00:00: I like living in my comfort zone.
00:00: How about you?
00:00: You guys like staying in your comfort zone?
00:07: Yeah, right?
00:07: If you say no, I think you're lying.
00:07: We like comfort zones.
00:07: It's that area of life that we're familiar with.
00:14: It's doing the things, going the places that we're accustomed to.
00:22: And because we're accustomed to them, we know what to expect.
00:22: You do this, you get that.
00:22: If you interact with these people, it's going to go like this.
00:27: You know how things work.
00:27: And so there's not a lot of unexpected stuff.
00:32: That's what makes them comfortable.
00:32: But the problem is when we get comfortable, we stay put where we're at.
00:40: And sometimes God wants to stretch us out of our comfort zone.
00:46: He wants to expand the work that he's doing in our lives and through our lives.
00:51: Expand what he's doing for us and expand what he's doing through us for others.
00:55: And so we can't stay put in our comfort zones.
00:55: Now, I imagine that there's nobody here that's excited about hearing that because we like our comfort zones.
01:04: But I'll tell you this, God does great things as he enlarges our comfort zones, as he takes us into new places and new steps of obedience as we follow Jesus.
01:16: As we dig into Acts 16 this morning, what we find is that the Apostle Paul is going beyond his comfort zone.
01:25: He's going beyond the area of ministry that he's been in to date.
01:33: Now, Paul is representing the Christian message, the gospel, to new areas, new people, new places.
01:41: At this point in the story of Acts, the message about Jesus has been taken to the land of Israel, also known as the land of Palestine or the land of Canaan.
01:48: It's kind of that little chunk of land on the east end of the Mediterranean Sea.
01:53: And then missionaries and persecuted Christians have taken it outward as they've traveled.
01:59: Paul, in particular, along with Barnabas, had previously taken the gospel on their first missionary journey up into what's called Asia Minor.
02:07: If you look on a map today, you're going to see it called Turkey.
02:12: The nation of Turkey is filling up Asia Minor, which is kind of north and northwest of Israel.
02:18: They've gone that far.
02:18: And they've gone to an island in the east end of the Mediterranean called Cyprus.
02:23: And so they've kind of looped in that area.
02:23: And as Paul set out on his second missionary journey, this time with Silas and with Timothy, they attempt to go back into some of those same areas, the areas that they had already been familiar.
02:38: But God shut that down.
02:44: We saw that last week in our passage.
02:44: And God forbade that.
02:44: Wouldn't do that.
02:44: And so instead, God gives them this vision of a man from Macedonia, which is kind of northern Greece.
02:50: And so they conclude God's calling us to go into Greece.
02:56: And that's exactly what happens.
02:56: This expansion from taking the gospel to what would be the Middle Eastern region now is crossing the line and going into Europe.
03:08: Now, it's not that much further geographically, but it's a big jump.
03:08: It's a culturally different place than even as it is now.
03:15: And it's going to be different.
03:15: We see in verse 12 that they end up in the Greek city of Philippi.
03:24: Now, you've probably heard of the New Testament book Philippians.
03:24: They're in the city of Philippi.
03:30: Make that connection, right?
03:30: The letter to the Philippians, to the church in Philippi, is named after the same thing.
03:36: And in our passage this morning, we're going to see some of the ministry that takes place by God through Paul, through Silas.
03:41: And there's actually kind of four sections.
03:48: There's a section dealing with a woman named Lydia, a section with a slave girl, a section with a Gentile fellow who's a jailer.
03:54: And then there's kind of this public witness component.
03:54: And it's interesting because Jewish people would have typically looked down on women, on slaves, and on Gentiles.
04:08: And so as God expands the gospel witness, sending Paul and company into Europe, we find that the gospel has power even in this new place.
04:15: Among all these people, the gospel power is relevant for all, even those outsider groups.
04:23: And I think sometimes even today we can begin to wonder who needs the gospel?
04:30: Who is this really for?
04:30: Let me give you a little litmus test that you can use to figure out who in your life needs to hear the gospel.
04:37: Okay, which people need it, which people don't.
04:44: If you're looking at an individual, ask yourself this question.
04:44: Is this a human being?
04:44: If the answer is yes, they need the gospel.
04:52: It's that simple.
04:52: Every single person around you needs the gospel.
04:59: Maybe they're already a Christian.
04:59: Fine.
04:59: They need to be encouraged by rehearing the good news, rehearing the foundation.
