A Moment of Crisis

0:06 I know I've been preaching about this whole thing of reaching others and I thought I was finished last week but I got something else the Lord gave me for y'all today. So lean over to your neighbor and say bear with the pastor till he get it all out of his system. Good, thank you. So we talked about bearing fruit, that God calls us to bear fruit. We took a look at the Francis list, friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, coworkers, classmates, enemies, and strangers to be on your list to pray for. Do y'all still believe God answers prayer? Yes, I do. I believe. I know God answers prayers. I've seen God working, responding in tremendous ways. And then I gave you, after we talked about Francis, we talked about blessing, B-L-E-S-S. Beseech God on their behalf, listen to their problems, engage them relationally, serve a need that they have.

1:10 And then last Sunday we talked about sharing your story. So maybe this is the last message for this series, perhaps. Unless God give me something else. and I'm enticing this message, a moment of crisis. Say that. Lean over to your neighbor and say it. A moment of crisis. That's what I want to talk about today. Acts chapter 16. By the way, this is a narrative message. A narrative message means I'm going to read the story. It's a story. I'm going to walk you through this story and point out certain things in the stories. I have no defined points. You know, I normally put the points up on, we put the points up on the screen. There won't be any points put up on the screen. But you will get some points.

2:03 Because the Lord will be talking to you while I'm preaching. And what I want you to do is make note of whatever the Holy Spirit says to you. I'm not sure everybody heard me. Lean over and tell your neighbor what I just said. Did they get it? All right. So whatever God says to you while I'm preaching, write it down. Because I know God's going to say something to you about what I'm going to be preaching today. I want you to turn to Acts chapter 16. I want to walk through this passage. This is the early church, Acts chapter 16, Paul and his team.

2:55 I want to start chapter 16 starting at verse 16, 16, 16. Let me walk through this story. I'm going through verse 34. So that's what I'm going to do. Now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. Stick a pin right there. Let me stop for just a moment and mention that here is a woman who's following the apostle Paul and his disciples and his team.

3:34 And the scripture tells us she's possessed with a spirit of divination. She is controlled by a demonic spirit. and it's manifested that she is bringing a lot of money to the people who owned her by her telling the future. She's a fortune teller, supposedly telling the future. Let me stick a pen right here because some of y'all think that your future is determined by your horoscope. Amen. Amen.

4:10 By the way, God controls your future. Amen. Thank you. Don't depend on looking at... I'm trying to make sure I say horror scope. Some of y'all determined I'm a lab lieber, I'm a Sagittarius.

4:36 Please, stop basing your life on a horror scope. And by the way, while I'm on this, I'm just going to start shooting right, I'm pulling my gun out and I'm going to start just shooting right off the bat. I want to be crystal clear with you about this because this is very, very important because so many people are basing their life decisions on unwise things like the horoscope. And by the way, if somebody prophesies something to you, I'm always nervous about prophesying to somebody. So I'm going to come back to their point in a few moments. I don't embrace any prophecy given to me by anybody. I don't know who it is. Unless it's a confirmation of what God has already been telling me. I don't believe God sends your mail to somebody else's mailbox to tell you.

5:40 Amen. I have a personal walk with God. I have a relationship with God. He knows where I live. He knows how to communicate with me. He knows how to talk to me. And he knows how to talk to you. He knows how. See, here's one thing I know. If I'm not listening to God, he want to get my attention. My money start getting short. And when my money started getting tight, I say, speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. God knows how to get your attention. So I don't embrace that. But this is a woman who made money for her slave owners. And Paul recognized she was possessed by a spirit. Verse 17, this girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying, these men are the servants of the most high God who proclaim to us the way of salvation. Y'all see that?

6:31 Now, this is an interesting passage to me because for years I always wondered, why did Paul rebuke this woman? Because what she was saying was true. She said, these men are the servants of the Most High God who proclaim the way of salvation. Verse 18, and this she did for many days, but Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and he came out that very hour. Now, for years I used to worry and wonder about what was it about this point that why was Paul annoyed when she said it was true? What was it about this woman, this situation that it caused him to rebuild? How did he even know there was a demonic spirit in her? He knew for two reasons, I believe, for two reasons. Number one, he knew because he had the spirit of God living in him and he discerned that there was something not right with her. Yeah, and you got to know that there's a spirit of God that lives inside of you.

