Acts 12:1-18 Won’t He Do it

It is interesting to start off this chapter with the passing story of a dear friend and Apostle James who it simply say was executed with the sword.

Look at this tention (Challenging categories)

Death and deliverence

We can only imagine that the church prayed for James the same way they prayed for Peter.

Last week I prayed for the families impacted by the murder on 30th street Ms Judy

Herod is doing this with Passover as his back drop.

The OldTestament celebration of Gods deliverence of the Jewish nation from the wicked and powerful nation of Egypt.

How do you reconcile the original sounds of pure jubilee at the first passover while at the same time taking in the morning and wailing coming from the parents of the Egyptians.

Could God only have enough space in his heart to only love the Israelites?

Matt 20:20

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached him with her sons. She knelt down to ask him for something. 21 “What do you want?” he asked her.

“Promise,” she said to him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom.”

22 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”

“We are able,” they said to him.

23 He told them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right and left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

1Tim 2

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 2

2

James’ Life wouldn’t be more valuable if Luke would've gave him a more elaborate description of his ministry, family his smiles even if he had time to complete more exploties

Its not about how much you are seen. Its about the one who sees you. God takes pleasure in His children. Even the ones in obscurity.

Luke 12:15 He then told them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.”

Communion table

The most splendorous rose

12 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.

Belonging to the church (how do you identify church folk)

It pleased the Jews

Peter has 16 soldiers watching over him

King Herod planned to bring him out before the people on Passover

Passover Hyper link

Peter was Jesus’ man’s However, since the Passover, with the associated Feast of Unleavened Bread, was the annual celebration of Israel’s deliverance from captivity in Egypt (cf. Ex. 12:1–13:16), the symbolic parallelism may be ‘positive rather than negative’

Fervent Pray

but the church was praying fervently to God for him.

#1474 Fervently

ENGLISH WORD

Without ceasing—KJV

Fervently—NASB

Earnestly—NIV

Constant—NKJV

Earnestly—NLT

Application The idea is intense prayer, prayer that captivates and focuses a person’s concentration. The root meaning of the word is “to stretch out.” The picture is that the church was stretched out, prostrate before God, earnestly and fervently crying out for God’s sovereign deliverance of Peter. The church could do nothing and they knew it. Peter’s only hope was God.

Practical Application

The word “fervently” (ektenös) “does not mean ‘with warmth’ but rather ‘with full intensity’.”

It literally means to stretch love fully out or to love one another in an all-out manner

He was in the hands the very powerful King

But the Church was going All Out in prayer

Prov 21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord,

Like the [a]rivers of water;

He turns it wherever He wishes.

The Most High

At key points in Luke’s account, supernatural deliverance proves to be necessary for the advancement of the gospel.

Acts 12:11 They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.

When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.

Dan 3:28 Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

Intercessory Pray

Examples of Jesus's intercessory prayers:

ForgivenessIn Luke 23:34, Jesus prayed to God, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do". 

UnityIn John 17:20–21, Jesus prayed, "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You". 

For his disciplesJesus prayed for his disciples to have faith and to be sanctified by the truth. 

Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers

Significance of Jesus's intercessory prayers

Jesus's intercessory prayers show that he is our intercessor, and that he understands what we are going through. He is at our side and can help us receive mercy and help. 

How can we intercede like Jesus?

Jesus's example of intercessory prayer encourages us to pray for others, and to learn to be intercessors ourselves. 

Answered Prayer

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.”

Whose prayers God has promised to hear (Isa. 1:10–17). He will not hear the prayers of those who walk in the evil way

Hear the word of the Lord,

you rulers of Sodom!

Give ear to the teaching of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?

says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of well-fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs, or of goats.

“When you come to appear before me,

who has required of you

this trampling of my courts?

Bring no more vain offerings;

incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—

I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts

my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

learn to do good;

seek justice,

correct oppression;

bring justice to the fatherless,

plead the widow’s cause.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.

If you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

but if you refuse and rebel,

you shall be eaten by the sword;

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

(1 Pet. 3:12; Jas. 5:16). He will hear the prayers of the righteous. Righteousness is doing the will of God.

1 Pet 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

James 5:16–17 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.”

Prayer is not the province of the sinner (John 9:31). God does not hear the sinner, but He does hear the man who does His will. Prayer is the province of the Christian, of the one who has been redeemed by the blood of Christ.

The Exchange

After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution.

Your Salvation is free but it wasn’t cheap

The death penalty for allowing prisoners to escape was the norm in the Roman Empire, and Herod applied this rule to his own kingdom.

Such instances illustrate Roman law pertaining to “the custody of criminals” (

de custodia , which meant the jailer would have faced the same punishment that was to be inflicted on the escaped prisoner

Someone had to pay 16 innocent men

Acts 12  Won’t He Do It 

1 Peter

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the deadn 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5

Prayer should be like air for the Christian. We should find ourselves regularly communicating with our Lord and Savior. Along this journey we will also discover that God joins us in our most impossible circumstances.