Sermon Tone Analysis
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Where are you God?
Have you ever been in a circumstance where you wondered Where God was at?
Or God what are you doing?
Are you really in this God?
Tonight we are going to talk about what to do when we are faced with tough circumstances.
Ministry in Europe
We are going to be learning about a leg of Paul, Silas, and Timothy’s Missionary journey.
The journey started in Antioch and they started to move around the boundaries of a country named Asia but they ended up going to Europe.
The first thing we need to know, they didn’t really want to go to Europe they wanted to preach the Gospel in Asia.
God shut that down quickly.
The Bible says the Holy Spirit forbid them...
Show the picture that Josiah drew for me.
I imagine this is how we look like to God.
Look God!
I have been working so hard working on this plan for my life.
You see God I’m going to be the best pastor there has ever been.
I’m going to go into Asia to these cities that have never heard of you.
I’m going to save them for you.
By my projections I will have all of Asia saved by year two.
Now let me show you what year three will look like...
So when we give God our plans often times this is his response to us.
Oh, yeah, neat?
I love you so much son.
I love that you want to help me.
It means so much that you planned to help me.
I am going to hang this right here so I can see your love for me.
God then takes our hands and says, “Now let me show you what we are going to do.”
God does this with Paul.
One night Paul had a dream where a man was pleading with him to go to Macedonia.
Right after the vision they left for Macedonia, which is present day Greece, concluding that God was directing them their to teach the Gospel.
They went to Philippi the leading city of Macedonia and got to work.
They immediately found a group of people shared the Gospel and a lady and her entire family believed and were baptized.
God was moving and changing lives.
Lets pick up the word in Acts 16:16-18
Why did Paul get annoyed with this girl?
She was telling the truth wasn’t she?
Probably because the shouting of the possessed slave girl attracted more attention than the gospel itself.
Paul feared his audience would lose track of their priorities.
This slave girl was making bank for her owners and when Paul exercised the spirit out of the girl their paycheck left with it.
Can you imagine, you had this thing that was making you tons of money and one day this stranger comes and takes it all away from you?
You might be a little angry.
I mean how are you going to find another demon possessed girl for sell again.
Now there is one bit of information you need to know, Paul and Silas are Jewish, but are also Roman Citizens which means they are required by law to be treated in a specific ways.
One way is they are not to be beat/flogged.
They also must stand trial before being sentenced.
The magistrates completely skipped those things.
Why?
First of all the slave owners lied they falsely accused they of practices that were unlawful.
But the practice of this time was to allow each other to worship different gods.
They were very racist.
During this time Jews were considered lowly and trouble makers.
During this time Jews were not allowed in Rome.
Just like today there was Social injustice that Paul and Silas were feeling.
As the people in the marketplace start their attacks against the two, the city officials side with the crowd without investigating what was really happening.
they had the two flogged and thrown in the jail unjustly.
Both of those actions were illegal.
This is pretty severe, I’m sure none of use have had this same thing happen to us in the past.
But I bet some of us here have seen some racism maybe pointed at you.
I bet some of us have been unjustly blamed for something you didn’t do.
Do you remember that feeling?
Now try to imagine you were doing something you know God told you to do and you are treated this way.
You have to be going, Hello God, are you asleep?
I turned 30 the day my family got to Bakersfield.
You see God told my family to move to Bakersfield to help start a church here.
So I sold my house, my wife and I quite our jobs, and left our family and moved.
During this process we were seeking God.
We sold our house when he told us to.
We moved in with my parents.
My wife quit her job.
But we still didn’t know when we were supposed to move.
During this time I needed to have surgery on my knee.
Right before they put me to sleep God told me the date we needed to move on.
I told my wife the date, I left my job the week before to get everything in order.
We left on the day God told us to.
We packed up our van with our two boys, two cats, and a dog.
We left our life, family and everything we knew because God told us to. 1 hour in our 5 day journey across the country our van motor blew up… I will pick up my story in a little while.
So now Paul and Silas are in the Dungeon/sewage hold with their feet in stocks and in so much pain they can’t sleep.
Let’s see what happens next.
Can you imagine what they were praying for?
GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!!
God you told us to come here, now look at us! God we know you know what you are doing but could you let us in on your plan?
They are in the worst of the worst part of the prison with the worst of the worst prisoners who are sitting there listening to these two praying and singing to God.
Gives some meaning to that prison in NY Sing Sing Prison.
I think of a scene in the movie Shawshank Redemption when the new batch of prisoners come into the prison and they get a scary welcome.
“Here they are boys fresh meat” they are all just waiting to see who cries first.
That doesn’t deter Paul and Silas from seeking God and seeking his kingdom.
They keep worshipping God!
Back to my story.
So we are sitting in this Firestone car center with my dead van going God?
Then God makes his move.
I read that and I just see the prison break scene in Robinhood Men in Tights… If no video just describe it.
But that's not what happens.
What?
God shakes the jail to the foundations.
All the doors open up around us.
Our chains are freed, and we just sit there!
How in the world is the Robinhood scene not happening?
Our human nature is on the lookout for comfort.
When we are in an unfair circumstance we want to get out of it as fast as possible.
When we are being tortured we want it to stop as fast as possible.
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