The correct day and the correct Bible
October 2, 2025
For that Savior, turn your mind as if you would to Acts chapter number 12. Acts chapter number 12.
But Acts chapter number 12, let me just kind of give a brief summary of the chapter, if I can remember it. I’ll give you. Herod. Now, this Herod here in Acts chapter 12, he is the grandson of Herod the Great over there, the one that tried to kill Jesus. He killed all the babies over there. And this is this grandson.
And he was kind of just given in to a lot of the Jewish people. And he was trying to keep peace and make them happy and Rome happy at the same time. And so he arrests some of these people over the church. And he kills James. Hasn’t killed with a sword. The Bible doesn’t tell us, I take it. That means that cut his head off. The Bible doesn’t say that.
But it just says with a sword and killed James, and then he was going to kill Peter. And the church was just praying. And the Lord sent an angel, brought him out of jail, prison there, and went to John Mark’s mom’s house is where he was at. And that’s interesting. We won’t have time to get into that tonight. And they’re having a prayer meeting there. And he says, “Hey, the Lord delivered me.” And this teenager, old Rhoda, she went to answer. It was the gate. Maybe it was a fence outside the property or a wall or something. And she went to answer, and she heard the voice. She said, “That’s Peter.” She took off running inside saying, “Peter’s out there.” And nobody else said, “No, that can’t be Peter. We’re praying for him to get out of jail.” And then she goes back out there, and that’s Peter.
And finally, everybody comes out there, and they’re like, “Whoa,” you know. Isn’t that the way we are? “Are you praying in faith?” “Oh, yes, I’m praying in faith.” When God does, we’re like, “Whoa,” you know. And the Bible says Peter had to raise his hand, put his hand, and say, “Hey, let me talk to you,” you know. And he tells them what all God did with the angels, delivering him out of it, whatnot. And they rejoiced in that, and Peter takes off. Herod’s still after him, you know.
Herod examines the keepers of the prison, and they don’t know what happened and whatnot. And actually, Herod has those killed. And then the last part of the chapter here is just so proud, taking glory that goes to God, and God takes his life. And actually, the Bible talks about worms. And actually, you can read in history about that. It’s recorded in history. He had… You hear people having worms. Herod had a lot of them. And he died, and the worms started coming out and whatnot. And history does—of course, the Bible is right whether history thinks it is or not, but you can read about it.
And so that’s kind of just a real quick story of chapter 12. We’re going to try to point out four things. Now, really three things. And then the last saying, I’m praying that God will speak to all of us, including myself, about the last thing here tonight. So, three things before we get to the main thing. We’re going to try to rush through those three things.
We’re going to start in verse number one. Acts 12, verse number one. Here we go. “Now about that time, Herod, the king, stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.”
“And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.” Now, that’s part of the inner three, the apostles. Then there’s Peter, James, and John. James and John, sons of thunder. Okay? This is the James. Kills him with a sword. We take it—he was decapitated. We don’t know that with the sword. “And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also.” Watch this: “Then were the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quarantines”—that would be 16 soldiers—“to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.”
Once you look, would you please at verse number four right there again, verse number four, watch it real, real closely there. “And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quarantines of soldiers to keep him intending after,” what’s the next word? Come on, let’s try that again. Here we go. “Intending after what? Easter to bring him forth to the people.”
Now, I’ve asked—I’ve given a verse from other versions to four different men tonight. I can’t remember who all. Brother John Casey’s got one of those. Would you read? Now, I want you to notice how the King James Bible says Easter there. Okay. And Brother John, would you tell us what version it is and would you read it please?
