Good evening, let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 17. Hymn number 17. Come thou fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon
it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I'm come. and I hope by thy good pleasure
safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger
wandering from the of God. He to rescue me from danger interposed
his precious blood. Oh to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number 75. 75. Abide with me. Fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens. Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts
flee, help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. Swift to its close. Spends out life's little day. Earth's joys grow dim. glories pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O Thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need thy presence every passing
hour. What but thy grace can foil the
tempter's power? Who like thyself My guidance
day can be. Through cloud and sunshine, O
abide with me. Hold thou thy word before my
closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. All right, let's open our Bibles
this evening to Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12. Saw last week how they was upset with Peter going and
preaching to Cornelius and he had to rehearse the whole thing
again. But let me read the 17 verses
here and then we'll go back and look at them together. 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 please the Jews, he proceeded further to
take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened
bread, or the Passover. And when he had apprehended him,
he put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers
to keep him in tending at... That word Easter means Passover.
The word Easter is the same word as Passover. to bring him forth
to people. Peter therefore was kept in prison,
but prayer was made without ceasing unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought
him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers
bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept
the prison. And behold, the angel of the
Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and he
smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise
quickly. And his chains fell off from
his hands. And the angel said unto him,
Gird thyself, bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto
him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out,
and followed him, and wished not that it was true which was
done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. But when they
were past the first and second ward, they came into the iron
gate that leadeth into the city. which opened to them of his own
accord. And they went out, passed on
through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him.
And Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety
that the Lord has sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of
the hand of Herod, and all the expectation of the people of
the Jews. And when he had considered the
thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose
surname was Mark, the same one who we're studying through now.
He was Simon Peter's nephew, and whose many were gathered
together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door
of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when
she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but
ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said
unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that
it was even so. Then they said, It is his angel.
But Peter continued knocking, and when they had opened the
door and saw him, they were astonished. But he, beckoning unto them with
the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord
had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go show these things
unto James and to the brethren. And he departed and went into
another place. O Lord, here we are again in
your holy presence, in the presence of a sovereign, almighty, omnipotent
God, infinitely, infinitely wise. And Lord, we're so thankful that
we can come, and we're thankful that you're our God. Israel said,
here, O Lord, our God, our God is one. And oh, we bless you
that you've revealed yourself to us, made yourself known to
us. We thank you for this opportunity
that you've given us to gather here this evening. And I pray
that you would make me a blessing to the saints that's gathered
out here. And make me a blessing to those who are watching or
listening. And Lord, may the gospel run
well here tonight. And may sinners be converted
to the Lord Jesus Christ. May the saints who are discouraged
and disheartened be strengthened and encouraged. May those who
are cold and indifferent be set on fire. And Lord, please work
a hunger and thirst in your people. Meet with us tonight. Bring glory
to yourself. Have mercy upon our loved ones.
We ask these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Page one in our course books. Page one in our course books. My hope is in the Lord, who gave
himself for me, and paid the price of all my sin at Calvary. For me He died, for me He lives,
and everlasting life and light He freely gives. No merit of my own is anger to
suppress. My only hope is found in Jesus'
righteousness. For me He died, for me He lives,
and everlasting life and light He freely gives. And now for me he stands before
his father's throne. He shows his wounded hands and
names me as his own. For me He died, for me He lives,
and everlasting life and light He freely gives. My Lord has done it all, no work
is left for me. In this I rest, my soul is blessed
eternally. For me, he died. For me, he lives. And everlasting life and light
he freely gives. Okay, let's look together here
then at chapter 12 of Acts and Talking about Peter being saved
from prison Peter's salvation from prison Now here's a new
persecution upon the Saints in Jerusalem a New persecution a
whole new wave of persecution upon the Saints in Jerusalem
You remember the first persecution? was by the Jewish leaders, you
know, in Acts chapter 3 through verse 5, 3 and 4 and 5. They even beat them and put them
in prison, mistreated them, warned them never to preach and teach
in Jesus' name again. And even over there, they put
Peter and James and John, Peter and John in prison, and they
sent them to go get them the next morning, and they went down
there, and they wasn't there. And they said, where are they
at? And a fellow come to him said, those fellows you had in
jail, they're standing up there preaching right now. God's going
to get his gospel out. They're not going to stop his
church. They're not going to stop his people. And then there's
the persecution after Stephen's martyr, you know, when they killed
Stephen and killed him and slaughtered him and beat him to death with
stones. The scripture says then they
were scattered abroad, scattered abroad. Now the Jews got in line
with the politicians and they were using the politicians. Herod
was the king. There was a whole group called
the Herodians. And here he was, he's stirring
up the politicians. And they were full, they were
just full of venom. Oh, you think a rattlesnake or
a cobra has venom in them? That's why our Lord called them,
oh, you generation of vipers and serpents, how you gonna escape
the damnation of hell? And they were full of venom because
God was saving Gentiles, saving people without becoming Jews,
without the law. WITHOUT MOSES, WITHOUT CIRCUMCISION,
WITHOUT RULES, WITHOUT REGULATIONS, WITHOUT CEREMONIES, AND TO THEIR
MIND THIS WAS A VERY, VERY DANGEROUS AND DEADLY TO THEIR RELIGION. THEY JUST DESPISED THE GOSPEL,
THEY DESPISED CHRIST, THEY DESPISED ALL THOSE THAT PREACHED IT. NOW
LOOK WHAT IT SAID HERE, THE PERSECUTION, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE PERSECUTION
TO BEGIN WITH. Now, about that time Herod the
king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. Now, Herod was a wicked man,
he was a wicked, wicked man. His father was wicked. His father
was the one who had all the infants slain when Christ was born. He
said, go down there and kill every child under two years old.
