The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 1: Rescued From Human Tradition

Episode Date: December 4, 2022

No matter who you are, what you have done, or where you have been, salvation is offered to anyone who would trust Jesus.

Amen and amen. Well, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, right? Hey, if you got your Bibles, I hope you do, grab them. We're going to be in Acts Chapter 16. I know that doesn't sound very Christmassy, but it'll make a lot more sense here in just a few minutes. And as you're turning to Acts Chapter 16, I have got some news and updates to give you, just in case you just started coming to our church in the last couple of weeks. About three weeks ago, we finished up a five-week teaching series that really shapes our church from now on.

but it's a two-year discipleship journey rooted in this verse, out of John chapter 10, verse 10, maybe you saw all the banners as you came in. And we're calling it the 10-10 life, that the enemy comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but the good shepherd has come that we may have life and have it abundantly. And three weeks ago, we had a commitment weekend where we all prayed like crazy and said, God, what are you calling us to do as a step of obedience in regards to generosity to bring to you our first and our best to accomplish. all the things that you have called our church to be a part of,

including church life, which means to keep making disciples, to make disciples and make disciples, including eternal life, which means to launch campuses wherever God tells us to and to plant hundreds and hundreds, up to 1,000 churches over 10 year period of time around the world, and to step into what is the abundant life, that every single image bearer of God, from womb to tomb, deserves to be told about the good news of Jesus Christ,

and we are not just pro-life. up to birth, we are pro-life from womb to tomb, and that's what we're doing as a church for the next couple years. And so we had a primary goal. Our primary goal is that 100% of people that consider 1122 to be their church, that they would go all in and that they would make a financial commitment in response to what God has called them to do. I want to give you a little recap on where we are on that.

Then we had, just so you know, we had 11,081 people make a conference. commitment of generosity towards the Lord. That's a really, really big deal. Listen, in my industry, in church, I just need to know. Only about 20% of people actually give or bring or tithe, and then 80% of people are just terrible. Okay? But in our church, it is way different.

It is way different. And we're going to share like the number, the financial number in a little while. but I also need you to know this. There's not like just one or two or three people that make the whole thing go. This is everybody, this is the majority of our people that are saying, I am committing to bring my first and best to the Lord.

It's a really, really big deal. And if you're one of the people and you're like, well, I don't need to fill out a card because I've decided in my heart, oh, God bless you. But if you would just write down your number on a card, please, it would help me a lot. And so if you haven't filled out your card yet,

you could text the word commit to 44, 11, 22, and it would help me out a lot if you would fill out that card. Also, this includes, this is really, really encouraging. This includes 3,493 people are making a commitment for the very first time. Amen? That's really encouraging. And one of the things you need to know about this is,

especially with the launch of 1122 online, there were people from over 20 states from C to shining C that made commitments here at 1122. There were people all the way from California, And good Lord, we know those people need Jesus. Amen. So thank you for those of you from California.

We're praying for you. Also, some of you may know that we have campuses in prisons. And so at our union correctional facility, these men made a commitment. And you know, these men are much like Peter and James going to the temple, silver and gold, have I none, but what I have, I give unto thee. We had a man make a hundred dollar commitment

I don't even know where you'd get that from, but he is going to make that commitment. And then there's a, there's also a guy at one of our brothers at Union named James, and he is committing that every night at 9 p.m., throughout this entire discipleship journey, he is going to be committed to pray

for the ministry of the Church of 1122. So this truly is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And also, because of your generosity, we are going to be able to do more faster. So all these partners that you see us highlighting over the next few weeks, we are going to be able to do more with them faster.

And one of the things that we're going to do is many of you know that we used to have a Baker campus at Baker Correctional through COVID, it got shut down. And the majority of those men moved to Columbia. And we told those men when we went to do church with them that they're our brothers and we would not give up on them. And so during the 10-10 life initiative, we are going to open up another prison campus in Columbia,

which is super cool. I can't wait to show up and see those good brothers there. Not only that, it is very important to us that we steward what God has given us. So in this time, because of your generosity, one of the things that happened is we just paid off our Arlington campus. So our Arlington campus is paid for,

which is really cool. And that just adds to, we have paid off the San Pablo campus and the purchase, the original one, the Bay Meadows campus, the original Mandarin campus, and because of your generosity, the land that we purchased at St. John's, we did with cash, we opened our Orange Park campus with cash. And a part of the reason I mention that is simply this, is that we're just one church.

We're just one church with a bunch of locations. We're just one house with a bunch of rooms. So it's not like Bay Meadows pays off Bay Meadows and Arlington pays off Arlington. In the same way that I'm not charging my son, his part of the mortgage at my house, right? We just got one house with one family. And if you're part of 1122, we're just one family. It's a big dysfunctional family, but we're just one big dysfunctional family. And so it's just one church in all of these different places, and God has been so, so good to us.

