All right, it's a privilege to be with you guys today, and I just wanted to open up God's word with you out of Acts chapter 16. I have to say, really quick, though, before I get started, and I'll pray one more time, and that's just that Brigham City has a special place in my life. When I was 19 years old, I came here to do an internship with. A man named Ira Ransom.
So, this is back in 1985, and he's with the Lord now. And it was just not too far from here. And spent a couple of weeks doing some ministry with their With their mission outreach that they were doing here for many years and kind of like pioneers in Utah. And so uh that Being here in Brigham City is where I really felt like God wanted me to move to Utah someday. And so then Then not too long after that, met my wife Tammy, and then we brought our family out to Utah.
Um in 1994 1993. 94. 94. So we've been here for just over 30 years now. God's been gracious to us, and so let's pray together and we'll dive into Acts chapter 16, starting at uh verse uh six.
All right, let's pray. Lord, we're just grateful to you, Lord, for your faithfulness to us. We're thankful, Lord, that we can have your preserved word for us after all these years. and that we can we can see how that you are in the unexpected. You are the God in the unexpected.
So many examples. I'm out of this Yeah. scripture that that attests to that so Lord, we just commit this time to you for your glory now. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, so I just want to try to walk us through This part of scripture. In fact, my wife Tammy has a few pictures that she's gonna just hand off, maybe to her left, and it can kind of go around. This has to do with a city called Philippi. And a couple years ago, I got to walk on those very same places that Paul was. in Philippi in Greece.
And so isn't it great that the Bible is Is made up of real people, real places, and real events. And so As you go through some of those pictures, you'll see that this is a real place. And so, as we go through these verses, it just brings back a lot of great memories for me having been there. And I should say that if you would ever have an interest on going on a trip to Greece, Uh next year I'm gonna be hosting a trip. And there's some brochures out there by the coffee table.
If you're interested in that, just get in touch with me, and I'd be glad to tell you more about that next year in 2026 in September.
Okay.
So, um Here's what was happening in Acts chapter 16, starting about verse 6. And in a few minutes, I'm going to read the whole passage. But I want to just try to give you kind of the overview. of what was going on. Just kind of in a paraphrase, kind of an idea, and then I will read.
verse by verse the whole passage there. And so let me tell you what was happening. Paul had just parted ways with his good friend Barnabas, They had an argument over whether or not to bring John Mark on their next journeys, and so this was. that they kind of had a little riff. And they've just decided to part ways.
And so now Paul had They had worked out having a new crew, and that was with a guy named Silas, and they were going to bring Timothy. And it appears like Luke, actually, because in the way this is written, it says, We. Luke is writing this, and so you have these four people that are gonna go off into Asia and they're gonna preach the gospel. But the Holy Spirit said, nope. I don't want you to go that way.
So The way I kind of titled this this message was Is God in the unexpected? Have you ever had something happen in your life where you didn't expect it to happen? I mean, that's a silly question. How many times this week have you had things that you just didn't expect? I don't know about you, but I like to have a certain level of control over my life, okay?
And then sometimes, when the unexpected things happen, we have to say, okay, where is God in all of this?
Okay, that was that was uh a a question that My mother-in-law, who's with the Lord now, would often bring up and it would always mean something special because Things that we don't expect can shake us, right? Or if we look at them as Things that God might be doing, something in the background.
Well, he's always doing something. But we just don't quite realize it at the moment.
Well, in this case, Paul and his crew, they were going to go off in a certain direction. They were going to serve the Lord, and they had every intention to do so. But some the Lord was holding them back. Not only that, but then Paul has this vision. of a man in Macedonia, which is the other name for Greece.
And he says, come and help us.
So here's Paul, and all of a sudden he's like, okay guys, guess what? I'm your fearless leader. I told you we were gonna go this way, but we're actually gonna go another way.
So what they do now is they're gonna jump on a boat and they're gonna kind of sail up the coast of modern day Turkey. and they're going to go to a couple spot one one spot. um and then hit this port city called Neapolis. And I had a chance to go to Neapolis. They've changed the name since the time of the New Testament.
It's now called Kavalah. K A V A L A.
So beautiful little port city right there. But that's exactly where where Paul and his crew landed. And then if you look... You'll see a Roman road called the Via Ignacia. It's very likely that Paul and his crew took a walk and went into the hillside.
to a place called Philippi. And Philippi was named after the father of Alexander the Great. Yeah.
Some wars are always going on around that time. In Greece, and so going way back, Philip. Took control of that area, named this area after himself. And so, this particular area. Was then, of course, conquered by the Romans, and so Philippi was a kind of a.
a colony, it was a special kind of city. uh retired uh people in the Roman army. You'd have people there that were maybe kind of in. Place to move on up the ladder, the chain, maybe to go to Rome someday.
