Open Doors and the Lord's Timing

The Philippian Jailer Converted Acts 16:25-40| Alex Sands

Our Mission
“We exist to glorify God by making disciples that CONNECT passionately with God and His family, GROW progressively to spiritual maturity, SERVEselflessly with their gifts and talents, and GOrelentlessly into the world with the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Kingdom Life Podcast. Have you ever prayed for God to move in a situation? Only to wonder if the opportunity in front of you is truly his will. Just because a door opens does not always mean it is time to walk through it. Sometimes God calls us to pause, pray, and seek his direction first. In today's message, Pastor Alex says, take us through Acts 16, 25 through 40, where we will see how God powerfully used Paul and Silas to bring hope and salvation to the Philippians.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Amen, sir. Amen. How many of you can say that you sought the Lord and He heard you and He answered you? And that has become a reason, a testimony for your faith today because you know what He has done in the past, and what He has done in the past, you can have confidence He'll do it again. He is there every time that we call. I love that song. I love that song. I think it's gonna be any everybody's testimony of God hearing when we call out to Him. He is just uh He's so faithful to us. So faithful to us, Jesus went all the way to the cross. Faithful to obey the will of the Father and the plan of salvation before the foundation of the world. Jesus went through it even though he didn't have to. He chose to. He left heaven, became a man, dwelt among us, and suffered on the cross, bearing our sins. He who knew no sin became sin for us. Amen. You know what today is on the Christian calendar? What's today? Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday. It's where we remember as Christians, Jesus entering triumphantly into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. In fulfillment of a prophecy in Zechariah chapter 9, that Israel's king would come humble on a donkey, and there he came in. And the people cried out, what? Hosanna! Hosanna, save now! Hosanna! And they laid down palm branches. Palm branches were a sign of victory. During the Maccabean Revolt, some hundred and fifty so years earlier, they that became their symbol for victory, and they revolted. The palm branches. So it it became this symbol of triumph. And then people they started laying down their clothes before him. They are acknowledging Jesus as the king. That's exactly who he was, that's exactly who he is. They gave him the worship he deserved. His people identified him as the Messiah, Son of God. You know, if you were to look at it from the natural, this was Jesus' perfect moment to seize, you know, his destiny and become king of Israel. This was the open door, if you want to look at it again from the natural perspective. All the love of the people and everything else. Hey, this was the moment, and you know, Satan would have loved for Jesus to do that. He had tempted him with it about three years earlier. I'll give it all to you. And here are all the people saying, Hosanna, Hosanna, if if this was the opportunity was there. But see, Jesus was too obedient to the will of the Father to do that and loved us too much to do that. And so instead of taking a crown, he took a cross. Instead of immediately delivering Israel from Roman oppression, he delivered man from sin. Instead of providing instantaneous delivery, he took the excruciating pain on the cross and the separation from the Father. He chose that path and did that for us. Again, the opportunity, the door was open. Something Satan had put out there, but Jesus didn't take it. You know, there are times where God can open a door. And it's not meant for you to go through it. Sometimes we think that whenever a door is open, we can assume that we have to go through it as fast as possible. A door opens. Go right through it and just assume God meant for us to go through that door. Times that we can assume that if an open door is going to provide relief, that must be God's direction. That if an open door provides access to you, the opportunity of your dreams, that must be God giving you instructions. Go right through. But Saints, just because God opens a door doesn't mean that we are the ones to go through it. It's a lesson we learn in the text that we're gonna study today in Acts chapter 16. We're gonna see more than once God opens doors. But it wasn't for Paul and Silas to go through. And the thing about this, hey, if you ever uh you know a song, you thought you knew the lyrics to a song and you sang it wrong. I mean, you thought you knew what the song said, and you sang it, you've been singing wrong your whole life, and then you got on Spotify or something, you pulled up the lyrics, you're like, oh my Lord, that was I was wrong. I've been saying this, this, why come anybody didn't tell me? I feel like when I read this story, when people told me about this story, I feel like they told me the lyrics. But they're the what they told me and what I assumed was wrong. Have you ever heard of the phrase late in the midnight hour? God's gonna turn it around, turn it around. I thought that meant that that meant the all of uh that Paul and Silas and and God turned it around and they're free. We're gonna find out that's not the case. Because every door God opens doesn't mean it's for you. Mm-hmm. I promise you we're gonna die. See, some of y'all are like, what wait a minute, Pastor. That was my song. Yeah, I love the song, but you know, sometimes we make assumptions that aren't there. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let us take a look here real quick and understand this is the truth that I brought out. Just because God opens the door, that doesn't mean you should walk through it. And today we're in Acts chapter 16. We're continuing in verses 25 through 40. That's gonna be our text today. That is incorrect on the screen. That was last week's text, 11 through 24. Today is 25 through 40. 25 through 40. And so we're gonna continue in our study of Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke, and uh their ministry in Philippi. If you remember a couple weeks ago, we we talked about how Paul and Silas, how they they they went with Timothy to revisit the churches that had been established when Paul and Barnabas, you know, established church on the first missionary journey a few years earlier. Well, they had done all of that, and then well, Paul and the team assumed that they, you know, we're gonna go into Asia. That was the most logical route to go, and you know, the whole spirit blocked it, and well, we'll go up to Bhythmia. Spirit of Jesus said no. They end up in Troaz. Every God closed doors. A door can just say, do not enter, and then times you try to unlock the, open the door, and the door won't open. That's all happened, so they end up at Troaz, exactly where God wanted them to be. It was right there at that point. God gave Paul a vision of a Macedonian man saying, Come over and help us. Wasn't looking for military assistance, they needed the gospel. And so this wasn't on Paul's radar to go over into Europe, but it was on God's radar. And they and Troaz was a port city. They went right across the sea, and they go over into Macedonia, and the first place they stop and do ministry is Philippi. And if you remember from last time, they they they spent several days in Philippi, and then they go to a place where they presumed there would be a place of prayer. You see, there weren't enough Jewish men to constitute a synagogue. You needed at least ten Jewish men to create a synagogue, and there were either not enough or not enough cared. So when you didn't have ten, one of the common things to do is go by the riverside and pray. And they go out to the riverside, and there are uh there's a group of women there who are praying, and they don't hold back, they start teaching the word. At this time, Dr. Luke is with them. They they caught up with Luke in Troas. There's another reason why they need to go to Troaz to pick up Luke. They start sharing the good news. And the scripture says that God opened the heart of a woman named Lydia. Lydia opened her heart to pay attention to what was said. Saints, do you know you don't even have the capacity to pay attention to the gospel without the Holy Spirit? You have to have God opening up your heart from the jump to even get started to pay attention. God opened her heart to pay attention, and she believed in Jesus. She is uh connecting, she is part of the people of God. That's what she's she's a follower of Jesus now. She was a wealthy woman. She was a seller of dyed uh purple uh uh uh cloth. So she told the four, the team, come and stay at my house. Well you sure about that, Lydia? Are you sure? Do you think I'm a believer? She put it like that. Do you trust that that what I have been authentic? And and if I am a believer, if you judge me faithful, stay at my house. There's plenty of room. So they went. Look at God tearing down walls. Would never have done that before. Jesus, Jews? With a Gentile woman? Oh. Staying at her house? No. Oh, but Jesus changes everything. So they start doing ministry in Philippi. And one day, Paul and Silas, they're out going around, and there's a girl with a spirit of divination, it says. She's got a demonic spirit. Demonic spirit that's prompting her to make these declarations of what is about to come or what's being discussed behind closed doors. This is inspired by a demonic spirit. You know there are principalities and powers, don't you know that there's a spiritual realm that we can't see? And there's a network, there's authority, and all that. You can just see, imagine the demons communicating with each other, and they've possessed this girl. And when they would give their predictions, their divination, they would go through all kinds of you know gyrations and and and foaming at the mouth, all that. But we've seen that happen in the gospels when a spirit would take over somebody. She's oppressed and trafficked by her owners. She starts to say, these men are servants of the mighty most high God. True. And she keeps on saying it. She ends up getting the head of the team, Paul and Silas. Paul gets annoyed. And he turns to the spirit, not the girl. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and power. He turned to the spirit and said, In the name of Jesus, come out of her. And at that hour, the spirit left. Just like how Jesus did it. Jesus has all power, power over all principalities. He is the one who is sovereign over the spiritual realm. The demons had to flee. And the girl is liberated from her spiritual oppression. Now, why would he do that? I mean, why would Paul have been annoyed? The reason why Paul was annoyed is number one, the fact that she's using vague terms that meant different things to that culture. Most high, well, Jews would have said most high God, that's Yahweh. But most high was a title for Zeus. That's how the people would have understood it. Because that's the vernacular they use. They show you the way of salvation. That's very vague, too. What salvation from what? They wouldn't have thought of salvation from sins. There's no specificity to it. That's one of the enemy's