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Acts chapter 12 · Scripture Unscripted

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  Acts chapter 12, let us pray. Our Lord God Almighty who reigns
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  on high, we love you. Yes, Jesus, we love you so much.
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  We exalt your holy name over all of our circumstances, all of our
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  emotions, over our families, over our workplaces, over this
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  world, God, over all governments.
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  Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you will reign
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  supreme and that you will go in and take back enemy territory.
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  God, help us to be your hands and feet today as we armor up
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  today. Lord, by faith I put on the belt
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  of truth, or I stand on the truth, and I tell the truth, and
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  you are the truth. You are the life and you are the
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  way, King Jesus. So I put you on today.
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  I refuse to live in a lie today, King Jesus, I refuse to lie
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  today. I will tell the truth about
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  everything. I will not hide in shame because
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  I know that it is in my weakness that you were made strong.
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  By faith I put on this breastplate of righteousness.
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  God, protect my heart from the fiery darts of the enemy that
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  keep coming relentlessly at me. God, by faith, as I put on this
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  breastplate of righteousness, I will live the right way.
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  Lord, the right way that you have marked out clearly in your
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  word. Lord, I will live righteously
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  because of the righteousness that you have given me.
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  And Lord, that is by not wronging others, by not
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  gossiping and slandering and murdering with my tongue, God, I
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  will live the right way and stand on truth.
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  Lord, by faith, help me to put on these gospel shoes of peace
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  today. Lord, as I slide these gospel
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  shoes of peace today, I'm reminded of the Paracletus.
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  Lord, as I put these pair of cleats on, Lord, I am reminded
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  of my ability to stand firm in the faith.
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  Lord, I am reminded that it is the good news of Jesus Christ
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  that brings our peace. So as I stand on truth and I
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  live the right way, I will experience the peace that you've
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  promised me. God, as I run the race and take
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  the whole word to the whole world, advancing into enemy
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  territory with lightning speed in a way that the opposition
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  cannot even comprehend, as those that they thought that the enemy
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  thought was theirs. Lord, we're bringing them out of
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  death and into life today in the same way that you did for us.
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  And Lord, by faith, I put on the helmet of salvation today.
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  I guard my mind by reminding myself of how far I've come.
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  Lord, I remind myself with this salvation story, my testimony.
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  God, I overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb in the words
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  of my testimony. So as I remind myself of my
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  salvation story, Lord, help me to be found sharing that with
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  others and edifying and building others up with the story that is
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  unique to me. God, as you took me from death
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  and disease and decay and my sinful lifestyle and we had a
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  divine encounter, Lord, and you reached your hand down into the
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  pit of the muck and the mire. And Lord by faith, I grabbed
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  hold of it and you pulled me up into heavenly places and sat me
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  with you. So God, I'm reminded of that and
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  I will share that with someone today, with everyone that I meet
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  today. And Lord, by faith, I lift up
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  this heavy soaked shield over my head, over my mind, over my
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  body, God and I extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy.
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  I increase the faith in my life. God believing that you can do
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  anything. There is nothing in this world
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  that is unreachable to you. You created it, and it is the
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  fabric of your breath as you spoke it all into existence.
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  And you can unlock chains and you can cause us to walk through
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  gates that are opened for us. Lord, you can open doors that no
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  man can shut and shut doors that no man can open.
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  Lord, you can bring dead people back to life.
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  You can cure stage 4 cancer Lord, you can reverse diabetes,
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  God, you can do anything. So Lord, by faith, I lift that
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  shield of faith up, and by faith I wield the sword, the word of
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  God, and the spirit in my hand. Father, I pray, Lord, as I wield
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  this double edged sword, that I will be able to rightly divide
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  the word today as we sit in your presence and as we soak up what
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  it is that you want to say to us today.
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  I pray, Holy Spirit, that you will guide us and teach us.
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  Give us discernment for this hour, for such a time as this.
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  We love you God, we thank you God, we enter your courts with
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  praise and Thanksgiving. We worship you in spirit and
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  truth. Come, Lord, come.
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  It's in Jesus Christ, holy and precious name that I pray.
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  Amen. Let's start in verse one.
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  Now about that time, Herod the King stretched forth his hands
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  to vex certain of the church. So what you need to understand
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  here, friends, is that this Herod was an evil man, and there
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  was really no other reason for this vexing of the church other
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  than a political power play. And that's what you're going to
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  find as time goes on and the world becomes more and more
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  estranged from the judeo-christian values.
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  What you're going to find is that these political leaders are
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  going to try to get their popularity up by persecuting
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  those who stand for good. And woe to those who call evil
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  good and good evil. And you see it shaping up in our
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  day and our hour. And far be it from us to be the
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  ones to ever embark on this persecution.
