Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Yeah. Acts chapter 16, we're going to continue in our series today.
You say, well, you know, it's Palm Sunday. And of course, in the last probably four or five years, we've done different things on Palm Sunday. And today we recognize it as Palm Sunday. This is the day that Jesus entered into Jerusalem. And obviously, as Brother Frank mentioned, people lined the streets crying, Hosanna.
And they waved palm branches, which you'll see a lot of those around on Palm Sunday. We've given them out at different times, different years on Palm Sunday. And the reason they did that, the palm trees, royalty, all this, they celebrated him as king. And what they didn't understand that day is that that celebration wasn't. taking him to a throne.
It was taking him to a cross.
Now obviously the throne is exactly where he's at. But to purchase our redemption, he could have sat on the throne, never left the throne, and still been king, but you and I would have no hope. But he came and he died and he was buried and he rose again so that we can have hope. and he is still the king. But These very people, as was mentioned today, that were calling him king in just a few days.
I would be crying something different. they would be hollering out, crucify him. And in Acts 16, we find something very similar. unfolding and as we continue in our series Christians that create change. What's interesting here, Paul and Silas Are ushered into Philippi.
God brings them to Philippi, I believe. To see Lydia get saved, the first convert, and then her family and baptized. And then obviously they come across a demon-possessed woman, but I believe God brought them. to Philippi for Lydia, but he kept them there. for the jailer.
This is just an interesting story. The jailer begins to watch the entire story unfold. And you have to understand to have that position, you had to have been a very hardened, hateful, tough, rough individual. And something happened that just absolutely changed a man. that if you and I met would probably say that if there's one person that'll never change and one person that Um will never be different.
We'll never have his heart tenderized. It would probably be this jailer. Paul and Silas were not being praised. They were being persecuted. They weren't being lifted up.
They were being locked up. And just like on that first Palm Sunday, What looks like defeat. Jesus is cried out to be king. In a few days, they're crying out, crucify him, and it looks like a defeat. But just a short time later, it wasn't a defeat.
It was the ultimate victory. And as Paul and Silas are ushered into Philippi and they began to not just have an impact, but God begins to work through them to change a city.
Next thing you know, they meet Lydia, she's saved, they have a baptism service, it's wonderful. And then before they can even get to their next prayer meeting, here's a demon-possessed woman. And then before long now they end up beaten and thrown into jail. And today, our subject is what I would call chains that created. Change, and I'm going to explain that here in just a minute.
I want us to jump in. We talked about. The first Part of this particular story as they were there ministering in the city, and this demon-possessed woman comes by, and all those different things. But I want us to look at verse 22, and we're going to jump there. This is where we left off.
And I want you to look at verse 22, and it says, And the multitude rose up together against them. against them. And by the way, let me just say this. They they weren't really against. Paul and Silas.
They're against the truth. They they were against the word of God. Ultimately, they're against God. And I want you to understand something. When you live for the Lord, when you live for Christ.
You're going to at times have people that are going to act like they hate you, and I want you to understand something. Ultimately, it's not really that they hate you. It's that they hate the God you serve. Because the God we serve tells the truth. And the God we serve gave us his word.
And the world does not like what his word has to say. It says that they rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded, notice verse 22, to beat them. Verse 23, and when they had laid many stripes upon them. Number one, this morning, I want you to understand that this jailer A couple things that I notice, I want us just to observe these following verses. He was changed.
by persecuted Christians. He was changed by persecuted. Christians. You know, Paul and Silas were beaten for blessing others. They were not beaten for stealing.
They were beaten for spreading the gospel. They weren't beaten for murder. They were beaten for their message. And what is interesting, and I want you to understand this. is that The people of this town and specifically this jailer ultimately, listen to me now.
Probably would not have been impacted by just preaching Christians. They were impacted because of the fact that these Christians weren't just preaching, they were persecuted. And they still kept praising. And let me just say, this world sometimes they don't need to just hear us preach. They need to be able to see that we can suffer persecution.
and still love our God. The jailer saw believers that were beaten. without becoming bitter.
Now, listen, this jailer had seen a lot. He was fully aware that these guys didn't steal, they didn't murder, they didn't cheat, they didn't do all these things that all these other guys in this jail had done. These guys were just out spreading. The truth. And here they are, they end up in his jail.
And if you'll notice, it says that they beat them and they laid many stripes. This isn't just a beating, this is wounding.
Okay, they had wounds from the kind of beating that they took. The jailer saw believers suffer without losing their strength. A couple things I want you to see just from this little passage. First, their pain was physical. It says they had many stripes, many stripes.
Not a boo-boo. They had many stripes. And let's just be honest. It doesn't take very much for you and I to get discouraged and quit, does it? compared to what early Christians went through.
