Persecution for the Early Church

I'm going to jump into the Book of Acts as long as my voice can hold out. Thank God for bodies that can heal. And I'm thankful that I am 85% there.

I don't even know what I got this last week, but it did a domino effect down through our family. And one by one, I got it, then my wife got it, then a day or two later, Emily got it, and then Judson picked it up. So, some of you probably got it along the way too.

All right, we're in Acts chapter 12. It's been a number of weeks since we were here. And get back into study of the Book of Acts.

I'm going to start reading in verse number 1. I'll read down here through verse number 4. We're going to try to get down through, oh, maybe verse 11 or 12 here today. There's going to be a notable miracle. And as I've said before, the Book of Acts is a testimony of two kingdoms colliding.

And one kingdom being the kingdom of darkness. That kingdom of darkness trying to keep the light out of the hearts of humanity because a new kingdom has arrived. It's the kingdom of light, the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And that kingdom, we're going to see, is beginning to spread. And with the spread, starting in Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria, and ultimately to the uttermost parts of the earth, there are more and more individuals rising up to try to stop the spread of this glorious gospel that sets people free. And one thing I was just reminded of again as I prepared here this morning is that we ought to talk more about the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God. You know, Jesus preached the kingdom of God is at hand. And Paul talked about he preached the kingdom.

He preached the kingdom of God. And we don't talk a lot about the kingdom of God. We talk a lot about salvation and being saved and many things like that.

And people get the idea that the whole gospel message is to keep you out of hell and get your soul saved. And I can agree with all those things. That is an aspect of it.

But there's a greater concept here, and that is that God is establishing a kingdom. He is building a kingdom here on this earth in this kingdom of darkness. And he is establishing his kingdom upon this rock.

I'm going to build a church, the kingdom of God, and that kingdom is going to expand. And we ought to invite people into the kingdom. You know, it's one thing to say, Would you like to go to heaven? Oh, yeah, I'd like to go to heaven.

Would you like to be a part of a kingdom that will stand forever? An eternal kingdom. You can be a part of it today and be a citizen of this great kingdom. Oh, wow.

Even better than America? Oh, yeah. And God has promised you blessings in that citizenship. And so the kingdom of God.

Well, there's a lot of persecution that's coming on the church here in the early part of the book of Acts. But most of that persecution, matter of fact, pretty much all of it is coming from the Jewish people. And in large part because the spreading of the gospel has been just there around Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.

And so it's been mostly Saul making havoc in the church. Saul is a Jew. Or the Sanhedrin putting Stephen to death by stoning.

Or the authorities, the Jewish authorities, imprisoning Peter back in Acts chapter 5. And so it's being contained. And there's not a lot of concern even with Pilate when Jesus was there. You know, Pilate didn't seem to be overly concerned.

You know, Are you a king? Yes, you know, I'm a king. Tell me about your kingdom. And, you know, back and forth.

And he said, I don't find any fault with this man. He's no threat to me. And so the Roman ruler seemed to want to be willing to give Jesus a pass and let him go.

He tried to allow Jesus to get out of the crucifixion. But finally the voices of the Jewish people brought him to the place where he said, all right, you can take him. And he washes his hands from this just man and go do whatever you want.

But now in Acts chapter 12, because the gospel is moving outside of the Jewish realm into Gentile lands, it's starting to get the attention of Gentile leaders. And Herod is one of those Gentile leaders. It's no longer just here in Jerusalem.

We can contain it and let them do their religious thing. But now this thing is starting to spread. It's spreading outside of Judaism.

And so also is persecution. So I'm going to start reading here in verse number one. Now about that time, and it's referring to the time when the gospel is going out at Antioch and in different places.

About that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also.

Then were the days of unleavened bread or the feast of the Passover. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. So now Herod here, Herod is starting to get a little concerned.

And Herod begins to step up some persecution on his own. And he gets involved by taking out James' life. And as Brother David mentioned here this morning, poor James, what did James do? Is he living outside the will of God? And why does James just all of a sudden wake up one morning and beheaded? Well, boasts none of tomorrow.