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  Far be it from us to ever be the ones to be hateful towards any
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  group. We pray on our knees, we fight
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  on our knees, we pray against the principalities and the
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  powers of darkness. Friends, we do not fight against
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  God's image, people that are made in His image.
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  We fight against all of the demonic hosts that are behind
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  all of these regimes. That's what you need to
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  understand. Is there so much going on in the
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  spiritual realm that it we need to have eyes to be able to see
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  what's actually happening? That people are delusional and
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  blindfolded. And we were once those people
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  until God came in and by faith he removed the blindfold and
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  unstopped our ears and gave us the ability to see the world all
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  around us the way that He does. Look up and see that there are
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  more of us than there are of them.
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  Don't forget it. Two.
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  And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
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  So this is by tradition the first apostle martyr.
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  And we know that the soldier who was in charge of James saw the
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  witness of James as he went to his death in this soldier who
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  was given charge to guard him. By tradition, early church says
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  that this guard professed the Lord Jesus Christ because of
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  James. And he was also killed at the
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  same day, same hour, same way. And so isn't that amazing that
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  this first apostle martyr at the end of his life was still doing
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  the Lord's work? And we need to understand that
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  God's ways are not our ways. And we would say, well, how come
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  you didn't save him? How come you could have saved
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  him? But why didn't you?
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  And God was glorified in the highest by James spilling out
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  his blood to spread the good news of Jesus Christ even
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  further. And we're still talking about it
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  2000 years later. Praise God, Hallelujah.
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  And we need to know that if you want to be greatest in the
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  Kingdom of God, it is by this martyrdom, friends.
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  And Jesus even told James and John when they were wanting to
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  sit at his right and sit on his left, he says, are you able to
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  drink from the cup? They said we are.
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  And here you see, James had to swallow his words here and live
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  up to what he told the Lord Jesus.
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  He could do three. And because he saw it pleased
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  the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also.
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  Then were the Days of Unleavened bread.
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  So here we he saw that his popularity started to rise, his
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  numbers were starting to increase, and he thought, well,
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  I'll take another one of these apostles.
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  So he takes Peter and he's trying to use Peter as a
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  political power play in his little Playhouse.
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  But let's see what God thinks about it for.
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  And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and
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  delivered him to 4 quaternions of soldiers to keep him,
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  intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
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  So imagine that friends, just think about this scene.
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  There's 16 guards that are given to this apostle and there would
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  be round clock surveillance and round the clock guard on Peter
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  to chain to them to watching and that would happen throughout the
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  24 hour block. And here you notice this
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  interesting mention of Easter. We have seen these mentions to
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  Passover, but now we see this word Easter and you need to know
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  that Easter is from the Pagan goddess Asherah.
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  And we need to know that we celebrate the resurrection of
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  the Lord Jesus Christ and Easter is a Pagan idea of fertility.
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  And we need to know that Jesus Christ is resurrected and teach
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  that to your kids. We do not worship the Easter
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  Bunny or eggs, we worship arisen Lord Jesus Christ.
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  We've got to get out of the traditions, these man made
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  traditions that are actually pointing us to cultic Pagan
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  practices. It's not about the Easter Bunny
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  and it's not about Santa Claus. It's all about the risen Lord
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  King Jesus on his throne, ruling and reigning.
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  Let's not be duped. Don't lie to your kids about all
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  these little fairy tale things because if you lie to them about
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  that, you're going to lie to them about Jesus and they will
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  not trust you. And it is a scheme of the enemy.
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  Don't forget it. Five, Peter therefore was kept
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  in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church
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  unto God for him. That is what we're told to do in
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  First Thessalonians 517, to pray without ceasing.
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  That is the call on your life. You're called into full time
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  discipleship and that is it. Pray without ceasing.
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  That is the mark. That is the call.
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  That is what we are supposed to be doing.
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  And that is what you see the early church doing as as Peter
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  is apprehended and as they're waiting for a political power
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  play to put him to death in front of everybody to get their
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  notoriety and to get their campaign numbers up.
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  What a bunch of hoopla and garbage.
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  You can see all of these futile men operating in their own
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  understanding and they do not have divine counsel.
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  Let's see what God says about it. 6 And when Herod would have
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  brought him forth, the same night, Peter was sleeping
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  between two soldiers bound with two chains, and the keepers
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  before the door kept the prison. So there's that quaternion,
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  there's this four soldiers, 2 chained to him, two guarding the
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  door. And you can see that this was
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  right before Herod is about to put him to death.
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  So a lot of times you need to understand that God plays
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  spiritual chicken with us. We will be on the cusp of the
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  miraculous, on the cusp of the greatest blessing of our lives.
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  But so many times we self destruct.
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  And you can see here, Peter by faith was sleeping like a little
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  baby. He wasn't worried, he wasn't
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  frightful, he was at peace and at rest.
