The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: All People

Episode Date: December 16, 2018

The gospel is for ALL PEOPLE. EVERYONE is invited. EVERYONE gets in the same way. The PRICE has already been paid.

Amen and amen. If you got your Bibles, go to Acts chapter 16. I'll catch you there in about three or four minutes. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And all means all. And you know in our one initiative, a big part of that is one more generation. And a part of that one more generation is rolling out the red carpet for families with children with special needs. And that little girl was a big part of God leading us to that. And what it means to be a movement. movement for all people is that God can use this little seemingly frail, beautiful girl with a special need to reach this big old meathead thing with his own special needs. Amen? And I'm going to tell you, man, I love Kelly Adcox. He is a man of God and God has his hand on that dude and is using him to do some pretty incredible ministry. And so you have no idea what God is. You have no idea what God is could have in store for you. You know that over this Christmas season, we've been studying, we've been starting in Luke 2 each time looking at this announcement made by the messengers, which is, which the Greek word of the messenger is angels. And the angels show up to the shepherds in the fields,

tending their flock, and here's what they say. The angels said to them, the shepherds, fear not. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy. That will be for all the people. That's what we're talking about in our time together. all the people. By the way, for them to hear this announcement that this message is for all the people would have been very, very meaningful for a shepherd, because shepherds would have been considered nobody, social outcast, that their testimony was not admissible in a court of law. They were thinking, even for us, and the angels say, yeah, fear not. For behold, we bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, for unto you is born.

this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. So I want you to flip over to Acts chapter 16, and the reason is because in Acts chapter 16, we see this incredible example of the gospel being for all the people. Now, if you were around back in 2013, we went through the entire book of Acts, so I'm sure you probably remember all this, but for, you know, Acts starts out, the Spirit of God moves. Jesus speaks to the disciples. he says, therefore, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. So that the gospel is to be taken to the ends of the earth. And all of the apostles go, that's a great idea, Jesus. And then they just only huddle up in Jerusalem and they don't leave. By the time you get to Acts chapter 8, verse 1, there's persecution against the Christians. And the very first martyr is martyred. His name is Stephen. And really, just because of panic and fear and self-preservation,

and the Christians, they begin to run and hide. And so the gospel goes wherever Christians go. And there is this one Pharisee, this religious zealot named Saul of Tarsus, and he wants to stamp out this little thing that is kind of putting a bad mark on his Jewish heritage. And so he wants to kill the people of the way. That's what Christians were called at first. And so on his tour to try to stamp out Christians, Jesus says, you know what, I think I'm going to save that one. He's on his way to Damascus. A bright light shows up, blinds him. He thumps him off. Jesus thumps Paul off the horse and says, why do you persecute me? Which is kind of neat that Jesus would equate his people with him because we are the body of Christ. And in that moment, Saul, a religious terrorist, is saved, is reconciled unto Jesus. And not only does Jesus save him, but he calls him and commissions him to take the gospel.

everywhere he goes. Then this crazy thing happens still, even though now Saul converted to Paul is a part of this group of disciples along with the apostles, the apostles still aren't really into taking the gospel outside of Jerusalem. And then one day this crazy thing happens to the apostle Peter. He's kind of minding his own business. He goes to sleep. He has this dream. And in the dream, God sends down this big blanket with every kind of animal on it and says, rise up, kill and eat.

One of my favorite Bible verses in the whole scriptures. Like bacon comes down. Think about this. Peter's never been able to eat bacon. And God says, I died for bacon. That's not the only reason that he died, but it is included at the cross. Amen. And then he kind of, he just sort of takes Peter to this guy named Cornelius.

Cornelius is a Gentile. And Peter shares the gospel with Cornelius. And the spirit of God. Cornelius trust Jesus as his Savior and he's filled with the spirit. He's over here speaking in tongues. And Peter is like, uh-oh, I didn't get permission from the church to be able to do this. So by the time you get to Acts chapter 15, the church has its very first church business meeting to do what churches do all the time.

We need to vote and see, is it okay for God to do what he's already done? That's what church business meetings are, right? This is why we don't have any of them, by the way. I don't know if you ever notice this. In the scripture, when people voted, things didn't go well. Okay, that's why we don't do votes. They voted at Mount Sinai, and they built an idol, okay? They voted when Paul was on the ship, and they went in a different direction,

they ended up shipwreck. They voted when Jesus showed up and they crucified him. You understand church votes never go well, okay? And so in Acts chapter 15, they get together, and they're like, hey, so what do we do? Can we take, can Gentiles be saved? And in all in chapter 15, what the church business meeting is about is this. what do you have to do as like a prerequisite to become a Christian? And they were talking about the Jewish law.

