Walk Me Through It

In Acts 12, we learn that Herod wanted to use Peter’s execution to score political points, but God walked Peter through it — right past the guards and out of the prison. You may blame your troubles on the devil, on someone else, or on your own choices, but in the end, what matters most is what God will do through your trials. Peter was asleep when God’s angel arrived to rescue him; that’s peace in the midst of a storm! Are you ready to rest in God and open the door to what He has for you?

Good Come back.
Chapter number 12, verse 1 through 14. It would almost appear, and we’re pretty organized.
And we’re pretty structured. And we put a great dealer effort and energy in trying to present our best sales to you, but we don’t always confer between the worship team and and the preaching, but it sounds like that we did.
Because what they just got through singing is an alignment with what I’m about to preach.
I 12, 1 through 14. This is probably more Bible reading than you did this month.
We’re reading out the message bible.
You can follow along if you want, or you can look at the monitors on the screen.
That’s when King Herritt got it into his head.
To go after some of the church members.
But in the world, What why is the king going after the church members?
Why are politics going after the people of god.
He murdered James John’s brother. James didn’t even do nothing.
When he saw how much watch this, when he saw how much it raised his popularity ratings with the Jews.
He arrested Peter. Said if killing 1 is good, let me kill another one.
All this during Passover week, mind you, and had him thrown in the jail putting 4 squads of 4 soldiers each to guard him 16 to 1.
He was planning a public lynching after Passover.
That’s what he was planning.
All the time that Peter was under heavy guard in the jail house, the church prayed for him most strenuously.
That’s why we gotta keep our interceptors up.
Then the time came for Harriet to bring him out for the kill.
The time was right to bring him out for the kill. This was a strategy.
It had a timing. It had a date. It had a sequence. It had structures. It had order.
It’s a plot. That night, even though shackled to 2 soldiers, one on either side, I love this.
I love this y’all. Dude, I can stop right here and preach up this all day.
Peter slept like a baby. Woo. Glory of god.
When’s the last time you slept like a baby? And there were guards at the door.
I almost called it sleeping with the enemy.
Because if you can sleep, and have inner peace when your outer circumstances are totally contradictory to everything.
That’s faith at its best. Yeah. Sometimes faith don’t say a word. It snores.
And there were guards at the door keeping their eyes on the place.
Herritt was taking no chances. Suddenly.
There was an angel at his side. Oh my god. Suddenly somebody holler. Suddenly.
Suddenly, there was an angel at his at his side. And light flooding the room.
The angel shook Peter and got him up, Harry. The handcuffs fell off his wrists.
That’s not how that works.
The handcuffs Fell off is really glowering up.
Something’s getting ready to fall off for you.
Something that they thought they had locked tight is getting ready to fall off you.
The angel said, get dressed. Put on your clothes. Peter did it.
Then grab your coat, and let’s get out of here. Whoo.
Let’s get out of here. Look at somebody. I said, let’s get out of here.
Peter followed him. But didn’t believe it was really an angel.
He thought he’d taken some Don’t sue me in being.
I’m just being funny. He bought He was dreaming.
Can you imagine living in a way that you think it’s a dream that you’re scared to believe that this is real, He thought it was a dream.
They passed the first guard, and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city.
It swung open before them on its own. Good. God, up, mercy.
And they were out on the streets free as a breeze.
Because Angel got him to it.
At the first intersection, the angel left him going his own way.
That’s when Peter realized this ain’t no dream.
I gotta stop there a minute and tell you that when god answers your prayers, Sometimes it takes you a while to believe it.
Does anybody know, can we be honest for a minute?
Have you ever had god do something for you, but you was afraid to lean on it because you weren’t sure what’s gonna last, and you weren’t sure what’s yeah.
Yeah. Okay. He said, I can’t believe it. This really happened. The mess look at how look.
Look. Look. Look. Look. Look at this.
This is this is fucking the master sent his angel and rescued me from Harriet’s vicious little production and the spectacle the Jewish mob was looking forward to.
Still shaking his head, amazed. He went to Mary’s house.
The Mary who was John Mark’s mother. The house was packed with praying friend. Oh, god.
Give me some praying friends. When he knocked on the door to the to the courtyard, a young woman named Rota came to see who it was.
But when she recognized his voice, Peter’s voice, Oh, she was so excited and eager to tell everyone Peter was there, and she forgot to open the door.
And left the answer to prayer standing in the street.
