Urgent Prayer (Acts 12:1–12)

Introduction

We’ve been in a sermon series called A Praying Church, where we’re looking at different aspects of what it means to be a praying church. We first talked about expectant prayer, where a praying church is a church that waits expectantly for God’s power. Pastor Johannes preached about prioritizing God in prayer. We looked at communal prayer, where we look at what it means for the church to be a community of people who come together to pray. Last week, we looked at prayer leadership, where pastors should lead their churches to pray.

Today, we’re going to look at urgent prayer, prayer that comes as a response to crisis. A praying church needs to be a church that responds to crisis with urgent prayer.

Nowadays, we have a habit of making everything feel like a crisis. About a month ago, some of us were in a crisis mood because the Padres lost to the Dodgers. Okay, maybe that was a crisis.

This past week, with the election. Was that a crisis? It depends who you ask. Some people feel it is, while others do not. But wherever you are on the political spectrum, our job as Christians is this: pray for your leaders, including the president, and I would say even more importantly, live your life as a citizen of the kingdom of God.

But what is a crisis? A crisis is a sudden, intense situation that creates a feeling of instability or danger and demands an immediate response. A crisis is like Hurricane Helene the US, flooding streets, destroying homes, and resulting in 200 fatalities. If you lived in one of those communities, you were in crisis.

And the church always responds to crisis. For Hurricane Helene, whether you’re talking about Send Relief from the North American Mission Board, Samaritan’s Purse, or just from many churches in the area, Christians prayed and acted to help out communities in crisis.

What does responding to crisis look like in a local church? How should a church biblically respond to crisis? We’ll take a look at that through Acts 12:1-12, as the early church found themselves in a time of crisis. If you have your Bibles, please turn there.

Scripture Reading

Acts 12:1–12 CSB

1 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. 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.” 12 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was called Mark, where many had assembled and were praying.

Pray

As we look in Acts 12, the church is in a moment of urgent crisis. It was a moment of urgent crisis that needed immediate intervention. And in this moment of urgency, the church used it’s most powerful tool — urgent prayer.

You’re going to see that this is a moment where the church is facing a threat that is beyond their control. But when things are out of our control, they are not out of God’s control. The response of the church to urgent crisis is urgent prayer.

We’re going to learn three things about urgent prayer in this text. The first is this:

Urgent Prayer Responds to Crisis

It's important to get a picture in your mind of what is happening in Acts 12:1-5. It's a dark time for the church. See, the church had been flourishing. People have been coming to faith in Christ. And then all of a sudden, persecution hits against the church in a way that is completely unexpected.

Now this persecution that you see in Acts 12 is different than the stuff that they experienced before. The early Christian, had experienced persecution by the Jews, but the the Jews were a little different. There was a sense that you could talk to the Jews. You see them do this in Acts 4, where Peter and John were arrested, and they stand before the Jewish leaders and give them a theological lesson about Jesus. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is persecuted and killed by the Jews in Acts 7, but not before he gives the Jews a long sermon. Hopefully nobody does that to me today.

But in Acts 12 this is not the Jews. In Acts 12, these are the Romans. The Romans are vicious. You're not going to sit down and have a theological conversation with the Romans about Jesus being the Messiah. They don't care about that. The Romans were a vicious, cruel power, and not a power that you would want to have start persecuting you.

This happens probably around AD 42 or 43. The Herod spoken here in Acts 12 is a guy named Agrippa I. He was a political guy who had Roman power over Judea and wanted to incur political favor with the Jewish leaders.

The Jewish leaders were having problems with this group of Jewish people who follow Jesus of Nazareth. Agrippa I figured out that if he could help the Jewish leader silence this group, it would give him political favor with the Jewish leaders and thus increasing his power.

So you can almost hear kind of this backroom talk. “So you've got problems with this group. Who are their leaders? I'll get rid of their leaders. That'll silence them.” “Their leaders? Well, they've got these three really powerful leaders: James, John and Peter. Go after them. That'll silence this group.”

So the king does the Jewish leaders a favor. He goes after James, and he kills James. Now remember who is James. James was a brother of John. He was one of the closest disciples. He was part of this inner core with Jesus. It was Peter, James, and John. Peter, James, and John went up on the Mount of Transfiguration and saw Jesus in his glory. Losing James was like losing a patriarch of the family, he was someone who seemed unbeatable, especially because he was one of the closest disciples to Jesus. And the Romans killed him.