So you had your magistrates and you had just, it was kind of a unique kind of a place. It was a very influential place. It was a Place of a lot of trade and the pictures that are going around, it was so cool just to see the marketplace. And you could tell that you were in kind of a place where you had little booths and things. And it was a good-sized city, and a number of blocks you could say in comparison to the way we would.
look at uh the grounds and One of the cool things that's there is a mosaic that was put in about 300 years. A D and it says Uh to the memory of the Apostle Paul. And so that's still there. I don't have a picture of it, but. Um just to see that The suffering That you were about to read about and what took place.
God used that. to see a local church get started in Philippi. happen out of uh just bliss and just like just an easy an easy road.
So we're going to see that. as Paul and and and Silas And they they head over to Philippi. They decide to go outside of the city walls.
Some of those walls are still there. And they went by the river, and I got to go in that river, got to put my feet in that very same river, it's still flowing today. And this is where Uh Paul was expecting to find a place of prayer.
So they they they go. Go to this spot. And who do they meet? Another unexpected situation that happens here. They run into a lady named Lydia.
And Lydia is a big businesswoman. She's an entrepreneur. She she does uh the business of uh Like textiles, linen, and like beautiful linens and materials, and that has to be like most like purple. That's kind of what she was kind of known for. And these special shells were used to make this dye, and it would make this.
this kind of cloth and and so Little did they expect this to happen, but Lydia ends up being the first convert to Christianity in Europe. in modern-day Europe. And so she and it says that the Lord the Lord had touched her heart. Meet her heart open to the things that Paul and his crew we're gonna be talking about with the gospel and all. And Lydia, she's just like a firecracker.
Man, she's like, listen, you know. I have embraced the gospel. I want you guys to stay at my home. You know, and so she's very insistent about it. And I mean, what are Paul and Silas going to do?
I mean, okay, it seems like this is real. And so, what a blessing this is. I mean, she probably, you know, cooked him up some nice food, like you guys did for us last night when we came here and helped a little bit with the room over there and just did some things. But they were just really encouraged. Can you imagine if you're Silas.
especially maybe a younger man in Timothy. Um Going to a place like modern-day Greece that's ran by the Romans, little intimidating, little intimidating. What's going to happen? They don't know. A lot of unexpected things could happen.
But this is an unexpected thing that happens that's really on a high note. And so maybe they're They're thinking, hey, this is great.
So glad we went with Paul.
So glad we followed his leadership because. Man, this is starting off great. We got Lydia who's saved, and her whole house gets born again, and everything. This is great.
So So what happens next, though, is kind of a little turn of events. They have another prayer time. And they have this this young lady, this young girl, and she is owned by slaveholders. And this young girl, she has this Demonic power to tell the future. She's a fortune teller.
So you drive around today, you see a little palm, you see palm readings and things like that.
So it's been going on for a long time. And that's what this girl was doing.
Now, what made it more complicated, though, for Paul and his crew trying to do ministry. In Philippi, she'd be proclaiming, these men come in the name of the Most High God. And so you're probably scratching their head like Paul and Sasha going, who is this? And I'm sure Paul didn't want people to associate. him as one of her slave owners.
And so yet she's saying some truthful things. But um Is this the right path we want to go down?
So, Paul, I think. Just after a while, it says he got annoyed by the whole thing. He doesn't want to have this be a distraction. He doesn't want it to be a. uh a disturbance in what god has called them to do and all the confusion of who he's associated with, with these other possible slave owners and stuff.
And so what does he do? He casts out the demon, Now, we don't know much more after that.
So, what I'm about to say next is some conjecture, but I I'm kind of thinking, hoping that Lydia got word of this. and that Lydia took this young girl under her wing. We don't know that though. But it is kind of uh uh uh coincidence but that lydia this woman would get saved And now, this young girl gets this demon taken out. She doesn't know what's going on.
It doesn't say that she trusted Jesus as her Savior or anything, but... Again, an unexpected event. That that that occurred there. Who would have thought that a demon-possessed girl would be somehow in a weird, awkward way. Wonky, kind of a way, be kind of making these proclamations, these declarations of Paul coming in the name of the Most High God.
It could have been, there's some conjecture that. that she was speaking about a false god Jupiter. the way that she was putting some words together on in their language and things.
So So Paul and Silas now are about to face something that they maybe, or maybe you're not, maybe. We would have expected a little per persecution, but this made the slave owners very upset. because they were making money off of this girl's ability to tell the future. But now now she doesn't have this power anymore. And so So, this has made the slave owners very upset.