05:05: And not just the foundation of their faith and their salvation, but the basis for day-to-day Christian living.
05:09: We don't start with the gospel, the message of Jesus, and then move off into other things.
05:16: We start, continue, and finish with the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
05:22: You never outgrow that.
05:22: Maybe it's somebody who thinks they're a Christian, but really isn't.
05:27: Well, that's especially somebody that needs the gospel, right?
05:27: Because they think they're spiritually safe, and they're not.
05:33: And they need to understand that gospel good news message enough to discover that they're not where they think they are, and to be able to get where they need to get in relationship to God.
05:43: Or maybe it's somebody that knows that they're not a Christian, wouldn't think of themselves as a Christian.
05:47: That person needs the gospel in order to get right with God.
05:52: Every single person in your life is somebody to whom you should be sharing and presenting the gospel.
05:59: Romans chapter 1, verse 16 and 17 tells us, the apostle Paul writing to the church in Rome, I am not ashamed of the gospel.
06:06: For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
06:16: For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
06:23: Don't be ashamed of the good news message of Jesus.
06:29: This is the power of God in action, this good news of who Jesus is and what he's done.
06:35: It's how people get saved, avoiding the wrath of God, get to be with God forever.
06:35: It doesn't matter if you're a Jewish or a non-Jewish person, same method, same thing.
06:41: And it's also how we live as Christians.
06:48: The righteous shall live by faith.
06:48: This is key for all of it, so don't be ashamed of that.
06:56: Now, how does it play out in our passage this morning?
06:56: Well, the first thing we see is the story of Paul's encounter with Lydia.
07:01: Now, normally when Paul and company go into a new area, they start off by showing up at the synagogue.
07:07: That would be sort of the Jewish equivalent of a church, where they gather weekly on the Sabbath, which would be Saturday.
07:11: They gather to worship God.
07:17: Well, here, when he gets to Philippi, he doesn't do that.
07:17: And so scholars speculate, well, there probably wasn't enough Jewish presence in Philippi to have a synagogue.
07:23: You know, it kind of takes a core number.
07:29: Historically, they say, oh, you got to have at least 10 fellas for a minimum for a synagogue.
07:34: And instead, they find a place of prayer.
07:34: People are gathering on the Sabbath at this particular place down by the river to pray.
07:40: Now, are these Jewish people?
07:40: I don't know.
07:40: Passage doesn't say.
07:46: I'm thinking probably not.
07:46: We'll see why in a second.
07:46: But notice verse 13.
07:46: On the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer.
07:54: And we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
08:00: Well, first of all, that's weird.
08:00: Culturally, for these fellas to go seeking out a group of women, that kind of begins to cross some cultural status quo standards.
08:12: But you know who else did that?
08:12: Jesus.
08:12: John chapter 4, the woman at the well.
08:12: He, with his disciples off on an errand, engages a woman in conversation at this well.
08:19: And when the disciples come back, they're all like, what you doing, Jesus?
08:26: Like, they're uncomfortable.
08:26: They're not sure what to make of this whole situation.
08:30: Christianity is not afraid of crossing cultural lines to bring the gospel to everyone.
08:37: And Paul and company do that here.
08:37: They supposed this was a place of prayer.
08:45: Probably had asked around and got word.
08:45: Oh, yeah, there's some folks get together for prayer down in this area.
08:49: And one of them was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.
08:58: And what does it mean, a worshiper of God?
08:58: Now, she's not a Christian yet.
09:07: That's obvious from the story.
09:07: So it almost certainly means that she's worshiping the God of the Jewish people.
09:12: So she's either Jewish or, more likely, she's what's called a God-fearer.
09:20: So the Bible has consistently used this worshiper of God language to refer to somebody who would be called a God-fearer.
09:26: So you get these different levels.
09:26: You get, like, a Jewish, ethnically Jewish person who believes in the God of the Jews, believes in Judaism.
09:30: That would be a Jew.
09:34: And then you've got these proselytites who are not Jewish people, but who have embraced Judaism completely.
09:41: They're all in.
09:41: They follow all the rules of Judaism.
09:41: And then you've got a level down from that, which is God-fearer.
09:46: This is a not Jewish person who embraces Judaism mostly.
09:46: They're not necessarily committing to obey all the Old Testament laws.
09:53: They're not, if they're a fellow, getting circumcised.
