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[0:00] I am so grateful to worship the Lord with you this morning. At Normandy, the Allied Forces in World War II secured a beachhead that would give them access to Europe.

[0:17] And so too today we're going to look how Philippi becomes the beachhead for the gospel to reach all over Europe.

[0:28] And if you recall our account, and what does that beachhead look like? We're going to look at three people today who were transformed by the gospel.

[0:40] And so what does that beachhead for the gospel look like? Individuals trusting Christ with their life. And that's what it will look like. And now all of Europe, if you will, is going to be exposed to the gospel because of this beachhead at Philippi.

[0:57] You may recall last week's sermon and a couple of weeks ago how we have looked at the church in Antioch, sent out Paul and Silas.

[1:09] Paul wanted to take Barnabas, but there was this dispute whether to take John Mark with them or not. And so John Mark and Barnabas went to Cyprus and Paul and Silas went on their second missionary journey.

[1:21] They went through Derby, Lystra, and Iconium. And they wanted to go to Asia, they wanted to go to Bethania, but the Spirit of the Lord restricted them. And so they finally made it down here to Troas where Luke met up with them.

[1:34] Before Luke met up with them at Lystra, they took a hold of Timothy with them. So it was Paul and Silas originally. They picked up Timothy at Lystra and Luke met them at Troas.

[1:46] And then they saw this in a vision, Paul saw a man in Macedonia saying, come over here. And they deduced that the gospel should go and they should cross the Aegean Sea.

[2:00] And so we pick up our text today and we read the first two verses are just simply a travel log, verses 11 and 12. So setting sail from Troas, we were direct voyage to Samothrace and the following day to Neapolis.

[2:15] And so if you look on our map, we were in Troas and Samothrace is on this island here one day, second day they're in Neapolis. And then it's a 10-day or 10-mile hike from Neapolis to Philippi just right up there.

[2:29] And so it was a two-day journey to cross the Aegean Sea. When they reversed this, they have favorable wins with them because when they reversed this in Acts chapter 20, it takes them five days to go the opposite way across the Aegean Sea.

[2:44] So that's why in verse 11 it says, and we made a direct voyage to Samothrace. It was a quick voyage. And then the next day to Neapolis leading them to Philippi.

[2:56] And then we in the district of Macedonia and says it's a Roman colony verse 12 and they remained in the city for some days. So I want to share a little bit about Philippi.

[3:07] So we have some familiarity with this town. It is the principal city in all of Macedonia in that region. It's an ancient town. It is renamed by Philip of Macedon.

[3:20] When you're kind of in charge, you get a rename a city after yourself. So Philip of Macedonia was the city of Philippi was named after him. He is the father of Alexander the Great and he was tutored by Aristotle.

[3:35] And so with the expansion of the Roman Empire, it became under the Roman possession in 176 BC. And Philipi's greatest fame came from the fact that it happened to be the place where the armies of Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius.

[3:54] If you remember that in your history at 42 BC. It was that event that Philipi derived its character that Paul came into when he entered the city because it's that battle that in part it was awarded a special place in the Roman Empire as a Roman colony after that battle.

[4:17] It answered directly to the Roman emperor. So the law, the dress, the cultural facilities all would have reflected that of Rome.

[4:28] Roman soldiers were also encouraged to retire there and its citizens were exempt from paying provincial taxes. So Paul and company now are in for a complete cross cultural missionary experience.

[4:44] And the flag of Christianity is unfariled on the continent of Europe this day as they approached Philipi.

[4:55] And so we come to our first person who believes in Christ. And her name we find is Lydia and we find her in the text and I'm so grateful for Heather for reading our text for today.

[5:12] And this missionary quartet I'll call them Paul and Silas, Timothy and Luke. They they arrive and and we're told that they go down it says and on the Sabbath day we would notice when they were in the in the continent of Asia Minor there they would always frequent a synagogue.

[5:30] But here on the Sabbath day we went out to the city verse 13 out of the gate and by the riverside. Why did they go there? Why not go to the synagogue? Because probably Philipi had no cylinder synagogue and according to Jewish tradition there had to be a quorum of at least 10 male heads of households to make the quorum to meet the requirement for a synagogue to be formed.

