Hard places are no stranger to any of us. We all walk through moments that feel suffocating, where disappointment, pain, or pressure make freedom seem out of reach. The temptation is to shut down, focus on what’s missing, or start believing nothing will ever change.
But what if the breakthrough starts with worship? What if praise comes before freedom? Just like Paul and Silas, Job, and David, we can be honest with God and also sing when we absolutely don't feel like it. And often these raw moments are where change begins.
Not just for you, but for your family and community.
Because freedom isn't just personal. It's contagious. And as you find your midnight song, the chains binding you and those around you can begin to break. Your story of apin can become someone else's hope.
Job 1:20-22; Psalm 30:5 34:1, 119:105; Isaiah 61:1; Acts 16:25-34; Galatians 5:1
00:00:00 - Welcome and Announcements
As we enter August, we will be changing our Sunday gathering times to 9:00 and 10:30 AM and our midweek gathering will shift to Wednesdays at 6:00 PM.
00:02:55 - Valleys of Tears and Spring of Hope
The name "Springhouse" is rooted in Psalm 84— "As they pass through the Valley of Baka (tears), they make it a place of springs...."
00:04:34 - Finding Songs in the Night
In hard times, we should remember Paul and Silas in Acts 16. They found worship at midnight. Pain can help us trust God more and show strong hope for those who come after us.
00:10:07 - Anchored Trust Outshines Circumstance
Midnight Worship is not about knowing all the answers. It is about having strong trust that God is there and good, even when situations or what others think make us doubt.
00:12:06 - Freedom Breaks Chains for All
When we worship in our prisons, it creates changes that can spread to others. As we're transformed, it affects our families and communities, too.
00:17:03 - Your Breakthrough Becomes Legacy
No matter if you feel free or still trapped, choosing to worship through the tough times creates a legacy of hope and freedom for your kids and future generations.
00:23:38 - Redeemed for a Purpose
God’s greatest miracle isn't just breaking chains but redeeming lives. Sometimes He leaves us in hard places for the sake of someone else’s salvation, showing that personal freedom is designed to multiply into community restoration.
https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/midnight-songs
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Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
A couple of small orders of business or just a little
Speaker:note to the family, we have a couple of changes coming up. I
Speaker:know you're like, I think we've had enough anyway. But
Speaker:this one, I think these are a couple of them that I feel are really
Speaker:good. I shared with you all at some point, at least I think I did.
Speaker:When my mom was passing and I was in the hospital with her that
Speaker:week, she was giving me instructions, final
Speaker:instructions. My mom and my dad pastored and I was
Speaker:talking to my mom. I had crawled up in bed with her and I said,
Speaker:mom, tell me, what do you want with your church? How do you wanna do
Speaker:this? What do you wanna do? And she had two instructions. And those two
Speaker:instructions were, number one, she said, do not tax the people. And
Speaker:number two, don't make it harder than it has to be. And that has
Speaker:just been awakened in my spirit recently. And there are a couple of things I
Speaker:would like to do that I feel like for fall into those categories.
Speaker:Number one, we are going to, on August 2nd, move our
Speaker:gatherings back to. It's not gonna. Well, yeah, it will affect you guys.
Speaker:You get out earlier anyway. 9 and 10 30,
Speaker:the meetings will not be. The services will not be
Speaker:identical. But what you might lose if you're in first gathering
Speaker:is you might lose one song or something like that. But as far as
Speaker:the teaching and the worship, we're going to go the same places, but It'll
Speaker:be a one hour gathering and then we'll start the second
:30. That means you get out at
:noon. And I think that's helpful for people, especially if you got young kids
:and it's nap time and it's your nap time. And anyway,
:so you're. I just. That was something that was in my spirit. The other
:thing was to move our services back to
:Wednesday night. And the reason that I feel like that's important is
:because I've had so many families who have
:kids that are. Want to be in sports and your family is
:involved in that. And that means that you have to make a choice between whether
:your kids can be here in youth or whether you can
:allow them to pursue things that they are gifted in and that they
:enjoy. So the simple solution to that for me is
:that we're gonna go back to Wednesday nights. You still get
:cafe food from five to six, you still get fed, but it will
:be on Wednesday nights from 6 to 7. And we're gonna begin that on
:August 5th. So I hope, it would be my hope that that's a
:blessing to you that that's something that makes life a little easier
:for you and maybe takes away some of the difficulties. I
:know because I've talked with some of you, and it's been a difficult choice
:for you, and my hope is that you won't have to make that choice now.