And so James is a martyr. And praise God. Praise God for James.

There's going to be another man in the end of this chapter that's going to die the same Herod. He's going to die. He's going to get eaten by worms.

And I'd rather obviously go the way of James than the way of Herod. But Herod is starting to bring some persecution. As long as this religion, this Christianity stays local, stays amongst the Jews, there's no problems.

But now it's starting to spread outside Judea. And when you get outside of Judea, you're getting into the Roman world and Roman rule. And this has happened in the past.

I thought of kings and Herods and even Pharaohs. If you remember the stories, there's a number of them throughout the Old Testament. They're in Matthew 2 when Herod heard that this baby was born whose name was Jesus.

So he was going to be a king. It was a threatening thing to him that another king was going to rise even amongst the Jewish people. He wanted to be the only authority in the land.

And so he went to very, very drastic measures to kill all the children from 2 years old and under to maintain his place. And so he was threatened or he felt threatened by the rise of this king whose name was Jesus. And even back in the Old Testament, you remember the story of Pharaoh and how Pharaoh also felt threatened by the Jewish people.

And he stopped the births of the male children. The midwives were told to kill all the male children as they were brought forth from the womb. And that's, of course, where Moses came in.

Moses' mother put him in the bulrushes and he escaped. So throughout history, leaders have been threatened with uprisings, with other authorities, and it's caused leaders to react. And so that's what's happening here.

Herod senses that things are getting out of hand and maybe some of his authority is going to be threatened. And so he's starting to rise up and to resist it. Now, I went through the Bible just to try to figure out here what's the real reasons for persecution and why is persecution happening here.

There's basically two reasons why the church faces persecution. And the first one is this, that a leader oftentimes feels threatened. Leaders oftentimes feel threatened and therefore they react by persecuting God's people.

You think of Jesus, how Jesus came very lowly, just going about doing good and healing all that were oppressed and blessing people. And this became a threat to the Jewish authorities. The Bible says they envied him and the crowds began to follow him.

And that was the very reason why Jesus was crucified. The Bible says he was crucified for envy. And so oftentimes persecution comes our way because people feel threatened.

And, you know, our government here, for example, as long as Christianity doesn't threaten them, they're fine with us just doing our little thing here in our church houses and going about our business, as long as we pay our taxes and obey our laws, their laws. But as soon as Christianity begins to threaten them, you're going to find that persecution is going to obviously intensify. But there's another reason in the Bible that persecution is coming, and that is due to conviction.

You're not very far here, but turn back to Acts chapter 5 and we'll see an example of this here in Acts chapter 5. And this is where most of us face persecution. In Acts chapter 5, it says here in verse 27, And when they had brought them, talking about the disciples, they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hang on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And then verse 32, And we are his witnesses of these things, and so also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

And the idea here is, verse 32, or verse 29, We ought to obey God rather than men. They see here are individuals who are willing to die, willing to be imprisoned in their obedience for the Lord Jesus Christ. And wow, I mean, that was convicting to them.

They weren't willing to do much of anything as far as obedience to the law of God. And here are people willing to actually suffer and lay down their life. We're going to be willing to obey God and not men.

And verse 33 says, When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and they took counsel to slay them. That conviction that came upon their heart was what motivated them to want to slay the apostles. And so conviction is in large part a reason why many individuals, Christians, face persecution.

A life of obedience. And let me say this specifically, a life of obedience to the Great Commission. Because if you go through the Bible, you'll find the Great Commission is something that these individuals are willing to do, even unto death.

And it's causing people to be angered and to be under conviction. And so conviction is one of the reasons why people are persecuted. And I think we ought to live a life, I've said this many times before, we ought to live a life where we have enough light in our Christianity to bring conviction to other people.

And to cause people to be a little bit troubled by the way that we live. Paul said it this way in 2 Timothy 3.12, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Life or a life that is a life of light ought to bring some conviction on those who are living in darkness.

