Believers Under Pressure

At this time children are dismissed to our children's church downstairs.

If you want to make your way out into the hallway right now, we'll take you down there and enjoy a nice Bible lesson this morning.

And we who are still here, thank you for staying.

We're studying the Acts of the Apostles on Sunday mornings and we begin a new chapter today.

If you'd like a sermon outline to follow along today, just raise your hand.

Our ushers would be happy to give you one.

If you've been with us for a while, you know that the book of Acts is about earliest Christianity, unfolding the story of how the early church grew exponentially through conversions to Jesus Christ.

Luke begins the story of the church in Acts chapter 2 at Pentecost, and follows the exponential growth through Acts chapter 7.

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 7 · chapter mention

But when the persecution in Jerusalem began of believers in Acts chapter 8, believers were scattered, fleeing the persecution.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

By the time we get to Acts chapter 11, they have scattered all the way up to the north, to Antioch.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

So they began here and while they're going through Samaria they're sharing Jesus with people, sharing the gospel.

Eventually they end up right up here, syria and Antioch, where they plant a church.

Right up here, syria and Antioch, where they plant a church believers and Jewish believers were sharing with Gentiles who were pagans.

They were coming to Christ.

And so, just an amazing situation.

I want to read the passage where we begin today from their scattering.

I'll begin in Acts, chapter 12, and read through verse 17 if you want to follow along.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Now, about that time, herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them, and he had James, the brother of John, put to death with a sword.

When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

Now, it was during the days of unleavened bread, passover.

When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering up to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover, to bring him out before the people.

So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was made fervently by the church of God.

And on the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.

And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell.

And he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying get up quickly and his chains fell off his hands and the angel said to him gird yourself, put on your sandals.

And he did so.

And he said to him wrap your cloak around you and follow me.

And he went out and continued to follow and he did not know what was being done by the angel, that it was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

But when he had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself, and they went out and went along one street and immediately the angel departed from him.

When Peter came to himself, he said Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.

And then, when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.

When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.

When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy she didn't open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in the front of the gate.

They said to her you're out of your mind.

But she kept insisting that it was.

So they kept saying it's his angel.

But Peter continued knocking and when they had opened the door they saw him and were amazed.

But, motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of prison and he said report these things to James and the brethren.

And he left and went to another place.

One of my favorite passages in the whole Bible injects a little humor.

This is real people.

Luke leaves the story of the church in Antioch to tell us what's happening back in the church in Jerusalem.

Please note the significance of what Luke is telling us here.

Even though the gospel has expanded to the Gentiles, luke wants us to know, you know what?

God's not finished with the Jewish people.

Yet, even though Paul began to focus his ministry on the Gentiles, he still is referring to Jewish believers as the church of God.

For instance, in 1 Thessalonians 2.14, he writes to the Thessalonians and he says for you, brethren, became imitators of the church of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, includes the church in Jerusalem, and for you also endure the same sufferings at the hand of your own countrymen, as they did from the Jews.

Now, if you have your Bible and you're following this, turn back to Acts chapter 11.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

You see, the events we are seeing in Acts chapter 12 happen between Acts 11, 19 and 26 and Acts 11, 27 to 30.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Right between that's when these events in chapter 12 are happening.

So today we're going to look at three things about the church in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

First, believers under pressure.

Second, believers in prayer and third, believers in doubt.

First we see believers in the church in Jerusalem under tremendous pressure.

Luke mentions three very hard difficulties that put believers under pressure.

We begin in verse 1 where it says Now about this time.

What time?

The time he's referring to is Acts 11, 27 to 30.

That's just continuing Now about this time.

The first pressure believers faced was a famine in Judea.

It's mainly due to a drought during that time.

Food became scarce, people were going hungry, farmers lost their crops, their livestock.

The famine was so severe.

The church in Antioch sent a gift, made a collection, sent a gift back to the church in Jerusalem by the hand of Saul and Barnabas.

The second pressure believers came under was from the Roman authorities.

They were determined to stamp out and crush Christian religion.

They began doing that by killing the leaders Acts 12, 1-3.

Herod killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.

The Roman authorities, you see, saw Christianity as a threat to the religion of Rome.

In Rome, the emperors were considered gods and they made sacrifice to the emperor and to other idols.

Why?

Because they thought that would protect the city from harm.

Well, now these Christians are saying, hey, don't worship idols.

They felt threatened, they felt vulnerable, exposed.

You're telling people not to do this.

We need the idols' protection, thinking it would keep the city safe.

So Herod had James put to death.

You know, cut off the head of the snake, cut off the leaders, it'll die.

James was the son of Zebedee, john's brother, if you remember, if you remember in the gospels, he and his brother came up to Jesus and Jesus said are you ready to drink the cup that I'm going to drink?

And you know what they said yes, we are.

And you know what they said yes, we are.

Well, here you are Death.

The third pressure believers came under back in Jerusalem was from the religious authorities.

They wanted also to destroy the Christian religion, but for different reasons.

We see back in Acts, chapter 8, for different reasons.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

We see back in Acts, chapter 8,.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Saul was leading people to destroy the Christian religion.

