where they fulfilled their ministry and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Thank you, and you may be seated, Pastor. I've got a pattern today. I played an offertory that I don't think anybody knew. And we have sung it rarely, but the bishop loved this hymn, one of his favorites. And listen to the words of this offertory. I have found a friend who is such a friend. He loved me ere I knew him. He drew me with the cords of love, and thus he bound me to him. And round my heart still closely twine those ties which not can sever, for I am his and he is mine, forever and forever. The second verse says, I found a friend, oh such a friend, he bled and died to save me. And not alone the gift of life, but his own self he gave me. Not that I have mine own I call. I'm sorry, not that I have mine own I call. I hold it for the giver. Wow. I hold it for the giver. My heart, my strength, my life, my all are his and his forever. I mean, there's two more verses there. What a beautiful song. I love that hymn. And we ought to learn it more and sing it more. And what a great song that is. Have you found that friend? Yeah. Amen. Amen. All right. We're going to go to the Lord in prayer here. And in just a minute, we'll pray. In just a minute, I'll close this out. So let's pray. Father, we thank you tonight for the Lord Jesus. We thank you that when Jesus said, I no longer call you servants, but friends, if you do whatsoever, I've commanded you. And there's another level and a depth of relationship that's available to us by the Lord Jesus to those that desire and seek to live a life Lord, a life of trust and faith and obedience and a life that will just grow deeper and deeper. And Lord, I want that. And I know it will never come to the end of it in this life. And there's always more depth that can come and that is available. And I just pray tonight, Father, that even the word tonight would help us and just ignite in us a desire and a longing in us to draw closer to you. And Father, would you do that work in our heart, and if there is anything in our lives that might be hindering that relationship, that your Holy Spirit would reveal that tonight to us, that we could get those things right and remove those things that might be obstacles to that relationship, Lord, that you desire with us, and that really in the depths of our own soul that we desire as well. Father, I pray you'd bless your word tonight as it goes out and give me the ability to teach and preach it tonight. Pray your Holy Spirit would just do his work with the word tonight and every need, every spiritual need tonight would be supplied in your word and we'll thank you for that. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen. You stand one more time and turn in your little hymnals to page 69. Page 69. How I praise thee, O great, pure that I love thee. Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me, that I might Thy channel be. Channels only, blessed Master, but with all Thy wondrous power. Flowing through us, down into us, every day and every hour. Empty that Thou shouldest fill me, a clean vessel in my head. With Thou permit as I crave it graciously, with each command. Channels only, blessed master, but with all thy wondrous power. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Every day and When do you think Thy power to save me, Setting free from self and sin? Thou who knowest to possess me, In Thy fullness, Lord, to God, Shadows only, blessed Master, When with all Thy wondrous power flowing through us, Thou canst use us every day and every hour. Jesus filled us with Thy Spirit, hearts that full surrender know, that the streams of living waters from our inner man may flow. Channels only, blessed master, love with all thy wondrous power. Full through us, thou canst use us every day and every hour. You may be seated, pastor. It's really what it comes down for us, isn't it? Just channels. Conduit. Conduit for the power of God. And you know what happens to conduit? Sometimes it gets clogged up. Sometimes filters, you might have even a gas line is conduit for fuel, right? On your vehicle, you get metal lines and they come into a rubber line sometimes. And you know, you can have all of the fuel you need in the tank. And a clogged up filter. And the engine's never going to run. And all the power is available. It's all there, but it's never going to get up to the engine to actually accomplish anything because the filter's clogged up. And that's what happens to us, doesn't it? Sometimes our lives get a little clogged up with dirt and sin and gunk. And all the powers there. I knew a guy, I count him a friend of different persuasion. And he was going on about needing more of the Holy Spirit. And I said, well, how do you get more of a person? He's a person. You either get him or you don't. Right? The problem is not how much of him we have, I think it was Spurgeon said, it's how much of us he has. Yeah, and that is the issue in our life. And we need to keep clean filters, amen. And keep clean filters and short accounts with God. And just keep on them. Don't let those things build up. You know out in Oklahoma, Oklahoma boasts one of the oldest rattlesnake hunts in America since 1939. They have held this annual rattlesnake hunt. How many would go do that? Brother Martin would, Alan, you'd go do it, yeah. I worked at a Walmart super center about 1994, I think it was, on Kansas Expressway when I was in college, and this guy in the back of his truck, he had a sack in the back of his little S10 pickup truck, and he said, pick that up, and I picked it up, and man, it was heavy, and started wiggling, and all of a sudden, you heard, all these little rattles going. I was like, whoa, put it down, yeah. and he had just got back from Oklahoma for the rattlesnake hunt. And he had quite a few rattlesnakes in there. And late April, while the snakes are still hibernating, they say up to 25,000 people will descend on this little Oklahoma town to hunt rattlesnakes. And just at the end of that time, they're still a little bit cold. They're not moving as fast as they would be in May and June. And so they come in this time here in late April, And you know, there's always this type of a decorum. Is that the right word to use? There's a decorum that these rattlesnakes have when they are still asleep in their hole, right? But I tell you what, the minute you pull them out of that hole, all decorum's gone. What are they doing? They're hissing and biting and rattling. They're not happy, right? And I don't know if you'd be real happy either if you were sleeping just fine in your bed and somebody grabbed you by the ankle and jerked you out of bed, right? You might start hissing too. Amen. But you know, This actually also, this really happens naturally as well when a snake comes out of hibernation during the winter months. You can be walking around just fine. The only thing I like about winter, especially living out in the woods, is I don't really worry too much. Even pulling a log over or bringing up a, maybe a log's been down for a while and you're dragging that thing out of the woods. or something, or just