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The Power of Surrendered Prayer
Big Idea: Prayer is not just your lifeline; it is your declaration that God Is Bigger than what’s holding you back.
Sermon Synopsis:In this sermon, Pastor Ken emphasizes the transformative power of prayer when it stems from surrender and trust in God. Using Acts 12 as the foundation, the message highlights the early church’s response to impossible situations through fervent prayer. Pastor Ken shares relatable analogies, illustrating how surrendering control and trusting God brings peace and allows Him to work in miraculous ways. The sermon concludes by encouraging continuous, earnest prayer that aligns our hearts with God’s will, reminding us that God is bigger than any situation we face.
Main Passage:
Acts 12:1–17
Additional Bible Verses Referenced:
Matthew 6:10
1 Peter 5:7
Small Group Questions:
Hell is Real, But You Don’t Have to Go
MESSAGE SUMMARY:
Jesus spoke about hell more than anyone in the Bible—not to scare or condemn us, but to save us. If hell weren’t real, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die on the cross. His warnings were not meant to push people away, but to invite them into eternal life with Him. Today’s message reminds us that hell is real, eternity is at stake, and Jesus is the only way out.
KEY SCRIPTURE:
Luke 16:19-31 – The story of the rich man and Lazarus illustrates the reality of two destinies: one of eternal comfort with God, the other of eternal torment and separation.
Matthew 8:12, 13:50, Revelation 20:15 – Descriptions of hell as outer darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, and the lake of fire.
2 Peter 3:9 – "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise... He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance."
START TALKING
What is one thing from this sermon that stood out to you?
Have you ever thought about what happens after death? What were your thoughts before hearing this message?
START THINKING
Jesus spoke about hell more than anyone else in the Bible. Why do you think He did this? What does this say about His love and urgency for us?
The rich man in Luke 16:19-31 was surprised to find himself in torment. What does this teach us about the danger of assuming we are spiritually safe?
Why do you think people joke about hell or assume it won’t be that bad? How does this compare to what Jesus actually said about it?
START SHARING
The sermon compared hell to being locked out without realizing it until it’s too late. Have you ever had a moment where you realized something important too late? How does that help you understand the urgency of salvation?
If hell isn’t just about fire but about separation from God, how does this change the way you think about eternity?
Jesus came on the ultimate rescue mission to save us from hell. How did you first respond to His invitation to salvation? What keeps people from saying "yes" to Jesus?
START PRAYING
Invite someone to pray for the group.
Thank Jesus for making a way for us to avoid eternal separation from God.
Pray for boldness and urgency to share the gospel with those who don’t know Jesus.
Ask God to soften hearts, so that no one in our lives misses the opportunity to say "yes" to Him.
START DOING
Examine your heart. Jesus said some will think they knew Him, but He will say, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23). This week, reflect on whether you have truly surrendered to Him.
Share the truth. Who in your life needs to hear the message of salvation? Pray for them, then start a conversation this week.
Live with urgency. If we believe in eternity, we should live like it. What is one practical step you can take this week to prioritize faith over distractions?
DIG DEEPER (Optional Study)
📖 Read: Matthew 7:13-14, Romans 3:23, John 14:6, Revelation 21:4
What do these verses say about eternity?
How does Jesus contrast the narrow road with the wide road?
What does it mean that Jesus is the only way to the Father?
Challenge: Write down one question you would ask someone if you were trying to have a conversation about eternity. Practice discussing it with a trusted friend or mentor.
Transcript:
Hey, good morning everyone! You guys doing well? All right, good, good, good. You guys are at the 10:30 Rowdy Service—which is great! We could be rowdy, let's be rowdy! We tell all the early birds, “Hey, you know what? Late owls, night owls are good too, right?” We're good, we're good. Have the energy!
We are in a series called Three Minutes After Death and really what we're trying to do is point everyone toward the reality of life—that there is an afterlife—and that this lifetime is short. We want everybody to say, “Hey, what happens after this?” So it's going to be a great series. I'm going to need you all to help out with some preaching here.