[5:56] And so there wasn't that presence. And if the requirement were not met as in Philipi then the faithful were to meet under the open sky near a river or sea and so Paul and company walked out of the city on the Sabbath and they approached a river perhaps looking for fellow Jews and they came upon a gathering of women.

[6:19] And Paul must have began proclaiming the gospel because our text reads in verse 13 and one who heard us was a woman whose name is Lydia.

[6:30] We learned some details about her that she is from Thyatira. Again if we look at the map we will notice Thyatira is in Asia Minor it's right there.

[6:50] And she says and it notes that she is from Thyatira and she is a seller of purple. Thyatira was the center of a purple dye trade and so she was most certainly wealthy for purple goods were expensive and often associated with royalty and the business was very profitable.

[7:09] And we noticed that she was likely very profitable because her home was sizable enough where she later invites these four men to lodge with her and they oblige and her home is able to host three men.

[7:23] In addition to her household who also gets saved. So despite her professional success though there she is searching for something more.

[7:35] It says in the text that she is a worshiper of God. It doesn't mean necessarily she is a Christian. She was perhaps like Cornelius that she had been associated or heard of and maybe spoken of was Jews.

[7:49] Perhaps they were there in Thyatira at the synagogue in Thyatira. Maybe she heard of this God that she is the worshiper of perhaps from Jews.

[8:00] Perhaps there she came to know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but didn't understand that Jesus the Messiah and he had come to forgive sin. She didn't understand God's redemptive plan through Christ.

[8:15] But she had been prepared to hear the gospel through her understanding of that which she knew at least of God. But then God performs a miracle that day and it says in the text, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul said.

[8:36] What happened? Perhaps Lydia is reflected in what happened which is reflected here in 2 Corinthians 4 verses 5 and 6.

[8:47] We read, For we do not preach ourselves but Christ as Lord and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, Light shall shine out of darkness and the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

[9:09] It is God who perhaps here on this day is the one who shown in Lydia's heart and gave the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ to Lydia.

[9:21] Whatever is happening her heart is open to what Paul is saying and she is paying attention closely and intimately what Paul is proclaiming there by the riverside.

[9:34] Lydia's heart was opened here in the gospel of the glory of Christ and by God's grace through faith in Christ she is saved. God opened her spiritual eyes so that she can embrace Jesus as Lord and Lydia marks the first person on European soil to be saved in recorded history.

[9:55] And after Lydia's conversion and based on her confession of faith she is baptized immediately. Her joy knowing her sins are forgiven must have been contagious and compelling for along with her her whole household was saved and baptized as well.

[10:15] Her household must have been on the shores of the river too as they heard the gospel and they saw Lydia's joy and they too came to faith in Christ and were baptized.

[10:27] Little did this little town of Philippi know but the gospel had just established a beachhead in that community in Lydia's life and in Lydia's household.

[10:39] The knowledge of Christ the freedom from the bondage of sin the gospel meant so much to her that she implored these four men to lodge with her and they did.

[10:50] And it's that imploring sounds like this in verse 15 and after she was baptized in 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.

[11:05] And she prevailed upon us that word prevailed is kind of a fun word I looked at other occurrences when that word is found and and it's found with those two gentlemen on the road to Emmaus and Jesus shows up to them.

[11:18] And when their eyes are they implore Jesus to come stay with them and so that they may hear more and it's the same word and she prevailed upon them just as these two guys on the road to Emmaus prevailed upon the Lord that he might go with them a little further and teach more.

[11:40] The application for us today I was thinking about this of of of Lydia and her household and this concept that the there was now a beachhead.

[11:52] In the continent of Europe located in the town of Philippi because of Lydia. She now has the gospel and she has the responsibility to declare the gospel Europe will not be the same now.

[12:07] So do you know who represents a beachhead for the gospel at your children's school your children if they are in Christ who represents a beachhead for the gospel at your children's school you if you're an involved parent in Christ.

[12:26] Do you know who represents a beachhead for the gospel and your children's athletic program you your children who are in Christ.

