Acts 12 - Daily Bible Study

welcome to branch together my name is Jared and today we're reading from Acts chapter 12 before we dive in and take a moment and pray together so would you pray with me Lord help us be thankful today it's so easy to be cynical to be frustrated to be thinking about all the different things going on people are busy life is hard sometimes help us be thankful help us be thankful that you made this world and we get to live in it even amidst the pain and hurt and suffering help us be thankful that we're alive today thankful that you called this world into being and most important help us to be thankful that you are God it doesn't abandon us but loves us that came and suffered and died you are a God who knows suffering who knows what it's like to be human and you are a God whose conquered death and hell and brought about resurrection God amidst all the trials of today help us be thankful for resurrection hope and fill us with that hope give us a hope in your good future that helps us endure all that's going on today and Lord today we pray for those who are hurting for those that are suffering for those that are in dark places where it's hard to see you Lord shine your light into their life Lord we ask and pray that you would reveal yourself to this world that you would break the bonds of evil and war and death and darkness and that you would use those who follow you to be ancients of mercy agents of compassion agents of peace and agents of love in your world it's in your name we pray amen Acts chapter 12 about that time King Herod laid hands on some from the church to harm them he had James the brother of John executed with a sword when he saw that this pleased the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter - this took place during the feast of unleavened bread when he had seized him he put him in prison handing him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him Herod planned to bring him out for public trial after the Passover so Peter was kept in prison but those in the church were earnestly praying to God for him on that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the prison cell he struck Peter on the side and woke him up saying get up quickly and the chains fell off Peters wrists the angel said to him fasten your belt and put on your sandals Peter did so then the angel said to him put on your cloak and follow me Peter went out and followed him he did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real but thought he was seeing a vision after they had passed the first and second guards they came to the iron gate leading into the city it opened for them by itself and they went outside and walked down one narrow street when at once the angel left him when Peter came to himself he said now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting to happen when Peter realized this he went to the house of Mary the mother of John mark where many people had gathered together and were praying when he knocked to the door of the outer gate a slave girl named Rhoda answered when she recognized Peters voice she was so overjoyed she did not open the gate but ran back in and told them that Peter was standing at the gate but they said to her you've lost your mind but she kept insisting that it was Peter and they kept saying it is his angel now Peter continued knocking and when they opened the door and saw him they were greatly astonished he motioned to them with his hand to be quiet and then related how the Lord had brought him out of the prison he said tell James and the brothers these things and then he left and went to another place at daybreak there was great consternation among the soldiers over what had become of Peter when Herod had searched for him and did not find him he questioned the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there now Herod was having an angry quarrel with the people of tyree in Sidon so they joined together and presented themselves before him and after convincing Blastoise the Kings personal assistant to help them they asked for because their country's food supply was provided by the Kings country on a day determined in advanced Herod put on his royal robes sat down on the judgment seat and made a speech to them but the crowd began to shout the voice of a God and not of a man immediately an angel the Lord struck down Herod struck carried down because he did not give the glory to God and he was eaten by worms and died but the Word of God kept on increasing and multiplying so Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem where they had completed their mission bringing along with them John Mark so two things happen in acts 12 faithfulness to God leads to persecution pain and suffering and it also leads to seeing God's mighty deliverance James is killed in this chapter it's stated and simple matter of fact terms hebard reaches out and kills one of the first followers of Jesus one of Jesus's inner circle this please some people so he went after Peter next and God delivers Peter from the hands of his captors in a way that simply embarrasses Herod's Herod's soldiers Herod isn't also struck down by an angel of the Lord for his pride in this unwillingness to give God glory and through it all the Word of God increased and multiplied there's conflict and there's God being at work in ways that we can and in ways that we cannot see that should be what the church expects when she lives out her mission the church the followers of Jesus have a calling to live out the mission to be a part of increasing and multiplying the Word of God and that means to be sharing this good news to helping other people come to faith and understand the faith to helping others grow in faith and grow and knowing Jesus and his spirit and his father to be living a life that proclaims this good news and as followers of Jesus do that it will always lead to conflict in our world because people will not believe and the message about Jesus will offend many and threaten many others Herod wants to be king so this message of Jesus offends him many of the religious leaders of Israel hated the message about Jesus because it threatened their power and it conflicted with their deeply held religious beliefs Jesus was persecuted by the Herod government and the Israelite church leaders the same thing happens to his followers and it is fair to expect the same thing today belief in Jesus following Jesus leads to a few simple things that will create conflict first you end up worshiping Jesus while other people around you worship other things so there's a conflict and over what it is - what is to be worshiped when you start living for Jesus and what he calls you to live for you confuse and sometimes offend people that live for other things a second problem and it's similar to the first is that you declare Jesus as your king an authority and leader and that's going to offend others who want to be Kings or want to have authority over your life or want to be leaders in your life so you should expect conflict but trust the true king Jesus love him live for him share his word share his good news and let the chips fall where they may this chapter is a hard teaching it might be that you come into conflict and God does some really cool powerful things like what happens to Peter you might come into conflict and be cut down like James part of Jesus part of following Jesus is coming to the realization that our life is not our own and that our only hope in life and death is that we are not our own but belong to God Peter belongs to God and God's purpose for him was to continue to have him be his powerful witness for a time James belongs to God and James time of being a faithful witness was done and he was put to the sword and I realized that's opening up a can of worms as to why Peter was delivered and James was put to the sword but we can't get into that today but in life and in death trust God be faithful follow him be a witness to him and then trust him with your life and your death and know that even when trials come that his love is stronger than death and even in death there is hope of Resurrection a new heaven a new earth where God Himself will be with us again and where he will wipe away every tear from every eye and James got to meet the father and have his tears wiped away a few years before Peter did and Peter got the great opportunity to continue to being a witness in this world and then he too was ultimately persecuted and killed and got to meet his father as well that's all for today as always please feel free to share what you're thinking your questions your comments we're happy to hear them we'd love to hear them yeah reach out to us and I hope you have a great day and we'll see you next time on Orange together [Music] you

Channel: Branch Together

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Id: C3TXjj_oqGQ

Length: 10min 6sec (606 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 15 2018