The Gospel for Everyone: An Analysis of Acts 16

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Thank you for being here at First Baptist Church of Mooresville.
[00:07:08] Whether you're here in person, whether you're watching in the fellowship hall in our overflow area, or perhaps maybe you are at home and traveling, however you are with us this morning, we are so grateful that you are here.
[00:07:22] Because today we come before the one true living God to connect with Him and with Him alone so that God can do His great work in our lives.
[00:07:31] If this is your first time here with us, again, welcome and thank you so much for being here.
[00:07:36] We have a special way that we like to get to know our first time guests.
[00:07:40] You'll find in the pew in front of you what's called a connect card.
[00:07:43] If you would be so kind as to fill that connect card out.
[00:07:46] and at the conclusion of our worship service you can bring that back to the Welcome Center and there we will have a small gift just as a simple way of saying thank you for being here and then all of you you can use this connect card as a way to get more connected here at First Baptist Church perhaps you're looking for a Bible study perhaps you have some prayer concerns in your life that you would like to share with us as a staff whatever it may be you can use that just place it in the offering plate as it is passed around
[00:08:12] and we will be sure to reach out to you and to help you with whatever need that you may have.
[00:08:17] We know that we are now in the season of Thanksgiving so what are you thankful for?
[00:08:23] I hope and pray that you are thankful for your relationship with Jesus Christ who we have come to worship this morning.
[00:08:28] Thank you so much for being here.

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Good morning everybody.
[00:08:40] You know, Moses encountered God in a burning bush that was not consumed by fire on Mount Sinai
[00:08:49] earthquake and a fire a trembling situation God didn't just tell Moses of his power he showed it to him and that's still true today that is still true today God invites us to witness his power maybe not in earthquakes and fires but in unmistakable ways maybe for you it's in creation's beauty
[00:09:13] Maybe for you it's in answered prayers or in a transformed life.
[00:09:18] Like Moses, we're not called to just hear about God's power.
[00:09:24] We're called to experience it.
[00:09:26] Change lives in the presence of our Lord.
[00:09:28] I want to invite you, if you're able to stand, as we open in song this morning, singing about the power of God.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
We're waiting for this day, we're gathered in your name, calling out to you Your glory like a fire, awakening desire
[00:10:13] You're the reason we're singing Open up the heavens We want to see you Open up the thought gates

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
We're looking to the sky Descending like a cloud You're standing with us now Lord unveil our glory

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
We want to see you Open up the floodgates A mighty river flowing from your heart Filling every part of our praise Open up the heavens We want to see you Open up the floodgates A mighty river flowing from your heart
[00:12:17] Show us your glory, show us, show us your power Show us, show us your glory, Lord Open up the heavens, we want to see you Open up the floodgates of mighty will

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Amen.
[00:13:34] Let's pray together.
[00:13:37] Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning with grateful hearts, acknowledging your power and your glory.
[00:13:46] Just as you revealed yourself to Moses on that holy mountain in fire and thunder, in majesty and might, we ask that you would reveal yourself to us now in this sacred hour of worship.
[00:13:58] Lord, when Moses stood before the burning bush, you spoke your name.
[00:14:01] I am who I am, the eternal, unchanging God of all creation.
[00:14:07] And this morning we declare that you are still that same God.
[00:14:11] Your power has not diminished.
[00:14:13] Your glory has not faded.
[00:14:15] You are the God who parts the seas, who provides manna in the wilderness, who leads us by cloud and by fire.
[00:14:25] Father, we gather here not in our own strength but in yours, not for our own glory but for yours alone.
[00:14:31] We come seeking your face, longing to worship you in spirit and in truth.
[00:14:37] Speak to our hearts as you spoke to Moses.
[00:14:40] Transform us as we stand in your holy presence.
[00:14:44] May our worship this morning rise before your throne like incense.
[00:14:49] May every song we sing, every word we pray, every moment of silence glorify your precious name.
[00:14:56] In the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, and all who agree say, Amen.

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
For the glory of the skies!
[00:15:24] For the glory of the skies!
[00:15:47] of each of, of the day and of the night, hill and vale and tree and flower, sun and moon and sun of light.
[00:16:04] Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.
[00:16:21] Father, Sister, Parent, Child, Friends on earth and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mind, Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn.
[00:16:50] Amen.
[00:16:53] Please be seated.

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning!
[00:17:33] As we prepare to enter into a time of giving, I would love to share with you some of the wonderful things that are happening here at First Baptist due to your generosity.
[00:17:45] First of all, tonight our student ministry will celebrate Friendsgiving.
[00:17:49] We will meet together from 5.30 to 8.30.
[00:17:51] We will be providing brisket and ham and students are invited to bring their favorite dishes and desserts to share.
[00:18:01] We're going to be playing some fun games, participating in a competitive scavenger hunt and we will begin decorating our youth area for Christmas.
[00:18:11] It will be a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season together.
[00:18:14] So come hungry and be ready to have a great time.
[00:18:17] Speaking of preparing for the holiday season, our Hanging of the Green service will be next Sunday, November 30th at 6 p.m. Join us for a beautiful service as we begin the Advent season with Christmas music, scripture readings, decorating our sanctuary, and most importantly, preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ.
[00:18:40] Also, we have some wonderful opportunities for our children coming up in December.
[00:18:45] Parents, mark your calendars.
[00:18:47] Our Happy Birthday Jesus Party for children ages 3 through 5th grade will be on Wednesday, December 10th from 6 to 7.30 in the Children's Church Room and the Fellowship Hall.
[00:18:58] There will be games, crafts, treats, and fun celebration pointing kids to the true meaning of Christmas.
[00:19:04] Kids, look forward to this every year so you don't want to miss out.
[00:19:09] Then on Sunday December 21st at 9 30 during our 10 a.m worship service we'll be having a pajamas and popcorn Christmas for our kids they can come in their cozy Christmas pajamas enjoy popcorn and celebrate the birth of Jesus in a fun and memorable way your kids are going to love it
[00:19:30] Also in December, we have several Christmas events happening throughout the month.
[00:19:35] Our Mooresville Christmas celebration will be, you'll have two opportunities to come for the Mooresville Christmas celebration.
[00:19:42] It'll be on December 5th at 7 and also on December 6th at 3 p.m.
[00:19:47] Also on December 14th at 6pm we will have our songs at the manger service and then on December 24th at 5 and 7pm will be our Christmas Eve services.
[00:20:00] December is packed with beautiful worship and meaningful moments.
[00:20:04] Make sure you and your family are a part of it.
[00:20:06] Also, we wanted to remind you that this Wednesday night there will be no activities on November 26th in celebration of our Thanksgiving, or in preparation for Thanksgiving.
[00:20:18] Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday with your family.
[00:20:20] Take this time to rest, refresh, and thank the Lord for his goodness.
[00:20:25] Now let us pray.
[00:20:26] Heavenly Father, we come to you with grateful hearts, thankful for your blessings and your faithfulness in every season.
[00:20:37] As we enter into a time of giving, we acknowledge that everything that we have comes from you.
[00:20:45] Use these tithes and offerings to further your work through our church, to bless our community, to share the hope of Christ, and to support the ministries that help people grow in faith.
[00:20:57] As we give today, help us do so with joyful and willing hearts.
[00:21:02] Prepare us now to continue in worship and hear your word with open minds and hearts.
[00:21:07] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:21:09] Amen.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
And they're off to Children's Church downstairs.
[00:26:07] If you're visiting with us this morning and you've got a youngster down there, quickest way to retrieve them
[00:26:13] Right up the ramp behind the piano, turn right, go down the steps and turn right one more time and you will find Rita Marie and her staff down there for Children's Church.

