Persecution, Prayer, and the Power of God- Acts 12

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Let’s Pray Together:

Luke 11:9-10 “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

Luke 11:13 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!””

Its good to see all of you this morning! How many of you were here last week!? Some of you are terrified to answer that question thinking I’m taking attendance… no, but if you weren’t here last week you missed an incredible encouragement from Coleman. I encourage all of you to go to our website or Spotify and listen or re-listen to what it looks like to have a Barnabas’ Cultured Church. A Church where we see grace in the lives of others, and come alongside it in their Growth in God. I was deeply encouraged.

We also had our second “Start Here” , the first step of our membership process. We had 53 people there and I left there also encouraged by how God is continuing to Build His church at CBC RH. So… some sundays I come to you overly caffineated, others appropriately caffinated… but today I just come encouraged.

And I pray that general feel is how you leave this morning as well. If you have your Bible, go ahead and turn with me to Acts 12.

Introduction

Napoleon Complex

How many of you have ever heard of the Napolean Complex? Better known as “Small Dog Complex”

“a domineering or aggressive attitude perceived as a form of overcompensation for being physically small or short”

Ya’ll… this totally summed up my life from age 6-18.... okay, so maybe its still there a little bit.

I was never the biggest, but I was the meanest. My attitude in sports was practically… you can never win, because I refuse to lose.

It got me pretty far in GA Single A athletics, but it also got me into some pretty trouble. Let me give you one example…

Trey

My Freshmen year in HS I was probably 5’6 130lbs sopping wet. But you couldn’t of told me that… I thought I was 6’3 215. Until I picked a fight with somebody who was actually 6’3 215.

My brother’s best friend was a Sr. and a fairly large individual, who went on to play football at the University of Georgia.

And one day at his house he wouldn’t leave me alone. Just picked at me. Nagged me. Bullied me. Everytime I sat down to play video games with his little brother he’d hit me with water balloons.

But the moment had come… I had enough.

So when he finally sat down to watch TV, I walked up to him with chest puffed out and the biggest water baloon you could make.

He said, “Don’t you even da...” And before he could finish his sentence I crow hopped and hit him with a 80mph water baloon.

I’ve never seen someone pop off a couch like that. Immediately I was RUNNING FOR MY LIFE. Serpentining through their basement, and finally out the back door.

But his chase was relentless, and after a circle around the house I came huffing and puffing back toward the house with him right on my heels.

So I did the only thing I could think of doing in such a desperate, despairing situation… I screamed, “HELP!”

I didn’t escape that day… I was delivered.

You see we had a rule in our house, older brother could pick on the younger, but nobody else was allowed too and my 175lb middle linebacker, 4 year starter brother with a full beard, came out of nowhere and just blindsided his buddy, who in that moment was my enemy.

They went toppling to the side, and I came and stood over him and said, “HA!” Then ran as fast as I could all the way home!

hers the point

But in a situation where I was utterly outmatched, and desperate for deliverance, I did the only thing I could think to do… Cry for Help. And that desperation led to my deliverance.

In today’s passage, we are going to see much the same but to a much greater and dangerous degree.

Specifically we are going to see some Persecution, Prayer, and the Power of God in deliverance.

Acts 12:1–24 ESV

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place. Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied.

Providence led to Persecution

Context

(vs1) “About that time” = the famine that was taking place and B & S were going to Jerusalem to alleviate some of the needs.

King Herod laid violent hands

King Herod was a nasty character.

His grandfather was Herod the Great

If that name sounds familiar, its because Herod the Great was the leader who had been tricked by the 3 Wise Men, and proceeded to kill all the Male Children in Bethlehem 2 years old or under.

But Herod the Great didn’t just kill JEwish boys, he actually killed his own Son… Herod of Acts 12’s father, fearful that he would usurp the throne.

So at age 8 King Herod moved to Rome with his mother where he was educated with the Roman Aristocracy.

And those relationships paid off big time, as his childhood connections ended up promoting him to ruler and leader over Galilee, Israel, Samaria, and Palestine.

He had the title King.

And this guy was a pre-eminent politician. And as such he wisely sought to win the favor of those he ruled… the Jews. He made every attempt to please the Jews and ended up carried high favor with the Pharisees and Sanhedrin.

And just like a Politician, he wanted to get “Re-elected” so he would do whatever he had to do to make the masses, the majority happy. And nothing made the Jews happer than stomping on this blashpemous sect of Christians who eat with Gentiles!

So he killed James, the brother of John. One of the sons of Thunder, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews he set his sight on the leader of the movement. Peter.

So he arrests Peter but it was during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

a 7 day celebration begining the day after Passover.

Mosaic law required a few things during this feast:

All males in Israel were to attend.

No executions could be made.

