["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good evening, everyone.
Welcome to Faith Board Baptist Church.
Great to see you all here for our first evening service.
If you'd all please have a seat and grab a hemlock.
And open up that hemlock. It's song number 173.
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
If you'd like a bulletin, just go ahead and slip up your hand.
Brother Fabian will bring you one.
We have our service times in there on the upper left-hand side.
We'll be in Acts Chapter 16 tonight.
And then also don't forget that this Saturday and Sunday is the big anniversary services.
So be here on Saturday if you can make it.
10 a.m. for the soul-winning.
Again, at 2.30, we'll have lunch between those two times.
And then also, of course, this Sunday we'll be celebrating five years.
So it looks like we're going to have right around 75 people coming out.
So I know a lot of people signed up for bringing food.
So it looks like we're going to have plenty of that.
I know we've got enough brisket.
So looking forward to that.
So come join us on Sunday.
And then also there's the sign-up sheet back there for the volunteer cleaning.
Also a couple of expected leanies.
And then I'm abandoning the photo montage because I'm not going to spend hours trying to learn how to use software just to make a five-minute video.
I'm very sentimental about the last five years, believe me.
But I spent like hours trying to get that to work.
So you know what? Five years ain't nothing, you know what I mean?
Get to ten years and we'll talk montage, all right?
Ten feet ain't going to get a montage until a ten-year anniversary.
Well, who do you think you are?
Getting a five-year anniversary montage, right?
So anyways, I did get to see a lot of great pictures.
I appreciate everything everybody sent.
And of course, you know, it'll just be great in five years to make one.
Hopefully I don't understand the software by then, but we'll see.
So maybe we'll have some kind of videographer in our midst at that point.
So let's go ahead and come to Solon and going back to the 28th, which would be Monday.
Anything for Monday? Two for Monday? Anything for Tuesday?
And Wednesday? Is there anything for today? Did anybody go out today?
I don't know if anyone went out.
All right, keep up the great work, Solon.
I'll go ahead and sing one more song before I get into the preaching tonight.
What's it going to be? I see a hand. What you got?
Thirty-six.
Okay. I've got an F in it, but I think I can do it.
Oh, sorry. Thirty-six.
I get so distracted.
Oh, I'm in the grave, Jesus, my Savior.
Oh, may he keep the call.
Oh, I'm in the grave, Jesus, my Lord.
Oh, may he keep the call.
Oh, may he keep the,
Jesus, my Savior.
Oh, may he keep the signal
O say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Amen. Good singing, everyone. At this time, we'll pass the open plate.
As the plate goes around, let's turn our bodies to Acts chapter 16.
That's Acts chapter 16. As always, we'll read the entire chapter.
Please follow along silently as Brother Gabriel reads to us from Acts chapter 16.
Acts chapter 16.
Verse 1, the Bible reads,
Then came he to Derbe and Licia, and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Motus,
the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess in the league.
But his father was Greek, which was well reported though by the brethren that read Licia and Iconium.
Him would Paul have to go forth with them, and took and circumcised them because of the Jews which were in those quarters.
So they knew all, and his father was Greek.
And as they went through the cities to deliver them, the decrees were key,
that were ordained of the apostles and elders throughout Jerusalem.
And so were the church's establishment faith that increased the number daily.
Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia, and to reach in Galatia,
it was forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word nation.
After they were come to Mysia, they had saved to go to Bithynia.
But the Spirit suffered enough, and they, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas.
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, that said a man in Macedonia,
and prayed or sang, come over into Macedonia, help us.
And after they had seen the vision, immediately they endeavored to go into Macedonia,
assuredly gathered that the Lord had called us, but preached the gospel to them.
Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came with a straight chorus, the sound of Lucia,
and the next day, to Neapolis, and from Thessalonica to Philippi,
which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, the colony.
And we were in that city invited certain days.
Now the Sabbaths went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was want to be made.
And we sat down, and spake unto the woman, which was sort of difficult.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira,
which worshipped God and heard us, whose heart the Lord opened,
that she attended unto the things which were spoken of by Paul, spoken of by Paul.
And when she was baptized in her household, she besought us, saying,
that He had judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house, and abide them,
that she constrain us.
And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damager,
possessed with the spirit of divination, fed us,
which brought her master to much gain, let it soon say.
The same followed Paul and us, who cried, saying,
These men, who are servants of the Most High God,
would show unto us the way of salvation.
And this did she many days.
But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit,
I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of thee.
And he came out, and came out.
And when her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone,
they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the market house unto the rulers,
and brought them to the magistrate, saying,
These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive,
neither to observe, being Romans.
And the multitude rose up together against them,
and the magistrate ran off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
And when they have made any strikes upon them,
they cast them into prison, charging the jailers to keep them safe.
Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison,
and made their feet fast in the stocks,
and at midnight, calling Silas, pray, and saying,
Praise is of God, and the prison is earthly,
and suddenly there was a great earthquake,
so that the foundation of the prison was shaken,
and immediately all the doors were open,
and everyone's backs were loose.
And the keeper of the prison, waking out of sleep,
seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out a sword, who would have killed himself,
supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying,
Do thyself no harm, we are all here.
And he called for a light, and sprang in, became tremble,
and fell down before Paul and Silas,
and brought them out, and said, Sir, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Leave on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
And he spake unto him the word of the Lord,
and to all that were in his house.
And he took them the same hour of the night,
and washed their stripes, and was baptized,
he and all his, straightened,
and when he had brought them into his house,
he set meat before them, and rejoiced,
believing God well his house.
And when it was day, the magistrates sent to the sergeants,
saying, Let these men go.
And the keeper of the prison told his name to Paul,
The magistrates have sent to let you go,
now that you are apart to go in peace.
But Paul said unto them, Yet be this open,
and condemn the agronomists,
that have cast us in prison.
And now they do thrust us out bitterly,
and made merrily to let them come themselves,
and fetch us out.
And the sergeants told these words to the magistrates,
and they feared, when they heard that they were agronomists,
and the king was sought them, who brought them out,
and decided them to depart from the city.
And they went out of the prison,
and entered into the house of Lydia.
And when they had seen the brethren,
they comforted them, and departed.
Brother Adams, pray for us.
Lord Heavenly Father,
thank you for your goodness and mercy, Lord God.
This is all in due today, Lord God.
Thank you for the opportunity to be in the church, Lord,
as a blessed service.
Feel deep in which your Holy Spirit, Lord God.
Just give us understanding of your words.
In Jesus' holy name we pray, amen.
Amen.
So Acts 16, obviously, is a really famous passage.
There's a lot of really familiar stories in here.
Of course, the Philippian jailer probably being the most famous.
But we'll get a few things out of it tonight,
but let's just jump right in here.
It says in verse 1,
Then he came to Derbe and Lystra,
and behold, a certain disciple was there,
named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman,
which was a Jewess and believed,
but his father was a Greek.
So if you remember last week,
Paul and Barnabas have split up
because of the contention over John Mark.
And now Paul is going on with Silas,
and here we get the story of where they're going.
This is the first stop on their missionary journey together.
Paul's second missionary journey,
and Silas is tagging along with him here.
But this is where he meets up with Timotheus.
Of course, this is the Timotheus
to whom the books at 2 Timothy are written,
and he becomes not a major character in the book of Acts,
but he's definitely a character.
He's definitely someone that's a very recognizable figure.
And of course, when you're having two books
written to you in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul,
you're kind of a somebody.
I mean, that's a pretty significant thing,
to have two whole epistles written to you
by the Apostle Paul himself,
and then to have those preserved and inspired
and put into the word of God for generations,
for all the time, for other people to read
and to take great instruction from.