How much of the Jewish law do you have to obey? And in particular, do you have to be circumcised first to then become a Christian? So for those of you that think becoming a covenant member of the Church of 1122 is difficult. There is no surgery required whatsoever. It is by faith that we are saved. Glory to God. So then James stands up in the business meeting in Acts chapter 15. I'm just giving you all this so you can understand 16.

And James stands up and he asks this question, why would we make it difficult for those Gentiles who are turning to the Lord? If Jesus did all the hard work on the cross and it is finished, then why would we make them first become Jewish before they became Christians? Because it's not by obedience to the law that you're saved, but it's by faith that you're saved. And so they get together, they stack hands, they write a letter, and they send it out to the churches that's just saying, hey, this is the simple, explicit gospel.

It's faith in Christ alone. Well, by the time you get to chapter 16, that's all Paul needs. Now Paul, the Apostle Paul, the greatest church planner, the greatest missionary who has ever lived, that's all he needs to then take the gospel in his understanding to the ends of the earth. And so when we pick it up in chapter 16, it says this. Paul came also to Derby and Listra. This is the first time officially the gospel on purpose is going to leave like Israel and Jerusalem

and the Middle East. He's getting up into like modern day Turkey. He's kind of running around the Mediterranean Rim here. And a disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. Now listen to me, if you read this in the first century and you were, and you grew up Jewish, you would be like, uh-oh, Paul, what are you doing? You mean to tell me that your protege in the ministry is going to be the son of a couple

and the dad is one ethnicity and the mama is another ethnicity and Paul goes, you're absolutely right. Because according to the scripture, there are two races. There's the race of Adam and there's the race of Jesus. Now, we use that word differently. but the Bible says that the gospel is for all people, and that means all ethnicities, that means that in Jesus Christ that he is the head, we are the body, and we are all one in Christ. Amen?

So when we say that we are a movement for all people, it means all kind of people, all color people, all background people, all size people, praise God, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, everything under the sun, if it falls under the all people category, then the gospel is for you. And so Paul is going to, from the very beginning, pick a guy that would freak a lot of people out because of where he came from. And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I didn't pick him for what's on the outside. I picked him for what God's done in his heart. By the way, just as a little review, when God anoints David to be king, he said, for man looks at the exterior, but God looks at the heart.

And so Paul, he finds Timothy, son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was Greek. And he was well spoken of by brothers at Listera and Iconium, and Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him, and he circumcised him, grown man, by the way, because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek. Hey, man, if you think the one initiative was a sacrifice, for you. What does it mean to love the Lord your God with all? Timothy did more than you did. That's what I'm going to say, okay? But here's what he was willing to do. Timothy was willing to humble himself and say, for the sake of the spread of the gospel, I will not create a stumbling block for the Jewish people

that will criticize me. Now that's commitment. Now, for verses 4 through 10, what Timothy and Paul and Silas, they're all together here, they're just going to listen to the spirit and go. And go where he says go. And sometimes he says go to this place and sometimes he says don't go to that place. And they just listen to the spirit and they go where he says go. Can I tell you, I think it's like 84 times in the book of Acts. It records that the spirit said. And not one time does it say how the spirit said. I'm so glad. Because I think if it gave the mode of communication, we would always miss the message of the Holy Spirit to us. And yet somehow, somehow, the Spirit of God guides them on their journey.

And where they're going to end up, they're going to end up in Philippi, which is in Macedonia. This is like modern day Greece. And by the time you get to like verse 11, from 11 to basically the end of the chapter, you're going to see God save three very different types of people. and in the next 40 minutes or so, you will see that this was not by accident. These are not just three kind of random people. But I think that the reason that Luke, who is the author of the Book of Acts, writing to this guy named Theophilus, included these three, is very, very significant.

So not only are they individual, actual people, but I think they represent certain types of people. And God saves them in very different ways. Conversion number one. this is going to be a high-profile, well-educated, successful, moral, and religious woman. Okay? Here it goes. Verse 11. So, setting sail from Troas, we all made a direct voyage to Simoth race and followed day, in the following day, we went to Neopolis.

The reason these are all listed is because these are real places. So, like, this is not once upon a time in a land far, far away. These are actual events. So they're saying, you know, we left, and we went to Stark, and after that, we went to Lake City, and then we were over. in Palaca, wherever it is, you know, it's just places. And from there to Philippa, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia. Again, it's like modern-day southern Greece and a Roman colony. And we remained in the city some days.

