A Sovereign God and My Trials

Grab your Bibles and open them to Acts chapter 12 this morning. Today we’re going to look at yet another awesome narrative in the book of Acts. And we’re going to look at the entire chapter of Acts chapter 12. I’m going to start simply by reading it over us, allow God’s Word to speak, and then we will dive in. And so once you’re in Acts chapter 12, I will read it this morning. Everybody there? Getting there? I hear pages flipping. That’s great.

Acts chapter 12. Now hear the Word of the Lord. About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Verse 6. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and 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 followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

Verse 10. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
Verse 12. When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate.
They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.
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.
Verse 20. 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, 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!” 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. (Acts 12:1-25)
One can only hope that the chosen will continue into Acts and make this episode of Acts chapter 12. It is fascinating. It is hilarious. And it’s like the Blacklist, Touched by an Angel, Prison Break and some sci-fi thing all wrapped into one giant episode. I just so enjoyed being in it this week, but hear this this morning. I believe that the Spirit of God wants to speak to you today through Acts chapter 12.
In Acts chapter 12 we see that God is at work on behalf of those He loves even when we don’t understand, even when we don’t see it or when our circumstances seem inescapable or when we feel important in our trials or our faith is small or when the injustice seems too powerful. Hear this this morning. God is love and God loves you despite what your circumstances may be shouting at you today, despite what you may be feeling as you come into the house of God this morning. God is mighty and God strong and God is sovereign and God is in control even in the midst of our pain, but God is always love.
And because of the cross of Christ, we know that the pain and hardships of this world, though painful, are temporary and already overcome and being worked out for the good of those who love Jesus Christ. I’ve been praying for you all week long as I’ve approached Acts chapter 12. And I think I’ve shared this quote before, but it’s a really appropriate framework for us as we begin to dig into this remarkable chapter in the book of Acts.
Milton Vincent said this: “The gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move. And every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view my circumstances in this light, I realize the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere along all the bad. I realize instead that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials. The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purpose and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ.”
I want you to think about your life- the trials that you’ve walked through, the circumstances that you’ve walked through, the trials that you’ve even brought and carried into this place today. And I want you to have a gospel framework, a gospel mindset, as we look at Acts chapter 12 and dig into the circumstances that we’ll see in this chapter in the book of Acts.
The first point that I’ll give you this morning is this: God is in control, so don’t stop praying. God is in control, so don’t stop praying. First, let’s just consider all of the happenings as we read in the first four verses of Acts chapter 12. There was a lot going on for the Christians. You’re not the only one walking through hard times. Sometimes I feel like I am and yet these believers were walking through some very hard times.
Verse 1 just starts out, “About that time.” So this phrase is tying chapter 12 back to what Agabus said just a few verses ago in Acts chapter 11 whenever he told the church at Antioch that a famine was going to come. So the church in Antioch is now sending relief. The famine has come. And the Christians in Judea are enduring a famine, all that a famine brings. A famine is a difficult trial to walk through.
We in America don’t know a whole lot about what it means to go through a famine. Our world is pretty set up so that we can get food with convenience kind of 24/7. Five Guys is open till 3:00A.M. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday FYI. We don’t know what it’s like to go through a famine.
But I do know that whenever, you know, like the news calls for a blizzard, everybody rushes to the grocery store. Or if you live in the South, if they even call for a dusting of snow the grocery store is like out of bread, out of milk, out of eggs. Imagine if the grocery had absolutely no food in it. That would be pretty scary. That would be pretty, that would freak you out a little bit. Now what’s more stressful than walking through a famine? Walking through a famine while being persecuted by your king, while being persecuted by your government.
Verse 1 it says, “About that time during the famine, Herod the King laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.” So Herod Agrippa I was the king at this time. The “Herods” were a lineage of wicked kings. Herod the Great would have been the most popular. He would have been king whenever Jesus was born, and you remember he killed all of the newborn boys who were two and under. That’s a pretty wicked thing.
