Acts 16:16-40 "The Philippian Jailer"

today we're in acts 16 we're gonna begin at verse 16 I read verses 16 through 18 and we'll get into our study we're gonna actually concentrate at the end of the study on an event that relates to somebody was called the Philippian jailer and you'll see that many of you are already familiar with that story but we'll be closing by and large by looking at some of the things related to him but here in verse 16 it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination Menace who brought her master's much profit by fortune-telling this girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying these men are the servants of the Most High God who proclaimed to West the way of salvation and this she did for many days but Paul greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and he came out that very hour now what we're watching here in this passage is a spiritual battle and I want to begin by noticing when it begins notice it begins in verse 16 as we went to prayer so that helps us to remember that when you go to prayer that is a place where many spiritual battles take place when you're going through the book of Acts as we've been going through the book of Acts we've noticed that prayer is emphasized throughout the entire book because prayer is the lifeline of the church when you look at prayer what prayer can be described as is that that's an act of humble worship it express expresses dependence as well as obedience to God and so when we pray we we will praise the Lord we intercede we make requests we adore we give thanks these are the things that you do when you're praying you're you're yielding yourself you're humbling yourself before him you're telling him how dependent on him you are you intercede on behalf of others or you make your requests known to him and it's it's a an attitude of humble dependence of reliance on God it's an awareness that that you cannot meet your own needs that that you require somebody else to be able to do that especially the deepest needs that you haven't and so you take them to the one who can meet those needs and the church was continually praying you see it again from the beginning all the way up to this point here in in Acts chapter 1 verse 14 it said these all continued with one Accord in prayer and supplication in acts 2:42 they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers in chapter 3 verse 1 Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer in chapter 6 verses 3 and 4 brothers choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom we will turn this responsibility over to them but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the Ministry of the word chapter 10 verse 31 Cornelius your prayer has been heard acts 12 5 Peter was therefore kept in prison but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church and even in verse 13 of chapter 16 and on the sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made prayer is the heartbeat it's a lifeline of the body of christ somebody once said prayer is made with a pure heart faithfully believing that God not only hears but also answers and is made in the name of Jesus according to the will of God the Father again through prayer we praise intercede request adore and give thanks it's interesting but prayerlessness is actually a sin against God because of unbelief and laziness if you take notes you want might want to note first Samuel 12:23 interesting Scripture let me read it to you as for me far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you and I will teach you the way that is good in right that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you you know there are so many things in the reservoirs of heaven that God has reserved for us that we simply don't even ask him for we don't even ask him for those things and he's got them for us you know you have not James said because you ask not and so prayer is the heartbeat of the believer it's the heartbeat of the church and so spiritual warfare begins really in this passage here as they went to prayer so it says again in verse 16 it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination Medus who brought her master's much profit by fortune-telling the spirit of divination what is divination divination and when you have what is called a spirit of divination it is a demon that predicts if you will future events divination divining future events this is a young woman possessed by a demon that pretended to predict the future the body of this person had been taken over by an outside intelligence a demon and when you go through your New Testament you'll see that there are several mentions of demon possession and you'll see various things that they do we've been going through the Gospel of Matthew you'll remember that that demons can cause blindness mutinous infirmity they produce sometimes convulsions the appearance of insanity the unclean spirits will drive you to sexual impurity and some demons pretend to be able to predict the future again that is called the spirit of divination divination is communication with the demon for the purpose determining the demons knowledge and for the purpose of making a decision or discernment of the future so they would go to this woman she was a fortune-teller basically and they would ask her to predict future events for them divination and all occult practices were and are strictly forbidden in Deuteronomy in the Old Testament chapter 18 verses 9 through 12 it says when you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations there shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you in Leviticus 19 verse 31 do not turn to mediums or necromancer's do not seek them out so make yourself unclean by them I am the Lord your God have nothing to do with them have nothing to do with astrology have nothing to do with fortune-telling have nothing to do with them now I should