Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / October 4 - Acts 12

Transcript

October 4 - Acts 12 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it is Sean. Here it is Wednesday.
• 0:15
  It is the 4th of October and G'day.
• 0:18
  Good to have your company on this very, very biblical day.
• 0:22
  Do you know, many years ago, on this day, the 4th of October, in
• 0:27
  1535, the very first complete Bible in English was published
• 0:34
  in England. And this was by the incredible
• 0:36
  work of William Tyndale. You've probably heard of Tyndale
• 0:39
  publishing the published Bibles. Well, that's named after this
• 0:42
  guy who did this incredible work.
• 0:44
  He was the first person to actually translate the Bible
• 0:47
  from its original Greek and Hebrew.
• 0:50
  Not just the Latin translation. And when things hotted up for
• 0:55
  this poor guy in England, he escaped to Europe.
• 0:57
  But King Henry still tracked him down and had him executed all
• 1:02
  the way over in Europe for the work that he was doing, which
• 1:05
  was not very popular with the Catholic Church.
• 1:08
  And then, would you believe, exactly 2 years later on this
• 1:11
  day, they printed the very first version of the Matthew Bible,
• 1:15
  which was the subsequent Bible. So this is a very important day,
• 1:19
  I guess you could say, in the evolution of the Bible.
• 1:22
  And here we are all these years later, reading another version
• 1:27
  which has been carefully crafted by biblical scholars all around
• 1:31
  the world, The New Living Translation, that I'm eternally
• 1:35
  grateful for, for the way it brings the Bible to life, as it
• 1:40
  will do for us today as we continue with this story.
• 1:43
  Reading from Acts chapter 12. About that time King Herod and
• 1:58
  Ripper began to persecute some believers in the church.
• 2:02
  He had the Apostle James, John's brother killed with a sword.
• 2:06
  When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he
• 2:10
  also arrested Peter. This took place during the
• 2:13
  Passover celebration. Then he imprisoned him, placing
• 2:18
  him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.
• 2:22
  Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the
• 2:26
  Passover, but while Peter was in prison, the Church prayed very
• 2:31
  earnestly for him. The night before Peter was to be
• 2:34
  placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between
• 2:39
  two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison
• 2:42
  gate. Suddenly there was a bright
• 2:45
  light in the cell and an Angel of the Lord stood before Peter.
• 2:50
  The Angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, quick,
• 2:54
  get up and the chains fell off his wrists.
• 2:58
  Then the Angel told him, get dressed and put on your sandals,
• 3:03
  and he did. Now put on your coat and follow
• 3:06
  me, the Angel ordered. So Peter left the cell following
• 3:10
  the Angel, but all the time he thought it was a vision.
• 3:14
  He didn't realize it was actually happening.
• 3:17
  They passed the 1st and 2nd guard posts and came to the iron
• 3:21
  gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by
• 3:24
  itself. So they passed through and
• 3:26
  started walking down the street. And then the Angel suddenly left
• 3:30
  him. Peter finally came to his
• 3:33
  senses. It's really true, he said.
• 3:36
  The Lord has sent his Angel and saved me from Herod and from
• 3:40
  what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me.
• 3:43
  When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother
• 3:46
  of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer.
• 3:50
  He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named
• 3:54
  Rhoda came to open it. When she recognized Peter's
• 3:57
  voice, she was so overjoyed that instead of opening the door, she
• 4:02
  ran back inside and told everyone Peter is standing at
• 4:06
  the door. You're out of your mind, they
• 4:08
  said. When she insisted, they decided
• 4:12
  it must be his Angel. Meanwhile, Peter continued
• 4:16
  knocking. When they finally opened the
• 4:18
  door and saw him, they were amazed.
• 4:21
  He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord
• 4:25
  had led him out of prison. Tell James and the other
• 4:29
  brothers what happened, he said, and then he went to another
• 4:33
  place. At dawn there was a great
• 4:36
  commotion among the soldiers about what had happened to
• 4:38
  Peter. Herrida Gripper ordered a
• 4:41
  thorough search for him. When he couldn't be found, Herod
• 4:45
  interrogated the guards and sentenced them to death.
• 4:49
  Afterward, Herod left you dear to stay in, say, Syria for a
• 4:53
  while now. Herod was very angry with the
• 4:56
  people of Tire and Sit on, so they sent a delegation to make
• 5:00
  peace with him. Because their cities were
• 5:02
  dependent on Herod's country for food.
• 5:05
  The delegates won the support of Blastas, Herod's personal
• 5:09
  assistant, and an appointment with Herod was granted.
• 5:13
  When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his
• 5:18
  throne and made a speech to them.
• 5:21
  The people gave him a great ovation, shouting it's the voice
• 5:25
  of a God, not of a man. Instantly, an Angel of the Lord
• 5:30
  struck Herod with a sickness because he accepted the people's
• 5:33
  worship instead of giving the glory to God.
• 5:37
  So he was consumed with worms and died.
• 5:41
  Meanwhile the word of God continued to spread, and there
• 5:45
  were many new believers. When Barnabas and Saul had
• 5:49
  finished their mission to Jerusalem, they returned, taking
• 5:52
  John Mark with them. You are a game changer, Lord.
• 6:06
  There is nothing that is impossible for you.
• 6:09
  So often when we feel like there is no way forward, that there is
• 6:14
  nothing we could possibly imagine or do that could bring
• 6:17
  about the outcome that we thought you would like.
• 6:21
  Just open our minds, broaden our perspective, widen our palate so
• 6:27
  that we can see that you are a God of creativity and making the
• 6:32
  impossible possible. Just like you stunned the guards
• 6:36
  and led Peter right out of prison, we just pray that you
• 6:41
  would act mightily in our lives so that doors would be opened
• 6:46
  and hearts would be softened so that we can share your love, but
• 6:52
  most importantly, that our hearts would be softened so that
• 6:56
  we would receive your love. Thank you for your
• 7:00
  transformative love and your grace, which just showers us.
• 7:05
  Help us to receive it, to be aware of it, and to let it seep
• 7:09
  deep into our hearts that we know how loved we are.
• 7:16
  You are a beautiful, loving, glorious God, and we just thank
• 7:22
  you. It's in the saving name of Jesus
• 7:26
  that we pray. Amen.