Acts 12:1-11 - Peter, Prison, and Prayer

alright let's open our Bibles tonight to Acts chapter 12 verse 1 as we continue our journey through the book of Acts so we've got our reports back of our folks watching online we have nearly 2,000 folks that watch online so during the month so you can wave to them I see you sitting there in your underwear put on some love no idea what they're doing anyway that's a that's a quite a reach we got a letter from a fella in South Korea a pastor who listens every Sunday from a fella in Turkey who is meeting with his family and out in the house to teach them the Bible so God is you know there's some good things that technology has it's not all Facebook sometimes it's good stuff so keep that in your prayers and nonetheless the book of Acts is 30 years of history it is the first 3035 years of the church it is everything you would want to know and that the Lord Lord would have us know about the church as it was born how he blessed it what they came to do what the church should do and so it is a great book to read as a church member a person who belongs to Jesus this is the way that the church should behave this is what we should invest ourselves in this is the kind of people that God uses and things haven't changed I mean our culture has changed but but God began this work by his Spirit and that work will continue by his spirit in fact one of the most often quoted little phrases in the book of Acts is they were filled with the spirit or led of the spirit or by the Holy Spirit and we're gonna read that a whole lot more before we get to the end of the book we are currently in chapter 12 we have gone through 10 years of the early church or so we've spent a lot of time with Peter in the last little while as God brought Peter through these the prejudice of being a Jew and how when he got saved and that God actually wanted to save Gentiles and we we went with Peter and when we learned with Peter and and the the church was quickly adopting if he will the heart of God to save all men in chapter 12 or so we begin if you will with the Ministry of Paul but before we do we have to put kind of Peter to bed we're gonna spend the next couple of weeks still with Peter but notice if you look back even to chapter 11 that the the church that was born in in Antioch in Syria what was a work that God did through a fellow named Barnabas there had been a whole lot of folks that ran off when Stephen was killed in Jerusalem most of the people hadn't gone very far but there were some folks who had traveled 300 miles to the north and they began to share with what were called the Helenus those were for the most part Jews that lived in Gentile cultures but you couldn't even identify them in the way they behaved from those that were in Jerusalem which were you know purely practicing Judaism if you will much more legally if you will and so God began this work Barnabas was there he loved what he saw he realized he wasn't a teacher though there was a moving of God's Spirit what far away from Jerusalem certainly as far away as we've gone in the book of Acts Barnabas having a relationship with Paul years earlier went to finds Paul he lived in Tarsus it wasn't that far away about a hundred miles or so he brought him back to this Antioch Church they began to teach together and for a year they talked God's Word the place just exploded and Antioch in the Bible and in the book of act becomes the central sending place the central ruling place for the church work of reaching the world for the next you know 50 years so we find this church that was birthed as really the center of God's missionary efforts to reach the world and it is from there that Paul will be sent out it is to them there that Paul will go back to respond to to the people who have been praying for him and gives reports he's accountable to this church who has been involved with him from the beginning we also learned in Acts chapter 11 as well as we were finishing the chapter that there in Antioch there were some prophets who had showed up that began to bring God's Word for there was a fella named Agabus you'll run into him in about 10 chapters again he turned out to be a true prophet of God he he predicted by God's Spirit that there would be a famine that was coming into Jerusalem and and the poor there and so this young little church that Paul and Barnabas were pastoring with others determined to send relief and they gathered money together and they sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to drop the money off and just to say we want to bless you guys and you know so thankful for what the word is Lord has done and this this young little church became really the place where where God began to just reach out to people around them so it is a integrated interrelated body that works in harmony there is a a great revelation I think in the book of Acts of how God brings all people together under the one banner of his son tonight Luke will take us back to Jerusalem at a time when the Romans have gotten angry at the church for for most of the time up to this point it has been the the Jews that have turned against the believer but now it comes more from Rome itself and it comes about the time that at the end of chapter 11 the aid has showed up from Antioch for the poor like I said by the time we get to chapter 13 and beyond we will be running with Paul the rest of the way through the book of Acts we will be bringing you in the next couple of weeks very nice clearing detailed maps of Paul's travels how far he went how when we're able to tell you how long he stayed in places we can do that but hopefully by the time we get to the end of the book of Acts you're gonna feel really good about how God works and how he worked to establish this this work of his church throughout the world early on tonight just 11 verses we're gonna start verse one and head towards verse 11 and we'll get Peter out of jail next week we'll get him to join the church over there that was praying for him talk about answered prayer and how big is a mustard seed faith really and that'll be next week but tonight we want to just look at Peter prison and prayer three-piece Peter prison and prayer and by like I said by the time we get to verse 17 we will read that Peter has departed and aside from one meeting in chapter 15 we won't seen or hearing from Peter again in the book of Acts so let's start at verse one now about that time that time being if you look back for the fort verses before about that time that Paul and and Barnabas showed up six three hundred miles away to deliver these goods about that time Herod the King stretched out his hand to harass some of the church there are lots of Herod's