Acts 12:5-10
5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were [b]keeping the prison.
7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands.
8 Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.”
9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
Some of us today have chains that bind us from receiving what God has for us or that keep us from the joy that God gives.
We are going to preach on 3 things that can add links to our chains.
- Unforgiveness
It seems that one thing that we have a hard time doing is forgiving someone else for something they did in the past. Un-forgiveness will build up in your life and destroy you from ever being happy. It steals our joy.
We will hold on to thing that we should release and give it to God.
She told her that I did not know how to raise my kids.
He walked out on me and my kids.
He took my car and knew that I didn't have a ride.
Well, he has a girlfriend already and we have only been apart for a year.
GIVE IT TO GOD
Colossians 3:13
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
Mark 11:25-26
25 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that you Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.
- Not Loving Others
Sometimes adding to the link in our chain is something like someone in the church that bothers us. Maybe it is someone that talks too much or is constantly doing something that we don't like.
We seem to think that everything should evolve around us. They didn't ask me to pick up the offering.
John 15:12
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
We must have a love for one another even though someone may get on our nerves or bothers us in the way they act or the things they do.
- Addictions
Being addicted to alcohol, drugs, smoking, prescription meds, or our phones and other electronic equipment.
We must understand that these kinds of addiction can add multiple links in our chains. We cannot be happy with addictions and normally we will we could quit those addiction.
While Peter was in prison he was bound by the chains of man. However, what is bound by man can be freed by God. God knew that Peter was sitting in that prison and He knew that it was time to let Peter go.
Many of you are bound by the chains that I have mentioned and more. Satan is adding links to your chains and he is binding you to Hell. It is time that those chains are broken and you are once again released to the joy of Christ.
When we are bound by the chains of the Devil the first thing we must do is release our chains. We cannot expect God to take care of a problem if we are not first released of our chains.
We want God to fix the other person and yet we are still wrapped up in our own chains. If we are hurt, upset, bitter, jealous, are mad with someone we cannot expect God to release them without us first being released.
Many time we are the problem because we cannot love everyone as Christ loves us.
We can break those chains by coming to God and giving these problems to Him. Quit trying to add links to your chains and start breaking those chains that bind us.