Introduction/Background: This is a very powerful and funny passage in the Scriptures. Let’s work through the story and then I want to highlight what I feel are its major application points.
Vs. 1-4 Herod (whose grandfather tried to kill Jesus when he was a baby) arrested some Christians wanting to persecute them. He had James killed (probably be cutting off his head). He had Peter in prison intending to do the same. Because it was the Passover and because he was getting a lot of notoriety he wanted to wait until after this important event to kill him because of the number of people who would be there.
Vs. 5 Peter is in prison but the church is earnestly praying to God for him. That word earnestly means, “stretched out” or intense. Now we know from earlier accounts in Acts that the church has a membership of 5,000 men (not counting women & children). So we are looking at a church between 12-15,000 people who are praying for Peter.
Vs. 6 Now this blows me away. Peter is sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains (or handcuffs) and there were at least 16 guards guarding him. Yet, it says he is sleeping. Now, he is either exhausted or he has totally resigned the fact that God was in control.
Vs. 7-11 An angel (the answer given to the church) appears, wakes up Peter, the handcuffs fall of his hands. Leads Peter past all of the guards through the iron gate leading to the city and down one street. All the while not being noticed by any of the guards.
Vs. 12-17. Peter comes to his senses, realizes it wasn’t a dream and then goes to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. They are praying for him. Remember, the church has thousands of members. For the first 300 years they didn’t have church buildings. Where do you think they met? They met in homes. Peter goes to his small group! They are praying. Yet when he comes to the door they don’t believe it is him! So Peter knocks on the door until they do. He finally comes into the house and Peter has to quiet them down because they are so excited.
APPLICATION:
1). Life is full of unexpected events.
In Acts we see that the church is spreading. God is moving in a powerful way. Things are going well. But James, Peter and some others from the church are arrested. James is beheaded and Peter is awaiting the same fait. Now we Americans don’t know a lot about being persecuted. Others around the world do. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen to us. It may be sooner than later.
Although we don’t know a lot about persecution we do know a lot about unexpected events. We do know about crisis that come into our lives. We’ve all experienced those crisis. Things beyond our control. Many of you are probably going through a crisis right now. Maybe you are going through a crisis of belief where God is revealing himself to you. He is brought you to a place in your life where you need to decide what you will believe about Jesus.
These crisis come in many forms. And some of them will eventually roll your way. We are all candidates for them. We live in this world. It is imperfect. It is sinful. It has highs and lows. We’re all going to go through a crisis. Yet, in the midst of the unexpected event in Peter’s life what do we see?
2). We see the church doing exactly what it is supposed to do.
News got to them that one of their leaders (James) had been killed. And Peter and some others were in prison waiting for the same fait. So what do they do? They get the word out. Keep in mind they met from house to house. They didn’t have email and they didn’t have fax machines.
ILLUSTRATION: Here is a bit of information that you should probably know. Police radios have an emergency button. So if we are out on a traffic stop or we are making a call and something goes wrong or the fight is on all we have to do is press the emergency button and the troops are a coming! The early church didn’t have an emergency button.
Word quickly spread throughout the city that they needed to pray. Word got out to 12-15,000 people in a matter of probably hours that they had a need on their hands that they had to pray for.
The church responds. It does exactly what it is supposed to do. There are some things we are physically able to do. Take a meal over to someone or give a person a ride. Or visit someone in the hospital. But you know there are some things that we can’t physically do to help someone. Some things are just beyond our control. And this was one of those times. They banded to pray. They came together to intercede on behalf of their brother Peter. What does intercede mean? It means you go before God on behalf of someone else.
You see God wants us to be concerned about one another. There are dozens of “one another’s” in Scripture we are to live out. Why are we to do that? Romans 12:4-5, “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” We belong to one another. And because we belong to one another we must learn to pray for one another. How are you in your prayer life? Do you feel like you know how to pray for others? I think we sometimes make it more complicated than it really is. Look at verse 12. Luke doesn’t give us specifics as to how they are praying or what they prayed. They just did it! They probably prayed silently, some prayed outloud. Some prayed standing. Some prayed kneeling. Bottom line—they prayed for their brother Peter.
