1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:03,569 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, 2 00:00:03,697 --> 00:00:06,593 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,689 --> 00:00:09,657 My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,681 --> 00:00:10,685 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,985 --> 00:00:14,625 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,665 --> 00:00:16,245 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,745 --> 00:00:17,577 Now, come along. 8 00:00:17,641 --> 00:00:21,765 Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today. 9 00:00:23,505 --> 00:00:26,017 Well, we're going to go ahead and turn to the Book of Acts. 10 00:00:26,041 --> 00:00:28,113 If you have your Bibles, turn to the Book of Acts. 11 00:00:28,169 --> 00:00:31,129 And we are going to be looking at one of my favorite stories in 12 00:00:31,177 --> 00:00:31,837 all of the Bible. 13 00:00:31,881 --> 00:00:32,317 Bible. 14 00:00:32,421 --> 00:00:33,293 Now, some of you have said. 15 00:00:33,309 --> 00:00:34,805 I've heard you say that a million times. 16 00:00:34,925 --> 00:00:35,317 True. 17 00:00:35,381 --> 00:00:35,573 Okay. 18 00:00:35,589 --> 00:00:38,293 I've got a lot of favorite stories, but this is one of my favorite 19 00:00:38,349 --> 00:00:38,653 stories. 20 00:00:38,709 --> 00:00:41,685 And you can know that by the fact that one of the characters here, 21 00:00:41,765 --> 00:00:45,717 one of the individuals that's in the story, we named someone in 22 00:00:45,741 --> 00:00:47,461 our house with that name, Silas. 23 00:00:47,533 --> 00:00:49,317 And I love this story. 24 00:00:49,461 --> 00:00:53,693 This is the story of Paul and Silas in prison and how God miraculously 25 00:00:53,749 --> 00:00:57,501 worked through them to have individuals come to Christ. 26 00:00:57,653 --> 00:01:00,445 And so this has been a couple of weeks since we've looked at this 27 00:01:00,485 --> 00:01:01,541 passage of scripture. 28 00:01:01,653 --> 00:01:05,669 So I need to remind you about where we are and what's happened. 29 00:01:05,837 --> 00:01:11,861 We see Paul and Silas in prison because they were preaching 30 00:01:11,893 --> 00:01:15,421 the gospel, because they cast out a demon in this girl. 31 00:01:15,493 --> 00:01:19,421 And she obviously at that point stopped doing the things that 32 00:01:19,453 --> 00:01:21,109 her masters were having her do. 33 00:01:21,197 --> 00:01:22,637 And they lost their money. 34 00:01:22,741 --> 00:01:25,501 And so therefore what they did was they said, we're upset with these 35 00:01:25,533 --> 00:01:25,983 guys. 36 00:01:26,109 --> 00:01:28,339 We're going to beat them, and we're going to throw them in jail. 37 00:01:28,387 --> 00:01:30,075 That's where we left off. 38 00:01:30,155 --> 00:01:34,859 And we left off in verse number 25, and it says, and at midnight, 39 00:01:34,907 --> 00:01:36,483 Paul and Silas prayed. 40 00:01:36,659 --> 00:01:40,571 And so of all the things that Paul and Silas could have done, they 41 00:01:40,603 --> 00:01:45,187 could have complained, they could have gotten upset and tried 42 00:01:45,211 --> 00:01:46,455 to break out themselves. 43 00:01:46,915 --> 00:01:51,523 But the response to this difficulty, the response to this 44 00:01:51,579 --> 00:01:56,283 trial, the response to this beating, the response to the imprisonment 45 00:01:56,459 --> 00:01:58,163 was that they would pray. 46 00:01:58,339 --> 00:02:00,971 It's a complete reliance on the Lord. 47 00:02:01,003 --> 00:02:05,163 And I'm going to tell you that as believers, we have the opportunity 48 00:02:05,219 --> 00:02:07,379 to completely rely on God at all points. 49 00:02:07,427 --> 00:02:11,371 But specifically in times of difficulty, there's going to be times 50 00:02:11,443 --> 00:02:14,267 in your life where you might say, you know what? 51 00:02:14,291 --> 00:02:15,291 I don't know what to do. 52 00:02:15,323 --> 00:02:18,211 I don't know what God has in this for me. 53 00:02:18,243 --> 00:02:20,011 I don't know what God is trying to teach me. 54 00:02:20,043 --> 00:02:22,885 But one thing that you can do is say, I'm going to lean on him 55 00:02:22,925 --> 00:02:23,597 through this. 56 00:02:23,741 --> 00:02:25,301 I'm going to trust in him through this. 57 00:02:25,333 --> 00:02:28,645 And so therefore, they demonstrate their trust in God by 58 00:02:28,685 --> 00:02:29,349 praying. 59 00:02:29,517 --> 00:02:30,853 It says, and they prayed. 60 00:02:30,909 --> 00:02:32,229 And they didn't just pray. 61 00:02:32,317 --> 00:02:32,941 What do they do? 62 00:02:32,973 --> 00:02:36,665 It says, and saying praises unto God. 63 00:02:37,205 --> 00:02:40,101 Now, now, I don't know about you, but it's very hard for me to 64 00:02:40,133 --> 00:02:44,749 truly sing praises to God if I'm angry, if I'm bitter, if I'm 65 00:02:44,797 --> 00:02:45,269 discouraged. 66 00:02:45,317 --> 00:02:47,341 But what they do here is they say, you know what? 67 00:02:47,453 --> 00:02:51,533 We trust in God so much that we are going to praise him not necessarily 68 00:02:51,589 --> 00:02:54,877 for the circumstance that we are in, but we are going to praise 69 00:02:54,941 --> 00:02:56,637 him for who he is. 70 00:02:56,741 --> 00:03:00,149 We're going to praise him for his love, we're going to praise him 71 00:03:00,197 --> 00:03:01,037 for his provisions. 72 00:03:01,061 --> 00:03:02,949 We're going to praise him for his power. 73 00:03:03,077 --> 00:03:04,413 And that's what they do here. 74 00:03:04,549 --> 00:03:07,965 They pray and they sing praises unto God, though they were 75 00:03:08,005 --> 00:03:11,997 arrested, though they were beaten, though they were imprisoned 76 00:03:12,141 --> 00:03:13,125 for doing good. 77 00:03:13,165 --> 00:03:17,325 By the way, Paul and Silas were, as we see here, filled with 78 00:03:17,485 --> 00:03:18,265 joy. 79 00:03:19,045 --> 00:03:20,725 They were filled with contentment. 80 00:03:20,765 --> 00:03:22,701 They were filled with the love of God. 81 00:03:22,733 --> 00:03:27,309 And so it seems as if nothing could stop them from praising God. 82 00:03:27,437 --> 00:03:29,917 And this is a question that I would want to pose to you here this 83 00:03:29,941 --> 00:03:30,545 evening. 84 00:03:31,245 --> 00:03:33,385 And it's a question that I'm posing to myself. 85 00:03:33,725 --> 00:03:37,053 What in my life stops my praise to God? 86 00:03:37,229 --> 00:03:41,171 What in my life makes me think about that instead of praising God? 87 00:03:41,253 --> 00:03:43,519 And, you know, a lot of times it's what we would call legitimate 88 00:03:43,567 --> 00:03:43,967 things. 89 00:03:44,071 --> 00:03:48,159 Hardships, pain, suffering, doubts, whatever it could be. 90 00:03:48,247 --> 00:03:51,127 There are things in our life that pull us away from praising God. 91 00:03:51,191 --> 00:03:53,855 And what the Bible says is that we have to relinquish our grip 92 00:03:53,895 --> 00:03:57,679 on those things and turn our eyes and turn our hearts to the Lord. 93 00:03:57,727 --> 00:03:58,591 I'm going to say this. 94 00:03:58,663 --> 00:04:03,487 Anybody can be happy when the circumstances are looking good, right? 95 00:04:03,631 --> 00:04:07,663 Anybody, like an unsaved person, can be excited when things 96 00:04:07,679 --> 00:04:09,559 are going well for them, right? 97 00:04:09,687 --> 00:04:12,895 But the true challenge of a believer to have the joy of the Lord 98 00:04:12,935 --> 00:04:15,895 is to say, I'm going to have the joy of the Lord in the midst 99 00:04:15,935 --> 00:04:17,195 of a difficulty. 100 00:04:18,015 --> 00:04:23,295 And so the joy of the Lord is not given to believers only when 101 00:04:23,335 --> 00:04:24,135 things are going well. 102 00:04:24,175 --> 00:04:27,559 The joy of the Lord is given to believers in the midst of all 103 00:04:27,607 --> 00:04:31,631 difficulties, in the good and in the bad, in the easy and the difficult. 104 00:04:31,783 --> 00:04:33,519 And it says there at the end of verse 25. 105 00:04:33,567 --> 00:04:35,141 And the prisoners heard them. 106 00:04:35,173 --> 00:04:40,701 And so this lifestyle, this public display of worship to God 107 00:04:40,813 --> 00:04:43,385 was a testimony to those around them. 108 00:04:43,685 --> 00:04:47,573 I mentioned this morning in my Sunday school class that, That a 109 00:04:47,629 --> 00:04:50,745 trial in and of itself is not a bad thing. 110 00:04:51,365 --> 00:04:54,869 It's only a sin when we deal with that trial in a selfish, sinful 111 00:04:54,917 --> 00:04:55,509 way. 112 00:04:55,677 --> 00:04:58,165 So, for example, I have a difficulty coming to my life. 113 00:04:58,205 --> 00:05:01,257 I can choose to use this difficulty to point people to Christ 114 00:05:01,421 --> 00:05:04,905 to praise God through this, or I can choose to face it in bitterness 115 00:05:05,025 --> 00:05:08,657 and anger and totally point people away from the goodness of 116 00:05:08,681 --> 00:05:09,245 God. 117 00:05:09,585 --> 00:05:12,889 And the true test for us is, are we willing to be a testimony 118 00:05:12,937 --> 00:05:17,045 to the Lord in the good or in the difficult? 119 00:05:17,705 --> 00:05:18,257 And they are. 120 00:05:18,281 --> 00:05:18,505 They're. 121 00:05:18,545 --> 00:05:19,489 They're a testimony. 122 00:05:19,577 --> 00:05:21,321 The prisoners hear them. 123 00:05:21,513 --> 00:05:26,593 And we see the result of this in verse 26, says here, and suddenly 124 00:05:26,649 --> 00:05:28,207 there was a great earthquake. 125 00:05:28,401 --> 00:05:31,659 So that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately 126 00:05:31,707 --> 00:05:34,735 all the doors were open and everyone's bands were loosed. 127 00:05:35,395 --> 00:05:35,755 This. 128 00:05:35,795 --> 00:05:38,931 I believe this earthquake was a supernatural earthquake given by 129 00:05:38,963 --> 00:05:43,255 God because of the timing and the location. 130 00:05:44,275 --> 00:05:47,651 And so what happens here is that this earthquake comes and all 131 00:05:47,723 --> 00:05:50,763 of the prisoners have an opportunity to run, including Paul 132 00:05:50,859 --> 00:05:51,843 and Silas. 133 00:05:52,019 --> 00:05:52,515 This is. 134 00:05:52,555 --> 00:05:53,123 This is the. 135 00:05:53,179 --> 00:05:57,027 If this was a Hollywood story, this would be, hey, the earthquake 136 00:05:57,091 --> 00:06:00,571 came, our chains were loose, the doors are open, we're going to 137 00:06:00,603 --> 00:06:02,347 run out, and we're going to be free. 138 00:06:02,531 --> 00:06:04,187 That's what we all would do, right? 139 00:06:04,331 --> 00:06:05,371 I mean, that's what I would do. 140 00:06:05,403 --> 00:06:06,771 I mean, I'm just to be completely. 141 00:06:06,843 --> 00:06:08,763 Like, I could be transparent with you tonight. 