James asking Jesus for a place on his right and left in the kingdom, and Jesus saying they don't know what they are asking
1 He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them.
2 Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
3 He answered, “What did Moses command you?”
4 They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.”
5 But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.
6 But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.
7 For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife,
8 and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.
9 What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
10 In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter.
11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her.
12 If a woman herself divorces her husband, and marries another, she commits adultery.”
13 They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them.
14 But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.
15 Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
16 He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
17 As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God.
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’”
20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth.”
21 Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.”
22 But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.
23 Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
26 They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, “Then who can be saved?”
27 Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”
28 Peter began to tell him, “Behold, we have left all, and have followed you.”
29 Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News,
30 but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.
31 But many who are first will be last; and the last first.”
32 They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him.
33 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles.
34 They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask.”
36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
37 They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your glory.”
38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
39 They said to him, “We are able.” Jesus said to them, “You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with;
40 but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared.”
41 When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant towards James and John.
42 Jesus summoned them, and said to them, “You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
43 But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.
44 Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.
45 For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
46 They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.
47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stood still, and said, “Call him.” They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!”
50 He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
51 Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.”
Herod arresting Peter during days of unleavened bread and assigning sixteen soldiers to guard him
3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.
4 When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
the angel striking Peter awake, chains falling off, and the iron gate opening by itself
6 The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.
7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, “Stand up quickly!” His chains fell off from his hands.
8 The angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” He did so. He said to him, “Put on your cloak, and follow me.”
9 And he went out and followed him. He didn’t know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he saw a vision.
10 When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
Peter coming to himself and recognizing the Lord had sent his angel to rescue him from Herod
11 When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”
Peter describing his deliverance and telling them to report to James and the brothers before leaving to another place
17 But he, beckoning to them with his hand to be silent, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Tell these things to James, and to the brothers.” Then he departed, and went to another place.
no small disturbance among the soldiers and Herod ordering the guards led away to execution
18 Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.
19 When Herod had sought for him, and didn’t find him, he examined the guards, and commanded that they should be put to death. He went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.
Herod going to Caesarea, the people of Tyre and Sidon calling out that his was the voice of a god and not a man
20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus, the king’s personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.
21 On an appointed day, Herod dressed himself in royal clothing, sat on the throne, and gave a speech to them.
22 The people shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Jonathan was back from a month of ministry travel through South Africa, Uganda, and Kenya, and he preached through Acts 12 on the Sunday the church was commissioning Anders and Brooke to go to Livingston, Zambia. The chapter moves through the execution of James, the miraculous release of Peter, and the gruesome death of Herod Agrippa I, and it closes with a line he kept returning to: the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied. The whole thing was framed by two missionary moments, the believers in Antioch sending relief to Jerusalem at the end of chapter 11, and the commissioning of Barnabas and Saul at the end of chapter 12.
What was said
Herod Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great and the nephew of Herod Antipas, the man who had John the Baptist killed and was partly involved in the trial of Jesus. That family lineage mattered because Agrippa ruled as king of the Jews under Rome and was politically motivated in everything he did. When he saw that executing James, the brother of John, pleased the Jewish people, he arrested Peter too, timing it to the days of unleavened bread, the same season the family had been involved in killing Jesus. The persecution was calculated and it was personal.
Peter sat in a heavily guarded prison, chained between two soldiers with additional guards at the doors and a final iron gate between him and the street. The church gathered at Mary's house and prayed earnestly. Peter was asleep. Pastor Jonathan spent some time on that detail, noting that Peter was not pacing his cell in anxious faith, he was resting, at peace with whatever came next, even if it meant death the following day. The deliverance that followed was not credited to Peter's spiritual heroics but to God acting on behalf of his people.
The angel's waking of Peter has a comedic texture to it, sandals, belt, cloak, come on, let's go, and Peter moving through the whole thing in a daze, thinking it might be a vision. The iron gate swings open by itself. He walks out onto the street and finally comes to himself. Then he knocks at Mary's door and the servant girl Rhoda, so overwhelmed she runs back without opening the gate, tells the praying church that Peter is standing outside. They tell her she is out of her mind.
That moment got extended attention. The people who had been praying earnestly, who said they believed God could act, defaulted immediately to a nonsense explanation rather than the answer they had been asking for. Pastor Jonathan connected this to a broader human tendency to pray for something and then, when God gives it, find it unbelievable, or when God does not give it in the way we expected, find someone to blame for a lack of faith. The chapter does not let that tendency stand as the final word.
Herod's death is the counterpoint. He went to Caesarea, set up a public appearance in silver robes timed to catch the morning sun, and when the crowd cried out that his was the voice of a god and not a man, he did not correct them. Luke's account and Josephus's account of the same event run close together here, and Pastor Jonathan read from Josephus to fill out the scene. An angel struck him, the same Greek word used when the angel struck Peter to wake him up. The difference was what each man had done with the glory that belonged to God. Herod kept it. He was eaten by worms and died over five days.
