This Is Us

First Resort
September 10, 2023
Chris Seidman, Lead Minister, The Branch

Acts 12:1-4 (NIV)
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.

This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 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.

Acts 12:5 (NIV)
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

Acts 12:6 (NIV)
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.

1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Acts 12:7 (NIV)
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.

Acts 12:8 (NIV)
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.

Acts 12:9-11 (NIV)
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. 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.

Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”

Acts 12:12-14 (NIV)
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. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

Acts 12:15 (NIV)
“You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

Acts 12:16-17 (NIV)
But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 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 other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.

Takeaways …

Prayer is our first and not our last resort.

Acts 12:5 (NIV)
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

Mark 11:17 (NIV)
“’My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations … .’”

1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NASB)
… pray without ceasing … .

Prayer involves more than our knees hitting the floor. It also involves our feet hitting the floor and getting the door.