142 00:06:08,819 --> 00:06:11,523 If I was in prison for doing good for the Lord and these doors 143 00:06:11,579 --> 00:06:14,355 opened up and my chains fell off, I'd say, great, this is God 144 00:06:14,395 --> 00:06:15,347 answering my prayer. 145 00:06:15,451 --> 00:06:16,771 And selfishly, I'm going to leave. 146 00:06:16,803 --> 00:06:17,915 I'm going to go back to my family. 147 00:06:17,955 --> 00:06:19,211 But what do they do here? 148 00:06:19,363 --> 00:06:19,771 This is. 149 00:06:19,803 --> 00:06:22,311 This is an amazing thing, what Paul and Silas do. 150 00:06:22,443 --> 00:06:24,455 Their focus is not on their own freedom. 151 00:06:24,495 --> 00:06:26,555 Their focus is on winning people to Christ. 152 00:06:26,855 --> 00:06:28,439 Verse 27. 153 00:06:28,487 --> 00:06:31,407 And the keeper of the prison awakening out of his sleep and seeing 154 00:06:31,431 --> 00:06:35,511 the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed 155 00:06:35,543 --> 00:06:36,155 himself. 156 00:06:36,535 --> 00:06:39,439 Supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 157 00:06:39,567 --> 00:06:42,351 So what happens here is that while this is all going on, there's 158 00:06:42,383 --> 00:06:45,623 a prisoner, a prison guard there, and the prison guard sees 159 00:06:45,639 --> 00:06:48,129 the doors open, he goes, oh, boy, they're all going to leave. 160 00:06:48,287 --> 00:06:51,189 Now, why was he going to turn the sword on himself? 161 00:06:51,277 --> 00:06:56,149 Because if these prisoners left and he did not hold them in 162 00:06:56,237 --> 00:06:57,973 captivity, he was going to lose his life. 163 00:06:58,029 --> 00:06:59,545 He was going to lose his life. 164 00:07:00,805 --> 00:07:03,373 His superiors would have killed him, and so he was going to 165 00:07:03,389 --> 00:07:04,205 kill himself. 166 00:07:04,365 --> 00:07:06,821 And so the jailer did this for a reason. 167 00:07:06,933 --> 00:07:10,469 Under Roman Law and under the customs that they were in, the guards 168 00:07:10,517 --> 00:07:13,397 who allowed prisoners to escape would have the penalty of 169 00:07:13,421 --> 00:07:16,105 the escaped prisoners, which would be the penalty of death. 170 00:07:17,285 --> 00:07:20,861 But then we see something very interesting here, because they could 171 00:07:20,893 --> 00:07:21,581 have left. 172 00:07:21,733 --> 00:07:24,797 Obviously, this is why the prisoner, the prison guard was going 173 00:07:24,821 --> 00:07:26,509 to go ahead and turn the sword on himself. 174 00:07:26,557 --> 00:07:30,029 But it says in verse 28, but Paul cried with a loud voice saying, 175 00:07:30,157 --> 00:07:32,985 do thyself no harm, for we are all here. 176 00:07:33,925 --> 00:07:37,877 Paul holds everyone there, and that's an interesting thing. 177 00:07:37,901 --> 00:07:41,225 He assured the jailer that nobody was going to escape. 178 00:07:42,295 --> 00:07:43,471 And so he says, don't. 179 00:07:43,543 --> 00:07:44,463 Don't harm yourself. 180 00:07:44,559 --> 00:07:45,615 We're all here. 181 00:07:45,775 --> 00:07:50,415 Then he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and 182 00:07:50,455 --> 00:07:52,995 fell down before Paul and Silas. 183 00:07:53,335 --> 00:07:56,435 And so we see this jailer, he calls for a light. 184 00:07:56,735 --> 00:08:00,935 He comes in, as it says here, trembling, and he falls down before 185 00:08:00,975 --> 00:08:01,815 Paul and Silas. 186 00:08:01,935 --> 00:08:02,215 So. 187 00:08:02,255 --> 00:08:05,631 So this prison guard, this one who is a hardened soldier, falls 188 00:08:05,663 --> 00:08:06,391 down trembling. 189 00:08:06,463 --> 00:08:07,299 This was. 190 00:08:07,487 --> 00:08:09,307 It was a dramatic moment for him. 191 00:08:09,451 --> 00:08:14,291 This man was more affected by the love demonstrated to him from 192 00:08:14,323 --> 00:08:16,795 Paul and Silas than the actual earthquake itself. 193 00:08:16,955 --> 00:08:20,771 He falls down before Paul and Silas because this demonstration 194 00:08:20,843 --> 00:08:23,975 of love was something that he was not used to seeing. 195 00:08:24,515 --> 00:08:27,523 And we know that Paul and Silas have a motive here, and the 196 00:08:27,539 --> 00:08:29,243 motive is to win him to Christ. 197 00:08:29,419 --> 00:08:32,255 And so this man was affected by their love. 198 00:08:33,125 --> 00:08:36,005 And so he falls down before him, and he. 199 00:08:36,045 --> 00:08:39,773 And it says in verse number 30, and brought them out and said, 200 00:08:39,829 --> 00:08:43,141 sirs, what must I do to be saved? 201 00:08:43,213 --> 00:08:44,625 This is a wonderful question. 202 00:08:45,205 --> 00:08:48,261 This is a question that we all should be desiring to have given 203 00:08:48,293 --> 00:08:48,981 to us, right? 204 00:08:49,053 --> 00:08:50,077 Would you be able. 205 00:08:50,141 --> 00:08:51,469 This is a true question here tonight. 206 00:08:51,517 --> 00:08:52,333 I want you to think about this. 207 00:08:52,349 --> 00:08:53,645 I don't want you to answer right now. 208 00:08:53,725 --> 00:08:56,285 I want you to raise your hand and say, oh, yes, I know, exactly. 209 00:08:56,365 --> 00:09:00,775 But what if someone came to you and said, what must I do to be 210 00:09:00,815 --> 00:09:01,435 saved? 211 00:09:01,735 --> 00:09:06,591 Would you have a succinct answer, a clear answer to give them? 212 00:09:06,623 --> 00:09:10,543 Or would you be able to say, well, come back and I want you to 213 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:11,795 talk with my pastor? 214 00:09:12,735 --> 00:09:13,223 It's okay. 215 00:09:13,239 --> 00:09:17,635 I'd love to talk to him, but sometimes we don't have that luxury. 216 00:09:18,095 --> 00:09:20,831 And I think about this, and I've read this passage of scripture 217 00:09:20,863 --> 00:09:23,639 many times, but I thought about what would I say if someone 218 00:09:23,687 --> 00:09:27,485 came up to me, said, what must I do to be saved? 219 00:09:27,945 --> 00:09:30,265 Some folks would say, well, you gotta do xyz. 220 00:09:30,305 --> 00:09:31,593 You gotta clean up your life. 221 00:09:31,729 --> 00:09:34,481 You gotta make sure that you are in church. 222 00:09:34,513 --> 00:09:35,761 You gotta make sure you're doing this. 223 00:09:35,793 --> 00:09:36,761 And Doing that. 224 00:09:36,913 --> 00:09:39,817 There's a lot of things that have been said over the years to 225 00:09:39,881 --> 00:09:41,205 how can you get saved? 226 00:09:42,385 --> 00:09:43,121 Well, you gotta. 227 00:09:43,153 --> 00:09:45,753 You gotta make sure that you do the sacrifices. 228 00:09:45,809 --> 00:09:51,001 You gotta make sure that you religiously come before the church 229 00:09:51,033 --> 00:09:51,865 and do all these things. 230 00:09:51,905 --> 00:09:54,345 That's not what they say, though. 231 00:09:55,165 --> 00:10:00,309 Verse 31 is a very clear and basic explanation of what an individual 232 00:10:00,397 --> 00:10:03,385 does to understand salvation. 233 00:10:03,885 --> 00:10:09,925 Says, and they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou 234 00:10:09,965 --> 00:10:11,065 shalt be saved. 235 00:10:12,165 --> 00:10:14,021 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. 236 00:10:14,213 --> 00:10:17,829 Now we know by context that doesn't just mean believe that he 237 00:10:17,877 --> 00:10:18,545 exists. 238 00:10:18,935 --> 00:10:21,407 It means believe that he is your savior. 239 00:10:21,471 --> 00:10:25,151 Believe in Him, Believe in His sacrifice. 240 00:10:25,223 --> 00:10:28,767 Believe in his life, his death, and his resurrection. 241 00:10:28,831 --> 00:10:30,895 Believe in everything that he is. 242 00:10:31,015 --> 00:10:33,063 Believe in what he has done for you. 243 00:10:33,119 --> 00:10:36,015 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. 244 00:10:36,095 --> 00:10:39,543 There's another passage in the book of Romans that very similarly 245 00:10:39,599 --> 00:10:42,039 looks to this as Romans chapter 10. 246 00:10:42,087 --> 00:10:43,719 Most of you know this. 247 00:10:43,767 --> 00:10:45,075 Romans chapter 10. 248 00:10:45,715 --> 00:10:48,387 I want you to see it, though, because I don't want you to think 249 00:10:48,411 --> 00:10:49,771 that I'm making this up. 250 00:10:49,803 --> 00:10:53,427 If you know the Romans Road, I'm sure you are familiar with this 251 00:10:53,451 --> 00:10:56,955 verse, but it says in Romans chapter 10, verse 9, that if thou 252 00:10:56,995 --> 00:11:00,195 shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine 253 00:11:00,235 --> 00:11:03,575 heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 254 00:11:04,755 --> 00:11:11,883 And so a lot of times what we do is we convolute, we cloud up the 255 00:11:11,939 --> 00:11:14,681 explanation of what a person must do to come to Christ. 256 00:11:14,843 --> 00:11:18,045 Now, are there steps after salvation that allow for spiritual 257 00:11:18,085 --> 00:11:18,285 growth? 258 00:11:18,325 --> 00:11:19,065 Of course. 259 00:11:19,645 --> 00:11:23,653 But the initial step of salvation is just believing in faith 260 00:11:23,749 --> 00:11:27,061 that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, he rose again 261 00:11:27,093 --> 00:11:31,445 on the third day, and that we as sinners, need salvation. 262 00:11:31,525 --> 00:11:33,301 We need his salvation in our life. 263 00:11:33,333 --> 00:11:34,981 And so that's how they respond to him. 264 00:11:35,013 --> 00:11:38,949 They say, hey, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt 265 00:11:38,997 --> 00:11:39,645 be saved. 266 00:11:39,765 --> 00:11:42,695 Very clear mention of the Gospel here. 267 00:11:43,675 --> 00:11:48,935 And so we would stop there, but there's more to the story. 268 00:11:49,435 --> 00:11:51,083 Says thou shalt be saved. 269 00:11:51,179 --> 00:11:53,995 And then these three words at the end of verse 31 have actually 270 00:11:54,035 --> 00:11:55,775 caused some confusion with a lot of people. 271 00:11:56,875 --> 00:12:01,947 Says here in verse 31, and thou shalt be saved and thy house. 272 00:12:02,091 --> 00:12:07,171 Now, there are some people out there that teach and use this passage 273 00:12:07,203 --> 00:12:11,593 as a proof text that if you are saved, that your whole family 274 00:12:11,649 --> 00:12:12,485 is saved. 275 00:12:12,905 --> 00:12:16,137 And I would clearly explain to you in context as we look later on, 276 00:12:16,161 --> 00:12:17,885 that that's not what this is talking about. 277 00:12:18,265 --> 00:12:18,625 What? 278 00:12:18,665 --> 00:12:19,633 What is this talking about? 279 00:12:19,649 --> 00:12:20,385 What is he talking about? 280 00:12:20,425 --> 00:12:21,593 With his house being saved. 