Pastor Josh Massaro emphasizes the importance of recognizing and being thankful for closed doors in our lives, illustrating how God's guidance often comes through these seemingly negative experiences. He recounts the story of Paul and his missionary journey in the Book of Acts, highlighting how God redirected Paul from Asia to Macedonia, ultimately leading to the first European convert, Lydia. This episode explores the profound impact of obedience to God's will, even when it leads to unexpected trials, such as Paul and Silas facing imprisonment after casting out a demon. Through their response of prayer and praise in the midst of suffering, they serve as a powerful testimony to those around them. Pastor Josh encourages listeners to embrace closed doors as opportunities for God's greater plans and to remain steadfast in faith, trusting that every circumstance serves a purpose in their spiritual journey.

Pastor Josh Massaro leads a profound discussion on the significance of closed doors in our spiritual journeys, drawing from the Book of Acts. He reflects on the Apostle Paul's experience as he was directed away from Asia and toward Macedonia, emphasizing how sometimes God's plans diverge from our expectations. The podcast delves into the concept of gratitude for divine conviction and the doors God closes, framing these experiences as blessings that often lead to greater opportunities. Through the story of Lydia, the first convert in Europe, Pastor Josh illustrates how God opens hearts and provides avenues for the gospel to spread, showcasing the transformative power of faith. The episode culminates in a reminder that through trials and tribulations, believers can maintain their faith and witness, as demonstrated by Paul and Silas while imprisoned. Their unwavering praise and prayer not only uplifted their spirits but also served as a testimony to the other prisoners around them, reinforcing the idea that even in dark times, our responses can reflect God's glory and lead others toward salvation.

Takeaways:

• The importance of being thankful for closed doors and divine direction in our lives.
• Paul's obedience to God's call led to significant outreach in Macedonia, changing lives.
• Prayer and praise can serve as powerful testimonies during trials and hardships in life.
• Witnessing Lydia's conversion highlights the necessity of open hearts for the gospel.
• Demon possession illustrates the reality of spiritual warfare and reliance on Jesus' authority.
• The response of Paul and Silas to persecution teaches us about faith in adversity.

Thank you for joining our podcast. Visit our website at https://middletownbaptistchurch.org/

Subscribe to our YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@middletownbaptistchurchde5091

Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MBCDelaware

This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of the Ask Ralph Podcast, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.askralphpodcast.com/

Pastor Josh: 00:00:00

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:06

My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:10

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:16

Now, come along.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:17

Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:23

Well, we're in the Book of Acts.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:25

If you have your Bibles, turn there with me.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:27

Last week, we looked at what happens when the Lord closes a door.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:35

We talked this morning about how we can be thankful for conviction, not something that we're normally thankful for.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:44

We don't usually go around the table and say, lord, I'm thankful for when you convicted me on that sin.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:50

Well, maybe we should.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:52

But one other thing that we don't normally give thanks for around the dinner table, around church is when God closes the door.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:01

You haven't heard a lot of people stand up and say, well, I was thankful when God stopped me in my tracks when I was trying to do this for him, and he stopped me.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:08

But I can tell you some of the most impactful blessings that God has had in my life is when he told me no, when he closed the door, when he changed my direction.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:19

And if you go back, I know last week we had chili on our minds, but very quickly, before we went to our chili cook off, we did talk about that door that was closed for Paul and his missionary group.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:31

So let's go back and review that very quickly.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:34

It says that Paul had a desire to go to Asia to preach the word.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:40

Something that we would say is, that's a good thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:43

God, though, had other plans.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:46

God closed the door for him to go to Asia at that point and then actually closed the door again when he wanted to go to a different place and directed him to a place called Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:57

Now, at the time, Paul probably had no idea why God closed those doors and moved him to a place of Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:04

But we're going to see in this passage of scripture the reason why that God wanted to open a bigger door to minister to the people of Europe.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:13

Macedonia is in Europe.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:15

And so Paul had a desire to go to Asia.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:17

Now, in your mind, don't think about.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:19

I mean, you can think about a world map, but their world was a lot smaller in their minds.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:23

Okay, so we're talking roughly about Turkey and the area of Turkey and Greece and that region of the world.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:30

And so Paul wanted to go to the Asia side to preach.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:33

God had a plan for him to go to Macedonia the European side, to open that door.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:38

Paul had no idea what God had in store, but he did know that God spoke to him by way of a vision.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:43

And there was a man from Macedonia that called out for help.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:46

And what does Paul do?

Pastor Josh: 00:02:48

Even though he didn't understand, even though it wasn't his will, he obeyed God's plan.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:53

He obeyed God's will and said, okay, we're going to go help the people in Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:57

And what did he do to help them?

Pastor Josh: 00:02:59

Well, he brings them the Gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:01

That's the number one thing that we do when we need to help people.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:03

We can help people financially, we can help people when it comes to their physical needs, but ultimately we must help them with the cause of the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:11

So that's what Paul does.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:13

It says there in verse number 10.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:15

And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:22

So immediately Paul obeys.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:24

Immediately Paul goes, and it says, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:32

So Paul says, God wants us to preach.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:35

We're going to do that.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:35

We're going to obey.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:37

Now we're going to pick up a verse number 11 and we're going to see more about this door that is opened in Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:43

We're not going to cover all of it here this evening, but what we are going to do is we're going to see that God has a better plan.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:49

When we have a plan, sometimes God has a better plan.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:52

So if I didn't say we're in Acts, chapter 16, verse number 11, it says, therefore loosening from Troas.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:57

They were in Troas and we came with a straight course to Samothrassia and the next day to Neapolis.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:05

Now he's describing real places and he's describing their, their path via ship to Macedonia, verse 12, and from thence to Philippi.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:14

That's a place that you probably are familiar with, the Philippian Church.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:17