09:59: But they're mostly on board with Judaism.
09:59: This is probably who she was.
10:04: That worshiper of God gives us that clue.
10:04: The other thing we know about her is that she's a seller of purple goods.
10:10: Now, today, that's no big deal.
10:10: You go to a store, you can buy a shirt in any color under the sun.
10:15: You can buy 17 shades of purple if you want.
10:15: You can buy a purple shirt in a discount store.
10:21: But back then, purple was a big deal.
10:21: Finding and getting dye to turn things purple was hard.
10:29: It was a big deal.
10:29: And so you know who wore purple stuff?
10:29: Rich people.
10:34: You know who peddled in purple stuff?
10:34: Rich people.
10:34: So she was probably a pretty wealthy woman.
10:42: And as Paul shares what happens, verse 14, we're told, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
10:50: I love that.
10:50: She ends up open-hearted, favorable to the message of Paul.
10:59: Why?
10:59: Because Paul rocked it this time.
10:59: Paul was just on fire today.
10:59: He was preaching like he never preaches.
11:06: No.
11:06: Credit isn't given to Paul for this.
11:06: Because Lydia was just such a fabulous person that she was just so ready to hear the gospel.
11:14: No, that's not what it says either.
11:14: It says God opened her heart.
11:19: This is a work of God.
11:19: And I don't think this is abnormal.
11:19: I think this is God's status quo, MO.
11:26: Nobody has a favorable, meaningful response to the gospel message except by God being at work in that person's heart.
11:34: There's a very, very simple principle here.
11:34: Paul opened his mouth.
11:42: God opened her heart.
11:42: That's how God works with the gospel.
11:42: Paul opened his mouth, sharing the message of Christianity, the good news about Jesus and who he is and what he's done.
11:50: And God opened her heart.
11:56: Now, I'm not saying that God does that every single time somebody shares about Jesus.
11:56: But God does it every single time that it has a meaningful, true spiritual impact.
12:03: Then and now.
12:03: So what's your job today?
12:13: It's not to open people's hearts.
12:13: That's God's work.
12:13: Your job is to open your mouth and let God open hearts.
12:18: You open your mouth with the gospel, good news message of Jesus and trust that in his perfect timing and wisdom, God's going to open hearts.
12:27: That's how we witness.
12:27: That's how we represent Jesus to the world around us today.
12:32: It's not about the wisdom or impressiveness of the preacher, but about God doing a spiritual work, causing a spiritually dead person to become spiritually alive.
12:44: Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
12:44: But expect them to be at work doing that kind of thing time and again, because God has told us in his word that's his plan.
12:50: That's his intention.
12:50: God sent Jesus to die in order to rescue people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, every people, including here in the Green Bay area.
13:03: Well, after she responds to the gospel message, because God opened her heart, what then?
13:08: Well, two things.
13:08: Verse 15.
13:08: After she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us saying, if you have judged me faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.
13:16: And she prevailed upon us.
13:23: There's a few things to notice there.
13:23: Did you notice that in our passage, we're seeing words like we and us, that's new in Acts.
13:28: Prior to this point, it was they and them.
13:28: Why?
13:28: Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, is almost certainly part of the group by this point.
13:41: This is where he kind of began firsthand participating in what's playing out.
13:46: So he's at this point saying, we, us, I was there too, right?
13:52: Probably picked up in Troas, which is the last part of the story before we shift to the we, us language.
13:56: Second thing we see is that she's baptized right away.
13:56: Like literally, I'm pretty sure it means that they're down by the river, they're praying, Paul and company show up, they start talking about Jesus, she's on board, she and her family believe, her household, and then they get baptized right then and there.
14:16: Like no preparations.
14:16: Hey, we got water, I'm believing, let's do it.
14:16: No delay.
14:24: Like that's, that's normal in the New Testament.
14:24: When I got baptized, I was in late high school, I'd become a Christian, I was talking to the youth pastor, I'd heard something about baptism on a Sunday morning.
14:34: So I approached him about it.
14:34: I'm like, I'm supposed to do that, right?
14:34: And he's like, yeah, yeah.
14:38: Like, okay, how do we do that?
14:38: How does that happen?
14:38: And normally they did it on Sunday mornings in the church.
14:43: They had this cool hallway, secret hallway in the back, and then like a baptismal in the middle.
14:47: And so you kind of come through and then they dunk you and you go out the other side.