Because today we are in a sermon—a hard sermon. It is a tough sermon, a little bit of a heavier message because we're talking about… we're talking about hell today. Notice when we say hell, no one celebrates that, right? No one says “Yay!” or anything. So we are going to talk about hell.
Go ahead and tell your neighbor right now, “Don’t freak out.” Go ahead and say that. Okay, that's good. Now, that was your first choice. So now, the person you ignored—tell your second choice. Now it's about to get real. Go ahead and say that. Say, “It's about to get real, I apologize, that there were the second choice.” Apologize. Okay, that's good, that's all right—we're all good.
Before cell phones, before any of this stuff, before technology and everything—I remember in grade school we all had calculators, right? You guys remember that? Calculators! Now, the teachers back then used to say, “Hey, you need to know how to do this by hand because you'll never carry a calculator with you.” And now we do. In fact, I was just looking for a calculator in the office, and we have the old school tax ones—and that's the only calculator I could find. We just… we don't have that many around here.
But in the calculator—before texting, before any of this stuff—you could pass messages with a typical 10-key calculator. Then you’d flip the message upside down and it would say different words. You guys remember doing this? Anybody here remember doing this? Anybody here old like me? Yes, that's good. Yes, that's what you would do; you would pass… you would say, first, I mentioned this in the first service and someone said, “Yeah, those weren't the words we said.” I said, “Okay, but I'm not going to cause people to think of bad words already.” However, you could say hello, right? You could say hello. I remember it's 07734, right? Then you flip it upside down and the four turns into an H and it says hello.
The second word that you could say—you just take off the zero—you would say is “hell.” How many people here grew up with… even now, maybe in your household you say, “Hey, that's—” you can't say that at home. Anybody hear that? That's good. Yeah, okay, all right. Well, let's just say together anyway. Let's talk about hell. Let's just break the door, break the ice a little bit—let's just say hell together. Ready? One, two, three… HELL!
Why do I say that? Why is that important? I think it's important because Jesus was very blunt about hell. And when hell is used as a cuss word, obviously it's not good, but the reality is that Jesus does talk about hell in a literal form. In fact, in Scripture—out of the 1,870 verses that Jesus talks about—133% (actually, 133% in Jesus’ words, in the red text) refers to Jesus talking about hell or judgment. And Jesus was really blunt about that. He talks about hell more than he does about heaven. He wasn’t sugarcoating anything. He was upfront about it.
I think it's important to know because Jesus came to be our Savior—not a Savior just from life, not a Savior from anything but really a Savior from the realities of eternity as well, which is hell. I think it's important to talk about that. Jesus warned about hell because that's what He rescued you from, and if you don't know Jesus, that's what He potentially can rescue you from. Jesus is a truth-teller. He doesn't beat around the bush. He's not a used car salesman—he's going to tell you the truth. He's going to be upfront about it because Jesus is Love, he is Truth—and he also says, “Man, I want to be a truth-teller because I am urgent.”
So if you have your Bibles open up to Luke, open to Luke 16, and we are going to be at verse 19—so we're excited to hop into this. Can we be a little bit excited about this? Okay, studying the Word—let's see this.
This is Jesus talking here in red text. If your Bible is marked out like this, that means Jesus is telling a story, and it says:
"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. And at his gate lay a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.The time came when the beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, he was in torment. He looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. Then he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this fire.’But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, but while Lazarus received bad things, now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’The rich man then said, ‘Then, Father, beg you, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers; let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’The rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham.’ He said, ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’"
This is a hard passage to go through. But if you're taking notes, this is important: Hell is real. The title of the message is, “Hell is real, but you don't have to go.”
The reality is that hell is real. Scripture says hell is real, but you don't have to go there.