We gotta kill this king of the Jews. He gonna threaten my kingship,
gonna threaten my throne. And not only did he do that,
but this, I was looking at today about some things about him.
He slew his wife and he slew all three of his sons to keep
his own throne. And here he was the same one
that had John the Baptist's head cut off. His daddy was. And then his father, Agrippa, is the first
one to tell Paul that he was a madman. So he was a very, very,
very good, bad man. And he was the grandson, I should
have said, of Herod, the one who had the infants slain and
killed all of his family but now look what he says now he
was a wicked man Herod was a wicked man and Then look what he wanted
he wanted to vex the church that word vex means to trouble Trouble
very much you ever been vexed It's a bad way to be troubled
Troubled and I tell you what he was going to trouble the church
now look what he says and then he committed murder and He killed
James the brother of John with a sword. He just flat out committed
murder. He committed murder. He killed
James. You know who this James was?
James and John were the sons of Zebedee. They were called
the sons of thunder. They were the first two that
our Lord Jesus Christ went by and called when they were mid
to nets. James and John The sons of Zebedee. And so this is that James, the
brother of John, that he just killed. Oh my, there's three
leaders, three leaders that run around and fellowship with our
Lord Jesus. Peter, John, and James. Those three men were the inner
circles. Everywhere our Lord went, those
men went with him. And they was with him all the
time. And so here he's done slew one of the three. And James,
James the Apostle, he was the first apostle to die as a martyr,
very first one. Now his brother John, who wrote
the book of John, and who also wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John,
and wrote the revelation of Jesus Christ, he was exiled on Patmos
and lived until he was 95 years old, but his brother was killed. and he lived for decades and
decades on. Who made the difference in that?
There's only one person who could, and that's God Almighty. And
I tell you what, you remember when I told you, I believe it
was Sunday, where they went and asked the Lord Jesus, said, Lord,
we want something to do for us. What do you want me to do? Well,
when you come to your kingdom, I won't sit over here and my
brother James won't sit over here. And our Lord said, it's
not given to you to do that. There's no, you can't do that.
And then look what, here's the motive that he killed James. This is the motive why he stretched
forth his hand, to vex certain of the church. And he said in
verse four, three, it said, because he saw it pleased the Jews. Made the Jews happy. It made
the Jews feel good. And they went to him and no doubt
told him, oh, we appreciate you killing that man. We appreciate
you slaying that man. He's been a thorn in our side.
He's been troublemaker. And I'll tell you, I'm glad you
finally took things in hand. And we're so glad that you killed
that man. Oh, it pleased the Jews. They
was happy about it. And he saw that it pleased the
Jews. And then look what else he done. He said, because it
pleased the Jews. He said, I'll tell you what,
if killing one of them pleases the Jews, I'll get another one.
