An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s ‘Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 12:6-18, with the title of “Praying,” for Sunday August 25, 2024. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: During the English Civil Wars in 1643, the town of Gloucester, England was a Parliamentarian stronghold in the generally Royalist southwestern region of England. In August, the king’s army laid siege to the town. Gloucester’s small garrison entrenched itself behind the town’s ancient Roman-era walls, and the Royalist army—some thirteen thousand strong—began a fierce bombardment. The shelling continued through the warm nights of August, when cannonballs, according to one diarist, seemed to fly “through the air like stars shooting.’

Gloucester’s defenders had come perilously close to running out of supplies and ammunition, with only three barrels of gunpowder left, when town leaders called for a day of prayer and fasting (for noncombatants) on September 5. As watchmen peered over the Roman wall that day, they beheld a surprising sight : the Royalist army began burning its siege huts and retreating from the city. The king’s men had received word that a Parliamentarian army of fourteen thousand was approaching from the east, having been raised in London to relieve beleaguered Gloucester. 

The Parliamentarians ultimately defeated King Charles I, (and) following the siege, Gloucester rebuilt the damaged south gate of the city and placed an inscription upon it: ‘A city assailed by man, but saved by God.’”  (Thomas S. Kidd, George Whitefield, America’s Spiritual Founding Father, pp. 6-7)

The people of Gloucester England prayed and sought God, and He answered!

??? Anyone want to share a favorite answered prayer the Lord gave you/someone you know???

In this morning’s passage in Acts 12, we see how the Lord granted an amazing answer to prayer to the early church, which miraculously set the Apostle Peter free from prison. God still hears and answers prayers today! (?Though as we will also see, His answer is not always “yes” — or at least “our” yes; the way we expect it!)

CONTEXT:

As we continue our study through Acts, the early church is continuing to grow, overcoming both internal and external obstacles along the way: both external persecution, and internal dissension and hypocrisy. And the Gospel has now crossed ethnic boundaries: it has come to both the Samaritans and the Gentiles, as we saw last week. Today in Acts 12 the specter of external persecution comes to the forefront again, as Herod begins a new campaign against the church.

OUTLINE:

I. The Fervent Prayer (:5, 12)

II. The Miraculous Answer (:6-10)

III. The Astonished Responses (:11-18)

IV. The Needed Balance (:2)

TEXT:

I. The Fervent Prayer (:5, 12)

I’d start with the opening verse of Chapter 12, where the Bible tells us: “Now at that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.”

It doesn’t say WHY he did it; just that he did it.

Then :2 reports: “And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.”

A simple little sentence, but what stunning tidings: James was put to death. And not just “any” James, but “James the brother of John.” James of “Peter, James, and John,” the “Big Three” closest disciples to Jesus. Just like that, James was taken out. 

It just reminds us that even the most prominent, or godly, of the Lord’s people are not immune to suffering and death.

Importantly, this verse also hangs over this whole chapter, as if to say, “Keep everything that happens next in this chapter in context. Because James the brother of John himself was put to death by the sword.” We’ll come back to this some more later.

Then :3 says “When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread.” 

So Herod was a consummate politician. He saw that what he did to James pleased the Jews, so he arrested Peter too. The “Unleavened Bread” was the Passover Feast, so the calendar had come back to that time of year again. This could have really seemed ominous, right? This is when Jesus was crucified — and now James had been killed, and suddenly Peter was now arrested too! Things were looking really, really bad.

??? Is there some issue or some problem in YOUR life that seems “really, really bad”???

Give your group just a moment to think of that — and tell them to hold on to that thought — because we are going to come back to it in just a moment.

Verse 4 says that Herod put Peter in prison, with four squads of soldiers to guard him, and he planned to bring him out before the people after the Passover. 

??? Why do you think “four squads of soldiers” were mentioned here???

