Nehemiah Prays (Neh. 1:5ff)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, June 28, 2026

We have been talking about prayer.

In “Stay of Execution,” Stewart Alsop discussed what it was like to live with incurable leukemia. The disease was temporarily arrested. During this time, the not-too-active Episcopalian and noted journalist discussed a number of variables with his physician. Finally Alsop said, “There is one variable you keep leaving out.”

“What’s that?”

“God,” he said.

The doctor and patient smiled. Alsop continued, “I don’t really believe in God, or at least I don’t think I do, and I doubt if my doctor does; but I think we both had in the back of our minds the irrational notion that God might have something to do with what happened all the same.”^[1]

We must never forget God.

Today, we are going to look at Nehemiah’s prayer.

My theme: Nehemiah seeks the Lord on behalf of Jerusalem.

My application: Don’t forget God, learn to pray like Nehemiah.

1. Context
   1. Nehemiah is written around 430 BC. This chapter takes place around November-December 445 BC.
   2. NIV SB: Means “The Lord comforts.”^[2]
   3. Nehemiah is written to the people of Judah who had returned from exile in Persia.
   4. God uses Nehemiah to lead his people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and to rebuild their distinctive identity as God’s people.^[3]
   5. In Nehemiah 1:1-4, he hears of the news of the plight of Jerusalem.
   6. Nehemiah 1:4 (ESV)
   7. ⁴ As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
   8. Prayer is the theme of Nehemiah.
   9. Earlier, around 520 BC, Haggai was written, and around 515 BC, the temple was completed (for the second time).
   10. Nehemiah 1:11 says that he was a cupbearer to the king. According to the Greek historian Xenophon (Cyropaedia, 1.3.9), one of the cupbearer’s duties was to choose and taste the king’s wine to make certain that it was not poisoned. ^[4]
2. Nehemiah prays about Israel’s situation.
   1. God’s people have disobeyed his laws and are suffering the penalty.^[5]
   2. Nehemiah 1:5–7 (ESV)
   3. ⁵ And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁶ let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. ⁷ We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.
   4. We saw in Nehemiah 1:4 that he was weeping, mourning, and fasting.
   5. Notice his worshipful prayer.
   6. The city of God, Jerusalem, was in disrepair. That grieved him.
   7. We don’t have a strong correlation for us. We don’t have a city in the United States that is God’s city. We are not God’s nation, at least not in the way of Old Testament Israel.
   8. However, does the state of the church break our hearts?
   9. When we hear of the church caught in sin, does it move us to prayer and fasting?
   10. Are we caught up in just saying a simple prayer, or will we fast from television, our phones, or food to seek the Lord more deeply? When we fast, we are dedicating the time we would be eating, watching television, or using technology to prayer. When we desire those items, we pray, “Lord, we need You more than this.”
   11. In Nehemiah 1:5, he prays in worship. He identified God as the awesome God.
   12. He appeals to God as the One Who keeps covenant and steadfast love…
   13. This is for those who keep His commandments.
   14. I like what the Christian Standard Study Bible writes: Nehemiah’s prayer, while shorter than Ezra’s (see note at Ezr 9:6–15), is also written in late biblical Hebrew style found in other penitential prayers of that era (Neh 9:5–37; Dn 9:4–19). Like them it reflects the language of Deuteronomy, acknowledging that Israel’s adversities had resulted from the nation’s covenant unfaithfulness and that their present survival was due solely to God’s abundant mercy.^[6]
   15. In verse 6, Nehemiah 1:6, he confesses the sins of Israel.
   16. Notice this contrite prayer: ⁶ let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.
   17. He is speaking to God with human language.
   18. “Let Your ear be attentive…” “let Your eyes be open…” That is anthropomorphic language. It ascribes to God human attributes.
   19. Nehemiah identifies himself as the Lord’s servant. He also identifies Israel as the Lord’s servants.
   20. He is praying to the Lord, day and night.
   21. He is praying for the people of Israel.
   22. He is confessing Israel’s sins.
   23. Notice how he says, “we have sinned…” Further, they sinned against the Lord (Ps. 51:4).
   24. He adds, “even I and my father’s house have sinned.”
   25. We all sin, he is confessing.
   26. How serious are we about confessing sin?
   27. Psalm 66:18 (ESV) If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
   28. Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV) You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…
   29. Isaiah 59:2 (ESV) but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
   30. Numbers 32:23 (ESV) But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.
3. God’s promise (Nehemiah 1:8–10):
   1. If the people repent, the Lord has promised to restore them.
   2. Nehemiah 1:8–10 (ESV)
   3. ⁸ Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, ⁹ but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ ¹⁰ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.
   4. Nehemiah asks the Lord to remember the word He told Moses.
   5. This may be Leviticus 26:33 and Deuteronomy 30:2-3.
   6. In vv. 8–9 Nehemiah explicitly quotes Dt 30:1–4 (also Lv 26:33), effectively Moses’ last words to Israel before Joshua’s conquest, and in so doing identifies with the promises of restoration to the land, which would partly take place under Nehemiah’s own leadership. The regular mention of the people You [God] redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand (v. 10) is the language of Passover and the exodus (Ex 12–14).^[7]
   7. After 70 years of captivity in Babylon, God kept His promise to restore His people to the Promised Land. The promise appeared to be failing, and Nehemiah appealed to God’s character and covenant as the basis by which He must intervene and accomplish His pledges to His people.^[8]
   8. Nehemiah recalled how God had said, “Though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.”
   9. The place God had chosen was Jerusalem.
   10. This is so very powerful. The people were scattered after Israel was conquered. They were in captivity in Babylon. Yet, Babylon was conquered by Persia, and Persia sent them back. But God was really the One sending them back to Jerusalem.
   11. Nehemiah is praying Scripture.
   12. Do we pray the promises of God?
   13. Do we pray Scripture?
   14. We can’t pray Scripture if we aren’t in the Word of God.
   15. Are we in the Word of God? Soak it up and then pray it back to the Lord.
   16. Nehemiah 1:10 (ESV) They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.
   17. Nehemiah claims the people of Israel as the Lord’s people.
   18. God redeemed them.
   19. We again have anthropomorphic language. Nehemiah ascribes human attributes to the Lord.
   20. God redeemed them with His strong right hand.
4. Nehemiah’s petition (Nehemiah 1:11): Nehemiah prays that the Lord will cause the king to grant his request to return to Jerusalem.^[9]
   1. Nehemiah 1:11 (ESV)
   2. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.
   3. He repeats what he started with- “Let Your ear be attentive…”
   4. He prays for success.
   5. He says God’s servants- Nehemiah and Israel delight to fear the Lord’s Name.
   6. Fear would be holy reverence. This is deep, set apart respect.
   7. Do we have deep, set-apart respect for the Lord and His Name?
   8. Nehemiah asks for mercy.
   9. He was a cupbearer to the king.
   10. As the cupbearer, he had access to the king.
   11. The cupbearer in the ancient Near Eastern court held a very important position. He had direct access to the king and thus had great influence. Texts and reliefs describe cupbearers in Assyrian and Persian courts. The cupbearer was in close proximity to the king’s harem and thus was often a eunuch, although there is no evidence that this was the case with Nehemiah. Later sources identify the cupbearer as the wine taster. In addition he was the bearer of the signet ring and was chief financial officer.^[10]
   12. Can we learn to pray like Nehemiah?
   13. Make our prayers worshipful.
   14. Repent as we pray. Take sin seriously.
   15. Take prayer seriously. Have a holy, set-apart reverence for the Lord.
   16. Ask for mercy.
   17. Add-in fasting.
   18. Pray spiritual prayers.
   19. He is not praying for good health or money. None of those requests are wrong, but they must be secondary to spiritual needs. He is praying for Israel’s spiritual condition, which leads to the needs of Jerusalem.
   20. Nehemiah’s intercession for the people prefigures Christ’s intercession for us before God the Father (Heb. 7:25).^[11]