So notice the Passover. By the way, the NIV, one of the most popular for sure of the new versions, the NIV. But what you notice, and the amazing thing is, for the most part—you may be able to find one or two—but for the most part, the only one that says Easter is the King James Bible. Pretty much all the other ones, and some of you got your cell phones, you can check it out, but don’t do it right now. And all these other versions, they’re going to say Passover. Brother Patterson, you got one back there. I can’t remember what you got, would you? There is Passover, Passover. I know Brother Josh, you got one of them, don’t you? Which one? I’m sorry. Okay, I think it’s Amplified as one, I’m thinking. Now, there’s a lot of differences, but I’m trying to point out Passover, Passover. I think, Brother David McCord, he’s got a version. Would you place, sir? Passover again.
Now, pretty much every new version you’ll find, it’ll say Passover. But the King James version says Easter. By the way, the Greek word paschal is found 29 times in the Greek New Testament. And 28 of those times in the King James Bible, it’s translated Passover. But this time they decided, I think by God’s hand, to translate it to Easter.
But King James so often stands alone against the other versions. You understand that? So often is the case. In fact, Dr. Gordon D. Fee at Wheaton College in Christianity Today said this: “The contemporary translations as a group have one thing in common: they tend to agree against the King James Version.” And that’s just common. And if you study it out, it’s very, very typical. The King James kind of stands over here. I’ll even say this: the New King James says—well, they use the Textus Receptus, things like the King James—but every time they disagree with the King James, they disagree with the other crowd. So even there, the King James kind of stands alone. You understand what I’m saying there? So let’s find out what’s right. Is it Easter or is it Passover?
All right, let’s just talk about it for a second here. Would you look over please? And I’m sorry, you stay there for a second. Let’s look at verse number three, Acts 12 and verse number three: “And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread.”
So we’ve got, they took Peter, then unleavened bread, and then the new versions have Passover. The King James has Easter. Well, let’s find out—could it be unleavened bread and then the Passover? Look over, if you will, in the book of Numbers, all right? We’re just going to use the Bible and let the Bible clarify this. If it was a Jewish practicing Jewish person, you would know the answer to it already. And we could find it in the book of Exodus also. But we’re going to look at Numbers chapter number 28 here tonight for just a second. And remember, they took Peter, and then the days of unleavened bread. And according to the new versions, then the Passover. Could that be true?
Well, let’s look and see what the Bible says. Numbers 28 and verse number 16, would you please? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Numbers 28 and verse number 16. You’re there tonight, amen? Look at this saying here, verse number 16: “And in the fourteenth day of the first month, by the way, that would be equivalent to April. So we’re talking about April 14th here, all right? And the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord.” That evening they take the lamb and they eat it, and they apply the blood, and our passover—this will all represent, you know, that. Now look at verse number 17, verse number 17: “And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall there be unleavened bread.”
Now, that feast is the feast of unleavened bread. Did you notice the order? The Passover is always first, friend. You read over the book of Exodus, you read anywhere in the Bible, you talk to a Jewish person that’s practiced it. The Passover begins the unleavened bread, basically. It’s always first. So, friend, you understand there’s a problem over here. If he’s arrested, there’s unleavened bread, and then we have the Passover, like all the new versions say. Friend, there’s a problem. It’s never that order. It’s very laid out very biblically in the Bible. It’s always the Passover that starts it, and then unleavened bread. So we cannot have days of unleavened bread and then the Passover. The King James Bible is right. Easter, like it said.
By the way, Easter—getting the dates for Easter—it’s the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, and it would fit. It could work there in the Book of Acts. Here’s what I’m getting at: You just stick to the King James Bible. You’ll be all right every time. It doesn’t matter. It’ll stand alone, been around for 400 years, it’ll pass the test. Don’t mess with it. You’ll mess it up.
King James Bible, I’m just telling you, friend, you just mark it down. It’ll stand alone often, but it’s been around for 400—over 400 years—it’s tested in trial, it’ll stand up to the test. Hey, it worked all right for our grandparents, that’ll work all right for us, amen. You can rest on that. It’s interesting how it brought Europe basically out of the Dark Ages when it was translated. Every great revival since 1611 in the King James, in the King James, in the English language, that’s what they used for those revivals. And by the way, don’t change it; let it change you.
