Mission Over Moments
Mission Over Moments
Living in times of unprecedented chaos, political division, and constant noise can easily distract us from what truly matters. Yet God calls us to something higher than getting caught up in the overwhelming moments of life - He calls us to stay focused on His mission for our lives. Mission is always higher than the moment, and this truth is powerfully illustrated through the story of Paul and Silas in Acts 16.During their missionary journey, Paul and Silas experienced divine guidance from the Holy Spirit, even when it didn't make human sense. They walked for months being told not to preach, until God directed them to Macedonia. Their obedience to the mission led to Lydia's salvation, but their greatest impact came through their most difficult moment. After being beaten and thrown into the deepest part of a prison, they chose to worship instead of complain. Their response in the darkness was so powerful that it led to the salvation of their jailer and his entire family.This story reveals a crucial truth: we are all commissioned by Jesus Christ to be on mission wherever we go. Whether in our workplace, neighborhood, or family, we go as representatives of God's Kingdom with authority to bring His light and love to every situation. The baptism of the Holy Spirit empowers us for this mission, not just for personal blessing. When we choose mission over moments and worship through our trials, people around us are listening in the dark, and our response can lead to their salvation. The key is trusting God's sovereignty even when we don't understand His methods, knowing that what looks like opposition might actually be God positioning us for greater impact.
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Mission Over Moments: Staying Focused on God's Purpose
In a world filled with unprecedented chaos, political division, and constant noise, it's easy to lose sight of what truly matters. We live in times that feel overwhelming - from global conflicts to social media conspiracy theories to personal struggles that seem insurmountable. Yet in the midst of these challenging moments, God calls us to something higher: staying focused on His mission for our lives.
What Does It Mean to Choose Mission Over Moments?
Life is full of moments - some wonderful, some difficult, and some that can completely derail us. These moments have the ability to cloud our vision and distract us from the greater purpose God has for our lives. But here's the truth: mission is always higher than the moment.
When we look at the story of Paul and Silas in Acts 16, we see a powerful example of choosing mission over moments. They were on their second missionary journey, commissioned by the Jerusalem Council to take the gospel to the Gentiles. Yet their journey was far from smooth.
How Does the Holy Spirit Guide Those on Mission?
Following Divine Direction
Paul and Silas walked through Turkey for two to three months - over 300 kilometers - and were repeatedly told by the Holy Spirit not to preach. Imagine being called as missionaries but being told to stay quiet! This doesn't make sense from a human perspective, but it demonstrates a crucial truth: people on mission are led by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit spoke to them through dreams and circumstances, directing them away from Asia and Bithynia toward Macedonia. Sometimes God's guidance doesn't make sense in the moment, but if we're willing to listen and obey, we'll reach the destination He has planned for us.
Recognizing When Not to Speak
There are times when the Holy Spirit whispers, "Not you, not yet, not now." This requires spiritual maturity and sensitivity to God's voice. Sometimes our motives are good and our intentions pure, but God has a different timing or method in mind.
What Authority Do We Have as Believers?
Jesus Has Commissioned You
Here's a revelation that might change your perspective: Jesus has authorized you and is sending you. You are commissioned by Him to be on mission. This isn't just for pastors or full-time ministers - it's for every believer.
Your mission might be your workplace, your marriage, that lost family member, or that neighbor who doesn't know Jesus. You weren't commissioned to do whatever you want; you were authorized to accomplish what He has called you to do.
The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts
The baptism of the Holy Spirit isn't just for personal blessing - it's empowerment for mission. If the Holy Spirit's infilling doesn't flow out to others, we become like a stagnant swamp instead of a flowing river. God fills us so we can pour out His love to others.
How Does Mission Lead to Eternal Impact?
When you're on mission and operating under God's authority, you can expect the fruit of salvation to follow. Mission always leads to opportunities to share the gospel and introduce people to Jesus.
In Paul and Silas's story, their obedience to the mission led to Lydia's salvation by the river. But their greatest impact came through their most difficult moment - when they were beaten and thrown into prison.
What Happens When We Sing in Our Prison?