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 we spoke to the women who had come together. Now, what was going on here is here are some non- Jewish or Gentile women who are getting together and they are studying the Hebrew scriptures. They're having a little Bible study. They're having a little, I mean, you can imagine. It's like a Beth Moore, Priscilla, whatever her name is, kind of Bible study, you

know what I'm saying? A little Rain of Cherry if you're in that one. That kind of Bible study. These like really solid women, really moral, they're religious. They have rejected the paganism of the Roman culture and they're believing, hey, these Jews are on to something. that there is one God, but they don't quite have it figured out, but they are, they're spiritually curious and they're leaning in. And one who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of

Thiatira. That means, by the way, she would have been a different ethnicity too. A seller of purple goods. Now, if you read that in the first century, all you ladies would be like, hmm, purple goods. Okay, this is like, she's like a fashionista. I mean, she's a boss. I mean, she's a boss. Like she's doing runway stuff. I don't know anything about that stuff. I don't know how to even describe it. I just know, you know, it would be fancy. She would not get her clothes at Walmart or whatever, okay?

She's kind of a big deal. And she was also a worshiper of God. So here's who this woman is. This lady is. She's like a CEO. Nowhere is her husband mentioned. Also, she's extremely wealthy. We find out here and other places.

She had more than one home, and her home was big enough that she could host a church in. it. And again, in the first century, it was kind of rare for a woman to own a home like this, right? So this means she's the boss, she's a CEO, she's knocking it down, she's got a house in London, she's got a house in Paris, she's a member of the Pontiveter Club. I mean, this is her, right? And if that's you, man, God bless you. This is her. And also, here's the thing about Lydia, man, she's moral. She's leaning into God. She goes to church, especially on. on Christmas and especially on Easter.

Like she's well thought of in the community. And yet even though everything is going well from the outside, somewhere in her soul, she's like, is this it? I mean, she runs her own company. People say yes, ma'am to her. She gets it done. And yet somehow she's still exploring because she gets it somewhere deep in here. She gets it.

Is this it? You see, she's riding on the first century, Mary Go around of North. normality, but it's just not that merry. Because she gets up every day and she eats something and she drives something and she sells something and she goes home and she eats something and she watches friends and then she goes to bed and she does it again. And she's saying, is this it? And the reason that she's seeking is because it's not it. And so Paul and Silas and Timothy, they sit down in like a seeker's Bible study with her and it says this. And the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

Paul enters into this religious discourse with her, this intellectual conversation with her. And the Lord, not Paul's words, not because Paul was persuasive, and not because she was super smart, but the Lord is the initiator of her. And this little phrase here, pay attention. In Greek, it really means she was addicted to it. Let me tell you what this means. Some of you have experienced this. Some of you are experienced it right now.

You wouldn't even consider yourself a Christian or you wouldn't say that you've surrendered your life through the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And yet, you tend to show up week after week after week and you just can't get enough. Or you're a podcaster and you listen over and over and over and over. You wouldn't even go to a church, but you can't stop listening. What God is doing is God is wooing you unto himself.

Hey, heads up. It's over for you. you should just give in right now. I mean, you just should. All right? I promise. I promise. I fought it too.

I fought it too. But that's what he's doing. See, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul says. And see, what Paul is going to do here, Paul is a trained Pharisee. He knows the Bible backward and forward. I can imagine in this sermon I'm going to give a lot of, like, hopefully, spirit-guided speculation. I'm speculating now, okay? The Bible's over there.

I'm over here. I'm speculating. that as he began to lean in, she was like, hey, there's some stuff I just don't understand. It's very compelling, but I don't understand. And Paul would take her like to the creation and say, in the beginning, when God created the very first human being, he gathers together the dust of the earth, and he breathes the ruach of life into Adam. And Adam opens his eyes and he is face-to-face with his creator. And when sin entered the world, that relationship was broken.

And the reason, even though you're knocking it down at work, you feel like something's missing right here, is because you were created, Lydia, for that face-to-face relationship with your almighty creator. And you see, when God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden, he made a covering for them, which means that blood was shed for the covering of sin. I've got good news, Lydia. God sent his only son, and at the shedding of his blood, your body. sin would be covered and you can be reunited to your Heavenly Father face to face. And then maybe he flipped a few pages over to like Exodus chapter 20 and he said,

see here and you'll remember the covenant that God made with Moses and he gave him the law, the commandments. We'll focus on the top 10. The 10 commandments here, they were a map and a mirror of how to have a relationship with God. They're a map to show us what it looks like to be in right step with a holy and perfect God and yet there are also a mirror to let us know that we can't do it on our own, that we fail over and over and over. So if you keep flipping over here and you get to the Leviticus like chapter 16, Lydia, you'll see here that God institutes a sacrificial system, which is kind of weird,

man, there's a lot of dead animals, but it's a picture that there is some way for us to be made right with God. So one time a year on the day of atonement, the blood of a lamb would be shed. it would be sprinkled over the broken law of God to make atonement or payment or a covering of the Jewish people's sin for a year, year after year after year. Well, a few years ago, John the Baptist looks at Jesus of Nazareth and he tells the nation of Israel, behold, the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. Lydia, that was for you too. That Jesus died and he says, it is finished. that he fulfilled the law of God. And I'm believing that he began to connect the prophecy and the law