cleaning up and making brush piles. I don't think about snakes in the wintertime. I really don't. I've uncovered a few, and they just sit there, and you kind of pick them up, and you put them out of their misery and my misery real fast, and they don't even know. They're already, I mean, they're so cold, they already have anesthesia. They don't even know what hit them. And so, and then, you know, then they wake up with Satan. So, it's just how it goes. But, you know, you can walk out, but I tell you what, you start warming up, you know you do, start watching where you walk. Yeah, start watching for, especially for us, copperheads. We got some rattlesnakes. I've never seen one on our place. I don't think I've ever seen a rattlesnake in the state of Missouri. I know many have, especially over by Busick State Park and that area. But I've not seen one. Copperheads is about it. And maybe a water moccasin or two down at Jenkins on the creek. But not many, not many of those. But boy, I tell you, it warms up. They're moving, right? And they're moving around. And if you're not careful, you're going to get bit. You know what? I kind of think it's a pretty good analogy of where we're living today. I really do. I think, you know, just look at our government. Snakes, right? Yeah. You poke Washington, D.C., and that rattlesnake nest, it's just, man, they're going. The rattles are going. They're hissing. They're biting. They're doing all sorts of stuff. They're striking. I mean, just look at the political scene of just this last election that just came up. I mean, think about the guy who got shot at twice. Shot at twice. Why? He was poking the rattlesnake's nest. Yeah, he's called them out a bunch of liars and a bunch of, you know, a bunch of crooks and a bunch of this and that. Was he wrong? He was not wrong. Well, that's why they're striking, because he was right, right? You know, absolutely. And when you start throwing rocks or start pulling on them and exposing them, pulling them out of their dens of Washington, D.C. and those little offices they hide in, you start calling them out for what they are, I tell you what, any sense of decorum is gone. They're on the, they might be on the Senate floor and they might have all sorts of rules of decorum, right? But boy, I tell you what, you go after them and all of that's gone. They start showing their fangs and people start getting bit by them. The venom, I'm telling you, it's just poison in the country. It really is. And we could spend a lot of time talking about that tonight. But, you know, really, this is normal in every facet of society when you have issues of right and wrong. Yeah, it is. You know, years ago, a lot of sin and debauchery in our nation hibernated. It was in the closet. It didn't come out, but the only time you saw much of it was when it was dragged out of the den when it was exposed and then it was killed, not literally, but it was just exposed. Do you know the old preacher down in Fort Worth, Texas was, oh my goodness, I hate when I go blank like this. It was, I've got his books. goodness brother help me out here Fort Worth oh well long dead and gone long dead and gone and anyway shot the guy in his office you know I'm talking about head of college Fort Worth Baptist Temple Baptist College Fort Worth I'll think about it here in a minute. It's such a common name, I cannot believe I've done this. J. Frank Norris, J. Frank Norris, down in Fort Worth, Texas, early 1920s, 1930s. Fort Worth, Texas, you gotta realize in the 20s, that was a rough place. That was a cowboy town. It was rough, and he was rough. They called him one of the best dressed preachers in Texas. Boy, he could dress well, and brilliant. He never preached with a note. He was absolutely brilliant. And his writings that you should find, if you ever find his lectures on Daniel and prophecy and Isaiah, some of the best you'll ever find. Brilliant. Traveled the world, met with most presidents of his day. They would have him come in. But man, he was tough. And you know what he would do? He'd take out one-page ads in the newspaper and say, come Sunday, Fort Worth Baptist Temple, and find out what Alderman so-and-so has been doing. Man, they'd pack out with about 5,000 people in that place. You know what he'd say? You know what would happen? A lot of those guys in government in Fort Worth, they'd start confessing sin. before Sunday ever came around. I'm telling you, go read the history, it's incredible. And that's what used to happen, you know? It was kept in the dens, it was hibernated, and sometimes some preacher just called them out on it. And boy, you know what? They started getting nervous. And sometimes, nowadays, they just bite at you and strike at you, but boy, then they would... it would take care of it. It would clean up the city and clean up the town, clean up the government and things like that. But today sin and filth has been allowed to come out of hibernation and now if you try to navigate life We're kind of cautious when you walk around, aren't you? I mean, it's like springtime, April and May and June, July, and all through the summer, walking through the woods here, you're cautious. And now we're living in a society like this. You're cautious where you walk. You gotta watch out where you're going. You gotta watch out who you listen to. You gotta watch out the information you're taking in. You gotta watch out you know, online what you respond to somebody or say or whatever else or what you even read and it's quite a time that we're living in today and I think some of the biggest and most dangerous snake today isn't the television anymore. The Internet's killing us, man. I'm serious, it is killing us. It's killing us. I don't know anybody who hasn't been bit by the Internet. Whether it's just... whether it's just a colossal waste of time, whether it's feeding your mind with fears and all of these things, and just the filth of the world, whether it's pornography, whatever you wanna put the list on it, I'm telling you, it is the most dangerous, venomous snake we have in our society. And I'm gonna tell you this, it's the worst we've ever, ever had. Why? Because it reprograms the brain. We've known this for years. My wife and I have never owned a television in our married life. And her, even before we ever met or got married, even from a high school, they didn't have one. But we know this. When you watch television, your brain goes into a hypnotic state. We've known this. And it's just garbage in, garbage in, right? And you'll watch a kid. You put him down in front of it, you'll be like, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy! You know, and they're like, oh, they never hear you. Why? Because the brainwaves, they're being hypnotized, right? And we've known that was bad enough. Oh, my goodness. Internet? Dopamine highs and lows? Go study what these things do to your brain, what they do with the dopamines and the addictions and the coming down off the dopamine highs and the chemicals in your brain. I'm just, I'm going on a little bit of a tangent here, I know, but man, we're being killed by this stuff and it's all