Beecher Island Sunday School Sermon
Acts 12: 1-17
by Hunter Irvine
= Acts 12: 1-17 reading by Trevor
+ Open in prayer
+ Peter is led out of prison by an angel of the Lord. Chains fell, the guards remained sound asleep, and gates opened.
It was a miraculous rescue. Otherwise Herod probably would have had Peter killed just as he had the apostle James killed.
Peter goes straight to the home of John Mark’s mom.
Peter is still in danger!
Peter knocks!
A young lady named Rhoda goes to answer the door. Rhoda possibly came from a broken family or maybe her father died, thus the reason she was working as a servant there in Jerusalem. She probably did much cooking and cleaning.
Rhoda is a gutsy young lady, because there so late at night, it could have been soldiers at the door.
At night a person surely would only open the door if he or she recognized the person’s voice. There was no porch light and no street lights. Houses usually did not have low windows to be able to look out to see who was there. Windows, which were open spaces normally to allow ventilation, were often high for safety reasons, and to avoid the smell of garbage in the street. No kidding, in a Humanities class I had at Virginia Tech, one time the professor talked for a long time during a class on the topic of the placement of windows in ancient houses. How wild I remember that all these years later.
So Rhoda would have said something like, “Who is it?” She recognized Peter’s voice. But instead of opening the door, she is so “overjoyed,” she runs back to the gathering room and tells everyone Peter is at the door.
Reading this after the fact, it is funny. Of course at the time Peter probably did not think it was funny.
I love Rhoda. She is so enthusiastic she wants to tell everyone!
They state she is crazy. Yet she keeps insisting!
Meanwhile Peter keeps banging on the door, and they finally let him in.
~ Rhoda is overjoyed that Peter is alive!
+ The message for us: We can be overjoyed that Jesus is alive!
God did some incredible miracles during the early period of Christianity to preserve Gospel. This miracle was one of them.
However, Peter still physically died later on. Around 64 A.D., Peter was ministering in Rome at the time of the evil emperor Nero. Peter was murdered along with his wife. One Christian stated Peter was crucified upside down, since Peter requested to be crucified this way since he did not want to be crucified in the same position as Jesus.
Yet Jesus was resurrected!!
And all those who believe in Jesus are resurrected by Jesus!
+ A week ago, I was driving to the store, and I was paying attention driving because a number of people were driving terribly. A song came on the radio that I had not heard in a long time. It was “Walking on Sunshine,” by Katrina and the Waves. I had not heard that song in a long time. Every time I hear that song, I think of my friend Kathy Kellogg.
Kathy Kellogg was a woman who was a light for Christ for me when I was a new Christian. Before I turned to Christ, I started attending the singles group of a church in Virginia. Kathy was the woman who worked at the welcoming table where they gave out name tags. After I became a Christian, I became friends with Kathy.
Kathy studied at BIOLA University, and after graduating she got a job working for a senator in Washington, D.C. She led a Bible study on Capitol Hill on Tuesdays during the lunch hour. In that Bible study she brought together people who worked on the Hill who were both die-hard Democrats and die-hard Republicans.
Kathy and I even went on a friend’s date once to a baseball game. She was one of the most fun people I have ever been around. She loved to dance. She danced at the baseball game. She even danced by the car when we were at a long stoplight. She was utterly full of life.
One day I was sitting at my desk at work and I received a call from another friend from our single’s group. He told me a plane had crashed in Croatia, and that Kathy was on that plane. Turned out, everyone on the plane died. Kathy was only 29 years old.
It was horrible!
I mourned for Kathy. Yet as a young Christian, I did not slip into depression or despair. Instead, I began to realize Kathy Kellogg is dancing in heaven. I became convicted Kathy is overjoyed now in heaven.
Pain, suffering, and death are a consistent reality in this world. After all of the Christian education I have had over 28 years, I still do not know why God allows so much suffering in this world. Yet for believers in Jesus, one day we will be freed of pain and death, in heaven, thanks to Jesus.
Jesus was the atonement for sins. He died as the substitute for the consequence of sins.
Jesus was resurrected. He now reigns in heaven.
Because of Jesus, we can have joy!
+ Invitation If you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then you will have eternal life with him. Right here today, you can open your heart, and receive Jesus!
