Here is a teaching on chapter 12 of the book of Acts. If you want to check out previous Bible studies and chapters going forward, join our group here. Once you get added into that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and you'll see all of the chapters and their study guides as they are being taught.
First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up our eyes to see the truth of your words. Lord please give us knowledge and understanding to know exactly what it is that we're reading and wisdom to implement it in our daily lives. Please open up our eyes to see the truth of your words, our ears to hear your words, and our heart to receive your words and receive the love that you give to us. Holy Spirit please guide us, direct us, and help us to discern truth through every aspect of our lives. I love you with my whole heart Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Acts Chapter 12:
1 "It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.
8 Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."
So in verses 1-10, king Herod arrested some who belonged to the church and he had James the brother of John put to death. He saw that this made the Jews happy so he seized Peter also. King Herod had put Peter in prison and he planned on having a public trial for Peter after the Passover. While Peter was in prison the church was praying to God for him. We see in verse 6 that the night before the public trial of Peter, an angel woke him up from his sleep and told him to wrap his cloak around him and follow him. Peter was protected that night and he was led out of the prison. This just goes to show that God protects his people and God will always come through for us. It also shows the power of prayer and having people pray for us. Having people pray for us and praying for others is so important and so powerful. That's one reason why I always pray at the beginning of my episodes, why I'm always taking prayer requests, and just wanting to pray for others. And that's what the church was doing while Peter was in prison. They were praying for him, God heard their prayers, and God protects his people. Peter was put in prison for spreading the gospel and God sent an angel to help Peter escape from prison. He always comes through for us and we just have to let the Holy Spirit guide us, stand firm in our faith, and show our obedience to Christ no matter what. No matter what happens in this world, no matter if other people don't like us, or when the whole world is against us, we have to stand firm in our faith and know that God's got us. He will protect us. He will never leave us or forsake us. This world is our temporary home. Our true home was in heaven and while we're in this temporary home we have to make sure we're staying obedient to the will of God and staying faithful to the calling that he's placed in our hearts.
12 "When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"
15 "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."
16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place.
18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he crossed-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed."
So once Peter knew that the Lord had sent his angel to rescue him from Herod, Peter went to the house of Mary (the mother of John) and many people were gathered there and were praying. Again this just shows how the people were one, just like in chapter 17 of the book of John when Jesus was praying that the believers all come together in unity and become one. We see this a lot throughout the book of Acts even with them being scattered, persecuted, and all of these things happening. Many believers still came together, prayed, loved each other, supported each other, and were there for each other in complete unity. This is how we should always be. We should always surround ourselves with other believers and come together in complete unity as one. Now I'm not saying that we should only surround ourselves with other believers, because if we did that it would be very limiting. We wouldn't be able to spread the gospel to other people and help other people be able to come to Christ, because everyone that we would always be around would already know about Christ and already have eternal life in heaven. But it's always good to surround yourself with other believers, learn from them, get support from them, support them, love them, serve them, and always be praying for each other.
Now in verses 13-14, Peter had knocked at the door and the servant girl came to answer it. When she heard his voice she was so excited that she didn't even answer the door, she just ran in the other room and told them that Peter was there. Then in verse 15 we see that they thought the servant girl was crazy, they thought that there was no way that it was Peter, and that it must have been an angel. In verses 16-17 Peter kept on knocking so they opened the door, they saw him, and they were so shocked and amazed. Then Peter explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison and told them to tell James and the other brothers.
So Peter went to this place where other believers were praying for him and he let them know that he was okay, what had happened, and to spread word to the others. But then he went to another place. In this verse it doesn't say which other place he went to, but I do know that he was led by the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit led him to the place where the believers were praying for him and then also led him to another place.
In verses 18-19 there was so much commotion going on among the soldiers, because they didn't know where Peter was at. He had just disappeared and they had no idea what had happened to him. There weren't any signs of him escaping or anything like that. So the soldiers were so confused and after Herod had searched for him thoroughly, he looked everywhere for Peter, and he didn't find him, he then ordered that the soldiers be put to death. It doesn't really say here why he ordered the soldiers be put to death, but I'm guessing that he probably thought that they helped him escape or they were just slacking off and not doing their job. But somehow they had let Peter get away so he ordered for them to be executed.
19 "Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. 20 He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king's country for their food supply.
21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, "This is the voice of god, not of a man." 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God continued to increase and spread.
25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark."
Alright so those are all the verses of chapter 12 of the book of Acts, but I'm going to discuss these verses with the guys here. So in verses 19-20 Herod went to Caesarea and stayed for awhile. He had been fighting with the people of Tyre and Sidon, but they joined together and sought an audience with him. These people had the support of Blastus (which was a personal servant of king Herod), so they asked for peace because they depended on the food supply of the country of king Herod.
Then in verses 21-23 we see that king Herod had sat on his throne and delivered a speech to the people. In verse 22 the people had shouted that this was the voice of God and not man. In verse 23 Herod didn't give praise to God immediately, so an angel of the Lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms and died. This just shows the importance of always giving praise to God. Whenever we are being guided by the Holy Spirit, God tells us something, or anything that we do in our daily lives, is all because of God. We should not ever stop praising God. Herod had hatred in his heart, he was stubborn, and didn't want to give praise to God because he thought so highly of himself and wanted to do things on his own. We can see here that this kind of thinking, stubbornness, and wickedness is deadly. So we have to make sure we're always giving praise to God and thanking him for everything he's done. Anytime He gives us knowledge, wisdom, or helps us through any aspect of our life we have to give thanks and praise Him for that. We have to show Him our love for Him and that we know that He is the reason for all good things.
In verse 24 we see that the word of God continued to increase and spread. The word of God will always stay no matter what. No matter how many people try to persecute people for spreading the gospel, or no matter how many people stray away or turn their backs from God, the word of God is always going to be here and no one could ever take away the word of God. God is more powerful than we could ever imagine or dream and there's nothing that could stop the word of God from spreading, and from people hearing the message of Jesus Christ so that they may be saved. Then in verse 25 we see that Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission so they returned from Jerusalem and they took John with them.
Acts Ch 12 Study Guide
Why did king Herod seize Peter?
In verse 6, why did the angel wake Peter up the night before his trial?
What was the Church doing while Peter was in prison?
Is prayer important? Why or why not?
Why do you think that Peter went to the house of the people that were praying for him after he escaped prison?
Why should we give praise to God?
What is your biggest takeaway from this Bible study?
So that concludes our Bible study on chapter 12 of the book of Acts. Next week we're going to go into chapter 13, so make sure you stay tuned for that.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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