SUNDAY - SEPTEMBER 14, 2025 "God at Work" Acts 12:18-25

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He is fulfilling and carrying out his plan in us.

And so we saw how God was provident in the murder of James.

We saw how God was provident in the rescue of Peter.

We saw how God was provident in the praying of the church, even though their expectation of prayer didn't necessarily align exactly with what God was actually doing.

Remember, they were surprised when Peter showed up, but God was working, he was moving.

Today we're going to look at the life of Herod and we're going to see that, while Herod failed to acknowledge God and even God punished him, in that God still advanced his kingdom.

And while I'm not one to necessarily read Scripture and say, well, let's don't be like that guy, at the same time I think we can look at the lives of people and we can learn in Scripture and we can learn about God, and we can learn about God, we can learn about ourselves and we can grow in our relationship with God.

So this morning, what I want us to recognize is we need to recognize that God is at work constantly and we need to give Him glory because he is at work.

Our challenge is that always, in every situation, that we give God glory.

Now, before we dive into this passage.

Let's also try to understand a little bit about Herod that is mentioned in scripture here.

If you read the New Testament, you've seen the name of Herod mentioned several times throughout the New Testament.

But the Herod that is mentioned here in Acts, chapter 12 is not the same Herod that we see dealing with Jesus and the apostles in the gospels here in Acts, chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention Acts 12 · chapter mention

It's Herod Agrippa I.

He is the grandson of Herod the Great, who was the Herod during the time of Jesus, and Herod the Great had Herod Agrippa's father murdered Because he was afraid of usurpers to the throne.

He was so afraid that someone was going to usurp his throne that he had his own son put to death.

After the death of his father, herod Agrippa was sent to Rome to be raised and educated with the Roman aristocracy Rome to be raised and educated with the Roman aristocracy.

During his education and childhood he became friends with and came to know many or some of the emperors who would later rule Rome.

In school he met Caligula, emperor Caligula, who made him ruler over parts of northern Israel and some other areas outside of Israel.

But Caligula made him ruler there and then later, when Claudius became emperor, claudius made him ruler over Samaria and Judea.

He really was the king of the Jews.

He really was the king of the Jews, but while he was friends with those emperors, those emperors did not have great reputations, especially within the areas which he was ruling.

So Herod sought to build a rapport, to build prestige, to build power among those Jewish people.

But it was hard because he was seeking to be both Roman and Jewish at the same time and those two things just never worked together.

So he sought, in his own power, in his own authority, to build himself up and to make himself known, yet failing to recognize the only one with true authority, failing to recognize God and God's plan and God at work, and God's plan and God at work.

So this morning, what we want to ask, the question that we seek to answer as we look at our passages, is how did Herod miss God working?

How did he miss God at work?

So hopefully we can recognize that maybe we don't miss God at work and we can glorify him.

Let's read together, if you're able.

I invite you to stand this morning as we give honor to the reading of God's word Acts, chapter 12, starting in verse 18.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Now, when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter, and after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death.

Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord and, having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.

On an appointed day, herod put on his royal robes and took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to them, and the people were shouting the voice of a God and not of a man, and immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

But the word of God increased and multiplied, and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.

Let's pray together.

God, we thank you for today.

We thank you for the opportunity that we have now to open your word.

We pray that our lives will be changed because of your word.

God, we thank you for the opportunity that we have to glorify you, to see your hand moving.

We pray that we will see that.

Trust you and follow you, jesus, it's in your name, we pray Amen, amen.

It's in your name, we pray, amen.

So again we're we ask the question how did Herod miss the working of God?

Well, the first thing that I think we see here is that he blamed other people for situations that he found himself.

Look it right here.

What you, what we find right here in verse 18, is now, when the day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had happened to Peter.

You remember last week, you remember Peter was in prison and they had placed four groups of four guards that would rotate about every three hours and come into the prison to make sure Peter didn't escape.

And then guess what happened Peter escaped.

And so when the when day came and they looked around and Peter wasn't there, it says I love how it says there was no little disturbance.

Let me translate that for you.

They were turning that place upside down, looking in every nook and cranny, probably even some, that there was no way Peter could fit in.

But, just in case, they were looking for him, they couldn't find him.

Because they knew that, because Herod's desire was to have Peter put to death.

If they didn't find Peter, they were going to be put to death.

So they're looking and they're trying to find him and they can, and it says that Herod comes and he questions them.