And he said, they took Peter. Go out and arrest Peter. Go get
him. He said, I'll kill another. He arrested Peter. And here's
what they're thinking. This is the way I believe these
fellows think. I believe they thought if we could start with
the leaders of the church and start killing them off, then
if we cut it off, then the whole body will die. But there's one
thing they never counted on. The real head of the church is
sitting on the throne in glory. And that's what our Lord, He
said, don't you fear them that can kill the body. Don't be afraid
of them. Fear Him that can, after He's
destroyed the body, can also send your soul to hell. And I
tell you what, He said, boy, I tell you what, I've made these
Jews, I've really made these Jews like me. And I tell you
what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna kill another one. I'm
gonna kill another one. And oh my. And so they brought
Peter and put him in prison. Look what I said. In verse four,
those were the days of unleavened bread. That's the Passover. And
when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison. And look
what it says, four quaternions of soldiers to keep him. To keep
him. He had 16 soldiers to guard one
man. 16 soldiers. That's what that
means. Four, 16 of them. Sixteen, how do you, this fella,
they must have really thought he's some kind of a mean man.
They must have thought he must be the meanest man around. We're
gonna, he has sent so much trouble to us and so aggravating to us,
we're gonna make sure he stays in prison. We're gonna have forts,
we're gonna have sixteen people guard him and watch him. Oh my,
gonna kill him. Sixteen soldiers to guard him. They're treating him like the
FBI treats the number one guy they're looking for they treat
him like he's public enemy number one but he was not in he was
the public loved him they loved the gospel but hey oh you know
whose enemy was the jews enemies pharisees enemies the rhodians
enemy And I'll tell you what, he was an enemy to their power.
He was an enemy to their religion. He was enemy because his gospel
tore down their playhouse. Their gospel made them understand
that there ain't but one name under heaven whereby we must
be saved. There ain't but one person that can save us. There's
only one person's blood. You crucified him. You crucified
him, put him in the grave, but he rose again, and now you're
gonna have to face him. And boy, they didn't like that.
They didn't like that. They put him in prison. It was
like Pilate. When Pilate brought the Lord
Jesus Christ out before the crowd, after the priest got through
with him and Herod got through with him and they sent him on
over to Pilate. Pilate was the governor at that
time. And Pilate got out, took the Lord Jesus out in front of
that whole crowd and gave him two choices. said, Listen, we
can take Barabbas, a murderer, an insurrectionist, guilty of
sedition, a wicked man, a cruel man, a criminal of the highest
degree, you can have HIM and we'll crucify HIM, and we can
take this man, who I found no fault in, and we can let HIM
go! Now, which one do you want? Well,
you would think that a murderer and a thief would be in danger
to society. So we can't let him go, we gotta
keep him in jail. All efforts to keep him in jail.
And then they've got the Lord Jesus Christ who went about doing
good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil. He should be released. Oh my, give us Barabbas or give
us the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh my, can you imagine? One of them has to go free and
one has to be crucified. And it was Barabbas' time to
go to the cross. And they would rather have Christ
crucified. Leave that murderer go, leave
that thief go. And I'll tell you what happened.
When they said, listen, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him.
Somebody, some soldier went down there and Barabbas was in his
prison cell. He was in jail, he was in prison.
And he heard them footsteps coming down that hall on that rocks
and on them stones. And he said, well, they're coming
to get me. It's my time to go and die and
be crucified for my crimes. But instead, when they opened
that grate, they said, Barabbas, you're free. You're free. I know you committed murder. I know you're a thief. I know
you're seditious. Go, you're free. How can that
be? They wanted Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory. And you get to go free and he
go get your cross. They gonna treat Him like He's
the murderer. They gonna treat Him like He's
the criminal. They gonna treat Him like He's
the thief. They gonna treat Him like He's
the sorriest man on the face of the earth. And that's what
they did. And you know why they crucified
Christ? Well, of course, it was purposed
of God Almighty. But the reason they did is because
He said, He told them the truth about themselves. He looked them
square in the eye. and called them vipers, called
them serpents, called them hypocrites, called them liars, told them
they were their father, the devil. Oh, he's, listen, if I talk to
people like that, they'd get rid of me too. But our Lord Jesus
Christ, he was honest, real. And they said, we can't take
that. We're not gonna take that. And the truth, the truth was
more dangerous to them than Barabbas ever was. And preacher, you know
what Peter's guilty of? Preaching Jesus Christ, the Lord
of glory and his resurrection power. He said, and I myself
am a witness of it. Oh my, it was the feast of unleavened
bread. It was the Passover. And so they're
gonna leave him in prison till the Passover's over. And then
they're gonna come and get him. Now watch what's happened. Look
down here in verse five. Peter was kept in prison. They
kept him there, but listen to what now, look what happened.