Godliness causes persecution to come our way. And so it's always been to me a good way to find out where I'm at in my Christian life. And whether or not my Christianity produces any animosity in anyone.

You know, I don't believe it's the will of God. You don't find this anywhere in the Bible. Although we think this, that we ought to go through life and everybody ought to like us.

We ought to be well loved in the community and all those things. Well, if we're actually following the will of God and doing the things that the early church is doing, you're going to find that people are going to persecute you. Let me read to you 1 John 3. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one.

I've got some already up here. And slew his brother. And I think all of us know this story.

And Cain slew his brother. And by the way, just throw this out. You know, persecution, when you become a Christian, usually starts right next door to you.

I mean, Abel found this out. His brother, his closest family member, began that persecution. That's usually the way it happens.

You know, you get converted inside of a family. And the persecution starts right there in the family. It starts right there with mom, dad, brothers, and sisters.

Right local. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And we're told here why.

And wherefore slew he him, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. So Herod now is rising up.

And he has some animosity in his heart. And it's probably because he's being threatened. His kingdom, his authority is being threatened.

And it may also be because these people are convicting. And their lies bring conviction. And just like Cain.

You know, inside Cain's heart. When Cain saw obedience, as we heard this morning. An obedient heart.

Oh, Cain, you know, God says to bring a lamb, a blood offering. Cain, you need to do what God says. God is right, and we are not.

And Cain is, or excuse me, Abel is trying to do the right thing. And here is Cain, frustrated. He wants to go his own direction.

He has his own glory and his own fruits. And he wants glory to himself. And it frustrates him.

That Abel is living a biblical, godly, faith-filled life. And so one day, in his frustration. Probably, I don't know his motive.

But probably he didn't want to kill him. But he just got something, maybe a knife, a stone. And just went after, anger.

And there Abel lay. And he was killed. So, persecution.

I just want to mention a little bit about it here. Before we go on. I'm going to read to you here again another passage in Matthew chapter 5. One of my favorites.

Because I think this helps us understand why we are not being persecuted as we ought to. In Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus concludes it this way.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If you're a part of the kingdom of heaven.

That's a part of your citizenship requirements. And that is to be persecuted by the world. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you.

And shall say all manner of evil against you falsely. For my name's sake rejoice and be exceeding glad. For great is your reward in heaven.

And here's something I think is interesting. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. The prophets.

And Jesus alludes to this idea of. Here's where the persecution in large part comes. It comes from speaking up.

Speaking out. Do you remember those prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah. And Ezekiel and Daniel.

And all these men of old. Do you remember how they lifted up their voice. And cried out against the sins of the people.

And that's what got them thrown in the dungeon. That's what got them eating bread and water for weeks and months at a time. That's what caused the ire of kings to rise up against them.

And throw them into prison. The Ahab's of the world. Because they spoke up.

Against sin. And they persecuted the prophets. And even so they shall persecute you.

So the Jews so far here in the book of Acts. They've martyred Stephen. And they imprisoned Peter.

But now Herod enters into this thing. A Gentile king. And he martyrs James.

And now he's throwing Peter also in prison. So back here to Acts chapter 12. I want to look at something that's a little bit bigger.

A bigger picture here. I always like to look at the big picture. The foundational issues here.

But there's something going on here. And I know we all probably recognize it. It gets back to this idea of the kingdom of God.

But there's a kingdom coming into this age here. That we're reading about in the book of Acts. And the world is in darkness.

And there's a kingdom. And this world is heading towards a direction. And you all know it.

Revelation chapter 13 talks about there's a day when a man. The Antichrist is going to take his place as the king. Over this whole world.

And over humanity. And that's the direction we're heading. A man leading the world.

Ruling the world. Taking control of the world. But in the midst of this.

The book of Acts is a testimony of this. The Lord is planting another kingdom. He's dropping a kingdom.

Right in the midst of what appears the world is heading in the direction of. The course of this world. The God of this world.

We're going to enthrone the Antichrist. When we get to the end of this thing. We're going to have a utopia.