The Power of Worship in Dark Times
After being beaten with wooden rods and thrown into the deepest, darkest part of the prison, Paul and Silas did something extraordinary - they sang. They didn't complain, argue about injustice, or demand their rights. They worshiped.
The other prisoners listened in the darkness. Usually, prisons were filled with groaning, crying, and cursing. But these men sang sweet worship, and something powerful happened - people were listening.
What Song Are You Singing?
Here's a challenging question: When you're going through the most difficult time of your life, what song are you singing? And who's listening?
Your response to trials speaks volumes to those around you. People in your world are listening in the dark, watching how you handle adversity. Your worship in the prison moments can lead to their salvation.
How Can Difficult Moments Become Opportunities?
The Earthquake and the Jailer
At midnight, as Paul and Silas worshiped, an earthquake shook the prison. The jailer, thinking all prisoners had escaped, was about to kill himself when Paul called out that they were all still there.
The jailer's response is remarkable: "What must I do to be saved?" But here's the question - how did he know he needed salvation? Paul never preached to him. They only sang.
Something in their worship, their spirit, and their response to injustice spoke to the jailer's heart. The presence of God was so strong that it convicted him of his need for salvation.
From Enemy to Friend
The same man who had put them in the worst part of the prison became their friend. He took them to his house, fed them, and tended to their wounds. This is the power of staying on mission through difficult moments - your enemies can become your greatest supporters.
Why Didn't Paul Use His Roman Citizenship Earlier?
Paul was a Roman citizen and could have avoided the beating by revealing this fact earlier. But he was so in tune with the Holy Spirit that he knew the prison was part of the mission. What we might attribute to the devil's attack was actually God's plan to reach the jailer and his family.
Sometimes what looks like opposition is actually God positioning us for greater impact. The key is trusting His sovereignty even when we don't understand His methods.
Life Application
This week, choose mission over moments. When difficult circumstances arise, ask yourself: "What song am I singing, and who's listening?" Instead of getting caught up in the noise and chaos around you, stay focused on the mission God has given you.
Remember that you are commissioned by Jesus Christ to be on mission wherever you go - your workplace, your neighborhood, your family gatherings. You don't go as just an employee, parent, or friend; you go as a representative of the Kingdom of God with authority to bring His light and love to every situation.
Questions for Reflection:
What "moments" in your life are currently distracting you from God's mission for you?
How can you better tune in to the Holy Spirit's guidance in your daily decisions?
Who in your sphere of influence might be "listening in the dark" to see how you respond to challenges?
What specific mission has God called you to that you may have let go of due to difficult circumstances?
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
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Great to be here. And what a privilege it is to share the word of God with you this morning. I just want to say well done as a church. Not many churches have a Saturday night meeting and two Sunday morning meetings.
And to hear what God is doing and see the expansion of what's happening here is just phenomenal. And I just want to come and encourage you this morning on the mission that God's put in your heart to keep going and. But I want to encourage you this morning, you know, I want to tell you this story of, you know, relate the story of what happened to Mary because I actually don't want to preach this morning. I want us to preach. You're like, what do you mean?
I'm not going to put the microphone in everyone's mouth. You're not going to speak. Don't kill me, right? But the preaching of the word is something tangible, it's something powerful. And it's not because of the person who's speaking it.
It's because it is the word of God. And God anoints his word, right? And the word has the power to change things. So you know, the story of the Christmas story of when Mary found out she was going to have a baby. And if you look at the account in Matthew chapter two, the angel come to her and said, you know, hello, Mary.
This is the Australian version. G', day, how you doing? You know, you're gonna, you're gonna have a kid. You know, he's gotta be named Jesus and he's going to change the world. This is a, this is as if I'm talking to reception age kids.
Anyway, Mary responds in very, very formally and just said, well, you know that, how can that be I've never known a man, you know, Mr. Angel, you know, there's certain things us humans have to do to actually have a child, and I'm not doing that. Right. I'm not that, and I'm not married. And the angel goes on to tell her a few more stories about her cousin who couldn't have a baby. And she was pregnant, and she sort of got excited about, well, how do you know about that?