Now Herod Agrippa I, his grandson is now in power and he’s living out to the Herodian name. And he begins to persecute Christians in the middle of this famine not because he hated religion necessarily, but because it started to give him political gian, political power. Herod Agrippa I was a selfish, powerful, wicked, narcissistic, egomaniac. I was going to take a different angle on this passage and preach a sermon that says if you live as an egomaniac, you will die an egomaniac. That’s a great word for some of us in the room today.
And what’s more stressful and painful than going through a famine while being persecuted is seeing one of the beloved apostles killed. And that’s exactly what King Herod Agrippa I did. So these believers are walking through a famine. He begins to persecute them and realizes that it gives him some political gian and some power. And so in his violence toward the Christians, he takes James the brother of John, the first apostle to be martyred, and he kills him. He does away with his life.
And the believers in their pain, in their trial, in their suffering, see James killed and then adding to the weight of the Christians’ trial their leader Peter is arrested for the third time, put in chains and locked in a prison to await execution. I mean, everything was falling apart for the believers in Acts chapter 12. Everything was falling apart.
And it’s in these moments that it’s easiest to doubt God’s goodness, isn’t it? It’s in these moments that it’s easiest to question. “Is God really in control? Is God actually good? Why would God allow these things to happen to me when I am a child of God? And I have no doubt that the Christians in Acts chapter 12 were feeling those emotions. I have no doubt that they thought about giving up. I have no doubt that they thought about questioning God as they struggled to find food, as they were being persecuted by their king, as they saw loved ones killed and as their leader was now put in prison.
But in their pain and in their distress and with all of their questions and doubts, they began to pray. And that’s the amazing grace. That’s an amazing grace in the life of a believer, isn’t it? When everything seems to be falling apart and we may even question what God is doing, we can go to God bringing every fear, every question, all of our anger, all of our hopes and trust that He hears and that He’s good. These believers didn’t know where to go or what to do but they began to pray in their distress.
And where else could they go, right? I’ve heard people say so often, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t know God. I don’t know what I would do with the hardships in my life if I didn’t have the hope of Christ speaking truth to me. And that’s the reality of our trials and suffering. Where else can we turn other than God? Our flesh wants something else. Often we may want to curse God in our circumstances. And yet there is comfort in trusting Him. There is peace in returning to Him. And in the midst of the hardest moments of this life His grace and compassion and kindness can be found when we seek His face in prayer.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the woman Joni Eareckson Tada. She has a great ministry and has tremendously suffered in his life. So she is a quadriplegic. She dove into a lake when she was a teenager and hit her neck and she’s been paralzyed from the shoulders down ever since she was a teenager. And she began to speak and use her circumstances for the glory of God and has a great ministry. Sh’es suffered so much. Like not only being in a wheelchair since a teenager, but pain throughout the years, cancer in the more recent years, just tremendous suffering, tremendous pain.
And yet she still points people to the goodness and the faithfulness of God. I remember growing up and my parents using her testimonies in Bible studies and things like that. And we would watch her story and we would watch her testimony. A couple of years ago, my wife and I, we got to serve with Alliance Defending Freedom. And we met Joni Eareckson Tada. She was speaking that night. And here’s a picture of her on the screen. And it was just such a cool night.
And I’ll never forget standing on the platform singing songs about God’s faithfulness, singing songs about God’s goodness and seeing Joni in her wheelchair on the front row with a smile, beaming ear to ear as she just belted out the lyrics of the song. And she told me later that day that she said, “I sing my way through the pain of this life. I sing my way through the pain of this life.”
And that night she said something and I wrote it in my phone and I’ve kept it there. And this is a quote that I want to share with you that she said. “Suffering is like little splash overs for hell that wake us up to the reality of the real hell that Christ can rescue us from. But splash overs of heaven are finding Jesus in the middle of your hell, understanding that Christ permits things that He hates in order to accomplish what he loves in the lives of His children.”
Christ permits things that He hates in order to accomplish what He loves in the lives of His children, obviously most perfectly seen at the cross of Jesus Christ when God the Father poured out His wrath toward sin on His perfect, beloved Son who never did anything wrong, didn’t deserve to die. And yet Jesus died on a cross in my life as a substitute for my sins so that I could believe in Him and trust in Him and repent and follow Him. so that when the trials and tribulations of this life get hard, my hope is not in the things of this world but in heaven.
