Well, good morning church and let me tell you again, happy 2026. It has been such a great kickoff for the year here at Bern Hickory, whether it was last Sunday, which by the way, was one of, if not the largest non-holiday Sunday, uh, that this church has ever had. Um, or last Wednesday night. Uh, we may or may not have served more beef tips, uh, than we have ever served on last Wednesday night with all the life groups and things that were happening here. It has been a great, great, great kickoff. Look, I know we've already mentioned this, um, but I want to reiterate on January 23rd and January 25th, we're gonna have what we're just kind of calling two vision nights, all right? Two vision nights. Now, here's what I wanna tell you about that. If Bern Hickory is home to you, all right?
If it is home to you, that means if you are 100% sold out, this is 100% your home. Or if you're like a third cousin and we see you every now and then, all right? If Bern Hickory is home to you, we need you at one of these events. Uh, we don't do this often. We don't lean in like this very often, but we have an opportunity to lay some tracks down for the literal next generations, and we need to have a family talk. All right? We need to have a little family talk, spend some time together, have some dessert together, pray together. So make plans. Now, don't blow this off, all right? Don't blow it off. Please, please, please make plans. If you're in a life group, I know your groups are trying to come to one of the nights. If it doesn't work out, come to the other one, that's fine.
If you're not in a life group, just come to one of the nights. I will tell you, the Sunday night is a little bit more crowded than the Friday night, all right? So if you're not a crowd person, just give you a little insight. Um, into that, all right? So make plans now. All right, if you got a copy of scripture, go ahead, take it out, and let's get to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. Today, what we're gonna do is we're gonna jump back in with Dr. Luke, right? Dr. Luke in the book of Acts. Why? Because so far, what we've been able to do is we've been able to track through these first chapters to chapter 16, and it's been really clear. It's been really clear in that Jesus has given us the mandate as the church to reach the world, to reach the world.
We've seen it all through acts. We saw the Holy Spirit come, we saw the church start, we saw it move from Jerusalem into Judea. It is spread into Samaria. And now, what we're beginning to see is it begin to spread to the world. Now, how did it spread? It spread through, obviously, the apostles that were teaching and preaching, but more than that, it spread through every believer living in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, all of the chapters of acts so far have shown us that point. Now, what has it shown us? It's shown us that our role as believers is to fall in love with Jesus, trust Jesus and tell other people what he's done in our lives. It's quite frankly, what our primary role is. And let me give you a little side note here. It's also the reason if you're not a follower of Jesus yet.
That's also the reason why those of us that are followers of Jesus are always trying to convince you to be a follower of Jesus. Some of you are like, "Man, these Christians, they're always trying to talk me into loving Jesus." Yes, we are. All right? It's our plan. It's not even a secret anymore, all right? It's what we're trying to do. Why? Because how evil would I be as a person that has been redeemed by Jesus, given eternal life in Jesus, saved from my sins? How evil of a person would I have to be to not do everything but beg you to trust Jesus. Why? So he can do in you what he's done in me. So that's what we're seeing in Acts. Today, we actually though move into just a sweet spot of Acts. Last week, we saw Paul in Barnabas. We saw them head out on the first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul.
We saw all of that in one week last week. Today, though, we're actually going to get to see the first European Christian, the first European church, which Europe would then be the launching point for the gospel to head across the world. And today, we're actually gonna get to see where our, as the United States, where our spiritual heritage came from. Amen, I just hope that you're making these connections, and I hope that you're seeing that, that, that our walk in Jesus is not something that just happened overnight. It has happened through faithful believers like you and like me. Every generation doing everything they can to reach the generation around them. Now, last week, Paul and Barnabas, Acts chapter 14, they finish that missionary journey. You can go back and listen to it on the podcast. They gave us some faithful, faithful followers of life, followers of Jesus principle.