Having agreed to put Stephen the martyr to death, he was ravaging the church Acts 8.3.

The Jews saw Christianity as a threat for different reasons.

They were outraged, offended that they viewed Jesus as God Blasphemy.

You can't teach that here.

There's only one God.

Listen to the great Shema.

And when Herod killed James who was put to death, by the way, without a trial he noticed, he saw that this pleased the Jews, the population that he was reigning over.

Oh, that that meant, ironically, the religious authorities were now in cahoots, joining with the pagan authorities, aligning themselves, both of them against Christianity, religious authorities, roman authorities.

Because of that, herod determined also to get rid of Peter.

He arrested Peter, but he didn't kill him because it was Passover, it was late in the day, so he put him in jail and threw him in jail until the next morning He'd come out, stand trial before the people and then have him killed.

And Herod made sure, as I read, that Peter would not escape.

He had him.

He put four squads of soldiers watching over him that night.

A squad was four soldiers and there were four squads of four soldiers each watching over Peter.

What's happening is they were going in shifts of six hours, six hour shifts.

Two soldiers were chained to Peter in the cell.

The other two were stationed outside the prison to guard it.

It's pretty secure.

Peter's two previous imprisonments, by the way, were at the hands of Jewish authorities, in chapter 4 and chapter 5, but now arrested by the Roman authorities.

Things look pretty hopeless for Peter and, I can tell you, things look pretty fearful and discouraging to the believers left in Jerusalem.

So in Acts, chapter 12, the church and Jerusalem gathered together.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

They're facing persecution, famine, distress, persecution, famine, distress.

Can you imagine the fear, the anxiety those believers must have felt and endured, not knowing what was going to happen to any of them?

Now, before I go on, can you think of some pressure or discouragement in your life right now?

Because this message is for you, some pressure, and it's discouraging, it's creating anxiety.

This is what was happening to these believers in Jerusalem.

So the question is, how do we persevere through these times of pressure, difficulty, fear and anxiety?

How did they persevere?

How do they keep going?

Well, the Apostle Paul gives us a clue, really in Romans 8, 35-39.

Here's what he says.

Listen for the same terms that the church in Jerusalem is going through.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall?

Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or sword, as it is written for your sake.

We are being killed all day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, no, no, no, no.

In all these things, what things?

Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword.

In all these things we are more than conquerors, through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus.

They may be able to separate us from our families.

They will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

They may be able to separate us from our families.

They may be able to separate us from this or that.

They cannot separate us from our intimate relationship with God through Jesus.

Christ Can't do it.

So here's how we persevere Knowing, paul says, because we know, knowing that nothing is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

But not only that.

You see, the church in Jerusalem persevered with a secret divine weapon, which I am now going to reveal to all of you.

Take it home, you're going to need it.

Secret divine weapon God has given us.

We've seen it before.

You know what that divine weapon is Prayer, which is the second point.

Believers in prayer, believers in prayer, believers in trouble, believers under pressure moves, believers in prayer.

Notice what Luke tells us in Acts 12, verse 5.

Acts 12:5

So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer Changes the whole thing.

Secret weapon being engaged, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

Peter's in an impossible situation.

He's not only in prison, he's chained to soldiers and guarded by soldiers.

He's scheduled to be put to death in the morning.

But here's the believer's secret weapon for impossible situations, but prayer.

This reminds me of something David said in the Psalms long ago when he was being accused of wrong and threatened.

You know what he said.

I've meditated on this verse for years and I, david, says in return for my friendship, psalm 109, verse 4.

Psalms 109:4

In return for my friendship, they accused me, but I am a man of prayer.

What he's saying is they have no idea.

I've got a secret weapon prayer.

What he's saying is they have no idea.

I've got a secret weapon.

The Lord and I are going to be talking about this and he hears me and answers prayer.

The church in Jerusalem begins praying for Peter earnestly.

Well, I could go on about the word earnestly, but it just means fervently and unremittantly.

It's the same word used in Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane.

What does that mean to pray like that?

What does that mean to pray like that?

It means, when you find yourself in an impossible situation, you don't give up on God or his promises.

You don't Unremittingly, you keep praying, just like we saw last week with the Syrophoenician mother who came to Jesus for help.

She didn't give up, she kept right on praying and asking for help.

Luke is showing us what happens when the world's power is lined up against God's church.

Each is wielding it's kingdom, power and weapons.

Luke stresses how thorough Peter was, guarded against any escape.

And Peter shows no signs of distress.

He's fast asleep.

Luke emphasizes, as we read, a divine intervention in response to the church's prayers for him.

Now the Lord allowed James to be beheaded.

There's something going on here, you see.

There's something going on here, you see, and in his sovereign will, god's going to use that for good.

But here's Peter.

The church realizes what do we got?

Well, we start praying and it's in response to their prayers that God intervenes.

A light shone in Peter's cell.

Peter's half asleep when an angel knocks him.

Get up.

You know what happened His chains fell off, amazing grace.

The angel leads him out of the jail, the iron gates open by itself.

At first Peter thought he was dreaming, he was seeing some sort of vision, but then, when he realized what happened, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, called Mark.