The remarkable faith of Joni Eareckson Tada in her suffering, suffering that so many of us can’t even relate with, her faith is not unlike the believers that are in Acts chapter 12. When everything seems to be falling apart, they went to God in prayer to seek His face, to seek His hand, to seek His help. And when the pain and tragedy of life surrounds Joni Eareckson Tada, she sings her prayers through the pain of this life.
Can I encourage you this morning? Don’t give up on God in the midst of your trial. Don’t give up on God in the midst of your suffering. He is good. He is love. He is with you. And so we don’t give up seeking His face, lifting our eyes to the hills. For where does our help come from? It comes from the Lord. And so in our plan and in our distress we look to the God of comfort because God is in control even when everything is falling apart. So we don’t give up on prayer.
We see that in the first four verses of Acts chapter 12. And then we kind of get the bulk of the story as we jump into point number two this morning is this. God is a rescuing God, so believe in His power. God is a rescuing God, so let’s believe in His power. There’s this massive prayer meeting going on now at Mary’s house and they’re praying bold prayers for their friend and leader Peter. And they’re choosing to trust and seek God even when everything seems to be falling apart.
Let’s just read 6-10 so that we kind of get the scene one more time ok? So now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. Who does that? Who sleeps through that?
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and 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 followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel. He thinks it’s a vision.
Verse 10. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him.
Now I want you to notice God’s absolute control and sovereignty and might and power in this section of Scripture. First, God awaits until the night before Peter is supposed to be executed to release him, to free him from prison. He’s like, What is going to embarrass King Herod Agrippa I the most? Him waking up on the morning of a planned execution and realizing that Peter had broken out of his maximum security prison. That’s going to infuriate King Agrippa.
So the finest details matter to God. Often we think God is not in tune with the details. God’s rarely early; He’s never late. He’s always in perfect time. And so we trust Him at those things. God releases Peter the night before he’s about to be executed.
The second thing we see in God’s power is that God’s angel comes in probably the most disruptive way possible. And then He walks Peter the long way out of the prison. And they don’t get caught. I mean, He shows up as a bright light in a room of sleeping guards. Chains are falling to the ground. He hits Peter telling him to hurry up. The iron gates open. There’s no way that they should’ve escaped this prison, and yet they walked out very freely. It was indeed a miracle from God who is a rescuer and who is powerful.
But I want you to consider all of the mundane moments in the midst of the miracle that we see in Acts chapter 12. I was kind of going through just the passage. And I realized this angel could have showed up and he could have just like swept through there and beamed Peter back to Mary’s house and dropped him in the middle of that prayer meeting and that would have been just so much more simple. God is definitely powerful enough to do that.
And yet God has Peter kind of walk through all these mundane things in the midst of a miracle that’s taking place. Let’s just kind of go through them. The first thing we see that Peter is sleeping the night before his execution in a dirty dungeon chained to two big guards sleeping between them and he’s just out cold having a nap. Who does that, right?
Unless Jesus told Peter in John 21, Hey Peter, you’re going to suffer for me and you’re going to die an old age and you’re going to die on a Roman cross. And so Peter, the man who was falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane because he was so fearful of what was going to happen is now sleeping out cold in a dungeon strapped to some soldiers because he wasn’t fearing anymore. He had faith that God had his future in hold, that God had his future planned out.
Maybe Peter was like, I’m not an old man yet. And so this isn’t my time. I know God is going to get me out. Or maybe he was like, If I don’t get out of here, I’m going to get out on the other side and I’m going to be seated with my Savior in heaven. And so because of that faith, I can sleep peacefully in the midst of my prison.
The second thing that we see is Peter being woken up. That’s kind of crazy. But a bright angel wakes no one in this dark dingy prison. That’s crazy. When I was like a kid my mom would come in the room at like 7:00 AM for church on Sunday morning and flick on the light and say, “Rise and shine. Time for church.”
And we’d all be like, “Ah! Shut the light off!” Right? That’s kind of terrible whenever you’re sleeping. What’s brighter than the lightbulb in your room? An angel that just came from the blazing glory of Christ showing up in a dark dungeon! That’s pretty bright! And yet nobody wakes up, not even Peter.