7:33 And if something doesn't resonate, doesn't identify, doesn't connect with you, every spirit is not from God. Amen. But here's the thing that I noticed too. It says in verse number 17, these men are the servants of the Most High God. These men. This is something that she was focusing on. These men. She kept pointing out and highlighting these men, these men, these men. She was putting a focus on Paul and his men. you want to know whether something's from God, where is the focus going? The focus should be going to Christ, should be going to God, not to a person or team of people. It's one of the ways that I can recognize when somebody is out of order or somebody's not being influenced in the right way because the focus is going to somebody, somebody who's greatly anointed, somebody who's gifted, somebody who has a special gift and talent. When I hear people talking like that, I know that they ain't talking about the Lord because the fruit of having somebody use of God God always gets the glory.

8:31 Can I get an amen right there from you? And so he got annoyed because he kept on pointing to them. These men, these brothers, they're important. They're special. They, whatever. That was a problem, I believe. And so that was what her focus was. Verse 19, but when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, these men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city. And they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. Now this is a very important thing too that we probably need to spend a little more time preparing you for.

9:29 because ultimately there's going to come a time in the world and in our nation when you stand up for Christ, people are not going to celebrate you being a Christian. And here Paul is, they got drug into the city. They were actually brought to the magistrates, and they were put on being criticized and talked down to and talked bad about. They tore their clothes off and commanded them to not just be beaten, but to be beaten with rods. Now, the question is, if you're going to get beaten with rods, I wonder how many of y'all are going to still be Christians.

10:09 I felt some tension in the room. I felt the tension because the amens went down. Yeah, I understand. Y'all need to know. It's part of my job to try to prepare you. There's going to come a time where being a Christian is not going to be so popular. And the question, you're going to be talked about, rejected. You might get fired from your job. You might have some people try to put you in jail, say all kinds of things, just because you want to stand up for the gospel. Do you not know they're trying to pass laws now that prohibit you from preaching certain things and saying certain things, let me be clear. If you're going to try to stop me from preaching what God told me to say, here I am, lock me up right now and take me to jail. I will not compromise preaching and neither should you compromise standing up for what's right, what's true, what the Bible teaches. Amen. They're trying to restrict the church from saying what it is the church has been called to do and to say. We will be a church that will proclaim the gospel regardless of what rules you pass, what laws you say, regardless of that, we will preach the truth of God's word uncompromisingly.

11:17 Look at your neighbor and say, be prepared. Are you willing to be prepared? Are you willing to take a stand? Are you willing to be proud to be a Christian? Are you willing to tell the truth, even if it means you might lose your job? Are you willing to stand up for what's right? Because you know that one day you'll have to stand before God and give an account of what you did, what you said, how you behave, how you act, will you be willing to take the hit? Kind of quiet back there on that second and third tier back there.

11:52 That's sad. Verse 23. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. So here they've been, here Paul and his team have been beaten. The Bible says they were beaten right here with many stripes. They had laid many stripes on them, verse 23 says. Many stripes. They threw them in the prison, commanded the jailer to keep them securely. Having, verse 24, having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks. This guy said, I'm going to make sure they don't get out. He put them in the inner prison. He put them in solitary confinement. He put them also, he put some stocks or some chains around their feet. they're locked up in jail and in the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks it is a sad moment and a sad situation but this is the circumstances that Paul and his team find themselves in uh verse 25 but at midnight oh I like verse 25 Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

13:07 This is a profound verse right here. It's powerful. Here's what I love about this verse. At midnight, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the darkest moment, before it's midnight, the Bible says that Paul and Silas weren't complaining, weren't crying, not sad because they're in jail. See, if that was you in jail, you'd be crying and complaining. And why I joined the First Baptist Church of Glen Arden, and now I find myself out here trying to do whatever, and I'm in jail or whatever, but that's not what they're doing. At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. Oh, that's so important. I'm just wondering what your attitude is going to be when you find yourself in a troubling situation and circumstance, and that's the situation. Here he was. Paul and Silas were at midnight praying and singing. They trusted God. By the way, your present circumstance is never an indication of what your future is going to be. I wish I had a prayer crowd. It doesn't matter what your right now looks like. It doesn't matter what the situation is right now. Always keep in mind that whatever I'm going through right now, God is using it to prepare me for what my future is going to be. That's something that I remember all the time, that no matter what's going on, no matter how sad or troubling the present situation might be, God always has something better in store for my future.