They go to the authorities in the town. And they start saying things. They don't really talk so much about the girl having the demon taken out of her. But they say that these men are not of our culture. They're just teaching us things that we're not familiar with.
And they're just rabble-rousers. And we just don't want these kind of people here in our town.
So somehow they were able, maybe they were somewhat influential, maybe they paid a good chunk of taxes or something like that, who knows? But what happens next is hard for us. But they got the tar beaten out of them. They were whipped in the back with rods and just beaten. Can you imagine?
What are Paul and Silas thinking now? Was it a good idea to follow this direction that God gave to go to Macedonia?
Well, this is an unexpected thing, but God is still in the unexpected. Quick pause. If you're going through something right now that you didn't expect. Realize God hasn't forgotten you. Realize that God, He has a bigger picture in mind, and it might involve.
us to experience some suffering. Maybe not physically like this. where we live. But in other ways.
So that goes without saying, but it is a comfort and encouraging to see that this is happening right here with Paul and Silas. They get whipped. And you'd think maybe they'd say, Okay, that's enough. Right? No, that's just the beginning.
Next. They get thrown into jail. They get thrown into jail. There's other prisoners in this jail. They have a jailer now who's overseeing these these these two.
And After they're thrown into jail, What does what does Paul and Silas do? were complaining and railing against God and shaking their fist against God. Absolutely not. They do something that I honestly don't know if I could do. I mean, like with God's strength, I could do, but initially I think this is pretty much impossible.
But at midnight, When you're tired, without saying, it goes without saying, in midnight, we're all pretty tired, number one. Probably haven't had a good meal, possibly. I don't know. And uh They're but they're they're in they're in shackles. And they're singing now.
They're singing praises to God. What were the lyrics to those words? We don't know. But like we were singing this morning. I mean, to be able to to gather with Christians and to sing praise to God, doesn't that That's biblical.
That's a mandate that we're supposed to do. And there's a reason for it because it gives us encouragement, it gives God glory. And that's what these two guys were doing in this jail.
So you never know who's listening. in life, right? There's been more times than once when I've been somewhere and somebody will make a comment. And they'll say, Hey, I heard you talking to someone on the phone about this or that or the other, or talking about God or something like that. And that was encouraging.
Or we have a mission team here in Utah. And I remember we were at a coffee shop and we were doing some ministry, and the Christian guy came up afterwards and said, Hey, I saw you guys doing that. All to say, people are listening. You may not realize it, so it's a good reminder for us to be careful, right? Um and so in this case though We have another unexpected event.
When you read on in the text there, it says that there was an earthquake right about this very time. And so this earthquake was so strong that the shackles fell off, the doors got opened at the prison. and everybody could just split. And that's what I would do. I would run back to Lydia's house.
I would figure: hey, that's the best place I could go. That's going to be safe. It's kind of outside of the city and it's dark. I mean, maybe I'd be pretty p in pain, but I'd figure out a way to get some adrenaline going and Rush back to Lydia's house and maybe maybe get out of Philippi. I mean, move on to the next place.
Take it into my own hands, but praise God, that's not what Paul and Silas did.
So they stand there and and The jailer is about ready to take his life because If these prisoners Get loose.
Well, his job's on the line, and he's most likely going to lose his life, and he's going to be just shamed and the whole community and And so that's an awful outcome, right?
So he's about ready to take his life and Paul cares about this jailer. And so he He says Do yourself no harm. Don't you know we're all here. Don't do anything to yourself. And then, I mean, can you imagine the jailer at that moment?
He's so shocked. And the Lord's working in this moment through the earthquake. He maybe doesn't know the whole story about who these guys are. We're going to get to this in a second, but they happen to be Roman citizens. But he just figures they're a couple of prisoners, but he probably heard them singing.
In the jail, the earthquake happens, and in those days, an earthquake would might be something showing that, like, maybe. Maybe uh something went awry in your community, in your town, and so Maybe the the the false gods, but their gods had showed their anger towards towards the city. But regardless of that Um it got everyone's attention and And what is the question that that the jailer asks of Paul. He says, what must I do to be saved?
So wow, now we're having kind of a Lydia moment in a sense, you know? But it took some suffering, didn't it? And so now at this point, Paul just says: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved and your house.
Now isn't that great too, just to think about in the context of where we live here in Utah. Or anywhere, that God is concerned about you as an individual, He's also concerned about your family, He's concerned about your community. community, your co-workers, your neighbors, you know, so.
So, what happens next is unexpected.