There’s a preacher that they say had traveled a couple towns over and he preached, and he was an ever-good preacher. He preached longer than he planned on preaching, you know. And it was dark, and there was a storm coming, and he thought, “Man, how in the world? I’ve got to go through some woods and some wilderness to get back to my home.” And he said, “What am I going to do? It’s dark out.” And an older man, an old country guy, he had made him a torch. And he said, “Here, you take this torch; it’ll light you home.” And the guy said, “Well, it’s going to storm. It’s going to rain. Probably that rain is going to put that torch out.” And he just kept saying, “It’ll light you home.” And he said, “There’s going to be a lot of wind blowing. It’s probably going to blow this torch out.” And the guy said, “It’ll light you home.” And he said, “But I got to go through woods, and it’s going to be dark, and there’s trees and there’s all kind of rain.” And he said, “It will light you home.”
And friend, what I’m trying to say is that King James Bible, it will light you home. You stick with it. Don’t get intimidated by—they typically those are in the right or in the minority often. Don’t get intimidated by it. It’s all right. It’ll always stand up to the test of time. Just wanted to point that out. That’s the first thing. We’re going to move along quick because we’re trying to get that last thing. All right. We got number one out of the way. Look at that. Man, we’re moving along. Come on now.
Now look at this next thing. Verse number five is a great, great verse. We didn’t read it. I love it. It may be one of the best verses in this whole chapter here. Remember they’ve killed James. Herod’s going to get Peter. And look at verse number five.
Verse number five: “But Peter—excuse me—Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer.” Well, I like that. Just those two words: “but prayer.” How many of us would have never got saved but prayer? How many of us would have been ruined but for prayer? How many of us would have been off on our own right now living a sinful, wicked life, but prayer? Man, I like those. “But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” And when Herod would have brought him forth the same night, Peter was sleeping.
Peter likes to sleep, you know. He’s over there on the rooftop sleeping. He’s all over here. He’s just easy. Now, don’t be sleeping on me tonight now just because Peter’s sleeping there, you know. But Peter, Peter was sleeping. He’s in prison, sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison. Behold! The angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side. “Get up, you lazy bum, you’re sleeping all the time.” No, he didn’t say that. And raised him up, saying, “Arise up quickly,” and the chains fell from his hands. And the angel said, “And gird thyself, bind on thine sandals.” And so he did, and he saith unto him, “Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.” And he went out and followed him, and knew not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision.
When they were past the first and second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth into the city, which opened unto them of its own accord. By the way, you’ve got two different things. First time right there. It’s the first automatic doors ever was—Walmart, way before Walmart, first automatic doors. And then there’s the first car in the Bible right there. They went out of their own accord—Honda Accord right there. Come on. That’s Bible right there. Yeah, that’s good preaching right there. And they went out and passed on through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come 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.”
Now just for a second, would you think with me about the power of prayer? The government’s over here. Rome—Rome is the mightiest military nation in the world, and Herod had them backing him. And yet you’ve got government over here, or man or flesh over here, and you’ve got the power of prayer and the power of prayer war. You know, maybe the greatest thing you can do for someone is truly pray for them. I mean, truly pray for them. The power of prayer is just so amazing. I hope we truly get this thing of prayer.
I thought about when we were trying to buy that property over there, and so many times it seemed like we were spinning our wheels, could not gain any traction. And remember, we had a couple different prayer campaigns. One, I think, at 7 o’clock every night. Some of you set your alarms, and just wherever we were at, we stopped and prayed. And at one point, if you drove by it—every time you drive by it—and our bus kids, when they drive by it, they’re praying for it. Some of the children of our church, just praying. But it was amazing. Every time you started praying, it seemed like then we started gaining some traction. Things started happening. Just the power of prayer. It’s so powerful.