and the Psalms of the Old Testament through the person and the work of Jesus. And the scales fell off her eyes. And it may sense. Verse 11, and after she was baptized, which means she publicly professed her faith in Jesus Christ. Very convenient that you would do your Bible study next to the river. If you've ever wondered why sometimes,

we do spontaneous baptism, see the New Testament. By the way, if you've never been baptized as a believer, after this service, at all of our services, at all of our locations, you should go to a class and just make sure you know what you're doing. And in January, then you can do what Lydia does and proclaim Christ as your Savior publicly by getting baptized. And after she was baptized and her household as well. That means she and Paul, they go to the house, and they explain the same things to the household.

She urged us, saying, if you have judged me to be, this is. how you know she's a CEO. Ready? You know any ladies like this? If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us, which means Paul was like, no, no, no, no, no, we got to go. She's like, no, I don't think you understand. I think you, no, no, I don't think we get. And then eventually is like, okay, and they're at her house, all right? Because she's a boss. You see, the reason I think this is included is because God saves Lydia. She saves all of her. But he kind of saves her through.

her intellect. He saves her through her reasoning. He saves her through her education. Listen, for some of you, that is how God's going to save you. Like we show a sappy video where people cry and you're like, whatever, okay? But the reality is this. You and I are sinners. We have sinned. We're not misdakers in need of a life coach. We are sinners in need of a savior. And you know this to be true. Not only have we broken the perfect law of God, we can't even keep our own laws. I don't think there's anybody that would claim, I'm perfect. And we were created and served a holy and just God. And the reason that sin must be punished is because God is just.

It would be unjust for him to overlook sin. Just as it would be unjust if someone did something atrocious to your family and a judge looked at that person and said, don't worry about it. You would think you are an unjust judge. well God is just therefore our sin must be paid for and the good news of the gospel is that he is the just and the justifier that he made the payment that means that when Jesus died on the cross it counted for you some really smart people like c s lewis who borrowed it from john calvin call it the great exchange

that our sin has created a debt imagine going on to your bank account and you looked at it and you were like, uh-oh, I am a trillion dollars in debt. What am I going to do about it? Even if I work for the rest of my life to pay this off, I don't have the ability to pay this debt. And then Jesus steps up next to you at the ATM and goes, hey, look at my bank account. And there are many, many trillion dollars.

And he says, want a trade? They're like, what have I done to deserve this trade? Nothing. It's a free gift offered to you. and you go, yeah, I'll take the trade, and we get his riches, and he takes our debt. That is the great exchange. Paul would say it this way in 2 Corinthians 521, that God made Him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God.

Do you believe? Have you surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? If you believe that when Jesus died on the cross that counted for you, then you should put your faith in Christ, just like Lydia did. You see, sometimes God saves people like through their head. I went to college with this guy. His name was Carlos Gutierrez. He moved to Richmond where I went to school.

He moved there with like $20 in a suitcase from Madrid, Spain. And the first thing he did was join our fraternity, which is hilarious, okay? So he learned English. You know, you learn like school English in school in Madrid. And then you learn like English in the fraternity house. You understand? Super smart guy. This was in the early 90s, and he was a computer program.

Computer programmer. There weren't even like real computers yet. You know what I mean? They were like 600 pounds and this big, and all you could do is play Tetris. There was not, they weren't even like real. So that's what he's doing. He was super intellectual guy. He was super smart guy.

After just being in America for a little while, he says, I believe there is a God, but there seems to be, you know, all of these ways. I'm going to figure out which one is right. And so he goes all this semester, he spends an entire semester, he goes from like campus ministry to campus ministry. He goes to the Buddhism thing, the atheism thing, the science club. Every single one you can think of. And then he comes back to me and I'm trying to share the gospel with him.

And he's like the most non-emotive person you've ever met. And then he finally comes back to me and he says, I think Christianity is the way. And I go, Carla, why do you say that? And he says, all religions are man's attempt to move towards God. The gospel is unique in its claim that God moves towards us. He goes, how do I sign up? I'm like, well, you've got to pray this prayer. That's kind of how I was raised, right?

You ask Jesus into your heart. And I'm like, well, you get to bow your head and close your eyes. And he's like, you know, it can close your eyes. I was like, I don't know. I was like 20. So I say the words. He says the words. And I'm like, I think you're in.

He's like, all right, great. Now what do I do? So he starts coming to our Bible study. He didn't cry. I was like, everybody I've ever done this with cries. So I don't. So at the very first Bible study, we're sitting. sitting in there in my fraternity house, you know, that couldn't get him to go to church.