This morning, for what god is going to do, for what the enemy has conspired to circumvent what god is going to do.
My subject is walk me through it. The wait.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
This is not for the people who take no risk.
This is not for the people who see their way clear.
This is for the people who dare to go into adventurous spaces that they have never gone before, that you have never been trained for before.
It doesn’t make sense that you would have this opportunity.
That’s been afforded to you and yet you got it today.
I want you to throw your hands up and say, walk me through it.
Father god in the name of Jesus, let the word be made flesh while it’s being preached today.
I thank you for your power. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your anointing.
I thank you for your consistency. I thank you for your patience. I thank you for your love.
I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your hand and mercy over our lives.
I thank you, lord, for the things you’re about to do.
I believe you’re from miracles in the name of Jesus. We pray. Somebody shot a man.
You may be seated in the presence of the lord.
There is a word. There is a word.
There is a word. There is a word.
There is a word. From the lord.
I’m wondering If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation that you didn’t really belong in, This text is so opulent.
It is so exciting. It is so excessive that it is easy to get caught up in what happened without examining why it happened.
That’s the way much of life is today. We deal with the what?
Because of what is so flamboyant and difficult and challenging and scary that very few people have a tendency to ask, why?
We pray about the what? We ignore the why.
But part of the ability to be able to navigate through something is to understand not only what happened, but why?
If if you if if you get caught up in what happened without the why, you will become emotional because you will think everything that happened is your fault.
I must address it.
Who’s saying the mother or the father that the child should be born blind?
We’re always looking for somebody to blame.
The first thing they start talking about in time in calamity, who are we gonna blame?
Did the fire department get there on time? Did they sit the buzzer? Did they did they send the signal?
Did they do Amber Alert? Did they do? Because we always want somebody to blame for what happen.
But a lot of times, in order to be able to think clearly and succinctly and intelligently, so that you can pray effectively you have to get beyond what is happening in your life.
To why is this happening in my life?
Why is this happening in my life at this time, in this way, in this place?
So I know how to handle it.
If I don’t know why it’s happening, I don’t even know how to pray.
I don’t know whether to rebuke the devil, plead the blood, Biden the witches, come against Satan, or thanking god for counting me worthy to go through a test or development.
I don’t know whether to repent because I did something wrong or accepted as a test that I have to face.
Or is this a season in my life I’m going through or am I self sabotaging myself?
And I don’t know whether it whether I need a therapist or an exercise I know I need a yeast.
I don’t know whether it’s a therapist or exercise because I because I don’t like what is happening in my life.
I don’t like what’s going on in my life. I don’t I don’t like being in trouble.
I don’t know anybody in the role who likes being in trouble.
Well, when I was raising my kids, I had a son.
I’d tell him, when we get home, we’re gonna dance.
And I didn’t mean the good way. Yeah. Yeah.
And they knew right then they was in trouble. My mother didn’t have to take none of that.
She didn’t look at you. She would look into like you was crazy.
Your blood would stop moving through your body. Your heart would stop beating.
They could not get a pulse on you anywhere because without parting her lips, the look announced to you I see you, and I got you.
And if you don’t start right now, I’m gonna get you right now.
If you’re lucky, you’re gonna wait till you get back home.
But if you don’t stop, you’re gonna get it right now.
And all of a sudden, you find yourself, I don’t like the feeling of being in trouble.
My my pulse quickens, my stress levels go up. My my my body goes crazy.
I I have all this mental, uh, uh, imagination of what’s going to happen. She’s going to kill me.
She’s going to absolutely kill me. Well, I I had good reason to think she was gonna kill me.
My mother told me she could kill me and have another one that looked just like me.
And she said, She said, they won’t even know you gone.
And out of about 4 years old, I thought, can you do that?
Can can you really just like replace a brother like that, you know, and you you go from that kind of trouble you go from that kind of trouble to adult trouble.
The mortgage is due. The rent is due. The wife and I are not getting along.
I have a daughter that’s not speaking to me.
I have a son who’s upset with me, that kind of trouble.
And though you are experiencing a don’t trouble, you experience it like a child.
I’m in trouble. I’m in trouble.
You lay down at night. Oh, god. I’m in trouble. I’m in trouble.
I’m getting ready to retire. I got nothing to retire off of.
I’m I’m I’m in trouble. The doctor says my creatinine is running high.
I’m in trouble.
They found a knot over the corner of my breast, and the test hasn’t come back yet.
I may be fifty, but I’m experiencing it as a five year old.
