Acts 16:11-40

Good morning church and happy Mother’s Day to all our moms today!

We literally wouldn’t be here without you so thank you. :)

Just wanted to read a few great quotes about moms to start off:

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” Theodore Hesbaugh

“Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws”

Barbara Kingsolver

“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”

Abraham Lincoln

“Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet asa flower, then my mother is that sweet flower.”

Stevie Wonder

“I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”

Abraham Lincoln

Here’s an great Irish blessing for all our moms today:

“There is but one and only one on earth, there is no other. In Heaven a noble work was done when God gave man a Mother.” ~ Irish Blessing

Although not everyone has had a perfect mother, there have been at times and for some, throughout your life, those women who have taken over and spoke and acted in your life in place of your mother.

God blesses us with those types of relationships as well to help us along the way.

We are blessed here at FCC to have so many great moms!

I know many times you question your motherhood, your marriage, your value or your impact but know as long as you’re constantly being more dependent on the Lord, you’re gonna be alright.

He’s going to take care of you and the early tough years don’t last forever ;)

Hang in there, lets pray over our mother’s today and then dive into our passage.

Today we’re going to finish up Acts 16.

Josh did a great job last week introducing Timothy and taking us through the first 10 verses of this chapter!

We really are so blessed (I feel blessed!) to have such a godly group of men who can bring God’s Word- Steve, Andy, Garrett, Josh and in about a month you’ll hear from some other men who God has been growing and shaping for this ministry!

I’m excited and the book of Acts has been a lot of fun to study and learn from- I don’t know about you but I’ve learned a lot!?

Well, let’s jump into our text this week and we’ll read it in parts to break it up and talk about it along the way so grab your Bible’s and let’s dive in...

READ ACTS 16:11-13

Samothrace was not a straight shot to Neapolis from Troas, what Paul means is they sailed straight to to Samothrace because ships didn’t travel at night , they took a detour to sleep and travel on the next day.

This was pretty common back then.

As they arrived in Neapolis, a prominent port city, they then traveled on to Philippi.

Philippi was a Roman colony that was named after King Philip who was Alexander the Great’s father.

The Roman Emperor paid and rewarded retired Roman soldiers if they moved to Philippi in order to sustain the Roman culture and help it grow roots in Macedonia (Northern Greece).

It was a strategic city of Rome and often called little Rome or a “Rome away from Rome”. ;)

There was a very small population of Jews there and the proof of that was that there was no synagogue.

It took ten men to have a synagogue and they didn’t even have that many Jewish men there so instead a group of devote Jewish women met at the river bank, which was a common place for Jewish gatherings if there was no synagogue in a city.

READ ACTS 16:14-15

What we know about Lydia is:

God wanted her name and conversion story recorded in the Bible for a reason.

She was wealthy as a businesswoman and sold purple linen (purple linen used in prominent political figures in the Roman government.)

Interestingly enough, the process of making the linen wasn’t easy but she had perfected it- extracting the purple dye from mollusks in the ocean and soaking the linen in it for a period of time and drying for a period of time.

She either had a home nearby or a place of business in Philippi, Greece because Thyatira, Turkey was/is about 240 miles as the crow flies.

SHOW SLIDE OF MAP

But we can see that God was preparing Lydia’s heart for he gospel message and in fact he opened her heart when Paul and Silas arrived.

Lydia is a great example to us of someone who has the basics down; a love for God and desire to worship but no understanding of how to be saved.

Many people have a longing for “a higher power” and search around but just need someone to come along and explain the truth of salvation, giving the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

God isn’t just a higher power- He is the highest power and only high power!

After Lydia and those in her household received the gospel message, they became saved and as a result of excitement and desire to show others, they were baptized at that same river.

God not only saved Lydia and her household that day but He provided a place for Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke to stay that night.

But as usual, as the Lord is at work in certain people’s lives, Satan is trying hard to destroy other people’s lives through deceit.

READ ACTS 16:16-19

In the Greek translation we see that the spirit is a reference to Pythian Apollo.

In Greek mythology, Apollo was said to be Zeus’ son and god over things like sun, light, archery, arts, etc.

At some point he was linked to either killing a great python or becoming friends with it or whatever and so he was linked with the title of Pythian Apollo.

Anyway, this particular spirit was said to have been a spirit of that “python” within the Greek culture, not that it was, that’s what the story and superstition was.

We obviously know it was Satan using his demonic forces to overtake this girl’s mind.

In the same way during Jesus’ day when a demon possessed person was following Jesus they would acknowledge who Jesus was.

This was to get people to relate them with one another and that people would think they are both offering salvation and miracles.

These demons would often tell who Jesus was and knew Scripture well.

It was no different in this case and the woman followed Paul and his team saying,

Acts 16:17 NIV

17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”

There are only two other references in the Bible for this title of God.

