July 14, 2019
Pastor Ricky Smith

Sermon Notes

We have been through a sermon series where we’re walking through the book of Acts, and we’re going to continue on that journey today. This past spring, my family went on vacation. We began to talk about a year ago asking, where do we want to go on vacation? I don’t know how your family is, but we talk about it well in advance, save our money well in advance, and we travel big. And so, in talking with the family, we came to this conclusion: We want to get outside the eastern time zone. We don’t want to go to Florida. We don’t want to go to the east coast. We want to get out of this time zone, at least (and yes, that means farther than Alabama). 

So I said, “You know what? We’re going to go put our toes in the Pacific Ocean. That sounds like an adventure.” So we went to California, and if you’ll remember in the news, over the past year, there have been some devastating wildfires in California. As we drove to the mountains, there was very clear evidence. -many charred mountains, many charred roads. Many roads were still closed and impassable because of this devastating fire that had swept through California, just north of Los Angeles, where we were visiting. 

And I began to think, what if I went to the wildfire equipped with my water gun, and I said, “I am going to take this fire down!” and I squirted it at the base and did all I could to attack it? If you saw me in the face of a wildfire with a water gun, what would you call me? An idiot. You would call me an absolute fool. “What do you think this is going to accomplish?!” 

Why? -because the equipment I’m using to fight does not fit the battle that I’m facing. Now, you would call this stupid. You would call this foolish. What I want us to recognize this morning as we walk through Acts chapter 12, while it’s not a water gun in a wildfire, there is a spiritual war that’s going on around us all the time, every day. In fact, you can read about it later in Ephesians chapter six, where we hear this description of a spiritual war that’s constantly going on around us, and there is this world, the spiritual world that we can’t see, that directly impacts the world that we can see. 

However, oftentimes we see what the result of a spiritual war is, and we choose to fight it with a physical means. That is no different from fighting a wildfire with a water gun. And what I want us to see this morning is, when we recognize spiritual warfare, there is an opportunity of a spiritual weapon that we could choose to engage with, and it is called prayer. 

I. Be in prayer when persecuted.

So, we’re going to look together this morning in Acts chapter 12 at a text that helps us understand how we can more effectively and appropriately fight this spiritual battle with a spiritual weapon. In fact, if you’re taking notes, which I strongly encourage you to do, point number one is: Be in prayer when persecuted. 

Let’s look at the first five verses in Acts chapter 12, and I would love just to make a few observations that would apply to our lives as we try to understand God’s Word today. Acts chapter 12, verses one through five. It says this:

Acts 12:1-5
About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church, 2 and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword. 3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.

In the first couple of verses, we see this idea of persecution. Now, you and I in an American church today, this may somewhat feel like a foreign concept to you. I faced this not personally, but at least I was surrounded by it in a recent trip to India (I say recent; it has actually been a few years ago). I was over there, speaking at a pastors’ conference for Hopegivers, which is one of our strategic missions partners. As we were speaking at the conference, we were touring around visiting the different ministries in India. 

We walked into one of the Indian churches. Now, those of you who perhaps are like me, you grew up going to an old school church. You may remember way back in the day, you go in a small church, and there would be these boards up on either side of the stage, and they would have numbers on them. You know, like, this is the enrollment in Sunday school. This is how many people were here, and on one side it may have, this was the offering last Sunday. Some of you have seen this kind of thing before. So, I walked into this Indian church, and they had a board up on the wall, but it didn’t have numbers and offering and attendance. It had names. 

And so I said, “Can you please explain to me this board? With tears and with pride in their eyes and in their voices, they said, “Oh, these are the names of all the martyrs in our church. These are the names of all the people that have died for the Gospel.” And they were so proud of this reality, where living in a world where persecution against the church is so very real. And I don’t say this to scare you. Actually, I get excited about this, because as we went through the rest of the preaching conference, the last day, several of the pastors gathered around me and they said, “We are praying for you in the church in America.” 

“Well, thank you.” 

They said, “No, no, no, no. Persecution is coming into America. We can see it, and you can’t, and we’re praying for you.”

“Oh! Please do.”

Right now we’re here in a free country, able to worship freely, and the day very well may come when, even on American soil, the church faces persecution like they face in India. It’s not impossible to think. When it comes, what do we do? Or, let’s not even think yet about the distant future. Let’s just look at scenarios now where you may be rejected, where you may be persecuted for your faith. It may be emotional attacks. It may be spiritual attacks. -some level of rejection that you experience even as a believer today. What do we do in those moments? -because it already exists, at least emotionally and spiritually. 

