Title: Bound But Not Broken
Speaker: Matt Kehler
Text: Acts 16:11-34
[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Podcast.
[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_00]: To learn more about our church, please visit Calvary.com.
[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: For additional resources from our lead pastor, Nate Holdridge, please visit NateHoldridge.com.
[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Teaching today is our family pastor, Matt Kainler.
[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, good morning.
[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be together.
[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome.
[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like Mani said, if you are new here, my name's Pastor Nate.
[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just kidding.
[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Just joking.
[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_01]: You got to come back because our lead pastor, he's on break right now.
[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01]: He just finished up the book of James and I'm going to be starting a new series next week
[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_01]: in the book of Philippians.
[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_01]: So we're really excited about that.
[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Really looking forward to having that start.
[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: My name's Matt.
[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm one of the other pastors here.
[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And I get to share this morning from Acts 16.
[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Nate kind of just asked me, hey, in between series, do you mind doing kind of like a
[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_01]: teaching around the back story of Philippians, the book of Philippians?
[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So everybody loves a good backstory, right?
[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Hollywood is love and backstory's right now.
[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like they can't think of anything else.
[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_01]: So they tell back stories but some are better than others.
[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: But this is a good backstory.
[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_01]: This is a really good one.
[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Acts chapter 16.
[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to focus on the whole passage.
[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I want to read a lot of it, but then kind of narrow in on one special encounter for our
[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_01]: time.
[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_01]: So but in order to get the context of what God did to really plant the seeds of this incredible
[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: church, I want to start in verse 11.
[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you have a Bible in your there, great, if you don't have a Bible, you can read it on the
[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_01]: screen behind me and I want to read verse 11 through 34 and then we'll pray and get into it together.
[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Verse 11 says, so setting sail from Troaz, we and this is Paul Silas Timothy and most likely
[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Luke who is the author of the book of Acts, we made a direct voyage to Samathrase
[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: and the following day to Neapolis.
[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And from there to Philippi which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_01]: We remain in the city some days and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the river side
[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_01]: where we suppose there was a place of prayer and we sat down and spoke to the woman of the women
[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_01]: who had come together.
[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_01]: One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Fiatira, a seller of purple goods
[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_01]: who was a worshiper of God.
[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_01]: After she was baptized in her household as well she urged us saying, if you judged me to be
[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_01]: faithful to the Lord come to my house and stay and she prevailed upon us.
[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_01]: That's one of three special encounters they have.
[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: This is the second one.
[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_01]: As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of
[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01]: divination and broader owners much gained by fortune telling.
[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: She followed Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the most high God who
[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_01]: proclaimed to you the way of salvation.
[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: She kept doing for many days but Paul having become greatly annoyed, turned
[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her
[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_01]: and it came out that very hour.
[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_01]: The win her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone.
[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_01]: They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And when they brought them to the magistrates, they said these men are Jews and they are
[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_01]: disturbing our city.
[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_01]: They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.
[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_01]: The crowd joined and attacking them and the magistrates tore their garments off them
[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_01]: and gave orders to beat them with rods.
[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_01]: When they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer
[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_01]: to keep them safely.
[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Having received the order he put them into the inner prison and fasten their feet in
[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_01]: the stocks.
[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's the third encounter.
[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_01]: About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners
[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_01]: were listening to them.
[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Suddenly there was a greater earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.
[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfassened.
[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_01]: When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword
[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: But Paul cried out with a loud voice, do not harm yourself for we are all here.
[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.
[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_01]: He brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_01]: They said, believe in the Lord Jesus.
[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And you will be saved.
[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_01]: You and your household.
[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And they spoke the word of the Lord to them.
[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And to all who were in the house and he took them that same hour of midnight, wash their wounds
[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: and he was baptized at once.
[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: He and his family.
[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Then they brought them up into the house and set before them food.
[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray.
[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, Lord as we look at the beginnings of this really beautiful church in Philippi.
[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_01]: A church Lord that God, we have been encouraged by greatly because of the letter
[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_01]: that Paul wrote to them.
[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_01]: That Lord us and millions and really billions others probably in the last couple of thousand years
[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_01]: have been able to gain courage from and perspective as we walk in our journey of faith with you,
[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Lord.
[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_01]: So thank you for these encounters, Lord.
[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And thank you for the lessons that are here.
[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I pray God that you would speak your words of life over us now.
[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Holy Spirit, be our great teacher and instruct us, illuminate your word.
[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus name we pray.
[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Have you found that life rarely follows the path we'd expect?
[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_01]: We make plans, we set goals and often in our planning, we don't always examine or
[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_01]: think of our lives as having difficulties and detours.
[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_01]: But in reality, that's what we face.
[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Whether it's a career that takes a downturn or a relationship that falls apart,
[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: maybe a long-held dream that just seems a little out of reach.
[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: The reality in life is that we're going to face delays, roadblocks and setbacks
[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_01]: that challenge our faith and leave us asking the question,
[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_01]: God what are you doing?
[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, in the Bible, we see story after story where God's people face to detours.
[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_01]: You think of Joseph, who is journey from a pit to a prison before reaching a palace.
