother to us?
   11. Maybe a teacher, a coach, a friend’s mother.
   12. Maybe a grandma?
   13. Women, have you been a maternal influence on others?
   14. Maybe some of you have not had children, but you were a mother to others?
   15. Also, notice how important community and hospitality were to the apostle Paul.
   16. Can we find something good to say about others? Look at how encouraging Paul is in this passage. He is encouraging all of them. He is finding good things to say about them. He is positive.
   17. A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him.
       
       It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.
       
       The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone then he sat back in his chair, still silent.
       
       The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.
       
       Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
       
       As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, ‘Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the firey sermon. I will be back in church next Sunday.’

David Jeremiah writes:

This “family rule” is well illustrated in the story “The Old Man and His Grandson,” from the collection Household Tales by the Grimm brothers:

There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at the table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spit the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. His son and his son’s wife were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it. And he used to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears. Once, too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke. The young wife scolded him, but he said nothing and only sighed. Then they bought him a wooden bowl for a few half-pence, out of which he had to eat.

They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground. “What are you doing there?” asked the father. “I am making a little trough,” answered the child, “for father and mother to eat out of when I am big.”

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while, and presently began to cry. Then they took the old grandfather to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them, and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything.^13,[9]

[1] Adapted from: https://firstbaptistscottcity.org/2014/05/12/sermon-romans-1613-rufus-mother/

^[2] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Ro 16:1.

^[3] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2184.

^[4] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ro 16:3–16.

^[5] Paige Patterson, “Salvation in the Old Testament,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1805.

^[6] John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Ro 16:13.

^[7] R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015), 2009.

³⁷ ‘Interpretation of the Letter to the Romans’ (ACCSR, 374).

³⁸ Jewett, Romans, 969.

^[8] Colin G. Kruse, Paul’s Letter to the Romans, ed. D. A. Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Cambridge, U.K.; Nottingham, England; Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2012), 570.

¹³ Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Digireads.com, 2009), 185.

^[9] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

Special Topic- Words of Encouragement (Proverbs 16:24)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, May 3, 2026

I have adapted the following from Timothy Keller-

You know the Grimms’ fairytale about the three women who came on by, and there was some little elf or dwarf who asked them for food, and the first girl said, “No, I don’t have it. I’m not going to share my sandwich with you.” So he snapped his fingers, and because she was a foul-mouthed girl, from then on, every time she ever opened her mouth, a toad sprang out.

Then her sister came on by, and the elf came and said, “I sure am hungry. I sure wish you’d give me some of your food,” and she said, “Of course. I’d be happy to do that. How are you doing? You look like you’re very tired.” She just said wonderful things to him, and he snapped his fingers, and from then on, every time she spoke, she was able to speak, but at the end of the thing she said, out would pop a gold coin. That’s how the fairytale goes.

Timothy Keller adds:

Ultimately, your words have power of their own. They have a life of their own. My question is … When you open your mouth, do people yawn, do people cringe, or do they treasure what you say? Go to him and say, “Lord, I need a heart full of wisdom. I need a heart close to you so I will have a tongue that’s articulate.” People looked at Jesus and said, “His words are so gracious.” Are your words things of beauty?^[1]

What do you think? Do our words have power? What are they communicating? Are we encouragers?

My theme is: Let’s have gracious words.

1. Context
   1. We are going to look at Proverbs 16:24 and what the verse says about our words.
   2. First, what are the Proverbs?
   3. The Proverbs are a book of the Old Testament that addresses general principles of wisdom. They are not promises.
   4. God has placed an order in creation to which we should pay attention in order to live wisely.^[2]
   5. Other ancient cultures had proverbs, but the biblical Proverbs are different. As one source shares:
   6. …it would be a mistake to treat the Biblical texts as just another version of ancient wisdom. In grandeur of scope, internal complexity and theological profundity, the Biblical texts of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes are in a class by themselves.[3]
   7. Secondly, what about the context?
   8. Though I usually teach that we must put passages in context, Proverbs are short, pithy statements. They do not flow together like normal prose. The Proverbs is an anthology, more of a scrapbook.
   9. Still, we can see that, starting in Proverbs 16:20, the author, most likely Solomon, is referring to our words.
   10. The idea of our words is spread out throughout Proverbs.
2. Gracious words are like honeycomb.
   1. Proverbs 16:24 (ESV) Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
   2. The verse is simple enough. When our words are gracious, they are like honeycomb.
   3. This is something with cavities, made by bees and filled with honey. What is the point? Honeycomb is filled with honey, and honey is sweet.
   4. Solomon writes that these words sweeten the soul.
   5. Is he talking about the spiritual soul? Or is he using the soul to refer to the emotional part of the body?
   6. I favor the latter. He is generically talking about the soul to mean that gracious words encourage us emotionally.
   7. Further, they give health to the body.
   8. In Solomon’s day, there were not many choices for sweets. They needed the sweetness that honey would offer.
   9. He could say that “as honey gives health to the body, so do gracious words.”
   10. These verses commend the speech characteristic of the wise of heart (vv. 21a, 23a): the wise consider their words carefully (vv. 20a, 23a) so that their words are both persuasive (vv. 21b, 23b) and good for body and soul (v. 24); they exhibit faithfulness to God (v. 20b) and are considered discerning by others (v. 21a). Such wisdom is a fountain of life, and foolish speech is empty of any such benefits (v. 22).^[4]
3.  Applications:
   1. Gracious words impact the Gospel.
   2. I don’t think people become Christians by mean people.
   3. [I have adapted this from Timothy Keller]: Benjamin Franklin did not like Christians, and he especially didn’t like George Whitefield, who was a great preacher.
   4. One day, he found that every single time he went to hear Whitefield preach, he got so persuaded by the power of his words, he kept giving money to the orphanage. George Whitefield used to raise money for an orphanage in Georgia, and Benjamin Franklin really didn’t like all of his stuff, but every time he went, he found himself giving money, so one day he says, “I’m going to go hear Whitefield preach because he’s an amazing orator, but I’m not taking any money with me, because his words are so powerful that I might give it.”
   5. At the end, when Whitefield asks for the offering, Franklin turns to the guy next to him and says, “Can I borrow $10?” It’s true. Some people are better with words than others, but why?^[5]
   6. Our words spread the Gospel, don’t they? They do. We use words to represent the Gospel and we use words to spread the gospel.
   7. We use words and so does God.
   8. [Adapted from Tim Keller]: It’s very interesting to contrast Christianity with Eastern religions at this point. Very interesting. Because Eastern religions believe God is impersonal, that he is not a he; he’s an it. He’s a force, and therefore, he doesn’t speak. As a result, you’ll find that in Eastern religions, words and speech are not as important. As one Buddhist once said to me … I said, “Do you pray?” and he said, “Of course I don’t pray. I meditate.” It’s an utterly different thing. In prayer, you are reaching out. You’re trying to understand and be understood. You’re pouring out. You’re trying to express. Actually, most of the Buddhist writings I have read say speech is something we need to suppress in order to become one with God. We have to intuit. We don’t analyze. In fact, there is a whole pile of people who say the only way to really reach enlightenment, satori, or nirvana is to stop speaking altogether. In Eastern thought, God is not personal. Therefore, speech is denigrated, but in Christianity, your speech … Not only is this a mark of God … We have a God who speaks. That’s what’s so wonderful about the Bible. We have a God who speaks. That’s why we have a Bible. And it’s also the reason why your own speech has such incredible power.^[6]
   9. Our Lord communicated to us through His Word and through the Holy Spirit.
   10. Proverbs 16:21 (ESV) The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.
   11. Are our words sweet?
   12. Are our words encouraging?
   13. Are we able to give grace?
   14. That doesn’t mean we don’t speak truth.
   15. Can we embody love?
   16. Next time we feel like we need to correct someone, or speak out, can we pause and think, “How can I do this with grace? How can I do this in a sweet way?
   17. Proverbs 15:1 (ESV) A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
   18. Maybe, just maybe, we need to think, do I really need to say this? Maybe we should simply encourage and love.
   19. Proverbs 18:21 (ESV) Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
   20. Proverbs 17:28 (ESV) Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

There’s a place in Perelandra, the second one of Lewis’s Space Trilogy, where the lady looks at the human and says, “How often your race speaks. You had nothing to say, and yet you made the nothing into words.” Somebody once said to Benjamin Franklin, “You talk so quickly that nobody feels that they can disagree with you, and therefore you’ll never learn anything more than you know now, which isn’t much.”^[7]

Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to help us with our words.