plots, his tricks, is to try to hijack the message to make it appear to be nothing new and just like everything else. Ever hear about somebody saying, well, all religions are just like people pushing, touching different parts of the same elephant? No, they're not. Part of the enemy's objective is to taint the message. Because then you add the fact the messenger, she at that point, she had been possessed by demons, and people thought she had a connection with uh with the Greek gods. They would have just assumed this was a message, you know, from Apollos or whatever. Paul says, You got to go. In the name of Jesus. She had been doing it for days. People heard Paul say, in the name of Jesus, and the demon had to flee because there's power in the name of Jesus. God making a declaration. He is sovereign over all the Greek gods and deities. In Philippi, they worshiped all kinds of gods. And it was a Roman colony, so it was patterned after Rome. They spoke Latin and they dressed like Romans, and they they the imperial cult, it was rampant in Philippi. Rome was like God for the people. Even though only about a quarter of the people were Roman citizens, they had all the influence and power, and they drove it, dictated it to everybody. God's making a declaration. Jesus is king. Caesar's not king. Jesus is king. Well, the owners were mad because their golden goose is gone. They have no more opportunity to make profit because she doesn't have the power anymore. And so they brought Paul and Silas to the magistrates. Two men who were responsible for administration in the city. Because it was a colony, the uh Philippi, the Philippians, those who were responsible, they could render verdicts and didn't have to answer to Rome. They could render capital punishment, not have to give an answer to it. Two men. The slave owners brought Paul and Silas and lied. These men, these Jews had to add that little ethnic slur in there. These Jews, they're disturbing the city. No, they weren't. They disturbed your cash flow. They're disturbing the city, telling us to worship things that are contrary to Rome, and there's an uproar. Crowd gets all upset and magistrates. They rip the clothes off Paul and Silas and command them to be beaten with rods. Paul and Silas are naked and being beaten with rods. It says with many blows. They hadn't done anything wrong. They didn't even have a chance to make a defense. There was no trial. Let's move on. They beat them wrongfully. And remember, I left you with this last week. It was illegal for them to do this because Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. This was wrong for them to do. And Paul could have stopped it right away. Paul or Silas could have said, wait a minute, y'all can't do that. We're Roman citizens. But because they were never asked, they didn't want to play their citizenship card because that could imply that we are subject to Rome before God. If you are coming to beat us because of our profession, that Jesus is Lord and King, then go ahead. We're not going to appeal to be saved. What message would that send? So they took it and they were thrown in, after being beaten, they were thrown in prison. And the jailer was told, keep them safely. So we put them in the inner prison, the darkest level. Dark. There's a stench, urine, and feces, because there's no latrine. It's just scattered all over. And it's dark. And again, it's it's it's um uh the the stench, you get. picture of this and he puts them in stocks puts their feet in stocks and that would put their feet in awkward their body in awkward position and so they're in pain from the rods bleeding and then the stocks to put them in these positions is torture and that's where we left them oh but that wasn't the end verse twenty five says about midnight come on about midnight Paul and Silas were doing what two things what were they doing praying and what singing hymns to God at midnight it's been a long day they've been through a lot but at midnight they are praying they are beseeching God not now not about prayer you know what prayer is it's communication with God and you know you can pray and some prayers are good and some prayers are not people can pray a whole lot of different things people can complain in their prayers I deserve better than this talking to God as if God is in their debt all kinds of prayers that could be lifted up but it's what they also do paired with their praying is they were singing songs singing hymns in particular a hymn it's singing hymns the verb to sing songs of praise to God praising God exalting him he is high you are exalted and praying to the one who is exalted before any any any options appeared or anything like that they they were singing and praying before any like doors were open they were singing and praying and it's in the imperfect meaning that they continued to sing and continued to sing and kept on singing you know this is one of the signs of a mature believer anybody can sing when when when you when you don't have chains anybody can sing when everything is going good but can you sing when you're black when your back is bloody can you can you sing when you've been bruised by life unjustly can you can you sing and talk about God's praises when you're sick and it doesn't appear to be any hope they're singing and they're praying as a declaration I am in pain but my God is greater and my pain won't dictate my praise my pain won't be my theologian I can choose to worship God. And through this whole episode church watch this through this whole episode Paul and Silas have been if you will passive passive in the sense that they have lost their autonomy once the uh the they uh Paul cast the