Live Free with Josh Howerton - Rescued by God’s Power // Acts 12:1-17

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

What happens when we live for the approval of others? Today, we dive into Acts 12, where King Herod’s hunger for public approval leads him to do unspeakable things—even executing James and imprisoning Peter. But as Peter sits on death row, the early church prays earnestly, and God intervenes in a miraculous jailbreak, showing that His power goes beyond any earthly authority. This story is a reminder that we’re meant to live for God’s approval, not human applause, finding our worth and security in His love alone. Let’s take encouragement from Peter’s faith and God’s unstoppable power today.   For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what is up, everybody? Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. I'm Mike Bro.

And today is a special day for our family. Our daughter and our two granddaughters were all born on this day. And the oldest granddaughter is graduating today with her degree in teaching. So if y'all are listening today, we love you, and we're so grateful for you. And that goes for all of you, too. We're so grateful for the way you want to pursue a relationship with God and that you would give us just a few minutes here each day on this podcast. We've been going through the book of Acts

in the New Testament section of the Bible, and we are in chapter 12. And chapter 12 opens by talking about King Herod, the king of the Jews, flexing his power. This would be Herod Agrippa, the grandson of the Heret who was called Herod the Great, who killed all the baby boys

of Israel because he was threatened by the birth of Jesus. So now this Herod continues the family tradition of egotomania and cruelty and abuse. Now at the very end of the chapter, you'll read, God takes him out. And it's a very gross description. You can read it for yourself. And God doesn't deal with him because of his persecution of the church, but because he basked in the praises of the people who were claiming that Herod was a God.

And God says, okay, that's enough. But here's how the chapter opens. It says this. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. Now, James was one of the original 12. He and his brother John were former fishermen with their dad named Zebedee, and we don't know why, but Herod saw James as a threat, and he has him killed. Verse 3, when he saw that this met with approval among the Jews,

now when you see the title of the Jews, not talking about the common people, but the high-powered corrupted Jewish leaders, when he saw that this met with approval among the Jewish leaders, He proceeded to seize Peter also. You know, being addicted to approval is a terrible way to live your life. I've been there. Being consumed with how many followers you have and how many likes your posts received and who liked it and who shared it and being not just encouraged but motivated by applause

to base your worth on what people are saying about you and you're always checking opinion polls and all that stuff just jacks with your identity. It will lead you to some really unhealthy thinking. And we can start to do whatever we have to do to get people to affirm us, applaud us, accept us, include us, admire us, respect us, and like us. It reminds me of a quote by the enormously insecure Michael Scott of office fame. He said, do I need to be liked? Absolutely not. I like to be liked.

I enjoy being liked. I have to be liked. But it's not like this compulsive need to be liked, like my need to be praised. I mean, there's a little of Michael Scott and all of us, right? And when we head down that road, we often end up striving and people-pleasing and approval-seeking. And we fail to put up any boundaries. We will compromise our beliefs. We'll stay in toxic relationships and we'll start powering up or cowering down and enabling and exhibiting codependent behavior.

And many of us have lived this. And we know that it's an exhausting, anxious, afraid, uneasy, shaky, sometimes depressing. way to live your life. I like how La Cray puts it. If you live for people's acceptance, you will die from their rejection. Proverbs 2925 says it like this. The fear of human opinion disables.

Trusting in God protects you from that. Another version calls people pleasing a snare or a trap. And once you're in it, man, it's hard to break out of it. And Herit was living right in the middle of it. So after the execution of James brought him applause, it's like, well, if you like that, watch this. I'm going after the leader now, the main spokesperson. I'm going to arrest Peter.

So he has Peter arrested. And he puts him in prison where he is guarded by 16 soldiers, a little overkill, you think? But he wants maximum security on Peter because the plan is to bring him out for a public trial when the largest crowd of the year would be in town during the Passover, the same time frame that Jesus was tried. and execute it. Let me just read, starting with verse 5. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was

earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring in the trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentry stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared in a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said. And the chains fell off Peter's front. wrist. The angel said to him, put on your clothes and your sandals. And Peter did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. He thought it was dreaming a dream. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city.

It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish leaders were hoping would happen.

So Peter, he heads over to Mary's house. We heard about a young guy named John Mark a couple episodes ago. This is John Mark's mom, Mary. And lots of people have come over to her house that pray for Peter. I mean, can you imagine a fear? I mean, first of all, there was Stephen. He gets stoned.

to death. And then James, one of their leaders, gets executed with a sword, and now Peter's arrested. And he's awaiting execution. What's going to happen to the church? What's going to happen to them? Are they next? So they're huddled up in this house, and they're praying. And Peter comes and knocks on the door. And one of the servants, a girl named Rhoda, goes and ask, who is it? He says, this is Peter. Well, she can't believe it. And she runs back in without opening the door. She yells to everybody. Hey, hey, sorry to interrupt the prayer session, but Peter, Peter's at the door. And they say, you're crazy. Peter's in prison. He's chained up. He's got 16 soldiers guarding him.

But Peter keeps on knocking. So they go to open the door. And it's Peter. And they are blown away. God had answered their prayers and they are overjoyed. Well, Peter motions for them to calm down, tells him how God broke him out of shawlshank. Hang on, that's a different story. Peter tells them, make sure you tell other people about this and he quietly slips away.

Well, the next morning, panic and pandemonium breaks out at the prison because Peter, he's gone. He's vanished. He's somehow escaped. Have you ever worked for a boss who had a hands-on leadership style? Well, Herod has a heads-off kind of leadership style. And since this is a bad reflection on his leadership, Herod has all these incompetent guards executed. I told you approval-seeking would lead you to do some horrible things. And like I said, it would end

Inherit's own self-destruction. And you know, by all appearances, he was an evil man. And no doubt he really was. But I also see this man as someone with deep insecurity. Because that's how it starts. Most people who seem to have huge egos

are actually very insecure people. And that insecurity, that's what drives them. And that's what eventually leads them to do some horrible, unspeakable things. Don't let that be you. Don't let the approval and applause of other people drive your life. You're approved and applauded by heaven. You are accepted by the one who matters most.

Take those insecurities to him, and let him speak truth to your soul, that you are cherished, you are chosen, priceless, treasured, gifted, and deeply, deeply loved. I pray that you will live out of that certainty today. And I'm praying that you will feel God's pleasure and approval because it's enough. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Have a great day.

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