We didn't have a church like this that I knew of. And so basically this is just an extension of what I was trying to do in college. And so all my fraternity brothers would show up, you know, we'd study the Bible and we're just read through the book of John. And on the very first night that he's a Christian, he's been a Christian in about 45 minutes. And I'm like, all right, we're going to close in prayer. He goes, I will pray. Rock on, bro, so, you know, we're sitting there.

Just think of a bunch of fraternity dudes sitting there. And it starts out pretty good. He's like, dear God, he says some stuff. And at one point he says, I can't even repeat it. He says, dear God, this crazy accent, he goes, dear God, please forgive us of all the bulk in our lives. And he said it all. And we're all like, and then he realized, uh-oh. He goes, how come in your country there's like poo?

No, there's like levels. Which is which, I don't know. And then it goes Spanish. I just started da-da-da-da-da-familia. And I was like, family. Amen. Amen. That was it.

To this day, he's walking with the Lord. Like Lydia, God used his intellect to save him. So how about you? do you believe that when Christ died on the cross it counted for you do you believe that when he says it is finished that your sins are paid for well then put your faith in jesus like lydia did then immediately after this jesus saved somebody that's not like lydia at all i mean she's on the opposite end of the socioeconomic spectrum she's beaten up she's battered think of like she's an addict she's abused she's treated as a commodity

Immediately, verse 16, and as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. Now, I think if I asked you to raise your hand, hey, how many of you came to Christ? You were religious, you were moral, and then you figure out, this isn't end, I need Jesus. I think a bunch of you'd be like, oh, I did. But if I ask you to raise your hand, I go, how many slave girls that were demon possessed? Anybody? I mean at our church it'll only be about six. So just for context, think socially, physically, spiritual bondage.

Think addiction. Think abused. Think there's this thing on the outside of you that you don't like, but somehow on the inside of you, it has control. And so she followed Paul and us crying out. These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. And she kept doing this for many days. And at first you think, what's the problem with that?

She's like a spous. She's like, Flav of Flav for public enemy. You know, don't really have a part, but she's like, yeah, you know what I'm saying? I know I lost half of you, but it's all right. That's about the time I stopped listening to that kind of music. But she keeps doing it. I don't know if you've ever noticed this in the scriptures.

the demons were always the first to recognize Jesus for who he was. It's like they couldn't even stop it. So she keeps doing it, and she keeps doing it and keeps doing it. She's showing up basically going, they have an agenda, they have an agenda. That's what she's doing. I can't tell you how much I love this next verse. Paul having become greatly annoyed, this is how you know the Bible's real talk. It doesn't say that Paul, with great compassion, petted her hair and said,

old daughter of Eve. No, man. He got greatly annoyed. You know why? Ministry can be really annoying. And if you're thinking, is he daughter? Probably. Okay?

It's aggravating, man. Just work with sinners all the time. And Paul didn't even have email. You understand what I'm saying? See, here's the crazy thing about it when you roll out in 2012 and say, this church is for all people, and all people start showing up.

There's a whole bunch of stuff that shows up with them. And you know what? Glory to God. You see, I think there's a lot of people maybe like this slave girl here and you've beginning to think, am I too far gone? Have I done too much? God doesn't really want me. There's no way he could.

What in the world do I have to contribute to this movement? You see, I am too sinful. I'm too pitiful. I've made promises before. Something has a control of me. and you begin to think, you begin to think, man, I am too far gone. That means you don't know the gospel. Honestly, if you've ever thought he can't save me, very lovingly I would say to you,

who in the world do you think you are? I'm telling you, your sin matters. It's a big deal. But your sin compared to the everlasting love and grace poured out by Jesus' cross on the cross, your little piddly sin looks pitiful compared to the outstretched arms of your heavenly father. You can't outrun him and you can't out send him. You can't. His grace is too much for you. It's just too much for you. Now here's the thing, man. Here's the thing with somebody like this. Paul, having become greatly annoyed,

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. You see, God saves this woman through her heart. Because an explanation we're going to be enough. I mean, there are some of you. I'm telling you, there's some of you, and you show up here, week after week or maybe this is your very first time. And you don't need me to explain something. You don't need any more information. You need a divine revelation. And honestly, the problem, the problem is not up here.

The problem is here that you have a heart and it is in bondage. You have a heart that is chained up to something. And the only hope for you is a supernatural overpowering of your heart from God in this moment right now. There are some of you, and your heart is chained up to idolatry. There are these things that just continuously get your attention, and the only hope for you for your salvation is the Spirit of God to break the chains of idolatry off your heart. And there are some of you, and you're caught up in the bondage of approval.

