Acts, Part 7 Acts 16:25-34 07/24/11

Sermon 7-24-11 Acts - pt 7 Acts 16:25-34

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

Three things to look at today

1. Philippian jailer and his house

The clan
The post reformation/enlightenment outlook
The pre reformation world
Abraham

Genesis 12-The Call of Abram
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Jacob and essau – birthright, meeting up later
Constantine -324 Christianity is official
Women and children were property
So it is not a surprise that he and his house are coming to faith

What do we learn from this?
We are no longer living with clans- head of household
But there are ways in which we have to teach our families

Me and my house, we will serve the lord
Encourage them
Understand them- humans are going to do human things

Didn’t Jesus understand that humans do human things

Common goals in marriage

The klan gave kids a story
We often do not give our kids a story
So the culture does
The kardashians
The housewives of orange county
Ufc

Leonard sweet - Our culture tells us that the trees move the wind
The car will make you happy

Imprinting stories on the life of your kids

The 2 commandments love the lord your god, love yr neighbor as yourself

2. Our theology of how god works
We don’t know what to do with this passage
People coming to faith en mass with out their own choosing
The story must be missing something
We choose to ignore it

We like the story of paul on the road to Damascus or the etheopian eunuch
They made an individual choice

We don’t know what to do with this passage
Or the good Samaritan passage for that matter
We like it as a nice story about caring
But we don’t believe that people get to heaven for being a good person

We have a certain picture of how it works and God better be sure to do it that way
Fact of the matter is, we cannot force God into our ideas of who he is or how he works

This is good news to all of us why may not fit the mold
some of you came to Christ in another way. --- Great
God has many ways of dealing with people

The paradox of Christianity
Peace- sword
Son of god, son of man
Free will – Paul on the road to Damascus
Can’t pin him down

No systematic theology is worth it s salt

The moment we think we have him pinned down we have simply minimalized God
Humanized God

Our theology of how god works needs to be more open

Part three- the circumstances of the apostles
Persecuted- beaten with rods
In jail, in shackles, in stocks

The apostles are praying

What we would have expected from them- help me, save me
Nwlc scotty smith – psalm 73

Ps 73
1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.
12 This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.
21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.

The prayers of the selfish, the burned out,

But look how the apostles are praying
Prayer will release you from your prision

Not just our chains, but everyone’s chains come loose
Who ever’s sins you forgive they are forgiven, who ever sins you retain, they are retained

What are your chains, what are your burdens, your stocks. Are they bringing you and everyone else down, or is god big enough to free you from them