He goes to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:21

So he obeys, he goes to Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:23

This is a trip Paul and his missionary team made.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:27

They had crossed, if you know anything about world geography, they had crossed the Aegean Sea from the continent of Asia to the continent of Europe.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:35

And this was a big step, and this probably a bigger step than Paul even really understood that he was opening a door to a whole new realm of people.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:44

And so they sailed straightway to these places and the perfect winds would have directed them about 156 miles.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:53

And the Bible says that that's you Know, obviously, the path that they took, it doesn't.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:57

It says abiding certain days there.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:59

They stayed there a certain amount of time there in Philippi.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:03

And when they went there, verse 13.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:04

And on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:15

So immediately they begin to preach the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:18

And this is verse number 13.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:21

And so the fact that the Jewish believers there in Philippi were meeting by the riverside and not in the synagogue meant that there were not a lot of people that knew the truth of God at that point.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:31

If they would have had at least 10 people, they would have had a synagogue, a meeting space.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:36

They were meeting down by the river.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:37

So this is a small group of people which we know eventually is going to multiply in exponentially.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:43

So, so Paul goes and he goes to the small group of people specifically, he mentions the ladies, and he begins to preach the Gospel there in verse 14.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:52

And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:07

And so they're here on the Sabbath day worshiping, and they come across this lady named Lydia.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:12

And anyone who was a seller of purple, that phrase there, you might say, why was that added there?

Pastor Josh: 00:06:17

Because a seller of purple dealt in value, luxurious product.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:22

Anything that was in purple was something luxurious because it was a very difficult process to make this dye.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:28

Today we take for granted when we walk into a store, you can find any color of material and just walk in and it's there available to you.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:35

But back then, they didn't just have artificial dyes.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:38

They had to do a special process to get this purple.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:40

And so only rich people could obtain this purple product.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:44

And so the dyes that were used in making purple were expensive and they were highly regarded.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:49

And so this woman was, as we see here, the first convert in Europe.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:54

And one might say, you know, obviously the door that was open through that closed door in Asia, So the door was closed in Asia, now it's opened in Europe.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:03

And now we see the first convert here in this lady named Lydia.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:07

Now, she's from a place called Thyatira.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:09

Now you.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:10

That might not ring a bell to you.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:11

You might say, never heard of Thyatira.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:13

Well, if you've read the book of Revelation, there is eventually a church of Thyatira, which there's a lot mentioned about that church.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:21

We're not going to get into that right now.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:23

But we do know that that place, Thyatira, was a place where that purple dye and the purple fabric was used and sold very frequently.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:32

And we know that that church at Thyatira was one of the seven churches that God addresses in Revelation, chapter two.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:39

And he says, I know thy works and charity and service and faith, and thy patience and thy works, and the last to be more than the first.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:47

And then he talks about them having the spirit of Jezebel.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:50

We're not going to get into that story.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:51

But just so that you know, she was from the place that the church of Thyatira was from.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:55

Most likely because she goes back to Thyatira and preaches the gospel, teaches the gospel, verse 15.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:00

And when she was baptized in her household, she besought us, saying, if ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:08

And she constrained us.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:10

So what we can see here is that the Lord opens her heart.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:14

If you go back to verse number 13, it says, they begin to go and preach.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:19

And then Lydia hears this, and it says that she was already worshiping God there.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:24

She heard them, and her heart was opened by the Lord.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:27

The heart the Lord opened.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:29

Now, I think that's important to notice when we are sharing our faith with people.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:33

It is not our job to open someone's heart.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:36

It is not our job to be the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:38

It's not our job to make that person a convert.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:41

It's our job to present the truth.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:43

It's God's job to open their hearts.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:45

And I think so many times we put too much pressure on ourselves to say the right thing or do the right thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:50

And we miss the point that conversion, someone's salvation is a miracle that God works in their life.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:57

It's not what we do.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:58

All we do is present the truth of the gospel to them.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:01

And so what I think that we need to see here is that even Paul, he didn't come in and force people to be saved.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:06

All he did was preach the truth.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:08

And those that were ready to hear the truth, they were open to the cause of the gospel, and they make a decision to follow.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:14

And she made a decision to follow.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:15

It says that her heart was open.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:17

She attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul, and she was baptized.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:22

She follows in obedience.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:24

The baptism is not what saves her, but we know that she follows in obedience right away.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:28

And so before Lydia was converted, the Lord opens her heart.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:32

This was a work of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:34

And so therefore, what we know is that she gets saved.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:38

And what we can pray for as evangelists, now all of us are evangelists to some degree, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:09:44

We are all called for the Great Commission instead of praying for, hey, you know what, this or that.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:50

When it comes to evangelism, what we need to pray for is open hearts.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:54

Pray that the grace of God precedes us when we go to someone's life, you know, and so if you're dealing with somebody, maybe, maybe you have the opportunity to know that you're going to be dealing with someone very soon about the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:05

Pray.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:06

Pray that their heart is open to the truth.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:09

And that's what happens here.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:09

The heart is open and she follows in obedience.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:12

And so she basically, after she follows in obedience and baptism, it says here that she immediately gets into her spiritual gift, which is kind of unique, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:10:21

We think that sometimes it's going to take years for someone's spiritual gift to manifest itself and in their life.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:29

But immediately she goes right into the gift of hospitality.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:32

Do you see that happening there?