You are so concerned, there are parts of you that want to follow Jesus. You recognize who he is, but you've never followed him because you seek the applause, of man so much. You seek the approval of other people so much. And every time you show up here, you recognize I see who Jesus is. And what you're going to have to have right now is a supernatural touch from God for the chains to fall off of your heart and you're not worry about the applause of man and you get more concerned about the applause of your Heavenly Father. And there's some of you and you have the chains of depression. And you've tried, man, you've talked to people which you should and you take medicine which you should and you wake up and you look at all your circumstances

and there's no reason for you to be depressed but for some reason you just can't shake it and there are no words that I could give you to talk you into peace you need a supernatural touch of God to break the chains of depression off your heart and there are some of it and you're addicted you're addicted to stuff and you didn't mean to be you started walking down this road and you started drinking just to have and now if you don't have it, you're miserable, and it has a hold of you. You've never told anybody that before. In fact, you keep telling everybody it's under control. But it ain't under control.

It has control of you. Or you started taking some pills a while ago because you needed it. And now you feel like they need you. You just can't let them go. Or you're addicted to pornography, and you would never, ever admit it. But the reality is, is it has a grip on you. it has a grip there's this thing outside of you that you hate and it controls your life and no matter no matter how many statistics i give you or nobody how many wise decision-making tools i give you to

to make this decision instead of that one it just won't be enough you're going to have to have an overpowering experience with the holy spirit that breaks the chains of addiction off your life some of you are chained to unforgiveness and your heart is is bitter because somebody hurt you a long time ago and you've been holding on to that unforgiveness and and I can preach about forgiveness till I'm blue in the face but until the spirit of God lands on your heart and says get out of there it's not going to change and some of you some of you are in change to condemnation you've screwed up big and somehow you've believed the lies of the enemy because he is defied

you by your past. And your only hope, your only hope is to understand, to taste and see the goodness of God and watch the chains of condemnation be broken. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand right now, but if that's you, if that's you, then look at me. In the name of Jesus Christ, the chains of addiction, the chains of unforgiveness, the chains of condemnation, get out right now. Get out right now.

And if that's you, and if you would believe, and if you would believe that Jesus wants you, for God so loved the world, and the world included you, and if you would believe that, then put your faith in Jesus Christ like this slave girl did here. And be set free forever and ever and ever. Amen. Amen.

And then there's one more. they cast the demons out of this girl and the people that controlled her didn't like it because they couldn't make any money off of it. By the way, man, when you surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, people that are not walking in that direction, they may not like it because it'll cost them something. And so these guys, they tell on them, they get the police involved,

they get them locked up. This is conversion number three. This is going to be a blue collar, working class, regular guy clocking in nine to five and even though he's got a good job and a good career and he's probably well thought of there's something about life that's just like gnawing at him day after day he's got some he's got some serious anger issues that he's going to take out on other people verse 19 it says but when her owner saw that their hope of gain was gone they seized paul and silas and they dragged him into the marketplace before the rulers and when they had

brought them to the magistrates, they said, these men are Jews. They are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. None of this is true, by the way. The reality is they cost us something. And the crowd joined and attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off 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. And having received this order, he put them into the inner prison. That was not the order. And he fastened their feet to stocks. That was not the order. You see, in the first century in Rome, there were prison, and then there was the inner prison. It really means like the basement. It was the lowest place in the place.

And it's where all of the sewage from the prison would go. And stocks, this is not like the little thing you take your picture in at Disney, you know. It was these things that you would put your feet in, and there was a chain. hook to the ceiling and they would bring the chain up. They wouldn't put you upside down. It would just contort your body in such a way that your feet were above your head and it was just painful and uncomfortable and you couldn't get the upper part of your body out of the human excrement that was all over the floor.

Speculation, okay? Total speculation here. This is like a, this jailer's a real dude. He's a real person. And I'm speculating. he's got some serious anger issues. I mean, he's let this power totally go to his head. And he, you see, something's going to, probably this man, almost certainly this man had a

military pass because what, if you had a social service kind of job, if you were like a decorated war hero, then they would give you a cush job like, hey, you're in charge of this jail. It's a great way to make money. You didn't have to do a lot. And yet, with people that are weak, with people that can't do anything against them, He would just inflict pain on them. My guess is because somebody in his life had inflicted pain on him,

and he never really dealt with it. So he puts him in the inner prison. He puts him in the stocks. And yet somehow, no matter how much he hurt other people, it never fixed his hurt. Again, man, I'm guessing here. I'm guessing this dude has some serious father wounds. This guy, somebody let him down.

somebody hurt him, somebody cut him deep. And instead of dealing with it in a real way, he just went to work. He made much of himself. He excelled in his career. And any time there was a person that he could flex on, somehow he thought it would make him feel better in here. And yet every time he did it, it didn't work. So he did it here again.

