How to Look Up When Things Look Down | Opening Up to God

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Tell me what you want me to do and where you want me to go. We like to put our best foot forward. It's a cultural thing. We keep certain things to ourselves. If we've just bounced a check, or we're in over our head at work, or there's relationship stress, we stay silent on those subjects. But today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out when Jesus makes His home in our hearts, we give Him permission to explore the hidden issues we're keeping to ourselves, and including the one you're thinking about right now. Let's get some good encouragement.

So question. Have you ever been in a situation that looked utterly hopeless? There was no way out that you could see, and it was like a worst case scenario unfolded, and you realized there was nothing you could do to change it, so you found yourself resigned to it, but you decided to give God the glory despite what you were going through. You praised Him, and suddenly, unexpectedly I might add, your situation turned around, and that thing that seemed like the worst case scenario ultimately resulted in bringing about some good in your life and the life of others. Well, here in Acts 16 is a beautiful example of two men who saw the good despite the bad.

They saw the hand of God in the darkest of places, and they praised Him. Now what we're reading about here in the book of Acts is the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul. Up to this point in his first journey, he was with Barnabas.

Remember him? The encouraging guy. Barnabas was the name given to him.

He was effectively Mr. Encouragement, but Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement, and they parted ways, and now there's two missionary teams. Barnabas goes off with John Mark, and Paul now has a new wingman, and his name is Silas, and so they're getting ready to go on this trip, and they made a plan. They said, hey, let's go visit those churches we planted earlier in Asia Minor, and let's see how they're doing, and they got ready to go on their trip, but God had a different idea.

Has that ever happened to you? You had a plan, and God had a different plan. It didn't quite work out. You know, you had your plan. I know I'm going to submit my resume, and I'm going to get this job.

He didn't get the job. I know I'm going to propose to this girl, and she's going to say yes, and she said no. I know this other thing is going to happen. I'm certain of it, and the Lord redirected you. This is exactly what happened to Paul and Silas.

In fact, we read in Acts 16 seven, coming to the borders of Missia, they headed for the province of Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit did not let them go. Listen, sometimes a door is closed in your face, and you always think that it's a bad thing, but not necessarily, because God closes one door often to open another, and there's a lot of ways that God can close the door in our life, and by that I mean not let you do what you wanted to do. Sometimes it's through just a complete lack of peace in your heart. In Colossians it says, let the peace of God settle with finality. All matters that arise in your mind. There have been situations where I've just not felt comfortable inside.

I haven't felt that peace of God about a certain path I was pursuing, and I've just thought I'm not going to go that way. That's one way that God can close the door. Other times it can be circumstantially.

Something happens. It could be sickness. We always think that sickness is bad.

Generally it is. Ultimately it's a result of sin that comes to all of humanity, but having said that, God could use his sickness to stop you. Paul spoke of his thorn in the flesh, and many believe that was some kind of a physical issue, maybe a result of being beaten and stoned and shipwrecked and all the other crazy stuff Paul went through, but Paul even said to young Timothy who was ill, probably had an ulcer, probably from hanging around with Paul, and he said, hey take a little wine for your stomach. So he was offering some medicinal advice.

If God wanted everyone healed, certainly Paul could have prayed for Timothy, and he would have been healed immediately. So God could slow you down or stop you through sickness or some other way, but the bottom line is the door was closed. So now they get on their boat, and now they're headed in a new direction. Acts 16 11 says, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the wind was at our back.

I love this. They had a tailwind if you will. They got there a little faster. Have you ever felt like the wind was at your back? You're just cruising along in the will of God. Everything is really good. You know you're on the road. The lights are green.

The birds are singing. Everything's fantastic. Well that's what was happening at the beginning of their journey. They started off beautifully, but then they took a bad turn.

Then they took a good turn. So now they're headed to a place called Philippi. Philippi is a Roman colony that was established by the emperor. He would organize colonies by ordering Roman citizens, especially retired military people to go to selected places. So these would be pro-Roman cities and strategic areas. So Philippi was sort of like a Rome away from Rome if you will. Very Roman in culture. Very Roman in every way. So here comes Paul and Silas headed to Philippi.