I mean, so-and-so says a little word, says a little something, hurts my feelings. Bless God, we're not coming to church for a couple months. Yeah. If at all. I mean here they are beaten.
Stripes, wounds, open wounds on their body. And here they are still as happy in Jesus as they were before. And you know what? The world sees that in us. They see that we say Jesus is the answer, but they also see how easily we give up.
They also see how easily we get discouraged, and how easily we get upset, and how easily we are offended, and how little it takes for us to quit. And let's just be honest: the world sees that. And the world looks at churches, and I got to be honest, they look at churches as a bunch of people that can't get along. Yeah, that's true. A bunch of people that will be all positive unless one thing goes wrong, and now they hate that church.
Oh, they hear you at work. They hear what you have to say at work. Their pain was physical. Notice, second, their position was providential. God allowed this for a purpose.
And I just want you to know sometimes in your life, there's going to be some things come down the pike in your life. God's going to allow. It's providential.
Now I don't understand it and I wouldn't say it's fair, but God had a purpose here. I want you to notice, third, their perseverance was powerful. Let me tell you why they persevered because they figured out life wasn't about them.
Well, here I am trying to serve God, and here I end up in jail. Not only that, I'm beaten, and I got all these wounds. And let's just be honest, most of us would, I mean, we would have a fit about that whole thing, and we'd have a lot to complain to God about all that. But I just believe Paul and Silas didn't go to Philippi because of themselves, and they didn't preach the gospel for themselves. And so, when things begin to happen, they just realized and they had already grown accustomed: life is not about us, life is about God's will, God's purpose, and whatever God wants to do.
Ultimately, they were changed by persecuted Christians. And I believe the jailer might not have ever changed if he had just heard them preach something. It's because he saw something. He watched them. 2 Timothy 3, verse 10, you know it.
But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience. Notice what else he says here: persecutions. Afflictions. which came to me at Antioch and Iconium at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, but listen to what Paul said, but out of.
Them all. The Lord delivered me. Yay, notice this little follow-up statement. Just so you know. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall.
suffer persecution. You know what's interesting, this passage does not say all of God's children are going to suffer persecution. It doesn't even say every Christian is going to suffer personally. It says specifically that if you decide to live godly. Expect persecution.
Notice number two. He wasn't just changed by persecuted Christians. Number two, he was changed by prisoner Christians. You know, let's just be honest, man, they end up in jail. Probably, that would nullify 80% of our churches, would never have Paul to preach a meeting after that.
Well, he did jail time. Look at verse 23. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison. prison Charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks.
Now, let me just say first: it's amazing where serving God can land you. We come to an altar, we get saved, and we just think serving God's going to land us on some cruise ship somewhere. And life's just going to be fantastic. Let me say, life is fantastic when you serve God, but it's not always going to be on a cruise ship. It might be on a rowboat.
And it might even be in shipwreck. They landed here, but listen to this: they landed in prison in God's will. They landed in prison doing God's work. They landed here being beaten, thrown into jail, spreading God's word. They cast them into prison, but I do want you to know today: the safest place in the world is still the center of God's will.
Hey, I believe Paul and Silas were safer in the prison than they would have been out of the prison. Because they were in God's will in the prison. I want you to notice something. I don't know if you're aware of this, but it says that they cast them into the inner. Prison.
Now the inner prison was different than just being in the prison. Being in prison was to restrict you physically.
Now that makes sense. You can't leave, you're in bars, you're in chains, all those things. But when they put them into the inner prison, that was not just to restrict you physically, it was to defeat you emotionally. It's almost what we would almost call solitary confinement. It means it's the worst of the worst.
It would have been somewhere where there was no sunlight, probably no light at all. There were no toilets, no bathroom facilities. Of course, there weren't toilets anywhere back in those days, but there was absolutely nothing that could have been. In fact, just to get them in prison, that's bad enough. But they put them, remember, guys who hadn't stolen, hadn't cheated, hadn't broken the law, hadn't anything, they throw them into the inner prison.
You know why? Because Satan didn't just want to hurt them physically. Ultimately, what Satan wants to do is to defeat you emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And that's how Satan works, by the way. And you and I, as God's servants, we're going to continuously find ourselves in certain prisons that God has allowed.
And Satan is going to try to use that to get you emotionally. to get you mentally. to defeat you spiritually. I want you to notice first here, their chains were God's choice. No, I can't explain all that.
But you know, since I've been pastor here, I would say on at least 10 occasions I've had to, from the pulpit here, and this is just particular ones that I knew about, new individuals that knew them, whatever. Can you imagine how many there has been? But on 10 different occasions, I was just last night just trying to think of different ones. On 10 different occasions, I've had to got up here and tell you of certain missionaries serving in certain places of the world that had been assassinated and killed for their faith. That's how Satan works.