Prayer

^[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[2] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 1056.

[3] Archaeological Study Bible; intro to Proverbs

^[4] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1163.

^[5] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[6] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[7] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

Prayers of Acts: Peter’s Deliverance from Prison (Acts 12:6-19)

Prepared and preached at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, April 26, 2026

The story I am about to share is difficult at first, but listen to the end:

“John Patton, the missionary to the New Hebrides [South Pacific, New Hebrides is now called the Republic of Vanuatu].

He went to the New Hebrides after two missionaries from Scotland had gone there before, some years before. And within hours of landing, they were eaten. They were killed and eaten by cannibals.

And so John Patton decides to go. And he takes a wife with him. And she gives birth to a daughter. She was pregnant on board the ship.

And then within a few months of arriving, she gives birth and both she and the child die. There is a description of him lying on the grave of his wife and daughter and sobbing for days and days. He is on the other side of the world from his family.

He is alone on this island in fear of being killed and eaten by cannibals. And then he goes back to Scotland some years later. And he will remarry and go back again.

There’s a night that he describes in which he’s in the house, and on this occasion it’s before he remarried, and he’s in the house and he’s alone. It’s a hut. And he’s alone.

And he’s surrounded by cannibals with torches of fire. And a year later, the chief of those cannibals is converted through John Patton’s ministry. And Patton asked about that night, what is it?

What is it that kept them back from coming and killing him and eating him? And the chief said, I could see hundreds of big men with shining garments and swords.”

Do we believe God answers our prayers?

Do we believe in angels?

We are in our year-long sermon series on prayer. Today, we look at one of my favorite passages.

My theme today is:

Peter is released from prison through an encounter with an angel.

1. The context:
   1. In Acts 12:1-6, James, one of Jesus’s disciples, is arrested and martyred.
   2. Following that, Jesus’s disciple, Peter, is arrested and imprisoned.
   3. Acts 12:5 (ESV) So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
   4. Notice that “earnest” prayer. I love that.
   5. Continual or intense. Intently, earnestly (1 Pet. 1:22; Sept.: Jon. 3:8).^[2]
   6. “Earnest” could be translated as “zealous” or “fervent.”
   7. Is there something that we want to pray for earnestly?
   8. What are we petitioning the Lord for in an earnest way?
   9. Is it the salvation of our children? Is it that our grandchildren know the Lord (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:8-9)? Is it the financial need, or the job search, or the medical problem? It is okay to pray for all these things.
2. The people pray.
   1. Acts 12:6–10 (ESV)
   2. ⁶ Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. ⁷ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹ And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him.
   3. In verse 6, we see that Peter was asleep.
   4. Would you be asleep in a prison?
   5. He is asleep between two soldiers. More soldiers were guarding the doors, and he was sleeping. The prisons were probably not that comfortable.
   6. It was customary back then to have your right hand chained to a soldier’s left hand; however, it appears Peter was chained on both sides to a soldier.
   7. Peter could be content because he knew and followed the Scriptures: Peter was content with the situation. He had faith and knew everything would be okay. This could be because he knew he would die an old man (John 21:18-19), or he was just not anxious (Phil. 4:11).
   8. Peter knew other principles: “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for Thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:8).
   9. Peter wouldn’t be asleep for long.
   10. In verse 7, a light shines in; Peter is still asleep; however, now the guards are asleep too. Note, these are Roman guards. These are the best of the best, and they are sleeping!
   11. An Angel comes in and knocks him to wake him.
   12. The chains just fell off. Imagine that. How neat is that? Imagine being in a dark, dirty prison, and now it is all lit up by an angel, and your chains fall off.
   13. The angel tells him to put on his sandals and cloak.
   14. One of my sources suggested that Peter may have thought of this every time he laced his sandals and put on his cloak.
   15. Wow! What a thought, but think about this: this is a life-altering, life-changing experience. Would you forget it? An angel wakes him up.
   16. In the following few verses, Peter thinks this is a dream. He didn’t think it was real. They got up and went through some gates, including the one in the city. The gate opened by itself, and then the angel departed. The gate opened by itself. Realize that garage door and gate openers were not sold at Lowe’s in their day. This was God’s doing, and this is amazing. The angel just disappeared. Puff, gone.
   17. In verse 11, Peter realizes this is real. Peter had been thinking this was a dream the whole time. Peter did not think that this was real.
   18. I find that somewhat interesting. Peter witnessed the resurrection. He witnessed all the miracles of the resurrection. Remember Acts chapter 10, he witnessed that vision, but he did not think this was real. He could have thought this was simply another vision of what God wanted him to do. But he did not think it was real.
3. Peter at the house (Acts 12:11-17).
   1. Acts 12:11–17 (ESV)
   2. ¹¹ When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
   3. ¹² When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. ¹³ And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.
   4. Peter knocks on the door.
   5. A servant girl named Rhoda comes to answer; she hears Peter’s voice, and before she lets him in, she goes and tells the people he is there. They don’t believe her. However, she insists. They then say it is his angel. Peter keeps knocking, and eventually, they let him in.
   6. Peter tells them what happened and to tell James and the rest.
   7. They were praying for his release, and when he showed up, they did not believe it was him.
   8. Do we ever pray for something and not believe God will follow through?
   9. The story ends with Peter going to another place, and Herod killing the guards.
4. Applications:

1. 1. Remember the Lord is in control.
   2. Remember the Lord is NOT limited. He can answer our prayers however He wishes. The Roman guards were no challenge to God’s plan. Whatever our obstacles are, they are no threat to the Lord.
   3. Sometimes we think our needs are too small for prayer. That is not true.
   4. Sometimes we think there is no way that God can answer our prayer; that is not true.
   5. Sometimes we think it is selfish to pray for our needs, but that is not true. Read Phil. 4:6-7.
   6. Sometimes we think our loved one will never turn to Christ. Don’t limit God.
   7. Notice the Lord answers their prayer, but they don’t believe it. This shows that God’s answer does not always depend on our faith.
   8. What are we petitioning the Lord for in an earnest way?
   9. Is it the salvation of our children? Is it that our grandchildren know the Lord (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:8-9)? Is it the financial need, or the job search, or the medical problem? It is okay to pray for all these things.

I recently read a book by Jennie Allen called, The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe.

This part reminds us to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. As we pray, keep our eyes on our creator.

Jennie Allen writes:

When my kids were little, we wore out a picture book by Max Lucado titled You Are Special. In it, a wooden puppet named Punchinello, along with his fellow wooden puppets, all get dot and star stickers based on their performance in their little community each day. Anyone can put a sticker on them at any time.

Really fantastic puppets who do amazing things get gold stars, while plain, not-so-fantastic puppets who make lots of mistakes get boring, dull gray dots.