281 00:12:21,649 --> 00:12:25,845 Well, I believe in this case that this is speaking prophetically 282 00:12:26,225 --> 00:12:29,113 through the Holy Spirit, that if he got saved and that he would 283 00:12:29,209 --> 00:12:31,577 allow his family to be introduced to the gospel, that they 284 00:12:31,601 --> 00:12:32,485 would be saved. 285 00:12:32,865 --> 00:12:36,057 But we do know that odds are going to go up in our family that 286 00:12:36,081 --> 00:12:38,969 if we are saved, statistically speaking, our family is going to 287 00:12:38,977 --> 00:12:41,337 get saved because we are a testimony to them. 288 00:12:41,521 --> 00:12:43,433 And so there's a couple of different ways that you could look 289 00:12:43,449 --> 00:12:43,721 at this. 290 00:12:43,753 --> 00:12:46,649 But essentially what they're telling them is telling him is this, 291 00:12:46,817 --> 00:12:49,393 yes, you believe on Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 292 00:12:49,449 --> 00:12:51,245 And it will influence your house. 293 00:12:51,905 --> 00:12:56,285 It will allow you to see your family come to Christ as well. 294 00:12:57,065 --> 00:12:59,881 I'm going to tell you that one of the greatest decisions that you 295 00:12:59,913 --> 00:13:02,809 can make, the greatest decision that you can make is your 296 00:13:02,857 --> 00:13:04,785 personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 297 00:13:04,905 --> 00:13:08,201 But the second most important decision that you can make is sharing 298 00:13:08,273 --> 00:13:10,969 that decision with other people, specifically the people that 299 00:13:10,977 --> 00:13:12,113 you love, your family. 300 00:13:12,249 --> 00:13:15,665 Like I see it, obviously, I'm a preacher of the gospel of Jesus 301 00:13:15,705 --> 00:13:16,097 Christ. 302 00:13:16,201 --> 00:13:19,457 And so my job is to preach the gospel to everyone that I come across 303 00:13:19,521 --> 00:13:20,425 in this world. 304 00:13:20,585 --> 00:13:21,009 Okay? 305 00:13:21,057 --> 00:13:27,217 But I will say that my number one ministry, and I'm going to unapologetically 306 00:13:27,281 --> 00:13:30,417 say this right now, and frankly, it's. 307 00:13:30,481 --> 00:13:32,239 It sometimes rubs people the wrong way. 308 00:13:32,337 --> 00:13:35,815 My number one ministry is sitting on that pew right over there 309 00:13:36,235 --> 00:13:37,387 in my home. 310 00:13:37,531 --> 00:13:41,939 If I cannot clearly demonstrate the gospel to my wife 311 00:13:42,067 --> 00:13:46,255 and to my children and to my family, I am missing the point. 312 00:13:46,835 --> 00:13:50,187 And so what we can see here is that the gospel decision that we 313 00:13:50,251 --> 00:13:53,051 make impacts our family for the cause of the gospel. 314 00:13:53,083 --> 00:13:55,979 It doesn't automatically mean that everybody in my house is going 315 00:13:55,987 --> 00:13:56,763 to get saved. 316 00:13:56,859 --> 00:14:00,643 But my decision that I make for the Lord, if I truly believe 317 00:14:00,699 --> 00:14:04,683 that and if I truly live the gospel message out, will impact my 318 00:14:04,739 --> 00:14:06,335 family for the cause of the gospel. 319 00:14:07,595 --> 00:14:09,587 I can tell you, you know what, there have been a lot of people that 320 00:14:09,611 --> 00:14:11,779 have preached the gospel to thousands of people around the world, 321 00:14:11,827 --> 00:14:15,747 but miss the closest people to them because of the big focus, and 322 00:14:15,771 --> 00:14:20,971 they miss the eternal decree that I must be a missionary to my 323 00:14:21,003 --> 00:14:22,267 own family as well. 324 00:14:22,411 --> 00:14:26,637 And so we see here this message in verse 31, that he would 325 00:14:26,661 --> 00:14:28,901 be saved if he believed on the Lord Jesus and thy house. 326 00:14:28,933 --> 00:14:31,141 Now, we do know that prophetically, his house does get 327 00:14:31,173 --> 00:14:31,741 saved. 328 00:14:31,893 --> 00:14:37,157 And so Paul's answer to the prison guard is a classic statement 329 00:14:37,261 --> 00:14:38,505 of the gospel. 330 00:14:38,965 --> 00:14:44,549 This is what we would call salvation by grace alone, by faith 331 00:14:44,637 --> 00:14:45,157 alone. 332 00:14:45,261 --> 00:14:46,829 Grace alone, through Faith. 333 00:14:46,917 --> 00:14:49,093 Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. 334 00:14:49,269 --> 00:14:51,785 There's no works involved with this salvation. 335 00:14:52,315 --> 00:14:56,587 And so what we can say here is that it's very clear that salvation 336 00:14:56,651 --> 00:14:59,935 is through trusting in what God has done for us. 337 00:15:01,555 --> 00:15:05,051 Some have actually really gotten upset with this passage of 338 00:15:05,083 --> 00:15:10,179 scripture because they believe that Paul is making it too easy to 339 00:15:10,187 --> 00:15:10,571 get saved. 340 00:15:10,603 --> 00:15:12,735 You've ever heard of a phrase, easy believism? 341 00:15:13,155 --> 00:15:16,723 Well, a lot of people are concerned with this passage that, 342 00:15:16,739 --> 00:15:19,113 hey, Paul's making it too easy to come to Christ. 343 00:15:19,219 --> 00:15:20,745 You have to be repentant. 344 00:15:21,165 --> 00:15:24,949 Well, folks, yes, you had to be repentant. 345 00:15:25,037 --> 00:15:28,865 I believe the jailer already demonstrated repentance. 346 00:15:29,165 --> 00:15:29,941 Go, go back. 347 00:15:29,973 --> 00:15:30,749 What happens here? 348 00:15:30,837 --> 00:15:35,373 He falls before Paul and Silas and is trembling, and he says, what 349 00:15:35,389 --> 00:15:36,705 must I do to be saved? 350 00:15:38,085 --> 00:15:40,757 Now, repentance is not what saves you, but repentance brings 351 00:15:40,781 --> 00:15:43,333 you to a place in which you're able to receive and understand the 352 00:15:43,349 --> 00:15:44,665 message of Jesus Christ. 353 00:15:45,175 --> 00:15:46,487 Repent and believe. 354 00:15:46,671 --> 00:15:50,575 And so there must be a time in our life where we recognize our sin 355 00:15:50,655 --> 00:15:51,223 condition. 356 00:15:51,359 --> 00:15:53,799 And then what we say is, lord, I need you in faith. 357 00:15:53,847 --> 00:15:57,871 And so he comes in a place of repentance, and he comes in faith. 358 00:15:57,983 --> 00:16:00,115 And what we see is that he trusts in the Lord. 359 00:16:00,415 --> 00:16:05,367 So Paul specifically gives him the catalyst, the beginning to the 360 00:16:05,391 --> 00:16:05,911 Christian life. 361 00:16:05,943 --> 00:16:07,155 And that is faith. 362 00:16:07,695 --> 00:16:11,943 And so Paul did not necessarily say, hey, you have to 363 00:16:11,959 --> 00:16:12,759 believe that he exists. 364 00:16:12,807 --> 00:16:13,759 You have to be a good person. 365 00:16:13,807 --> 00:16:15,499 He says, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. 366 00:16:15,607 --> 00:16:16,771 So we move on. 367 00:16:16,923 --> 00:16:21,003 It says here in verse 32, and they spake unto him, the word of 368 00:16:21,019 --> 00:16:21,815 the Lord. 369 00:16:22,435 --> 00:16:24,731 Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. 370 00:16:24,803 --> 00:16:26,995 He's not going to just get saved because the earthquake. 371 00:16:27,035 --> 00:16:28,883 He's not just going to get saved because Paul and Silas are 372 00:16:28,899 --> 00:16:29,531 good people. 373 00:16:29,643 --> 00:16:32,535 Paul and Silas have to present to him the Word of God. 374 00:16:32,915 --> 00:16:33,315 That's. 375 00:16:33,355 --> 00:16:35,859 That's sometimes where we fall short. 376 00:16:35,907 --> 00:16:37,555 Sometimes we think, well, you know what? 377 00:16:37,595 --> 00:16:40,135 Someone's just going to get saved by watching my life. 378 00:16:41,165 --> 00:16:43,981 Well, that's going to be an impact for them to see the difference. 379 00:16:44,133 --> 00:16:47,253 But just watching a Christian person is not going to save you. 380 00:16:47,389 --> 00:16:49,205 The Word of God must be presented. 381 00:16:49,245 --> 00:16:51,581 Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. 382 00:16:51,733 --> 00:16:52,069 So. 383 00:16:52,117 --> 00:16:55,037 So there must be the Word of God presented. 384 00:16:55,181 --> 00:16:58,549 And so the Word of God is presented here, says that very clearly. 385 00:16:58,637 --> 00:17:01,205 They speak unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were 386 00:17:01,245 --> 00:17:02,117 in his house. 387 00:17:02,221 --> 00:17:06,261 If his house was just saved, automatically, he wouldn't have needed 388 00:17:06,293 --> 00:17:07,357 to preach to them. 389 00:17:07,421 --> 00:17:08,621 But he preaches to all of them. 390 00:17:08,653 --> 00:17:10,957 He preaches to everybody in the house and all of them make a 391 00:17:10,981 --> 00:17:12,105 decision for the Lord. 392 00:17:13,645 --> 00:17:18,253 And so this seems to be a specific promise for the jailer here 393 00:17:18,309 --> 00:17:21,181 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul says, hey, as you 394 00:17:21,213 --> 00:17:23,545 trust in Jesus, so will your family as well. 395 00:17:24,045 --> 00:17:28,053 This is a promise made specifically to this jailer, but 396 00:17:28,069 --> 00:17:32,613 it's a promise that the Holy Spirit may very well allow us to 397 00:17:32,629 --> 00:17:34,865 bring the gospel message to our own family. 398 00:17:35,405 --> 00:17:36,573 So they're all saved. 399 00:17:36,669 --> 00:17:38,245 They all trust in the word of God. 400 00:17:38,285 --> 00:17:41,085 And Jesus is revealed through the word of God. 401 00:17:41,205 --> 00:17:42,421 I want you to remember that. 402 00:17:42,533 --> 00:17:46,853 I want you to remember that Jesus's truth, Jesus's love, Jesus's 403 00:17:46,989 --> 00:17:50,613 sacrifice, Jesus's forgiveness is extended to us through the Word 404 00:17:50,629 --> 00:17:51,133 of God. 405 00:17:51,229 --> 00:17:56,213 We cannot, we cannot eliminate the word of God from preach, from 406 00:17:56,229 --> 00:17:56,981 our preaching, right? 407 00:17:57,053 --> 00:17:59,269 So, so if someone comes to me and says I want to get saved, and 408 00:17:59,277 --> 00:18:03,997 I say, okay, well let me tell you Jesus loves you and let me just 409 00:18:04,021 --> 00:18:05,949 tell you that he doesn't care what you do. 410 00:18:05,997 --> 00:18:07,593 He doesn't care how you live your life. 411 00:18:07,709 --> 00:18:09,817 All he wants you to do is just believe that he exists. 412 00:18:09,921 --> 00:18:12,257 I have now undercut what the word of God says. 413 00:18:12,361 --> 00:18:14,041 I haven't presented the truth of the word of God. 414 00:18:14,073 --> 00:18:15,945 I haven't presented the whole complete message. 415 00:18:16,105 --> 00:18:18,857 So the complete message of the gospel is yes, Jesus loves you, but 416 00:18:18,881 --> 00:18:20,641 yes, Jesus does not want you to stay the same. 417 00:18:20,713 --> 00:18:22,377 He wants you to be transformed. 