And her faith rose and she came to the end of believing what the angel said about her. And she said these powerful words. She said, let your word be unto me. Let your Word be unto me. Really interesting thing to say.
Jump over to John, chapter one. It starts off at John. The Gospel of John starts with this. At the beginning of John, chapter one, verse one, it says this. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God referring to Jesus.
Right? So in the beginning was the Word, Word was with God, and the Word was God. What did Mary say? Let your word be unto me. Same word.
What she was saying was at that point when she said in agreement with what was spoken over her, she became instantly pregnant with Jesus. She became pregnant with the Word of God, and that word grew inside of her and it changed lives and certainly changed her life. So what am I saying? This morning? I'm going to preach the Word of God.
It's got nothing to do with me. It's got everything to do with his anointing on the Word that you hear. And I'm asking you to open up your heart and say, let this word be unto me, just like Mary did. And you could possibly become pregnant with the Word of God not literally, but pregnant with the Word of God in your spirit. That could bring life to you and certainly bring life to others.
It can be just another word. Go. That was a good preach. I enjoyed that. That was fun.
Or it could literally be life changing because the word of God has the ability to transform us. So what did Mary do? She spoke in agreement. She opened her mouth and said, amen. I agree with that.
Let that Word be unto me. So if there's anything that is spoken today, I want you to preach with me and respond vocally. Not so I feel good, but so you receive. Because we need to activate our faith by speaking and receiving the Word of God that it may bring life to us. Do I have an amen?
Do I have an amen? Right at the back? Okay, so as I'm preaching, if something's happening within you, can I please encourage you for your sake. Amen. This.
This may not be something that, oh, you go, yeah, or whatever. I don't care what you say, but respond, because it could literally do something within you that you've never felt before.
There you go. We've got a bit of work to do here on this service. Past agent. Okay, very good. Title of my message is called Mission over Moments.
Mission over Moments. We're in a very interesting time, a very unprecedented times. I mean, who would have thought we would experience what we experienced at the end of last year in the Bondi on our shores? It'd be something that we would have heard that happened elsewhere, but not in Australia. Just unprecedented.
We've got political divide that is so wide that we could drive a Mack truck through the middle of it. There's no common ground. We've got the political left and the political right. We've got conspiracy theorists that are on social media that some of them are just crazy, just saying all sorts of things and all sorts of beliefs. And the world is just got noise and chaos going everywhere.
It reminds me of the times of when we had Covid. And certainly I don't want to be preaching in Melbourne saying what Covid was like. You could tell me what it was like for you guys, right? Covid was crazy. We had people saying all sorts of things.
I had letters being written to me from our church saying we shouldn't be singing. And other people say, we've got to sing. Right? And people in the church was divided over things. Right.
And it was something that stirred, and there was so much noise and so much opposition and so much disappointment and so much alignment and realignment and all sorts of things happening in people's lives that the noise was out. It was louder than, in some cases, than the mission God had called us to stay on. I remember, honestly, well, I did. I remember standing up with a glass in my hand, about to throw it at my tv. I was so angry what was happening, because I felt powerless of what was happening during that Covid.
And to be honest, with what's happening now, there's a degree of anger that rises up with him to say, this is just unjust what's happening in our society. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me very clearly and said, hey, I haven't called you to speak into that. I've called you to speak into the mission of the kingdom and keep the mission going. And if you look at history, right through historical. Every hundred years, did you know there was a pandemic?
Every hundred years, there was a black Plague and all sorts of Spanish plague and all sorts of things every hundred years. And it's very interesting, the one thing that kept growing, the one thing that didn't die, the one thing that continued to grow in the world was the Church under persecution. It just grew, right? And I can tell you what's happening in our world right now, what's happening in Australia. We've got an opportunity to grow because people are worried, they're bewildered, they're scared, they're in all sorts of mindsets because they need to know what the mission of the Kingdom is all about.
And we are the ones that take the mission to them. So I want to say this, right, mission over moments. This is but a moment. We can get caught up in the noise, get caught up in the chaos. We can get caught up in all sorts of political divides and all sorts of conversations that we really shouldn't get into.