Sadly, Punchinello is always covered in gray dots, and he starts to believe the lie that he’s worthless, that he’ll never get a gold star, and that he’ll never measure up to all the puppets who have so many stars.

One day Punchinello meets a puppet who has no stars and no dots. In awe, he inquires how this is possible. “Oh,” she says, “it’s because I go to see the woodcarver every day.”

Punchinello goes to see the woodcarver, Eli—the same woodcarver who once carved him. As he sits and talks with Eli, he realizes that despite what the other puppets think about him, Eli has a far different take.

Eli thinks Punchinello is amazing.

Eli thinks Punchinello is fantastic.

Eli thinks Punchinello is special.

Eli adores Punchinello because Eli made him.

The longer Punchinello sits with Eli, the more he realizes that Eli’s opinion is the only one that counts. Curiously, when Punchinello leaves, a gray dot falls off.

The story is the perfect demonstration of this great passage in Philippians where Paul says, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Do you see it? Punchinello did the very thing I’m inviting you to do: He left the kingdom of this world to inhabit the Kingdom of God.

That’s the call of the gospel.

That’s the call of Jesus.

It’s to be Punchinello walking into the Maker’s woodshop, remembering who we are. Remembering who made us. Remembering how to come home.[3]

So, as we pray, remember your Creator. Remember who you are.

Eyes on Jesus…

Prayer

[1] Derick Thomas, Renewing Your Mind

11.22.2024; From Renewing Your Mind: Rescued by an Angel, Nov 22, 2024

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/renewing-your-mind/id110916650?i=1000677860818&r=714

This material may be protected by copyright.

From Renewing Your Mind: Rescued by an Angel, Nov 22, 2024

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/renewing-your-mind/id110916650?i=1000677860818&r=623

Sept (Septuagint)

^[2] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).

[3] Allen, Jennie. The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe: How to Find It, Fight It, and Live Free (pp. 84-85). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Prayers of Acts (Acts 9:10-18)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, Oh on Sunday, April 19, 2026

Two Irishmen, Pat and Mike, had narrowly escaped death on a sinking ship. They were floundering around in icy ocean waters on a couple of planks. Pat was addicted to the grossest profanity and he thought he ought to repent of it and then the Lord would come to his rescue. Mike thought his theology was sound. Pat began to pray, but just before arriving at the main thesis of his repentant prayer, Mike spotted a ship coming toward them. As delighted as Columbus when he first spotted the North American shore, Mike hollered, “Hold it, Pat. Don’t commit yourself. Here’s a ship.” Pat immediately stopped praying! Isn’t that the way many of us are? The only time we pray is when we are “in a jam.” As soon as things improve we forget God.

—John Haggai, How to Win over Worry^[1]

We are in a sermon series on prayer.

Today, my theme is:

The Lord answers a dangerous man’s prayer through Ananias.

1. Let’s talk about the context.
   1. In Acts 9:1-9, the Lord Jesus confronts Saul. Saul, whom we know as the Apostle Paul, had been persecuting the church.
   2. Saul was on his way to arrest more Christians, but Jesus confronted him.
   3. Jesus made him blind and asked him why is he (Saul) persecuting Me. When Saul persecuted the church, he was persecuting Jesus.
   4. In Acts 9:6, Saul is given instructions to get up and go to the city, and you will learn what to do.
   5. The others with him lead him into the city (Acts 9:9).
   6. He had no sight, food, or drink for three days.
   7. Now, we are in Acts 9:10.
2. Meet Ananias (Acts 9:10).
   1. In Acts 9:10, we meet Ananias.
   2. Acts 9:10 (ESV)
   3. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
   4. Notice, there is a scene change. We went from Saul to Ananias.
   5. Ananias is a disciple of Jesus.
   6. He responds to the Lord- “Here I am, Lord.”
3. Jesus shares about Saul’s prayer (Acts 9:11-12).
   1. Now, we see that Saul was praying.
   2. Acts 9:11–12 (ESV)
   3. ¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, ¹² and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”
   4. If anyone became a Christian kicking and screaming, it was Saul.
   5. Now, Saul is praying.
   6. He must’ve been desperate. He was persecuting Jesus by persecuting Christians, and now he wants to ask Jesus to restore his sight.
   7. Well, the Lord tells Ananias who to look for.
   8. In this case, Saul is praying, and we see Jesus answering the prayer.
   9. Isn’t that awesome!
   10. Have you ever thought that while you are praying, the Lord is answering your prayer with someone else?
   11. The Lord is speaking to Ananias, but also showing Saul in a vision that Ananias will lay hands on him so he can regain his sight.
4. Ananias’s objection (Acts 9:13-14).
   1. Acts 9:13–14 (ESV)
   2. ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”
   3. We see that Ananias is referring to what we can read in Acts 9:1, etc.
   4. I wonder about Ananias. Maybe he is one of the disciples who fled when Stephen was stoned (Acts 8:1). Maybe he was saved through that group.
5. The Lord’s response (Acts 9:15-16).
   1. Acts 9:15–16 (ESV)
   2. ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. ¹⁶ For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
   3. Paul was commissioned by the chief priest (Acts 9:2) to persecute Christians, but now the Lord commissions him.
   4. The Lord redirected him.
   5. He will suffer.
   6. He will take the gospel to the Gentiles.
6. The answer to Saul’s prayer (Acts 9:17-18).
   1. Acts 9:17–18 (ESV)
   2. ¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized…
   3. We see Ananias obeyed.
   4. He fulfills the mission Jesus called him to do.
   5. Saul is baptized.
7. Applications
   1. How are we doing with prayer?
   2. How are we doing at being the answer to someone else’s prayer?
   3. Are we sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading?
   4. Ananias was sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
   5. Are we praying desperately? I bet Saul was.
   6. Do we notice Jesus’s sovereignty? Remember, the Lord can, and does, redirect people for His causes.

Thank You for Saying No

Lord, day after day I’ve thanked You

For saying yes.

But when have I genuinely thanked You

For saying no?

Yet I shudder to think

Of the possible smears

The cumulative blots on my life

Had You not been sufficiently wise

To say an unalterable no.

So thank You for saying no

When my want list for things

Far exceeded my longing for You.

When I asked for a stone

Foolishly certain I asked for bread

Thank You for saying no

To my petulant “Just this time, Lord?”

Thank You for saying no

To senseless excuses

Selfish motives

Dangerous diversions.

Thank You for saying no

When the temptation that enticed me

Would have bound me beyond escape.

Thank You for saying no

When I asked You to leave me alone.

Above all

Thank You for saying no

When in anguish I asked

“If I give You all else

May I keep this?”

Lord, my awe increases

When I see the wisdom

Of Your divine no.

—Ruth Harms Calkin, Tell Me Again Lord, I Forget^[2]

^[1] Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 456.

^[2] Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 451–452.

Prayers of Acts (Acts 4:23-31)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, April 12, 2026

Tim Keller shares:

In the 1720s, the church was in such a dismal state that Cotton Mather, a great New England Congregational minister, in the last year and a half of his life organized prayer cells to pray for a mighty visitation of God. He himself got up every day and spent all day for the last 400-and-some days of his life praying for a visitation, for a descent of the presence of God. So there’s the crisis and there’s the extraordinary coming out.

Cotton Mather died in 1727, and in 1727 a revival broke out. It broke out in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Here’s what’s interesting: At the same time in 1727, a group of Moravians led by a guy named Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf started a 100-year prayer meeting. That means they set aside a room and a place in which they were going to pray for a mighty visitation of God in the world, and they decided at least one person would always be in that room praying for that so the prayer meeting would never stop. It went on from 1727 into the 1820s. It’s called the 100-Year Prayer Meeting. It started in 1727.