418 00:18:22,521 --> 00:18:24,721 And so we must preach the whole word of God. 419 00:18:24,753 --> 00:18:28,857 And that's what they do here to this jailer and to his family. 420 00:18:28,961 --> 00:18:33,241 And so verse 33, and he took them the same hour of the night and 421 00:18:33,273 --> 00:18:36,705 washed their stripes and was baptized. 422 00:18:37,045 --> 00:18:39,905 He and all of his straightway. 423 00:18:40,645 --> 00:18:44,277 And so what we see here is that the same jailer who punished 424 00:18:44,301 --> 00:18:47,461 them, the same jailer who threw them in jail and was holding 425 00:18:47,493 --> 00:18:53,437 them captive is now cleaning them up, he's now taking care of 426 00:18:53,461 --> 00:18:54,101 them. 427 00:18:54,293 --> 00:18:59,385 This shows how a repentant sinner will be changed. 428 00:19:00,375 --> 00:19:04,295 He followed the example of the love of Paul and Silas and now he's 429 00:19:04,335 --> 00:19:06,755 reciprocating that love to them. 430 00:19:07,135 --> 00:19:11,375 You see how Paul and Silas could have just left and missed this 431 00:19:11,415 --> 00:19:12,195 opportunity. 432 00:19:12,575 --> 00:19:15,127 How many opportunities in my life have I missed just because I'm 433 00:19:15,151 --> 00:19:16,127 so self focused? 434 00:19:16,231 --> 00:19:17,951 But Paul says, no, we're going to stay. 435 00:19:17,983 --> 00:19:19,927 Silas says, no, we're going to stay and we're going to minister 436 00:19:19,991 --> 00:19:20,951 to this jailer. 437 00:19:21,063 --> 00:19:24,679 And therefore we see that their love demonstrated to the jailer, 438 00:19:24,767 --> 00:19:27,979 allowed the jailer to then demonstrate his love to them. 439 00:19:28,167 --> 00:19:29,195 And that's the whole point. 440 00:19:29,235 --> 00:19:31,187 After we're saved, we're called to serve. 441 00:19:31,331 --> 00:19:34,795 The service is not what saves us, but we are called to serve after 442 00:19:34,835 --> 00:19:35,627 we are saved. 443 00:19:35,731 --> 00:19:38,619 And we see that this jailer doesn't hesitate. 444 00:19:38,707 --> 00:19:40,075 He says, I want to be baptized. 445 00:19:40,155 --> 00:19:41,323 I want to follow in obedience. 446 00:19:41,379 --> 00:19:42,515 I want to serve. 447 00:19:42,675 --> 00:19:46,419 And so the jailer and his family saw no reason to delay service. 448 00:19:46,547 --> 00:19:48,855 They saw no reason to delay baptism. 449 00:19:49,155 --> 00:19:52,243 They were baptized that very night, and they begin their service 450 00:19:52,339 --> 00:19:53,255 to the Lord. 451 00:19:53,845 --> 00:19:55,477 I don't know when you were saved. 452 00:19:55,541 --> 00:19:56,477 I don't know. 453 00:19:56,661 --> 00:20:00,621 Maybe it was decades ago, maybe it was recent. 454 00:20:00,813 --> 00:20:05,253 But what I will say to you is that you are qualified to serve God. 455 00:20:05,389 --> 00:20:06,765 You were qualified to serve God. 456 00:20:06,845 --> 00:20:09,133 The moment that you've trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're 457 00:20:09,149 --> 00:20:11,237 immediately qualified for the job that he wants you to do. 458 00:20:11,261 --> 00:20:14,517 Now, not all of us are qualified to do everything right. 459 00:20:14,661 --> 00:20:16,621 We wouldn't say, like, let's say, for example, someone came up 460 00:20:16,653 --> 00:20:18,667 this morning and they got saved in our church. 461 00:20:18,821 --> 00:20:19,183 They. 462 00:20:19,239 --> 00:20:21,235 This is the first time walking into church. 463 00:20:21,575 --> 00:20:21,911 They. 464 00:20:21,943 --> 00:20:24,911 They walk in and they hear the gospel. 465 00:20:24,943 --> 00:20:25,455 They get saved. 466 00:20:25,495 --> 00:20:26,455 We don't say next Sunday. 467 00:20:26,495 --> 00:20:27,743 All right, you're the one preaching. 468 00:20:27,839 --> 00:20:29,191 Get on up there, right there. 469 00:20:29,343 --> 00:20:32,511 There's levels of maturity that we look for when it comes to 470 00:20:32,543 --> 00:20:33,607 different areas of service. 471 00:20:33,711 --> 00:20:36,351 But the Bible says immediately we can start to serve God in the 472 00:20:36,383 --> 00:20:37,879 capacities that we're ready for. 473 00:20:38,007 --> 00:20:40,663 And so what we see here is that he's ministering to Paul and 474 00:20:40,679 --> 00:20:43,475 Silas by washing their stripes, washing their wounds. 475 00:20:43,775 --> 00:20:44,551 Verse 34. 476 00:20:44,583 --> 00:20:47,135 And when he had brought them into his house, he set me before 477 00:20:47,175 --> 00:20:47,657 them. 478 00:20:47,791 --> 00:20:50,585 So we see his hospitality there. 479 00:20:50,885 --> 00:20:52,925 He's giving them what they need. 480 00:20:53,045 --> 00:20:54,533 He's giving them food. 481 00:20:54,709 --> 00:20:56,485 And so he brings them there. 482 00:20:56,605 --> 00:21:00,461 He sets meat before them and rejoice, believing in God with all 483 00:21:00,493 --> 00:21:01,541 of his house. 484 00:21:01,733 --> 00:21:02,985 This man was. 485 00:21:04,205 --> 00:21:07,109 I want you to see this path that this individual was on, okay? 486 00:21:07,157 --> 00:21:11,025 He was on a path of persecuting Christians. 487 00:21:11,685 --> 00:21:15,345 Then he went from the path of persecuting Christians to being suicidal. 488 00:21:16,075 --> 00:21:21,899 Then he was from suicidal to saved and from saved to abundant 489 00:21:21,947 --> 00:21:22,655 joy. 490 00:21:23,115 --> 00:21:27,491 And then he was going from abundant joy to service and hospitality. 491 00:21:27,683 --> 00:21:28,875 His script was flipped. 492 00:21:28,915 --> 00:21:30,539 His life was changed. 493 00:21:30,707 --> 00:21:35,627 The Holy Spirit used Paul and Silas and their courage and in their 494 00:21:35,691 --> 00:21:38,411 adversity, in their difficulty to minister this individual. 495 00:21:38,443 --> 00:21:39,267 And this individual has. 496 00:21:39,331 --> 00:21:42,595 Individual has a life that has changed for the cause of the Gospel. 497 00:21:43,135 --> 00:21:45,079 And so his life is changed. 498 00:21:45,127 --> 00:21:50,087 And he went from a place of evil and rejection and eventually 499 00:21:50,151 --> 00:21:53,887 self harm to a place of salvation, a place of joy and a place 500 00:21:53,911 --> 00:21:54,343 of service. 501 00:21:54,399 --> 00:21:57,555 That's the testimony for all who Believe in Jesus Christ. 502 00:21:58,175 --> 00:21:58,967 He's believing. 503 00:21:59,031 --> 00:21:59,887 He's rejoicing. 504 00:21:59,951 --> 00:22:02,791 His rejoicing is the fact that he's believing in God and that his 505 00:22:02,823 --> 00:22:04,015 house is believing in the Lord. 506 00:22:04,095 --> 00:22:04,967 Verse 35. 507 00:22:05,071 --> 00:22:08,045 And when it was day, the magistrate sent the sergeant saying, 508 00:22:08,175 --> 00:22:09,725 let those men go. 509 00:22:10,665 --> 00:22:14,161 And the keeper of the prison told this, saying to Paul, the magistrates 510 00:22:14,193 --> 00:22:15,705 have sent to let you go. 511 00:22:15,785 --> 00:22:18,045 Now therefore depart and go in peace. 512 00:22:19,145 --> 00:22:22,561 But Paul said unto them, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned 513 00:22:22,593 --> 00:22:25,177 being Romans, and have cast us into prison. 514 00:22:25,241 --> 00:22:26,641 And now do they. 515 00:22:26,753 --> 00:22:28,865 Do they thrust us out privily? 516 00:22:28,985 --> 00:22:32,681 Nay, verily, but let them calm themselves and fetch us out. 517 00:22:32,793 --> 00:22:35,361 And the sergeants told these words unto the magistrates, and they 518 00:22:35,393 --> 00:22:38,345 feared when they heard that they were Romans. 519 00:22:38,645 --> 00:22:41,349 The irony of all of this is that Paul and Silas didn't even have 520 00:22:41,357 --> 00:22:42,149 to go through this. 521 00:22:42,237 --> 00:22:45,589 They could have claimed their Roman citizenship before all of this, 522 00:22:45,677 --> 00:22:49,053 but they allowed themselves to go through all of this for the cause 523 00:22:49,069 --> 00:22:50,025 of the Gospel. 524 00:22:50,765 --> 00:22:51,885 They were Roman citizens. 525 00:22:51,925 --> 00:22:53,581 They didn't have to be treated this way. 526 00:22:53,693 --> 00:22:56,757 But yet they humbled themselves, allowed themselves to 527 00:22:56,781 --> 00:22:59,781 go through this pain and this suffering so that they could be a 528 00:22:59,813 --> 00:23:00,665 testimony. 529 00:23:01,855 --> 00:23:04,703 That one is a struggle for me, because I don't know if I'm at the 530 00:23:04,719 --> 00:23:05,807 place in my life where I would do that. 531 00:23:05,831 --> 00:23:08,159 I would have claimed my Roman citizenship a lot earlier. 532 00:23:08,247 --> 00:23:10,327 And we know that in other places Paul did. 533 00:23:10,511 --> 00:23:14,511 But in this case, he allowed himself to be a messenger of the 534 00:23:14,543 --> 00:23:14,839 Gospel. 535 00:23:14,887 --> 00:23:18,903 So Paul and Silas left the prison to minister to the jailer, 536 00:23:19,039 --> 00:23:22,855 yet they returned to the prison willingly to spare the jailer's 537 00:23:22,935 --> 00:23:23,555 life. 538 00:23:23,895 --> 00:23:25,595 This is again, more love. 539 00:23:27,025 --> 00:23:30,665 And so if Paul and Silas were released the day after their beating, 540 00:23:30,745 --> 00:23:33,685 arrest and imprisonment, why did God send the earthquake? 541 00:23:34,425 --> 00:23:35,645 That's a good question. 542 00:23:37,385 --> 00:23:40,601 I believe that the earthquake had nothing to do with freeing Paul 543 00:23:40,633 --> 00:23:46,393 and Silas actually, but it had everything to do with the salvation 544 00:23:46,489 --> 00:23:50,805 of the jailer and his household. 545 00:23:51,105 --> 00:23:56,129 And so I think that sometimes we think of a situation as our perspective, 546 00:23:56,177 --> 00:23:58,145 but obviously God has a different perspective. 547 00:23:58,185 --> 00:24:02,801 And in this case, they needed that, that event to bring that jailer 548 00:24:02,833 --> 00:24:06,537 to a place of fear and a place of repentance so that they could 549 00:24:06,561 --> 00:24:07,505 be a Gospel message. 550 00:24:07,545 --> 00:24:08,697 So, so. 551 00:24:08,761 --> 00:24:10,921 So Paul and Silas claimed the Roman citizenship. 552 00:24:10,953 --> 00:24:12,965 Why didn't they claim their citizenship earlier? 553 00:24:14,145 --> 00:24:17,125 Maybe, maybe, just maybe, they didn't get a chance to. 554 00:24:17,825 --> 00:24:21,307 But I believe it's more likely that they were led by the Holy Spirit 555 00:24:21,441 --> 00:24:23,795 to not reveal it at that time for a purpose. 