Pray

^[1] G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 98.

^[2] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 778.

^[3] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 775.

^[4] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 779.

^[5] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ne 1:4–7.

^[6] Carl R. Anderson, “Nehemiah,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 720.

1. verses
2. verse

^[7] Bryan O’Neal, “Nehemiah,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 656.

^[8] John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Ne 1:5.

^[9] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ne 1:8–11.

^[10] Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Ne 1:11.

^[11] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 825.

Father’s Day 2026

June 21, 2026

Matthew 13: Parable of the Sower- I urge you to pray for faith that has good soil. Pray this for yourself and your descendants.

Happy Father’s Day!

Timothy Keller writes:

Dr. Lloyd-Jones has this incredibly interesting illustration that really changed the way I thought about a lot of things when I heard it. Dr. Lloyd-Jones was himself a very powerful preacher, and one evening he was preaching a set of evening services. They were evangelistic evening services. One evening he was preaching, and he could feel the Spirit working through him, and he was preaching up a pretty good storm. He noticed a particular man in the balcony who seemed to be very emotionally affected. He was pretty obviously upset, pretty obviously weeping.

Dr. Lloyd-Jones finished the sermon, and at the door, the man came on through, and he said, “Hello.” It looked like the man was going to say something, but somebody else came on up and asked him something else, and on the man went. The next night as Dr. Lloyd-Jones was walking to church, the man was coming the other direction, not going to church at all. He said, “Hello, Reverend.” Dr. Lloyd-Jones said, “How do you do?” He remembered him. He said to Lloyd-Jones, “I’ll tell you something. You missed your chance last night.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I went to hear you preach. I’m not a religious man. I’m not a Christian. I went to hear you preach out of curiosity. And you know, gosh darn, you are pretty good. You really had me there for a while. If you had given some kind of invitation to respond to Jesus Christ last night, I probably would have done it. In fact, at the door, if you had just said, ‘Come with me, and let’s sit down and talk,’ I probably would have prayed some kind of prayer or something, but you didn’t.”

“Well, that doesn’t matter. I have time now. Everything is fine right now. This is matter of most urgent importance, so come with me right now. We’ll go and talk.”

“No, no, no. I’m sorry. You didn’t hear what I said. That was yesterday. I woke up this morning. I realized, “Gosh, I was just really upset yesterday, and I don’t know what came over me.” The fact is, if you had done something yesterday, you would have had me, but you missed your chance. I hope that teaches you a lesson, Dr. Lloyd-Jones.”

Dr. Lloyd-Jones looked at him and said, “My dear friend, I don’t know what happened to you last night, but if it didn’t last 24 hours, it was not the work of the Spirit of the living God. If you want to come with me right now, I’d be very happy to, but I didn’t miss anything, and you didn’t miss anything either.” Now you know what he is trying to say. It lasts. It works. You obeyed from the heart the form of teaching.