(they can share their answers, but among them is surely the idea that Peter did not just escape from one or two guys. He was not lightly guarded. FOUR SQUADS were watching him. There should have been no way he could have escaped from them. That’s how difficult his situation was.

BUT NOTICE :5:  “So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.”

THIS IS A KEY, KEY VERSE: there was this great problem that was described, Peter in prison, 4 squads of soldiers; a governor and a constituency who wanted to kill him — “BUT PRAYER”! Two key, key words: “BUT PRAYER”! 

Notice what all it tells us here about their prayer:

— it was “for him” — specific request of prayer for his needs. This wasn’t just “bless all the needy of the church,” this was FOR HIM and his situation specifically. That’s how we should pray. Pray for people and their needs specifically.

— it was “by the church”: not just by the pastor, or a small group in the church; it was “by the church.” The whole church was praying for him — again a good model for us!

— Not only that, it says they were praying “fervently.” The Greek word is “ek-tenos,” which means “fully stretched out.” “Extended, strenuous, fervent.” They were “all in” on their prayers. Again, this challenges us: how “fervently” are we praying? Are we “fully stretching ourselves out” in prayer? Stretching out our time? Stretching out maybe even our posture? Stretching out our effort?
Remember James 5:16 says the fervent prayer of a righteous person can accomplish much. Let’s pray fervently. 

A good question to ask ourselves is: ??? When is the last time I prayed with tears???  Let’s pray fervently!

— and then their prayer was “TO GOD.” We aren’t praying to our own ears, or to the others who are listening. We are praying to GOD, who spoke heaven & earth into being with a word! We can be confident when we are praying “TO GOD”!

This is a whole sermon right here! PRAY, specifically, fervently, the whole church, to God. That’s a model for an effective prayer!

And as we will see, these were prayers that made a difference. God used those prayers to deliver Peter. 

EXERCISE/APPLICATION:

One way you might apply this for Sunday would be to ask your group, as I mentioned earlier, to think of a difficult situation in THEIR life. Then hand them a slip of paper, with a blank line or two, to write down their problem. And then right after it, have that part of :5, “BUT PRAYER (maybe do it in all caps!) for (this) was being made fervently by the church to God.” 

Something like this:

My problem: _____________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

“BUT PRAYER for (this) was being made fervently by the church to God.” (Acts 12:5)

And encourage them to keep this request in their Bible or some prominent place, and then PRAY — and have you, your class, and others join them in this prayer, just like Acts 12:5 says, and make THEIR difficult situation, a matter of fervent prayer today, just like Peter’s was then. 

II. The Miraculous Answer (:6-10)

:6 “On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward ….”  HOW MANY TIMES does God wait until the last minute to come through? 

??? Why do you think that might be???

So anyway, at that last hour: “… Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.”

Do you see HOW MANY INDICATIONS of just how well Peter was guarded in this verse?

— (It had already said he was guarded by 4 squads of soldiers!

— “sleeping between two soldiers”

— “bound with two chains”

— “guards in front of the door”

??? WHY do you think they had him so heavily guarded???

It was like he was a mass murderer or something!!

(But perhaps it was because Jesus had risen from the dead, when soldiers were watching him. So they were taking no chances, maybe?

You/your group can share your thoughts.

But regardless, the point was, he was HEAVILY guarded — which, like Jesus, ONLY MAKES THE MIRACLE GREATER! 

THE GREATER THE OBSTACLE BEFORE US, THE GREATER THE ANSWER WHEN GOD OVERCOMES IT!

And that’s so here. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, guards in front of the door — and 4 squads of soldiers in the total detail — but how much more glory for God then, when He heard and answered that prayer to deliver him?!  

Then :7-11 describe how God sent an angel to deliver Peter:

— :7 says “an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared … in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up … and his chains fell of his hands.” Just a miracle of God. There is no defense or guard against this

Like Proverbs 21:20 says: “There is no wisdom and no understanding And no counsel against the Lord.”

