Do you know what the longest running book actively is on the New York Times
bestselling list? It is the book entitled What to Expect When You're Expecting.
OK, just a quick show of hands here in the room. How many of you have either
received the book, thought about the book, or bought the book for someone who
was having a kiddo? OK, most hands went up. All right, online real quick, if you
got the book, raise your hand. OK, just kidding. I, I have, I can't see you
anyway, OK. Um. Why is that? You know, it, it's sold over 24 million copies, 24
million copies. Number one, that is a great title to address the fear and need
that we all face, uh, and, and number two, I think the reason that book has
stayed on the New York Times bestselling list is because parenting is scary, and
we all wanna know, don't we? We all wanna know uh what to expect when you're
expecting, but here's the challenge is that. Did anyone read that book and go,
OK, I got this. Anyone left feeling like you almost had more questions than when
you in, OK. Parenting is terrifying, and we don't know what's coming around the
corner, do we? But we wanna know. See, when you watch a movie, plot twists are
fun. But plot twists in your own life, not so fun. And so what do you do when
life doesn't go as planned? That's the title of this morning's message because
so much of life comes at us and it's unexpected. And so what do we do when life
goes? Unplanned Maybe it's a job change for you. Maybe it was parenting, maybe
it was a relationship change. Maybe you had to move. Maybe it was a health scare
or a challenge. But there's not a single person in this room whose life cannot
dramatically change in direction in a moment. I mean, I think about, uh, I I I
wanna write a book, what to expect when church planting. Because let me tell
you, it, it doesn't go at all what you think it's gonna be like. I mean, I think
about us, our grand opening day, right? Our big marketing ploy, so to speak,
it's gonna be awesome and then we had flooding that closed the three main roads
to get to our church. I've shared this with some of you. I think about when we
tried to launch our groups, right? And we rented out a community center and the
manager came back to me and said, hey, so sorry, double booked, it's also
Caribbean music night. Good, Pastor Clark preaching with steel drums in the
background. I remember thinking, wow, we got through 2019, so 2020 is gonna be
our year. And then as we're trying to find a place to meet and schools weren't
opening up yet, uh, I, I just think God has a sense of humor because here is the
born and bred Southern Baptist who then finds himself leading a church out of a
bar for about 10 months. I mean, everything about this church plant journey has
been unique. Uh, and how we found staff, uh, I mean, Holly, our children's
director, they came to the church because they were late to church and they
happened to see an A frame on the corner. Everything about this church with
location and gathering and decision making, it just seems like it just came out
of left field. But today we're gonna actually talk about a church who had a
crazier start than ours and we're gonna see how God works even in changes and
detours and rejection and persecution and and he'll use unexpected circumstances
and unexpected people. To launch an eternal movement that only God could
coordinate. So if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down, that no
matter what happens, we are called to praise God and point others to him. No
matter what happens in life. We are called to praise God and point others to
him. Another way to think about that is that worship and witness are not just
actions, but really they are a lifestyle for every season. We are called to
worship God. And we are called to be his witnesses. Now, in the book of Acts,
they're described in Acts 18, the theme of the book to be God's witnesses in
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth. And really, that's really
our call as Christians still today. That in every season, with every unexpected
turn, we're called to worship God, we're called to witness to others. We're
called to praise God, and we're called to point people to Him. And what I've
learned through the ups and downs of Life and growing up and marriage and
parenting and church planting is that every situation is a stage for God's
glory. Every situation is a stage for God's glory. I know this because we're not
talking about this church that started in Philippi. And we're not gonna, we're
gonna spend most of our time in Acts 16 if you want to turn there. But I want to
start with the letter Paul writes to the church in Philippi. Because after he
starts this church, he goes on to start other churches. And later Paul is put
into prison and he writes this letter back to the people in Philippi. And, and
the theme of the letter is joy. And so he writes and just, just sense the
feeling and love that he has for these people. That really emanates here in
Philippians 1:36. He says, I thank my God and all my remembrance of you. Always
in every prayer of mine, for you are making my prayer with joy because of your
partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I'm sure of this,
that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of
Jesus Christ. I love that phrase. He who began a good work you will bring it to
completion. What God started. God's gonna bring to completion. And see, we get
stuck in the middle. Right? We, we look back and see how God has been good. But
we don't quite see how God is going to be good and and how it's gonna finish. It
doesn't make sense. Right, anybody else in a situation where you're like you can
see where you've been, but you have no idea where you're going. This seems
almost like this giant fog cloud, this is right in front of you. Well, before we
get to how it ends, let's start here with how did the church in Philippi, uh
Philippi start? How did it begin? Now I was having a conversation with a good
friend of mine. His name's Chad Moore. He's a pastor um down in Florida. We, we
were youth pastors together, uh, Chad and his wife Candice, and actually when I
was telling what I was preaching on, he said, hey, uh, I actually just took a
trip, just led a group from our church to Philippi, and, and to, and we were
actually walking the steps of Paul. And so I was like, man, that's awesome.