in the Bible and if you are new to the Bible or you're a young believer easy to get confused when you read because there are a lot of them and you want to know who is who I'll help you with that today but it would be something that you certainly want to kind of get a hold of from a historical standpoint this would be herod agrippa the first which would mean he is the grandson of herod the great herod the great was that fella who years earlier had demanded that they murder all of the male children two years old and under in the bethlehem kind of district because he had heard that the messiah had been born from the from the magi and and he wanted to be sure that if there was a possible birth of a messiah he got rid of them because he had absolutely this desire to hold on to power herod agrippa the first was like I said his grandson he was also this Herod the the nephew of a fella named Herod Antipas Antipas was the fella who beheaded John the Baptist and you remember that he questioned him about his illicit relationship with another woman that wasn't his wife in fact it was his brother's wife it is that Herod Antipas that Pilate sent Jesus to when he tried to get out from under having to make any decision about him so this Herod here was the nephew to that Herod Antipas the grandson of Herod the Great Herod the Great married a Maccabee nian Maccabee and woman named Mara niece and from history now he had eight wives he killed six of them because he was worried about them turning on him before he murdered her however she birth to a son named heir establish eros Tablas was one of the 15 sons that Herod had put to death in his paranoia so this was a crazy man this Herod the Great he sought to protect this throne well before Aerys Tablas was put to death he had a son named Herod Agrippa the first this Herod his mother quickly sent him to Rome he she hid him from this crazy lunatic grandfather Herod the Great in Rome this Herod a grip of the first brief ended a guy named Gaius Gaius was the grand nephew of Tiberius Caesar you there won't be a test on this don't worry who later Lea changed his name to Emperor Caligula you might remember from history in 37 ad and he gave to Agrippa this position as king over Galilee and Perea that area on the other side of the Jordan River because they he did such a good job Caligula finally gave to him the rulership over Judah as well it would be his son Herod Agrippa the second that we will find Paul appearing before years down the road when he is imprisoned in Caesarea and asked to go to Rome so there's a bunch of Herod's you can space them on your mind by time and and since you know Bible history pretty well you can kind of place them in the right places but this is Herod Agrippa the first this Herod was very interested in Judaism in fact he was an I do Mian which meant he was a distant descendant of Esau they were sometimes called cosmonium so that came from the house mon Ian's kingdom if you will so he had a Jewish background in his history Josephus the Greek Jewish historian wrote that there was rarely a day that passed in the life of Herod Agrippa the first this Herod when he didn't come to the temple to offer sacrifice he was very much in thrall with Judaism he was liked by the Jewish population more than any Roman overseer in these days so that's the days in which we find ourselves here notice that he Herod targeted the church and in particular the Apostles who for the most part were the only people that really in leadership stayed within Jerusalem up to this time that wouldn't last but they were still there now so he had come to harass them and to disperse them and to continue to go after the believers in Jesus and he did so with a purpose and his purpose very clear he loved Judaism and he wanted the respect of the Jews he oversaw the Galilee the the per Ian's ministry the the the Judy an area that he was pretty much over every place that the Jews call home and so this was good for him and he liked it and they kind of aspired to him he saw this Christian sect as an easy target to make points with the Jews that he ruled over and I suspect that the the Jews in town their ire was raised when they began to hear that this church was now accepting Gentiles so it wasn't just a you know they're preaching Christ but now they were preaching it to John Gentiles which you know it didn't sit well with him at all so there's this fresh kind of round of opposition ten years in that begins here in this time when Paul and Barnabas also arrived with money from the Gentile fellowship in Antioch for the poor and notice that he begins to harass verse 2 says he kills James the brother of John with a sword so he promptly arrests James the Apostle the brother of John one of the two funds of those sons of thunder he is the first apostle martyred the second person in the book of Acts that is martyred by name along with obviously Stephen just for his faith and he is the brother of John now he ran into James and John I mean these guys were studs in the church right these were these were guys that had been around since the beginning in fact you might remember that James and John's mom mom came to Jesus there and in Matthew chapter 20 right they the mother of Zebedee sits children and she said to Jesus she's actually got on her knees in front of Jesus in a crowd and Jesus said what do you want and says I just want you to grant me that one of my sons could sit on your right hand and the other above my boys can sit on your lifetime when you take over or come into your kingdom and Jesus said you don't know what you're asking for you don't understand what the cost is of sitting there are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I'm about to be baptized with he talked about his suffering and they said oh yeah whatever it takes to get the job we're gonna do didn't get it at all didn't really hear it and Jesus said to them you will indeed drink the cup and you will be baptized with the baptism that I am being baptized with but as far as sitting on my right hand on my left that's not mine to get that is prepared for those by their father who he's chosen that's really not I can't give you that but you are gonna suffer an interesting enough here comes James and the first apostle to face his death for his faith was James now John would later be excised exiled to Patmos for his faith we we took a group to the footsteps of Paul this last year and and we were able to spend the day in Patmos where he was exiled as it's you know it's a barren kind of a place it's close enough to the coast to realize you're not there but far enough away to where you can't get there he is the only Apostle John who will not die and martyrdom