The chapter ends with a summary statement and then a return to the missionary frame. The word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied, regardless of James dead, Peter delivered, Herod rotting. Barnabas and Saul come back from Jerusalem to Antioch and take John Mark with them. The local church in Antioch sending people out was the normal pattern then, and sending Anders and Brooke to Zambia is the normal pattern now. What God will actually do through them, Pastor Jonathan said, nobody fully knows going in, but the sending itself is faithful and ordinary in the best sense.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The pastor mentioned that the churches in South Africa, Uganda, and Kenya that were steadily growing were the ones paying attention to the word of God and lifting up Christ. What do you think that kind of attention actually looks like in a local church day to day?
James is executed and Peter is delivered, and the pastor says both are God's will. How do you sit with that? Where do you land when you try to hold those two things together?
Speaker 1Hey, hey, hey. Good morning, everybody. How are y'all? Everybody's alright? I'm glad to be back.
Glad to see you. Maria's gonna sing with this morning. Carl is out of town. Ryan's out of town. We've got several of the band out of town.
So we're going back old school style hymns, would you stand with us? And I will be reporting on Africa a bit, but I have not figured out where I am or what's going on yet. So probably be a week before my brain catches up with me. I am preaching today, so you can start praying now. But let's hit this one hard.
This is A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Amen. Amen and amen. Y'all can have a seat. Have a we'll see what the announcements are.
I haven't seen anybody since I got back except for Tim Dalton who's always working on buildings and grounds. I am glad to be back. I have no idea what's going on here. There's no one of this week. That's good.
School's out. I wanna is off. That's the way that usually goes. And the clicker is not clicking. Away How is next?
Okay. We'll do that. Hey, missions moment. Paco and Didi Quintero Quintero in Bemibre actually, Spain. If you all can, pray for hearts to be softened for other people to come to Jesus.
They are going through it right now. As missionaries, sometimes you go through times where it's just tough. Right? And they're going through a tough time right now physically speaking within their family. If you remember the Quinteros this week, Paco, Didi, and their two kids, please do be praying for them that those issues would resolve and that hearts would be softened to accept the gospel.
Is there anything else up there? For information, there's a QR code. That's great. Y'all can check the website for everything else. How about standing with me again and we'll sing I'll Fly Away.
Do you all know this song? Yeah. Alright. Sing it like you mean it then. Okay.
How about pass me not, oh gentle savior. I the last few worship services that I have been a part of have been in Swahili. Don't speak Swahili. I'm trying not to. It's an interesting thing to go through accent after accent and country after country and just be rolling and tumbling so much.
And when you get home, this song for some reason this morning, y'all help me with this if you know it. Because this song, I started singing something completely different. It's not tongues, it was the bonanza theme. It was the theme song to the western show bonanza. When we get to the chorus, please sing loud if you know it.
Alright? Pass me not, oh gentle savior. What a great great old hymn. Amen. Lord God Almighty, that is our earnest prayer.
I have heard that song a 100,000 times in my life. And I think of it for salvation, Lord, but we need you every day. We need you every hour. We need you, Lord. We would pray that we would be attentive and humble and that you would not pass us by with what you have for us today.
What it is that you have for us today, not just for salvation but for sanctification, for your peace, and for your continuing mission. Lord, would you show us what it is that you would have us do? We pray that we'd be humble before you. Don't pass us by. Don't let the moment pass, lord.
In Jesus name, amen. How about spirit of the living God? All fresh on us. Amen. Y'all can have a seat.
And it's the time for the worship through giving, operatory time. And if you would, would you just pray with me? Sitting right there. Would you open up your heart and a dialogue with God as I pray aloud. Lord God Almighty, we have seen marvelous things.
I'm filled to overflow in this morning and in awe of you. The sun never sets on what you are doing in the world, Lord. It's constant. You are continually advancing your good gospel. Lord, in all humility, we gather this morning and we want to be a part of that.
We want to be a part of the gospel's advance. In our own hearts, we want to be humble before you and let you saturate us with the word of God and the love of God and the spirit of God so that we might be instruments of God tuned for your grace to receive and to transmit lord. That's what we want collectively here. We want for you to do whatever it is that you want in this fellowship and through this fellowship. We pray lord that you'd bless the gift and the giver that you multiply the gift to go to the very uttermost parts.
We know lord that it will. We know that your kingdom is forever like we're saying. We know that your truth abideth still. May we be a part of it going forward and Lord God almighty, forgive us when we are party to the suppression of the truth of God. We pray that you would do everything that only you can do and that we would be willing lord to do what you show us to do.
In Jesus name, we ask your blessing on this offering. Amen. Downstairs. Time for children's shirts downstairs and there they go. Oh, thank you, Judy.
How long have you been playing piano here? Oh, you've been playing piano since you were seven? Okay. She's been playing here almost fifty years. Going going on fifty years.