And now the Lord drops down his eternal kingdom. And this eternal kingdom is starting to blossom. And it's starting to go forward.

And there are oppositions to that kingdom. I thought about some prophecies here. And I want to read to you a few of them.

Just to go back and lay a foundation here. In Luke chapter 1 verse 30 it says this. And the angel said unto her, fear not Mary.

For thou hast found favor with God. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son. And thou shalt call his name Jesus.

And he shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.

And of his kingdom there shall be no end. So Mary, very beginning when she's having this child, is told that this Jesus is going to establish a kingdom. And that kingdom is going to stand forever.

And there's no better news or no better thing you can be a part of than the eternal kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. It's talked about much in the Bible.

That God has established his kingdom. And you can participate in this eternal kingdom. And that's the kingdom that cannot be moved.

Where all the other kingdoms are going to fall apart. You see Babylon there in Revelation. It's collapsing.

And America's going to collapse. And the Russians are going to collapse. And China's going to collapse.

And all is going to collapse. But there's a kingdom that will stand forever. And that was told to Mary at the birth there of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then in Mark 1, we won't read all these verses. But in Mark 1, Jesus comes into Galilee and he's preaching. He's preaching the kingdom of God is at hand.

The kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of heaven. Repent and believe the gospel.

You know, we read those words. What is he saying? He's saying, I'm going to bring in a kingdom here into this world. And it's a kingdom that's going to start right here.

And it's going to stand forever. And I'm opening the door for anyone who wants to enter the kingdom. And the Bible says in John 3, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And that's our entrance into the kingdom of God. Is to be born of the spirit of God. And so the Lord proclaims this kingdom.

This kingdom that is coming. And I know we don't spend a lot of time with that. But I think we ought to go out and start preaching the kingdom of God is here.

And you can enter that kingdom. Let me give you another verse here regarding the kingdom of God. In Luke chapter 17.

What kind of a kingdom is it? They were asking Jesus in Luke 17. It says this. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come.

He answered them and said, the kingdom of God comes not with observation. It's not about buildings and armies. And it's not about something you can see with your eye.

Neither shall they say, lo here or lo there. For behold, the kingdom of God is within you. So this kingdom he has in mind was not brought in by military might.

Not brought in with tanks or the way we do it today by war. But it's brought in through the heart of man. Through submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Through believing the gospel. Does not come with observation. The kingdom of God is within you.

I wonder, just to make some application here. Do you have the kingdom of God in you? The kingdom of God. I am a child of the king.

I am in the citizenship of this heavenly kingdom. I'm a participant. My heart is submitted.

My heart is surrendered to the will of God. I believe I can have the same testimony as the apostle Peter. I believe and ensure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

Yeah. I want to be a member of the kingdom of God. Listen, I can promise you this.

The authority of the word of God. Some of you might see it one day. All these nations are going to collapse.

Bible describes in Revelation. The kingdoms of this world begin to collapse. The buildings and everybody is running and fleeing.

And everything is collapsing. And in that moment, you need to make sure you're a part of a kingdom that cannot be moved. Amen.

And that kingdom, participation in that kingdom is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's an eternal kingdom. And something I know about the Lord is that God always starts His work from the inside.

And He which has begun a good work in you, He began it in you. Also complete it at the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, picture this in our world today.

Billions of people, but God is building a kingdom. He's building a kingdom. Citizens of that kingdom under the authority of the king.

Having faith in the king. Having faith in His word. Declaring His word throughout all this world.

That's what it's like to be a participant of His kingdom. I love Romans chapter 14. Paul writes this.

The kingdom of God is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Many people think of the kingdom of God as something to do with what you eat, or the clothes you put on, or some of these things that you can touch and feel. But the kingdom of God is not about those things.

The kingdom of God is about having a righteousness, having peace with God, and having joy in the Holy Spirit of God. One of the ways to find out whether or not you're a good participant and a good citizen in the kingdom is whether or not you fit into those categories. You have a righteous heart.

You have peace in your heart. And you have the joy of the Holy Spirit of God. You know, I can be a citizen of the United States and be really depressed because I'm not doing the right thing and they're fining me for speeding.