Obviously, 1 and 2 Timothy are great books
when it comes to ministering, how to run a church,
what it takes to be a man of God,
the qualifications, so on and so forth.
So Timotheus, obviously, is a very significant character.
Obviously, we don't hear a lot about him.
We get a little bit about his background here,
where he grew up, which is in Derby, Lystra, that area.
And let me point out, first of all,
the boldness of Paul here.
He's going back.
If you remember, Lystra is where he was stoned.
That's where he was left for dead.
So he's going back to that same city
and since he's been there last, preaching,
because you remember, even then,
after that had happened, before they returned to Antioch,
he went back to Lystra even before that.
And on his first missionary journey,
he goes to Lystra, they stone him to death,
he goes back around again, then ends up in Antioch,
exhorting a brethren that they, through much tribulation,
must enter into the kingdom of God.
Of course, when you're preaching that in the city
where you were literally stoned for preaching Christ,
that carries some weight when you're saying,
hey, we gotta go through much tribulation.
But the lesson we can learn from this is that
Paul's boldness and his lack of fear
and his willingness to go back to the very place
even where he suffered such great persecution,
that boldness emboldened other people.
And here, when he's coming back this next time,
after having gone to Jerusalem, back to Antioch,
and now he's here,
we don't know exactly how much time has passed,
but this isn't a matter of weeks or months,
this is years.
All this traveling is being done on foot, by and large.
Obviously, there's ships here and there,
but a great amount of time has passed
since he was last in Lystra.
And it appears his boldness, his willingness to go back,
has led to the fact that now there's this great young man
there who's doing great works among many other people,
there's a church that's established there,
and now he actually has somebody to take with him
that he would eventually bring up
and put into the ministry himself.
Now, what if he had decided, you know what?
Not still Lystra.
I was stoned to death there, they killed me,
and just wrote them off and never went back.
Never had showed such boldness.
We might not be reading about a guy named Timotheus,
but his willingness to go there
is what led to chapter 16 to begin with.
So we should never let opposition
or let persecution or let enemies back us down.
People respond to boldness.
People respond to leadership
that stands in the face of opposition.
That rallies people.
People want that.
People want to see bold leadership.
They want to see people who aren't afraid of the enemy.
They don't want to see people who are just going to back down
and just be a bunch of compromisers.
And Paul certainly wasn't that.
So again, you've got to pay attention to those little details.
When the Bible's telling you where he went,
there's more than meets the eye,
these cities that he's going to.
Lystra is a very significant place.
And obviously he's got history there,
and it's not exactly the most friendly,
it wasn't the most warmest welcome he received,
although they did attempt to sacrifice unto him
before they stoned him,
before the Jews showed up and rallied the people.
So that's one thing you can take from this,
but also the fact that Timotheus or Timothy here
is somebody that was, as it says in verse 2,
well reported of by the brethren
that were at Lystra and Iconium.
So it wasn't just Lystra.
It was Iconium, a neighboring city.
So he has this good reputation.
He's well reported of.
And what it shows us is that there's a prepared place
for a prepared person.
I mean, how would you have liked to have been
Timotheus and Timothy just faithfully serving God
in your local church,
just doing what you're supposed to be doing,
not looking for anything in return,
not looking to be somebody or make a big name for yourself,
just faithfully serving day in, day out,
just doing what's required in service for Christ,
and then have someone like the apostle Paul show up
and say, hey, you come with me,
and then go on to see such great things
and to be used so mightily.
Obviously, Timothy was used in a very mighty way.
In fact, in the end of Paul's life,
he's looking for Timothy to come again.
He's asking him, hey, bring the cloak,
bring the parchments.
He's reaching out to him towards the end of his life.
He still has this long, this bond with Timothy
even into his later years.
But it wasn't just a name that he drew out of a hat in Lystra.
It was somebody that had a reputation among the brethren
who was well reported of.
And what was the good report?
Probably that he was faithful,
that he was somebody who served,
that he was just somebody that would make a good companion for Paul.
Because Paul, remember, what was the contention last week?
What was the contention in chapter 15?
That John Mark went not to the work with them
as we preached on Sunday morning.
So Paul is probably looking for somebody who's not like that.
Well, they're saying, well, Paul, that's the kind of guy you're looking for.
It's Timothy. It's Timotheus. He's the guy that's going to help you.
So that's another great lesson.
If we want to be people that are used of God,
you start with just doing the basics.
You just start with showing up to church,
reading your Bible, going soul winning.
Because that's really all the ministry is about.
Obviously there's more to it than that.
You're dealing with people.
There's greater things as greater responsibility comes.
But it's all basically built on that one thing,
just being faithful to church and serving in your local church.
And Timothy, that's what he did, I believe,
and it led to great things later in his life.
But again, what started all that?
I believe it was the fact that Paul not only went to life for the first time,
but also went back there even after having been stoned to death
and had that boldness that really emboldened people,
probably emboldened Timothy.
Look at verse 3, it says,
Him would Paul have to go forth with him.
And then you read this and you're kind of,
every time I read it I'm scratching my head.
I'm just like, really Paul?
And took him and circumcised him
because of the Jews which were in those quarters,
for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
And the Bible is just telling us what he did.
It's not necessarily saying that this was the right thing to do.
And after Acts 15, it really makes you kind of scratch your head
because you remember in Acts 15,
the council, the apostles in Jerusalem,
they had written unto the Gentiles,
Paul in fact had taken the very letters with the other men to Antioch,
where he just was,
giving them the letters saying,
hey, we didn't command anyone to be circumcised.
Those people that came to you, we didn't send them out.
Those certain men that came and said,
except you be circumcised, you cannot be saved,
that wasn't us.
And we command you just to abstain from fornication,
from things strangled, and from blood,
and from the pollutions of idolatry.
They were kind of, were just saying,
don't worry about circumcision.
But then you get to this chapter,
and here you have Paul doing this.
And it's just kind of like,
well, why is that?
Well, because the book is called the Acts of the Apostles,
not the Acts of Jesus Christ.
It's the acts of men,
and even great men of God,
you know, they do things wrong.
Now, Paul might have even thought what he was doing was the right thing,
and maybe in the context of that time,
because there's these Jews around,
or I don't know what his reasoning was,
but we know that he went on and said later that circumcision availeth nothing,
that it's worthless, that it's not anything he needs to do.
I mean, go read Galatians 2,
where he talks about how, you know,
even Titus was not compelled to be circumcised,
and he's rebuking Peter and others for,
you know, backing down to the Jews and giving in to them.
And it kind of seems like maybe he had to learn those same lessons along the way,
okay?
There's a lot here.
I don't want to get hung up on that,
but it says in verse 4,
and as they went through the cities,
they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were ordained of the apostles and elders,
which were at Jerusalem.
That's the letter I was just referring to from Acts 15.
And so were the churches established in faith and increased in number daily.
Now, when they had gone through Phrygia into the region of Galatia
and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia
after they were come to Mysia,
they assayed to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit suffered them not.
Now, in these two verses, you have God intervening and kind of directing Paul.
But notice the way in which he is being directed.
He's not saying, go here.
Great lesson to learn from this.
Again, he's being forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
which is not the Asia we think of today.
This is referring to Asia Minor, which is what we would call Turkey today, okay?
So it's still in that same region.
But he's being forbidden by the Holy Ghost.
And then they were come to Mysia and assayed to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit suffered them not.
So now he's like, okay, well, we won't go to Asia.
Let's go over here.
But the Spirit again suffers them not.
So far, all Paul knows about what God wants him to do is where not to go, right?
He's saying, hey, I'm going to go to Asia.
Nope.
I'm forbidding you to go to Asia.
Well, I'll go to Mysia.
Nope.
I'm not going to suffer that either.
And what I call this is God's negative navigation, right?
