Sermon Brief
Date Written: January 15, 2014
Date Preached: January 19, 2014
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Moving Ahead
Sermon Title: Moving Ahead – When All Seems Lost
Sermon Text: Acts 16:16-40 [ESV]
Introduction:
Prior to 1880 if you wanted to have light in your home, you were forced to burn a candle or lantern or kerosene lamp.
Electricity was in its infancy and there had been SOME people who had experienced VERY LIMITED success in producing a lamp/bulb that would work on electricity… but NONE of them lasted and they were FAR too expensive for the general public to afford!
The general consensus of the public was that electricity was nice but there would NEVER be a way for everyone to have it or enjoy the artificial light it could bring into a home.
“It just cannot be done!” was what just about ALL people believed… but NOT Thomas Alva Edison! He not only believed the cheap and reliable light bulb was possible, but he also believed that electricity would one day be in EVERYONE’s home!
On Jan 27, 1880 the US Patent office granted Edison the patent on the 1st commercially viable light bulb and the electricity rush was on…
Where so many people DOUBTED and even opposed him, Edison believed and persevered…
Where so many people resigned humanity to a life limited to fire burning lamps and NO electricity… Edison compassionately fought for electricity for ALL people!
Where so many people tried and gave up… Edison remained focused on the vision he had and saw it come to pass!
Moving ahead and moving forward in a church…as we have said… is a scary thing for many believers! In fact, there have been MANY believers who have felt that there is NO need for them or for their church to move forward…
There are believers who have failed to move forward because they were afraid of what may be out there… afraid of what lay ahead…
There have also been believers who have also refused to move forward because they simply had lost all hope that they could ever move ahead! They had lost hope and believed God was done with them…their church…
Whatever category of believer you fall into… You need to know and understand that it is God’s desire for us, as individuals and us as a fellowship of believers to move forward in our service and walk with Him.
In the letter to the Colossian church the Apostle Paul urged that fellowship church to move forward in their walk with Christ by maturing in their faith… He urged them to grow by getting to know God more and more!
Paul understood that when believers grow closer and become more intimate with God and what He wants from us…THEN our eyes for the Kingdom are opened and THEN we can know and want what God wants!
Today is the last sermon of this series and I want us to look at a story found in Acts 16… this is the story about Paul & Silas… this is a story about knowing and understanding what God wants from us and then remaining faithful to God’s calling, regardless of the circumstance or situation…
Oak Park… today God is calling us… He is calling us to move forward and move ahead as individuals as well as a fellowship of believers!
I believe if we want to be the church God wants us to become… then we have to begin to move forward with His commands and instruction.
To move ahead, we cannot be paralyzed with the fear of the unknown OR fear of what we may believe is an enemy that cannot lose!
To move ahead, we cannot be lulled to sleep with our own apathy and our lack of desire to rock the boat…
But this morning I also want us to understand that, as a fellowship, we cannot give up… even when it seems as if what we are doing is NEVER going to make a difference… even if we believe all hope is lost…
We cannot give in and surrender… We must move ahead by trusting in God and being obedient to His calling!
In the Scripture this morning we can see 3 actions Paul took when all hope seemed lost…3 actions Paul took to move ahead…
I believe these 3 actions are 3 actions that WE, as believers today, should take for us to effectively move ahead as a church (serving God for WHO He is and what He has called us to be)
The first action we see Paul taking here can be found in v16-23… Paul was ministering and now opposition was rearing its ugly head!
This reveals to us today that when we are working for Christ that there are going to be times when opposition is going to rear its ugly head… so for us…
To Move Ahead for Christ – Endure opposition – v16-23
16As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. 19But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.
Have you ever thought…“God why is this happening to me? I am serving You! I am doing what you have called me to do? I am living right! I am reading my Bible! I am ministering to the needy! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?”
Well here is a truth that many believers do NOT want to hear and that is that opposition and trials come for the believer ESPECIALLY when we are doing the right things!
Let me put it to you this way… if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing… if we are living like we are supposed to live… then our Enemy is NOT pleased and he is going to do what he can to derail us and get us off track!
Let’s look at Paul and Silas… they were on a mission trip and they were going to church as we begin our reading this morning. Look at v16…
16As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.