Prayer brings peace in the midst of persecution

Here’s what I think we need to understand from this text: Prayer accesses peace in the midst of persecution. Prayer accesses peace in the midst of persecution. What do we see in the text? We see that one person had already been killed. Peter was put in prison because he was soon to be killed, and the church responds by praying together. But how did they pray? There are some words that are used that give us some sense of understanding on how the church prayed. When we look in verse five, it says, “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.” Praying fervently. 

There are two examples, or lessons, that we can learn of what prayer can and should look like in our life. The first is fervent. The Greek word used here for fervent was only also used in the New Testament to describe Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. And if you’ll remember, as we read of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was so fervent that he began to sweat blood. It was so intense, it was so urgent, it was so passionate, it was so involved and engaged. It was fervent. 

We see that level of urgency and intensity in the church here as they pray for Peter. I read that, and I asked myself (and I ask you) a question. What do your prayers normally look like? Are they casual and passive, or are they fervent? So, I’m just going to confess to you this morning. A lot of times, my prayer is casual. “God, thanks for the day. I’m going to submit to you today. I acknowledge that you’re God, and I want you to lead me today.”

I mean it sincerely. I’m sincere in my prayer, but it’s somewhat casual. This fervency in prayer, like, crying out to God, this urgent intensity, this desperation to God. I’ll confess, my prayers don’t necessarily feel like that a lot. That’s something I need to work on. Maybe it’s something you need to work on too.

They’re praying fervently. In fact, we see the work of praying. It’s in the tense of the verb to suggest that this wasn’t just a fervent prayer, but it was continual prayer. It wasn’t just a one-time ask. It was an ongoing ask. They continued to ask. It’s like maybe you’re on a road trip with your children, and they’re in the back seat. Every minute, “How much longer? Are we there yet? When will we be there?” And they ask, ask, ask, and you’re in the driver’s seat; you can just feel yourself gripping the wheel more intensely, like, “If you don’t be quiet…” But there’s this urgency and continuing, asking over and over and over again. 

In fact, Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew (Matthew 7:7), even implies this same thing when he says, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be open to you.” The tense of that verb is, “Ask, and keep on asking. Seek, and keep on seeking. Knock, and keep on knocking.” Keep pounding on the door of Heaven until you get an answer. Fervency in prayer, continuation of prayer. There’s so much that we can learn from that. 

II. Be at peace in a trial.

Do your prayers look that way? I’ll confess my need to look more that way. But prayer brings peace, and when we face the reality of a trial, here’s the second point: I can learn to be at peace in a trial. Be at peace in a trial. Let’s read, continuing on in Acts chapter 12, verses six through eleven, and let me make some observations for us. 

Acts 12:6-11
6 When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 “Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.” 9 So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him. 11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”

Let me unpack this. Peter is in prison. Peter has been confined to prison and condemned to death. This is the night before his execution, and what is he doing? Just sleeping. I don’t know about you; if I were anticipating that I’m going to wake up in the morning and die, that may feel like a sleepless night. I mean, this must be like confession day for Ricky. I must confess that anxiety kind of comes up in me when I’m anticipating an outcome. Maybe it’s a confrontation, or it’s an unknown. That’s a struggle that I have; that’s where anxiety comes. I kind of play this, “Well, I’m going to say this, and then they’re going to say this, and then they’re going to do this, and this is going to happen…” None of it ever happens, but these anxious thoughts start to swell in me. Peter clearly doesn’t have this issue, because he’s just sleeping the night before. He is at peace in a trial. 

Here we have Peter in this moment of desperation. He was captive. He was condemned, and here he sat in peace. When you find yourself held captive, wait for God to work. When you find yourself in the midst of a trial, wait for God to show up, because He always shows up in a supernatural way, and that needs to be shared. See, I wonder; I’ve got to connect some dots here. I wonder, what in the world is going on in Peter’s mind? How is he in such a place of peace? Perhaps if you go all the way back to John chapter 21, you’ll see. Jesus has already died. He’s already been resurrected. He’s now being physically seen, and He’s having this conversation with Peter shortly before his ascension into Heaven. 

When you read the language toward the end of John 21, He makes this prophetic statement over Peter of what life’s going to be like when he’s old and people are helping him around. Maybe for Peter, he trusted God so much, like, “I know I’m in prison, but Jesus has already promised I’m going to be old. I’m not old yet, so I’m good. I’m just going to go to sleep.” Maybe. I don’t know what was going on in his mind, but clearly he was at peace in this moment. 