for his faith though again history tells us they tried to boil him in oil and it didn't work I can only assume that God was involved with that because usually you know it works so God delivered him through it but the cup of suffering you know in this life can be severe for walking with the Lord now we're gonna read of another James later the the senior pastor in Jerusalem he is the half-brother to Jesus he wrote the book of James not this guy is another guy so you can kind of keep your Herod's in James all scraped in your mind well he kills James with a sword not for any other reason than for his faith and that we read in verse 2 of verse 3 because he saw that it pleased the Jews he proceeded further to seize Peter also but now was the day or during the the days of unleavened bread so here's an insight in the first century into the depth despotism and the abuse of power in Rome Peter was arrested for doing nothing James was killed for the same thing they were both believers in Christ outspokenly so they were an offense to the Jews obviously Peter who had caused lots of controversy and going to preach at the house of Cornelius I'm sure that that was local news I'm sure everyone knew it was a big deal and yet because he you know was an enemy if you will to the the religion of the Jews at the time Herod grabs Peter up after he had killed James because he just sees this is gonna be even more favor for him to curry from the people that he is overseeing it's a pretty good commentary on Romans power at the time Rome power and also on the the nation of Israel at the time and their extreme hatred for Jesus ten years later it's still the war that that rages right you can read over in verse 11 where Peter is delivered and we're gonna stop with that verse tonight but when Peter gets outside this is what he says to himself I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel Aeneas delivered us for our delivered me from a the hand of Herod and be from the expectation of the Jewish people they wanted an expected Peter to be dead so both Herod and the people that were ruling were now gathered against the church and I suspect that Peter was a far bigger fish to fry than James was at least from what we are given to understand that his outspoken nature his ministry was well known to the church and the the nation to see him killed this is the the climate in which the Word of God is going forth I know that we we complain sometime that we live in this generation that's so anti God in so many ways but but God does his best work when there's opposition right and these guys stayed the course I mean the church thrive while we're gonna read his it's thriving church through all of this so be it don't be too discouraged when uh you know we live in California the worst all right then shine the brightest be that light so Herod knew the people he was ruling well he planned to give them what they wanted the nation expected him to die you should understand that you know just a few years down the road you know 25 years down the road that that that the nation is going to be overthrown by the Romans and and the the tenth Legion led by Titus and they're going to be dispersed out of their land for for you know nearly two thousand years and they continue to reject Jesus now the the comment at the end of verse three is is important because the feast of unleavened bread were those seven days that followed the feast of Passover and and they were whether they were you know filled with different kinds of offering the main activity during this time was for everyone in the house to scour it you know if from a high and low and every place that you could look just looking for leaven which was a type of sin right in the Bible represented sin that gets in and it affects the whole bread and or yeast if you will so outwardly their homes were were ceremonially cleanse during this time inwardly these religious folks wickedly were joying in the fact that peters about to die it's kind of a weird picture right on the outside they're all going through their religious ritual on their in their to go hey next to monday high five peter is done you know we've had enough of that guy so they are looking forward to the coming death of some church leaders but it shows how little religious tradition can impact your heart you need to be born again the Jewish law did not allow for trials or executions during feast days which if you just look backward jesus' trial was the most unusual and the most illegal in every way but he had come to give us life so here the mention is that that Herod arrests Peter but he wants to wait until you know the the end of the holidays to carry forth his nefarious plans if you will and he hoped to fully take advantage of of the fact that ever he's making a lot of people happy under him he's gonna have an easier time of it in Rome's gonna be real happy with him it's gonna look good even though he just have to kill off a few you know believing Apostles if you will so in the meantime verse four when he had arrested him he put him in prison and he delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him intending to bring him before the people after this week of the Passover the word squad is the is the Greek word qua terraeum it means for there are four squads of four soldiers or if you will sixteen soldiers in all it seems like for each shift we're working to two guard Peter during the week of waiting his story historically were told that Romans when they had maximum security put two soldiers in the prison cell with the sort with a prisoner and had them both chained to him so here's a guy that's chained to soldiers there are two soldiers that stand outside the cell in case anyone would like to come from the outside to break them out and and Peter got treated as a dangerous you know criminal who could not be trusted who folds the greatest kind of threat this is maximum security ministry if you will why so many well ok if you've been with us since we started Herod had been told by the Jews what happened the last time Peter had been put in prison in Acts chapter five and you might remember that they had locked him up in the common prison that night but at night the angel of Lord had come and opened the prison and they just got out now they didn't leave they they just went back to the temple him start preaching again but he had a history of escape Oh Peter you couldn't put him in Alcatraz he'll get away right I mean the Lord was with Peter so let's really keep an eye on this guy this has happened before and it was embarrassing so Herod's taking no chances we know the sixteen guards could not keep the Lord from having his way but understand that from a worldly