…v16: going to the place of prayer… (the local tabernacle)
Paul and Silas were on their way to pray and to worship! They were doing what God had called them to do… they were ministering to those who needed Jesus! They were doing the right things!
But in the midst of doing what God had called them to do, opposition rears its ugly head! The last part of v16 reveals where a young girl with ‘a spirit of divination’ began to follow them!
The term ‘met’ here in the Greek is a word used when 2 forces ‘meet’ on the battle field… it is NOT as if this girl wanted to have a civil conversation or hang out with Paul and Silas, but she ‘met’ them for the purpose of getting them off their track… of being hostile toward them!
The ‘spirit of divination’ is reference to a form of ‘prophecy’ that was forbidden by God. “Divination” presupposes that the divine communicates with the human.
This communication takes both human and divine initiative. The Bible forbids many forms of this type of prophecy. Prophecy from God is accepted as He speaks to his people but those who bring revelation via dream, vision, or as an oracle from another deity are forbidden.
At the time of Paul there was a tradition in Delphi of an oracle who was able to see into the future and interpret visions or had visions to give advice… The Oracle of Delphi was known throughout much of the world and this young girl was an oracle similar to the Oracle at Delphi.
The Bible tells us in v17: 17She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18And this she kept doing for many days…
Now Paul was on what we consider to be his 2nd missionary journey around the year 51AD. He and Silas were being followed by this young girl and she kept crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” (Acts 16:17).
Most believers don’t fully understand what Paul does next… But what we see is that Paul was annoyed by this incessant droning on by this oracle and so he turned to her and he commanded the spirit in her:
18And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
And it came out at that very moment. (Acts 16:18).
Again the only way we can truly understand what Paul did and why he did it… to realize the biblical description of this young girl.
The English versions of the Bible say she had "a spirit of divination" (Acts 16:16). The literal Greek word used to describe this woman is pythia.
The pythia were the women who made up the Oracle of Delphi… Paul says this young girl had the spirit of phythia… which is to say she had the same spirit as the Oracles of Delphi!
All we really know is that she had the spirit of divination and she had been following Paul and Silas for days and speaking like she was the spokespersons of Zeus, the Most High Greek God!
She was telling the people to listen to these men like they would listen to the words of an oracle. BUT, Paul and Silas understood that those from ‘the Pythia’ could NOT represent Paul and Silas. This is because they represented God!
Paul then understands that she was possessed by a demonic spirit and so he delivers her. BUT, when her owners/ masters saw their hope for profit in Philippi had vanished because of what Paul had done, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities.
They demanded the disciples of Jesus be put into prison. So they were thrown in jail. Paul and Silas were doing what God wanted them to do… they were ministering to those who did NOT know Christ… they were on their way to church… and then all of a sudden OPPOSITION comes against them!
What we have to understand is that just like 2,000 years ago, that there are many people who still revere what God has declared as evil. People will come in opposition to those who are serving God!
To move ahead as a church and as individual believers we must understand that opposition IS and always WILL BE part of what we experience! v16-23 let us know that the world is filled with those who want to compete with and overwhelm us as believers and destroy our witness for Him!
We will encounter opposition when we begin ministering in the name of Jesus. In fact Jesus himself said we would encounter this opposition… BECAUSE we are associated with Him. In Matt 5:11 Jesus said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account…”
Moving ahead as a fellowship means we WILL face opposition, but understand that if we are facing opposition from the Enemy it means that we are doing something right… we are pressing forward in our walk… we are reaching out to those around us in the name of Jesus!
Moving ahead means we will have to Endure Opposition, but I can also see that if we want…
To Move Ahead for Christ – Embody Compassion – v25-28
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. 27When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
Now I want you to imagine that you are in Paul and Silas’ shoes for just a moment! You were doing what God had called you to do… and UNJUSTLY you were put into prison and put into stocks…
How many of you by show of hands would have reacted like Paul and Silas? Look at what they were doing:
V25 – they were praying
V25 – they were singing hymns (psalms)
V25 – they were possibly doing a little preaching… the verse tells us that the other prisoner were ‘listening’ to them. I want us to realize it does not say that they heard them, but that they were listening to them…
The Greek word used in this phrase is a word used specifically for ‘listening’ and not the general sense of just hearing something.
