Rhoda Unsung Heroes

Hey kids, welcome to Camp 2021 once again. Big Camp Online, where we're talking about God's unsung heroes. You know that you're one of his unsung heroes. So am I. So are all of us. Because if it's not about us, it's about him, then we're unsung and he's the one we sing about. Today I want to tell you a story about a young girl in the New Testament. But before we get to that, I want to tell you a story about when I was a little boy and I was about to go riding on my bike. Bike. And as I was getting on my bike, I was starting to ride down the driveway, and my mom said, Davey, come back here. And I came back, and she said, you be careful when you're out there. I said, yes, Mom. She always said that, you be careful. So I was like, yes, Mom, I'll be careful. And she goes, don't yes, Mom me. You have to be very careful because you could get hurt. You could wreck your bike somewhere, and nobody would be there to be with you. So you have to be careful all the time. Okay, Mom, I'll be careful, I promise. And then she said, "And don't you go out on that busy road, you know, the road that you like to go out on that I've seen you out on sometimes." "But Mom, there's really good jumps out there." And she said, "Yes, but those jumps go right onto the road, and if somebody's coming down through that hill—" that it was a cutaway and you couldn't really get out of it, but it was awesome to ride down the side really fast and then jump up out of the ditch onto the road. Could do tricks, land on the road, and then go off the other side. But But she said, "You can't get out of the way. If a car is coming, you could really get hurt. So please do not go and ride in the cutaway." And I said, "Yes, Mom, I won't." And she said, "Davey, I really want you to be careful because you could die if you got hit by a car." And I stopped and I looked at her and I said, "Mom, I can't die." And she said, "Why do you say that? What makes you think that you can't die?" And I said, "Well, you're always telling me that God has great plans for your life, Davey." And I haven't done anything for God yet. So if I haven't done anything for him and he has great plans for my life, then how can you say that I can die before I've done what God has asked me to do or has planned for me to do? And she got a big smile on her face because that makes moms pretty happy when they realize that you're listening, for one thing, and also that you believe God has great plans for your life. And she said, well, it's dangerous and you could get hurt. And I do believe that God will protect you because he does have great plans for your life. But Don't test fate. Don't test God. Just be careful, please. But I'm really proud of you for believing that God will protect you. So please be careful. And I said, yes, Mama, I'll be careful. And so I went riding on my bike, and obviously I didn't get hurt. Certainly didn't get killed, because here I am today. But as my life has gone on, many times I've thought back on that idea of I haven't done anything for God yet. And now I have. I've done little things, and I've done big things, and I've done things that nobody's known about, and I've done things that lots of people have known about. And I wonder sometimes, have I done the thing? Is there a thing that I was made to do? Or is it a life of doing things that God has shaped me to do, that one thing comes after the next and after the next, and I just keep doing what God asks me to do when he shows me? And I think that that's what life's about, that that's what God calls us to do, is to be ready for the small things just as much as we're ready for the big things. To always follow him and to do what he says and to answer the door when he comes so that— or when someone comes— so that we are doing what God wants us to do. The Bible story about helping others for God is a story about a girl named Rhoda. We don't know much about Rhoda, but we do know that she was around when Jesus was around. She may have brought them the food in the upper room. She may have been the one who looked after the disciples when they ran away when Jesus was taken to the cross. What we do know is that the night that Peter was in jail all by himself, she was in the house where she served as the servant of her mistress, and she looked after the disciples. She was feeding them, she was bringing them drinks, she was praying with them because they were praying for Peter. They were praying so hard that God would help Peter and protect Peter because James had just been killed. Herod had killed James because he wanted to make the Jews happy. And he thought that might do it, and it did. And so they were afraid. Now that he's killed one of us, he's going to kill another one. And he's got Peter in prison. And so they were praying, dear Lord, please protect Peter. And Rhoda, when she wasn't busy serving, she was praying as well. Dear Lord, please protect Peter. And as the night went on and on and it got darker and darker, she heard something outside. The gate. Now, you see, the houses back then in that part of Jerusalem, they weren't just a house with a front door. There was a house with a front door, then there was a courtyard where people could meet, and then there was a wall, and in that wall was a gate, and the gate would be as high as the wall. And so when Rhoda thought she heard someone knocking at the outer gate, she went and she checked, and she looked out into the darkness, and she couldn't tell if there was someone there. And so she came back towards the house, and when she almost got to the house, she heard a voice. Rhoda, it's me, Peter. And she turned around and she went back to the gate. She said, Peter, is that you out there? And he said, yes, it's me, Peter. Open the door. And then she realized, but Peter is in prison, and the soldiers may have found out where we're hiding. They may know that this is John Mark's mother's house, and they may be here to capture the other disciples. And so she went back inside and she was quiet for a minute. And then she said she could hear the banging. And she said, guys, there's someone at the outer gate and at the— on the wall, the outer gate. There's someone there. And he says that he's Peter. And they say, oh, that's impossible. It can't be Peter. He's in prison. We're praying for him. You've been listening to us. Yes, I know. That's why I didn't open the door. But it kind of sounded like Peter. And they said, well, it couldn't be Peter. And one of them said, well, you know, it could be Peter's angel who's come to encourage us in our prayers. And so maybe we should pray harder. And then Rhoda heard it again. Please let me in. Goodness, people, there's people trying to catch me. And so Rhoda ran back out and she said, Peter, is it really you? She yelled out of the darkness. Is it really you? Yes, Rhoda, it's me. Open the gate. And by then the other disciples had come out to see. 