perspective and Herod in all of his might he just beeps up security to the max this is as much as I can do and then certainly we're going to be fine it would have been I would think just try to put yourself in Peters shoes it must have been a long week for Peter he is being held at the Antonio fortress it was Rome and Romans presence on the Temple Mount because that's where all the trouble was in Jerusalem and in the northwest corner of the Temple Mount there is this holding tank it's where the is where the soldiers lived it's where they were always ready for for riots and and and fallout and it happened there a lot so they kept the soldiers there to quench the problems and all and meanwhile Herod is just waking to make sure that Peter after he gets through this week is gonna be his next public relations execution his ideas after the feast were killing a guy the expectation of the nation is when this feast is over we're killing a guy and then you're the guy you're Peter how did Peter feel I don't know life is over I mean think about it James is dead and he's next this is not an idle threat this was a truth this is happening Jesus had met with Peter remember in John 21 and when Peter questioned what Jesus said to John which hip some had misinterpreted that he was going to last until Jesus returned and he said to Jesus what about John and Peter said look or Jesus said let me worry about John but let me talk to you when you're young you were able to dress yourself and walk around wherever you want but when you get older they're gonna stretch out your hands and they're gonna somebody else are gonna dress you and they're gonna carry you where you don't want to go and then then John writes this he spoke to Peter concerning his death with which he should glorify the Lord and most people reading that and looking ahead realized that Peter a few years down the road was crucified us Pillai die out not because that's how they killed people Peter didn't want to be killed away Jesus was he he said I'm not worried they put me upside down right so Peter knows this so I don't know if Peter watching the sword be applied to James if he thought well I'm getting out number one I'm not that old and number two they're not crucifying innovative these Romans they're they're killing you with a sword these days don't know if that entered into his mind or not I don't think that would have been much comfort but it had to be a long week of just wondering we're told in verse five that Peter was therefore kept in the prison and meanwhile there was a constant prayer being offered to God for him by the church the empty the the iron gates I should say swung closed in Herod's prison but the gates of heaven stood wide open and the church was crying out for Peters life it is hard to determine from the Bible and certainly history doesn't tell us on what day of the seven day event Peter was arrested we don't know we just know it was during that week but we do know that when he was arrested there was an emergency prayer meeting at the church which was which went on constantly this was pretty serious business right this the church imagine if that was us the second apostle in a week has been arrested one has been murdered the other one is slated for Monday if you've ever prayed before pray now and in the Church of Jerusalem there was constant prayer the word echo test means without let-up this was a day and night kind of dedication intently to ask the Lord for help this word constant is sometimes it translated fervent other times myrrh more earnestly all means the same thing this was prayer with with a kind of urgency that you find when you really need God to do something right this week heaven was being bombarded the throne of God with the cries of the saints for Peter's deliverance I know that you all pray but when you really need something here there's a difference in how you pray we had this week the opportunity to have a National Day of Prayer so thankful for all of you that showed up and prayed with us but but I think that that if there was a fervency about our concern for the nation we would pray a lot more than one day a year it would be part of our our cries to God on a continual basis because as your need is well it is aware if as you're aware of your need as your cognitive of your need prayer tends to be the way that you turn because now if God doesn't work you've heard people say all we can do now is pray which belies their hope and God because if that's all you see you don't know the Lord a bit you should always pray first don't do anything until you pray and when you've done that pray some more it's the most powerful gift that God has given you access to his throne well that's how this church was praying in this generation it meant more to them than anything else and if your country means more to you than anything else pray not just one day your pray for every day we got elections coming up and and things going on Lord revive us pray for revival in America would it be cool to have a huge national revival in our country man that's what I'm asking for so the the church was encouraged to pray by their faith in God by their experience with God they can remember back when Peter and John were first arrested and the church pray and they were able to be let go the same night or the next morning they let him go then all of the apostles were grabbed in chapter 5 and and that didn't look good in fact you know this time the Romans had kind of beaten up on some of them towards the end of chapter 5 but there was a miracle again they were released so let's pray again it seems like God's baton - 4 - as far as jailbreaks or concerns so the world plans and the church prays and I would say to you never done duress tomatoe power of prayer it is one of the greatest lessons in the book of Acts the effective prayers of the Saints cannot be minimized pray and then pray some more it is an amazing and amazing work I believe and we have prayer meetings here a lot we meet on Saturday mornings we we meet during the services we we have Tuesday morning we have a prayer time as well but I think if we as a church truly believe God answers prayer rather than the 50 or 60 people that show up every week we'd have a thousand people showing up I know some people just can't you're busy but I'm just saying if you really have that kind of an urgency you go to the doctor Mario goes you got cancer and got three weeks to live you're praying you're praying like I've never heard you pray maybe the Lord Lance or maybe you won't but I'll guarantee all of a sudden there's time in your life for prayer and there's a a reason to pray so I understand that the church here was you know they're there