I'm so thankful for that. I always tell people when they say because I do get nervous, I still get nervous, and I really get nervous if I miss a week and I've missed five. So I have been preaching in other places in the world, but I always tell people that I play the bass not because I'm a good bass player. I play the bass because I can't do anything else while I'm playing the bass except play the bass. I have to think about that and then when I get here, here we are.
The word of God is what is before us. Right? And what I have seen in our trip to Africa which I plan on reporting on in the next coming weeks and Tanya probably will have some to report too. But what we saw in South Africa and in Uganda and in Kenya is that the churches, little local individual churches that were paying attention to the word of God were the ones that were steadily growing in quality and in quantity. There were some numbers there.
There are flashes of amazing movement that you see happening too, but the steady, slow, continued growth of of God's church, the capital c church is an amazing thing and it really tends to happen where his word is proclaimed and his Christ is lifted up and so that's what I pray we'll be doing here this morning and every morning. I wanna stay real close to what it says. We've got the chapter that's before us is Acts 12. Actually, I'm gonna pick up at 11:29 and thirty which is where Carl left off, but I've got a reason for that. The 11:29 and thirty is this, so the believers in Antioch decided they were a little group of the capital c church, but the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea around Jerusalem.
Everyone in Antioch was given as much as they could to help out and they did this entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and to Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem. So that's a missionary journey. Now, we'll get to chapter 13 next week. God willing and it will be about the first missionary journey but honestly, Barnabas and Saul were set out on a just a short term mission trip here. They had one goal in mind and it was to take relief to the people of Judea where there was famine and economic difficulty.
So, that was it. That's the last thing Carl covered and it bookends very well with the last thing I'll hit today. I made it a purple slide for this one and a purple slide for that one. As we are sending out a couple of missionaries from this church today. Y'all heard from them a couple of weeks ago, Anderson Brook and they're here today, and we'd like to commission them, send them out.
They're leaving in the coming week to go to Livingston Zambia, which was on our list, but we did not make it there. We'll come back to see you while you're there. But in the going forward, I just want you to see that it's normal to be sending people out. It was normal for us to go to Africa. It's normal for them to go to Africa.
It's normal for some of y'all to go to Indonesia, and some of y'all to go to South Africa, and some of y'all to go It's normal to be doing that. The believers in Antioch as a local body decided. And we've got a missions committee here that gets together and prays a couple times a month, every month, and continuously in between for what is it that you want us to do, lord. What is it that you want the saints, the believers here in Jackson to do with what you've entrusted to us. Lord, how are we gonna seek to send the gospel forward?
What's the best way that we can do that? And so we wanna be conscientious stewards but we also just wanna be advancing different people, entrusting them with the gospel, entrusting them with gifts of relief, entrusting them with aid, entrusting them to send them out. My heart is full this morning. 11, chapter 11 ends with the missionary commissioning. The main section of 12 starts and ends with death.
That's hard. Missionary commissioning, the very next thing we see is death. There's divine deliverance in the middle and properly presented and understood which is what I hope that I properly presented and then you properly understand it. It's something that is just an amazing chapter to see that those who are humble before God and submitted to him advance the gospel. Advance not just the the word of God, the priority of proclamation is great, but they also advance Jesus' mission of setting the captives free, of proclaiming the acceptable time of favor of the Lord, of helping with people's actual needs.
Like, marry those two things back together. It's not the social gospel and the, you know, the priority of the proclamation of his word. Both of those things must go together. We saw a lot of that in the past month elsewhere and we see it here too coming back to here we are at his word. Coming back to this.
Now, about that time, Herod, the king, laid hands on some who belonged to the church to do them harm. Depending on your translation will say, Herod, the king, laid violent hands on some who belong to the church of God. To do them harm, there's no doubt about why he did it. Herod, this Herod is Agrippa the first. We see five different Herods in the New Testament.
Herod the great is the one who had the babies around Bethlehem killed and we'll, you know, see him every Christmas. We always see him, Herod the great. He had the largest territory of any of the Herods. This is his grandson, Herod Agrippa the first. He ruled as a client king over the Jews, so he is king of the Jews in the political sense.
That's why he hated it. His grandfather hated Christ for the possibility because he was king of the Jews, really. Herod Antipas, who had John the Baptist killed was this guy's uncle. Herod Antipas, the one who was partially involved in the kangaroo court that found Jesus innocent and had him crucified anyway, was the sky's uncle. Right?
Same Herod Antipas, that fox Jesus says, that's the sky's uncle. But Herod Agrippa the first through political savvy and being raised up with the Roman elite ruled as much land as his grandfather Herod the Great. This blue area is everything that he ruled from '41 to forty four AD. If you keep in time frame on this, we know when it was because we know when he was king. There's not any doubt about it.