'And they too recognized his voice, and they said, "Open the gate, it is Peter." And they opened the gate, and Peter rushed in. And when he came in, he said, "You guys, why didn't you let me in? There's soldiers chasing me. I just escaped from prison." They said, "What do you mean that you escaped from prison? Weren't there guards protecting you?" He said, "There weren't just guards. There was 4 sets of 4 guards. 4 of them were watching where I was locked up. 4 of them were watching the outer doors of the chambers where they locked the prisoners. 4 of them were at the entrance to the prison, and 4 of them were at the door." I'm standing at the door at the gates of the compound. They said, well, how did you get past all 16 of them? I was asleep and I started having a dream. And in this dream, it was so vivid that I started thinking, maybe it's not a dream. Maybe it's a vision. I'm actually having a vision. It was an angel. And this angel came and he set my— he like made the chains just fall off my wrists and off my ankles. And then he said, come, Peter. And so I stood up and I was following him in this vision. The gates opened of my prison cell and the guards fell asleep. And I started thinking, this feels too real. I can feel the night air. I can feel the metal as I walk through the— but I just kept following the angel. And it wasn't until I'd gone past all 4 sets and I got out onto the street and the angel disappeared. And I looked around me and realized I am out on the street. I've just been set free from jail. I'm free. I've got to go. Where am I going to go? And so I ran and I ran and I came here because I thought you might be here. And they said, we have been. We've been praying for you. Well, your prayers have been answered because God set me free. An angel came and set me free. Thank you for praying for me. Why didn't you open the gate? Well, because you were in prison. We didn't think you could get out. And Peter said, oh, God has answered our prayers and he's answered our prayers so strongly that I need to go and tell more people the story about what's happened here. "Thank you, Rhoda, for opening the gate. Thank you for letting me in. Please, everyone, tell the other disciples what's happened and tell my friend James. Goodbye." And Peter left. What do you think it would be like to be Rhoda? To be this little girl who opened the gate so that Peter could come in, who risked the darkness. And the one thing she gets mentioned about in the Bible is that she finally believed him and she opened the gate and Peter came in and told an amazing story about God saving his life and setting him free from prison. We may not have had Peter if it wasn't for that night. That may have been the last night of his life if the disciples hadn't been praying and if Rhoda hadn't been there serving for such a time as this. You know, sometimes when we do something small for God, we think, "But that was nothing big." And other times we do something big and we think, "Oh, I did something great." You know, the most meaningful times are when we serve God in humility. I heard a story once about an elephant that was walking across a big swing bridge. You don't think you would, you've ever been on a swing bridge when they really get swinging? And you'd think to yourself, you'd never walk an elephant on one of those. But some of the ones in India and Africa, they're big enough you can walk an elephant across it. And this elephant's walking across the swing bridge and it starts really swinging and the elephant's getting a bit whoa, like this. Carefully stepping until finally he gets to the other side. And there's a tiny little flea sitting right on the top of the ear of the elephant. And the flea says, "Boy, did we shake that bridge!" You see what the fifth flea did there? He was there, he was shaking, the bridge was shaking, the elephant was just part of it. No, the elephant was everything, and the flea was just along for the ride. In our lives, God is everything. God is the one making everything great happen. God is the one saving us. God is the one giving us opportunities to serve others and to make a difference in the lives of others. And we're just along for the ride. But it's worth being on God's back because the ride is amazing and because the journey is worth taking. And each and every opportunity you have, I would invite you, just like me on my little bike, to believe God has great plans for your life and to serve him in little things and big things. Serve him in all that you do, because there is no greater joy than serving the Lord. Let's bow our heads and pray together. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for the opportunity we have to share Bible stories and, and stories from our lives with other people. We thank you that you give us opportunities to serve others. Please help us to see each and every opportunity as something just perfectly made for us to do for you, like Rhoda opening that door so that Peter could come. And tell that amazing story of other doors that your angel had opened that night. Help us to always cooperate with you and to go along for the ride like that flea on the elephant's back. Help us to hold on and to follow and to go wherever you go so that we will be with you in all things. In your name, amen.