Peter was kept in prison. And down in verse six, look what
it says now. And when Herod would have brought
him forth, go get him the next morning, it was time for him
to come. Go get him. The same night, Peter
was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, And the
keepers before the door kept the present. So there's fellas
right before the door, standing guard at the door, and he's down
sleeping between two. And he's chained to him. He's
chained, he's asleep. He's asleep. You reckon you'd
be asleep if they don't come get you tomorrow? Oh, look what happens now. He was sleeping, two chains between
him, two soldiers. This is the night before he was
executed, to be executed. And the angel of the Lord, behold
then verse seven, the angel of the Lord came upon him. And the
light shined in the prison. He smote Peter on the side and
said, arise quickly. And his chains fell off his hands. Oh, what a salvation here. And
here's the thing about it. those guards standing outside
the door, I stood asleep, the chain stayed on their hands,
fell off of Peter s hands, and those guys never woke up, never
known anything that happened. Now, how could that be? Oh, my. Oh, they, his chains
fell off. And those soldiers, they just
laid there, kept on sleeping. The others standing before the
gate. They didn't see a thing. They didn't see a thing. Oh,
my. And then he went on down there
and the angel said to him, verse eight, gird yourself, get your clothes
on, bind on your sandals. And he did. He said, now put
your garment around you. and follow me, and follow me. And oh my, and he went out and
followed him, and thought it's not true, which was done by the
angel, but thought he saw a vision. Let me tell you something about
when his salvation come, his deliverance come. You know, his
deliverance came at the last possible moment. I mean, here
it was, maybe it's close to daylight, I don't know. But the next day
they was gonna come and execute him. They was gonna execute him,
get him and bring him out of jail and execute him. But his
salvation came at the last possible moment. Now he had been in prison
for several days, waiting for the end to come. He could have
been saved on any one of those days or any one of those nights
or any moment in that time. But it was ONLY, ONLY the last
night before His execution that the LORD came, that the LORD
came. And I tell you what, how many
times, and that's the way, you know, how many times have we
prayed and needed God to save us, God to do something for us,
and we didn't want to wait. We didn't want to wait for it.
And oh my, But I tell you, God works on his own schedule. He
don't work on anybody else's. He don't work on Herod's. He
don't work on anybody else's schedule. And that's why the
psalmist said in Psalm 27, 14, wait, I say on the Lord, wait,
I say on the Lord and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait,
I say on the Lord. And that's what he did. He was
live or die, didn't you know? And how many times, how many
times, Lord, come, not even for ourselves, but to save somebody
else. But why was Peter saved? And why was James slain? Both
were chief apostles. The only answer is the will and
purpose of God. One to glorify Him by life, one
to glorify Him by death. Look over here with me, keep
Acts 12, and look over with me in Philippians, Philippians chapter
1, and look at this with me. And
you know, Paul said, All things are for your sakes. Whatever
preacher it is, it's for your sake. Whatever trial it is, it's
for your sake. If it's life, it's for your sake.
If it's death, it's for your sake. If it's Christ, it's for
your sake. Everything's for our sake. But
look what Paul said here in I Philippians chapter 1 verse 20, According to my earnest expectation
and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that
with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified
in my body, now listen to this, whether it be by life or whether
it be by death. as long as Christ is magnified,
honored. For me to live, it's Christ.
For me to die is gain. But if I live, if I live in the
flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what shall I choose? I don't know. For I'm a straight,
but twixt two, having desire to part be with Christ, which
is far better. Now do you reckon Simon Peter
felt that way that night in that prison? But that's what Paul said, by
life or by death. I want Christ to get the honor.
I want Christ to get the glory. And I believe that's what these
fellows said. So that's what happened. And you know in his
deliverance, his deliverance, his salvation is a picture of
our salvation, of a sinner's salvation. Look at what I'm telling
you. His situation, humanly speaking,
was hopeless. Utterly and absolutely hopeless.
Looked hopeless. 16 soldiers guarding him. Chained to two. Prison doors he can't break out.
He was in prison, surrounded by guards. He was asleep and
he was condemned to die. Now ain't that exactly the way
it was for us? Utterly and absolutely hopeless
by our own efforts. We was in prison. What prison? The prison of sin. What kind
of chains held us? Sin held us. Death held us. Flesh held us. And all we was
asleep to the things of God, asleep to the things of Christ.