girl the the demon out of the girl from that point they were drugged and and pushed and clothes ripped off and beaten and then thrown thrown in prison and all of that now I did tell you they had the freedom they could have said hey wait wait wait we're Roman citizens but they surrendered who does that sound like they didn't play that card and they end up in stocks in the inner prison dark weary stinky it's all miserable but you know something you can take away everything else but you can't take my praise you can take away my freedom yeah you can beat my body yeah you can tell me not to do this this but I can pray and I can give my praise to God hey look you might even be able to put tape on my lips but we better believe I'm still going to be praising God saints as believers we are never victims we're not the the the the the uh uh uh the product of of life and what it does to us we are free because we're always free to worship the Lord and God is sovereign and whatever he's brought us to he'll bring us through saints never surrender your freedom to worship don't let it go don't say anybody stole your praise or stole your joy you had to give it away that's all that God has done for us no one can steal it they chose to praise the Lord and to pray and to seek him systems can fail you money can fail you your health can fail you but you can as the song says I vow to worship him I vow to praise you because praise is what I do can you say that to say praise is what I do this is what I was made to do praise is what I do whenever I'm going through I will praise him everything doesn't have to be going well in your life for you to praise him that's it's a choice plans can fail and everything else whatever inner prison you find yourself in you can praise him you can pray to him you can lift up songs whatever the inner prison is grief discouragement despair whatever it might be health situations you can still praise him the temptation is to wait until God provides the way of escape don't hold off your prayers or your praise and your prayers until you see something manifest pray before it happens praise him before it happens I love the fact that they are singing to one another and to God Ephesians 5 verses 18 and 19 instruct us don't get drunk with wine which leads to reckless living but be filled with the Spirit speaking to one another in psalms hymns and spiritual songs singing and making music with your heart to the Lord one another sing Psalms hymns spiritual songs everything it could be hymns it could be psalms it could be something you made up that morning let me tell you about the song I made up you want to hear it here it go and start singal songs glorifying God look you can have you can't have no you don't need a I can't hold a bead if it had a handle on it I I can't I I don't have no like like rhythm but I can still sing I can still sing I can still glorify God I can make that choice I can just decide to do it and and look this is what being filled with the spirit is like your heart is overflowing now if your heart isn't agreeing with your mouth you're not filled with the spirit because sometimes we can say things and not mean them in our heart but it says making melody music with your heart to the Lord so saints when we say I vow to praise you you better mean it that song is like 20 something years old you may have been singing it 20 something years you better believe that's going to be put to the test about this though something we've never seen look we've seen uh uh prisoners we've seen apostles put in prison we've seen Peter in prison but here's something new what's the second half of verse 25 say what's it say prisoners were listening to them who there's a congregation we've we've never seen this before we've we would we've never seen this we've seen the apostles after they've gotten beaten in Acts chapter 5 hey they were thanking God for the opportunity thank you Lord for allowing us to get beat you can't do nothing with somebody who thanks the Lord for getting beat you can't do anything with that person we've seen that but now right there they're literally prisoners they can't go nowhere and this tells you that Paul and Silas they weren't quiet with their praise that doesn't mean necessarily it was for them this was to God but they weren't quiet about it and the prisoners are listening. I'm pretty sure I know why they're listening I bet they're listening because they can't quite understand why these two dudes who've been beaten with rods and thrown into the inner prison with stocks because they've been talking about this God that failed them and because of their trust in him they ended up in prison how are you still praising him that doesn't make sense in their minds pagans you need to switch gods some people do have a contractual relationship with God you know that right as soon as God doesn't meet the terms they thought they're gonna rip it up and go to another God so this is perplexing because they just keep singing and keep praising and I know they kept bringing out the name I'm sure they're talking about extolling the virtues of God and his greatness there's a congregation they're used to hearing moaning and groaning and despair but they hear praise they're used to hearing complaints why am I here? Jethro should be here I ain't even do it they're used to hearing that but praise it's a reminder of this saints one of the strongest witnesses you can give as a Christian is not pretending that pain doesn't hurt but showing that pain is not your master they were listening intently you know what says we don't have to tell people that we're not hurting we grieve like everyone else grieves a lot the