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Sisters, today we're going to enter to a time of prayer, but I just want you to know that there is several people in our church who are going through some really serious things this morning.
[00:26:46] I just want to read a scripture to you.
[00:26:48] This is from the book of James.
[00:26:51] James chapter 5, starting verse 14, it says this, If anyone among you is sick, let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him.
[00:27:02] Anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of the faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins he'll be forgiven therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the prayer of the righteous person has great power
[00:27:28] We just believe that.
[00:27:30] We take the word serious.
[00:27:31] And so what we're going to do today is I want to just invite some people up and we're going to lay hands over them.
[00:27:41] I want to invite you, if you want to, you can come up and do that.
[00:27:44] Maybe you want to stay at your seat.
[00:27:45] If you do, we're just going to ask you to put your hand out like this.
[00:27:49] I want to share with you some things that's going on.
[00:27:52] Susan Abernathy, her daughter, Jeannie.
[00:27:56] I want to ask you this time if Nettie will come up and stand in place for Jeannie Abernathy.
[00:28:23] Also, for those in the Fellowship, Paul, who right now, you know, we have many brothers and sisters over in the Fellowship, Paul, who have been so gracious and self-sacrificial, given their seat to make room for us.
[00:28:33] I want to ask if Katie Cook will stand up in the overflow right now to represent Jeannie Abernathy.
[00:28:42] Someone else that we need to pray for this morning is David Lynch.
[00:28:45] David has been very sick.
[00:28:47] He's been undergoing treatments and now
[00:28:51] Now he needs lots of prayers.
[00:28:52] They've moved David to the Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem.
[00:28:58] And they're trying to figure out what's going on.
[00:29:00] So we need to pray for David.
[00:29:01] We need to pray for Kathy.
[00:29:04] I want to ask Tom McLaughlin if he'll come, if he'll stand in place for David.
[00:29:08] We'll lay hands over Tom.
[00:29:10] And in the Fellowship Hall of Andy, we'll stand up and represent David over the overflow.
[00:29:17] And then I also want to ask if Debbie will come.
[00:29:21] Debbie...
[00:29:23] As an artificial vow that was put in about four years ago, but now there's a lot of blockage and they're trying to figure out exactly what's going on.
[00:29:30] We need to pray for Debbie as well.
[00:29:32] I know there's many other prayer concerns in here, but I want to invite you at this time, if you will, just to come up.
[00:29:38] Let's lay hands on these people.
[00:29:40] If you're in the overflow, you can do that right now with those who are standing.
[00:29:44] If you don't want to stand up, you can just put your hand out and want to ask Pastor Allen if he'll pray for us.

[00:29:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we come before Your throne of grace today with hearts full of thanksgiving, acknowledging that You are the Great Physician, the One who holds all power in heaven and on earth.
[00:30:11] We thank You, Lord, that nothing is impossible with You.
[00:30:16] That the same power that spoke the galaxies into existence, that parted the Red Sea, that raised Jesus Christ from the grave, is available to us today.
[00:30:29] Lord, we thank you for your healing touch.
[00:30:32] We praise you that you are not a distant God, but a loving Father who cares about every cell in our body, every worry in our minds, every burden on our hearts.
[00:30:44] Your word tells us, Lord, that by the stripes of Jesus we are healed.
[00:30:49] And we claim that promise today with grateful hearts.
[00:30:54] Lord, we lift up all those who are suffering, those battling illness, those facing surgeries,
[00:31:02] Those struggling with pain that won't let go.
[00:31:04] Lord, you know each name, each circumstance, each midnight fear.
[00:31:13] We thank you that your mercies are new every morning and that your strength is made perfect in our weakness.
[00:31:20] This morning we lift up Debbie Dunlop, David Lynch, Jenny Abernathy,
[00:31:34] Sibyl Myers Gracious God, we ask for your healing hand to move mightily.
[00:31:45] Restore what is broken.
[00:31:47] Renew what is weary.
[00:31:50] Bring wholeness where there is brokenness.
[00:31:53] Guide the hands of doctors and nurses.
[00:31:56] Give wisdom to caregivers.
[00:32:00] And in the waiting, Lord, draw us ever closer to you, for you are our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.
[00:32:11] Lord, we lift up Judith Lotz in the passing of her husband, Jim, for Dewey Bryan in the passing of his father, and for Carol Mitchum in the passing of her husband.
[00:32:26] Lord, we thank you, Father, that whether you choose to heal us in this life or call us home to that place where there is no more pain, no more tears, and no more death, we rest in your sovereign love.
[00:32:39] Your ways are higher than our ways, your thoughts higher than our thoughts.
[00:32:46] Lord, we also praise you this morning for the gift of life that was born this early Saturday morning.
[00:32:55] Bonnie Noel to Haley and Jensen McKinney.
[00:33:01] Be with them, Lord, as this new life begins a new chapter for the McKinney family.
[00:33:08] Lord, all glory, honor, and praise belong to you, the King of kings and Lord of lords forever and ever.
[00:33:17] In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray.
[00:33:21] Amen.