Back to the text, verse 25, about midnight. and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. See last week's sermon, the whole thing. That's it. You see, their joy came from Jesus, not their circumstances. And the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake. So that the foundation of the prison was shaken,

and immediately all the doors were open, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. And when the jailer woke up and he saw the prison doors were open, he drew his sword, and he was about to kill himself. Supposing that the prisoners had escaped. This is why I think he's got deeper issues than just the prisoners escaping. Now, if you read commentaries, it'll say oftentimes they would punish guards. If they let the prisoners go, then they would take their life.

But that's not your first thought, which means he's thought about this before. This guy, again, from the outside, if you saw his life, if you checked him on Facebook, it would look like, hey, man, everything's going good in your life, right? You got a good job. Everybody respects you. You got friends. You hang out. You have hobbies.

And yet something was like gnawing at him. And so his first thought is I'm going to take my life. I'm not going to preach this. I'm just going to tell you. If you've ever thought that, don't take your life. Don't kill yourself. Tell somebody. Tell somebody.

God has a purpose and a plan for your life. And no matter how bad you think it is, it's not that bad. The alarm clock and the empty tomb are empirical evidence to me that God is not finished with you. I'm not saying I can make you feel better, but I can get some people around you that you do not have to do this thing alone. You don't pick up the sword. You pick up the phone and you call somebody. You walk into the Connect Center, you walk up to me, you find a pastor and you say, I need help. And I promise we will walk with you.

We will help you. I promise. So now, here's Paul. Paul has a decision to make. Here's the jailer. He pulls out a sword. He's about to kill himself. He's got freedom this way.

And he's got an opportunity to share the gospel this way. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, you idiot, serves you right. No, that's not what he did, man. Put me in the stocks. I mean, look at man. This guy abused Paul. This guy reviled Paul, and yet Paul does not revile him in turn. This man treats him with evil, and Paul treats him with love.

Here's what he says, don't harm yourself. We're all here. And if you could pause and step in and go, why, Paul? Why? You see, opportunity does not always equal anointing. You realize that? Just because the door opens does not mean you walk through it. That's just circumstantial. You see, Paul was more concerned about the Great Commission than his own comfort. And the Great Commission is you take the Gospel everywhere. And guess what? Philippian jail? That's part of the everywhere. And so he says, we're here. And the jailer called for the lights and he rushed in and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Before he stood over them flexing. And now in fear he falls down before them. He brought him out and he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? You see, the jet, here's what, here's the thing.

With Lydia, God uses her intellect to save her. With the slave girl, he overrems her with her power and he sets her heart free. With the jailer, it's like he saves him through activity by what this man sees and witnesses. The jailer sees in Paul and Silas something that he wants. Something that he wants. He sees their circumstances are horrible and yet somehow they have this peace that transcends all our standing. His circumstances are pretty good. He's a decorated war hero.

And yet he wakes up every day and there's like this low-grade frustration and anger that he can't describe. These guys, it seems like they're in the bottom of the bottom. barrel. They literally are in the bottom of the prison and they're singing hymns and praying. And so when the, when the door's open and they don't leave, he comes and he says, how, how, how? What must I do to be like you? What must I do to be saved? And they said, about as straightforward as you can be. This is what you do with blue collar, man. This is what you do with nine to five. This is what you do with the brother. Clocks in and clocks out. This is what you do. And they looks right at him and says, believe in the Lord Jesus. and you will be saved.

You and your household. In other words, look here, Dad, you're the first domino for everybody in your family to come to Christ. So listen, no matter who you are, what you've done, what you feel like, what's going on in your life, you put your faith in Jesus. You believe that when Jesus died on the cross, it counted for you, and right now in this moment, you'll be saved. And you have no idea. You might be the first domino for the rest of your family for the next three, four, five generations come to

Christ because God saved you first. Verse 32 and they spoke the word of the Lord to Him and to all who were in the house and he took him that same hour of the night and he washed their wounds and he was baptized at once he and all his family. You see the moment that Jesus changed his life from the inside, he began to mimic the people that led him to Jesus. He began to respond not with evil but with love. and then he brought him up to his house and he set food before them and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

You see, God saves Lydia kind of through her head and saves the slave girl through her heart and he saves this brother through his hands. You see, the reality is there's some of you here right now and you're not like Lydia, okay? I mean, your life's not awesome, but you're not a slave girl either. It's not like a myth. It's like normal, man. You go to work, you clock in, you clock out. Things are pretty good. And yet, it looks okay according to your circumstances, but in here, something's wrong, man. Like you wake up every day and you have this low-grade frustration and this bit of anger and you're not even really sure why. And it seems like the more you try to control your circumstances, the angrier and angrier you get.

you got this like agitation and it takes almost I mean it's like just under the surface I mean if I were to ask you as you're driving home for work are you okay you're like I'm fine and yet your kids say one thing to you and you fly off the handle like your dad did to you and you think what is wrong with me what is wrong with me

so you get up and you work harder the next day and you try to impress everybody and yet in reality you know that no matter how stable your life seems, the smallest things seem to like disrupt everything. And maybe it is. Maybe somebody hurt you a long time ago and you never ever dealt with that. Maybe it was your dad. Do you know where you hire people asking one question now?