Would you mind texting me a couple photos so I can share with the church? So he
literally was walking like 2-3 weeks ago. Um, from the passage that we're
preaching today. I love God's timing in that, right? And so he actually sent me
this, uh, photo. He sent me this photo here and uh and so that's Chad and
Candice and if I'm being honest with you, I wanted to say that I took this trip
with Chad and Candice. Uh But something tells me you wouldn't have believed me.
Um, so we'll just say that Chad and Candace took this trip. They led a group of
students here, and what's cool is, uh, what you see behind is the city of
Philippi, and there's also this road known as the Villa Ignatia that was built
around 2 BC, and it was built, if you've heard the phrase all roads lead to
Rome. It's because the Roman Empire uh built all these roads out into their
provinces and so you can actually see behind them the Villa Ignatia and the town
of Philippi. So these are literally the spots, the road, the places that Paul
was walking when the story we're about to read happened, isn't that cool? I
mean, you can visit, this is, this is like a 2-3 week old photo, OK. And so to
set up how it starts in Acts 16, the first couple verses we actually hear how uh
Paul led Timothy to the Lord or he didn't lead Timothy the Lord. It it really
came from the faith of his grandmother, uh, his grandmother Lois and his mother
Eunice, and we know this from 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5. And so, uh, side
note, you could preach a whole sermon on the importance of a faith of a grandma
or the faith of a mother, couldn't you? Right, we don't know a lot about his
dad. We know that he had some Greek background in him. You know he's got some
Roman background in him here as a family, but really what's highlighted, uh,
with Timothy is actually the faith of his mom and the faith of his grandma. And
so here he's he's a spiritual seeker and and he comes into a mentor mentee
relationship with Paul. And he's after this moment here in Acts 16, he's gonna
journey with Paul and actually his name is found in the greeting of several
other New Testament letters and then he becomes the pastor in Ephesus as a young
man and Paul writes some of his last words and 1 and 2 Timothy um to him to
encourage him as he's pastoring the church in Ephesus. So we pick up the story
here now in Philippi, and then then what we see here is that once Timothy is
with them, Paul felt like he was called one direction. But yet the Holy Spirit
stopped him. Now we don't fully know what that means. We just know that the door
closed, so he tried to go to Asia. Nope, didn't happen. Tried to go to Bethenia.
Nope, didn't happen. He ends up getting this vision or this dream of a man
standing in Macedonia, which the capital or or really the major city there in
Macedonia was Philippi, about 200,000 people. You can actually see the city
behind. There's some of the ruins that are still being excavated today. And so
they said, OK, I got this vision from God, we're gonna go. So right out of the
gate. The only reason Paul is in Philippi is because of a rejection letter from
God. How many of us? Receive some type of rejection notice. You thought you were
going one way and that door closed. You thought you were going this way and that
door just abruptly closed. Maybe Maybe it's not simply rejection, but maybe it's
redirection to where God really wants you to go. Right. So he goes into the city
and this is where we're gonna pick it up, starting in verse 12. And from there
to Philippi, which is the leading city of the district of Macedonia, and a Roman
colony, we remained in the city for some days. And on the Sabbath day, we went
outside the gate to the riverside, where we were supposed, uh we suppose there
was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come
together. So here Paul is supposed to start this church and he comes across a
women's Bible study. OK. Never underestimate the power of a women's prayer
group, OK? We're gonna see this here. And so he continues on in verse 14, and
one who heard us was a woman named Lydia. From the city of um Tyteria. Now
what's what's interesting here is Tyteria is a modern day uh Turkish city known
as Aysar and the modern name actually means White Castle. So here we have this
rich businesswoman from White Castle, OK. And she is a seller of purple goods,
so she sells, I, I learned actually from my friend Chad who was just there he
said actually the dye was so rich it's actually more of a red dye, but it was so
rich they described it more as purple and so someone who was selling fabric, so
you have a rich businesswoman, OK, think, uh. Meryl Streep from the Devil Wears
Prada, but she's also hospitable, so she's also Meryl Streep from Mamma Mia. OK?