Today, we're gonna join Paul back in Antioch. Now, we're gonna be in Acts chapter 16 last week. We're in chapter 14. We're gonna skip Acts 15. Not because I don't like it, but because you can read it on your own, all right? You can read it on your own. It was the Jerusalem Council. They settled the matter last week. The Gentiles can in fact know and love Jesus. Thank goodness. Why? 'Cause most of us aren't Jewish, all right? That worked out good in our favors, right? That we can follow Jesus and that we can trust by faith through grace and Jesus can save us. All right? That happened last week in a Dur- or in, in chapter 15 in the Jerusalem Council. Today, we meet up back at Antioch. It's kind of the launching point of the whole area. Paul is back at Antioch. Barnabas is back at Antioch and they're getting ready for their second missionary journey.
When the boys, Paul and Barnabas, they actually have this little internal fight. All right? They have this little internal disagreement where they actually split up and Barnabas goes one way over here. Paul then picks up this man named Silas and they head out towards Macedonia. All right? Now, that's where we're gonna pick up the text today. Acts chapter 16, we're gonna pick it up with them moving into this city called Philippi, all right? So everything that happens today happens in one city. It happens in one place, this city called Philippi. And I want us to look at three, what I would just kinda call very specific gospel conversations, or three moments, or three scenes, all right, if we were watching a movie. And here's what I want you to key on, key in on today. I want you to see God's love for you, because you're gonna see it in every one of these things.
I want you to see our responsibility that God has given us to share Jesus because it's the same that Paul and Silos have. And I want you to see how powerful the gospel is and how, here it is, how the gospel reaches into every single people group. And then I also want you to see this, all right? Kind of put this as a little side note. I want you to see to he- today how in every single text in acts that Paul and Silas or Paul and Timothy or Paul and Barnabas, whoever it is, that in every single one of them, their mission was to talk about Jesus. Not because they were better at it than us, not because they had better degrees in Bible than us, but because of this. I want you to write this principle down and then we'll jump into the text.
Here's the principle today that I wanna start with. When our lives are truly grafted into the life of Jesus, the result, here's the result. Here's how you know if you're walking with Jesus. The result is a deep desire to tell others about his love. All right? Now that's the overarching message of Acts. It's the overarching message of Paul and Silas. It's the overarching message of what we're going to see in this text. Now, what does that mean? That means that nobody has to talk you into doing it. Nobody has to kind of remind you or motivate you to doing it. It means that when we, as believers in Jesus, fall so in love that we follow him with our life, the result is a natural outflow in every situation, here it is, to tell others what Christ has done in us. That's the result. All right.
So that's the example, all right? So here's the three examples. Let me give them to you. Acts chapter 16, we're gonna start in verse 13, all right? It's Paul and Silas. They're at Philippi. They're by the river. All right? Those of you that went to the journey of Paul with us, you know exactly the spot I'm talking about right here. Actually, taught this text right there, all right? Acts chapter 16. Here it is, verse 13. It says, "On the Sabbath, we. " All right, we. Now, Paul's there for a minute. Little Bible trivia note here. This is the first of the wees in Acts that Luke writes himself into the story. Why? Because this is actually where Luke joins Paul and now he is journeying with Paul. All right? So this is a firsthand account. When you're reading the Book of Acts, you're reading Paul's encounters with Luke.
All right? That's what you're reading, all right? On the Sabbath, we, all right, there it is. We went outside the city gate to the river where we expected to find a place of prayer. Now, this looks a little bit different. They're not in the synagogue here. All the others that we read about, when Paul goes into a town, he goes to the synagogue. Why doesn't he do it here? He doesn't do it here because Philippi was a very Roman city. Philippi was not a Jewish city. It was outside of the Jewish realm. All right. We're talking in the Gentile world here. There was no synagogue to go to. So what do they do? They went outside the city. They go down to the river to a place of prayer. All right. A place of prayer. Now, keep going. What does it say? It says we sat down and we began to speak to the women who had gathered there.
You wanna know what's find, go, what's going on in the city? Who do you talk to? The dudes? No, you don't talk to the dudes. They don't know what's going on. You go to the ladies. Amen. I don't know if that's a Bible point, but it's a life point. There it is, right? Verse 14. Here's, here's where our first scene comes in. Here's our first lady come in. It says, "One of those that was listening was a woman from the city of Tyra Tyra." In other words, she wasn't from there, but she lived there named Lydia, named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God and the Lord opened her heart to respond to what? To Paul's message. Now, Paul's right there, and I want you to write down a couple things about our girl, Lydia. All right, so you can look back at, uh, about this later on.