[12:37] Do you know who represents a beachhead for the gospel of Christ and your family your extended family you. And just as Europe will never be the same I pray that your family would never be the same your school will never be the same your workplace would never be the same you are the beachhead.

[13:00] Because you know the Christ you know the gospel and you stand as a ready agent to proclaim him. Lydia believing the gospel established a beachhead Europe will never be the same.

[13:17] Let us now meet our second person. Who is transformed by Jesus.

[13:28] She is an enslaved girl. Her plight is mentioned in verse 16 as we were going to place to a prayer 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 her plight was given.

[13:52] She had two forms of bondage at the hands of humans was her first form of bondage. She is a slave and she has owners and her owners treat her like property as a mere means to make much money.

[14:13] When I was in China I was she is a slave when I was in China I went to a city of seven million people and it's kind of like one of I was at an intersection in the downtown area where when you when the light turns when you the crosswalk opens a mass of people transfer from one side of the street to the other where it seems like at every stop light or every change of lights.

[14:39] A hundred people may pass by each other at any moment. And so on the corner of this crosswalk going this way in this way at the corner there of this intersection right on the sidewalk.

[14:54] There was this little performance that was taking place and the performance would only last about three minutes. But there were people writing their children all of them were young children they were writing a unicycle and juggling and then one of the the final acts to this little three minute production done by these this little production here of kids.

[15:16] The final act is this girl climbed this maybe 15 foot pole with a cross member on it maybe three inches wide and she climbed this pole which I thought how in the world do you even climb a pole with no yeah I couldn't do it so I just was amazed if she just stopped at that it would have been like wow good job.

[15:36] But she wasn't over she climbed on top she managed to to put on her chest right here and she did she did a handstand at the top and then went down to her chest where the pole was right here and then she flipped she was contortionist and she flipped her toes and touched her nose with her toes from behind was.

[15:59] If I ever were bent over like that something would pop and I would break and make a terrible fall and no you couldn't put me back together again so.

[16:15] And that was the concluding act and everyone was in awe and everyone clapped and there was a man who at the concluding conclusion of that act would come around with an accepting donations and this is how they were making money.

[16:29] And the Chinese lady that I was with one of the bilingual teachers she said she just as the man who was approaching us she said don't. Real sternly don't put money in that bucket.

[16:45] And as we the crosswalk changed and we walked on our way I knew she would explain what she why she did that. And she said.

[16:56] Do you understand what you just observed and I'm like I now with that question I don't think I do. And she said that man likely either stole those children or they are former street children.

[17:14] And he doesn't give them much money or she doesn't feed them much food so that they remain petite and flexible and they don't reach puberty as to avoid purity so that they can remain flexible as they are.

[17:29] Those children are slaves. He essentially owns them and the reason why they wear the colorful outfits with long sleeves and long pants is because if you were to expose their arms and legs in their back you would see bruise marks they're beaten if they don't perform.

[17:52] That's this girl's life. She's a slave. These people own her and they make her them. She makes them much money by what she's able to do.

[18:07] She has two forms of bondage one human one demonic.

[18:18] She has two forms of bondage one human and one owner's treated her like property. But her ability was not that of a contortionist.

[18:31] She was a fortune teller. And that ability she possessed was the result of a demonic possession. She was in bondage to a demon. And she made clairvoyant predictions and she made much profit to her owners and the townsmen and townswomen would seek her out for predictions of their future.

[18:47] She was tormented day and night and abused by a demon in addition to her human owners served as her handlers. And in verse 17 we find something very interesting.

[19:00] He followed Paul crying out these men are servants of the most high God who proclaimed to you the way of salvation. That's what she's doing. She's following them for several days. This is what she's proclaiming time and again as they go about as Paul and the four of them go and minister.

[19:20] And what's interesting is why is Paul so angry? Paul having become greatly annoyed the text says why become so greatly annoyed?

[19:33] She's telling people what is true. It's true that what she is proclaiming why are you getting so angry at the truth of the matter?

[19:45] Because the slave girl is known in town. She's familiar to the people of Philippi. She is associated with the occult.

[19:57] She is associated with Satan. Satan tries to use the slave girl to associate Paul's message with the occult. Paul obviously needed to distance their ministry from the work of Satan.