[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_01]: You think of Moses and the children of Israel who spent 40 years on a detour wandering
[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_01]: in the wilderness before the Israelites were able to enter the Promised Land.
[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Or like our story this morning with Paul and Silas and the others.
[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_01]: On their second missionary journey, they come upon a pretty serious setback in detour
[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_01]: as they find themselves beaten and thrown into prison.
[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, each of these detours, although painful and confusing, was not without purpose.
[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And I wonder if any of us feel like we're in a detour right now,
[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: maybe you've even thought recently, Lord, I'm doing the right thing.
[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm following you and yet life has turned out not the way that I expected.
[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_01]: You may feel stuck or stalled or trapped.
[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And my hope for us is we look at the word of God this morning is that we'd be reminded
[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_01]: that setbacks, we face our often God's setups for something greater.
[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_01]: What feels like a delay or a disappointment is often God working behind the scenes,
[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_01]: preparing us for his perfect plan.
[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to explore what God has for us in these unexpected detours as he plans to shape and grow us
[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_01]: to be the people that he's called us to be.
[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_01]: So before we get to our encounter that we're going to look at,
[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I want us to again talk through the context of what God is doing through this group of people
[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_01]: in the city of Philippi.
[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_01]: We saw Paul and Silas and they bring Timothy along with him,
[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_01]: and then their co-labor Lou who is charting and kind of navigating through their missionary journey
[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_01]: with him along the way they encounter a woman named Lydia.
[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Now Lydia, she was a business owner, a seller of purple,
[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_01]: and she was also a great worshiper of God.
[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And Paul and the others find this group of women by the riverside,
[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_01]: and the reason is most likely because there wasn't a synagogue
[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_01]: because in order to have a synagogue in that time you needed at least 10 men to do so.
[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And so this is a city that was in desperate need of the gospel of Jesus.
[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And so Paul goes to this group of faithful worshippers,
[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_01]: and he shares the gospel of Jesus with him and they respond.
[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_01]: In Lydia showing her generosity and hospitality invites them in.
[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Her whole household gets saved, and God begins a work in this woman
[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_01]: that is going to be very influential in the founding of the church in Philippi.
[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_01]: After continuing on for some time, they encounter another person.
[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_01]: This is a demon possessed girl, kind of a different type of encounter.
[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_01]: This woman was owned by some slave owners, and she would foretell the future
[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_01]: and as a result would make her owners lots of money.
[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_01]: She follows the apostles around and crying out,
[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_01]: these are servants of the most tied God who proclaim the way of salvation.
[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_01]: We'd say amen.
[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_01]: This is one of the situations where right message, wrong messenger.
[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Not necessarily the person you'd want as you are trying to spread the gospel
[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_01]: and start a work of the Lord, and Paul puts up with it for a while
[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: and I love the scriptures just tell us he's just really ticked.
[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_01]: He's just really annoyed.
[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And he finally turns to her and says, all right, enough out of you,
[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_01]: and then God delivers the demon out of this woman, and she is healed.
[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_01]: But the masters of the slave girl, they grab Paul and Silas
[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_01]: because man, their source of income is greatly diminished.
[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Now that this woman has been healed.
[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_01]: And so what do they do? Well, they get the group together,
[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_01]: they get the crowds together, they start bringing Paul and Silas
[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_01]: the others before the magistrates, and basically accuse them of spreading all these things
[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_01]: that go against their customs and laws and rules.
[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And so they're thrown into prison after being beaten severely,
[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_01]: they're placed in the inner stock, they're chained in a prison.
[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And now, for our time, this is the section I want to examine and look at.
[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Again, verse 22 through 25, let's read it.
[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Says the crowd joined in attacking them, the magistrates tore the garments off
[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_01]: and gave orders to beat them with rods,
[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_01]: and when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison,
[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_01]: ordering the jailer to keep them safely. That was his job.
[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison
[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_01]: and fasten their feet in the stocks.
[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_01]: This is a more secure prison than just the regular prison.
[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: It's the inner prison. He really wanted to make sure they weren't getting away.
[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_01]: But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing him to God
[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_01]: and the prisoners were listening to them.
[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_01]: What was their response to facing this detour, this hardship?
[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, notice what they weren't doing first of all. They weren't complaining.
[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_01]: They weren't stewing. They weren't cursing the men that put them in prison.
[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_01]: They weren't yelling at God, how dare you God?
[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_01]: We were following you. How dare you allow us to get put in prison for this?
[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_01]: They're singing and praying to God.
[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Not really a typical response.
[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_01]: So he would say after being unjustly beaten and thrown into prison.
[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I like the one at a detail that Luke gives us that.
[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_01]: The prisoners were listening to them.
[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_01]: The prisoners were there and they get a free worship concert
[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_01]: and prayer meeting that they are a part of as they're hearing these prayers
[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_01]: and the overflow of these men's hearts to the Lord.
[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_01]: They weren't just humming their favorite tune.
[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I think they were singing it out loud enough for all of the prisoners to hear.
[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I think this is a beautiful portrait for us.
[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_01]: What Paul and Silas are doing is a beautiful portrait of the type of joy
[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_01]: that's available in the Christian life.
[00:12:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Now someone's defined this type of joy in the Christian life as a settled assurance,
[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_01]: a quiet confidence and a choice to trust God no matter the circumstances.
