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Act 12,1-11

(29h) Gift of God >> God is on our side >> He fights our battles for us – Peter walked right past the guards and nobody tried to stop him. There were other times when God put the guards in a deep sleep, so Peter and John walked over them, but this time they walked passed them, not sleeping but in a trance, unable to respond. Peter too was placed in a functional trance; had he been fully awake he probably would have fudged the operation. Peter walked out of prison unhindered, thinking he was seeing a vision, not realizing that what was happening to him was real. The beauty of this story is that instead of sensing freedom and running for the hills, he simply walked to the house where he knew many of his fellow disciples would be gathered and went there to tell his story and fellowship with them. To our knowledge the Jews never looked for Peter after this, but decided to drop the whole thing and hoped that he and his friends would disappear. God never commanded His apostles to run from their enemies, and the only one of the twelve who was killed among them was James, until later all the apostles met their fate as martyrs (except the apostle John), only after their ministries were fulfilled.

Act 12,1-4

(18j) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Unable to distinguish between good and evil >> God’s people are evil – It was the days of unleavened bread, that is, near Passover, meaning there were many people gathered in Jerusalem of both Jews and gentiles, which to an evangelist was an opportunity to spread the word, and this could have been Herod’s thought to persecute the Church prior to Passover, so the word would not be carried to the people, who would take the gospel home with them and continue spreading the word throughout the districts surrounding Jerusalem.

(25c) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Murder >> Persecution to the death >> Murdering for prestige – Had God not stopped him, Herod would have had his way with Peter too as a form of entertainment, martyring the saints, even the apostles of the Church. Herod was steeped in arrogance, and God miraculously delivered Peter from his hand, for he still needed to do a few things before his time would come, and they would hang Peter upside down on a cross at his request, according to early Christian lore. God delivered Peter to spite Herod, to show him that he was not in control as he thought. Had Herod continued in this manner, God had his means of removing him, which was the message He intended for Herod, delivering Peter from prison. Of course Herod did not accept the rebuke; some people are so arrogant they will never learn to fear God, who has given man a will and authority to use it as he pleases, and most often he uses it to express his pride and arrogance. These things originate from hell itself, for the Old Testament testifies that rebellion is the sin of witchcraft (1Sam 15-23), and we know that witches perform their works through demons. Herod was a demon-controlled man who enjoyed martyring the saints to please the Jews. He was a man of immense wickedness, who was most known for hedonism.

(48k) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> God judges your enemies according to your faithfulness -- These verses go with verses 18-23

(49e) Judgment >> Enemies of God’s church are destroyed -- These verses go with verses 18-23. Herod’s intent was to kill Peter too, as though he were on a campaign to rid the world of Christians. God’s attitude was, ‘I let you kill one of My apostles, but that is all you get.’ God took measures into His own hands and rescued Peter safely from prison, and later in this chapter it says that Herod did not give glory to God when he stood before the people and let them chant, “The voice of a god and not of a man,” instead of curtailing the people, and he was eaten by worms and died (Act 12,21-23). God’s judgment on Herod was at least in part fueled by taking James. God called a different James to write an epistle in his place, the Book of James, the brother of Jesus, who brought a completely different perspective to the gospel of Christ. He saw how his big brother (Jesus) lived without hypocrisy, and this is what he taught in his epistle, that as we believe so we are to live. This may be how God compensated for His apostle James, one of the sons of thunder, brother of John, dying before his time.

(164b) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Entertaining demons by persecuting the Church – The evidence that proves Herod’s abject lack of reverence for God is the number of soldiers he used to guard Peter, four squads, that's sixteen soldiers to guard one man; one guard would have been enough. He did this because he heard the disciples had been known to be slippery prisoners and have found ways of escaping, hearing too that God had been helping them. God never had His people run for their lives, which greatly intimidated their enemies (Act 5,17-26). Instead of fearing God, Herod thought using more guards would keep God from springing Peter from his cell. This mindset was atrocious, for if he really suspected God was helping His apostles, it was like trying to keep God in prison. Later, King Herod gave a speech, and the people worshipped him (v22), and he received their glory as though he were a god, and he got a case of the worms and died a miserable death. The fact that the Bible mentions this implies that it was a judgment from God. He went to hell; his punishment for persecuting the Church will never end.