Pastor Josh: 00:10:34

It happens right here in verse 15.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:36

And when she was baptized in her household, she besought us.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:40

Now, by the way, we do see that because she's converted her household converts.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:44

Now that's not a prince.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:46

A lot of people teach the principle that if you're saved, your whole house is saved.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:50

Now, we don't believe that.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:50

We don't believe that just because I'm saved now, my whole family is covered in salvation.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:55

But what that does mean is that if I get saved, it's a lot higher probability for my family to get saved, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:11:01

There's that familial legacy that happens when one person's converted.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:05

You break the chain of that rebellion in your life and you say, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:11:09

I'm going to make a difference for the cause of the gospel by getting saved and by imparting this gospel message to my family.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:15

I can tell you that I'm a third generation Christian.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:19

I'm thankful for the fact that my grandfather trusted in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:24

And that story is an amazing story.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:26

I've alluded to it sometimes in my preaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:29

But my grandfather was a pretty rough guy.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:31

He was running with the wrong crowds, doing the wrong thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:35

And there was a guy who came and they were friends from before.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:40

Actually, this guy used to run with my grandfather in the bad path.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:44

And he comes back and he's talking to my grandfather and he's like, hey, I want you to come to my church.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:49

He's like, your church?

Pastor Josh: 00:11:50

What are you talking about?

Pastor Josh: 00:11:51

I don't do things with church.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:51

He goes, well, I'm actually a pastor now.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:54

He goes, I went and got saved and went off to Bible college.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:56

And I'm back and I got a church over here.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:59

It's called Providence Baptist Church.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:00

I'd love for you to come by.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:01

And my grandfather was like, I don't know about that, but since this guy, we had a relationship before, we're going to come on out.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:06

And he took his family.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:08

I think my grandmother got saved first, and she was praying for my grandfather.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:12

He got saved, and then in so doing, my dad and my aunt were born in the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:16

Basically, they were babies and they got saved.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:19

And ultimately that was the church that I was raised in.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:21

And I was presented with the gospel there.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:23

And ultimately then I was able to present that gospel to my family.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:26

You see how that can happen?

Pastor Josh: 00:12:28

That can affect a whole household, that can affect generations.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:31

It's not to say that that's automatically going to happen, but we can see that there's influence there.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:36

And we see that her house is baptized as well.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:40

And so it says here that she was baptized in her household, and she besought us.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:45

Basically, she begged us, if ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:52

And she constrained us.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:54

And so what we can see here is that immediately Lydia set about in doing a good work for the Lord.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:59

Now, the good works are not what saved her, but the good works are not what kept her saved.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:04

But we see immediately she had a desire to do good to those around her, specifically through this area of hospitality.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:10

Her hospitality is an awesome example of how she could exercise that spiritual gift in her life.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:17

She was probably already naturally hospitable, but now when she gets saved, there's an opportunity for God to indwell her in the spirit and allow her to do that work in the name of the Lord.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:27

And that's what she says she does here.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:29

She says, if you found me faithful to the Lord, come over to my house.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:32

Now, not all of us are gifted in the area of hospitality.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:35

Now all of us should strive to be more hospitable.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:40

It's very interesting.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:41

This isn't a passage necessarily on spiritual gifts, but I think that we should touch on that for a moment.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:45

The passage of scripture in Romans that talks about our spiritual gifts list a bunch of different things that not all of us are supernaturally gifted with, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:13:54

So the Bible says that there's the gift of prophecy, there's the gift of hospitality, there's the gift of mercy.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:00

And it goes down the line.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:01

There's the gift of teaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:03

And you might say, well, I'm not gifted in hospitality, so that means I don't have to be hospitable.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:08

It's not what that's saying.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:09

I'm not gifted in mercy, so therefore, I don't need to be merciful.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:14

No.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:14

The Bible says that there are things that we are supernaturally gifted in that come just to us naturally.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:21

But there are other things in our life that we need to grow in in those areas of our spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:25

I'm gonna tell you, like, there are certain things that I struggle with in my life.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:29

It doesn't naturally come to me.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:31

I don't naturally think about being hospitable to someone.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:33

Okay.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:33

That's just not my natural inclination.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:35

But God has touched my heart many times and said, you need to be more hospitable.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:39

Now, I'm gonna tell you, there's nothing that anyone has to do to twist my arm to start teaching or preaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:45

Like, I just love that.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:46

I'm gonna come up and I'm gonna do that.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:47

No matter what the case might be, whether someone wants to hear it or not, I'm willing to preach.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:51

Some of you are like, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:14:52

I'm naturally hospitable.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:54

That's all I can think about.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:55

I could never get up in front of someone and talk.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:57

Well, you could.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:58

I guarantee you, you could.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:59

But the truth is that there's some things that naturally come to us.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:02

And that's what we should immediately recognize in our spiritual life, is something that we need to go towards.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:07

And that's what she does here.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:08

She says, come into my home.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:10

And so this is an awesome opportunity for her to exercise her obedience and her thankfulness to the Lord.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:15

And so I would tell you one of the ways that you can display to the Lord your love for him and your thankfulness to him is just to act in what he has already gifted you in when it comes to those spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:26

Now, I would encourage you, that's a really interesting study, to go through your spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:30

And I have a spiritual gift assessment test that you could go through.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:33

And very quickly you can see, if you're honest, what God has naturally gifted you in when it comes to your spiritual walk.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:39

But I will say that there's an opportunity for all of us to grow in every one of those categories, and that is the way that we display our love for the Lord.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:47

If you say you love God and you say you're thankful, what does the Bible say?