[20:12] And so Paul follows Jesus as example. What does Jesus do when a demon possessed person comes up and says true things in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?

[20:24] What happens when demon possessed people come and say something to Jesus that is true? Jesus casts the demon out every single time.

[20:36] And so Paul is merely following Jesus's example and puts an end to this. And Paul liberates her from the one of her oppressors.

[20:49] God liberates her through Paul. And he liberates her from one of the oppressors and that oppressor is Satan. She is restored to her right mind.

[21:00] And we presume to Christ, although please note that in this account of this person, the slave girl, there is no account that the gospel is shared and there is no account of her being baptized.

[21:16] Unlike Lydia. But let's compare and contrast these transformations. Lydia was wealthy. The slave girl is poor.

[21:27] Lydia is a community member in high standing. The slave girl is exploited and abused. Lydia is religious and moral. The slave girl is broken and tormented.

[21:39] Lydia comes to faith through a quiet Bible study. The slave girl is tormented through a dramatic or sorry is transformed through a dramatic power encounter.

[21:50] Lydia is presented with Jesus as the Messiah of Israel and the slave girl of meets Jesus as the mighty deliverer. These two ladies could not be more different.

[22:02] It is a reminder that the gospel transforms all sorts of people. All sorts of backgrounds. And I love that the church of Jesus Christ is different.

[22:14] And we all are welcome. The gospel is for everyone. God can save everyone when I think no one is outside of the reach of Christ, even those who are demonically possessed.

[22:31] As I was thinking about this week about this demonic girl, I found myself having a hard time relating with her. That it hasn't been my story.

[22:42] However, as I considered it more in her story, I believe her story offers hope in this way. If God can deliver a demon possessed woman from bondage, he can certainly deliver me and you from addictions.

[22:59] Whether it be an online addiction, whether it be an addiction to one's phone, and let me pause there. I recently, a few months ago was talking with someone who I had officiated their wedding years ago.

[23:14] And the husband had called me and the wife had called me and they're seeking a divorce. When I talked to the wife, she said, literally, Scott, he is never off of his phone.

[23:31] He is addicted to his phone and everything that is on it, social media, you name it, different apps that do this or that, news, whatever, email, he is never off of his phone.

[23:46] Let me start again. If he can liberate and deliver a demon possessed girl, he can deliver you and me from any form of addiction or bondage.

[24:01] Gaming console, perpetual negative thinking, addiction to some substance. God can deliver anyone. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord.

[24:14] There is hope in this young girl's story. Thirdly, we find an employee of a local jail who also is transformed by Jesus.

[24:30] Let's meet this third person now. But before we meet to the third person, we have to understand how we even come into contact with her. This girl who is possessed by this demon that is now free, her owners now falsely accuse Paul and Silas for, and they stir up the crowd and the magistrates order Paul and Silas to be beaten, stripped of clothes, beaten with rods.

[24:58] And can you imagine that form of torture? Having removed your garments, having been beaten, Paul and Silas were leaving left swollen, lacerated and sticking with blood.

[25:11] And they, how could you even sit down or try to find a place of rest that wasn't bruised and perhaps open? And Paul and Silas' response to this, falsely accused, wrongly beaten and treated, wrongly placed in prison, even the most inner cell of the prison.

[25:33] And what is the natural response to that? Well, you pray and you praise God. And when you're done with that, you pray some more and you praise God some more.

[25:45] Their feet are in shackles, they can't necessarily try to move to find a better place to rest where it doesn't hurt as bad. And in this swollen, lacerated, in deep pain, you praise God and you pray.

[26:04] And that's what Paul and Silas are doing. And that then helps us meet our third person, this jailer. Perhaps he observed them beaten in prison.

[26:18] He was given charge of them to make sure they remained in prison. He hears their prayers, he hears their singing. These two men are in the secure part. Other prisoners are listening, the text says.

[26:36] He hears them praying and singing from two individuals who are swollen. Their bodies are tender, they're in severe discomfort.

[26:50] And they sing and he hears them singing and praying. God delivers in this mighty earthquake, the chains fall off, the doors swing open.