hasten to add that demons cannot foretell the future because demons are not omniscient demons don't have all knowledge they only pretend you know God actually challenges false gods to predict the future in Isaiah 41 verses 23 and 24 tell us what the future holds so that we may know you are gods do something whether good or bad so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear but you are less than nothing your works are utterly worthless he who chooses you is detestable God actually challenges them tell tell me the future predict the future in isaiah 46:9 and 10 remember the former things those of long ago I am God there is no other I am God there's none like me I make known the end from the beginning from ancient times what is still to come I say my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please so God challenges these false gods these demons and he says predict the future you can't so this girl had what is called a spirit of divination she was a fortune-teller again divination going a little bit further to develop this having it's literally having the spirit this was interesting without going into a lot the Greek word having a spirit of Python the Greek word divination is actually where you get the word Python from so it is referred to as having a spirit of python or Apollo now Python was according to fable a huge serpent that had an Oracle at Mount Parnassus and was famous for predicting future events Apollo according to their mythology slewed this serpent and hence he was called T Thea's and became celebrated as the for teller of future events and all those who either could are pretended to predict future events were influenced by the spirit of Apollo Pythias oftentimes the priestesses of this God became greatly agitated and gave answers apparently from their bellies when their mouths remain closed ventriloquist's is what they were my belly speaks but not like that now I want you to notice in verse 16 again she brought her master's much gain by fortune-telling fortune-telling is also referred to as sooth saying I'm giving you some things for you sooth saying is the word that comes from the anglo-saxon truth saying they thought that soothsayer spoke by the inspiration of the God that means that whatever it is that they said had to be true and so all of this comes under one thing Satan conceals himself under the guise of truth that he may deceive people again this practice was forbidden to the Jews this is because the Lord their God was to direct them and not Satan and he Ferb add that well as this has taken place verse 17 this girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying these men are the servants of the Most High God who proclaimed to us the way of salvation and this she did for many days but Paul greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and he came out that very hour now let's look at this for a moment Satan sometimes speaks the truth but he always adds a twist he always does remember when Jesus was being tempted and he was up there in the mountain and and as he was going through or he's going to using the wilderness being tempted at all how how Satan took him to the pinnacle of the temple and he said it is written that the Lord will hold you up lest you should - your foot against the stone he said so just leap from the pinnacle here and wouldn't it be a wonderful thing was the picture of how you come hurtling down at the speed of gravity and this from this very high portion of the temple area and an angel's commendably up and everybody would recognize you as being Messiah and what happens there when you look at that it says that that that that he will lift you up live lest you dash your foot against the stone but the scripture makes it very clear that God's the fuller the more full scripture was to keep you in all his ways and and the point that was being made at that juncture in the temptation was that Jesus was not to tempt the Lord his God by doing something like that but Satan was Miss quoting scripture and so often Satan in the scriptures and I believe he still finds ways to do it today and we see it here in this example he can say something that is true but there's always a twist involved notice it says these men are servants these men are servants he's saying servants of God and so this is and then he went on to say who broke the demon went on to say who proclaimed to us the way of salvation someone wrote it is astonishing how such a testimony could be given in such a case every syllable is true but what was the result notice Paul was greatly annoyed somebody would ask why what was wrong with this after all her witness is true well somebody said this and I think he said it well so I I'm stealing his idea the demon knew that the Jewish law prohibited all magic and dealings with familiar spirits he therefore bears a true testimony to the Apostles that by it he may destroy their credibility and ruin their usefulness how did he do that how did he plan to do that well one the Jews would be led to believe that the apostles were in agreement with demons and this would harden their hearts against the preaching of the gospel secondly the Gentiles finding that their own demon bore testimony to the Apostles would think that there was one system which ultimately meant that they had nothing to learn and nothing to correct and thus the preaching of the Apostles would be useless to them so if they received the testimony from this demon then it undermine the credibility to Jew as well as to Gentile the Jews would think that they were they were breaking the law of God by allowing demons to be involved in their in their ministry and the Gentiles would say then what do we have to gain by following this god that you're speaking to us about and so that's what annoyed Paul you don't want the devil to be advertising the gospel so what did Paul do verse 18 he cast out the demon in the