But the truth is we have a higher calling, and that is to stay on mission. So this morning, I want to help you. I want to help realign, help remind you of the mission of the Kingdom. Because the mission of the Kingdom supersedes everything. Absolutely supersedes everything.
Moments in life have the ability to derail our thought, our process, our drive, and cloud our vision from seeing domination that is before us. Life is full of moments. Some moments are wonderful, some moments are difficult, some moments can derail us. But I'm going to say this mission is always higher than the moment. It's mission over moments.
So I want to have a look at a scripture and have a look a little bit deeper into to something that happened to Paul and Silas on a mission. They were going on their second mission. They had gone. This is found in Acts, chapter 16, if you've got your Bible. They were going.
They went to the Jerusalem Council because what they found out, there was a whole lot of talk happening because Paul had been felt. He was called to take the gospel to the. To the.
What do you call them? Not the Jews, the Gentiles. There it is. Sorry, that's the third time you think, I get it. But he'd been called by God to take the gospel to the Gentiles, right?
And some were saying, well, if they're going to receive the gospel, they actually got to get circumcised, right? They went straight to the law. And so Paul goes back and has a chat to the Jerusalem Council and says, what are we doing here? What's the best thing? And they prayed and they got the mind of God and Paul was sent to Go out and actually take the mission of the kingdom right through Asia and right through that area.
In fact, they walked right through Turkey for would have taken them two to three months. We'll have a look at the map in a sec. But let me read to you what happened. Acts chapter 16. Next, Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.
Then, coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia. But again, interesting. Second time the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead they went through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. This is not a geography lesson, by the way.
That night Paul had a vision. A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there pleading with him, come over to Macedonia and help us. So we decided to leave the Macedonia at once. Having concluded that God was calling us to preach the good news there, we boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothras. And the next day we landed at Neapolis.
From there we reached Philippi, a major city in the district of Macedonia and underline a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days. On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank where we thought people would be meeting for prayer. And we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. One of them was Lydia from Thyro Tyra, a merchant of expensive purple cloth who worshiped God.
As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart and she accepted what Paul was saying. She and her household were baptized and she asked to be. And she asked us to be her guests. If you agree that I'm a true believer in the Lord, she said, come and stay at my house. And she urged them, insisted, until we all agreed to go and stay there.
Really interesting story. I just put up a slide of their journey, which is the one at the top there they went right through Galatia, right, right through Asia, Tumithia to Troas, and then all the way over to Neapolis and found themselves at Macedonia. Really interesting journey. Now that whole area of Asia, etc. Is what we call Turkey.
It's modern day Turkey right now. This is a weird thing. They were called to be missionaries. They were called to go and take the gospel to people, to strengthen the churches. So they walked through Turkey for two to three months, three to 400 kilometers they walked and they weren't allowed to share the gospel they were told to be quiet.
That doesn't sound like a mission trip to me. Right. I'm called to this, but I can't say anything. I want to leave you with a few points that are really interesting. The first one is people on mission are led by the Holy Spirit.
People on mission are led by the Holy Spirit. When you're walking according to the grace of the mission of God, you can expect God to speak to you. He will speak to you daily if you open your heart to hear. The Holy Spirit is known as our guide and our comforter. He spoke to Paul through dreams.
He's speaking all the time. He told Paul and Silas not to preach the word as they went through Bithynia and to Asia. We don't know why. Later on we see that Peter went back there and established the churches in Bithynia. But there's sometimes, if we're open, the Holy Spirit will speak in all different ways.
It's a weird thing to be on a mission called to take the Gospel and the Holy Spirit says, don't speak. It doesn't make sense. And sometimes the Holy Spirit won't make sense. But if you're prepared to listen and obey, you will actually get to the mission he wants you to fulfill. You know, have you ever been in situations where you just want to say something and you sense the Holy Spirit say, no, this is not your place, not your time.
Very hard for Italians not to speak. But anyway, I just thought I'd throw that in for my friends sitting on the third row, right? But to be in situations where you know you've got the answer, or you know, you've got an argument, and, you know, you think, well, I could speak on the. What that what I'm saying is true, yet the Holy Spirit whispers in your ear, in your ear. Not you, not yet, not now.