So, do we pray that our faith sticks?

Do we pray that our children and grandchildren will have faith that sticks?

What does this mean? Does our faith have deep roots? Is it in good soil?

We are in a year-long focus on prayer.

My theme: Today, I urge you to pray for faith that has good soil. Pray this for yourself and your descendants.

I. The parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-8)

Matthew 13:1–9 (ESV)
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

a. A farmer sows grain, which falls upon four different kinds of soil, producing four different results.
b. Swindoll points out that Matthew 12 was a long day for Jesus. Now, He sits by the sea to rest but they won’t let Him.
c. Notice verse 1 says, “that same day…” This is the same day as His previous teaching.
d. The verse also says that He went out of the house… So, He was in a house.
e. In the previous chapter, Jesus had a confrontation with the Pharisees over plucking grain on the sabbath; healing a man with a withered hand, and casting out a demon. He was told that He casts out demons by the prince of the demons. Jesus had also been teaching in the previous chapter.
f. Jesus gets into a boat…
g. Jesus gets in the boat for the purpose of relieving the overcrowding, but this would also make him easier to hear; a speaker to a crowd on shore would produce an ideal acoustic situation.
h. Several other parables follow.
i. In church history, they would try to allegorize parables. Then they would try to give a single meaning, but sometimes Jesus gives more than one.
j. They cannot be allegorized.
k. Roadside soil (13:1–4): This seed is soon devoured by the birds.
l. Shallow, rocky soil (13:5–6): This seed springs up quickly but soon withers, being scorched by the sun.
m. Thorn-infested soil (13:7): This seed is quickly choked by the thorns.
n. Fertile soil (13:8): This seed produces a thirty, sixty, and even hundredfold crop!
o. A receptive heart will bear fruit –
p. good heart;
q. good soil;
r. good hearing; and a
s. good mind.
t. This is not about us, but God bearing fruit for the Gospel. We must be in the Word. We must be focused on spiritual disciplines to be more like Christ, not just for legalism…The soil cannot change itself… Pray the Holy Spirit would soften our hearts, provide us with roots, dig us deep…
u. Review:
v. The path: the birds ate it,
w. The rocky places: grew and then died;
x. The weeds or thorns grew and then is suffocated;
y. Good soil- grew and multiplied.
z. Robert Murray M’Cheyne said our hearts are like a smoking furnace. Nobody can really see more than a foot or two into them. The fact is, the Word of God can blow a lot of that away and help us really see what our hearts are made of.

II. The interpretation of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:18-23).

Matthew 13:18–23 (ESV)
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

a. The seed (Matthew 13:18–19a): The seed represents the Good News about the Kingdom.
b. The roadside soil (Matthew 13:19b): The hard soil represents those who hear the message but do not understand it, thus allowing Satan to steal it from them.
c. The rocky soil (Matthew 13:20–21): The shallow, rocky soil represents those who have no depth and thus drop out upon encountering any trouble or persecution.
d. The thorn-infested soil (Matthew 13:22): The thorny ground represents those who allow the lure of wealth to snuff out the Good News.
e. Fertile soil (Matthew 13:23): The good soil represents those who truly accept God’s message, producing an abundant harvest.
f. It seems to me that the parable makes sense. It is easy to understand, but there are major applications.

III. Applications:

a. We want to have good soil in our hearts to grow spiritually. We talked about this earlier.
b. We must be active in the Spiritual Disciplines.
c. We partner with the Holy Spirit.
d. As we share the Gospel, we must pray that the Lord casts the seeds that we plant into good soil.
e. Are we praying for faith with deep roots?
f. Are we praying for faith in good soil?
g. Are we praying that our descendants walk with the Lord?
h. Are we praying that our descendants have faith with deep roots?
i. Are we striving to encourage and uplift our children and grandchildren?
j. Can we pray for them?
k. Can we love them?
l. Can we encourage them?
m. Can we always do that “in Christ”?

Ezra’s prayer (Ezra 9:5ff)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, June 14, 2026

Tony Evans shares:

It wasn’t too long ago that I was going down a one-way street, and I noticed somebody coming the other way. Obviously there was a problem. That car was going the wrong way. As I kept driving, I heard sounds all around me. After awhile it became clear that all these chorus of voices were trying to get my attention, trying to confront me with the reality that I was wrong. You see, I thought stuff was wrong with everybody else, when the problem was with me.

I suspected that there were two reasons for their concern. One is the damage that I could do to myself. The other is the damage I could do to others. They could have simply ignored it, and said, “That’s his business.” Or, they could do what they did, which is try to get my attention, because they understood that when you’re going the wrong way, somebody needs to confront you, so that you can reverse your direction.^169,[1]

We are in a year-long series on prayer.

We are going to look at a passage in which Ezra prays and makes confessions for the people of Israel.

My theme today is:

Ezra prays for the people.