[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Isn't this what we want when we find ourselves in a place that we didn't expect
[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_01]: to have the kind of joy that overflows and the kind of joy that looks upward
[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_01]: in the midst of a challenging season?
[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_01]: The kind of joy that Paul and Silas demonstrated,
[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_01]: it's the kind of joy that when faced with a detour instead of growing bitter or angry
[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_01]: it points our gaze upward.
[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_01]: See as Louis, one of my favorite authors, he wrote an autobiography
[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_01]: about his life and conversion to Christianity.
[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_01]: The book is called Surprised by Joy.
[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I really like that title.
[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_01]: He says this about joy and the kind of joy we're talking about here,
[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_01]: joy points to something more, someone more.
[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_01]: In other words, you don't get joy by searching for it.
[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_01]: It's the byproduct of seeking something outside yourself.
[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_01]: You don't get joy by simply searching for it.
[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_01]: It's the byproduct of seeking something outside yourself.
[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Joy is a byproduct.
[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I love this idea because joy is different than happiness.
[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean we live in a culture that is fixated with personal happiness.
[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Find your happiness.
[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Perceue that at all costs, no matter what try to be happy.
[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Remember hearing a story about a friend of mine who went to Disney land,
[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_01]: the happiest place on earth, right?
[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_01]: He was there and he was waiting in line.
[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_01]: The line was taking extra long, which is unusual for Disneyland.
[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_01]: For this day, it was just taking a long time.
[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_01]: The people in front of him, he started to see we're getting a little,
[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_01]: little antsy.
[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_01]: There was a little girl who just was really trying to hold it together.
[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_01]: But then at some point, just lost it.
[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_01]: It had been waiting too long and he probably had a couple dull whips by that point
[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_01]: and just was feeling it, right?
[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_01]: In the dad, you can just see like I guess him working through it
[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_01]: and trying to help her and then just got to the point where he had had it,
[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_01]: so he says to his daughter, why are you crying?
[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Don't you know this is the happiest place on earth
[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_01]: to which, of course, really helped her and she was able to snap back
[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_01]: and realize you're right, dad.
[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_01]: She said, you paid a lot of money for this trip and so
[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to figure this out now.
[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_01]: That's not how it happened.
[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_01]: But you know that's kind of this idea, right?
[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Like man, well, this is what is guaranteed to be happiness
[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and so I need to experience that and we pursue those things.
[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_01]: But oftentimes it's fleeting at best.
[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_01]: It's short-lived.
[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_01]: The thing we thought would secure our happiness,
[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_01]: it just kind of slips through our fingers.
[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_01]: But joy is categorically different than happiness.
[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Remember, Lewis' definition of joy is that it's the byproduct
[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_01]: of seeking after something other than my own happiness.
[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_01]: As Christians were invited into seeking first
[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_01]: the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_01]: To make his purposes and plans for our lives
[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_01]: are main drive and ambition in this world.
[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Just like Paul and Silas were doing in this passage.
[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Just like Paul and Silas, as we seek first God
[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_01]: in his kingdom and live the way he desires us to live,
[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_01]: we are not promised that absence of difficulty.
[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_01]: No, setbacks will come.
[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Detours will happen.
[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Obstacles will come our way.
[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_01]: But that leads us to our first lesson that we learn from this passage.
[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_01]: What this kind of joy does is that it causes us to look at an obstacle,
[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_01]: not as an obstacle but as an opportunity to praise.
[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_01]: The obstacle is an opportunity to praise.
[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_01]: If joy is the result of seeking God
[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_01]: as the non-negotiable good of our lives,
[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_01]: then praise is the overflow of that joy.
[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Have you experienced this kind of praise in the prison?
[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Those looking around or maybe scratching their head
[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_01]: and going, why do you have that kind of joy?
[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Why do you have that kind of resolve?
[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Where is that coming from?
[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Because it's hard to explain to someone who has an experience
[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_01]: the life walking with the Lord even in challenges
[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_01]: and hardships.
[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I remember experiencing this when a detour entered into our lives
[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_01]: life took an unexpected turn.
[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_01]: One that we weren't prepared for.
[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Ten years ago, this November,
[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: my younger sister passed away suddenly
[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_01]: through complications of her disease.
[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And that was a huge shock to our family.
[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I remember going to her and my brother-in-law's house
[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_01]: and being there shortly after she had passed
[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_01]: and just all together, just weeping
[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_01]: and just feeling so disoriented.
[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And at the same time knowing, God, you are good, you're sovereign.
[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_01]: We believe that even in this moment
[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_01]: where we're not necessarily feeling it.
[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And then staying there and then the next day
[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_01]: seeing the outpouring of love
[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_01]: from the brothers and sisters in Christ
[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_01]: that had surrounded my sister and brother-in-law
[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_01]: and the church they were at, showing up
[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_01]: and just starting to feel their living room.
[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Person after person.
[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I remember just kind of watching this go on
[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_01]: as we're all there, just present
[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_01]: working through this very difficult thing
[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_01]: and then there's that one guy.
[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_01]: There's usually one guy that sees a guitar
[00:18:01] [SPEAKER_01]: and just will grab the guitar at any opportunity.