Now I left out one thing. Paul had received a call from a man in a vision from Macedonia saying come and help us. And so Philippi is in the area of Macedonia. So he arrives with Silas and it's not a man that comes to faith first, but it's a woman.

So he got the Macedonian call if you will from a man. Well when he arrives there's this lady there and her name is Lydia. Lydia was a very affluent woman. It says that she sold purple garments. So back in this day treating an expensive cloth with expensive purple dye would be what we would call a designer gown.

A designer shirt. So this is a woman who was very affluent. Very well off. And this is the first convert of this second missionary journey. And you might say that the conversion of Lydia created a chain of events that ultimately brought down mighty Rome.

And it started with one convert. This woman named Lydia. Now she was a worshiper of God as best she knew. But she was seeking God. She reminds us of Cornelius that we talked about earlier who also worshiped to the best of his ability. But the Lord directed Cornelius to Simon Peter to hear the gospel and Cornelius believed. So here's another woman who's a true seeker of God and the Lord directed her to the apostle Paul.

Or should I say directed the apostle Paul to her. And here's something to think about. You know there are people that say I'm seeking truth. I'm trying to find the meaning of life. And I've looked everywhere. I've looked into eastern mysticism. And I've looked into new age philosophy. And I've looked into this and I've looked into that. And then you say have you looked into Jesus? And you pull out your Bible and they say put that thing away. Wait you're a seeker of truth right?

Oh yes. I want truth. Have you ever read the Bible?

No. I don't believe in that. How can you not believe in something that you've not even looked into? And if you're a true seeker of truth why don't you at least take a look at what Jesus said. The reality is they're not a seeker of truth that they won't look into what the Bible says. And because God says those that seek me will find me.

Well this is a true seeker of truth. This lady named Lydia. And now she hears the gospel. Look at verse 14 of Acts 16. She listened to us and the Lord opened her heart and she accepted what Paul was saying. She and her husband were baptized and she asked us to be her guests. If you agree then I'm a true believer in the Lord. They said yes we believe that. So they stayed at her home.

I love this. So they came to her home and there's this picture in the Bible of God making his home with us. Jesus said if we believe in him and follow him the father and Jesus would make their home with us.

Paul writes that Christ would settle down with finality and make his home in your heart. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's encouraging to hear from listeners who are impacted by Pastor Greg's teachings. Hi Pastor Greg.

I'm a 65 year old guy who grew up during the same era as you and have a similar background as I also came from an alcoholic family. I simply want to say that I feel really a special bond with you Greg and I'm sure there are others who share that with you as well. Thank you for sharing your testimony and I feel blessed to be exposed to Harvest Ministries. My wife and I are also Harvest partners who want to help you speak the Holy Spirit's guidance all over our world as it is needed so much in these times.

Thank you again. It is a privilege to bring these studies your way and we're thankful for our Harvest partners who make them possible. Would you consider partnering with us so they can continue? Make a donation online at harvest.org.

That's harvest.org. And now Pastor Greg continues his message from Acts 16 called How to Look Up When Things Look Down. You know the other day I was with Jonathan Rumi who plays Jesus in The Chosen and he contacted me and said he wanted to hang out a little bit as he's preparing for the role of Lonnie Frisbee in the film Jesus Revolution. And so I took him to all the places where these events happened. I took him down to Pirate's Cove or that little beaches where people are baptized. I took him to the high school campus where I accepted Christ and we sat down and I went through the story. So then it was getting later in the day I said Jonathan you want to come over to our house for dinner?

He said yes. So I said to Kathy Jonathan's going to come over for dinner. So she's making dinner and she's not met him yet. So he is driving to our house and she says I'm at the stove working with the green beans and I looked through the window.

Suddenly this car drives by and it looks like Jesus is in the car. And we had a great time. A great meal. By the way Kathy cooked fish which seems appropriate doesn't it?

I don't even know if she consciously thought about that. But great time together. Fellowshiping. Talking about the things of the Lord. And we know he's not Jesus.

We know he's Jonathan Rumi who plays a role. But to me it kind of presents it what if Jesus actually came to your house. And you know you're cooking up the green beans and here's Jesus driving in right. And he comes up and he knocks at the door of your house and you hear a voice say behold I'm at the door so open it.