1. Context:
   1. Who was Ezra?
   2. Ezra was a priest. Let me give you a little background now. In the Old Testament, Israel had their own land, kings, and government, but they didn’t follow God. Instead, they worshipped Baal. Baal was a fertility and nature god of the Phoenicians and many other cultures. Since Israel didn’t follow the True God, He gave them over to captivity. Around 586 BC, Israel was taken over by Babylon. The people were taken captive. Daniel was one of them. Then, eventually, Persia conquered Babylon, and God looked on Israel with favor, and the king of Persia decided to let the Israelites return to Judah and rebuild the Temple (Ezra 3). Ezra was a Jewish priest who led a group of people back to Judah.
   3. There was a time when Ezra had to go back to Persia. Then Ezra returned to Jerusalem a few months before this happened.
   4. According to the traditional view, Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the seventh year (Ezr 7:8) of Artaxerxes I (458 BC), followed by Nehemiah, who arrived in the king’s 20th year (444; Ne 2:1, 11).^[2]
   5. In Ezra 9:1-4, he returns and realizes the people of Israel married foreign women. They were never supposed to marry outsiders.
   6. Intermarriage was forbidden in Deut. 7:3–4 because it led to idolatry (see Ezra 9:11–14). Separation prefigures the need for uncompromising allegiance to Christ (Matt. 10:34–39; Luke 14:26–33; 2 Cor. 6:14–7:1).^[3]
   7. Prior to the Israelite exile, intermarriage with foreigners was one of the things that led them into idolatry.
   8. Once they intermarried, they began to follow foreign gods.
   9. In verses 1-2, there were two accusations:
   10. (1) They had not separated themselves. (2) They participated in the abominations of the foreign nations. The issue not only concerned intermarriage, but also communal purity and idolatry (Ex 34:11–16; Dt 7:3–4).^[4]
   11. This brings us to our passage. 
   12. Ezra 9:3 (ESV)
   13. ³ As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.
   14. These were traditional signs of grief in Israel and other nations.
   15. Ezra 9:4–6 (ESV)
   16. ⁴ Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. ⁵ And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, ⁶ saying:
   17. “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
   18. Ezra is sitting in grief.
   19. In 1 Kings 11:1-13, we see Solomon’s downfall. But in the first few verses it specifically says that his foreign wives led him astray.
   20. Think about this: Ezra is tasked with leading people back to Jerusalem and rebuilding the Temple. Yet, they are back in the same sins that brought them down.
   21. Ezra is in grief over the people’s sins.
2. How much does sin bother us?
   1. Let’s go deeper:
   2. Are we bothered because of the sin?
   3. Or because, in our opinion, or preference, it bothers us? Many times, the lines get blurred.
   4. I knew a church that was discerning sanctuary seating. They were considering pews versus chairs. The pastor said he really didn’t care which was chosen. A man came in and got really angry. He yelled and pounded his fist on the table, “They must be pews.” That is a preference issue. It is not a biblical issue.
   5. On the other hand, there are biblical issues, but we may think of them as preferences. This can cause us: 1) not to be bothered. Or, 2) to be grieved because of our preferences and not because of the holiness of God.
   6. Sin is cosmic treason.
   7. Sin breaks God’s heart.
   8. Does sin break our hearts?
   9. What about sins of omission? These are not doing things we should do for the Kingdom of God.
   10. Psalm 66:18 (ESV) If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
   11. Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV) You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…
   12. God is holy.
   13. How do we react to sin?
   14. Do we grieve? Do we go to the Lord?
3. Ezra prays to the Lord, confessing the faithlessness of Judah and the faithfulness of the Lord.
   1. The faithlessness of the people of Judah (9:6–7, 10–15)
   2. Their past sins (9:6–7):
   3. Let’s re-read verse 6: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
   4. Ezra is going before the Lord like a priest. He is confessing their sins to the Lord.
   5. Ezra’s priestly prayer of intercession and confession is like Daniel’s (Da 9:1–20) and Nehemiah’s (Ne 1:4–11), in that he used plural pronouns that identified himself with the people’s sin, even though he did not participate in it. The use of “we,” “our” and “us” demonstrates Ezra’s understanding that the sin of the few is sufficient to contaminate the many.^[5]
   6. He is ashamed.
   7. He didn’t commit the sins, but he owns them.
   8. I like what one sources shares:
   9. The train of thought in this prayer is as follows: I scarcely dare to lift up my face to God, through shame for the greatness of our misdeeds (v. 6)…^[6]
   10. Ezra was sitting and contemplating the sin for hours. Now, he confesses.
   11. He makes no excuses. He is humble.
   12. Ezra 9:7 (ESV)
   13. ⁷ From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
   14. He is now speaking to the Lord about the past. He understands they were taken into captivity because of these sins.
   15. The faithfulness of the Lord (9:8–9):
   16. Ezra 9:8–9 (ESV)
   17. ⁸ But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. ⁹ For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.
   18. Ezra is grateful that the Lord has shown favor.
   19. God has left them a remnant.
   20. What is he referring to?
   21. Though they were conquered, the Lord left them a remnant. Israel didn’t cease to exist.
   22. God gave them a “secure hold” with His holy place. What does that mean?
   23. Literally, Heb “a peg” or “tent peg.” The imagery behind this word is drawn from the experience of nomads who put down pegs as they pitched their tents and made camp after times of travel.^[7]
   24. God is letting them come back and rebuild.
   25. In verse 9, the Lord continues to share that they are slaves, but the Lord has given steadfast love before the king of Persia…
   26. Notice, Ezra gives all credit to the Lord.
   27. Even though the Jews were still subject to the Persian Empire, Ezra recognized that God had blessed them and given them new life as a religious community. The word for “wall of protection,” gādēr, is generally used of a fence or a wall around a vineyard. Ezra here was not talking about the Jerusalem wall but about God’s protection for the Jewish community.^[8]
4. Their present sins (9:10–15)^[9]

