Mark Your Calendar
- This Sunday AM, celebrate Lord’s Supper
- This Sunday 5 PM, Teen Meeting
- July 21st at 5pm – Ice Cream Social & Singspiration
Politics and Scripture
This week Pastor Tom starts a two-week series titled Politics and Scripture. Join us Sunday morning at 11am as Pastor Tom shares his insights and helps us approach politics through the lens of scripture. Don’t forget to invite your friends and family to join us in this short series!
From the Desk of Pastor Tom
The events in chapter 12 will be the last exclusive mention of the Jerusalem church. Peter and the apostles fade into the background and each mention later in Acts is connected with Paul’s gentile ministry. This fits perfectly with the outline of the book we found in Acts 1:8. Here in Acts 12 we find the conclusion to the Jerusalem-Judea-Samaria sections as the book prepares to transition to Paul’s missionary journeys to “the uttermost part of the earth.”
The early days of the church were not characterized by the ease and cultural acceptance we have often become accustomed to in our western world. I’m sure you have picked up on this pattern as we have journeyed through the book of Acts. The opposition to Christ, His Gospel, and His followers was been persistent and intense. Yet the Good News continues to spread and lives continue to be transformed as God keeps His promises. The Gospel cannot be stopped and the beauty of Christ outshines the momentary affliction of any foe.
Acts 12 begins with the Apostle James death. Peter is also imprisoned but the timing of his capture during the feast of unleavened bread gave him a reprieve on his death. Locked within Herod’s prison and with 16 rotating guards watching over him, there was little practical reason he should survive. So Peter was kept in prison and his fellow Christians prayed. What happens next is a spectacle of the glorious power of God.
So we have seen God answer prayers and we will soon see God’s answer of the prayer in chapter 12. But what about when you pray and you don’t get the answer you wanted? What about James? He died, does this mean the church didn’t pray for him? Or does it mean God didn’t answer those prayers? This is an opportunity to rest in the absolute wisdom, love, and control of God.
The mental struggle to reconcile the goodness and sovereignty of God with pain in this world is addressed repeatedly in Scripture. God does not ignore our questions, he answers them. John 9 helps us as we consider how God works and why sometimes the answer is different than what we wanted. In the first few verses of John 9 we are introduced to a man who had been blind since birth. Undoubtedly, this man and those closest to him would have spent much time praying for God to heal him of this blindness. However, they would not understand until this moment that God had a specific plan in place.
What was God doing through this situation? How does the man respond in verse 38?
God is in control and His loving, wise control means we can trust Him. Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us God’s view and God’s ways are beyond our understanding. Do you remember what happened after Stephen’s death in Acts 7-8? We must not demand that God can only write the story the way we envision or imagine. He is working far beyond what we can see.
God commands us not to be anxious and bring our requests to Him. What requests do you need to take to the Lord right now in prayer?