Number one, write this down about her. Lydia was a business person. She was a business person. What does that mean? She was a dealer in purple cloth. Now, you see that screen color? It's purple, right? Isn't that cool? Now, this is why, this is why we can, we can really dive into this passage and see that not only was she a business person, but write this down too. She was a wealthy business person. She was wealthy because purple cloth was only for royalty and purple cloth could only be made through the crushing of a specific snail that was found off the coast of the Mediterranean on the sea. So they had to gather it together. They had to crush it. They had to make this purple cloth and it represented that they were royalty, royalty. So she was the dealer of purple cloth to the Roman officials living in the Roman city of Philippi.
That's who this lady was. So she was a business person. She was wealthy. She was dealing in this expensive stuff. And then write this down about her. We can infer this. She was respected. She was respected. Why? Because if she wasn't respected, the Roman authorities wouldn't have dealt with her. They would have just taken her business. They would have done on their own what they wanted to do. It was actually the track record of what they did very, very often. She dealt with all of the upper ups of society. And then write this down, number four, don't forget this point about her. She was also somewhat respected. She was somewhat respected in that. Here's what that means. That means ... I mean, not somewhat religious. Sorry. She was respected. We already talked about that. She was somewhat religious. How do we know that? What does the text say that she's at a prayer meeting, right?
She's at a prayer meeting, but she's not a follower of Jesus. That's why I put somewhat religious. What does that mean? That means that you can go to a prayer meeting and not know Jesus. You can go to church and not know Jesus. You can talk about who God is and not know Jesus. You can be a worshiper of God and not know Jesus. She's somewhat religious, but here's the good news. At the end of verse 14, what did the Bible tell us? The Lord did what? Opened her heart. Let me read the verse to you again. She was a worshiper of God. That might define some of you. And the Lord opened her heart to what? To respond to Paul's message. The enemy says, respond or to attend to, to pay attention to. She took heart in it. Meaning this, what was not clear about who God is and Jesus is on this moment became clear at this moment because of Paul's message and it forced a decision in her mind.
Why? Because when you hear about the love of Jesus, there was always a decision. Whether you're gonna follow him or you're gonna walk after your own path. Now, what does she act on? We just read it, right? She responded to Paul's message. Man, I love this. Why? Because Dr. Luke here, right, in writing this, doesn't even have to define what Paul's message is. Do you know why? Because Paul's message was always Paul's message. Paul was known as the man that talks about Jesus. He was known as the guy that wherever he went, whatever he was doing, whatever his life circumstances that were coming and whatever city that was in, that's what he did. That's what he did. So let me ask you this as just application. What would your crew say your main message is? What would they say? What would your crew, those that are around you say yours is?
Are you a person that is always talking about somebody else, always talking about politics, always talking about sports, always talking about good night? It's Wes Cobb, your kids?
Or are you a person that if somebody were to walk beside you, they would go, "Oh no, that me- that guy's message or that girl's message is all about Jesus." It's all about Jesus. See, Paul was known as the guy who was so grafted into who Jesus is, so thankful for what Jesus did for him on the road to Damascus when he radically saved him that he couldn't help to talk about Jesus. That's why Paul said his goal in Philippians three, verse 10 is he said, "I wanna know Christ. Yes, the power of his resurrection, the participation and his sufferings to become like him in his death and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead." In other words, I wanna be so grafted into who Jesus is. I can tell others and I can live exactly how Jesus lived. M- Matthew 12:34, Jesus says it like this.
He says, "You brought a vipers. How can you, who are evil say anything good for out of the mouth speaks what? What the heart is full of? " Paul was an example that was radically changed and no matter what birthday party his pinata of life got hit at, what came out was Jesus. Man, that's such an example. Back to the text though, let's get back to Lydia. She, she meets Jesus. Her heart is open to Jesus. She surrenders her heart to Jesus, right? Lydia meets him, surrenders her heart. And then what happens in Lydia's life is what happens in all of our lives when we truly love Jesus. She obviously then introduces the rest of our household to who Jesus is. Why? Because the natural response to a person that meets Jesus is that you can't contain what he did in your heart. Look at verse 15.
