The Power Of Prayer Series

The Power of Prayer - Acts 12 - 5/31/15

Turn with me this morning the the book of Acts, chapter 12.  M, M, L, J, Acts - the 5th book of the NT.  In the gospels, we find recorded for us the life and ministry of Jesus, who came to live an example for us, die to provide us salvation, and who started the church.  We find in the book of Acts the story of how the church grew from a group of disciples to become a worldwide movement.  Last week we saw the church at Antioch, where the church grew to be more than just a Jewish movement, and began including Gentiles of all nationalities.  But as a result of that inclusivism, trouble came back home in Jerusalem.  Follow along as I read chapter 12.

Read chapter 12 - Pray

As I said, the book of acts shows the power of God at work through the apostles to build the church.  Here in chapter 12 we see that God works in spite of. . . 

• Satanic Attack - From the start, the church of Jesus Christ faced many obstacles.  And we still face many of the same type of obstacles today.  Think back through the early chapters of Acts, and realize that there were many problems INSIDE the church - 

– Judas, The church treasurer had been imbezzling money and had finally committed suicide. 

– Peter, The most prominent leader of the church had denied that he had ever known the Lord. 

– Ananaias & Sapphira - Hypocrisy and lying had been discovered in the church members

– The deacons: There was racial bias which caused great contention and divided the church 

And we will always face internal problems, because the church is made up of imperfect people.  We don’t have a perfect church today, but we do have a perfect God.  But along with the internal issues we face, we also face external attacks of Satan against the church.  Think about where the church started: Jerusalem.  We often are tempted to think “that’s great - Jews loved God” - but actually that’s far from the truth.  Jerusalem was hardened! They wouldn’t even hear the OT prophets, much less these Christians! That’s why Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He said in Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.  And THIS is where the disciples were supposed to start the church?  

Along with this hostile setting, Satan used a villainous adversary: Herod Agrippa I.  He comes from a long line of oppressive leaders.  His grandfather was Herod the Great - the king who killed all the infants under 2 years old when Jesus was born.  His uncle was Herod Antipas, who killed John the Baptist and was involved in the crucifixion of Jesus.  Herod Agrippa, who we see here, was a people pleasing chameleon - to the Jews, he acted like a Jew - even though he wasn’t Jewish - he was really an Edomite, a descendant of Esau, what we would call today a Palestinian - who is doing all the fighting in Israel today?  The Palestinians! - and when Herod was around the Romans, he acted like a Roman, so much so that Rome gave him great control over Jewish realms.  

So, to please the Jews - who were already stirred up because the church actually accepted Gentiles - Herod arrested some leaders of the Jews.  One of these was Peter’s brother James.  We aren’t told the details here, but simply are told that Herod put James to death with the sword.  Think what a great blow that would be to the church.  Here is a group of believers who proclaim that they follow the one true God - and yet God does nothing to stop the execution of this noted disciple.  How easy is it to believe when God doesn’t work the way we expect Him too?

Sometimes we expect that God will do great and mighty things for us - and when He doesn’t, it seems to shake our faith.  And I think that is part of the reason that God includes the death of James in the same chapter as the deliverance of Peter.  Can God save and deliver and do miraculous deeds?  By all means, YES!  But WILL He?  That is another question.  Who can know the mind of God?  Even Daniel’s 3 friends - Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael - or you might know them better by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego - when they are bound to be thrown into the fiery furnace, know that God CAN deliver them - they just don’t know whether He WILL deliver them.  In Daniel 3 they declare, If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”