Welcome back to
Books Of The Book.
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Before the break, Mark, we were
looking at Acts chapter 12 where
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it said that Herod the king
stretched out his hand to harass
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some from the church, even going
so far as killing James the
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brother of John with the sword.
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This was the first one of the
apostles now who has met with
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death in the new church.
That's right. And in verse 3
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something very interesting is
brought out. It says, Because he
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saw that it pleased the Jews, he
proceeded further to cease Peter
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also. So clearly the reason for
this was not because of Peter
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doing something wrong but for
political reasons. He saw that
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there was favor he was gaining
with the Jews and wow if they
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were happy about that well what
will they do when we get the
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great apostle Peter. So you
continue and it says, Now it
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was during the days of
unleavened bread so there would
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be many people around and it
said in verse 4, So when he had
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arrested him he put him in
prison and delivered him to
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four squads of soldiers to
keep him intending to bring him
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before the people after Passover
Now four squads of soldiers
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sounds like a lot of soldiers
and so I believe that first of
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God allowed it and secondly the
Bible points it out because it's
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going to show just
how miraculous what is
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about to happen is really going
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to be. Now we get to
verse 5 it says, Peter...
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Why would they put four squads
of soldiers on Peter anyway?
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That's a very good question. You
know we recognize that first of
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all, remember when they put
squads of soldiers around Jesus'
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tomb that that didn't work out
all that well for them, right?
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We recognize that there are
always supernatural experiences
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that are going on in the book
of Acts and I believe that they
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knew that they needed to be
especially careful and make sure
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that Peter was kept bound.
Well his last imprisonment...
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It doesn't tell us what happened
to the guards there. It's going
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tell what happens to them here.
But he had guards. It doesn't
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tell us how many, but evidently
they felt they needed to beef up
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security. Because
he showed up in the
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temple that time. Yeah,
and the guards had no idea
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They opened the
door and he was gone.
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That's exactly right. So as we
read verse 5 it says, Peter was
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therefore kept in prison but
constant prayer was offered to
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God for him by the church. Now
this is a valid and important
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point that we need to stop and
pause at. You know, oftentimes
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we hear about things going on
that are important and we know
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they're important, but we fail
to pray. We fail to take them
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before the Lord. I believe that
there are times when we fail
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to bring something before the
Lord and as a result the Lord
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does not respond. If we don't
have in our hearts the desire
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for the will of the Lord and the
outcome that would be glorifying
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to God, then he may not bring
it about. He's looking for us to
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show a deep and abiding
interest. I think about when we
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do outreach projects for the
church and yet we don't stop and
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take time to pray. You know,
if we're not going to plead with
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the Lord, if we're not
interested enough then he's not
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going to be able to open the
door of blessing to us and we're
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not going to be able to
recognize it. So this is a
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pattern for us. These
early believers were in constant
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prayer and they were offering
it to God for Peter because of
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his imprisonment.
That's right and you know, Jim,
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it reminds me of a statement
in a book you had made reference
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to before called the Great
Controversy that talks about the
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history of the church and
the author of that book makes a
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statement that says, and I
believe it's on page 525 of that
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book, that says that it is part
of God's plan to grant us in
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answer to the prayer of faith,
that which he would not bestow
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if we did not thus ask. And we
see that in different places in
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scripture where when the church
prays we find a response. It's
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Jesus who said, Ask and it shall
be given unto you. It's James
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who tells us later on, you have
not because you ask not. So we
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go on here. The church is
praying and the Bible tells us
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in verse 6, When Herod was about
to bring him out that night
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Peter was sleeping bound with
two chains between two soldiers
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and the guards before the door
were keeping the prison. Now I'm
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just blown away by this for
a couple reasons. First of all,
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James was just killed, so that
tells Peter that there are no
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idle threats here. This is a
real and genuine threat. He is
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in the prison very likely to be
killed in his own mind and what
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is he doing? He's sleeping and
he's not just sleeping lightly
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as we're going to see in a
moment. Furthermore he's got
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four squads of soldiers. A squad
it says in my marginal reading
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says tetraz, there's four, so
there are 16 soldiers. I don't
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know if that includes the guards
he's chained between. So before
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there were guards at the door
but now he's got a guard and
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he's chained on either side so
he can't move without somebody
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knowing it. He's asleep. I
have a hard time sleeping when
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I'm away from home in a
hotel bed let alone chained to a
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couple of guys.