:So let your kids run. Let them
:do what, you know, God gifted that little football player and that little
:cheerleader. Let's let them do it and still come and be with their friends
:and their family here on Wednesday nights. I guess that was about all I
:really wanted to share with y'. All. Maybe not. This has been a
:journey, guys. And I don't know if you remember when I first
:two weeks ago, I said, I feel like, you know, all the Lord's given me
:so far is three weeks. Well, this is week three. Y' all are in so
:much trouble. This is week three. But fortunately,
:because of the blessing of the Lord, we have other teachers in this house that
:God has called. So next week, Pastor Justin will be bringing
:a word on Saturday sacrificial worship. And he'll be talking to you about
:Jesus and the price that he paid in his worship. And this one. This one
:tickles me, guys, because what I gave Pastor Jonathan was
:the title Even More Undignified than this.
:He's so happy. Anyway, but about the worship
:that David presented to the Lord. So the next two weeks, we have
:powerful men of God bringing the Word according
:to worship, and we are going to worship anyway, right? But I have
:felt like these last three weeks have kind of been our own
:Valley of Baca. Our scripture base for
:this church is Psalm 84. It's why we're called
:Springhouse. It says when they pass through the Valley of Tears,
:they make it a place of springs. And the Lord has allowed
:this over many years with this body, that when people
:pass through the Valley of Tears, they find the springs.
:They become the wells and the springs. And I'm excited
:that he's given us the opportunity to walk through that valley.
:But I also see in my spirit that we are just on the other
:side of it. So I'm excited about that as well.
:This week, I'm going to talk to you guys about
:midnight songs. Midnight songs.
:And I would imagine most of you who are biblically
:literate and enjoy the Word, you know that I'm gonna talk to you about Paul
:and Silas and their midnight songs. And I felt
:like when the Lord was just kind of taking me through this, I felt like
:that's kind of where we've been you know, that's kind of where we've been. Having
:to find a midnight song, having to find the place of worship and
:praise that's on the inside of us when our circumstances were not
:necessarily what we would have chosen. And this isn't the first
:time that any of us have been through a hard place. Right? And it
:won't be the last time. So how wonder that
:God would teach us how to birth a midnight song in
:those places and give us the opportunity to not only learn it for ourselves,
:but to teach it and model that for the generation behind
:us. This is what you do when you walk through a hard place. This is
:what it looks like, this is what it feels like. We're not denying it, but
:we're also not gonna live in the valley of tears. We're just not going to.
:We're not called to. Scripture says they passed through, they pass through.
:So now when we go to Acts 16, if you have your
:Bibles, I'm gonna encourage you, man.
:Bring your Bible as often as you can. And if you need one,
:let me know. We'll get you one, but we're gonna go.
:Paul and Silas, let me set this up for you in chapter
:16. Paul and Silas are ministering and there is this woman that
:keeps following behind them and she is shouting and she's
:bothering them and she's interrupting basically what they're doing. And she is
:a fortune teller and she's actually a slave.
:And she, because of her fortune telling abilities, she
:is earning a lot of money for the people who own her. Well, so she's
:following Paul and Silas and she's yelling and interrupting and yelling
:and interrupting. And finally it says after several days, which tells you how
:patient Paul must have been, you know. Cause most of us would have snapped back
:like the first time, you know, he's like, you're gonna stop anyway. But
:what he does is he turns around and after several days he turns around and
:he rebukes the spirit that's in her and tells her to come out.