What happened on both sides of the Atlantic was an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit of God, a tremendous movement that historians still can’t figure out. What happened was just literally crowds, thousands upon thousands of people who showed no interest in Christianity, began to flock into the church, began to pack the churches out to listen to the Word of God preached, and were converted in droves.^[1]

We are focusing on prayer. Today, I want to focus on the disciples’ prayer for boldness.

That is my theme: The disciples pray for boldness. 

1. Context:
   1. Now, allow me to review what is happening in this passage:
   2. At the beginning of Acts chapter 3, Peter and John go to the Temple at the time of prayer. A lame beggar was there, asking for money. Peter said, “Silver or gold I don’t have, but what I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” The man is healed. This attracted a lot of attention, and Peter preached a sermon. Peter’s message reached about 5000 people with the Gospel, but this aggravated the Jewish authorities, and Peter and John were thrown in prison for the night. The next day, Peter and John spoke before the Jewish leadership, and Peter again preached the Gospel (Acts 4:8 says that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit). Eventually, they were released.
   3. After their release from prison, they return to meet with their own people.
   4. They immediately went back to share with the other disciples what God had done.
   5. Their prayer includes allusions to Old Testament prayers.
2. Let’s look at this Spirit-Filled Prayer:
   1. Acts 4:23–24 (ESV): When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴ And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them…
   2. They start their prayer by acknowledging who God is in relation to who they are. We should do the same. God created everything that we see and feel, including the stars in the sky.
   3. Verse 24 starts their prayer as “Sovereign Lord…” This means that God is in control. This means “absolute ruler.” The Greek word translated here is the source of the English word “despot.”[2] God is the absolute ruler, and they acknowledged that as they began their prayer.
   4. Tim Keller: Now quickly, one of the reasons people get very confused is they say, “I thought God’s presence is everywhere. How can we talk about God’s presence coming down into the church, or coming down here or there?” The answer is, the Christian understanding of God is very different than the New Age understanding of God and the Eastern understanding of God, from which the New Age gets its understanding of God.
   5. In fact, if you want to think about theologies, there are really only three. You have a Western theology, you have an Eastern theology, and you have a Christian theology. The Western theologies, the old Western religions … the Norse religions and the Greek religions and the Roman religions … had personal gods but who were not infinite. They were personal but not infinite. They were personal. Zeus, Apollo, all those guys, they were personal but they weren’t infinite. They made mistakes. They did dumb things. They could get too angry and afterwards regret it. Personal but not infinite.
   6. On the other hand, the Eastern understanding of God, from which the New Age gets its understanding of God, is God is infinite but not personal. God is a force. God is everywhere. God is the authentic ground of being. But you don’t talk to God, and he certainly doesn’t talk back to you. He doesn’t say things to you. He can’t speak to you. You can become conscious of him. You can tap into him and his power, but even using the word him is just an anthropomorphism. It’s not the right way to talk. Because he’s infinite but he’s not personal.
   7. The Christian God is both personal and infinite. He’s a person, he can talk to you, he can know you, he can speak to you, but he’s also infinite. That means, therefore, there are two aspects to his presence….the Christian understanding of God is he’s personal and infinite. So that means in one sense he’s everywhere, but there’s another sense of his presence, which means his relational presence.^[3]
   8. They were praying in unity. The Scripture says that they “raised their voices together in prayer…” This doesn’t mean they all prayed simultaneously, but they were praying in unity.
   9. Too often, our churches and prayers are hindered because of our divisions. Hence, I am going to say that our divisions hinder the Spirit’s work in our prayer life. In a few verses, we will see that this group of Christians experienced the Holy Spirit. I think we are missing the Holy Spirit because of our division.[4]
   10. What we need to see here is that their prayer was in unity, and God blessed them with a special baptism of the Holy Spirit.
   11. Now, allow me to return to their prayer and acknowledgment of God as sovereign. Do we acknowledge that God is sovereign?
   12. Acknowledging God as sovereign includes the idea that we must surrender to His will.
   13. Then, their prayer includes Scripture.
   14. Acts 4:25–26 (ESV) ²⁵ who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? ²⁶  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— ²⁷ for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ²⁸ to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
   15. They quote Psalm 2:1-2 in reference to Jesus.
   16. Lastly, about God’s sovereignty, their prayer acknowledged that God’s plan included threats against Christians. Verse 27 references the crucifixion of Christ. Verse 28 references that in God’s sovereignty, this was planned beforehand.
   17. But they never complained, and that is my transition to their one request.
3. They prayed for boldness and an expansion of the Gospel.
   1. Acts 4:29–31 (ESV)
   2. ²⁹ And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, ³⁰ while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” ³¹ And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
   3. They never complained. We would expect them to pray that their threats would stop, but they don’t. They pray that God takes their threats seriously. They had just been thrown in prison, and they prayed for nothing about that.
   4. They ask that God grant them boldness to preach God’s Word.
   5. Verse 30 is a prayer for miracles.
   6. Do we pray for miracles? I must ask if I am praying for miracles. That is a challenge. We serve a God who brings about miracles.
   7. Verse 31 is a confirmation of their Spirit-filled prayer.
   8. The place is shaken.
   9. Did this really happen? It may be metaphorical, but I favor it is literal. God is so great that when He is truly present, there are consequences that defy natural laws.
   10. They also speak the Word of God boldly. That is the answer to their prayer.
   11. How, many times (you’ll see in the Bible), when God’s presence comes down, there’s an earthquake. Exodus 19, what does it say? God came down on Mount Sinai and it says, “… the whole mountain trembled violently …” God came down in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, and the whole place shook with a sound of a mighty rushing wind.
   12. When Deborah and Barak led the great battle, they led Israel against the Syrians, she sings about this in Judges 5. She says, “When you went out with our army, O LORD, when you marched out with us, the earth shook.”^[5]
   13. Christians, let’s do the same. Whether or not you are a preacher, preach God’s Word, including the Gospel. Do this with boldness. Pray in groups of Christians; pray in this manner; experience the Holy Spirit; and get ready. Lastly, set aside diversity and instead embrace unity for the cause of the Gospel. Then, you ought to be ready for the Holy Spirit’s work.
   14. We need the type of prayer illustrated in this passage. I certainly do. We need, I need, Spirit-filled prayer meetings in our churches.

Jonathan Edwards… was a man of great spiritual insight. His diaries are filled with fascinating little statements. Here’s one. He says, “One day I was walking into my father’s pasture for contemplation, and I began to pray, and there came into my mind so sweet a sense of the glorious grace of God, as I cannot express it. I suddenly seemed to see them both in sweet conjunction; his majesty and his meekness joined together. It was an awful sweetness, a gentle majesty, a holy gentleness.”^[6]

Let’s keep praying for the salvation of our family and friends.

Let’s keep looking for opportunities to share Jesus with others.

C.S. Lewis put it this way. There’s Deep Magic from before the dawn of time. Jesus Christ, by dying in our place, by paying, by taking the earthquake of justice on himself … Because Jesus was shaken utterly, he has broken death. He broke it. He shook death. Do you see the death of death in the death of Christ? Do you see the shaking of shaking in the shaking of Christ? Do you see it?^[7]

^[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[2] Witherington III 201

^[3] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[4] We may be able to take 1 Peter 3:7 which references our relationship with our spouse as hindering our prayer life to also mean if we are divided as a church, it hinders our prayer life. Psalm 66:18 talks about cherished sin hindering our prayers.