When you find yourself held captive wait for God to work

There’s so much to learn from that, and I began to think, here Peter is held captive, and my mind starts to go. Okay well, what are some things that you and I can be held captive by? I’ll recommend two things to you. Sometimes we may be held captive by the weight of sin, meaning by our own doing. There are some habits we’ve allowed to creep into our lives. Some sin that’s repeated, that we have allowed to kind of overwhelm and consume and even control us. Maybe we even feel the shackles of that sin, and we’re held captive by that sin, the weight of it. And it’s by our own choice. We did some things or a series of things that got us there, and now we’re held captive. 

Well Church, I’m here to tell you (you and me), even if it’s our own doing, through confession and repentance, we can experience the full freedom of God that’s already been made possible by the blood of Jesus and be free from that captivity. 

Maybe it’s not the weight of sin or our own doing. Perhaps we’re also held captive from being a witness to the Savior, meaning we’ve taken a stand for the Gospel. We’ve been vocal for Jesus. We proclaimed His name in the workplace, and we’re experiencing rejection as a result of it. We’ve made the Gospel known, and people begin to ridicule us. “Why would you ever believe that? That’s the most insane thing I’ve ever heard.” We almost experience some level of persecution, and we may feel captive. We may feel rejection. We may feel the weight of that because we’ve taken a stand. 

Here’s what I want you to know: No matter what may be holding you captive this morning, through Christ, we can be free. Through the hope of the Gospel, we can be free, and it will always come in God’s perfect timing. See, the text seems to imply, because this was during the feast of Unleavened Bread where Peter was held captive (that’s a seven-day period), we don’t know at what point in the feast Peter was put into prison, but we know Herod was not going to kill him until the Passover was over. So there are days, potentially a week. Here Peter’s just chilling in jail, sleeping, completely at peace, trusting that in God’s perfect timing, he would be free. See, the story of deliverance from God, in God’s timing, is always supernatural. It should always be shared. So Peter experiences this miraculous, supernatural deliverance from being held captive and condemned to death. Let’s see what he does next. 

III. Be prepared for God to answer.

The third point is, be prepared for God to answer. As we continue to read in verse 12, get the picture now. Here we read in verse five, they’re praying, continually praying fervently over here in prison. Peter has just experienced this miraculous deliverance of God. The church doesn’t know this has happened yet. They’re still praying continually and fervently.

Acts 12:12-17
12 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many had assembled and were praying. 13 He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer. 14 She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate. 15 “You’re out of your mind!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It’s his angel.” 16 Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. 17 Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Tell these things to James and the brothers,” he said, and he left and went to another place.

Time out. Why would they say that? That just makes no sense. You’ve got to understand, in Jewish tradition, they put a lot of weight and value into the idea of this guardian angel. And so, it may be that they jumped to a conclusion. “He was being executed. He’s already dead. This is just his angel.” They still didn’t have the faith to believe what had happened. 

Let’s make some observations here. This is fascinating to me. The church is over here praying. Peter is miraculously and supernaturally released from captivity. Where does he go, and how does he know where they are? He went to the house of John Mark’s mother. John Mark (we’ll learn about him later in upcoming weeks), he is the cousin of Barnabas. So there’s some family connection here. 

He goes to John Mark’s mother’s house. We read into the text, it must have been a pretty large house with ample room for people to gather together. Many scholars believe that this is the house that Jesus met with his disciples in to celebrate the Last Supper. Many scholars also believe that this possibly may be the house where the church gathered in Acts chapter two and witnessed Pentecost. The reality is, this clearly it’s a house that they gathered in often, and it was known to be a place of prayer. So, Peter knew where they would be. He knew where to go, and here’s why I think this is important for us:

In a moment of desperation, revisit the place you’ve seen God work in the past.

In a moment of desperation, go back to that place where you have seen God prove Himself to you in the past, because the faithfulness of God in the past will give you hope in the present and to continue in the future. 

Let’s look at our lives. Your life is like mine. It’s filled with a spiritual journey of highs and lows. The peaks are where I experience God work, and I watch Him do amazing things, and He delivers me from sin. Or, I see someone that I love give their relationship to God, or He miraculously provides for a need in my life. It’s in those moments when it’s like, “God, you’re so real I can taste it!” And then we go through seasons, and sometimes they’re long, where it’s dry. I’m not hearing anything, and I may even wonder, “God, are you even there? Do you even care?” 

