WHAT'S THE PURPOSE?

Acts 12:1-5, " Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him." I. Purposeful Persecution. Herod is one of the meanest kings we read about in the Bible. When I read about him and see how jealous he was of the Christians and how he enjoyed seeing their suffering (and watching the Jews enjoy it too) he reminds a little bit of Hitler. Here in Acts 12, he kills James, the brother of Jon, and then imprisons Peter, just for the fun of watching the reaction of the people. Even though he is mean, he apparently believes, somewhat, that the God the Christians speak of is powerful because he places "four quaternions of soldiers" around Peter. (V.4) Amazingly enough, Peter slept. Peter had a peace that allowed him to sleep while chained between two soldiers. II. Purposeful Prayer. (12:5-9) The Bible tells us that "prayer was made without ceasing" by the church, for Peter. (V.5) These folks wanted Peter out of jail so bad that they prayed without ceasing! The bad thing is, that while they were praying for Peter’s release, they didn’t really believe it was going to happen. As we read on in chapter 12, the Lord comes to Peter and removes his chains, and tells him to get up quickly! Then he tells Peter to gird himself, clothe himself, and follow him. Peter did exactly what he was told, although he thought he was dreaming. There is a lesson there you know. God can release you from whatever is keeping you captive, but you have to trust him, properly gird yourself, and follow him. But I’ll save that for another time.:-) III. Purposeful Persistence.(12:10-16) Peter comes to the door where the church folk are praying and knocks. There is a servant girl, named Rhoda, who is so excited at hearing the sound of Peter’s voice that she forgets to let him in! That is kind of cute when you think about it. Here she is in the midst of all these people who are praying for Peter’s release and then she hears his voice at the door and is so happy she forgets to open it! Sadly though the very people who were praying didn’t believe her. They thought she was nuts! But she persisted until they finally went to the door to see. And there he was! That is so like we Christians today. We tell people that prayer is the most powerful tool we have in life, and yet we ourselves don’t believe it. IV. Purposeful Preaching.(12:17-18) Peter shares all that the Lord has done for him and then tells them to go out and spread the word. And while they did, there was quite a stir going on down at the jailhouse. That would have been a fun thing to watch to, I think. Can you imagine what they thought? I mean two of those soldiers fell asleep with Peter chained to them and when they awoke, he was gone! All the while the church folk are out spreading the word of God and telling of Peter's miraculous release. V. Purposeful Proclamation.(12:19-24) Herod thought more of himself than he ought to have. He killed the soldiers that he thought had lost Peter. Soon after he arrays himself in royal apparel and sets himself up on a throne and gives a great speech. It was so good the people called him "a god." And immediately the Lord smote him. The Bible says that it was because he didn’t give God the glory. And after Herod’s death "the word of God grew and multiplied." Sometimes a little persecution can be good for us. If we remember to keep ourselves in the word of God and pray without ceasing, maybe we would see our shackles released, our prison doors opened, and the preaching of the word multiplied.