:Come out. And it does. And of
:course her owners are really upset because they lost their
:source of income. And so they're furious and they go to the
:magistrates and they have Paul and Silas. They convict
:Paul and Silas. And it says in verse 22, the crowd
:joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to
:be stripped, beaten. After they had been
:severely flogged, they were thrown into prison and the jailer
:was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he
:put them in the inner cell not the outer cell. There was
:no daylight here. And fastened their feet in stocks.
:And here's where we're going. About midnight,
:Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns. Do you ever wonder what
:hymn they were singing? Seriously,
:don't think it was Amazing Grace, but what hymns?
:See, it could have been a psalm of ascent, because we know
:that David had songs of ascent and that the
:children of Israel sang songs as they traveled. You don't know
:what that is, but that's interesting. About midnight, Paul and
:Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the other prisoners
:were listening to them. Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake that
:the foundations of the prison were shaken. All. All at once, the prison
:doors flew open and everybody's chains came loose.
:Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the truth of your
:word. It is where we stand, Lord. It is what
:lights our path. It is what shows us which way to go
:and which way to turn. So, Father, we thank you for your word and we
:thank you for the Holy Spirit. That explains it to us. Over and
:over again, I ask, Lord, that my stuff fall in your stand
:in Jesus name. Amen. The cool thing
:here is that the chains come off.
:And when the jailer wakes up and sees that the chains are gone,
:he grabs a knife and he's gonna kill himself because he just
:assumes that all the prisoners have run out. But they didn't.
:They didn't. They did not run out. And Paul tells
:him, don't do that. Don't do that. We're all still here.
:So here's the thing. Midnight worship is the worship that rises from
:prison floors. Midnight worship is that place where you're
:like, you know, Paul and Silas, let's see, beaten,
:flogged, stripped, beaten with canes,
:humiliated. You would think they might have had a reason,
:sitting on that prison floor, to begin to complain and to
:gripe. I'm probably. I think I would have been crying just a little bit.
:I mean, like, did you see? I was just stitching me anyway. But that was
:a Paul and Silas, they had a reason to
:worship. And that's what came up. Because, see, to Paul and Silas, it was never
:about Paul and Silas. It was about a message that they had to
:carry. It was about a word of hope that was supposed to be released
:to a people. And they had seen it with their own eyes. And they knew.
:They knew that message needed to go, and so they just worshiped. They knew that
:the situation did not matter. It says about midnight, Paul and
:Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
:midnight worship is not a song of understanding, but a song of
:anchored trust. Remember when we talked about anchored trust?
:That allows us to sink that anchor into the place where we
:just trust God, no matter what's happening here or
:here or here or here or at home or at work or any
:of those things to go. God, I trust you.
:That's where your anchor is. Guys, everybody's not gonna like what you
:do. Everybody's not gonna agree with what you do.
:They're not going to be able to. You know what your assignment is?
:Your assignment is to hear from the Holy Spirit and do
:what he says to do, because everybody will have an
:opinion about what you should or shouldn't do. You need to hear
:from the Holy Spirit. If you will hear from the Holy Spirit,
:he will direct your path. His word is
:a lamp unto my feet. It is a light
:unto my path. That's where I'll walk, and
:that's where you need to walk every day of your life.
:Every day of your life. I asked the Lord, I said, lord, give me examples
:of this. And of course, you know which example he would give me. Job.
:Job, listen. He had just lost his family.
:He lost all of his kids. He lost everything.
:The things he owned. He lost his cattle. He lost his stock. He lost
:his servants. Everything was lost.
:Everything was lost. And this is what he said when all of
:the news came to him. When everything. When the last bit
:of bad news came, he said, at this, Job got up,
:he tore his robe and shaved his head.
:Then he fell to the ground in worship and said, naked I came
:from my mother's womb, and. And naked I will depart.
:The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.
:May the name of the Lord be praised. In all this, Job did
:not sin. By charging God with wrongdoing.
:So often we begin to blame God for things that
:God's goodness was in the middle of this.
:He just couldn't see it yet. God's goodness
:is in the middle of these painful places, if we
:will just look for it. Here's what I know.