1. 1. Ezra 9:10–15 (ESV)
   2. ¹⁰ “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, ¹¹ which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. ¹² Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ ¹³ And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, ¹⁴ shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? ¹⁵ O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”
   3. He ends this prayer as he began.
   4. He is talking about the sins of the people.
   5. He still uses the plural, “we.”
   6. “We” have…
   7. They have forsaken God’s commandments.
   8. NAC: He mentioned some of these commands in vv. 11–12 and referred to various passages (Lev 18:25ff.; 2 Kgs 16:3; Deut 7:1–3; 11:8; 23:6; 2 Kgs 21:16; Isa 1:19), thus testifying to the unity of Scripture. We must know God’s Word so we can heed the warnings that are applicable to the present dangers. We need to remember that God has given specific ethical commands that should be followed in order to do his will.^[10]
   9. They intermarried, but they were told not to do this.
   10. We spoke about this.
   11. They weren’t to make treaties with the people of the land.
   12. In verse 13, he shares that God punished them less than their sins deserved.
   13. God gave them a remnant.
   14. In verse 14, he asks, “Shall we break Your commandment again…? That seems like a shocking question, one that anticipates a positive answer. It seems as if he is really saying, “How could we!!!”
   15. He fears that God will not allow the remnant to continue.
   16. God is not capricious like human beings; his anger is his just reaction to disobedience and evil.^[11]
   17. Notice how he ends-
   18. ¹⁵ O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”
   19. He is appealing to the Lord as just.
   20. If we read on, in Ezra 10:1, the people join him in confession.
   21. The confession was contagious.
2.  Applications
   1. Do we pray in humility?
   2. Does sin break our hearts?
   3. Do we give all credit to the Lord?

In 2023, Asbury University had another revival. In the 1970’s, there were revivals at Asbury. Sometimes revivals are contagious. Sometimes confession is contagious. That happened in 2023 during the Asbury Revival. That also happened in Ezra 10:1. The people joined in repentance.

Let’s pray for revival here.

Prayer

^[1] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 66.

^[2] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 752.

^[3] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 818.

^[4] J. Brian Tucker, “Ezra,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 650.

^[5] John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Ezr 9:5–15.

^[6] Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 4 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 74.

^[7] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Ezr 9:8.

^[8] Mervin Breneman, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, electronic ed., vol. 10, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 153–154.

^[9] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ezr 9:5–9.

^[10] Mervin Breneman, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, electronic ed., vol. 10, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 154.

^[11] Mervin Breneman, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, electronic ed., vol. 10, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 155.

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, June 7, 2026

Jehoshaphat’s Prayer of Faith in Crisis (2 Chronicles 20:6–12)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, June 7, 2026

When I was sixteen, I was out with people from the church youth group. I had recently received my driver’s license, but I didn’t have my own car yet. Instead, I drove my mom’s Astro minivan. My dad told me to be home at 11:30 pm. We were having a bonfire at the back of the church. I was with good people. It wasn’t a church event, but the pastor’s son and a few college students from the church were there. They were responsible young adults studying for the mission field. In just a few years, at least one of them would be on the mission field in Africa. Still, I was to be home at 11:30 pm. I got home about 11:40 pm. I thought my dad wouldn’t notice, but he was sitting on the steps, waiting for me. This was a different day; we didn’t have cell phones. My dad couldn’t track my location, nor could he call me. He had to trust that I was safe. I don’t think I was punished beyond a lecture, which I deserved. But you know why my dad was there? He was waiting because he cared. Many of you have been in that position. We wait, we watch, we discipline, we instruct, and so much more because we care. 

When I walked through the door, I was afraid to see my dad on the steps. There were other times when I felt safe seeing my dad on the steps. There were countless times I felt safe seeing my dad. That is the way it should be. For example, when I was in preschool, I once saw my dad walk into the building. Having just come from work, he was walking quickly, wearing a suit and tie. I was excited to see my dad coming to pick me up from school. When I was that age, there was a sense of safety in seeing my dad. There was also a sense of safety in seeing my mom, though it was different. 

We are going to look at a passage in which the leader of Judah prays for God’s protection. He appeals to the Lord. He can do that because Judah was God’s people.

My theme: Learn to pray like Jehoshaphat.

My application: Be encouraged, if you are in Christ, God is your dad.