(181g) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Lawlessness >> Having no regard for the law >> Being without law -- These verses go with verses 21-23. King Herod had James put to death with the sword and arrested Peter, probably intending to do the same to him the next day. What we can say about Herod is that he absolutely had no fear of God. That doesn’t mean he was brave; he was a coward, afraid to believe in God. To lack the fear of God is to lack the laws of God, and a person who does not respect the law is capable of anything. All that keeps him from doing more evil is the fear of man, which is a poor deterrent, but the person who fears God knows there is no way to circumvent Him. If he doesn’t feel the steely edge of God’s judgment on this life, he will in the next, and this is the wisdom that the law provides those who fear Him.

(242b) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Martyrs – James was not the person who wrote the book of James; that was the Lord’s brother. This James was one of the twelve disciples, brother of John, the sons of Zebedee. As it turns out later in verse 12, John-Mark was not the same John mentioned in verse 2, but Mark who wrote the Gospel of Mark and accompanied Paul and Barnabas on some of their missionary journeys; he was cousin to Barnabas. Mark abandoned Paul at Perga in Pamphylia (Act 13-13) during one of his darkest hours, succumbing to a moment of weakness. Afterward, Paul refused to take Mark with him again, causing “sharp disagreement” between he and Barnabas and for a while separated them; they embarked on separate missionary journeys, Barnabas taking his cousin Mark and Paul taking Silas. Paul later patched up relations with Barnabas and relented his anger with Mark, receiving him again, who this time followed Paul into the trenches of evangelism in a violent and hostile world. See also: The disciples; Act 12,1-3; 44j / History of America in relation to faith; Act 2-37,38; 88j

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Act 12,1-3

(24i) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Jews are envious of the gospel -- These verses go with verse 11

(44j) Judgment >> Transformed >> Fulfill your ministry according to the will of God – James, the brother of John, one of the sons of thunder, one of Jesus' closest disciples was killed shortly after Pentecost. Peter, James and John went with Jesus to Mount Transfiguration, and Jesus sat them around Him while He prayed before His execution. They seemed to understand Jesus better than the others. When we think about King Herod killing James, a man of great faith, it was a huge loss, yet God allowed it, suggesting that we are not as indispensable as we might think. James would have brought many souls to the Kingdom of Heaven, and no doubt he would have written at least one epistle, which would have been indispensable to the Church, possibly adding an entire dimension to our knowledge of God. We lost it, but we don’t need it, for what we have in the Bible is enough. John lost his little brother. John lived the longest of all the original apostles, possibly to make up for his brother's early death, and contributed more to the New Testament than anyone except Paul. What we have in the New Testament is sufficient, for God stands over His word to perform it (Jeremiah 1-12). See also: The disciples; Act 12,1-4; 242b

(189e) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Tested for faithfulness to the death

Act 12,2-11

(118l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Law of the spirit >> Spirit delivers you from the desire to sin

(209d) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Righteous saved with difficulty >> Righteous saved with hardship >> Righteous saved with adversity

Act 12,2-7

(117d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Let Jesus do the work >> Let Him work on your circumstances

Act 12,3-11

(246c) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Literally set free from bondage

Act 12,4-12

(227g) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Depending on Jesus to have compassion >> Depending on Jesus to deliver us

Act 12,4-10

(196j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Replacing God’s standard of excellence with yours >> Sleeping in the spirit

Act 12-4,5

(131b) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Interdependent on each other to pray

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Act 12,5-12 -- See also: Peter's predicament for further commentary

(29e) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> Delivered from wicked rulers

