Difference Makers see the BIG PICTURE
Acts 16:
Ten indicators you are about to have a bad day
1. The first words your toddler says in the morning are “Uh-oh”
2. The news is showing emergency escape routes out of the city
3. You wake up and find your waterbed sprung a leak, but then remember you do not have a waterbed.
4. There are news teams waiting in your office
5. Your birthday cakes sets off the smoke alarms from the candles
6. Suicide prevention hotline puts you on hold
7. your twin forgets your birthday
8. You start to think that Jail is not such a bad thing.
9. None of your socks match
10. The scale cries as you are about to step on.
None of these will guarantee you will have a bad day, but they are pretty good indicators.
Paul and Silas are about to have a bad day…stripped, beaten and thrown in jail.
They went to present the Gospel, but ran into opposition.
How many here want to live a Godly life?
Read 2 Tim 3:12
12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ
We have to tell the downside as well as the upside, but Difference Makers see the BIG PICTURE.
Paul and Silas are beaten, stripped and jailed.
“The Unhappy Secrets of the Christian Life” states
A dangerous rumor is making the rounds, it is the notion that problems fade away when you become a Christian”
If that were true, we better wonder whose camp we are in.
Jesus never promised us a rose garden, but he did promise it would be worth it.
Four times in the Book of Revelation Jesus makes a promise to over comers
REV 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
REV 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.
REV 2:26 To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations
REV 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Difference Makers See the BIG PICTURE.
What might we do if we were in Paul and Silas’ position?
1. Where are you GOD?
2. What are you doing GOD?
3. Why is this happening?
WE are put in particular situations for the Glory of GOD. It all depends on our focus. What are we looking at? Sometimes we do not see the BIG PICTURE because our focus in on ourselves and the BIG PICTURE
There is sadness and joy in my house today. Yesterday Rich, Hope and the kids moved out to start a new life, a new ministry for them in Alabama. Looking at the small picture, we will miss the kids and the grandkids, looking at the small picture they are so far away 12 hours by car. But looking at the BIG PICTURE, they are going to help BUILD HIS KINGDOM, they are going to Alabama TO WIN SOULS TO CHRIST. We have to look at the BIG PICTURE.
What do Paul and Silas do?
AC 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
They were beaten, stripped and jailed, for NOTHING.
Yes their attitudes are great, but notice the last part. OTHER PRISONERS WERE LISTENING TO THEM.
They were in jail because there were prisoners there who need to hear the GOSPEL.
When we are having a bad day we might think;
1. How can I glorify God in this
2. Who might benefit from all this
It is easy to Praise God from the mountaintop, we should sing His praises even in the Valley.
What would we be doing? Next time we are in the Prison of Persecution or the Valley of Despair and rejection, look around. Hebrews tells us
HEB 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
The other prisoners were listening, what else would they be doing?
But God had someone else in mind too. God went through great lengths to reach this man and his family. He went through the same to get you too.
Read verses 33-34
33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he and his whole family.
God has saved us so that we can be His mouth, His Hands, and His feet to bring the Gospel to the world. That is the Big Picture.
A few years later Paul would write the Philippian Church and say
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
To see the Big Picture we have to change our focus, we have to change our vision, we have to see what God wants us to do.
Now how many want to live the Godly Life?