1. Context:
   1. At this point, Israel is a divided kingdom.
   2. We have the kingdom of Israel in the north and Judah in the south.
   3. Jehoshaphat is the fourth king of Judah, and son of Asa. His mother was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. He was thirty-five years of age at his accession, and reigned twenty-five years, ca 873–849 b.c.^[1]
   4. Verse 1 (of 2 Chronicles 20) shares that three people groups are coming to battle against Jehoshaphat.
   5. This invasion followed religious reforms that were made in 2 Chronicles 20.
   6. The people that invaded were the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites.
   7. The Moabites and Ammonites lived east of the Dead Sea. The Meunites are equated with the people of Mount Seir (20:10, 22, 23), on the southern border of Judah (see Deut. 2:1; 2 Chron. 26:7). Engedi lies on the midpoint of the Dead Sea’s western shore.^[2]
   8. Verse 3 (of 2 Chronicles 20) shares that Jehoshaphat was afraid.
   9. What did he do? He set his face to seek the Lord.
   10. 2 Chronicles 20:3 shares that Jehoshaphat proclaims a fast throughout all of Judah.
   11. 2 Chronicles 20:4 shares that all the people of Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord.
   12. 2 Chronicles 20:5 shares that Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord and said…
   13. We will begin his prayer in a minute.
   14. First, let’s notice what they did.
   15. They all came together.
   16. They were willing to fast for this need.
   17. Generally, this means they would abstain from food for a period of time.
   18. What do we do when we have a need?
   19. Do we go to the Lord?
   20. CSB:
   21. With the northern kingdom of Israel occupied in war against the Arameans, the countries east of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea decided to invade Judah. The Meunites were also referred to as the Edomites.^[3]
   22. By the time the word of this invasion got to Jehoshaphat, the army had come as far as En-gedi, about fifty miles from Jerusalem on the west shore of the Dead Sea.^[4]
2. Jehoshaphat reviews the Lord’s faithfulness (2 Chronicles 20:5-9).
   1. 2 Chronicles 20:5–9 (ESV)
   2. ⁵ And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶ and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. ⁷ Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? ⁸ And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’
   3. In verse 6, he begins acknowledging Who the Lord is.
   4. He begins with this.
   5. He says, “God of our fathers.” He is saying the Lord is the covenant-keeping God of Israel.
   6. He is saying that they are the Lord’s people.
   7. He is the God of Abraham, Moses, and all those of Israel’s past.
   8. He says, “Are You not God in heaven?” Of course, we know that He is God. He is God in heaven.
   9. He says, “You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations…”
   10. He is saying that the Lord is the ruler. These nations invading Judah are not really a threat.
   11. The Lord is the ruler.
   12. The Lord is ruling behind the scenes.
   13. He says, “In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.”
   14. In other words, he is appealing to the Lord’s sovereignty.
   15. The Lord is in control.
   16. Then in verses 7-8, he begins to review God’s protection over Israel’s past.
   17. God drove out the inhabitants of the land and gave the land to the Israelites.
   18. At the end of verse 8 and throughout verse 9, he says that the Israelites have said that if disaster comes, they will stand before the Lord because His Name is connected with them.
   19. He says the Lord will hear and save.
   20. He is saying that they represent the Lord; therefore, they will stand their ground.
3. Jehoshaphat requests the Lord to protect His people again (2 Chronicles 20:10-12).
   1. 2 Chronicles 20:10–12 (ESV)
   2. ¹⁰ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— ¹¹ behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. ¹² O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
   3. In verse 10, he names the threats.
   4. He is still writing about history.
   5. When they left Egypt, the Lord did not let them invade Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir.
   6. He says they did not destroy these people groups.
   7. Why does this matter? When they left Egypt, there were certain peoples whom they were supposed to destroy.
   8. Why? This is because the Lord knew that if these groups of people remained, they would corrupt Israel. These people groups practiced temple prostitution, child sacrifice, and other deplorable practices.
   9. Jehoshaphat continues, saying that they reward them by trying to drive them out of their inheritance.
   10. In verse 12, he says that they are powerless. Why? This is because multiple groups are coming at them at once.
   11. Jehoshaphat says that their eyes are on the Lord.
   12. Later, starting in 2 Chronicles 20:24, we see that the Lord delivered them.
   13. Regarding this passage, one source shares:
   14. Jehoshaphat’s response was nearly as surprising as the invasion itself—but it showed him as an ideal Davidic King, a man of committed faith, and an exemplary leader of the nation whose God is the Lord.^[5]
4.  Applications:
   1. Let’s make some applications.
   2. This was great humility on Jehoshaphat’s part. Do we humbly go before the Lord?
   3. When we pray, do we worship?
   4. When we pray, do we acknowledge that the Lord is in control?
   5. When we pray, do we pray as needy people?
   6. When we pray, do we remember the Lord’s faithfulness?
   7. When we pray, do we recognize that we are one of His (1 John 3:1)? Jehoshaphat recognized that they were the Lord’s people. If we are in Christ, we are one of His. We are the Lord’s people.

I began this sermon by talking about my dad waiting up for me when I got home late. Some 14 years later, I became a dad. Since then, there hasn’t been a night I haven’t checked on my daughters before bed. Even when I am away, I do my best to call home. Why does this matter? If we love our children, we protect them. We protect them physically. This starts before they are born. We protect them emotionally. We protect them spiritually. We do that because we love them.

I love my daughters. I will always do what I can to protect them. I expect they can come to me as a loving father, and I will do what I can to support them.

God loves you. His expectations are because He loves you. The people of Judah went to Him in prayer as their God. They were God’s people. If you are in Christ, so are you.

You can go to him in prayer like a dad.

Prayer

ca circa, about

^[1] S. K. Mosiman and D. F. Payne, “Jehoshaphat,” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised, ed. Geoffrey W Bromiley (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 978.

^[2] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 767–768.

^[3] Winfried Corduan, “2 Chronicles,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 670.

^[4] Winfried Corduan, “2 Chronicles,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 670.

^[5] Kevin D. Zuber, “2 Chronicles,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 612.

Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom (1 Kings 3:3-9)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, May 31, 2026

Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom (1 Kings 3:3-9)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, May 31, 2026

Erich Weiss was a remarkable man. By the time of his death he was famous around the world. Never heard of him, huh?

Maybe this will help. He was born of Hungarian-Jewish parentage at Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1874. He became the highest-paid entertainer of his day. That still doesn’t help much, does it? This will.

When he finally got his act together, Weiss adopted a stage name: Harry Houdini . . . the master showman, a distinguished flyer, a mystifying magician, and—most of all—an unsurpassed escapologist.

On March 10, 1904, the London Daily Illustrated Mirror challenged Houdini to escape from a special pair of handcuffs they had prepared. Are you ready? There were six locks on each cuff and nine tumblers on each lock. Seven days later, 4,000 spectators gathered in the London Hippodrome to witness the outcome of the audacious challenge which Houdini had accepted.

At precisely 3:15 p.m., the manacled showman stepped into an empty cabinet which came up to his waist. Kneeling down, he was out of sight for a full twenty minutes. He stood up smiling as the crowd applauded, thinking he was free. But he was not. He asked for more light. They came on brighter as he knelt down out of sight. Fifteen minutes later he stood to his feet. Applause broke out—again, premature. He was still handcuffed. Said he just needed to flex his knees.

Down into the cabinet again went the magician. Twenty minutes passed slowly for the murmuring crowd before Houdini stood to his feet with a broad smile. Loud applause quickly stopped as the audience saw he was not yet free. Because the bright lights made the heat so intense, he leaped from the cabinet and twisted his manacled hands in front of him until he could reach a pocket knife in his vest. Opening the knife with his teeth, he held its handle in his mouth and bent forward to such a degree that the tail of his coat fell over his head. He grasped the coat, pulled it over his head, then proceeded to slash it to ribbons with the knife between his teeth. Throwing aside the strips of his heavy coat, he jumped back into the box as the audience roared its approval and cheered him on.

Down went Houdini, but this time for only ten minutes. With a dramatic flourish, he jumped from the box—wrists free—waving the bulky handcuffs over his head in triumph. Pandemonium exploded in London. Once again the showman had achieved the incredible—almost the impossible.

Afterwards, Houdini was interviewed. Everyone wanted to know why he had to interrupt the process of his escape as often as he did. With a twinkle in his eyes, the magician freely admitted that he really didn’t have to interrupt the process. He repeatedly explained that his ability to escape was based on knowledge.

“My brain is the key that sets me free!” he often declared. Then why did he keep standing up before he was loose? He confessed it was because he wanted the audience’s applause to keep up his enthusiasm![1] 

There are many things we could discuss from that illustration. Of course, enthusiasm is important, but I want to talk about knowledge and wisdom.

Have we ever felt over our heads? Have we ever felt like we needed help?

We are in a year-long series on prayer.

Today, we look at Solomon’s prayer. Solomon had recently become king of Israel. He realized he needed help. The Lord appeared to him and told him to ask whatever he wished. Solomon asked for wisdom.

My theme today is:

Solomon prays for wisdom.