loss of a loved one we suffer things from this world we get sick it happens you don't have to be ashamed to tell anybody that you look you can just say I put this on this but yet this body is decaying but I have a body waiting for me that will never decay God has a treasure on reserve I'm I'm okay I can give praise to God whatever I go through that friends it's like the greatest testimony you can give to an unbeliever but then look his God shows up. Verse 26 read it and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken suddenly suddenly something unexpected something that that was unforeseeable suddenly there was a great earthquake so great that the foundation of the prison the foundations were shaken and then immediately I love the terms Luke that the time stamps suddenly and immediately late in the midnight hour right at that same suddenly and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were loosed unfastened the earthquake is so great foundations of the of the jail there there it it hits the foundations and they're shaking and and then you got the um the the the the the doors so much so that the doors fling open all of them and and and they're the the uh uh prisoners they're chained to the walls and the chains come off the wall now in a normal earthquake there might be structural damage maybe the roof would would would would be cracked or something but this for it to be specific like this when Paul and Silas were praying and worshiping and for the prisoners listening no this is a theophany that means God showing up visibly like an earthquake or a fire or he showed up the glory of God showed up well in this case it's an earthquake and it's and it's right there it hits right there at the prison and all the prisoners are free. All the doors are open when a display of divine power what is God saying I have all authority man may have his prisons but there's no prison that I can't get to and there are no captives that I can't set free they they didn't deserve to have their shackles loose no no nothing about deserving it's just God decided that everybody what a lesson to the prisoners they've been hearing about songs about this great God and they were perplexed but listening intently and then can you see why it was important for Paul and Silas to be praying and singing first ahead of time they sang and gave praises to God and then when the earthquake happened all of that the prisoners would know who did it my name is Yahweh and I endorse this message just so you'll know who it was saying this is where so many times we are tested I'm at I'm adding myself into it this is where often so many times we are are tested we struggle to praise him in advance we struggle in that because we haven't seen anything but the mature faith mature faith says Lord you don't have to open these doors to show me you're able to do it and you don't have to loosen my shackles to prove your love for me that was already established it's what mature faith does what mature faith says God is able to break any bonds he chooses to break and then verse 27 this is where things get really interesting when the jailer woke see they would their houses would always be near or on top of but near the jail for reasons we'll explain here shortly the earthquake woke up the jailer when he woke and saw the prison doors were open he doesn't do an investigation he doesn't do an inquiry what does he do he drew his sword he drew his sword and wasn't about to attack the prisoners he was about to kill himself because he supposed that the prisoners had escaped why would he jump to that why would he wh why would he do that well you see he's the jailer and and and in that in those times and in in uh uh in the in the Roman Empire look you're the jailer you're responsible if a prisoner got free well the punishment that was going to be paid by the prisoner the jailer had to take it that was the penalty can you imagine if all the whole jail got out can you imagine what they would do to him I don't know if he was a Roman citizen or not if he was a Roman citizen they wouldn't have done this but if he wasn't they would have crucified him and so in his mind whatever I do with this sword is going to be better with they better than what they do so he prepares to take his life but then Paul he cried out with a loud voice do not harm yourself for we are all here now I mean uh this whole thing I mean I mean imagine the the the the irony here the irony here is this you got the man that is in his heart uh look you got Paul and Silas there in pain But they have joy. The jailer has power, but his world is collapsing. You had Paul and Silas, they're chained, but spiritually they're free. The jailer is free, but inwardly he's bound. His world is falling apart. His world established on Roman order and everything else. And based on his position and all of that, he knows what's next. Everything now is collapsing. Paul says, wait. He cried with a loud voice. Urgency and volume. Paul's attitude wasn't, well, brother, you're gonna get what you get. You should have been listening to me before. You shouldn't have put me in these stocks in the first place. Now God got you. You can't run, your arms are too short to box with God. You in trouble now. He doesn't do that. Because he's a disciple of Jesus Christ. And a disciple says, No, don't take your life. As long as there's breath in your body. Saints, friends, those of you who don't believe, as long as there's breath in your body, you got a chance to repent. You got time to repent. Every breath is grace. There's still an opportunity. But this man, his world is built not on grace, but on works and performance. And whenever there