And our primary goal was that every single person would play along. And then our secondary goal is that we were believing God for $110 million in resources over the two years of the 10-10 life. and the total committed and expected giving over these next two years is $127,177,000, $128.13. Amen. Praise God. Praise God. Now, in that, this past week, I was with the 10 largest Acts 29 churches we were hosting these pastors at the retreat center. You have no idea the kind of investment. you make into pastors around the world, but I don't even have time to get into this. And I was talking specifically about what God was doing in this place, and those of them who have hair left, it was all blown back. They could not even believe what was happening here. And it reminded me, it reminded me of the one and only time I got to sit down and eat dinner with Dr. Billy Graham. And I asked Dr. Graham,

if you were to preach one more crusade, what would it be about? And without hesitation, he said, Galatian 614, far be it from me to boast in anything but the cross of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So on the one hand, man, way to go, and I'm so proud of you, and way to step into what God is calling us to do, but may we never, ever boast in anything except the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

And so the next step for you is if you made a commitment, if you hadn't, do it today, and if you did, then we're going to start today. Today is our big give Sunday. That we want to kick off the 10-10 life in the biggest way we could dream of. And so, like at my house, Gretchen and I have been praying like crazy, and we don't really write checks anymore,

but I don't know else how to say it. But today, we are going to write the largest check we've ever written in our entire life. That includes purchases of homes and all of that kind of stuff. And one of the reasons is because we want to go first and then we want to kickstart this 10-10 life into action. And so there's not going to be like a special offering

or anything like that at the end of the service, but we want to go ahead and get going today. And so one last thing, church, well done. I'm listening to the voice of the shepherd in your life and doing whatever he tells you to do. Good job. Now, now it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Acts chapter 16, and it is, man.

I don't know about you. I love Christmas. It is after Thanksgiving, it is now okay to put your Christmas tree up. I know some of you, like Pastor Britt has tried, I think he's had his up since 4th of July. I think we'll call that idolatry, but I'll work on that with him later on. But it is, man, and I love Christmas. I really do.

I love the Christmas traditions. We have all kind of traditions. There's like the traditional traditions that most people have. And then what's great, especially as you get old, I turn old next year. I'll be 50 next year, so then I'll be officially old. And so I love some of our own traditions that have developed over time. Like I'm into the Christmas tree, and I've told you. did this before. When I was growing up, we were into Christmas. We never even took the Christmas

tree down. We had a Christmas closet. We would just open up a door and scoot it in there. And then the day after Thanksgiving, we'd open the Christmas closet and we'd drag it back out. Put a little tinsel. Remember those? The little tensils, only on the side that you could see. That's how you knew where to put it. Why don't worry you want to? Anyway, you don't have to decorate the backside. So, and then we'd plug it in, see which lights worked. And then, but we didn't take the dead one's off, we just added a new strand. By the time I was 11, the same, we were about 7,000 pounds, you know, have to get a tractor to pull it out. And my people were into Christmas. I mean, we were into Christmas so much that most of my aunts and uncles, they left their Christmas

lights up all year long. I mean, I remember pulling up to Uncle Phillips house one time in July, I go, Daddy, why does Uncle Philip have on his Christmas lights? And he had the big, blinky colored lights on his chain link fence in July. My daddy simply says, boy, you can't hide money. That's a fact, right? So I've got some personal Christmas traditions. Like this is my annual trip to the mall. I get to go to that place, God forsaken place once a year, and buy some stuff for Gretchen she don't need. She gets everything else.

We like to watch Christmas movies at my house. Now Gretchen and Reagan have already watched them all, but I like to watch, I like to watch Christmas vacation. I mean, I think there's some serious prophecy in that one. I like to watch Elf, that makes me happy. I like watch Home Alone, that little scene with a little boys choir singing, you know, be that big crying like Michael.

But we always save the best for last. You got to make sure you watch the number one greatest Christmas movie of all time, which is die hard. That's right, die hard. Now, I am not condoning it. It is not family friendly. This is not a part of our discipleship that you watch die hard. It just happens to be the best, okay?

I'm into the milk and cookies thing and all that, man. We have Christmas Eve services this year. In my mind, it's hard to get Santa Claus to show up if you don't gather together, light a candle and sing silent night. And so we're going to do a version of that. We're not lighting actual candles in here because we want to be good stewards of this place. You ever been to a candlelight service when it's over? It looks like a flock of seagulls came through.

And I ain't talking about the band from the 80s. You understand. So we'll do like flashlights or something. But I am not a curmudgeon. I'm not anti all the traditions that don't explicitly talk about Jesus. However, look, traditions can be great until they're not. That the point of the tradition is to remind you of the point of what the tradition points to. The danger with our American Christmas traditions is that it can often cause us to miss the point.