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  What a word for us. What a call to us.
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  In the greatest hour of our life, when our lives are about
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  to be demanded from us, do we shrink back?
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  Are we cowards and do we try to save our skin?
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  Are we angry with God and offended?
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  Or do we charge the hill by faith, believing that what is
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  next is far better than anything that we've ever experienced in
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  this little lifetime that God has given us, and it's all about
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  getting it right. And every day you take a test
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  and the answer key is Jesus. Jesus.
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  And Jesus, He's the only one that's going to get us home.
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  Friends, we are pilgrims in a strange land here.
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  This is not our home, we're not of this world. 7 And behold, the
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  Angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shone in the prison,
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  and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, arise
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  up quickly, and his chains fell off from his hands.
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  Listen, the material in the physical is nothing for God.
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  Don't forget it. He can cause stage 4 cancer to
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  dissolve in a moment's notice. He can cause your broke down
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  vehicle with no tread on the tires to stay running and safe
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  as you travel up these missionary roads.
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  He can cause angels to come and guide little teenage girls in a
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  foreign land full of hostile criminals back home.
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  I've seen it in my day. I've seen it with my eyes.
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  God can do anything. We do not need to doubt him.
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  We do not need to doubt what God can do.
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  God can do anything. And he's still doing the
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  miraculous today. 8 And the Angel said unto him, Gird
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  yourself up and bind on your sandals.
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  And so he did. And he said unto him, Cast your
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  garment about you. Follow me.
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  So imagine these this scene. 2 Guards chained to Peter. 2
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  guards guarding the door. A light shines in the prison.
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  The Angel is poking Peter, waking him up because he's
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  sleeping so soundly. The Angel is talking with Peter
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  and telling him to put on his clothes and his shoes.
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  The chains have fallen off of him.
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  He tells him to follow him and the guards never wake.
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  You know God can cause a valley of dry bones to live again.
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  God can cause 185 a 185,000 Assyrians to die in one night.
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  God can cause quail and manna to fall from heaven.
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  God can cause a sea to part in us to walk across on dry land.
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  God can cause people, thousands of people to be fed by a couple
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  fish and some few loaves. Listen, he's limitless.
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  He has the cattle on 1000 hills. He never runs out of resources.
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  There's no lack in the Father's house.
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  Are you connected to the Father? Or are you still grasping at
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  straws and leaning on your own understanding of how this world
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  is going to work? All that's going to do is lead
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  to frustration. I can assure you that you cannot
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  serve 2 masters. You will love 1 and you will
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  hate the other. We cannot serve both God and
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  Mammon, friends. And the reality of the situation
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  is so many people are worshipping this world, the
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  systems of this world. They're leaning on their own
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  understanding and they are not. In tune with the miraculous that
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  God has available to them, let's step out of the boat.
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  Let's walk on the water today, friends, believing that God can
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  do anything. 9 And he went out and followed him, and wish not
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  that it was true, which was done by the Angel, but thought he saw
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  a vision. He didn't realize that all this
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  was actually happening. He thought he was just living it
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  out in a dream and a vision. 10 When they were past the 1st and
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  2nd Ward, they came unto the iron gate that led into the
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  city, which opened to them of his own accord, and they went
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  out and passed on through one street and forth with the Angel
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  departed from him. So imagine this whole scene.
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  The Angel speaks to him, tells him to get up, pokes him, put on
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  your clothes, put on your shoes. He leads him past all of the
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  guards as if it's nothing, leads him all the way to an iron gate
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  that is shut, which would have been impenetrable.
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  And then the gate automatically opens up.
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  Peter walks right outside of the city.
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  He comes to the street, and then all of a sudden, the Angel
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  doesn't even bid him goodbye. He just disappears because his
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  work was done. And let's see what Peter has to
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  say when he comes to his senses. 11 And when Peter was come to
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  himself, he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent
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  his Angel, and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and
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  from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
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  So we know that Peter's going to go on to write a couple of the
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  epistles, first Peter and second Peter, which is going to give us
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  a lot of our eschatology friends.
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  And God had great plans for the ages through Peter, and you can
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  see here that he is making sure that those things happen.
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  And it is a divine encounter with the angelic.
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  And Peter here knows now that he was saved for a purpose. 12 And
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  when he had considered the thing, he came to the House of
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  Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many
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  were gathered together praying, This is the upper room, this was
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  John Mark's house, the disciple who probably was the one who ran
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  away naked in the garden. This was the disciples who wrote
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  the Gospel of Mark through the OR oration of Peter.
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  And we can see here that John Mark is mentioned here in the
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  book of Acts. He's going to go on to be a
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  prominent figure in the 1st century church.