And we were condemned to die. But Derek, look what happens
now. But a supernatural act took place. Chained by sin, unable
to escape. But look what happened back up
here in verse seven. Oh, a supernatural act of God's
inner vision saved it. And the angel of the Lord came
upon him, and listen to this now, and a light shined. A light shined in the prison. It's dark in there. How in the
world would they get that light from? And God brings the light when
He comes to save us. He brings the light and the life-shaping. And He got to come upon us. As
that angel came upon Simon Peter, He got to come upon us. And then
look what it says. He went out and the chains fell
off and that angel said, follow me, follow me. And he went on
down through there and listen to when it says in verse nine,
He went out and followed him. He told him to follow me and
he followed him. And he wished not that it was true which was
done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. But when they
were past the first and second ward, I believe that's in the
prison where there's guards, and then you go, there's a prison
gate, and then you go out and there's another gate, and then
they go out and there's another, and they got put, three sets
of guards, they gotta go by. And oh, so they went out. And
that leadeth unto the city, and they came upon the iron gate,
which opened to them of his own accord. Now, that gate's not
a male. That gate ain't got a mind. That gate didn't say, Well, I'm
going to open up. No, no, according to HIS, according
to HIS purpose, opened up HIS own accord. Whose accord? Was
it Peter's accord? Or was it the angel's accord?
But ONE of them, because it had a purpose, that gate opened right
up, opened right up. And then, you know, they went
out and passed on through one street, and then the angel left
him, the angel left him. And I tell you what, and you
know the first thing he wanted to do? And he said there in verse
11, this is so good right here. Guards never saw a thing. And
when Peter was come to himself, And when we come to ourselves,
this is exactly what we say. Now I know, I am absolutely sure
that the Lord has sent his angel and has saved me out of the hand
of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jews. And that's what
we say, we are positive, we are sure that God has saved us. Oh, we know that. And so what
did he do? He wanted to go be where the
church was. wanted to go be where people were praying. Now, remember
there in verse 5 where it says, Therefore Peter was kept in prison,
but prayer was made without ceasing of the church of God for him.
There's praying for him. And then there was a prayer meeting
going on in this house. Huh? There's a prayer meeting
going on in this house. It says there in verse 12, and when he
had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the
mother of John, whose surname was Mark. Many were gathered
together praying. Oh my, there's a prayer meeting
going on. They gathered together praying.
And then it says, told us that they were praying to God for
him. Praying to God. A lot of people pray. A lot of
people pray. But very few people pray to God.
Very few people pray to God. But they were praying to God.
Now let me tell you, let me say a thing or two about this here.
I've seen preachers do it. When you're praying, when you're
praying, these folks weren't praying to an audience. They
didn't have an audience that, you know, like when I pray, I've
got people listening to me. Well, they were praying to God.
And you know, But they weren't praying to an audience. And they
wasn't preaching in their prayer. You ever heard a preacher preaching
his prayer, trying to straighten folks out? Trying to tell somebody
something in their prayer. Trying to address something that's
wrong with somebody in their prayer. You know, trying to tell
somebody something in their prayer. Trying to preach to them in their
prayer. That's not, oh no, no. It's like that Pharisee, he prayed
thus with himself. He didn't pray to God. But you
know what prayer is? It's an audience with God Almighty. It's an audience with God. So
whenever you pray, whether we're all together, whenever you pray,
you've got an audience with God. That's the only audience I'm
interested in, ain't you? God Almighty. God. Prayer is an audience with God.
And amen. They were praying together, united
in prayer. Most people, they think of QUANTITY
instead of QUALITY. You don't have to say a whole
lot of words to pray. Elijah, when he prayed, he used
67 words. Fire fell. Destroyed 450 false
prophets. And most think of QUANTITY. And
all the people say this, if one praying is good, how about two? How about not only that, but
let's start a prayer chain. Let's call so-and-so to call
so-and-so to call so-and-so, and next thing you know, we got
people praying all the way around the world. I tell you what, let's
get together and pray all night long. We'll get more prayers
up this way. That's what they think, putting
prayers up. That's pagan, pagan as it can possibly be. Prayers
between individuals and God. It's in the minds and hearts
that we're together, gathering, calling on God, addressing God.
And they were praying earnestly. It says they prayed without ceasing.
Oh, I think that our prayers are better and receive more,
and we're more blessed by it when we pray for somebody else.
I found that to be my case. You know, folks will ask me to
pray for someone, And you know, I get to thinking about people
like Dee Parks and Moose and Bob and Jeanette and Sandy, and
I get to thinking about Christy. And then Eleanor asked me the
other day about her brother and just the tough situation he's
in. And when you start thinking about
him and you start praying for him and looking at God for him
and addressing God, and God knows exactly what's wrong with him.
But I still, you got to, you get, your heart gets to move. And even water comes to your
eyes and tears come to your heart when you start thinking about
praying for somebody and their needs, not yours, theirs. We
don't need anything materially. Why ask for anything materially?
