Just When I Need Him Most Acts 23:10-11
Imagine, with me for a moment that you are sitting in your favorite chair, watching “wheel of Fortune” and suddenly you hear a loud crashing sound as the battering ram knocks your door off its hinges. In the midst of the confusion you hear voices shouting… “Sheriff’s office!!” When the deputies enter you ask what it’s all about and the deputy in charge says, “We’re here to arrest you for because you told an informant that you are a Christian.” He asks you if this is true and you quickly respond, “Yes I am a Christian” You may even quote from [Rom 1:16 NKJV] “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
They cuff and take you off to jail, for being a Christian. You have just been jailed for the cause of Christ, what would going through your mind, as you sat there? How about your attitude?
You know, from this point through the rest of the book of Acts Paul was a prisoner, for Jesus.
The amazing thing is that during this time he wrote several books of the Bible that we call the ‘prison epistles.’
Let’s check out some of the statements he made from jail.
[Eph 4:1 NKJV] “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,”
Paul’s attitude was, “Whatever happens to me, I will walk worthy of the call.”
Paul could feel this way because he never saw himself as a prisoner of the state. He considered himself a prisoner for the cause of Christ. Not only was he a prisoner for the cause of Christ but Paul thought it to be a privilege!
[Eph 6:20 NKJV] “for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Paul is in prison, yet he has an Ambassador attitude, meaning that he sees himself as is a representative from a foreign land.
Paul stood on the truth of [Phl 3:20 NKJV] “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”
I pray that each of us would think like Paul who considered himself a missionary to the other prisoners, in each prison he was in. And not only to the prisoners but the guards, as well as those he could write letters to.
Paul wrote, from a prison cell, [Phl 1:12-13 NIV] Where he said; “12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.”
Paul was guarded by the notorious Praetorian Guard, the elite soldiers who guarded Caesar himself.
The average Christian could never have gotten close enough to witness to these men. God did what He had to in order to get His voice heard there.
If we are serious enough to ask, God will give us opportunities to share the gospel. Some may seem a bit unusual but opportunities just the same, if we will be willing to recognize them as opportunities.
If you are wondering if it worked for Paul, all you need to do is look to Scripture for the answer.
[Phl 4:22 NIV] “All God's people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household.”
So maybe the next time you find yourself in a situation that would not have been your first choice, look around for a door of opportunity to be opened by God.
I need to remind myself, from time to time, that He has a reason for everything. I thought about this Monday as I was writing this message and thinking about my doctor’s appointment for Wednesday. We all know that you never get to see the doctor on time and you spend a lot of time just sitting in the waiting room, so why not look for that door that He will open.
When I look at Paul’s journey from this point, I can’t help but notice that Paul understood something I need to understand. [2Ti 2:9 NET] “for which I suffer hardship to the point of imprisonment as a criminal, but God's message is not imprisoned!”
The world can restrain the man but it cannot restrain the message!
Paul was considered to be a great man and he was just that BUT he was still just a man. He had real feelings, just like you and I have. He needed to know he wasn’t all alone. How many times have you had that need?
How many of us can say that just when we needed Him the most, God showed up?
3 things happened in Paul’s jail cell that night:
1. The Lord stood by Paul. Look at verse 11.
What an awesome statement!
I love how the NLT reads [Heb 13:5b-6] “5 …For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you." 6 So we can say with confidence, "The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
I read about a woman who said to D. L. Moody: “I have found a great promise to help me when I am afraid in, [Psa 56:3 NKJV] “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.”
Moody replied, “I have a better promise than that: Isaiah 12:2 ‘Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid:’”
Just a few years earlier Jesus was in the same city as Paul, standing before the same council, being tried. Both were not being tried for some horrific crime but for doing good. Both were considered to be a blasphemer and a troublemaker.
When I think about that I am able to see that we have a Savior who knows and understands what we are going through, because He has been there.
If you are lonely, hurting, feeling rejected or discouraged; know this. He’s been there!
How wonderful to know that when we are at the end of our rope, Jesus is the knot at the end that keeps us from falling!
[2Co 12:9 NKJV] “And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
We have a Savior who doesn’t just know what we’re going through because He’s all-knowing, but because He’s gone thru it too. And He has sustaining grace to help us through!
First the Lord stood by Paul. Second;
2. The Lord spoke to Paul. Look again at verse 11.
I don’t know about you but I think it’s great to have a God who speaks to us, whether audibly, as He did for Moses, through a bush, or handwriting on a wall, as He did for Daniel or the Holy Spirit. He really does speak, if we will just listen!
We have this promise from; [Heb 1:1-2a NIV] “1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”
Just when he needed it the most, the Lord stood by Paul. Then the Lord spoke to Paul. And third;
3. The Lord protected Paul. Look at verses 12-14.
40 men make a pledge together against Paul. Not just any pledge, mind you. These men made a pledge to see Paul dead and they were so serious that they vowed to not eat nor drink until they had carried out their vicious plan. BUT the Lord had said to Paul, “you’re going to Rome.”
So who do you think will win? God or those who oppose Him and His Word?
When people come against us we want to pray for them, don’t we?
The problem is, however, we pray warts on their noses. We pray for them to get sick or lose their job or their health or something horrible.
Did God strike these 40 men with leprosy or blindness, or burn their homes down? The answer is NO. So what did God do to protect Paul?
God used a little boy…Look at verse 16. Paul’s nephew gets the word to the right people and a 470 member military escort was put together.
Right now, you may be going through some very tough circumstances and feel that you don’t sense God anywhere around…but KNOW THIS child of the Most High God! He is standing right there, next to you. He may be standing in the shadows BUT HE IS standing by His child!
I love this story that I read some time ago. It was just after WWII, and a group of American soldiers found a little cellar where Jews had hid out. As they entered they found someone had written these words, on one of the walls. “I believe in the sun, even when it does not shine. I believe in love, even when it is not shown. And I believe in God even when I cannot see Him work.”
My friends God is present and at work through all your circumstances.