14:33 Oh, I wish I had a praying crowd with me here today. God is always working something out. He's already orchestrating and moving and shifting things and moving people. So not for the right now, but for what the ultimate place that he's going to take you might require you to be locked up for a little while, might require you to lose your job. Some of y'all lost a job and you were sad about it, but then God opened up a better job than what you had. And you would have never got that better job had you not been fired. Oh, I wish I had somebody who knew what I was talking about. Here they are in jail singing and praying. And then verse 25, 26 says, suddenly. Somebody say that again, suddenly.

15:26 Without notice, without preparation, suddenly, quick, boom, all of a sudden. There's a definition of suddenly, all of a sudden. That's deep, ain't it? That's a deep revelation, Pastor. suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundation of the prison was shaken and immediately, somebody say, immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. Oh, I like that right there. You know what I like about it? God has the capacity to deliver you out of whatever kind of situation you're in. Might not be no preparation, might not be no warning, but bam, all of a sudden, there it is. Bam, all of a sudden, the situation turned around. Bam, you didn't hear, you didn't know what was going to go on. Suddenly, God did something. Bam, bam, look at what God has done. He did something that you didn't expect. You didn't anticipate it.

16:20 You didn't think it would happen, but bam! and you know what happens with a suddenly it is followed up with an immediately somebody say quickly immediate right then i don't know i'm preaching to but somebody better get ready a suddenly is about to step into your domain somebody say a suddenly is about to crop up in my life. Suddenly something's going to shift. Immediately there's going to be an impact. Immediately God's going to do something that you will know only God could have done it. Immediately! And not only were the doors open, everyone's chains were loosed. There were people who, there were, listen, there were people in jail whose doors should have stayed closed and whose chains should have stayed tight.

17:32 But because they were in the same jail with Paul, they got freedom. And somewhere down along the line, people are going to know if you're around, you know you're going to be okay. Because they're in relationship with you, it's going to be all right. They're not scared. They're not afraid. Some of y'all are going to say, well, I'm a member of First Baptist Church of Glenarton, and what falls on our pastor, drip, drip, falls down at everybody else in the camp.

18:05 Somebody say loose. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but somebody in your family is about to get loose just because they connected with you. Just because you praying for them. Just because you interceding for them, something is going to get loose. Somebody high five your neighbor and say suddenly and immediately. Suddenly and immediately. You've been praying for somebody, but they're about to get a breakthrough because you've been praying for them. Hey! Your children about to get loose! Your spouse about to get loose!

19:02 Your uncle, your aunt, your child! Somebody's about to get loose! Sit down, sit down. I got a little ways to go. I got about five minutes. verse 27 says and the keeper of the prison awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open supposing the prisoners had fled drew his sword and was about to kill himself.

19:58 I want you all to hear me on this point right here, this verse right here. I want you to hear me right quickly, very clearly on this. The keeper of the prison was sleeping on his job. When he woke up and saw that the prison doors were open, he supposed that all the prisoners ran and were gone. And he drew his sword and was about to kill himself.

20:32 You see, in that day, when people got loose from jail, it means you didn't do your job. And you would either be in jail or they would oftentimes kill you. So he said, instead of me letting them kill them, I'm going to kill myself. this is a moment of crisis for his life. It is a moment of crisis. I need to talk about this because I try to teach y'all and train you, don't argue with people about the scriptures. Don't debate with people about the scriptures. Don't get into these angry with people and with each other because they don't do what you say or believe what you believe. No, we always share the gospel in love. And the reason for that is, here's what I know about every person that I'm witnessing to.

21:30 Here's what I know about every person that I'm trying to get to a place of salvation. I know that at some point in their life, they're going to reach a moment of crisis. They're going to reach a place where they don't want to live, but they don't think life is worth living, or they don't know what the future is going to hold. They're going to reach a crisis. And all we want to do is maintain a relationship with them so that when they reach a moment of crisis, they have somebody that they know they can go to who loves them and cares about them and will do whatever's necessary to help them escape their moment of crisis. Some of you are in church today only because you faced a crisis and somebody had been praying for you and you came and gave your heart to the Lord and your life changed after you faced a moment of crisis. All I want you to do is be prepared and in a position to minister to somebody when that moment comes. They faced a moment of, this man faced a moment of crisis.