And so the angel is like, Peter, Peter, we’ve gotta get out of here. And he wakes him up. That’s kind of a mundane thing. And then the third time, so the shackles fall off of Peter. That’s a miracle. The chains fall off no problem. But then he tells him to get dressed. That’s crazy.
The angel is like, Hey Peter, get your pants on. Hey, don’t forget your shirt. Hey, there are guards sleeping; be quiet. Hey, strap up your Tevas. Careful with the velcro. Yep, yep. Ok, wrap your cloak around you. You good? You good? Yeah, you look good. Fix your hair a little. Let’s go. Right? It’s just like this dramatic scene in the midst of a prison. And he makes Peter walk through the mundane things of getting dressed.
And then the fourth thing that we see, they move past every guard. So two guards sleeping, guards at the door. They somehow make it to the iron gate. Peter just has to follow the angel. He’s not sure if it’s a vision. He’s not sure what’s going on. But he walks in obedience following this angel who begins to lead him out of the prison.
And then finally the iron door opens. They just walk up to this giant iron door in this maximum security prison and it opens automatically. Where were the guards guarding that door? I don’t know. And they walk into the city. Peter obediently walks into the city of Judea.
In suffering or in opposition we sometimes just have to trust in what we know how to do. Peter must have trusted that God wasn’t done with him yet, therefore he could sleep in peace even if he thought this wasn’t his time. He remembered. He believed in the power that God is a rescuer, and if he wasn’t rescued from that prison he’d be rescued on the other side of death.
But I bring up these mundane things in the midst of the miracle throughout because sometimes we have to do what we know how to do in the middle of our suffering and in the middle of our pain and in the middle of our trial or in the middle of our prison. The temptation that we have is to give up on the mundane things of life. You may want to give up on eating, sleeping, getting out of bed in the morning, getting dressed. You may want to give up on praying to God. You may want to give up on reading your Bible in the midst of painful things because you’re like, This isn’t working.
And yet Peter is an example. In the midst of his circumstances that we can continue to do what we know how to do and leave the rest in God’s hands. That’s what Peter did. Don’t give up hope in the prison of your mind, but be faithful to follow the Lord in the mundane. Trust in what you know is true and leave the miracles in God’s hands. Don’t give up when it’s hard. Continue to walk in what you know how to do, believing in the power of God and trust that He is always on time and He is a rescuer that can meet you wherever you are.
Now remember there is this massive prayer meeting going on this entire time back at Mary’s house. Thomas Watson was a Puritan and he said it was an angel that fetched Peter out of prison, but it was the prayer that fetched the angel. Don’t give up on praying. I mean, go to prayer. Believe firmly in the power of the prayer.
And sometimes I think it’s like we don’t even believe in the things that we’re asking God whenever we pray. Like we ask God for bold things. God, would you release Peter from prison? Maybe they were like, I don’t know if God is going to release Peter. They’d already prayed that prayer for James. I have no doubt that they had the same prayer meeting for James and they saw James killed. And they’re like, Ah, that didn’t work. But they didn’t give up hope. They didn’t say, Our prayers didn’t work last time so we’re not going to pray this time.
No. They went back for Peter that he would be released from prison, that they would not only see God’s hand at work but they would see God’s face in the midst of their trial. And that’s what prayer does for us. Prayer helps us to seek His face. But can I encourage you to boldly believe that He is able to rescue and redeem and heal from anything that may feel like your own prison today?
Sometimes His methods of rescuing and His methods of healing are not what we had in mind, but He always promises to work things out for the good of those who love Him. And so that’s why we believe firmly in the power of prayer.
And now back at this house, they’re praying bold prayers. Peter gets out, the angel disappears, and he’s like, I’m going to that prayer meeting. He goes and starts to knock on the door. And Rhoda the servant girl comes to the door. And she’s like, Hello, who’s there? Through the door because they’re hiding away from the government.
And Peter is like, It’s me. It’s Peter. Open the door.
