Mark 1:21-28 New Living Translation… Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.
23 Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24 “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
25 But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. 26 At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.
27 Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!” 28 The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.
Introduction: At the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry forty days after the resurrection, Jesus verbally proclaimed that he possessed all authority in heaven and on earth. But Mark makes it clear from the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, that God is the ultimate, final, and definitive authority in the world, and God cannot be overruled.
Transition: Capernaum (village of comfort) is the headquarters of Jesus’ ministry. After choosing his first four disciples, he visits the synagogue (a satellite Temple) and is invited to be the guest rabbi (teacher) for the Sabbath.
While Jesus is teaching, tension arises due to the interruption of a demon possessed man… Satan comes into the sanctuary, but he efficiently rides in the attitudes, demeanors, character, emotions, and mentalities of the weak and willing.
Exposition: When Satan is present, he has a hard time keeping his mouth closed.
This demon possessed man makes three statements of affirmation for Jesus… –Humanity. Jesus of Nazareth
–Authority. Have you come to destroy us? Reference James 2:19
–Divinity. I now who you are – the Holy One of God!
To prevent your ignorance of of Satan, here is a theology of Satan in three sentences…
-Satan is real.
-Satan is powerful.
-Satan is defeated!
Conclusion: The anchor word for this message is present. Satan does come into the sacred space, but it’s not for positive progress. Satan is always present for negative nourishment. Don’t sit at his table, and don’t allow him to feed you.
Luke 15:11-32 New Living Translation… To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
Introduction: Welcome to the clean-up crew!
Transition: Jesus was focused on driving the point home for those critical Pharisees, that heaven gets happy every time a sinner repents and returns after straying away. Reference Luke 14:1
The kingdom of God is not to be reduced to aquarium keepers, but we are fishers of men!
Exposition: Let’s reflect on three words that we need to pick-up to put the house back in order…
–Waste occurs when we’re wild
–Worth isn’t our’s to weigh
–Work isn’t a weight
Conclusion: Remember that God is the star in the entire chapter of Luke 15. The Pharisees had been complaining about characters who weren’t the stars of the show, and Jesus’ goal was to fine tune their focus.
Luke 15:25-32New Living Translation… “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
Introduction: We forget that God’s love is not a gate that detains us, but God’s love are guardrails that defend us from ourselves! Reference Romans 8:38
Transition: Jesus told more than thirty parables in three categories: the kingdom, judgment, and God’s grace.
The elder brother is angry, and having feelings of anger was well within his right. Reference Ephesians 4:26
Hot hostility is when you have resistance in thought or principle to what you witness being practiced.
Exposition: The elder brother was boiling hot with self-righteous indignation, but what he really needed to do, was to be cool.
Be cool! Why?…
This party is your party
This party could’ve been thrown at anytime
This party ought to change your grumble to glee
Conclusion: Our God through Jesus Christ, has all power, to cool us down when we’re too hot with anger!
Luke 15:11-24 New Living Translation… To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
Introduction: “There’s no place like home”. ~Dorthy Gale (The Wizard of Oz, 1939)
Transition: Jesus continues to illustrate the reach of God into sinful humanity with a story about a man with a disrespectful young son who left home, and a self righteous son who stays home.
Reference The Parable of the Prodigal Son, Robert Farrar Capon.
Luke 6:45
Exposition: It was a L-O-N-G walk, from the far, far away country back to his father’s house. The L-O-N-G walk, gave him time to reach some conclusions…
–Acknowledgment of his sin.
Reference I John 1:9
–Appreciation of being in relationship with his father.
–Assumption of the proper posture.
Reference John 8:36
Conclusion: This father with a lasting love for his son, throws a lavish fellowship that everyone was invited to.
The Bush Is Still Burning… Don’t Come Empty Handed
Exodus 4:1-9 New Living Translation… But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”
2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.
3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
4 Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.
5 “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.”
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease. 7 “Now put your hand back into your cloak,” the Lord said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign. 9 And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”
Introduction: The question of “what if” stalls, stunts, and suppresses the possibility of greatness in our lives.
Moses learns that the bush is still burning with God’s fiery presence, and that is an indicator that God has not changed God’s mind!
Transition: God is patiently God.
Reference The book of Jonah; Isaiah 55:11.
Exposition: God did not come down to deliver Israel from slavery empty handed, and I’d argue that God, in our text, shows God’s hand and schools Moses on what’s in his hands.