22:31 And here he is not knowing what to do. He's about to kill himself. He's about to commit suicide. You got people around you, somebody in that list of your friends list that you prayed for this morning who will face a moment of crisis.

22:52 Verse 28. How did Paul respond? But Paul called with a loud voice saying, do yourself no harm for we are all here. Now, I don't know what kept the other prisoners from leaving, but for some reason, they didn't go nowhere. I think they determined that if God did that for Paul, I'm going to hang around Paul, and if God did that for him, what might he do for me? Do you not know that you represent Paul in somebody's life? You are the spokesman for God. You are the angel of God into their life. Amen. and they're going to want to just hang out and hang around and hang with you because what God's doing in your life. That's what the power of how we live for Christ is. Others are watching you.

23:43 I forgot to say that earlier when Paul and Silas were praying. Somebody's watching you. Did I say that already? Did I tell you all? Somebody's listening to you all. Somebody's watching you. When they see you go through your drama and go through your pain, but you still love God and you still worship God and you still in prayer and you still in church and you still love God, but you face a moment of crisis, but you still trust God and you know God's going to work it out. Might not come as quickly as you want it to come, but anybody knows, somebody knows, that God will work it out in his due time. So Paul called with a loud voice. He said, don't do yourself no harm. We're here. Here's what he said. I'm still here. That's what he said. That's what he said. We're still here. Then he called for a light, ran in and fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? I believe that while Paul and Silas were singing and praying, not only were the prisoners listening, I believe the jailer was listening too.

24:55 Amen. Let me come over here. This is where the response is right here. This is where that point resonated right here. I didn't hear nothing from over there. I'm feeling like it's moving around. It's waving through the church where the people shout and celebrate and receive. But right now, it seems as though the anointing is right here in this section right here.

25:19 Look at them. Look at all them over there. The anointing could be over there, but they ain't saying nothing. Do yourself no harm. He ran in with a light, fell down trembling, and brought them out and said, Sir, what must I do to be saved? This is such a significant point. So they said, verse 31, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. Somebody's watching you. They're watching your behavior. They're watching your attitude. And they're watching what you do and how you respond. And at some point, as they watch you, hallelujah, they're going to say, I want to serve the same God that you're serving.

26:16 I don't know where y'all are, but I believe that we serve a God that's able to fight our battles. We serve a God who will answer our prayer. We serve a God that when others are watching us, they will see our love for the Lord and our obedience to him. And all I'm asking you to do, brothers and sisters, is be prepared when that comes to share the gospel with them. Here's what Paul said. Here's what he said in verse 31. So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. I love that. Verse 32, then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. I love that. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized. God not only saved him, God saved his spouse, God saved his children, God saved everybody in his household.

27:08 I don't know who I'm preaching to today, but somebody's in here today believing God to do the supernatural in your household. God's about to deliver your children. God's about to deliver your spouse. God is going to bring deliverance to somebody in your household too. Your drunk cousin, your crazy uncle, your aunt. because we all got them in our families come on holler back everybody got somebody in their family that need Jesus can I get an amen right here who got somebody in their family that need Jesus oh see all y'all had somebody are you prepared to meet and help them if they come to you and say, what must I do to be saved? Are you prepared? You will not be able to stand before God and say that Pastor Jenkins didn't teach you or make available to you the opportunity to learn how to share the gospel. We have how to share the gospel classes. I've preached it for on Sunday mornings. I've taught it in Tuesday night Bible study. You ain't going to say you will not tell the Lord that I didn't tell you because I've been telling you, but you too busy going to your robust class you too busy going to your uh sorority and fraternity meetings and you ain't got time to go you ain't gonna tell god i didn't tell you for 37 years i've been telling you I've taught you Romans Road.

28:40 I've taught you the four spiritual laws. I've preached the gospel to you. And by this time, if you have been a member of this church any length of time, if you don't know how to tell somebody to get saved, you the problem. It ain't me. Amen. Amen. Amen.

29:08 And when he had, and when he, now when he had, verse 34, well, verse 33, he and his whole family got saved, got baptized. Now when he had, verse 34, when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. Here's all I'm trying to tell y'all today. I just hear what I'm going to say.