^[5] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[6] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[7] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

Resurrection Sunday

April 5, 2026

Over a century ago, young Francis Griffiths and her cousin took pictures of fairies dancing in the forest. What began as the imagination of little girls turned into an international sensation known as the Cottingley Fairies incident of 1920. Dr. Merrick Burrow, the curator of an exhibit that commemorated the strange incident told the BBC article, “I do not think anybody really believed it . . . But they couldn’t explain how it had been done either.”

The fairy pictures looked so real that they even convinced none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the famously logical Sherlock Holmes stories. Initially skeptical, Conan Doyle became a believer and worked to promote the images as evidence of the supernatural. It wasn’t until decades later that one of the girls confessed that they had used paper cut-outs from a 1915 children’s book. “I never even thought of it being a fraud,” Frances Griffiths told the BBC in 1983, “It was just Elsie and I having a bit of fun.” Even so, their “bit of fun” was enough to convince some very smart people that these girls had discovered a window between our world and the world of spirits and fairies.

How do otherwise intelligent people fall for such things? Conan Doyle wasn’t a fool, but he also wasn’t disinterested. He was someone who was very curious about spiritualism, and he’d lost a son during the First World War. The prank gave him hope that there was something beyond this world, and that if so, it may mean he would see his boy again.

We want to believe that there’s more to this world. We want to know that reality is not limited to only what we can see. But we are also fallen. Our senses are not clear. Without the clarifying light of God’s truth, we stumble in the darkness. And yet, even as we stumble, the longing persists and points to a higher reality. As C.S.Lewis put it in Mere Christianity, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”[1]

Are we made for another world? Are we longing for something more?

I believe we are longing for more.

My theme today: Jesus’s death and resurrection corrects our greatest problem.

1. The problem- The answer is in Genesis.
   1. The ultimate problem is sin.
   2. I would argue that everyone understands the problem as people being mean, sick, and dying.
   3. We can look at Genesis 3:15-24 to read about the origins of sickness, hardship, and death.
   4. Things aren’t as they should be.
   5. BLAISE PASCAL shared:
   6. Certainly nothing offends us more rudely than this doctrine [of original sin], and yet without this mystery, the most incomprehensible of all, we are incomprehensible to ourselves.[2]
   7. The first and most fundamental element of any worldview is the way it answers the questions of origins—where the universe came from and how human life began. The second element is the way it explains the human Why is there war and suffering, disease and death?[3]
   8. Someone once quipped that the doctrine of original sin is the only philosophy empirically validated by thirty-five centuries of recorded human history.[4]
   9. In Genesis 4, we see the first murder. Then, in Genesis 4 and 5, we see genealogies that repeat: “and he died, and he died, and he died…” Death is a consequence of sin.
   10. Every time we experience the death of a loved one, we know something isn’t right.
   11. Jesus died so ultimately, we don’t experience eternal death.
2. Let’s walk through John 20:1-10.
   1. John 20:1: Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
   2. Jesus has been crucified; the disciples are in mourning. But they do not realize that Jesus cannot be kept down.
   3. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb to see Jesus.
   4. She was the first to the tomb, and she saw the stone rolled away.
   5. John 20:2: So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
   6. Mary did the logical thing; she went to Peter and John. This is likely John. Usually, when we read, “The disciple whom Jesus loved,” we believe it is John. She runs to Peter and John. She was in a hurry.
   7. John 20:3-4: So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
   8. Peter and John run to the tomb, but John runs faster.
   9. John 20:5–10 (ESV)
   10. ⁵ And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹ for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their homes.
   11. They arrive at the tomb and find it empty.
   12. John saw and believed.
   13. Verse 9: They had not understood the Scripture that He must rise from the dead.
3. Jesus rose, and so will we.
   1. Because of Jesus and the resurrection, we have life (Romans 6:23 and 1 Corinthians 15:55-57).
   2. Look at two passages:
   3. Look at Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
   4. Look at 1 Cor. 15:55-57: ⁵⁵ “O death, where is your victory?
      O death, where is your sting?”
   5. ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
   6. We do not have to fear death anymore. We were created to live forever, and under sin, we would have to fear death because death brought judgment. But now, under Christ, we no longer must fear death. Jesus took our punishment. We were created to live forever, either in heaven or in hell. Because Jesus lives, we will live eternally in paradise.
   7. The resurrection separates Christianity from other religions. Our Savior lives; we will live again. Death no longer has a sting.
   8. This is the case with you; you can have eternal life in Jesus. You can have a relationship with Jesus.
   9. Where are you in your life right now?
   10. Have you trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior?
   11. Do you know that since He lives, you will live eternally? Do you believe that?
   12. Do you know that your sins are washed away by Jesus?
   13. Do you know that you do not face life’s challenges alone?
   14. Is it the case for you that because Jesus lives, you can face tomorrow?
   15. Think about this question: Does the resurrection give you hope?
   16. Some of you may remember this, but I think it is a powerful way to close:
4. So, the disciples were changed by Jesus.
   1. The disciples learned the same thing we learn– Our Savior Lives
   2. What is the significance of the resurrection? As I make each of these statements, I would like you to respond with Our Savior Lives!
   3. We can have a relationship with Jesus because He lives. If He were not resurrected, we would not have a relationship with Him. Our Savior Lives!
   4. Christ is our Savior who cannot die again. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again (Romans 6:9).[5] Our Savior Lives!
   5. Because of the resurrection, we have new birth: According to his great mercy, [God the Father] has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).[6] Our Savior Lives!
   6. We have forgiveness of sins because of the resurrection. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins (1 Corinthians 15:17).[7] Our Savior Lives!
   7. Because Jesus is raised, we have no condemnation. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us (Romans 8:34).[8] Our Savior Lives!
   8. Because of the resurrection, we have the Lord’s personal fellowship and protection.[9] “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Our Savior Lives!
   9. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we know that we will also be raised from the dead: [We know] that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. (2 Corinthians 4:14; also Romans 6:4; 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:20)[10] Our Savior Lives!
   10. If Jesus had not been resurrected, there would never be Christianity.Our Savior Lives!
   11. The Romans would have shown the grave, and it would be over. Our Savior Lives!
   12. Jesus’ resurrection shows the grave could not contain Him. Our Savior Lives!
   13. Jesus’ resurrection shows that He is the victor. Our Savior Lives!
   14. Jesus’ resurrection shows again that the miracles are true. Jesus has the power and authority over all nature. It’s not hard to figure out: He can break out because he wasn’t forced in. He letshimself be harassed and black-balled and scorned and shoved around and killed.[11] Our Savior Lives!
   15. No one can keep him down because no one ever knocked him down. He lay down when he was ready.[12] Our Savior Lives!
   16. And all God’s people responded with Amen—AMEN!
   17. Prayer

[1] Adapted from Breakpoint; We Want to Believe; Timothy D. Padgett and John Stonestreet; 02.27.2026; accessed 03.01.2026

https://breakpoint.org/we-want-to-believe/?utm_campaign=Product%20-%20Breakpoint%20Daily%20BPD&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_eVZ_CncYcjbpbcy0INtNy-zK9D6BCZYYWx40VurAynHqJlJdKdxgyNcYld0D5juc0PjzQ1CJMpHXtLp9F0KxsaDJH8w&_hsmi=405985705&utm_content=405985705&utm_source=hs_email

[2] Colson, Charles. How Now Shall We Live? (p. 147). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

[3] Ibid, 147

[4] Ibid, 150

[5] http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/can-t-keep-jesus-down

[6] ibid.

[7] ibid.

[8] ibid.

[9] ibid.

[10] ibid.

[11] ibid.

[12] ibid.