You can get the cocoa and the presents and the party and the elf on the shelf and all the things and get all filled with the spirit of Christmas and miss the very spirit of God. You see, because Christmas is not ultimately about a baby in a manger. Christmas is ultimately a rescue mission. This is why we've called this series the rescue mission. So that from now until the day we celebrate

the incarnation of Christ, we can be reminded that the king of the universe stepped off of his throne and came on a rest of the world. mission for you and for me. And I'm not making this up. John 1 starts out this way. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without Him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. And then by the time you get down to verse 14, it says this, a great Christmas verse. And the Word became flesh and dwelt

among us. And we have seen his glory. Glory as the only son from the Father full of grace and truth, that the king of the universe dressed himself in flesh. And he obediently came for me and you. Jesus says it this way himself in Matthew 2028, even as the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. A ransom is the payment you make to purchase freedom. And Jesus says, that's why I came. In Luke 10, Jesus says, for the son of man came to seek and save the lost. You know what that means? That Jesus came on a rescue mission.

The way C.S. Lewis says it in mere Christianity is this. Enemy occupied territory. That is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say, landed in disguise and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. I mean, this is how we started off this year, if you can remember way back then, that we don't live in this kingdom.

We don't live for this kingdom, but we live in an upside-down kingdom. There is one Christmas carol that nails it. It says this, oh, come, O come, Emmanuel. God with us. The story of the whole Bible are those words. God with us. Oh, come, O come, Emmanuel.

and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. And so what I want to warn us of today in this rescue mission, and it's just a warning as we're on the front end of the Christmas season is oftentimes one of the things that we need to be rescued from is we need to be rescued from human tradition. Because oftentimes human traditions start out in a pure way, but over time, time, they actually cloud out what it was supposed to point to. In fact, in Mark 713, Jesus says that human tradition is the only thing that can void the Word of God. It's a really, really big deal. And the particular tradition I want to point out today that happened back in the first

century, it was a rabbinical tradition. And it started out in a really good way. It was called morning prayers. But over time, what began to shift is it quit being a theocentric prayer and it became a me-centric prayer. And when the rabbis would teach religious men to pray is every morning when they would wake up, the religious men were taught to pray this. They were taught to pray, God, I thank you, that I, which, by the way, if the first thing on your gratitude list is you, you have lost the plot.

that prayers are a response to who God is, not acknowledging that he got it right when he came up with the idea that is me. But that's how they started. God, I thank you that I am not a woman, I am not a slave, and I am not a Gentile. And in that culture of the first century, they looked around based on their culture and their number one thing on their gratitude list was themselves. I thank God that I am not a woman. I am not a slave, I am not a Gentile.

And in fact, you see this creep in in the teachings of Jesus. I think Jesus is directly addressing this human tradition. In Luke chapter 18, he tells this story. He says this, and Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. And the Pharisee, that's the religious person. That's the person that would be at church this week.

again. And the Pharisees, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give ties of all that I get, but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And then Jesus says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. That Christmas is to remind us that we need a Savior.

And the moment your prayer life turns into your resume of all that you've done for God, watch out because you have missed the plot. And in that culture, these men are taught every single day of their life to wake up and say, God, I thank you. that I'm not a woman, I'm not a slave, and I'm not a Gentile. Acts chapter 16. The good thing about Acts 16 is it comes right after, Acts 15.

You're getting good at this, okay? In Acts chapter 15, what happens is the church has to have a meeting to vote on whether God can do what God has already been doing. That's what church committees do. That's why we don't have any, okay? And so earlier in Acts, Peter takes the gospel to a Gentile, a guy named Cornelius, and he's a Gentile, and he gets filled with the Holy Ghost,

and he starts feeding in tongue and dancing and waving banners and playing his tambourine and all that kind of stuff and then the church has to vote on whether it counts for him or not and so ultimately what they do in Acts chapter 15 at the Jerusalem council the key question they're asking is do you have to be like one of us before you believe like us and and what that means in Jewish tradition is this do you have to be circumcised to be a member of a church now I know some of you think we have a rigorous thing to go through for church membership. But all we ask you to do is come to one meeting and sign a covenant. This required surgery.

You understand what I'm saying? And so they get together and ultimately they decide why would we make it difficult for those who are coming to the Lord. And then the Apostle Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles, he says, all right, well, Jesus told us to go into all the world, so let's divide up all the world. You guys take Jerusalem, I'll take the rest of the world, ready, break. And that's what he does. And then Paul begins to go on these missionary.

journeys as he was led by the Lord to take the good news of the gospel to the very ends of the earth. And when we get to Acts chapter 16, it's going to be the very first time that the gospel is taken into Europe. And I think what God is doing here is I think God in this church called the Church at Philippi, which we'll see in just a second, I think he is showing us his heart for people. And what the tradition of man said that these people are out, God. says, no, no, no, no, those are my people. Check this out. Acts 16, beginning of verse 11. So setting cell for Troas, we, and so the we there is Luke, because he writes the book of Acts. It's Luke and Paul and Silas and Timothy are all together. He says, we made a direct voyage to

Samothrace and the following day to Neopolis. And from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. we were made in this city some days. By the way, we're going to study this book next year. The book of Philippians in our New Testament, Paul writes about 10 years after this encounter. Verse 13, and on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thiatira, a cellar. A cellarer. of Purple Goods who was a worshipper of God. Now maybe you've heard the name Lydia before.