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  And here the people are all in the upper room, just praying,
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  and Peter comes there. 13 And as Peter knocked at the door of the
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  gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. 14 And when she
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  knew Peter's voice, she did not open the gate for gladness, but
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  ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. 15 And they
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  said unto her, You're mad. But she constantly affirmed that
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  it was Even so. Then they said it is his Angel.
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  Imagine this. They're in the upper room.
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  They're praying for Peter to get out of prison.
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  Peter's out of prison. And they don't believe it.
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  Isn't that just the futility of our humanity, friends, They were
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  praying for the very thing, but perhaps they did not even expect
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  that it would happen. And isn't our prayer life
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  sometimes like that? Let's believe in the things that
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  are not as if they already are friends.
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  They thought it was just Peter's Angel.
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  And there's a little bit of theology here with these
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  guardian angels and the angels beholding the face of the
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  Father, these children's angels. You can see here that the
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  angelic realm is real, and it is more real than the physical
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  world that we find ourselves in. 16 But Peter continued knocking,
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  and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were
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  astonished. Why would they be astonished?
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  The very thing that they had been praying for?
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  When we pray the will of God, that is when you see things
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  start to happen, when you actually see your prayers
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  answered is when your heart is in line with the will of God.
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  When your prayers are in line with what God wants, you will
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  see greater things. 17 But he beckoning unto them with the
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  hand to hold their peace, he declared unto them, how the Lord
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  had brought him out of the prison.
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  And he said, Go show these things unto James and to the
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  brothers. And he departed and went unto
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  another place. So you need to know that he's
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  not talking about the James that was just beheaded.
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  He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ brother James who
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  wrote the epistle James. And we need to know that this
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  James was an unbeliever during the lifetime ministry of Jesus
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  here on this earth. But after the Lord Jesus
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  ascended to the right hand of God, this brother of Jesus
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  became a believer and a prominent figure in the early
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  church. And Peter here saying, Go tell
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  the brothers, and go tell James. 18.
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  Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the
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  soldiers. What was become of Peter 19.
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  And when Herod had sought for him and found him not, he
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  examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be
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  put to death. And he went down from Judea to
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  Caesarea and their abode. So you can see here this
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  despicable act of Herod, this murderous intent of Herod.
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  He could not be satisfied by executing one of the apostles.
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  So what did he do? He executed the guards and the
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  soldiers that were in charge of him.
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  And he was bloodthirsty, and he was about to be dealt with. 20
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  And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon, but
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  they came with 1 accord to him. And having made Blastus the
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  King's Chamberlain, their friend, they desired peace,
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  because their country was nourished by the King's country.
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  So we can see that Tyre and Sidon depended upon King Herod
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  for their sustenance, and here they are sick of fans of him,
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  and they are just going in and they are going to give him fake
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  fanfare and try to try to please him with all of their false
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  worship. And let's see how Herod takes
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  it. 21 And upon a set day, Herod, arrayed in a royal
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  apparel, sat upon his throne and made an oration unto them.
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  So Josephus the Jewish historian, writing to the
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  Romans, he pinned this little event down and said that Herod
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  came out early in the morning, and he had a garment of silver
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  on. And as the sun was coming up and
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  it was shining upon the silver, it was reflecting resplendent
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  out. And the people there were
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  looking upon Herod as his apparel was shining bright. 22
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  And the people gave a shout, saying It is the voice of a God
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  and not of a man. Beware, friends, beware.
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  Beware of any time that a human being demands to be worshipped
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  as a God or even accepts any amount of worship.
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  And you see it in our culture and you see it in our day.
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  And people are playing games with God and they are thinking
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  that they're going to get away with calling themselves a
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  lowercase G God. And if we will just stay in
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  tune, just keep watching, you're going to see these people
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  upended. And that is a matter of fact.
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  That is not opinion. 23 And immediately the Angel of the
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  Lord struck him, because he did not give God the glory, and he
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  was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost.
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  So again Josephus, the Jewish historian, recounts this story,
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  saying that he had a pain in his stomach, and after dealing with
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  that pain he died. 24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.
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  25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when
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  they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them
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  John, whose surname was Mark. Let's just think about this for
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  a little while. You've got an evil, tyrannical
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  ruler who refuses to give God the glory, and he has done away
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  with you. Have the early church being
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  persecuted and pushed down, and they grow mightily.
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  The way up is down. Stay close to the clouds.
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  Stay close to the ground. You'll be up in the clouds.
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  That is what you need to know, friends, that God's way is not
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  our way, and that the greatest shall be the least, and the
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  least shall be the greatest. I hope you've been blessed by
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  this amazing chapter here. I know I sure have.
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  I'm praying for you. I love you.
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  So does God, so does the Holy Spirit, so does Jesus.
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  Jesus loves you. Let's stay armored up and prayed
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  up today, full of faith, full of the Holy Ghost.
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  We'll see you back here tomorrow.
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  God bless you.