So you got this mixture in. See, I don't always do sports references. OK. Just
throwing that out there. Where were we? So we have Lydia, uh, from White Castle,
this rich businesswoman here who uh was a worshiper of God and the Lord opened
up her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was
baptized and her household as well, she urged us, saying, if you have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay, and she prevailed upon
us. Now what's really cool about this is that there's really only one river kind
of running through next to the town there in Philippi, so they actually know
where Lydia was baptized and so we have a photo of it, uh, and so they have
because they know where she was baptized, they actually built a little
amphitheater around it. Um, so that's pretty cool to actually know the exact
spot where she was baptized because that's why they built it wasn't there when
she was baptized, but they built the amphitheater around it and many people
since then have been baptized there and so they know the spot that was there and
then what's pretty cool then is that uh the story goes on. And Paul's preaching
and they're leading people, but they come across this gentile slave girl, and I,
and I say those terms because those three components alone are go against what a
phariseeutical religious leader would say is what you need to start the church
like Paul's MO was to go to the synagogue preach because that's what he knows
he's educated. He was a religious Pharisee himself, so he's gonna go to the
marketplace he's gonna go to the synagogue. He's gonna try to preach to the
religious leaders to the Jewish people, but as we learned last week that they
just opened up after the council of Jerusalem to go to all people. And so here
he has this interaction, uh, this, this interaction here with this gentile slave
girl who is so gent, not Jewish, um, not no power, and then, uh, and then
there's a girl and so who uh was demon possessed. Let's add that in there too,
OK. And so she's going around and actually the demon possessed slave girl is
actually saying, listen to these men, the servants of the Most High God. So it's
not even saying like what's wrong, it's actually saying, hey, these men are of
God. Um, another little side note, uh, there are no atheist demons. Did you know
that? Every demon knows who God actually is. If you look, if you look in
scripture, every demon that is in Scripture trembles at the name of Jesus. And
they said, no, no, no, don't, don't come here. And there's actually a group of
um um demons later in Acts that we'll get to who they said like, I know of God,
who are you? And they actually beat somebody up who tried to claim to be of God
and they weren't. So anyway. Paul, um, out of being annoyed of her saying this
for days, it's the only miracle that I see in scripture that came from being
annoyed. Um, he said he he just finally turned and says, in the name of Jesus,
get out. And as parents, I think we can relate. I think if you've ever felt your
children were deemed possessed, just try that sometime maybe in the name of, OK,
sorry, it's getting too real. Um, so here's the problem though, the owners of
this demon possessed gentile slave girl were making money off the fact that she
could fortune tell and doing all these predictions. And so when she had the
demon cast out of her, they lost money and they didn't like that and so they
actually caused up this big. Riot, so to speak, in the town marketplace, and so
you actually have a photo of the marketplace, you can see it right here. So you
can see the marketplace in the corner you can actually see uh that via Ignatia
the road that Paul actually walked on, and so you can see the marketplace there.
And then if you go to the next photo, what happened was the magistrates then out
of anger because they're saying, hey, these Jewish people are upsetting the
Roman culture and so we can't have that and so they beat them up and throw them
into prison. They assume that where you see a group of students that's standing
there, uh, that is where the prison is believed to be because it's on the corner
of the marketplace but also uh actually on closer examination here they found
this symbol of the Praetorian guard and so that symbol was placed of the Roman
guard above the entrance of prisons and so they assumed that under this place
under this was where the prison happened and so Paul and Silas get beat up. And
they get put in prison and their legs are locked and so we actually know where
the prison was. That's pretty cool, right? And so, uh, because only a small
percentage of Philippi has actually been excavated and so but they know right
where it is. And so here's where we're gonna pick up the story in verse 25. Paul
and Silas are in prison. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing
hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them. Isn't that amazing, it's
one positive, isn't that amazing, they were beat up. They were locked in prison
and what are they doing? They're having a praise and worship night in prison.
They're saying pray. the Lord. I mean, they're singing in the prison at
midnight, locked up. I love that. And the prisoners were listening, uh, we had a
captivated audience. OK, sorry, that was bad, um. Anyway, uh, verse 26, and
suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison
were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were
unfashioned. And when the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open,
he drew his sword was about to kill himself. The reason he did that was because
if any prisoner broke free, you had to give your life for their life. So he
thought his life was done. So you wanna talk about a man at the end of his rope.
And literally suicidal at that point in the moment, the lowest possible moment
assuming that the prisoners had escaped, verse 28 but. Paul cried out with a
loud voice, Do not harm yourself. For we are here, can you imagine that moment?
