Power Walk Ministries

Narrator (Male): Welcome once again to this broadcast of Power Walk Ministries with Pastor Paul Cannings. The message series this week is titled "It Takes a Village." This phrase is commonly used in the upbringing of our children, but today we use this phrase to show the importance of the church in the life of a believer. Taking us to the book of Acts chapter 12 and Peter's experience in walking out of jail as the believers prayed for him, Pastor Cannings shares the importance of being united in faith.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Many times when we are faced with difficulties and hardships, we tend to rush to the most capable hands. We tend to run to the things we believe or the persons we believe that would solve the issues the fastest rather than stick with our faith walk. As we've been discussing these last couple of days, this faith walk where faith takes us in the places we don't want to go is just the nature of what faith does because faith is on God's agenda, not ours. Faith is not dependent on what the world is doing; it's dependent on what God designs things to be.

When we look at the scriptures, long before it ever happens, he's telling us that Christ will die and how that would take place 600 years before it happened. In the case of Napoleon coming and just being this person that aggressively moves across the earth, Daniel talks about it 600 years before it happened because that's God. He's omnipresent. He's Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is God.

So God is always defining what's taking place, and in the process, he refines us. But he's not depending on circumstances to determine what he does. And that's why faith will take us to places we may not want to go. Paul following Christ went to places he's not necessarily wanting to go, but it so refined him that he could say, "I count all things joy." Rejoice and again rejoice in the way it's written. It's like I'm going to rejoice all the time. I don't care what I'm going through because I've learned to be content in whatever state I'm in.

So when we look at these times that we are in, our faith will take us to those places like it did Peter in the passage of scripture we're studying this week in Acts chapter 12, verse 11 through 17. It would take us there. So when we get there, we tend to rely on people we believe are immediately capable of solving the issues rather than just let the time and the person who determines the time determine who or what situation he would use.

And that's what takes place here in this situation that we would probably not give much credence to because the persons of significance is Mary because it's her house and she's well to do. It's the person whose mother is John Mark. John Mark, a person who many people believe is the interpreter of Peter in Rome, many people, Mark who would write the book of Mark. That's the person we would look to. Maybe the persons that are prayer warriors we would look to.

But in this passage, the person that Christ would use that would even be mentioned in the Bible is a slave girl that's at the gates of the house. So she would let people in so that there's no doorbell you ring the doorbell and whoever hears it comes to the door. It is not like it's in a time where we could say to Alexa, "Who's at the door?" This person is at the gate waiting at the gate so that the owner of the house, which tells you how well to do Mary was to house this many people in a house and have a prayer meeting, and many of the church leaders in her day met at her house.

So she would let the person in so that Mary doesn't have to come to the gates and go back to the house. This woman named Rhoda, this slave girl named Rhoda, you would not expect to be a significant player in how this is taking place, and even Peter doesn't respond to her that way. But that's the person that God exposes in this text to be the person that highlights what the expectation was and accepts what Peter is presenting to her that he is released more than the people who are praying who are the leaders.

So when you look at yourself today, whoever you may be, you may be the person that sits in the back bench of the church. You may be the person who cleans the church. You may be the person who has no significant role in the church. But your faith walk exposes you to be in places where God wants to use you. Will you respond like Rhoda?

Now here is what's taking place in this text of Acts chapter 12. Verse 12 he says, "And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John Mark whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying." Many. So that means she had a large house which in that day means she's well to do.

Now watch what takes place here. "And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate," this wall is up, there's trouble. The Jewish leaders want to kill and to destroy this leader named Peter. So it's not just Herod. The Jewish leaders are against Peter, the same people who just killed Christ. They're coming for Peter. The people in the church that are staying faithful are these people in the house that are praying for their leader, and they're committed to see Peter released because Peter's the leader in the New Testament church there in Jerusalem. Obviously, we know later that James became the pastor there. But Peter and the disciples started this up.

And a damsel came to harken, named Rhoda. She came to the gate now because he's knocking. And the way Peter is knocking here, it literally means that Peter just repeatedly, he's just constantly knocking because Peter's obviously nervous. He's out, he's free, but these Roman soldiers are vicious. And these Roman soldiers will brutally kill you. So Peter's not just knock, knock, knock. No, Peter is probably pounding on the gate. He is like pounding because you see Peter goes another way. After Peter talks to these people, he left. He didn't stay in Jerusalem.

This is that treacherous circumstances. So Peter's probably beating on this gate. He just had an angel, the angel left, didn't say, "Peter, we love you, you're going to be safe. Peter, you know you're going to have a wonderful time as you serve the Lord. Everything is going to go great from this point on. You have nothing to worry about." No, the angel gets him out and then the angel is gone. There's no wonderful encouraging words or song or little worship service or praise dance before this all takes place. No.