I’m in trouble.
I can tell how everybody stops talking when I come in the office I’m in trouble.
But a lot of the things, most of the things that happen in our lives, were actually just caught in the crossfire of a bigger fight.
Oh, that’s so good. You might be the victim.
You might be the pawn. You might be the recipient of of the tragedy but it is generally about something bigger than you.
It’s bigger didn’t you?
You hear people say, Devil came in my room last night, and I had to wrestle with the Devil all night.
Like, come on, girl. You know, the devil ain’t coming to your room last night.
You know, you’re not that important.
That the devil would make house calls and come to your house and spend the whole evening wrestling with you in the room.
The devil only showed up a few times in all of the Bible.
And you mean the devil is over your house drinking a hot latte and telling you what all he’s gonna do to you.
But come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.
We gotta we gotta get down into the but we’re experiencing trauma as a five year old, and we don’t know we don’t know the why.
We just know the what. We don’t understand where where it’s coming from, all we know is that we’re in trouble.
And, generally, once you conclude that you’re in trouble, you start looking for somebody to blame.
And there there are there are 3 different classes of thought. One group of people blame spiritual elements.
It’s always the devil. The devil made me do it.
My daughter, sir, since she’s not here, I’m a tell us this morning, while she’s not here, maybe she’s watching online.
She broke my tiger in my living room.
When she was nine years old, she broke the tiger completely into it was a beautiful tiger that we had behind the sofa, a beautiful tiger, broke it into.
I don’t know what she did to bring the tiger.
I don’t know whether she was jumping up and down on it.
I don’t know whether she hit core with it.
I don’t know what happened to it, but she wrote the the when I confronted her, she said, the devil made me do it.
I thought now I can’t even punish you because I’m trying not to laugh.
Yeah. Just totally disarming me.
Just ruined all of my daddy fire with the devil made me do it.
A lot of people think the devil is the root of everything that happened to you.
We blame the devil for everything.
Even if we broke the tiger, we blame the devil because we we are taught in this spiritual environment that everything is spiritual, and we blame the devil.
Other people blame other people. They don’t blame the devil. They blame other people.
My first husband was crazy. My second husband was crazy. My third husband, I like he didn’t have no sense.
My 4th husband didn’t appreciate a good woman when he had it.
My 5th husband act like he did he’d never complimented me on my hair.
Now after about 5, you ought to start thinking maybe it ain’t demand.
It might be No. But y’all don’t do that. You know what y’all say?
Ain’t no good man left in the world.
N it never comes up an issue that it might be you.
It’s just ain’t no good men left in the world.
You dated 5 men out of 8,000,000,000 people on the planet And you have concluded that the rest of us are all crazy because you had a bad experience, and you have never considered yourself.
It’s gotta be hurt.
She’s crazy. That’s what the brothers say. That’s what we say about y’all when we break up.
Man, she crazy. Crazy is a catchall phrase.
You don’t know what kind of crazy she is.
We don’t do a complete diagnosis, but when one guy tells you another guy’s crazy, all all the other guys look at it go.
Okay. So you go down that road with and we blame other people.
We blame other people. We blame other people for being late. We blame other people for not paying our bills.
We blame other people. I don’t under this is one I don’t understand. I don’t understand.
How you can borrow money from me, not pay me back, and then blame me. Now you reminded me.
Wait a minute. I know I broke. I’m the one out the money.
I’m the one you didn’t pay back, and you were rolling your eyes at me.
We blame other people for stuff we broke.
The 3rd group is We blame ourselves for everything.
Stuff we had no control over things we couldn’t fix.
We beat ourselves up about everything.
We defend ourselves in front of the attacker But when we get home alone, we blame ourselves.
I’m not enough imposter syndrome. I’m inadequate. I can’t do it.
Look at me. I mess up everything. We go all the way back to the 1st grade.
That’s why I flunked the 1st grade. That’s why I went through a test.
That’s why I made a f on my report card.
We go all the way back all the way read a whole resume to validate why we are no good, and we start attacking ourselves.
In our text, it is clear it does not leave it to our imagination to conclude what category this is in.
Peter is definitely in trouble. Yeah. He’s gonna die in the morning. Yeah. That’s right.
He’s come down in the morning. But it is not the devil.
It is not the other disciples.
And the worst part is it’s not even Peter. Peter has done nothing wrong.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
And you find yourself in this situation where not only are you trying to endure the problem you’re perplexed because you don’t understand the problem.