around us, it really is. And we're just living in a real, real dangerous time. Kids are getting used to the venom of the internet. Nothing shocks, there's nothing that shocks the senses anymore. It's just nothing. When the Columbine shooting happened, it shocked the nation. People were dumbfounded, just in almost a silent shock that some kids would go onto a school campus and just start killing people. You know, now it makes the news for what? Today? And whatever political agenda that might help, it might stay longer on a different network, but they don't care. It's so commonplace. And so, you know, it just really makes this a dangerous time to live. It's a dangerous time to raise children. I tell you what, when our kids were young, we didn't have internet. I mean, you're like, well, duh, you didn't have to. I mean, but still, the internet wasn't even hardly a thing. I've learned later it was, we just didn't know. I mean, it was out there, but we didn't have it. And it was a lot, like I'm telling you, it was easier. It really was. Some of you raised your kids before internet, it was much easier. And you look at what they have to, all the things they got to watch today, and you kind of feel bad for the parents today. And because it's not as easy just to shut it off. I mean, it's so woven into the fabric of our life and our work and everything else, you almost can't exist without it. which is you know I mean it's going to come this way it always was because I mean eventually the Word of God is true and when Jesus comes every eye will look upon Him. How are they going to do that? Well, they are going to do this. What's going on? What on earth? Jesus is coming, right? The two witnesses that lay dead in the streets for three days and it says the whole world will look on them, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the BBC, wherever you get your news, they will be watching them. Yeah, I mean this prophecy, we're living in prophecies, it's incredible. It really is. But man, the venom is bad. It really is. And so, it really makes it kind of a dangerous time that we're living in right now. Dangerous time to preach the gospel in most of the world. We still have it pretty good here, right? We don't know the persecution, but it really is. I do want to say this with all of the bad news, right? Now everybody's like, well, happy new year. This is great, right? Amen. Listen, although this might be more new for America, this is not new for the majority of church history. perilous times. I think the Apostle Paul told Timothy, right? We'll look at this a little bit later. But notice here in our text, here in verse 1, Peter is in jail. Acts chapter 12, talk about bad times. He is literally in jail for preaching the gospel. And here Herod had already killed James, the brother of John. And here Herod has arrested Peter. Look what it says about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church, and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to the four quaternions of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people." Now that word Easter is the word Pascha. We get Paschal, the Paschal Lamb. And some people say that is a wrong, that is the wrong word to use there. Can I tell you? I don't believe it is the wrong word. I believe it's the right word. People say, well Easter, how could that be? I mean this is the Passover. Notice in verse 2, then were the days of unleavened bread. When are the days of unleavened bread? Well they follow the Passover. Some people believe that word Easter should be Passover. I don't think it should be. Because again, verse 2, then were the days of unleavened bread. The days of unleavened bread follow the actual Passover. Passover begins the Days of Unleavened Bread for seven days, right? And then another Sabbath at the end of that. So it couldn't have been the Passover because at this place it would have already been passed. So Easter is correct. What was it? A pagan holiday that was coming up that Herod probably observed, right? And probably some others. So he was going to wait to the Passover in the days of unleavened bread and after Easter and all these things were over with to bring him to pass and therefore he was kept in prison, verse 5, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. I like that, but prayer. Don't forget that in your life, but prayer, but prayer. Whatever happens there is always prayer. Why? Because we have a God who is alive and He is completely aware. And so the government was cracking down on these Christians and here is Peter. He brings Peter in, chains are on his wrist. He is chained between two guards. The guard, there are guards outside the cell and that he is waiting for his final judgment which I have no doubt Herod had every intention to kill Peter as he did with James. But while he's there in prison, we know the story and what happens, the events of that night, that an angel of the Lord came in. He kicks Peter, tells him to get up, put on your clothes, get dressed. His chains have fallen off. Amen. Everything has come off of him. He gets up. The door of the prison opens. The angel opens the prison. He walks between sleeping guards. Right? Listen, they had sleeping medicine, they didn't know where it came from. Amen? They had the only divine sleeping pill that they weren't waking up from. And he walked right between them, and then the Bible says he walked out of that prison, and another gate opened of itself. Look in verse 10. And when they passed the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened unto them of his own accord. And they went out and passed on through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him. What a cool sight that would have been, huh? And just to watch the gate open. Who opened the last gate? It opened of itself. Maybe the angel had some weird ability to go and open the gate. Maybe there's another angel there that wasn't visible, and he didn't make himself visible, and he opened the gate. Whatever happened, God opened the prison, amen? There's a whole other message you could preach right there. But verses 11 through 17 though, Peter now is out of jail and he goes over to Mary's house. Why? Because the church was there praying. There were many that were praying. And Peter goes and he knocks at the door. They are praying for Peter at this time. They want God to deliver him. They want God to get him out of jail. They're in at that very moment. They're in there praying. And little Rhoda comes to the door and opens the little thing and she's like, ah, it's Peter, right? And she goes running in and they tell her, she tells them Peter's at the door. And now hold on a minute, they're praying to God, they want God to bring Peter out, and Rhoda comes in during the prayer meeting and says, he's out there. And their response is, wow, this is awesome. Their response is, you're nuts, he's not out there. It's like, what are you praying for then? You've heard that church that was praying out in West Texas, they've gone through drought, they've gone through a long period of drought, and they decided they're finally gonna have a prayer