So Agrippa I figures out that killing James was a hit with the Jewish leaders. The Jewish leaders are thrilled because the Romans have done their dirty work. And remember, when the king does something for you, you owe something to the king. The Jewish leaders were in the palm of Agrippa’s hand.

Agrippa kills James. Easy. Who's next on the list? Peter. Take out Peter, and the Jewish leaders will be thrilled. “Hey! Soldiers. Find out who the Christian leader Peter is, and arrest him.” The soldiers find Peter, and arrest him. Easy. And they arrest Peter during one of the Jewish holy times. The Romans don't care about the Jews or their customs. They care about political power. There's no not going to be any mercy here.

So what are the Christians going to do? They don't have an army. They're not about to go up against Rome. This is not a political movement. This has never been a political movement. Christianity is a spiritual movement of God's power. Christianity is a spiritual movement of the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel, that the Messiah of Israel came and his name is Jesus.

An important point to remember: Christianity is a spiritual movement of God's power.

For the Christians, the Romans are are definitely a power beyond their control. They are not a power that you're going to talk to. They are a power that will only be defeated by a bigger power. And they've killed James, and now they've got Peter.

Not only do they have Peter. Where we are in Acts 12, Peter's not just like in the corner by the squad car with his hands cuffed where you can maybe go up and talk to the talk to the cops, to see if something else can happen. Peter is arrested and in prison, with Acts 12:4 “four squads of four soldiers each to guard him.” He is heavily guarded. For the Christians, he’s done.

This was a time of urgent crisis in the church. What are the Christians going to do against the power of the Romans? Take a look at Acts 12:5:

Acts 12:5 CSB

5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.

The answer to crisis is urgent prayer. The word there for “fervently” pertains “to being eager to persevere in some state or activity” (1) It can have the idea of being stretched out. There is an earnest, eager intention to persevere. Luke uses this same word to describe the fervent, persevering prayer of Jesus in Luke 22:44 as he sweat drops of blood in the Garden before the cross. In other words, in the church in Acts 12:5 was eager and earnest to pray non-stop that somehow, someway, Peter would be delivered from the Romans.

Something to remember: The church does not surrender to crisis. The church responds to crisis through urgent prayer.

When the church is in a moment of intense need, the church doesn’t despair. The church gathers to pray. The church realizes that the power of God is greater than any crisis. In crisis, the church responds with prayer.

On a Tuesday in September 2001, the world has changed forever. My wife and I were attending Calvary Baptist Church in New York City at the time. The church is right in midtown Manhattan. And they shared how a 9/11. people covered in the soot had walked from the areas of the towers in downtown to Midtown, and had gone into the church. At the church, people were there to pray with them in the middle of a crisis. President Bush, a man who, as a candidate, had shared how Jesus Christ had changed his life, called for a National Day of prayer on Sept 14, 2001. Billy Graham spoke at the Washington National Cathedral on that day and said, “We've seen so much that brings tears to our eyes and makes us all feel a sense of anger. But God can be trusted, even when life seems at its darkest."

When we face our own urgent moments—a loved one in the hospital, a financial crisis, or a spiritual battle—we are called to come together in prayer, believing that God hears us.

The response of the church to dark times, to times of crisis, is to seek God in urgent prayer and trust him.

Second,

Urgent Prayer Releases God’s Power

In Acts 12, as the church prayed, God moved.

This is in Acts 12:6-10. Peter is locked up. He's arrested in this cold, damp cell, and he's chained between two soldiers. These are well trained professional soldiers and he is being guarded by them, while more trained soldiers are guarding the front door of his cell. Where is he going to go?

So somehow he finally gotten to sleep. He must have been exhausted. He's probably just had one of the worst days of his life. Peter has had some bad days before, but today is tough. He's waiting on judgment from Herod. He must have been physically and mentally exhausted, and he's finally getting some sleep.

All of a sudden, this light shines in the cell. I mean, Peters life is incredible. The stuff he sees. I don't know if the light wakes him up because the angel still needs to strike him on his side and say, "Get up.” And as the angel says that the chains fall off of his wrists. You can picture Peter wanting to say to the angel, “How am I supposed to get up with these chains on my... Oh, I guess I can get up now.”