name and power of Jesus Christ and that revealed that it's Jesus who sets captives free and not man you see the demon was cast out in the name and the power of Jesus not in the name and power of the Apostle Paul now as this takes place and notice he came out that very hour when this takes place verse 19 when her masters saw that their hope a prophet was gone they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace into the marketplace to the authorities and they brought them to the magistrates of the judges and said these men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe then the multitude rose up together against them the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods and when they had laid many stripes on them they threw them into prison commanded the jailer to keep them securely having received such a charge you put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks and so that the result of all of this is they seized them notice in verse 20 how it says these men being Jews that there's a hint of anti anti-semitism there this accusation is that they're Jews they've come into our city and they've upset it it's interesting that they took Paul and Silas but they didn't touch Luke nor Timothy because Luke and Timothy are there with Paul and Silas it could be because Paul and Silas were obviously they were Jewish and Luke wasn't and Timothy was half Jewish and it may be be simply because of appearances for whatever reason they took just Paul and Silas now notice in verse 21 there's the charge disturbing the peace by bringing Super's Jewish superstition to the city now as this takes place verse 22 the multitude rose up together against them the magistrates tore off their clothes so what they did is they came to Paul and they came to Silas and they they pulled all the they stripped him naked it was part of the humiliation that they were going to go through sometimes when we're reading our Bibles we fail to realize that the kinds of things that were done to believers in the first century in the end the first portion of the history of the church they were humiliated in front of all of these people they tore their clothes right off of their bodies so there they were naked and they were beaten with these rods they were beaten mercilessly there was such an uproar that it seems that this is one of the ways they wanted to calm down this mob they were so upset so if we beat them and put him in prison it'll keep the whole city from going into a riot there was an official an attendant that would carry a bundle of rods and he would use those to punish transgressors 2nd Corinthians 11:25 Paul speaks about the fact that he had been beaten three times with rods and after beating them they put them in stocks in jail rods are like whips so like pieces of we'll say like I'm just using it's like it's like bamboo they're they're thick sticks and to be beaten will send your entire body into complete shock it is it is a very painful thing it this is still done in some countries if you do something wrong you violate one of the laws this rods are still used in some countries to beat those and punish them in and I have been I've read and heard that such a beating is is something that is beyond anything that we could understand in terms of the pain that they went through so you have to picture the humiliation and you have to picture the physical beating that they've gone through you have to picture your mind's eye to get an idea of what's taking place notice it says in verse 23 when they laid many stripes on them they threw them into prison commanding the jailer to keep them securely having received such a charge he put them in the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks so there's no movement at all they're in that position there their backs and their bodies are completely lacerated bleeding and the throb such a pain can you imagine what that would have been like so how do you deal with this because this is obviously unfair and this is obviously unjust but the fact that it's unfair and unjust doesn't mean the Christians don't experience that I think one of the things that and I won't go too long on this one but one of the things that we modern day believers actually believe is that we should never experience anything that's either unfair nor unjust and when we do experience those things sometimes it causes us such such anger and such disappointment in the Lord that we want to just walk away from him because we really believe that God owes us something I had the worst problem with that attitude I have to be honest with you when I first got saved I used to blame God for everything everything everything you know it's just like I say you're in control of everything you know and this hurts and how come I oh I did it a lot I argued well I just would say things that the Lord all the time I'll give you an example I can't remember the exact yeah I think anyway I went to get my hair cut and I had gotten out of the military and I had I had let my hair grow long for for a year and actually I actually probably a little bit longer than that because it was it was pretty long and you could actually in never mind anyway I'm starting to float down the road so I went to get my hair cut because I was going back to Biola and I had to get my hair cut and I went to this place that I had gotten my hair cut years before because I you know I was in the Army for two years then I went to school for a year and I he only had to get a couple two or three haircuts and then I let my hair grow free so I hadn't gotten my hair cut for a long time and it was now past my shoulders and and now I have to get a cut cuz Biola had regulations and you had to cut your hair a certain length it was almost like the army so I go to this guy to get my hair cut and I tell him it's got to be kind of short you know you've cut my hair before do you remember it been here