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Well, thank you guys so much.
[00:33:31] We believe in prayer.
[00:33:34] If you will, if you will kindly open up your Bibles, and if you will turn them to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 16.
[00:33:43] I want you to know this is going to be our last Sunday talking about the book of Acts, at least for 2025.
[00:33:53] We've been in this series...
[00:33:56] Literally since January and so we're going to call it quits after today and we'll pick it back up in 2026 Lord willing at some point.
[00:34:05] But next Sunday we're actually going to start on a new Advent series called Visitations and speaking of Advent as you turn in Acts 16 I just want to share with you really two things that we need to ask you to do starting today.
[00:34:19] The first thing is this.
[00:34:21] We need you to just be hyper-focused on inviting people to church this month.
[00:34:29] We have a lot of services going on.
[00:34:35] Did you see when Lisa was doing announcements how much is happening in December?
[00:34:39] and so we need you to be inviting people out asking them to come uh we just know we first of all you should be asking people every week to come to church but we know that statistically speaking people are more apt to come out when it's a holiday season or a special service so we need to use that to our advantage who's your one
[00:35:00] Maybe it's a neighbor, maybe it's a family member that you need to be praying over every single day, a person that you need to have an intentional God conversation with, and a person you need to be inviting here to First Baptist.
[00:35:13] We'll be real intentional like we are every Sunday to preach the gospel message, but make sure you're doing your work and inviting them out.
[00:35:20] That's the first thing.
[00:35:21] The second thing I need to ask you to do this month
[00:35:25] is not just a work being, you know, very focused on inviting people, but also be incredibly generous this month.
[00:35:32] Starting next Sunday, we're going to start taking up a special offering.
[00:35:37] We call this the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
[00:35:40] And our theme this year is together.
[00:35:43] And what this offering does is it goes to missionaries all across the world.
[00:35:48] The International Mission Board is the largest sending mission agency in the world, and it's the mission agency of our Southern Baptist Church.
[00:35:57] This goes to men and women who are living in hard-to-reach places,
[00:36:02] Making Jesus' name known in places he has not been named before.
[00:36:08] I've told you before, there's over 3.2 billion people in this world who've never heard the name of Jesus.
[00:36:14] And 100% of this goes to those missionaries.
[00:36:18] And that means we get to be a part of this.
[00:36:20] Now, we call this the Lottie Moon Christmas offering because Lottie Moon, well, her real name was Charlotte Diggs Moon, but Lottie was born in 1840 in Virginia.
[00:36:31] Brilliant, brilliant young lady.
[00:36:34] She had advanced degrees by the time she was 17 years old.
[00:36:38] John Broadus says she was the most educated woman in the South.
[00:36:42] She could fluently speak in like six different languages.
[00:36:45] And she ended up spending a lot of her life teaching in schools in Kentucky and in Georgia, and at the ripe age of 30 years old,
[00:36:51] She felt a call to be a missionary and embarrassingly at that time the Southern Baptist Church didn't send out women missionaries.
[00:36:59] So Lottie was one of really the first charter members to be sent out and she went to China.
[00:37:04] 30 years old, she sold everything she had to go to China and she ended up in Chinchou, China in a place where literally people had never heard the name of Jesus.
[00:37:15] and she would leverage her life for the next 40 years telling people the good news of the gospel.
[00:37:21] Lottie went under mass persecution, hardship and she would write to the churches asking them to give.
[00:37:27] Unfortunately many churches did not.
[00:37:30] Now Lottie was barely over five foot tall but she was filled with grit and passion and so she continued to serve there for the next 40 years.
[00:37:37] Eventually there was a famine that broke out.
[00:37:40] Right after the Boxer Rebellion.
[00:37:43] And Lottie would again write to all those Baptist churches, please give, please give.
[00:37:46] Many denied.
[00:37:48] And so Lottie made a conscious decision that instead of eating her rations, she was going to give them to her Chinese brothers and sisters.
[00:37:56] Well, in 1912, when the International Mission Board sent some doctors to check in on her, they found Lottie Moon weighing approximately 49 pounds.
[00:38:09] Lottie Moon died 1912 on Christmas Eve.
[00:38:16] The year of her death, 3,000 people gave their hearts to Christ and were baptized in China.
[00:38:24] And so we don't want that to ever happen again where missionaries are going without food,
[00:38:31] We don't want that to ever happen again where people are on the front lines and they're by themselves.
[00:38:37] And so we're taking this to say, you know what, we're a part of it, and we're gonna give, and I wanna ask you this month, beyond your normal offering, if you would give above and beyond that to the Slotty Moon Christmas offering, because there's 3.2 billion people who have not heard the name of Jesus, amen?
[00:38:54] Our goal this year is $15,000.
[00:38:57] I know that seems like a lot, but this is a chance for us to be part of this.
[00:39:02] For some of you in here, I want to ask you, you know, you're kids.
[00:39:05] I've already heard some of you say this.
[00:39:06] Why do you get someone who already has everything?
[00:39:09] That's your problem, right?
[00:39:10] The fact that you live in Morrisville means you're blessed.
[00:39:13] and so what if this year instead of getting your kids stuff they already have what if for one of the gifts you you made a donation in honor of your kids and then talk to them about it and the importance of mission what about instead of buying a gift for your spouse you use that money to go to this offering because you can be a part of making jesus's name known in places he's not been named before let's pray real quick father we need your help this month
[00:39:42] This upcoming month because there's lots of work to be done.
[00:39:45] There's a lot of people we need to invite.
[00:39:48] There's a lot of people who are going to be a little bit more apt, a little bit more ready to come to church simply because it's Christmas time.
[00:39:57] And we want to use that to the advantage of the kingdom, Lord, because we know that help us be bold and courageous in making those invites.
[00:40:06] Let's pray.
[00:40:31] and Lord that we take that personal we make the gospel personal we take it personally so Lord would you help us this week and today as we dig into Acts 16 I cannot think of a more fitting chapter for you to have us in would you just remind us and open up our hearts that the gospel really is for everyone and that you have a plan to reach everyone so Father let our hearts be open let our minds be open
[00:40:59] and let us soak in what you have for us.
[00:41:02] We pray this in your holy name.
[00:41:03] Amen.

[00:41:05] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
All right.