[27:01] And he rushes in and he thinks they're all dead. And so he knows that he is going to be accused of a dereliction of duty. And his name is death anyway. So he goes and he thinks the best thing for me is just to end my life now.

[27:15] And he hears Paul and Silas cry out, we're all still here. Don't kill yourself.

[27:27] Get this, Paul and Silas are more concerned for this jailer than they are their own freedom and comfort.

[27:44] Paul and Silas are more concerned for this jailer. They didn't run and escape. No shackles, doors are open, they sit and stay. Why not? Why not?

[27:58] I pray that we would have a greater concern for those who don't know Christ around us, their own freedom and our own comfort.

[28:13] They're wrongly imprisoned, they're treated wrongly. And think, this is verse 30, is where I want to spend the bulk of the time here.

[28:25] And he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now think about that.

[28:37] What is it that causes that question to be asked of those two men? The earthquake, undoubtedly he felt, he knew that.

[28:51] But he had been hearing these two men praying and singing to a God that he doesn't know. And he feels the earthquake, he sees the results of the earthquake, he calls for lights, he sees all the chains are gone, the doors are open.

[29:09] There is nothing keeping them here. My God doesn't do that, but their God does. And they sing to him, they worship him, and their response to adversity is unlike anything I know.

[29:27] I am confronted with my morality or my immorality as the jailer because you are not responding like anything I've ever seen. You are moral.

[29:41] And so I am now confronted with my sin, my sinful thinking, my sinful ways. You worship a God I don't know. What is it that I must do to be saved?

[29:56] You have a greater concern for my life than your own comfort.

[30:12] And the jailer rightly deduces why Paul and Silas have remained. Their religious claims must have registered with this man when the earthquake came and they preserved his life by staying.

[30:31] The jailer concluded rightly that their morality is different than his. And they serve a God that is different than anything they have ever been familiar with.

[30:42] And he is morally bankrupt in light of who that God is and who these people are. What must I do to be saved?

[30:53] And all eternity for this jailer hangs in the response of Paul and Silas.

[31:04] All eternity hangs on this question. What must I do to be saved? And the answer therein that is responded, verse 31.

[31:15] Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your household. You and anyone else who believes in the Lord Jesus will be saved.

[31:29] You and anyone in your house. Salvation is by faith. You believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus. So salvation is by faith.

[31:41] Faith has an object in the Lord Jesus. Believe in the Lord Jesus. He is the one who has authority over salvation. There is no other name under heaven by which one may be saved.

[31:52] It is Jesus. Believe in the Lord Jesus. He is the one who lived a sinless life. He is the one who died for sin.

[32:05] He is the one who rose from the grave. And that is the work that is the necessary requirement to forgive sin and is acceptable sacrifice for sin to God.

[32:20] And so if you are here today and you may not know the Lord, my encouragement to you is the same. If you do not know the Lord, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[32:37] Notice how the life of Christ became active in this man's life in verse 32 through 34. His household believes. He undoubtedly testifies to Christ.

[32:50] They weren't in the jail. He must have gone home and shared with his household. This is what the Lord has done. His household believes. He offers hospitality to Paul and Silas. He serves them food.

[33:02] He opens his home. He serves them by cleaning and bandaging their wounds. And he begins praising God and he rejoiced along with all of his household that he believed in God, the text says.

[33:19] And then incredibly, he was baptized. And look at this, verse 33. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds and he was baptized.

[33:33] What hour of the night is this? Verse 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns. So we're into the hour, we hours of the morning here.

[33:44] And he can't wait for sunup to happen to get baptized. No. Why not one o'clock in the morning? I mean, I know the Lord. I've bandaged these wounds. I've gave them food. I've done everything I can to be rightly related to God and man.

[34:03] What else do I need to do? Be baptized. Why not one in the morning? So this coming Sunday at one in the morning, I'm getting.

[34:14] I want to show you a chart that I think is.

[34:31] These are the, I want to introduce to you the founding members of the church at Philippi. Those who would be the beach head to all of Europe coming to know Christ.

[34:42] Lydia, what's her obstacle coming to faith? She's an intellect. She's educated and she knows God, but she's worshiper of God. But slave girl, psychological, demonic.