so he goes oh yeah sure you do and so I said cool I said no I had a Harley at that time and and so I had driven the bike to to get my haircut in Whittier and so as I went in and got my haircut he's just visiting with me then he you know that moment when they turn you around to see yourself and then the mirror and you go oh no you know that moment you ever had that your air is not what you thought it was going to be and you know there's hardly anything that you hate more than a bad haircut it seems like it takes forever for your hair to grow out I'm looking at myself you know what he did he he gave me a pompadour and and I was a hippie and all of a sudden my hair is just out like that because the guy like I was a cholo at my barber so he made me one of them you know and I was mad I was livid I got on my motorcycle and I was driving and you could hear the winter well through my hair you know actually it sprayed it so hard I didn't need a helmet and as always though as I was driving home I was railing against the Lord railing at him I can't believe it once again just something as simple as a haircut I'm mad at God like he was the barber I went home I washed my hair now you got it my hair was shoulder past my shoulders and now it's shorter than when I was in the Army and I am angry over that because I I didn't want my hair that short and I got on my motorcycle still ranting at the Lord and I pull out I came to a corner and I put it in the first gear and just powered and came blowing across to go take a right turn I was still angry I hit a patch of oil and the rear tire spun out and the whole bike spun and and I fell and I laid on the ground and I picked up the bike and I dragged it off to the side and the Spirit of the Lord said you were saying you ever have that you ever have that you gonna yell at me are you wanting to yell at me anymore I don't tell I don't know I don't believe I'm superstitious but I do believe that the Lord has a way of getting my attention and sometimes you can you can actually believe that should have gone better for you should have gotten that job should have been able to get whatever it was that girl that guy whatever how come I didn't and you get angry at the Lord and we start saying one of the things that I I heard my kids my grandkids saying earlier than than even my kids it's unfair it's unfair what do you know about fairness you don't know anything about fairness I was with my brother my mom we didn't get ice cream you know how kids get people today you guys just normal there wasn't when I grew up it wasn't ice cream was a treat and my dad used to get Neapolitan I think was called it was like strawberry chocolate and vanilla anybody even remember that I don't even know if they make they I don't even know if they have that anymore do they have it anymore yet right aid yeah I think we got ours at thrifty or whatever but save on I don't remember what it was but it was cheap but we didn't get it and we didn't get real ice cream I didn't eat butter until I was in the army we margarine because that's what my dad could afford right so I didn't know what butter tasted like unless I went to somebody's house and I don't think I ever ate it telling when the arm but anyway we didn't eat ice cream we iced milk it was cheaper anybody know what ice milk is he ever heard of it now ancient history so why was I gonna tell you there was a point to this oh yeah just testing to see if we're listening so my mom puts ice cream on the plate before my brother and me and I look at his and I look at mine and I said that's not fair he got more than me you know what my mom did with the wisdom of Solomon she says oh did he get more than you yes okay she took both of the bowls and threw it in the the sink washed him out she said if you're gonna be doing that you don't get any of that so my mom taught me real early so that's why I took it out on God because he never took my ice cream away we get this attitude that it's unfair and I think that sometimes Christians can have that attitude but Lord I'm doing my best for you I'm sharing with you I mean we just cast a demon out who was who was confusing the people and this is what I get I get beaten so severely and then I'm placed in the stocks and I'm just laying here I met my back is throbbing the pain is intense I can't believe they humiliated us in front of all of these people stripped us naked beat us like this threw us in here and what did they do did they complain or they saying this is unfair verse 25 at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God that's what they were doing and the prisoners were listening to them and said the other prisoners heard not groans of pain but songs of love for God amazing these men were in pain they had reason to fear yet they are not worried and are even happy in their sufferings they were so fully satisfied that they were right and had done their duty that there was no room for regret our self-reproach we are suffering for Jesus sake and we can live with that so they prayed they prayed for grace for God to support them and secondly they sang they sang to the God who saved them and counted them worthy to suffer in Philippians 1:29 Paul writes this for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake it has been granted to you it's a gift from God to not only believe but also to go through and endure suffering they were in the inner prison but they sang so joyfully that the other prisoners heard it's like it says in Nehemiah 8 verse 10 the joy of the Lord is your strength and as they were singing the prisoners were listening and the other prisoners were witnesses to those joy filled believers Pollan and Silas knew that they were invulnerable as long as they were in the center of the will of God they were they were safe in him and as this is taking place and they're singing and the prisoners are listening and there's the joy that they