Now can you imagine that questioning?

Imagine with me, actually, that question.

Herod comes to the soldiers and he says okay, guys, two of you were chained To Peter.

Who took the chains off?

I don't know.

Well, one of you had to.

Who let him go?

I don't know.

How did they come off?

I don't know.

Fine, two of you are guarding the gate.

You were standing right here all night.

Right, you're standing here.

You rotate every three hours.

Who opened the gate?

Not me, did you do it?

Not me?

Well, how did they get open?

I don't know.

We were chained to him and then we weren't.

He was here and then he wasn't.

Now, granted, it is very possible that they went to sleep and this miracle happened while they were asleep.

But scripture doesn't tell us that.

It tells us that he was chained there and an angel comes in.

Now it does tell us they were asleep, but Scripture doesn't tell us that.

It tells us that he was chained there and an angel comes in.

Now it does tell us Peter was asleep, remember, because the angel had to kick him to wake him up.

But it doesn't tell us the soldiers.

And if you remember, four groups of four soldiers, they rotated every three hours.

The purpose of that is so they wouldn't sleep and Peter couldn't escape, escape and all of a sudden he was there and then he wasn't.

And they don't understand how and they don't understand what, what happened or how it happened.

They just know he, he wasn't there and here at this moment, moment, here, it has a great opportunity to go hold on a second.

He was hearing that he wasn't.

You were chained to him and then you weren't.

You didn't open the gates but he walked through.

There must be something bigger than me going on here, but no, here it didn't do that.

Instead, he got furious with the guards and he blamed their inferiority for Peter being allowed to be released, and he blamed their inferiority that Peter wasn't there and for not being able to find Peter, and so he had them put to death.

He blamed them for his troubles and tried to move on.

Now listen, before we judge Herod too archly here, we need to recognize that we can have a tendency of doing the same thing.

Listen, as long as life is going our way, we have no trouble with the providence of God.

But the moment, the moment it gets out of whack, the moment it doesn't go our way, those moments, so often, instead of going, okay, god, hold on, what are you doing here?

We start blaming, we start looking for reasons to blame and sometimes we'll even blame God for it, and we go down these paths and, instead of stopping and seeing the providence of God, you just get angry and we get upset.

We become so much like Herod, even though we don't want to admit it, and you say, grant, we can't.

I mean, herod was a pagan, of course, of course he's not going to worship, of course he's not going to recognize the hand of God moving.

I'll do that, I'll see that, hold on.

You know, there were some other people in the New Testament that missed the hand of God.

What about the Pharisees and the religious rulers?

If there was anybody in the world that should have recognized Jesus as the Messiah, it was them.

They should have been able because they were well acquainted with the Old Testament scriptures.

They were well attainted with the law and the prophets and they were well acquainted with all of that and all the prophecies about the Messiah that would have come if they would have stopped and stood back and seen how Jesus was the fulfillment of all those prophecies, if they would have stopped and seen that they could have worshipped Jesus as the Messiah and they would not have missed him.

But you know what, instead of seeing the Messiah, they missed him because they were looking for a Messiah that fit into their mold.

They were looking for the Messiah that they wanted, not the Messiah that they needed, and they missed him that they needed and they missed him and began to blame him for all their troubles.

We can do that so easily, oh church.

May we, when life isn't going our way, stop to see the hand of God and listen.

I'm not telling you that's an easy thing Because, like we talked about last week, sometimes life is messy and hard and things happen that there really is no explaining, and the things happen that hurt the loss of a loved one, tragedy.

There are things that hurt us deeply.

But can we just stop and know that God is good and know that he intends good for us and trust Him?

Herod blamed those around him and he didn't just stop there, though.

Second, what we see is he just continued to spiral out of control.

He continued to spiral in his blame see.

What happened is is he had them put to death, and then he went down to Caesarea, and it says this in verse 20 and 21 that he was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon.

And you know, we have to recognize how close these events are.

What history tells us is the time between Herod's death and James' death is about a year, only about 12 months, and in between those.

And so what is happening here, when he's in Caesarea and he's mad at Tyre and Sidon, it's not long in between here and what it looks like, what it appears to be in scripture, is that he, he is so upset with what is going on and he is so spiraling out of control that his anger is just turning towards anybody that will take it, or not anybody that will take it, anybody to whom he can pour it on.

He seems to be just directing that anger.

We're not real sure what's going on.

John Polehill, he tells us here that there seems to be some kind of economic war.