(88d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith produces works >> The function of works in faith >> Faith doesn’t move God until it is manifested in the natural realm – The moment Peter was able to take care of himself, the angel departed. We don’t have angels at our side materialized in the natural realm for fun, but to get us out of our biggest jams and to help us during our hardest times, that we might continue serving the Lord. In heaven angels will be everywhere, and we will worship God with them, but until then God has given us our lives as an opportunity to live and walk by faith, to prove that we believe in Him. We have built huge telescopes that can peer millions of light-years into the past that can see galaxies and massive clusters of stars that stagger the imagination, so He doesn’t ask us to believe in His creative ability; He has shown us these things. What is important to God is that we believe in His character that He is flawless and that we understand He loves us in spite of evidence to the contrary. What is most important to God are His greatest attributes: integrity, justice, righteousness and truth. We all have an opinion; God has one too, and His opinion is the Truth. He has put us in an imperfect world full of sin and wickedness, pain and sorrow and asks us to believe in Him, that He is not as His creation depicts Him, that these imperfections and blemishes are the result of sin. See also: God allows suffering and evil to test us; Act 28-26,27; 168j

(119d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Freedom from satanic influence >> Free from bondage

(222k) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> Give to him who has >> Whoever has shall more be given

Act 12,5-11

(30l) Gift of God >> God favors you through your prayers – Prayer again takes center stage in the Acts of the Apostles. God works through obedience, loyalty and faith, but there is one thing we can say about prayer; it is the highest form of obedience. All other forms of obedience fall well under our ministry of prayer. That actually fits with the illustration that we have from the old covenant tabernacle and the manner of worship they had back then. Their ministry toward God was extensive, while their ministry toward people was incidental by comparison, and that is the priority prayer should have in our ministry, meaning that a person who is disobedient to God has failed to develop a life of prayer. Everyone has a prayer life; unbelievers have a prayer life even if they prayed only once, but to develop a life of prayer means that it is the number one aspect of our lives, so all other forms of obedience fall under prayer, which is how we invest ourselves in the Kingdom of God.

(117i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing visions – This gives us an idea of what it’s like to have a vision from God. Often when we’re in the moment, it doesn’t seem we are actually having a vision from God, but having a dream, and dreams don’t often seem relevant until later. Peter’s vision manifested in the natural realm, freeing him from prison, suggesting that all visions from God have freedom as a goal, and visions that have the power to effect the natural realm is not a vision at all but an angelic experience, but Peter perceived his experience as though he were dreaming. We often cannot experience our dreams and visions on a cognitive level without chasing them away as we awake; in the same way, Peter experienced this event fully conscious but thought it was a vision, so he didn't say or do something stupid to chase away the angel in mid-vision. Thus, God gives us dreams and visions to remove the human element of failure from the equation, putting Peter in a trance-like state, so he wouldn’t screw-up anything, for the angel would not have put up with Peter arguing with him. Therefore, if we have a fully conscious vision, like Mary did, the mother of Jesus, it is a huge compliment, indicating the confidence God has in us. Otherwise, we may be more like Zacharias, who had a vision in the temple and asked the angel a stupid question that got him in trouble, who emerged mute from the temple until his son, John the Baptist, was born.

(217c) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God Is Independent Of His Creation >> No one can walk in His glory without His consent

Act 12,5-10

(126d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace >> Peacemakers avoid violence – In the process of protecting Peter from the hand of Herod, God did not kill anybody, but took passive measures as He called His Church to behave. Moreover, He did not instruct Peter and the Church to run from their enemies, because they would eventually have to face them. The Church eventually understood God’s plan and purpose for the age of grace, that it was meant for a time of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, a time when God would use love to overcome obstacles and not forceful aggression. God used aggression during the old covenant; He used Israel as His hammer to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan that worshipped other gods and refused to repent, but with the new covenant He used love, and it worked for a while, until the Church grew weary of doing good and got the false notion that the gospel was something to be physically imposed on others and defended by sword and club, until the rifle was invented so they could more efficiently slaughter their fellow man in the name of Christ. Had the Church followed Christ throughout the age of grace, those who refused to receive the gospel would have at least known there was a God in heaven who loved them, who only wanted us to believe and trust in Him. As it is, the world doesn’t know this because the Church did not show them. Conversely, Israel refused to be God's hammer and destroy the disobedient nations, instead became sympathetic to them and their gods, and followed the nations into sin. So whether we are of the old covenant or the new, if we don’t have a heart of obedience, we cannot please Him.