I don’t understand why you don’t like me and you, my child.
And everything I ever did was what was was for you.
I don’t understand why you don’t like me and I’m your son.
How could you not like your child?
And you go through all of these these questions in your mind.
And when you come to church, all we do is tell you is give him a praise.
But let me tell you what praise won’t do.
Praise won’t answer your questions. Praise won’t always resolve your issue.
Praise won’t take the place of an apology.
You dance all over the church, but you still didn’t apologize. And you don’t have no peace.
And I don’t care how fancy you that you can run around this church until you need a water bottle that says slaughterhouse on it.
And you still won’t solve the problem because praise won’t fix.
What you need to fix. I knew I knew what nobody gonna shop.
Give them a be one shot. They need to shout. Let me tell you something.
You’re trying to figure out what is going on, and and the church comes to you and just tells you, just praise the lord.
Hey. I got a lump in my breasts, and I’m gonna give god the praise.
But when I got through dancing, I still had a lump in my breasts. And it’s growing.
And what do I do when I find myself in this situation?
And I don’t know who to blame, and I don’t know how to pray.
And I don’t know how to respond to it. And I don’t know how to talk about it.
I don’t have language for it. I’m going through it and I’m going through something.
Peter is going through something that the other disciples could not relate to.
And he’s going through it alone.
Even if they could relate to it, he can’t talk to them.
I wanna talk to some people who are going through some stuff alone.
You you’re you’re going through some stuff alone.
Even though other people are around, you’re going through it alone.
Even though other people have an opinion, you’re going through it alone.
Even though other people may be talking about it, you’re going through it alone. Peter is going through this alone.
There’s no James. There’s no John the room. There’s no people standing around here because because misery kinda enjoys company.
If I gotta go through it, let me go through it with somebody.
Let me go through with somebody, but most of the things that torment the soul we go through Hello?
We go through a loan.
And single people think they go through it alone because they’re single.
But married people know that being married doesn’t mean that you’re not going through it alone.
That having somebody land next to you doesn’t mean that they’re going through it with you.
Thank you for the ten people that aren’t hypocrites.
The ten people that can admit that you can lay next to somebody, and you can even spoon Hello?
Because this this is a king test for men.
Lady, when you ask him what he’s thinking, and he says nothing.
It doesn’t mean that we’re not thinking nothing.
It just means that we figure we’re going through this alone. Alone. Peter is going through this. Alone.
What did he do to go to jail?
Thank you, Luke, when you wrote the book of acts, you do not leave me to guess about how Peter got in jail.
He got in the crossfire of Harriet a grip of the first ego.
He got it the crossfire of a political decision where the king decides to attack the church member for strategic advantage to go up higher in rank amongst the Jews.
Backstory is King Herritt a grip of the first was partly Jewish.
He had been sent to this outpost.
He wanted to be their king but the Jews did not legitimize him as being authentically Jewish.
So he’s trying to get some Jewish points.
I don’t know if Jewish people have point might be very points, but Jewish people I don’t know if y’all got points or not, but he’s trying to get some points.
And so He knows that the Jews don’t like the Christians.
So he is hating on who they are hating on to gain status so that he’ll have more power to get where he’s trying to go.
He don’t even know, Peter. He doesn’t even care about Peter. He’s not thinking about Peter.
He doesn’t care about Christianity. He doesn’t care about what they’re trying to teach.
He doesn’t really care about what the doc studio is. He cares about his career.
If you don’t understand why you are being attacked, you don’t know how to respond to the attack.
If you don’t understand that the bloggers get paid by the hits they get, then you’ll think they’re talking about you because you, you know, they’re talking about you because people know you.
And people are gonna argue about you.
And the more they click, the more you click, the more they get paid.
And you don’t understand that talking about people has become a business.
Some people don’t do nothing for living except talk about people.
I mean, this is your full time job. What do you do for a living?
So I talk about people. That’s what I do, and it pays really good.
Cause if I talk about big people I get a lot of hits.
And if I get a lot of hits, then I get paid a lot of money.
And if I get paid a lot of money, I don’t need to work any other kind of job.
All I need to do is say something titillating and solacious enough to get you to click on it.
And the more clicks I get, guess what? The more checks I’ve made, Thank you for clicking.
Thank you for arguing. Both sides of the issue.
Thank you for responding because you’re driving my algorithms up, and I am getting paid.
So they pick you out not because you are Luther Van Rose or whoever you are, James, whoever you are, uh, no.