[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And I saw this one guy grab the guitar
[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_01]: and he started playing some worship songs
[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_01]: and I just remember kind of being on the outside
[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_01]: and just listening as they're singing these choruses
[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_01]: before the Lord, you never let go.
[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_01]: You are good.
[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And in that moment of kind of being on the outside,
[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I remember slowly allowing myself to sing these lyrics
[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_01]: not feeling too deeply connected to them at that point.
[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_01]: But the more I declared the truth
[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_01]: the more that God was able to rest on my heart
[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_01]: with His presence, we were praising in the prison.
[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe you don't see your obstacle
[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_01]: as an opportunity for praise right now.
[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_01]: But can I encourage you one of the best ways
[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_01]: to chase out sorrow, bitterness, or despair
[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_01]: is through worship?
[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_01]: David in Psalm 57, he's facing a hardship.
[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_01]: He faced a lot of hardships.
[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_01]: He's facing another one.
[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_01]: We don't know exactly what he was facing.
[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_01]: But listen to what he says.
[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_01]: He says, have mercy on me, my God.
[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Have mercy on me for a new I take refuge.
[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll take refuge in the shadow of your wings
[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_01]: until this disaster has passed.
[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And he goes on to talk about what that refuge is going to look like.
[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_01]: My heart, oh God, is steadfast.
[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_01]: My heart is steadfast.
[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I will sing and make music.
[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Awake my soul, awake heart and liar.
[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I will awaken the dawn.
[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I will praise you Lord among the nations.
[00:19:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I will sing of you among the peoples.
[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01]: For great is your love reaching to the heavens.
[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Praising in the prison.
[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Paul and Silas didn't praise because they knew what was coming next.
[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_01]: They hadn't contacted the earthquake specialists
[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_01]: and timed just right for their praise to be before this great miracle.
[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_01]: They praised because they had a joy that was found
[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and seeking after God as their ultimate.
[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_01]: They saw their obstacles and opportunity for praise.
[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_01]: What was the result?
[00:20:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at the second lesson versus 26 and 28 through 28.
[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Suddenly there was a great earthquake
[00:20:07] [SPEAKER_01]: so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.
[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And immediately all the doors were opened
[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_01]: and everyone's bonds were unfascened.
[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Then when the Jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open,
[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_01]: he drew his sword and was about to kill himself
[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_01]: supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_01]: But Paul cried with a loud voice,
[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_01]: do not harm yourself for we are all here.
[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_01]: So there they are, Paul and Silas.
[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_01]: In the middle of their worship sat in the middle of their prayers.
[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_01]: There's this great earthquake,
[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_01]: this miracle of God, the prison was shaken.
[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_01]: All the doors are open.
[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone's bonds were unfascened.
[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And here the Jailer wakes up to this scene.
[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_01]: What in the world is going on?
[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And as you would maybe come to expect,
[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_01]: he was about to kill himself because under Roman law
[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_01]: and custom guards who allowed their prisoners
[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_01]: to escape receive the penalty of their escape prisoners.
[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So he knew what was ahead.
[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of dying at the hand of his overseers,
[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_01]: he was going to take his own life.
[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_01]: But Paul called out and saved his life.
[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_01]: This is not a coincidence, a random catastrophe
[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_01]: that just happened to work in Paul and Silas's favor.
[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_01]: This was the supernatural work of God
[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_01]: that freed Paul and Silas from their chains.
[00:21:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I think the beauty is that other prisoners
[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_01]: and the Jailer became witnesses
[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_01]: to God's great power at work.
[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Imagine being one of those Jailers.
[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_01]: First you get a front row seat to a worship concert
[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_01]: and part of a prayer meeting.
[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_01]: The next thing you know, there's a huge earthquake.
[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Your chains are broken.
[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_01]: The doors are open.
[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_01]: This leads to the second lesson I want us to see
[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_01]: from this passage.
[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_01]: And that is for Paul and Silas.
[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Their detour became a display of the supernatural power of God.
[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Their detour became a display of the supernatural power of God.
[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: You see, perhaps God wants to use your detour
[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_01]: as a way to display his supernatural power in your life.
[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_01]: The Scriptures teaches that God will take us through
[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_01]: something unexpected and unplanned.
[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And order that His glory might be seen more through our lives.
[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's how Paul puts in in second Corinthians four.
[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_01]: We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.
[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_01]: We are perplexed but not driven to despair.
[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_01]: We are hunted down but never abandoned by God.
[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_01]: We get knocked down and we get up again.
[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm sorry.
[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I always wanted to do that.
[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_01]: But we are not destroyed.
[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life
[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_01]: of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Paul is saying that it's through our trials and setbacks and detours
[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_01]: that Christ has seen even more in our lives.
[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I think how we face the setback, how we face the setback
[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_01]: becomes an opportunity to display God's glory and power to a watching world.
[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Because our modern secular culture, I don't know if you can agree with this,
[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_01]: but it's not doing a very good job of preparing individuals to approach suffering well.
[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_01]: We are not as a secular culture, equipping individuals to approach suffering in hardship well.
[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I think we are at a major deficit and I think we're seeing the results of that in our society.