[00:41:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Do you have time to get to Acts 16 by now?
[00:41:08] Okay, good.
[00:41:08] Well, let's go ahead and turn there.
[00:41:10] Acts 16.
[00:41:11] I'm telling you, this was not planned, but I cannot think of a better passage for us to be in as we prepare for Christmas and for the work that God has in store for us.
[00:41:21] So let me explain what's happening.
[00:41:22] In Acts 16, they've just finished the Council of Jerusalem, which we spent like three weeks on.
[00:41:28] and now there's another mission trip that's taking place now at this point Paul and Barnabas have actually separated they split ways which is good because that means double the mission trips so Paul's not going to go with Barnabas instead Paul has picked up three other people he's picked up a young guy by the name of Timothy
[00:41:46] A vision appeared to Paul.
[00:42:15] At midnight, a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us.
[00:42:22] Well, that's pretty clear.
[00:42:24] God wants you to go there.
[00:42:26] Verse 10, And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately he sought to go into Macedonia.
[00:42:33] including that God had called us to preach the gospel to them obviously this is clear so now they're going to Macedonia and when they get there jump to verse 12 from there we went to Philippi which is the leading city in the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony we remained in the city some days and just notice the way Luke is describing this he says when we get to
[00:42:54] Philippi, it's the leading city.
[00:42:58] First of all, Philippi was a port city.
[00:42:59] It's a very important city.
[00:43:02] It had a heavy military presence there.
[00:43:04] And the nickname for Philippi was essentially Little Rome.
[00:43:07] Y'all, Caesar had his vacation house in Philippi, okay?
[00:43:12] So he spent a lot of time there.
[00:43:14] So it's a kind of politically hyped city.
[00:43:17] Also, even though there was lots of worship, because most people are probably theistic, really the main form of worship, particularly in Philippi, was what we call imperial worship, where people were giving alms and sacrifices even to Caesar.
[00:43:31] And it's in this climate that these four missionaries, Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke, go into to spread the gospel.
[00:43:39] Well, they get there on a Saturday, which is like the Jewish Sabbath day, verse 13.
[00:43:44] And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we suppose there is a place of prayer, and we sat down and we spoke to the women who had come together.
[00:43:54] So not long after they get there, they're kind of scouring the city, they go outside the gate, and they find, well, there's a little women's Bible study that's happening by the river, verse 14.
[00:44:04] One who heard us was a woman named Lydia.
[00:44:08] Now Lydia is incredibly important here, okay?
[00:44:11] This is the first of three characters we're going to meet.
[00:44:14] Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.
[00:44:20] The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was being said by Paul.
[00:44:28] Notice here, Paul's speaking, Paul's telling her something, and the Lord is opening up her heart to pay attention.
[00:44:35] And after she was baptized, did you see that?
[00:44:39] Apparently Lydia got saved and was baptized.
[00:44:42] And, verse 15, look at this.
[00:44:44] Her household.
[00:44:46] By the way, the Greek word here for household is the word oikos.
[00:44:50] And I know that kind of sounds like a yogurt John Stamos would be the spokesperson for.
[00:44:54] But oikos literally means like everyone you're connected to.
[00:44:59] And so it wasn't just Lydia, but it was people she was connected to.
[00:45:02] In other words, revival has broke out.
[00:45:05] She urged us saying, if you judge me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.
[00:45:10] And she did.
[00:45:11] In other words, these four guys are now going to stay at Lydia's house.
[00:45:16] And what's going to happen here is they're going to keep on going back to this riverside because the revivals broke out.
[00:45:21] And they're going to have a worship service every single day.
[00:45:25] This is absolutely amazing.
[00:45:26] Now, Lydia is going to represent what we call the spiritually interested, okay?
[00:45:32] She's the spiritually interested.
[00:45:34] Did you hear the way Luke described her?
[00:45:35] She's a God figure.
[00:45:37] Fear.
[00:45:38] So she's open to having religious discussions.
[00:45:41] Couple things you need to know about Lydia.
[00:45:43] Well, Lydia is Asian.
[00:45:46] We know that because she's from Thyatira.
[00:45:48] She's an older woman and she's wealthy.
[00:45:52] We know that she's wealthy because it says that she was a seller of purple goods.
[00:45:57] We just need to know that.
[00:45:58] That's all we need to know.
[00:46:00] It's kind of be like if you meet someone and they give you a business card, and on their business card it says that they're a CEO of a company that exports rare diamonds to the royal family.
[00:46:10] Pretty good chance you know that that person is doing alright, okay?
[00:46:13] So same thing with Lydia.
[00:46:14] We know that she's wealthy, she's quite affluent.
[00:46:17] When you think of Lydia, you can think of things like this, like well put together, brilliant, well known, respected, okay?
[00:46:25] She is just a lady who seems to have everything that's going well.
[00:46:28] And she's religious!
[00:46:30] She's religious.
[00:46:31] She's at a prayer meeting.
[00:46:33] But, listen to this, even though she's spiritual, she's not saved.
[00:46:39] Y'all, there's a difference between religion and redemption, sincerity and salvation, between curiosity and conversion.
[00:46:52] And yes, Lydia is open to having discussions.
[00:46:56] She's at a prayer meeting.
[00:46:57] But just because you go to a prayer meeting doesn't mean you're a follower of Jesus.
[00:47:01] Amen?
[00:47:02] And just because you show up to First Baptist on a Sunday morning certainly doesn't mean that you're a Christian.
[00:47:07] Sitting in a pew makes you a Christian as much as standing in a garage makes you a car.
[00:47:13] So Lydia is here, but she's not saved.
[00:47:15] But in this moment, she needs to have given her heart to Christ.
[00:47:18] Why?
[00:47:19] Because the Lord opened up her heart to the things that Paul was saying.
[00:47:23] Pay attention to what Paul was saying.
[00:47:24] Well, what was Paul saying?
[00:47:27] Paul was preaching to her the Word of God.
[00:47:29] Write this down.
[00:47:31] through the word.
[00:47:34] She's reached through the word of God.
[00:47:35] Paul's not making up new stuff.
[00:47:37] He's sharing with her the gospel of Jesus.
[00:47:40] Go back to verse 14.
[00:47:41] One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.
[00:47:47] The Lord opened her heart.
[00:47:51] I love that.
[00:47:52] Y'all, I remind myself of verse 14 just about every time I stand up to preach.
[00:47:57] Listen, Paul didn't save her.
[00:47:59] Paul didn't convert her.
[00:48:01] It was the Lord who opened up her heart.
[00:48:03] Amen?
[00:48:04] See, I remind myself of this because I get awfully nervous, but I just try to say, okay, Seth, listen, here's your job today.
[00:48:10] Not to save anyone.
[00:48:12] It's not to make anyone like the sermon.
[00:48:13] You just got to share the word, and the Lord will open up the hearts of his people.
[00:48:19] Outcome is his responsibility.
[00:48:21] Obedience is our responsibility.
[00:48:24] And this should take the pressure off.
[00:48:25] That person you have right now in your life, that one that you're praying for, that one that you're going to be inviting, listen, it's God's job to save them, not yours.
[00:48:34] And if you continue to be obedient, I'm telling you, the Lord will open up
[00:48:38] The eyes of their heart listen to this she was reached through the word why because the Lord opened her heart and if it's God who opens up people's heart if it's God that opens up people's heart then that means that means that his word listen write this down is really his primary instrument to awaken us
[00:48:57] It's His Word.
[00:48:59] Listen, Lydia was saved not because there was some miracle.
[00:49:03] There was no earthquake, there's no cloud formation, nothing caught on fire here.
[00:49:09] What happened?
[00:49:10] The Word of God itself was being preached.
[00:49:14] And that's what radically changed her life.
[00:49:15] Which means, if God's going to use us, we minister through faithful, clear, and biblical proclamation.
[00:49:23] We don't have any gimmicks.
[00:49:25] Don't have to have fog machines.
[00:49:27] Don't have to have like secret sensitive stuff.
[00:49:30] We just proclaim the Word of God.
[00:49:32] Amen?
[00:49:33] You with me so far?
[00:49:34] Listen, last thing I want you to write down about Lydia.
[00:49:37] Lydia needed illumination.
[00:49:40] Not revelation, illumination.
[00:49:42] Maybe she had heard some of this stuff before, but God needed to illuminate the Word in her heart, and that's exactly what happened.
[00:49:48] And because of that, she is saved, she's baptized, her whole household is, and now this worship service is breaking out at the Riverside.
[00:49:57] Silas, Luke, and Timothy they continue to go back there to have this worship service and you're thinking can things any better yeah they can because as they're going back daily to this riverside service well one day as they're walking a little girl shows up here in Philippi listen to this verse 16 as we were going to the place of prayer we were met by a slave girl by the way this slave girl she's going to be the second character we find in Philippi
[00:50:23] Who had the spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling.
[00:50:28] Now listen, did you see that?
[00:50:30] She has a spirit of divination.
[00:50:32] What does that mean?
[00:50:33] Well that actually means that she's possessed by a demon.
[00:50:38] So she's filled with a demon.
[00:50:39] And apparently the slave girl is being trafficked in such a way that her owners are getting gain because she can tell the future.