But see, in Philippi, all it took anywhere to have a synagogue was you had to have 10 godly men. If you had 10 godly men, then you could gather together and call yourself a synagogue. But in Philippi, they didn't even have 10 godly men. But how many of you know that God's not waiting on you to click the terms and agreements in order for him to work? That God's not waiting on you to check all the boxes before God decides to. to do a thing. And so these women aren't going to wait on 10 godly men. They begin to have these prayer services alongside the river. And the particular person that the Bible wants us to know about is this woman named Lydia. Lydia is a really big deal, man. Lydia is a boss lady. That's what she is.

She is the CEO of purple goods.com. And let me tell you why this is such a big deal. Because that mean she's probably worked for the Caesar because there was an imperial monopoly on selling of purple goods. She also has plenty of resources because later we're going to find out that she has a house big enough to host a house church and that's where the house church begins in the city of Philippi. She has a name. She has prestige. She has power. She is a boss. And how many of you know that from the day of the empty tomb, the resurrection until the day, God has been been using some boss ladies in his church to get the word of God to the very ends of the earth. Amen? And man, I'm going to tell you, from the very beginning of this church, we have been,

we've been gifted with some boss ladies here, like Alex Gonzalez and Stacy Brown and Kristen McLaughlin and Rose Fagler and Kim Wigel and Kathy Failing, and the list goes on and on and on and on. And God uses all kind of different people with all kind of different talents to do what God has told them to do for the glory of God. And so these women are gathering together, and they bump into Lydia, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshipper of God. And this is big, man.

She's got everything the Roman dream says that she was to live for. She's got power, she's got possession, she's got position, and yet there's something in her that she feels like still missing. Because even though people do, what she says, even though she runs her household, even though she's the seller of purple goods,

there's still this day where she feels like she needs to go out to the river and pray because she's worshiping God because the things of this world just will not fully and finally satisfy. And so then Paul shows up to their prayer meeting, and he shares the gospel. And then look what happens on the inside of Lydia. It says, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul, that the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. Check this out. That's how you get saved. That's it, man. It's not about your good works. It's when the Lord opens your heart to pay attention. And so let me just tell you this. Pay attention. You might get saved today. And it must be the Lord. I've told you this a million times. Listen, it ain't my

preaching that saves you. Because when I preach, man, it's moderately delivered, exceptionally received. There's a filter of the Holy Ghost right here that the word passes through, and if he wakes you up, then you can hear it. And here's how I know this to be true. I'll be up here preaching my face off, kind of like I'm doing right now, but your response is not equaling to preach him. That's all right. You got about 20 more minutes to catch up. And there'll be somebody on the front road just leaning in with a few notes and just moo and just, mm, you know, fire, fire, praise hand, just getting after it. And the person next to them is just like, that ain't on me, man.

That's not on me. That's on you. tell you. Because what we need is not new information. What we need is a divine revelation. That's how I got saved. I mean, I rolled up to Camp Pine Hill Baptist Retreat Center in Benisville, South Carolina.

And when Coach Bull Lee said, Jesus Christ died on the cross from you, I was like, I've heard this before, man. I grew up in the South. I believed in God, just like I believed in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus and SEC Football Go Dogs. I believed like that, and I thought it was just one of those categories. somehow when I watched them reenact the crucifixion of Christ and I heard Jesus stand up on his nail pierce feet and say, it is finished. Somehow, God allowed me to pay attention and my heart

was transformed and I thought, you know what? I think that counts for me. Does that ever happen to you? This is what happens. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized and her household as well, notice that she believed that she was baptized. And here's what's crazy about Lydia. What was Lydia saved from? Not despair. Not sex drugs and rock and roll. Lydia was saved from success.

You see, this is why Jesus says it's hard for rich people to get to heaven. Because the fundamental thing that you need to be saved is need. And if you think the temporary things of this world can meet your needs, then you will spend your whole life climb on the ladder and climb to the ladder

and climb to the ladder and then get to the end of your days and go, uh-oh, I have made a horrible mistake. stake, this ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. But God opened up the eyes and the heart of Lydia so that she could pay attention to what was happening there, and she puts her faith in Jesus. After she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And I love this. And she prevailed upon us. You know what she did? She did what Lady Bosses do, man. She closed the deal. That's what she did. And God used her in the exact way she was wired. She didn't have to

reject any of that. In fact, what became aware to Lydia is that God used all of this time in her life of chasing after success to one day pivot and use that success for significance. And her house is the house where the church at Philippa began. Really big deal. And so what does she save from? she saved from success. And the first person in Philippi that God saves is a woman. And then, verse 16. And as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl. See, human trafficking has been happening for a long time, who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. And she followed Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the most high God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation. One of the things that I

always find very interesting in the New Testament. Is you know who the first people are to always recognize Jesus and the people of Jesus? It's the demonic. You know who the last people are to recognize Jesus and his people? The religious. Do you know why? Because Jesus, the almighty son of God, king of kings, and Lord of Lords will not fit in their religious construct that they have created because you can't box them in.