God's negative navigation, because it's just negatives.
Don't go there.
Don't go there, right?
This is an important concept when it comes to following the Lord in your life,
being led of the Spirit.
First of all, you have to make sure you're not doing the things you shouldn't be doing, right?
A lot of times, we wonder, what is it that God wants us to do for a life?
Well, start with what we know he doesn't want us to do, right?
If we're doing things that we know God doesn't want us to do,
then the chances of God leading us where he actually wants us isn't, you know, that's not going to happen.
That's basically what I'm saying.
Everyone following what I'm saying?
You know, he had Paul where he had a particular place where he wanted Paul to be.
When Paul's trying to be other places, he's having to discourage him and say, no, no, right?
And this is how we discover the will of God for our lives.
And look, I don't want to get real…
People get carried away with this thing about the will of God sometimes.
And they'll even get the place where they'll just say, I've missed God's will for my life entirely.
I mean, I've heard crazy things where people think that God is like dictating every single detail of your life.
You know, God gives us principles that we live by.
God gives us guidelines and guideposts.
Obviously, God has, I believe, specific places and things that he wants us to do, certain works that he wants us to do.
But God also knows the beginning from the end.
God also knows, you know, what decisions we're going to make, what we are going to do, what we're not going to do.
You know, and obviously there's divine appointments and things like that.
I believe that.
So I don't want to be misunderstood tonight by people thinking that, you know, there's just this one perfect will of God for your life.
And if you miss it, that's it.
Because again, as I just got done saying, people run to extremes with that and it leads to actually really bad places.
I've even heard people say, you know, I married the wrong person.
You know, I married the wrong person.
And I've seen marriages just fall apart because these two people are just convinced that they got married out of the will of God or something like that.
Okay.
And look, you know, it all goes back to Genesis.
You know, I know I've used this example before, but, you know, people get hung up on this.
You know, what's God's will for my life?
It's like when Eve went to, it's as if Eve went to the Lord.
This didn't actually happen in scripture.
Okay.
This is a story.
But, you know, it could have happened.
Right.
Where Eve in the garden goes to the Lord and says, Lord, you know, what do you want me to make for dinner for Adam tonight?
And he says, of all the trees in the garden, I'll make us freely accept the knowledge, you know, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Right.
And she's like, I know, Lord, but what do you want?
What exact tree should we eat from?
What, what exact vegetable?
What, what exactly should I make?
And the Lord's answer is just the same every time.
Of all the trees in the garden, I'll make us freely eat.
Right.
So, God gives us liberty in our lives, but we have certain principles.
We can eat of all these trees, but there's this one we can't eat from.
Right.
That's, that's God's will often in our, in our lives.
God's more concerned with us not doing the things we're not supposed to do.
Right.
And people so often get hung up on all the things that God has for them and all the things that God wants them to do.
Right.
Where it's like, well, let's just make, let's just focus on not doing the things we're not supposed to be doing.
Right.
Because if we focus on that, you know, then God will lead us and God will guide us.
It's like Abraham's servant, servant when he sent him to go find Isaac's bride.
Right.
When he finds him, he says what?
I being in the way the Lord led me.
Right.
He was obedient to the call to go out, you know, and find that bride.
He went to where he was supposed to be.
He went back and he followed those instructions that were given him of Isaac's father.
And he was in the way and the Lord led him exactly where he needed to be.
Right.
But he didn't hear the instruction and then make up his own mind and say, well, you know, I'm just going to do whatever I want.
I know that's what Abraham requested.
I know that's the specific instructions that were given to me.
But now I'm just going to do it my way.
Right.
Well, then he wouldn't be able to say the Lord led me.
He was able to say the Lord led me because I was in the way.
Okay.
If we obey God's word, it becomes a light onto our feet and, you know, a lamp onto our feet and a light onto our path.
It guides us one step at a time.
It doesn't illuminate always, you know, down the road.
We need to be more concerned with each and every step that's in front of us.
Right.
We need to be concerned about the next step we're taking.
You know, a great example of this also, this is another one, especially on people, self included, when I was a young person, got really hung up on.
It was like, who does the Lord want me to marry?
You know, well, the Bible, again, it gives us liberty in that, doesn't it?
You know, because that was the bad example that I cited earlier.
That's the extremes that people go to.
I marry the wrong person.
Right.
That's crazy to think like that.
You know, the Bible obviously says we're not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
So, you know, there's a guideline.
Who should I marry?
Someone who's saved.
You know, and you should probably find, you know, the Bible also says can two walk together except they be agreed.
You know, you should probably marry somebody who shares the same ideas on child marrying, you know, marriage roles.
You should probably know those things going into marriage, not try to figure that out later.
Right.
So that's just an example, you know.
Who should I marry?
Well, the Bible doesn't have, you know, there isn't exactly one person that if you don't marry them, you know, the rest of your life is just, that's it.
You missed it.
You know, God's will is over.
You know.
But he does give us principles.
And again, what are they?
Don't marry an unbeliever.
Walk with someone, you know, walk with someone with whom you can be agreed.
Okay.
Make sure you're both headed in the right direction spiritually.
Okay.
Those are just principles.
Okay.
And that's kind of what we see in this chapter.
Paul wants to go somewhere and preach the gospel.
He wants to do the will of God.
But before he can find out where God wants him to be, he has to find out where God doesn't want him to be.
And it's not Asia, it's not Missia, and it's not Bithynia.
Right.
So that's God's negative navigation.
Don't get so hung up on all the things, worrying all the time about what we should be doing.
Let's make sure we're not doing the things we shouldn't be doing.
Okay.
And God will lead us. I believe that.
And they passing by Missia, it says in verse 8, came down to Troas.
Then he has this vision in verse 9.
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
There stood a man in Macedonia and prayed him, saying,
Come over into Macedonia and help us.
Right.
So after he's finding out where not to go, you know, he goes and he comes to Troas.
So he's getting a little bit closer to the mark.
Right.
So he's in Troas.
He's somewhere.
He's not exactly sure where he's supposed to be, but he's not where he's not supposed to be.
Right.
So when you're not where you're not supposed to be, you're where you're supposed to be.
Okay.
That's God's will.
I mean, that's how you figure it out.
Am I, well, am I not doing the things that God doesn't want me to do?
Then I must be in the will of God.
Okay.
And then he gets this vision.
Right.
And it's, and it says it's a man of Macedonia.
Right.
And it's the thing, you know, unless I'm missing something, we never find out who that is.
You know, and I'm going, who is this?
And I've heard some things, like I've heard some people say, I've actually heard people say it's Luke.
Okay.
And by people, I mean people on the internet.
Okay.
So I guess like the one teachable thing you can get out of this is don't go to the internet for all your doctrine.
You know, 1 John 2, you know, you need not that any man teacheth you.
Right.
But they know any which he have received teacheth you all things.
Right.
You need not any man should teach you.
You know, go to the word of God.
And when I heard that, because, you know, I'm like, well, you know, let me check it out.
You know, maybe I'm just missing something.
You know, let me check it out.
Let me see what people are saying who this man of Macedonia is.
And when I heard him say it's actually Luke, the author of the book of Acts.
You know, you compare Acts 1 and Luke 1, you find out that he is the author.
I'm like, how can they possibly say that when you read the next verse?
Right.
Because it says, he says that he sees the vision and the vision, the man of Macedonia says, come over to Macedonia and help us.
That's verse 9 to verse 10.
Now notice how the verbiage changes here.
And after he, Paul, had seen the vision, immediately we.
Right.
So this is the point in the story in which Luke comes in to the book of Acts.
This is, you know, so we, what we can derive from this portion of scripture is that Luke joined Paul in Troas.
Which means he, if he's in Troas, he's not the guy in the vision in Macedonia.