:Job's darkest night gave voice to his deepest worship. His
:midnight song. I came to this planet with nothing,
:and I will leave this planet with nothing. But I will
:praise the name of the Lord every single
:day, regardless. Every day, regardless. God
:is good and he is. Is faithful. And that's where I
:will stand, the next one that he gives me. Of
:course you're gonna get a quote from David because David was known for being the
:radical worshiper, right? I will bless the
:Lord at All times, his praise shall continually be
:in my mouth. Do you know, when he wrote that
:he was fleeing, he was pretending that he was a crazy
:man because of King Asaph.
:Saul was chasing him. He'd been hiding in caves. He'd had
:to leave his home. He was running for his life. And he
:says, as I will bless the Lord at all times,
:his praise shall continually be in
:my mouth. He was probably in one of his most
:difficult seasons, and he chose the midnight
:song of I will bless the Lord at all times.
:Hmm. But here's the thing. The most powerful
:prisons are not the ones around us. They're the ones within us.
:Nobody else holds you captive.
:It's the things that we grab onto in our spirits and convince ourselves that we're
:captive because in Christ, it was for
:freedom that he has set us free.
:He has done that. One of the most powerful images I feel like he gave
:me one time was there was this
:bar or chain or fence, and there
:was a handcuff clipped to that. And
:then there was an open part of the handcuff down here, and it was
:open, and it was just hanging there. Just hanging there, connected to metal,
:Open wide. And I just kept walking back over and putting my arm in it.
:I just kept walking back over and putting my arm in it. He's like, when
:do you realize that you're free? Or are you so
:used to the chain that it has become your most familiar place?
:These things that bind us. See, I believe it's significant that they
:put Paul and Silas in the innermost prison,
:because I believe that's where we struggle is in the innermost prison,
:where we have to find a way to praise way out
:of it. Here's what I believe. God is looking for people who will trust him
:enough to worship. Before the breakthrough, that's what Paul and Silas
:were doing. They were trusting God before the breakthrough.
:They weren't singing hymns and songs because God had delivered
:him. They were singing hymns and songs because they knew the
:God who could. They knew the God who
:could.
:Immediately, all the doors were opened and everyone in
:chains were unfastened. What, not just
:theirs. Not just theirs. You know,
:everybody is affected when you get free,
:because everybody's affected when you're bound. Do you really
:think your bondage does not affect your family?
:Do you really think those places that we carry are just limited
:to us? They're not. There's nothing like watching
:somebody get free. There's nothing like watching somebody get
:free. Nothing watching. And it just sets everything
:free. I
:was thinking about the Fact that the earthquake could have just gone right there,
:could have just gone there to Paul and Silas, could have just loosened
:their chains, could have just opened their doors, but it didn't. It went to
:everybody. Because it says that everyone was
:listening. Everyone was listening. So the
:testimony was not, we're gonna worship and we're gonna get free.
:The testimony was, we're gonna worship and we're all gonna be free.
:We're all gonna get free. I love that even the winds and
:waves obey him. The earthquake was not random. It was heaven's
:response to a midnight song. Let me explain this
:now, guys. This is not Bible. Well, it is kind of, but it's my
:interpretation of something. I believe worship affects the
:elements. I believe it shifts the room. I believe
:that it changes the atmosphere. And I believe that
:the earth responds. Scripture tells us that if we don't
:cry out, the rocks will cry out. Right? It says that the trees
:in the field will clap their hands. We know that
:the seas parted at a word. We know that at a command, the
:Jordan was split. We know that fire was called
:down from heaven. We know that at some point the sun stood
:still in the sky. And we know that Jesus commanded the ocean
:waves. Right?
:Don't tell me worship doesn't shift something. If one word can part a
:sea, what do you think a thousand people worshiping him does? What
:do you think can happen in a space when everybody
:finds a voice of midnight worship and begins to
:call on the name of the Lord before the breakthrough and tell him how good
:he is? God has stuff for this
:house. I want you to know that God has
:moves in this house that we have not experienced before.