Now, I don’t want you to show hands, but if we’re being real with each other in our faith journey, we have all experienced those highs and those lows. The principle that I think we can learn from here is, when you’re in those lows and you feel like God is nowhere to be found, go back. Remember his faithfulness in the past. He’s the same God. He’s still there. He’s promised he will never leave you, and He will never forsake you. The faithfulness of God in the past will give us hope for the future. 

Even though this church had seen God work, they were still shocked when the knock came on the door. They were still amazed, like, “What?! He’s alive?” They had seen this miraculous power of God over and over. Just read back over the first other 11 chapters in Acts, and here they are. They’re still amazed at what God is doing. They said, “You’re out of your mind!”

Why are we surprised when God keeps His Word? Why are we surprised when God knocks on the door? In fact, I would say we should expect that knock on the door. Church, listen to me. When you’ve been faithful to give through tithes and offerings and you find the checking account low, expect God to knock on the door and provide. When you’re resting in His promises, but you’re restless with worry and fear, expect God to knock on your door. When you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, expect God to knock on your door. He’s always on time, always giving you what you need, when you need it, because He is faithful. He’s been faithful in the past. He will always be faithful in the future. 

While they celebrated, when they saw what was happening, they were amazed. They celebrated God, and while they celebrated God’s divine hand at work, they immediately focused their attention on continuing the mission of the Gospel. They immediately went back to work, and they trusted that God would do the things that only God can do. Let’s continue on, and let me show this to you in verse 18. 

IV. Be positioned to trust God.

The point is this: Be positioned to trust God. We’re going to read verses 18 through 24, and when I read this, it starts to feel like it doesn’t fit. But hang on; let me show you that it does.

Acts 12:18-24
18 At daylight, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. 20 Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Together they presented themselves before him. After winning over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country. 21 On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them. 22 The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of God flourished and multiplied.

See, verse 24 suggests that the people of God continued to carry out the mission that God had planted them to do. And in doing so, they trusted that God would take care of Herod. See, when we go all the way back to the beginning of chapter 11, Herod is persecuting. Herod is imprisoning. Herod is killing and executing people because of their faith. They couldn’t do anything about the king. What they could do was be faithful to obeying God and carrying out the mission that He had given them to do. And we’re going to let God take care of things that God can do. You see that? 

Here’s, I think, the lesson for us in this church. God has given us a mission. It’s very clear we’re committed to make disciples. We’re going to do that unapologetically. We’re going to do that here in this church, through ministries on this campus, ministries off of this campus and throughout the world to the nations. We’re going to do that as we carry out the mission of God, and there are some things that we come across in life that we can’t do anything about, but we will trust that God will go before us. God will fight our battles. 

It reminds me of Isaiah chapter 37. I’ve been reading this in my own Bible study time, going through the Old Testament, and I was reading this past week. Isaiah, 37 re-tells the story of when King Sennacherib comes to the people of Israel and mocks God. He mocks the God that they’re worshipping, and he says, “Oh, you think your God can save you? I’m about to wipe you out.” And God speaks through the prophet Hezekiah. Hezekiah says, “Don’t worry. God’s got this.”

The people of Israel never even had to raise a weapon. They just kept their mouths shut. God supernaturally causes Sennacherib to be distracted. He got into his head. He went and got destroyed. Here they were being threatened. God says, “Look, vengeance is mine, “ Deuteronomy says, “I will repay.” The Lord does a better job of defending His name than you do, because He is a jealous God. See, I think if you read Isaiah 37, then you fast forward to Isaiah 54, I think Isaiah is able to write these words in Isaiah 54 because he would remember seeing what God had done in the past, where he says in verse 17: 

Isaiah 54:17
No weapon formed against you will succeed, and you will refute any accusation raised against you in court. This is the heritage of the LORD’s servants, and their vindication is from me.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

What are we to do? Be faithful to carry out the mission of the Gospel. What’s God going to do? He will make his name known, and He will defend it. We must be faithful to work. There’s so much in this chapter. There are so many angles and turns that we can dive into. For me, when I see this, the cream that rises to the top is this thread of a focus on prayer. Fervently, continuously praying, praying, praying, trusting God, and God delivers in God’s time. 

Next Steps

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to create in you a heart for prayer.
2. Seek forgiveness for doubting God’s ability to answer your prayer and meet a need.
3. Walk in confidence, rather than worry, when you face a desperate situation.

Discussion Questions

1. What does the church’s response to James’s death and Peter’s being in prison (vv. 5 and 12) demonstrate about prayer?
2. Why do you think the praying Christians reacted as they did to Peter’s return? (vv.12-17)
3. The earnest prayer of the church significantly affected the outcome of events in this chapter. How is your motivation to pray influenced by this truth?