meeting to pray for rain. And one of the men showed up with an umbrella, and he's like, why on earth do you have an umbrella? It's been a drought. He goes, well, we're praying for rain, aren't we? Amen, that's faith, absolutely. And so look at verse 11, when Peter was come to himself, He said, could you imagine the stupor he was in after all of this just changed, his bands come off, he walks between the guards, he comes out of the prison, and is like, what is happening, right? And I like this, when he finally came to himself, he said, now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. What did the Jews want? They wanted him dead. See, you realize this little church thing, it started out with the Jews believed, was somewhat of a sect within Judaism, right? And they didn't like it. They didn't like, okay, and there's some persecution. But as it began to expand and Gentiles began to come in, it's like, they did not like this whatsoever. They were totally against it. And you know what the Jews wanted? They wanted Peter dead, right? And I love this. and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews." Sorry Jews, you're not going to get your way with Peter. And when he had considered the thing, He came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened up the gate for gladness. She just left him there. She saw him and she's like, And she runs in and he's still standing outside. The guy just broke out of prison. Well, God broke him out. You don't think he's a little nervous? Like, can you open the door? I mean, I don't know how long or how far he would have walked from the prison. I don't think it was very far, which to me would think would be they could like show up. start searching where this guy went and so Peter knocked at the door, Rhoda goes in all excited and she saw it was his voice, she opened up the door for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate and they said to her, thou art mad, but she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then they said, it's an angel, they thought he was dead. It's just an angel or something, but Peter continued knocking and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Well, it's Peter. Broden's like, I was trying to tell you. Yeah, I love this. I don't know. I get excited about it. I think it's great. He beckoned at him with his hand and was like, shh, shh, shh. See this? To hold their peace. Don't you think it got a little loud in the house? It's Peter. He's going, shh, stop. I mean, they might be like coming. Would you just let me in the house, right? I mean, I could just see this. I could feel this. It's just, it's so funny to me. Declare how the Lord had brought him out of the prison, verse 17. It said, go show these things unto James and to the brethren. He departed and he went to another place. He's like, I'm out of here. I'm not staying here long, right? It's like if the prison was, if come and go was the prison and they're praying in this house, like I'm coming here and going, okay, we're good, but I'm gone. Right? And I'm out of here. I'm not staying this close by. And so, and it says, and when Herod, now as soon as it was day, verse 18, there was no small stir among the soldiers what was become of Peter. Right? You know they're telling one another, I didn't let him out. I mean, anybody who would let him out would be crazy. And if they were going to let him out, why would you stick around and talk about it? Why? Because you're going to see what the reality of it is. You're a dead man. And this is what happened. They died. These soldiers were executed by Herod. And Herod was highly displeased, you don't think, right? Well, let me go back to 19. And when Herod had sought for him and found him not, he examined the keepers and commanded that they should be put to death. and he went down from Judea to Caesarea and their abode. And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon." We'll get to that in just a little bit. And so here we are, the government had been cracking down on Christianity. He had a little bit of, Herod had some help behind him because the Jews were well pleased with him and they were happy about this. And so Peter is in prison. Peter is now out of prison. He's gone to Mary's house. And now he has gone on his way. And here's Herod, no small stir among the soldiers. And they're talking about this jailbreak. And now Herod's still looking for Peter. He's like, where'd he go? I need to find this guy. Yeah. He couldn't find him. He asked the soldiers. I don't know. I mean, think logically. If the soldiers said, yeah, like I said, Herod, why would I let him go and still be here? I don't know, but you're dead. Thanks. Thanks a lot. And so he executes him. And then, interestingly, Herod goes up to live up in Caesarea. The Caesarea he would have gone to would have been Caesarea, not Caesarea Philippi. It would have been Caesarea Maritime. It's about 45 minutes north of Tel Aviv, which is northwest on the coast, northwest of Jerusalem, just a little bit on the Mediterranean coast. And so, at that time, it was the provincial capital of the Roman-controlled Judea. It was that capital of that area. And this Herod that we're talking about here in our text had a Jewish mother named Miriam. And his father, his father had one of his second wives was this Jew named Miriam. And so this Herod was half Jew and half Italian or whatever it would have been. And he was actually sent away and raised in Rome. He was accepted by the Jews because of his distaste for the Christianity and the persecution against Christianity. So the Jews did love him. But on the Roman side, he was also friends, literally friends with Caligula and Claudius. And so, he's well accepted on both sides. And so, when the Christians began to multiply, he was loved by the Jews because he persecuted them. And they thought, this is great. Get these crazies out of here. And so, but here he is. He's gone up to that Caesarea Maritime. I've walked through those ruins of Caesarea Maritime right on the ocean. It was a cloudy, just kind of a dreary, rainy day. It was January, obviously, when we went. Not obviously, but if you remember, I went in January. And it was And the aqueducts are still there. It's just incredible structures, Roman structures that are right on the coast. And the ocean was pounding that day. It was just a beautiful scene. And all of these buildings and all of these things that were out there, the ruins of them all. And we were standing in a little area which a little place in a little area among a group of buildings where many believe that the Apostle Paul would have stood before Agrippa when he gave his defense and when he had the opportunity to witness to him. He did this at Caesarea Maritime and this is exactly where this Herod is right now, Caesarea Maritime. Oh, did I mention to you that this Herod Is Herod Agrippa? The one that wanted Peter in prison, was going to kill him too? That was Agrippa. Herod Agrippa. The one that Paul would, some years later, after this event here, would witness to. I love the connection. He's going to give him the... Over in Acts 26 