Because it would be more modern right. And you open it and there comes Jesus Christ into your home. You probably would serve him fish. Strike the devil's food cake.

Really inappropriate for dessert. But this is what is happening now to this woman. Jesus has come into her home. Jesus has come into her life.

This woman named Lydia. And I love how it says she opened her heart. So she opened her heart and then she opened her home.

And apparently she opened up her resources too because she said stay with us we'll take care of you guys. And you know when Jesus really has come into your heart everything should be open to him. The story is told of General Sam Houston hero of Texas history. And he came to Christ in the later years of his life and he decided he wanted to be baptized. And so the preacher took him down to the little river there and he's getting ready to baptize General Houston.

And he noticed that Houston still had his eyeglasses in his pocket. He said he better take those out those that get wet. And so they took his eyeglasses out and then the preacher noticed he had a his wallet in his pants too. He said general you probably should take your wallet out that'll get wet in the water. And the general said if any part of me needs to be baptized it's my wallet. So they baptized General Sam Houston wallet and all. I wonder if we've all had our wallet baptized. Jesus said where your wallet is there will your heart be also.

Well he didn't actually say that but he did. And in another way he says where your treasure is there will your heart be also. When you invite Christ into your life you open your heart. You open your home. You open your resources. You open your future. You open everything up to him and say Lord I'm glad to have you in here.

Tell me what you want me to do and where you want me to go. That's right. Well the devil is not happy when he loses a convert. So here's the devil now with his counter attack. Acts 16 verse 16. As we went to prayer a certain slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination who brought her masters much profit started following us. So this demon possessed woman now starts following the apostles. She was shouting these men are servants of the most high and have come to tell you how to be saved. Actually this word she said could be translated.

She shrieked. So here's Paul and Silas walking along through Philippi. She's behind him screaming out they're servants of the most high God.

This woman's really getting to my nerves. And it's interesting because in the original language it says she had the spirit of python. And what that means is there was a myth that the python snake guarded the temple of Apollo.

And so there was this weird demonic thing. Speaking of pythons I used to have a python when I was a kid. I collected all kinds of snakes. But I had this python and he always bit me.

I don't know what the deal was. Anybody else would put their hand in the snake cage and he wouldn't bite them. But when I put my hand in the cage boom he would strike. Every time he struck I was bitten by that python so many times. And so one day I was feeding him a mouse.

I hate to break this to you. Snakes eat live creatures. Ok. Little baby mice.

Really cute too. You put them in there. It's not easy. So anyway when you put a mouse in a cage of the snake the mouse goes in the corner shaking and the snake sees him and he goes in. I know he didn't come to hear this at church but this is happening in life people. I got to let you know right.

So I put this one mouse in. And he kind of like hey what's up. He sees the snake. How you doing? How you doing? Like a New York mouse. What? What you looking at me?

You know. He walks right up to the snake. Snake's like whoa what's going on? I'm a python.

Don't you know who I am? The mouse walks around gets on top of the snake. Now the snake is in fear over in the corner. The mouse owns the cage. I said that mouse is not going to be lunch for my snake. I took the mouse out and made him my personal pet because this was a super cool mouse. This has nothing to do with our story. Ok.

Nothing at all. That's my token python story. She had the spirit of python. This demon power. And so Paul casts the demon out.

Like we're done with this. Why would he want that to happen? Because she was going to confuse people. People might even think she's part of the missionary team.

And she wasn't at all. She was possessed by the demon. Well now the people who were controlling this woman. Effectively trafficking her.

Pimping her out if you will. And making a lot and making a lot of money off of her were outraged. Because this witchy woman was their source of income.

So when they exorcised the demon they also exorcised the income for her master. So now they're angry. Acts 16 verse 20 though. They go and try to whip up the people and the whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews they shouted. They're teaching the people to do things against Roman customs. A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas and the city officials ordered them stripped and beat them with wooden rods.

We'll stop there. So now these accusers put Paul and Silas up on trumped up charges. Sounds like they're anti-Semitic. These Jews these Jews have come into our city. They're not Romans like us.

We're obviously superior they're saying. And these Jews have whipped the people up and and have done these horrible things. So now Paul and Silas are beaten and now they're sent to prison.