they're the minority they're under the gun they've got no power except God's power and their leader Peter certainly the Big Shot if the early church right preached on Pentecost went to the Gentiles he seems to be at everything that really the church can can point to and now that he's slated to die they took this seriously and they really began to pray they really began to pray and to cry out to the Lord and to ask him to deliver them constant prayer day and night you know up all night as Peter was was about to be brought out to what would become a mock trial and then execution with no reservation by a guy that could have cared less had absolute power that's all that we know about that week except for verse 6 in it and when Herod was about to bring him out the night that night so the night before his execution that night Peter was sleeping he was bound with two chains between the two soldiers and the guards stood before the door that were keeping the prison so again there's that quarter Nyan that that four guard if you will the time of his execution had arrived the church had been praying and egg with eggs anxiety and anguish if you will in earnestness and here we find Peter sound asleep the night before he was to be killed what would you be doing on the evening before your execution sleeping soundly you've done nothing wrong you just preached Jesus and they don't like it and we're gonna just take your life as a result was he pale with fear is he unable to rest was he ready to deny the Lord just a lengthen his life or to save his neck was he praying with courage for strength no Peter was snoring he was snoring all right let me give you this to you he slowly he sleeps a lot in the Bible he's kind of known for sleeping if it's not shooting his mouth off it's sleeping right at the Mount of Transfiguration fell asleep woke up and started shooting his mouth off to where the father and heaven had to say hey listen to Jesus shut up Peter I Blair that's right in there the your original you go read on the Garden of Gethsemane watch with me for an hour and Peter went yeah I gotta go to sleep now he's about to get killed dawn oh falls asleep again on the mountain he failed to expect to see anything in the garden we are told his spirit was willing but his flesh was weak but I think here honestly I think Peter went to sleep because he trusted the Lord we've got Peter 10 years away from being saved and 10 years away from you know having all those experiences with the Lord and and it seems like you know Peter finds himself at rest if you will before the Lord that Psalm chapter 4 verse a now I lay me down to sleep and peace for you alone God can make me to school dwell in safety I think Peter finally went to sleep because he he'd arrived at a place of maturity spiritually because I don't know how else you go to sleep when you just know everyone's gonna cheer your death except the church himself so no doubt the prayers of the Saints had and strengthened him maybe his conversation with Jesus there in John 21 assured him this wasn't the time to die but but notice verse 7 it says now behold an angel of the Lord stood by him and the light shined into the prison and he still had to strike Peter to wake him up that's pretty amazing the angel shows up he turns on the light and he still got to kick your bed so Peter wasn't just slumbering Peter was snoring he was out he was in REM sleep right there in the vial he was dreaming right he was out like light in fact when he gets out of jail he says to himself I'm dreaming let's be dreaming because I'm amazed I'm about to be sprung from prison so he's sleeping so soundly that an angel of the Lord has to shove him or stir him turns on the light doesn't wake him in I can just see the angel going back to haven't gone now there's that guy who really trusts God I had to shake him just to wake him up a couple of things that I want you to see verse 7 you Luke uses an interesting word for prison here one that you won't normally find for prison he uses the word okay me which means home or house but it is usually a word that you when you say I'm going home that's really what the translation it's interesting that Peter had settled down at home in a place of prison because God had put him there and he was at peace where where the Lord had brought them it really suggests that Peter wherever God put him was at home as long as the Lord's with me I'm good right even in this horrible place that was really a holding cell for him to die we read in verse 7 that the angel when he finally shook his bed and got him up said this to him hurry up org arise quickly as the chains fell off his hands here's my question and I always suggest to you that you should read the Bible with questions my first question when I read this for the first time years ago was why is he since such a hurry like the guys are gonna wake up right I mean they're in charged obviously these guys have passed out no one else around the chains are falling up doors are opening hurry up Peter where's the where does the angel going what is the deal here and I would say to you that that all I've been able to come up with over the years was that a when you find angels in the Bible doing God's work more often than that you will read that there in her don't know why but go check it out I guarantee I'm look I've looked am right not all of them but a lot of hurry up cuts go here we go and and I think that the second reason maybe the underlining one is when God wants you to do something you should get busy doing it and not drag your feet right come on if the Lord is moving let's go it's a Lord would you remember a lot come on let's go come on dragging around ain't just trying to move there always we're just dragging our feet Peter get dressed let's go buddy who's here - come on you gotta go there's no reason for him to be in a hurry except we get to the Bible we read redeem the day's because they're evil in other words get busy quit putting off quit you know putting distance between you and the thing of that goddess conjugate busy go do it now you may not have tomorrow but you have it - you can do it today so get busy and I think that that is maybe the lesson for us the fact the fact that the chains fall off and the guards are apparently comatose you know those are things only God could do but Peter could hurry up right God did his part Peter has to do his that's always the way it is and I think it's a lesson that that is worth learning get dressed he tells them right get up verse 8 gird yourself tie on your sandals let's go pow what he doing he's like a drill sergeant this angel put on your garments let's go follow me all right all right but I think this is the deal there