have suffered in the name for the name of the Lord and as this has taken place notice verse 26 suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors are open and everyone's chains were loosed and so as this earthquake hits those people had they had chains that actually had been bolted in if you will to the walls and everything was shifted so much that everything came loose through this amazing earthquake that was from the Lord the God was bearing testimony of his power by the earthquake and loosen the bonds of the prisoners he was showing symbolically the nature of the faith that they were preaching because their faith that their preaching proclaims deliverance to captives opening a prison door so those who are bound and it sets that liberty those who are bruised and so that's what's taking place as a picture of what God does through Christ and as all of this is taking place and in verse 27 says 27 it says the keeper of the prison awakened from sleep seeing the prison doors open supposing the prisoners had fled drew his sword and was about to kill himself but Paul called with the loud boy saying do not do yourself no harm for we are all here then he called for a light ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas you see he could be put to death for losing the prisoners it was something that he knew remember earlier when the Apostle Peter had been loosed from prison in Jerusalem we saw it in Acts chapter 12 the angel had let him loose but Herod ordered the death of the guards in acts 12 nineteen when Herod had searched for him and not found him he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death so rather than to be put to death he said I'll take my own life and so what happens is they say don't don't do yourself any harm we're here nobody has escaped and as this has taken place he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas in verse 30 and he brought them out and said sirs what must I do to be saved so they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved you and your household then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house you know this is one of the first questions I ever had as a Khristian III read this passage in verse 31 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved you in your household and saw as I was reading the Bible I said does that mean that when one person is saved like me that automatically my whole household is saved because if I only had that scripture believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved you and your household I thought to myself does that mean automatic salvation to others I get saved therefore my dad my mom my sisters my brother they're all saved along with me because they're members of the household but I didn't notice the next verse they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house so I know it wasn't an automatic salvation what they did is they went in to proclaim the message to him as well as to his family but as we look at this he wasn't concerned with personal safety he already showed that he was willing to kill himself so when he asked the question what must I do to be saved it's a question that relates to salvation now he knew that they had been preaching what was called the doctrine of salvation and he also knew that for expelling a demon they had been delivered into his custody so what happens is the Holy Spirit is convinced his heart that he's lost and he needs salvation and so the question is how can he obtain it and they give the answer notice believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and I want you to notice it with me he did not say be saved and you'll believe he said believe and you will be saved in John 3:36 it says he who believes in the son has everlasting life he who does not believe the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him John 6:40 this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life I will raise them up the last day John 6:47 most assuredly I say to you he who believes in Me has everlasting life so you believe and you're saved he says how what must I do to be saved and he does say you do a work he doesn't say you've got to go out and do something very spectacular or heroic he says you need to believe you need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ the one who is our Savior and if you do believe he'd be trust him if you embrace him in faith and rest your entire life upon him you'll be saved and so that's how you're saved it's not by works of righteousness which we've done but the interesting things thing is is after you're saved you do perform works of righteousness see there are some who think that if they work hard they can be saved there are others who work hard because they're saved and there's a difference it's a huge difference you serve the Lord not so that he will give you favor you served the Lord because he has shown you favor you serve him because he has loved you you don't serve him to try and make him love you you serve him out of gratitude notice verse 33 he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and immediately he and his family were baptized now when he had brought them into his house he said food before them he rejoiced having believed in God with all his household and so immediately he's doing things he's feeding them he's washing them which is interesting because he takes them and washes them because they're bloody because their bodies are filled with that that blood that is now just taking on them and with a merciful and compassionate he would thankful heart he takes obviously a basin of some sort and he brings a cloth and he begins to gently wash their back he takes the water and he washes all of the blood off of them and once they're washed they take him and he gets washed and they'd interesting you see that he washed them but then they washed him with the water of baptism as he was openly