But those that operate in the heavenlies and see him and his people for who they really are, they recognize them at first. Here's why I bring this up. It keeps me up at night. I pray this as much as I pray anything that I ever pray about is it scares me to death that you might show up here week after week after week and be in the very presence of Jesus and totally missing. And so they see them. This slave girl sees them and starts blowing their cover. These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days. And so you've got to imagine every morning Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke get up and they're like, all right, we're going to go meet with Lydia, we're doing this house church thing.

And then sure enough, they're like, y'all seen that crazy girl and the crazy girl shows up. And they're like, there they are. And I love this next verse. This becomes one of my favorite verses is your pastor. Paul, having become greatly annoyed. I don't know if you know this, but you know you could be doing the will of God, serving God, serving God's people. There's some annoying folk. In fact, I think I might have the spiritual gift of being greatly annoyed, okay?

So I'm glad it doesn't say that it's a sin there. But there's some annoying people, I'm going to tell you what. Okay, Paul, having become greatly annoyed. But on a serious note, here's the thing that kind of concerns me about this verse. What are the things in our culture that we have grown accustomed to that we ought to be greatly annoyed by? I mean, there are things that get thrown our way every single day in the systems of our culture that break the heart of God and we just think it's normal. You see, Paul is greatly annoyed.

And he turned and he said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour. And so the second person that was saved in Philippi, the first one was a woman and the second one was a slave. and Lydia was saved from success and the slave girl was saved from spiritual darkness. She was saved from Satan. Now, let me go ahead and just save you the email. Occasionally sometimes when I talk about the demonic, somebody's going to email me and be like, you mean to tell me, pastor, that in the 20th century you believe in the demonic?

Uh-huh. You don't? What do you think it is? Just poor decision-making? What do you think it is? Have you never met somebody with an addiction? You see, because there's two ditches that you can fall in. Now, there are some people, my friend Charles Martin likes to say, his wife will tell him,

Charles, you see the demon behind every bush. He goes, sometimes I see two. Okay, so sometimes you can't take it a little far. Like sometimes you're having a bad hair day, darling. It's just humidity. It ain't the devil trying to kill you. It's just humidity, okay? And so you just do your thing, okay?

And I know what you're trying to do. I know what you're trying to do. If it's curly, you're trying to make it straight, and if it's straight, you're trying to make it curly. I wish I would just all switch and you can just relax, all right? But sometimes you can go too far that way. But the other extreme is if you don't think the enemy exists at all, you are in the crosshairs of his sniper fire. And he has you exactly where he wants you to be. I mean, have you met a person with an addiction?

And listen to the language that they use. There's like a thing. I don't want to do this. I've promised. gone to meetings, I'm doing the steps, I'm trying with everything I'm made of to not go down this road because I know where it leads. And yet, it's like there's another voice. It's like there's another self. There's a thing in me that I hate like crazy that is baiting me down a road to kill me, to steal for me, to destroy for me when I go down that. What do you think it is?

Is it poor decision making? No, man, we have an enemy that only wants to kill, steal, and destroy. You struggle with depression, anxiety, darkness, fear, suicidal thoughts, addiction. You see, thank God, I think, at least at our church, the church is catching up with how important mental health is. I mean, for years and years and years, everybody was just told to just pray it away. But I think we swung way too far, maybe the other way. Because the Shema says that we are supposed to love the Lord, our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That when the enemy comes against us that we stand firm on the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but some of the grace-driven gifts that God has given us is to deal with these things emotionally and mentally and

physically and spiritually. And this woman is saved from spiritual darkness, and maybe some of you need to be saved from spiritual darkness, and that's what Christmas is about. Jesus came, not just we can exchange gifts, Jesus came to exchange his life so that you might be set for free so that you could walk in his freedom. It's a rescue mission. So the first person he saves and Philippa is a woman. The second is a slave.

Verse 19. But when her owners, let me just tell you this, if you were a follower of Jesus Christ, the only one that owns you is Jesus Christ. That you cannot be possessed by the demonic because by definition you are the possession of Jesus.

1st Corinthians 6 says, you are not your own. you were bought at a price that Jesus purchased you. And if eBay taught us anything, eBay taught us the actual value of a thing. Like you got that thing in your garage. You'd be like, I'm about to make some money. Put that thing on eBay, what you get, $2.

