. But it was not merely one who departed to be with the Lord, which was far better; it was by the act of the Jews in the infuriate spirit of persecution. And so he went out, and followed him; and he knew not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision ( Acts 12:8-9 ). And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had completed their errand of mercy. "But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ." So meanwhile, back at the prison Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter ( Acts 12:18 ). A Christian society which should openly profess to dispense with discipline, and tolerate on principle open and notorious evil doers [or still worse heretics, Antichrists, or their abettors] within its pale, would thereby renounce its title to one of the essential attributes of the Church; it would sever all ostensible connection between itself and the true Church [or rather Christ and His sacrifice: see1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 ], of which sanctity is an inseparable property; in short, it would unchurch itself. I merely make this remark lest any should draw from this the inference that there is a necessity for men commissioned from God to lay on hands now in order to confer such a spiritual blessing. Herod would not condemn him till the passover was over, some think, for fear lest he should have such an interest among the people that they should demand the release of him, according to the custom of the feast: or, after the hurry of the feast was over, and the town was empty, he would entertain them with Peter's public trial and execution. What a revolution this word caused in that mighty heart! Then Peter says to them, "Can any man forbid water?" Among the various spiritual gifts then common in the Church, the chief place was to be assigned to prophecy; 'for he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.' Help me torecognise the different audiences that are being addressed in different Bible passages. The Power of Prayer - Preachers Corner A. The Gentiles were sinners: why should they not dare to speak to the Gentiles? To pray like that, is to pray with Gods love on our hearts. Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular, Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular. This was all happening during the days of Unleavened Bread, right after Passover (v. 3), around the same time Jesus was Crucified a decade or so previous. How these elders were appointed, if indeed they were so formally, does not appear. Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural. The word "Grecians" does not mean "Greeks," but rather Greek-speaking Jews; to whom the gospel had been preached long before, as the cases of Stephen, for instance, and Philip clearly testify. Study Guide for Acts 12 by David Guzik - Blue Letter Bible ], 4. Now, Herod Agrippa I forever enshrines his name in infamy as the one guilty of the blood of the first apostle to be martyred. The doctrine of His Sonship did not in the smallest degree, of course, set aside the Messiahship. 2. In the midst of a storm, Paul prayed for Gods blessing (Acts 27:35), and after a storm, he prayed that God would heal a sick man (Acts 28:8). 2 And he had James the brother of John put to Is this too much to ask? Those to whom they addressed themselves were really Gentiles. And he did not know that what was happening through the angel was real but thought that he was seeing a vision, They went through the first and the second guard and they came to the iron door that led into the city and it opened to them of its own accord. 4. Now Rhoda comes running in and says, "Peter's out at the gate." Peter instructs them to go and tell the news to James. (1) Herod harasses the church. "St. Paul, in chap 14 of the first epistle to the Corinthians, presents us with a graphic picture of the mode in which Christians in the first age of the Church celebrated public worship. For courage to witness for Christ (Acts 4:2331) 3. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist. This is the brother of our Lord. Acts 7:54-60). James and John were called by Jesus the sons of thunder. Luke recorded the events in this section to illustrate Gods supernatural protection and blessing of the church, even though the Christians suffered increased persecution, and Israels continued rejection of her Messiah. He spent some thirty years of his early life in Rome, but then came back and loved living in Jerusalem and was seeking to curry the favor of the Jews, living as the Jews lived. Rengeteg kivl tterem alkalmas a nagy nap lebonyoltsra. To kill an apostle now was killing he knew not how many. And not the angel but the Spirit guides now. Cornelius prayed that God would show him how to be saved (Acts 10:14), 9. It is not only that God uses one and another: this He does and we may bless Him that so He does; but the God who employs means is also above them, and He needs now only to draw out by circumstances the souls of some simple Christian men who had faith and love to seek the Gentiles without requiring the same vigorous and extraordinary means, under His mighty hand, as even the apostle did. In the reign of Claudius also, the dominions of Herod Agrippa were still further enlarged. Herod Antipas was driven as an exile also into Gaul, and then into Spain, and Herod Agrippa received also his tetrarchy. For all that God took precaution to bind up together the work at Samaria with that which He had wrought at Jerusalem. Thus on the great Gentile occasion, as before on the Jewish at Pentecost, the medium of man completely disappears. This man was incensed to afflict the Church not so much for any love he had to religion, as that by this means he might flatter the common people which did otherwise not greatly favor him; or rather, he was moved hereunto with tyrannical cruelty, because he was afraid of innovation, which tyrants do always fear, lest it