14:51: But the youth pastor was like, we live by a lake.
14:51: Let's go do it in the lake.
14:51: I'm like, all right.
14:56: So the next youth group, we went out to the lake and he brought me out in the water and baptized me.
15:01: Well, here's the cool thing.
15:01: The guy that led me to Jesus, the guy that shared the message of Jesus with me had never been baptized.
15:07: Neither he nor his son.
15:07: And they were there.
15:07: The son was in youth group with me.
15:12: The guy that led me to Jesus was one of the volunteers of the youth group.
15:12: And they're like, wait a minute, you know, we've never been baptized.
15:16: We should be baptized.
15:16: And so they got baptized right then and there too.
15:19: I brought towels.
15:19: They didn't.
15:19: I brought a change of clothes.
15:26: They didn't.
15:26: They were sopping wet and trying to squeeze the water out of their clothes before they got back in their car.
15:30: They didn't care.
15:30: They realized if I'm a Jesus follower, I better take following Jesus seriously.
15:37: And so they did.
15:37: American delay on baptism is unbiblical.
15:37: It's not the pattern we see in the New Testament.
15:46: She and company get baptized right then and there by the river.
15:46: And then she says, hey, come to my house.
15:52: Come stay with me.
15:52: Right?
15:52: Again, probably a wealthy lady from the cellar of purple stuff.
15:57: She's got room to host Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke, possibly others with them, at least these four fellows.
16:04: Hey, in fact, she becomes kind of the headquarters for this gospel movement into Europe.
16:10: Love that.
16:10: Well, what's the next section we see?
16:10: We see this story of the servant girl who is demon possessed.
16:19: Verses 16 to 24.
16:19: Notice verse 16.
16:19: As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gained by fortune telling.
16:34: So there's this girl who's enslaved, a miner.
16:34: We don't know exactly what age.
16:40: And she has a demon in her.
16:40: This spirit of divination you see later in the passage when Paul casts it out.
16:45: That's what's going on here.
16:45: And her owners were not upset that she had a demon because they were using it for financial gain.
16:51: They were manipulating this girl so that the demon would tell them stuff that was going to happen.
16:57: They're selling this skill set to people so that people can get advantage.
17:02: It's a heartbreaking, tragic situation.
17:02: And this girl, because of the demon inside her, knows who these folks are and keeps telling folks, hey, these guys are representing God.
17:15: They're speaking the truth about who God is and the way of salvation.
17:21: And it begins to really bug Paul.
17:21: Day after day, it goes on.
17:21: Now, why does this frustrate Paul?
17:28: Because the stuff she says about them is true.
17:28: The text doesn't say why Paul was bothered.
17:35: I have my own guess.
17:35: This is just a guess.
17:35: A Christian band does not typically want a satanic band as their opening act, right?
17:42: She's a locally known commodity.
17:42: People know her as the demon girl.
17:51: And if you're trying to present truth about God, you maybe don't want the demon girl to be the one representing you.
17:57: That's my guess.
17:57: But for whatever reason, her testimony is mucking things up for them.
18:06: And Paul says, that's it.
18:06: And he cast the demon out of this girl.
18:13: I love that.
18:13: Anybody bothered by him doing that?
18:13: Not me.
18:13: I'm excited.
18:13: I read that.
18:13: I'm like, woohoo.
18:19: You'll love to see it, right?
18:19: Demon cast out.
18:19: Little young lady rescued from demonic possession.
18:26: But her owners are not pleased.
18:26: They're upset.
18:26: Verse 19.
18:26: When her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
18:41: These guys don't see a little girl rescued.
18:41: They see their money opportunity drying up.
18:41: You've ruined our golden goose.
18:48: And so they want Paul and company to get in trouble.
18:48: Now, pause for a moment.
18:48: Think about this.
18:54: These owners know that this girl has a demon.
18:54: Know that she speaks correctly of things that are to come.
19:03: They're using that for financial gain.
19:03: She then starts saying, hey, these guys are representing God.
19:09: These guys are telling their truth about how to get right with God.
19:09: What should their response be to Paul and company?
19:15: Tell us more, right?
19:15: With everything they know about this girl, they should say, we want to know what these guys are talking about because via our experience with this girl, we should be receptive to this.
19:28: Instead, they're upset because their money-making opportunity dried up.
19:36: Scholar Daryl Box notes here, money is more important to them than salvation, not to mention the woman's welfare and dignity.
