Acts 12:12-19 - God Answers Prayers

As we get started, I want to ask this question and give you a few seconds to think about an answer… ready? Question: Does prayer matter? Or to put it another way, does prayer do anything?

Savannah and I are in a season of life right now that feels so busy. Between family, marriage, church, and work, some days I truly feel like I’m doing something wrong. I’m sure most of you have felt the same way at one point or another. We all are or have been before very busy in our lives. In light of this, we have to use our time wisely. But out of all the things we could be using our time for, how should prayer fit into our lives?

I asked you if prayer matters. I think if many of us responded honestly to that question, we would have to admit that we often don’t believe prayer does that much. Of course, we know that we are supposed to pray, and that it must have some use spiritually. We may even think we know how it works: maybe once enough prayers are stacked up, God is willing to make a small change. Maybe if we work up enough conviction and passion in our prayers, God will answer. But, day to day, do we really expect anything to happen when we pray?

The truth is, we are all at different stages of maturity in our prayer lives, and thats okay! But I think there is a lie that every Christian has to face as they progress through the Christian life, and that is the lie that prayer is a waste of time, that it doesn’t do anything, that it isn’t powerful or meaningful. Our text tonight flies in the face of that lie as Luke is showing us that prayer is powerful and can be a very real means of spiritual good in our lives. Look with me at these verses. Ask youself, “what does this really mean?” Please don’t take my word for it. I’m proposing tonight that our text the following: 1) prayer is powerful, 2) prayer encourages the church, 3) and in light of this, we must pray!

Pray and read the text

Prayer is Powerful

So we find Peter here in chapter 12 has just escaped from prison, and the details of this escape you will be well acquainted with by now. If not, here’s quickly what happens (quick synopsis). But looking at our scripture tonight, after escaping from prison miraculously, Peter decides to go somewhere in the city rather than run for his life. This is interesting, and we’ll try to touch on this in a minute. But he goes to a women’s house named Mary. Here’s what it says,

Acts 12:12 ESV

12 When [Peter] 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.

This John Mark guy is likely referring to the author of the Gospel of Mark, who will become a significant character in Acts in the following chapters. His mom’s house is where Peter decides to go. Now, I ask you: what does Peter find the Christians in Mary’s home doing when he goes there? Yes, their praying. Why does Luke, the author of Acts, mention this detail? Let me ask a follow up question, is this the first time Luke mentions prayer in this chapter? Exactly, no. He also mentions prayer in verse five.  It goes like this:

Acts 12:4–5 ESV

4 And when [Herod] had seized [Peter], 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. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Here is what I want to point out first: the Christians in our story tonight pray. Not only that, but their prayers aren’t just religious duties, but powerful acts of faith. Luke wants to make sure we know this. Here how: Luke explicitly says they were praying after Peter was imprisoned in verse 5, and likewise that Peter finds them praying upon his escape. Now, we can imagine this same story being told without prayer being mentioned. Think about it, it would still be a captivating story. Why is it relevant enough for Luke to mention that the church is praying as these events unfold? Here’s the answer: Luke wants us to see that prayer played a major role in Peter’s miraculous escape.

Look again, the beginning of this chapter paints a grim picture of Peter’s circumstances, mentioning Jame’s execution to increase the gravity of the situation. James is killed, being the first among the apostles to die for the faith (Vickers 447) — this is significant. To be sure, Stephen has been killed by this point in the story, but now the church is dealing with the reality that their most important leaders, the apostles themselves, are by no means exempt from the possibility of dying for their faith, and the man who killed James now has Peter in chains. So, it isn’t looking good, yet Luke gives us this little piece of hopeful information. Contrary to all the negative at the beginning of Chapter 12, Luke says, “but earnest prayer for him was [being] made…” (verse 5). Prayer is powerful. Because the church prayed, Peter escaped.

Prayer Encourages the church

This leads to our second point tonight: Prayer encourages the church. Read with me again verse 12-19:

Acts 12:12–17 ESV

12 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. 13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 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. 15 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!” 16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. 17 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 we mentioned earlier that instead of leaving town immediately, Peter goes to Mary’s house. This is interesting, isn’t it? Imagine, you escape from prison and its only a matter of time the soldiers realize you are gone. The natural impulse here is to RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. But, as we’ve learned is common in the book of Acts, Peter behaves differently then we would expect. He doesn’t leave town, but instead goes to a women named Mary’s house. So here the question: why do you think he does this? Allow me to show you a few clues.

From Peter’s perspective, I think its safe to say that one reason he goes to Mary’s house is simply because of what Luke explicity says, “many were gathered together [there].” Peter would have no way of knowing, as far as I can tell, that many were there that particular night since he had been locked up for so many days. However, it seems not unlikely that Mary’s house served as a regular meeting place for those professing Christianity in this hostile environment, and perhaps Peter was aware and even familiar with the meeting place (to be sure, I speculating a lot here. But as I said, I think its likely the case). But why does that matter?

Here’s what I see. Peter wants to make sure that his escape is known to the other Christians. Remember, back then he couldn’t just jump town and call Mary on the phone. If Peter wanted his brothers and sisters to know what happened and how he escaped, he was going to have to find them and tell them. Now whether this was Peter’s intentional aim or not, what I want to draw out of this for y’all tonight is that God uses Peter’s visit to encourage the church in their prayer. Here’s why I think this: We’ve already said multiple times that Peter finds the church at Mary’s house doing what? Yes, praying. What do you suppose they were praying about? Remember, when Peter arrives at Mary’s house, the Christians gathered there have no idea Peter has escaped (because it just happened). So, if the most prominent leader in your movement was scheduled to be executed tomorrow, what do you suppose you would be praying about? Yes, they were probably praying for Peter. So imagine, these Christians are gathered together, they have likely been praying for Peter day after day, and the last day before the execution has come and gone. It’s late, right? Peter escaped during the night, so these Christian are burning the midnight oil earnestly praying one last time for their leader and friend, asking God not to allow what happened to James to happen to Peter. And then… knock, knock, knock. (Act it out) How encouraging would that have been. Just imagine that. God uses prayer to encourage his children. I dare say, he wants to. So why does this matter for y’all tonight?

We Must Pray

All of us are in the midst of desperate circumstances, just like Peter and the church. Give examples.

What I know is that these circumstances grieve God. In fact, they grieve him more than they grieve us. And I think its often the case that God wants to show us he’s willing to speak up, to rise up on our behalf, but we just fail to ask him because we believe the lie that prayer doesn’t really matter…. Here’s how I know that: Jesus’s words comparing God to a Father and his child, and relate this to the gospel.

Assignment: Pray one time this week

Warning… not all prayers get answered the way we like, but many do.