is an earthquake in the world, economic disaster, natural disaster, weather, all whenever someone has built their foundations on reputation, accomplishments, titles, things of the world, whenever somebody has built their foundation on that, when the storm comes, when the earthquake comes, everything begins to shake. And even though they can have all kinds of power, they're really prisoners. But here's where we get to the part. Paul said, We are all here. Wait a minute. Paul, your shackles been loosed. The doors are open. This must be God's open door. Go ahead and run through it. Silas, what you waiting on? Go. They don't go. God opened the prison, but Paul didn't interpret the open door as a command to leave. Just because God opens a door doesn't mean he wants you to go through it. You know what's different about this episode of Paul and Silas being in prison versus when you have the apostles in prison in Acts chapter 5 and then Peter in prison in Acts chapter 12. You know what's different here? There's no angel here telling them to leave. There's no instruction as it was in Acts chapter 5 to the apostles, go and continue telling this good news, go out to the people. There was no angel leading, like he led Peter out. That didn't happen. And in the absence of that instruction, Paul and Silas stayed still. Can't mean that door opening, that doesn't necessarily mean God's telling me to go. Sometimes we can assume that though, can't we? We can want to leave so much the door being open, we run right through it. And stop, don't stop to pray. I know I've been guilty of it. But they don't go, and watch this, the other prisoners don't go either. That's shocking too. Anybody else shocked by that? But you know what? I can kind of think about it. I I bet you you got a brother in there, it's like, I really want to be free. But how far will I get? And secondly, the safest place I can be is with these two dudes right here. I don't know too much about their God, but I've seen what their God can do. And wherever you go, I'm going. Are they believers at this point? I doubt it, but they believe that God that this God can do it, so we're just staying right here. Y'all ain't going, I'm not going. And then the rest of them decide we ain't going either. There's probably as much awe about God right there because God answered. There's no instruction to go. They continue to stay there. Instead of just saying, let me run out as fast as possible, maybe the best thing is God opens a door. God's working, he's moving. Maybe the best thing is, why are you opening this door? And what do you want me to do? And it turns out that God opens it for a bigger reason than Paul and Silas's freedom. But this truth, here's the kingdom truth principle: what is timeless. There's no prison the Lord can't deliver you from. There's no prison that the Lord can't deliver you from. He is the Lord over the spiritual realm, the physical world, all of that. Never think a situation is hopeless. We serve a God that is able to break chains. Luke 4.18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed. If the Lord delivered us from spiritual oppression, what good thing would he withhold from us? Don't ever think he can't deliver. And don't ever think he doesn't have your best intentions at heart. He is working everything to conform us into the image of Christ. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. And before we get to verse 29 and uh and move on in this story, here's the kingdom life application for living the kingdom life. Listen, you may not be called to go through every door, but there is a praise door. And it's always open. Use it, go through it, praise the Lord. That opportunity is always available. You don't need to ask God if you can praise Him. That's one thing you don't have to pray and ask. He's already told us. And when God has made a declaration, look, we don't need to ask. And I put this here in particular because listen, the time to learn and train yourself to praise is before you get to the inner prison. It's before all of that happened. You train yourself to praise God throughout the day, highs and lows, then it becomes an involuntary response. Just a praise comes out, anyhow. Anyone that can testify to that? Just a praise, anyhow, came forth, and just you praised anyway, and you don't even quite get it, and no one else gets it. That's God. Train yourself, train yourself, train yourself. Your body doesn't want to do it, but bring it under subjection. You will worship the Lord. Rejoice always. 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Rejoice. Always pray without ceasing. That's what Paul and Silas were doing. An example for us. Verse 29, going back to the jailer. The jailer called for lights, torches. Let me see what's going on. And he rushed in, and he was trembling with fear. He fell down before Paul and Silas. That trembling, shaking with fear, overcoming, overcome with dread. Think of this man's life. All of his old paradigms have been all shattered. Everything has been broken. And then and then just he put these men in stocks. He is the one. He didn't beat them, but he has kept them there. And he knows that the reason they're there is for religious reasons. Because they've been teaching about this God that wasn't sanctioned, and he's just piled on, and now he is face to face with the fact that he has been opposing. This God that was able to set them free. Everything that he thought was strength, God defeated. God overthrew everything he had trusted in. And so he's trembling with fear, and he falls down before Paul and Silas. That's in that grief. You see, friends, sometimes we got to have our world shaken to come to Jesus. I know I needed that. Many of you would testify to the same that God had to totally break your worldview, maybe even take everything away, so you could understand that your position, your titles, your education, it couldn't save. In the midst and you know, things were dark, it didn't matter. None of that mattered. God has to sometimes break us down to the lowest common denominator. Break us down like a fraction so we'll look up to him. This man is broken. We need to be broken. You can't lead people to Christ until they understand that they are sinners in need of a savior. This man is broken. He recognizes that there's a God, a force that's more powerful than him and the Roman authorities. It's messed him up. He's trembling with fear, verse 30. Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Oh saints, that's the most important, most important question anyone could ask. What must I do to be saved? Does he have a does he know what he's he's all that he's talking about? No. What can I do to be delivered? Because I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I've done this, I'm been complicit to this. What must I do to be delivered from punishment that must come upon me? You've got to have the answer. What must I do? But you understand that's religion talking. Because it's what must I do? Paul sets that out. See, the jailers probably thinking sacrifices. What do I have to lose? What do I have to give up to make atonement? To appease the God that you serve. They, Paul and Silas, answer and they say, What? Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. You and your household. That doesn't mean they don't have to make a decision themselves. It means your whole household qualifies. It's not just for you, it's for everyone in your household. Slave, free, young, old. It's available for all. You don't have to do anything, you have to believe. But that believe means to trust in, to rely on, to place confidence in. You have to place your 100% confidence in Jesus Christ and what he has accomplished for you, his sacrifice being sufficient. You have to make him Lord. You have to believe in the Lord Jesus, not Lord Caesar, not Lord. He has to be one in a company of one. It's not, I just heard about Jesus. It's entrusting yourself to Jesus, and he is all of your hope. And notice it's not like faith in faith, there's an object, there's a person. It's not just having a positive outlook, that's not salvation. I'm gonna be a better person. That's not salvation. That's not trusting him. But if you believe in Jesus, you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him. You see, understand, he needed teaching. He needed more. This, the believing the Lord Jesus, that was just the beginning. Just okay, that gets you in there because it's not do, it's believe. Well, what do you mean by believe? Let me tell you, we're gonna tell you about it. And they and they break it down to him. They spoke the word of the Lord to him and all that were in his house. My, my, my. Everybody got a private Bible study late in the midnight hour. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized at once. He and all his family, they all believe. They're all saying, We are connected now with this same Jesus you are. All of them. And he then, verse 34, he brought them up into his house and set food before them. Man, what a change Jesus brings. He's washing their wounds, but he's not washing their wounds to get something out of him or to appease God. He's not washing their wounds so God will accept him. He's washing their wounds because God has changed him. Everything is changing now. How things change so shortly. When the gospel is heard, believed, received, everything changes. He wanted to kill himself not too long before this. And now he's setting plates out. Have a meal with me. He has hope, and he is rejoicing now that he has salvation. This man has invited prisoners into his home and given them a platform in front of his family. Jesus changes everything. Everything changes. All the walls come down. What must I do to be saved? You are a jailer. You are above them. You're in a different class than they are. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? The foot, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. And now he has that same joy. You know, there's a joy when you give your life to Christ. And he gives them table fellowship and he rejoices with them, and they all rejoice. They listen, literally, rejoice is to exalt, to leap for joy. It's ecstatic delight. Oh, there was despair not too long ago, but now there's rejoicing. God will turn it around, won't He? Last kingdom truth. Salvation only comes by believing in the Lord Jesus, and real faith begins a change right away. It may not be visible to everybody, but change begins on the inside. The heart changes. So that is a truth everyone needs to make sure they understand, and you share that with people when you're sharing the gospel. It's trust in Him. And when you repent and believe, change happens. You begin to think differently. You see other people differently. Remember Jesus having these words in John 6, 28 and 29? They said to him, What must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered, This is the work of God. That you believe in him whom he has sent. You gotta believe in me. In Romans 10, 9. If we confess, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with a heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. We're gonna stop at verse 34, pick up with what I'm gonna do, verse 35 and 40. I'll just send that to y'all. What can we deduce about this open door? This open door was not for Paul and Silas to