So we pick up in Acts 16 verse 23 what happened after that. They were severely beaten. Then they were thrown into prison and the jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape.

So he took no chances and put them into the inner dungeon and clapped their feet in the stocks. Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening. Underline that singing hymns to God the other prisoners were listening. Verse 26 suddenly there was a great earthquake and the prison was shaken at its foundations and the doors flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off.

The jailer woke up to see the prison doors open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped and he drew a sword to kill himself. Paul shouted to him don't do it.

We're all here trembling with fear. The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down before Paul and Silas and he brought them out and asked sirs what must I do to be saved. They replied believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved along with your entire household. Then they shared the word of the Lord with him and all who lived in his household. The same hour the jailer washed their wounds he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized and he brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.

Wow. Isn't that one of the greatest stories in the Bible? So Paul starts out as a prisoner and ends up leading the jailer to Christ.

Another heart is open and now another house is open. Now the Roman jailer's home would be much different than Lydia's home. She would have probably had a luxurious home with servants and plenty of food. This guy the jailer had a much different home. The Lydia would have been upper class. He would have been middle class and the demon possessed woman lower class. In fact she had no possessions to speak of but it just shows that the gospel is relevant for every man, every woman, every class of person.

Everybody needs Jesus. Pastor Greg Laurie with great insight today from our studies of the events of the first century church in the book of Acts and there's more to come as this message continues here on The New Beginning. Well Pastor Greg we're making available your fascinating book on Revelation. Yeah. But I got to think the first time a pastor decides to teach from the book of Revelation is a little sobering you know a little intimidating. Yes. Do you remember the first time you dove in?

Yes it is all the above. It's an overwhelming book. It's a book that's filled with imagery. It's a book that's filled with statements that are not always easily understood but I think as you begin to piece it together and understand that studying the book of Daniel is a great help and understanding the book of Revelation understanding the format of it understanding the purpose of it it suddenly comes into focus for you. You know just take the word revelation by the way it's revelation singular not revelations plural. I bring this up because people often say I've been reading revelations. Well it's revelation but revelation means to unveil. So God's not trying to hide things from us.

He's trying to unveil reveal things to us. You know it's interesting Jesus in Matthew 24 and what we call the Olivet Discourse says when you see the abomination of desolation happen then we read let the reader understand. So Jesus is talking about end times events and there's that little detail let the reader understand. So why would Jesus say that if he didn't want us to understand Bible prophecy and how it applies to us today.

I believe we're living in the last days. I believe Jesus could come back at any moment and I believe we need to be ready and the book of Revelation will help us to live a life that is prepared for the return of Christ. So we have a beautiful hardcover book commentary on the book of Revelation and it's simply called Revelation a Book of Promises and I'm so excited about this because this is going to help you understand this great book of Revelation and how Bible prophecy applies to you. So I hope you'll order this book that we will send to you for your gift of any size and whatever you send we will use to enable us to continue to teach the word of God here on our radio broadcast The New Beginning and also to proclaim the gospel and call people to Jesus Christ. So order your copy of this book Revelation a Book of Promises and we'll send it to you for your gift of any size. Yeah that's right it's such a rich book in fact it even promises a special blessing no other book of the Bible does that and we'd like to send you this resource to thank you for your donation right now. Hey Dave let me jump in really quick and not only are we offering this book Revelation a Book of Promises but we have this really cool graphic bookmark that we have put together that gives you a timeline of end times event so you probably wondered okay I know I've heard about the rapture and the tribulation period and the anti-christ and the second coming what happens when well this very beautiful little visual bookmark sort of lays it out for you that's included in the book you're talking about right now. Yeah that's right it comes automatically so get in touch with your donation today and we'll thank you with a copy of Revelation a Book of Promises. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300.

That's a 24-7 phone number 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org. Well next time we'll see there's so much more inspiration to draw from Acts 16. We'll see the miraculous conversion of a Philippian jailer. Join us next time here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. Hey everybody thanks for listening to this podcast to learn more about Harvest Ministries follow this show and consider supporting it just go to harvest.org and to find out how to know God personally go to harvest.org and click on know God.