It's well attested in Roman records. It's well attested in Jewish records. And it's mentioned in the Bible, although the year is not given, we can tell because of everything else. Now, about that time, Herod, king, Agrippa the first, laid hands, violent hands on some who belong to the church to do them harm. There's no doubt about why he did what he did.
He had James, the brother of John, executed with the sword. James and John, two thirds of the elite inter group inner circle of Jesus, not just of the 12, but of the three, Peter, James, and John. Right? Peter's the kind of uncontested leader, but James and John, the sons of thunder, are very close. And if you remember, James particularly himself asked Jesus, hey, when you come into your kingdom, one of us on the right and the other one on the left and we're going to argue over which one gets the right, which one gets the left.
And that's their way of thinking and James presents that to Jesus. I think it's Mark 10. It's Mark somewhere. He says, hey, Jesus. When you come into your kingdom, we want to be there and we want to be one on your right and one on your left.
Their mom wanted that too. And he says, you don't know what you're asking. Can you drink the cup I'm going to have to drink? Can you withstand the baptism that I'm gonna have to withstand? And James is like, that's what we want.
That's what we want. Because you don't know what you're asking, but you are gonna get it. And so, he gets it. He's fallen after Christ and Christ is executed though he's innocent. And James, what's he guilty of?
Nothing. James, the brother of John, son of Zebedee, sons of thunder, was struck down, executed with a sword, probably beheaded. And when Herod saw that that pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter as well. Okay. He's already killed James.
Now, he's gonna get Peter. This is another one of the inner circle of Jesus. His family was involved in the death of Jesus and it had been forty one, '44. This is up around forty four probably. So it's been eleven years, but it's an anniversary.
Anniversaries are hard. This past week was the anniversary of my best friend's death eight years ago. And I mean, there was a resurrection in this case, and I do have the hope of the resurrection in my friend's case, but it's still hard. It's still hard. I'm still not able to call him.
I'm still not able to see him, you know. Herod kills James and when he saw that that pleased the Jews, if we know anything about Herod, we actually know a lot about him. Agrippa the first, he was ingratiating to his base, politically speaking. He was all about glory for himself. He was all about anything that would lift him up and anything that would do that in the eyes of his base.
He's the king of the Jews even though he's a client king under Rome. He understands how the political system works for Rome. He's got to stay in their good graces, but he also knows that there's plenty of stuff that I can do on this earth that'll please these people. And if they're happy with me, that's good. He saw it pleased Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter as well.
Now, these were the days of unleavened bread. Oh, it's an anniversary. No doubt about it. It's happening the same exact time frame as the passion of Christ. Right?
Ten, eleven years later, these were the days of unleavened bread. Now, they you saw how it went during the and you hear it preached around Easter about how it went that they didn't want to do that. They didn't want to do that at this time, but Pilate gets involved and then Jesus is slain right when the lamb is slain. That's not what they wanted. The Pharisees like, not that, anything but that but they did want him crucified and so they turn him over.
This was a fiery situation in Jerusalem. Now, when Herod had arrested Peter, he put him in prison and he turned him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him. Now, the squad is four people. So, he had 16 guys assigned to him. 16 guys assigned, night and day to watch over Peter in the prison there.
And it says prison not jail. It's not like a it's a it's a well guarded place. There are at least three levels of separation of iron doors Intending only after the Passover because they didn't want to do that again. They they didn't go well. They they didn't want to do that.
Intending only after the Passover to bring him before the people, have him tried, and found guilty and executed for being a promoter of the way to speak in Jesus name. He's been told over and over not to do that and he still does it. So Peter was kept in the prison but prayer for him was being made to God intensely by the church. I I really like this. The realities on earth are that Peter's in prison but the whole church is praying intensely.
It says earnestly, fervently, depending on your translation for Peter to God by the church. That's good. It'll come back up again. I think that as Anders and Brooke go out, this is we should be praying for them to God and it should be all of us that are doing it, you know, praying for them. If you know them, you ought to be praying for them.
If you don't know them, you ought to get to know them. Right? By interceding for them. On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping. He was sleeping.
He's most likely going to be tried and executed the next day. That's he's already had one of his best friends killed recently, and he knows that. But on the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping. He was sleeping chained between two soldiers bound with two chains. And and there were guards in front of the door that were watching over the prison and behold, an angel of the Lord, messenger of the Lord suddenly stood near Peter and a light shown in the cell, resplendent light off of this angel, it looks like.
And he, Potasso is what it says, struck him to be struck awake. Get up. He struck Peter's side and he woke him saying, get up quickly. And his chains fell off of his hands supernaturally. It just says they fell off.
Doesn't say I mean, the angel could've blink, click, click, click, I suppose. But get up quickly. Come on. And the angel said to him, put on your bell, put on your sails. Come on.
Come on. Come on. Go. Let's go. How many of y'all wake up quickly?
I tend to wake up quickly. Yeah. I hear the alarm go and I'm already up before it goes. I've already gotten up. Tanya is not that way at all.