About to take your life back at the end, like the lowest of possible lows. And
right before it happens, you hear a voice, wait. He says we are all here. Verse
29, and the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear, he
fell down before Paul and Silas. And then he brought them out and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? I love this verse. It's a great gospel verse right
here if you want to highlight it, verse 31, and they said, Believe in the Lord
Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. Now this wasn't assumed by
the way that just one person believes and then everyone's automatically in, but
rather what you're gonna see in the next couple verses is that when the leader
is saved that changes most likely the direction of the entire household, right?
And so as the parents go, the family goes and so as he's leading his household,
the household will go and so we see this here verse 32, and they spoke the word
of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house so you see that all people
in the house hear the word, and he took them that same hour of the night and
washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once. I'm assuming that he was
baptized in that same river that we just saw and and he and all of his family.
And then he brought them up into his house and set food before them, and he
rejoiced along with the entire household that he had believed in God. Now it
goes on to say we're not going to say this for time's sake, but he goes on to
say, uh, good news in the morning, the magistrate said we can't actually hold
these guys for anything because they technically didn't break any law, so we got
to let them go. But Paul, because Paul is just an ornery, stubborn man, I like
him. um, he goes, oh really? Really? You think you can just let us go after you
beat us up? I'm Roman and I have rights. You tell them to come down and
apologize to my face. And so, so the boldness that you have in that moment and
they go, um, and, and they go down says we're sorry we didn't know you were
Roman, uh, and you're free and then they go back to Lydia's house and they end
up going back and they ultimately leave and start other churches but what's
really cool here is that after this the church begins and we actually have an
image here of the early church so you can actually see a photo here. If this is
not Lydia's house, you can see the progression of the development of the early
church to where from that moment on, the first European Eastern European church
started and a movement was launched. And what's so crazy to me. Is that the
early church, think about who started the church. Think about what your plan
would be like saying, hey, you have no money, you have no authority in a culture
that's completely against you. What would you do to launch a movement in Eastern
Europe? Whatever your plan was, my guess, just guessing here, is that it would
not include a Turkish businesswoman. A gentile demon possessed slave girl and a
Roman jailer. But those are the 1st 3 comforts of the Philippian church. Why?
Because God's gonna do what God's gonna do. And he can move how he's gonna move.
And so I want you to think about a few things here, one notice that Paul and
Silas's mindset. Didn't change even when they were locked up. What I take from
that is that what if breakthrough wasn't waiting on a change in your situation
but a change in your spirit. Paul and Silas didn't start praising the Lord after
they got out of prison. They had no idea what God was going to do in their
situation. So they didn't change their situation right away. They changed their
spirit. Right, you might not be able to control your position at the company in
the family, in life, but you can control your disposition or your outlook or
your your your mindset, your spirit behind it. They are locked up in prison with
no hope or future. They might lose their life and they're singing praise. And
they're telling people about Jesus. I love that. What if breakthrough isn't
waiting on a change in your situation but a change in your spirit? So you can do
that today. Next thing I notice here is that everyone has a story. But not
everyone connects. Their story to God's story. What would it look like for you
to connect your story to God's story? What if every single person in our church?
This year Shared their story and God's story with somebody in the community.
What if every single person watching online, listening later, whoever's hearing
this message, between now and the end of 2025 led someone to Christ. See that
would launch a movement. And before you say I'm not qualified, I'm not educated,
I have too much of a sinful past. The church in Philippi, one of the most
successful movement changing historical churches in the history of the world
that we still have access to and can visit right now physically was started with
a rich businesswoman, a gentile demon possessed slave girl, and a Roman guard.
If God can start a movement, he can start it with you. I love that and all three
cases, right? Some of you. are in incredible positions of leadership and
influence in the world. And then we get into church and we're like, oh, you
wanna greet. Right, you wanna like, and don't want, we need greeters, and we
need children's workers. Oh my goodness, do we need children's workers? Come on,
everybody, let's change some diapers and help some kiddos. Um. But understand
that what if God used your business savvy? What if God used your position of
leadership and management? What if God used your influence, your resources? To
launch a movement of God. Don't shy away from where God's placed you, but
understand that that is something you need to steward. That your story is
connected to God's story. Some of you are sitting here going, man, I'm in the
lowest of low. Lowest of low young slave girl. She had quote unquote nothing to
give. But yet it was her change. Her testimony. That caused a riot for the
people against God, but then also caused a revival for the people of God. It's
the people with the biggest challenges and the biggest battles that end up
having the biggest stories to tell. Right? And then you look at that Roman
jailer. Head down, he's doing his job. Following what he thinks is the right way
and then coming to a realization at some point that I've missed it this whole
time. Risks everything. But he doesn't just come to Christ, he changes the
generational legacy for 2000 years for his family and beyond. Some of you are
sitting here in the room and you do not have a history of faith in your family.