They're throwing me in jail for violating their laws. Yes, I'm a citizen, but I'm very discouraged and depressed. Sitting in jail cells under fines.

You know, if you're living in the kingdom of God and you're living properly in the kingdom, you ought to be righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost. You can cut through all the rigmarole and the religion and look in your heart and say, righteousness, peace, and joy. I'm living right.

I'm living sincere. I have a clear conscience. I have peace with God, and I have joy in my heart.

I am a good citizen of the kingdom. Amen. Well, this kingdom is expanding, and I know I'm getting off subject here a little bit, but this is one of the reasons why Herod is rising up, and this is one of the reasons why he's throwing Peter in jail, because he senses there's another kingdom being established here, and it's getting bigger and bigger, and it's getting threatening to him and to the Roman government.

And so let's just spend a little bit of time talking about that kingdom. Let me read a few more verses regarding the kingdom of God. Matthew 13, this kingdom that the Lord is establishing is going to get bigger and bigger, and he's seeing that.

In verse 31 of Matthew 13, Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in a field. Mustard seed is a very small thing, very tiny seed, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, large herb, and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. And so the Lord is here conveying the idea that my kingdom will start off very small.

A small seed, a humiliated man who was crucified on a cross, is going to be buried in the ground, a seed, insignificant, laughed at and mocked and ridiculed, and that seed is going to start growing, it's going to be raised, and it's going to produce a large tree where many, many throughout the entire world are going to lodge in it and find shelter. And then he goes on and gives another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a leaven which a woman took, and you ladies understand this, and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leaven.

And so this kingdom will start off very small. It will permeate Jerusalem. Then it will expand Judea and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth.

And the kingdom will spread to the ends of the earth. This gospel, it says on the wall of the kingdom, shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. It looks like we're missing a few O's there.

And then shall the end come. So this kingdom is expanding. By the way, ultimately, and I don't want to spend a lot of time here, but ultimately our king is going to return, and this kingdom, a lot of things are going to happen.

This kingdom is going to become not only a spiritual kingdom, it's going to be established here on this earth. Revelation 11 says the kingdoms of this world, when Jesus comes, are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And you know, you and I are going to be at that moment when the Lord returns.

We're going to be caught up, as we read today, to meet the Lord, and our bodies are going to be changed, and we're going to be given new bodies to live in this eternal everlasting kingdom, because this kingdom is getting bigger and bigger and expanding. It's taking on not only our hearts, but it's taking on this world also. And in Matthew 25, the Bible tells us, when Jesus comes and sits upon the throne of his kingdom, then shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them, one from the other, the sheep from the goats, and he shall say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit what? The kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, because I was hungry, and you fed me.

I was naked, you clothed me. I was in prison, and you visited me. I was sick, and you came and ministered unto me.

And of course, we say to him, Lord, when shall we be naked? Lord, when did we do these things to you? We didn't even know you were around. And the Lord says, Well, don't you remember? Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. You know, as people say, Oh, if Jesus were here, I would love to just serve him.

I would love to wash his feet. I would love to do whatever he would want me to do. I would just serve him.

He is here. He's right here. Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, right here, you have done it unto him.

So there's no excuse for not serving the Lord. There's many opportunities for us to serve him. But then he says to them on the left-handed part, For me, I never knew you, because you never ministered to me.

To the least of these, my brethren. And so, the kingdom is going to expand, and it's going to take in this physical realm. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.

One day, Jesus stood before Pilate, and Pilate asked him, Are you a king? And Jesus said, Thou sayest. And Pilate asked him about his kingdom, and he said, My kingdom is not now from hence. If my kingdom were from this place, then would my servants fight? Then he makes a very important statement.

He says, But now my kingdom is not from here. But there is coming a day when he's coming with white horses, and he's king of kings and Lord of lords, and he will subdue all enemies, and he will establish his kingdom. Well, what's happening here is that, and they don't know this, but the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, Herod, who wants this world to be dominated by man, and he doesn't know this, but in his heart, he's being led to the place where Antichrist will establish his kingdom in this world.