[00:50:48] Now don't think of this like this demonic spirit is giving her the power to
[00:50:53] What is happening is this demonic spirit is giving her the ability to deceive people, making it look like she knows what's going to happen tomorrow.
[00:51:06] Does that make sense?
[00:51:06] That's how most magicians and sorcerers made their money in that day.
[00:51:10] So this little girl, this little girl is what we call the spiritually captive.
[00:51:14] If Lydia is the spiritually interested, well, this little girl is the spiritually captive.
[00:51:20] A couple things you need to know about her.
[00:51:22] This slave girl, well, she's not Asian, she's Greek.
[00:51:26] She's young.
[00:51:27] Most scholars believe that she's actually in her mid-teens.
[00:51:31] She's extremely poor and she's tormented.
[00:51:35] Y'all, she is busted up, taken advantage of, she's being used by men for profit, and now she has this evil spirit that's in her.
[00:51:45] She's traumatized, voiceless, and hurting.
[00:51:48] In other words, this little girl is enslaved and exploited.
[00:51:53] She's trafficked.
[00:51:55] You've got Lydia, the rich, Asian, wealthy woman, well-respected, everybody loves, and now you have this slave girl who's enslaved and exploited.
[00:52:06] Y'all listen, she don't need a Bible study.
[00:52:08] She needs something else.
[00:52:11] Now, as she's traveling with these missionaries, she begins to scream some things out.
[00:52:16] Look at this, verse 17.
[00:52:18] She followed Paul and us, crying out.
[00:52:20] By the way, crying out literally means screaming out, okay?
[00:52:23] These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation.
[00:52:29] Now, first of all, she's telling the truth, right?
[00:52:32] But can you tell the tone of this?
[00:52:35] This is kind of an aggressive tone.
[00:52:37] That's exactly the way she means it.
[00:52:40] It's kind of interesting.
[00:52:41] This girl continues to follow them.
[00:52:44] She's doing this day after day, so there's something about her that's attracted, but then she's also kind of antagonistic.
[00:52:52] and that's how most people who are spiritually captive act there's something about Christianity that they're curious about but then they also have this deep anger and deep mistrust and we find that in this girl verse 18 she kept doing this for what many days this wasn't like a one and done she kept following them over and over and over yelling screaming out Paul becoming greatly annoyed
[00:53:17] Turned and said to her, Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.
[00:53:23] And it came out that very hour.
[00:53:25] Isn't that amazing?
[00:53:26] By the way, I just love how honest Luke is here.
[00:53:29] Paul doesn't say, oh, daughter of Eve, I see that you're hurting.
[00:53:34] Paul's actually, did you see that?
[00:53:36] He's annoyed by her.
[00:53:38] By the way, is that how you deal with people you're annoyed by?
[00:53:42] Listen, I gotta be honest, when people annoy me, my first reaction is distance, right?
[00:53:47] I don't want to be around them.
[00:53:48] I want to be away from them.
[00:53:50] Paul, when he was annoyed by someone, his first reaction wasn't distance.
[00:53:54] It was deliverance.
[00:53:56] He wanted them to be better.
[00:53:58] And so what happens here, this girl who's enslaved and exploited, write this down, number three, was reached through compassion and action.
[00:54:07] You know, it wasn't at the Bible study.
[00:54:09] It wasn't at the prayer group meetings.
[00:54:11] Something else.
[00:54:12] She was actually delivered.
[00:54:15] And how was she delivered?
[00:54:17] Was it by Paul?
[00:54:18] No.
[00:54:18] Remember what Paul said?
[00:54:19] In the name of Jesus.
[00:54:23] The name of Jesus.
[00:54:23] We talked about this in Acts 4.
[00:54:25] The name of Jesus means the person of Jesus.
[00:54:29] Paul did not free this girl.
[00:54:31] Paul did not save this girl.
[00:54:34] It was Jesus Christ who delivered this girl.
[00:54:37] She was freed.
[00:54:37] Write this down.
[00:54:38] Number four.
[00:54:39] Freed in the name of Jesus.
[00:54:40] The same Jesus who opened up Lydia's heart is the same Jesus who cast out this demon in the slave girl.
[00:54:49] You know why I write this down?
[00:54:50] Because the gospel really can break chains.
[00:54:53] Whatever you're going through this morning, whatever demon, whatever addiction, whatever pain, whatever hurt, the gospel alone can break that chain.
[00:55:04] Which means there's people in Morrisville right now, people in your life who have chains.
[00:55:10] They are spiritually captive.
[00:55:12] That means we minister to the broken through service.
[00:55:17] For Lydia, it was word, sermon.
[00:55:20] For the slave girl, it wasn't a sermon, it was service through deed, compassion and action.
[00:55:27] Lydia, remember that?
[00:55:29] She needed illumination.
[00:55:31] This little girl, number seven, she needed liberation.
[00:55:35] And God broke her chains through his power.
[00:55:38] You say, wait a second, okay, they get into this new city, they got this big worship service going on, everybody's coming out, you know, revival's breaking out, and then you get this little slave girl who's been demon-possessed, but all of a sudden she gets healed.
[00:55:49] Can things get any better?
[00:55:50] They actually get a whole lot worse.
[00:55:54] Look what happens next.
[00:55:55] Verse 19.
[00:55:57] But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone...
[00:56:02] They seized Paul and Silas.
[00:56:03] Now, I want to underline some things just so we can come back to them later.
[00:56:07] But notice this.
[00:56:08] For some reason, Timothy and Luke isn't mentioned here.
[00:56:11] We don't know.
[00:56:12] Maybe they were back at the river or back at Lydia's house.
[00:56:15] We don't know what's going on.
[00:56:16] But Paul and Silas are the ones that get caught.
[00:56:19] And they're dragged into the marketplace before the rulers.
[00:56:25] Verse 20.
[00:56:26] And when they had brought them to the magistrates, oh, that's important.
[00:56:31] They said, these men are Jews and they're disturbing our city.
[00:56:35] They advocate customs, underline that, that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.
[00:56:43] The crowd joined in on attacking them and the magistrates tore the garments off of them and gave orders to beat them with rods.
[00:56:53] And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.
[00:57:00] Having received this order, he put them in the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
[00:57:10] Let me explain what's happening here.
[00:57:11] Two things I want you to know about these verses.
[00:57:14] I want you to see the reasoning behind the persecution.
[00:57:18] When these owners of this little slave girl realize that this evil spirit's left and they can no longer make money off her, they drag Paul and Silas and they put them before the magistrates and they really use a political motivation to get them in trouble.
[00:57:33] Do you see what they said?
[00:57:34] They are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans.
[00:57:39] What does that mean?
[00:57:40] Well, what was Paul sharing with Lydia?
[00:57:44] The only way to salvation is Jesus.
[00:57:45] That's the word.
[00:57:47] Right?
[00:57:48] When this little girl was screaming out, what did she say?
[00:57:50] These men, most high God, proclaim to you the way of salvation.
[00:57:54] Because only Jesus is the way to salvation.
[00:57:57] When this little girl was healed, remember what Paul said?
[00:58:00] In the name of Jesus, not the name of Caesar.
[00:58:05] You see, if Jesus is Lord, and he's the only way to salvation, if Jesus is Lord, guess who's not Lord?
[00:58:13] Caesar.
[00:58:14] and so what they're doing is trying to use some political motivation here saying see they're advocating things that are not lawful for us as Romans and these magistrates who are high officials say okay this is a problem so these magistrates get their bodyguards listen we don't have time I'm running out of time so I gotta be quick about this but if you get a chance you ought to literally just google this
[00:58:33] This is really quite fascinating.
[00:58:36] They would travel with a group of people called Lictors.
[00:58:39] L-I-C-T-O-R-S.
[00:58:42] Okay, Lictors.
[00:58:42] You can just Google this.
[00:58:43] And these Lictors would, like the personal bodyguards of these magistrates, and they would literally walk around with bundles of wooden rods.
[00:58:50] And so this was like a legal form of torture here.
[00:58:54] Like nobody could stop this.
[00:58:55] and so they take these guys they strip them of their clothing which is obviously what happened here they would tie their hands to posts and they would beat them with these wooden rods over and over this was not a symbolic punishment it was a brutal public humiliating act of violence historians often called a beating like this particularly Josephus talked about as rains of blow violent unmeasured strikes designed to weaken shame and destroy
[00:59:24] In these beatings, there would be people who would come out with cracked ribs, massive bruising, deep muscle damage, internal bleeding, open wounds.
[00:59:35] And then after that, they put them in prison, and they put them in the inner prison, which means no light, no ventilation, and filth.
[00:59:46] And then they put their feet in stocks.
[00:59:47] And by the way, don't think of stocks as like the ones you see at Williamsburg where you take a picture.
[00:59:52] No, no, no, not those modern stocks.
[00:59:54] The Roman stocks were literally chained, suspended from the ceiling.
[00:59:58] What they do is they lay you on your back, they put your ankles into the clamps, and then they would pull you upside down.
[01:00:04] That's what they put these men in.
[01:00:06] And after all of that, jump to verse 25.
[01:00:10] About midnight Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns to God.
[01:00:18] After that type of beating, that type of torture, they worship.
