During the last few months I’ve been going to church, to a church that never closed. I go because I need to be in the house of God and worship. I go because there I experience the presence of Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus. I go because God commands us to come together for prayer and worship. (Hebrews 10:25)
The Church body meeting together, no matter where it happens is important.
The Word says that where two or more are gathered, Lord Jesus is present. (Matthew 18:20)
Together we have a spiritual unity, that is spiritual power and it moves God’s hand. (1Corinthians 5:4)
In Acts 12:1-19, Peter has been placed in prison by King Herod, who was rounding up church members and mistreating them. He did this to please the enemies of the church. At that time the church’s adversaries were the Jews, unbelievers in Jesus.
Four squads of soldiers guarded Peter.
But prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. The church knew the ways of Herod. He had just put James the brother of John to death with a sword. They did not wish to lose a second apostle.
God’s hand moved.
That night Peter slept between two soldiers, bound with two chains and two more guarded the front door of the prison. An angel of the Lord appeared and light shone in the cell. He struck Peter’s side to wake him. He gave directions to Peter and led the way out. Peter thought it was all a vision. They passed the guards, but no one saw them. The iron gate to the prison opened by itself, and they exited onto a street. Then the angel left.
Peter continued to the house of Mary, the mother of Mark, where many were gathered and praying.
Herod conducted a search for Peter, but never located him. The guards Peter left behind were ordered to be led away to execution. Herod’s way once again.
Beneath Saint Gabriel’s Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel, are caves where the the public does not enter. My father-in-law, a local, knew about them and took me to the backyard area of the church. There priests were working outside. One took us on a subterranean tour. Below, I saw a small carved altar in the rock, behind the cobwebs, where the first believers met during times of persecution.
This is a way of the true church—never forsaking the gathering together.
Read More:
THE OUTER DARKNESS: FOR JEWS WHO WILL NOT BELIEVE
(C) 2020 Kelly Jadon