Let’s pray:
"Lord, Heavenly Father God, we are thankful—thankful that You have Your Word, the Word of God. Lord, we are so thankful that You've given us this Word, and that You are so upfront about it for a reason. I just pray that we can see that reason, Holy Spirit. We know that You are here right now, God, and we just pray that lives are changed because of Your Word. So God, soften hearts, open ears; allow the power of these words to speak, God. Ultimately, allow people to know You more—to know Your love, Your grace, and Your mercy. Lord God, we pray this in Your holy and mighty name."Everybody say, "Amen, amen, amen."
I was… I have a lot of scars, right? A lot of scars—especially when rollerblading was really popular. Anybody here still rollerblades? Yeah? All right, roller blades still—good, we're good. I remember going down the canal, and then I would just lie on my back because my legs just slipped, and my back hit the floor—and I just lost my air, right? And it was terrible. And then all of a sudden, I slipped again, and I have scars on my knees—and there are scars everywhere.
In fact, another time I actually fell off my bike riding home with a bunch of friends—in the middle of the road—and I had this nasty scar right here. The injury wasn't that bad, but I kept picking at it. People asked, “What happened? Did you get stabbed?” And I'd say, “Yes!” But it's not true—it was just an accident.
So now what I do is every time I'm running by with my kids, especially when I'm teaching them how to ride a bike—they all know how to ride a bike now—but in my head, I’m just out of breath all the time because I'm always by their side, trying to protect them from falling, trying to do whatever it takes. I'm saying, “Hey, learn from my mistakes. I don't want you to fall; I don't want you to get injured, right?” And even if they wobble a little bit, I'm there trying to catch them. I'm just trying to make sure that they don't fall. Also, inside my head, I'm like, “If they fall, I have to go to the ER—that’s expensive. I don't want that to happen.” But we'll keep this quiet—I'm a good father, okay? So I did. I wanted to protect them.
That's why, anytime I'm truthful with my kids, I say, “Hey, this is why you’ve got to wear a helmet; this is why you have to look both ways; this is why you have to do all these different things.” Because the reality is that the world is not safe. The reality is that there are drivers who don't see you; there are people who don't see you—and the road hurts, right? And I feel that is why Jesus here is so upfront: because He's telling us the reality, the truth. That's what He's saying here. That's the reality—here's my first point: Hell is real, and it's not a joke.
Hell is real and it’s not a joke. We often joke about hell—look at songs like "Highway to Hell." We might say things like, “Man, I think Heaven's boring—I don’t want to go to Heaven; maybe I want to be in hell. That’s where the party is!” But Jesus, on the other hand, is more blunt about it: Heaven is real, it’s not a joke. If we go into Scripture, Jesus uses two characters here to describe what happens—what really happens three minutes after death.
Let’s dive in and dissect this a little bit. In this passage, it says in Luke chapter 16, verse 19, “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.” The rich man was dressed to the nines—purple is a sign of royalty—and he lived in luxury every day. It says he not only had riches, but even at his gate he had property. Every day at his gate, he saw another man—a beggar named Lazarus. What's interesting here is that the rich man is unnamed, while Lazarus is actually named. Lazarus is the only person named in this story. And what is he doing? He's covered with sores.
Now, back then, sores were an indication that people assumed you were a sinner—an indication that you probably had wronged God. People assumed, “Hey, you must have done something, or your family did something, to become a beggar.” Not only was Lazarus a beggar, but he was afflicted with pain and sores. Jesus is telling us a story of two very different people: the rich man and Lazarus.
The passage continues, “The time came.” The time came—and I think this is a reality that we absolutely need to have: no matter what income bracket you're in, your time is going to come. Your time's going to come. Remember what we said last week: a U-Haul never follows a hearse. In the end, we all die the same way; we all pass away the same way. We need to understand that life is short. Can you tell a neighbor right now? Just say, “Life is short.” Remind them—life is short. We see the reality of that, of that unfortunate airplane accident, right? Life is short. We don't take it for granted, and it is short.