I don't care what you felt about it in your heart. It's worth $2. And your soul is on the eBay website, and God says, you know what, I will pay for that one. I'm going to send my only begotten son to live a perfect life, to die in their place, be resurrected on the third day, to purchase you and adopt you

into the very family of God, and you are not your own, you were bought at the price, and the price God was willing to pay for you was the blood of his own son, Jesus. You were valuable, and you should be treated as valuable. Now, the demonic for surely attacks, oppresses, greatly annoys,

but you are the possession of the one true God if you've put your faith in him. But when her, owner saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. So the way you became a magistrate is you just paid for it. You just paid this price and you bought all kinds of privileges and rights. And you could do whatever you wanted to do.

You could worship how you wanted to worship, but what Rome required was peace. No riots. And so that's what this crowd is saying. Hey, these people were going to get this whole place riled up. We're going to be in trouble. Verse 22, the crowd joined in attacking them. And the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet with stocks. The inner prison was typically at the bottom of the prison. prison. It was the worst part of the prism. Most of the sewage would flow towards the inner part of the prison. And when they were put in stocks, this means they were probably like shackled to a wall so they couldn't be comfortable, so they couldn't sit down. And you look at this and you may ask the question, why is this happening? I think if I'm Paul, if I'm Silas, I would have that question. God, why are you letting this happen? Is it punishment? No. In fact, Paul and Silas are doing exactly what God, called them to do.

You know, one of the questions I'll get often is this, why do good things happen to bad people? First of all, it's a dumb question, okay? And then Pastor Britt has taught me this, there are no dumb questions, just dumb people. So apply that if you will, all right? So, and here's what I mean, there was only one good person and the worst thing ever happened to him who went to the cross. But I know what you mean.

As compared to your roommate in the nightly news, you're halfway decent, so I get what you're saying, all right? And then what will begin to happen is Christians will make up the dumbest, phrases and act like it's Bible verses. Well, the Bible says the safest place to be is in the center of God's will. You ever heard that? Have you ever met Jesus?

He was beaten and scourge, and a crown of thorns was pressed down upon his head. They nailed him to a cross and stabbed his heart with a spear. Not safe. Yeah, man, I don't, people, that comes from like second opinions or third hesitations, all right? People just, everything happens for a reason. Yeah, the reason is that.

happens because you're dumb. That's what happened. That's not what the Bible says. Don't be making up dumb stuff. Sometimes you walk squarely in the center of God's will, which that phrase always throws me off a little. Can you just be a little off center? Or what about the periphery of God's will? Is that not God's will, but anyhow you walk in the very center of the will of God and do exactly what he has told you to do and terrible things happen to you. I've told you, man, I am going to to make a promised calendar. You know you ever go to the Bible bookstore and it's like the promised calendar. I'm going to do one to all the promises that nobody likes to talk about. In this world, you will have trouble of many kind. January. That's it, man.

February. This world will hate you because it hated me, right? There you go. How about that is your Valentine's card? Which, if this world doesn't hate you about something, it could be because you are indistinguishable from the world. And you just like to go to church and sing the songs and I make it laugh sometimes, and so you come about every four weeks, all right? But you have not surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and walk obediently in the steps that he has called you to walk because by definition we follow Jesus and Jesus went to the cross and you're not safe about the cross being a Christian is the most dangerous thing you will ever ever do in this society and so they find themselves in the inner part of the prison and so to

answer the dumb question why do bad things happen to good people I'm just write this down so I can so you'll quit asking here's why bad things happen number one you You. You played dumb games, you win dumb prizes. Do you know that? Sometimes the reason you're single is because you're the worst. It's just true, man. The devil does not have to attack you. You are doing his work for free. Okay, sometimes. Sometimes it's, sometimes it's not your fault at all. You're an absolute victim and it's other people's sin against you. There's some terrible people in this world that do terrible things to people. So sometimes the reason you're in pain, is because somebody else's sin against you.

Sometimes it is demonic attack. It is. Sometimes it's the collateral damage of the original demonic attack in Genesis chapter 3, and when sin entered the world, it held the door open for all kind of pain and strife.

Whether it's a car wreck or cancer, that was not God's original intention. His original intention was to walk in the garden face to face with his people. And then maybe the hardest one, and sometimes it is God's discipline. We're also going to study the book of James next year. And in chapter one, James, the brother of Jesus, says this.

I hate this verse. Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds. He said face. Oftentimes it's easy to look back in the rear view and see how God used the pain in the trial for his own glory. And you say, well, I probably wouldn't have written it that way, but I see what you did there. He's not talking about looking back. He's talking about when it is coming at you when you are facing it. He says, consider it pure joy when you face trials.

And then he talks about how God uses those trials to produce a thing in you. Here's what I've noticed, man. Everybody wants to be strong. Nobody wants to be sore. Everybody wants to be fit. You just want it to do anything that has to do with fitness. And so what we do is oftentimes we pray that God would conform us into the likeness of his son, but then we ask him to remove us from the gymnasium

that creates the kind of things in us that we're asking him to do in us. And he goes, which one do you want? I was highly convicted of this lately. I have two teenagers in my house now. My prayer life is through the roof. You understand? And I'm praying, man.