Pastor Josh: 00:15:50

We obey Him.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:50

We obey him by following his will in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:53

We obey him by exercising what he has gifted us with.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:56

We don't hoard that for ourselves.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:57

The Bible says that spiritual gifts are for those around us to work into other people's lives, to edify them in the cause of the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:04

So my spiritual gifts should be exercised this way to edify other believers and to evangelize the lost.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:11

That's the whole point of our spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:13

Our spiritual gifts are not there for people to see us and to praise us.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:17

Our spiritual gifts are not there for us to earn money.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:19

Our spiritual gifts are not there for us to earn power or praise.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:23

Our spiritual gifts are there for two reasons.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:25

To edify the saints, for building them up and for evangelizing the lost.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:31

And that's what Lydia does here.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:32

She doesn't evangelize the lost necessarily.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:34

What she does here is she edifies Paul and the missionary team.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:38

Okay, so now immediately we see another story happening.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:42

Right after the conversion of Lydia and her family.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:47

We see in verse 16, something else happened.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:49

This is actually a very interesting story.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:50

And for some of you, you might perk up with this because it speaks of things that kind of perk our interest.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:55

And verse 16, and it came to pass as they went to prayer.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:59

So.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:59

So they're praying, and we don't know exactly how long this took, but it says that a certain damsel, a young lady possessed with a spirit of divination, met us.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:10

And so they move from Asia to Europe.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:14

They begin to preach, and immediately they see a conversion with Lydia.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:16

And they're like, okay, maybe this is.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:18

Maybe this is where God wants us.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:19

We see fruit, and immediately they face opposition.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:23

Satan immediately opposes them.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:25

That's what we'll see.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:27

We will see throughout scripture and we will see throughout experience that when you present the gospel, there is pushback.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:34

There always will be pushback.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:36

And in this case, we see pushback through a demon possessed girl.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:41

It says that she was possessed with a spirit of divination.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:44

When you say, what is a spirit of divination?

Pastor Josh: 00:17:47

Well, literally.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:48

Literally in the Greek, it says spirit of.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:52

And you will never guess what the Greek word is there.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:55

It's P, Y, T, H, O, N, a spirit of python.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:02

Now, what's a python?

Pastor Josh: 00:18:03

A serpent snake.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:05

So literally in the Greek, you would read it and you would say, it says the spirit of Python.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:10

Literally.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:10

And that would have been linked to the pagan ways of the Greek gods there.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:15

They would have said that the spirit of Python was the spirit that was there in this region.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:21

And so it's essentially the spirit of Satan is a spirit of evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:24

And so there's this spirit of evil that has possessed this girl.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:29

We know this is demon possession.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:31

Now, again, this can be something that our culture has, you know, emphasized in Hollywood in a wrong way.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:39

I'm going to tell you that this is a real thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:42

Demon possession is a real thing, okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:18:44

We cannot deny that.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:45

Now, everybody that you come across is not demon possessed, okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:18:49

Sometimes there's a lot of people that will turn to that.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:51

Like, every single person that has an attitude is demon possessed.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:53

There's a demon in everything.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:55

I'm going to be very, very cautious with my teaching on this because there are some circles of Christians that believe that every single thing that's negative is a spirit of Satan, okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:19:05

It's demonic.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:06

Like, this is the demon of this.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:07

This is the demon of this.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:08

That's not the case.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:10

But what I will say that most of our problems stem from our own flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:13

Most of the problems that we deal with in our life are from our own issues of our own sin and the worldly influence that comes from that.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:19

But there are occasions where demons do possess human beings.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:22

We see that in the time of Jesus.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:24

Now, I would say that we wouldn't look at the exception as the norm.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:29

Now, why do you think that there was so much demonic activity right around the life of Jesus?

Pastor Josh: 00:19:33

I believe that certainly Satan was trying to thwart the plans of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:39

So Jesus comes to this earth.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:41

I believe that there was more demonic activity around the time of Christ and the early church than throughout all of history.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:47

And so that's why we see so many occasions of that.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:49

But we see this young girl and we see what she was doing, which brought her masters much gain by thus saying what was happening.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:00

She was making money for her master.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:03

She was a slave girl.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:04

She was making money for her masters by basically fortune telling.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:09

Now you would say, how could she fortune tell?

Pastor Josh: 00:20:12

Do we believe?

Pastor Josh: 00:20:13

Okay, this is.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:14

This is a whole study in angels, okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:20:17

Angels and demons, okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:20:18

Because essentially a demon is just a fallen angel.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:21

Does a demon know the future?

Pastor Josh: 00:20:22

I don't think theologically a demon can know the future.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:25

I don't think a demon can be omnipresent like God.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:28

I don't think a demon can read your mind.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:30

I really don't think that.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:31

I don't think they have that power.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:33

But what demons do have is an opportunity to observe things in secret, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:20:37

They're able to travel, they're able to communicate.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:40

And so I don't believe that she was seeing the future for these people and basically knowing their hearts.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:47

But what we do know is that for some way she was getting demonic power to see people's private lives so that she could basically see their inclinations, know what they're doing in private, and therefore be able to fortune tell and she was making money for them.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:02

Now, some people would say she wasn't doing anything, she was just playing tricks.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:05

I do believe that there was some kind of supernatural thing that's happening here and she was making her master's money.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:11

Verse 17.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:12

And the same followed Paul and us.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:14

And by the way, when you see us, this is Luke speaking.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:17

Luke is now part of the missionary team.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:19

So Luke is now speaking like, hey, it's us.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:22

Now he's not.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:22

Before he was talking about them, now he's talking about us.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:25

So this is firsthand account of Luke.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:27

So verse 16, it came to pass.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:29

And when we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with the spirit of divination met us.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:32

And then it says in verse 17, the same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God which show unto us the way of salvation.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:43

You say, what in the world?

Pastor Josh: 00:21:45

She's the one that's possessed and she's the one speaking the truth.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:48

She's basically preaching for Paul and the rest of the guys there.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:51

Now you would say, what's happening there?

Pastor Josh: 00:21:53

Well, essentially what's happening is that the demon possessed girl, though she was demon possessed, is giving a demonic testimony to the divine credentials of these preachers.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:08

The demons must submit themselves to the power of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:11

Even though they don't believe in God as their savior, they all recognize who Jesus is.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:17

They all recognize those that preach the truth of the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:20

The Bible says in the book of James that all demons believe that God exists and they tremble.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:26

We even know that when Jesus encounters those demons in that one individual, back in the gospels they basically said, jesus don't kill us, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:22:38

Immediately they recognize Jesus power.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:40

And then they have to ask Jesus permission to be even moved out of that.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:44

Right?