And now there's something troubling happening here. This kingdom that Jesus Christ is building is getting too big, and we're going to rise up here and start taking some of these men out and stopping this kingdom. And you know who's inspiring those things? Obviously, it's the devil.

Inspiring this persecution. So the persecution that we're seeing here in the book of Acts and the martyrdom is simply due to this clashing of two kingdoms here in the book of Acts. One is expanding, and the other is trying to stop that expansion, to control the expansion of the Lord's kingdom.

Now, I was talking with my daughter here this week, and we were discussing a few things, but a lot of people today seem to have a hard time with purpose in life and vision, and I say these things often. Here is the center of what life is all about. This is all that life is about.

There are two entities, the Lord and the devil. There are two kingdoms, his kingdom and the kingdom of darkness. God has planted his kingdom here.

It is expanding, and the enemy is trying to thwart his purposes and his kingdom on the face of the earth and to stop his expansion. And what is your purpose here? Why are you here? Why are we as a church here if we don't see that as the broad vision for our purposes here, then we lose our vision. What am I here for? And I'm trying to drop some thoughts to you.

I've done this for years, but if you would truly believe today that if I go to my sister, and even one of the sisters in the church who are least esteemed, least of these my brethren or sisters, and serve them, and minister to them, and pray with them, and give to them, I am doing the thing that God is calling me to do, and there's nothing greater than to serve Jesus by serving one another. And so having vision... Now, I didn't bring it with me. I don't want to downplay this, but I've seen this over the years.

I was at the funeral this week, and if you ever read obituaries, I like to read them. But it troubles me that, and I shared this with my family last night, but think about this for a minute. God has made the worlds, and He gave you life.

Let's say He gave you 80 years, 70 years. Not only did He give you life, but you're lost, and you're heading towards eternity without Him, and separated from Him in hell, and He saves your soul by the gospel of the Lord Jesus, and the great work that Jesus has done, and here you have this amazing kingdom that's being built, and eternity before us, and all these major thoughts are the mind. And we get to the end of our life, and they write an obituary about us.

I can just see, if I had met Jesus, I mean, okay, here's Jerry, nice guy, worked at so-and-so insurance company for 40 years, played a lot of golf, was really good at it, had four children, liked to go fishing, and is survived by blah, blah, blah. And I read these obituaries, and I thought, oh, I said, Lord, don't let me get to the end of my life, and someone write about my life, which God gave me for 70 years. He liked to go fishing.

Seriously? Seriously? I mean, if we have a belief that this is true, and heaven is real, and hell is real, and eternity is real, the thoughts are staggering just to think about eternity, to spend an eternity in hell is beyond my mind's even, it staggers my mind to think about it, and yet we spend that entire life that God gives us, and we fish. Can you imagine standing before the God of heaven with all this incredible things before you? You're looking at heaven, you're looking at hell, and you're realizing you've got forever, and it's all before you, and all these people around you, and what in the world was I thinking? Taking that life and using it for such foolish, foolish things. And so I just was reading that obituary, and Lord, Lord, help me.

And just stop and think with me for a minute. When they write your obituary, let's say you were to die today, what are they going to write? I would hope that they would write something that says you serve the living God. You impacted the kingdom of God in some way.

Wouldn't you like that? Then I hit a white golf ball around for 50 years of my life and was good at it. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Well, it's hard to convince people, but there are bigger things in life. And here in the book of Acts, there's a war going on. Well, let's go back here, and I just want to pick up here what's happening in Acts chapter 12.

Maybe that's a good thing for you to do. Maybe what we ought to do sometime is just have a night where we write our own obituary. Here's what I want my obituary to say.

Just sit down and take 10 minutes and I'm going to write my obituary. Jerry was a blah, blah, blah, blah. He did this and this and this.

And dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. Maybe make five or six sentences. What I'd like my obituary to say.