556 00:24:24,615 --> 00:24:25,951 And I thought about it this. 557 00:24:26,023 --> 00:24:27,879 A commentator put it this way. 558 00:24:28,047 --> 00:24:31,607 Our Rights are not as important as our obedience to the 559 00:24:31,631 --> 00:24:32,595 will of God. 560 00:24:33,455 --> 00:24:36,591 You think about that back when that idea of exercising our Christian 561 00:24:36,623 --> 00:24:39,903 liberty, our rights are not as important as our obedience to the 562 00:24:39,919 --> 00:24:40,519 will of God. 563 00:24:40,607 --> 00:24:44,631 God may ask us to lay down our rights for the good of another. 564 00:24:44,783 --> 00:24:46,247 I've thought about that a lot. 565 00:24:46,311 --> 00:24:48,885 And I've thought about, am I willing to say, you know what? 566 00:24:49,015 --> 00:24:50,561 I have the authority. 567 00:24:50,633 --> 00:24:54,633 I have the right to do this, but for the sake of the gospel, for 568 00:24:54,649 --> 00:24:57,521 the sake of the furtherance of the truth of Jesus Christ, I'm willing 569 00:24:57,553 --> 00:25:02,321 to die to my flesh, die to my rights, and go through a difficulty 570 00:25:02,353 --> 00:25:04,765 so that the furtherance of the Gospel can be seen. 571 00:25:05,745 --> 00:25:07,705 And so that's what happened here. 572 00:25:07,745 --> 00:25:08,521 That's what happened. 573 00:25:08,553 --> 00:25:11,201 They were willing to go through that so that someone could 574 00:25:11,233 --> 00:25:14,645 get saved, so that this house could be saved. 575 00:25:15,315 --> 00:25:19,067 And it says in verse number 39, and they came and besought them 576 00:25:19,091 --> 00:25:21,171 and brought them out and desired them to depart out of their 577 00:25:21,203 --> 00:25:21,371 city. 578 00:25:21,403 --> 00:25:24,043 And they went out of the prison and entered into the house 579 00:25:24,059 --> 00:25:24,587 of Lydia. 580 00:25:24,651 --> 00:25:27,491 And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them and 581 00:25:27,523 --> 00:25:28,255 departed. 582 00:25:29,555 --> 00:25:32,603 So Paul and Silas are called to leave here. 583 00:25:32,659 --> 00:25:37,895 They're called to leave this area after the work of God was done, 584 00:25:38,395 --> 00:25:39,335 not before. 585 00:25:39,875 --> 00:25:41,619 And what did they do when they left? 586 00:25:41,667 --> 00:25:42,655 They encouraged. 587 00:25:42,985 --> 00:25:45,725 They encouraged them, they comforted them and they departed. 588 00:25:46,665 --> 00:25:51,185 Paul and Silas, really, what we can see in this passage of scripture, 589 00:25:51,225 --> 00:25:52,249 we're able to be. 590 00:25:52,337 --> 00:25:53,569 You remember where this started? 591 00:25:53,617 --> 00:25:55,281 You remember where this passage started? 592 00:25:55,393 --> 00:25:58,129 It was, Paul didn't want to go here. 593 00:25:58,177 --> 00:25:59,705 Paul wanted to go somewhere else. 594 00:25:59,825 --> 00:26:00,721 You think about that. 595 00:26:00,793 --> 00:26:05,325 Paul wanted to go to Asia, and the Holy Spirit closed the door. 596 00:26:06,185 --> 00:26:11,491 And because of that roadblock and because of that detour, Paul 597 00:26:11,523 --> 00:26:15,615 was able to go to a new place that he didn't even expect. 598 00:26:16,115 --> 00:26:19,055 And we see Lydia is converted. 599 00:26:19,475 --> 00:26:22,843 We see that they cast out the demon of this young girl. 600 00:26:22,939 --> 00:26:25,915 We see that Paul and Silas preach to the jailer, and he's saved, 601 00:26:25,955 --> 00:26:27,595 and the jailer's house is saved. 602 00:26:27,675 --> 00:26:31,499 And I think the message there in chapter 16 is that sometimes God 603 00:26:31,547 --> 00:26:35,989 is going to change our path, and sometimes God is going to allow 604 00:26:36,037 --> 00:26:37,877 us to go through difficulties. 605 00:26:38,061 --> 00:26:40,061 It doesn't mean that he's taken his hand off of us. 606 00:26:40,093 --> 00:26:41,733 It doesn't mean that he stopped loving us. 607 00:26:41,829 --> 00:26:45,669 It means that he's allowing us to have a different path so that 608 00:26:45,797 --> 00:26:48,945 we can see opportunities that maybe we would have never imagined 609 00:26:49,685 --> 00:26:53,205 if Paul would have pressed forward and said, you know what? 610 00:26:53,285 --> 00:26:55,461 Even though the Holy Spirit's stopping me, I'm Going to move forward. 611 00:26:55,493 --> 00:26:57,893 He would have missed the opportunities here to minister to 612 00:26:57,909 --> 00:27:00,855 Lydia, to minister to this jailer, to minister to his family 613 00:27:00,935 --> 00:27:01,423 and folks. 614 00:27:01,479 --> 00:27:04,831 So many times, at least in my life, I push forward so hard and 615 00:27:04,863 --> 00:27:07,103 just push and push and push and say, you know what? 616 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:08,871 I'm just going to do what I want to do, and God's going to bless 617 00:27:08,903 --> 00:27:09,095 that. 618 00:27:09,135 --> 00:27:11,343 No, we need to be sensitive to what God has for us. 619 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:13,711 And if he closes the door, it's there for a reason. 620 00:27:13,863 --> 00:27:16,035 He changes our path, it's there for a reason. 621 00:27:16,375 --> 00:27:19,635 And we can see that as they leave, they leave with fruit. 622 00:27:20,335 --> 00:27:20,775 It was. 623 00:27:20,815 --> 00:27:24,795 It was strange how it worked out, but ultimately it was a blessing. 624 00:27:25,385 --> 00:27:28,009 And I would encourage you to think about those times in your life 625 00:27:28,057 --> 00:27:30,473 where maybe things are not added up the way that you want them 626 00:27:30,489 --> 00:27:30,977 to be. 627 00:27:31,081 --> 00:27:31,425 Maybe. 628 00:27:31,465 --> 00:27:33,457 Maybe God has changed the path in your life. 629 00:27:33,481 --> 00:27:34,689 Maybe God has closed doors. 630 00:27:34,737 --> 00:27:37,857 Maybe God has allowed a very difficult thing to happen in your 631 00:27:37,881 --> 00:27:38,445 life. 632 00:27:38,745 --> 00:27:42,405 Maybe you feel like Paul, maybe you feel like Paul and Silas. 633 00:27:42,985 --> 00:27:46,525 You've done what's right, and now you're in a difficult place. 634 00:27:47,105 --> 00:27:49,329 You know, it would have been a lot easier if I would have just not 635 00:27:49,377 --> 00:27:50,121 been truthful. 636 00:27:50,233 --> 00:27:52,289 It would have been a lot easier if I would have lived for 637 00:27:52,297 --> 00:27:53,031 the Lord. 638 00:27:53,193 --> 00:27:54,667 I would have been away from that. 639 00:27:54,731 --> 00:27:57,259 And they could have said that, right, man, why did we go do that? 640 00:27:57,307 --> 00:27:58,115 Why did we go there? 641 00:27:58,155 --> 00:27:59,235 And now they're going to throw us in jail. 642 00:27:59,275 --> 00:28:02,091 But no, they looked to the Lord, they prayed, they sing praises 643 00:28:02,123 --> 00:28:02,571 to God. 644 00:28:02,643 --> 00:28:05,507 They were a testimony in the midst of a difficulty. 645 00:28:05,531 --> 00:28:08,135 They were looking for the gospel message to be presented. 646 00:28:09,275 --> 00:28:10,947 I often think about this. 647 00:28:11,131 --> 00:28:15,731 I often think about, am I in the midst of my trial, looking for 648 00:28:15,763 --> 00:28:18,335 an opportunity for God to work through me? 649 00:28:18,685 --> 00:28:19,941 Most of the time I'm not. 650 00:28:20,053 --> 00:28:23,465 I'm gonna tell you really what happens in my life. 651 00:28:23,925 --> 00:28:26,181 And maybe this is for you, maybe it's not. 652 00:28:26,373 --> 00:28:29,157 But a lot of times when I'm going through a trial, I'm just looking 653 00:28:29,181 --> 00:28:30,225 to get out of it. 654 00:28:30,525 --> 00:28:32,821 I'm just holding on tight and just say, lord, get me out of this. 655 00:28:32,853 --> 00:28:33,557 Lord, get me out of this. 656 00:28:33,581 --> 00:28:34,565 Lord, get me out of this. 657 00:28:34,685 --> 00:28:37,189 Instead of just saying, lord, get me out of this. 658 00:28:37,237 --> 00:28:39,077 I might need to say, lord, what are you teaching me through 659 00:28:39,101 --> 00:28:40,589 this, Lord? 660 00:28:40,637 --> 00:28:43,905 Lord, who can I minister to while I'm in this struggle? 661 00:28:45,055 --> 00:28:47,591 We hear a lot of people, including myself, I've asked this 662 00:28:47,623 --> 00:28:49,835 question just transparently, Lord, why? 663 00:28:50,255 --> 00:28:51,847 Why do I need to go through this? 664 00:28:51,991 --> 00:28:53,927 Why are you allowing this to happen? 665 00:28:54,111 --> 00:28:54,703 And you know what? 666 00:28:54,719 --> 00:28:55,839 You Might not get an answer. 667 00:28:55,927 --> 00:28:57,119 You might not get an answer. 668 00:28:57,207 --> 00:28:59,343 There have been people in Scripture that have asked the why 669 00:28:59,399 --> 00:29:01,035 question, not got an answer. 670 00:29:01,415 --> 00:29:06,223 But we know through Scripture, we know that God has a plan and a 671 00:29:06,239 --> 00:29:07,279 purpose for our lives. 672 00:29:07,407 --> 00:29:09,847 And ultimately that plan and purpose is for the furtherance of 673 00:29:09,871 --> 00:29:11,083 his gospel message. 674 00:29:11,239 --> 00:29:14,267 And so as I'm going through a difficulty, as I'm going through 675 00:29:14,291 --> 00:29:17,115 a struggle, am I willing to say, lord, I'm going through pain, 676 00:29:17,155 --> 00:29:20,771 but who can I bless in the midst of this pain? 677 00:29:20,923 --> 00:29:22,251 Who can I reach? 678 00:29:22,443 --> 00:29:25,851 Who can I share this message with? 679 00:29:25,963 --> 00:29:28,815 You ever think about the fact that you're going through this struggle 680 00:29:29,355 --> 00:29:31,803 so that later on, when God gets you through this struggle, that 681 00:29:31,819 --> 00:29:34,575 you can help somebody else who is in that same struggle as you? 682 00:29:35,115 --> 00:29:36,615 That's the point of the church. 683 00:29:37,085 --> 00:29:42,181 Some of you folks that have a lot more maturity are looking around 684 00:29:42,213 --> 00:29:44,389 and you see a lot of people, a lot of people with less maturity. 685 00:29:44,437 --> 00:29:48,181 I'm not trying to use old and young, but that's what I'm saying, 686 00:29:48,213 --> 00:29:48,581 okay? 687 00:29:48,653 --> 00:29:50,837 We have older people in our church, and we have younger people 688 00:29:50,861 --> 00:29:51,301 in our church. 689 00:29:51,333 --> 00:29:51,797 All right? 690 00:29:51,901 --> 00:29:54,781 A lot of the older people in the church have gone through experiences 691 00:29:54,813 --> 00:29:57,717 that the younger people have not gone through yet. 692 00:29:57,901 --> 00:30:00,045 Or maybe they are going through it, but they're not handling 693 00:30:00,085 --> 00:30:01,029 it biblically. 694 00:30:01,197 --> 00:30:03,661 You know what the Bible says for you to do? 695 00:30:03,853 --> 00:30:07,981 The Bible doesn't say for you to go, well, they'll figure it out 696 00:30:08,013 --> 00:30:08,785 one day. 697 00:30:10,405 --> 00:30:13,065 Not my problem, not my issue. 