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Act 12,5-7

(234aa) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> God chooses us as we seek His glory >> As we appeal to Him

Act 12-5

(82e) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Our approach >> Be devoted to prayer

(83k) Thy kingdom come >> We have the ministry of intercession >> Church intercedes for each other – This is the story of Peter being captured by His enemies and held in prison by the Romans, while the Church offered prayer for His release. While they were praying, God sent his angels to His rescue. It says that the chains fell off his hands and feet, the prison doors were opened and Peter walked right past the guards, who were sound asleep. After Peter’s angelic release, he went to the house where all the Christians were praying and knocked on the door, and a girl named Rhoda answered it, and out of shock and surprise forgot to let him in the house. She went and told the leaders that Peter was here, but they didn’t believe her. They were too busy praying for his release to open the door for him. Peter managed to get out of prison but couldn’t get in the Church. Apparently the people didn’t expect God to answer their prayers. We have all heard this heresy: people praying for the sick, but they didn’t have enough faith to be healed. This story is the opposite case; the people praying didn’t have enough faith to open the door, yet God answered their prayer. There seems to be one element in the formula of answered prayer that we often overlook: the will of God. What can we say about this? God answers prayer according to His best interest and not ours! If we want God to do something for us that is not according to His own interest, we will need to entreat Him more than for the things He wants to give (Lk 11,1-10). That is, if it is in God’s interests, He may answer our prayers even though we don’t believe. Therefore, it would behoove us to assimilate into God’s plan for our lives so we can be assured that God will answer our prayers, so we don’t have to keep knocking.

(99l) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) >> Persevere in prayer

(174k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Lip service -- This verse goes with verses 12-16

Act 12-6,7

(96j) Thy kingdom come >> Attitude >> Having a peaceful attitude – Peter thought he was having a dream, as he got up and did what the angel said, not really believing it was real. Is this always the case in an angelic visitation, or was this Peter’s personal experience? When something happens that is unlike our regular experiences, it often seems like a dream. Peter didn’t ask any questions but just followed the angel in his dreamlike state. He didn’t start cheering and wake up the guards and foil God’s plan, suggesting that this was the actual reason God sent His angels in a semi-conscious state, so Peter wouldn’t flub God’s plan. When amazing things happen, we often experience them like a dream, like we are watching them happen to us. Once the chains fell off his hands, and after he stepped past the two guards and walked out the prison door that swung open by itself, he then realized that what just happened to him was real. Things like this happened in the First Century, and at the end of the age miracles, signs and wonders will return, and things like this will become commonplace again, as proof that His kingdom is about to appear. Looking at the progression of God’s kingdom manifesting in the natural realm starting with Abraham, it was a very slow and methodical process, with each step leading closer to fulfillment of God’s agenda for mankind, until Jesus finally comes in all His glory and sets up His millennial kingdom.

(121a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Content with your way of life >> Content in any circumstance

(126g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace in the midst of the storm

(231b) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Solving the mystery of godliness >> The mystery is solved in contentment

Act 12-6

(163b) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> Prison – The jailer didn’t just throw them in prison; he fastened Peter in chains, because the apostles of the early church were developing a reputation of being slippery fellows, and the jailers were being charged with their lives to keep them, which became a monumental task. These God-people who carried the message of eternal life from the Most High were able to escape prison many times, and no one figured a way to keep them there, and they are unwilling to believe that God was helping them.

