Venture Up - Breaking Chains

What do you do when following God leads to challenges?

In this message we explore how the early church responded when opposition and hardship came their way. Instead of giving up, they discovered that God had already given them the strength and spiritual tools they needed to stand firm.

Through prayer, praise, faith and the power of God’s word, believers are reminded that the battles they face are not fought alone. Even in difficult moments, God is at work and His power is greater than any obstacle.

Transcript

We're carrying on with our series of Venture. If there's a subtitle to it, it's Venture Breaking Chains. But I want to give you just a context first. If you can throw the map up on the screen, please. I was hoping my glasses would be free because it got stuck on a little cord here, really.

And I couldn't get the glasses out. I thought, what's going to happen when I can't read anything? I'll have to memorize it all. Anyway, who likes maps?

Good. Who has satnav?

Who still carries a map even though you've got sat nav? Me too. Yes. You just never know where it's going to lead you. Up some garden path somewhere.

And it's a road that doesn't exist anymore or has been blocked off. So maps are good. Gives you a context. I say to my wife sometimes, let me show you where it is on the map. I'm not bothered.

She says, it doesn't interest me. I don't want to see a map. But I like maps. And this gives you a context. There's Philippi, which is Acts chapter 16.

Kwame eloquently introduced us to this subject last week. When you remember, they were in Troas. Incidentally, Troas is about 12 kilometres from where ancient Troy was. You've all seen the film Troy with what's his name, Brad Pitt? Is it as.

Who was he acting as? You've not seen it? Achilles. Anyway, so it's near the ancient city of Troy. So Troas.

And they were thinking of going up to Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit said, don't go there. Don't go there. That's another part of Asia Minor, Turkey, as it now is. I want you to go somewhere else. And he had the vision at night of a Macedonian.

Remember, the women were praying. They didn't know what they were praying for, but they wanted help and revelation. And so the vision came to Paul that night. Come to Macedonia. And so Philippi was the first European city to receive the gospel.

No wonder there was opposition. No wonder there was a spiritual warfare in the heavenly realms. Because the gospel was about to break the boundary from Asia into Europe. And of course, it came right across the European continent. And Philippi sits on a major Roman road.

How many people know the nearest Roman road to here?

The A5 or Watling Street. That's correct. And Watling street goes right from Dover right up to Chester. Somebody shouted out in the first meeting. Another one called Portland Street.

It's not Portland street number. What's that? 86, 88, 87, whatever it is. Portland goes from Dorchester up to London Foss Way. There's another one, but this one.

And there's 10 points in this for anybody who can guess what the Roman road is called that runs from Istanbul, used to be called Byzantium, and after that, Constantinople. Over there, near where it says Prontopus somewhere around there, not on the map. And it goes all the way across Europe to the Adriatic coast in a port called Dures in Albania. Anybody been there?

No. I have. On the one trip I did to Albania. Who can tell me what that street's called? Ten Points in it.

Okay, £20, then.

It's called the Via Egnatia, named after a Roman official called Ignatius. And it was a Roman road. And Philippi sat bang in the middle of it. It was a strategic location. And Philippi was renamed by Philip II of Macedon.

His son was Alexander the Great, by the way, and he renamed it Philippi. And it became a massive Roman colony which prided their citizenship, which is why Paul later on really appeals to that. He's a citizen of Rome, so he's very valued in that area. So, anyway, that's where it all happens. Let's just run through the story.

That's the context. The story is that Paul's arrived there miraculously because of the vision. And he begins to go down to the river to pray. And on his way, the second day, the first day, he's met Lydia and she becomes a Christian. And the second day, he's followed by a slave girl.

And she's got a spirit of divination. She tells fortunes, and instead of opposing, she actually seems as if she's supporting because she follows them every day. And she says, these are men of God. They're telling you the way of salvation. And you think, well, that's good news.

I mean, you know, somebody's endorsing us. But not everybody who endorses us is good news. Did you know that? And not every battle that happens is worth fighting. Did you know that?

Sometimes things crop up all the time and you're ready for a fight not always worth fighting for. And Paul didn't do anything for several days, but eventually, it says he got annoyed and thought, I'm going to deal with this because it's not helping, and she's not from God and it's not helping our cause. So he spoke to her in the name of Jesus, to the demon spirit come out of her, and she lost the ability to tell fortunes. And what happened? Her slave Owners thought all the money that we were making from her fortune telling is lost.

