A PRAYING CHURCH

A Praying Church

A Praying Church

Christianity was not formed easily; the first Christians had to face a lot of hardship and torture in order to build this religion that is one of the largest in the world. It is because of Gods help and compassion that we are now living a peaceful life compared to Christians at that time. In this sermon we will study the effects of prayers as mention in Acts chapter 12.

The Acts of the Apostles chapter 12 records King Herod's efforts to torture the Catholic Church in Jerusalem. After killing James the brother of John, he arrested and imprisoned Peter so that he could bring him in front of everyone once the Passover had finished. He did this because everyone was pleased when he beheaded James and now it was time for Peter to suffer the same fate. However, his plans were not successful because an Angel of the Lord visited Peter and released him without the guards coming to know about it.

The early Christians had to face a lot of hardship and were subjected to persecution and torture. Those who converted their faith to follow the teachings of Christ had to face harsh punishments. Soon they learnt that in order to survive they needed to put their faith in God and strive together for the cause of their faith. The story in Acts (12:1-19) involves a miraculous escape as well as a significant indication of what can happen if the community prays.

During the years after the resurrection of Christ, several people from all walks of life started converting to Christianity. This did not please the Romans, who set out to eliminate them. Christians all over were subjected to torture and massacre and their houses were burnt down. However, this did not stop them from accepting the religion of Christianity. Although they feared for their lives, they used to spend time in hiding since they knew that the Romans and Jews would eventually kill them.

Throughout the study of acts, it can be seen that the Catholic Church is growing and not only were a lot of Jews being converted, but people from other faiths also openly accepted Jesus Christ. By this time the church was getting directly involved in Gentile evangelism. The first such ministry was set up by Peter and soon Greek preachers joined him to spread the word of God. Saul and Barnabas were two people who contributed a lot to the spread of Christianity during that time. As the church grew, the persecution also grew. Innocent people were killed and tortured for changing their faith.

This sermon will cover three parts: the first will be about King Herod's plan to please his people by killing Christians. The second is the prayers that were offered to God for Peter's return, and finally we will see how people praised God when He answered their prayers.

King Herod of that time was the first member of the Herod family who started the prosecution because his people loved ...