Exactly. Here we have, it says
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in verse 7, Now behold an angel
of the Lord stood by him and a
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light shown in the prison and
he struck Peter on the side and
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raised him up saying, Arise
quickly. And his chains fell off
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his hands. Then the angle said
to him, Gird yourself and tie on
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your sandals and so he did.
And he said to him put on your
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garment and follow me. Now he
struck Peter so it wasn't like
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tap, tap, tap like Peter was
lightly sleeping, he couldn't
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sleep well. He was sound asleep.
That's how much trust he had in
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the Lord. Hey, if death is where
I've got to go now I'm trusting
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everything in the hand of my
Savior. Now it's just powerful.
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But the angel strikes him on
the side and tells him to get
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dressed and then the Bible says,
verse 9, Peter went out and
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followed him and did not know
that what was done by the angel
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was real but thought he was
seeing a vision. It says, When
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they were past the first
and the second guard posts, they
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came to the iron gate that leads
to the city which opened to them
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of its own accord and they went
out and went down one street,
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and immediately the angel
departed from him. Now the whole
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account, I don't know if it
happened noiselessly for Peter,
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if he heard clanging or whatever
but the bottom line is nobody
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woke up. The squads of soldiers
didn't wake up, they went by the
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guard posts and nobody's at
attention and the angel escorts
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him out and the Bible says
in verse 11, now when Peter had
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come to himself he said, Now
I know for certain that the Lord
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has sent his angel and has
delivered me from the hand of
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Herod and from all the
expectations of the Jewish
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people. Oh what a powerful
deliverance. A jail break, a
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divine jail break. Right?
That's exactly what it was.
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You know, you look back at verse
11, it says, When Peter had come
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to himself. I mean, this was
so miraculous that he was having
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a hard time believing it
himself. I mean it says he
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thought he was seeing a vision,
this can't be happening and
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finally he comes to himself and
he's like no this is happening.
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This is real. His surprise
is shared by those that he now
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comes to see. Because if you
keep reading it says in verse
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12, So when he had considered
this he came to the house of
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Mary the mother of John whose
surname was Mark, where many
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were gathered together praying.
There they are gathered together
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praying. Which had
a lot to do with his
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deliverance. That's
exactly right. And as
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Peter knocked at the door of the
gate, a girl named Rhoda came to
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answer. When she recognized
Peter's voice because of her
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gladness she did not open the
gate but ran in and announced
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that Peter stood before the
gate. This is a pretty funny
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story. Rhoda comes to the gate
and you know she hears Peter,
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and hah it's Peter. Instead
of opening to him, he's waiting
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she flies back to talk and tell
everybody else about it. But
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he doesn't know what's going
on. He's knocking, knocking, no
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response. Makes me think of the
woman at the well who left her
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water pot and what grabs me
here, Jim, is the joy that comes
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through to God's blessings.
God blessed them with this
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deliverance of Peter and I don't
think we do enough rejoicing
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for the blessings of God. The
woman at Jacob's well in John 4
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left her water pot. She came
there to draw water. She forgot
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all about it and she went her
way rejoicing and so we see here
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with Rhoda. It
reminds me of that song, Turn
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your eyes upon Jesus, look full
in his wonderful face and the
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things of earth will grow
strangely dim in the light of
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his glory and grace. The
things of earth, whatever it is,
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whatever common things they are
when a revelation from God comes
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everything else pales in
significance. So we see here in
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verse 14 it says that she
recognized Peter's voice and she
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ran in to announce that Peter
stood before the gate and then
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in verse 15, But they said
to her, you are beside yourself
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because they
don't believe it either.