[34:57] The jailer, we talked about this. His obstacle is morality, is immoral. Ethnicity, Asia, native Greek, Roman economically. Lydia wealthy, slave girl, poor, jailer, blue collar, spiritually.

[35:11] Lydia was a God fear slave girl tormented by evil spirits. The jailer practical indifferent. And the event public exposition, thereby the river, dramatic exorcism and powerful miracles and an example of a life.

[35:30] That responds differently to circumstances. This is your. And Lydia and the jailers household. They should also be included in this. That's your church at Philippi.

[35:43] You could not ask for a more different grouping of people. They would have no reason to associate with each other in society. And this is what I love about the church of Jesus Christ. This is what I love about fourth memorial church.

[35:58] We're also very different. But our emphasis is not on our differences. Our point of gathering is on Jesus Christ and him crucified.

[36:13] These in their households. There were social barriers, diverse personalities, ethnic backgrounds, every reason to divide.

[36:26] I love fourth. We're a multi-generational church with different ethnicities, different social economic backgrounds, various needs. There's hurting. There's the overwhelmed. There's the rejoicing. There's the mourning who are represented here.

[36:43] And let us continue to keep the focus of our church, Jesus Christ and him crucified. If I had to come to some application points, let me say this.

[36:54] Delight in the differences of God's people, but without compromise, maintain the primacy of Jesus Christ and him crucified. We've just been talking about this. There's every reason for that church at Philippi to be divided about their differences.

[37:09] You're not from this continent. You're from Thyatira. You're not all of that. They had multiple reasons. You're young. I'm old. I'm educated. I'm wealthy. You're not all of this.

[37:22] They had every reason to be divided. And so do we at Fourth Memorial Church. We have every reason to be divided, humanly speaking. But let's maintain the primacy of why we gather and what makes us gather.

[37:37] We gather to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And his name is Jesus Christ. And the work that he has done is he was crucified for our good and for the benefit of others.

[37:51] That's most important. Second, obey the Lord in baptism. You could not meet more eager baptism candidates than these two individuals.

[38:02] Lydia, boom, baptized, believed, baptized. This jailer believed and his whole household baptized.

[38:14] The New Testament knows no one who believes in Christ and yet is not baptized. The New Testament is silent about that kind of person. They don't exist.

[38:26] The Church of Jesus Christ, that person doesn't exist. And so if you are here today and you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, but you have not yet been baptized, would you allow us the opportunity to participate in that with you?

[38:44] What is baptism? It's the public declaration of an internal reality. Your internal reality is that you've believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now you want to publicly declare, this is true of me.

[38:57] And let us celebrate that with you and welcome you. Thirdly, let us proclaim the gospel.

[39:11] What were Paul and Silas doing as they went to Philippi? What was Paul and Silas doing at the riverside with Lydia?

[39:23] What was Paul and Silas doing as the slave girls declaring what was true? These guys are here to bring you salvation. They were proclaiming the gospel, confirmed by what the slave girl was saying.

[39:39] And then what were they doing with the Philippian jailer? Praising God, praying. What must I do to be saved? Proclaim the gospel?

[39:52] Lastly, apply the gospel in your present circumstances. Apply the gospel in your present circumstances. And then we read this to you, this verse, and apply what I'm just communicating to my life personally.

[40:13] 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 and 2, after a whole 14 chapters of rebuke to the church at Corinth, 15 begins with this encouragement.

[40:27] Now I would like to remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, in which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.

[40:38] If you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. You are being saved. Yes, you've been justified past tense, but you are also being saved sanctified now.

[40:52] And it's the gospel, I want to remind you of the gospel that I preached to you, in which you received, in which you stand, and by which the gospel you are being saved.

[41:05] You are being sanctified by the truth and the reality of the gospel. Here's what I want to propose.

[41:19] What is it that this Philippian jailer was confronted with to have him ask the question, what must I do to be saved?

[41:30] May I submit to you that Paul and Silas had been transformed by the gospel. Would you agree with me that had you or I been stripped of our clothes, beaten, swollen, lacerated, sticking with blood, stuck in a prison, you may find it difficult to praise the Lord and to pray.

