Theme. The church is persecuted
Scripture. Acts 12.1-25
A1 Outline
B1 James killed Acts 12.1-5
B2 Peter freed from prison Acts 12.6-19
C1 Angel leads him out of prison Acts 12.5-10
C2 Peter goes to Mary, the mother of John Mark Acts 12.11-15
C3 Answered prayer Acts 12.16-17
C4 The guards are executed Acts 12.18-19
B3 Herod dies Acts 12.20-24
B4 Barnabas, Saul, and John Mark go to Jerusalem Acts 12.25
A2 Notes and questions
B1 Define
C1 Sovereignty
D1 "God is 'absolutely free to act as He wills and in accord with His own nature.'' He is 'the absolute monarch of the created universe.'"
D2 Humans do not have sovereign free will.
D3 Humans are not good and do not seek good (as defined by God). Romans 3.9-18, Jeremiah 17.9, Matthew 15.18-19, Romans 3.23
C2 Providential control
D1 "...nothing can happen apart from God's...preservation and upholding of all things."
D2 He knows what is going to happen and what is happening to us.
C3 Man's freedom
D1 "Humanity is created in the image of God and thus has the ability to make free, moral choices; however, 'God is able to govern the truly free exercise of man's will in such a way that all goes according to His plan."
D2 Note it does NOT say 'God governs man's will;" it does say "able to govern." Humanity does NOT have an absolute will to do good, to seek God, for we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2.1 and Colossians 2.13).
B2 Terms
C1 Pelagian--Pelagian. any system in which the human person is capable of achieving salvation entirely on his/her own with no divine assistance other than common grace (i.e. the grace necessary for any being to exist). (1)
C2 Semi-pelagian--Semi-Pelagian. any system in which the process of salvation is initiated by the human person apart from any grace other than common grace, but in which the process of salvation is synergistically completed by the cooperative interaction of both divine and human. (1)
C3 Synergism-Synergism. any system that affirms some kind of cooperative interaction between the divine and the human in the process of salvation. (1)
C4 Christian
D1 Differing points between Calvinists, but all believe that God elected some to salvation and that they cannot resist God's call.
D2 Differing points between Arminians. Classical/reformed Arminians believe in
E1 Total depravity
F1 Dale V. Wayman
G1 Here at SEA, we believe that total depravity is real. You can't be an Arminian and not believe in total depravity.
G2 Humanity was created in the image of God, good and upright, but fell from its original sinless state through willful disobedience, leaving humanity sinful, separated from God, and under the sentence of divine condemnation.
G3 Total depravity does not mean that human beings are as bad as they could be, but that sin impacts every part of a person's being and that people now have a sinful nature with a natural inclination toward sin, making every human being fundamentally corrupt at heart.
G4 Therefore, human beings are not able to think, will, nor do anything good in and of themselves, including merit favor from God, save ourselves from the judgment and condemnation of God that we deserve for our sin, or even believe the gospel.
G5 If anyone is to be saved, God must take the initiative.
F2 Lenos
G1 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17.9, ESV2011)
G2 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (Luke 18.19 LEB)
G3 just as it is written, "There is no one righteous, not even one; (Romans 3.10 LEB)
G4 And you, although you were dead in your trespasses and sins, (Ephesians 2.1 LEB) (Ephesians 2.5 and Colossians 2.13)
G5 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3.23 LEB)
G6 All humans are born contaminated with a sin nature (original sin).
G7 All humans do NOT seek God
G8 All humans cannot do good (as God defines good).
G9 All humans are dead in sins and trespasses
G10 All humans are sinners
E2 Total inability
F1 All humans do not seek God
F2 All humans need God's grace to enable us to understand our sinful condition
F3 Without God's enabling grace we would not/could not be saved
F4 God, by His grace, frees our will to respond. Our wills are not free but freed.
C3 Persecution
D1 Any suffering/abuse/death that Christians face/experience because they are Christians.
D2 If you are reviled on account of the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. By all means do not let anyone of you suffer as a
murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. But if someone suffers as a Christian, he must not be ashamed, but must glorify God with this name. (1 Peter 4.14-16 LEB)
C4 Herod of Acts 12
D1 Names--Herod I, Herod Agrippa, Agrippa the Great, Marcus Julius Agrippa (birth name)
D2 Parents--Father--Aristobulus IV, Mother--Berenice
D3 Lived--11 BC to 44 AD (died when he was 54 years old).
D4 Wife--Cypros
D5 Children--1 son, 3 daughters
D6 Life
E1 Friends with Caesar
E2 Spent money recklessly, which got him in prison and other troubles frequently. His wife usually made an appeal to someone, who then paid those debts.