He says, evidently it was some sort of economic war In which Agrippa had the upper hand, since these coastal towns were indeed totally dependent for their food on the inland territories that Agrippa ruled.

And so what Agrippa saw is he recognized.

Hey, I don't have control over this situation.

I couldn't prevent Peter from escaping.

So you know what I'm going to do Everything that I control.

I'm just going to grasp it, I'm going to pull it in and I'm going to do Everything that I control.

I'm just going to grasp it, I'm going to pull it in and I'm going to hold on to it and I'm going to control it.

And so he was trying to do that with Tyre and Sidon, and he was holding on to these things, instead of recognizing that God was moving, he was just spiraling and continuing to live in that opposition of God.

To live in that opposition of God.

But can't we go there sometimes?

Hasn't there been times in our lives where things go wrong?

And instead of recognizing that we serve a good and gracious God who is working for our good, we get upset with Him and we blame Him, and as we do that, we just tend to spiral out of control and before long, we're not just mad at God, we're mad at the church and we're mad at people in the church and we're mad at all of these different things, because what we fail to do is stand back and have faith that God is a good God and that he is still working and he is constantly working.

And not only is he provident, he is sovereign.

And we fail to stop and trust Him and we spiral out of control and we spiral out of control.

See, first he blamed, then he spiraled, but then, as it seems like he is grasping a little bit of that power and a little bit of that control back, what he does is he starts accepting praise.

Look, it tells us right here that it says in verse 21, on an appointed day, herod put on his royal robes and took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to him.

On an appointed day.

Now, there was a.

There was a historian who lived in the first century.

His name was Josephus.

We have a lot of his writing still today.

And and Josephus, he, he writes about this event.

He, he wrote about this day.

On that appointed day, josephus writes that it was a festival day that was meant to celebrate Caesar.

So apparently, herod picked this day intentionally, the appointed day.

He intentionally picked this day that was going to celebrate Caesar, and and what scripture tells us that he is, that he put on his royal robes, what Josephus tells us.

He explains these royal robes a little bit more.

He tells Josephus says these royal robes were robes made of silver.

So he put on these silver garments and went and sat in this huge amphitheater In Caesarea On a throne With the sunlight shining down on him.

So guess what he's doing?

He's glimmering, he is shining in the sunlight and as he is shining in the sunlight delivering his oration, the people proclaim.

Proclaim.

This is not the voice of a.

In Acts, chapter 10, remember, peter went to Cornelius' house.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

They'd both seen visions.

And Peter winds up at Cornelius' house to share the gospel.

And it tells us in verse 25, when Peter entered, cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him.

But Peter lifted him up, saying stand up, I too am a man.

Peter wouldn't accept this praise.

You know, it's Peter that he's done some pretty spectacular things in scriptures, even in Acts.

Back in Acts, chapter 5, after the day of Pentecost, and Peter stood up and proclaimed the word of God and thousands came to know Jesus there.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

In verses 14 and 15 and of Acts, chapter 5 it says this and more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that, even so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats that, as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

There were spectacular things happening in the life of Peter.

I mean, they're even just putting people out so that his shadow would fall on them, so that maybe they would be healed.

And when we were here in Acts, when we were walking through this, I told you that day you probably don't remember it, but I told you that day, told you that day you probably don't remember it, but I told you that day that we don't know if the people understood that it was, if they thought it was Peter performing the miracles, or if they understood that it was God performing the miracles through Peter.

But I can promise you this we know how Peter felt about it, because he told Cornelius stand up.

I too am just a man.

Peter recognized that all the glory and all the honor and all the praise belonged to God, but Herod.

Herod failed to recognize the hand of God and he failed to give glory to God and he was killed, he died.

But you know what happened, Even though Herod failed to recognize God.

Do you know what happened, even though Herod opposed God?

Do you know what happened to the church, even though Herod did his best to stop the church and the early movement that was going on?

Do you know what happened in the church?

God continued to move.

Look down in verse 24.

But the word of God increased and multiplied.

God continued to move and he continued to work.

Listen, it didn't really matter what Herod chose to do.

It didn't really matter what Herod chose to do.

It didn't really matter that Herod opposed God.

It didn't really matter that Herod didn't believe in God, because God is real and God was working.

And let me tell you this it really doesn't matter if you believe God is real or not, because God is going to work, whether you believe it or not, real or not, because God is going to work, whether you believe it or not, he is God and he is provident and he is sovereign and he is working.