I'm praying for my two. Pray and pray and praying. All right. And they both have surrendered their life to Jesus and I am praying God. I am confident of this that he who began a good work in them will bring it to completion.

And God, we just just light their little heart on fire, God, would you make them world changers? I'm praying all these things. And then, like a good American parent does, it was like, comma, and let me give you how I would like for you to do that in their life. Would you protect him and would you keep him safe? Can we get a B in English? I'm praying all these things. And the Spirit of God said, which one? Which one, man? Which one? Because oftentimes what God does when he brings us tests, when he brings us trial, when he brings us pain, He is using that pain to produce a thing so that there will be a platform for his glory. And so Paul and Silas find themselves in prison, and it is because God had a work for them to do.

And what's crazy in all five of these things, whether it's you, it's others, it's demonic attack, collateral damage, or God's discipline. In all of these things, they all have to sift through the sovereign hands of God. And he is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to. his purpose. And so what do you do when you find yourself there? Sometimes you just got to worship your way through it. Because here's what Paul and Silas do. Verse 25. About midnight, and when the Bible says stuff like this, it's not just pointing out the time of day. It's saying in the deepest, darkest part of the night. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying, I'd be praying too. God get me out of here. And singing hymns to God. And the present. And the present.

prisoners were listening to them. Whoa. They were praying and singing hymns to God and everybody's paying attention. Sometimes you just got to worship your way through it. Let me tell you this, man. When you find yourself in a circumstance you don't want to be in,

you can whine or you can worship. And wine, it's never going to help you win. I've never once heard the testimony when we show our baptism videos. My life was terrible, and I complained my way into victory, not once ever. You confess Jesus as your Lord, and that's how you find victory. And a whole bunch of us are going through a lot less than this.

I ain't naked. I'm not beaten. I'm not in prison right now. We find ourselves going through a lot less and complaining a lot more. And so Paul and Silas, they just worship, man. And look, what's happening? And the prisoners were listening to them. Honestly, the success stories usually have virtually no impact on the kingdom of God.

Because we bring people in front of you, and if their story is, sometimes this happens. I met, I used to, my life was terrible, and I met Jesus, and now I just bathe in cash. And people are like, I want that. But what they want is cash. And Jesus will not be a means to your idolatry. But when you meet that brother or sister, and you've met them before, man, and they are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. And yet, and yet they're anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, they have made their record. known to God, and the God of peace that transcends understanding is guarding their heart and their

mind, you go, how did you do that? And they go, I don't know. And what they're saying is, God transcends understanding, and he is giving me a peace that I have a hard time describing to you. And people are watching. Sometimes you just got to worship your way through it. You know what'll get me all choked up in this place? I mean, I've been pastoring this thing for 10 years and been in Jacksonville since 0.3.

so I know some stories, man. And I see some widows sitting on the third row with two hands in the air. And I see a brother with cancer sitting on the front row at the altar every single week. And I've seen some families that's lost a child and they're just saying, this ain't good, but God, you are good.

And we're watching. We are watching. And, man, when you watch somebody just worship their way through it, stuff happens. Stuff happens. Here's what happened in that jail cell. And suddenly there was a lot of, a great earthquake, and so the foundation of the prison was shaken, and immediately all the doors

were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. You see, some of you need the shackles of slavery to fall off, and the way that happens is through worship, because worship is war. You see, too many times we get so focused on our circumstances, and a part of what worship is is saying, these circumstances don't sit on the throne of my life, the sovereign king of the universe sits on the throne of my life, and I'm saying this is hard and this is tough and this is bad and you are good. And that's what they do. And the doors fling open. And then verse 27, and when the jailer woke and he saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and he was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. In the first century, if you were in

charge of a prisoner and you were a Roman guard, if they got away, they just put their punishment on you. and this man had so identified what he did with who he was when he failed at what he did he thought the best idea was for him to take out who he was now they pray and they sing and the doors are open and paul's like paul didn't leave what would you do i know what i'd do them doors would open up i'd be like therefore go y'all want to come with me let's go the only it doesn't say why he stayed the only thing I can figure is that if you look back when it said he prayed, is that he must not have been prayed to be loosed. He was prayed to be used. And he had to stay in the misery for a little while longer because he knew that's where the ministry was. And so he didn't go until God told

him it was okay to go. And then the jailer thinks, uh-oh, they're out of here. I'm going to kill myself. Listen to me. Hurting yourself, taking your life is never the right idea. Look at what Paul says, but Paul cried with a loud voice, do not harm yourself, for we are all here. If you've ever had those kind of thoughts, you look at me, do not harm yourself because we are all here. Look around this room, do not harm yourself, for we are all here. A big part of what we're doing in the 10-10 life is anybody that has ever struggled with this, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, that we want to walk with you through this. Do not harm yourself because we are all and the fact that God woke you up today

is empirical evidence that he's not done with you. And so the jailer called for the lights, and he rushed in, and he trembled fear, and he fell down before Paul and Silas, and then he brought them out, and he said, look what he says, sirs, what must I do to be saved? The answer is, be perfect. Uh-oh.