No. No. No. They pick you out because everybody knows you and everybody’s gonna click on it.
And you got caught in the crossfire. Peter had preached today at Pentecost.
He was an influential Christian.
He had ignited the switch that provoked the outpouring of the Holy Spirit down on the people that cost 3000 souls to be added to the church that day, Peter had influence.
Peter had such influence that Harriet figured if I killed the first disciple and they liked that, if I get the ringleader I will really be on top.
I’m gonna really be on top. See, that’s why every neck gotta pay for every pray for every head.
You can’t get into a fight between the neck and the head and argue about position.
You need to understand heavy is the crown that rests upon the head.
The higher you go, but before you pray about going up, realize the higher you go you’re gonna get caught in fights that you didn’t start.
You don’t even know the person. You don’t know what’s going on. I called a friend of mine one day.
And I was reading an article in the Chicago sun, and the guy was just giving me the blues.
I mean, it was a entire op ed, of which I was at least a third of the op ed And I didn’t even know who he was.
And I called a friend of mine saying, who is this guy?
And he told me who it was. I know now y’all wanna know who it is.
Y’all got all quiet. Like we at Starbucks, and I’m gonna tell you who it is. Come on, please.
Now I said, who is this guy? He told me who it was.
You know, I I said, I’ve never even met the guy. He said, doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do.
When you’re in the cross fires, of somebody else’s ego.
There’s something about what I just said that felt prophetic as it was coming out of me it felt prophetic.
Like, somebody in this room is in a situation right now, and you are bearing the brunt force of other people’s decisions that are affecting you, but they are not because of you.
They have their own agenda and you have to stop worrying about yourself and worrying about your efficiency just because somebody is trying to get in with the Jews so that he can set up his kingdom.
It has nothing to do with Peter’s theology, his preaching, his teaching, his gifting, his power, his favor, his anointing.
Yep. Peter is in jail.
It has nothing to do with him, but he’s in jail.
It was not even his fight, but he was in jail.
It was not even his problem, but he was in jail.
He has had no argument with Harriet, but he is in jail.
He has not ticked off the city, but he is in jail.
Bad things do happen to good people.
God does not always order sunshine in the morning.
God does not always order, uh, uh, blue skies and and and sea waves and seagull flying over your window.
That’s not the way god works.
God will order trouble for your life and allow you to get in trouble because god is a present help in trouble.
And if you wanna be where god is, god’ll let you get in trouble so he could show himself strong in your situation.
I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but gotta put you in trouble just so that he can show you how strong he is and that he is the king of kings and the lord of lords.
See, Harriet was the king, but Jesus is the king of kings. And the lord of Lewis.
And what you gotta understand is the accountant doesn’t have the last say, the lawyer doesn’t have the last say, The judge don’t have the last say.
The court don’t have the last say. God is gonna have the last say. It may take some time.
It may take some tests. It may take some trial, but what god has for you is for you.
What I want you to see in the first phase of this text is that this isn’t a strategy of which he is being victimized by Demic strategy that set him up.
The Bible says that we are not ignorant of the wilds of the devil.
The wilds of the devil is his strategy that Satan has a strategy that is tailor made for you.
He has a strategy. He intended for him to be arrested.
And the Bible says that Harry thought in his mind, if I kill him, it’ll make me greater.
Let me take some killing me. Don’t make you king. Killing me doesn’t make me king.
Doesn’t make you king. So but this is a strategy that he has employed.
And he is bent and determined to make sure that Peter does not get out.
Now he might not know Peter, but he must know something about Peter because this is earcutting, Peter.
You know, you got your Thomas’s and your john’s and your James.
And then in every church, you got a few peters.
They say they love the lord, but if you flip them out, it’s a few of men here.
I won’t point them out to you. But it’s it’s a few in here right now. They look real safe.
They nod and they clapping their hand. But down in the bottom of that pocket book, is a 9 millimeter.
I’m sorry y’all. This is Texas.
God’s and guns. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. There are a lot of people in here right now.
Yeah. Yeah. That that that that that that that that that that that they’re they’re, you know, they they they they You can’t tell it in church.
Go in the parking lot. That’s when you find out who saved the church.
The parking lot will tell you the Christians the saints from names because they’re all gonna be saints in here.
When they get in that parking lot and you cut them off, you won’t find out how much holy ghost they really got.
Don’t pay those tons. No attention. Just go in the parking lot.
You won’t find out Who is who in the kingdom of god?