is this mixture when God works of the ordinary with the extraordinary why couldn't the Lord have just woke Peter up and his clothes are already on it it seems to me that would have been a small there you go now we got that he is the Lord but the Lord does what you can't do the guards can't wake up the chains fall off the door opens wide hey Peter put on your shoes dude come on put on your pants you doing shaking Peter let's go let's go with the loaves and the fishes you remember that miracle Jesus multiplied to feed thousands but then he had Twelve Apostles run up and down the hills to serve people he could have just given everyone some man okay close your eyes there you go fishing ships for everyone that could have done it but he makes these guys run up here you go you need more bread I'll be right back and there's that part that we can do and then there's a part that we can't do and it's a lesson that's repeated constantly and I tell you why God loves for you to participate in his miraculous work but it's gonna require you to do something that you can do for example you want people to could save you go tell them the gospel and God will have to save them you want to see you see somebody get healed you pray you lay your hands on their then depend upon God to do what you can't do you see there's things you can do and God waits for you to do those he doesn't need you don't get the wrong idea but he wants you to participate and it becomes this this important kind of lesson what went when Lazarus was raised from the dead he'd been in the grave for days he comes out wrapped up like a Jewish guy all wrapped up and and what does the Lord says take that stuff off of him well I mean just raise him up and have it fall off be cooler because you can do that we can't raise him from the dead when gyrus his daughter is raised from the dead the Lord says to her parents give her something to eat couldn't you just raise her up full come on do the whole deal no he does what he can't you can't you do what you can not he's not dependent upon you mind you but you want you to learn that you participate with him and your dependences of punga but you don't get lazy don't sit around you'll put your hands in your pockets these people that tell me although I'm looking for a job if you got out not gonna know man I'm waiting for the Lord to call me he's not gonna call you go fill out some applications then see what he does you can't you can't move a boat that's docked man we're going out to the ocean know you're stuck down the dock you knucklehead go untie paddle God loves you for you to participate but but remember this and you can learn it here he'll do what you cannot he will not do what you can just the way it works verse nine got me fired up now and he went happened he and he followed him Peter did and he didn't know what was being done by the angel whether it was real or whether he was seeing a vision and when they got past the first and then the second guard posts they came to the iron gates that lead to the city which opened to them of its own accord and they went out into the street one Street and immediately the angel departed from Peter okay Peter doesn't know whether he is dreaming or he's awake sometimes people ask me what's the difference between a bridge vision and a dream and to be honest with you from a biblical standpoint I can't even tell you have no idea they're both works of God they learn somehow I'm involved with right Peter I think got outside of thought man I'm half asleep and I'm dreaming I'm getting out of here and that's probably exactly what I want but it seems to me that dreams and visions in the Bible are almost interchangeable terms and Peter says so here by his question I've always wondered if I had a dream and I just you know it's a vision but I just thought it was just a dream Peter had had them before he's just not sure I know there's a great verse in the scriptures for the timid there's a verse and one of my favorite verses it's an inn saw proverbs 14 verse 4 and it says where there is no oxen the trough is clean but great increase will come from the strength of an ox translation if you don't want to pay a price you don't get anything in return yeah look how clean the barn is yeah but you don't have a horse if you had a horse you'd get a lot of work done but then it comes with cleaning and feeding and intending and but if you don't wanna pay the price then you know you're also not gonna see anything so take a step of faith right if you are off at worst I think if you get an animal you'll end up with a dirty barn but at least you'll be in the will of God I always think as a read of this of Peter that if there's nothing ventured there's nothing gained there's no safety on the sidelines you don't get anything done well anyway Peter gets out of prison he's not sure he just he sees all this but he's not sure what's going on until he gets outside and now he's standing outside the gates and it's nighttime and maybe it's cold I don't know but he looks around the angels gone and then he goes I guess this is a this is really a miracle in fact verse 11 it says in Peter had comes to him when he came to himself said now I know for certain the Lord sent the angel he's delivered me from the hand of Herod and he's delivered me from the expectation of the Jewish people again notice the the balance between the divine and the mundane if maybe that's a better way to put it the angel gets him out but he's got to have to figure out now that he's out where to go now you're on your own well can you just take me can you give me a Oberer angel do your best then commit the rest now outside like I said Peter comes to himself he realizes he's not dreaming and to Peter's surprise he realizes that God has delivered him from Herod's wickedness and from the expectation product 'ya is the word it means fervent hope of the Jewish people they wanted him dead they're not gonna get him to Herod to use them for a political game that wasn't gonna happen thank you Lord you got me out Peter wakes up and he's standing in the street you don't know what to do angels gone God has done what he could not do so that he can do what he can so how do we apply these lessons well here's a couple things to think about verse 1 and verse 11 would would tell you or verse 2 I should say at verse 11 should should bring you the question why didn't God spare James and what had he done that was so bad that he got take it out early cuz I know Peter and he's done a lot of stupid stuff I wouldn't vote for him to be saved maybe James right I mean from a purely observational standpoint maybe Peter deserves it and James doesn't we cannot know in the from a Bible perspective the