And she’s like, Peter is at the door! She runs back into the prayer meeting and she’s like, Hey, the prayers worked! Peter is out of prison! He’s at the door!
And they’re all like, You’re crazy. You’re out of your head. Hey, we’re trying to have a prayer for Peter’s release. We’ve got to get back to prayer.
And so they get back to prayer and Rhoda keeps convincing them. And they go to the door and they finally open the door. And they’re like, It’s Peter! Our prayers worked! Maybe they didn’t believe that the prayers would work. Maybe Rhoda didn’t believe that the prayers would work. Certainly when she tells them, they didn’t run to the door in the first case scenario. But when they get there, they’re so excited.
Peter is like, Hey shhh, calm down. And he goes in and he tells them all that the Lord had done for them. And get this. Sometimes the answers to our prayers is right the door and we just have to step into it. Sometimes we have to just have enough faith and trust that God has answered our prayers. And rather than wallowing in what we think, wallowing in the hardships of life, wallowing in the unmet expectations, we have to trust that God is answering our prayers and we just have to simply open the door.
John Bunyan said this: “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed. So pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan.”
I’m so just impacted this week by our need for prayer as a people. We say all the time we believe firmly in the power of prayer, but do we pray? Do we pray often? Do we pray knowing that it is seeking the face of the Lord and the hand of the Lord?
Wilson Green is a faithful man in our church. He prays every morning at 11:00 in the balcony back here. And several join him. They would love to have several more join them. But if you’re burdened with prayer and you can fit that time into your life and into your schedule, join them for prayer every Sunday. On Monday nights Mitch leads a virtual prayer meeting for ARA and they go and boldly pray prayers for Africa and for the goepel to get different places. And we’re praying about different avenues that we can be a praying people.
But man, may we go to prayer for one another. May we go to prayer for our brothers and sisters who are in struggles, who are in circumstances, who are in trials and pain. There’s a lot we can do. There’s a lot that these folks could’ve done. They could’ve rose up. They could have went and had a riot. They would’ve fought. But they went to prayer and then they stepped into God’s answer and deliverance.
It’s amazing. God is a rescuing God, so let’s believe in His power. And then finally, the third thing that we see in this great text is that God is on His throne so only give Him glory. God is in control, so don’t give up. Don’t stop praying. God is a rescuing God, so believe in His power. God is on His throne, so only give Him glory.
I want you to just look at the way that God thwarts the plans of Herod in the remaining verses of Acts chapter 12. Verse 18: Now when day came, the next day, 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. (Acts 12:18-19)
So Herod wakes up for the big day. His reputation is going to soar as he takes out the leader of the apostles. And instead he wakes up to the embarrassment of a missing prisoner and his guards failing. And he needs somebody to blame so he kills the soldiers because that’s what a king does who needs someone to blame. And off prideful Herod…off prideful and angry Herod goes to find the next opportunity to puff himself up.
Herod did not care about people. He only cared about himself. And we could probably have a field day in our culture identifying all of the kings who puffed themselves up, built their kingdoms so large that they came to fall, that they were humbled by the God of the universe. But the truth is this: God will not be mocked. You have that promise. God will not be mocked.
So we have to seek to be humble servants rather than powerful kings. This was most perfectly displayed in Jesus Christ who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He humbled Himself. He was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, so that God might exalt Him, so that God might lift Him up. Jesus humbled Himself so low, even unto death, as a servant and God has exalted Him.
That’s not Herod’s story because he only cared about himself. When the starving people come to him for food he gets angry at them. But then he quickly sees an opportunity to earn favor in their sight. Let’s look in verse 21.
On an appointed day, Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. I’m sure it was a beautiful speech. Verse 22: And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
These people are not much better in this scenario. They didn’t care about Herod. These people didn’t care at all about Herod. They just wanted some food. And so often we’re willing to say whatever we need to say in order to get what we want. That’s a tragedy. That’s a tragedy. These people were doing that to Herod and they start to puff him up saying, “It’s the voice of a God and not 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. (Acts 12:21-24)
God is on His throne and the wicked stand no chance. God is on His throne and He will not be mocked. God is on His throne and He alone deserves the glory. I’m positive that Herod’s demise was an answer to the prayers of the praying people throughout this period. Yes, they were praying for food relief. Yes, they were praying for Peter’s release from prison. But I’m sure that they were praying the imprecatory Psalms like Psalm 58.