(213b) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all powerful >> All things are possible with God

Act 12,7-11

(15c) Servant >> Ministering spirits >> Angels give help in time of need – Angels are called ministering spirits. They are servants, whose job it is to help unshackle God's people and direct them to freedom. Miracles occur in the presence of angels as they minister to our needs. They come in opportune times and help just long enough to get us out of a scrape and then leave us again to walk with our God in faith. He doesn’t send his angels into every situation; rather, He wants the cards to fall as they may and allow faith to be the arbitrator between God and man. In this way He justifies the person of faith and judges the sinners through their unbelief. This was not the first time Peter escaped from jail through the help of angels, which is why they posted so many guards in front and behind him and chained him with two chains instead of only one, so it would literally take an act of God to escape, but little did they understand that by taking so many precautions they would have to admit that in fact God did help Peter escape. This exposes the mental attitude of sinners, in that ungodly persons make accommodations for their unbelief but corner themselves when God intervenes. They left themselves no way to explain how Peter could have escaped, and they could not deny this fact, yet they did deny it, being the kind of people the apostles never even tried to win to Christ, because they were beyond hope, being reprobates. The men who hated the apostles knew God was with them, but they were unwilling to admit it. 

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Act 12,7-9

(93k) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus as He lights the way

Act 12-7

(112b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Light >> Jesus’ light overcomes darkness >> The light of His power

(215j) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The Kingdom of Heaven appears suddenly >> Angels appear without warning -- This verse goes with verse 10

Act 12-10

(215j) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The Kingdom of Heaven appears suddenly >> Angels appear without warning -- This verse goes with verse 7

Act 12-11

(24i) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Jews are envious of the gospel-- This verse goes with verses 1-3. In the same way that no person has ever asked to be born, so neither did Israel ask to become a nation. They existed because God willed so when He spoke to Abraham, and by that simple act Israel was born. It was by faith that Israel came into existence, and it was by faith that Israel was to live and walk with God, but they mostly resisted, being the reason they missed Jesus when He came. The Jews hated their maker as much as any nation because they were plagued with the same curse of sin as all the nations, and because He opposed their Judaism and every man-made custom of their religion. They crucified Him because of all the false doctrines they collected over the centuries and put in place of the Old Testament. Their religion did not account for a suffering servant who would come to them and die for the sins of the whole world. Had they obeyed the Old Testament, whether they recognized Jesus in it or not, they would have received Him simply based on their hearts seeking God. The Jews claimed that God was the most important aspect of their lives, yet the spiritual and religious leaders of Israel wanted every Christian martyred. There were some Jews being saved, but there were more gentiles, because they were more open to the gospel. They didn’t have the hindrance of Judaism in their way that diametrically opposed Christianity.

Act 12,12-16

(20b) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Unbelief >> Unwilling to acknowledge the facts

(20i) Sin >> Doubting miracles – This is a story of the Church today. God set a man free, so he comes to church looking for those who would rejoice with him in his newfound freedom and finds no one but this servant-girl who recognized him. The rest of the congregation has rejected any possibility that this could actually be Peter, though they were praying for him. The contemporary church in principle does not believe in the freedom of Christ, for when God supernaturally delivers a person to rise above the general malaise of worldly enchantments, the person is silently persecuted and ignored. They simply choose not to believe it; in fact, they reject all physical manifestations of God’s power, thinking that He has confined Himself to working solely in our hearts. In contrast, Peter was knocking on the door, not on the door of their hearts, but on a physical door of their house! Peter even had a witness, but she was just a servant-girl; what does she know? She was trying to tell them about the miracle that God had performed for the sake of the whole church, yet no matter what she said, she could not get them to believe her. Finally, between her insistence and the loud pounding on the back door, they finally let him in the house. This is a classic example of being slow to believe (Lk 24-25); there is not a more accurate description of the Church today. For further commentary on these verses see: Why churches don’t spiritually mature.

(29bb) Gift of God >> God delivers us from our enemies >> Church assembles in people's houses (underground)

(54a) Paradox >> Opposites >> Unbelief in the presence and power of God – Apparently they were not praying for Peter’s release, but for themselves, that God would help them do without him. Stop praying and go answer the door! Doesn’t the book of James say that God only answers the prayer of faith? When they answered the door, they were all completely amazed and baffled; what kind of faith doesn’t expect God to answer their prayers? God delivered Peter in spite of their prayers! There are other cases when we pray for the desires of our flesh and never see our prayers answered, because we want to spend His grace on our pleasures, but here we see just the opposite, the disciples praying for the will of God without faith and seeing the hand of God move on their behave. This should be a clue to pray for the will of God, so we may see our prayers answered more often, instead of wasting our time praying for things that don't interest God and consequently never get answered.