purposes of God and all that he does and it is further confused to us by the apparent inconsistencies and God's actions here he delivers Peter while James is murdered by those wicked men and whenever you look at the things of God and you don't have any understanding or you have no explanation then go back to the light that you do have in other words get as close to the answer as you can even though you may not get a specific one because there's lots that you know about God that doesn't change that he's a good guy that he wants to be known that he's for you or not against you that he he's gonna finish the work that he started that he he does all things well I mean you can make a list so before you get to the oh I had a jam to die and not Peter well start down the road with the things that you know so yeah you're not like falling off the cliff all the time with all these answers that you can't come up with one thing for sure God's plan for James and his ministry were finished right he had run his race he had made it around the track he had he had done what the Lord gave him to do and he had fully run his race one day down the road Peter will run his last lap as well and he will not get delivered there'll be no divine jailbreak there will just be this brutal upside-down crucifixion for a man of his safe but not yet not yet the difference between James and Peter is time and God's timing that's all those are the only things God has numbered your Dave's and mine he has appointed to us a set of days if you faithfully walk with God you can be assured of seeing all of them but there are certainly ways you can cut off your life from God's complete revelation and people do it all the time God has appointed a a life for you you can live it to the fullest for his glory but then even so when his plans are finished you'll be finished no matter when that is we do our and our told in the Bible that that disobedient lives can cut lives short whereas faithfulness is a key to find all that God has for you that doesn't mean you live to be a hundred I met a lady here by the way Sunday I don't know if it was I don't think it was her first time here but not matter she came up to me and when you're older you tell people right away how old you are it's like you're a kid right I'm five and a half I'd be six in July this lady said hi I'm a hundred and two I said you got to be kidding me she goes and I do water aerobics every day you're the best she was born in 1916 well whatever she's doing man the Lord has plans for her and that was pretty amazing to think about she has been arrested a long long time if you walk faithfully you will see all that God plans but but if you don't and Paul said it to the Corinthian church there's folks here taking communion not discerning the Lord's body and they've died doesn't say they should have died they died because of their sin sin cut off and cut them short from all that God intended for them to have we can certainly have hand in that but at the same time God's plan plans will not be forded so there's that balance but like I said it doesn't mean you live to be a hundred you'll just fully accomplish God's purposes if you go to Genesis chapter 5 for example you begin to read you have a list there of the righteous branch of Adam through his son Seth right the descendants of Seth which will eventually lead you to Jesus you're given their ages some of their families some of their descendants but but but invariably what you read and every one of the census at the end is and they died they died at 180 they died at 260 they died at foreigners but they just kept dying until you get to Genesis chapter 5 verse 21 where you read Enoch lived to be 65 years old and he begot he had a son named Methuselah when he had Methuselah as a son it says that Enoch began to walk with God and did so walking with the Lord for 300 years he had sons and he had daughters during that time all of the days of Enochs were three hundred and sixty-five years and then it says and Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him didn't I just got taken first interruption in this hold you died you died did I a what I've been eating 365 he's a he's a type of the rapture right where God is gonna gather one day his people the to himself Enoch was 65 years old when his son was born according to verse 24 the birth of his son turned the heart of his father to the Lord in fact they're attached in one verse he we don't know in its life prior to the birth of his son but whatever happened and however that boy was born it had a profound effect upon his father and as a result he began to walk with God and for the next 300 years that's how he lived his life in a culture that was all but not walking with God he was walking with God and then God took him his son born at sixty-five Methuselah is the longest recorded life in the Bible he lived 969 years now you would think with all the people we read about that if you lived almost a thousand years which put our 102 Leo lady to shame if you live that long that you would have a whole book in the Bible written about your accomplishments you know what let me give you the two accomplishments of Methuselah number one he dies in the year the flood which means he could have been healthy at SiC 969 number two when he was born his dad got right with God 969 years his accomplishment he turned the heart of his father to the Lord a short life not an incomplete life but neither is a long life so fruitful it assures me that that if people die young sometimes that that doesn't mean they miss that we we hear probably people at funerals sometimes talk about someone's untimely death if someone is young before they're allowed to what we believe is live out their whole life we say things like that they went before their time not true if you're walking with the Lord and compared to eternally two years a hundred years ain't gonna matter much it just matters from our perspective but if you're convinced that that when you die in this life God gathers you to have it and there's a better place for you a place of perfection then then there is no really untimely death at all Paul said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain his game he puts together one of these win-win situation right if I live I'm gonna live for Jesus if I die I'm gonna go hang out with him I can't lose that's the way he views it now you should understand that when Paul wrote that he had been given by the Lord a taste of heaven he had seen the other side he had something to go on but that's what God wants to give to us right because once we see what is waiting for us I don't think you'll ever grease those that have gone before you they'll be happy for them