identifying himself as a follower now of Jesus Christ and so as this is taking place it's a demonstration that the wounds in his soul were deeper than the wounds in their skin he needed a washing not of water he needed a washing of the word and he needed a washing of regeneration it isn't the water that saved him it's the blood of Christ as he was washing the blood off of their back the blood of Christ was flowing upon him what beautiful picture of salvation they took place here with this man what must I do to be saved believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and yours you shall be saved and your household trust him love him and then he said I will they come and share with this family the family receives he ministers to them because again when you're saved you serve he ministers to them and that they in turn ministered to him in verse 35 when it was day the magistrates sent the officer saying let those men go so the keeper of the prison reported these words of Paul saying the magistrates have sent to let you go now therefore depart go in peace and Paul said to them they've beaten us openly uncontrol men's and have thrown us into prison and now do they put us out secretly no indeed let them come themselves and get us out I like Paul I do I really do I like him the judges had thought a night in jail and a beating was sufficient for them but Paul refused to go because an injustice had been done and it shouldn't be covered up and that's why he said listen we are Romans and unconditional aw you don't have the right to do that as a matter of fact for doing so you can get in some tremendous tremendous problems over doing that and so what happens is he exercises his right as a Roman citizen there are times when we the church I think are obligated to make our voices heard I do not believe and I'm gonna say this quickly but I do not believe that we the church is intended by God to be pugnacious to go out and pick fights all the time with with government officials these are government officials we're dealing with here but there are times when we need to make our voices heard they need to know what the church stands for as well as the fact that we are not second-class citizens here in the nation that we that we live in we have we have rights to like everybody else years ago years ago now I got a phone call and a member of our church told me that the city of Ontario was going to use a wizard as the the city image if you will and they were really pushing this program to have a wizard and so a member of my church calls the church and says pastor I just bill this is not right I don't think that the city ought to be identified with with sorcery and magic do you and I said I think there are better images and I don't know that that a good one she said would you give a call and do something about this I said let me look into the crystal ball no I said yeah I said I'll do something I wrote a letter to the editor and I I wrote as a pastor and I said you know I'm concerned that we're choosing to use a an occult symbol to typify a city like Ontario and I just wrote and it started a hornet's nest yeah I was I was real surprised at the anger that came out and I got a call from some secular radio station and they wanted to ask me questions concerning this and it actually got kind of big in our area and and there were a lot of angry people over this and so they got 12 pastors from the city of Ontario together this when we were in Ontario and I was I was asked invited to be part of this group and to debate and discuss whether or not as a religious people whether or not it was wrong or right to have a symbol like a wizard and it's amazing how it kind of blew up like that and there were things that were written to the newspaper and and I was called names on radio for two days because what an idiot would an ignorant person and it was just really an interesting thing and the one calling was Maria said honey you shouldn't you're making me look bad so I met with these pastors and one of them sitting across from me said to me I don't see anything wrong with this I don't think there's a problem with this what's the problem you know it's like playing cards you know because they were talking about other things related to Ouija boards and stuff and I said I can't believe that you're telling me that the occult reading cards and all this equivalent to playing poker are you are you kidding me we had a large it and and eventually what happened obviously as the symbol was not accepted in Ontario and and and is because the Lord used several pastors including myself to say look at there's got to be a better symbol you know one time a while back now there was an ordinance passed here in the city of Chino against handing out tracts did you know that there was an ordinance that was passed to forbidding you to hand out religious tracts when the Christmas lights in Chino had become a real big thing members of our church would go there and would walk through in Street witness and it got people upset in the neighborhood we weren't there to disrupt we weren't there to cause problems but they were upset about that and so we challenged them on that too and we said you don't have the right to pass ordinances against the church we have the freedom of expression of religious belief the way anybody else does and you cannot stop us from doing that and we challenge them and they back down there are times when you stand up and you say no this isn't right this is what we're going to do we need to do the right thing and in the case of Hall they're trying to kind of put them out the back door all right and Paul say no I'm not going for that you have beaten us as Romans we are uncondensed word got back to Rome what had happened these people would be in serious trouble you see the punishment appointed for those who transgress the law was death as well as confiscation of his