you can find it at another time. He's the Agrippa who told Paul, almost thou persuadest me to become a Christian. Think about this, he had already killed James. He knew well about the miracle of Peter getting out of prison. He had heard the gospel preached, no doubt, and no doubt when the gospel is preached, the Spirit of God does a work in every heart that hears the gospel preached, because God has promised that His Word would not return void. So no doubt, King Agrippa here knows the Word of God. And not only that, if you remember, the Apostle Paul told him, King, you know the prophets. Why? He was half Jew. He knew the law. He knew the prophets. He knew the Ten Commandments. He knew who God was, the God of Israel, right? And so, and he knows all of this, and now God doesn't tell us why that Herod goes up to Caesarea Maritime, but let me say it this, let me say it like this. God is moving the pieces around, right, in this government. Herod Agrippa may think he is in charge, but he is not. He is not. God is moving the pieces. You know what I love? The universal, how do I say this? The universal invitation of God that even King Agrippa after killing James and desiring to kill Peter, even King Agrippa God wants to have the gospel in front of him. And he's in control here. He's in control. But what's interesting next in our text, I don't get this. It's kind of interesting. Herod is mad at Tyre and Sidon up further to the north. And so to get back into their good graces, Tyre and Sidon get back into good graces of Herod, they befriend one of Herod's chamberlains. And they wanted peace. They didn't want the Roman government on them. They messed up somehow, right? They did something wrong as a government. But they needed Israel and they needed the shared commerce. So they attempt to get back into the good graces of Herod. And we can tell here between in verse 21, obviously time has passed. between verse 20 and verse 21 could be years. Years have passed, no doubt, because at some point after verse 19 is when Paul comes before Agrippa. But listen, if Paul's going to come before him, he's still alive, right? So there's some space here. I'll show you this. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal peril, sat upon his throne and made an oration unto them. Unto who? Unto the people of Tyre and Sidon. And the people gave a shout, saying, It's the voice of a god and not of man. Boy, they're really laying it on. Right? They want the favor of this Roman Empire again because they're probably losing money. That's probably what the problem is. You're losing commerce. And they say, it's the voice of a God and not of man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him. Why? Because Herod didn't say, oh no, no, no, stop. Don't say that. No. Thank you, but that's not who I am. I'm just a king. I'm just a king. No, he didn't do that. He let him go on. He loved it. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory. Look what it says here. He was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. I don't know what kind of worms you have to have to be ate up to die. I know some people want tapeworms. It's the new diet plan, right? And I think they can surgically implant them in you even. I don't know, it just, that creeps me out. But could you imagine your body, what a, listen, what a, what a lower, is there a lower way to die than to be eaten of worms? Yeah. Not very dignified. Yeah. Some people die with great dignity, right? The way they go out. God gives them peace and they just slowly float off into eternity and it's just a beautiful scene. But to be eaten of worms. Disgusting really. So here he is and he's dead. He's dead. He thought he had so much power. He thought he had so much control. He thought he was, maybe he thought he got away with what he did to James. What he attempted to do with Peter. He escaped from the conviction of the Spirit of God under the preaching of Paul. And here he is finally at this great place and all of the accolades and he felt like he had such great power he'd survived. But no, you didn't. He died. You know, the Bible tells us that he enjoyed hearing the preaching of John the Baptist. He wanted to hear Peter preach, I'm sorry, Jesus preach. And Jesus said, well, go tell that fox, you know, essentially, I'm not coming. Jesus called him a fox, right? Wasn't afraid of him. You see, he enjoyed the preaching, but obviously he didn't believe him. And it really, it proves the point that Herod most likely knew the God of heaven and the God of Israel, he just didn't want him. So instead of correcting these people, he accepted the title, and can I remind you tonight, that God is not mocked. Galatians 6-7, Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. And here Herod has reaped abundantly what he has sown. And in verse 23, aid of worms, and he gave up the ghost, he had the opportunity to respond to the gospel, he had the opportunity to quell the false praises of these people, but he didn't do it and he wouldn't do it and God hastened the exit of Herod off the planet and he died. It's a hard time to live for Christians, it really was. Persecution like we'll never know. When John the Baptist stirred that den of snakes, when he went to Herod, the other Herod, and said, it's not right for you to have Philip your brother's wife. Well, here came the venom. It's interesting, Herod wasn't going to do much about it. Put him in prison. He had to save face, right? You can't have some measly prophet, Old Testament prophet coming up to you and calling you out in front of everybody, threw him in prison. But when his stepdaughter came along and said, what will you give me? She said, John the Baptist's head. The Bible says he was sorry. He really didn't want to do that. Why, he knew who he was. He knew he was a prophet. He absolutely did. But here we are, we're just in a terrible time. Terrible time of the government. The snake's den has been poked and all the Roman government is just spewing venom all over the place here. The Church of Jerusalem is so bad it actually had been scattered. They'd been scattered all over. all over the place. Only a few chapters ago Paul is wreaking havoc on the churches as well. Peter and John went to jail right quick, right? 