Palm Sunday: Pray, Surrender, Share (Matthew 21:1-11)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, March 29, 2026

Royal processions from England to Thailand to South Africa have certain elements in common: uniformed soldiers, banners and flags, and a gloriously bedecked king—riding in an ornate horse-drawn carriage or carried on a golden, jeweled throne.[1]

Jesus is the King. How did He enter Jerusalem?

My theme: As was prophesied, Jesus entered Jerusalem as King.

The Application:

Pray, Surrender, and share.

1. Jesus enters Jerusalem as the King.
   1. In verses 1-3, we see the preparation.
   2. Matthew 21:1-3: Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”
   3. Jesus is going to enter Jerusalem.
   4. He will allow Himself to be worshipped.
   5. The Mount of Olives is really a ridge running north to south about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) long, east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley. Its central elevation is about 30 meters (100 ft) higher than Jerusalem. It was named for the large number of olive trees which grew on it.^[2]
   6. This borrowing of a donkey may be seen in terms of royal emissaries temporarily impressing (demanding the service of) an animal; Jesus as Lord has the right to whatever his followers claim to own. On the historical level, the donkey’s owner probably saw it as helpful hospitality to visitors to the feast or perhaps as the honor of helping on his way a famous rabbi. Some commentators have also suggested that the owner was away and those who kept the house, hearing that “the master” had need of the donkey, thought they were sending it to its real owner; but they surely would have known the other servants in their household, and they recognized that the disciples were not part of the household. Cf. perhaps Genesis 49:10–11.^[3]
   7. Jesus plainly refers to himself as the Lord, the sovereign orchestrator of these events.^[4]
   8. In verses 4-5, we see this was done to fulfill prophecy:
   9. Matthew 21:4-5:
   10. ⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ⁵ “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
   11. This is done to fulfill prophecy (Zech. 9:9).^[5]
   12. Grk “Tell the daughter of Zion” (the phrase “daughter of Zion” is an idiom for the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “people of Zion”).^[6]
   13. The text is messianic, as ancient interpreters generally acknowledged, but applying this part to himself redefines Jesus’ messiahship: officials used donkeys for civil, not military, processions (e.g., 1 Kings 1:33). Thus this text is not a “triumphal entry” in the sense of Roman triumphal processions; it is Jerusalem’s reception of a meek and peaceful king.^[7]
   14. In verses 6-11, we see the parade.
   15. Matthew 21:6-11:
   16. ⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. ⁸ Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” ¹⁰ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
   17. Matthew alone mentions two animals. Having the mother donkey move alongside her unbroken colt would be the best way to calm it during the noisy entrance into Jerusalem. ^[8]
   18. They are worshipping Jesus.
   19. Hosanna- literally means “O save us.”
2. Notice Jesus came in humility.
   1. Jesus came on a donkey.
   2. He did not come on a war horse.
   3. As one writes:
   4. Any general who rides into a battle on a donkey is going to be slaughtered. You’d be better on foot. You’d be better on a steed. But if you ride in on a donkey, you’re going to be slaughtered.^[1]
   5. Further:
   6. Jesus is saying: “I’m the King, but not a king like you think. What if I did free you from the Romans? Do you realize if I freed you from the Romans, if that was the only liberation I gave you, you would turn around and enslave somebody else? You know why? If I liberate you from the Romans, what are you going to do about your guilt? What are you going to do about that deep sense of nakedness and spiritual emptiness you have? What are you going to do about the fact that you are desperately trying to prove yourself?”
   7. He says, “What are you going to do about the fact of your real slavery? While you are trampling down other races and other classes to prove to yourself that you’re significant, you have a slavery that goes far deeper than the slavery of Rome. If all I do is liberate you from Rome, what are we going to do about liberating you from death, which is the thing that is running your life and causing all the breakdown in the world? I’ve come to give you real liberation.”^[2]
   8. Jesus entered Jerusalem to die for our sins and rise again.
   9. He entered Jerusalem to die.
   10. He entered to serve us by dying in our place.
3. Surrender to King Jesus.
   1. How do you respond to King Jesus?
   2. Are you surrendered to Jesus?
   3. Is He your Lord?
   4. As one writes:
   5. When Jesus Christ comes to your intellect, because of his claims, because he says, “I’m the absolute King,” what he’s doing is saying, “You can despise me horribly as a lunatic, or you can throw everything over and serve me completely, but there’s nothing in the middle. No person with any intellectual integrity … I will not allow you … Kill me or crown me. Nothing else.”^[3]
4. My theme this year has been prayer.
   1. Are we praying for the lost to be saved?
   2. 2 Peter 3:9–10 (ESV) ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
   3. Jesus is waiting for more to be saved. Then, He will come again.
   4. Share Jesus with others this week.
   5. Share how Jesus saved you from your sins.
   6. Share how Jesus is the hope of the world.
   7. Invite others to our Resurrection Sunday service.
   8. Pray that your friends, family, and others come to know Jesus.

The whole point of the gospel is we’re saved through weakness, not through strength. Every other religion and every other philosophy … whether you get it from something that’s two thousand years old or whether you make it up yourself (they’re all the same) … what they all say is, “I’m going to clean up my life and I’m going to do better. I’m going to save through strength.” That’s what the disciples want. “Save us through strength!” Jesus says, “No! You can’t be saved until you see that you must die.”

You see, Jesus Christ comes and he dies in our place, which means we’re not saved by strength; we’re saved by grace. We’re not saved by our moral efforts; we’re saved by his grace.^[1]

If you come to him and say, “I would like you to be my consultant. I would like you to be my partner. I would like you to be my counselor,” you know what Jesus Christ says? Jesus says, “Oh, I can be more than that. I can be your shepherd. I can be your brother. I can be your guide. I can be your friend. But I won’t be anything unless I’m King. Either I will be King, or I will be nothing. I want all of you or I want none of you.”^[2]

The application is to “Pray, surrender, and share.”

^[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[2] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[1] Today In the Word, Moody Press, Dec 24, 2022, accessed February 23, 2026

https://www.todayintheword.org/daily-devotional/peace-on-earth/into-jerusalem/

^[2] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Mt 21:1.

^[3] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mt 21:1–3.

^[4] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1865.

^[5] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Mt 21:4–5.

^[6] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Mt 21:5.

^[7] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mt 21:4–7.

^[8] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1865.

Elijah’s Prayer Life (1 Kings 17:1-2; James 5:17)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, March 22, 2026

How does the Bible speak of prayer?

The Bible is filled with promises about the power of prayer in the affairs of history. In the New Testament book of James, the author points out that Elijah, “a man like us,” prayed away the rain in Israel and then prayed it back as a way to confront a corrupt ruler. James concludes that prayer can “have great power and produce wonderful results” (James 5:16). John Calvin, famous for his views of predestination and God’s sovereignty, makes some remarkable statements about prayer based on James’s teaching. He says:

It was a notable event for God to put heaven, in some sense, under the control of Elijah’s prayers, to be obedient to his requests. By his prayers, Elijah kept heaven shut for two years and a half. Then he opened it, and made it suddenly pour with a great rain, from which we may see the miraculous power of prayer.³³²

Calvin is both bold and yet careful in his language. He says that prayer “in some sense” affected the weather conditions in Israel. Obviously, in the ultimate sense, God is in charge of everything that occurs—our prayers could not possibly wrest control of any part of the universe away from God. However, it is part of God’s goodness and appointment that he allows the world to be susceptible to our prayers. How he does this—how he maintains control of history and yet still makes human prayer and action responsible within history—is one of the most practical mysteries of the Bible. In Nehemiah 4, the Jews were rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem when they learned that they were going to be attacked by their enemies. What did they do? “We prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet the threat” (Neh 4:9). In Isaiah 38, King Hezekiah was dying and the prophet Isaiah told him so. Then Hezekiah prayed and the Lord replied, “I have heard your prayer … ‌I will add fifteen years to your life” (Is 38:5). And yet, when Isaiah brings this message to the king, he also tells him to prepare a hot dressing and apply it to the infection in order to recover (Is 38:21).^[1]

Today, my theme is:

Notice, Elijah, a man of prayer.