19:45: That's a tragic reality playing out here.
19:55: Do you think that still happens today?
19:55: Do you think there are people that care more about money than getting right with God in 2026?
19:59: Do you think there are people that care more about money than about truth in 2026?
20:06: Absolutely.
20:06: We have to pause here and check our hearts and say, what's really important to us?
20:23: And what does our lifestyle say about what's really valuable to us?
20:30: If you look at your own life, does love of money have too much place?
20:30: Now, we all know what the correct answer ought to be.
20:39: But if you're really honest with yourself, are you where you need to be in your attitude toward and relationship with finances?
20:46: Are you elevating it to a place that it doesn't belong?
20:52: Caring more about money than anything else, these slave girl owners get Paul and Silas tossed into jail.
20:59: Seems in verse 22 probably like they're stirring up a mob, they're manipulating the rulers, and the result is that they are beaten and jailed overnight with no chance to defend themselves, no hearing, no trial.
21:10: Is that bad?
21:10: Yeah.
21:10: Is it also the next tool in God's toolbox?
21:10: Also yeah, right?
21:18: God's using this.
21:18: And so we move into the jail situation.
21:18: About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
21:22: Okay, that's weird.
21:22: Can we be honest about that?
21:29: That's weird, right?
21:29: Midnight is sleepy time, Paul.
21:29: It's not singing time.
21:29: Midnight is when you catch some strata.
21:35: It's not where you pray out loud and sing, have a little hymn fest where everyone else is listening.
21:41: They're not whispering these songs.
21:41: They're doing it loud enough that the other prisoners are hearing it, right?
21:45: Why?
21:45: Well, probably out of some sort of sense of their own need for God's provision, right?
21:54: They're offering prayer.
21:54: Probably some requests in there.
21:54: Possibly, probably also to a degree as witness to the people around them.
22:00: Hey, if you've got a captive audience, tell them about Jesus.
22:04: And third, I think they're happy.
22:04: I think they're pleased with how God is at work to some degree.
22:12: We saw earlier in our study of the book of Acts, chapter 5, verse 41, that the believers there left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
22:25: That they're following Jesus well enough that they're getting in trouble just for following Jesus.
22:30: And they're like, okay, we're on the right track.
22:30: Woo-hoo, God's at work.
22:30: God's using us.
22:36: Even if it means hard times, I want to be used by God.
22:36: And so they're rejoicing in that.
22:36: Are you on board with that?
22:42: Are you willing to go through hard things if that's what faithfulness to Jesus requires of you?
22:47: Are you happy to be used by God, even if the path he calls you to walk is not easy?
22:54: I think that's part of what's playing out here.
22:54: Now, I wish that I could say I'm always in that place.
22:58: I'm not.
22:58: I'm growing.
22:58: I'm a work in progress, not to be sure.
22:58: But what an amazing witness.
23:06: And the prisoners and jailer or jailers possibly alike are hearing what's going on.
23:06: And then, verse 26, God does a thing.
23:14: Suddenly, there was a great earthquake.
23:14: So the foundations of the prison were shaken.
23:19: And immediately, all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened.
23:26: I like that.
23:26: Right?
23:26: Major earthquake.
23:26: The whole building is shaken down to the foundation.
23:26: This isn't a minor tremor like, oh, did you feel that?
23:33: Like, everyone felt it.
23:33: The doors all bust open.
23:39: These are jail cell doors.
23:39: Right?
23:39: These are almost certainly metal contraptions.
23:39: And all the locks, everyone's bonds.
23:49: So all the stuff on their chains, like on their wrists and ankles and whatever, that shouldn't have been affected by the earthquake.
23:53: Like, that should have stayed put.
23:53: But that also busts open.
23:57: This is a God thing.
23:57: So if you're unjustly in jail and God shakes the shackles off you and busts open the doors, what do you do?
24:03: You run away.
24:03: Right?
24:03: But Paul doesn't get the memo.
24:14: He doesn't run away.
24:14: He stays put.
24:14: That's awesome.
24:14: We'll see why in a minute.
24:14: But here's a lesson from it.
24:21: Not every open door needs to be walked through.
24:21: Not every opportunity is one that you should seize.
24:29: I think of the Old Testament story about future King David, before he's king, on the run from present King Saul, who's trying to kill him.
24:35: God puts the situation such that David and company are in a cave when King Saul shows up solo to use the restroom, and David has the opportunity to take out his enemy and kill him.