All of a sudden, Jesus tells this story to a crowd of people. Everyone is assuming that the rich man is going to Heaven because he was blessed on earth—he had everything. Everything was set for him. He did the right things; he was faithful to God. So that's why he was rich. And the poor man, Lazarus, they assume, has to be somewhere else—has to be in hell because he was covered in sores, he was sinful, and everything. But that wasn’t the reality. Look at how Jesus phrases this: “The time has come when the beggar died,” and the crowd thinks, “Oh, he's done. Where is he going?” And then the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.
“Abraham’s side.” Now you're wondering why Jesus is talking about Abraham here. He's talking about Abraham because that was the Jewish context—Abraham was known as the man of faith. You might have heard that term, “man of faith.” Maybe if you grew up in the church you heard the song “Father, Had Many Sons” or “Many Sons Had…” But anyway.
The audience understood that in eternity—the afterlife—you wanted to be with Father Abraham. So suddenly, the audience is saying, “This beggar is carried by angels to be with Father Abraham, to be in Heaven.” And you're thinking, “Dude, if angels are able to escort him to Heaven, then what happens with the rich man? The rich man must have some sort of party, a parade, a chariot, something to carry him up there.” And then reality hits because it says: “The rich man also died and was buried.” He was buried. And then it says, “In Hades, he was in torment.” Pause.
Next, it says that he looked up and saw Abraham far away—with Lazarus by his side. Now you're thinking: “Wait a minute—is it Lazarus or the rich man looking up?” And it says he called out to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me; send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.” And then Abraham replies. (See the exchange in the passage above.) That is the reality: Hell is real.
Weeping, gnashing of teeth, and agony in that fire—hell is not a place of party central. It’s not where bad people go because they deserve a party; it's where they reject God. Hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. In Matthew 13:50 it talks about this: “...and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Weeping is such a hard thing to see. Weeping isn’t just when you watch a movie and a little tear comes; this is deep weeping. I just watched the movie Wild Robot—a great movie about a robot dealing with the realities of life. I don’t know why kids' movies always have death scenes, but there are death scenes everywhere. And by the end, there are tears—and I was thinking, “Oh, okay.” My kids looked at me—“Are you crying?” No, I said, “I'm tired. Leave me alone,” trying to hide it. But these aren’t just movie tears; these are weeping tears.
I had a dog that passed away. Our kids had to grieve; they even had to call out of school the next day because they were grieving so much. I remember my son, Eddie, saying, “Why does it hurt so much? Why does it hurt so much?” That’s the kind of weeping we're talking about.
And then there’s the gnashing of teeth—the pain that goes from head to toe, grinding your teeth together. Scripture is clear: hell is a place of weeping, gnashing of teeth, and outer darkness. It even says that the subjects of the Kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness—into outer darkness—where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Darkness here is not just the absence of light—it’s isolation, regret, and a state where there is no hope, no second chances, no relief. Even the rich man is begging, “Lazarus, can you dip your finger just in water to cool my tongue?” He is in agony. Hell is not about fire consuming flesh—it's about the burning agony of a tormented soul.
Now, here's the other thing we learn from Scripture: Hell is real, but there is good news. Can we bring a little bit of Jesus in here? Somebody say, “Good news!”Good news—there is good news! Because if we understand the reality that we are in need of rescue, then that means there is a rescuer. If there is an eternity and two ways to get there, that means we have a Savior to bring us there. And that’s the important part.
My last point is that God’s heart is that none should perish. That’s God's heart. God didn't create hell to punish everyone—that's not what God did. Even in 2 Peter 3:9 it says the Lord is not slow in keeping His promises. He’s going to give everyone a chance—a second chance, a third chance. He's knocking down walls and saying, “Do you not realize that life without Me is nothing, and life with Me is everything?” He says the Lord has not delayed in keeping His promise; instead, He is patient with you. He is not saying “Be patient with Me”—He’s saying, “Be patient with God.” God already set the path for salvation; He’s just being patient with you. Which means that hell is a choice, and heaven is also a choice.