1. Who was Elijah?
   1. Between about 875-797 BC. Elijah and Elisha prophesied.
   2. Elijah and his successor Elisha figure prominently in 1 and 2 Kings as they prophesied against the wickedness of Ahab and Joram (also called Jehoram) of Israel. Elijah’s opposition to pagan worship also put him at odds with Jezebel, Ahab’s Phoenician wife, who supported hundreds of prophets of Baal and Asherah. Eventually Elisha sent someone to anoint Jehu, one of Joram’s commanders, to be the next king and to execute judgment on the entire family of Ahab.^[2]
2. Elijah prays.
   1. We’re going to look at one place where Elijah prays, and God provides.
   2. However, there are several instances in which God worked through Elijah’s prayers.
   3. 1 Kings 17:1: Elijah prophesied no rain, and it didn’t rain for 3 years and 6 months. 1 Kings 17:1 doesn’t use the verb “prayed,” but James 5:17 does.
   4. In 1 Kings 18:20ff, Elijah prays to the Lord and conquers the prophets of Baal. We see him pray in 1 Kings 18:36ff.
   5. 1 Kings 18:36–37 (ESV)
   6. ³⁶ And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. ³⁷ Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”
   7. Elijah had an active prayer life, but let’s return to the place he was introduced.
   8. 1 Kings 17:1 (ESV)
   9. Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
   10. The autumn and spring rains and summer dew were necessities for the crops of Israel. The Lord had threatened to withhold these from the Land if His people turned from Him to serve other gods (Lv 26:18, 19; Dt 11:16, 17; 28:23, 24).
   11. Greear:
   12. I once heard prayer compared to the electricity running through the walls of a house. At any given point, there’s enough electricity there to power the refrigerator, heater, and TV, but until the plug makes contact with the socket, none of the power is usable.
   13. If we want our prayer to be difference-making, eternity-altering, and destiny-changing, it has to be Word-based, Spirit-led, unglamorous, slow, persistent, and audacious. As proof, look to the prophet Elijah.
   14. When Elijah declared that there would be no rain in 1 Kings 17, he wasn’t just picking a random target. He based that prayer on Deuteronomy 11:13–17, where God had said that if Israel worshiped idols he would shut up the heavens. Elijah literally prayed that into existence.
   15. And when Elijah declared that God would send rain again (in the following chapter), it was rooted in the second part of the promise in Deuteronomy—that if Israel repented, God would allow the rain to fall again.
   16. In both cases, Elijah was simply praying God’s promises back to him. We have even more promises than Elijah did. By one count, there are over 3,000 promises in Scripture, ready for us to unearth and pray back to God.
   17. Prayer isn’t a random wishlist we present to God; it’s the process of discovering what God wants to give us and asking him for it. So rather than just reading through the Bible, try praying through it.[3]
3. The answer:
   1. James 5:17 (ESV)
   2. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
   3. 1 Kings 18:1 (ESV)
   4. After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”
   5. The drought proved that Baal, the god of the rains and fertility, was impotent before the Lord.^[4]
   6. The answer comes in 1 Kings 18:41-46.
   7. We will not read those verses, but you can turn there later and see the answer to Elijah’s prayer.
4.  Applications:
   1. How are we doing with our prayer life?
   2. What can we learn from Elijah?
   3. Do we realize that God controls the weather?
   4. This may not mean you ask the Lord for a drought, but do we pray for the Lord’s help regarding the weather?
   5. Historically, people worked in agriculture and prayed for help with the weather.
   6. Do we recognize the sovereignty of God?
   7. Do we understand that God is faithful?
   8. The prayers regarding the weather were consistent with God’s prior words in Deut. 11:13-17.
   9. What do we need to pray about this week?
   10. Write it down.
   11. Let’s pray now.
   12. Silent prayer, and then the pastor closes.

³³² Quoted in Horton, Calvin on the Christian Life, 159.

^[1] Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God (New York: Dutton, 2014), 223–224.

^[2] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 632.

[3] Greear; Four Ways to Pray that Move Heaven. August 19, 2024; Accessed: 02.15.2026

https://jdgreear.com/four-ways-to-pray-that-move-heaven/

^[4] John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), 1 Ki 17:1.

Repentant Prayer (Psalm 51)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, March 15, 2026

The comedian Jim Gaffigan has a bit in which he reflects on how people talk about true crime shows. He shares how the neighbors would say, “He never acted like a murderer.” He shares, “If you watch Dateline, it appears most marriages end in murder.”[1]  

Why do we do bad things? We have a sin problem. As a Christian, when sin is exposed, how do we respond?

My theme today is: When we pray, humbly repent of sin(s).

Let’s turn to Psalm 51 and read it.

Psalm 51:1–12 (ESV)

Psalm 51:title (ESV)

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

51 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

¹    Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

     according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

²    Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

³    For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

⁴    Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

     so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

⁵    Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

⁶    Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

⁷    Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸    Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

⁹    Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰   Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