24:50: And he doesn't do it, even though he's being encouraged to do so by his men.
24:50: He's like, no, yeah, I have the opportunity, but that's not what God would call me to do here.
25:01: Not every open door means that God is calling you to walk through it.
25:01: When it comes to discerning the will of God, opportunities are the least reliable indicator of what God is calling you to do.
25:15: They can be a piece of the puzzle, but scripture is number one.
25:15: What does God's word tell you about the will of God for your life?
25:22: You start there, and you never violate that.
25:22: Number two, prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
25:28: What is God doing at work in your life?
25:28: And third, what do the mature, Jesus-loving, Jesus-following people in your life have to say?
25:35: What kind of counsel and wisdom do they have for you?
25:39: You take those pieces much more significantly than you take opportunities, because you can't say yes to every opportunity around you.
25:45: God does not call you to do everything that needs doing.
25:50: You have to be discerning and say, is this what God is calling me to?
25:56: The jailer figures, okay, earthquake, everything's busted open, doors are open, they've all escaped, and so he gets ready to kill himself.
26:01: I'm imagining him pulling out a sword, getting ready to stab himself.
26:06: Paul sees, no, no, wait, hold on, we're still all here, we didn't leave.
26:13: Which I imagine probably also required Paul influencing some of the people, because if they're all free, some of them would have had the urge to run, I imagine.
26:17: Why would the jailer get ready to kill himself?
26:22: Well, death penalty for letting prisoners escape.
26:22: They, I mean, he'd literally guard them with your life kind of responsibility.
26:29: So he's going to get killed just for them escaping, and probably have some mistreatment on the way to his execution.
26:35: So I might as well just get it over to be done with, he figures.
26:40: But Paul interrupts, no, no, no.
26:40: Yeah, we could have left, we didn't, we're still here, you're okay.
26:44: And this becomes the turning point for this fellow.
26:44: He converts, becomes a believer in Jesus.
26:51: They don't walk through the open door, they don't seize the freedom that was available to them.
26:57: They say, we're going to trust God for that issue.
26:57: Right now, we've had an opportunity to witness to this guy by not running off.
27:03: And so the man becomes a believer.
27:03: He sees their miraculous escape opportunity, has heard something of their message at this point, and so his response to them, verse 30, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
27:14: He acknowledges their message has got to be from God for this to have taken place the way it does.
27:24: Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
27:28: Brothers and sisters, be ready to answer that question.
27:28: Don't leave this building today without understanding the answer to that question.
27:36: That is the most important question in the world, and nobody is going to get the correct answer to that question except from God's people and God's word.
27:49: Be prepared to answer the question, what must I do to be saved?
27:49: Verse 31 gives us the answer.
27:57: And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.
27:57: Now, that last part, you and your household.
28:05: Don't misunderstand that.
28:05: It's not saying, hey, if you believe, not only will you get saved, but your whole household family will get saved because you did it.
28:14: Rather, believe and be saved.
28:14: That works for you.
28:14: That works for your spouse, your kids, your live-in servants, whoever.
28:21: It's the same message for everyone.
28:21: Anytime, anywhere.
28:21: Now, we see this in verse 32.
28:28: And they, Paul and Silas, spoke the word of the Lord to him, the Philippian jailer, and to all who were in his house.
28:35: It's not that he gets saved and they get saved by extension.
28:41: He shares the message with the fella and his household.
28:41: So they're all hearing the gospel.
28:46: They're all getting on board with it at the same time.
28:46: Now, how is his family there?
28:46: I'm thinking they lived on site, that they were in the same place, because this is still taking place in the middle of the night.
28:56: Morning comes at the end of the passage.
28:56: So message gets shared, they believe.
29:02: Acts 1631 is a great verse to memorize so that you're prepared to answer the question, what must I do to be saved?
29:08: Now, I know some of you are thinking, oh, I can't just memorize verses.
29:08: That's hard.
29:12: How about this?
29:12: Memorize the key portion of the verse.
29:12: Believe in the Lord Jesus.
29:12: Not only can every one of you memorize that, you're going to memorize that before the sermon is done.
29:26: You're welcome.
29:26: Believe in the Lord Jesus.
29:26: Five words.
29:26: Y'all can do that.
29:26: Unless you've had an accident, five fingers, five words.
29:33: Believe in the Lord Jesus.