[00:23:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I think part of the reason is because of how suffering is viewed today
[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_01]: in our Western, radical, individualistic culture.
[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_01]: In other cultures and in times past trials and suffering,
[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_01]: they were often seen as a way to grow and better oneself or even help one overcome
[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_01]: and achieve to even greater level.
[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Suffering or pain was not as much an enemy to be fought but a tool to be embraced
[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_01]: for the bettering of oneself.
[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_01]: But that's not how our Western culture faces suffering.
[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think because of how individual freedom and happiness is seen as the ultimate good
[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_01]: in our secular society, suffering is an enemy to that.
[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Suffering is an enemy to individual happiness.
[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So if suffering impedes upon my personal happiness, then I must do everything I can to avoid it
[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_01]: and insulate myself from it.
[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, as Christians, what I'm not saying is we need to self-flagulate.
[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_01]: We need to start.
[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_01]: All right, bring the suffering on.
[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_01]: We got the couples life group.
[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_01]: We've got the suffering life group.
[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_01]: You guys want to join that one?
[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_01]: That's not what I'm saying, obviously.
[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_01]: But man, what we see in our culture is that the approach to suffering well is not to try to
[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_01]: get through or to minimize or to remove ourselves but instead to say,
[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_01]: God, what are you doing through this and what do you want to produce in me?
[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Because this is one of the major tools that the Lord uses to refine and shape and strengthen
[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_01]: his people.
[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I know that's not easy to hear, especially when you're in the midst of a challenge or a setback
[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_01]: or a detour.
[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_01]: But time and time again, it's through the suffering that we grow even deeper and closer
[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_01]: and intimacy with the Lord because we cling really close to him.
[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Remember that story that I've heard and you've probably heard it before.
[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of one of those classic illustrations of the man who observed a cocoon that had developed
[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_01]: on his mantle in his home.
[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And over time, he was watching this cocoon and really fascinated to see, you know,
[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_01]: at one point hopefully this butterfly emerged.
[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And so as he watched it, it came the day where the butterfly started to slowly emerge
[00:25:38] [SPEAKER_01]: out of the cocoon and he was watching this butterfly really struggle incredibly
[00:25:45] [SPEAKER_01]: and felt a little heart for this little creature.
[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And so he decided to take it upon himself to assist and to help and expedite the suffering
[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_01]: of this little creature.
[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And so he grabbed a little razor blade and just kind of caught a little opening on the outside of the cocoon.
[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, what resulted is that the butterfly was able to emerge out of the cocoon but
[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_01]: as it emerged and tried to fly it simply fell to the ground, to which he picked it up
[00:26:11] [SPEAKER_01]: and placed it outside but observed for a time to see that it never actually was able to fly
[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and later he discovered that it's actually through the struggle.
[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_01]: It's through the process of the cocoon working out of, I'm sorry, the butterfly working out
[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_01]: of the cocoon that fluid is taken out throughout its entire wingspan to where those wings
[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_01]: are strong enough to support the weight of its body.
[00:26:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And what he was trying to do and expedite the suffering ended up hurting that creature overall.
[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And I wonder for some of us if the detour we find ourselves in were, Lord, give me hotness.
[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_01]: This setback, this is not where I want to be.
[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I see where I want to go and this is not it and the Lord say, hey, I got something here for you.
[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_01]: There's something I want you to learn and maybe there's just maybe a way that God's going to display
[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_01]: his supernatural power in your life even through busy tour.
[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I read a book a few years ago by a man named Victor Frunkhol, it's called the Man Search for Meaning.
[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_01]: You may have heard of it.
[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Victor Frunkhol was an Austrian psychiatrist that lived through the Holocaust
[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_01]: and later developed a field of psychology known as Logo Therapy.
[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_01]: During his time at Auschwitz, Frunkhol observed the brutality and evil around him,
[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_01]: even losing his mother and wife during this time.
[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_01]: However, he made a poignant observation during his time in the Nazi concentration camp.
[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_01]: He noted that people in the death camps usually responded to trauma in one of three ways.
[00:27:44] [SPEAKER_01]: One, there was one group who lost all principles, all morals, and betrayed those closest to them to survive.
[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Number two, there were those that simply gave up on their will to fight.
[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And those typically were the ones that whithered and died quicker than others.
[00:28:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And then three, there were those that became quietly heroic, manifesting courage
[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_01]: and ones that made sacrifices.
[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_01]: What distinguished these groups from one another, he says, was the source of their hope.
[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_01]: If they had temporal hope and the things of this earth like wealth, family or career,
[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_01]: there was nothing to lean on when those things were taken away.
[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_01]: If they had a hope that extended beyond this life, they had something to live for and could envision and end to their sufferings.
[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Frunkhol, I just say, one of the ways to see God's supernatural power in your life
[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_01]: in the seasons of hardship and difficulty and setbacks is to show and to exercise that kind of hope that we have
[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_01]: as believers, a hope that is not based on achieving something in this life.
[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_01]: It's based on receiving the gift of salvation that's been given to us through Christ.
[00:29:03] [SPEAKER_01]: The free gift that I didn't deserve was a result of God's love and grace poured out in our hearts.
[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a hope that can't be taken away by life's detours.