(174k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Lip service -- These verses go with verse 5

Act 12-17 -- No Entries

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Act 12,18-23

(48k) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> God judges your enemies according to your faithfulness -- These verses go with verses 1-4

(49e) Judgment >> Enemies of God’s church are destroyed -- These verses go with verses 1-4. This escape was a repeat performance of the angels busting Peter and John from jail (Act 5,17-20). The soldiers suffered a similar fate as the Lord Jesus, for they were first examined with a whip before led to execution, except that it doesn’t say they were crucified. The soldiers knew this would happen to them if they allowed Peter to escape; God did not spare them either, probably because there was no one among them who had a heart for God; instead, they were all in agreement with Herod, anticipating the next day to make sport of Peter, but they graciously took his place. Apparently being familiar with his previous jailbreak, they thought increasing the guard would ensure success in holding him. Many men guarding one man chained to the floor, who did not have a reputation for violence, they hoped more guards would protect against angels, so they knew in their hearts they were persecuting God. Who would volunteer for a job like that? God could have struck the guards dead instead of temporarily putting them to sleep, and it would have been more merciful than falling into the hands of men.

Act 12,21-23

(22n) Sin >> Pride comes before a fall – Jesus once stood before Herod in His mock robe and crown of thorns; this time Herod stood before the people, full of pride and arrogance, who did nothing to stifle the crowd. He received the people’s worship, “the voice of a god and not of a man,” but it ended in his own death and he was eaten by worms. It says that Herod fed their country, probably in some kind of a trade deal, and apparently the people were appreciative and praised Herod, though God is ultimately responsible for our food. This happened when God's kingdom was growing by leaps and bounds and the Church was vibrant and maintained an anointing, so when the world persecuted the Church, they knew it was God’s people. Herod was probably saying something about what he intended to do with the Church, and it rang true with the crowd. He was probably making promises and edicts regarding his intensions of mistreating the saints, telling them that the world would benefit from their demise, but in fact the world benefited from his demise.

(56b) Paradox >> Lose by gaining >> Lose your place by seeking the first place

(156l) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Living an ungodly lifestyle >> Associating with the world

(169h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Loving the approval of men rather than the approval of God >> Love to be noticed by men – Herod was keeping another country from starvation, which was asking favors from him. Herod was a very hedonistic and wicked man doing a good thing, and the only reason an evil man would do good is for evil purposes. It was interesting that God did not strike Herod for martyring His saints but for his self-adulation. It was the last straw; God was counting up Herod’s sin and judged him for accepting the people’s flattery. These events are similar to the antichrist, who will also make many martyrs and be venerated by the people, and as in this story his self-worship will destroy him too. Had he not martyred the saints God may have endured Herod's self-admiration; conversely, had he turned down the admiration of the people, God may have endured him martyring the saints, but together Herod became odious to God. Apparently, killing his saints and being worshipped at the same time is a combination of sins that God cannot tolerate, for it shows no repentance or humility before Almighty God.

(181g) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Lawlessness >> Having no regard for the law >> Being without law -- These verses go with verses 1-4

(185j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Responding with contempt to the Holy Spirit >> Replacing the Holy Spirit

(195f) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Worshipping men >> Idolizing men

(218d) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Reaping the harvest >> We choose our actions, not their consequences >> God controls the consequences of our actions

Act 12-24

(128i) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Bearing fruit >> Living a fruitful life >> Be fruitful and multiply >> Growing spiritually – The word of the Lord grew and multiplied among the believers, who reached into the world and made converts. Back then there was less fear of false doctrine, though there were some false teachers attempting to find root in the Church from the very beginning, but this context refers to a simple faith revolving around a man who was crucified for the sins of mankind and rose from the dead to prove His place with God as savior and judge of all mankind (Acts 5-31).