29:33: Well, when you share that with somebody, explain what belief means.
29:39: It doesn't mean agree with just your mind.
29:39: It means trust in, rely upon, right?
29:46: It means dependence on.
29:46: Trust, rely on Jesus for your salvation.
29:46: Salvation from what?
29:46: From the wrath of God against people for their rebellion against God and their wrongdoing, right?
29:55: That's easy enough.
30:01: Believe in the Lord Jesus.
30:01: Say it with me, right?
30:01: Acts 1631.
30:01: Believe in the Lord Jesus.
30:11: We'll explain what Lord means.
30:11: It means Jesus is the boss.
30:11: It means he's the master.
30:11: When you believe in him, when you rely on him, you're saying he gets to be in charge.
30:16: I will follow.
30:16: I will live the way he calls me to live.
30:20: That's not something you do to get saved.
30:20: It's part of the outflow of really trusting in him the way you're supposed to.
30:28: And so what do you say to that?
30:28: Believe in the Lord Jesus, right?
30:35: You embrace him as Lord.
30:35: And Jesus, well, who is that?
30:35: That's not just his name.
30:35: It's his identity.
30:41: Jesus, the name means God saves.
30:41: So you're believing in the one through whom God is saving.
30:52: God saves you.
30:52: You don't save you.
30:52: Your works, your efforts don't get you right with God.
30:52: God gets you right with God.
30:57: That's what you're relying on Jesus to do.
30:57: You're relying on Jesus, who is God, to rescue you from the wrath of God.
31:03: That's the salvation message in a nutshell.
31:03: Acts 1631.
31:10: Believe in the Lord Jesus.
31:10: Congratulations.
31:10: You're better equipped for witnessing now.
31:10: Believe in the Lord Jesus.
31:16: Acts 1631.
31:16: And it will produce fruit when you really believe in him.
31:16: We see it in verses 33 34.
31:24: He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds.
31:24: He was baptized at once, he and his family.
31:29: And then he brought them up into his house and set food before them.
31:29: Then he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
31:34: So it seems like he's living on site there, right?
31:38: He and his family.
31:38: What does he do?
31:38: The fruit of his faith right away.
31:38: First aid to Paul and Silas because they got beaten.
31:44: They need some first aid.
31:44: Number two, he feeds them a meal in the middle of the night.
31:50: And he gets baptized.
31:50: Well, how does that happen?
31:50: Well, the jail would have had a well on site to provide water.
31:55: Probably got baptized with well water.
31:55: Maybe they lowered down into the well.
32:00: Maybe they pulled a bunch out.
32:00: I don't know.
32:00: But they got baptized right then and there in the middle of the night.
32:05: Best midnight party ever, right?
32:05: And the whole family would have heard what happened, which is part of why they probably come to faith.
32:12: And again, we see this immediate baptism.
32:17: It's the initial step of obedience to the faith.
32:17: You want to be a Christian?
32:23: Being a Christian means being a Jesus truster and Jesus follower.
32:23: And one of the first things you do in obeying Jesus is get baptized.
32:28: It's really not that scary.
32:28: It's just water.
32:28: You'll be okay.
32:37: If you're a believer in Jesus and you haven't been baptized, talk to me.
32:37: We'll get you baptized pronto.
32:41: What happens next morning?
32:41: The authorities are ready to let them go.
32:47: The riot has been quashed.
32:47: The religious folks that are visiting the city have been chastised.
32:53: That's enough.
32:53: Let's let them go.
32:53: But Paul has other ideas.
32:53: Of course he does, right?
32:53: Of course Paul's going to have another idea.
32:58: Verse 37.
32:58: But Paul said to them, they have beaten us publicly.
33:05: Notice that.
33:05: It's not just they've beaten us.
33:05: They beat us publicly.
33:05: I think that's important.
33:10: Uncondemned men who are Roman citizens and have thrown us into prison.
33:10: And do they now come and throw us out secretly?
33:16: Public?
33:16: We got shamed publicly.
33:16: Now they're going to sweep it under the rug privately?
33:20: No.
33:20: Let them come themselves and take us out.
33:20: They never got a chance to defend themselves on the front end of things, which was unjust and illegal against Roman citizens under Roman law.
33:33: They were scourged without a hearing.
33:33: Also unjust and illegal under Roman law against Roman citizens.
33:38: Basically, the leadership treated them like they were non-citizens and were mistreating them.