So the city is full of Jews, Herod is happy, and Peter is asitting in prison, guarded by 16 soldiers awaiting his inevitable execution.

A desperate situation.

Providence

But what I want you to see in thsese first few verses is that this was a situation solely dictated by God’s Providence.

God’s Providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe.

None of this caught God by surprise, in fact everything we are reading here was planned and predestined by God!

Herod’s Rule was God’s Providence

Daniel 2:21 “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;”

pharoh and cyrus

pontius and Jesus

James’ death was God’s Providence

It was James with his brother John who asked Jesus if they could sit at his right and left hand. And Jesus asked, “are you able to drink the cup that I drink?

Mark 10:39 “And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,”

The Arrest of Peter was God’s Providence

Peter who would later write 1 Peter 4:19 “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”

It was Providence that led to Persecution

Now I want to tred lightly here. Because some of you are walking through some intense suffering that shouldn’t be generalized for the sake of a sermon. Many of your suffering is a consequence of sin. Sin of a broken world, but also sin of specific individuals.

And God will hold accountable everyone for their sins. Vengence will be the Lord’s. But church… in His providence he has permitted it… dare I say planned it.

Yes, I believe God to be Providential over your Persecution or Pain or Suffering.

As Holocost Survivor Viktor Frankl once wrote, “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances of pain or suffering, but only when those cirumstances or sufferings lack meaning and purpose.

“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds meaning.”

Church, God’s Providence that has led to Persecution or Pain always has meaning.

We get so offended at this thought mainly because we’ve bought into the secularist lie that life is all about being HAPPY!, well at least in the way we define happiness.

But Church, God wants you to be Happy too… just Happy in HIM, not in the world. In the world you will have pain and suffering, but take heart he has overcome the world.

In His Providence he permits your pain ultimately to bring you to Him that we may be Happy in HIM above all else.

It was Providence that led to Persecution, but it was the Persecution that led to Prayer.

Persecution led to Prayer

Prayer

Acts 12:5 “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.”

What is the church doing!? Their praying.

They aren’t demonstrating by marching thru the streets. No sit in’s at the local Schwarma place. No “mostly peaceful protests”. No cancle culture of Herod the Politician.

Church, we cannot use the weapons of the world to change a culture. We must be of another culture, a Kingdom Culture, and impact it through Prayer.

Instead they did whawt they had always done… pray! “Earnestly!”

“Earnest” = stretched out, or strained.

Now here is where all our learning gets us into trouble…

We say, “Nothing happens in this universe apart from the will of God and in a certain sense everything that happens happens according to His Providence...” ---- Why then should I pray!?

If seeing and embracing the Providence of God makes us to pray less, we have not yet understood Providence or Prayer.

Providence does not make prayer optional, but vital and indespensible.

Because God, in His Providence with precision and wisdom, has chosen to hang many of his plans on the prayers of his people!

Look back with me to Acts 4. All 12 apostles had been arrested, beaten, and threatened, but upon their release they gather with the church and pray,

Acts 4:24 “And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,”

Acts 4:28 “to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

They recognized His Providence! But they continued to pray…

Acts 4:29 “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,”

And God RESPONDS, Acts 4:31 “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

CBC, the early church prayed! Because they knew that Prayer is a vital part of His Providential Plans.

Don’t let your faith in a static, intellectual doctrine keep you from experiencing the dynamic, powerful reality of prayer.

So Why Pray!?

Well other than it is commanded by God, we pray because it is effective!

And the church in Acts 12 prayed!

They prayed earnestly! (vs 5).

Often we pray so half-hearted or with nonchalance, but this was a desperate situation and desperation tends to increase dependence and the church was straining and stretching for the will of God to be accopmlished.

They prayed corporately (vs. 12).

Matthew 18:19-20 “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.””

They prayed persistently (they had been praying through the feast).

Luke 11:5-8 “And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless audacity he will rise and give him whatever he needs.”

But… they also prayed somewhat faithlessly!

When Peter came to the door, and the sweet little servant girl Rose left him standing outside knocking… I mean see the humor here. Peter needs to be incognito and she leaves him out in the street to be seen by all!

But they thought Rose was a “maniac” and thought maybe its his ghost… aka, he’s already been executed and his ghost is here!

Here they were praying for his deliverance, but not really anticipating an answer… instead expecting the worse.

Oh that encourages me. When it comes to Prayer you don’t have to have the faith that moves mountains or unlocks prison doors… you can have faith the size of the muster seed.

That’s really small! Sometimes, just the faith required to pray in the first place is sufficient.

So Pray… Persecution led the church to Prayer, but it was their Prayer that led to God’s Power.

Prayer led to God’s Power

Context

Acts 12:6 “Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.”