trouble the quiet estate of their dominion. On these I need only remark how grace used them for the spread of the testimony. . Ministry. . Prayer Sermon by Greg Nance, Acts 12:1-30 - SermonCentral.com The exercise of discipline is the true and legitimate expression of the sanctity of a visible Church considered as a society. Prayer for Acts 1 - Knowing Jesus Without the action of the Holy Ghost faith is impossible; but this capacitating power and the gift of the Holy Ghost are two very different things, and the latter consequent on the former. Of course, they were seeking to flatter him in order that they might gain his favor and his help. quietem, perpetual rest. And he put Peter in prison intending to bring him forth for trial and execution, but God intervened and miraculously delivered Peter. In fact, it is thought by some that the upper room was actually in the house of Mary the mother of Mark. It was, no doubt, a Gentile title. intending after Easter [or really after Passover] to bring him forth to the people. "To all this, however, it will be replied, that the nature of a visible church, which we know must in all cases be a body of mixed character, as well as the actual state of several of the churches to whom St. Paul addressed his epistles, forbid the supposition that, in terming them communities of saints and believers, he could have used these words in their highest signification. "You gotta have faith brother! Oh, what a blessing it is to have and know such a Saviour! Father, every ungodly power that has penetrated to the position of authority in the church expose and disgrace them and if they fail to repent, uproot them, in Jesus name. The promise was not merely to them and to their children, but to all "afar off, as many as the Lord their God should call." And he departed, and went into another place ( Acts 12:17 ). Then said they, It must be his angel ( Acts 12:13-15 ). This particular Herod was Herod Agrippa I. "Christianity, as it appears in the New Testament, knows nothing of the atomistic theory of modern independentism. May our hearts and minds be fully And he actually murdered several of his sons. Jehovah's house had been left doubly desolate; Jerusalem had this added to her other sins that, when the blessing had come down from heaven, she would not have it. So he went away to another place. From pros and euchomai; to pray to God, i.e. WebActs 12:1 (NASB) Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church, in order to mistreat them. Kedvenc terleteim kz tartozik Gyr-Moson-Sopron megye is, nagyon gyakran kapok eskvi megbzst Sopron szvbl, de nagyon szvesen jrok fotzni Tapolcra is elvgre mgis csak ott szlettem. Prayer Points From The Book Of Acts Pray that God will bring the people of Israel to repentance (Acts 3:19). When King Herod mistreated the believers in Jerusalem and had James put to death, he saw that it pleased the Jews, many of whom hated the Christians and considered them a cult. [Note: Ibid., 2:151. As there was need in the church at Antioch, he goes and finds him. Though he had no reason to fear displeasing them if he did not, as Pilate condemned Christ, yet he hoped to please them by doing it, and so to make an interest among them, and make amends for displeasing them in something else. This did not at all flow from his ordination. He was made king by the Emperor Caligula, and was put in possession of all the territories formerly held by his uncle Philip and by Lysanias; viz. [1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1996), Ac 1:15. He was the ruler of Galilee and Peraea. It was of the greatest importance that unity should be kept up practically, not merely that there should be proclaimed the truth that there is unity, but that there should be the maintenance of it in practice. God is always wise. Now when Peter was come to himself, he said, I know of a surety, that the Lord has sent his angel, and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews ( Acts 12:10-11 ). Persecution of the Christians now swung from religious to include political motivation. All this confirms its having a Jewish aspect, regarded as a type, and was very natural in James and Peter, who had to do specially with the circumcision. Accordingly Peter and John, two of the chiefs among the apostles, come down from Jerusalem. There are just a lot of Herods in the Bible and it is a little difficult to keep them all straight. That the mode of interpretation alluded to involves a deviation from the obvious meaning of the New Testament phraseology is not, indeed, sufficient reason for at once rejecting it; but it does warrant us in requiring that the necessity for such deviation shall be clearly made out. Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And it says that they have power to call down fire from heaven. On the greatest occasions, when the Holy Ghost was given, we have no ground to believe that hands were laid on any. The apostle died a martyr, to show the rest of them what they must expect, that they might prepare accordingly. Among the Gentiles we know that they were installed, as we shall see a little later, by apostolic choice. Moreover, in these chapters the Church of Christ is first spoken of as in actual existence. We must not limit, as ignorant people do, the operation of the Holy Spirit to the new birth. He figured that they would be coming to Mary's house looking for him and so he, no doubt, went to hide out from Herod. So Paul and Barnabas had come back to Jerusalem with this collection that was taken from the church in Antioch. The expansive power of Christianity called it to break forth on all sides; and speedily the original congregation, or in modern language the mother church, of each city gave birth to other societies of Christians in the surrounding neighbourhood. God does not suggest a doubt of His own grace to them, or of the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice for them: unbelief does. He struck Peter's side and wakened him and said, "Rise quickly." Acts 12:12 And when he had realized this, he went to the house of The apostles then, after preaching in the various villages of the Samaritans, return to Jerusalem. So far from it, as we shall find by and by inActs 10:1-48; Acts 10:1-48, the Holy Ghost was given while he was yet speaking, before they were so much as baptized. As we advance farther in the inspired history, we find additions made to these simple elements of social fellowship; the organisation of the Christian society becomes more complex and systematic; questions of polity and order occupy no small portion of the apostolic epistles; and we have every reason to believe, if not from Scripture alone, yet from the unanimous voice of authentic history, that towards the close of the apostolic age Christianity had almost everywhere crystallised itself into a certain, definite, and well known form of ecclesiastical polity" (pp. What a wonderful change for these poor Gentiles to know Christ for themselves, and to be called after Christ! When he saw that this gave pleasure to the Jews he went to arrest Peter too. Conscience would have been searched by the truth of God; and the heart would have been filled with praise at the grace of God. It was at the feast of the passover, when their celebrating the memorial of their typical deliverance should have led them to the acceptance of their spiritual deliverance; instead of this, they, under pretence of zeal for the law, were most violently fighting against it, and, in the days of unleavened bread, were most soured and embittered with the old leaven of malice and wickedness. The King James translators just translated this word Easter because it does signify that same time of the year. Those of his family who cross the pages of the New Testament are as follows. For it is not maintained that the first Christians, any more than those of our own day, were or could be perfect; and all that can be fairly gathered from what St. Paul says of the Corinthians is, that they were imperfect and inconsistent. A fotzs szmomra nem csak egy munka, hanem egy szenvedly, amit csak fnykpezvel tudok csillaptani Szeretem az egyedi elkapott pillanatokat, de nem szeretem az erltetett belltsokat. [Note: See Longenecker, pp. To vex certain of the Church. Apologetic: Writes a defense of persecuted Christianity (Acts 13:6-12). 3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Such was the faith of Simon. But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace [Don't make too bit of a stir, fellows. And Luke calleth these Grecians not but [?]. There now broke out upon the Church, and especially upon its leaders, a new wave of persecution instigated by King Herod. Surely it was true of all who really believed and knew His glory. Ha klnlegesre s egyedire vgysz, ltogass el az oldalamra. At Samaria they had been baptized for some time, as we know. 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. This prayer lacks characteristic of Christendom. And if anybody should try to take them, they can call down fire from heaven and consume them. All these things were pressed home by Stephen; indeed, I have simply touched on a very small part of his most telling address. Yet the Holy Ghost was given in especial power on that day. Saul in his zeal had desired letters giving him authority to punish the Christian Jews, and was found on his way journeying near the Gentile city that he sought. During this time the church has enjoyed relative peace, but now severe persecution again raises its ugly head. And they said, "You're crazy!" Unlike the law, it addresses all; there is no narrowness in a rejected heavenly Christ. it is beautiful to see how the Lord thus, even in the history of that which was unprecedented and might seem to lie outside Christian wants, provides in His blessed word for the every day difficulties we have to prove in such a day of weakness as ours. Without pronouncing upon the state of individuals in the sight of God, he assumed the whole body to be what they professed to be a body of real Christians. Now, look you, the Angel of the Lord stood by and a light shone in the house. II. One of the chief means was prayer, 1. Barnabas was quite justified in seeking Saul. He killed James the brother of John with the sword,Acts 12:2; Acts 12:2. This Is the Day 12 Prayer Points as Released by The Redeemed Christian Church of God Directorate of Prayer. Aristopollis was one of them. 466, 467. Nor is it that the other disciples had not the same faith. Israel had the truth presented to them as it was afterwards to all. Now about that time - That is, during the time that the famine existed, or the time when Barnabas and Saul went up to Jerusalem. The purposes of God are going to stand. Here we find not even the apostle Paul was above it. No believer could be so ignorant of God and His ways of old as to imagine there ought to be any doubt about those who nevertheless were full of anxieties and troubles, and through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. "He went on his way rejoicing." Designed by, INVERSORES! In Peter's case, because they wanted to keep him sure, he was chained on both sides to guards, and then there were two guards who would stand watch at the door and four quaternions would mean that there were four groups of four soldiers. Paul and Barnabas had fulfilled their errand of mercy to the Church at Jerusalem and so returned to Antioch, taking with them John Mark. Prayer for Acts 13 - Knowing Jesus And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he did not give God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and he died ( Acts 12:23 ). Here is an account of Peter's imprisonment (Acts 12:4; Acts 12:4): When he had laid hands on him, and, it is likely, examined him, he put him in prison, into the inner prison; some say, into the same prison into