Oh Lord, would you shatter the teeth of the wicked? That is an appropriate prayer. God will not be mocked. God is over all of the pain and all of the suffering and all of the injustice that we so easily see even in our world. And we get all riled up about it, but do you pray that God would overcome it? Do you pray that God’s glory would not be stolen? Do you pray that I would not take any of God’s glory but that I would only give glory to God?
And do you pray that God would have His rightful place on the throne of this universe and do you trust Him that even when things seem bad, even when government and leaders seem corrupt, that He hasn’t wavered one bit? That He’s on His throne, that He’s in control and that He alone deserves the glory. And anyone trying to steal it will be brought low.
I’m positive that God will not let another steal His glory, and it should be a warning to all of us to remain humble before a holy God and to give our worship to none but Christ. King Herod, wicked egomaniac, puffing himself up only to be brought to the lowest of lows. In the dirt eaten by worms. It’s yet again another testimony of God’s sovereign control over the trials and tribulation of this life.
And then look in verse 24. It’s like Luke wants to rub it in. He says, But the word of God increased and multiplied. Middle of a famine, middle of persecution, losing a beloved disciple, seeing your leader captured, seeing the king be killed. And then the Word of God increased and multiplied.
We’ve said it so many times in the book of Acts in the last month. Opposition always leads to gospel advance. This is true for the church. It’s true for us today. It’s true for you in your pain and in your circumstances. God is over all. So we don’t stop praying. We trust in what we know. We believe in His power and we only give Him glory.
Now I prayed all week long for people that I know who are in hard circumstances. And I know that there are people in this room I don’t know your circumstance, but I know that you’re walking through trials. And I believe that the Spirit of God wanted to speak to you today through Acts chapter 12. His Word is always faithful. His Word is always on time.
I’m going to ask for participation for just a moment. If you’re walking through suffering, if you’re walking through a trial, if you’re struggling to believe that God is in control, that God is good in the midst of what you’re facing, would you be willing to stand right where you’re at today? If God spoke directly to you through His Word by the power of His Spirit, would you just stand in the room? Amen. Amen. Thank you. Amen, brother. Amen. I see that. I see the people.
Now brothers and sisters around them, if someone is standing next to you, would you get up and would you put your hands on those brothers and sisters in Christ who have been humble enough to acknowledge that this is a hard season, that this is a hard trial, that this is a time of pain, a time of suffering? Those of you who stood, realize that there’s a family that surrounds you right now, that you’re not alone in your suffering. You’re not alone in your pain. Peter probably felt alone in that prison at times. And yet he had faith in Christ and he knew that there were people praying for him. The same is true for you.
Now I want to pray and then we’re going to give glory to God who is over all.
Lord Jesus, we come. I thank You for my brothers and sisters in this room. And God we just say that we are poor and needy and that sometimes the pain and the suffering and the trials of this life seem too much to bear. I pray for my brothers and sisters who stood this morning acknowledging that they need You, acknowledging that they need Your Word to point them to a good God in the midst of the things that they’re walking through.
God, I pray that they would feel seen and heard and loved by Your Spirit today and by the brothers and sisters that surround them today. And Lord I pray that through Your Spirit You would hold them up, that through Your Spirit You would make Yourself known to these brothers and sisters in the midst of their pain, God that they would bring all of their questions to You and You would blow their minds with Your goodness and with Your love and with Your majesty and with Your grace nd with Your compassion.
Because there is no one like our God. And Lord, we admit that sometimes we struggle to trust You. Sometimes we struggle to believe that You are good. Would You help us in those moments to not stop seeking You, to not stop praying, to not stop asking You and believing that You are powerful and a rescuer and our help. And God would we see that You are always on time in the way that You come through in the midst of these brothers and sisters lives and trials and circumstances.
God, we trust that You are over all. We trust that You are good, that You are worthy. And we give you the honor and praise and glory for it all. In Jesus’ name, amen.