It says this, when she ... And the members of our household were baptized, she invited us to her home. If you consider me a believer in the Lord, she said, "Come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us. So what's happening in the text? Lydia's life has changed. And what happens, her whole household is changed. Lydia's life has changed and her whole household hears about Jesus. Lydia's life is changed and all of the people that were around her began to hear about Jesus and their life was changed. Listen to me, church, that's how it works. It's a domino effect. Many times, many, many, many times, and this is for free. It's not in your notes. So goes the leader of the house. So goes the house. Many, many, many times, so goes the leader of the house, so goes the house. Let me just say this even a little bit farther.
Parents, when you get serious about your relationship with Jesus, your kids will get serious about their relationship with Jesus. Or the anti of that is true. When you are lackadaisical parents about your faith in Jesus, your kids will be lackadaisical about their faith in Jesus. And I'll tell you this, they usually take it even one step farther. What does that mean? That means parents, when you get excited about Jesus, when Jesus radically gets your life and changes your life, your kids will take an even greater step in the name of Jesus than probably you will, or they will take one more lackadaisical step farther from Jesus, if that's your faith. Dads, let me take it one more step farther and I'm gonna move, move on. So goes the dad, so goes the house. You can argue with me all you want to, but the stats prove it, history proves it, and all the lives that I see funneling through my office proves it.
What's happening here? Lydia meets the Lord. Her household hears about Jesus. Her household surrenders their hearts to Jesus. This is not a collective salvation moment where if one person becomes a Christian, it just oozes out into other people's lives and they're by thought, by default Christians. No, they give their life to Jesus, but it happened when it started with Lydia, and it could start with you in your house. So Lydia, this influential business lady, transformed by Jesus, invites Paul, invites Silas into her home. And what you're about to see right here is not only is she the first European convert on this planet, but she starts the first European church on this planet. And, and, and when Paul talks about the generosity of Philippi and the Book of Philippians, she is probably the one that Paul is talking about. So that's scene one. That's scene one, rich, wealthy, influential, being drawn to Jesus and the Bible study.
But let's get back to the river and see scene two. Here it is, verse 16. It says once, when we were going to the place of prayer, we met, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future, and she earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling. Now, let's see the opposite of Lydia, right? Lydia, wealthy, business owner, well respected in the community, quasi-religious, right? Now let's talk about the slave girl for a minute. Write down a couple things about her. Number one, she's young. She's young. That's what the word girl means here, that she is a younger slave girl. Number two, she's poor. She's poor. Why? She is a slave. She wasn't even allow- allowed to own property. In fact, she was property. Number three, write this one down. She's taken advantage of.
She's taken advantage of. I mean, she is the literal property of someone, and she is oppressed. She is pushed into the depths of society. She is the low of the low. And to make matters even worse for all of it, number four, she is demon possessed. She ain't even somewhat religious. She is controlled by Satan. This girl couldn't or probably even wouldn't go to a prayer meeting even if you invited her to, right? Keep reading, watch what happens in verse 17.
It says she followed Paul and the rest of us shouting, "These men are servants of the most high God who are telling you the way to be saved." Oh man, you can't buy that kind of publicity, right? Now, I gotta stop here just for kind of point of application and ask you this. Would, would someone ever ... Listen to me. Would someone after they followed you for a couple days ever accuse you of telling anyone the way to be saved? Based on your speech, based on the topics of your conversations, what a compliment, right? So this girl, she's conflicted, obviously. She's almost attracted to the message a little bit, or she's been sent to disrupt the message. We don't really know which one it is. She's obviously angered because she's following after these guys, shouting, "Hey, these guys are telling you how to be saved.
These guys are telling you how to be saved." And then I love the text, watch the honesty of scripture in verse 18. It says she kept this up for many days, many days. It wasn't like this like one time, like that crazy guy on the street you walked past, right? For many days, she kept this up. Finally, finally, I love this, probably one of my favorite verses right here. "Finally, Paul became so annoyed, right? Not full of compassion, not full of tenderness. He's just done, right? That he turned around and he said to the spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her. "And at that moment, the spirit left her. At that moment, this girl, this slave girl, this girl that was obviously oppressed by society, oppressed by a demon, at that point she is redeemed. At that point, the spirit of the world comes out of her and God's spirit is inside of her.