[01:00:26] and as they're worshiping listen to this the prisoners and everyone else is listening to them including the jailer who put them in that inner prison which by the way is the third character last one we're talking about this jailer he's what we call the spiritual skeptic lydia's the spiritually interested the slave girl she's the spiritual captive for this jailer he's the spiritual capitalist couple things you know about this trailer well this jailer he's roman
[01:00:56] Hardened, Blue-collared, and Cynical.
[01:00:59] And the reason I say that is because to become a Roman jailer was typically a decorated Roman soldier who had had lots of battle experience and as a gift in their retirement they were given a jail to run.
[01:01:13] That's typically how these things happen.
[01:01:15] So this guy was battle-hardened.
[01:01:18] Listen, this guy is, well, I guess you could just say he's kind of indifferent.
[01:01:21] Maybe you could write this down.
[01:01:22] He's blinded and he's indifferent.
[01:01:24] Lydia there's a spiritual curiosity to her leaning toward being open to God on the other side of that this young slave girl well there's some spiritual dynamics going on there but she's more antagonistic well this guy isn't open he's not antagonistic he's neither he's just doing his job just a guy trying to survive here yet
[01:01:50] As they're worshiping, something amazing happens.
[01:01:52] Verse 26, Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.
[01:02:02] And when the jailer awoke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword, and he was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
[01:02:09] You see, if you were to lose a prisoner, well, you would already be killed and probably tortured by the Romans, so he's just going to go ahead and take his own life.
[01:02:17] But, verse 28, Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.
[01:02:23] And the jailer called for lights, and he rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.
[01:02:33] And then he brought them out, and he said, Sirs,
[01:02:36] What must I do to be saved?
[01:02:38] Can you believe this?
[01:02:39] He's asking them, what can I do to be saved?
[01:02:42] You know why?
[01:02:43] Because God took this Roman, hard and blue collar, cynical, blinded, indifferent jailer, and the Lord reached him.
[01:02:50] Number three, through the example of believers.
[01:02:54] Through Lydia, it was the Word.
[01:02:57] Through this young Greek slave girl, it was deed.
[01:03:00] But now for this Roman jailer.
[01:03:02] It's example that God is using.
[01:03:06] See, the Lord humbled him.
[01:03:08] How did he do that?
[01:03:09] He humbled him by keeping Paul and Silas in this prison.
[01:03:13] Look at this, verse 30.
[01:03:15] Then he brought them out and he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
[01:03:19] What must you do to be saved?
[01:03:20] There's nothing you do to be saved.
[01:03:22] It's not what you do, it's what Jesus has already done, right?
[01:03:26] And they explained that to him.
[01:03:27] Verse 31, they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.
[01:03:32] By the way, you wonder how to share the gospel with someone?
[01:03:34] You just share Acts 16 verse 31.
[01:03:37] Believe in Jesus and you will be saved.
[01:03:40] Verse 32, And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
[01:03:45] What?
[01:03:46] !
[01:03:46] that's not a jail apparently at this point they've left the jail and they've went to the house also anybody want to guess what words being used here in greek the same word that was used earlier for lydia it's the greek word oikos which means that's not just this guy's immediate family but everyone he's connected connected with he's brought around to hear this word verse 33 and he took them the same hour of the night and he washed their wounds and he was oh my goodness
[01:04:12] Baptized at once he and all his family by the way you want to hear something really cool here this guy's family and Lydia's family are going to come together and they're going to be the beginning of the church that will be planted in Philippi which by the way was one of Paul's favorite churches and later on he's going to write a letter to them that's in the New Testament we call that
[01:04:34] The Book of Philippians.
[01:04:36] Isn't that amazing?
[01:04:37] And it starts right here in Acts 16.
[01:04:39] Listen, the Lord humbled this man, write this down, because this man was awakened by worship, not by argument.
[01:04:46] Look, they didn't debate with them.
[01:04:47] They didn't say, hey, let's sit down.
[01:04:48] No, they just lived by example and he saw their worship.
[01:04:53] In your life right now, in Mooresville, there's not just those who are spiritually interested or spiritually captive, there are spiritual skeptics among you.
[01:05:01] And how do we reach them?
[01:05:02] Well, we minister to the indifferent through integrity and through witness.
[01:05:06] And they gotta be able to see you live your life giving Jesus all the honor and the glory.
[01:05:11] Lydia needed illumination.
[01:05:14] The slave girl, she needed liberation.
[01:05:16] But this guy, number seven, he needed a demonstration.
[01:05:19] And God shook his soul through the example
[01:05:22] of His people.
[01:05:23] Amen?
[01:05:23] That's what I love about these three people.
[01:05:25] I'm running out of time, so I'm going to ask Bethany.
[01:05:27] She'll go ahead and start wrapping this up.
[01:05:29] Well, what am I telling you about these three people?
[01:05:31] Well, I'm telling you this because, well, this is what gives us the hope in Morrisville right now.
[01:05:37] This is what gives us hope right now.
[01:05:40] That means, listen, that first Baptists can reach the spiritual interested through the Word.
[01:05:46] Can I just tell you a quick story real quick?
[01:05:48] I love this.
[01:05:49] I love this.
[01:05:50] There's people in your life, okay, some who go to church, some who don't go to church, some who are religious, some who are not so religious.
[01:05:58] There's people in your life right now that they're kind of open to having a conversation
[01:06:04] And if you were to just invite them to read the Word of God with you, you would be so shocked and surprised how many would say yes.
[01:06:15] Okay, so there's some young guys here at this church.
[01:06:19] Landon, you guys know Landon, he's come up to speak before.
[01:06:21] Adam comes, you know him.
[01:06:24] Austin, just saw Austin in the overflow.
[01:06:27] Then, earlier this summer, some of the young men in our church said, you know what we're going to do?
[01:06:33] They all play on the soccer team.
[01:06:35] They said, we're just going to like meet once a week, and we're going to read the Bible together, and we're going to invite all of our buddies and teammates to come out.
[01:06:45] And so they started doing that.
[01:06:46] Many said no.
[01:06:48] Some said yes.
[01:06:51] So they just started meeting like around lunchtime.
[01:06:53] Sometimes they meet in the evening.
[01:06:54] They said, hey, Pastor Seth, anytime you want to come and join us, you can.
[01:06:58] But then school started back, so they couldn't meet near lunch.
[01:07:02] So they started meeting at 6 a.m. at Chick-fil-A.
[01:07:07] They said, you can come anytime.
[01:07:08] I was like, you know, I don't know, 6 a.m., maybe not.
[01:07:12] Y'all listen, out of that, there's many other young men who started coming here and now being a part of our youth group.
[01:07:21] Just because there's some guys who say, hey, you want to read the Word with me?
[01:07:26] Listen, if 16, 17, 18-year-old young men can do that, why in the world can you not?
[01:07:32] I mean, why can't you do that with the people you work with, with your neighbors?
[01:07:38] I know that might sound intimidating, but I'm telling you, if you were to just ask someone to get to the Word, you know what the Lord's going to do?
[01:07:44] He's going to do the same thing He did with Lydia.
[01:07:46] He's going to open up their heart.
[01:07:49] You don't save anyone.
[01:07:50] The Lord does.
[01:07:52] And to those that are in Mooresville, and you've got some that live beside you, you've got some in your family, you've got some that you work with, some people who are spiritually interested, and God wants to use you right now to reach out to them through His Word.
[01:08:05] You with me?
[01:08:06] That also means that First Baptist can reach the spiritual captive through deed.
[01:08:12] Through deed.
[01:08:13] It wasn't at a Bible study that this young Greek slave girl was saved.
[01:08:17] It was through compassionate action.
[01:08:20] Adrian Rogers said, the only thing people need is salvation, but sometimes their eyes are not open to salvation until they first get soup or soap.
[01:08:30] That means that, yes, people need salvation, but God also wants to use us in compassionate action, meeting the needs of those that are around us.
[01:08:38] That's why we are constantly asking for volunteers.
[01:08:41] That's why we're constantly asking for people to serve.
[01:08:43] That's why we constantly mention things to you like NC Feed, or Christian Mission, or Hope of Mooresville, or HealthReach.
[01:08:50] We need people to be on the front lines.
[01:08:53] How many of you know that this is true?
[01:08:54] That sometimes people just don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care, amen?
[01:09:01] Sometimes service can do what a sermon cannot.
[01:09:04] You know, one of the things I ask you all the time is, if First Baptist shut down, if today was our last Sunday, we just closed the doors, we're not going to meet anymore, would anyone who doesn't come here on Sunday morning notice?
[01:09:19] Would anyone who's not a part of this church, would their lives be affected by that?
[01:09:24] How's your service?
[01:09:25] Let me tell you one quick story.
[01:09:27] The church I came from in Kentucky, long before I got there, they started making a priority that youth and kids was going to be their top priority.
[01:09:36] And so they started this Awana program and they got like 10 buses and vans and they just said every Wednesday we're going to go all around the county and we're going to pick up kids.
[01:09:45] And they'd pick up like 200 kids, bring them to the church and feed them and have a study.
[01:09:51] A lot of the kids that we pick up,
[01:09:54] Their parents didn't come.
[01:09:56] Many, many, many of them had a rough home life.