Do you think it’s interesting that the angel kept telling Peter things to DO?

EX:

— In :7 he told him: “Get up quickly”; he had to get up. Interesting that when he did, it was THEN the chains fell off!

— In :8 he said: “GIrd yourself and put on your sandals.” (“Gird yourself is when you tuck the end of your robe into your belt, so you can run or move unhindered) and (literally) “bind” on your sandals.” So he had to make himself ready. The angel didn’t do that for him.

— Then in the 2nd part of :8 he told him: “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” So he had to trust him and follow.”

I think this is so interesting because It is so often that way with God’s answered prayers/miracles/kingdom work. GOD does it — undoubtedly; it only happens because of Him; it is not us at all. But like with Peter here, God usually gives us something to do — just to show our faith; to be co-laborers with Him:

— the angel here set Peter free — but he had to do all these things.

— Elijah told Naaman to go and dip in the Jordan River

— In John 5 Jesus told the man at the pool, take up your mat

It’s the same with us today

— God will send the great revival — but He tells us to pray

— God will save the person; only He can — but He tells us to give them a phone call and invite them to church.

And so on.

Only GOD can answer the prayer and perform the miracle — but that doesn’t mean we just SIT THERE and make Him carry us out! He’s going to tell us to do some specific things He wants us to do — and we need to be faithful and responsible to do them when He does.

Verse 9 says it all seemed like a dream to him (ever been in a situation like that; where God was doing something so amazing it just seemed like a dream?)

And :10 says they just passed by the guards, and the gate of the city opened by itself for them … It was all miraculous; an amazing act of God, in answer to their prayers.  

So this shows us that God does hear and answer prayers — sometimes miraculously.

But it also reminds us that even as God demonstrates His power, He will ask us to do certain things. So you might challenge each of your group members with a question something like this:
??? “Is there something God has told you to do; some act of obedience, that a great answer to prayer from Him might be waiting on?”???

Several of us might say something like, You know, God has told me to stop watching that tv show; or He’s told me to give this person a call; or read this certain book; or spend a day in fasting and prayer, etc. Could it be that a great answer to prayer from God, is awaiting your act of obedience in some area of your life?

III. The Astonished Responses (:11-18)

Verse 11 says Peter “came to himself” and realized that God had delivered him. 

And :12 says “He went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.”

A couple of things here:

For one, here is another of those times when Luke introduces a character in a small “cameo” appearance, who is going to play a larger role later. Here he mentions Mark, whom :25 says Paul and Barnabas would later take with them, and they would bring him on the first missionary journey, and he would eventually become a source of division between them.

But secondly, what was the church doing here? It says “Many were gathered together, and were praying.” They were still praying. They weren’t just gathered together eating, or sympathizing, or telling stories about Peter, etc. No, it says they were PRAYING. 

This should speak to us: if we’ve got a big problem, PRAY. Really pray. Don’t just get together to talk, or commiserate, or whatever, PRAY. Fervently, like we saw in :5.

This next scene could come right out of a comedy:

So they had all gathered together, and were praying, and :13 says that Peter came up: “When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer.”

:14 says “When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.”

:15 “They said to her, ‘You are out of your mind!’ But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, ‘It is his angel.’

:16 “But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.”

So this group was definitely surprised; :15 says “they KEPT saying, ‘it is his angel.’” So they didn’t just say it once; they KEPT saying it. They just didn’t believe it. It was just almost too good to be true.  

??? You might ask your group: have you ever had an answered prayer that was almost “too good to be true;” that it was hard to believe it???

(Several times the past couple of years I have put someone on my prayer list for regular prayer — and a few weeks or months later have seen them walk in the door of the church or show up in Sunday School. It’s like, “Wow, there is an answered prayer just walking in the door!” You’d like to think you had faith that God would answer and they would come — but it’s neat to see that God did it, and they DID come! And maybe I was a little too surprised that God really did it!)