She's transformed by Jesus. And now she can no longer make money for her master because the demon that was given her the ability to do that has been cast out of her. Oh, listen to me, church. A little, another side note here. Just because somebody has influence, just because somebody has insight does not mean it's from God. Does not mean it's from God. You have to discern. Is this from the Lord or is this a distraction of what's being pressed into me? But keep reading because the third scene pops up as a result of the scene, verse 19. That's Lydia, the upper of the uppers. It's a slave girl, the lower of the lures. Both of them get saved. Watch this verse 19. It says, when our owners realize that their hope of making money was gone, they see Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.
They brought them before the magistrates and said," These men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice. "Verse 22, I say it almost every time I see this word, the crowd. Just don't follow the crowd. The crowd is always wrong. The crowd joined the attack against Paul and Silas and the magistrates. In order them to be stripped and beaten with rods, and after they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison. The jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. And when he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet with stalks. Here's our third person. Here's our third scene. Write it down. The jailer, number one, he was a Roman official. He was a Roman official, meaning that he was part of the ruling class.
He was part of the up and up class. Also, you can write this. He was an older. Number two, he was an older soldier. He was an older soldier. These guys that were older soldiers that were decorated, were given as retirement gifts the ability to manage a prison. It was an easy job. You just kind of went in with authority and ruled with an iron fist and could live the rest of your days out cheating people and doing what you wanted to, which leads me to say this about him. Number three, he was a hardened soul. He was a hardened soul. How do you know that, Matt? I know it because his literal job was to flog people, and you've got to have a little bit of hardenness about you if that's your job, if that's your role in life. And number four, write this down about this guy.
He was not looking for Jesus. He was not even looking. Now, Lydia, she was being drawn, right? Lydia had some spiritual questions. Lydia would have come to the Bible study with you, right? The slave girl, she was so demonically, like, oppressed. She didn't know which end was up. It meant Jesus. This guy just thought it was about him, thought it was about his control, thought it was about his upper class living. He was far from God. He was one of the less likely people that you would ever meet to meet or to know to meet God. So the jailer does what? He puts Paul and Silas in the inner prison. That was the bottom. That was the depths. That was the bottom of the bottom, the most secure where the worst offenders went. It would have been where everything rolled downhill. If you know what I mean, with no ventilation, he puts them in stocks.
Stalks was this little wooden piece that locked on their legs, holding them in a V so they would literally could not go anywhere. And let's read what happens next. Verse 25, it says this, about midnight. Paul and Silas were complaining about the situation that God had put them in. That's not what it says, students. Just if you weren't watching, here's what it really says. <laugh>
About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the other prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken at once. The prison doors flew open. In other words, this wasn't a weather event. This wasn't just some little earthquake. It was such a force that God had sent that the doors flew open and the chains fell off. It's not a physical encounter. This is a spiritual moment. And everyone's chains came loose. Verse 27, the jailer woke up and when he saw the prison doors open because that's what our God can do, he drew his sword and he was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself. We are all here." Now, in those days, if you were the jailer and you lost a prisoner, you had to pay with your life.
It was just a unwritten rule. So what did the jailer do? Instead of submitting himself to the Roman authorities for probably a painful death, he decided that I'll just go ahead and take care of this on our, on my own. But Paul screamed out. He's like, "Listen, we're still here. We're still here." Now look, this is one of those questions that I'm gonna ask Paul one day because this is so confusing if you don't look at it through the lens of Jesus. But because in this moment, what seems to me is very true is that God wants them out of there. Amen? It just seems like it. I mean, in goodness gracious, if it's not enough to open the doors, I mean, to get me out of somewhere, I mean, it seems to me that they would've just ran out of there. But here's the good part about this Paul in this moment, obviously, because he's so grafted to Jesus, because he's so submitted to God's plan for his life, because he has seen what God has already done on the first missionary journey and what he's already done in Lydia's life and what he's done in the slave girl's life that Paul realizes right here that this is all part of the plan.