Put on your belt, strap on your sandals. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.
And he did so. Okay. I don't know. You've got kids, you know what that's like to wake them up a little earlier than they used to. And he was like, no.
No. No. You put your take your pajamas off before you put your pants on, you know. Put on put on your belt, put strap on your sandals and he did so and he said to wrap up your cloak. Come on.
Come on. Come on. And follow me. And he went out and he continued to follow dazed as he was, a drowsy deliverance, and yet he did not know what was being done. He didn't know if it was real.
We've seen a couple of times, one time at least where Peter was in a in a kind of a trance state where he didn't know what was going on exactly. It did have great meaning. I'm sure he was paying attention in his slumber state, but it says he didn't know it was real. He didn't know what was being done by the angels real, but he thought he was seeing a vision. Now, when they had passed, the angel and Peter had passed through first and the second guard.
The chains fall off of Roman soldiers and Peter or the soldiers attached to Peter. And then the guy at the at the gate, and then the next one, they came to an iron gate, and when they come to that gate, Peter's still dazed but he said the thing just opened by itself. Swung open an iron gate. There's comedy in here. There's this is a comedic sort of a situation but it's very very true.
James, killed. Do you think the church well, let's not get there yet. I mean, Peter's gotta know it's coming and then he's going through the, okay, shoes, straps, right foot, left foot. What's going on? Right past that guard, right past that guard, 16 guards assigned to him.
And then this iron gate swings open, he's like, my goodness. It leads straight into the city. It opened by itself. And the clicker is not clicking there, Josh. Can you go to the next slide?
What's going to happen next? And they went out and they went along one street or maybe 1st Street. I think 1st Street makes more sense but we don't know much about that map at that time. They went out and they went along one street and immediately, the angel departed from him. He had gotten him through all that he needed to get him through and when Peter comes to himself finally, he's awake.
He says, now I know for sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod. The hand of Herod that had killed my friend James. I know I've been delivered and I know it's been by this angel. He he's just finally coming around to say, no, this is real. Here I am.
Walking 1st Street. And I've been delivered from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting. They couldn't wait for Passover to be over. Would they celebrate the deliverance of God? So that they can kill me.
But he was the one that ended up being delivered. And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary. There's so many Marys in scripture. This is Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark. Mary of John Mark, the one who would later write down Peter's version of what the gospel is.
What the the gospel of Mark is Peter's story as delivered through John Mark. When he realized he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called John Mark, where many were gathered together and they were praying. We saw that that's what they were doing in verse five. It says, the church was praying to God for Peter and they were gathered together and many were praying and he knocked at the door of the gate and a slave woman named Rhoda came to answer And a servant gal, a maid might be in some of your translations, came to the door, that's her job, it's middle of the night. She comes to the door and when she recognized Peter's voice, she was ecstatic and because of her joy, she didn't even open the gate.
She just ran back in. Can you see this happening? Like, hey, it's Peter. It's Peter. Here he is outside the gate.
She runs back in and says, Peter's standing outside. He's knocking on the door right now And what do you think that the church that was praying earnestly for him did? Did you think they jumped up in celebration with her and just went to hug their brother at the door? They said to her, you're out of your mind. So actually, I've been in a lot of different circles lately and of Christianity and you know, we tend to think of we're the people of the book and then that the tendency there is to go father, son, and holy book instead of Holy Spirit, trust in him at all.
And the tendency in Pentecostalism is to go Holy Spirit to the hey, it's a new word. We don't really have to worry about that old word. No. The tendency, it's it's hard to to see that we're praying and we believe God can do it. We know you can do it lord and we say, we know you can do it but then, he surprises that.
I have been in a room before and I've I've heard of this many times before with some of y'all who have suffered tragic death and loss. I have one of my own aunts actually was dying and she was dying. She smokes since she was like 12 and she's in her seventies, you know, upper seventies. And and I had somebody very very sincere and very loving and very earnest and very caring that was praying for her to be completely healed and he believed that that would happen, that God was gonna take away that cancer. Now, she's a believer.
She's going to heaven but he didn't wanna lose her. We didn't wanna lose her but there was somebody in the room and when she didn't get well, the blame went not to God taking home a precious saint. The blame went to the one person that lacked faith. Oh, really? I think that I honestly, I think we do that.
I think that we pray, pray, pray, pray. Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, I don't wanna blame you for this, but it's not happening. So I'm gonna blame somebody and it's them. They didn't have the faith. Peter was asleep.
He wasn't praying expectantly thinking, oh Lord, pleading and when this angel showed up and said, what took you so long? I believe you could do this. It was, that's not the way it went. Peter was asleep. He was content even if he's going to die the next day.
He'll be reunited with Christ. He knows the resurrection is real. He knows Christ is real. He's going to be fine. He's asleep at peace completely.