You know, our changes in our government the last year have been wonderful. You remember where we were this time last year or two years ago? Don’t forget. You remember when the election, and we found out Trump won again and again, you know? You understand what I’m saying? But they actually counted that he won this time, you know? And remember how the oppression just kind of lifted? Remember the oppression there was before? Praise the Lord for Trump and the presidential administration. I’m very thankful for a lot of that.
But, you know, way before that, I think that happened, probably a lot of other places, but here was—remember, you all prayed for 24 hours straight. I’ll never forget. I don’t know what time I came—either at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. And I think we were doing 30-minute slots, and I can’t remember. Maybe I had two slots. I don’t know. But I came in the middle of the night, 3 or 4 a.m., and there was a man on his knees, and I got on my knees, started praying, and he left. And I prayed for however long—half hour, hour—I don’t know how long I was supposed to pray. Middle of the night. And when I got done, my time was up, I got off my knees, and there was another man over here praying 24 hours straight. You know, ladies didn’t come up in the middle of the night. We asked them not to. They would have done it. We got great ladies. But the daytime light—the ladies were just 24 hours. Someone was on their knees praying. I really, man, God heard. I just felt like God heard our prayers. It’s 2020, and then the election didn’t turn out like we thought. And I thought, man, I just knew God heard our prayers. And He had. But God knew our nation needed four more years of misery for a lot of them to wake up.
And I’m saying, praise the Lord for the great changes in our nation, but I’m saying, you know where that came? I believe it came from prayer. The power of prayer, friend. If we’re going to have spiritual victories, if we’re going to have souls saved and lives changed on Harvest Field or any day around here, it’s going to be somebody somewhere praying. “My Father which seeth in secret that rewardeth openly.” We see all that in the open. Oh, that’s it. No, friend, it is somebody somewhere alone with God praying. That’s the key. We’ve got to have soldiers that are willing to roll up their sleeves. Nobody’s going to know about it. It is work. It is discipline that just agonizes, prays with God. That’s where spiritual victories come from.
This church said, “You know what, we’ve watched James get killed. We’re not going to sit by and watch Peter get killed.” And they were willing to roll up their sleeves and clear out their schedules and calendars. I don’t know if they had food or not. They just said, “We’re going to get it over there and we’re going to start praying about this thing.” That’s it, friend. The things that truly… Listen, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” And he’s talking about temples being built. People’s lives are not going to be built without somebody praying for God’s Spirit to be poured out. Prayer, the power of prayer. We cannot miss it, friend. Diomudi used to say you can trace back every revival to someone on their knees. That’s it, friend. And nobody’s going to know about it. You’re not going to be able to have some badge or some award, but you’re going to have to get along with God, you on your knees and begging and pleading, asking God for his blessing. That’s the key. God invites us. Come on over here. Let’s go to work in prayer. Jesus says, “I’ll intercede for you.” The Holy Spirit says, “I’ll intercede with you.” God invites you to get over here and just roll up your sleeves and get some calluses on your hands. Pray. That’s where the victories come from.
The power of prayer. Oh, we, you know, preachers aren’t going to get the job done. The people aren’t going to get the job done. Machinery is not going to get the job done. God gets the job done. Prayer moves the hand that moves the world for it. We’ve got two of them, by the way. What about that, man? We got old King James Bible right all along—Easter, amen. And by the way, and I don’t have time to get off on that. I understand back then it wasn’t always what it is today and all the different things about the history of Easter, but timeline and biblically it’s right: Easter. And then the second thing, the power of prayer, all the power of prayer. Let’s get this third thing in it because we’re trying to get to the fourth thing tonight, all right?
So here we go to this third thing. Look down back over here at Acts 12. And would you look in verse number 21, please? Verse number 21. And, oh, Herod—boy, he had a fat head. Oh, my goodness. Look at this guy here. Verse number 21: “Upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, he’s decked out, sat upon his throne, made an oration unto them.” Hoo-hoo, look at him! “And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a God, and not of a man.” And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost.