¹¹   Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

¹²   Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

1. I want to give you some background on Psalm 51.
   1. Psalm 51 is about David, the famous King of Israel.
   2. David had conquered many enemies of Israel.
   3. David was God’s anointed King of Israel (1 Samuel 6:13).
   4. But then, in 2 Samuel 11-13, we see King David commit this awful sin, try to cover it up, and be confronted by the prophet Nathan. David had some free time because the others went out to battle, but this time, King David, the famous King of Israel, stayed home. King David is about to, as Johnny Cash would say, fall into a “Burning Ring of Fire.” During the night, David was walking on the roof of the king’s house, and he saw this beautiful woman named Bathsheba taking a bath. David had a servant go and get her, and David slept with her. Later, she ended up pregnant.
   5. So, David must cover up this sin. The pregnancy is going to make it known by everyone that she is pregnant, but not by her husband. Her husband, Uriah, the Hittite, was away at battle. So, David sent for him. David had him come home and tried to get him to sleep with his wife, Bathsheba. But Uriah wouldn’t. Uriah wanted to be back at the battle.
   6. So then, David sent Uriah back to battle with the message that he would be placed on the front lines, and the rest of the troops would withdraw from him (2 Sam 11:14).
   7. So, Uriah died in battle.
   8. In this Psalm, David has been confronted with the sins of adultery and murder, and this is his prayer of confession.
   9. Before we move on, I want to quote 1 John 1:9: if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
   10. I like what Tim Keller shares:
   11. The Bible, unlike all the other ancient texts … Go read them. Read the other stories and accounts of the Greeks and the Romans and the Norse and the Germans and all of their great heroes, their men and women they lifted up as their leaders and heroes. You’ll never see them treated the way the Bible treats the heroes. Never!
   12. It is incredible, frankly, the detail with which the Bible rubs David’s face in what he did….
   13. Second Samuel 11, tells you with unbelievable detail the premeditation, the hard-heartedness, the incredible things David said and did. The Bible does this. It does it to Peter. It does it to Moses. It does it to Abraham. It does it to everybody.
   14. It takes all of these great men and women and shows you their evil. It shows you what? Do you know why? The main message of the Bible is you and I are sinners. The Bible is not here to say, “Oh look how much worse David is than you and me.” No! The Bible here is to say even a great man, a sublime poet, an athlete, a warrior, a king … I mean, David had it all. Even as great a man as David is capable of this. You don’t think you are? See, the whole purpose of the Bible is to say, “You’re a sinner.”
   15. I’ll put it another way. The Bible says there is a prerequisite, an absolute indispensible prerequisite, for you to meet God. You must repent.^[2]
   16. Further:
   17. You won’t understand psychology. You won’t understand economics. You won’t understand sociology. You won’t understand international relations. You won’t understand social relationships. It’s the problem. The Bible says it’s the key issue, without which you can’t understand anything else. That’s what’s wrong!
   18. You can laugh. You can say, “Oh, the biblical doctrine of sin. Ha! It’s old-fashioned.” So is the law of gravity. “Well, it’s unflattering.” Look. You can make fun of the biblical doctrine of sin. The Bible says until you believe it, you won’t be able to understand hardly anything going on around you. You can make fun of it, but come on! Come up with a better explanation for what’s wrong with the world. Go ahead. Just try.^[3]
2. Let’s look at David’s prayer.
   1. Notice that David asks for God’s grace (verse 1).
   2. Psalm 51:1 (ESV) Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
   3. He says that He wants God’s grace according to His loving kindness and His compassion (verse 1). David acknowledges who God is. David knows that we have a loving God.
   4. David wants God to blot out his transgression, wash him from his iniquity (verses 1 and 9), cleanse him from his sin (verses 2 and 10).
   5. This is an instance in the Bible where there are 3 words for sin. They all have separate meanings but are very similar. Iniquity is a wicked act or thing. Transgression is crossing a law, and sin is missing the mark. David, the famous king of Israel, acknowledges in a heavy way that he messed up. In verse 4, he says that he knows his transgression, crossing of the law. In verse 4, he says he sinned against God and that God is a righteous and just judge.
   6. David wants this sin to be blotted out. The idea of blotting something out is like erasing a contract. David wants his sin to be erased.
   7. In a Babylonian text, there is a comment that the king may order that the tablet of “my sins be broken.” In Hammurabi’s code, an illegal contract for the purchase of a soldier’s home may be canceled by breaking the cuneiform tablet. But this was not usually thought of with a god. This is what David wanted.
   8. David wants to be washed in verse 2, and in verse 7, he talks about being washed. In verse 7, he talks about being purified with hyssop, a plant used to purify uncleanness.
   9. David wants to be cleansed.
   10. Think of the effects of confession and repentance:
   11. By the time Howard Schultz had resigned from Starbucks in 2000, the coffee chain was experiencing steady growth. Eight years later, when Starbucks was reeling from a bad economy and stiff competition, Schultz resumed his role as Starbucks’ chief executive. He faced a challenging mission: to lead a turnaround. In an interview about his return, Schultz commented that before they could move forward, they had to deal with the past by honestly admitting their mistakes. Here’s an excerpt from that interview:
   12. When I returned in January 2008, things were actually worse than I’d thought. The decisions we made were very difficult, but first there had to be a time when we stood up in front of the entire company as leaders and made almost a confession—that the leadership had failed the 180,000 Starbucks people and their families. And even though I wasn’t the CEO…I should have known better. I am responsible. We had to admit to ourselves and to the people of this company that we owned the mistakes that were made. Once we did, it was a powerful turning point. It’s like when you have a secret and get it out: The burden is off your shoulders.[4]
   13. But then, in verse 8, David prays for joy again.
   14. David has probably lost the joy because, for a year, he has felt overwhelming guilt over the sin he committed.
   15. David asks for a clean heart and a right Spirit (10).
   16. David asks that he not be cast from God’s presence and that he not lose the Holy Spirit.
   17. In 1 Samuel 18 and 19, we can see that the Spirit of the Lord had left King David’s predecessor, Saul, because of sin.
   18. Then in verse 12, David asks for the joy of God’s salvation and a willing Spirit. The New Living Translation says, “and make me willing to obey Him.
   19. I find this interesting. After confessing, David asks for help to keep obeying God.
   20. Research psychologists have found there are at least three situations when we are not ourselves. First, the average person puts on airs when he visits the lobby of a fancy hotel. Next, the typical Jane Doe will try to hide her emotions and bamboozle the salesman when she enters the new-car showroom. And finally, as we take our seat in church or synagogue, we try to fake out the Almighty that we’ve really been good all week.[5]
   21. God forgave David. Jesus came from David’s lineage, and Jesus died so that we all can have forgiveness and a relationship with God (2 Cor 5:21: God made Him who knew no sin….). Remember what 1 John 1:9 says: God will forgive us and cleanse us from our sins. If we confess. God will forgive us even if people will not.
   22. Timothy Keller shares:
   23. When David said, “Cast me not away from thy presence,” God didn’t. Do you know why? Because on the cross Jesus was cast away from God’s presence. When Jesus Christ said, “My God, my God,” what was he saying? “My God, my God, why have you cast me away from thy presence?” Everything David says here “Don’t do to me,” which God didn’t do to him, God didn’t do to him because God did it to his own Son in David’s place, in my place, in your place.^[6]
   24. Charles Spurgeon says, in the greatest act of love in the history of the world Jesus Christ stayed on the cross. He saw what we were like and he stayed. Remember he said to Peter, “I could call 10,000 angels like that, and it would be all over,” but he didn’t do it.^[7]

So, pray with repentance. Tim Keller helps us out:

Some years ago, I remember counseling a couple of people in my church in Virginia. They were married and they were having marital problems, largely because the man was prone to anger and abusive language. Not physical abuse but very abusive language. His wife dragged him into counsel with a pastor, and I basically had to lean on him. He said, “Well, I guess you’re right,” but it was very clear he felt like she was being too sensitive. “I’m really no different than other guys.”

He tried to put a lid on it, but he never did. He always said, “I’m sorry,” but he never changed. Finally, one night he calls me up. She left. She was gone. He comes to see me in tears, saying, “I’m really sorry. I really, really see that I have done wrong. I have to stop. I have such a bad mouth on me. I have to stop it. I know I hurt her. I will change the way in which I speak. You have to call her and tell her.”

All I did was I called her and told her, “Why don’t you come, and the three of us will meet?” I didn’t say, “Oh yeah, I’m sure he’s changed.” I said, “Let’s come and let’s hear him.” She listened to him. He says, “I really am sorry. I’m really changed. I really repent.” So she says, “Okay, I’ll come back.” She came back, and for about a month he was fine, and then he went right back to it, and she left for good.

Why? He was sorry for the consequences of the sin. He wasn’t sorry for the sin. Do you know the difference between self-pity and repentance? This means everything here. In self-pity you’re loving yourself. In self-pity you’re saying, “This sin got me into trouble. That’s why I’m so upset.” Actually, you’re sorry for the consequence of the sin, but you don’t hate or are sorry for the sin, because that takes love.^[8]

We must pray that the Lord opens our eyes, so we repent, not because we have been caught, but because we love God and we don’t want to break His heart, nor do we want to hurt other people.

Let’s pray about that.

Luke 9:23

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

[1] https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=860513759282727

^[2] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[3] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[4] Adi Ignatius, “We Had to Own the Mistakes,” Harvard Business Review (July-August 2010), p. 109

[5] Dr. Perry Buffington, licensed psychologist, author, columnist; “Playing Charades,” Universal Press Syndicate (9-26-99)

^[6] Timothy J. Keller, “Reality: Forgive Us Our Debts,” in The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive, 2014–2015 (New York: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2014), Ps 51.

^[7] Timothy J. Keller, “Reality: Forgive Us Our Debts,” in The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive, 2014–2015 (New York: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2014), Ps 51.

^[8] Timothy J. Keller, “Reality: Forgive Us Our Debts,” in The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive, 2014–2015 (New York: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2014), Ps 51.