And then look at it and say, boy, I better get with it. Here in verse number 5, I'm going to read down through this story here a little bit. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

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. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him and a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

Now, the angelic world understands these things. The angelic world are living in the presence of God. They understand the importance of these things.

Now, this is not a first time for Peter, but in Acts chapter 5, Peter's in prison and an angel comes and wakes him up again and says, Get out of here, Peter. Get back out there and stand in the temple and preach Jesus. So the angels have some urgency in what they're doing and they understand what's going on here.

There's a war. Verse 8, The angel said unto him, Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals. And so he did.

And he said unto him, Cast thy garment about thee and follow me. And he went out and followed him and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth into the city, which opened to them of his own accord.

And they went out and passed on through one street and forthwith. The angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now 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.

Now, one thing that I've observed going through the book of Acts in the past, and we're going to see a lot of it as we go through here, is that in these clashes, these two kingdoms, it's not just human beings, Herod and a man named James or Herod and a man named Peter. It's spirits of darkness and angels of light. It's the Lord working with his people.

It's angels working with his people. God has got the spiritual realm in this battle. And they're fighting with us.

And that's something we need a vision for. Behind the scenes, there are angelic beings wanting to fight and win this battle and spread light throughout the world. So God is providing throughout the book of Acts, He's providing His people with the power of the Holy Ghost.

You shall receive power. I'll give you that one from behind the scenes. He's providing spiritual gifts.

I got gifts for the work. He's even providing here angelic assistance. You need some of that? We got that too.

And we got miracles. And all these things through the book of Acts, things that are out of our hands, God is doing behind the scenes. Now I believe this, and I shared this a few months ago, I believe it was, like down in Columbus, God needs hands.

He needs hands down there to hold hands. He needs a hand, a physical hand to touch. He needs people to talk.

He needs a lips. He needs someone to put an arm around someone. He needs those things.

And that's a good thing. But there are certain things God does that are behind the scenes that are done in the spiritual realm that we can't do physically. And I shared a little bit a few months ago about the battle with Aaron there, Moses, Aaron and her on the mountaintop and how that Joshua needed to be down in the valley fighting the Amalekites.

Somebody had to be down there with a sword and with fists and feet running and had to do the activity. But the activity wasn't enough. The swords weren't enough.

You needed to have the Moses's and Aaron's and hers up there praying for the spiritual realm. Amen. Behind the scenes.

Now here's what happens as the early church starts to pray. It says they prayed through the night. I mean, this is the middle of the night when Peter comes to the door.

He was sleeping amongst these soldiers. Everybody was sleeping, probably two or three in the morning. And they're still praying.

Praise God for these people. They're praying and they're doing that which is necessary for this spiritual battle to be won. You know, we can hold a hand, but that's necessary.

We can give a hug, that's necessary. We can give money. We can feed people.

We do that. But only prayer can activate the unseen world. And unfortunately, I think many of us have lost some vision of that, but we need to have the unseen world activated.

You can do and do and do and do and do unless people are praying and unless we're crying out to God for help. A hand is great. A meal is great.

But something has to be done behind the scenes. So if you cannot participate on Tuesday nights, pray behind the scenes. It's obvious here that through the prayers of the people of God, the angel is sent.

And I don't know what would have happened had they not prayed. Probably there would have been no angel. We might not have heard about Peter's escape.

He might have gone with James and the whole thing. He might have been killed also. But the church is praying.

Now I know in my own heart I tend to depend more on activity. You know why I do that? And most of us, activity, activity, activity because you can see it while we're getting things done. You can see it.

But in prayer, it's hard to see. You, by faith, accept the fact that I'm going to go to my closet and spend an hour praying for the ministry there in Columbus. I can't see anything, but I trust God that behind the scenes He's doing things.

You know when the Egyptians went into the Red Sea, the Bible says their chariot wheels started to fall off. You know why they fell off? Because there was angels running alongside pulling the pins. I mean, it was happening.

If an angel can open gates, if an angel can take chains off of Peter and do all that, by the prayers of the people of God. And so prayer brings about activity in the unseen world. And so Peter then comes to where this prayer meeting is taking place.