698 00:30:13,565 --> 00:30:17,333 The Bible actually says for you, this is in the New Testament. 699 00:30:17,389 --> 00:30:19,765 There's multiple passages of scripture, talk of this, but Titus 700 00:30:19,805 --> 00:30:23,061 2 would be one that you would say, look, no, I want to be a blessing 701 00:30:23,093 --> 00:30:23,685 to this family. 702 00:30:23,725 --> 00:30:26,021 I want to be a blessing to this individual by helping them, 703 00:30:26,133 --> 00:30:28,185 by teaching them what I have learned. 704 00:30:28,775 --> 00:30:29,703 You know, that's. 705 00:30:29,799 --> 00:30:31,951 That's like, hey, I've gone through a trial in my life. 706 00:30:32,063 --> 00:30:33,255 God got me through this trial. 707 00:30:33,295 --> 00:30:34,955 He can get you through this trial. 708 00:30:35,735 --> 00:30:36,575 And you know that. 709 00:30:36,615 --> 00:30:36,863 That. 710 00:30:36,919 --> 00:30:37,879 That speaks volumes. 711 00:30:37,967 --> 00:30:43,151 You know, as a pastor, let's say I'm going to be honest with you, 712 00:30:43,223 --> 00:30:46,127 sometimes when a other pastor comes up to me and says, hey, you 713 00:30:46,151 --> 00:30:46,875 know what? 714 00:30:47,335 --> 00:30:48,835 I've gone through this, too. 715 00:30:49,255 --> 00:30:51,743 It doesn't make me feel good that he went through that, but it 716 00:30:51,759 --> 00:30:53,343 makes me feel good that he got through it. 717 00:30:53,399 --> 00:30:56,259 And he's telling me that you're going to survive, okay? 718 00:30:56,307 --> 00:30:58,923 That that's how it goes sometimes it's like, hey, you know 719 00:30:58,939 --> 00:30:59,331 what? 720 00:30:59,443 --> 00:31:02,555 I know that other people have seen the power of God in their life, 721 00:31:02,675 --> 00:31:04,627 but through the Redeemed of the Lord, say so. 722 00:31:04,731 --> 00:31:06,771 And so it's, yeah, that's what the testimonies are about. 723 00:31:06,803 --> 00:31:08,995 The testimonies are not about, hey, look at me. 724 00:31:09,035 --> 00:31:09,707 Look what I have done. 725 00:31:09,731 --> 00:31:10,339 The testimonies. 726 00:31:10,387 --> 00:31:11,971 Look what God has done. 727 00:31:12,083 --> 00:31:14,175 And he can do that same thing through you. 728 00:31:14,595 --> 00:31:18,187 I love when folks in our church share their salvation testimony. 729 00:31:18,251 --> 00:31:19,255 I love that. 730 00:31:19,715 --> 00:31:22,451 Because you know what that is, that that's the moment that you came 731 00:31:22,483 --> 00:31:23,021 to life. 732 00:31:23,123 --> 00:31:25,841 You know, I, I, I love to tell stories about when my children were 733 00:31:25,873 --> 00:31:26,305 born. 734 00:31:26,425 --> 00:31:27,681 I, I love that. 735 00:31:27,833 --> 00:31:28,169 Right. 736 00:31:28,217 --> 00:31:30,273 You know, back in the day, they used to have the wallets and 737 00:31:30,289 --> 00:31:32,529 you'd have, you, you put your, you know, all the pictures out and 738 00:31:32,537 --> 00:31:33,881 you go, there's all my pictures. 739 00:31:33,913 --> 00:31:36,761 I have a phone now so I can show you all the pictures of my children 740 00:31:36,793 --> 00:31:37,689 when they were born. 741 00:31:37,817 --> 00:31:39,121 I love telling those stories. 742 00:31:39,193 --> 00:31:44,081 The greatest days of my life outside of my salvation and my wedding 743 00:31:44,113 --> 00:31:46,473 was the days that these children were born. 744 00:31:46,529 --> 00:31:47,125 Right? 745 00:31:47,505 --> 00:31:51,217 And it doesn't, it doesn't hurt me, doesn't. 746 00:31:51,241 --> 00:31:52,097 It's not a challenge for me. 747 00:31:52,121 --> 00:31:55,457 No one has to poke me or pry me to tell the story about my children, 748 00:31:55,561 --> 00:31:56,473 their new life. 749 00:31:56,569 --> 00:31:57,113 You know what? 750 00:31:57,169 --> 00:31:59,377 When we tell people about our salvation, that's what we're doing. 751 00:31:59,401 --> 00:32:02,521 We're talking to people about a new life, that we were reborn in 752 00:32:02,553 --> 00:32:03,125 Christ. 753 00:32:03,625 --> 00:32:05,977 And so I would encourage you to think about times in your life 754 00:32:06,001 --> 00:32:08,145 where you can point people to Jesus. 755 00:32:08,305 --> 00:32:11,097 And that's what we see here, Paul and Silas, where we're in the 756 00:32:11,121 --> 00:32:14,527 midst of a prison, they're in the midst of being beaten, but yet 757 00:32:14,551 --> 00:32:17,383 they say, we're going to sing praises, we're going to pray, and 758 00:32:17,399 --> 00:32:19,239 we're going to allow ourselves to preach the gospel. 759 00:32:19,287 --> 00:32:23,383 They could have left, but they didn't leave the call of the gospel. 760 00:32:23,439 --> 00:32:25,479 They saw an individual that needed Jesus Christ. 761 00:32:25,567 --> 00:32:27,207 They walked circumspectly. 762 00:32:27,351 --> 00:32:28,755 They had compassion. 763 00:32:29,295 --> 00:32:32,751 I want, I want to go to another passage of scripture because 764 00:32:32,823 --> 00:32:36,279 this is, this is, at least for me, one of the most challenging passages 765 00:32:36,327 --> 00:32:36,815 of scripture. 766 00:32:36,855 --> 00:32:37,391 Go to ch. 767 00:32:37,463 --> 00:32:43,353 Matthew, chapter nine with me if you're like me, which some of 768 00:32:43,369 --> 00:32:45,285 you are not like me, which is a good thing. 769 00:32:46,305 --> 00:32:49,605 I struggle with the area of compassion. 770 00:32:50,185 --> 00:32:51,929 Okay, you say what? 771 00:32:52,057 --> 00:32:53,897 You should not struggle with compassion. 772 00:32:54,041 --> 00:32:57,033 I struggle with compassion because you know what? 773 00:32:57,209 --> 00:33:00,945 I look at somebody and I go, oh, I can't believe this. 774 00:33:01,025 --> 00:33:02,073 I can't believe they did this. 775 00:33:02,129 --> 00:33:03,985 Instead of saying, wow, I don't know what they're going through 776 00:33:04,025 --> 00:33:04,601 right now. 777 00:33:04,713 --> 00:33:06,781 They need Jesus or they might need my love. 778 00:33:06,813 --> 00:33:07,909 They Might need my grace. 779 00:33:07,997 --> 00:33:11,285 But we see here In Matthew chapter 9, Jesus says something so, 780 00:33:11,365 --> 00:33:17,253 so important at the end of chapter nine, it says in verse 35, 781 00:33:17,309 --> 00:33:20,397 and Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in 782 00:33:20,421 --> 00:33:23,797 their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing 783 00:33:23,861 --> 00:33:26,305 every sickness and every disease among the people. 784 00:33:27,445 --> 00:33:30,285 Jesus in his humanity is exhausted. 785 00:33:30,325 --> 00:33:33,905 I mean, he's been preaching, he's been healing people. 786 00:33:34,965 --> 00:33:36,701 But when the multitudes. 787 00:33:36,853 --> 00:33:40,717 But when he saw the multitudes, this phrase here, he 788 00:33:40,741 --> 00:33:45,469 was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were 789 00:33:45,517 --> 00:33:48,745 scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. 790 00:33:49,645 --> 00:33:51,805 Jesus was moved with compassion. 791 00:33:51,925 --> 00:33:55,989 Literally here in the Greek, it's that his bowels were aching 792 00:33:56,117 --> 00:33:56,861 for them. 793 00:33:57,013 --> 00:34:00,217 That was the seed of their emotions back then in that culture. 794 00:34:00,341 --> 00:34:02,961 And so he's moved with compassion towards them. 795 00:34:03,033 --> 00:34:04,905 He's like, I got to do something for them. 796 00:34:05,025 --> 00:34:08,345 And though we know he can do something for them, he says in verse 797 00:34:08,385 --> 00:34:11,425 37, then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest is truly plenteous, 798 00:34:11,465 --> 00:34:12,785 but the laborers are few. 799 00:34:12,905 --> 00:34:15,617 Pray therefore, the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth 800 00:34:15,681 --> 00:34:17,405 laborers into the harvest. 801 00:34:17,705 --> 00:34:20,129 Jesus has compassion, and he realizes that. 802 00:34:20,217 --> 00:34:24,169 I want my followers to have the same compassion for those people 803 00:34:24,217 --> 00:34:25,543 that need Jesus Christ. 804 00:34:25,729 --> 00:34:29,027 We are never going to be able to minister to people in the midst 805 00:34:29,051 --> 00:34:33,283 of our difficulties unless we have compassion for them, unless 806 00:34:33,339 --> 00:34:35,931 we have compassion for the loss, unless we have the same eyes 807 00:34:35,963 --> 00:34:38,175 that Jesus had there in Matthew chapter nine. 808 00:34:38,515 --> 00:34:39,331 Because you know what? 809 00:34:39,363 --> 00:34:41,547 At least for me, sometimes it's like, well, I will do those 810 00:34:41,571 --> 00:34:41,779 things. 811 00:34:41,827 --> 00:34:44,083 When everything's going right in my ministry, when I have a little 812 00:34:44,099 --> 00:34:47,323 bit more free time, I'm going to tell you, sometimes people will 813 00:34:47,339 --> 00:34:50,131 come up and say, hey, Pastor, you know, do you have any free time? 814 00:34:50,323 --> 00:34:51,363 No, not really. 815 00:34:51,459 --> 00:34:52,861 I don't have any free time. 816 00:34:52,963 --> 00:34:54,681 Uh, I can budget some time out, but there. 817 00:34:54,713 --> 00:34:55,577 There isn't just a lot of time. 818 00:34:55,601 --> 00:34:56,809 I'm just sitting around, right? 819 00:34:56,897 --> 00:34:57,681 Everybody's busy. 820 00:34:57,713 --> 00:35:00,745 We live in a world that's too busy, admittedly. 821 00:35:00,905 --> 00:35:03,113 But what we should do is we should say, you know what? 822 00:35:03,209 --> 00:35:06,401 There's no excuse to put off what God has for us. 823 00:35:06,433 --> 00:35:08,921 There's no excuse to put off the number one mission. 824 00:35:08,993 --> 00:35:12,209 The number one mission is to point people to the gospel of Jesus 825 00:35:12,257 --> 00:35:12,777 Christ. 826 00:35:12,921 --> 00:35:16,297 Paul and Silas could have been so focused on their own issues, on 827 00:35:16,321 --> 00:35:18,753 their own problems, and they could have missed this opportunity 828 00:35:18,809 --> 00:35:21,687 for this jailer here to be saved, at least to be presenting 829 00:35:21,711 --> 00:35:24,831 the message of the gospel to him, but yet they were willing and 830 00:35:24,863 --> 00:35:27,595 ready to preach that gospel in the midst of the Difficulty. 831 00:35:28,135 --> 00:35:31,355 I would say to you, and I would say to me, what's our excuse? 832 00:35:31,735 --> 00:35:32,271 What's. 833 00:35:32,343 --> 00:35:36,711 What's pulling our attention and our time away from demonstrating 834 00:35:36,783 --> 00:35:38,635 compassion to those around us? 835 00:35:39,455 --> 00:35:41,195 For me, it's busyness. 836 00:35:41,575 --> 00:35:42,607 For me, It's. 837 00:35:42,671 --> 00:35:44,351 It's the 9 to 5. 