Moses three signs… a staff that God transforms into a snake then back into a staff; a healthy hand that God transforms into a lifeless limb then back healthy; and a scoop of water from the Nile river that God transforms into blood.
Reference Galatian 6:7
Our God is not empty handed, God is the God of…
-Creativity
Reference Isaiah 55:8-9
-Flexibility
Reference Matthew 26:39
-Authority
Reference Romans 1:16
Conclusion: Whatever it is name it and use it, because that’s where you’ll find freedom. Don’t be startled by it, stingy with it, or stubborn about it!
John 12:1-11 NLT… Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
9 When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. 10 Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, 11 for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.
Introduction: This story is one of four stories that are included in all four gospels. Matthew 26:1-13, Mark 14:1-9, Luke 7:36-50, and our text in John 12:1-11 (the most detailed account) all record the anointing of Jesus prior to his death.
Overwhelming Observations: Judas lets us know that you cannot make today count when…
–you’re counting someone else’s coins.
–you’re critical instead of constructive.
–you’re conspiring instead of contributing.
Exposition: We can make today count when we offer our most sincere sacrifice to Christ, not for what we can ascertain but solely for adoration. I like to call this sacrifice foot work. Mary’s life is a feature trilogy of the investment of time around the feet of Jesus. Foot work requires humility (Acts 20:19).
Foot work involves…
–Studying (Luke 10:39) sitting
–Surrendering (John 11:32) falling
–Submitting (John 12:3) kneeling
Conclusion: Mary made today count without saying a word. She was silent because your actions speak louder than words.
Psalm 28:1 New Living Translation… “To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, do not refuse to hear me, for if you are silent to me, I shall be like those who go down to the Pit”.
Our text is a psalm of lament. It is the prayer of King David after the rape of his daughter Tamar by his son Amnon, and his son Absalom has avenged his sister by killing their brother Amnon and assumed responsibility of his sister Tamar by moving her into his home. However, Absalom also held his father guilty of his sister’s rape because of his negligence to punish Amnon. So, David, God’s chosen leader/a man after God’s heart/a proven military tactician/the king of Israel is on the run, from his own son. David’s family, has become his enemy.
It is under these horrendous conditions that David prays for the mercy of God for his protection. He appeals to the Lord, his rock.
Rocks are incredibly versatile. Through the annals of history, they’ve been used as tools. They were good for hammering and scraping. Rocks have also been used as weapons. There was no way for me to raise this fact, without mentioning David slaying Goliath the giant, with a sling shot and five smooth stones. Memorials have made good uses of rocks. Sometimes rocks would be stacked in remembrance of God’s mighty acts in the lives of his people. We’ve adopted that ancient sentiment by carving headstones and using them to display epitaphs, reminding us of our mortality. But rocks are also good for construction. I could use a bible reader to help me here. Ephesians 2:20 says “Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself”. Cornerstones are imperative in building. They must be without imperfection, so that the structure will be stable. Strangely enough, a building project begins and ends with a cornerstone. Jesus Christ is the stone that the builders rejected, but he became the chief cornerstone, the alpha and omega; the first and the last!
God is referred to as a rock thirty-three times in the Old Testament. Sixteen of those thirty-three times are found in the Psalms. Psalm 18:2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer” … Psalm 62:6 “God alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken”. Psalm 89:26 “He shall cry to me, You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation”! Psalm 95:1 “O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation”! Psalm 144:1-2 “Praise the Lord, who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle.He is my loving ally and my fortress, my tower of safety, my rescuer. He is my shield, and I take refuge in him. He makes the nations submit to me”. Brothers and sisters, there’s no doubt in my mind, that the Psalmist is conveying to us that our God is the Rock at life’s bottom! He is strong. He is safe. He is steady. So much so, that when all else around us gives way, that we find out that God is all we have, because God is all we need!
This text boiled down to a single word for me, and that word is relationship. That’s what David hints at, suggesting that since relationships are sour while others are sweet. Some are negative while others are positive. Some relationships aren’t worth the investment and others are worth every penny because they add to the quality of our existence.
–Personal: To you, O Lord,
Jehovah
–Prayer: I call;
Sacred communication with the Divine
–Provision: my rock,
You are my strength and stability
–Possibility: do not refuse to hear me, for if you are silent to me,
(Father I stretch my hands to Thee…)
–Perspective: I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
Alive Again! This message was prepared and preached by PastorAEW for Legacy Church at Toulminville Warren U.M. of Mobile, AL on March 23, 2025.