Right.
So it's just like, I'm just going, how can anyone possibly think this is Luke?
Okay.
Because it's just, it's right there.
It's as plain as a nona as your face.
But you know what?
That's what's, you know, that's what's out there.
That's the kind of stuff that's being taught out there.
There's whole articles written about how it's this, how it could possibly be Luke.
But, I mean, read it again.
After he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia.
But I was already there.
We went there, where I already was, being the guy in the vision.
That doesn't make any sense at all.
You see, that seems pretty simple.
I know.
But you know what?
Apparently there's a lot of theologians out there that just haven't figured it out.
You know, truly, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, and neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.
Even just the most simple, basic things.
Sometimes you scratch your head at some of the just the ridiculous things that hear people say regarding the Bible, regarding Scripture.
And you go, how can anybody believe that?
How can anybody say that?
It's because they're unsaved.
How else do you explain it?
How else do you explain somebody picking up the book and missing things that are just so plain to everybody else?
So immediately, we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
And I also like the verbiage here because it's Paul, he had seen the vision, and we endeavored to go into Macedonia, that the Lord had called us to preach unto them.
So although Paul's the one who's received this vision, it's not like he's the only one doing the work.
He's got Silas, he's got Timotheus, now he's got Luke with him, and it's a team effort.
We endeavored to go in there, but there was a leader, and that leader was Paul, and the Lord was leading him.
You say again, who is this guy in Macedonia?
You know, whether it was a particular person or it was just in that vision, it was just something about that vision where he said, hey, this is a man of Macedonia.
That's where the Lord wants us.
Because this isn't like Peter's vision of Cornelius, you know, or, you know, Cornelius having a vision, being told of an angel to go seek out Peter.
It's not like the blanket coming down with all the animals and the three men coming to his gate and Peter going with them to the Gentiles.
It's not like that, right? But it's still a vision, right? But it's not that specific about the players involved.
It's just a man of Macedonia, right? It's just kind of vague.
The point of it was to get Paul to understand that Macedonia was where he needed to be.
Again, at what point, after he decided where he'd learned where not to be, then it's revealed to him where he needed to be, right?
And I just believe, you know, ultimately it's of the Holy Ghost.
You know, this isn't the man, whatever this guy is in Macedonia, it's not like he's having a seance and like somehow through the dark arts, you know, manifesting himself before Paul.
This is obviously of the Holy Ghost, right?
So it might not be anybody. In my opinion, it's no one in particular. It's just a man of Macedonia.
And in my opinion, it's just the Lord showing Paul where he needs to be.
Because that's kind of what we've, that's been the theme of the verses leading up to it.
Where does Paul need to go? Where does Paul need to go? Well, it's not here. It's not here. It's not here.
Meets up with Luke and Troas. Okay, here it is.
Now Paul, now that you're ready, let me show you where I want you to go. I'm going to give you a vision of a man of Macedonia who's not named.
And, you know, when he finally gets to Macedonia, look at verse 13.
They finally arrive and on the Sabbath day, he'd been there a little bit, you know, verse 12, they'd been abiding their certain days.
And on the Sabbath we went by the city by a riverside where prayer was wanted to be made and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
But it's a man that was shown to him. Like, if he's actually looking for a particular guy, what's he doing sitting on the river preaching to a bunch of women?
What man is going to be caught doing the laundry? That's the last place he would look for a particular man.
Right? He'd be down, you know, in some construction site somewhere trying to, hey, who's that guy in the vision? Right?
He'd be out, you know, where the fishermen are or out in some field in some farm somewhere trying to find this guy. Right?
But no, when he gets there, he's like, hey, let's go preach to a bunch of women. Right?
That just tells me he's not looking for a particular individual.
Which just makes me think that the vision, the man that appeared in it wasn't a particular person.
That it was just a vision that was given of the Holy Ghost that there was just something about him that just made evident that he's of Macedonia.
That's where you need to be. Okay? That's my opinion on it.
You know, and that makes sense because all throughout scripture, in fact, if you would, let's go back to Mark chapter 16 real quick.
If you remember that the Bible's telling us many times throughout scripture that the Holy Ghost works with us. Right?
Like when Paul, after he had gone through Lystra and all those places the first time and he returned to Antioch,
they gave their report of all that the Lord had done with them. Right? That's how the Bible puts it.
Not what the Lord had done through them or what he had done for the Lord, but what the Lord had done with them, alongside them. Okay?
We don't ever get this idea that God is uninvolved in the work. Like God, obviously God has given us, you know, given unto us the ministry of reconciliation.
We are ambassadors for Christ. We beseech people in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God. We understand that.
But we shouldn't get so, you know, just get this idea that somehow God has just like put it all on our plate and just, you know, just kind of wiped his hands.
Okay, now it's up to you. It's all up to you now. Everything's on you. Obviously we have a great burden, a great responsibility that's been given unto us.
Jesus did all the really hard work of everything that he did, you know, the crucifixion. He just wants us to preach the gospel.
But that's a great responsibility. But God is still working with us. We never want to sever God out of the equation when it comes to serving the Lord.
And really this is an exciting thing. To think that we're not just working on behalf of God but that we're actually working alongside the Lord.
That, you know, God does guide and lead us. You know, when we pray before so many, you know, God guide us, God lead us, that's not just something we say.
That's something we mean. God help the people that we're going to speak to today to hear and to understand. You know, we mean that.
I believe. I'm asking God, his Holy Spirit, to work on these people's hearts while we're preaching his word. Yeah. You know, eliminate distractions, Lord.
Right? And that's not just some, you know, hyper spiritual prayer or something like that. That's in line with scripture because the Bible makes it real clear that God works with us.
Right? That's what's going on in this story. Paul's trying to figure out, hey, where am I supposed to go? And God's showing him. God's giving him a vision.
God's guiding him and leading him. And once he gets to where he's supposed to be, you know, he does his part. But, you know, the Lord is there guiding, leading, helping, ministering alongside.
I had you go to Mark 16. I mean, look how Mark 16 ends. Verse 17. And these things, these signs shall follow them that believe in my name.
They shall cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up certain sin. If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he received up, was received up to heaven and sat on the right hand of God.
And they went forth. And I love how this last verse is just basically, you know, everything afterwards in a nutshell. This is just like the entire book of Acts in a nutshell, basically.
And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. Right? And confirming the word with signs following. But notice it's the Lord working with them. Right?
Look, when we're out there preaching the gospel, you know, we're working with the Lord. Not just for him, but actually with him.
You know, when we get up and preach the word of God, we're praying and asking that the Holy Spirit be present in our church meetings and during the preaching time that God would guide and lead the preacher.
You know, we believe that. The Holy Spirit would fill the preacher and that the preaching of the word of God would be bold and understandable and that God's people would be edified through the Spirit and through the preaching of his word.
Because we believe that the Lord works with us. Okay? And this is something, it's important to remember that because, you know, the work of God can get very difficult.
I mean, just go ask Paul. Right? What kept him going? You know, was not, you know, obviously getting souls saved, being obedient to his calling and all of that.
But also the knowledge that God was there with him. That God was, you know, continued to guide him and lead him. Not help him avoid all suffering at all costs.
But, you know, that God, as Paul said, that God would comfort him in all our tribulations. God doesn't keep us from tribulations, but he's there to comfort us in all our tribulations.
Go over to John 16. You know, John 14, 15, 16, some of a lot of people's favorite chapters in the Bible. I mean, these are just powerful passages here about, you know, in particular tonight,
what we'll look at, you know, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the comforter. Right? Look at verse 7 of John 16.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. For I go not away. If I go not away, the comforter will not come to you.