They had been falsely arrested and imprisoned when they were doing what God had called them to do… and what we find them doing was having church, but I want us to focus on what they were NOT doing!
They were NOT crying about how bad things were…
They were NOT shaking their fist in anger at God because they felt God had abandoned them…
They were NOT feeling sorry for themselves and having a ‘woe is me’ attitude
THEY WERE WORSHIPPING IN SPITE OF WHAT HAD HAPPENED!
This worshipful attitude lays the foundation for what comes next!
This worshipful attitude reveals a trust in God and a reliance upon Him in difficult times!
This worshipful attitude prepared their hearts to be compassionate at the right time!
Stay with me here on this one… here was Paul and Silas, in prison and mistreated and they were ‘compassionate’??? Really? THAT IS RIGHT… compassionate! If we want to move forward in our walk with Christ… for us as a fellowship to move forward we must be the embodiment of compassion!
This means when we see those in need, NO MATTER how awful they have treated us, we are called to be compassionate and reveal the love of God to them!
v28 tells us how compassionate Paul and Silas were…
28But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
They could have stayed quiet and they could have gotten up and escaped from that jail cell. They had been falsely accused and could have felt they ‘deserved’ to be freed! They could have felt that this earthquake was God’s salvation for them and justice for the jailer/authorities!
But that is NOT what we see them doing, is it? When Paul realizes what’s going on, he cries out to the jailer to NOT kill himself, but instead he began to share Christ with this man!
People the opposition is out there and they DO want to destroy and harm us… but just because they want that does NOT mean that we can return those feelings! When we have the opportunity to show the compassion of Christ, we are called to DO IT!
We are called to reach out to those who want us destroyed… to reach out to them with all the compassion and forgiveness that God showed to us!
People, if we are going to move forward for the Kingdom of Christ… if we are going to move fwd as a body of believers… We must not focus on the fact that the Enemy is trying to derail us… that is ALWAYS going to be a given!
We are going to have to get past what the world is trying and sometimes successful in doing to us… we must be the Christ-like embodiment of compassion and grace to them. Revealing the compassion of Christ when the world comes crashing down on them!
For the world to see Jesus in your lives and in the life of our fellowship then they have to know that we love them! With that being said, if we strike back when they strike out at us … then they will NOT see this compassion we are supposed to be living out… they will NOT believe we love them!
If Paul had allowed the jailer to kill himself and then he escaped, how would that have ministered and witnessed to the prisoner he had been worshipping with? I am sure that they would have been grateful to be free from prison…
But here Paul – thru is willingness to embody compassion – because a much greater witness for Christ and not only did he witness to the prisoners but he saw the jailer come to faith in Christ with all his family!
For us to move forward as a fellowship we must take the first action of Enduring the Opposition that WILL come our way… James tells us that the trial and trouble are a way of life for the believer!
I want us to understand what Paul and Silas were doing here… When they made the conscious effort to minister to the jailer and NOT seek escape, they were saying to God, YOUR plan is greater than our desire!
They were willing to risk staying in prison and risk MORE harsh treatment… just for the chance (NOT the guarantee, but just for the chance) to share Jesus with someone who was lost! THAT is moving forward as a believer! THAT is the attitude we must have to move forward as a fellowship!
We must get PAST the opposition & embody the compassion of our Savior!
We must be willing to minister and show compassion in even the most hostile of environments!
When we do this, we must be willing to RISK even MORE hostility… even MORE opposition to serving God!
When we do this it reveals to GOD that His plan is greater than our desire and it reveals to the world that our compassion is real and we PROVE the ONE we profess to serve!
But the 3rd action we find Paul doing here AND the 3rd action we must put into play if we are going to move forward as a church is that we must…
To Move Ahead for Christ – Ensure Focus of Vision – v29-40
29And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. 35But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” 36And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” 38The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. 39So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 40So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
With all that was going on, I am sure Paul could have gotten side tracked and derailed from his mission. I told you earlier that this was Paul’s 2nd missionary journey and he had been called by God to minister to the Gentiles!
