Prayer Points 1 Father, I thank you for sending Jesus Christ to us. Nincsenek jl bevlt helyszneim, helyette keresem az jabb helyeket, gy biztosan egyedi fnykpeitek lesznek. Ignyes eskv fotzs vllalok Veszprmben, mvszi s dokumentarista fotkkal tudlak titeket elkprztatni. But what I want to press for our profit, beloved brethren, is that at any rate he who is the object of grace can afford to be gracious. We tend to like it better when we get a "yes" from heaven, but God might actually be doing He was the second husband of Herodias (see G2266) and consented to the death of John the Baptist. And he did not know that what was happening through the angel was real but thought that he was seeing a vision, They went through the first and the second guard and they came to the iron door that led into the city and it opened to them of its own accord. The Jews in general were becoming restless concerning the free mixing between Jewish and Gentile Christians, and were angry at the apostles for encouraging it. He would no more have perished, had it pleased God to have taken him away in this state, than any Old Testament saint, whether Jew or Gentile. . But a moment's reflection will show that the difficulty is only imaginary. So he went out and followed him. Such was the emphatic and characteristic presentation of His person assigned to the apostle, and this at once. Preaching. Or Mariam of Hebrew origin; Maria or Mariam, the name of six Christian females. They gained the ear of Blastus the king's chamberlain and sued for peace because their country was dependent for its sustenance on the king's territory. With that energy which characterized him he says, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. To these the Emperor Claudius afterwards added Judea and Samaria; which were nearly all the dominions possessed by his grandfather, Herod the Great. Acts 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. (p. Now don't try to figure out an answer, because we don't know.The ways of God are beyond our finding out. Back in Jerusalem the church was experiencing much difficulty. For hence the Lord called him to a new sphere a task which, to a Jewish mind, was beyond measure strange. So he went to another place.Now, here we have an interesting enigma. The church, not merely in a city but in a province or country, is intelligible enough to man; but it soon became more difficult to see its unity in various and differing provinces. At the same time there is the pity that belongs to one who knew the grace of God, and saw the end of all in His judgment. This can't be real; it's just a dream. He would make a spectacle of him. By and by the power of the gospel and the action of the Holy Ghost fill their souls with desires as to the need of others. And so, "Go show these things to James and to the brethren and he departed and went to another place." He was one of the twelve who were commissioned to disciple all nations; and to take him off now, before he had removed from Jerusalem, was like Cain's killing Abel when the world was to be peopled, and one man was then more than many at another time. How these elders were appointed, if indeed they were so formally, does not appear. But the word of God grew and multiplied. It was of the greatest importance that unity should be kept up practically, not merely that there should be proclaimed the truth that there is unity, but that there should be the maintenance of it in practice. Herod the Great had ten wives. It is scarcely credible that he should lay hands on any of them himself in person; but it is very likely he encouraged his soldiers, or his servants, to abuse them, reproach them, strike and buffet them, as they met with them in the streets; or when at worship, might disturb them, and break them up. In this story we do not necessarily see a miracle. Such was the man to whom God was about to send the gospel by Peter. What a wonderful change for these poor Gentiles to know Christ for themselves, and to be called after Christ! Accordingly the rejection of the very witness of Christ, speaking by the Holy Ghost the rejection of Him to heaven becomes the turning-point; and then by the Lord from heaven is now called forth the witness of grace as well as of the glory of Christ. The expansive power of Christianity called it to break forth on all sides; and speedily the original congregation, or in modern language the mother church, of each city gave birth to other societies of Christians in the surrounding neighbourhood. A fotzs nlunk csak amolyan szerelem volt, egy hobbi. 466, 467. "He went on his way rejoicing." 1. John Mark who is the author of the Gospel according to Mark. Matthew 18:19,20 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven, Many were gathered together praying.--The facts of the case show that the meeting was held at night, possibly to avoid persecution, or, it may be, as the sequel of the evening gathering to "break bread.". Though He did see fit and purpose that Peter should be delivered from Herod's sword. This remained; but he preached Him rather in His own personal glory, not as the Son of David, the servant, which was the great burden of Peter's preaching, made Lord and Christ; not that He was the Son of man in heaven, as Stephen witnessed; but that this Jesus, the Christ, is the Son of God, clearly therefore more particularly bound up with the divine nature, or godhead glory of Himself. The common people respected him for his sincere faith and called him James the Just. She despised the Holy Ghost as she had despised the Messiah; and no wonder therefore that he who had gone up to Jerusalem to worship was returning with the yearnings of his heart still unsatisfied. Luke recorded the events in this section to illustrate Gods supernatural protection and blessing of the church, even though the Christians suffered increased persecution, and Israels continued rejection of her Messiah. His preaching Christ was the fruit of the Lord's call. In the East it would have been the natural thing for the next brother to take on the work of an elder brother who had been killed; but from the gospels we learn that Jesus' brothers did not believe in him ( John 7:5) and that they actually thought him mad ( Mark 3:21). There now broke out upon the Church, and especially upon its leaders, a new wave of persecution instigated by King Herod. Undoubtedly the cruelty of this mad man was restrained and bridled by the secret power of God. So he came in like a shining god, making this speech to the people and, of course, the people began to cry, "It's the voice of a god, not of a man!" (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) That the gifts mentioned in the chapter were, for the most part, extraordinary, and in process of time were to cease, makes no difference as regards the argument; for it is the essential character of Christian worship, not the particular vehicle of its expression, that is the point now under consideration" (pp. Szereted az j dolgokat, vagy egyszeren ms kell, mint a tbbi embernek? And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. . Pray that all the world would be saved and come to a But this manifestation and fruit of gracious power silenced even the unruly and hard spirits of the circumcision. He was a grandson