Then :17 says Peter told them how the Lord had led him out, told them to tell James and the brethren, and he left.

(Now notice, he told them to tell “JAMES” and the brethren. James had obviously  risen to a place of prominence in the church at this point, but remember, this is NOT James the brother of John; :2 said he had just been put to death. So this is James the brother of Jesus, who we will see later in Acts has became perhaps THE most respected leader of the church in Jerusalem, and who will write the powerful and convicting Book of James. 

But we see in these verses several “astonished responses”:

— Peter himself was astonished; he felt like he was in a dream

— Rhoda was astonished, she left Peter at the gate to go tell

— the church was astonished; they couldn’t believe the news

— and :18 says the soldiers (those 4 squads who were guarding him) were astonished as to what could have happened to him.

So this episode is an amazing testimony of God’s power to miraculously answer prayers, and deliver us from desperate, hopeless situations. Encourage your group: God does these things, then and now! He is the same God today as He was then, and He can do the same kinds of things in OUR situations — perhaps the very ones we have written on those slips of paper!  

IV. A Word of Balance (:2)

But I think we should also include in the lesson somewhere, a caveat, or word of balance, somewhere in this lesson, whether you do it as “point 4” or somewhere else. But the caveat is this: the balanced truth is that God does NOT always answer our prayers the way we hope He will. Sometimes the prayers of good Christian people are answered; sometimes they are not.

For example:

— We see in :2 here that Herod “had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.” But later in this same chapter, as we have seen, Peter is rescued, in answer to their prayers. Peter was rescued miraculously — but James was not! 

— My sister was on a mission trip in a communist country in Asia when her jetliner was hijacked, which led to the plan crashing in the runway of an airport. The plane exploded and about 100 people died; less than 10 survived. The story of how she lived is  miraculous and spellbinding; we thank God for it. But at the same time we realize that there was another missionary on the plane, sitting right next to my sister who did NOT live; she was NOT miraculously saved. Was my sister somehow better/more righteous/more loved by God than this other missionary? Not at all; to me the situation is very much like that of James and Peter. Why is this? 

The only answer I know is that in His sovereignty God chooses to glorify His name through each of us, in different ways:

— Sometimes God chooses to glorify His name by answering our prayers, and sometimes He chooses to glorify His name by withholding the answer. 

— Sometimes He chooses to glorify His name in supernatural healing; other times He glorifies His name by the way we supernaturally endure suffering and death. 

We need to remember that we exist for His glory, and it is up to HIM the path He gives us to glorify Him. 

The Hebrew children in Babylon, Hananiah, Meshach, and Azariah, had this attitude. When the king threatened to throw them into the fiery furnace, they said, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire … (:18) BUT even if He does not … we are not going to serve your gods …”. These men had that balance: God can deliver us; but if He doesn’t we will still glorify Him. I believe this is balance we need to keep today too.

The focus of this lesson is God’s answer to prayers. But especially with the way the chapter opens, in :2, with James being put to death by the sword, I believe we ought to present this balance. Don’t take this episode out of context and say “God will always miraculously deliver you in every situation.” No. This passage shows us that God CAN do that; but reading it in context with :2, we also see that God doesn’t ALWAYS deliver or answer prayers the way we want Him to. And we can glorify Him when we do NOT receive the miraculous deliverance too.

There may be some good, faithful believers in your class this week, who may need to hear this. They are not somehow “second-class Christians” because God has not chosen to answer their prayer for healing or deliverance. They may in fact be the very highest class of Christian, who, like Job, have been chosen by God to glorify Him through their suffering and endurance, exactly BECAUSE of their great faithfulness to Him!

Some of your group may need to be reminded that God can hear and answer miraculously. Others may need to hear that they can still be used by God, even if He does NOT answer that prayer! Some may chosen by God to be a “Peter;” some to be a “James” — but all of us are appointed by God to be used for His glory! 

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