Friend, I wonder, just along this line here, I wonder how many times God cannot bless us—me too—because if He did, we want to take some credit for it. We want to—we just can’t have it. We got to put our “me, my.” We preached a couple of Sundays ago, God’s a jealous God. Oh, here, he didn’t try to correct the people. He just kind of like, “Yeah, come on, keep bringing it,” you know. And I said, “I had enough years stealing my glory.”
You know, how many have heard this phrase nowadays, “passive-aggressive”? You’ve heard that phrase? Have you heard that phrase? I think sometimes we’re passive-aggressive bragging on ourselves. We kind of nonchalantly slip it in there, but we get it in there. I’ve been guilty, come on now. And you know, God says, “I’m not really apt to bless folks that want to make sure their name—they get credit for it all.” Here’s just all about himself. And God says, “All right.” I wonder sometimes if somebody, they’re praying for someone to get saved and God might hear their prayer, but they get saved. “Well, I prayed for them. I prayed for them. I prayed for you to get saved for 30 years.” And God says, “All right.” That kind of nullifies your prayer. I just wonder.
You know, there’s a thing about giving God glory, and I’m not sure, but just what’s our motive? And only God knows our motive. I’m just saying, friend, we’ve got to be careful. I wonder how many times we grieve the Lord by trying to take the credit for things. Hey, the Lord gave the increase. It’s just… You’ve heard about the woodpecker. This is what we’re like: the woodpecker in the forest, and he’s pecking on that tree. And all of a sudden, some lightning came and hit that tree, knocked it down, and the woodpecker went through the forest, “I pecked that tree so hard I knocked it down!” Yeah.
Oh, friend. I wonder how much I hinder God’s blessing because God still ever do bless him. He’ll want to take credit for it all. I love this story. Some of you heard me tell the story a lot, but I love it. Bobby Robertson, one of my heroes, he’s in heaven now. God just blessed a country church in North Carolina. And it’s outside the city there a little bit. But you drive outside the city, you take a left off the main road, and you go—Brother Goldforce has been there, probably some of the other ones have been there—but there’s kind of cornfields out there. And you drive up, man, there’s this big old church. They run about 3,000. Just old country boy of a preacher, just awesome. God had his head humble. And his son at one point, his son, Steve Robertson, said, “Hey, Dad, man, you ought to write a book about how you built this church like this.” You know, God’s blessed. And I like what Bob Robertson told his son. He said, “Steve,” he said, “I wouldn’t know what to write. I don’t know how this thing happened. God just did this right here.” I like that spirit. I like that attitude.
Someone told Hudson Taylor—I’ve been reading his book—Hudson Taylor, whom God had used so greatly. China Inland Mission sent 180-plus missionaries to parts of China where nobody had ever been. Millions, probably millions saved through their efforts. And just read all the battles of his life; it’s amazing. But he had some high points here and there, and one of the high points was when God was blessing in a great, great way. Somebody said, “Hey, it must be tempting for you to get proud.” He said, “I doubt if any man living has had greater honor than you.” Hudson Taylor real quick, he said, “On the contrary, I often think that God must have been looking for someone small enough and weak enough for Him to use, and He found it in me.” By the way, Hudson Taylor wasn’t a big, he was sickly a lot of times. Wasn’t a big strong man. Battled health issues a lot. He said, “No, I just think God finally found someone small enough to use.” Herod—God said, “Herod, I’m so sick and tired of your brag and letting people call you God. That’s a voice of God, not of a man.” God just took you.
Hey, King James Bible, you won’t go wrong with it. You don’t go wrong with it. Power of prayer. And let’s give God the glory that belongs to Him. Let’s just work at it. Humility. I can’t say enough about humility. But let’s get this like we’ve been trying to get this last thing. All right. You all right? You all right? Let’s get this last thing. Here we go. We’re going to back—back up, if you would, please. Back up, Terry, amen, you know.