of Herod the Great, and one of the sons of Aristobulus, whom Herod put to death (Josephus, Antiq., 18, 5). Christ's suffering servants are thus trained up by less troubles for greater, that tribulation may work patience, and patience experience. Prayer to God for him was earnestly offered by the Church. They're all inside praying, "Oh God, help Peter! In His name I pray, AMEN. But it would seem that special reasons operated at Samaria to make it necessary there. The Syriac so renders it expressly, and the chronology requires us so to understand it. . He dared not doubt longer: to him it was self-evident. Clearly the Jew is meant. Now Rhoda comes running in and says, "Peter's out at the gate." So introducing you now to James, half brother to Jesus, who will now begin to take a more dominant role in the early church. What kind of death he suffered: He was slain with the sword, that is, his head was cut off with a sword, which was looked upon by the Romans to be a more disgraceful way of being beheaded than with an axe; so Lorinus. Correct, good students! Worse, Tyre and Sidon were dependent for their food supplies on Palestine and if these supplies were cut off their case would be serious indeed. Evidently the authorities remembered the last time Peter had been arrested, and how he had mysteriously escaped from jail. WebPrayer. And "when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John." . The holy city had rejected the gospel. is stricken by an angel, and dies miserably. He was led of God. 3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. The change of reading here seems to prove it was too much for the copyists of this book. May our hearts and minds be fully Certain - Some of the church. Thus was the plot laid, and both Herod and the people long to have the feast over, that they may gratify themselves with this barbarous entertainment. There is a mistake, not only in our vernacular Bible, but also in the common Greek text which is equally faulty as the authorized version. One of the chief means was prayer, 1. Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark. What was most sweet soon became bitter, as it often is in the things of God. And they said, "Yes, Lord, we are able." To vex - To injure, to do evil to - kakosai. Paul tells us in Galatians how he came to the church in Antioch, caused some trouble that Paul had to rebuke him for. The doctrine of His Sonship did not in the smallest degree, of course, set aside the Messiahship. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had completed their errand of mercy. For he appealed to Caesar when he realized that he was getting the royal run-around by Festus, a political pawn, and he appealed to Caesar. Accordingly, among the train of those that received the gospel and were baptized, Simon is found. Matthew 7:15 13. He felt that they were conspiring against them and so he murdered them both.There was a saying during the time of Herod the Great that it was safer to be his pig than his son. He had no confidence in the Lord for himself not a particle; for just as those who have confidence in the Lord have not an atom in man, his sole hope of blessing for his soul lay in the influence of another man, not in Christ's grace. Cornelius was one of those who, among the Gentiles, had abandoned idolatry; but more than this was sometimes found. They refused utterly the Holy Ghost's testimony to the Son of man glorified in heaven, and slew or scattered the witnesses, Who then was specially used as the instrument of the free action of the Holy Ghost elsewhere, without plan, without thought of man, and apparently the simple result of circumstances, but in truth God's hand directing all? I will not pretend to say that it cost him little, but am sure it would have been a heavy trial to many a man of God to leave that which was so bright, where He had wrought powerfully in using himself for His own glory. He killed James. It did not escape the discerning eyes of Peter a little afterward. And I don't think the prayers of the church were the deciding factor, because as we noted, the prayers obviously were not prayers of faith.I believe the deciding factor was just the purpose of God, the sovereignty of God. Nevertheless, being a good man and full of the Holy Ghost, he seeks out and takes Saul to the apostles when others stood aloof, and declared unto them "how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus; and he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem." Peter was on the housetop praying when God told him how to be the answer to Cornelius prayers (Acts 10:9), 10. Had he not read or heard those words in the prophets? As a rule, a prisoner was chained, his right hand to the left hand of the guard. It was their responsibility now as ever to accept the gracious offer of God. To gather together, assemble. His pedigree contains several infamous characters who opposed the purposes of God. 449, 450). He killed James, John's brother, with the sword. Of any typical or sacrificial element, St. Paul makes no mention: the whole service, with the exception of the Lord's Supper, was manifestly homiletic or verbal. Nevertheless even he, apostle though he were, must enter by the same lowly gate as another. They served in three-hour shifts around the clock in guarding the prisoner. And so this Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great, began to persecute the church just to curry favor with the Jews.His son, Herod Agrippa II was the one that Paul faced in Caesarea as Paul was actually being interrogated by him in order that they might develop charges against him when he was sent to Nero. Contrasts mark Acts 12:1-23: James dies, God delivers Peter, and Herod dies. During his lifetime James was not a supporter of Jesus. When redemption was accomplished, it was the seal of the faith and the life which they already had. He had before this delivered Saul from the effects of undue anxiety and distrust in the minds of the disciples. "Nor is there any weight in the objection that many of these primitive Churches were very defective in doctrine or in, practice, or in both; that St. Paul speaks of the Corinthians as being, on account of their divisions, 'carnal,' and not 'spiritual,' as 'babes in Christ,' and sharply reproves them for their laxity of discipline in the case of the incestuous person, and their want of discipline in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. I cite from the Calvin Tr. But they came to him with a common purpose. Surely you cannot accuse these people of praying the prayer of faith. Oh why should any confessor of Christ why should any child of God shrink from rendering godly satisfaction to those that seek it? . Not a ray of the light of Christ had entered the heart of Simon, and so Peter at once detects the false heart. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he did not give God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and he died ( Acts 12:23 ). ], 4. Such was the faith of Simon. I refer to this just to show how far scripture is from countenancing the cramped ideas of men, and that the only way of truth is to believe all the word of God, searching out the special principle of God by which He instructs us in the different characters of His action.