:And I believe that there is a contingency. There is a thing that's
:gonna happen in our worship that is gonna shift an
:atmosphere and change some things. And I'm good
:with that. I want what he wants. I believe that
:there's gonna be healing. I believe that there's gonna be deliverance. I
:believe that there are gonna be chains that fall off of people's
:lives. I believe there's gonna be generational blessing
:released in this house. The Holy
:Spirit does. Anybody else does.
:All we want is him to do what he does best.
:Amen. Amen. That's what I want. That's where we're going.
:Oh, my goodness. The Word says, he has sent me to proclaim
:liberty to the captives. Jesus did not just come to forgive
:sinners. He came to free prisoners.
:You're not supposed to walk bound. You're just
:not. You know what's beautiful about this. This is all the
:way back in Isaiah, this prophetic voice. In Luke 4,
:you see Jesus stand and he reads this passage from
:Isaiah. He reads this whole thing. I have set
:people.
:In the eye.
:The power, that word
:in your presence. That's the power. And
:see, that has been released into this atmosphere,
:the atmosphere that we live in today. That has
:been released. That God.
:That God. Oh, that's the one I want. The earthquake did
:not stop at Paul's cell. And that's the power of personal
:breakthrough. It becomes corporate freedom.
:Personal breakthrough has the potential to
:become corporate breakthrough because all of the other prisoners were listening.
:All of the other prisoners were listening. And if we'll just
:listen, God has breakthrough. Guys, I
:meant this. I just believe,
:you know, in my own spirit. I look, you know, it's felt a little bit
:like crossing the Jordan. These last few weeks have
:felt a little bit like that. But in all of it,
:I just. I see the other side of the river.
:I see the other side of the river. And it's good. It is good
:if we will keep our eyes fixed and set on him.
:See, here's the thing. We are in the middle of this. I believe every life
:leaves a legacy. The only question is whether yours will be one of
:bondage or freedom. Your
:life will leave a legacy.
:My father started out as a pastor. He wound up in
:alcoholism. He wound up in different things. And it's like
:these things that we leave behind. And I
:don't want to leave anything behind that overshadows the
:goodness of God in my life. My legacy. I pray.
:And, guys, I have failed so many times,
:but my prayer would be that my legacy for my children would be to
:go. God is good and he is faithful, and you can trust
:him. No matter what, no matter what you're facing,
:find your midnight song. Because he is worthy of. Of
:that song. Will your legacy be one of
:grumbling and complaining and fighting and staying bound? Or
:will your children see you get free?
:If we live chained? Our children learn to survive in prisons. But when
:we worship through darkness, they learn that prisons do not have
:the final word and freedom is possible.
:And here's the beautiful thing about this one, guys. Your freedom becomes someone
:else's theology. Your freedom becomes someone
:else's theology. What do I mean? When Israel finally
:crossed the Red Sea, the generations forever would remember. Our God
:delivers. Our God delivers. What are
:you gonna take from this moment in time? God met
:us. God met us. He supplied us.
:He covered us. He cared for us. He never
:left us. He never. He didn't offer sin, forsake us. He
:was faithful. He was faithful because
:we could get so focused on the earthquake and on
:that particular miracle. But you know what the greatest miracle was? The greatest
:miracle at that prison wasn't the earthquake. It was the guard's salvation.
:It was the guard's salvation. Somebody who was on the brink
:of suicide and desperation.
:And because someone was faithful enough to sing a midnight
:song and then stick around for a little while
:to see what God would do.
:The purpose of God's power is not merely to amaze people, but to
:redeem them. It's to redeem them. God
:does the most amazing things. But even parting the sea was
:about saving the people.
:That's who he is. That's the God. That's
:the God. And he is
:still out redeeming the people. See,
:sometimes God leaves you in a difficult place because someone trapped there needs your song.
:Guys, we ought to be singing
:and then stay a little longer. I love
:that. They could have got up and ran,
:but it says they didn't. And because of that, the
:jailer was saved. And then that jailer goes and he
:washes the wounds of Paul and Silas.
:He washes the wounds of Paul and Silas, and then
:his whole family gets saved. And you know
:what's also really cool in this is that
:the next day, the magistrates come and they find out, oh,
:wait, Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. And they're like, oh,
:man, we could be in big trouble here.