So they were angry. They reported Paul and Silas to the magistrates and they were then stripped, beaten, imprisoned, and found themselves in chains in the dungeons. And at midnight, what did they do? At midnight? It says they prayed.

And as I was sitting in the meeting, I wrote this note down. I thought, write this down, this is going to be true for somebody. You've all got a different midnight, lots of midnights here today. Your midnight, your dark moment, your deepest moment, your feeling of being in chains, confused, wondering why you're here. There's an answer.

And the chains can be broken. You've got to lift your voice, you got to lift your eyes. You got to lift your eyes to him. He's the one who will set you free. Amen.

Whatever your midnight is today, there is liberty and freedom and change and joy and peace and salvation. Amen. So anyway, that was the story of. Of course, the jailer leapt up about to kill himself because he thought, oh, you know, the prisoners have escaped. And Paul shouted out, no, don't kill yourself.

We're all here because all the gates were open, the doors were open, the chains had gone, and it was dark. And that's the other thing. You're in a midnight, but it's also dark. You can't see. And we know it was dark because the jailer said, bring a light so we can see what's happened if these prisoners are actually still here.

So they're midnight and dark.

And of course, they were still there. And he then believed, he became a Christian. He took it to his family, his family became Christians, and they were baptized the same night. He healed their wounds and bathed their sores and reclothed them. And that's the end of the story.

Except that we've got to just understand what was happening now, what is the fight we're in? And I want you to remember this. If I forget to say it later, our focus should be on the Lord, not on the battle we're in. I'll say that again. Our focus should be on the Lord, on him, and not on the battle we're in.

And having said that, let me read this verse for you. In Ephesians 6:12, we wrestle not against what flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world that's in a spiritual realm. We don't have to focus on that, but we have to realize it is a reality. So, for instance, what's happening in Iran, it's on the News all the time, isn't it? You know, every channel you turn where they've been bombed next or who survived or who hasn't survived.

And it made me think of Daniel, chapter 9 and verse 10. Daniel had been reading the scriptures. He was a captive. He lived in the Babylonian and now the Persian or Iranian empire, because after Babylon, after had captured Jerusalem in 586 BC and took all the people up to Babylon, eventually Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar and the others were overcome and the Medo Persians took over and kings like Darius and Cyrus came into power. And this had all been forecast by Jeremiah in his prophetic writings years before.

And Jeremiah had said, you're going to go into captivity because of your sin and waywardness and idolatry, but you're only going to stay there for how, how many years? 70 years. And Daniel had been reading the Scriptures, and he read the Scriptures and he said to the Lord in his prayers, lord, you said 70 years. And he looked at his calendar, if he had one, or his watch. Well, he didn't have one.

His sundial, I don't know. Anyway, he clocked it all up and thought, we've been here 70 years or thereabouts. It's about time God did something. So what did he do? Did he start spiritual warfare?

Rebuking the enemy? Rebuking the Prince of Persia, the spiritual? No, he didn't know anything about that. He just turned to the Lord and said, lord, this is what you promised. This is your word.

And that's our chief weapon, what the Bible says, is that right? What did Jesus say when he was tempted of the devil? Did he say, get away from me? No. He said, the Lord says, the Word says, you shan't live by bread alone.

Cast yourself on this. No. The Word says, don't tempt the Lord your God. Bow down to me and I'll give you all the kingdoms. No.

He said, the Word says. The Word says, you shall have no other gods before me. That's our weapon. That's our resistance. And so he prayed and he read and, and he invoked the Word that he knew was true and said, lord, now this is your promise.

Make it come true. And he prayed and he fasted. And three weeks later, this is what happened. Then he continued, do not be afraid. This is what the angel said.

Daniel, since your first day, since the first day you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before God. Your words were heard and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian Kingdom resisted me, 21 days. And then Michael the Archangel, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia. So what was happening?

Angelic warfare was happening in the background. Did Daniel know about it? No, he was just focusing on God and the Word. That's where our focus should be. Yeah.