5,000 got saved. They healed the man, the lame man and the 5,000 get saved and they throw him in jail for that. They didn't like that. Peter is thrown in jail here by Herod again. See, Jesus has tried, watch, not Jesus, but Satan has tried, if you remember, he tried everything possible he could to keep Jesus from going to Calvary, and he wasn't going to do it, amen, it wasn't gonna work, and now he's trying everything he can to stop the gospel from going forward into all the world. Why? Because the snake's been poked. And he's just striking at anything he can. But watch this, along the way, in the midst of the turbulence, in the midst of dangerous times, God reminds us again that He's in control. He's in control. Well, how is God in control? Would you look at verse 24? But the word of God grew and multiplied. In turbulent times, the word of God grew and multiplied? I mean, with all of the persecution, people in jail going to jail for preaching, it still grew. Well, absolutely, it did. Well, how does the Word of God multiply? Well, when the Word of God is preached, And the hearer of the word of God believes the word and places his faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, the word of God, which is the seed takes lodging into the heart of the believer. Watch. And so every time the word of God is preached and believed, the word lodges into another heart and into another heart, into another heart, into another heart, into another heart, into another heart. It's just expanding. It's growing. It's going out through all the world. And the Bible tells us here that in the midst of turbulent, perilous time, when the serpents are just, the rattlers are going and the venom's shooting out and they're striking at everything they can, the Word of God's just being preached, people are getting saved, and it's just going on and on and on and on. Can I tell you, you know how far it went? Exactly. It's here right now. 2,000 years later, still growing. Yeah. Still growing. Why don't you believe that? Well, so I believe that. Well, we've got track racks that are full. We had a, what's the word I'm looking for, but we had kind of a goal to hit, but tracks came about halfway. We'll try it again. But sometimes I don't think we really believe the Word of God works. Do you know, listen, do you know you can't disconnect belief from action? Oh, I didn't mean to get on to this, sorry. Really didn't, you can look at my notes, I'll show them later, I really wasn't in here. But listen, the Word of God still has all of the power that it had then. It hasn't changed. Can you really understand how God changes a heart through the Word of God? Can you understand how God makes a spirit alive after a person puts their faith in Jesus Christ? It's an incredible miracle of God. Listen, God is still able to do the same thing today because it's the same God and it's the same Word. Do you realize they're just preaching what we're preaching today? Amen. But the Word of God grew and it multiplied. 1 Peter 1.23 says, "...being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." You know what the incorruptible seed is? It's the Word of God. It's the Word of God. When it gets lodged into a heart by belief and faith, it has grown. It has expanded. It has, Bible word here, multiplied. It's multiplying. So as long as the Word of God is being preached, and people will believe, and the Word of God will continue to grow and multiply. I mean, it's pretty simple math. It really is. And it doesn't matter the time or the season we live. The power of the Word of God doesn't depend upon the right government, or on a good economy, or on favorable times with no persecution, or even the right president. Hey, you know what I found out when we had this president the last time? We got that at the end of four years. You know what I realized? An open door had been given to us in the gospel, like it had not been available in the last previous eight years before President Trump. You know what I realized? We got to the end of the four years, a door had been wide open, and we really didn't accomplish anything. Well the equation is really simple the Word of God didn't go out like it should have. Yeah. And listen, we're right on the precipice again of another great open door and effectual for us. See, the power of the Word of God rests on the one who gave it. The power of the Word of God rests on the one who it belongs to. It's the Word of God, amen? Romans 1, 16, Paul said, For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. That's where the power of God is. It's in His Word. It's in the gospel. Amen? Are we living in turbulent times? Well, no doubt. No doubt about it. You know, Bible-believing churches are closing. They're closing. Atheism is rising. I mean, it's not a big number in our country like other countries, but it's still on the rise. It really is. You know, the number of people that have no religion has risen 266%. They call them the nuns, N-O-N-E-S. Most of this last generation, where are we, up to Gen X, Gen Z, Gen whatever, the latest one, the majority of them claim to be nuns, just not interested. They don't even want to debate whether, you know, agnostic or atheist. They're just, I don't care. growing. Why? Well, their God has become social media. Well, that's a whole other issue. Listen, according to the Barna Research Group, oh, no, I wanted to read you something else. Let me read you this. I don't want to talk about churches closing. In 1969, who was it? Elmer Towns had published a book of the largest churches in America. in the 10 largest Sunday schools, 1969. Listen to these top 10, you ready? Akron Baptist Temple, Akron, Ohio, that was Billingsley, who was the pastor there. Highland Park Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Lee Roberson. First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas in 69, that might have been W.A. Criswell, I don't know if that would have been Criswell or Truett, I don't remember. First Baptist Church, Hammond, Indiana in 1969, that would have been Jack Hiles. Canton Baptist Temple, Canton, Ohio. Who was that? I can see his face. Anyway, that's another one. Landmark Baptist Temple, Cincinnati, Ohio. That was John Rawlins. Temple Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan. That would have been G.B. Vick and actually J. Frank Norris pastored that one and Fort Worth at the same time for a little while. he would fly back and forth, and both of them, Fort Worth ran several thousand, Detroit ran probably four or five thousand, yeah, huge, huge churches. First Baptist Church, Van Nuys, California, Thomas Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg, Virginia is number nine, and that was, what's his name there? Jerry Falwell, thank you. And then number 10 was Calvary Temple, Denver, Colorado. I don't know anything about that one at all. Top 10, 1969. Do you know what eight out of the top 10 of those churches were independent, what would have been called independent fundamental Baptist churches? The top 10 largest churches in the United States in 1969. The largest churches in every state in that time era They may not have come into the top 10, but the largest churches of every state at the time were independent Baptist churches. They were the largest ones. I have my own thoughts of why they've gone the way they have, but here we are. And you know what? Akron Baptist Temple has been destroyed. It's leveled and it's a parking lot. Highland Baptist Church is gone. First Baptist Dallas, Jeffress is still the pastor there, it's still there. Hammond, Indiana, Brother Wilkerson, great man, it's still there. Canton Baptist Temple, I don't know about that one. Actually, I know the one, Landmark Baptist in Cincinnati, that went to another emergent church. The pastor was, I saw a picture of him, I thought, surely this isn't the same church, it can't be, it's gotta be a different one, different name, and it wasn't, it wasn't. Anyway, it was not nice. What am I saying? Churches fall away. People