Acts chapter 12

vs 21

Oooh, look at Mr Important!

vs 22

Uh oh. Got to be careful when people start saying things like that. God might take umbrage.

vs 23

Umbrage.

Who says there's no striking down deaths by God in the NT?

vs 24

Here is another one of those summary verses. Placed here, it provides a good foil to the recent stories about persecution - those that were persecuting the Christians, like Herod, died. But the church, despite its sufferings, continued in its growth.

vs 25

Remember, they were going on a trip to take some mercy mission money to Jerusalem. And now, they're taking John Mark - the same guy who Peter visited when he got out of jail.