Tabor Baptist Church

Before Midnight

• They were sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit (v6)
• We need to be sensitive in the leading of the Holy Spirit not just in the large issues but also in the small issues
• They were restrained from going to Asia
• They were constrained to go to Macedonia
• The Lord had opened Lydia's heart (v14)
• We should pray that hearts are opened
• There was success
• Paul is accountable to the brethren (15:40)
• They went immediately to Macedonia (v10) and go with expectancy
• Where there is blessing, there is opposition
• We long for the blessings of God
• The reality is that opposition is there
• But if God is for us, who can be against?
• The slave girl was divining the future
• She was hailing Paul and Silas as servants of God but was not doing this for good
• She was telling the future (not prophecy)
• Her masters were making money from her
• Paul was grieved by her
• We go on in God's strength
• We do not wrestle with flesh and blood but principalities and powers
• We rely on the Captain of our salvation
• Paul was not a super Christian
• Do not say that we cannot serve the Lord like Paul did
• He did this in his weakness
• He did all things through Christ who strengthened him
• What man intended for evil God intended for good
• Paul and Silas trusted an obeyed
• The slave masters drag Paul and Silas before mob rule (v20)
• They stir up the situation
• They stir up antisemitism: 'these Jews'
• They say Paul is bothering them, when it is the slave girl who is bothering them
• They misrepresent what Paul is teaching
• The magistrates kowtowed to the crowd (v22)
• They were thrown into the inner jail and fastened into stocks and chains
• They have gone from a great start with Lydia to this seemingly despairing situation
• Maybe things are going wrong in your Christian walk?
• Maybe you cannot see a way out?
• At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns
• What will our response be?
• Their God was still in control
• They were not looking inwards but looking outwards
• This needs to be cultivated
• Practice the presence of God
• Know what it is to walk and pray in the Spirit of God

At Midnight

• Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns
• They were building each other up
• Do not forsake the meeting together of each other
• Iron sharpens iron
• "The prisoners were listening to them" (v25)
• Paul and Silas had access to a group of people they otherwise wouldn't have
• What strata of society do we have access to that we otherwise wouldn't have?
• Pink: "Man's extremity is God's opportunity"
• A great earthquake from God
• The jailer awakes
• Probably a hardened veteran Roman soldier
• Lived near the jail
• Drew his sword to kill himself - [such was Roman law with losing prisoners]

After Midnight

• The saving of the Philippian jailer
• "Sirs what must I do to be saved?" (v30)
• The saving of the whole family (v31, 34)
• Paul has authority, not the jailer
• The prisoners were not guarded, unchained and the walls broken
• Yet the prisoners did not flee or move
• The stony heart of the jailer is changed for a heart of flesh
• He tends to the needs of Paul and Silas
• The magistrates seek to send Paul and Silas on they way
• They were Romans but Paul did not speak up
• This afforded them the opportunity to speak to the prisoners
• Paul makes the magistrates come to them
• He speaks out for those who would continue the church in Philippia

Summary and closing statements