fall away. This isn't 69 anymore, is it? Those of you who were alive and thriving in 1969 can well say this is not 1965 anymore. Absolutely not. According to Barna Research Group, skeptics are larger today than 20 years ago. Get this, 20 years ago, 18% of those that were adults under 30 years of age, 18% would have been considered skeptics. Today, 34% are considered skeptics to the word of God, to the Bible, to Christianity. More are women than have been in the past. In 1993, 16% of atheists and agnostics were women. Now, that's 16% of 5% that are considered atheists in the country. In 2013, 43% of atheists and agnostics were women. Now, men are still a higher number of atheists than women are today. But what am I saying? I said, we're just living in turbulent times. We know this. But here's my, we're living in complacent times. Mainline Protestant Christianity, that's the term they use in this one survey, has seen a 62.5% decline since 1982. A decline in church attendance and being active, being an active church member, being an active Christian, 62.5% decline. Just look at the faithfulness among independent Baptist churches. I mean, there's still large churches out there, don't get me wrong, but they will ebb and flow as well. And they will rise and fall as well. But on a general, on an overall scheme, I mean, it's just, it's really changed. think about this. I was thinking about this today, this afternoon. You know throughout the New Testament we have been admonished and commanded that we need one another. We were talking about that this morning in Sunday School about ministering one to another. And you know what the writer of Hebrews, who I believe was Paul, but the writer of Hebrews and even the a generation ago couldn't have known, think about this, you know, we're told forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, the like manner of some is, you know, but so much the more as you see the day approaching, Hebrews 10, 24, 25, 24 tells you why we assemble, because for edification of the body, right? This is what, you know why we don't assemble as much? Well, we're selfish, we don't care about anybody else. I mean, that text right there tells us we assemble to edify one another. Why? Because we need one another. Because we're supposed to be ministering to one another. And friend, you can't minister to one another, and thankfully, this crowd's always here, so you don't feel too much pain over this one at all. But you can't minister to one another when you're not here, when you're not involved, and when you're not a part of the events and things going on. You can't do it. But think about this. The writer of Hebrews, when those words were penned by the Holy Spirit of God through him, And even a generation ago, they could not have known the coming culture of self and aloneness that has been created and fostered by the internet. They didn't know what was coming. Think about this. When that was written, when God wanted that written and penned in the book of Hebrews, they had no idea what was coming in America in 2024, 2025. They didn't know. They didn't know what the internet was. A generation ago, two generations ago, didn't know what it was. But you don't know what we're finding out with this death of the internet is people are just completely satisfied with being entertained by themselves alone at home in a room and they don't need anybody. You know, we have a generation that doesn't even want community. They don't want it. They want to sit in their room. They want to show you, why? Because they can flip up a phone and have all the interaction they want, watch, with no responsibility whatsoever. See, a relationship requires responsibility, and you've got to give and take, and you've got to say, you know, you've got to sacrifice, right? Sacrifice, talk about that this morning, for a relationship. But here, now we have a generation that doesn't want community, they don't know how to live in a community, and they don't really want the responsibility of it at all. This is what we're continuing with. Now watch this. Whether churches realize it or not, I don't think there's any way they could have realized it back then, but when they began to minimize assembling and to pacify those that wanted to be lazy or wanted to be self-centered, or just wanted to be flat out disobedient and not assemble with the body when these churches begin to pacify that and to begin to change service times and to begin to accommodate and say, well, we don't need to meet Sunday night. We don't need to meet. So, you know, Wednesday night, we don't have to do Sunday school. And who says we got to do this and who says we got to do that and things like that when they begin to do all of those things and to minimize that and provide an escape from community, even through live stream currently. They've created and fostered a generation that will not assemble. You know what they're being taught today? Well, you just gotta connect, connect. Well, what does connect mean? Well, you can connect online. You can connect on Thursday night after supper. You can connect while you're in the shower. Just connect. No, it's not about connecting. It's about assembling, and it's about a body, right? Could you imagine how you'd feel if your liver just decided not to? Nah, I'm not showing up today. I can do my own thing over here." And your body's going, I need you. Yeah. To those that just choose not to assemble Crimson Avenue Baptist Church, the church needs you if you're a member of this body. Yeah. I'm not talking about those that are sick. You know that. You know what's amazing to me as history goes on? Every time we think that we know better than God, when we find out that we are wrong, many times it's too late. The damage has been done. It really has. And now I think the Internet's going to be the final nail in the coffin. What's the hope? Well, the next generation coming up, you've got to get them. You've got to disciple them. You've got to train them. They gotta know the joy of community and interaction of people instead of something fake on a screen. And listen, that's the easiest life to live is just sitting at a screen. I mean, that's easy. Nothing's expected of you whatsoever. You don't have to change your clothes. You can just sit in your pajamas or whatever else and, you know, do whatever you want and just flip through a screen. It's killing us. It is. Timothy talked about it, perilous time. Paul wrote to Timothy, I mean, in the last days perilous time shall come. Lovers themselves, heady, high-minded, right? Lovers of God more than lovers of pleasure. Goes on and on. Do you know that list was about believers, not unbelievers? Wasn't talking to unbelievers. Go look at it. Look at the context of that again. And it gets dismal, right? When we think all this, where we're at, where we think where our churches are, where I think sometimes even our own personal lives have gotten, and things like that, and where society has gotten, it gets really dark and dismal. You don't want to spend too much time in 2 Timothy chapter 3. It just gets a little bit discouraging because you see it all around you. But I do want to show you this, 2 Timothy chapter 3, right? Would you turn over to chapter 4 and look at the conclusion of it? 2 Timothy chapter four. He goes on through chapter three of all of this dismal stuff of the last days, what will happen, perilous times shall come. But notice what he comes to verse four in. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. There it is. That's the answer to chapter three. That's the answer to the condition that we're living in. That's the answer to the laziness and the lackadaisical attitude and just the, the bent towards self and selfishness in our society, in our churches, and where our government is, and where all of these things are going. The answer is just to preach the Word of God. How do you know that works? Well, it worked back here, right? But the Word of God multiplied and grew, amen? It worked because we're here today. Watch this, listen, the only thing that keeps people from getting saved is when the Word of God is ceased, it ceases being preached. That's the only thing. So they're not all going to get saved? Well, of course not. They have a free will. Not everybody wants to be saved. Right? But there will be those that get saved. Watch. But if we're not bringing in the Word of God, we're not going to see them saved. Regardless of perilous times, we've just got to keep preaching the Word. Regardless of spiritual apathy, just keep preaching the Word. Just keep preaching it. You say, that's too simplistic. No, it's not. It's Bible. He chose the small things in the world to confound the mighty. Don't minimize what seems insignificant and small with God. That's what He chose. Sometimes you just gotta... Hey, sometimes we just have to shut the noise off. and shut off all the things that are going on, all the voices that are coming, all the self-help gurus and the church growth gurus and you gotta do this, you gotta do that, you gotta do this, you gotta do that. How about you just get out and preach the Bible and pass out tracks and go, you know, visit people and do what, I mean, it's just the way it is. And sometimes the voices can get us off track. There's this immigrant in New York City at a hot dog stand. He had a great business. Had it for many years. He loved the American Dream. He had it in his own way. But he had gotten old and the sight wasn't good so he didn't watch TV. He didn't read newspapers. His hearing wasn't that good. He didn't listen to the radio too much. But business was good. It was so good he was able to pay for his son to go to college and he sent him off to college. But his son came home one day and told his dad about a recession. Dad hadn't heard about a recession. He didn't know there was a recession going on at all. He had a great business. Everything was doing fine. Nothing's changed. So he convinced the dad to make some changes because of the recession. And eventually a thriving little hot dog stand succumbed to the recession only because the son convinced his dad to make changes because the times were hard. Can I tell you there's a lot of people running around trying to convince churches to make changes because the times are hard? Can I tell you tonight? Don't believe it. Don't believe it. The Word of God still works. Listen, it's the only tool that will work because it's the Word of God. It still has power. It absolutely does. The preaching of the Gospel still works. Lots of people are still getting saved. Well, they're not getting saved right here. They will. God knows what He's doing. Just stay faithful. Absolutely. So let me ask you tonight. How many would say, I still believe the gospel works today? Amen. This would be an easier way to ask. Anybody want to really get a lot of... hide on their back and say, yeah, I don't believe it works today. That would have been an easier way to ask it, right? How many people still believe the Crimson Avenue Baptist Church can reach an exit with the Gospel? You think it's possible? Why? Why is it possible? Well, we have it. It's that simple. We have it. So what happens? We just have to get it out and continue to get it out. But the Word of God grew and multiplied. In spite of what was going on in culture, it grew and it multiplied. Can I tell you tonight? It will grow and it will multiply right here in our own town, in our own city, in our own state, in our own nation, if we just be faithful to get out as much as possible. Don't believe what the world's telling you. Don't believe what the professionals And all those people are telling you. Believe what God said. Just believe Him. Because I'll tell you what, over and again, when we think we know better than God, like I said earlier, we'll find out that we're wrong. And when we find out we're wrong, it's usually too late. The generation's past. Our Father tonight, we thank you for the word that we have preserved for us We thank you for the word that is inerrant and infallible. We thank you for the word that has power because it is your word, the God who spoke the universes into existence. You, oh God, it's your word. You have given it to us, you have preserved it, and we have it today. And it is the power of God unto salvation. It is the seed that brings about life in the life, brings up new life in the life of a believer. And so, Father, I pray you would help us tonight as a church, as a people, that we would be diligent this year. We've got a new year ahead of us, another opportunity, another opportunity to affect our city and our town with the gospel. And Father, would you help us to do more than we ever have with your word and getting it out. And Lord, would you, as you bless your word, that we would be just faithful in doing what you would have us to do. Father, I pray you do that, just a work of encouragement, maybe in our own hearts tonight, that it still works, no matter what society looks like, it still works. And we'll thank you for what you do in Jesus' name. Amen. Why don't you stand tonight, if you would, and invitation's open, piano's playing. Maybe you come to God tonight and just let Him know I just want help tonight, Lord. I just want help to do whatever I can to get the Word of God out into my Jerusalem, into my Judea. I just want to get it out. I just want to get it out. Who will be that one that will say, I want to be a part of that. I just want to be a part of it. I believe it works. I believe it's effective. I believe the Word of God still has power. I believe that people still get saved at the preaching of the Word of God. And I just want God's help tonight to do whatever I can in my own ability and power to get people into the church, to get people the Word of God in front of them, to get preaching in front of them, to do whatever is necessary to get the Word of God into the presence of the unbelievers. Maybe you just need to spend some time with the Lord and just let Him know I've gotten sidetracked. I've gotten discouraged maybe with the way things are. You might feel that you're at a stage of life when it's just your time's done and there's nothing you can do. Oh, don't believe that's another lie too. Don't believe that one.