Sounds to me like the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ are two different people. They're not the same person. It's expedient that I go away so that I can come again unto you.
That's not what he said. Right? Because if I go not away, then I can't come again. Right? That's not what he's saying. Right? Anyway.
But that goes back to what I said earlier. That's the same reason why there's people out there in the world that can't figure out that Luke is not the man of Macedonia.
Anyway. He says, I will send him unto you, and when he has come, he will prove the world of sin. So it sounds to me like the Holy Spirit has a ministry here on earth still.
That God still works in people's hearts. Okay? And we're going to see that, I believe, in this chapter. I mean, you see it everywhere, but, you know, we'll draw it out in chapter 16 tonight.
That the Holy Spirit is working with Paul, guiding him, leading him, and not just getting him where he needs to be, but when he's there, where he's supposed to be, doing the work that he's supposed to do, that God is still at work in people's hearts.
And sometimes it's hard to understand it because you can't see it. You know your soul-winning partner's there with you because you can look at them. You know, you can smell their breath.
And hopefully that's all. I'm just kidding. You can see them. You know, you can see the sweat dripping off. You're hot. I'm hot. Okay. You know, we're both out here. It's hot. You know, it's very real. You know, and if you ever doubt, you can just pinch them. Yep, you're real. I'm real. Right?
Now, I'm not saying do that. Okay. But, you know, we don't, sometimes we forget the fact that God is also there, that the Holy Spirit is also with us. He's indwelling us, and hopefully he's filling us, you know, and that he's ministering with us.
I mean, that's what he's saying in John 16. I'm going to go and send the Holy Spirit, and it's not just he's going to come and dwell in your hearts and make you feel good. He's actually going to do work with you.
He's going to be working on other people that you come into contact with.
When he has come, it says in verse 8, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So he has a ministry. Right? Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter number 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter number 1.
I'm just pointing out a few passages where we see this, just being reminded again that, you know, the Holy Spirit is working alongside us, that we're not just out there on our own, yes, in the service of God, where we're supposed to be, but also that we're there with the Lord, that the Lord is working with us.
You know, it's good to be reminded of that, when it's hard, when it's hard to get out there, when it's hot, when we don't feel like going, when we're discouraged, when it seems like everyone, every door we're knocking on, no one's interested or whatever.
You know, God still sees it, and God is working with us. And we should never get this, you know, just a despondent kind of hopeless attitude that, you know, and start saying, well, what's the point of it all? Why do we even do this?
You know, we need to be there because we're commanded to be there. We need to be out there preaching because that's what God commanded us to do. And, you know, but it's more than that.
God will, when God sees us out where we're supposed to be, when he gets us where we belong, that's when God starts to show up and work with us.
If Paul had said, you know what, I know you said don't go to Asia, but I'm going to go anyway, you know, God wouldn't have been working with him, he would have started working against him.
He would have said, no, I have need for you over here. You know, it would have been a very different story had he tried to go to these different places that he had been forbidden to go.
God would have been working, but just not with Paul. He'd been actually, like, who knows what would have happened, right?
The same thing's true in our lives. When we know the will of God, and we want to actively work against it, and God has something else for us, you know, don't be surprised.
Instead of having God on our side, he's actually against us, trying to get us, not because he's mean, not just because, you know, he just wants to pick on us, but because, you know, as a father, you know, he chasteth every son whom he received.
And God wants to get us back on track and get us serving him the way we ought to be. And that's a great thing.
And look at 1 Thessalonians chapter number 1, verse 1. Paul and Silvanus, yeah, I would have gone with Silas, too. And Timotheus, right, because that's Silas there.
It's just a short, you know, that's the long version. Silvanus, I'll take Silas, you know. So, but Paul's kind of telling him, hey, here's his real name, you know.
And Timotheus under the church of Thessalonians, which is where they end up in chapter 17, that's where they go next, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 3.
Remembering your ceasing, your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, and the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren,
beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power. Right?
He's not saying, oh, we didn't just show up and just preach the Bible to you. We didn't just come up. We didn't just come and just preach the Bible.
It wasn't just in word only. It wasn't just the words that came out of our mouth. That's not what happened. When we came unto you, it wasn't just us showing up to give some motivational speech.
It wasn't, you know, some Tony Robbins tour. It wasn't just some, you know, eloquent speaker getting up. It wasn't some, you know, whatever.
You know, it wasn't just words with us. When we came unto you, we came not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost.
You know, that's the ministry that Paul had. And in much insurance, as you know, no matter where we were among you, he's saying, look, when we came to you, we came with the power and the Holy Ghost.
Why? Because we were where we were supposed to be. Because we were obedient to the call that was given unto us and we went and God led us and God worked with us.
And God was there ministering, convincing the world of sin. He was out there reproving the world for righteousness sake. You know, God was working alongside us.
And look, when we are doing what we're supposed to be doing, when we are in God's will, when we're more importantly not doing the things we're not supposed to be doing,
we're filled with the Holy Ghost and we're obedient to go out and preach the Gospel to every creature, you know, we could say the same thing that Paul said to the Thessalonians.
That we're not coming in word only, but with power and the Holy Ghost. You know, and that's what we need. You know, that's what you need to serve God.
You know, we never want to get this mathematical or just this, you know, just very, you know, cut and dry, just rational, just, you know, just mechanical approach to the ministry.
Where it's just A plus B equals whatever. You know, the ministry, preaching the word of God, preaching the Gospel, ministering to other people is a spiritual endeavor.
It takes the Spirit of God to build a church. It takes the Spirit of God to serve God in your life. That's why it's called the fruit of the Spirit.
It's not something you can just go and drum up. It's not something you can just take a pill for or just buy off the internet. It's something you have to get from God.
And how do you get it? Well, it's a great example in Acts chapter number 16. You start out by not being where you're not supposed to be.
And being where you are supposed to be and letting God lead you and being obedient. And then God shows up and you begin to minister with power, with God.
Okay, we've got to move along here in the story.
So it says in verse 10, and after we had seen the vision immediately, we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called for us to preach unto them.
Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia and next day to Neapolis and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia.
So they're where they're supposed to be and a colony. And we're in that city abiding certain days. On the Sabbath day, we went out of the city by the riverside where prayer was wanted to be made.
And we sat down and spake unto the women, which resorted thither, a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira.
Now, if you're a seller of purple, you have great wealth. Because obviously back then, you know, it was one thing to have clothes or garments or textiles of any kind.
But it was another thing to have them dyed, right? Because dyes were so much harder to come by. I don't know what the process is today, but I know it's cheap.
That's why you can go to Costco and there's just like stacks of clothes everywhere with all these elaborate designs on them.
You know, it wasn't like that back then. You know, that's why throughout the Bible, you know, often giving somebody a change of garments or a vesture or, you know, any kind of clothing was considered a great gift.
You know, and, you know, you get all upset at around Christmas time when someone gives you a nice pair of wool socks. You do that here in Tucson?
That's one thing I miss about the Midwest. It's a good pair of wool socks. You know, that's what I like. When it gets cold enough, you can put a nice, comfortable pair of wool socks.
You know, but as I grew older and matured and started having to buy my own clothes, someone gave me a pair of smart wool socks. Man, I was excited. I don't know about I'd be that excited anymore.
Now I'd be more excited about the right socks, you know, the W-R-I-G-H-T, just in case anyone's taking notes tonight. You know, I get more excited about those, you know, because those are the ones you wear that are going to wick the sweat away and all that, you know.
A good sock, you know, it's hard to come by, right? But we get excited about our clothes, right? Because, well, as we mature, because when we're paying for them, we realize, you know, it's expensive.
It's so much more so back then, when everything was being made by hand, dyed by hand, you know, if it was, if it had any kind of, you know, needlework in it. I mean, it's very unique, elaborate.