And I think we'll stop there and we'll pick up next time with their response to Peter knocking at the door. And maybe we'll finish up chapter 12 next time. But I do want to just close by just laying upon your hearts the importance of the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God. And what are they going to say in your obituary? What did you do with your life? And how did you affect the main event? The kingdom of God. How did you affect it? So let's go for it.

Let's rise up and consider what our obituary is going to say. And make sure that there's a lot in there. This person loved Jesus.

Loved the work of God. Gave themselves for that purpose. All right, let's close.

We'll have a word of prayer and then I'll open it up for anyone who'd like to share. Heavenly Father, again we pray for a vision, Lord, that we could lift up our eyes and see wonderful things, Lord. That this present evil world would not drag our hearts and minds down and that we would lose sight of what life is all about.

Again, we pray for anyone here today who is not in the kingdom of God, who is outside the kingdom, looking in, Lord, that you would arrest their hearts and bring conviction to their soul and that they would enter into this citizenship, truly, being born of the Spirit, taking part in your kingdom. And Lord, give us purpose. Give us purpose in life.

May we truly learn to lose our life for your sake and the gospel's. I do thank you for each one that's here, Lord. Thank you for all the brothers and sisters who love you in sincerity.

All the children here who have purity of heart. Lord, raise us up even more. Give us grace for those who are not with us.

Also, we pray for them. May you minister to their needs where they're at, Lord. We love you this morning.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, does anyone have anything you'd like to share in closing? Whether David has something to share.

Yeah, I appreciate it and very thankful for the message. I've been thinking a lot on those lines on the kingdom of God as well and been kind of thinking of that. And so I was blessed to hear those things.

You know, and one particular thing in that is I was thinking how everything operates on the earthly kingdom here. I was thinking of the kingdom of God and that of the spiritual sense and all the great movement that goes on inside of it. I was thinking of how on the earth, that Satan, we speak about this a lot, how he tries to mimic a lot of things, the miracles, the this and the that, and it looks very, there's one thing I found that's really separate in that of the kingdom of God that Satan cannot mimic, and that is in persecution.

It's one thing that you normally can't find like historically like as a church or a movement of false teachers that have given themselves and laid down their lives by faith to the glory of God through the person of Jesus Christ and that of persecution. Satan has a hard time with that one. And then God drives his people to such a place that their faith is only left to give glory to him.

That's why you see this purity level bound through persecution. It probably was that, I would say like you look in Laodicea, you look at the rich and increase with goods. It's hard to depict, hard to define who's right, who's wrong.

But you look in the early church, the safest place in the mark of God under persecution that Satan couldn't mimic. I've just kind of been pondering these things and I was very blessed in that. And I was thinking too of a passage you were mentioning, those angels.

You remember when the Lord, when the children of Israel were going to go into the land and to take, he said, Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and bring thee into the place which I have prepared. And he says, By little and little I will drive them out from before thee until thou be increased and inherit the land. And that the Lord up a front went prior to them going in had sent an angel before them to prepare the way.

And also when they come to that land, he said, And little by little that they would begin to take ground. And I see this, the perseverance in the saints, the faithful, the true Christians, faithful. And little by little would begin to conquer.

And it was because of the will of God when he spoke those things it kind of really ministered to me. When he started to share that, he says, And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the Sea of the Philistines and from the desert unto the river for I will deliver the habitants of the land into your hand and thou shalt drive them out before thee. And I don't know, I was just kind of blessed that the Lord had sent up ahead.

And it was going to be a little by little conquering. And I don't know, it just kind of ministered to me. And I guess lastly, once again, I like that part about the obituary.

And I was kind of humbled in that regard and even better yet to this way of thought that imagine someone reading your obituary and mocking God. When you said that, I was thinking, so we have an obituary. I have an obituary.

We'll soon all have an obituary. But imagine my obituary be something that a man or woman go, Ha, I don't see one speck of Christ in there. Typical profession Christianity.

There we go again. And then they mock God.