33:46: And instead they found out, uh-oh, we did that to American citizens, or in this case Roman citizens, we could get in a lot of trouble.
33:51: So they're like, oh, oh, we're so sorry.
33:51: You know, we just want to get you in your way.
33:55: We don't want to, we don't want any more trouble.
33:59: Why does Paul make them come out and personally escort them out?
33:59: The text doesn't say.
33:59: I think we can infer it though, based on the rest of how Paul and company handle prioritizing Jesus.
34:05: I don't think it was about Paul saving face for himself or, or feeling like he was owed an apology.
34:13: That doesn't fit with who Paul is in the rest of the New Testament.
34:18: I think what's going on here is Christianity is getting a bad reputation in Philippi straight out of the gate because of this wrong handling of the situation.
34:31: I think that they and their message with them were publicly maligned and they have an opportunity to get some degree of reparation for that for the sake of the gospel and the reputation of the Christians, these new believers in town, and to reduce barriers for sharing the gospel in the future.
34:45: The ESV study Bible note here is really helpful.
34:51: It says, Paul was concerned for the public reputation of his gospel message and also no doubt for the good standing of the church that was being established at Philippi.
35:01: Thus he insisted on public vindication lest the people of Philippi continue to believe that he was some troublemaker and a lawbreaker, ideas that would have presented barriers to the gospel in Philippi for years to come.
35:13: Paul wanted to make clear that a mistake had been made.
35:13: Christianity is no threat to Rome.
35:21: Christians should be no threat to the established government unless the government requires them to sin.
35:30: We are not anarchist believers.
35:30: We are folks who submit to God through faith in Jesus and as an extension of that we submit to the God-given authorities over us.
35:40: We see that spelled out very clearly in Romans 13 and other related passages.
35:47: Paul recognized that their witness about Jesus was at stake here.
35:59: Now he was on a missionary trip, so obviously, but here's the reality.
35:59: You are always witnessing, whether you want to or not, whether you intend to or not.
36:07: People around you are watching you and when you go to share your faith or they discover that you're a Christian, they're going to evaluate Christianity.
36:14: They're going to evaluate the message of Jesus based on how you've been living.
36:19: So witness intentionally.
36:19: Witness well, not only with your words, absolutely with your words, open your mouth and let God open hearts, but also with your lifestyle.
36:35: Live in a way that honors Jesus all the time.
36:35: We say here that our mission is for every believer to become, make, mature, and multiply fully surrendered disciples of Jesus Christ.
36:42: When you're making disciples, that starts with sharing about Jesus with them.
36:48: And the first steps to that are usually how you're living before you even open your mouth.
36:54: So live as though you're representing Jesus all day, every day.
37:02: Because the truth of the matter is you are.
37:02: You're representing Jesus in how you treat your kids at home.
37:08: How you treat or ignore the people around you at church.
37:08: How you do your job at work.
37:18: How you interact with your neighbors.
37:18: If you explode in anger when something doesn't go your way, etc.
37:26: Witness well.
37:26: Witness intentionally.
37:26: So that when you open your mouth, they have already in their minds and hearts a favorable understanding of the difference that faith in Jesus can make.
37:35: Amen?
37:42: Let's pray.
37:42: God help us.
37:42: God help us.
37:42: We cannot save ourselves.
37:42: We can't fix ourselves.
37:49: We can't get ourselves on the wrong, on the right side of things to begin with.
37:49: We can't start the fix.
37:55: We can't continue the fix.
37:55: We can't finish the fix.
37:55: We are utterly dependent on you to save.
38:02: What must we do to be saved?
38:02: Believe in the Lord Jesus.
38:02: From beginning to end, that is your provision and solution.
38:10: Help us to rely, to trust in Jesus every single day, no matter what we're facing.
38:17: Help us to do that as though he is the master that you've set him up to be.
38:17: That he is the one in charge.
38:25: Which makes sense.
38:25: He's more qualified for the job than we are.
38:25: We make a mess of things when we try to be our own boss.
38:31: And let us trust in the one whose very identity is God doing the saving.
38:40: Jesus is not a mere good moral teacher.
38:40: He is the one who rescues all who trust in him from the wrath of God.
38:46: Help us to live that way today, this afternoon, this evening, and tomorrow as we go about our normal routines and business.
38:53: We pray these things in Jesus' name.
38:53: Amen.