Alright… .hang on. If you had just witness your buddy be beheaded to the pleasure of the masses, and you had just been imprisoned, shackled with 16 guards in order to suffer the same fate… what would you be doing!?

Do you not find it odd that Peter was sleeping… on the very night.

Here we see the first point of God’s Power, it is His Power in Assurance.

God’s Power in Assurance

Peter is sound asleep, resting deeply in the Providence and Power of God.

His confidence in his future rested in his confidence in God, who is Sovereign. Providential.

Remember, Peter had already been arrested a few times, and when thrown into jail in Acts 5, he was divinely freed by the angel of the Lord who opened the prison doors.

Probably why this time they put 16 soldiers around him and chained him to 2.

Peter, knew not just theologically, but experientially that if God wanted to deliver him He possessed the power to do so.

So, as he wrote later… 1Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

But more than that, Peter was assured in God’s Assurances of Eternal Life.

Peter was a believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not just a peddling preacher. And according to that Gospel, Jesus Christ came into the world and hung on a cross to pay the penalty for all of our sin

and in so doing, he destroyed the one who had the power of death, the devil.

In this Gospel, death is not the end for someone like Peter. He can die physically, but spiritually he will live forever.

He can be away from the body, but immediately be present with the Lord.

The body can die and be sown perishable, but raised imperishable. Sown in weakness but raised in power!

Peter can sleep soundly, and close his eyes assured and confident that Death is defeated on his behalf, and he can sing himself to sleep saying, “Where O death is your victory, where O death is your sting.”

For Peter, to live was Christ and to die was His Gain!

Peter… sleeping with Assurance in the Power of God.

Assurred that He is powerful enough to deliver, but also assured that if he chooses not to that death is gain.

Church, God never sleeps nor slumbers and if that’s true, then there is no sense in fretting with anxiety and staying awake. Sleep with faith in God’s Power in Assurance.

But we also see God’s Power in the Deliverance.

God’s Power in Deliverance

As the story progresses we quickly learn that God does intend to reveal His Power, not in death, but in Deliverance.

a great light shines, which doesn’t wake Peter… he’s in deep sleep.

The angel has to hit him to get him awake. The chains fall off, and the cooly and calmly stroll past the first guard, then the second guard, and finally to the iron gate that opens automatically.

Poor Peter… he thought he was kind of dreaming. The angel had to tell him everything, “Dress yourself. Put on your sandals. Come this way.”

He had not had his morning coffee.

So dreary he steps into the street and he’s all by himself, and fianlly realizes he had been delivered.

God’s Power thrwarts the schemes of men and Kings.

An angel delivered Peter in Acts 5 in a common cell. So these smart, powerful men put him in the high security prison, chained to 2 guards at all times, with 2 others always on watch. Rotating every 3 hours.

And Peter just walks out.

Man and Kings can seal a tomb and post their sentries, but the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

God’s Power delivered Peter, and Peter goes straight to the house church hosted by the mother of John Mark, and notice the humor here.

vs. 13— he knocks and the servent girl, little Rose, doesn’t open the gate but runs in to report and as they are debating rather he’s dead or not, Peter is still standing out in the open, on the street, to be seen by any.

God’s Providence led to Persecution. Persecution led to Prayer. Prayer led to God’s Power, and God’s Power accomplished God’s Purposes

God’s Power led to God’s Purposes

Purposes in the deliverance of Peter, but at the conclusion of our chapter we actually see a few more purposes.

King Herod, humiliated that his poltical prisoner had escaped goes down to Caesarea for some image restoration.

And apparently the people of Tyre and Sidon, struggling due to the famine, begged for King Herod’s mercy and provision of Herod’s food.

A political win! So he calls all the local TV stations and estbalishes a public press release promoting his diploamatic win.

Josephus tells us he dons his golden crown, and a robe made of pure silver that glittered in the sun.

And the people begin to chant, “He is a god… He is not mortal!”

Immediately, he is struck down and 5 days later dies… alone, in pain.

vs. 23, “because he did not give God the glory...”

God’s angel strikes twice in this chapter, once for deliverance and the second time for death.

Herod sought to destroy the story of God for political points, and then on top of that he sought to rob God of the glory due only to Him… and for that Justice was delivered and with the death of Herod, the Purposes of God continued.

Acts 12:24 ESV

But the word of God increased and multiplied.

God’s Story Continued.

Providence led to Persecution, Persecution led to Prayer, Prayer led to God’s Power, God’s Power accomplished God’s Purposes.

Conclusion

A quick Story

Church, nothing puts us into touch with God’s Power like Prayer.

Despair in Haridwar.

“Good. It’s time to pray.”

We began to pray corporately every morning from 6-7am. And all of a sudden our ministry went from feeling like we were hitting Randy Johnson’s fastball to T-BALL. Fish started jumping into the boat.