Thank you, lord, for telling me what the king was thinking.
Because my first question, whenever people do anything crazy, uh, who work for me, or I work for, or I work with my first question is, who are you thinking?
Whatever comes after what were you thinking is not gonna be good.
But it is sincere. I wanna know what you were thinking.
The Bible tells us what Harriet was thinking.
And it had nothing to do with Peter, but he was gonna die in the morning.
Can you imagine dying over something that had nothing to do with you?
He’s not dying for his witness for Jesus Christ. He’s not dying for the magnitude of his ministry.
He’s not dying because he heal too many people in delivery. He’s dying because Harriet is ambitious.
Have you ever found yourself on death row because of somebody else’s ambition.
Married folks, let me talk to y’all.
Have you ever found yourself in trouble because somebody was after your spouse.
I bet you better holler back at me right now before I point you out.
And it is is not that you burnt the toast.
It’s not that you don’t come home at night is not that you’re not a good wife.
It’s not that you’re not a good husband, but somebody’s plotting on you, and they got a strategy at work.
And they’re out to discredit you and you find yourself in a situation where you know they’ve been talking to somebody.
You don’t know who they’ve been talking to.
But you I’ve been married to you 20 years, and you ain’t talking like this.
And here you come out to 20 years, and now you’re talking strange. You’ve been talking to somebody.
Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.
Come on. Come on. And Peter is thrust in jail.
And, listen, he gets 16 soldiers, divides them into 4 quadrants.
This is respect. This is respect.
The level of attack determines the level of respect.
If King, Harry didn’t know that Peter was somebody to deal with, he would have put one man on him to guard him and that would have been adequate.
But he quadrupled the necessity of putting enough guards on him because Harriet knows that if he gives Peter Half a chance to get up.
Peter will pull out his sword and go to cutting off ears and setting people free and breaking up.
And that’s same devil knows that about you, that if he gives you half a chance to get up on your feet, that all hell is gonna break loose in that place.
Hallelujah. And y’all don’t hear what I’m saying. He knows that you got power.
He knows that you got power, and he’s attacking you because you got power. Have fired from myself.
I got power. I know I got power because I got problems.
If you got power, you’re gonna have problems. The problems are a sign that you got power.
Nobody sends that level of problems if you don’t have any power.
You don’t get sixteen soldiers to guard a three year old.
You get 16 soldiers to guard one man when that one man is bad, and he’s got power.
Somebody in here shout because you got power.
You’re under attack because you got power.
You’re being besieged by the enemy because you got power.
He’s put unnecessary guards But if it ain’t this is that, if it ain’t that is the other.
Soon as you get through that, here comes something else, And it’s all because hell is nervous about you.
Hell is nervous about what you’re going to be. Hell is nervous about what you’re going to do.
And he’s increased a guard to block you from getting where you’re trying to go.
Do you hear what I’m saying? But throw your hand up and say, walk me through it.
Walk me through it.
What me through it? Walk me through it? Cause I will not die today.
Cool points to Peter.
He’s got 16 soldiers. He’s handcuffed to 2 of them.
He’s handcuffed to 2 Roman soldiers.
This is the greatest expression of faith I’ve ever heard.
Solid faith screams. Silent faith screams.
Faith that will not become discombobulated just because you’re under attack.
It’s faith at its best.
Running all over the office, anointing the elevator with oil might not be faith at its best.
Faith at its best is peace in the midst of storm.
Faith at his best is peace in the middle of the storm.
And I thought to myself, Peter, how did you sleep in prison on the night before you are going to be killed, and Simon has just been beheaded.
Now if you’re gonna kill me, you know, give me just talk about CBS and pick up something.
You know, I’m not for this dramatic stuff. I like my head. You might not like my head.
I know it ain’t fine, but it’s my head. I want my head. Don’t cut my head off.
Cut my head off would probably mess up my neck.
If I thought you was gonna cut my head off in the morning, I probably wouldn’t sleep that night.
Peter. And so I asked Peter, I said, Peter, how in the world did you go to sleep?
Chain to 2 guards in the inner sanctum of the prison that even if you whip them, you got 14 more to go before you get out and you sleep, dude, Where did you learn how to sleep like this?
And then I remembered how Jesus was sleep on the boat.
Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you.
And the thing that Peter has learned from his mentor is to sleep in the middle of a storm.
If you can keep your peace when all hell is breaking loose, If you can refuse to react in a predictable way with all hell, it’s breaking loose.
