Get Out Of Jail Free

Get Out of Jail Free

Acts 12:6-17

My family loves to play Monopoly

We have the NASCAR addition

Where instead of buying properties, you purchase drivers

Instead of New York Avenue, Reading Railroad and Water Works

You have Mark Martin, Grandstands and Pit Pass

You have champion drivers like Matt Kennseth to drivers to never win a race like Dave Blaney

And the most coveted properties on the board aren’t Boardwalk and Park Place

They are Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart

So its safe to say, the only tome I can pull for Gordon and Stewart is when I am playing Monopoly

Did you know that the original Monopoly game was actually based on streets and avenues in Atlantic City NJ?

Why Atlantic City? I don’t know

Known as one of the greatest Casino gambling cities in the world

Preciously why I’ve never been there.

But one of the spots you try your best to avoid is the Go to Jail, right there in the corner

Once you land there, you must go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200

But everyone else playing loves to see you land on that corner

You can be stuck there for up to 3 turns

In our passage this morning we read of a time that Peter was sent directly to jail

And we don’t know how long he stayed

Probably at lest a couple of days

But we don’t know

But in the game of Monopoly one of the ways you can get out of jail is by obtaining a “Get out of jail free” card

And Peter, unknowingly possessed one of these cards

Because he got out of jail free and clear

READ ACTS 12:6-10

Go Directly to Jail (4-6)

This was an amazing period of time for the early church

These events occurred about 10 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection

The church was spreading like wild fire

And part of that was due to persecution from people like King Herod

King Herod related fairly well to his Jewish subjects

Because he had a Jewish grandmother of royal blood

He was grudgingly accepted by the people

An unexpected opportunity for Herod to gain new favor with the Jews was created by the Christian movement

Gentiles began to be accepted into the church in large numbers

Many Jews had been tolerating this new movement as a sect within Judaism

But is rapid growth had alarmed them

Persecution of Christians was revived and even the apostles were not spared

In the beginning of chapter 12 we read how King Herod had James, one of the 12 apostles, beheaded

The first apostle to be martyred

This pleased the Jews

So Herod thought, I’ll get Peter too

So Peter was arrested and put in prison

This was all part of what Jesus had warned the apostles about

Jesus said to be part of His kingdom would mean suffering with Jesus

In Mark 10:38-39 Jesus said they would drink from the same cup

James, John, Peter and others would indeed suffer

Peter at this time was no doubt on cloud 9

Spreading the Gospel

Seeing souls saved by the thousands

God was truly blessing His followers

Peter was working his way around that Monopoly board

He had just purchased Boardwalk and Park Place

And on his next turn he was going to place a few houses on them to increase his potential earnings

But as his piece sat on B & O Railroad he rolled a 5

Landing him on Go to Jail

Herod threw him in prison

He didn’t just lock him up

He placed a guard of 16 men over him

At all times two guards were chained to him in his cell

While two others stood guard outside the cell door

These soldiers would rotate out among the 16 in order to stay fresh and alert

There was no escaping, or so they thought

One lesson we can learn from this is even amongst the good times

When everything is going great

God is blessing your life, you are studying His word

Telling people about Jesus

You are seeing souls saved

Right in the midst of doing God’s work

Trials can come

God allows something awful to come into your life

You may not be thrown in prison

But you still experience pain

Unexplainable pain, undeserving pain

But a trial just the same

Time and time again in the scriptures we see great men of God that after great times of spiritual revival or spiritual events

These men are tested

Noah after the flood

Elijah after the defeat of the prophets of Baal

Jonah after preaching in Nineveh

A spiritual high is often followed by a spiritual test

And Peter was being tested. Are you being tested?

Are there events in your life that seem impossible?