So this woman, what she's telling us about Lydia is that she's a wealthy person, okay? Obviously, she's working hard to make that wealth. She's a godly person, you know, she's going to a place to pray.
She's praying to the wrong god, she's not saved, but, you know, she's religious, she's working hard, she's a good person. And we see in the story, she immediately, after she gets saved, she opens up her home to Paul.
Right, at the end, he goes back to her, you know, goes back to her home, and, you know, her family's there, obviously, and he's got his guys with him, and it's this, you know, there's this fellowship, so she's a very hospitable person, too, a good person.
What that tells you in the story, what you can get out of that is that there's a lot of good people that are on their way to hell. You know, not every person can go to hell, and obviously, we're all sinners.
There's none good. When I say good person, I'm not saying, you know, somebody who's perfect, but I'm saying what we, humanly speaking, would say, hey, that's a good person.
Right, like they said, like the scripture says to Barnabas that he was a good man, right? They have a good reputation, you know, they're good natured, they're well-intentioned, they mean well, they're not evil, they're not wicked, they're not enemies of God, they're just unsaved.
They're even religious, right? Look, this city is, I mean, it's everywhere, okay, but this city, you know, I think about that here, there's a lot of good Catholics, aren't there?
There's a lot of good, just traditional, family-oriented, you know, Hispanic families, you know, that are very traditional, Catholic, but you know what, they're good people, hardworking men, hardworking women, but you know what?
They're on their way to hell. Because, you know, there's going to be a lot of good people that end up going to hell.
That's another thing we can learn from this chapter. She was a seller of purple, which worshiped God, she heard us, whose heart the Lord opened. So that goes back to what I was just saying.
Who opened her heart? Paul? No, he didn't whip out a scalpel, right? He didn't chloroform her and then say, hey, we're going to open up your heart, get the Holy Spirit in there.
So we're back up. The Lord did that. Not literally, right? But it goes back to what I was saying, that, you know, the Holy Spirit works alongside us.
It wasn't like, okay, you're in Macedonia now, Paul, you got the message, you didn't go where I didn't want you to go, you went to where I want you to, go on.
And I said, okay, now I got you where I want you, now let's go get something done together. Let's go work with one another. You go preach to her and I'll work on her heart.
I'll do the invisible, behind-the-scenes work that you can't see. You just go preach my word.
That's what I love about preaching the Gospel, man, is that, you know, the Bible does all the heavy lifting for us.
Oh, I just don't know if I could preach someone the Gospel. You don't know if you could read Scripture?
You don't know if you could explain, well, I know, but I have to know this, and people get all caught up in thinking they have to know all this doctrine before they can go out and preach the Gospel.
They got to know how to debunk every false religion out there. It's like, no, you don't. It's the same Gospel for everybody.
The only thing you need to know how to explain is that there's a hell, that sinful people go there, that we all deserve to go there, that God loves them, that Jesus is God, and that can be done very quickly, very easily.
In fact, most people already believe that Jesus is God, especially in this town. As I said earlier, it's filled with Catholics. They've got that down.
You know, Catholics believe that Jesus Christ, they believe in the Trinity. They've got that down. Right? It's not that complicated.
You preach the Gospel, the Bible does all the heavy lifting, the Holy Spirit of God is there doing all the convincing.
It's not like you have to preach it in some powerful, eloquent way where you're just going to twist their emotions around and get them, oh, what must I do to be saved?
You know, that's not it. That's the Lord's job. He opens the heart. All we do is just, you know, when that heart's open is put the word in.
You know, He opens up the heart, and the heart just receives the word of God and believes and calls upon the name of the Lord.
So, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. So again, the heart is opened by the Lord, but the speaking is done by the soul winner.
And when she was baptized in her household, she besought us saying, if you have judged me faithful to find, to the Lord, come into my house and there abide, and she constrained us.
So she's being very hospitable. And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed the spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soosaying.
The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the sermons of the Most High God, which show unto us the way of salvation.
And then notice verse 18, and this she did many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, not to the girl, to the spirit that was in her.
She's possessed, right? She's a little demoniac soosaying slave girl, is what's going on here. I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and ye came out that same hour.
And it's kind of weird because it seems like she's saying a good thing, right? She is saying the right thing. These men are the servants of God, correct, of the Most High God, check, which shows the way of salvation.
That statement is 100% accurate. But you know, it's the obnoxious way in which it's being done for many days. Everywhere they're going, she's just crying this out, right?
So you can see why this would grieve Paul. Imagine if this happened to you out soul winning. Every door you're knocked at, there was just some little goth chick down at the sidewalk.
They're preaching the gospel of truth and salvation. Listen to them. You'd be like, shut up. Right, because it's weird. It's awkward. The person can come to the door and be like, who's that?
Nobody. Is she with you? No. You know, it's grieving, right? Imagine having that, some little possessed girl follow you on. Who cares what she's saying?
You know, she could be reading a recipe or, you know, proclaiming the truth. I mean, either way, it's a distraction, right? And Paul is, you know, and notice how long suffering Paul is. It took many days, right?
That's a good lesson we can learn from this because sometimes when I go out soul winning, I get grieved. And now, look, it's been a long time. I'm not saying it'll ever happen again, but it has ceased to happen since I've decided to keep it in check.
But there's been times when people have grieved me and then I'm like this girl, you know, like where I'm out in the street like yelling at them. It's been a long time, all right? But, you know, you get grieved, right? I'm not saying it's right, folks. I'm just saying I'm flesh and blood like everybody else.
Okay? It's been a long time. I've never done it here in Tucson, so if that gives you an idea of the timeframe. It's been at least five years since that happened, okay? Granted, it happened more than once, all right?
But some people just, you know, when they get under your skin, when they grieve you, you know, just, if you can, just move along. You know, obviously if they're following you from place to place, you know, the apartment manager that's going to follow you, you know, you can't be doing that.
You've got to turn around and tell them, you know, actually we can do this. We're not going to stop doing it. You might as well just leave us alone, right? I mean you could do it in the right spirit, but firmly, right?
So anyway, I'm just trying to make some application out of that, but it's an interesting story. But look what it leads to. And when her master saw that the hope of their gain was gone, I mean these are wicked people.
I mean who knows what these people are into? Like how do you get somebody possessed, right? Maybe these are the guys that were into this kind of stuff that knew how to make this happen. Who knows?
And they're doing this so they can take advantage of this girl and make money off of her. That's what they're doing.
And when they saw that, you know, their gains were gone, that the demon had been cast out of her and now no more soosaying, they caught Paul and Silas. So apparently, you know, Timothy got away and Luke.
They caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace under the rulers and brought them under the magistrates saying these men, being Jews, it's like whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, buddy. Are you anti-Semitic? Isn't that kind of weird that that's what he pointed out?
Hey, these men being Jews. Did I mention they're Jews? Right? It seems to me like the Jews already had a reputation back then of being people that would kind of disrupt things.
And we kind of see it in the book of Acts, don't we? Where they're stirring up people, they're getting men of the base of their sort to do their dirty work, that they're troubling cities.
You know, that's why they've been kicked out of so many countries. Does anyone know how many, what is it, like over 100 countries throughout history? What was it? How did I know you would know? I'm just kidding.
109 different countries, all in Europe, right? Yeah, they get sick of all the bloodletting and the child sacrifice and the usury and all the, you know, just the wicked, abominable things that come along with, you know, the religion of Judaism, right?
So it's kind of like, hey, how do we get these guys in trouble? Let's not forget to mention the fact that they're Jews, right? Because they obviously, they are from that region. Paul and Silas are Jews in that traditional sense of being, you know, of the tribe of Judah, so to speak, of that nation.