Paul had been falsely accused and wrongly put into prison because he was a Roman citizen… Roman citizens could not be put in prison without a trial… and he had been thrown into jail just on accusation.
He had every reason to be angry and strike out because of his situation… He had every reason to lose his focus and begin to focus on himself…
But we find that he remains focused on what God had called him to do. Look at v30-33
30Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.
We can see that Paul was still focused on sharing Jesus and ministering to others with the love of Jesus! Paul did not seek to vindicate himself, but sought to serve Jesus! He witnesses to the jailer about redemption and this leads to a changed jailer!
When we show the love of Jesus it is going to make an impression on people. They may not react like the Philippian jailer, but it is going to make an impression upon them!
If we are going to move forward as a church… we are going to have to put OUR wants, and needs on the backburner! We are going to have to remain focused on what God has directed us to do…
Paul had every ‘human’ right to get out of that jail…
Paul had every ‘human’ right to NOT help that jailer…
Paul had every ‘human’ right to vindicate himself…
But we see that Paul did NOT seek his ‘human’ rights… but submitted himself to the direction and plan of God! Paul remained focused even tho all around him was trying to pull him away from that focus!
What are YOU going to do when the circumstances and situations of this life distract you and try to pull you away from what God has called you to do?
Are you going to remain focused like Paul OR are you going to convince yourself that this is what YOU deserve… that your focus is on YOU and YOUR wants/desires!
If we are going to move fwd as a church we cannot lose focus of what we are called to be and do…
As a fellowship we are called love…[read 1 John 4:7-11]
7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
As a fellowship we are called to be His witnesses [read Acts 1:8] 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
And as a fellowship we are called to make disciples and to teach them [read Matt 28:19-20]
19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
When a church loses sight of what God has called them to do… they cannot move forward. I believe that as believers and as a fellowship we may have taken our eye off the prize… that we may have fallen away from what have been called to do:
Love one another regardless of how the world treats us…
Be Witnesses of Christ to the world…
Make Disciples and teach God to those in the church…
I believe Paul wanted the early church to focus on what really mattered and what STILL matters today… We cannot lose focus on what we are doing as a body of believers!
But just what happens when we DO take these 3 steps?
Application: v30-34
30Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
When we take the steps necessary to put Christ as the focus of our lives… then we will be able to see the results that we can only dream about!
Here Paul refused to allow opposition to drive him away…
Here Paul refused to allow a lack of compassion to drive him…
Here Paul refused to allow the focus of His mission to wane or be replaced by his own desires or perceived needs…
So what happens is that we take these steps, God is empowered to work THRU us and thru our fellowship…and people are going to come to know Christ and we will be able to minister to those who need ministry!
Oak Park are you ready today to move ahead? The past 3 weeks we have taken a look at moving ahead when we are scared… ministry and the unknown can be really scary!
Being scared can FREEZE us in our service to God! Ananias was scared but his obedience led to a great revival in the church!
We have looked at moving ahead when we really don’t see the need… so often we don’t move ahead because we just don’t see the need OR we just don’t want to rock the boat!
Peter really didn’t see the need to go to the Gentile/Roman Centurion’s house… after all the Jews were God’s people, and it would be a waste of time to go there… but Peter went out of obedience and his eyes were opened that God was MUCH larger than he had EVER imagined!
Today we learned that moving ahead is difficult especially when we think that all is lost… when we think that all hope is gone…
Paul and Silas could have felt this way… they were being obedient to God, but yet the enemy STILL got in their way and STILL managed to punish and persecute them… they could have lost hope whne they were thrown in to prison…
But Paul and Silas saw hope and realized victory even when all looked hopeless…even when victory seemed impossible! They rejoiced and worshiped IN SPITE of the opposition and were willing to surrender their own freedom to see the plan of God accomplished!
Because of their willing sacrifice, God moved in a great way… not only did He deliver Paul and Silas but He saved a great many people because of Paul and Silas’ witness!
So I ask you ONE more time… Are you ready to move ahead Oak Park? If so, I am calling on you to make a solemn commitment this morning to be willing to surrender YOUR desire to His will…
Give believer invitation here…
Give non-believer invitation last…