Peter now goes there. He is most likely very nervous in the middle of the night knocking. He says, "And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness." Watch this carefully. In other words, he's still outside the gate. He still didn't see him, physically see him. She just hears his voice, which means that Peter's not just knocking, Peter is calling. That tells you the intense nature of how Peter is functioning.

He was asleep, woke up, chains are gone, gates open, chains fall off the gates, two sets of guards he goes past, gets into the city, angel is gone. He says, "Wait a minute, this is not a dream." He knows these people are coming after him to kill him. He's already been put in jail. He's already been whipped. He's already gone through all of this. He knows Herod is brutal. He knows Herod just killed folks like it's nothing, like a fly swat, just don't care. So he knows that. So he's not just beating on the door. We now learning he is crying out at the door.

He's not expecting anything from Rhoda. That's where we many times come. We are at this point where we are intensely looking for people who we know have been praying for us, who we may know have been seeking to find ways to help us, who we know that they may be calling out to God for us, or we know they're significant people in the local church and we just got to get to them. And many times those are the last people that believe or walk with us because they have a lot of questions. "How you get out of jail? You sure God is doing this? Let's sit down and pray." They have all these questions.

But not a person like Rhoda. Rhoda don't have all these questions. Rhoda is just excited. She's done this with gladness. Do you know what that means in the Greek? It means that Rhoda is jumping for joy like somebody who have lost their mind and she is doing that repetitively that's going to drive this prayer ministry crazy. Because she's not just going around, "Oh, hey, you know, I think Peter's at the gate, we need to get him in and I'm so sorry I forgot to let him in. Please apologize for me." No, she has gone out of her mind.

She is just jumping for joy because she waited for Peter's release in anticipation. Listen to this carefully. She didn't just pray. She was not even in the prayer group. She anticipated that this prayer group is going to get Peter out and that God is going to respond. So her joy is a joy that is representative of her anticipating this happening, and it has happened. And so she has lost her mind and left Peter at the gate.

Many times, folks, that's the faith that brings us out of our trouble. Watch this carefully. "But ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate." She knew he was there. The word means he was completely there and he's definitely committed to coming in. "But I'm so excited that God has answered this prayer, I forgot to let him in, but I need to let you all know because God has answered your prayer and you need to be excited like me."

She did not get the response that she would expect to get because the people at the prayer meeting were not anticipating God to function in the same way that Rhoda expected him to function. Folks, if we going to pray for something, if we going to call on God to do something, expect it to. That's what the nature of faith is. Faith is the substance of things we hope for. The word hope means I expect God to do what I'm praying about because it's not violating the word of God. It's nothing I'm praying about is violating whatever God is saying in his word, so therefore I can expect him to be true to his word.

John 15:7-10. So since I expect it and it's based on his word, I now am praying by faith. God has come through over and over and over again. Peter's been in jail, they let him out, he goes to preach again, they come against him, Peter still stands strong. They're watching Ananias and Sapphira die. They're seeing all this powerful movement through Peter. So based on the evidence that Christ is walking with Peter, their faith should have come alive, but it didn't. It came alive for Rhoda, but it didn't come alive for the people who were praying.

Pray by faith and not by sight. Don't just pray because we need to pray because we doing a prayer meeting or this is my devotional time so I'm praying. No, pray so God, I expect you to find a way out of no way. So God, I'm going to work expecting, I'm going home expecting to see this pantry turn into food I never thought it would turn into. God, I expect you to do what you say, and that's what leads to our joy is when our prayer is built on faith because it's driven by our expectations based on the evidence that God has provided in the past.

How many times God has responded to us? I so expect him to do this. So when God functions powerfully, that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly all we could ever ask or think. No matter what's taking place around me, you can't steal my joy. And that's why the joy of the Lord becomes my strength. Stay focused.

Narrator (Male): Amen, Pastor Cannings. With God working on our behalf, we can expect the unusual. Now if you have more questions about what it is to pray to God and how he works in our lives, then give us a call at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Please visit us online at powerwalkministries.org. Here once again is Pastor Cannings.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I am so excited about the pastor's conference coming up April the 23rd through the 25th. You cannot miss it. There's going to be such a great group of teachers teaching, well-trained, well-prepared, practice what they're teaching in their local churches. Here's some examples: Pastor and Deacons functioning under the lordship of Christ, the biblical approach to resolving conflict in the church, traits of successful leaders, effective teaching methods for children, social media and how could you make it very positive for your children, developing a counseling ministry dealing with mental health issues in the local church, marketing, moving from traditional ministry to bibliocentric ministry, how do you grow the church through evangelism.

You cannot miss this conference April the 23rd through the 25th, 2026, at 7350 TC Jester Boulevard right here at Living Word Fellowship Church. I pray you'll go to powerwalkministries.org, powerwalkministries.org. Be a part of this, you will not be disappointed. April the 23rd through the 25th. Look forward to seeing you.

Narrator (Male): And now as we leave you, remember, God is able to do the impossible. So let's continue to worship him, pray in faith, and believe that he will work out his best for us.