838 00:35:44,463 --> 00:35:46,447 For me, it's trying to get. 839 00:35:46,511 --> 00:35:49,355 Accomplish my checklist for the day. 840 00:35:49,705 --> 00:35:52,529 And Pastor Spicer, some of you know, Pastor Spicer, he was. 841 00:35:52,577 --> 00:35:54,985 He was here for a long, long time, one of the. 842 00:35:55,025 --> 00:35:58,937 One of the great guys that I really look up to, and he preached 843 00:35:58,961 --> 00:36:01,565 a sermon one time about God's interruptions. 844 00:36:02,225 --> 00:36:03,153 And it was this. 845 00:36:03,249 --> 00:36:04,105 You know what? 846 00:36:04,265 --> 00:36:06,505 If you knew Pastor Spicer, he always had a little thing in his 847 00:36:06,545 --> 00:36:08,641 pocket, and he had a checklist for the day. 848 00:36:08,753 --> 00:36:09,137 And he would. 849 00:36:09,161 --> 00:36:11,193 He'd always would tell me, pastor Josh, you need to be writing 850 00:36:11,249 --> 00:36:11,889 down everything. 851 00:36:11,937 --> 00:36:13,609 You need to be having a little thing in your pocket right here. 852 00:36:13,617 --> 00:36:15,587 I'm like, well, Pastor Spicer, I've got my phone. 853 00:36:15,611 --> 00:36:17,411 He goes, no, no, no, you need to have a paper right here. 854 00:36:17,483 --> 00:36:18,307 And he had his checklist. 855 00:36:18,331 --> 00:36:20,155 But he said, you know, there's times in my life where I'm going 856 00:36:20,195 --> 00:36:23,275 about my checklist, and I gotta say, yes, this is an interruption, 857 00:36:23,315 --> 00:36:24,371 but this is God's interruption. 858 00:36:24,403 --> 00:36:26,483 I need to put away the checklist, and I need to focus on 859 00:36:26,499 --> 00:36:27,255 that person. 860 00:36:27,595 --> 00:36:30,995 I think so many times in our life, we get so busy with what we 861 00:36:31,035 --> 00:36:35,091 have to do that we miss out on what is needed around us. 862 00:36:35,123 --> 00:36:36,979 And so Paul and Silas were not busy. 863 00:36:37,027 --> 00:36:39,763 Even in the sake of, we would say, justified busyness, like, I 864 00:36:39,779 --> 00:36:42,853 need to not die here in this prison, they were willing to say, 865 00:36:42,869 --> 00:36:43,813 hey, you know what? 866 00:36:43,989 --> 00:36:46,905 This is my opportunity to preach the gospel to this man. 867 00:36:48,205 --> 00:36:51,677 You know, I don't know who your Philippian jailer is, but there 868 00:36:51,701 --> 00:36:55,397 might be someone that's coming up in your life that while you're 869 00:36:55,421 --> 00:36:59,125 going through a difficulty, he or she could be that gospel opportunity 870 00:36:59,165 --> 00:36:59,945 for you. 871 00:37:00,245 --> 00:37:03,749 And I pray that we can all see those gospel opportunities around 872 00:37:03,797 --> 00:37:04,385 us. 873 00:37:04,965 --> 00:37:09,775 And so that's Acts, chapter 16 started with a detour. 874 00:37:10,155 --> 00:37:11,643 It started with a closed door. 875 00:37:11,699 --> 00:37:16,347 It ended with lives that were changed, regions of the world that 876 00:37:16,371 --> 00:37:18,615 were impacted for the gospel of Jesus Christ. 877 00:37:19,235 --> 00:37:19,859 Who knows? 878 00:37:19,907 --> 00:37:22,467 One decision that you make, one decision that you don't make 879 00:37:22,491 --> 00:37:26,211 that God makes for you, could impact a whole family, could impact 880 00:37:26,283 --> 00:37:27,259 a whole world. 881 00:37:27,427 --> 00:37:27,923 I use. 882 00:37:27,979 --> 00:37:30,451 I use this all the time as an example. 883 00:37:30,563 --> 00:37:34,549 I am so, so, so thankful for that Pastor. 884 00:37:34,597 --> 00:37:35,989 His name was Raymond Hancock. 885 00:37:36,037 --> 00:37:40,145 I'm so thankful for Pastor Hancock that he witnessed to My grandfather, 886 00:37:40,445 --> 00:37:44,269 that he was willing to go up to a man that was a rough guy, and 887 00:37:44,317 --> 00:37:48,357 my grandfather was a rough guy and he preached the gospel to him. 888 00:37:48,501 --> 00:37:51,981 My grandfather got saved, my grandmother got saved. 889 00:37:52,133 --> 00:37:54,861 And there's some crazy stories about who they were before they were 890 00:37:54,893 --> 00:37:56,925 saved and how they changed after. 891 00:37:57,085 --> 00:37:58,325 And then I'm thankful for that. 892 00:37:58,365 --> 00:38:02,171 My dad grew up in that same church and my dad got saved and my 893 00:38:02,203 --> 00:38:04,043 dad preached the gospel to me. 894 00:38:04,219 --> 00:38:07,603 And that's a legacy that I'm able to pass down to my children, 895 00:38:07,739 --> 00:38:09,147 that I can preach the gospel to them. 896 00:38:09,171 --> 00:38:12,971 And then, Lord willing, if God tarries, that my children will pass 897 00:38:13,003 --> 00:38:14,135 on to their children. 898 00:38:14,635 --> 00:38:19,395 Who knows how long the line that we can impact by just sharing 899 00:38:19,435 --> 00:38:20,855 the gospel to one person. 900 00:38:22,435 --> 00:38:24,307 And I know that all of you probably have stories about that. 901 00:38:24,331 --> 00:38:26,643 Aren't you thankful for that person that shared the gospel with 902 00:38:26,659 --> 00:38:27,039 you? 903 00:38:27,147 --> 00:38:29,327 Could have been your parents, could have been your father, your 904 00:38:29,351 --> 00:38:31,471 mother, could have been a grandparent, could have been a Sunday 905 00:38:31,543 --> 00:38:33,719 school teacher, could have been a preacher, could have been 906 00:38:33,767 --> 00:38:34,151 your friend. 907 00:38:34,183 --> 00:38:36,967 I don't know who it was, but someone loved you enough to give 908 00:38:36,991 --> 00:38:38,075 you the gospel. 909 00:38:39,655 --> 00:38:41,835 Who knows if they were having a good day that day. 910 00:38:42,175 --> 00:38:43,751 Who knows if everything was going well. 911 00:38:43,783 --> 00:38:46,327 Maybe they're going through a struggle, but yet they loved you 912 00:38:46,351 --> 00:38:48,399 enough to tell you about Jesus Christ. 913 00:38:48,567 --> 00:38:50,359 Let's be those ones that are willing to do that. 914 00:38:50,447 --> 00:38:53,583 Folks, in 2025, we are going to have a lot of opportunities here 915 00:38:53,599 --> 00:38:58,101 in Middletown Baptist Church to preach the gospel, to share the 916 00:38:58,133 --> 00:39:01,981 gospel, to show the gospel, to serve in the gospel. 917 00:39:02,133 --> 00:39:05,813 And yet, folks, we have to understand that it's not motivated 918 00:39:05,869 --> 00:39:06,517 out of, you know what? 919 00:39:06,541 --> 00:39:09,101 I gotta be there because Pastor Pastor has a checklist. 920 00:39:09,133 --> 00:39:11,661 And if I'm not there, I don't get my Baptist bucks for this week. 921 00:39:11,693 --> 00:39:13,025 That's not what this is about. 922 00:39:13,525 --> 00:39:17,685 What this is about is I want to have a heart for the gospel. 923 00:39:17,805 --> 00:39:21,385 I want to have a heart for sharing my faith with people. 924 00:39:21,865 --> 00:39:25,485 No one was forcing Paul and Silas to do this. 925 00:39:27,505 --> 00:39:30,729 And the gospel being spread. 926 00:39:30,897 --> 00:39:33,605 The gospel was never spread through force. 927 00:39:34,065 --> 00:39:36,385 We've never seen that successful effort. 928 00:39:36,505 --> 00:39:37,409 You can't be. 929 00:39:37,537 --> 00:39:40,265 I can't take a sword with me and make people believe in the gospel. 930 00:39:40,305 --> 00:39:43,925 It must be done out of the motivation of love and sacrifice. 931 00:39:44,865 --> 00:39:46,967 And so that goes the same in the church. 932 00:39:47,081 --> 00:39:50,587 I cannot force anybody in the church to be a good soul winner. 933 00:39:50,651 --> 00:39:53,323 I can't force anyone to be a good father. 934 00:39:53,419 --> 00:39:56,323 It must be the change that happens in your heart because of 935 00:39:56,339 --> 00:39:57,815 the gospel of Jesus Christ. 936 00:39:58,635 --> 00:40:01,315 All I can do is try to show you in the word of God what it means 937 00:40:01,355 --> 00:40:03,083 to be a good godly Christian. 938 00:40:03,179 --> 00:40:05,171 But folks, I'm going to tell you that we're all going to fall 939 00:40:05,203 --> 00:40:05,395 short. 940 00:40:05,435 --> 00:40:06,595 We all fall short of this. 941 00:40:06,675 --> 00:40:09,659 But what we can do is we can strive to be compassionate. 942 00:40:09,787 --> 00:40:12,275 We can err on the side of compassion, we can err on the side 943 00:40:12,315 --> 00:40:12,715 of grace. 944 00:40:12,755 --> 00:40:15,793 And we can say, you know what, we can see the loss come to Christ 945 00:40:15,849 --> 00:40:18,761 because we can demonstrate that love, the love that was demonstrated 946 00:40:18,793 --> 00:40:22,633 to the jailer was then demonstrated to those around him 947 00:40:22,689 --> 00:40:25,569 and then was demonstrated through his life, through his salvation. 948 00:40:25,617 --> 00:40:28,441 So I encourage you to think about that when we come to this. 949 00:40:28,553 --> 00:40:31,961 These passages of scripture that are just so life. 950 00:40:32,113 --> 00:40:32,801 Life changing. 951 00:40:32,833 --> 00:40:36,057 If you read this passage of scripture as reality, a lot of times 952 00:40:36,081 --> 00:40:39,423 we look at Bible passages and we see it as a story. 953 00:40:39,609 --> 00:40:40,827 I'm even guilty of this sometimes. 954 00:40:40,851 --> 00:40:44,067 I'll say the Bible character here, but they're not characters. 955 00:40:44,211 --> 00:40:45,739 They're real people, right? 956 00:40:45,787 --> 00:40:49,907 They're the real individuals that walked in real places, that 957 00:40:49,931 --> 00:40:53,059 dealt with real emotions, real pain, real suffering. 958 00:40:53,107 --> 00:40:55,695 But we have a real God who was working in their life. 959 00:40:56,875 --> 00:40:59,915 And all the more the reason why I encourage you to try to take. 960 00:40:59,995 --> 00:41:04,315 I know today, with the climate of the Middle East, I understand, 961 00:41:04,475 --> 00:41:08,755 but the trip to Israel, by the way, the trip to Israel changed my 962 00:41:08,795 --> 00:41:12,987 perspective on things because I always heard about Bethlehem and 963 00:41:13,011 --> 00:41:15,859 Jerusalem and I was like, okay, yeah, I have my picture of 964 00:41:15,947 --> 00:41:18,355 like, I thought that's what the manger scene looked like. 965 00:41:18,435 --> 00:41:20,355 Now, I didn't see the real manger scene, but. 966 00:41:20,395 --> 00:41:23,427 But the reality is, is that what we sometimes have in our minds 967 00:41:23,451 --> 00:41:26,027 as a concept is not really what was true. 968 00:41:26,211 --> 00:41:29,747 And what I can say to you is this, what we, what we must do is 969 00:41:29,771 --> 00:41:31,295 we must say, okay, you know what? 970 00:41:31,925 --> 00:41:40,037 As a believer, the same God that helped Paul and Silas, what 971 00:41:40,061 --> 00:41:41,893 we would say break out of jail, but didn't really break out 972 00:41:41,909 --> 00:41:42,205 of jail. 973 00:41:42,245 --> 00:41:44,509 God just worked them out and worked their favor up. 974 00:41:44,557 --> 00:41:47,005 But the same God who worked that miracle through them in that 975 00:41:47,045 --> 00:41:49,825 prison is the same God that's working in your life. 976 00:41:50,245 --> 00:41:52,845 He's the same God that's dealing with you in your workplace. 