2819 Church
2819 Church

Fruit That Remains | This Isn’t What I Asked For | Acts 12:12-16 | Lonnell Williams

August 10, 2026

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5 min read

Fruit That Remains | This Isn’t What I Asked For

In Acts 12, the church is praying earnestly for Peter’s release from prison. James has already been executed. Peter is next. They gather at Mary’s house and pray. And while they are praying, Peter shows up at the gate. A servant girl named Rhoda hears his voice, recognizes it, runs back inside to tell the prayer meeting—and they tell her she is out of her mind. “It is his angel,” they say. The answer to their prayer is knocking at the door, and they are explaining it away.

That scene is the sermon’s anchor. Lonnell Williams, executive pastor at 2819 Church, uses it to name a pattern he sees everywhere: we ask God for something, and when it arrives, we do not recognize it because it does not look like what we expected. We pray for change and resist the pressure that change requires. We pray for healing and avoid the conversation healing demands. We pray for opportunity and resent the responsibility opportunity carries. The problem, Williams argues, is rarely that God delayed in sending the answer. The problem is that we are delayed in receiving it.

Grief trains you to expect the wrong thing

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:48) **Introduction and Context Setting** - Lonnell Williams, executive pastor at 2819 Church, introduces the final installment of the "Fruit That Remains" series and shares personal excitement about the church's worship album and its global reach.
  • 2 (09:08) **Scripture Reading and Core Premise** - Williams reads Acts 12:12–16 and introduces the sermon title: "This Isn’t What I Asked For."
  • 3 (15:35) **The Problem: Grief Training Unbelief** - Williams explains that the church was praying for Peter, but when he arrived, they explained him away, calling him an angel.
  • 4 (18:49) **Faith That Prays Through Grief** - Williams emphasizes that the church prayed earnestly while grieving James, showing that broken-hearted prayer is still valid faith.
  • 5 (22:00) **The Danger of Safe Prayers** - Williams warns against making faith "safe enough that it could never hurt you again," which leads to praying "safe prayers" that avoid real vulnerability.
  • 6 (28:00) **The Answer Comes to the Prayer Meeting** - Williams notes that Peter walked directly to the house where the church was praying, showing that God brings the answer to the place of prayer.
  • 7 (31:08) **Recognition vs. Reception** - Williams points out that Rhoda recognized the answer but did not open the gate, announcing what she had not yet obeyed.

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Guests on this episode

Lonnell Williams

Show Notes

Our dynamic message series FRUIT THAT REMAINS comes to a powerful close as Pastor Lonnell Williams teaches from Acts 12:12–16, where the Church is gathered in earnest prayer for Peter while carrying the weight of what they have already lost.


They were close enough to hear the answer, but not yet willing to open the door. What happens when the last answer still hurts and what God gives does not look like what we asked for? Pain can tell us what happened, but it cannot tell us what God will do next.

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