John.

Mark was a cousin of Barnabas.

The church in Jerusalem was meeting in John Mark's house, mary's house.

After the persecution.

They may have been meeting in the upper room where Jesus actually had the Last Supper with the disciples.

And although it was the middle of the night, it's the middle of the night.

The church is gathered and they are praying for Peter.

And when Peter knocked on the door, they probably thought it was the Roman police.

The servant girl, rhoda, came to answer and when she heard Peter's voice she ran, told the others it was Peter and in her joy she just left Peter standing out there.

They told her you're out of your mind.

You are out of your mind.

No way.

Rhoda kept insisting Peter's released, he's not getting there.

When they opened the door, they were astonished to see Peter.

Let me ask you why were they astonished?

Our third point believers in doubt.

Luke points out.

This is amazing to me.

Luke points out even Jesus' closest disciples, eyewitnesses to his resurrection, had a hard time believing that God would hear and answer their prayers.

How much more so.

How about us?

This account is here for all of us who sometimes doubt God that he will hear and answer our prayers.

But there's an important aspect to this prayer.

We need to take heed of, a prayer that reaches God's heart and does amazing, amazing things.

Don't miss it.

Don't miss the nature of what they're doing, and that is this the whole church was praying together for the same thing, agreeing.

In Acts, chapter 4, we already saw what happens when that happens Earnest prayers of believers earnestly praying together for the same place and the same thing, of believers who were honestly praying together for the same place and the same thing, unified.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Their prayers moved God to actually shake the place.

Holy Spirit, this sense fills them.

They become more bold, more.

Somehow, the church praying together moves the heart of God.

Now look the elders see this.

It's why we want to engage the whole church in prayer, at least one Sunday a month together, at least one Sunday a month together.

And it's why next Sunday it kind of fits perfectly we're going to be having a special time of prayer together, as a church Together.

This is what's happening there.

Come expecting God to do great things.

When it finally clicked that God had answered their prayers, peter gave them a single instruction Go tell James and the brethren.

James was Jesus' half-brother.

He wrote the book of James.

He didn't start out believing in Jesus, but when Jesus appeared to him after his resurrection, oh, he believed.

He believed.

And he not only became a follower of Jesus, he became the leader, looked to in the church in Jerusalem as Jesus' half-brother.

James would be later executed in AD 62 by Rome.

In the meantime, as we read in the account, a search was made for Peter.

They made an earnest search.

It's not more powerful than earnest prayer.

They didn't find him.

Peter did flee.

He had to leave Jerusalem.

He put James in charge of the church there and Herod who we'll look at next time had the guards who guarded Peter examined and executed.

How could you do this, poor guards?

They had nothing to do with it.

The church in Jerusalem, you see, was under a lot of pressure.

I can't even get my head around it.

I don't know what that feels like Famine, religious authorities trying to stamp you up, secular authority trying to antagonize you, killing your leaders.

You know, I do believe it's still happening in different parts of the world.

This kind of stuff Pressure Believers.

But notice that the pressures they faced were all coming from outside the church, not inside the church.

Inside the church can be pressure too.

Disagreements, divisions, territorial dispute Wasn't there.

They knew you know what.

We can't afford to have these interim disputes.

Look at what God's doing.

Anyway, the church started praying together, agreeing.

There's something very, very divinely powerful when that happens, against any pressure the church of Jesus faces, if they are united and agreeing together in prayer, god's listening.

This is his church, purchased with Christ's blood.

He cares, he shepherds the body and when we call out together, unified, there's something that's going to happen.

In fact, when we are unified, like they were in prayer, it is an answer to Jesus' prayer for us.

When he prayed his great priestly prayer in John 17, 20 and 21, he said this he asked the Father I don't ask on behalf of these alone his immediate disciples, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, even as you, father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me.

Jesus said something amazing in this prayer.

He said that the Father was in him and he was in the Father and he prayed that we would be in them.

What does that mean?

Well, at the very least, being in the Father and in Jesus means we have a personal relationship with them.

We're connected spiritually somehow.

In the same prayer I didn't read it, but Jesus told us how that can happen, and it is.

We must believe the gospel.

Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, sent from God himself.

And God, through the gospel, is calling us into fellowship with himself through faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul says it, he got it.

1 Corinthians 1.9.

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

When we acknowledge that Jesus is the promised Messiah and believe that he can save us from the eternal judgment of our sins, because he took that judgment for us on the cross, god promises.

You know what God promises.

He promises to give us his life.

We'll be in him, he in us, christ in us, we in him.

That's the life-transforming good news of the gospel.

Paul kind of summarizes it in 2 Corinthians 5, 17 to 18.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a brand new creature.

The old things have passed away, new things have come, and you know what All these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and then handed us the ministry of reconciliation.

Go tell other people.

You can have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus.

Let's pray, father, thank you for your promise to give us eternal life when we believe in Jesus as our Savior.

We thank you that you promise to hear our cries for help and that nothing is impossible or too hard for you.

Would you please forgive us for doubting your power to save.

Help us to experience your power and presence in this church as we unite together in fellowship and in prayer.

Coming before you at the throne of grace, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.