[01:10:01] One of the young men they picked up was a guy by the name of Mason.
[01:10:04] They'd bring Mason on Wednesday nights, and Mason lived with his grandma.
[01:10:09] And they would try to encourage Mason, things like that.
[01:10:11] Well, the older Mason got, you know, sometimes he wouldn't come.
[01:10:14] And the older he got, the more trouble he got into until eventually Mason got some real trouble and was sentenced to prison for many, many years.
[01:10:24] When Mason was in prison, those Sunday school teachers and Iwana workers would write letters to Mason, constantly trying to encourage him, let them know that they're still thinking about him.
[01:10:35] Well, after years of being in prison, Mason got out and he moved back home.
[01:10:40] And let's just put it this way, he was enjoying the fruits of his freedom until he realized that life wasn't going the way he wanted to.
[01:10:48] And then he said, you know, the only thing that's ever been consistent in my life
[01:10:53] is that church won't leave me alone.
[01:10:56] They picked me up when I was little.
[01:10:58] They wrote me letters.
[01:10:59] They'd always encourage me.
[01:11:00] And so now as an adult, one day Mason walked in the front doors, not on a Wednesday night, but on a Sunday morning.
[01:11:07] That Sunday, I just happened to be preaching on Romans 3 about how the law doesn't save us.
[01:11:13] It's only what Jesus and Jesus alone does that saves us.
[01:11:17] And at the end of the invitation, Mason came walking down.
[01:11:20] He gave his heart to Christ.
[01:11:22] I had the honor and privilege of baptizing Mason.
[01:11:25] Eventually he got engaged to a sweet young girl, got to baptize her.
[01:11:30] Eventually they had a kid together.
[01:11:33] And now Mason is traveling around giving messages of hope to at-risk youth.
[01:11:39] Yo, how did that happen?
[01:11:40] Because he just randomly walked into a church and heard a sermon?
[01:11:43] No!
[01:11:44] But because there was people for years and years and years who were serving, letting this guy know, we love you!
[01:11:50] and we care for you people don't care how much you know do they know how much you care and God wants to use you right now not just giving the word but he wants to use you indeed here's the last one write this down God wants to use first baptist this month right now to reach the spiritual skeptic through example isn't that what happened to the roman jailer
[01:12:16] This is through the example of Paul and Silas.
[01:12:18] By the way, can I just point something out?
[01:12:20] Their example didn't happen because Paul got a promotion at work.
[01:12:26] It wasn't like Silas all of a sudden got engaged, met some woman, she said yes, and now everyone's viewing how happy and joyful he is.
[01:12:38] No promotion, no Suite Life event.
[01:12:41] What happened to these guys?
[01:12:43] They were persecuted and tortured and in prison and in the midst of pain.
[01:12:49] God used their example of worship.
[01:12:54] God can give more sermons in your suffering than He ever can in your celebrations.
[01:13:01] Sometimes God won't deliver you from adversity.
[01:13:06] Sometimes He'll use you in the midst of it.
[01:13:08] There's two things you need to know about your pain right now.
[01:13:11] Number one, you gotta see it coming.
[01:13:13] You got to see it coming.
[01:13:15] Y'all don't be shocked when you realize that as a Christian you're not exempt from suffering.
[01:13:20] And then number two, you got to see it through.
[01:13:22] You got to see it through.
[01:13:23] Jesus said you are going to have trouble in this world but take heart for I've overcome the world.
[01:13:27] The psalmist says that the righteous have no fear of bad news.
[01:13:31] Is that you?
[01:13:33] Are you confident that in the midst of your suffering God is still here and other people are going to be watching?
[01:13:38] That, that within itself is a sermon.
[01:13:41] I want to share one last story with you.
[01:13:43] I want to wrap up.
[01:13:45] I pastored a lady one time by the name of Gertha Fudge.
[01:13:50] Gertha had been married for over 60 years to her high school sweetheart.
[01:13:55] And then one day her husband passed away.
[01:14:00] The day of his funeral, I had went to the funeral home a little bit early.
[01:14:04] I was friends with the funeral director.
[01:14:07] And I remember as I was talking to him, I said, you know, I'll come back in a couple hours.
[01:14:10] I want to be here before the family gets here.
[01:14:11] And the funeral director said, oh.
[01:14:13] Some of the family is already here.
[01:14:15] I said, what?
[01:14:17] He said, Gertha has been here almost all morning.
[01:14:22] He said, she's in the sanctuary.
[01:14:23] And there was like these double doors, right, leading from the foyer to the sanctuary.
[01:14:27] And so I just remember kind of pushing up, pushing open that double door, poking my head into this empty sanctuary at the funeral home.
[01:14:37] And I'll never forget what I saw.
[01:14:41] Her husband's in a casket.
[01:14:43] and Miss Gertha had got a stool and she was sitting right beside the body of her husband she had her hand on his hand tears were streaming down her face you know the type of cry when you cry so hard your whole body shakes that's what she was doing yet she had one hand up in the air and she was just simply singing my Jesus I love thee I know thou art mine
[01:15:15] All of the folly of sin I resign.
[01:15:23] I remember me and the funeral home director, she didn't know we was there.
[01:15:27] He looks at me, he says, you ever seen anything like this?
[01:15:33] I said, I've never seen anything like that.
[01:15:36] And we just closed the door and we walked away.
[01:15:39] Can I tell you, in the midst of your suffering,
[01:15:43] People are going to be watching, and you don't know they're going to be watching.
[01:15:46] Gertha didn't know we were looking at her.
[01:15:49] There's going to be people looking at you, and here's my question.
[01:15:52] In the midst of suffering, are you going to worship well?
[01:15:55] Are you going to raise your hands and say, God, my citizenship is in heaven.
[01:15:59] That's where I belong.
[01:16:00] And whatever trials and whatever pain that come to me now, I want to bear that.
[01:16:04] I want to bear that.
[01:16:05] Because one day, one day, you have a home for me.
[01:16:08] Listen, write this down.
[01:16:09] Number four, the gospel is sufficient for every person we meet.
[01:16:14] Y'all, in this story, you've got an Asian, older, wealthy, religious woman, a young Greek, enslaved, tormented girl, and a Roman, blue-collar, hardened jailer.
[01:16:27] and the same gospel turned all three of their lives upside down.
[01:16:31] I'm telling you, there's not a person in your family, there's not a neighbor you have, a coworker you have, that the gospel can not touch.
[01:16:38] No one is too far out of bounds for God's grace, amen?
[01:16:42] Last thing, the Holy Spirit is with you and salvation belongs to the Lord.
[01:16:48] It doesn't belong to you, it belongs to the Lord.
[01:16:52] So you go and this month you be bowed,
[01:16:55] You be courageous.
[01:16:56] And I want to just invite you now.
[01:16:59] Maybe that person is already, you've already got that person picked out.
[01:17:02] You already know who it is.
[01:17:03] I want to ask you, this altar is going to be open.
[01:17:06] Maybe today you could just come to the altar and say, Lord, here's who I'm praying for.
[01:17:10] Here's who I want to be inviting out to church.
[01:17:12] Lord, here's how I want to be bowed in my generosity this month when it comes to the Lottie Moon offering.
[01:17:19] If that's you, I want to invite you to come today.
[01:17:21] Just lift those names up before God.
[01:17:23] Say, God, I need the same gospel that turned Lydia's life upside down, the slave girl's life upside down, and the jailer's life upside down to be the same gospel that turns my neighbor's life upside down, or my son's life upside down, or my mom's life upside down, or my co-worker's life upside down, because salvation belongs to you and you alone, Lord.
[01:17:43] And you are still working.
[01:17:45] The same God that's in Philippi is the same God that's in Morrisville.
[01:17:49] Amen?
[01:17:50] So this altar is going to be open.
[01:17:52] Maybe you're here today and this seems a little bit strange because you, well, you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior.
[01:17:58] You've never really committed your life to Him.
[01:18:01] Maybe you've kind of been like Lydia.
[01:18:04] You think you've been good enough.
[01:18:06] You've been religious, but you've not been saved.
[01:18:09] No, today is the day of salvation.
[01:18:11] I can't imagine a better time than right now, you coming forward and saying, Lord, my whole life belongs to you.
[01:18:17] I trust you as my Savior.
[01:18:19] He is just and faithful to forgive.
[01:18:22] But you gotta ask.
[01:18:23] Will you stand right now, right where you're at?
[01:18:24] Let's pray together.
[01:18:26] Father, we thank you.
[01:18:27] We thank you for being here.
[01:18:29] We thank you for being in charge.
[01:18:31] We thank you for sitting on the throne, for being competent.
[01:18:35] Father there is no person the gospel cannot reach that also means there's no person that you don't want to use that you can use Father everyone everyone who puts their trust in you Father we believe that that's true right now we believe Father that you're here that you're moving so we lift those names up to you and Father if there is somebody here who's never trusted in you Father we'd ask that today be the day that they die to themselves
[01:19:00] So they can be raised to life through you.
[01:19:03] Father, we thank you for your mercy.
[01:19:05] We thank you for your grace.
[01:19:07] And Father, we just pray, we pray that in this moment, that in this moment you would have your way with us.
[01:19:13] Father, we pray that in this moment that you would stir in us.
[01:19:19] Father, we commend all these things to you.
[01:19:22] We lift these things up to you and Father we ask that your Holy Spirit move.
[01:19:26] We pray this in your holy and most exalted name.
[01:19:29] Amen.