So, many unexpected things. I was counting all the different unexpected things that happen in this chapter. I counted at least seven, and you can probably find more. But at this point now, what happens is that well the wife of the I'm imagining that the jailer is married.
So he comes home. And And the the the wife opens the door. Or maybe the door's been blown open because of the earthquake. Who knows? And the jailer says, Honey, I'm home.
And I've got some j I've got some new friends for you to meet.
So he brings back Paul and Silas, and they're all beat up and probably all dirty and. but they're probably smiling and they're probably just you know radiating the joy of the Lord and everything. But she's probably freaking out a little bit, and the servants in the house are freaking out a little bit. But what happens next? They clean the wounds of Paul and Silas.
They give them some food. God's taking care of them. And At that point, right now, I would think, okay. I'm at this jailer's house, and maybe it's time now to go back to Lydia's house or move on, but no. But no, well, what happens next is that the jailer gets saved.
The jailer gets saved, we heard that, and his whole household gets saved, they get baptized.
So now we got Does it kind of smell like a church could be forming here? Is it starting to sound like that? I think so. I think through this suffering and some of these highs and lows, I think we have a church plant starting here. And so, at this point, Paul and Silas, they decide to go back to the jail.
And so, why do that? You're just putting yourself, it's counterintuitive. You know, it's like it's not the normal thing to do to go back. To where they could throw you back in prison. What if some Roman guards are walking around, they see you, and they saw you getting beaten up?
And they just decide to stick you with a sword or whatever, but they go back, and what's happening next. Is you have the magistrates, the police, the people in authority. They they tell the jailer, they say, Okay, um You know, we kind of got word that Uh th this guy was he's a Roman citizen and Um Well, let's just get him out of here. Let's just kind of like forget about it all. Forget about it ever happened.
You know, it's just, can you tell him just to leave, just kind of move on? We'll just forget about the whole thing. drop the charges and let's let it go. But I think at that point, now here's a little bit of conjecture because it doesn't say exactly. Paul does say, Ham, I'm a Roman citizen.
And if you did something like that, like what they did to Paul, then you could lose your life.
So, so anyone trying to get on the fast track to be in the Senate in Rome or something like that? in in that in that world of politics and all. It's not going to look good on your resume if you miss this one.
Okay.
And so Paul basically just says, Um No, no, no, we're not going to just skedaddle out of here. We're going to have Your leaders walk us out.
So you might be kind of wondering, like, well, why do that? And again, I'm going to put a little parentheses about what I'm about to say because We don't know for sure. But maybe Paul. was kind of in a very kind of a finesse kind of a way or a diplomatic kind of a way. Maybe he's saying, hey, guys, you know.
Go easy on these new Jesus followers, would you? You know, they're good people. We've got a great message here. I don't know. I don't know for sure.
I don't have no idea what he was telling those people as they're walking, but it must have been quite a conversation, I would think. And just to know that as as they left, probably there were some bystanders that were Watching this. Watching a prisoner being walked out of the city.
Okay, 'cause if they were running away again, like, maybe someone might think they're a runaway s runaway prisoner and they could. And their life right then and there. But being walked out has a different connotation to the context of the situation, right?
So again. Paul, Silas, They are having these unexpected things happen in their lives. But God is moving And that's really the the message that I wanted to bring to us today. And that that's to not give up, to not to not um lose hope. in even in the most Most Discouraging situations, circumstances that you might be encountering, whether it's your health.
or loss Or whatever it might be, we we have to together as a body of Christ, as a as a congregation, you know. keep doing what you're doing, having those prayer times that you that you're doing to this morning, and being encouraged by reading God's Word and just getting into this amazing record of all things that God has done. to to show us these truths. Then, what happened? Another quick, unexpected thing, and then I'm going to read the passage, and I'm just going to give you an opportunity just to.
Just to Maybe just m Give the Lord some kind of a s a sense that you want Him in your life in a way that you have not had him in your life before, or maybe you don't know the Lord as your Savior. Maybe you're like the jailer. Maybe you're like The the the girl who was suffering under a lot of oppression. Maybe you're like Lydia. Maybe your heart's been stirred and you're ready to put your faith in Christ.
I want to just give you that opportunity this morning to do that, to know there's people here that care about you and that want to. talk with you and we want to interact and engage with you on these things. But what happens next is, after he's walked out of the city, Now he goes back to Lydia's house. And he and he just tells the the people that are there Some things we don't have the details about. But there was a level of encouragement because you can imagine.
Those people that are in Lydia's house. They hear that Paul got beaten. Is that going to be their fate? Possibly, it could be. You know, so Paul was trying to encourage them.
Yeah.