you'll be looking forward to meeting with them somewhere but I don't think any of them would want to come back oh just come back here are you nuts I'll just wait for you right over here you know when we cry for those that have died it's because we lose we need their friendship we need their support we miss their fellowship I feel like I've been left alone but when God's plans are over for you you'll go to be with them as they did God has a specific plan he has a specific purpose and it just seems to me that if you're walking with the Lord you'll be indestructible until he's done with you I always think about those two witnesses in Revelation 11 who you know they come and it says if anyone tries to harm them fire comes out of their mouths remember these two guys the two witnesses they devour their enemies if they if you try to mess with them they'll kill you they have the power to shut up heaven though they have the power to not to have it rain they have the power over the waters return to blood these guys are like you you see all the the Marvel comics on the DC Comics you see super eras there's a couple of superheroes at the back of the book but then you read this it says when they finish there's testimony the the Beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make more with them overcome them and kill them when they finish their work the enemy is allowed to take them out but until they're finished their work they got there they're good they're bulletproof and so are you you walk with God you be faithful to the Lord don't tempt the Lord don't go jumping off the corner of the temple but you know do what God gives you to do and I think that you can be comfortable and know that God's plans are the best so when you get to verse 11 and then verse 1 and you ask yourself why does God spare James my only answer to you is he does everything well and James is finished you don't want to be here five minutes after God's done with you you'll just be hanging around and you'll be in trouble secondly the lesson of God doing what he he will only do what you cannot and fully expecting you to do what you can as an important way right when Peter is in jail he can't get out when he's bound in chains he can't get out when the doors are locked he can't get out when he tries to get the guards II can't get out God works outside the churches praying outside the angel leaves outside Peters left on his own because now we enter into the realm of something Peter can do and I always like that do your best do your best and then let God do the rest but you do your part and I'm not saying he depends upon you to do your part but I'm telling you if you don't go out and share you'll never see anybody get saved you go how come God doesn't use me and the answer will be because you haven't done your part open your mouth tell someone pray for them how come God never answers my prayer maybe not praying and which brings me to the last point and we'll talk about it a lot next week because we're gonna find that the church last week next week that was meeting night and day for prayer at Peter the the people that were most surprised when Peter got out was them what you would think not should not have happen they should went oh man we've been praying for you I'm glad you came it's about time man we cut that close no they went that's Peter now Peters in jail no Peters on it they're always in prison maybe it's his ghost what are you crazy so here's my question the Bible says if you had the faith of a grain of mustard seed you can move mountains these guys open prison doors in prayer believing virtually none of what they were saying so how much faith you really need to move the hand of God can't cover that tonight you'll have to show up next week father we thank you tonight as we gather together for your glory and so thankful for the stories you're telling us to the history of the early church for this lesson Peter prison and prayer and that you might Lord remind us again that that there is a faith that can be had that we can sleep when when all pressure is around us that that allows us to lay our head down in peace and may that be our story tonight as well whatever we're facing we rest in your goodness and in your mercy we pray that we would step out to do what can what you've told us in terms of sharing our faith of loving the unloving we're blessing our enemies for for going out of her way to bless the poor to give to those who have need God may we do what we can but we pray that you would do what we can't open hearts open eyes use our lives to save the lost to change the direction of our country to to give us spiritual leaders rather than just political ones to give us godly overseers Lord I know that you are able to put down one and put up another in a moment's time may we pray may we minister may we invest Lord our time to see you work may we realize that the book of Acts was written to to highlight it to compliment in the praise the work God of your spirit but it is also written to teach us as your people that were to enter in and trusting and you walk with you and allow you to use us in mighty ways I but if I could just encourage you you know final 10 minutes a day to pray and start praying for something important and give yourself over to prayer and expect to see what God is going to do and put yourself in a position to begin to do what you know you should do even if you're worried if fearful or you believe you've failed in the past doesn't matter God will do what you cannot it's not up to me to save anyone but I got to tell them how they can be saved I can't get you to church I can't get you to pray can't get you to share but I can tell you what the Lord would want and then I have to depend upon God to make that real in your heart same for you do what you can let him do it you cannot and Peter will certainly teach you about that and if nothing else maybe four or five hundred of us will run out of this place and just see the world catch fire because we're willing to do what God has said and we're willing to trust him for the fruit you need prayer tonight come and let the elders lay hands on you that's what the Bible says you need prayer come let them anoint you with oil if you're sick you're hurting let's let's let's go to the throne room of God and allow him to work let's take advantage of the access to privilege that he's provided for us so you come and pray before you go home come and pray before you run off come and lay your cares before the Lord let's allow the Lord toward you do what you can't you'll do what you can't shall we stand

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Length: 60min 21sec (3621 seconds)

Published: Fri May 11 2018