Their chains were God's choice. I don't understand why God allows certain things. I really don't. I want you to notice, secondly, their cell was God's classroom. You know, sometimes God allows us in situations so He can teach us something.
Do you know sometimes God allows you in a situation so God can teach someone else something while you're there? I want you to notice, thirdly, their circumstance was God's channel. You see, God ultimately put them there. It was his choice. And God put them there because it was God's classroom, but God put them there because this was going to be a channel to reach an individual whose eternity and family for eternity would forever be changed.
You know, as I looked Back in the Bible, Joseph's prison became his promotion eventually. Daniel's den became his deliverance eventually. Noah's flood actually saved his family. Paul's prison. became his pulpit.
Let's be honest, a lot more people are going to listen to you while you're sitting there in jail. then they might listen to you standing at a pulpit. You see, let's just be honest, this jailer probably would have never been anywhere where Paul would have gone to preach. But God brings the preacher to the jailer. That's good.
Yeah. The jailer didn't see how Paul had vigor in his pulpit. The jailer saw how Paul had victory in his prison. The jailer saw that these chains didn't change them. The jailer saw that the prison did not really imprison them.
The jailer saw that they were in chains physically, but they were not chained spiritually. They had freedom even in their fetters. Number three. He was changed by praying. Christians.
Now, this is interesting, and boy, this is a challenge. And we all know, and we shared some of this Monday and Tuesday night, but look at verse 25, and at midnight. Beaten, wounded, bleeding, thrown into the inner jail. Hands, feet. Chained in fetters, and at midnight, Paul and Silas complained.
Just doesn't say that. At midnight, Paul and Silas Prayed. They turned their prison into a prayer meeting. Y'all smelling what I'm cooking this morning yet? Yes.
Don't call me the rock, okay? That's not. Old school reference there, huh? Listen to me. You and I should be able to turn anything.
into a prayer meeting. We should turn our problems into a prayer meeting. We should turn our trials. into a prayer meeting. We should turn criticism.
into a prayer meeting. You know, a service of God, listen to me, ultimately, everything we go through should be turned into a prayer meeting. May I encourage you this morning when things happen in life immediately turned them into a prayer meeting. Let's try not to turn them into a criticizing session. Let's try not to turn it into a complaining conference.
Let's try not to turn it into a blame game. Why don't we turn what we go through in our life? Why don't we just immediately decide, I'm going to turn it into a prayer meeting?
Now Paul and Silas had a lot of choices. And I do not even want to think what my choice would have been. But they Afraid. I want you to notice first, they prayed in darkness. They're in the inner prison.
That means while others slept, they sought. While others were sleeping good, they sought God. They prayed in darkness. Notice, secondly, they prayed in despair. Here they are chained up.
You know what I noticed, and what we find later in this earth: when others panicked, they petitioned. And you know what? Why don't we, as God's children, when other people panic, what happens to them in their life, why don't we petition God? Notice third, they prayed in dependence. That means, why did they pray?
Because they were totally dependent upon God. When others cursed, they were calm. They prayed in darkness. They prayed in despair. They prayed in dependence.
And I got to be honest: the glowing one to me, number four, they prayed in disappointment. When others complained, they called on God. And God makes us that kind of a Christian. That whatever comes down and whatever happens and whoever says what to you or whoever says what about me, may we turn that into a prayer meeting before we do anything else. Let me tell you why this jailer was ultimately changed.
Because Paul and Silas, instead of complaining, instead of grumbling, instead of blaming everybody, instead of getting mad, instead of saying, well, here I am serving God, and I don't understand why God does that. Had they done that, that jailer probably would have never wanted what they had. But because he saw that in the middle of persecution, they went right to the God who had put them there. I could think of a hundred things that Paul and Silas could have done that midnight hour. I don't know what I would have done.
I don't know what you would have done. But it's what they did. that contributed to changing this jailer's eternity. Can I ask you something when Trials hit you, what do you do? How do you react?
What's your first reaction? What is your go-to? Response.
Now at the risk of you thinking that I'm preaching at you today. I'll just tell you mine. My first reaction to things has never really been anger. Um That was my dad's first reaction to things. He'd get over it fast and he'd be done.
My reaction to things is I get hurt. My feelings get hurt. I started feeling sorry. For myself. Anybody else a heathen like me?
here this morning. I start thinking of everything that's unfair about that. My wife and family will tell you. Unfair drives me crazy. I can't watch a movie where somebody in there is being treated unfairly.
And it's just part of the script. And I know at the end it's going to make it all right, but I can't take it. I will leave. If I'm watching a game and the refs are just absolutely blown, I'm just not going to watch. We're just going to go do something else.
I can't take it. It drives me crazy. My wife will get tired of me sometimes. I'll be like, well, you know, this is ridiculous. Come on, what kind of movie?