Pastor Josh: 00:22:44

And so there's this interesting dynamic of the demons actually recognizing the role of Jesus and the role of the gospel, whether or not, you know.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:54

Well, we know for sure they don't believe it.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:56

But what we can see here in this case is that they recognize this and they basically say, this is the guys that are preaching Jesus.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:04

These are the ones that are preaching salvation.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:06

And so I think that's very interesting.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:09

And so they're giving a testimony to the divine credentials and to the message that they are preaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:15

And the Bible says that she didn't do it just once, she did it many times.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:18

And this, did she many days.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:20

But Paul being grieved, basically the original Greek is that he was annoyed.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:25

He was annoyed that this girl was following them around and there was this demonic possession that was hindering what was going on.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:32

So he's like, he's grieved.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:33

This is bothering him.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:34

This is vexing him.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:35

He's like, we gotta get rid of this.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:37

So what is Paul's response to this demonic influence, this demonic possession, this demonic interference to the gospel being presented?

Pastor Josh: 00:23:45

Well, we see what he does here.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:47

He says he turned and said to the spirit, not to the girl, to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:57

And immediately he came out of the same hour.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:01

So we know that right away.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:03

It comes out as the demon leaves.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:06

Now, what did Paul do?

Pastor Josh: 00:24:08

It was very clear what he did.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:09

He proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:11

And what we have to do in our lives is anytime you're thinking about demonic influence or you're thinking about evil, you always have to present that with the truth of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:23

I can tell you that if we try to respond to evil, specifically demonic influence, with our own wisdom, we're going to fall short.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:34

Okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:24:35

And I don't want to scare anyone here this evening, but what I will say is this.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:39

This is real stuff.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:40

And demons have been around a lot longer than we have.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:44

They have a lot more experience than we have.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:45

They have a lot more access than we have.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:47

So therefore, for us in our own power to try to fight, that would be.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:51

Would be worthless because we cannot overcome them in our own strength.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:55

But what we can do is we can say, you know what, Lord, I'm trusting in you and I'm trusting in my relationship with Jesus Christ, who, one who has authority over all evil, to come into my life and not allow that influence.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:06

Now, I will say this.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:08

I do not believe that a Christian, someone who's indwelled by the Holy Spirit, can be possessed by a demon.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:15

I don't believe that that is the case, okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:25:17

I believe that the Holy Spirit indwelling an individual and a demon cannot be possessed at the same time, okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:25:23

Because essentially what happens as a Christian is you are indwelled by the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:27

The Spirit lives within you.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:28

I don't believe a spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:29

The Spirit, the Holy Spirit can live within you and the demon.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:32

So what I will say is that for a Christian I don't believe that there can be demon possession, but what I do believe in is demon oppression or demon influence in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:42

And so I'm not saying that every single case that we have in our life is from a demon.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:46

But what I am saying is that there can be demonic activity, there can be evil influenced in our life because of the Gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:54

If we're living for Christ, we are going to face pushback.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:57

And I'm being very cautious tonight because I don't want to over dramatize this.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:05

But what I will say is the more you stand for the cause of the Gospel, the more you publicly profess the truth of Jesus Christ, the more you will be opposed by evil in this world.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:17

If you want to live apathetically and you want to be a lukewarm Christian, don't expect any evil to come towards you because you're already living.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:25

Satan has already got what he wants in our life if we're not living boldly for the cause of the Gospel, because he can't take your soul, he can't take your eternal value.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:33

What does he want to take?

Pastor Josh: 00:26:34

He wants to take your influence.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:36

He wants to stop it.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:37

He doesn't want any multiplication to happen.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:40

He wants it to stop with you.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:42

And if that's where you are in your life, if you're like, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:26:45

I don't want to live boldly for Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:47

Satan has already gotten what he wants to have happening in your life just for you to stop.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:52

And so what I would encourage you to do is that if you say, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:26:55

I've heard some people say, I don't want to live boldly for Christ because I don't want to face any evil in my life.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:00

Folks, that's the wrong perception because you're essentially already playing into the evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:05

You're already playing into what Satan wants for you.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:07

And so what I would say to you is live boldly for Christ and trust in him.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:11

And so what we can see here is that the power of God is far more powerful than the power of evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:17

And so Paul cast out this demon.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:20

Paul was annoyed, you know, he didn't appreciate this free advertising, so to speak, this free preaching from this demon.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:29

He didn't appreciate the source.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:31

And so Paul knew that if he identified with Christ, Paul knew that the demons tremble in the sight of Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:39

He presented that.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:40

And so Jesus cast out demons in his own authority.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:43

Paul was careful to speak to the demons only in the authority of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:48

And so he spoke beyond the girl and he spoke to the evil itself.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:55

And so the demon comes out immediately and therefore they have victory here.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:00

Verse 19.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:02

Well, we think that it's victory until the girl's masters find out what happened.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:07

Because what's happened is, is that there are people profiting off of evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:13

You say that can happen?

Pastor Josh: 00:28:16

Yes, all the time.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:17

That's actually the norm in this world.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:20

People will always attach themselves to evil and people will always profit from evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:24

Look around at different things that are going on in our world today and I'll be careful because we have a mixed crowd.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:32

But if you look into advertising, if you look into Hollywood, if you look into anything with the cause of getting people to throw money at things, there's always an appeal to sensuality, there's always appeal to evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:45

There's a darker side to things.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:48

And I will tell you that evil will always look for a profit.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:52

And the Bible even says that the love, the love of money, not money itself, but the love of money is the root, literally the root of all types of evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:03

So what I would tell you here today is that a lot of times when we, you know, sometimes people say follow the money, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:29:10

Follow the money.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:11

And a lot of times you will follow that money right to an evil source.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:15

And that's what we see here in this case.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:16

They were exploiting this young girl in the evil of the demon for money.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:22

Let's see what happens here when that's taken away.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:26

This is what will happen when truth is addressed to evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:30

Verse 19.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:30

And when her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, so, so what we can see that, that God frees this young girl from the bondage of the demon, but he also frees her from the bondage of these masters, which that's what God always does.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:46

God frees us from the bondage of evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:48

He frees us from the bondage of sin.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:50

He frees us from the bondage of having to go back to that well of evil.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:56

And it says there that they had lost their hope.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:59

What did they do?