which he and the other apostles were cast some years before, and were rescued out of it by an angel, Acts 5:18; Acts 5:18. Finally, after the call of Saul of Tarsus, Peter himself (as well for other reasons as in order to cut off the semblance of discord in the various instruments of His grace) is brought in to show the perfect balance of divine truth and the wonderful harmony of His ways. With this view He Himself instituted certain external badges of Christian profession, to come into use when they should be needed, and took measures to qualify a small and select company of believers, by attaching them constantly to His person while His earthly ministry lasted, and giving them a formal commission with extraordinary powers, when He left the world, to preside over the affairs and direct the organisation of Christian societies. Paul prayed for his friends before leaving them (Acts 20:36; 21:5), 14. Clearly they were not Christians; but God has all hearts in His keeping. Veszprm is a szvem cscske, rengeteg emlk kt oda s milli lehetsget rejt egy j e-session vagy eskv fotzshoz. We must recollect that in the Apostolic Church an effective discipline the very idea of which seems to be lost amongst us existed. Thus Cornelius was aware that God had sent the gospel to the Jews; but there was precisely where he necessarily stopped short. Contrasts mark Acts 12:1-23: James dies, God delivers Peter, and Herod dies. From that we learn that this was the headquarters of the Christian Church. My object, of course, is simply to give a sketch of the important book now before us, endeavouring to connect (as, indeed, evidently the chapter does connect) what was coming with what was past. WebActs)12which"gives"you"asnapshotinto"the"prayer"life"of"the" church.Butdontturn$there$yet.$ " "Always when you get ready to run, get ready to fight, or get ready to work, you would gird yourself up or get ready to serve. It was the fact. Saul of Tarsus prayed after his conversion (Acts 9:11), 7. A soul that now looks to Jesus ought to rest without question on redemption; but we must remember that at this time Jesus was not yet publicly preached to the Gentiles not yet freely and fully proclaimed according to the riches of grace. At the precise instant when one apostle was already dead, another imprisoned and condemned, and the entire Twelve proscribed by an all-powerful ruler acting as a Jewish deputy in the whole procedure, out of a desire to please his subjects, at that very moment God sent an angel to release Peter and shortly thereafter struck Agrippa dead. 0UR hearts are thrilled by the remarkable deliverance of Peter from prison, recorded in Acts. Lord give me the spirit of humility to say SORRY when I am wrong,23:1-5. By and by the power of the gospel and the action of the Holy Ghost fill their souls with desires as to the need of others. Such was the emphatic and characteristic presentation of His person assigned to the apostle, and this at once. WebActs 12 One Martyred, One Rescued A. James the apostle dies as a martyr. It was no longer a question of Jerusalem only even for Peter, but without being called to the same largeness of work practically as the apostle Paul, he nevertheless passes throughout "all quarters" of Palestine, and comes down to the saints at Lydda, and is seen by those of Saron. For every particular church is so, called on the supposition of its being a manifestation, more or less true, of the one holy Church the body of Christ. Is not this interlacing after a divine sort? She was a direct descendant of the Maccabeans, which made her a Jewess, but she was married to Herod the Great and so Herod Agrippa I was sort of half Jewish in a sense. He was ruler of Ituraea and Trachonitis. A. Ananias, wholly unprepared for the call of such an enemy of the gospel, slow of heart to believe all, expostulates, as it were, with the Saviour. So Peter came to the house where the prayer meeting was being held. The gospel goes forth elsewhere; it is in no way bound to Jerusalem. When this 3. This Herod was not so courteous, that he would stick to win peace or the peoples favor with the punishment of an hundred men or more. So he came in like a shining god, making this speech to the people and, of course, the people began to cry, "It's the voice of a god, not of a man!" At this point we come to the history of the call of another and yet more honoured witness of divine grace and Christ's glory. He would direct attention to the fact, that the ordinary greeting of St. Paul, at the beginning of each epistle, is to the 'saints and faithful brethren' constituting the Church of such a place, fellow-heirs with himself of eternal life; and that throughout these compositions, the members of the Church are presumed to be in living union with Christ, reasonings and exhortations being addressed to them, the force of which cannot be supposed to be admitted, except by those who are led by the Spirit of God; in short, that the members of the Corinthian or the Ephesian Church are addressed as Christians; and a Christian is one who is in saving union with Christ.". How could anything seem too great and good to him whose heart had just made the acquaintance of Jesus? . See how he advances gradually. For according to the Roman law, if you were guarding a prisoner and he escaped from you, then you received the sentence that would have been given to the prisoner. III. Veszprm a bulik vrosa.. Persze nem csak a partyk, hanem az eskvk is igen npszerek a vrosban. arise and bring an end to the plaques on the land as a result of these evil acts in Jesus name. But this manifestation and fruit of gracious power silenced even the unruly and hard spirits of the circumcision. To Philip was left Iturea and Trachonitis. The house of Mary the mother of Mark. It is important to distinguish between the two things one, the charge to which man appointed him; the other, the gift which the Lord conferred.