So that's what was happening at Philippi. There was a spiritual warfare going on.

And these are the power. This is the power of. These are the weapons at our disposal. 2 Chronicles 20:15 first of all, the power of praise. After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat, who was the king of Judah, the southern two tribes of Judah appointed men.

What did he do to fight now? To sing. He appointed men to sing to the Lord to praise him for his splendor, the splendor of his holiness. As they went out at the head of the army saying, give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever, he appointed them to sing and to praise. And as they did sing, the Lord said, ambushments against them.

Amen. So we're in a house of praise today. It's great to have such good, talented musicians here and hopefully anointed musicians, because it's anointing that makes the difference. And it's great to have some children here over the other way and some younger ones here. I've just met a little boy called Isaiah in the back there who's one year old, and he's in the atmosphere of praise.

Isn't that great? Fantastic. The atmosphere of praise that changes and breaks fetters. So this is what it did. They praised.

And then we have the garments of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. Yeah. Isaiah 61:3. And then this David, the harpist, remember the young boy, David, out with the sheep. Samuel comes looking for the appointed king.

Can't find it among the other sons of Jesse. And finally call for David. Young boy, still ruddy of complexion, hadn't started shaving yet.

Okay, I need a shave. I know that he brought him out. And Jesse said, do you mean him? He's just a boy.

And God said to Samuel, that's him. That's him. Anoint him. So he pulled horn of oil and poured it on David's head. And it says not just that he was drenched in oil, but.

But that the Holy Spirit came on him from that day forwards. That makes a difference, doesn't it? That changes our life, that changes our perspectives, that changes everything we do. So when he picked his harp up now, it wasn't just skilled music. It was anointed music.

So that when he played that oppressive spirit that had come upon Saul, his predecessor, it lifted from it. Because the power of music, anointed music, makes a difference. And it's good to be in the house of praise. The power of praise. Second, the power of the shout.

The power of the shout is important. Jericho, Joshua walking around in silence for seven days. And finally he said, when I tell you, you're going to shout, you're going to blow the trumpets and the wall's going to come down. Is that right? There's a time to shout and there's a time not to shout.

There's a time for every purpose under heaven. Gideon was the same story when he was in Book of Judges, chapter seven. He was a young again insignificant person who God had picked up out of his family to be an anointed leader of Israel. And he was faced with a vast army of Midianites who wanted to oppress the land. And so he gathered an army and God said, there's too many people.

Tell everybody who doesn't really feel like being here to go home.

How would you like that load of 30, 20, 2000 went home and was left with 10. He said, that's still too many. You know, take them down to the river and get them lapping water and I'll make a distinction between them. And he ended up with how many? How many?

300 people. So Gideon set them on the hilltops round the valley, looking down at the camp of Midian, who it says were like swarms all over the place. He gave them a torch, he gave them a cover. And he said, when I tell you, smash that cover, reveal your light and shout the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And it put the enemy in complete panic and they started killing each other and running off into the distance.

There's a power in the shout, but there's also a time when the shout doesn't mean a thing at all. And I remember the story of again, the Philistines, who were incidentally lived in the Gaza Strip. They were from captor, they were marine people, and they were always oppressing Israel and they attacked them in the days of Eli the priest, when the Ark of the Covenant was in Shiloh, just north of Jerusalem, and the army was being defeated. And so they said, let's go and get the ark that will save us. So they went to the Ark, they said, eli, can we have the Ark?

Yes, you can have it. So they carried it into battle. And as the Ark came into the camp of the Israelis, there was a Great shout went up. Woo. Oh, we can't lose now.

Oh, God's ark is here. Guess what happened? They lost because the Philistines said, what's that great noise? They brought the Ark, the God of Israel, with them. And they said, well, so what?

We'll fight anyway. So they did. They captured the ark. Not only did they defeat the army, they captured the ark and took it to the Gaza Strip and shared it amongst the five cities of the Philistines, Gath and the others whose names evade me at the moment. So not all shouts work.

And then there's lifting hands. I'm rushing to an end. What time have we got? Okay, we're all right.

Lifting hands. Moses lifted his hands, Remember? Again, it was all an arrow. Another enemy attacking. It was the Amalekites on their way into the promised land.

