ESCAPE FROM "LOCK-UP"

We referred to this passage recently, but I see another message for us today in this story.

The time of this story is the Passover season, which was precisely when Jesus was crucified.

• Herod saw that he pleased all the jews when he incarcerated James, John's brother, and killed him.
• So Herod saw how he might continue to maintain his position in government by pleasing the people through doing the same thing with Peter.
• Peter arrived in Jerusalem, having been absent, in chapter 11.
• There, he dealt with the issue of gentiles getting saved.
• I think this made the devil angry.
• And the devil inspired Herod to persecute the church.

Herod did this with Peter during PASSOVER.

• All of this was symbolic to the people.
• The jewish feast was the time Herod imprisoned Peter to indicate that the Jewish religion alone would be upheld.
• And after Passover, Herod decided to take Peter from prison and present him to the people for a trial and to kill him as well.

But it was during this time that a miracle occurred.

Peter's imprisonment hindered Peter from doing his ministry for the Lord.

• Tonight let us take this story and put ourselves into it as Peter, because if there is anyone here who is hindered from doing the will of the Lord, it is because you are spiritually imprisoned.
• You may not be physically in a prison cell, like Peter was, but you are imprisoned.
• Whatever LOCKED YOU UP, figuratively speaking, is hindering you from doing your work for God and is therefore become your prison.
• It could be something someone said.
• It could be a tragedy in your life.
• It could be plain old fleshliness you never yet overcame.
• But no matter what it is, it is your prison.
• And you have to be set free so you can get out on the street and do your work for God again!

And Herod put Peter there so he could later take him and kill him.

• The devil wants you to be locked up in this prison.
• And it is only the first step towards actually KILLING your ministry.
• It is his means to an end.

We need to realize that when we get locked up like this, it is the first step to seeing a ministry killed altogether.

So while we are locked up, still holding a ministry deep inside, let us bust out of this prison house by the power of a revelation from God's Word.

The very night Herod chose to take Peter out was already said to be AFTER PASSOVER.

• Now, we know form the story of Jesus, that AFTER PASSOVER Jesus Christ was also set free from a prison house.
• He was locked up in DEATH, the devil's maximum security prison, and He was not on death row in there, he already DIED!
• How much more imprisoned can you get?
• But Jesus resurrected from the dead the third day, after Passover was all finished.

And we can see that as Peter's imprisonment was associated with the TIME Of Christ's imprisonment, your imprisonment is always associated with THE EXPERIENCE OF Jesus' imprisonment.

• And that is a good thing.
• It is because JESUS AROSE, that YOU CAN ARISE, too!

God wants to set you free from your imprisonment.


The key is to connect with God in prayer.

(5)  Peter therefore was kept in the prison: but prayer was made earnestly of the church unto God for him. 

• The church needs to pray when someone gets LOCKED UP.

So the very night came when Herod would take Peter and do his business.

Act 12:6-7 KJVR  And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.  (7)  And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

A LIGHT SHONE int eh room where Peter was.

2Co 4:6 KJVR  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

And this old PRISON HOUSE had THREE COMPARTMENTS.

Act 12:7-10 KJVR  And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.  (8)  And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.  (9)  And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.  (10)  When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.

This is interesting because MAN IS COMPRISED OF THREE PARTS.

1Th 5:23 KJVR  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

SPIRIT, SOUL and BODY.

And when you have a GIFT to do a MINISTRY for God, it is contained within YOUR HUMAN SPIRIT.

• Your SPIRIT is the part of you that God gives power and revelation and ministries to.
• And while everyone can see your body, and can relate to your MIND or SOUL, deep within all of that is your spirit where only GOD can work and deal with you.

But when we get locked up, it is because something happened surrounding and around the SPIRIT of your life.

• A tragedy may have occurred.
• I know people who quite serving God when someone died or was killed by some maniac.
• But it locked them up as far as their relationship to God was concerned.
• THEIR SOULS became a PRISON.

Your soul gets MESSED UP due to such experiences.

• Something does not jive with your thinking, and it is so serious that it affects your relationship with God, and you cannot get past it.
• So it shuts down your spirit, and acts like a prison.
• A thought can lock you up.
• Something someone said.
• The ministry cannot flow out of your spirit through your soul and out your body to do a work for God!
• Instead of God using the emotions of your souls and the will of your soul and your soul's intelligence to do GOD'S WILL, it shuts that ministry in and says, "Forget about you.  This is something that has taken over my life so much that I do not even want to think of letting this ministry get any attention and do what I need to do for God's kingdom."
• And you need a REVELATION FROM GOD to break you out of that prison.