Look in verse number six. Some of you got that. Some of you didn’t get that. Look in verse number six there. Some of you are sleeping now. Come on now. You’ve got to wake up there, you know. Verse number six. Don’t get me laughing. Brother Garris gets me laughing there. “And when Herod,” verse number six, “and when Herod would have brought him forth the same night, Peter was…” What was he doing? He’s sleeping.
I mean, it looks like the next day, next morning, whoever’s going to grab him and have him killed. Peter’s sleeping. Brother Patterson pointed this out Sunday night. I hadn’t really heard it. He poured it out, and I didn’t always cover this, and I came to the day, and I studied it out, and other people said, I thought, “Wow.” He’s sleeping. He’s supposed to be killed. Now, how could he sleep when he’s supposed to be killed? Well, look, if you will, over in John. John chapter 21.
John chapter 21. Peter, as far as man says, about to be killed, and he’s sleeping. He’s resting. He’s relaxing. He’s not biting his nails. He’s not boo-hooing. He’s not fretting. He’s not having a panic attack. He’s sleeping. This is interesting. This is John 21. This is after Jesus had died. And Peter, remember, denied Him three times and cursed. And then he backslid even after Jesus went after him. And he said, “I go fishing.” He went fishing on his own, but he told everybody else, “I go fishing.” And about half of them followed him. And he’s out there fishing. They’re fishing. They’re supposed to be fishing for men, but they’re fishing, fishing. And Jesus shows up and shows mercy on them, and He feeds them—feeds some food—and says, “Peter, hey, if you love me, feed my sheep,” whatnot.
Now, I want you to notice one verse here. Look in John 21, look in verse number 18. Jesus is speaking to Peter here. John 21, looking at verse number 18, He says, “Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old…” So Jesus told him, Peter, you’re going to get old. Over there in Acts 12, I don’t think Peter was old. It was around 41 to 44 AD. They’ll argue about the date a little bit. Wasn’t super old. But it says, “When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest.” In other words, they’re going to take you a place where you don’t want to go. You’re going to be in prison, be a prisoner. So He says right there years earlier, Jesus said, Peter, you’re going to get old, and you’re going to be—you’re going to be living in prison for a while. Peter will have been in prison for a day or something. Well, okay, seven days, unleavened bread.
But here’s what I’m trying to get at. Now, I want just for a minute talk about this thing about resting in the Lord and in His Word, His promises. Peter, Peter—I’m sure Jesus, He’s kind of correcting Peter. And look, “When you get old one day,” on and on. And Peter’s about to lose his life. I said, Peter said, “I’m not old, and I got the Word of God that says I’m going to get old one day.” And he rested in that.
Now, here’s what—just for a minute. You know how we get so fidgety and work ourselves up with anxiety and all this, just biting our nails and thinking, contemplating 24/7? And just, you know, there’s wisdom in just resting in the promises of God? More than just claiming, but resting. There’s a place of rest for the people of God. Finances—you know, there are some wonderful promises in the finances department in the Bible. Just wonder, but “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” But I’m saying, I can choose to just be worried to death about finances, or I can do right by God and get some promises and rest.
Well, God says He’ll give me His peace. “Perfect peace hath him whose mind is stayed on him.” You know, that will keep him perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on him. And look, you can claim that and say, “You know what, I’m going to have peace.” Now, it’s a little bit of an art to it. Nobody’s perfect at it. But just resting. Resting in the Lord.
I’ve been talking too much about Hudson Taylor. He’d read that book a little bit every morning, just a couple pages of it. But his wife had passed. His first wife had passed. And she gave birth, and the child died. About a month later, she died. And their other children had already been sent back to England. He’s in China. And he got a hold of that verse that you drink—John 6:35. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst.” And he said, “I would just quote that over again: I’ll never thirst.” And for months—and he was sick after that too—and for months, he said, “I just…” Many times he said, “I never thirst.” But I’m just saying arresting in the promise of God.
