WITNESSING TO THE ENEMY (4 OF 4)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: Acts 16:16-34
This content is part of a series.
Witnessing to the Enemy (4 of 4)
Series: Opportunity Knocks
Jeff Strite
Acts 16:16-34
OPEN: In the 1870s, in the Old West, a town called Truckee, California decided to build a jail. This wasn't just any old jail - this was wonder to behold. The walls were 32 inches thick at the lower level and there were no windows unless one counted the small vents for each cell. The ceilings were plate steel, insulated with dirt, and lined with narrow gauge railroad tracks. And all the doors were riveted steel, and weighed about 200 pounds each.
Nineteen citizens donated $25 each toward construction of the jail and when it was finally built the price-tag was $1,235.
That was a lot of money for that day… and a lot of jail.
But in the Old West, most communities couldn't afford that nice a jail. Many, in fact got by with a shack that was padlocked, or sometimes even a hole in the ground that was secured with bars on top.
Years ago, one of my friends told me about a trip he took out west where he visited a site where they talked about jails in the Old West (from which I got some of my information for today). While he was there, he was told the tale of a extremely imposing jail that no one escaped from. However, while the walls were imposing… that's all they were. They were built on the cheap and as a result, if any convict had been determined to escape they could have. They just never tried.
Had someone decided to escape, those walls could not have held them.
APPLY: In the same way, the Bible seems to imply that the Apostles rarely met a jail that could hold them. That's not to say that they escaped every prison that ever held them. It's just that if God didn't want them in jail… no jail that could hold them.
For example, in Acts 12 we're told King ...
Series: Opportunity Knocks
Jeff Strite
Acts 16:16-34
OPEN: In the 1870s, in the Old West, a town called Truckee, California decided to build a jail. This wasn't just any old jail - this was wonder to behold. The walls were 32 inches thick at the lower level and there were no windows unless one counted the small vents for each cell. The ceilings were plate steel, insulated with dirt, and lined with narrow gauge railroad tracks. And all the doors were riveted steel, and weighed about 200 pounds each.
Nineteen citizens donated $25 each toward construction of the jail and when it was finally built the price-tag was $1,235.
That was a lot of money for that day… and a lot of jail.
But in the Old West, most communities couldn't afford that nice a jail. Many, in fact got by with a shack that was padlocked, or sometimes even a hole in the ground that was secured with bars on top.
Years ago, one of my friends told me about a trip he took out west where he visited a site where they talked about jails in the Old West (from which I got some of my information for today). While he was there, he was told the tale of a extremely imposing jail that no one escaped from. However, while the walls were imposing… that's all they were. They were built on the cheap and as a result, if any convict had been determined to escape they could have. They just never tried.
Had someone decided to escape, those walls could not have held them.
APPLY: In the same way, the Bible seems to imply that the Apostles rarely met a jail that could hold them. That's not to say that they escaped every prison that ever held them. It's just that if God didn't want them in jail… no jail that could hold them.
For example, in Acts 12 we're told King ...
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