He's dazed and getting up. Was it because of his great faith or because of his great works? No. The the church was praying earnestly and we need to be doing that. I don't want you to stop doing that but it was God that delivered Peter and then they're like, you're out of your mind.
Actually, it goes on. They're praying for Peter to God by the church, right? And then, she kept on insisting, no, he's really out there. I don't know his voice. I recognize him.
I saw him through the crack in the door. It's Peter for sure and they said, it gotta be his angel. They come up with a nonsense theological thing rather than what they're praying for. How how many of y'all have prayed for something and God gives it to you and then you thought, no way. Yeah.
No way. That's more than I ever thought that he'd do. Yeah. That's exactly what he does when he wants to. When he wants to.
And I I am so struck by sorry. Use the same word. Struck by the fact that in this chapter, James dies and Peter is delivered and both of those are God's will. It's it's hard, but both of them are God's will. It's his angel.
Peter continued knocking. Oh, ask, seek, and knock. He learned that lesson from Jesus. Keep on knocking and eventually, they'll let you in. Peter continued knocking and when when they finally had opened the door now think about this, they're gathered in quiet behind closed doors because James has just been killed.
Peter's been arrested. Who's next? Who knows who else is in that room? Rhoda's there. Mary's presumably there.
John might have been in there. Who's next? So when they finally did open the door, it's me. Come on. They saw him and they were absolutely amazed.
Amazed comes up over and over and over through the book of Acts because God is on the move. The acts of the apostles really are the acts of the Holy Spirit. But motioning to them, can y'all be quiet please? I don't know how far behind me they are. I mean, I was in the days when I got to the street but they could be right behind me.
Come on, let me get in there. And now he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison and he said, now y'all go and report these things to James. Different James, that's James half brother of Jesus, the one who will eventually write the book of James. Report these things to James and report these things to the other brothers and sisters and then he left and he went to another place. That kinda has the sound of an undisclosed location.
He knows that the heat's still on him. He knows that Herod will be looking for him without any doubt, and he knows the first place he's probably gonna go is to this house. So he goes and gets somewhere safe. He's wise. Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers.
Can you imagine? That is the understatement of the century, of the millennia. There was no small disturbance. What is going on? They 16 soldiers are assigned to him.
And even if part of those were sleeping because it wasn't their shift, they're still responsible for him. And under Roman law, whatever the sentence was expected, and it's not innocent till proven guilty. Okay? It's backwards from that. You're guilty until you prove yourself to be innocent.
So he's gonna be executed. That's his crime punishment for his crime. And so all 16 of these guys are now subject to that. He Herod doesn't have to go by that, but he can. And they're Roman soldiers, and what does he want to do?
Ingratiate himself to the Jewish people. And so what's he going to do? When day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter. And when Herod found that out, he had searched for him and he had not found him. He examined those guards and he ordered that they be led away to execution.
So he, the king gets to say who lives and dies and James dies and Peter would have. But since he didn't, 16 other guys are led away to execution and then he, Herod, went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there. I don't think I put a map right here, but you all know where Caesarea is. Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea maritime over near the sea, and he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Probably still angry because Peter got away.
So the people of Tyre and Sidon were just outside of his jurisdiction. He was very ticked off with another state, two city states actually. And with one man, Tyre and Sidon, two different places that needed something from Herod. With one man, Tyre and Sidon's folks came together to him and having one over blast us. This is all political.
Every bit of this part is political. Herod ingratiating himself to the Jews that are in his area and he's ticked off with Tyre and Sidon probably hanging over because he lost on that one to about Peter. And he may have felt that he won in the case of James, but really, no. God was glorified in the death of James. He was glorified in the deliverance of Peter.
John Piper on this says, if you think it's one to one because it's James goes to Herod and Peter goes to God, it's no. It's two o. God's undefeated. He's going to stay undefeated. Right?
Having won over blast us. Okay. How do we get to him? Well, this is his right hand man. They probably bribed him.
It looks like the king's chamberlain having won him over. They're asking for peace. They don't want to be at war with this terror of a king Herod right next door. And because their country was supported with grain from the king's country, they needed him. The the map here is so Jerusalem, Caesarea is the yellow pen, Tyre and Sidon are just north of that.
If I went back to that first slide, it's just barely outside Herod, a group of the first jurisdiction. But they need him and so they come to him in need because they're going to starve if the bread basket of the area is not opened up to them. So on an appointed day, this is Luke 21. We're only going to verse 25. We're getting there.
On an appointed day, after putting on his royal apparel. Now, this is Luke's version of events. This is one of those interesting times where we have a couple of outside sources. I'm gonna read you one of the outside sources. Because he's the king, he makes the news.
Because he's a king who's constantly ingratiating himself to the people, he makes the news. And Josephus is the extent Jewish historical source that we have. So in Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews 19, he says, now when Agrippa had reigned three years over all Judea '41 to '44, this is the end of that time. He came to the city of Caesarea, that's what Luke just said, which was formerly called Stratos Tower. And there, he exhibited shows in honor of Caesar.