He says that He doesn't want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. When we turn our lives around and say, “Hey Jesus, we understand You are the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me,” then we understand that Jesus's heart is that He doesn't want anyone to perish. He loves the world. Even in the midst of all the pain and the rejection, God’s love for the world is absolute. He gave His one and only Son because He couldn’t bear for His lost sheep to perish.
I want to share a little from Mark. Jesus was talking to everyone. There were a lot of tax collectors and sinners hanging out at a sinner's house, and all the religious came out and said, “That's wrong! That's messed up! You can't hang out with them—they're sinful, they're taking our money, they're the sinners, they're the prostitutes—you can’t, they're going to make you unclean!” The religious people said, “Hey, man, they don't deserve love.” But Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” He was saying, “You religious people think you have it all set. You think you know everything. You think you're the most righteous, but if you don't see Me as your Rescuer, if you're done, then you're in trouble. It’s the sick who need a doctor.”
If we were meant to perish, that's the reality. But the other reality is that He is the great Messiah, the great Savior.
I want to close with one more point. It is interesting that the Jewish audience assumed the rich man was going to heaven. They assumed that because he was religious, maybe because of his family tree—he had this Jewish blood—that he was automatically going to be in heaven. But the reality is he couldn’t get there without true faith in God. And that is heavy.
And then we have the most famous verse: John 3:16“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish…”(You know the rest.) The motivation—the love for this lost, sinful world—is like this: I can't have my lost sheep, my lost son, my lost coin—my lost people—perishing. I’ve got to keep trying, keep breaking down walls, keep doing that. I can’t let them perish.
It also says that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life. That's the reality. We can’t be mad if we’re sitting in our house while it’s burning and be mad at the firemen who are kicking down our doors and saying, “We’ve got to get you out!” We can’t be mad at them. We have to see the firemen for what they are: Jesus, our Savior.
I circle back to the story about the scars that I have from riding my bike or rollerblading. I tell my kids, “Listen, you’ve got to protect yourself. You don’t want to have scars like mine.” Isn’t that the same thing Jesus is saying? “Do you see the scars on My hand? Do you not see the reality of what sin does? It hurts.” He’s telling you a story—He had to die on the cross. He had to conquer the grave—not just so we could have better marriages, or so our kids could have better lives, or for better businesses—but simply because out of love, out of the reality of eternity, we needed to be rescued.
I love the story in Scripture where it says that Jesus entered hell. Now, whether we see that literally or metaphorically doesn’t matter. I just love the idea that Jesus just uppercut Satan in the face and grabbed the keys of hell and declared, “They belong to Me! They belong to Me!” That's what the sacrifice on the cross does. That's what faith in Jesus does: it proclaims, “Hey, it doesn't matter— I belong to Him!”
Now, I feel like we need to pray right now. There may be someone in here who sees the reality of hell, who sees the reality of eternity—three minutes after death—and maybe you just need to pray a prayer to accept Jesus into your life. If you want to do that, bow your head and close your eyes. You can pray that prayer out loud or in your heart. Repeat after me if you like:
"Dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I know the realities of this world, and because of that, I see You as my Savior. Will You come into my life? Will You come into my heart? Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins, thank You for loving me no matter what. From this day forward, I want to follow You. In Jesus' name, amen."
Hey, there is a party in heaven if you pray that prayer. Can we all celebrate that right now? If you feel like it, please stand up. I want to close in worship. But before we do that, let's just pray one more time.
Lord, Heavenly Father God, we see the reality—we see that life is short, and we see that we are in need of You, God. So, Lord, I just pray that You work through this message. Work through this service, God, that these words come alive; that You pierce the very depths of our soul, so that without You we are nothing but with You we are everything—only because of You. So, Lord God, thank You for Your love, for Your grace, and for Your mercy. God, You deserve all our praise. Everything, God—we love You; You are worthy of everything. We pray this in Your holy and mighty name of Jesus. Everybody, say, "Amen." Amen.
*This transcript has been prepared to enhance readability and accessibility. While efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, some errors or discrepancies may remain. For the most precise representation, please refer to the original video.
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