This guy had done one thing. Everybody in the moon's mad at him. And she's like, it's a movie. And I'm like, I'm not watching Hallmark anymore. Yeah.
Oh sure, her boyfriend just shows up from the city all the way to the country at the apple orchard just when she's getting ready to kiss this guy.
Now her boyfriend shows up. Lord needs to help us, Terry, I'm going to tell you. Yeah, unfairness drives me crazy and then if you stop and look at your life enough. You realize you've been unfair to people too. You realize you've taken advantage of things too.
You realize that maybe some people showed more kindness to you than you ever showed to them. Let's just be honest if we started really analyzing ourselves like we analyze everybody else. What's our first reaction? Kerwin, can I say this? I'm working on it and I'm trying.
But God help us that our first reaction is prayer. Instead of going and complaining, instead of getting mad and texting, and instead of sending a message, instead of, you know, I'm gonna call the pastor, I'm gonna call this, I'm gonna find out, I'm gonna talk to the youth pastor, I'm gonna do this, instead of just, why don't we pray about it? You know, some years back, I decided people came in with a complaint. I would always ask, you know, so how long have you prayed about this? And I just quit asking.
I don't even do it anymore. Because none of them ever had. You can tell the spirit of a person when they come to you, they've not even prayed about this. Why don't we pray about it? Before we hear something, we hear gossip and we hear things, why don't you pray about it instead of spreading it?
Let's pray about it. If they can turn prison into a prayer meeting, don't you think? we could turn a lot of things in our life. into a prayer meeting. Yeah.
He was changed by praising Christians.
Now prayers personal, it's between us and God, but praise. is a different story. Praise is personal. But I got to be honest with you. When you praise the way you should.
It goes past just you and him. And other people just seem to see it. You just can't hide it. Look at verse 25. And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and Saying Praises.
Now, I have some statements for you. I want you to listen to me real quick. And by the way, there's just one more point, and we're done today. All right. Happy Palm Sunday.
I'm going to make a statement. Listen to me. They were not singing to get free. They were singing because they were free. Oh, they were in the prison.
But that prison didn't have them. Right. That's right. They weren't singing so that God would do something. They were singing because they were content.
with what God was doing. I wanted to make another statement. I want you to get this. At this point, Everything this jailer had learned about Christianity, had learned about God. had learned about this whole thing, listen to me, he had learned from suffering Christians.
Do you understand this jailer hadn't been told anything about Christianity? From anybody with prosperity.
Well, that'll ruin a lot of the prosperity preachers out there. Oh, this story oughta really I'm not gonna mention names. Because I don't do that. But I'm going to tell you something. We could think of a lot of preachers that would, you know, let's just be honest, they kind of pass by this one.
And they don't really go to this side of it. Oh, if you just be positive and you just pray and bless God, all the money's going to flow in. Yeah, exactly. That really worked great for Paul. I guess he just wasn't a good enough Christian.
At this point, everything that this jailer learned about Christ. He learned from suffering Christians. You see, you learn what you really are in difficulty. Yeah. This is where you find out if you're real.
May I say that often hurting people end up hurting people? A lot of times our reaction when we're hurt is to hurt. Yeah. That's just the way we're wired. It's almost a self-defense mechanism.
It happens a lot in marriage. You get wounded, you're gonna say something to wound back. The problem is, they might not have hurt you on purpose, but your comment back was on purpose. Strife begins to happen. You know why?
Because often hurting people want to hurt. But you know, God's people, hurting Christians, should help people, not hurt people. Let me finish my statements. Worship doesn't change your place. It changes your perspective.
Now they sang praises, but they stayed right there in that jail. They sang praises, but the chains were still on. They sang praises, but they were still bleeding. Worship doesn't change your place. It changes your perspective.
Worship in the storm witnesses louder than preaching in the sunshine. The world's tired of hearing us say a whole lot from this. And then we leave this building. And they can't even tell we're a Christian. Praising in the prison speaks louder than preaching in the pulpit.
He was changed by praising Christians.
It did my heart good to have a pastor friend in Tennessee. Texted me last night. And he was sitting across from Harold Vaughan, took a picture, and he said. Mutual friend. And I said, well, you tell Harold I love him.
And he said he's preaching here tomorrow. And I said, well, you need to do the 21 days of praise with your church. And he texted back, we're on day 20 right now. He said Brother Harold's kicking off our revival. tomorrow.
You know, if nothing else, I believe God really blessed our revival this week. Our revival was very different. God had that design from the start. And there was a focus on prayer and praise. And for weeks now, there's been a focus on praise.
And here's what I want you to know. I believe we ought to know the truth and we ought to share the truth and we ought to speak the truth. But Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina.
You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web. at Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today. God bless you.