So he's the king of the Jews. Right? He's ingratiating himself to the Jews, but he's also placating Caesar. He's making shows of that and vows for his safety. There's a festival and a great multitude had gotten together of these principal persons such as Dignity Through the Province.
And on the second day, this is that appointed day, of which shows he put on a garment that was made out of silver. This showy dude puts on this thing's garment made wholly out of silver and of a contexture truly wonderful. It was resplendent and he came into the theater early in the morning. He set the time, the appointed day and time, at which time his silver of his garment was being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun's rays. Can you see the scene?
He is arrayed in the earth's finest and he is set up so that the sun shining in the window will make him look amazing. And he got up on top of his throne. Let's let Luke catch up. Herod took his seat on the rostrum, the royal throne high and lifted up and he began delivering an address to them. So, was resplendent, Josephus says, asked to spread horror over all of those who looked intently upon him because he had what they needed and his flatterers, Tyre and Sidon, were crying out one from one place and one from another, though not for his good.
They that he was a god. They started crying out. Luke says, the people repeatedly cried out, the voice of a god and not of a man. Can you see what's happening here? So not just his political base, he wants everybody to like him and so he sets himself up to look wonderful, beautiful, amazing.
And then, the voice of God and not of an angel Luke says, be thou merciful to us for although we have hitherto reverence thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth from this day forward own thee as superior to all mortal nature. Upon this, the king did not rebuke them nor reject their impious flattery. He's supposed to be the king of the Jews. He's supposed to know you give glory to God and to God alone. That we don't deserve this no matter who we are, no matter if we're the king, that God is the only one that deserves the glory.
He's supposed to know this. Upon this, king didn't rebuke them nor reject their impious flattery. But as he presently afterward looked up, Josephus says he saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head immediately understood this bird was the messenger of ill tidings for him. An omen. This is not Bible.
This is Bible. But this is fun to have this extra source. Right? As it had once been the messenger of good tidings to him and he fell into a deepest sorrow, a severe pain also arose in his belly and it began in a most violent manner and he therefore looked upon his friends. Immediately, this says, an angel of the Lord struck him.
It's the same word. It's the same word. I love that. When the angel went in and struck Peter, get up quickly and let's go. And the voice of a god and not of a man and all these people that were looking to him for his great mercy as the king.
Oh. And they were lifting him up and putting him on a pedestal. He already had put himself on that pedestal but they were adoring and worshiping him and he didn't reject it. Immediately, an angel of the Lord struck him. Same word that potaso because he did not give the glory of God.
We know exactly why he was struck. Peter was asleep, content with whatever his lot was and he was struck to get up. I wanna deliver you. Maybe. Answer to prayer.
Yeah. But it was also just God was doing it because he didn't give glory to God and he was eaten by worms and died. Luke the physician said, he was eaten by worms and died. And we tend to think that he died and then he was eaten by worms. But if we read Josephus, it says that he his pain was violent.
He was carried into the palace. Rumor went around everywhere, but he was sitting there in sackcloth with wives and children and everybody around him. It took five days. He was eaten by worms from the inside out. It's not that uncommon.
Gross, but not that uncommon at the time. Not that uncommon in different places in the world today for people to die of parasites and amoebas and all kinds of stuff of worms. Josephus adds a few things that says that he recognized why he was suffering the fate, which I think that's kind of gratifying from our human perspective to see that not only was he struck and died and it to this, it sounds like it was just immediate. It was five days of him coming to the fact that I shouldn't have done that, but the consequence for the action was was coming. It was it was the consequences what let him see the error in his actions and it had been his whole life.
His whole life he had lived to be seen by men and not to be God's instrument as a king but now it wasn't good. He was eaten by worms and he died. And then there's a summary statement that I just love. There are a lot of summary statements in the acts of the apostles and it says, but the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied. Amen.
Amen. All of this is what was happening but the word of the Lord continue to grow and to be multiplied. If I had to look back on it and say, the death of James is hard and I don't really understand it. Especially that close to the deliverance of Peter. There's more stuff that God has for Peter but honestly, from this point in the book, it turns to Paul and we follow Paul throughout most of the rest but Peter was delivered.
Eventually, he was killed. Eventually, he does at the hand of the authorities. Right? But no matter what's going on, this is happening. The word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.
And then, here we are at this missionary situation again, purple side, and Barnabas and Saul returned. They returned from Jerusalem to Antioch when they had fulfilled their mission to Jerusalem and they took along with them John who's also called Mark. You know, his mama's house, that's the place where Peter went to. That's the guy. And it's somebody that in future chapters we'll see caused a little bit of a rub between Paul and Barnabas and they eventually split over this guy.
It's a nice introduction to character. I'm closing off this and this is actually closing off a section of the book of Acts. Like I said, Peter's story gets up to here and then Paul's story is gonna start really in earnest in the next chapter. We'll see him again. We'll see Peter again.