Acts 20:7-12 New Living Translation… On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. 8 The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. 9 As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. 10 Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” 11 Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. 12 Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.
Our text involves a point of celebration as well as a point of controversy. It is an interesting yet complex dichotomy. On one hand, for the first time in the New Testament, we find the early church celebrating the Christian Sabbath on the Lord’s Day, Saturday evening and Sunday morning; the first day of the week. On the other hand, there is controversy surrounding the inference that Paul raised someone from the dead. Luke, the author of the text was an assistant to Paul on this journey and happened to be a physician who believed that Paul indeed, had resurrected this young man from death to life.
This story is interjected after Paul’s winter in Corinth, as he was headed to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Pentecost. As always, Paul runs into a problem on the way, because intel has revealed a threat on Paul’s life. So, he takes a detour and ends up in Troas. Troas is a seaport city of Asia Minor, not far from ancient Troy. It was in Troas that Paul received a vision in the night, from a man of Macedonia who pleads with him to come help them by preaching the gospel. Paul accepted the invitation and now he is there in Troas for the last time. He spends one week there, with the believers encouraging them in the Lord. There’s an infectious energy that emanates from Paul and has positively affected the city. When Sunday came, there was anticipation to gather the believers, to break bread as they remembered their risen Lord, and to hear from Paul as he spoke of the faith. There seemed to be a preference among the early church, to celebrate the Lord’s day in an upper room, like Jesus and his disciples did for the last supper and like on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. It was an apartment building, on the third floor, in the evening, that the believers of Troas met, with a room filled with flickering oil lamps, to hear the word and to worship. No doubt, they crammed into the room, to hear a father of the faith. Seating must have been limited, so much so, that a young man named Eutychus sat in an open windowsill.
Brothers and sisters, it’s at this point that the story becomes dramatic. Paul preaches a sermon that lasts until midnight. He was to leave for Jerusalem the next morning and wanted to spend his remaining time with the believers; so, he packed this message with as much red meat as he could. Eutychus couldn’t fight sleep any longer, and he fell asleep in the windowsill, and then he fell out of the window. He fell asleep, and then he fell out of the window and died. These events happened at church, and the members of this Troas assembly paused church, to run downstairs, to check on a young man whose drowsiness led to his death. Paul told everyone not to panic or to worry, because he was dead, but is alive again. Eutychus could feel his heart beating, pumping blood through his veins, beneath his skin, because he was alive again. It was after this transformative and worthwhile work, that the church went back upstairs to the third floor and continued in worship until dawn. That’s the story; now let’s unpack it.
I’m absolutely convinced that this is a strange old story, but that it has significant principles for the Legacy Church to employ today; that is, if we’re to continue being a faith community who is relevant and serious about serving this present age, which is our calling to fulfill.
Make no mistake about it, the church of Jesus Christ is to be a haven of mercy. We are not a social club, nor are we elitist who act as if we’ve arrived, puffed in self-righteousness. No, we are the people of God, who were lost but he found us; we were blind but he gave us sight; we were wandering in darkness but he brought us into the marvelous light; we were refugees in need of a refuge; we were sinners but he became our savior! After all of the free and good gifts that God has given us, we must be merciful to others. From the way we talk to other people and the tone of voice we use when we talk to them, we ought to ooze mercy. The church at Troas was so merciful that even though Eutychus’ flesh literally fell, they paused their worship to do the work of the ministry, because they knew and understood that faith without works is dead.
It’s worth noting that this church is merciful because they were aware that their culture was a contributor to the young man’s condition. Dr. Luke ensured to inform us in verse 8 that the room was illumined with “many flickering lamps”. It is a fact that the fumes of oil lamps can cause headache, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting, unconsciousness, and yeah you guessed it, drowsiness. The limitations of the culture created the conditions for Eutychus/a young man who was in church on the Lord’s day to fall out of church. I hear you though; I hear you saying “But pastor out of all the people in church that day, you’re making a big deal about one young man falling out of church, when everyone else was safe in their seat”. Well ladies and gentlemen, I hear your complaint, but I’ve got a two-pronged response: one fall out is enough (Luke 15 Jesus tells of a lost sheep being found by the shepherd), and just because you’re in your seat doesn’t mean you’re not sleep (Luke 15 also records the story of the prodigal but we can’t forget about the son who stays home but has the wrong attitude)! We must be merciful, because sometimes the fumes of our culture creates and causes fallout!