1. What is the context?
   1. We are in the Old Testament of the Bible.
   2. King David had expanded Israel’s borders. He has died, and his son, Solomon, is now the king.
   3. At the beginning of this chapter, Solomon makes a marriage alliance with the Pharaoh of Egypt. This was not a wise act. Deut. 17:16 warns against a return to Egypt. Deut. 7:3 warns against marrying foreigners. This is explicitly tied to a warning that such marriages will lead the people to serve other gods (Deut. 7:4).^[2]
   4. Then, 1 Kings 3:2 shares that the people were sacrificing at high places. This seems to be because a place of worship has not yet been established. Deut. 12 instructed them to have one place of worship.
   5. Solomon begins by tolerating worship of the Lord at these places and ends up being drawn into full-blown apostasy (1 Kings 11:7–8), as also later do Israel and Judah (e.g., 12:28–31; 2 Kings 21:3–9). ^[3]
   6. It is in this context that we see Solomon’s prayer.
2. Introduction to Solomon’s prayer.
   1. 1 Kings 3:3 (ESV)
   2. ³ Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.
   3. We see two good things: Solomon loved the Lord.
   4. He is walking in the statutes of his father, David. He is walking in the patterns and ordinances of his father, David. Those are good things.
   5. But he made offerings at these high places.
   6. It seems as though he is making the sacrifices to the Lord, but he should’ve led Israel sacrificing at the one central location in Jerusalem.
   7. [He] sinned when he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, pagan places of worship, instead of the one prescribed place, the tabernacle (cf. Dt 17:3–5).^[4]
   8. 1 Kings 3:4–5 (ESV)
   9. ⁴ And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵ At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”
   10. Though he should’ve been sacrificing at the one location (Deut. 17:3-5), the Lord graciously appears to him.
   11. Solomon offers a thousand burnt offerings, wow!
   12. It seems to me that he was truly interested in making a sacrifice to the Lord.
   13. I think Solomon will have his sins, and he does have them at this point, but he desires to serve the Lord.
   14. The Lord appears to him.
   15. The Lord says, “Ask what I shall give you.”
   16. And then what happened?
3. Solomon begins with gratitude.
   1. 1 Kings 3:6 (ESV)
   2. ⁶ And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.
   3. Solomon prays.
   4. Solomon requests of the Lord.
   5. But first, he gives credit to the Lord for everything he has.
   6. The Lord showed love to David.
   7. Notice the modifiers. The Lord showed “great” and “steadfast” love.
   8. This is the Hebrew word “Hesed.” It has the idea of loyal love.
   9. Faithful love (Hb chesed) almost always refers to covenant faithfulness. David was faithful in his obedience to God; God was, in turn, faithful in giving and keeping his covenant promises to David. Covenant faithfulness is a key concept in OT theology.^[5]
   10. Solomon calls David the Lord’s servant. He shared that David walked before the Lord in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. This passage is swimming in words describing David’s commitment to the Lord. When we make a commitment to the Lord, when we desire to walk in His ways, there are blessings. I am not saying we will become millionaires, but we will experience blessings by following the Lord’s way. This is because the Lord’s way is the best way.
   11. Are we servants of the Lord?
   12. Do we give credit to the Lord for everything we have?
   13. Do we thank the Lord for everything?
   14. Do we begin our prayer with thanks?
   15. The Lord told Solomon, “Ask what you wish?” but first Solomon thanked the Lord.
   16. When we are walking in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward the Lord, we will experience the Lord’s pleasure and presence.
   17. Let’s take a moment to do a gut check. How is our walk?
   18. Do we begin our prayer acknowledging thanks to the Lord?
   19. Solomon says that the Lord kept for David this steadfast love and gave him a son to sit on the throne. That would be Solomon.
   20. Solomon is saying that the Lord put him on the throne.
   21. He says he is on the throne because of the Lord.
   22. What great humility!
   23. This humility continues.
4. Solomon acknowledges he needs the Lord.
   1. 1 Kings 3:7-8: And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.
   2. Solomon is saying that he needs help.
   3. Yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. This expression (Hb. na’ar means “immature person”) reflected Solomon’s youth and his virtual inexperience, not his chronological age. Since he reigned 40 years (970–930 BC) and did not die at a remarkable old age, he probably became king between the ages of 20 and 30 (cf. 1Kg 11:42–43). He felt overwhelmed by all that was placed on his shoulders in administering this kingdom.^[6]
   4. When we pray, do we honestly acknowledge that we need help?
5. Solomon requests wisdom.
   1. 1 Kings 3:9 (ESV)
   2. ⁹ Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
   3. This sermon has been about Solomon’s prayer, but most of this prayer is thanks, gratitude, and humility.
   4. Now, we see the request:
   5. He calls himself a servant.
   6. He asks for an understanding mind.
   7. We all need that, correct?
   8. He wants this to govern God’s people.
   9. He needs to be able to discern between good and evil.
   10. Who is able to govern this Your great people?
   11. I think the answer is- no one is able to govern God’s great people.
   12. But God can govern the people.
   13. If we read on, we see that God was pleased by his request, and so God gives him riches and wisdom. God was pleased that he did not ask for long life or riches but asked for wisdom, so God gave him honor and wealth as well as wisdom.

Close:

We need understanding, don’t we? We need wisdom.

Swindoll writes:

I came across a rather remarkable letter purportedly written over one hundred and fifty years ago by Martin Van Buren to President Andrew Jackson. The contents? A strong, critical warning that the “evil” new railroads would disrupt business, boost unemployment, and weaken our nation’s defense. Historians may debate the authenticity of this little epistle, but see if the underlying tone doesn’t sound vaguely familiar.

January 31, 1829

To President Jackson:

The canal system of this country is being threatened by the spread of a new form of transportation known as “railroads.” The federal government must preserve the canals for the following reasons:

One. If canal boats are supplanted by “railroads,” serious unemployment will result. Captains, cooks, drivers, hostlers, repairmen and lock tenders will be left without means of livelihood, not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for horses.

Two. Boat builders would suffer and towline, whip and harness makers would be left destitute.

Three. Canal boats are absolutely essential to the defense of the United States. In the event of the expected trouble with England, the Erie Canal would be the only means by which we could ever move the supplies so vital to waging modern war.

As you may well know, Mr. President, “railroad” carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of fifteen miles per hour by “engines” which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening our women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.

Martin Van Buren
Governor of New York[7]

That is an example of a President who needed wisdom. Everyone has their idea of what is right and what is wrong.

We do have God’s wisdom in our Bibles.

Let’s make it a point to seek the Lord for wisdom and understanding.

How?

Pray, pray, pray, and then spend time in His Word and with His people.

Pray

[1] Excerpt taken from Come before Winter and Share My Hope by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 1985, 1988, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

April 17, 2026 Insight for Living devotional online. Accessed 04.20.2026

https://insight.org/resources/daily-devotional/houdinis-secret-part-one

^[2] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 597.

^[3] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 597.

1. compare or consult

^[4] Harry E. Shields, “1 Kings,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 488.

Hb Hebrew

OT Old Testament

^[5] Andrew C. Bowling, “1 Kings,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 508.

Hb. Hebrew

BC before Christ

1. compare or consult

^[6] Harry E. Shields, “1 Kings,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, ed. Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 488.

[7] Excerpt taken from Come before Winter and Share My Hope by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 1985, 1988, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

April 16, 2026 Insight for Living devotional online. Accessed 04.20.2026

https://insight.org/resources/daily-devotional/the-problem-with-progress-part-two

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.