Act 12-25

(77i) Thy kingdom come >> Tapping into the power of God through humility >> The most humble are the greatest servants – This same Mark was the one who wrote the gospel of Mark. He was a significant person and his gospel plays a significant role in the four witnesses of Jesus Christ, the emphasis of his gospel expounding on the miracles He performed, elucidating details in the stories we read in other gospels. To allow his rendition of the gospel entrance into the cannon of scripture was an act of absolute trust. Mark was not one of the twelve disciples; it is questionable if he even saw Jesus in the flesh, like Paul, being the only person who saw and heard Jesus Christ after Pentecost, who proved Himself an apostle extraordinaire, faithful to his calling. Paul’s only claim to have personally known Jesus was a brief encounter with Him on the road to Damascus, yet this single moment changed his life to become a greater apostle even than the inner circle of three: Peter, James and John. Paul and Barnabas were probably the greatest evangelists of all time, and Mark went with them on missionary journeys as a helper. Imagine the significance of Mark who had status to write a gospel, yet he was a mere helper of Paul and Barnabas, the humility of Mark not to demand a leadership role.

Act 13-1

(152ka) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >> True prophets >> Called as prophets – There are some people who are genuine prophets. These are people whom God has personally elevated apart from anybody’s input, so that nobody can trace their knowledge back to a source, though they have learned many things from their fellow Christians. In contrast, those who walk in the gift of prophesy are completely under the tutelage of the Church. Prophets are able to tell the Church things they have never known or even imagined. If the Church raised up the prophet, he couldn’t offer groundbreaking knowledge that the Church doesn't already know, but since God has personally taught him what he knows, the prophet can tell the Church things that can direct the body of Christ into His specific will. The advantage of the prophet is that God can use him to prepare His people for the future and warn them of things to come.

Act 13,2-4

(83d) Thy kingdom come >> Results of prayer >> Prayer ministers to God

(115i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Laying on of hands >> Ordaining people to the ministry – How significant was it that Paul and Barnabas were sent by the Church? It was fundamental to their success! Conversely, how significant was it that they were divinely ordained to the ministry? What they accomplished together was to nobody's credit but God's! The significance of these two endorsements cannot be overstated. Since Paul and Barnabas, some who sought to use their lives for God have become missionaries while others have become pastors, the leaders and elders of the Church having laid hands on them and sent them on their way. They were ordained by men well enough, but they were not ordained by God. In their hearts they don’t really know what they are doing, which limits their faith. They can only guess about the will of God, and their ministry reflects that fact, because they didn’t wait for God to ordain them. Paul and Barnabas had been ministering together for a long time before God made it official, but too often in the Church today their induction into the ministry is by the Church only, and God's input is assumed. The difference between man's ordainment and God's is the difference between doing the works of men and doing the works of God, yet both must work together. It doesn’t matter how long we must wait, we will always be ahead of God if we don’t let Him ordain us in His time, and the longer we must wait the greater the ministry, for it will be empowered by His faith.

(219j) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> Predestination >> God’s calling is our destiny – We are essentially predestined for eternal life, as Jesus said, “Many are called but few are chosen… You did not choose me, but I chose you…” Being ordained by God is just as much a gift as our salvation. All we can do is get out of His way and wait for Him to work through us. If God has chosen us, then we have a marvelous gift, a gift that some people would long to possess, but they don’t know how to believe in God's personal endorsement. A person cannot choose on their own to believe in God; therefore, those who have been chosen by God should not choose on their own what they should do with their lives. 

(245j) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Manifestation of God’s righteous judgment >> Manifestation of God’s authority

Act 13-2,3

(106k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Means of hearing from God >> Through prayer – Most people think the only way to serve God is to be a pastor, and so they trot off to seminary school without even questioning if this is God’s will. In their hearts they say, ‘I don’t know what I should do, so I’ll do this, and in the process maybe I will stumble on the real will of God.’ However, they get so involved in the works of their own hands that they forget to listen for God’s voice. That is, they give up on the question of God’s will and just do what they want. The problem most of the time is that they don’t ask God with a whole heart what they should do, so if He told them, they would not try with a whole heart to do His will, which would result in failing to do His will at all, being why He never told them.