In Genesis 14, when Abraham had just defeated the kings of the East and on his way back met Melchizedek who was a priest and king and referred to as “priest of God most hight”.

Genesis 14:18 NIV

18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,

2. Isaiah 14 when Satan explains his desires to be more powerful than God.

Isaiah 14:14 NIV

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

It is in Satan’s sin that he’s always wanted to be not only like God the Most High but more powerful than Him.

So, we can see that through one of Satan’s demons, possessing this girl and following Paul, trying to have people think they are together in unity to deceive them the strategy is the same it’s always been.

Paul, eventually having enough of this, addresses the demon and frees the slave girl who has been exploited for who knows how long by her owners.

She had been freed physically and spiritually, and her owners weren’t happy.

Acts 16:19 NIV

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

We often get distracted in life by material possessions, money, fame, prestige or titles without a second glance.

These things are often lured over our head by Satan and we put our identity in them, this is what he wants.

But, our contentment, worth, value and identity should be through what God provides for us through Christ, not in this world.

If we have these things and these platforms in our lives, they are not bad in themselves but they aren’t ours.

They are to be used for God’s glory and to minister to others.

So, before we jump into verse 20 we need to realize what’s happening.

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke arrive in Philippi and there is no church started, not even a synagogue (a place of worship) and it hasn’t been that long before the Lord provides two members for the new church- Lydia and the slave girl.

Well, the owners are mad and lost their way to make money so they try and get even by alerting the authorities by making up a case.

READ ACTS 16:20-24

Roman life was a protected way of life by those in power.

Roman citizens were free to make money and trade, as long as they upheld the values and beliefs of the Roman Empire, and the Roman Empire was grounded in Greek mythology and ideologies of Greek Philosophy.

Anything to threaten that would be considered hostile.

Although at times in history there were different Emperor’s in Rome who helped or protected Christianity, it was still up to the individual provinces to enforce that or not.

There was one major problem however for the Magistrates that arrested Paul and Silas, which we’ll get to towards the end of our chapter, that changed everything for the church in Philippi.

READ ACTS 16:25-28

Explain the situation briefly

They were thrown into the deepest part of the jail reserved for the worst of criminals and put into stocks.

Jailers lived above their jail cells with their family...

A worship service was going on, the inmates were listening to their singing and praying.

Jailers who had prisoners who escaped would often be killed for negligence.

They would often receive the same punishments of their prisoners who escaped for the crimes they committed in their place.

So, because of that the jailer was going to take his life to spare him the torture.

But Paul reassures him that everyone has remained where they were even though the prison bars flew wide open.

The jailer is not only relieved he had been listening and wanted to know how he could be saved, his whole family did.

READ ACTS 16:29-34

The jailer went from sentencing to serving Paul and Silas a meal in jail.

He brought them in front of his family to share this meal and celebrate the new joy in Christ they all had!

Food brings people together but Christ is the one to truly satisfy us all with joy.

READ ACTS 16:35-38

Here we see that the Magistrates for whatever reason were going to let off Paul and Silas, maybe they being superstitious saw the earthquake as a sign and remembered the deliverance of the slave girl?

But whatever the reason they were being released but before Paul and Silas went on their way Paul made one thing vividly clear to those city officials.

He and Silas were Roman citizens and were held and beaten without trial.

Acts 16:37–38 NIV

37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.” 38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.

EXPLAIN… AND EXPLAIN THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE MAGISTRATES IF THE EMPEROR FOUND OUT HOW HE TREATED ROMAN CITIZENS WITHOUT A FAIR TRIAL.

READ ACTS 16:39-40

After Paul and Silas were released from prison and helped secure protection for Christians and the new church in the city of Philippi, they had left.

It’s exciting, knowing how the church started in Philippi and now when we read the book of Philippians we see the correlation.

Read Philippians 1:1-10 and 4:10-23.

God meets our needs in every situation in life, I could and I know many of you here can be a witness to this in our lives.

I remember growing up we didn’t have everything but we had enough and the best thing I had was a father who gave me a foundation in God’s Word and a mother who showed me how to pray and worship God.

Paul had this same desire for those he encountered and it was evident that this was the case in Philippi.

God is so good and if I could encourage you all this morning, especially the moms today remember these truths from Paul’s ministry to the Philippians:

Philippians 1:3–6 NIV

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Be thankful daily to the Lord.

Pray always- for your marriage, relationships, children, friends, family, etc.

Choose to be joyful in the Lord even in hard times.

Remember you are partnering with the Lord in doing His work, you are not alone in any situation in life.

And Paul says to be confident in the fact that since the Lord began in you, through salvation, He’s not gonna give up on you.

If we took time we could look back on our lives and see God’s goodness.

We can see that His evidence is throughout our lives, let’s take some time as we close today to do that as we sing this last song.

This is a new one and so I encourage you to listen, reflect and thank the Lord for the blessings and growth in your life over the years.

LET’S PRAY TOGETHER