And what he wants to happen is going to happen and no one can stop it.

He wanted the church to multiply and it multiplied.

He wants the church to grow.

He wants us to be witnesses of him in Jerusalem, judea, samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.

And that is going to happen because that is his plan and his purpose.

And no one, not even Herod Agrippa, I can stop it.

He is going to work.

Not only do we see God worked in multiplying the church, but we see him work in carrying out his service.

And you say, grant, aren't we supposed to be carrying out the service?

Yeah, we are, but you know, god serves the church by using us.

We see it right there in verse 25.

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name is Mark.

We saw this happen back into the end of chapter 11.

At the end of chapter 11, we saw that Gentiles, a great number of Gentiles, were brought into the church from the from sharing of the gospel, and we we see at the end there that some prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch and they began to prophesy and proclaim that a famine was going to come to Jerusalem.

And so the church at Antioch took up a collection as each could give, and they sent it to Jerusalem.

What we have happening here is God working worldwide, not just in one place.

He doesn't just work in Antioch and not work in Jerusalem.

He doesn't just work in Jerusalem and then have to wait and put that on pause so he can go work in Antioch.

God is so big that he can work in both places at one time.

And he is working in Antioch and he is working in Jerusalem and he is serving the church to glorify his great name, because he is God and he is provident and he is working.

I think there's two huge lessons that we can learn here.

One there is a warning that we need to hear.

One there is a warning that we need to hear, we need to see the warning that comes from the life of Herod.

We must glorify God and when we don't, we will be punished.

Now it may not look the same way as Herod's.

I'm not telling you that if you walk out here and you curse God, that he's immediately going to go greasy spot.

Good thing, I'm not God, because that might happen, but I do tell you that a day of judgment will come.

A day of judgment will come and we will have to give an answer.

A day of judgment will come and we will have to give an answer.

And because he is a just God.

He will give punishment.

But not only is he a just God, he is a loving God.

He is a loving God who sent his son, jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life on this earth and who carried his cross to Golgotha and was hung on Calvary's tree.

And while hanging on that cross, he became our substitute.

He took the punishment that I deserve for all the times that I don't bring glory to God.

He took the punishment that you deserve for the times that you don't glorify God.

Jesus became, he became our substitute, and God poured out on him the wrath that we deserve, and he died.

He was laid in a tomb and three days later he arose and now he offers to us life.

He's going to take the judgment that we deserve.

He took the judgment that we deserve, so now we can have life with almighty, good, gracious God.

So we're about to enter into a time of invitation.

I'm going to pray for us.

We're going to stand and sing, and as we stand and sing, if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, I need you to hear.

Let me say it once again we are going to be judged because of our sin.

Because God is a just God.

But what is being offered to you is salvation from that judgment, because Jesus took your place.

You need to trust him.

I pray that today will be the day of salvation.

But if you've trusted God, but if you've trusted God, but you're in a place in your life right now where you failed to recognize God at work in your life and all we can focus on is all the bad that is happening to us and happening around us, and so we just feel overwhelmed by the bad and we're not trusting God and we're just spiraling, kind of like Herod did, and we're spiraling out of control.

Here's what this invitation time, here's what we are inviting you to do Repent this morning.

You need to repent, you need to trust God, you need to say God.

I understand that I'm walking in this way away from you and I am repenting and I am coming back to you.

Please forgive me.

It's not for salvation.

If you're a believer, it's so that you can walk with him in a relationship.

During this invitation, we'll be here to receive you, or you can come and kneel at these steps, make them your altar and cry out to God.

Maybe you just want to do it from your seat, but we invite you, I invite you, to repent and trust and know that God is good and he is working and he is sovereign and he will carry out his plan.

Maybe this morning, you're seeking a church home.

As we sing this invitation, we invite you to come.

We'd love to pray with you and there will be counselors who can take you out and share with you how, one, you can become a believer or two, you can unite with our church.

However, god is moving in your life.

I pray that you will listen to him.

Let's pray together.

God, I love you.

We thank you for today and we thank you for this opportunity that we have to hear you to answer your call.

God, we pray that this morning, for those who don't know you, that today will be the day of salvation.

God, we pray that this morning, for those who just need to repent, that today will be that day for them.

God, however, you are moving because we know you're working, you're provident.

We pray that we will trust you.

Give us the faith that we need to trust you and answer the call you're placing on our lives.

Jesus, it's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

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