And the Amalekites stood up against them. And God said, moses, take the rod of God that's in your hand and go and stand on the top of the mountain. And I want you to hold it high. And when it's high up there, you will be winning. And when your hands droop down, they will be winning.

And it's an important thing. It's called rod ministry. You might think, why didn't Moses give his rod to somebody else to hold for a bit, say, hey, Aaron, I'm a bit tired, have a go. But he didn't do that because the anointing was on Moses at this moment. Rod ministry, leadership ministry is an anointed gift.

And when that rod was up and he got tired, what did he do? He got other people to help him. So Aaron on one side, hur on the other, to hold his hands up. And listen, every one of us need our hands holding up sometimes, don't we? We need people around, whether it's family or friends or maybe sometimes an unrelated person to come across our path and lift our hands up.

But whatever. Lifting hands is a holy thing because it says in the book of Hebrews, lift up your hands and strengthen the feeble knees. That's right. Ever feel feeble? I do.

Ever not feel like raising your hands? Yeah, I do. What does it feel like if somebody at the front here says, come on, let's raise our hands? People like me say, not me. I'm not doing.

I'm not doing what somebody tells me to do.

But the Lord says it, lift up holy hands. Book of Timothy. Lift up holy hands. Power of lifting hands is very, very important. Psalm 134, verse 1 and 2 as well.

OK. The armor of God. We haven't got time to go into all this except to say in Ephesians 6 it says this. We have got. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

They're mighty through God. And they consist of a helmet which protects our mind and our thoughts, and a breastplate of righteousness imputed by the resurrected Christ, who's given his righteousness to us. And it protects our heart and our emotions and our feelings, and our shield of faith, which quenches, it says, all the fiery darts of the wicked. And it was an image of a Roman soldier, not with a little shield, but a full body shield that protects us from all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And feet shod, it says, like a Roman soldier, with sandals that had studs on the bottom that would endure and would give them firm grip whatever terrain they were on.

And that gives you the preparedness to preach the gospel. And the one weapon he gives us is the sword of the Word, which says, divides between soul and spirit. The full armour. Let's wear it all. And just as we come to the end, because time is rushing on, we can use as a massive weapon the name of Jesus.

Amen. I asked AI, as you do, about using the name of Jesus. Is this what AI said to me? Using the name of Jesus as a spiritual tool for overcoming sickness, fear and obstacles. By exercising the authority delegated to believers, it acts as a weapon to demand the removal of demonic influence, commanding, healing, claiming victory over circumstances.

This authority works through faith, not as a charm, but by invoking Jesus presence. I thought, first of all, I thought, that's great. I mean, that's true. That's AI, you know, that's what AI says. But then I thought, actually, it feels a bit empty.

It feels a bit heartless. It feels a bit clinical. It's all true. But to use the name of Jesus, we have to own. Own him.

Yeah. And he has to own us so that we can use in delegated authority the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. In the name of Jesus. That's what Paul said to the slave girl.

In the name of Jesus. That's what Peter and John said to the cripple at the temple gate when he walked past. Silver and gold have I not got but what I have got, I give you. In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. Whoa.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. That's the power that he gives us. And here are the takeaways for you. Before I read them, just one thing I want to say. Job had lived.

You've all been reading job. If you're working through that one year Bible, it was hard going, wasn't it? All the depressing stuff he went through. He was a righteous man. He did all the right things.

He was a great guy. When he came right to the end in the last chapter, I think it was he said before my ears had heard but now my eyes have seen. That's experiential. So you know. But we've got to know what it is.

And Here are the takeaways. 1. There'll always be resistance when we move forwards in God's purpose. But don't feel you have to fight every battle. Don't fight every battle.

You're wasting your energy. The enemy is never flesh and blood.

We have full protection available and the weapons we have spiritual and they are at our disposal. Let's just pray. Lord, thank you for some in a midnight hour. Right now it's dark, we don't know what to do. But thank you that your light is shining in right now and you're bringing revelation.

Lord, we pray that you'll help us to praise when we don't feel like it, lift our hands when they're hanging down, strengthen us and bring salvation and healing and blessing to every single person in this congregation. I ask it now in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you, God bless. Have a great day.

Go in strength.