WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.839 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:19.280 Let's pray together. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:26.879 Lord, we've come to do just that, to set our hope on you, uh, to set our affection on you, and have our hope deepen and widen because of you. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.920 So, Lord, as we open up your word today, let it open us up. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:39.759 Your word is quick and powerful and sharpening two-edged sword, and it pierces through the dividing asunder of joints and marrow and becomes a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our heart. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:41.920 That's the part we don't like, God, is people. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:48.880 We don't like when the Bible gets in our business and starts really reflecting back to us what we really think, what we really feel. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:51.359 But yet you do that, and it's a mercy gift. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:56.079 And so today, God, we ask you to do that as uncomfortable as it may feel. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:57.359 Please do that. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.560 Let us see where we're preferring ourselves over you. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:06.079 Let us see where we're uh allowing willful sin to have dominion over us. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:10.640 And Lord, more than anything, increase the capacity and the causality of our faith today. 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:12.000 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:14.560 And everyone said, Amen, amen. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:15.200 You can have a see. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:18.400 If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take and open it up to Acts chapter 16. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:20.000 If you don't have a Bible, don't sweat it. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:22.159 Everything I'll say come up on the screen behind me. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:27.040 I want to say a special welcome to everyone who's here today, because when you ask your mom, what do you want for Mother's Day? 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.120 She said, I want all of us to go to church together. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:30.719 Uh so just relax. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:32.560 This will be like a trip to a good dentist. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:34.799 It'll be painless and relatively quick. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:35.680 Amen. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:38.719 Yeah, I don't I don't hear you people. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:39.760 Uh, I want to talk to you. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:49.040 If you're our guest today, we're preaching through the book of Acts, which is we typically preach the books of the Bible, because that's how you nourish and grow your faith and you understand God, the gospel, and yourself. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:50.719 And we're up to Acts chapter 16. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:52.239 I'll start reading in verse 25. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:55.200 I want to talk to you today about the causality of faith. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:56.640 The causality of faith. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:00.079 Now, causality, I have to use big words so you'll know I have degrees. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:00.640 Amen? 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:05.439 Uh so when I say the causality, I brought you, it's it's a big-sounding word, but I brought you a definition. 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:09.680 Here's what I mean by causality, because too often we think of our faith in terms of comfort. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:13.120 Uh, and it is comforting, but it also has causality. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:21.840 It acts upon us and causes us to do things that we by nature wouldn't do, or causes us to not do things by nature we would normally do. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:37.840 Here's causality: it's an influence by which one event, process, state, or object contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object, where the cause is partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is partly dependent on the cause. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.599 Now you may be thinking, dude, this feels like chemistry class all over again, all right? 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:44.800 But so let me demonstrate from just Acts chapter 16 in the Bible. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.280 We've been in this one chapter for about four Sundays now. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:50.719 So so far in this chapter, we've seen the causality of faith. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:52.560 It started with a young man named Timothy. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:54.479 Paul was on his first missionary journey. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:58.080 He goes to this little town called Lystra where he gets beaten half to death. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:02.240 They drag him out of the town, they drop him on outside the city limits and like good riddance. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.479 They think he's dead, but he gets up, has a few Advil and a Red Gatorade. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:08.479 He's like, I'm ready to rock, let's go. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:13.039 But when he preached in that town, there was a young man there named Timothy who came to faith. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:14.479 It's been about a year. 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:21.520 Paul comes back, and Timothy has so grown in the faith that Paul takes him on his missionary journey as a missionary. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:29.120 God is so at work in his life that he writes and records under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the New Testament books of 1 and 2 Timothy. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:31.520 Let me just pause and ask you a real practical question. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:35.439 How would you summarize what all God's done in your life over the past year? 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:37.680 Because that's a pretty incredible first year. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:42.879 You come faith, and within a year, the apostle Paul comes and says, Dude, I want you on my team. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:48.000 So this is the first thing we see is a causality, what the faith has caused people to do. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:50.719 Next comes a wealthy businesswoman named Lydia. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:54.560 Lydia comes to faith because Paul and them were looking for the Jewish synagogue. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:58.400 There wasn't one in the city, but there's a bunch of women gathered down by a river praying. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:02.159 They start just, they don't assume, hey, just because you come to church, you're a Christian. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:07.280 They start explaining Christianity, and Lydia says, This is, I've believed in God, but I've not known God. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:08.639 And so she comes to faith. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:13.120 After that, there's this slave girl that's being trafficked by a couple of men, and they're making money. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:20.800 And all day long, she's walking around behind Paul and Silas, complimenting them, but it's no comfort to have the wrong people say the right thing about you. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:29.279 So Paul turns around one day, he's troubled in his spirit, and he speaks to the evil spirit in her by which she tells fortunes, and he casts the spirit out of her. 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:32.720 And when that spirit left, they realized so do their means of making money. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:38.000 And so these men that are trafficking this woman take Paul and Silas down there to the police station and get them in trouble. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:40.160 They lie about them, they get put in prison. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:46.319 Actually, they beat them with rods and they put them in prison and locked them up and said, Hey, keep your eye on these guys. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:50.160 And now, in this part of the chapter, you're gonna see a jailer. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:56.879 The guy who was told, hey, make sure these guys don't get out, so he puts them in the inner cell, locks them in stocks, okay? 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:09.439 This guy's probably retired military, so he's got a military pension coming, he's got his social security, he's crunched the numbers, he's got about 14 more months of work in this job, and he is gonna be golden for the rest of his life. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.000 And then this happens: Acts chapter 16, verse 25. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:19.600 About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:27.839 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.639 When the jailer awoke and saw that the prison doors were opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:38.480 Supposing that the prisoners had escaped, but Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself, for we're all here. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:44.800 And the jailer called for lights, and he rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:48.720 And then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:52.959 And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you'll be saved, you and your you and your household. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:56.480 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:03.279 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and his and all his family. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:10.240 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them, and then he rejoiced along with his entire household that they had believed in God. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:14.800 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, Let these men go. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:20.160 And the jailer reported these things, these words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent sent to let you go. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.160 Therefore, come out now and go in peace. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:29.759 But Paul said to them, They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned men who are Roman citizens and have thrown us into prison. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:32.079 And do they now throw us out secretly? 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:32.639 No. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:33.839 No, no, no, no. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.160 Let them come themselves and take us out. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:47.360 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid, and they heard that they when they heard they were Roman citizens, so they took, they came and apologized to them, and they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:50.000 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:54.079 And then when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:56.959 Now, again, the causality of faith. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:05.839 It started in the beginning of this chapter with a young man named Timothy, who is so grown in a little over a year that Paul says, I want you to come on and help me in my missionary endeavors. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.279 And now it culminates in this jailer coming to faith. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:13.199 What I mean the causality of faith, again, faith is not just comfort. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:18.160 It causes us to do certain things and it causes us not to do certain things. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:20.079 Let me point out four or five of them in the text. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:23.439 Number one, faith empowers us to defy our circumstances. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:26.959 Faith empowers us to defy our circumstances. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:33.279 Verse 25, their circumstances, lest you forget, uh, they've been beaten uh 39 times with rods. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:35.439 Uh they were stripped and beaten, by the way. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:42.560 Uh, and they're locked in prison, they're locked in stocks, and about midnight, they're praying and they're singing hymns to God. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:44.319 Now, this is the circumstance. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:49.920 We have to outgrow thinking of our faith in terms of forgiveness for how we act in all circumstances. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:55.199 And instead, you got to start thinking in terms of the power that is ours to defy circumstances. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:56.480 Let me say that again. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:08:02.240 You can't just think about Christianity as, oh, it's forgiveness because how I act in every circumstance. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:03.199 No, it's not. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:04.720 That's your religious tradition. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:06.319 That's not biblical Christianity. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:09.360 And now, am I saying there's no forgiveness in biblical Christianity? 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:10.160 Not at all. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:10.560 Okay. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:12.720 I wouldn't survive if there wasn't, okay? 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:23.360 But when we reduce Christianity just down to forgiveness, then you never really defy circumstances because you never experience the power that is yours in Christ and because of Christ. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:32.159 So when I say faith empowers us to defy our circumstances, uh, this is what I mean by by defying your circumstances, I mean to act outside of human nature. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:35.360 This is the essence of what's known as the Sermon on the Mount. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:37.519 We read from it earlier in chapter five. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:44.159 Uh, but Jesus, the greatest ethical teacher in all the in the history of humanity, even non-Christians will tell you that. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:48.799 Uh, and so Jesus seems to believe that we have a capacity because we have faith. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:52.080 We don't have just forgiveness for how we act all the time. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:57.120 No, we have this power in us that empowers us to defy our circumstances. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:58.559 Allow me to demonstrate. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:01.919 This is Matthew chapter 5, starting at verse 21. 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:05.519 Jesus says, You have heard that it was said of those of old. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:13.440 In other words, some translation says, You have heard of old, but verily, verily I say unto you, he says, Hey, you've heard that it was said to those of old. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:17.039 Here's here was the standard where it used to be: you shall not murder. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:19.279 And whoever murders will be liable to judgment. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:23.360 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:29.759 Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:37.519 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:42.720 First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:52.080 Now, if you're one of those people, and I hear this every once in a while, I do not in social settings where I don't know a lot of people, I do not lead with, hi, my name's Neil, and I pastor a church in the city. 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:53.759 I just say, Hey, my name's Neil. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:54.639 And they say, What do you do? 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:55.679 I work here in the city. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:56.799 I don't bring it up. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:01.200 Because here's what I hear when people hear, oh, you pastor a church, they go, Oh, the church is always about money. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:02.399 Oh, church cares about is money. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:03.840 Why does the church care about money? 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:04.960 And I say, you know what? 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:11.120 One of things that the church, the Bible teaches the church should care about more than money is reconciliation. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:13.279 And they all go, What do you mean? 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:17.120 Jesus said, again, he thinks we have this capacity as Christians. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:23.200 If you're at the altar presenting your gift, if the church was all about money, then why would Jesus say this? 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:26.320 Hey, if you're there presenting your gift, do you remember your brother has aught against you? 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:29.120 Notice he doesn't say you have ought against your brother. 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:32.399 Because he raises the standard for us. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:35.200 He said, if you remember your brother has ought against you, you leave your gift. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:39.600 Now you can't say, Oh, well, I would go and be reconciled, but God, you know, he's a narcissist. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:41.519 I took the online survey and it reminded me of him. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.559 And so he's never gonna, he's never gonna agree or anything. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:45.759 And so, no, no, no. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:50.559 Just because you think you know how they're gonna respond, that does not release you from your responsibility. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:55.120 And so Jesus says, Oh, this is what I mean by you have a capacity. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:03.120 You are empowered uh uh differently because you are a Christian, you have a capacity that allows you to defy your circumstances. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.759 Read on uh verse 27 of Matthew 5. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.240 You've heard that it was said you should not commit adultery. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:14.960 But I say unto you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:19.759 Translation, hey, you've heard that it was said you should not, you should not commit adultery. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.399 Jesus says, hey, it's not enough that you do, no cookie for you because you don't commit adultery. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:25.840 You sleep with someone that's not your wife. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:27.679 Here's what you gotta stop doing, men. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:31.200 You gotta stop objectifying every woman in the world. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.200 See, and and Jesus says, You have the capacity to do this. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:37.440 Matter of fact, I I'll make a crazy statement. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:42.240 The Bible never asks you and I to do something we do not have the capacity to do. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:43.759 Did you know that? 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:54.960 So when the Bible says, hey, it's not enough just to say, Oh, do not commit adultery, I say unto you, do not look at a woman with lustful intent, because if you do that, you've already committed adultery with her in her heart. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:58.159 Now, some people come back and say, Well, I've already committed adultery on my heart. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:11:59.279 Why not just commit adultery? 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:01.120 You're not understand what he's saying. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:09.679 He's saying, you have a capacity in you to not give in to what comes naturally, to defy the circumstances. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:10.159 All right. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:13.039 Here's the last one, Matthew chapter 5, verse 43. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:14.720 You've heard that it was said. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:17.679 Again, this is what you've always been told. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:24.240 But now that I am come, now that now that I'm here, and now that you have faith in me, you have more capacity than that. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:28.240 He said, You've heard it that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:30.559 Wouldn't you love to hate your enemies? 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:33.279 Some of you are like, Oh, wait a minute, I do. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:35.200 Problem. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.360 You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:43.519 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:46.080 For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:49.279 He sends rain on the just and on the just on the unjust. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:53.120 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:55.360 Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:58.879 And if you greet only your brothers, well, what more are you doing than others? 