If it is not going to get through your SOUL, forget about the IRON GATE of you flesh.

• Our flesh is bad enough.  Carnal Christians who get locked up all the time are PRIMARILY locked up due to their FLESH.
• All people have a purpose of God in them if they are Christians.
• A ministry.
• But THEIR FLESH and its LUSTS are more of a concern to them than the will of God.

The prison had three sections.


Act 12:(10)  When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.

If you can only get past your thinking that gets messed up and your flesh that is like an iron gate in these times, so far as your ministry is concerned, you will get out into the street where the action is AND DO YOUR MINISTRY.

• The STREET represents activity where you can reach people.
• It may not be a physical street as in a street meeting, but it is the WORLD/

GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND TEACH ALL NATIONS!

But the devil doesn't want that.

• He wants to lock you up from that world, and then finally KILL your ministry so you do not see any souls get set free.

A LIGHT NEEDS TO HIT YOU!

• A revelation!
• God's WORD is the only thing that will get your out of such a mess.
• PRAY and GOD WILL SHINE THROUGH.

A truth will hit you and come alive and will break open your mind and your flesh, and overcome that barrier in YOUR OWN LIFE!

The devil cannot touch us.

• Go so completely set us free from his power that the only way the devil can mess you up is to have you MAKE YOUR OWN SOUL AND FLESH YOUR OWN PRISON.
• If you can get victory over the soul and body, you will never stop.
• The greatest enemy in your own life is YOUR OWN WILL.
• You want t to do THIS or THAT, and NOT God';s will.
• And that WILL is affected when you are hit with something intended by the devil to mess you up.

Do not be ignorant of the devil's devices.

Since this happened at the same time Jesus arose, we need to realize something.

Jesus went into the grave in death FOR US.

• He did it to set us free.
• And He did set us free.
• We're free from all our old sins.
• We free from the power of the devil and made a child of God.
• He made us GOOD ENOUGH For God!
• Sometimes misunderstanding that these things happened are enough to lock up a person forever.
• They never learn from the WORD OF GOD.
• But my message tonight right now could be THE LIGHT of revelation God sent to you TO FREE YOU FROM your own prison house.

Jesus not only died and rose again to defeat the power of death, but since death is the greatest power the devil ever had, and the  Lord conquered him and took the keys of death from the devil, then ANYTHING ELSE THE DEVIL USES can be overcome BY THE SAME RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

Realize that and use the blood of Jesus by saying "Christ died and rose again to conquer every enemy I will ever have."

• And you will realize "I allowed myself to forget that, and got so wrapped up in my problem, that I let that devil imprison me in my own flesh and soul."

"he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly"

• Here we read of BEING RAISED, which is like RESURRECTION.
• Peter had to resurrect his ministry from this place and situation of lock-up.

We  need to get out and do the will of God!

You need to get out into the street and do your thing!

But you need to get used to calling on God to see that happen, rather than moap and moan about it.

When Peter came out he thought it was all a vision.

Act 12:9-11 KJVR  And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.  (10)  When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.  (11)  And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

And what you are going to do when you get out is go to where the people of God are.

Act 12:12 KJVR  And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.

You isolate yourself when you get locked up.

• You stay away.
• YOU NEED TO GET AROUND THE PEOPLE OF GOD WHO PRAY.
• No the ones who backbite and gossip and complain about the pastor.
• THE ONES WHO PRAY!

Now, this is a lesson for Peter and the prayer meeting people.

• Peter did not believe he was actually free!
• He expected something else to occur to free him.
• And it is for this reason so many stay locked up.
• They do not call upon God because deep inside they have the idea they must work it out for themselves.
• NO.
• CALL ON GOD.
• GOD ALREADY WORKED IT OUT!
• THE CROSS AND RESURRECTION ALREADY DID IT FOR YOU!

But watch:

Act 12:13-16 KJVR  And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda.  (14)  And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate.  (15)  And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel.  (16)  But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.

All of this surprised everyone because they never did this before.

• It will be so awesome you will almost think it cannot be true.
• BUT IT IS THAT EASY!
• Only people who never prayed over things like this will be astounded.
• Only people who never received a revelation before will think it is not happening.
• But when they finally realize this occurs when you call on God and get revelation, you will DO IT ALL THE TIME FROM THEN ON!

This will mess the devil up.

He will get out of there..

Act 12:19 KJVR  And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and there abode.


Herod was so embarrassed he killed the prisoners to make it look like they were incompetent, when in reality it scared him to death.

And instead of Peter getting killed, Herod died.