And if God could get them out at midnight, that God could get them out at any moment. And Paul looks at this God that had just beat him and said, "It's worth it to stay so that you will hear the gospel." So what does he do? Why doesn't he leave? He doesn't leave because of the gospel, because of salvation. In fact, write this principle down. When we live for the gospel first in situations where other people turn to their own comfort, here's what God does every single time. God moves. He moves. Listen, believer, when we live for the gospel first in situations where other people are running to themselves, where other people are turning to themselves, when we live for the gospel first, when It doesn't make sense. When we live for the gospel first where all earthly things tell us to flee, God always moves.
It's what we're seeing in the story right here. And then what happens in their life? Look at verse 29 because they don't leave. Verse 29, the jailer called for lights. He rushed in and he fell trembling before Paul and Silas. And when he brought them out, he asked, oh, underline this question. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? You wanna know why Paul didn't leave in that moment? Because he saw the radical transformation of Lydia. He saw the radical transformation of the slave girl and now God said, "Watch what I'm about to do. " And this guy asked the question of all questions and it's the question, "What must I do to be saved?" You know what happens when we live for the gospel when everybody else runs? Do you know what happens when we live for the gospel when everybody else turns to the culture?
People begin to ask this question. Let me turn it in a different way and ask it like this. Have you ever thought about this question? Like personally, have you ever thought about this question? Has there been a moment in your life? Have you ever had a moment where you have realized that I'm a sinner in need of salvation and then you took the next step and said, "What must I do to be saved?" Or if you're a believer in Jesus, let me ask it like this. Could you answer this question if somebody asked you? It's the question of all questions. And let me give you the answer. It's the shortest salvation answer in all the Bible. Verse 31, so powerful. It says this. They replied, "Believe. You don't know how you can be saved? Believe. In the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your household." Now, now, now what does that mean?
What does that mean? Because that word believe is a really, really, really big word. Now this word believe here is an interesting word because it doesn't just mean believe that there is a Jesus, right? If that was the case, then, then, then many, many, many, many, many people would know who Jesus is because many people will agree that there was a Jesus that lived. This word believe here doesn't mean just worship God. If it were the case, then Lydia would have already been a Christian, right? She was a worshiper of God. This word believe doesn't just mean believe that there was a Jesus, believe that maybe even Jesus was powerful or even believe that maybe even Jesus loves you. Here's what this word believe. This word believe here literally is the idea that Jesus, I believe that you are so much the savior, so much the Messiah that nothing in me wants to shine a light on me, but I'm surrendering my heart.
I'm surrendering my life and I'm giving you all of me. Be mine. Listen, church, that's believe. Oh, there has been so much horrible theology around the idea of, oh, just say yes to Jesus or just say that there is a Jesus or just say yes that there was a guy named Jesus one day that did something and that you can be saved. No, that is not the case. What must you do to be saved? It means you have to come to a point in your life where you surrender all of you to all of him. And you realize that there is nothing that you can do to get you to him, but because of who he is and what he has done through dying for you and raising for you at the moment you say, "Forgive me. Be my Lord and be my savior. I am yours." It's at that moment, God invades your life.
So let me ask you the question again. Have you believed? Have you believed? Oh, Lydia's wealth didn't get her there or her God fearing didn't get her there. The slave girl's demonic gifts and knowledge of God didn't get her there. The jailer's position and power didn't get him there, but watch what happens when he truly believes. Watch what happens when they give him the true answer of what does it mean to believe? He surrenders his heart to Jesus. How do we know? How do we know? Here's how we know that the jailer gives his life to Jesus, that Lydia gives his life to Jesus. And the slave girl gives her life to Jesus, their attitudes, their affections, and their actions. They show it. Every one of them. In fact, watch this, watch this. Watch verse 33, 32. It says this. It says, "Then, after they asked the question, then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all of the others in his house.
And at that hour of the night, the jailer took them. Watch the opposite of the ... He had flogged them the day before. And now what is he doing? He is washing their wounds. And then, immediately, him and all of his household were baptized. In other words, they, in the middle of the night, he meets Jesus. He washes the boys up and he's like, "Hey, take me to the river. Amen. Take me down to the river and baptize me. " Why? Because I think I got my life straight, because I think I've got this under control, because I think that I'm old enough. No, no, no. When you meet Jesus, you get baptized. Some of y'all have been putting that off for years. It's time. Verse 34, the jailer. After they were baptized, the jailer brought them into his house and he set a meal before them.