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:00.960 Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:05.519 Again, Jesus is reminding us that we have this increased capacity. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:07.039 I would ask you this question. 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:15.039 What had what does the faith, what does the Christian faith give you the capacity to do that you by nature couldn't do? 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:16.240 Does that make sense? 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:17.279 Say amen. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:22.559 What do what does the Christian faith give you the capacity to do? 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:24.799 You by nature just couldn't do. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:26.399 See, this is the distinction. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:36.399 This is what makes you a Christian, not that, oh, well, I was baptized when I was eight, or I was baptized as an infant, or I was baptized, or I went to camp, or I rededicate my life, but no, no, no, no. 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:40.320 Strip away all the rituals, all the routines, capacity. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:44.240 Do you have the capacity to defy what comes naturally? 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:49.279 And then on occasion to do what sometimes feels supernatural. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:52.559 Here's the second thing uh uh the causality of faith. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:55.039 Faith is often displayed in what we don't do. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:57.600 Faith is often displayed in what we don't do. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:13:58.960 Get this, verse 26. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:06.399 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors flew open and everyone's bonds were unfastened. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:14.080 And when the jailer awoke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:17.120 But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself. 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:19.200 We are all right here. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.799 Now, okay, time out. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:31.200 If you've had the day that they've had, and by the way, let me just kind of summarize, set the scene for you, unless you missed a Sunday or two and you don't have a context, what got us to this point. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.360 They were just going to the place of prayer. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:36.480 They got up, they didn't buy tickets to some intense experience. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:39.679 No, they just got up and said, We're gonna go pray with some other believers. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:44.080 Does anybody, any old people in here, you remember when the church used to have a prayer meeting? 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:44.799 Remember that? 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:46.000 They just meet to pray. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:47.200 This this is what they did. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:55.200 And so they're just meeting to pray, and and they're minding their own business, and they get harassed by a woman saying generic things about our specific God. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:15:11.759 They cast an evil spirit out of this woman, and then the men that were trafficking her for money, and they got upset, so they took them down to the police station, lied about them, and then they stripped them and beat, they got they were stripped and beaten with rods by a man wearing Lululemon tights, and they're like, gee, whis, what's going on here? 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:17.440 And so after that, I don't know if you've ever had a like a bad wound or whatever, uh, but one time I fell playing basketball. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:20.720 I was looking over my shoulder, and a guy threw a pass, it was kind of behind my head. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:24.639 And so when I turned like this, my foot went that way, and I fell. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.080 We were playing shirts and skins, and I was the skin. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:37.840 And I hit the gym floor, and my shoulder and my arm went and then I ran out of sweat and it just peeled the skin. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:54.080 So I had about a six-inch abrasion on my arm out here, and it was bad, it kind of scabbed over, and then I forgot and I wore a long sleeve t-shirt to bed that night, and the t-shirt stuck to the wound because there's this clear fluid that secretes from a wound called blood serum. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:56.000 Yes, yes. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.399 Some of you are like, no, no. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:01.039 And so I just thought, oh, it's just kind of stuck. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:04.240 And so I just pulled my shirt, I grabbed my shirt and pulled it. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:06.320 Don't do that. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:08.320 So, why am I telling you this? 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:11.759 I'm telling you this because these men were beaten with 39 times with these rods. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:12.399 I showed you a picture. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:16.480 Remember last week, the guy wearing the magenta uh lululemon man tights? 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:22.320 Yes, yes, because they're called likters, they were enforcers, and and so basically they strip them and beat them. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:27.919 There's a good chance they don't have their shirts or their clothes back on because their body is oozing this blood serum. 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:31.360 And so you're like, uh-oh, okay, why are you telling us this? 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:32.639 So you'll envision this. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:36.240 You say, I didn't think about this on Mother's Day, but go ahead. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:44.720 You're one of the prisoners in the little in the little jail, and they walk these two naked guys limping in, beaten to a bloody pulp, and then it's about midnight, and everyone's like, Where'd that come from? 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:46.960 I heard there's some religious rabbit, blah, blah, blah. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:49.840 And then about midnight, them cats start singing. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:54.240 They were praying and singing hymns to God. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:55.840 They're praying, and then they start singing. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:59.200 And the guy next to you says, Hey, Bill, there's two naked guys down here singing. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:16:59.840 You want to look? 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:00.799 No, I don't want to. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:02.559 I I can't unsee that. 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:05.440 He says they were praying and singing hymns to God. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:06.799 What do you think they sang? 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:09.519 They're locked in stocks. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:13.759 You think they're just like, I got friends in low places? 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:15.440 No. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.240 He says they're praying and singing hymns to God. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:22.079 Hymns are that the church had songs that they historically sang. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:23.279 We still have them to this day. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:31.039 I wonder if they were singing the fourth verse of this old hymn that says this stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:34.960 This day, the noise of battle, the next of victor song. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:38.400 To him that overcometh, a crown of life shall be. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.000 He with the king of glory shall reign eternally. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:50.160 Can you imagine what kind of imprint it would leave on your soul if you saw these guys marched in who had been beaten almost to death? 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:59.200 And then at about midnight, where it's really, really dark and bleak and it's not looking very hopeful, and those cats are not over there feeling sorry for themselves. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:04.559 They're praying and singing hymns to the God who allowed this to happen. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:10.559 Because this sovereign God puts them in a circumstance that says, Hey, you're gonna get beat, and I'm gonna get glory. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:12.000 Are you okay with that? 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:15.839 Happy Mother's Day. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:21.599 Hey, mom, your kids are gonna be thankful, selfish weasels till they're about 25. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:27.680 And some of them until they have a kid, and then they're gonna call you and go, I am so sorry. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.880 And you're gonna be like, talk to mama now. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:34.480 How about that colleague? 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:37.359 They don't care for that girlfriend. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:38.480 Well, can you come? 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:40.319 No, your daddy and I are going on a cruise. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:43.039 Yeah. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:44.640 Yeah. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:45.839 Yeah. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:47.599 I had a professor in seminary. 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:48.240 His name was Dr. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:48.960 McGorman. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:50.319 His name was Jack McGorman. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:51.759 We called him out of respect, Dr. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:52.480 McGorman. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:59.920 I should have known I was wrestling for my classes and I was putting the pencil in this little bubble, and the guy said, Oh, you're taking Cactus Jack. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:01.759 And I said, Excuse me? 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:02.400 He said, Dr. 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:02.880 McGorman. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:04.640 We call him Cactus Jack. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:05.200 Why? 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:07.039 He said, because he'll stick it to you. 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:10.880 First class I had him for was Roman. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.519 I understood why they call him Cactus Jack. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:15.039 But also he was fascinating. 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:16.240 He's like a clown on fire. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:17.599 I couldn't look away. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:24.960 His daughter struggled with addiction so severely that in his 70s he adopted her two little kids. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:28.559 And one guy asked him, he said, How did you do that? 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:32.240 He said, I didn't want those wee boys to grow up without a father. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:34.799 And we asked him one time, we said, What do you pray? 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:39.279 And he said, I just pray that I'm alive, I stay alive until the youngest and graduates high school. 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:40.960 That's all I can ask for, amen. 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:44.559 And I understood why his classes were full. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:48.720 One time he said this, it wasn't on the final, but I wrote it down and I've never forgot it. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:53.200 He said, Your true character is most on display when you get the upper hand on your enemies. 00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:55.920 Let me say that again. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:02.160 Your true character is most on display when you get the upper hand on your enemies. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:06.000 They get the upper hand on this jailer when there's an earthquake. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:10.960 The foundations of the prison shook and the doors flew open and everyone's bonds fell off. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:15.680 Now you're like, I don't know what this has got to do with what you're saying. 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:18.400 Remember, faith is often displayed in what we don't do. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:21.279 Your faith is not always displayed in what you do. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:25.680 It's most often displayed, especially in this culture, in what you don't do. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:27.920 Do you repay evil for evil? 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:31.519 When someone slanders you, do you slander back? 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:33.839 You clap back on social media. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:40.079 See, doing nothing gives us space and opportunity to see who's actually doing something. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:44.000 This is why the Bible made the top ten list. 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:47.519 One of the Ten Commandments is remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:55.279 Translation, make a practice of doing nothing so you can train your heart and your eyes and your spirit to see who's actually doing something. 00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:58.799 Here's a third thing about the causality of faith. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:01.920 Our lived faith causes others to desire faith. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:04.960 Our lived faith causes others. 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:06.319 Not your believed faith. 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:08.480 Well, I you know, I believe, I believe, I believe. 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:12.640 Your actually lived faith causes others to desire faith. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:13.680 It's verse 29. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:14.720 Look at what he says. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:19.680 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:23.359 And then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:25.839 Have you noticed no one's asked you that lately? 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:32.799 And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved, you and your household. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:34.000 And get this. 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:38.000 And they spoke the word of God to him and to all who were in his house. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:42.319 Our lived faith causes others to defy to desire faith. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:47.359 I'm reading a book right now by a woman who is Jewish and she converted to Christianity. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:47.920 Okay. 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:50.799 And the book is about what she misses about the Jewish faith. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:53.920 She said, I don't want to go back, but I missed some things about the Jewish faith. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.759 And one thing she said, she said, I notice about us Christians is that we talk a lot about what we believe, we put it on bumper. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.319 Stickers on the back of our car where we go to church. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:04.240 No one cares, by the way. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:08.079 Occasionally people ask me, Hey, why didn't our church have a bumper sticker? 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:09.920 And I say the same thing. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:11.759 Don't ask me, I'll tell you the same thing. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:16.480 If you need a bumper sticker to let people know you're a Christian, something's wrong with your faith. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:20.240 I owe to God it was that easy. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:29.359 She said, I notice as Christians is that we talk a lot about what we believe, but in Judaism, what you believe is demonstrated in what you do and you don't do. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:32.400 You rarely hear a Jew talking about what they believe. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:37.039 They just do it and they don't do it, and you are left to figure out what they believe. 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:38.480 And it's not hard. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:43.279 They don't talk so much about what they believe, they simply do it or don't do it. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:48.799 This is what I mean by our lived faith causes other to desire faith. 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:51.680 They had this opportunity to escape prison and they didn't. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:55.599 And this moved the jailer to want to know the God that they know. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:56.960 I got a question for you. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:01.759 What do people see in you that makes them want to know the God that you know? 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:04.240 Because here's the reality, folks. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:12.240 If they see you and I engaging in every circumstance they do, and then coming back to our dorm room or to our apartment or to our house and saying, God, I'm sorry, please forgive me. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:13.200 They do the math. 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:14.720 They're like, there's no difference in you and me. 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.599 You just ask God for forgiveness and I don't feel bad about it. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:22.720 I would submit to you, you have a religious tradition, not so much a relationship. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:24.880 They had the opportunity to escape when they didn't. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:25.200 Why? 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:29.200 Because they didn't see the earthquake as a natural phenomenon, but as a supernatural one. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:37.519 Translation, they did nothing because they could see clearly that God was doing something, and they did not want to miss out on what God was doing. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.279 All the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:53.359 Now, some people say, well, you know, the geologists in the crowd go, well, you know, the tectonic plates of the earth moved and shifted, and it's like your house when the foundation got foundation problems, the doors don't close anymore, the prison doors follow. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:59.119 Okay, well, how did the bonds uh get unfastened that they were chained up to? 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:05.599 See, they're not doing anything so they can see clearly who's actually doing something. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:10.640 Ask yourself this question: How is the faith manifesting itself in your life these days? 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:13.200 How is the historic biblical Christian faith? 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:17.039 Because by the way, they didn't get a better version of Christianity than we got. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:20.079 They don't have the technology we have. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:26.960 No, they these people are just they're a bunch of simpletons. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:31.759 Here's the fourth thing the Bible tells us true faith seeks to identify with the God of faith. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.519 True faith seeks to identify with the God of our faith. 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:36.880 It's verse 33. 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:38.880 Look at what he says there. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:42.400 And he took them the same hour of the night. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:43.359 This is the jailer. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:48.559 He took them the same hour of the night after he sees that they had an opportunity to escape and they do not escape. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:55.039 He takes them the same hour of the night and he washes their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and his all his family. 00:24:55.119 --> 00:25:03.119 And then he brought them up into the house and set food before them, and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:06.240 True faith seeks to identify with the God of our faith. 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:10.400 Now, when I read this and when I was studying for today, it made me think of the 23rd Psalm. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:11.519 They get this. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:13.359 This guy's commanded to watch over them. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:14.640 This earthquake happens. 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:16.880 God says, Hey, I'm doing something here. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:17.920 And they're like, We're great. 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:18.960 We're tuned in. 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:21.440 We so are accustomed to not doing anything. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:26.400