“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.”    Acts 12:7, KJV

Breaking News: A Million Americans will die Tonight and You can be one of them!

I will never forget the year 2005, as it was a life-changing point in my life.  We had just given birth to our second child which was my first daughter at the end of 2004, and right after seeing her for the first time I had to return to my military training where my unit and I were getting ready to go to Iraq for a year.  We left in early January 2005, and I arrived at my new base in Al Anbar Province, Iraq at the end of that month.  Though, I was a Christian already my faith would recognize a host of challenges on the way to and during the early stages of war.  Apart from my community of other like-minded believers and now around rowdy soldiers most of the time, I had begun to backslide.  Several months prior to us leaving the United States  I had started back drinking heavily for the first time in over five years.  If that weren’t enough the news came in that one of my closest friends who was already in Iraq had been killed by an explosion.  That news drove me further into a depression and made me drink even more heavily to subdue the pain and fear in my heart.  Upon finally making it into the country in which I’d spend the next year, every day the Iraqi’s launched bombs into our camp some of which injured a lot more of my friends.  To say the least, I was terrified that I’d never see my family again!

The reality in which I found myself led me to begin smoking again to ease my nerves and I hadn’t smoked for over five years.  The truth is that challenging times have a way of pulling us back into the familiar coping mechanisms we once used which is always a terrible mistake.  It follows that sometime in early February 2005, I began to have what would be two unforgettable experiences.  The first experience occurred on an evening in February when I was out walking and noticed a light in the chapel on base.       I walked in the door and since no one was there I took the opportunity to sit in one of the chairs to gather myself after a long Army day.  While there, I felt an overwhelming urge to pray so I immediately obeyed.  As I began to pour out my fears to God in prayer, I heard Him say as clear as a bell, “Son, you will Not die in this war” The more I poured out my heart, the clearer the voice became and after getting up from that floor and wiping the many tears from my face, it was clear to me that this challenging time was not one in which I needed to be drawn away from God but rather one in which I needed to draw closer to Him.  From that moment I stopped drinking, smoking, cursing and everything else I had begun to do and began to replace those vices with praying, fasting and daily studying my Bible.  The next experience I would enjoy came in July 2005, on a Tuesday night that for some reason I could not sleep.  I left my tent that night and began walking around the base praying more deeply than I have ever prayed in my life.      It was during that night of prayer that the voice I heard back in February spoke to me again.  This time the voice wasn’t audible but rather it was internal, to mean that I felt a touch that I’ve never felt before.  This encapsulating internal touch awakened in my heart an overwhelming desire to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If you’ve Not yet figured it out, that was the point that I was called to preach which I would’ve missed had I not heeded the voice back in February to pray more, fast more and study more.  Since that July, I have been preaching Gods Word and His voice has led me into places that I could have never even dreamed I would be.  Brothers and Sisters, let me suggest to you that God uses challenging times in our lives to bring us closer to Him and the closer we are drawn to Him, the more clearly His voice becomes!  Ask any preacher about how they knew they were supposed to preach and every one of them will tell you that they just knew.  The voice of God is vital to our existence because through it He gives us the direction we need to travel in order to gain the revelation that He wants us to receive in order for there to be manifestation of His Majesty in our lives.  My question to you today is have you heard God lately?

Earlier in this writing I inserted the phrase Breaking News: Millions of Americans will die Tonight and You can be one of them for two reasons.  The first reason was to get your attention.  It’s the same strategy the news, newspapers and magazines use to accomplish the same goal.  The second reason that I wrote those words was to acquaint you with what God actually does want from all of us every day.  According to 1 Corinthians 15:31, the Apostle Paul writes, “I die daily” which is to mean that he confesses his sins every single day so that nothing will get in the way of his ability to hear Gods voice when He calls!  Perhaps you’d like to be more certain whether the voice in your head is actually God or if it’s your mind playing tricks on you? If so, the answer to your question is best found in today’s text.       At the time of this text Jesus has been Crucified and has been Resurrected from the grave.  It followed that a preacher by the name of Peter who was with Jesus everyday until Jesus was Resurrected began preaching the gospel all over Palestine.  The king of the land at the time was King Herod and he demanded that Peter be stopped because the gospel message was so powerful that in began to impact the kings popularity.  In an effort to silence Peter, King Herod sent his police officers to arrest Peter on a Friday evening with the hope of crucifying him on Monday.  Peter was quickly booked and placed in a prison cell then chained to two soldiers.  The text continues that in the middle of the night while Peter and the two soldiers were asleep that God sent an Angel into the prison and in verse seven we learn what the Angel said to Peter.  The verse states, “an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He [the angel] struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, Get up quickly.”

More than anything this verse informs us about three ways that we can be sure that it’s God trying to get our attention.  When God is trying to get a message to you He will give you a personal touch.  Notice the verse says that though Peter was chained to two other guys the only one who felt the touch was him.  When God touches us it’s so personal that it will leave no doubt that you are the person being contacted.  The touch of God may be as visible as the burning bush was to Moses or as audible as the call of Eli was in 1 Samuel 3:1, KJV, or even as awakening as Peter’s touch was in the text but there will be no denying that the message is intended for you.  Secondly, when God wants to get our attention it will involve a purposeful task which in this case was the task for Peter to “Get up quickly.” Every message that God sends us will involve a task that must be undertaken and we may not know the purpose of that task until after we’ve gotten up!  Perhaps today is the day for you to get up and get to work on what God is calling you to do which may include a need for you to stop running from Him during the challenges that you are facing and to run towards Him by repenting from your backsliding ways and beginning to pray, fast and study the scriptures again! Finally, when God is seeking to get our attention it will involve a powerful testimony.  The end of verse seven states that when Peter was touched and got up quickly, his chains fell off of his hands.  Brothers and Sisters, a revelation from God is the most powerful testimony that we will ever possess because what happens after the word has been received is that the reality that we have been called by God will be undeniable.  Immediately, after Peter was awakened and standing up by the power of God he was no longer bound, which suggests that after we have heard from God there will be no one alive able to tell us that we were crazy because in our hearts we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we’ve been touched, tasked and that we have the testimony that God has spoken! My friend, tonight is significant because at some point during it millions of Americans will die just as Paul did in the text I mentioned earlier where Paul said, “I die daily.” My prayer is that you will be one of the many who die tonight by repenting of everything that has caused you to backslide during these challenging times inclusive of unending mass incarceration, unusual worldwide insurrections and an un-seeable infectious virus.  Conclusively, I would like to make the argument that if you will die tonight, sometime this year you will begin to hear the Living God speak to you like never before.  With all that’s been said, let me suggest to you that the breaking news today is that God wants to break you through His use of  a personal touch, a purposeful task and a powerful testimony! I encourage you to listen intently tonight for His voice and to trust that it’s going to change you forever!   

In Jesus’ Name,