God will find a way to bless you and Sometimes the best response to the attack is The sleep says I don’t know what he’s gonna do, but he’s gonna do something.
The sleep says I don’t know how he’s gonna move, but he’s gonna move some.
The sleep says I don’t have the answer to the problem, but I know who does have the answer to the problem.
The sleep says The battle is not mine. It belongs to the lord.
The sleep says stand still and see the salvation of the lord.
The sleep says the enemies that you see today, you shall see them no more.
The sleep says that when the battle is over, I’m gonna shout the victory, and I’m gonna need some rest to get my dance on.
That’s three people that say sleep through it. Yeah.
Sleep through it. Sleep through it. No. Argue about it. Don’t fuss about it. Don’t fight about it.
Don’t don’t get mad about it. Don’t get upset. Don’t cuss nobody out about it. Just sleep through it.
He that have began a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
I don’t know who I’m preaching to in this field. But god says sleep through it. Don’t get even.
Don’t get revenge. Don’t retaliate. Just go to bed. Because god has determined your end from your beginning.
And when it’s all over, he’s gonna give you a through. I need a 32nd praise week.
I’m getting my peace back.
I’m getting my peace back. I’m getting my confidence back. I’m getting my trust back.
I’m learning how to just go to bed and leave it in god’s hand.
I’m leaving my children in god’s hand. I’m leaving my wife in god’s hand.
I’m leaving my marriage in god’s hand. I’m leaving my future in god’s hand.
But the lord knows the way that I take and when he has tried me, I shall come forward as pure goal.
Somebody give me a old fashion. Hallelujah Pentecostal.
And wow.
He was sleeping. You know, god does his best stuff while you sleep.
With god, I’m ready to bring Eve into the world, and he put Adam to sleep because god didn’t need your participation in order to bless you.
When god gets ready to give you what you need, you can be asleep, and he can still pull out of you.
What he placed inside of you and caused you to prosper and Abraham.
He said Abraham through thy seed shall all nations of the Earth be blessed.
Go to sleep, and I’m gonna make a covenant for you without you.
And Jesus hung his head in the locks of his shoulders and died till the sun refused to shine, and the ground began to tremble.
And god was working. The night shift.
Tessa might say he’s pulling stuff out of me in my sleep.
He’s working it for me in my sleep. He’s moving obstacles in my sleep.
He’s turning it around in my sleep. He’s making a way in my sleep. He’s providing in my sleep.
I don’t have to do nothing. I don’t have to say nothing. I don’t have to plant no gossip.
I don’t have to retaliate. I don’t have to steam and plot. You stay up. I’m going to bed.
I’m covered. I’m protected. I’m loved. I’m cradle. I’m taken care of.
I’ve got the blood of Jesus over my life. Hallelujah. Blessed in the city. I’m blessed in the field.
I’m blessed in my uprising. I’m blessed in my down setting. I don’t know who I’m talking to.
But god said you’ve been up too many nights, and it’s time for you to just go to bed and rest in the lord that he that had began of good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Who am I talking to in here?
Sit down.
I’m just talking to you. He slept like a baby.
Draw a line between sleep and suddenly.
Sleep and suddenly. Sleep and suddenly.
Suddenly there appeared an angel in the room.
Peter didn’t do anything to call him.
In fact, I was trying to find the hero in this text, and I’m kinda confused.
Because I wanted to preach it was Peter’s faith, but Peter didn’t even believe it was real.
And then I wanted to give the interceptors all the credit, but they was praying for an answer.
When the answer came, they wouldn’t even open up the door.
And when Rosa told him that god had answered to pray to people with friends, didn’t believe it.
So where is my yeah. Now, that’s way back.
Where where is my hero of faith in the text.
Where is my hero of faith? Peter doesn’t believe it.
The inter sisters don’t believe it. And still, there was a suddenly.
Hey, ma’am.
Maybe if Peter didn’t do anything to get himself in, maybe he doesn’t have to do anything.
To get himself out.
Maybe if god sees fit to get you in trouble, God will get you out of trouble.
And maybe you ought to stop sitting up at night thinking what what what should I do?
What should I do? What should I do? What should I do about it? Who should I call?
Where should I go? What should I do? What should I do?
Maybe you shouldn’t do nothing because you didn’t get yourself in and And maybe you don’t have to do anything to get yourself out.
And maybe the best responses. Sleep.
Sleep is the method of Jesus.
Only Jesus sleeps through tornadoes.
Hurricanes to fly all through the airboat about to go into water.