You know Jesus was in the boat, the storm came up, all the other apostles were scared to death, “We’re going to die out here.” You know where Jesus was? It’s interesting. He had a pillow. It wasn’t an accident. You don’t have the right to sleep. You don’t have a pillow. Amen. Don’t bring pillows to church next time, anything. Jesus had a pillow, and He’s in the boat sleeping, just resting.
You know, this old world is in a turmoil, and it’s always been in turmoil. It’s so bad, folks, that they were killing Christians left and right in Jesus’ and in the early church age. I’m not for it, but I’m just saying that happened. Don’t get bent out of shape or fretful. Rested Him. I love this Jesus over there when He’s talking about the end times in Matthew 24, and He’s talking about there should be wars and rumors of wars. He said this little phrase. He said, “See that ye be not troubled.” He’s telling me how bad it’s going to get, and He said, “Don’t get bent out of shape. It’s just proving the Bible’s true anyway.” By the way, the world’s not falling apart; it’s falling into place. He told us these things would happen. But rest. Don’t just fret all the time.
You know, Paul and Silas at midnight, they were singing praises to God. Now, I’m not perfect at it; nobody is. A new battle will hit me tomorrow, and I’ll be, “Ah.” But I want to seek for that rest, just resting. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life because there’s always battles. When you get out of that battle, there’s going to be another battle right after it. It’s not a bump in the road; it’s a bumpy road. I’m a long line. I say, you know, I’m just going to rest in the promises of God.
Peter had this promise. Jesus said, “When you get old.” And Peter said, “I know Herod thinks he’s going to kill me tomorrow, but Jesus said, I’m going to live till I get old. I’m not old yet. I’m going to spend some time in prison. I ain’t spent but a week in here.” Just resting. Resting, resting in the Lord. I love that. There’s a great chapter, Psalm 37. If you ever think that the wicked are prospering all around you, when Bill Clinton got in one of those times, my sister called me and she said, “Oh, I’m tore up. What am I going to do?” You know? I said, “Read Psalm 37.” It’s a great chapter to read times like that. You know, it starts off with Psalm 37. It starts off with this: “Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.” Rest in the Lord. There’s rest for the weary in the Lord, just resting in Him.
The church in Smyrna—he said that’s us, Rutherford County Baptist Church. Amen. Brother Josh is going to another church on Tuesday nights. He’s a traitor. He’s going to another church. Can you believe that? It’s a good church. It is a Bible study they go to. It is a good one. But they’re studying the book of Revelation, and the seven churches of Asia Minor—they’re in right now. And Brother Josh keeps telling them that the church of Smyrna is Rutherford County Baptist Church. Amen. Amen. He’s our missionary over there. They need to get saved, that church right there, but it’s a good church. It really is. Great pastor.
But, you know, the early church—the pastor a little bit after the time of the book of Acts here, a little bit after that in that first century, for the most part, the pastor of the church at Smyrna is Polycarp. It’s not Bible, but it’s history. And Polycarp, he was 86 years old. And he was—it was just, they were kind of chasing him like a criminal. Finally, he went to like a cottage, and he said, “I’m just not going to run anymore.” And he said, “Let them come.” And they did come. Back when they came, they brought a kind of soldiers. They were ready to arrest this criminal, you know. They were going to take him to the arena and either let the animals, the lions, whatnot, eat him, or they were going to burn him. And Polycarp, they say—and it’s in several books, but Fox’s Book of Martyrs, which is an amazing book—just amazing. You read that, and you think, “Wow, my Christianity is so far from what, you know, Christianity back of the day was.” And Polycarp, he was upstairs when they came to get him, and they say he came downstairs and greeted the soldiers very kindly to them, to the point some were a little embarrassed: “Man, what are we doing? All these spears and swords and, you know, protection armor, and we’re resting an 86-year-old, kind, sweet, godly man?”