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You're crazy. That's what
they told the women who went to
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find the body of Jesus and came
back, He's risen? You guys are
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crazy. No he
isn't. That's right.
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Exactly. We won't
comment on what that
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says about men and
their faith sometimes.
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Please don't. No, let's move on.
It says, but they said to her,
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You are beside yourself. Yet she
kept insisting that it was so,
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so they said, Well, it is his
angel. So they're thinking well
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it must be his angel. In verse
16, Now Peter continued knocking
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like when are they going to open
up? And when they opened the
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door and saw him they were
astonished, but motioning to
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them with his hand to keep
silent, he declared to them how
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the Lord had brought him out
of prison. So they're astonished
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and they're all excited and he's
like shh quiet because of course
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there's still persecution going
on here so he doesn't want to
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broadcast the fact that he
has been set free. So he gets
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brought in and he begins to
share with them the account of
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what happened.
Yeah, powerful. And then
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apparently he gives them word
to go on and tell the apostles
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who aren't there, the leaders
of the church, and he moves on
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to another place. I mean,
he doesn't to recoup somewhere
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he doesn't say look I'm going
to take a vacation after that.
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My life was threatened, I don't
know what to do. He's back out
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preaching the word.
That's exactly right.
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It's powerful. He's moving from
place to place, Lydia, Joppa and
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just moving right along.
Wherever God tells him to go.
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Now we come to verse 19. It says
When Herod had searched for him
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and had not found him,
he examined the guards and
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commanded that they should be
put to death. And he went down
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from Judea to Caesarea and
stayed there. Now Herod had been
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very angry with the people of
Tyre and Sidon but they came to
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him with one accord and having
made Blastus the king's personal
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aide their friend the asked for
peace because their country was
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supplied with food by the King's
country. So on a set day, Herod,
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arrayed in royal apparel sat on
his throne and gave an oration
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to them and the people kept
shouting the voice of a god and
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not of a man. Then immediately
an angel of the Lord struck him
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because he did not give glory
to God and he was eaten by worms
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and died. I don't know if this
means that was a progressive
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disease or what but here's
the thing that really grabs me.
00:11:32.97\00:11:36.84
An angel of the Lord struck him.
Well it was just earlier in the
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chapter that an angel of the
Lord struck Peter. But when he
00:11:40.98\00:11:44.20
struck Peter, Peter was awakened
and delivered. When Herod is
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struck by the angel he dies.
It goes to show us if an angel
00:11:47.92\00:11:52.02
of the Lord, the angels of God,
carry out God's will and God's
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will is ultimately that all men
would be saved, but men respond
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to God in different ways. Herod
has his day of opportunity but
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Herod had turned his heart
against God and he finally met
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with judgment. That's
right, that's right. Well
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you keep reading. There's a
couple more verses here but one
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more specifically that we'd
like to look at today and that's
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verse 24. It says, but the
word of God grew and multiplied.
00:12:17.08\00:12:21.21
You know, we've heard
that before haven't we?
00:12:21.24\00:12:23.79
That's right. It seems to
be a keynote here in Acts.
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It's incredible as you read the
book of Acts that you have so
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much activity; it is hard to
keep up with the book of Acts.
00:12:30.64\00:12:35.47
The thing is they trying to
squelch this faith, to put it
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out and they're multiplying.
Yeah. They can't stop them.
00:12:40.07\00:12:44.54
You know, in the beginning it
talked about how there were 3000
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added in a day, then the number
grew to 5000 and continually
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the Lord multiplied them and
the word was multiplied, etc.
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Sometimes I look at what happens
in our own experiences and I
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think, you know what, we're too
satisfied with small successes
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when God wants to do so much
more. We need to attempt bigger
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things for God. How about you
viewer. We're so thankful that
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you've joined us today but
we ask that you would consider
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attempting better things for
God. We'll see you next time.
00:13:16.91\00:13:20.48