And the angel needs to give Peter all kinds of directions. “Get dressed.” “Put on your sandals.” “Wrap your cloak around you.” It’s not like Peter is getting up with all kinds of energy. He’s groggy, and he’s still trying to figure out if this is really happening.

I mean, this can't really be happening. This is the Romans we're talking about. This is impossible. So Peter is like, “This must be a vision.”

He's following the angel and he's walking by guards who are either asleep or just oblivious to him, he doesn't know. Then they come to the Iron Gate and the Iron Gate just opens up by itself, like magic. Now this must be a vision, right?

Then they walk outside and pass one street and then, the angel is gone. And there's Peter. Awake. Maybe pinching himself, trying to figure out if he's awake or not. This all doesn't seem like a dream at all. Actually, right now it looks real. Did God really just deliver me from the Romans?

I want you to notice a couple things about the power of God to deliver us from a crisis.

1. Pay attention to this: When God delivers, it's not subtle. There's no way to look at the deliverance of Peter and not see that as anything else but a divine act of power to rescue a person from an impossible situation.

When you defeat the giant, you're not going to defeat him with the king's armor, where you might say, “Well, maybe it was because of the king's armor that I defeated the giant.” You're going to defeat him with a little sling and a few little stones, because God will wait until you're in a position where you say, “There is no way that I have been rescued except through the power of God.”

2. Peter didn't realize he was being delivered by God until he found himself on the other side of the gate on the street. Sometimes we don't realize that God is the one delivering us until we're on the other side. It’s only after we’ve been delivered that we are able to be in awe of the power of God to rescue us.

It’s a reminder to us of the Scripture in Ephesians 3:20 where it says,

Ephesians 3:20 CSB

20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—

What strikes me in this story is how much we want to limit the power of God to accomplish impossible things. Peter was sure that this was a vision. The problem I'm facing is too big. There is no way that God could be delivering me like this.

Did God wants us to know that he has power to do things that are far and above anything that we can think or dream. Human power will only get you so far, and most of the times it doesn't get us anywhere close to where we want to be. True deliverance is only available to people through the power of God.

We said that urgent prayer releases God's power. Remember that the church was fervently praying the God would deliver Peter. God delivered him in a miraculous way.

Now God is not hampered by our inability to pray. God will do what he's going to do. And prayer is not about informing God of what he doesn't know. God knows all things.

Prayer is about inviting God's power into our circumstances. Prayer is about our dependence and trust in God. And God chooses, by his divine will, to respond to the prayers of his people. God has chosen the prayers of his people as a means by which he acts in the world.

And so the statement, urgent prayer releases God’s power, is a statement acknowledging a theological truth in Scripture. It’s a fact that, if you want to see the power of God, the Bible says you should pray.

James 5:16, a verse talking about confession of sin, says, and pay attention to the last part,

James 5:16 CSB

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

In fact, if you read that whole section, James 5:13-18, it’s all about the effectiveness of prayer. He says if you are suffering, you should pray. He talks about the prayer of faith to heal sickness. He speaks of Elijah praying earnestly, and seeing God’s power. The Bible teaches that God chooses the means of the prayers of his people to act in the world. If you want to see the power of God in an urgent situation, pray.

This is a true story. When I was a young kid, my dad took me to ride my bicycle in Central Park. I had never been to Central Park. I thought it was a small park like the ones by my house. If you ever seen pictures of Central Park, you know it's huge. Its about 2.5 miles long, .5 mile wide. So I took off on my bike and got lost. I don't know how long I was lost, but it felt like I was lost for hours. Daylight turned to night. My parents are both Christians and I know they were praying like crazy. I got into this dark path and this guy is there and he starts asking me if I'm lost. I'm thinking stranger danger, and I'm trying to say no, and he's still saying little boy, are you lost? He takes me by the arm. We walk out the bushes, and as soon as we step out the bushes, a police car pulls up, the window rolls down, and the police officer asks me, “Are you Jason Soto?”

Now I know my parents were praying fervently that day. It was an urgent situation. This was in the 80s and Central Park wasn't a safe place for a child at night. I can’t tell you what God was doing that day, but I know my parents were praying, and I know that I was protected. I believe God protected me that day, and I believe God responds in power to the urgent prayers of his people.