Pastor Josh: 00:29:59

They caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:06

And so these masters, whoever these masters, were very offensed by what Paul did.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:12

And specifically Paul, but also Silas, because Paul and Silas are linked together, they have an issue with this.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:18

And so what happens?

Pastor Josh: 00:30:20

Verse 20.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:20

And brought them to the magistrates saying, these men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble in our city.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:27

So they're getting in trouble for doing the right thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:30

They're getting in trouble for proclaiming the truth.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:32

They're getting in trouble for freeing this young girl from this exploitation.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:37

And it says, and what do they do?

Pastor Josh: 00:30:39

They're accusing them.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:40

They teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:44

Neither do observe being Romans.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:46

And the multitude rose up together against them.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:49

And the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:54

So it goes from verbal accusations now to physically harming them.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:00

This is persecution.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:02

Paul and Silas are being persecuted not for doing wrong, but for doing good, for preaching the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:09

Now you would say, wait, I thought we were supposed to praise God and thank him for closed doors.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:13

Because, like, God stopped Paul and Silas from going to Asia to preach and now moves them to Europe.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:21

And now it's like, hey, great, Lydia's saved.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:23

Now we're gonna.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:24

And then all of a sudden, we're gonna be beaten for this.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:27

Sometimes God leads us to a place that doesn't make a lot of sense.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:30

But then we see more.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:32

Verse 23.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:33

And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, meaning, hey, look now, gonna beat you.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:46

Now we're going to imprison you.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:47

And now we're gonna put someone over you so that you can't get out.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:51

This looks pretty bleak.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:53

This looks like, you know, Paul and Silas, maybe they had a chance to question whether or not God had the right thing in mind when he called them to Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:03

I don't know about you.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:04

I mentioned this morning I'm thankful to be in Delaware.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:06

I don't know about you, but if I was called somewhere, and immediately, almost immediately, they begin to put me before a court and try me and falsely accuse me and beat me and throw me in prison, I might start to think, well, maybe I wasn't supposed to come to this place.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:24

And there is a test here.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:26

There is the test of persecution.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:28

There is a test for them to quit.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:31

And it says, verse 24.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:34

This is talking about the prison guard who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:42

So there's multiple checks and balances that they're putting there so that Paul and Silas cannot get out.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:49

So they beat them.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:51

Well, they disrobed them first, then they beat them.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:53

They throw them in jail.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:55

They put a guard over them, and now they chained them down.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:01

And what was their response?

Pastor Josh: 00:33:04

What was Paul and Silas's response?

Pastor Josh: 00:33:06

They could have responded with, I'm going to question you, God.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:12

We quit.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:13

That's enough.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:14

They could have responded in many different ways.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:18

They could have pouted.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:21

They could have said, woe is Me.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:23

We didn't deserve this.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:24

We need to get out of here.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:26

We need to recant our faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:28

We need to go back to Asia.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:30

What do they do?

Pastor Josh: 00:33:31

It says, and at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:36

Their response to the opposition is they rely on the Lord.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:41

They pray.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:42

Prayer is not just something that we do.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:47

It's who we are as Christians.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:49

It should be our natural response to good, our natural response to bad.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:55

It should be the way that we communicate with God.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:57

It.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:57

It should be the way that we ask him for things.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:59

It should be the way that we help other people.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:02

It's prayer.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:03

Prayer is the immediate reaction to difficulty in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:08

And they prayed, but they didn't just pray.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:10

Because here's what I would have done if I stayed true.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:16

I would have prayed and said, lord, get me out of here.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:19

Lord, strike all these people down.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:22

Lord, I want you to, you know, put fire and brimstone on Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:26

I'm done with them.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:27

No.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:27

What do they do?

Pastor Josh: 00:34:28

And they sang praises unto God.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:32

Now, it's very hard to sing praises to God when you're living in a place of bitterness and anger towards him and towards others.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:39

They're praising God, and through their prayers and their singing, what happens?

Pastor Josh: 00:34:45

And the prisoners heard them.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:47

They're a testimony to those around them.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:50

And so what we can learn from this, we're going to stop here at this verse, because we're going to see next, not next week, but we're going to see in two weeks a miracle happen.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:02

We're going to see something amazing happen.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:04

We're going to see that God miraculously intervenes in their life for his purpose.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:09

We're actually going to see that folks are converted, they're saved because of the testimony of Paul and Silas.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:17

So what do they do here?