property these people were very afraid of what could t could take place and so what did they do well it says in verse 38 the officers told these words to the magistrates and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans then they came and pleaded with him and brought them out and asked them to depart from the city so they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia and when they had seen the Brethren they encouraged them and departed so they left being cleared as innocent men and what do they do we will close with this they saw the Brethren and they encouraged them in other words they strengthened them they comforted them by telling them what God had done the church had been concerned but God had a plan to reach a jailer and his family and though it initially looked real bad God turned the evil around for good and when he did is he comforted them the comfort he received from God was used to encourage these people because they too should be bold in their faith for God is also their help as well as their comfort one of the things let me close with this one of the things I want to encourage you all to is to always remember this you don't you don't need some spiritual hero to go out and do exploits that you can be proud of some people think that way they think that the pastor is supposed to be some real important person and they simply support them with prayers and this and that listen there are things God wants you to do keep that in mind there are things that you can do that he's intending for you to do not somebody else it's not that he can't use somebody else because he will use somebody else but why not be the one he can use I was I've said this before around closing with this story I was a young Christian I went with a friend of mine to get some pizza my friend who never drank and I was an alcoholic before I got saved my friend never drank said you know nothing tastes better with pizza than a good cold beer I said oh he says I'm gonna order a pitcher and he did he orders a pitcher and puts it in front of us they put it in front of us and I poured a glass I thought well I can drink a beer I'm over 21 and I'm not gonna get drunk and I'm rationalizing but in the back of my mind I'm saying I'm not supposed to be drinking this isn't something for me to do I got away from this why I'm arguing with myself maybe some of you have done that I was arguing with myself oh you know it's a big deal you know I'm and I'm and I have the the beer in front of me and I took a bite of my pizza I took a drink of the beer no I didn't get drunk no I didn't jump on the table and start dancing no I just tasted the beer and when I did that this old man who had walked in was sitting and when I say old he was in his 70s and I was in my early 20s and so he sat right across from me I mean there's I'm at this table and he's in the next table so he's just a few feet away and he's looking right at me when I picked up the beer and I drank it and put it down he's looking right at me and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart and said go tell him I love him go tell him and I said I can't you can believe or not this is a real conversation I said I can't and a question came why I said because he saw me drink this beer and if I walk over there and tell him Jesus loves him I have to smell a beer on my mouth and he's gonna look at me like some hypocrite I can't as God is my witness believe this or not as God is my witness I said I can't two young men came out off the street I still remember them off to my right walking in the door one sat on his left the other set on his right and I'm right there I'm closer than the front row here and I see one pull a Bible out and he opened it and he started reading the scriptures to this guy I saw this and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart and said if I can't use you I will find somebody else to use I say god I'm so sorry I don't want to go into the position where I can't be used see I restrict the freedoms I possess I restrict them for the love of people for the freedom to be able to speak to somebody a word of comfort in their time of need and there are so many believers arguing oh I have freedom to drink beer you're stronger sometimes in your belief in your freedoms than you are in preaching a gospel to set them free and we need to understand that it's not my freedoms it's theirs I should be concerned with it's not what I'm able to do it's what God can do in them and and you know I don't think there's gonna be beer in heaven so I got used to it here on earth I don't drink it I don't do it I why because I want to be able to walk up at any given time and speak to somebody about Jesus Christ without them smelling that beer on my breath or that wine or what I don't want that to be a stumbling block now some don't care I do the time is short the gospel needs to go out we preach a trance swarming message and a great evidence that it transforms others is when it's transforming us and that's what God wants to do in us listen we need revival the church needs to wake up we really need revival a president the president isn't going to lead us to righteousness Jesus does and we need to understand that and the church has to come back to that place of being comforted in the Word of God and giving that word of comfort to others that's a bottom [Applause]

Channel: Calvary Chapel Chino Valley

Views: 1,347

Rating: 4.7777777 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Pastor David Rosales, cccv, Church, Teaching, Worship, God, Christians, Bible Study, Jesus, A Jesus People Community, Calvary Chapel Chino Valley, David Rosales, Pastor, Calvary Chapel, Holy Spirit, Gods Word, Chuck Smith, Teacher, Pastor David, End Times, Rapture, Trinity, Antichrist, A Sure Foundation, Prayer, Pray

Id: U5F7C8czvls

Length: 53min 5sec (3185 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 24 2018