leave. This open door was for the jailer to come in. For God to open his heart. Whereas in Acts 5, look, the angel said, now get out of this prison and go share the good news. Sometimes God opens the door and tells you to sit, and I'm gonna bring somebody to you. Dialysis, chemo, you're just there and you think it's just a long why it's is hurting, but you continue to praise, watch God bring somebody. You'll be like a magnet. Sometimes he sends you out and sometimes he plants you. But it's all the same. What if God did all of this for a jailer and his family? What what if he absorbed the blows? Paul, Silas, what if they absorbed the blows just to save a jailer? To share the gospel with the jailer and his family for them to have eternal life? Do you think Paul and Silas would do it again every day of the week? And not only that, he shares with the jailer, God has shared with the jailer how great he is through that earthquake and everything else. That um I don't know how to call that collateral kind of uh witnessing. You know, you're just praising God, and someone over here, you never know who's watching, saints. You never know who's watching. You rejoice and you give thanks, and you're sitting, you don't even know you're sharing the gospel with them. You can just be talking about goodness of the Lord and it's just saving you, and all of that, and God has brought somebody in earshot. Oh my, my, my. Here's the question I have for us as we leave. Can God trust you to do the selfless thing that may win someone to Christ? The selfless choice was not to leave. Do you hear his passion for the jailer? Paul? We're here. Don't do that. Don't do that. We're here. What if he just broke camp? And that man took his life. The selfless choice was to stay and wait on God. Wait for God to set them free and not do it himself. Can God entrust you to do the selfless thing? Here's the thing: can God open a door right in front of you that you've always wanted and you not take it until he says go? I have a granddog now. His name is Duke. Duke is not small, he's over 70 pounds. He's about a year old, he's over a year now. He's a big boy. And he's very hyper. And the thing is, he knows sit. He knows the command. But he has selective hearing. Sometimes he sits. He does a better job with Shauna than me. When he sees me, it's over. He's all over me. I can say, sit, man, sit, Duke. No, I'm not having it. The thing about Duke is, I can tell him to sit. Sometimes he sits, rarely. He'll sit for Shauna, but he can't take it too long. Because he gets antsy. And he's antsy. He's got, he wants to do something. And then he jumps up. When you're not expecting, he just jumps up. You hadn't told him to get up yet, he just can't take it. Don't be like Duke. If the Lord says sit, sit. Sit, just wait. I know you want to go out. You want to go out and do your thing, but and it looks like it takes so much energy for him to sit. He wants to, but he just can't. It just goes. But you know what? When you sit, you get a treat. We got treats for him when he sits. That's a good sit, Duke. You're sitting so good. But I watch him and I can see myself how so many times I want to fix stuff and just do it. And it's like God saying, hold on, son. The door is open, but it's not for you. I want to go outside. Sit. That's hard. But you know what? I got a great trainer. I got a great coach. He's patient with me. He's long-suffering. So, in terms of trusting, can he trust you to do the selfless thing? Can he trust you to wait? And you've got the he's given you, you don't have the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. And that sound mind means discipline. He's giving it to you. When the door opens, we can't just ask how fast can I get out? We also have to ask, who needs me to stay? What day is today? Palm Sunday. Jesus could have gone through this opportunity. Hey, all everybody loves me, and I'm gonna just take it, I'm gonna be king. He didn't do that. Instead, he chose to debate the scribes and Pharisees. He chose to upturn the money changers. He chose to be betrayed by Judas. He chose all of that that happened. And in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, if it's possible, if there's any way, take this cup. But if not, not as I will, but your will be done. And he went all the way to the cross and hung on the cross and died. Because the answer for who needed him to stay and stay on the cross was us. And he took it. He didn't have to, but he did. Through this week, just I want you to be, you know, reflect on that, that he stayed. He stayed on the cross. He finished it. He finished the task that the Lord had him do. Now, sometimes we have to be in the inner prison and stay for someone else. Jesus would say it's worth it. Jesus is always working. Go through the doors he tells you to go through and wait when he doesn't. He's awesome. Lord, thank you so much for your grace. Thank you, Lord, for just all the amazing things we find in your word. I just pray, Lord, that this word, this seed, is Lord, it's found fertile soil and in all of our hearts and that God we respond the way you want us to respond. We love you so much, Lord. Thank you for your patience with us. Thank you for your grace. We love you. Change us, Lord. Forgive us for our impatience. Forgive us for imposing, putting you, squeezing you into our mold and what we want, we think, we project ourselves on you. And Lord, we should wait, let you project yourself on us and help us to think the way you do. Forgive us for the times we haven't and continue to show mercy because by your grace, Lord, we will be conformed and be more like Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.