If you are struggling with your prayer life and need some help let me encourage you to take CLASS 201. In 201 we talk about prayer. But let me give you a simple acrostic to follow. I didn’t make it up. It has been used over the years. Maybe you’ve heard of it. ACTS. Adoration—spend time adoring God. Confession—ask God to cleanse you of your sins, be specific. Thanksgiving—Spend time thanking God for who he is and what he has done in your life. Then Say prayers for others (Supplication)—Pray for the needs of others.
So, the church was doing exactly what it was supposed to do. Does the church always do what it is supposed to do? No. Sometimes it is inconsistent. Sometimes the church can be ungodly. Sometimes the church can be lazy. Sometimes the church can be so concerned about itself that it forgets the needs of others. But when the church is being what God designed for it to do it is powerful and it can change a community! It can change the lives of other people. This story is a perfect example of the power and influence a praying church can have on a situation. I’ve thought a lot this week about what would have happened had the church not been praying for Peter? What is God wanting to do in our midst that he is holding back simply because we are not praying.
Another important truth we see in this story is
3). Answers to prayer do not depend upon our super sized faith but on our Great God!
Life is full of unexpected events. In the midst of those events, the church does what it is supposed to do—pray. But sometimes we don’t have the faith we hope to and we get discouraged. I want you to see Acts 12:12-17 again. Peter shows up. The very thing this small group is praying for. He knocks on the door. And even as they are praying for Peter they still can’t believe it is him. It was obvious there were those who prayed and for whatever reason had a tough time thinking God could come through. Some were looking at the circumstance and thinking, “O.k., James is already dead. Peter is chained up in prison. I just don’t see what can happen.” Yet, they continued to pray. There were those who believed that God could hear and God could get him out of jail—alive.
God can do the impossible. And God just wants us to have the faith as small as a mustard seed. Give him just faith to see him at work. If you have been a follower of Christ very long you have seen answers to prayer. You have probably seen them answered in big ways or what we would call small ways. But you’ve also probably prayed for something and it didn’t happen. Maybe it was for some kind of healing. Maybe for a new job. And it wasn’t answered the way you would have hoped and you feel as though God let you down. I don’t know why it wasn’t answered the way you wanted. But I do know that God is a great God. Everything he does is good even when we don’t understand it. Some who don’t understand the goodness of God have said God had it out for them. That is just not the case.
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5:14 (NIV)
It is amazing when I think about through life and see the prayers that God answered. Without a doubt, knowing they were heard and answered by him. A huge answer to prayer was that of my brother Lesly giving his heart to Christ and now involved in a local church. I prayed almost every day for 7 years for that to happen. I think of right here in our midst the fact that God allowed us to get the new building we bought and are moving into. Some of you of course have been here longer than I have and you were praying for the right building.
I want to encourage you to journal. That way when you write out your prayer requests you can back and see where God answered them. I encourage your growth groups to keep track of prayer requests. That way when God answers them you can keep a record of them. Celebrate answered prayer.
Can you imagine what it did for the faith of the church? I mean to see this obvious, miraculous answer to prayer right before your eyes? Folks, I’m praying we will see this kind of thing in our church.
You might be here today and say, “I’ve never experienced answered prayer.” Maybe the reason is because you are not in right relationship with him. You don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Today, you can do that by inviting him into your life. If you would like to do that will you bow your head with me in prayer….. and repeat after me.
As we close this morning I just want to lead us through a practicum. I want us to put into practice what we just talked about. I want to lead us through the ACTS acrostic and close in prayer. When we get to the “S” or saying prayers for others I want you to pray for the people on your left and right. You don’t have to pray out loud. Pray in your heart. Maybe you are not a believer today and what you need to pray is that God, please make yourself real to me today.”