We don't need anything material. We don't need nothing physical.
I said, whoa, how much spiritual help we need, and how much spiritual
help other people need. But oh, I think if you'll try
that, I think if you'll try that, I believe you'll be blessed.
All right, then look what happens here. I've got to hurry on. I
got to hurry on. So they come there, and when
he had considered the thing, and look what it said in verse
13. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a young woman,
a damsel named Rhoda, came to listen. She came to say, Who's
that? Who's at the door? Who is it? Who is it? That's
what she said, Who is it? That's what she said, Come to
hear who's at the door. And look what happens now, when
she knew Peter's voice, Listen to this, she opened up the gate
for gladness. They've been praying for this
man to be saved, to be brought out of prison. And they've been
praying since he started. And here they are, he comes,
he's out of prison knocking at the door, and they're not glad
about that. Well, she's surprised. But she
ran back in the house. She ran back in the house. And told how Peter stood before
the gate. He said, I heard his voice, that's Peter, that's Simon
Peter. I asked who it is, he said, it's
me, it's me, it's Peter, Simon Peter. And they said unto her,
listen to this. These are folks that are praying.
They've been praying for this to happen. A lot happens now. And they said, you're mad, you've
lost your mind. You have absolutely lost your
mind. But she kept saying, oh, I'm
telling you the truth, I'm telling you the truth, that's just so.
Then they said, no, well, it must be his angel then, it must
be his spirit. But oh, Simon Peter, he just
kept on banging on the door, kept on banging on the door,
kept on banging on the door. And listen to this now. And when
they opened the door, saw him, and listen to this, they were
astonished. You think God really answered
our prayers? That surprises me. That surprised
all. They were astonished. How'd this
happen? They'd been praying for it, now
God answered their prayers. And they're shocked. They're
astonished. Oh my. Oh, Peter came in there,
and oh, I believe all of them started talking at the same time.
I believe all of them started talking at the same time, and
they all were just carrying on and, oh, wanting to hug him and
everything like that and say, oh, you know, told him how glad
they was to see him after they got over everything that was
happening. But he beckoned with him with a hand, to hold your
peace now, be quiet, be quiet. And he declared unto them how
the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He told them exactly
how it happened. And he said, the Lord done this.
He said, the Lord brought me out of prison. And then he said,
go show these things unto James. Now this James here is James
the son of Alphaeus. There was two James, James the
son of Zebedee, James the son of Alphaeus. And he was the head
of the church in Jerusalem. But anyway, he said, you go tell
James and the brethren. And he departed and went into
another place. Now, let's just show you a couple of things here
in closing. Now, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir
among the soldier what was become of Peter. Oh, them soldiers got
so upset. Where's Peter at? Where's Peter at? Them guys still got their chains
on them. Where's Peter at? I mean, they went all over that
jail looking for him, went outside, probably went around, around,
around, looking, where's he at, where's he at? They were scared
to death. What happened? I mean, they were shook up, stirred
up. They was looking everywhere.
And when Herod had sought for him, see, it was time the next
morning, sought for him and found him not, he commanded that they
should be put to death. You're talking about a cruel,
cruel man. Bring every one of them soldiers
that was supposed to guard him, and he killed every single one
of them for letting Peter get out of there. The Lord's the
one that done it. And I tell you what, you're talking about
wicked. He is so cruel. God saves one, kills others.
But oh my. Maybe we'll know something about
persecution before we get out of here. Maybe we will, maybe
we won't. But whatever the Lord wills is
fine with me. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for meeting with us tonight.
Thank you for your precious word. Oh, God, we love your word. Oh,
such power in it. So many stories and so many things. man in prison, gonna be executed,
you come and save him. Here's another one, you love
him as much, you died as much for him and they let him be killed. Oh Lord, people praying and then
they astonished that you answered their prayers. Lord, you're a
miracle worker. You've got the power, you've
got the ability. And Lord, we believe with all
of our hearts, whatever you put us in, wherever you put us, you'll
protect us. You'll protect us and preserve
us, whether by life or by death, as long as by your grace, you
get all the glory. That's all we care about. You
get all the glory. God bless these dear saints as
they go their way. Keep them, preserve them. Strengthen
their bodies and bless those who are listening tonight. We
ask these things for Christ's sake, amen. ? Turn your eyes
upon Jesus ? ? Look full in his wonderful face ? And the things
of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory
and grace. See you Sunday, God willing.