[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_01]: As Paul would say in Romans 5, not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance,
[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_01]: perseverance, perseverance, character and character, hope.
[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Hope does not put us to shame. It does not disappoint because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
[00:29:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Christ in hope is a hope that does not disappoint because God's love has been poured into our hearts and we know and have experienced him.
[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I've been able to see this hope on display in the lives of believers.
[00:29:45] [SPEAKER_01]: One of the most profound experiences that I've been able to have in the last 20 years in ministry is to be with people in their final days before stepping into eternity.
[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_01]: To see the testimonies of men and women that have such courage in the face of death,
[00:30:03] [SPEAKER_01]: to possess such a hope in their last days.
[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Man, talk about pouring courage into you.
[00:30:10] [SPEAKER_01]: It's incredibly inspiring to see that.
[00:30:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I think even the watching world would look and go, how can I have that kind of hope?
[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_01]: How do I get that kind of hope? What is it that I have to do?
[00:30:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And friends, the way that we endure our detours, the way that we learn to suffer in face hardship,
[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it can be a testimony and a beautiful display of the power of God at work and a life.
[00:30:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Because that hope, that's just something that's got to be founded in a relationship with Christ.
[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_01]: When the world asks about your detour, your setback, you being stuck in the way you didn't know.
[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_01]: You would be stuck. You can testify of the hope that you have in the Lord.
[00:30:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Not an empty hope. It's a hope founded upon the cross of Christ.
[00:30:55] [SPEAKER_01]: We know this hope doesn't mean that in every way our wish and our dream will come to pass as long as we hold on.
[00:31:00] [SPEAKER_01]: No, that's not what we're trying to say.
[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_01]: But what it does mean is that we can trust our lives into the good, loving hand of God.
[00:31:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Because He is our treasure. He is the one we seek as our ultimate good.
[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_01]: His Paul said in Philippians 3-8,
[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_01]: The book we're going to be studying, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.
[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_01]: All right, the third and final lesson I want us to see.
[00:31:24] [SPEAKER_01]: After we've seen that for Paul and Silas, their obstacle was an opportunity to praise.
[00:31:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Their detour became a display for the supernatural power of God.
[00:31:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I want us to see that their trial led to a testimony of Christ's saving grace.
[00:31:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Their trial led to a testimony of Christ's saving grace.
[00:31:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Look at verse 29 through 34 with me.
[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Then the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.
[00:31:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Then he brought them out and said,
[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Sir is what must I do to be saved?
[00:31:58] [SPEAKER_01]: And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved when you're household.
[00:32:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
[00:32:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And he took them the same hour of the night, washed their wounds and he was baptized at once.
[00:32:10] [SPEAKER_01]: He and all his family.
[00:32:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Then he brought them up into the house and set food before them.
[00:32:13] [SPEAKER_01]: And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_01]: What a beautiful scene.
[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_01]: The jailer who was about to take his life receives eternal life and not just him but also his household.
[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_01]: You see his decision to not take his life meant life for his family too.
[00:32:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Can I just say as a side note here to the dads,
[00:32:41] [SPEAKER_01]: think about how our decisions can be used to bring life to our families?
[00:32:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Think of the example that we can set.
[00:32:50] [SPEAKER_01]: To not choose death, to not choose the things that would produce death,
[00:32:54] [SPEAKER_01]: you're over a year but to choose the things that would produce life.
[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_01]: That's what this man did.
[00:33:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I honestly don't think he knew the impact that this would have.
[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_01]: That his family would come to know Jesus,
[00:33:06] [SPEAKER_01]: that they would be a part of a church that was one of the most beautiful churches
[00:33:11] [SPEAKER_01]: that Paul had an opportunity to minister to.
[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_01]: The Church of Philippi held such an incredible place in Paul's life
[00:33:20] [SPEAKER_01]: because of their generosity and their support.
[00:33:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Paul was able to do a lot more missionary work and we're going to be able to study just how appreciative he was for this incredible church.
[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_01]: But think of this, this man who could have told the different story.
[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_01]: The Paul and Silas said stop.
[00:33:40] [SPEAKER_01]: We're here.
[00:33:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Isn't it great that they hung around?
[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I just love that.
[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Paul and Silas, there they are.
[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Their chains are off.
[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, all right, we're getting back to missionary work.
[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_01]: See you later.
[00:33:48] [SPEAKER_01]: They hung around.
[00:33:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Why did they hang around?
[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_01]: We can kind of think about it a little bit.
[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I honestly think because they saw this jailer and they saw an opportunity for a testimony.
[00:34:01] [SPEAKER_01]: The trial that they were enduring, they saw was an opportunity to lead to a testimony of Christ's saving grace.
[00:34:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I love the question the jailer asks, what must I do to be saved?
[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Is there any better question that we can ask?
[00:34:13] [SPEAKER_01]: What must I do to be saved?
[00:34:16] [SPEAKER_01]: As someone has said, the jailer was so impressed by Paul and Silas.
[00:34:19] [SPEAKER_01]: By the love they showed him from their ability to take joy even in misery that he instantly wanted the kind of life that Paul and Silas had.
[00:34:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Isn't this what we want our lives to do to those who have yet to come to Christ?