Okay, that doesn't really, that connotation doesn't really apply today anymore. It's simply religion now. But he's saying, these men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city.
So they're trying to make it more believable by mentioning that fact. And teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither observe being Romans, right? So now they're appealing, hey, if you don't do something about this, you know, you could be bringing Caesar down on your head.
And the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates rent off their clothes, so they're making a big show, you know, like politicians love to do, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, so they did beat them.
And stripes, you know, it's not, they didn't paint them. This wasn't, you know, body art. This was like a whip, you know, or some kind of a stick or a cane or something where it's leaving a bloody stripe on their body.
They laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into the prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who having received such a charge thrust them into the inner prison.
So he's not just putting, they say, hey, keep them in the prison, he got the charge, and they're saying, don't lose these guys, so he puts them in the inner prison. Not just prison, but the inner prison. You know, the most secure part.
And made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. I mean, that's quite, we just read over that.
Would we be able to say the same thing if something like that happened to us? You know, people stop soul winning for a lot less reasons, don't they?
Oh, someone slammed a door in my face. Someone called me a name. Someone made fun of me. You know, it's like, well, they haven't beaten you and had you cast in jail.
But let's go on through the story. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken immediately, all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loose, so the shackles come off, all the doors fly open.
It's not looking good for the jailer. And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out a sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
Now, I'm going to express something here in a minute that is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but this is my opinion about this very famous verse we're about to read, but I want you to pay attention to the details here.
Here you have the jailer waking up after this earthquake, and he doesn't even take the time to figure out what's happened. He's just assuming all the prisoners have fled, which is why Paul in a minute has to call out and say, do thyself no harm. We are all here.
So he's giving us some, the Bible's giving us some insight into what's going through the jailer's mind and why he's doing what he's about to do.
He's seeing the jails open, he's assuming everyone's been fled, and then it says that he was going to kill himself. He, isn't that what it says there?
Seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, shing, where'd they go? No, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
You say, why would he kill himself over that? Because that was the punishment. Remember in Acts 12, we won't take the time to go back there, when the apostles got out that time, Herod came and made inspection and had the keepers of the jail killed.
Because if a prisoner got away under your watch, you were killed. So that doesn't sound very fair. Yeah, but if that was your job, you'd probably make sure you did a good job, huh? Hence the inner prison, right? I'm making sure these guys don't get away.
And Paul, it says in verse 28, cried out with a loud voice saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Saying, don't kill yourself, okay? Emphasis on the fact that the jailer is about to kill himself.
Then he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas. And I've heard people say, well this is the jailer repenting, right? The repenting your sins crowd.
Because you'll take him to this and you'll show him, where does the Bible say repent your sins? He told the jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And he'll say, yeah, but he came in and he fell down trembling. But why is he trembling? Well, one, there was an earthquake. Two, all the doors are flat open.
And he's trying to kill himself. If this is the thing, people get mixed up and they think that this guy is like asking, when he asks what must I do to be saved, my opinion, he's not asking about a soul.
Okay? Because isn't that how the story goes? He brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And I know a lot of people believe that he's referring to his eternal soul.
I don't believe that. I don't believe that's what he's referring to. I believe Paul uses the opportunity to preach in the gospel.
But I believe when he's talking about, because remember, saved throughout the Bible doesn't always refer to your soul. When Peter was sinking in the water and he cried out, Lord, save me.
You know, Jesus didn't come over and say, you know, do you believe you're a sinner? You know, do you believe these are, you know, he reached out and he saved him physically, right?
I believe he's referring to his physical salvation. I mean, think about the story, okay? And I know, I don't know that I, you know, maybe nobody else has his opinion, but this is my opinion.
I've thought about this over the years. Here you have a guy who's about to off himself, literally kill himself, just moments before.
He's got a sword drawn and he's about to thrust it through his own abdomen or whatever and kill himself. Does that sound like somebody who's anguishing over his, the state of his soul?
I wonder where I'm going to go when I die. You know, typically people who are like wondering about the afterlife aren't going to, they're not in a hurry to find out.
They fear death. Everyone follow what I'm saying here? It seems to me like this guy is just more concerned with his skin than his soul because he knows what's coming.
If these guys are gone, I'm a dead man anyway. You know, and they might not be nice about it. I mean, they beat these guys with many stripes for preaching the gospel or whatever.
And you hear people say, well, you know, clearly, you know, the Philippian jailer here had heard about Paul and Silas. They'd been in that city many days and there had been so much that the fame of them had gone about.
No doubt at this point in the story, you know, the jailer had heard them preaching. It's like, yeah, that's all fine and good, but that's all conjecture.
That's all just, you just pulled that out of nowhere, people that say that. And I've heard people say that. But, you know, you have no guarantee. He might have never even heard of Paul and Silas because he's in a jail every day all day long or whatever.
He's got a nine to five Monday through Friday. He's maybe working that swing shift. I mean, he's got the night, he's calling for a light, you know, this guy in the middle of the night.
He's third shift in it, whatever. He's probably sleeping. How do you know he heard the preaching?
And on top of that, then why does he go on and say that Paul then went and preached unto him the word of the Lord, right? That's what it says.
He says, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord again.
Told them what he already knew. They preached him a gospel that he already heard. No, they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, what do you mean? Well, let me preach you the Lord, the word of the Lord.
And then they got saved. And look, this isn't anything we're splitting hairs over, okay? But this is, that's just my opinion. And I'm just doing that so everybody can, I don't know, be mad at me, I guess.
But that's just my opinion on this, you know, is that I don't think when he asked that question, what must I do to be saved? He's asking, hey, preach me the gospel, right?
But what it does, and here's the thing, here's the application you make out, here's the lesson you can learn from that.
Is that when we're where we're supposed to be, when we're not where we're not supposed to be, when we are where we are supposed to be,
and when we're serving God, and when we're willing to go through persecution, we're willing to suffer for his name's sake,
we're willing to put ourselves out there and working with the Lord and having God alongside with us, comforting us, working with us, willing to go anything,
there are going to be these opportunities like this that just come out of nowhere.
These golden opportunities where people are just going to willingly receive. Yeah, you know, he did fall, come in trembling and fall down on his knees and ask that question.
And you know what? Paul probably could have preached, told him anything he wanted at that point.
And he had that guy's undivided attention. Hey, we're all here, right? And he's saying, what must I do to be saved? What do I got to do to keep you here?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What do you mean? Let me preach you the gospel. Let me preach unto you the Lord and to your whole house and God I'm saved.
And I'm just making the application tonight is that if we're willing to be where we're supposed to be and do what we're supposed to do,
I'm not saying there's going to be exact situations like this, but we are going to come across people that are going to be that, you know, just low hanging fruit.
That we're going to find people in low places in their life. People who are contemplating suicide. People who just a moment before might have been looking to off themselves.
People who are going through very difficult things. People who feel like they're completely hopeless, there's no point in going on, that life is over.
That's the kind of people you're going to run to out soloing. You know, that's what the Philippian jailer represents to me. Not just somebody who's just real easy to get saved.
Because he's just following, oh, tell me what I got to do to be saved. Like, I get that there's people like that out there.
But let's not also forget that there's people out there that are going through very hard things that are just at the end of their rope.
There's a lot of people out there like that. And if you go soloing, and if you go and you're out there and you're where you're supposed to be, you'll run into them.
You know, that's what the Philippian jailer reminds me about. Not that there's easy people to get saved. They're out there, I get that.
And you could preach it in that sense. And I'm not saying it's, you know, got to make some big rift in the new IFB over this.
But to me, when I read it, that's the application I get out of it. There's people out there who feel like there's no point going on.
You know what, a lot of times those people are the easiest ones to get saved. They're hungry to hear some truth. They want to hear the gospel.