Once the encouragement took place, it seems like very soon after that. it was time for him to leave. And that to me is kind of an unexpected turn of events as well. I mean, Paul spent, I think, a year and a half or s or so in Corinth. He spent like three years in Ephesus.
Why not spend some time in Philippi? I mean, come on, Paul. I mean, you don't care about these guys? But You know what, we have to trust the Lord. Of, like, what Megan was saying with our friends and our relationships.
Maybe God has. He always has a reason for what he's doing and why he brings people into our lives. and and so on and so forth and so on. And so So then the next place they go is Thessalonica.
So that's about a Maybe about an hour and a half drive. kind of off north and then then I think off to the west. And that's another place that on this trip next year we're going to as well. But now I'm going to just read the whole passage.
So again, if you haven't already started following with me in Acts 16. Starting at verse 6, I'm going to put my readers on because They helped me.
So Okay, it says And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Micaea, They attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
So passing by Mycaea they went down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there. urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
So, setting sail from Troaz, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis. and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia. and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days, and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside. where we supposed that there there was a place of prayer.
and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come but come together, One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Phyatira, a seller of purple goods. who was a worshipper of God. the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. and after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. and she prevailed upon us.
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation. and this she kept doing for many days, Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. and it came out that very hour.
But when the owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, These men are Jews. And they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs and customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders.
to beat them and r to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into the prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.
and immediately all the doors were opened, and and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword, and was about to kill himself. supposing that the prisoners had escaped, But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself. for we are all here And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, And trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, What must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your household. And they spoke the word of the LORD to him, and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds.
And he was baptized at once. He and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. But but when it was day, the magistrate sent the police, saying, Let those men go. And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent to let you go.
Therefore come out now and go in peace. But Paul said to them, Well they've beaten us publicly. Uncondemned men who are Roman citizens and have thrown us into prison And do they now throw us out secretly? No Let them come themselves and take us out. The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.
So they came and apologized to them, and they took them out and asked them to leave the city.
So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. and when they had seen the brothers they encouraged them, and departed. Would you just kind of bow your heads with me? Just take a minute just to. Have a little time with the Lord just quietly.
And I want to give you a moment. First of all, as a believer, just to tell the Lord, say something like this that might be going through your mind. Lord, You know You know the unexpected things that have been happening in my life. And I've been wrestling with it, Lord. I've been struggling with it.
I need your extra help with this right now. I've been through things before, and you've been through them with me, but. But I'm looking to you right now to give me the grace. to see the big picture, Lord. I I uh I need to spend more time in your word.
I need to talk with you more. I need to maybe talk to some people. And and so If that kind of spirit of that prayer is yours this morning, I just want to ask you to do something. I know I'm a stranger to you. Um but sometimes it helps if you just kind of make some kind of a inference to somebody.
that this is happening in your life.
So I'm gonna look up from You know, from where I'm looking right now, and just look up at me if you want, and I'll be kind of praying for you if this is something that the Lord is speaking to you on. I'm just going to kind of. Look around the room. If you want to look up real quick, and that's really great. You know, I think we all.
need this kind of moment sometimes to To admit that that's where we're at right now, and it can help us move in the right direction, it can help us. Have like a An alignment with the Lord, a kind of a change in our heart and minds, and asking God to transform us and get us going back in the right direction, right?
Okay, great. Thank you. give you an opportunity if if you are kind of like the jailer or Lydia in the sense that You've heard this gospel message. You've heard Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. But right now, you want to kind of make it clear.
You want to make it clear to the Lord that you know that you're a sinner and that you want to become part of his family. You want to become born again. You want to have your sins forgiven. And you're not pushing it away anymore. You're not trying to be prideful anymore and and Yeah, you may not understand everything that there is in the Bible, of course, but this simple thing of Jesus taking our sin on the cross, becoming sin for us, and.
All you're bringing to Jesus is your sin, okay? You're just bringing your sinfulness. My sinfulness, I've done this when I was 14 years old. And this could be the day of your true salvation where you never have to worry about it again. And you can just be assured of that.
So if you'd like to just Look up again. And um We'll be sure to Spend some more time talking with you and just making sure you understand this and help you understand this new life in Christ.
So, if this is the first time you want to do that, just glance up at me and I'm going to look around. Maybe this is an opportunity that you want to just make that Gonna settle that.
So your eternity is is is settled. Yeah, if you want to look up at me, that means You you you want to trust Christ as your Savior right now. And you want to talk to someone about it and See that new life. happen right in this moment.
So I'm going to turn things back over. But I want to thank you s for taking time out. Um just turn these over back to To Dorothy.