[41:51] Can I just venture to guess that? Okay, but something is different about pollen size. They are not responding culturally to the ways that we would think are normal.

[42:04] So too when one is transformed by the gospel, you don't respond how the world does.

[42:18] So, I want to meddle just a little bit. Would the Philippian jailers around us today ask us the question, what must I do to be saved?

[42:35] Will the unbeliever around us be confronted with their morality by seeing yours? When the believers in Christ grumble and complain just as everyone else does, when the believers in Christ harbor bitterness just as everyone else does, when believers use words to destroy and instead of build up and encourage and speak life into others, we use our words to destroy just as the rest of the world does, when the believing children do not honor their parents or speak poorly of them or roll their eyes at the request and don't obey just as the rest of the world's kids do, when husbands and wives don't love and cherish and honor and respect each other, just as what the rest of the world thinks is normative, when we are in bondage to sin and to some form of addiction and act as if there's no hope of overcoming it, would the Philippian jailers around us ask, what must I do to be saved?

[43:36] Because you are just like me. No. So I want to apply this to my own life. There will be one who is given to worry.

[43:55] Worry. Anxiety. It can be a form of sin. Worry about whether I'm leading well, whether I need to help the church in this way or that way and make decisions and impact these people.

[44:16] If I do this over here, then this is going to happen, then I'm going to do this. And sometimes I can get so worried about future outcomes. And by the way, I may get a hangnail in the process.

[44:27] And while I'm poking fun a little bit at myself, the sin is deadly serious. And I'm not portraying to the world as if I'm any different than anyone.

[44:41] I'm not portraying to the world that God doesn't exist. I got to worry about things. I mean, he may not, things may go out of control. The Lord may not be able to handle that.

[44:52] So let me, Lord, I got this one. Let me worry about it. That makes complete sense. But that's what I communicate. When I worry, it's sinful.

[45:07] The most person looking at the life of Scott goes, oh, yeah, what must I do to be saved, Scott? Because your God surely saves your circumstances that you worry so much about.

[45:20] So then reading Matthew 16 this week, I was reminded of these verses. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life or what you eat or you drink nor about your body and what you put in, what you put on.

[45:37] Is not your life more than food and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

[45:50] Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to your span of life?

[46:01] And why are you so anxious about clothing and consider the lilies of the field? How they grow and neither toil nor spin? Yet I tell you, even Solomon and all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

[46:16] But if God so clothed the grass of the field, if today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

[46:27] Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after these things and your heavenly Father knows that you all need them.

[46:41] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

[46:53] Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. And as one who can be given to worry and as one who seeks to be transformed by the gospel, the gospel begins with this, God.

[47:14] In the beginning, God created. And I act in my worry as if God just doesn't even exist.

[47:25] And I'm humbled by that. And the truths of these scriptures are not true in my actions. And I am being in the process of being transformed by the gospel by saying, Lord, forgive me for the sin of worry.

[47:40] Help me to trust you in all these ways and give my worry to you. I trust you. I don't know what it looks like in your life, but I want more jailers in my life to ask me the question, what must I do to be saved?

[48:02] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these three individuals where the church got its start on the continent of Europe.

[48:20] We thank you for Paul and Silas going to what had previously been the unreached. Would you raise us, raise up within us a people who will say, I will go, yes, even to the most unreached.

[48:38] Thank you. And Lord, in the areas in which we wrestle with sin, for me, worry and anxiety, for everyone else, I don't know that's represented here.

[48:54] But Lord, help us to be transformed by the gospel that Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 and 2.

[49:06] May we take you at your word and trust you and trust the areas of our lives that we seem to fall back into time and again.

[49:20] Remind us, Lord, of how the gospel pertains to our life in the area where we wrestle and may we proclaim the gospel all around us to individuals and may our lives be such an example to others where they ask, hey Scott, hey so-and-so, what must I do to be saved?

[49:44] You're different. You serve a God who's different than I'm not familiar with, that I am familiar with. We love you, Lord. Thank you for the church. Thank you for the opportunity to gather today.

[49:56] We love you. Amen.