(189j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Fasting >> Fasting simulates dying to self – A person should not fast without drawing up a concise list of expectations, an agenda, which defines his reason for fasting. Is it just an experiment? He will have missed supper for nothing. Having an objective is crucial to our experience in fasting. We fast in order to receive direction, mostly.

(191h) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Set apart >> God sanctifies us through His calling

Act 13-2

(81c) Thy kingdom come >> Prayer >> The priesthood >> Ministering to God

(252g) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship God >> Worship God who is Spirit >> Worship God in prayer

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Act 13-3,4

(71k) Authority >> Ordained by God >> We have His seal – Matters of the heart are not complicated, yet the ability to see one’s own heart in its true state is a gift from God. This is partly why the Bible depicts salvation as a gift. A person who trains his heart to want God, who devotes his entire soul to knowing Him, who forces his mind under subjection to the word of God, renewing it day by day is ordained by God. There are only a few things that He asks from us; one is to be patient and the other is to be driven by the Holy Spirit to know these things, to search them out until we find them. This person will do what he has been ordained to do, and by doing it he will be walking on the narrow way that God has prepared for him, but those ordained by man know of no such trail.

(105i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit >> Into The will of God >> Led by the authority of the Church – An angel didn’t come down and ordain Paul and Barnabas to the ministry, because angels have no authority to do so, for we belong to God, not to angels. God expected Paul and Barnabas to go where the Holy Spirit sent them to evangelize the world; hence, if their ministry is fulfilled through His endorsement, then it is only fitting that He should send them.

(213e) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> We are his instruments >> We are tools in the hand of God >> We are transmitters of His kingdom – Missionaries are born and divinely shaped in ways that are very mysterious, and their faith is interlaced throughout their lives between circumstances and people that could never happen on their own. The Holy Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas after they fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them. Many people fast and pray and are sent as missionaries, but some fail to go with the Holy Spirit, because He didn’t send them. The process of being sent by the Holy Spirit happens long before anyone fasts and prays or lays hands on them; in fact, this is the last thing that happens, whereas being sent by the Holy Spirit is the very first thing. Those who are sent by the Holy Spirit know it, and for this reason they are tenacious, because they know the will of God, and obstacles that get in their way may be frustrating and discouraging but do not stop them, because God has sent them. Those who are divinely ordained can endure far more than what others can bear whom God has not endorsed. Circumstances, people and misfortunes oppose their ministry, but they don’t give up because they know who is with them. Giving up as disciples of Jesus is not in their vocabulary, because they have a calling that they received from Him and know they will succeed regardless of the circumstances, no doubt at great cost to themselves. Missionaries give confidence to those who send them, as those who sent Paul and Barnabas; they hold up everybody, even those who sent them. For this reason, anybody who goes to the mission field without knowing for sure what they are doing should not go, since it would do no one any good, for even if they were called, they haven’t sought God enough to develop confidence in their own calling.

Act 13-5

(139g) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> We build the temple through Christ -- This verse goes with verses 14-44. In the days of the apostles, God raised up Paul, who was greater even than the original twelve disciples (apostles after Pentecost), and God used only a unique visitation to Paul on the road to Damascus and His Spirit to do it. God prepares His people for a certain work that will require an anointing to complete it. Once they found their place in the body of Christ, they were able to accomplish everything God had called them to do. Those who receive more don’t always do more. All twelve walked with Him, but not all accomplished the same amount. They all had different ministries that varied in significance.

(143d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> The public >> Paul ministered publicly -- This verse goes with verses 14-16

(149f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Preaching the gospel to the world >> Preach "Thy kingdom come" – John Mark came with Paul and Barnabas in the capacity of a helper. Imagine the strength of spirit in these two apostles who never walked a day with the Lord but were more effective in preaching the gospel than the twelve original apostles. This is the power of the Holy Spirit to create men of faith from those who would yield their lives to Him. Later, Paul became upset with Mark because he abandoned them at a strategic time and would not allow him to accompany them in any missionary journeys for a while, but then later took him again. It caused a schism between Paul and Barnabas and they separated, Barnabas taking Mark and Paul choosing Silas as co-apostles (Act 15,36-41).