They want to hear that there's something better. They want to hear the gospel. They want to hear, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
You know, we should take advantage of those opportunities. God will make those opportunities.
But didn't Paul have to kind of go through a little bit to get to that place? Many stripes in jail, in the inner prison, shackled.
But God still showed up, didn't He? Where do you think that earthquake came from? Who do you think flung those doors open?
Who do you think caused all those shackles to fall off? You know, and God did that not just on Paul's behalf, but on that Philippian jailer's behalf.
He did all of that because he had the right guy in the right place with somebody who needed to hear the truth.
And who knew would receive it if there was someone there to preach it. And I'm telling you, there's people like that all throughout this city.
I mean, we might not walk in where they're holding a nine millimeter to their forehead or something like that.
But you know, it's going to be, spiritually, they might be at the end of the rope. They might be just hopeless cases, just down and out.
There's tons of people like that out there.
So it says, they spake unto the Lord, well, you know the story, and they took them to the seminar of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized.
He, in all his, straightway, right, so obviously he preached to him and to his house, his whole house got saved, all his wife, his kids.
And when his day in the magistrate sent the sergeant saying, let those men go, and the keeper of the prison told this to Paul,
the magistrates have sent to let you go, now therefore depart and go in peace.
So they're just saying, oh, you know what, let those guys go after all.
We did the whole song and dance for those guys that were spiritually pimping out that possessed girl.
We did our part as politicians and acted all, oh, can you believe this?
We did whatever we wanted to go, now just let them go.
And they're trying to get them to go quietly.
But Paul said unto them, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans.
So now he brings up the fact, oh, by the way, we're Romans.
And that's just because if you were a Roman back then, not everyone was a Roman citizen.
Having Roman citizenship gave you certain rights.
And you couldn't just treat Romans however you wanted.
They had to have their day in court, they had to be heard, they had the right to face their accusers and so on and so forth.
So they did not handle these guys as you were supposed to handle a Roman citizen.
But it's interesting that Paul's bringing this up after the fact.
Like he's willing to go through all of this and then, you know, use this.
But you say, why is he bringing it up?
Because I think what he's trying to do is clear his name with everybody in that city.
He's saying, look, he's not doing it to make these guys sweat.
So you can't just dismiss us privately.
You need to come down here and escort us out of the city yourselves so that everybody can see you do it and word will get around that we didn't do anything wrong.
He's more concerned about his public testimony, basically.
Because you know how it is, you just mention that somebody went to jail once and it's like, well, they must be the scum of the earth.
Right? But then you forget that, hey, you know, Peter went to jail, Paul went to jail, the apostles went to jail, Jesus was arrested.
Did they do anything wrong? No.
But that's how people think, oh, you went to jail? You must have done something wrong.
But what did Paul do wrong?
Nothing.
He wasn't stirring up the city, he wasn't causing a riot.
This wasn't BLM.
You know, he was preaching the gospel.
It was a false accusation.
They were just mad, you know, these guys, because they lost their income when he cast the devil out of some girl and delivered her from bondage.
He did a good thing, right?
So that's kind of how the whole story ends.
That's what he's doing there. If you ever wonder, like, why is he making a big deal out of this?
It's because he's clearing his name with the people that live there.
So that everyone will see, hey, we didn't do anything wrong.
Because some people, all they might know about Paul is, oh, that's the guy that, you know, the magistrate rent their clothes, beat, and threw in jail.
Then there was that earthquake. What was that about? Anyway.
Right?
And the sergeants told these words on the magistrate, and they feared when they heard that they were Romans, so they got their act together, and they came and besought him, and they were begging him to leave, and desired him to part out of the city.
They brought them out. And I got to close on verse 40, because the way it ends, I just love this verse.
And they went out of the prison and entered into the house of Lydia. So they're like, we'll leave, but we're going to go see Lydia one more time.
Right? Maybe they had to get some things, you know, get a meal, get some fresh bandages or whatever.
And when they had seen the brethren, so they're seeing Lydia and the brethren, they're kind of saying goodbye to everybody, they comforted them and departed.
Let that sink in. Like, Paul has just gotten beaten. He's been in jail all night. He's been falsely accused.
He's had many stripes laid upon him. The guy who just got saved in jail, the jailer, had to wash his stripes to keep him from getting infected.
The guy's bloody and beaten, him and Silas, and yet the last thing he does before he leaves is he comforts them.
It's like, wait a minute. It sounds to me like Paul's the guy who needs comforting. Like, hey, it's going to be, but you know what? Paul doesn't need to be comforted.
Paul knows what he signed up for. Paul knew this was par for the course. He's like, yeah, this is kind of how it went, you know, when I was in Lystra.
You know, this is, it's just another day in the office for Paul. But he has to comfort them because some people, they don't understand it.
When they first see persecution actually come, it takes them by, it shocks them. They'll hear about it, you know, they'll hear the verses.
Yay, all that live God in Christ Jesus. I mean, that's why I'm always bringing it up. Because one day it's going to come to our, I mean, I don't know that any of us are going to be beaten and everything, but persecution will come to this church.
You know, there'll be some demoniac out there. There'll be some wicked person who just doesn't like what we're doing, stirring things up in Tucson.
You know, if we're where we're supposed to be, doing the work we're supposed to do, Satan's going to take note, and he's going to send persecution.
And you know what, there's going to be some people that, despite all the preaching and all the many times I brought it up, are still going to need to be comforted.
And say, hey, I told you this was going to happen. This is the way it goes. This is what I try to tell them in Lystra and in Antioch, that we through much tribulation must enter the kingdom of God.
Not that we have to suffer to get saved, but on our way to heaven, we're saved, and we're going to live God in Christ Jesus. We are going to serve for persecution. Mark it down.
Right, so I love how that ends. It's like he's the one that's taking the beating. He's the one that's been doing all this hard work.
He's the one who's got like open wounds on his body, and he's got to go comfort them before he leaves. Say it's okay.
And it also shows you that these people were concerned for Paula. They loved him. They loved Silas. You know, they were worried about them, what became of them.
That's probably part of that comforting. Like, hey, we're all right. But it's just kind of, it's just in the light of that chapter, it's kind of a, you know, ironic statement at the end that he's comforting them.
Right, despite, you know, what he just went through. It just goes to show you that, you know, we can endure a lot of physical things. What really wounds us the most is the things that we suffer inwardly, the emotional, the spiritual suffering.
You know, those are the things that we need to be on guard against in our life. So real, obviously one of these exciting chapters, famous chapter, you know, a lot of great things we can learn from it.
You know, the overarching theme I see is be where you're supposed to be, do what you're supposed to do, and expect great things from God. Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for the word of God. Thank you for this church. Thank you for people that desire to serve you, Lord, with their lives.
And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to continue to serve you, Lord, despite opposition, despite difficulty, despite, Lord, just the things that come to us in this life as we serve you, Lord.
I pray you'd help us to be able to, Lord, not only endure these things, but to comfort also people. And Lord, help us to be out when we're out there, Lord, knocking these doors and preaching the gospel.
Understand that you're with us, and Lord, help us to have a burden for the unsafe. Help us to understand that we never know who's going to open that door.
You know, it might be some mocker, it might be some scoffer, it might be just nobody from any doors, Lord, but eventually if we go, Lord, we know that you are working with us and you will lean us and guide us to that one, Lord, who is at his wits end, Lord, who has no hope.
And Lord, we can bring them the greatest hope of all, Lord, the eternal life, the free gift of salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of your dear son. It's in his name we pray, amen.
Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go.
Amen. Let's open up our hymns to song number 191.
So, maybe one.
In my heart there is a melody, there is a melody.
There is a melody, there is a melody.
Amen.