Ship being filled with water, feet wet, Jesus.
It matters who mentored you. Yeah. I ain’t gonna finish.
I ain’t gonna finish. If your mama was hysterical or your daddy was hysterical, when you get in trouble, you become hysterical because they taught you how to respond to stress.
As a little kid, you watch them react to trouble, and you learn this is how you react to trouble.
If mama cussed everybody out, once you’ve got in trouble, then when you get mad, you cuss everybody out.
If she never said anything, you don’t say anything depending on whoever your mentor was, may not even be your mother, maybe your father, maybe your auntie, whoever had the deepest impression in your life, they taught you how to react.
Yes. Jesus taught Peter how to sleep.
Jesus taught Peter how to sleep.
Lord teach me how to sleep.
Teach me how to just stop my wheels from turning and my brain from spinning and me trying to figure my way out and me worshiping the idol of my own intellect as if I had to be smart to be delivered.
So then my intellect becomes my idolatry.
Because I think I gotta figure my way out of everything.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Teach me. How to sleep?
Because if I can get the sleep right, then you can get the suddenly right.
Sleep, suddenly. Yeah. Sleep. Suddenly. You’re watching online.
You’ve been all worried, all upset, been walking the floor. Can’t sleep.
Can’t figure out what’s wrong with you, trying to figure everything. Can’t cut your brain off. Go to bed.
Go to bed.
If you didn’t do anything to get yourself in and you don’t have anything to repent about and you don’t have anything to apologize about, and you were just doing what god created you to do.
And somebody threw you in jail, get in the jail, and fluff up under your shoulder, and go to bed because he’s alpha and amiga at the beginning and the end and the first and the last.
And if he got you in it, he will get you out of it.
And because all things work together for the good of them that love the lord, who are the call according to his purpose, let somebody say I’m going to be in tonight.
That’s what I’m gonna do. In fact, I might not even wait tonight.
I might take a 3 o’clock night.
I might just go home and get me a a piece of chicken and climbing the bed and go to sleep and sleep till about 5 or 6 o’clock, and then get up and practice it again.
I’m gonna rest in the lord. I’m gonna rest in the lord.
I’m gonna rest in the lord in spite of my handcuffs.
In spite of my budget, in spite of my limitations, in spite of my finances, in spite of my dilemma, in spite of my child who’s cussing me out, in spite of my husband who left me, I’m gonna rest.
These ain’t nothing but handcuffs. These ain’t nothing but handcuffs. They don’t stop me from sleeping.
They tied up my hands, but they didn’t tie up my peach. I’m going to bed. Hand cuffs and all.
I’m not gonna stay up all night twisting my wrist, trying to figure out the combination, trying to steal a key.
I’m going to bed. I angel appeared suddenly.
God is a suddenly god. He will show up suddenly.
And, see, this this faith because you wanna see him coming.
You want him to tell you what he’s gonna do and how he’s gonna do it.
And I’m gonna send an angel, and I’m gonna send it at 10:35 And I want you to be dressed and ready.
And at 10:35, we’re gonna blow this joint, and we’re gonna get out of here.
And we’re gonna have to step over all these sleepy people But if you wear your tennis shoes, you’re gonna be ready for it.
So don’t wear your church shoes, wear your tennis shoes so you’d be comfortable. And then we’re gonna crawl out.
We’re gonna go through the window because the door is closed.
When we go through the window, I wanna measure you to make sure you don’t get stuck in the window.
And then once you get through the window, I’m gonna pull you out of it. You want good?
To explain god’s stuff to human ears.
God never explains how he’s gonna do it.
He just does it. He just shows up. He just appears. He just looms. He just works it out.
Suddenly. Somebody sound suddenly. Let the devil hear you say sudden. My god.
Suddenly, an angel appeared. The angel didn’t come in.
It just appeared. What? It just showed up. The angel didn’t walk in and disturb all the guards.
And tell all the guys I’m coming. You think you got Peter, but I’m a show you something today.
I’m a wear you behind out today. You think you bad. Pull your sword.
Bring your shield with no the the angel did not create unnecessary disturbance.
He disappeared. He just shrunk.
He just moved.
Suddenly. And the angel appeared. For every prison you’re in.
There’s an angel. For every prison, emotionally, mentally, physically, attitudinally, intellectually for every prison you’re in, there’s an angel.
Just one. So you need.
1 the whole shooting camp against me. My heart’s shown off fear.
The war should rise against me, and this will