Acts 12 NKJV. Acts • 12 - Persecution. Perseverance. Peace. Prayer. Proclamation. Pride. Power. • 2 - Preaching. Pouring. Promise. Purity. Prayer. Purpose. Praise. 1. The mysteries of God. (:1-2) • Psalm 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust. • Hebrews 11:32-40 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, [a]were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented — of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. • Matthew 20:22 Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? • 1 Corinthians 4:1 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. • Most bear witness of Jesus through life, some through death. • We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is the seed of the church. - Tertullian. • The church of Christ has been founded by shedding its own blood, not that of others; by enduring outrage, not by inflicting it. Persecutions have made it grow; martyrdoms have crowned it. - Jerome. 2. Prayer brings breakthrough. (:3-19) • Acts 12:5 Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. • The Outcome of Prayer. • Peace (:6) • Power (:7) • Provision. (:8-10) • Praise (:11) 3. God wants to give you a testimony. (:17) • Acts 12:17 He declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place. 4. Kill pride before it kills you. (:20-23) • James 4:6 God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. • Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ • Titanic picture. • Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. • Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. • Ezekiel 28:17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. • God hates pride and will not put up with it. (Proverbs 8:13, Proverbs 16:5 Psalm 101:5) • 1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time 5. You can’t fight against God and win. (:24) • Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. • Matthew 16:18 I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. • Proverbs 28:25 He who trusts in the Lord will be prospered. New Testament Christian Church CCLI : #1600893 Multitracks New Testament Christian Church (#386429)