:And here's what they do, because this is what we like to do. We like
:to just, like, just leave quietly.
:You're released. Go ahead and go.
:And Paul goes, I don't think so.
:I'm a Roman citizen. What you did was illegal.
:You can publicly apologize and you can come escort me, and then I will
:leave the prison. And that's exactly what they
:did. And so they escort him out and they're going, you can
:go now. He's like, no, I think I'm going to go visit my friend
:Lydia for a little while. And then after we've eaten and had a good
:day, then I'll probably head out. But thank you anyway.
:Deliverance looks like Deliverance looks. They
:stayed. They stayed. And the Lord did what he
:did. I love that. Here's the thing, guys. Midnight never
:gets the final word. Midnight never gets the
:final word. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy
:comes in the morning. And you want to know something beautiful?
:Look at this. God has never failed to send one
:single sunrise. Not one time. Not
:one time. And if joy comes in the morning and he's sending the
:morning, we are in pretty good company, don't you think?
:Joy comes in the morning. Paul and Silas did not
:sing because they liked where they were, but because they knew who was
:with them.
:Never confuse the presence of pain with the absence of God.
:Never confuse. Just cause it hurts doesn't mean it isn't God.
:Just cause you don't like it doesn't mean it isn't God. Never
:confuse the presence of pain with the absence of God. And
:I just ask you this. What if God is waiting on your midnight song for
:you to break free from whatever it is, whatever you're still carrying,
:whatever you're still thinking, whatever's still holding you back? What
:if all it will cost you is a song? What if I
:reach down to center place where this
:word or this hurt or this pain has bound you
:and find that song? Here's what I believe
:your midnight worship declares. These chains will not define me.
:This prison will not hold me. This past no longer
:owns me. This pain will not take my
:voice. Because God has the final word.
:God gets the final word. He does. And I'm so grateful
:that he does. That's the word that I need.
:That's the word that I need. And I was thinking about this. Let me. I
:think if I'll grab this. Cause I wanted to read it to you. I was
:thinking about when I was thinking about all the elements and how they
:move and worship and respond. I
:was thinking about these songs.
:I was thinking about hard places and people who faced them.
:And I thought, if stone walls could sing,
:Jericho's song would be Sound the trumpets,
:raise your voice like a mighty shout and worship till
:the walls fall. Worship
:till the walls fall.
:If seas could sing, the Red Sea song would be.
:All who are fearful, trust him. Your
:captivity is behind you. The God
:of the breakthrough is before you. Just move.
:Just move.
:If tombs could sing, there is one
:that would cry out. He called my name. He called
:my name. The grave clothes fell and I
:can breathe again. The
:song. And if prison
:walls in Philippi could sing, their melody would be
:O beaten, bound,
:battered, chained and long held captive.
:Sing your song at midnight.
:Sing your song at midnight.
:Sing your song at midnight.
:Ah, Jesus. I know we are called
:in all of it to worship anyway. To
:worship anyway. And so that's what we're getting ready to do.
:This is week three. And I believe in my spirit that
:this is significant. So I'm gonna come down here with you guys
:and I need as many of you that will come. We're getting
:ready to sing I'm Free. I'm free.
:Thank God. Thank God. We're gonna sing it. And as we
:sing it, here's what I want you to imagine in your mind.
:Any chains that have held you back, any
:disappointment that has broken your heart, any
:unforgiveness. You need to release anything
:that has bound you, whether it's been for three weeks or three
:years or three decades. We're gonna make a
:declaration and we're gonna come together and we're gonna worship through. And
:I know that it's a new song for you, but it's not a new song
:for the ages. Because over and over and over,
:people have been set free by this God that we love.
:Serve
:God. I am free. So, Father, I ask that you would
:just meet us. We're going to worship for just a minute. We're going to
:tell you it is because of the price that you paid. It is because
:of everything that you have done, not because of anything that we have
:earned, that we are free. And we are going to give you the glory
:for it. Father, in Jesus name. Let's crank it up.
:Jonathan.