But I think that this chapter needs to be analyzed like this. If you stand opposed to Jesus Christ, you will lose eventually. It will come around to get you. Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints. James is rewarded with eternal glory and Herod is eaten by worms and dies and will continue.
He is set apart from God completely. That's the thing. Peter is delivered only to die later. We all eventually die. He was absolutely sold out and humble before God and resting and content in what God had for him even if that be death.
He was fine. He was gonna be alright. When the word of the Lord came to him, he followed after. Now, I'm gonna call up Anders and Brook right now and elders that are here and I know it's spring break. Elders, if you're once an elder, you're still an elder, come on up.
I'm also gonna call up family, Anders family, Brooks family, you're here, would you all come up? And they have been serving and they have had a chance couple weeks ago to stand and tell what's going on in Zambia and how God is using them. And they very humbly presented how they think God is using them. But honestly, the front side of your mission, you don't really have any idea how he's gonna do it. We've seen people that went out to prioritize the proclamation of the gospel that ended up digging graves for AIDS patients that they had no idea that's what they'd be doing.
We had a couple of missionaries that went down thinking that they were gonna build a hospital in Mexico. It ended up it was for the deaf. We didn't know it wasn't a hospital. It was a school. Didn't know that either.
And now, he's a pastor in Jackson, Wyoming. We don't know Lord where this call will lead. We do know that right now you're leading them to Zambia. And we do know that you're leading us to send them out. We we are going to be praying for them, to you, Lord, and we wanna do that earnestly.
We wanna do it with humility that we, Lord, don't know exactly how you're gonna use them at J Zone in Livingston, Zambia. But we we do send them out Lord knowing that you will accompany them and that you will do your will through them. We pray lord that you'd bring many souls into the kingdom and for those who are already in the kingdom and they're ministering to Christians. Lord, I pray that you would ignite within them a passion for people that right now don't know you, that you would give them a supernatural ability to retain and understand your word, that it would transform and sanctify their lives in such a way that would be carried forward, that other people would see it and want it for your glory and for their good. Lord, I pray for Anders to be a good and godly man, husband, leader of the people.
I pray for Brooke that you would give to her, Lord, supernatural understanding and wisdom and that you would give her analogies that would just pop for the people that they would get it. That when she speaks, it would be done with great grace that you would, Lord, accompany every word that proceeds forth out of their mouth. I pray that you'd give them a marriage that is impenetrable, that nothing would come between them. I pray Lord that you would show the way. Some things for these kids in Zambia, some things will be taught and they'll be because because these two are teaching them and the people will understand them and repeat them back and turn them into something in their lives that they they understand and it helps.
But Lord, some things will just be caught. I pray, Lord, that the way, the manner of these two would be so resplendent that the light of Christ would accompany these messengers and people would, get up and follow. And they might not even understand what's going on at the time but I pray that it would become more and more clear that your deliverance is still available, it's still possible, it's still normal, and lord, I pray that some of the folks that they minister to there would go forward on their own missionary ventures. Lord, whatever it is that you have is what we are praying for for these two. Lord, for them for these families that are releasing these two into your care.
They've been entrusted with them for all these years. I know they're grown ups. But Lord, for these families, pray a blessing that they would be able to recognize the goodness of God in even the the circumstances of life. In Jesus name, we pray that our paths would cross again and perhaps often. Lord, would you show us exactly what it is you want for us to do to support them and exactly what it is you want for them to do.
Lord Jesus, may your word fill our hearts and may the love of God be so evident from these two that that it would just draw people into relationship with you. In Jesus name, Lord, we ask your blessing and we commission them to do the work that you have for them. We trust them and we pray for great power, the spirit of God would accompany them. In Jesus name, show em your way and allow em the strength to walk in it. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Alright. Love you, brother. Thankful.
Alright. Can we close with a song? Y'all don't have to stay up here. That's something else in Kenya. The last couple of weeks, the worship part of the service or the song part of the service started and went and it went and it went.
And then when I thought it was over, they said, now, all the men, would you stand up here in the front and we're gonna sing. And then when that was over, it's like now, all the women, would you stand up in the front and sing this? How about that group from so and so? Would you all stand and we're going to sing the church is one foundation. It's hymn number four zero one.
And here we go.
Speaker 2Her Lord. She is his new creation, my water and the word. From heaven, he came and sought her to be his holy bride. From his own blood, he bought her. And for 12 20.
Speaker 1Amen. And as a benediction today from Ephesians three. Now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or that we think. And according to the power that is at work within us. God's power is already at work within us and though we pray and we think, we pray and believe and we still are just overcome by how good God is.
To do far more abundantly than all that we ask for, all that we think, according to the power that's already at work in us, to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. May we be a part of what it is that God is doing in this community and to the very ends of the earth. Amen.