It’s important to note that when they made it downstairs, that Paul wrapped him in his arms. He embraces this young man, who has fallen, fallen, and now is dead. This isn’t my point, but it’s certainly a point to ponder, that sometimes even people in church fall. Eutychus was in church, around believers, in the presence of an apostle, but he fell anyway. When people fall at Legacy Church, it is our duty to follow Paul’s paradigm/pattern to simply love on them. They don’t need our rebuke, our criticism or critique, our gossip or our judgment, but they do need our support, our concern, and our love. We are the people of God/“An Oasis of Love”, where we have faith in you becoming alive again, and we hope that you can beat the odds after you’ve fallen, and because we have no authority for condemnation we will lovingly lift you up from your fall!
After Eutychus was made alive again, the text tells us that they returned to the upper room for the study of God’s word and the worship of the God who can make you alive again. Eutychus fell down, but when he was alive again, he went back up! We all fall down, but when God allows you to feel your heart beating beneath your skin, making you feel alive again, don’t stay down, go back up! Up in the word, that tells you you’re the head and not the tail; up in the word that says you’re more than a conqueror! Go back up in the worship of the God who gave you another chance!
Energy. This story is full of energy. It’s a positive energy that is harnessed and used for the good of the kingdom of God, to restore those among us who have fallen. It’s not a matter of if we fall, but when we fall. We’re all human, subject to mistakes and bound to miss the mark. But how do we get back up when we fall? I’ve been trying to get here the entire sermon! Galatians 6:1-3 gives the answer… “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important”.
Eutychus. The name is defined to mean he who is fortunate. Brothers and sisters, we are fortunate to have each other; let’s act like it, and help each other be whole, healthy and holy. None of us are so important that we negate the fact that we are in covenant with each other.
Alive again. We have the ability to affect change. We can lift others to a higher plane by the power of God’s spirit. That’s the kind of energy we need at work within our faith community. I believe in you, that God will use us, to be “An Oasis of Love” in the middle of a harsh and dry world.
Objective: With improvement in mind, we will use Acts 16 as a guide for discipleship development, to lose our restrictive view in favor of God’s unrestricted power for progress.
The Painful Profit
Acts 16:16-40 New Living Translation… One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”
18 This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.
19 Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. 20 “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. 21 “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.”
22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.
25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” 32 And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. 33 Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. 34 He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.
35 The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” 36 So the jailer told Paul, “The city officials have said you and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace.”
37 But Paul replied, “They have publicly beaten us without a trial and put us in prison—and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!”
38 When the police reported this, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 So they came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city. 40 When Paul and Silas left the prison, they returned to the home of Lydia. There they met with the believers and encouraged them once more. Then they left town.
Introduction: From a place of great pain that became profit, Horatio Gates Spafford wrote It Is Well With My Soul…
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
(Refrain:) It is well (it is well), with my soul (with my soul), It is well, it is well with my soul.
Pain is the crucible of the Christian which is the passageway for meaningful ministry.
Overwhelming Observations:
Pain Is…
-Severe: II Corinthians 2:8-10
-Seasonal: II Corinthians 4:17
Profit is…
-Conversion: II Corinthians 5:17
-Community: Acts 16:40
Punchline: Serving the Lord requires us to learn how to turn a darkroom into a SONroom!
Conclusion: Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”
Objective: With improvement in mind, we will use Acts 16 as a guide for discipleship development, to lose our restrictive view in favor of God’s unrestricted power for progress.
Dealing With God’s No
Acts 16:6-10 New Living Translation… Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. 7Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. 8So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.
9That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.
Introduction: When mortal control meets divine sovereignty, there will either be humble submission or hard headed rebellion.
Overwhelming Observations:
-No doesn’t require any explanation (verses 6-8)
-No doesn’t mean cancelled, its a call (verse 9)
-No turns darkness into direction (verse 9)
-No turns potential into proclamation (verse 10)
Punchline: God’s no reveals our spiritual maturity, with the aim of toddler-like tantrums not hindering the progress of the grown-up work of the gospel.
Conclusion: No is hard to hear, but it’s helpful for who we are to become and for who will be made better because we lost our mind.
Isaiah 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind (center/heart of you) is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Antonie E. Walker Ministries 