[00:34:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Want to be amazing for the world to see as Christians suffer well
[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_01]: and that this would become a testimony to a doubting world that God's grace is enough.
[00:34:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Then there's resources that are only found in relationship with Christ to face challenges and hardship that you can't find anywhere else.
[00:34:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Our Christianity and the way that we endure the detours of life should make others want what we have with our God.
[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Paul's answer is simple and clear.
[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
[00:35:01] [SPEAKER_01]: That word believe really means to trust full, wholeheartedly your life.
[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_01]: In the same way if we were in an airplane and we got the message over the inner come, we're going down all our engines around.
[00:35:14] [SPEAKER_01]: There's a parachute underneath you hold on to that parachute.
[00:35:17] [SPEAKER_01]: You're going to make sure that you're really cling to that parachute.
[00:35:19] [SPEAKER_01]: You're trying to trust that parachute in the same way we're putting our full weight in assurance in Christ as our Savior and Lord.
[00:35:29] [SPEAKER_01]: It's been said that you noticed Paul didn't direct to this man to a theology class although I love theology.
[00:35:35] [SPEAKER_01]: He didn't direct him to a 12 part counseling session.
[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, you want to know how to be saved? Well that's going to take some time.
[00:35:42] [SPEAKER_01]: No, a point of this obviously repentant man to faith in Jesus.
[00:35:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Friends don't feel as though you aren't equipped to answer the same question that someone may ask of you at some point in the future because Paul is really clear
[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_01]: of believing in Jesus, believe in him, trust in him with your life and you will be saved.
[00:36:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Now by Paul saying you and your household this was not a suggestion that his family would be automatically saved if he trusted in Christ.
[00:36:10] [SPEAKER_01]: The meaning is that he believed on the Lord Jesus, he would be saved and his household would be saved in the same way by the implasing faith in Christ.
[00:36:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Believe in you will be saved and let your household do the same. And they did because the Scriptures tell us that Paul and the others spoke the word of the Lord to them while they were in the house and they all responded and they were baptized.
[00:36:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Friends, I think this shows us sometimes that God will allow setbacks and trials in order that we might be able to witness and see a testimony of his saving grace.
[00:36:43] [SPEAKER_01]: We have a little bedtime routine at our house and typically that's a good time for us to be able to read books to our two boys, we've got two boys and we've been working slowly through a series on missionary biographies and love
[00:36:57] [SPEAKER_01]: just sharing these stories of men and women of faith who've come throughout the years and recently finished a book on Elizabeth Elliott.
[00:37:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of you know of her writing and have been encouraged by her, but herner husband Jim, they were missionaries best known for their work among the indigenous peoples of Ecuador.
[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_01]: In 1956, Jim Elliott along with four other missionaries attempted to reach the remote who a Ronnie tribe a group known for their violent resistance to outsiders.
[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Tragedically Jim and his fellow missionaries were killed by members of the tribe.
[00:37:28] [SPEAKER_01]: However, their sacrifice became a powerful story of faith and forgiveness.
[00:37:33] [SPEAKER_01]: After Jim's death, Elizabeth Elliott along with her young daughter, courageously returned to live among the very tribe that had killed her husband.
[00:37:41] [SPEAKER_01]: She helped bring the message of the gospel to the who-or-rony people.
[00:37:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Was instrumental in helping translate the Bible into their language and as a result, many of them became Christians.
[00:37:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Elizabeth later wrote several books sharing the story of her husband's legacy and the transformative power of God's love even in the face of tragedy.
[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_01]: The Eliot's work became a symbol of unwavering faith forgiveness and the cost of discipleship and spreading the gospel.
[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Elizabeth Elliott's trial led to a powerful testimony of God's saving grace.
[00:38:12] [SPEAKER_01]: As I read through the biography, and I was so struck, one by her faith and trust in the Lord in the face of Jim.
[00:38:22] [SPEAKER_01]: The best terrible circumstances, but at the same time her insistence that the people that killed her husband needed the gospel to.
[00:38:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And that she was going to do whatever she could to get the gospel to them.
[00:38:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Her faith and the power of the gospel was inspiring.
[00:38:40] [SPEAKER_01]: For instance, do we believe in the power of the gospel to change lives?
[00:38:46] [SPEAKER_01]: For those of you that have family members that are struggling, your trial may be seen the trial of someone else that is close to you that you love.
[00:38:54] [SPEAKER_01]: That's one of the hardest things to watch.
[00:38:56] [SPEAKER_01]: For instance, pray for God's power to be at work in their lives.
[00:38:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Perhaps this trial will one day produce a testimony of God's saving grace.
[00:39:05] [SPEAKER_01]: For those of you that are facing a detour, a road that you didn't plan to walk down and maybe even a result of choosing to follow Jesus with your life.
[00:39:11] [SPEAKER_01]: You never know who's watching.
[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_01]: You never know if your courage is going to inspire someone else to trust and believe the gospel.
[00:39:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's the thing for Paul and Silas, although they went to preach the gospel.
[00:39:25] [SPEAKER_01]: They had no guarantee that a church would be planted.
[00:39:27] [SPEAKER_01]: They were being faithful to the Lord.
[00:39:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And then they hit this detour.