But you could be the person that changes the direction and destiny for your
family tree for generations to come. Takes one moment, one person. To humbly
repent of their sins and give their life to God to see Him move. If you've ever
thought to yourself, I don't think God can use me. This story is for you. Have
you ever thought to yourself, I'm too busy. This story is for you. If there's
ever anybody in here who's walking through something, who feels locked up, who
feels alone, who feels overwhelmed, who feels overlooked, who feels just
distracted or destroyed or broken, this story is for you. Because no matter what
happens. We are called to praise God and to point people to Him. Win or lose.
Success or failure? Mountain tops or valleys. Highs and lows. In all
circumstances, in all situations, you can praise God for who He is, for what
he's done. And what he's going to do, and then you can turn around and you can
point people to him. If you're struggling, if you're hurting. Be encouraged that
God's with you in the hurt and be encouraged by the fact that there's gonna come
a day. Where sickness and pain and hurting will be no more. If you've gone
through battles and addictions and loss. Praise God that you're still standing
and you're still here. Because God's not done writing your story. It would not
be good if you walked out of the movie mid-movie thinking everything is
hopeless. Right? If you walk out early. Like you're like, oh. Yes, Darth Vader
wins. You know, cause there really is no hope. Some of you are struggling, but
you need to be reminded. That your story is still being written. You're in the
middle. Of course there's tension in the middle. Of course there's struggle in
the middle. But your story is not just your story, it's God's story. He's gonna
use it to impact not only your life but the people of the lives around you. Who
knew That the businesswoman The slave girl And the Roman jailer would be the
people that would start one of the most impactful churches. That history has
ever known. To a place where you can go walk to this day. And to where Paul
writes encouragement back to them that we read 2000 years later. Got it. So I
want you to ask yourself 3 questions today as we wrap up number 1. How would you
describe the current chapter of your story? How would you describe it? Broken,
hurting, abandoned. Hopeful but lost. Right, I, I remember driving somewhere,
have no idea where I was going, but thinking, man, I'm lost, but I'm making
great time. You know what I mean, like you're getting the green lights and
you're going anyway, all right. Be honest, where are you? How, how would you
describe the current chapter? But remember, it's the current chapter, it's not
the whole story. Number 2, Once you identify that story, how can you praise God
in this chapter? Sometimes surviving is the wind. God, I'm hurting I'm
struggling, I'm doubting, but you know what? I'm still standing. I'm gonna
praise you for that. God, life doesn't seem so good, but you are. I'm gonna
praise you for that. Find a way to praise God for every season in your life.
Because breakthrough might not be the change of your situation, it might start
with the change in your spirit. Identify the chapter. Find a way to praise God
in that chapter. And the third question then is, with whom can you share your
story and God's story? That's what Lydia did. That's what that slave girl did.
That's what Paul and Silas did. They, they were in the middle of the night
locked up, they couldn't go. But there's a person across from them. OK, I'll
share with that person. I'll share with each other. Right. With whom can you
share your story and God's story right now because you don't know. How God might
use that to alter eternal destiny for people in your life. We're gonna end the
same way we started. And now that you know the story of the Church of Philippi.
Think about how impactful these words are that Paul writes to them while he
himself is in prison. At the end of his life, he writes these words. I thank my
God in all my remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you all are
making my prayer with joy. Because of your partnership in the gospel from the
first day until now. And I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you
will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. All eyes up here for
just one moment. God's not done with you yet. God is working. And what God
started. God will complete Let's connect our story to God's story. Will you pray
with me, dear Emily Father. Thank you for the story and faithfulness of Lydia
using her resources. To start the church God, thank you. For the even possessed
girl, we, we don't know fully what she would go on to do. I do think she ended
up getting saved. We don't know that fully, but. I think when her life changed
as much as it did. I think that's a natural response. And thank you for the
faith of a jailer. From a second away from taking his own life to now leading
his household and many in the city to change and give their lives to him. God
help us to connect our story to your story and that no matter what happens, no
matter when things change and life does not go as we planned or expected. May we
continually find a way in this very moment to praise you and to point others to
you. we have a strong worship and witness today. We give our lives and our
stories up to you and your sons and we pray amen.