Get 30 FREE sermons.

JESUS AND THE JAILER (39 OF 56)

by Wyman Richardson

Scripture: Acts 16:25-40
This content is part of a series.


Jesus and the Jailer (39 of 56)
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 16:25-40


Read Acts 16:25-40

Let me introduce you to James Ireland, a great Baptist preacher from yesteryear. (William Grady has written a nice summary of Ireland's life so we will use some portions of his summary for our consideration of the man.)

While on a recent Baptist history tour in the South, the Lord afforded me one of the more unusual speaking opportunities of my ministry. As the Holy Ghost bore witness, I preached the Word of God to over forty pastors and laymen assembled in a cow pasture! What sanctified our otherwise unorthodox sanctuary was a lone grave marker that read:

IN MEMORY OF JAMES IRELAND
1748 - 1806
MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL

The stone went on to inform that Ireland, an ''ORGANIZER OF BAPTIST CHURCHES'', was ''IMPRISONED AT CULPEPER, VA. FOR PREACHING THE GOSPEL.'' In the fall of 1769, Pastor James Ireland was arrested at a preaching service during his own closing prayer by two officials who seized him by the collar before he could even open his eyes. When he appeared in court to answer their charge of ''preaching without proper credentials,'' the quorum of eleven magistrates declared that they would have no more of his ''vile, pernicious, abhorrent [sic], detestable, diabolical doctrines'' as they ''were nauseous [sic] to the whole court.'' The convicted pastor spent his first night of confinement in a cell full of drunks. In the morning, he was informed by the avaricious jailer, a certain Mr. Steward (who was also the local tavern keeper), that any visitors he might receive would have to pay a ''fee'' of four shillings and eight pence.

Apparently, it was going to be a long six months. Because of the immense crowds that were assembling to hear Ireland preach through the grates (the iron bars in his cell window), a number of plots were set in motion against him. A bomb was planted in his quarters, which ''went off with a considerable nois ...

There are 20391 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.

Price:  $5.99 or 1 credit
Start a Free Trial