I just go, tell me about your relationship with your dad. Tells me everything I need to know. And maybe somehow you've equated the pain. that you've had in some kind of authoritative relationship with somebody in your life, and you equate that to what a relationship with God would be? And deep in here, man, again, your circumstances are fine, but in here you ain't fine. I mean, it's a mess. And yet, the reason you keep coming to church is because you see all these other people,

and honestly, your circumstances are better than theirs. And yet you see people, and you make more money, and you got a nicer car, and you've got a nicer house, and your kids are smarter, and all of it. of those things. And yet you see these people here at this church and they have this thing, man. Like during the time where we're singing, you got your hands in your pockets and you're like, I don't get it. And this joker next to you, they're like doing something. And honestly, in the right way, it's like you're jealous of it. Or you've got some friends that you know they walk closely with the Lord. And when you see circumstances in their life, just

going to hell. They have this like peace. It doesn't even make sense. Like this jailer with Paul and Silas. And you say, how do I get that? How do I get that? And Paul and Silas say, put your faith in Jesus. Put your faith in Jesus and you'll be saved.

See, here's the point. The point is that the gospel is for all people. The gospel is for all people. people, all kind of people, all colored people, all background people, all ethnicities, no matter what religious belief you started out with, no matter what your traditions are, no matter how good you think you are or bad you think you've been, that the gospel is for all people. It is an exclusively inclusive message.

I mean, it's exclusive. Jesus is the way, the truth in the life, and no one gets to the Father except through him. That's a fact. But it's exclusively inclusive. And here's what I mean. Everyone's invited. Everyone's invited. Even you.

You see, I talk to people sometimes. They're like, I'm just not like the church people type. Well, I got good news for you. There's no type. Not for the gospel. I mean, Lydia and the slave girl and the jailer, there couldn't be more opposite types. You see, because the gospel is for all people.

Everyone's invited. Everyone gets in the same way. Do you know what good news that is? everybody gets in the same way. Nobody's got a head start. Nobody's lagging behind. Everybody gets in by accepting Jesus. And the best news of all is that the price has already been paid.

You know what Jewish men in the first century prayed every morning when they woke up? There was this book of Jewish prayer called the Sador, the Sador. And every morning, Orthodox Jewish men would pray this prayer. They would say, thank you, God. It's not very politically correct at all. So hang on tight. Thank you, God, that I'm not a woman, that I'm not a slave, that I'm not a Gentile. And the first time the gospel makes its way out of Israel, God saves a woman, God saves a slave, God saves the Gentile.

Sits them down with a former Pharisee, and they're called brothers and sisters in the family of God. So let me ask you, do you believe? because no matter where you fall in this thing, man, no matter where you fall, okay? Whether you have intellectual questions, whether you've got like heart issues or maybe something's wrong deep down in here, no matter who you are or what you've done or where you're from or how long you've been running, God wants you. So won't you come? What if right now in this very moment, you like Lydia, like the slave girl, like the jailer. What if this is the moment where you put your faith, you put your trust in Jesus Christ

as your Lord and Savior to be set free to be a part of the family of God? Would you please bow your head and close your eyes? I want to make this as clear as I possibly can. If in this moment right now, whether it's because of something that was said that makes sense for the first time in your brain or because the Spirit of God touched your heart and has broken the chains free, or you know that God wants to make things right under the surface deep down in your soul. And today, for the very first time, in this moment, you were ready to admit that you're not just a mistakeer that needs to do better, but you're a sinner that needs a Savior. And if you believe that when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for you, and in this moment you were ready to confess,

like these three people did in Acts 16, you were really. ready to confess that Jesus is your Lord, then you tell him right now and you'll be saved. And if you are confessing Jesus is your Lord right now for the very first time, would you lift your hand right where you are? Would you raise it high in the air and say, Father, here I am, I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And the angels in heaven, they party and they rejoice for the one who has come home. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father God, I thank you and I praise you that the gospel. is for all people. God, I thank you and I praise you that years and years and years ago,

God, you overwhelmed my heart and you redeemed my soul. Not because I was looking for you, God, but because you pursued me. God, I pray that you would break down whatever barriers people might have. God, I pray that you would soften hearts. And God, I pray that men and women would surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ for your glory in your church. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.