{"id":1192,"date":"2014-02-25T11:56:29","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T17:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/wp\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2014-02-25T11:56:29","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T17:56:29","slug":"acts-chapter-twelve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/?p=1192","title":{"rendered":"Acts Chapter Twelve"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our culture that wants to silence Christ will find out that the God of the universe cannot be done away with.\u00a0 Many cultures turn away from God, but God has never been silenced in His world.\u00a0 I start with this thought because the Jews are still trying to get rid of Jesus, who they have already crucified, and buried.\u00a0 But they could not extinguish Him, for Christ arose and now has empowered His Church with the Holy Spirit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Herod does a favor for the Jews and imprisons Peter.\u00a0 Peter is placed in a secure prison, with guards at the door and he is even chained to the guards.\u00a0 I feel at this point someone in the audience should come up and make sure the guards are real, and the chains are real, as in some magic show.\u00a0 Because an angel shows up and wakes Peter.\u00a0 The angel tells Peter to get your things and follow me.\u00a0 Now at this point Peter is not sure if it is real or a vision, either way Peter follows.\u00a0 After they get away safely Peter realizes it is not a dream or a vision but the real thing.\u00a0 When you follow the Lord, there are days you should have where you say, wow, you go God!, and thanks for letting me follow.\u00a0 There are days with the way God is blessing the MBC Family I just praise Him.\u00a0 God has done much through this body of believers and if we continue to follow there are greater things to come.<\/p>\n

Today you may be chained to many things, but God wants to wake you up spiritually and help you walk out of your prison that the world has placed\u00a0you in.\u00a0 There is freedom in Christ.\u00a0 Yes there are still burdens, trials and persecution.\u00a0 But you still should be set free from the confinements of sin and the world.\u00a0 Follow Jesus and walk out of your situation and be free.<\/p>\n

Now we really see\u00a0a humorous response to the disciples praying for Peter.\u00a0 That cannot be him, Peter is in prison, and maybe it is a spirit.\u00a0 I wonder sometimes if when we pray do we expect an answer and how surprised would we be when that answer shows up?\u00a0 Maybe your answer is on the way and knocking at the door, what would your response be?<\/p>\n

At the end of the chapter, God takes Herod\u2019s life for not bringing glory to Him.\u00a0 This just seems too Old Testament to be here at the beginning of the Church age.\u00a0\u00a0 Not only did God take his life, but the worms ate him.\u00a0 According to a church historian during the period, Josephus, Herod was in pain for five days prior to his death.\u00a0 The worms may have already been at work.<\/p>\n

Again and again we are reminded that God takes His glory and the advancement of His Church very serious.\u00a0 It is the most important work you and your family are involved in.\u00a0 Everything else is second, and all the works of this world will fade away, but the Church and our work in the church will last for all eternity.\u00a0 It is important to God, is it important to you?<\/p>\n

Continue sharing your thoughts and let\u2019s continue growing in God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1193,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions\/1193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}