[00:39:31] [SPEAKER_01]: They had no idea that their trial would lead to the testimony of the jailer and his family being saved.
[00:39:36] [SPEAKER_01]: They had no idea that Lydia in this group of newfound disciples of Jesus would start a church.
[00:39:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And that church would take part in gospel partnership with Paul.
[00:39:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And he would write a letter that billions of other people would read one day and be encouraged by.
[00:39:49] [SPEAKER_01]: But God knew.
[00:39:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And this is what we need to remember.
[00:39:52] [SPEAKER_01]: God sees the outcome.
[00:39:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Not all stories in like this, but God can be trusted in the detours of life.
[00:39:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how long you've been in this detour or the setback.
[00:40:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what the end will look like.
[00:40:05] [SPEAKER_01]: However, there is a purpose to what he's allowing you to go through.
[00:40:08] [SPEAKER_01]: We won't always know this side of heaven, but we can trust him.
[00:40:13] [SPEAKER_01]: We can know that for every obstacle it presents an opportunity to praise.
[00:40:18] [SPEAKER_01]: For every detour, it's an opportunity to display his power in our lives and for every trial.
[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_01]: We can trust that God is working to lead to a testimony of his saving grace.
[00:40:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Because he's good, because he can be trusted.
[00:40:35] [SPEAKER_01]: He sees you, he sees me and he loves you.
[00:40:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And he loves me and he promises to hold us through all the detours of life.
[00:40:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Many young as some crew are young as some crew, he's six years old.
[00:40:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And he's still at that stage where we get a, we get a good hug and a good hold every once in a while.
[00:40:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to hang on to those as long as possible.
[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm trying to make sure that you're in a good place.
[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, how it goes.
[00:41:00] [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, I'll still be able to pick him up and hold them a little bit and you know,
[00:41:05] [SPEAKER_01]: sneak a little kiss on the cheek there and he just kind of snuggles for a little bit.
[00:41:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And then he's a pretty active dude so he wants to get down.
[00:41:12] [SPEAKER_01]: All right, dad, you know, throw a ball at his brother or something.
[00:41:14] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, really positive and encouraging.
[00:41:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's great.
[00:41:20] [SPEAKER_01]: But there's still, there's still these times when it happened this last week.
[00:41:24] [SPEAKER_01]: We were coming back from life group and you know, on the way home he falls asleep.
[00:41:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And I got to get him from the car into the room, right?
[00:41:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Into his bed.
[00:41:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And he's just passed out, right?
[00:41:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Just tired asleep.
[00:41:38] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like getting there everybody, you know, and I kind of get my arms around and I'm picking up.
[00:41:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And I hold them.
[00:41:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I hold them.
[00:41:45] [SPEAKER_01]: But there's something different about this whole.
[00:41:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And you parents know, is just dead weight.
[00:41:51] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like a game 30 pounds, you know?
[00:41:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just holding them.
[00:41:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And I got to be honest.
[00:41:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I take a little bit longer to get him to the bed because I just soak that in.
[00:42:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just there.
[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_01]: He's, you know, letting me hold him.
[00:42:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Sneak a few kisses and you know what I mean.
[00:42:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I know that times not always going to be there.
[00:42:11] [SPEAKER_01]: When he's 24, I still hold the right to be able to hold him.
[00:42:14] [SPEAKER_01]: But it's going to be a little more awkward at that point.
[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_01]: But I take him over to the bed and I lay him down.
[00:42:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I was thinking about this picture of how Christ holds us through the detours
[00:42:27] [SPEAKER_01]: and through the setbacks of life.
[00:42:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Are we the kind where, you know, we'll let him all this a little bit.
[00:42:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And then we'll just kind of get away and see what we want to.
[00:42:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, Lord, I got to go try to figure this thing out.
[00:42:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So thanks.
[00:42:37] [SPEAKER_01]: That was great.
[00:42:38] [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, I'm going to work on the problem.
[00:42:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Or we the kind that just lets him envelop us.
[00:42:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And we just let go.
[00:42:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And we just allow him to hold us and just carry us through.
[00:42:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Just knowing that if we're in his arms, there's no better place to be.
[00:42:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Because no matter what we face, we know that we're loved.
[00:43:02] [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, Elizabeth Elliott, one of the last things that she was able to do in addition to her writings
[00:43:08] [SPEAKER_01]: is she had a weekly radio program where she'd share stories from the mission field
[00:43:12] [SPEAKER_01]: and updates about what she was doing even in Ecuador.
[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_01]: And she opened her radio program for 13 years the same way every time with these words.
[00:43:24] [SPEAKER_01]: You are loved with an everlasting love.
[00:43:26] [SPEAKER_01]: That's what the Bible says, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
[00:43:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Let them hold us in those everlasting arms.
[00:43:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Let them carry us.
[00:43:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Or let's let them do it in the way that only he can.
[00:43:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening.
[00:43:46] [SPEAKER_00]: If you would like more teachings and information about Calvary Monore, please visit Calvary.com.
[00:43:52] [SPEAKER_00]: You can also find books, teachings through the Bible, and articles from our lead pastor at natcordridge.com.
[00:43:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for tuning in. We'll see you next week.