Peter in Prison

Friday:	Peter in Prison
Story Passage:	Acts 12
Other Passages:	Ephesians 6:18
Objective:	Children should learn that God answers prayer.

Introduction: [needed]

[needed]

Story: Peter in Prison

Peter was a disciple of Jesus. After Jesus went back to heaven, Peter was busy telling people about Jesus. He told them they should believe in Jesus. But bad King Herod [show picture] did not believe that Jesus was God's son, so he had Peter put in prison (jail) [show visual]. Peter hadn't done anything wrong. He was just telling people about Jesus.

The King did not want Peter to get away, so he had soldiers guarding him. There were 16 of them! Do you think Peter could get away from 16 soldiers? Things did not look good for Peter. A lot of his Christian friends got together and prayed [show visual]. One night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers [re-show visual]. He was chained to them. And the other soldiers were guarding the doors. While Peter was sleeping, suddenly an angel of the Lord came. A bright light shone from the angel. The angel tapped Peter on the side and told him to wake up. Peter woke up. The chains fell off his wrists [show visual]. Put on your shoes and your coat and follow me, the angel told Peter. So Peter did. But Peter didn't know it was really happening. He thought he was dreaming! They walked right past the guards and when they came to a big gate, it opened all by itself. When they had walked about a block down the street, the angel suddenly disappeared. That is when Peter realized that it wasn't a dream. It was really happening! He hurried to the house of Mary, the mother of John-Mark [re-show visual]. The Christians were there praying for Peter. When Peter [show visual] knocked on the door, a girl named Rhoda came to answer it. When she heard Peter's voice, she knew who it was. She got so excited she didn't even open the door. She ran back to the others [show visual] and said, Peter's at the door! But they didn't believe her. You must be crazy, they said. But Peter kept knocking and they went to see and it was him. They were so surprised that he had escaped from the prison. They got very excited. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet. He told them how God had sent an angel to get him out. He told them to tell all their Christian friends. Then he left for a safer place. God had answered their prayers.

Application: Prayer

When we pray, God answers us. He doesn't always say Yes. He doesn't always give us what we want. But when he does, we shouldn't be surprised. God loves us and is very powerful, and he can give us what we need.

Copyright © 2004—2007, Jill Eady and the Galion Grace Brethren Church. See licensing for information about rights and permissions. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.