977 00:41:52,925 --> 00:41:54,293 How many of you don't raise your hand? 978 00:41:54,389 --> 00:41:58,767 How many of you would say, my workplace seems like a prison sometimes. 979 00:41:58,791 --> 00:42:00,955 My boss is like the Philippian jailer. 980 00:42:02,175 --> 00:42:04,515 You might feel like, man, I can't get out of this. 981 00:42:05,295 --> 00:42:07,151 I can't find any hope in this. 982 00:42:07,263 --> 00:42:09,295 Maybe for some of you, you say, you know, you don't know my 983 00:42:09,335 --> 00:42:10,195 family life. 984 00:42:10,535 --> 00:42:14,183 You don't know my struggle, my physical struggle. 985 00:42:14,359 --> 00:42:16,887 Pastor I wake up in the morning and it takes everything for 986 00:42:16,911 --> 00:42:19,863 me to even get out of bed and get to a place. 987 00:42:19,919 --> 00:42:21,915 And sometimes I'm not able to get out of bed. 988 00:42:22,415 --> 00:42:23,951 I don't understand all of those things. 989 00:42:23,983 --> 00:42:27,531 But you know what God does understand, and the same power that 990 00:42:27,603 --> 00:42:30,531 allowed Paul and Silas to do these miraculous things is the same 991 00:42:30,563 --> 00:42:34,043 power that's living within you as a Christian, the Holy Spirit indwells 992 00:42:34,059 --> 00:42:34,283 you. 993 00:42:34,339 --> 00:42:36,987 The same power that rose Jesus from the dead is the power that's 994 00:42:37,011 --> 00:42:37,851 living within you. 995 00:42:37,963 --> 00:42:39,099 That's the same spirit. 996 00:42:39,227 --> 00:42:42,907 So I'm not saying that God's going to send an earthquake tonight, 997 00:42:43,091 --> 00:42:46,411 but what I am saying is that God can do miraculous things and 998 00:42:46,443 --> 00:42:49,587 will do miraculous things in your life if you submit to him and 999 00:42:49,611 --> 00:42:50,403 his will. 1000 00:42:50,579 --> 00:42:52,295 And so I want you to think about that. 1001 00:42:52,435 --> 00:42:54,647 I'm going to think about that here this week. 1002 00:42:54,831 --> 00:42:56,983 I'm going to encourage you to do the same. 1003 00:42:57,039 --> 00:43:00,807 So we're going to go ahead and close here now for the for the next 1004 00:43:00,871 --> 00:43:01,071 few. 1005 00:43:01,103 --> 00:43:03,795 We're going to take a break here in the Book of Acts. 1006 00:43:04,295 --> 00:43:06,231 For the next few weeks. 1007 00:43:06,343 --> 00:43:08,927 We're going to be talking about some different stories revolving 1008 00:43:08,991 --> 00:43:11,991 around the Christmas story on Sunday night. 1009 00:43:12,023 --> 00:43:16,031 So this is a good place to stop acts, chapter 16. 1010 00:43:16,223 --> 00:43:20,169 And it's somewhat of a halfway point here. 1011 00:43:20,287 --> 00:43:23,557 It's not exactly the halfway point, but it's, it's somewhat of 1012 00:43:23,581 --> 00:43:24,405 the halfway point. 1013 00:43:24,485 --> 00:43:27,413 And so what we'll do is when we start the new year, we're going 1014 00:43:27,429 --> 00:43:30,125 to get into more of the Book of Acts. 1015 00:43:30,245 --> 00:43:35,245 And I encourage you to see that the Book of Acts not just as 1016 00:43:35,285 --> 00:43:39,605 a history, which it is, by the way, it's real history, but see it 1017 00:43:39,645 --> 00:43:42,765 as an opportunity for an example of how these Christians relied 1018 00:43:42,805 --> 00:43:46,391 on the Lord through the midst of a very, very difficult times. 1019 00:43:46,573 --> 00:43:50,099 And you know, we are not exempt from difficult times. 1020 00:43:50,187 --> 00:43:53,875 We sometimes feel like we are, you know, whether we know it or not, 1021 00:43:53,915 --> 00:43:55,099 we are so blessed. 1022 00:43:55,187 --> 00:43:59,419 The fact that we can meet here in a building and project the God, 1023 00:43:59,467 --> 00:44:01,859 this isn't even guaranteed in other countries in our world. 1024 00:44:01,947 --> 00:44:03,171 You know that, right? 1025 00:44:03,363 --> 00:44:08,411 And I think that so many times we don't utilize our freedoms, we 1026 00:44:08,443 --> 00:44:10,415 don't exercise what we should do. 1027 00:44:11,555 --> 00:44:15,173 No one is going to get thrown in jail by preaching the gospel in 1028 00:44:15,189 --> 00:44:15,757 our country. 1029 00:44:15,821 --> 00:44:16,277 Not right now. 1030 00:44:16,301 --> 00:44:17,549 At least not right now. 1031 00:44:17,597 --> 00:44:19,425 It could it's not always guaranteed. 1032 00:44:20,285 --> 00:44:22,925 But you know how many people that live in other countries would 1033 00:44:22,965 --> 00:44:26,197 say, wow, you get the, you had the freedom to pass out Tracks. 1034 00:44:26,221 --> 00:44:27,885 You had the freedom to preach the gospel. 1035 00:44:27,925 --> 00:44:29,905 You had the freedom to share your faith. 1036 00:44:30,285 --> 00:44:32,349 You guys must be doing that 24 7. 1037 00:44:32,397 --> 00:44:35,861 And we go, well, you know, someone might, you know, call me 1038 00:44:35,893 --> 00:44:37,213 crazy if I tell them the gospel. 1039 00:44:37,269 --> 00:44:39,005 They're going to, yeah, okay, great call. 1040 00:44:39,045 --> 00:44:40,385 Let them call you crazy. 1041 00:44:40,725 --> 00:44:42,997 And so I've been challenged all the more to say, you know what? 1042 00:44:43,021 --> 00:44:45,533 I want to use these freedoms that we have been given. 1043 00:44:45,669 --> 00:44:48,381 God given freedoms, by the way, that I think we should have. 1044 00:44:48,533 --> 00:44:49,677 Praise God for that. 1045 00:44:49,781 --> 00:44:52,917 Let's use these freedoms for the cause of the gospel, not for 1046 00:44:52,941 --> 00:44:56,637 the cause of me, not for my own whims, my own desires. 1047 00:44:56,781 --> 00:44:59,797 And so that's what we're going to be looking into in 2025. 1048 00:44:59,941 --> 00:45:05,541 I'm going to tell you that in January, we're going to have a Sunday 1049 00:45:05,573 --> 00:45:06,623 called Vision Sunday. 1050 00:45:06,749 --> 00:45:08,875 And we're going to take the Sunday morning service and the Sunday 1051 00:45:08,915 --> 00:45:12,395 evening service and talk about really what the direction of Middletown 1052 00:45:12,435 --> 00:45:13,195 Baptist really is. 1053 00:45:13,235 --> 00:45:17,055 How are we going to move forward as a church in 2025? 1054 00:45:17,395 --> 00:45:18,987 We cannot stay still. 1055 00:45:19,051 --> 00:45:21,195 We cannot stay stagnant. 1056 00:45:21,275 --> 00:45:23,851 We have to be a missionary church. 1057 00:45:24,003 --> 00:45:25,819 We have to be a missionary church. 1058 00:45:25,947 --> 00:45:28,507 A missionary church is a church that's focused on presenting 1059 00:45:28,531 --> 00:45:30,291 the gospel to a lost and dying world. 1060 00:45:30,403 --> 00:45:33,637 We don't want to be a country club church. 1061 00:45:33,741 --> 00:45:36,109 A country club church is, hey, we're just all getting together and 1062 00:45:36,117 --> 00:45:37,661 we're social folks. 1063 00:45:37,693 --> 00:45:38,549 We can be social. 1064 00:45:38,637 --> 00:45:39,565 That's a good thing. 1065 00:45:39,685 --> 00:45:43,637 But there's the social aspect of church and there's the missional 1066 00:45:43,741 --> 00:45:44,997 aspect of church. 1067 00:45:45,181 --> 00:45:47,545 Are we willing to say that we have a mission? 1068 00:45:48,045 --> 00:45:48,477 You ever. 1069 00:45:48,501 --> 00:45:50,221 You ever seen a movie? 1070 00:45:50,373 --> 00:45:52,785 I'm rambling, but I'm just going to finish this right now. 1071 00:45:53,325 --> 00:45:55,053 You ever seen the movie that. 1072 00:45:55,229 --> 00:45:57,755 Any movie that they have a mission, like, you have a mission, 1073 00:45:57,885 --> 00:45:58,271 and they. 1074 00:45:58,303 --> 00:46:00,447 The guys, they're like in a dark room and they've got a computer, 1075 00:46:00,471 --> 00:46:02,631 and they're like, all right, it's a secret mission that you're 1076 00:46:02,663 --> 00:46:03,007 going on. 1077 00:46:03,031 --> 00:46:04,271 You've got to complete this mission. 1078 00:46:04,343 --> 00:46:04,671 Right? 1079 00:46:04,743 --> 00:46:05,807 Those are the kind of movies I like. 1080 00:46:05,831 --> 00:46:08,047 They go out on a mission and they do something and they complete 1081 00:46:08,071 --> 00:46:08,735 the mission. 1082 00:46:08,855 --> 00:46:09,599 That's how we are. 1083 00:46:09,647 --> 00:46:12,511 God has given us a mission just for us. 1084 00:46:12,623 --> 00:46:14,983 We have an exclusive mission that's called the Great Commission. 1085 00:46:15,039 --> 00:46:18,615 And God says, I don't care if you meet on Sunday morning at 10:30 1086 00:46:18,655 --> 00:46:20,191 or you meet at 9:30. 1087 00:46:20,303 --> 00:46:22,599 I don't care if you sit in pews or chairs. 1088 00:46:22,727 --> 00:46:26,533 I don't care if you know, he says, but all I care about is that 1089 00:46:26,549 --> 00:46:28,745 you do this mission right here, right? 1090 00:46:29,205 --> 00:46:31,381 However you get this done, get this done. 1091 00:46:31,533 --> 00:46:35,213 And that's how we're going to look at it as we move forward as 1092 00:46:35,229 --> 00:46:35,645 a church. 1093 00:46:35,725 --> 00:46:39,357 So I will stop here and thank you for your patience. 1094 00:46:39,421 --> 00:46:40,605 Thank you for your attention. 1095 00:46:40,765 --> 00:46:42,493 I do appreciate you all. 1096 00:46:42,549 --> 00:46:45,505 It's exciting to see God working in your lives. 1097 00:46:45,925 --> 00:46:49,145 I do thank you for the opportunity to be a part of it. 1098 00:46:50,125 --> 00:46:52,709 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 1099 00:46:52,757 --> 00:46:53,501 podcast. 1100 00:46:53,653 --> 00:46:56,285 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you. 1101 00:46:56,585 --> 00:46:58,881 If you would like to find out more information about our church 1102 00:46:58,913 --> 00:47:02,577 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 1103 00:47:02,721 --> 00:47:05,445 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 1104 00:47:05,945 --> 00:47:10,409 You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch 1105 00:47:10,457 --> 00:47:13,177 dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast. 1106 00:47:13,321 --> 00:47:17,965 Please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates. 1107 00:47:18,305 --> 00:47:19,441 Thank you so much. 1108 00:47:19,593 --> 00:47:20,393 God Bless. 1109 00:47:20,529 --> 00:47:21,545 Have a wonderful day.