Pastor Josh: 00:35:18

It says that they prayed and sang praises unto God and the prisoners heard them.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:26

They're a testimony in the midst of their trial.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:29

You know, a lot of times we as Christians don't see the opportunity and the privilege it is to be a testimony to people when we're going through that trial.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:43

This is a trial here.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:44

This is a trial.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:46

I'm looking around.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:46

This is a trial that I don't think any of us have faced.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:49

I'll be safe to say that I don't think any of us have gone and cast out a demon and then after casting out a demon, had people whip us, try us, and chain us up in prison.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:59

Okay, so none of us have faced this, but most of us, if not all of us, including myself, have been tempted to not see a trial as an opportunity to bring people to Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:12

We see a trial as something that we need to get out of right now.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:15

And that's not what they do.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:17

Of course they want to be out of prison, but immediately they go to prayer and praise.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:22

That's the.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:23

That's the first response when we go through a difficulty, is prayer and praise.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:27

And if we respond with prayer and praise, what happens is, is that we become a testimony to the prisoners around us.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:34

Folks, you are living in a world.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:38

You are living in a society, in a community that has prisoners all around you.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:44

They're not in prison.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:45

So to say, I'm not talking about the real prison down the road.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:48

I'm not talking about that.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:49

I'm talking about people that are unsaved.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:52

The Bible says that they are living in bondage to sin.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:56

And so therefore, you have prisoners all around you.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:59

Every day that you walk into work, every day you go to Walmart, every day that you drive through your neighborhood, there are people that are in bondage all around you, whether they know it or not.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:10

Most of the time, they don't know it.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:11

All of the time, I would say, is they don't know it.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:14

And so for me to be a testimony to the prisoners around me, what I have to show them is the difference.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:19

Because all of us are going to face trials.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:20

Your neighbor, let's say your unsaved neighbor, gets cancer.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:27

Okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:37:28

Let's say you go through a trial.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:31

We're all going to go through trials whether we're saved or not.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:33

The Bible says life is difficult.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:35

So how we respond to the trials that we are in gives us the opportunity to be a testimony to the prisoners around us.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:43

Paul and Silas were chained up, but they weren't prisoners.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:45

They were free in the power of God because of what God had given them in their relationship with Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:50

And so they're acting, and the people, they're like, I would happen to think that the prisoners are like, how are these guys?

Pastor Josh: 00:37:57

They just got tried and beaten, and now they're singing praises to their God.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:00

What kind of God do they praise for being in jail?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:05

Right.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:05

There's a difference in their response to the bondage, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:09

The physical bondage, because they are spiritually free.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:13

And the way that we live our lives is a testimony to those around us, whether it be a good testimony or a bad testimony.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:19

What have I done for Jesus?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:21

And it's a question that I think all of us need to answer because we are going to face those times where we feel like we're in the prison and we're chained up and we've gotten beaten down.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:30

And what we can do is we can say, you know, woe is me.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:32

I quit.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:33

This isn't worth it.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:35

I shouldn't have stepped up for the faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:37

I shouldn't have proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ to that person.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:41

And we could even say that maybe.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:42

Maybe Paul and Silas could have been tempted to say, maybe we shouldn't cast out that demon of that girl, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:47

Look what happened to us now.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:49

But instead, they praise him and they proclaim the truth of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:52

They ask him for guidance.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:54

They pray.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:55

And I would encourage you to think about that same thing in your life, because I me, I think about in the concept of when am I thankful?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:05

I'm thankful for when everything is going my way.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:08

I'm thankful for when my family is all in order, and I should be.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:12

But am I thankful for those moments when I'm in that dark prison?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:18

Can I praise Him?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:19

Can I sing those praises?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:20

You know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:21

There's been times where I've sat in a service and I'm singing, oh, how I love Jesus.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:28

And I'm singing that just because I'm a pastor and I'm standing up here.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:31

I'm singing that just because everyone.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:33

But in my heart of hearts, I'm struggling.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:35

I don't know if you guys have ever done that.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:36

Maybe some of you said, well, I just don't sing.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:37

Okay, when I feel that way, I understand that.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:39

But for me, sometimes I'm more concerned with other people around me, so I have to keep my front up.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:44

But there is a truth that many times when we sing those songs and when we say those prayers and when we sit in those Bible studies, we're not really there.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:53

That's not really where our heart is.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:55

And I would encourage you to be able to sing it as well.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:59

With my soul in the midst of a difficulty and really have that as your testimony.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:05

How great thou art and really mean that amazing grace how sweet the sound Victory in Jesus.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:13

And it was so appropriate that we had that singing there, Ms.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:15

Lorna, because we have an opportunity.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:18

They're not in church.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:19

They're singing praises.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:20

In the middle of a prison cell.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:22

We can sing praises no matter where we are.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:24

We can give thanks to the Lord for wherever we are in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:27

And so we're gonna see that it's not in vain.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:29

We're gonna see that in a couple weeks that the prison keeper sees Christ and trusts in Christ through this.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:36

We're gonna see that there are more People that come to the faith and ultimately see the truth of God and that the closed door was not a mistake.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:46

The closed door to Asia was not a mistake.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:48

It was actually an open door for God to work in the life of Paul and Silas and God to work in the life of people like Lydia and the prison keeper and all of the people of Macedonia.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:57

And I'm gonna tell you, folks, the Church of Macedonia plays a huge part in the New Testament.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:02

And that would have not happened without Paul and his missionary team being open to that closed door, closed door vision of God and following in obedience.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:12

Folks, what have we missed out on in our life because we pushed through that closed door?

Pastor Josh: 00:41:19

God closed the door and we said, I don't care.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:22

That's what I want to do, and I don't care.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:23

God better bless it, folks.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:25

Sometimes the closed door is the best thing God saved.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:29

And I wish I could tell you all the stories of my life.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:32

I don't have time, but God has saved me from a lot of pain and heartache and loss because of closed doors.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:41

There was things that I wanted in my life that were not the right things.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:45

But because God closed that door, I was able to look back and say, lord, you closed that door for a purpose.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:51

I would not be able to do this because I would have been somewhere else.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:56

So we usually celebrate when open doors happen.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:00

When someone prays and says, lord, send me here, and God sends them there, and everything is great.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:03

And those happen sometimes.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:05

But I would actually challenge you to think about what happens when God closes that door.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:09

Is he wise enough?

Pastor Josh: 00:42:11

Is he powerful enough, Is he loving enough to close that door for our protection?