Urgent Prayer Responds to Crisis

Urgent Prayer Releases God’s Power

Third,

Urgent Prayer Trusts God’s Sovereignty

Peter, now delivered and free, goes to the house where the church is gathered and is praying. It says in Acts 12:11-12,

Acts 12:11–12 CSB

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.” 12 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was called Mark, where many had assembled and were praying.

What's interesting there, if you keep reading on in the story, is the reaction to Peter at the door. He knocks on the door, and a servant girl named Rhoda goes to the door. She hears his voice and is so excited that she doesn't even answer the door to let him in.

She goes and tells everybody else, “Peter is here!” Which they think she is crazy. It’s preposterous. What do you mean that Peter is at the door? He's in prison. In fact, they tell Rhoda in verse 15, “You’re out of your mind!” Peter has to keep on knocking on the door until they finally go over and let him in.

Sometimes, even in earnest prayers, Christians struggle to believe that God will actually truly do what you're asking him to do. Or you believe that God will respond, but maybe you believe he’ll answer in a certain way that makes sense to you. I don't know what the Christians thought in their prayers for Peter, but they certainly didn't expect this.

And there's another mystery of God's will in Acts 12 that maybe you didn't pick up. There are two disciples spoken about in Acts 12, James and Peter. Both of them were in the inner circle of Jesus’ Ministry. Both of them were loved by Jesus. Both of them were taught by Jesus. Both of them followed Jesus with their life, but only one of them, Peter, was delivered.

Why didn’t God deliver James? He delivered Peter, but why not James?

God’s sovereignty doesn't always align with our expectations. Sometimes he answers in the way we want, and sometimes he doesn't. God’s sovereignty doesn't always align with our expectations, but he calls us to trust him anyway.

God's sovereignty means that he is not bound to our will. He is not the magic genie in the lamp where you rub the lamp and get your three wishes granted.

God's sovereignty means that we trust God, not based on our wishes, but based on his character, based on who he is. Even when we don't understand why some prayers are answered and others are not, we trust that God's purposes are good.

I don't know why someone's child dies, and another one does not. I don't know why someone is healed and another person is not. But I know that we are called to trust God's sovereignty even when his answers are different from what we want.

Acts 12 is another confirmation to us about how God's ways are different than ours. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. It says in Isaiah 55:8-9,

Isaiah 55:8–9 CSB

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 9 “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

See the church was willing to keep praying and keep pressing, trusting in God, even in the face of the loss of James. Even though they didn't understand God's will with James, they still trusted God to deliver Peter.

Even though they mourned James. They said, “God, I don't understand what is happening. I don't understand your purposes or your plan. I know you had a higher purpose and plan with James. God, in this situation, could you rescue Peter?”

Trusting in God's sovereignty means to keep pressing in on prayer even when things don't make sense. Trusting in God's sovereignty means to keep trusting in him even when you don't get the answers you want.

We trust God because his thoughts are greater than our thoughts.

We trust God because in Romans 8:28, he works all things for our good.

We trust God because in 2 Peter 3:8-9, his timing is perfect.

We trust God because in Proverbs 3:5-6, he sees the bigger picture.

We trust God because in Psalm 136:1, God’s love is unfailing. His faithful love endures forever.

We trust God not because he gives us what we want. We trust him because of who he is. Even when God answers in unexpected ways, trust him because he is good and he is faithful.

Ultimately, the cross of Christ tells us who God is, holy, perfect, and pure, and loving us with every ounce of his being.

Conclusion

So what have we learned today. We learned that God responds powerfully to the earnest prayers of his people. And when we find ourselves in urgent circumstances, we as a church must gather together and pray.

Prayer includes inviting God into our impossible situations and trusting in his sovereignty, even when we don't understand his ways.

God calls us to trust him because of who he is — our perfect, pure, and loving God, who sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins and give us eternal life in him.

When you trust in Jesus, the same God who moved powerfully in Acts 12, will move powerfully in your life. Trust him today.

Prayer

Last Song

Doxology

Numbers 6:24–26 CSB

24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you; 25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’

Jude 24–25 CSB

24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

You are dismissed. Have a great week in the Lord!

1. Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 296.