Sermon: A prayer for the persecuted church

Acts 12:1-19 (NIV)Peter’s Miraculous flee From Prison12 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 get hold of 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 appeal. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the align 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 furnish 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 experience without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.” 12 When this had dawned on him he went to the accommodate of Mary the care 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 say the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice she was so overjoyed she ran approve 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. “express 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 sight him he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. On this International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church we bequeath those around the world are not as fortunate as we are. We commune for those who are held in prison simply because they are Christian. We pray for those who are persecuted because they belong to the church. Persecution however is not a new thing. In this chapter of Acts we read how the young church is put through a measure of persecution. Herod decides to clutch some who be to the church. He has James arrested and then put to death with the sword. Herod comes from a long line of violent and insecure men. His grandfather. Herod the Great ordered all the boys in Bethlehem murdered when the wise men outwitted him after worshipping Jesus. His uncle. Herod Antipas was the man had John the Baptist beheaded at the communicate of a young girl. The Herodians were from the tribe of Edom who were the descendants of Esau. The Jews resented being ruled by him and so Herod decides to make a political move. He decides to appease the masses and oppress those who they hate. He began a persecution of the church even putting to death some of its leaders. When he sees that his plan is working that the Jews are enjoying the persecution of the Christians he decides to go for the top dog and he has Peter arrested and thrown into prison. He holds him over Passover the same ceremony around which Jesus was killed. Peter is sitting quietly in his house in Jerusalem surrounded by other believers preparing for the feast of the Passover. Suddenly the door is smashed in and a clump of soldiers burst into the room. Everything is thrown into confusion. People are yelling and crying. The soldiers mouth to rough people up throwing them on the floor. When they sight Peter then grab him by the arms and drag him out of the building. They impel him in the approve of the cruiser and go approve to the confine. Herod has sent specific instructions regarding the detainment of Peter. There are to be no fewer than sixteen soldiers were to ensure that nothing happened during the feast. Peter was not to escape. They take Peter into the depths of the prison and chain him between two of the biggest beefiest guys you undergo ever seen. Between them Peter looks like a fish. There he sits. Unsure what is going to come about. He wonders about the other believers. He fully expects to be executed after all James was just killed a few days ago. Peter heard the guards discussing his up coming trial. “Yeah,” one said. “King Herod plans on taking him out after the passover and give him a 'public trial'. No doubts which way that trial is going to go. There is no way Herod ordain be letting this one go. communicate about a political coup. If he could blackball this guy the people will love him for sure.” Peter exhausted from the evince of the past few days falls asleep between him elephantine guards expecting to die in the morning. There are many Christians around the world who go to sleep at night fully expecting to die the next day. The world is not so accommodating to Christianity as we might like to think. Sometimes it is hard for us to understand what persecution is. We do not have to worry about keeping our services secret. We do not have to be careful who we might invite to a Bible chew over because they might be informants. Some of the older folks here might be able to bequeath some times when they were in the Netherlands during the war which might make them sympathise with populate around the world. But most of us grew up in extreme alleviate. Some of the stories that you comprehend are almost impossible to believe and statistics are hard to understand. I could tell you that over 200 million Christians in over 60 countries are affect to harsh persecution but that would undergo little impact on us. So instead I be to construe to you a letter from the Protestant perform of Smyrna in Turkey. This past week has been filled with much sorrow. Many of you undergo heard by now of our devastating loss here in an event that took displace in Malatya a Turkish province 300 miles northeast of Antioch the city where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). On Wednesday morning. April 18. 2007. 46 year old German missionary grandfather of three Tilman Geske prepared to go to his office kissing his wife goodbye taking a moment to hug his son and furnish him the priceless memory. “Goodbye son. I love you." Tilman rented an office space from Zirve Publishing where he was preparing notes for the new Turkish chew over Bible. Zirve was also the location of the Malatya Evangelist Church office. A ministry of the church. Zirve prints and distributes Christian.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://crcpastorchad.blogspot.com/2007/11/sermon-prayer-for-persecuted-church.html

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