[01:19:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

[01:20:06] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[01:20:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy,
[01:20:55] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[01:21:12] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[01:21:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
All the Lord is come, is come, and with rest to me is promised, and my heart is just above.
[01:21:47] When my spirit, holy mortal, is inspired to melt again, this I song to you in this angel's
[01:21:49] Jesus sent me all the way.
[01:21:58] This I saw through endless ages.
[01:22:17] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

[01:22:30] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[01:22:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Jesus, to whom all things round.
[01:22:48] For I know the heavenly calling, Jesus to whom all things round.

[01:22:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I just so appreciate you guys being here today.
[01:22:57] If today's your first time visiting, make sure before you leave that you stop at the table back there, fill out a connect card.
[01:23:04] This altar is still open, still have people praying.
[01:23:06] Do not leave here today.
[01:23:07] Do not leave here today until you make sure things are right between you and the Lord.
[01:23:12] Father, we thank you for who you are.
[01:23:13] Thank you for your mercy, for your grace.
[01:23:18] Really busy month ahead of us now.
[01:23:21] There's many opportunities that you're giving us to invite people.
[01:23:25] Many opportunities you're giving us to serve people.
[01:23:29] Would you help those at First Baptist through your Spirit, Father, be empowered through the Holy Spirit to now go and to give the Word to those in Morrisville, to give deed and example to those in Morrisville.
[01:23:44] Lord, we can't do this without you.
[01:23:45] We need you.
[01:23:46] Father, I pray, I pray that as we leave here,
[01:23:49] that we be a people focused on mission our home is in heaven that's where our citizenship is so so when we suffer let us suffer with endurance when we go through pain let us go through pain joyfully giving you all the honor and all the glory because one day you're going to wipe every tear from our eye one day we're going to be in a place where there is no more death no more pain no more sorrow you will be our God and we will be your people forever more that's what your word tells us
[01:24:14] So let us leave here with that confidence.
[01:24:16] Lord, as we leave here, bless us, keep us, make your face shine upon us, and give us travel and mercies till we meet again.
[01:24:22] We pray all of this in your holy name and all those who agreed said.
[01:24:27] Amen.