You seen this? The man that struck them is now serving them. And he was what? Filled with joy. Because he had come to believe in God, he and his whole household. He's a new man, a different countenance. He washes the boys up. There's a joy about them here. Every person in this account, here it is. When their lives were changed by Jesus, their lives were changed. If your life has never been changed by Jesus, you have not met Jesus. That's what I said. I'm not saying you haven't made a mistake. I'm not saying you haven't fallen to sin. I'm just saying there has to be a difference. Has to be a difference. Say, Matt, there was a difference in Lydia. Yeah. Let me show you. In verse 40, you'll have to read the rest of this text, but let me skip down and finish with this verse before I just look at some application.
Verse 40, watch this. It says, "After Paul and Silas came out of prison, where did they go? They went to Lydia's house where they met with the who? With the brothers and sisters." In other words, they met with the church and they encouraged them and then they left. Here's where I wanna land this. Man, what a run, right? What a run. But what does this have to do with me and what does this have to do with you? Couple of things, couple questions I wanna give you. Here they are. Number one, here's what I want you to think about this week. How is it that I can rearrange my week that I might be a person that the gospel just naturally flows out of in every single situation? Listen, I want you to ask God that this week. And I want you to pray this week that God would show you what is it in my life that I need to put into my life.
Maybe it's Bible reading, maybe it's prayer, maybe it's a small group, maybe it's regular church attendance and regular group attendance, maybe it, or maybe it's God. What do I need to get out of my life to give me time to be a person that like a pinata every time something hits me, what comes out of me is the gospel.
What is it that I need to do that whatever life throws at me, the natural thing that comes out of me is the gospel. Listen, can I tell you this? No amount of Bible training will ever get you to the point to where you have to look with a spiritual eyes open that no matter what comes into your life, your posture is just, yes, Lord. Oh, I've met some of the biggest Bible people of all times, but yet I'm not sure that this is where their life is. What do you need to do to make your life just naturally flow the gospel? Here's number two. Here it is. I love this one. Who is God already placed in my Philippi this week that needs to hear about Jesus? Who is it? Now, obviously, the Bible is really clear that we need to go, right? We need to go.
It's the great commission. We need to go on mission trips. We need to go to places. We need to go to the square, share the gospel. But l- let me back that up just for a minute and ask you this. Who is already in your path? You notice that every single time these brothers come upon somebody, they introduce him to who Jesus is. Who are the Lydias? Who are the slave girls? Who are the jailers that are in your life? Who are the respected, successful, have it all together people that need to hear about Jesus? Who are the marginalized, hurting, and overlooked people that need to hear about Jesus? Who are the hardened and seemingly unreachable people? The need to hear about Jesus. You wanna know why I think the Holy Spirit made Luke put every single one of these back to back to back to show us that nobody is too far from Jesus, that nobody is in a category that can't meet Jesus, and we should never prejudge and not tell someone about Jesus.
Our roles to tell them, God's roles to save them. Here's the third one, this is a little more internal. What inner prison?
What inner prison moment do I need God right now to meet me in? He ... It's no question that many of us, while we may not be in a physical prison of life, many of us are in a moment right now that we feel life our life is locked down, beaten, bruised, and almost put out to be forgotten. But oh, let me remind you of something this week. No matter if you're wealthy, influential, business, respected person, no matter if you are marginalized, oppressed, being thrown to the edges, and no matter if you're the person that's in charge, God can reach into whatever situation that you're in and deliver you. And here's the cool part about it. Our response in those delivery moments are some of the greatest way that we can herald the name of Jesus to the people around us. So here's how I wanna finish the message this morning.
Number one, do you need to believe and give your heart to Jesus and let him save you. And today's your day. What else do you think can save you more than he can? Number two, believers, who is it right now? You need to begin to say, "Lord, this week, speak in the gospel into their lives. Move in their hearts." And number three, where you're hurting. And you just need somebody to come beside you, put your arm, put their arm around you and say, "Let's pray."