And he asked him one thing. He said, “You’re fine, I’ll do whatever. I’ve accepted it.” He said, “But would you give me one hour to pray?” And he told the people that lived there, “Would you feed the soldiers?” Well, what soldiers are going to turn down good food, amen, you know? And so they said, “Sure.” He went upstairs and he prayed. You know, he’s like a Baptist preacher. He didn’t pray one hour; he prayed two hours. Finally, he came down. He told the soldiers, “I’m ready.” Some of them felt so bad. And they took him. They took him into the city. They were taken to the arena. When the arena heard they got Polycarp, the pastor, the bishop of the church this morning, boy, they said the crowds—a lot of them are just, “Yeah, we’re going to watch him die.”
And Polycarp, as he came into the arena, he heard a voice. Very interesting. Other Christians heard it, but not the lost people heard it. But he heard a voice; it said, “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.” They brought him in there. And, of course, an older, 86-year-old man, godly man, brought some sympathy in, so some of them thought, “Well, you know, what’s going to happen if we killed him in front of him?” So they tried to get him to recant, just announce Jesus, give your loyalty to Rome, and on them—they kept him. And then they threatened him, “We’re going to let the animals get you.” By the way, when he had been praying, he had said, “I know what’s going to happen. God’s going to let me be burned. I know that.” You know what’s going to happen. And so they said, “Well, they let the animals on you.” He said, “I’m not going to recant.” They said, “We’re going to burn you.” And then he said this: He said, “How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior? Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
Well, they were just infuriated. He went there; he can’t. But the whole time, he just had peace, resting in the Lord. They went to chain him. They were going to burn him at the stake. They went to tie him to the stake. He said, “You know, I’m all right. The Lord’s going to give me what I need. I’m okay.” And just, “You can do whatever. You ain’t got to tie me all up. I’ll stay here.” They tied his hands. They didn’t have to tie him to the stake. They just tied his hands, tied his arms up, and they put all the sticks—people were just running, getting sticks from everywhere because they’re just demonic, like, you know, a lot of the crowd just wanted to see him die. And they gathered up the sticks and surrounded him where he was, and his hands were tied there. And they lit the fire, all the sticks all around him. It began to burn, but he wouldn’t burn. Some say it was like, you know, like gold, and it glistened, and just—but it just wouldn’t burn. It’s a foul around it. You can read in history books; Fox’s Book of Martyrs is what I suggest. They got so infuriated in the leaders—somebody’s got to, you know—they told a soldier. A soldier went and he got a spear, and he speared Polycarp. And they said the blood just came—some reports, a dove flew out, some not some—but the blood just gushed out to the point that extinguished the fire. He died, but he went home.
But I’m saying, in the midst of all that, he had rest, he had peace. And I’m just saying Peter was sleeping. He wasn’t listening to the news 24/7. Oh, what about—he’s sleeping. There’s a rest that God wants His people to have. “Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for him.” Friend, He’s got it. “See that ye be not troubled.” Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? We’ve got to end it tonight.
I’m not sure what the Lord has for you out of the sermon tonight, but maybe it’s just resting. I want to grow in that, just resting. I’m going to cancel my—you know, falling apart. I’m just going to rest in the Lord. Maybe it’s give Him glory. I don’t want to try taking the glory that belongs to Him. Maybe it’s just the power of prayer. I mean, I need to stop listening to all these others. You just say, “I got the truth. I got the King James Bible. I’m just going to stand on that right there.” However God spoke to your heart, we’ll just spend some time with Him tonight. Let’s stand. I’ll have just a quick word of prayer. And let’s spend some time with the Lord. Father, thank you for the rest. Forgive me, Lord, sometime. You’re there. You’re capable. You’ve got it all. And I’m over here fretting, trying to figure it out my feeble brain. Lord, help us just to rest in You. Peter’s sleeping. Lord’s told me, He’s God. Help us to be more like that. Bless our people tonight. And Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Original File: 2025-10-02 - Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂The correct day and the correct Bible＂ - Wednesday PM 10⧸01⧸2025