Pastor Josh: 00:42:15

Or do we get upset with him and say, well, he doesn't know better than me.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:18

I know exactly what I need in my life.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:20

I would encourage you to embrace those closed doors.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:24

So when we sit around the table and we thank God this week, thank him for the good, but also thank him for the conviction.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:33

Thank him for the closed doors.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:35

I think about all the doors that I could have taken when it came to my life.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:41

And like, I say this a lot, but honestly, there were.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:46

There were.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:47

I do not want to be where I am today.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:49

If you asked me 20 years ago, 10 years ago, where do you want to be?

Pastor Josh: 00:42:54

It wouldn't be where I am today, but it's because.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:57

And I'm not just talking physically, I'm talking about even spiritually, professionally, all of that.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:02

But God changes our hearts.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:04

And those closed doors are opportunities for us to be yielded to him and to see his power in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:11

And so as loving parents, we know the power of.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:15

No, we know the power of a closed door.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:17

And God is the most loving father.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:20

He's the perfect father.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:21

And sometimes he's going to close the door and it's not fun.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:25

Sometimes it closes right on our foot, and we're like, whoa, that didn't happen the way I wanted it to happen.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:30

Sometimes that door hits us right in the face.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:31

But what I will tell you is that's the best thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:33

And so the closed door of Asia for Paul at this point was the open door for Europe and the open door for this miracle to happen, and the open door for all of us when it comes to the gospel moving.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:47

And that's exciting.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:48

I don't know about you, but some of my favorite passages of scripture are the passages of scripture that explains the spread of the gospel and how we, as, wherever we're from, got to hear about the gospel because there were people who are willing to spread the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:03

You understand that the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:05

There was one point in time.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:07

There was one point in time when, like, less than 20 people knew about the gospel, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:44:15

Very quick, very early on, Very, very early on when Jesus resurrected, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:44:20

There was only a few people.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:21

It was the ladies that went to the tomb.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:23

You could argue that the two guards knew about what happened, and you could argue that Peter, James and John knew.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:28

And you see, that spread from just, let's say less than 100 people, then 500 people.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:33

Jesus came and visited, and then we know that thousands of people.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:36

And it started in one city.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:38

Jerusalem is a small city, by the way.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:40

Like, it's not very big.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:42

Jerusalem is.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:43

You can see across it.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:44

You can get up on the Mount of Olives and see from one corner to the other.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:47

It's not a big city.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:48

But the gospel message started there in Jerusalem, and it spread to Judea.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:52

Judea is not big.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:54

All of Israel is the size of New Jersey.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:57

Okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:44:59

And so then, Amen, New Jersey.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:01

Right.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:01

And then Samaria to the uttermost part of the earth.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:05

Folks, we still are on that path.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:07

And the sad part is, and I don't want to get on my soapbox too long here, the sad part is there's people that live in the United States that don't know the truth of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:20

Whose fault is that?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:23

I don't know.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:23

You could argue, I would argue the only people responsible for proclaiming the gospel is the church, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:31

We can't blame the unsaved for not knowing the truth of the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:35

Like, you can't just like you can't blame the unsaved for acting like an unsaved person.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:39

I just can't believe these people that don't have Jesus, don't honor him.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:43

That's exactly.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:44

Their nature is to live like the world.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:48

To live like who?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:50

We live like our master.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:51

The Bible says that before we come to Christ, who's our master?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:54

The Bible says that our master is Satan.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:55

We're children of this world.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:57

Now where the problem comes is when Christians who have a master in Jesus Christ live like the world.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:03

That's the travesty.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:04

And so as a church, what do we do?

Pastor Josh: 00:46:06

Well, you say, well, we rely on that church across town that has more resources.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:10

No, no, no.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:11

The Great Commission is for all individuals to proclaim the gospel message.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:16

You say, well, I can't go to China.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:18

I can't go to Europe.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:20

Never says that you have to go everywhere.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:23

It says that you have to start in your Jerusalem.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:27

If everybody here shared the gospel with just a few people, we could see a spread of that.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:32

I always say this.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:34

Think of the power of this on a Sunday morning.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:39

Let's say we have 200 people sitting here.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:41

Think about if 200 people just impacted one person for the cause of the gospel, that's 200 more people that have been impacted by the cause of the gospel in that year.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:52

Now, that's minimum.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:53

That's minimum.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:54

And I would encourage you to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:46:56

I want my one this year.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:58

You say one.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:59

I think pastors should ask for more.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:01

I'm not asking for more than that.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:03

If we can reach one for the cause of the Gospel, it is worth it.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:07

So therefore, if all of us see that one, if all of us have that one that we are pursuing, hey, we can see that multiplication happen.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:16

And that's what the goal is for us as Christians to see that Great Commission living out.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:20

So thank you for your attention here this evening.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:22

I did mention that I'm not going to be here next week.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:27

Lord willing, we will be back on that Sunday.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:30

But I don't know when that plane flight gets in.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:34

I think.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:35

I think we're flying out.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:36

Yeah, it's going to be really tough for us to be back for the evening service.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:39

So either way, Pastor John will be preaching on the evening service.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:42

I may or may not be here, depending on travel and time.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:46

But we definitely want to make sure that you are here because Pastor John, I know, has been preparing sermons for Sunday morning and Sunday night for a long time.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:55

And it would be really, really encouraging for him to have you all out here.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:59

He loves you all.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:00

And I can tell you this, he is a true servant of the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:07

And I will say this.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:08

Pastor John doesn't get to preach as much as me, but we're looking for more opportunities for him to get involved.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:13

Because you know what, you know, he.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:15

He is somebody who desires to preach the word.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:18

And as a pastor, I have to practice what I preach about discipleship.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:21

And so he's got to.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:23

He's got to use those opportunities.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:25

And so come on out, support him.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:26

I know that he would be thankful.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:28

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:32

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:35

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:44

You can also email me directly at joshmusaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:57

Thank you so much.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:58

God bless.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:59

Have a wonderful day.