Being Bright Lights In A Dark World Series

Sermon: Being Bright Lights in A Dark World

Scripture - Acts 16:25-40 “Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God. The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” So the jailer told Paul, “The city officials have said you and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace.” But Paul replied, “They have publicly beaten us without a trial and put us in prison—and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!” When the police reported this, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. So they came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city. When Paul and Silas left the prison, they returned to the home of Lydia. There they met with the believers and encouraged them once more. Then they left town.”

Introduction: Your theology, what you really believe, comes out at midnight. What I mean by midnight is at the darkest moment of your soul; when things seem hopeless, when the pressure mounts, when the pain intensifies, when things are darkest. That's when your theology comes out; when what you really believe about God is revealed. Until then, it's theory. When midnight comes you discover the difference between theory and reality; between darkness and light. Mt 5:15,16 Jesus said, “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Then James says in James 1:3, "You know that the testing of your faith produces endurance."

In God's sovereignty, for his good purposes, he allows us to experience the tests, the hardships, and struggles. He allows us to go through midnight. And it's at midnight when your theology comes out; it's at midnight theory meets reality. As we continue in our ongoing series through the book of Acts, I have entitled this message: “Being Bright Lights in A Dark Night.”

Paul is on his second missionary journey! His is accompanied by Silas, Timothy, and Luke as they make their way to a leading Roman colony known as Philippi, were cast a demon out of one women and encounters another on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Yet we discovered that there's no one so good they don't need salvation, and no one so bad they can't receive salvation. One of those liberated women was a young slave girl; a girl who was possessed by an evil spirit - a python spirit - a spirit of divination. Her owners exploited that possession to make money. This demon inside her became attached to the missionary team and the girl began following them around, saying, "These men are servants of the most high God who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” Now that might sound like she’s on their team, after all what she’s saying is accurate, true. But I assure you, the demon was not seeking to enhance or commend their ministry.

After this goes on for days, Luke tells us in the text that Paul became “Greatly annoyed.” Paul turns and says to the evil spirit inside this girl, “I command you to come out.” And the demon came out at once. Now when he cast out the demon, there went the source of Paul’s frustration and annoyance, but along with it went the source of her masters’ financial profit. So, what do they do? They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities, making many false accusations against them, turn them over to the police who then strip their clothes off and beat them with rods. They then throw them into prison like common criminals. Paul and Silas in prison were experiencing their darkest night. You would have thought Paul and Silas would have sang the blues, but they sang praises unto God. If we are going to be lights in a dark world we learn to sing at midnight.