Well, I can't do that. Right. So the better question is, not what must I do to be saved, the better question is what must be done for my salvation, which is, the message of Christmas, that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, out of obedience to his father, put on flesh, walk this earth, live the perfect life in our place, goes to the cross,

pushes up on his nail, pierce feet, and says, it is finished. What is finished? He lived the perfect life. He didn't just die for us. He died instead of us to pay our sin debt. And for whoever would believe, would trust when Christ died on the cross somehow that counted for me, then my sin is put upon his shoulders and his righteousness, his perfection is credited to my account because God made him who was without sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. So he asked this question, what must I do to be saved?

And Paul says, there's only one thing. Verse 31, believe, trust, surrender. The Greek word is Pestua. the one thing you must do is to respond to what Christ has already done. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house and he took them the same hour of the night and he washed their wounds

and he was baptized at once he and his family. And then he brought them up into his house and set food before them and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed. in God. And the third person in Philippi that God saves. The first one was a woman, the second one was a slave, and the third one was a blue collar, Gentile worker. That is the heart of God. The one was saved from success, and one was saved from spiritual darkness and oppression, and one was saved from himself. You see, no matter who you are, what you've done, how good you think you've been, or how bad you think you've been. Every single one of us need what these three experienced. You need to be

rescued by the one who came, who lived a perfect life, who died in your place, and who resurrected on the third day and one day is coming again. And for anybody that would say, I believe when Christ on the cross somehow that counted for me, the good news of the gospel is, no matter who you are or how long you've been here or what things you struggle with, that you will be saved. and maybe you heard somewhere from a guy in my position, maybe you heard somewhere that like God was just for a certain type of people. No, man, God is for all people. God is for all people and his heart is revealed right here.

So let me ask you, have you ever done what the jailer did? Have you ever been saved? You see, because God would love you so much that he would work out all of your entire life that you would be in this moment right now hearing this message from him and what I have been praying for three full weeks is that right now, by the Spirit of God, you would pay attention and that you would surrender.

You go, how do I do that? It's simple. I'm not saying it's easy to be a Christian. It'll only cost you everything. But it is simple. It's as simple as ABC. It's as as, you know what, I admit it. My way ain't working.

Whether you're chasing after success or you're oppressed by spiritual darkness or your identity's all wrapped up in what you do for a living. and you admit it, I don't need to just try harder, but I need to be rescued. And that you believe somehow, you believe that when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for me.

And so then you confess him as Lord. And when you confess him as Lord, you're also confessing that I'm not. I am transferring the weight of my life over to you because I believe what you did counted for me. What must you do to be saying? safe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to give you the opportunity to be rescued this Christmas by the one that came to rescue you. Would you buy your heads? Would you close your eyes? And if you

would say, that's me, that's me, my way's not working, that I believe somehow when Christ died on the cross and was resurrected on the third day, somehow that counted for me. And in this moment right now, I want to confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. If that's you, right where you are, would you just lift your hand in the air and say, Father, here I am, I surrender. Praise God. Praise God. And it's not a hand in the air that saves you. It's what Christ did on the cross that saved you.

One more time, if there's any more people that were ready to surrender their life to the Lordship of Christ, would you lift that hand and say, Father, I am, save me. Our good and gracious, heavenly, Father God, we thank you and we praise you for that baby in a manger who was God made flesh, who grew up to be a man, tempted and tried in all the same way. that we are. And yet he completed every prophecy of you, every promise of you, every every law of you. And as a perfect spotless lamb, he went to the cross in our place, and he shed out his blood for the forgiveness of sin. And Lord, I thank you and I praise you for the number of men and women and students in this very moment who are being washed clean,

being adopted into your very family. And God, I thank you that you sit your son, Jesus to rescue us, no matter who we are or what we've done. And so, God, we give you all the glory. We pray this, and the only name that matters when you pray, we pray this in the good, strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond? I'd encourage you not to rush out. Based on the text we just looked at, what we need to do is what Paul and Silas did, is to respond, regardless of the situation you find yourself in, we're going to respond in worship. Even if this Christmas season just amplify some negative things in your life, you can say,

man, these things are bad, but he is good. And we would ask God that he would shake off this human tradition that we might just fall more and more in love with him. And so we're going to worship. And we're going to pray. We're going to pray. And I would ask you, if there's some kind of thing that you need God, to move in your life. Won't you come and pray?

And maybe you'll pray to the point where shackles fall off or chains fall off, where this place is shaken. And we're going to bring. If you made a commitment, then I would encourage you today. Today. Like Gretchen and I have done, we've been praying about this for a long time, that we're bringing the largest offering to the Lord we ever have. I would challenge you to do that. We do that online or through the app. Because the gospel demands a response.

So let us bring, let us sing, let us pray. Let's respond. Thank you.