E3 Was overheard that he wished Tiberius to die and Caligula be made emperor, thus ending up in prison again.
E4 After Tiberius died, Caligula became emperor. Caligula then promoted Herod.
E5 Caligula was assassinated.
E6 Claudius became emperor and promoted Herod to finally control Judea and Samaria.
E7 Gave a speech in Caesarea where flatters praised him as "the voice of a god and not a man." He then died from abdominal disease, which caused great pain. The word for "worms" in the Bible might be referring to maggots. Others think that he had a gangrene, which brought maggots.
E8 Jewish records of him from that time speak well of him, but Christian one's don't.
D7 Picture
C5 James, the Apostle
D1 Son of Salome (some believe she was sister to Mary, the mother of Jesus) and Zebedee
D2 Brother of John
D3 Called by Jesus while at work with their father
D4 Wanted to call fire down on the Samaritans because of their bad manners.
D5 One of three to see the raising of Jairus's daughter, the Transfiguration, and agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
D6 Saw the resurrected Jesus.
D7 Died on Herod Agrippa's order.
B3 James killed Acts 12.1-5
C1 Why was Herod involved in persecuting the church?
C2 Why did Herod kill James?
C3 What was the reaction from the Jewish authorities?
C4 The days of unleavened bread (2)
D1 One of the Three Pilgrim Festivals
D2 Celebrates the Exodus, the freedom from slavery of the Children of Israel from ancient Egypt that followed the Ten Plagues.
D3 Beginning of the 49 days of Counting of the Omer
D4 Connected to barley harvest in spring.
D5 2015 date is sunset of Friday 3 April to nightfall of Friday 10 April / Saturday 11 April (7th day)
D6 2016 date is sunset of Friday 22 April to nightfall of Friday 29 April / Saturday 30 April (7th day)
D7 Related to Shavuot ("Festival of Weeks") which follows 49 days from the second night of Passover.
C5 How many soldiers were guarding Peter? (16)
C6 Why so many?
C7 Who is praying for Peter? (The church). What is the church? (All the believers in Jesus. It is not an organization).
B4 Peter freed from prison Acts 12.6-19
C1 In human terms was Peter secured in the prison?
C2 When the angel came, a light shone in the cell. Wouldn't that alert the guards? Why was there a light anyway?
C3 The angel did the light, awaking Peter, and the removal of chains. Why didn't the angel do everything else (fastening the belt, etc.)?
C4 Was is it that some Christians suffer persecution and some don't? Do Bible believing Christians suffer more than the other types of Christians?
C5 Why did the angel come at night?
C6 Are Christians in the USA facing persecution? What kinds?
C7 Why was Peter delivered this time but later died for the faith?
C8 What does it mean the "expectation of the Jewish people?" (Most commentators believe that the Jewish leaders and people were waiting with excitement that another Christian was going to be killed). Why do people like death and mayhem? What does this indicate about the human heart/soul/person?
C9 Peter goes on to the home of Mary the mother of John Mark? How did Peter know to go there?
C10 The people were praying, but Peter was already freed.
C11 Why did Peter knock? Shouldn't he just have walked in?
C12 Why didn't the praying people not believe Rhoda?
C13 Why did Peter give his report on what happened then quickly left? (The authorities would be out looking for him).
C14 What James is this in Acts 12.17? (Jesus's half-brother). Why were they to tell James?
C15 When someone are being persecuted, should we pray for their release and their persecution to stop? (I have heard people say they will not do that for the brethren, because persecution is increasing their faith).
C16 How do Christians know that God is with them when they are being persecuted?
C17 How should we help the persecuted brethren?
C18 In Acts 12.18 why are the guards so worried about not finding Peter?
C19 Is God responsible for the death of the guards?
C20 How do you think Herod was feeling about Peter's disappearance? (Humiliation)
B5 Herod dies Acts 12.20-24
C1 Some say that Herod went to Caesarea for a festival.
C2 A chamberlain was a right hand man of the king.
C3 The occasion for Herod's anger for the people of Tyre and Sidon is unknown.
C4 Josephus relates that Herod was wearing a gown made of silver which reflected the light of the sun. Would this make an impression on people?
C5 Why would anyone yell out, "the voice of a god and not a man?"
C6 Josephus reports that it took Herod 5 days to die.
C7 Here the persecuted lives and the persecutor dies.
C8 Is God's kingdom ever stopped by a person?
C9 How do we deal with praise from people?
C10 Do we seek and carry out revenge?
B6 Barnabas, Saul, and John Mark go to Jerusalem Acts 12.25
A3 Resources
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