If you're open to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying, he can guide you. He will also comfort you, and he'll direct you through circumstances and situations that maybe aren't your fight right now, but he will lead you through it. Because in this situation, the destiny was Macedonia, not through Turkey. That was where God wanted to take him, right? So our motive might be good, our intentions might be pure.
We even feel we might be doing the Lord's work. But if we listen, he just might say, don't go there. I've got a situation in my life. There's a person who's very close to me, and there's certain subjects I will not approach with them because I know, right it will actually fracture our relationship. So what do I do?
I keep watering the relationship in other ways. I water with good deeds and with words and with encouragement. But if I go there on certain situations, it is going to fracture our relationship. And so God said to me, don't go there. Don't go there, Minister another way, you know, slight John, chapter 16, verse 13 says this.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. You know, the Holy Spirit is whatever God, Jesus tells him to speak, he will speak. So if it's good for the Holy Spirit, it's good for us. He just doesn't speak without the authority. He speaks when Jesus speaks to him.
You know, here's another thought. Mission gives you spiritual authority. If you're on mission, you can expect authority from the Holy Spirit to speak and go and know that the Holy Spirit will guide and comfort you. This mission was authorized by the apostles in the previous chapter. And they were sent, they had hands laid on, and they were authorized to go.
Go. I'm going to say this. Did you know? You may not know this, and this is very simple. You may have heard it.
But I want to say it as revelation for each one of you and for some of you specifically. Jesus has authorized you and he is sending you.
He has got a mission prepared for you, and he is authorizing and sending you. You are commissioned by him to be on mission and you might go. What, I just go to work every day and come home? Maybe that is your mission. Maybe you're missing out on who God wants you to reach and speak to and how you need to encourage them in what Christ has done in your life.
And maybe your mission is your marriage. Maybe your mission is that lost son. Maybe that mission is that nephew or niece that doesn't know Jesus. Let me tell you, there is mission for you that is not just about our normal going, toing and froing. There is so much more involved in what God has called you to accomplish.
John 17:18. Just as you sent me into the world, this is Jesus speaking here. He's saying, I am sending you, sending you into the world. John 16. Sorry.
John 6:38. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. This is Jesus speaking. So if it's okay for Jesus to say, I've come down by God to do the will of the Father, is it okay for us to say, I am here to do the will of the Son. I'm actually called by Christ and commissioned and authorized him to do his will.
Let me re engineer that for you. It's not to do your will. I'm leaving today so I can say these things.
It's not to do. You know, you weren't commissioned and authorized by Jesus to go around and do what you want to do. Actually authorized him to accomplish the things that he's laid upon you to do. And they're the things that you'll have authority in. It's not the things that I want to do.
It's what he's called me to do. He's called me to overcome fear. He's called me to put on the armor of God. He's called me to put on the garment of praise. You know, the Holy Spirit, baptism isn't really for me.
Excuse me. Well, it is. It will empower you, but it's empowering you for a purpose. We don't shudder Bubba, and cut him asunder and Yamaha and do all sorts of things in our bedroom at home and just say, well, wasn't that just a wonderful time between me and the Holy Spirit? It is.
But if it hasn't got an outflow to people for the commission and the mission of God, then it actually just fills you up and you become a swamp. You're called to be a river where it flows in and flows out, where it's a continual infilling and refilling of the Holy Spirit for the mission's sake. The Holy Spirit's infilling ultimately is not for me. It's to empower me for the purpose of the mission. Do I have it at me, God?
You're not preaching with me very well.
Third point. Mission leads to eternal impact. When you are on mission, you can expect the fruit of salvation to follow. Mission will always lead to new birth. Mission will always lead to the opportunity to share the gospel.
Mission will always lead to introducing Jesus. And if it's authorized, where you've heard from the Holy Spirit to speak and now is the time, it will lead to salvation.
Amen.
Jesus came for this one purpose. He said, Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost. Now, you've heard that a million times. But in the context of the mission, let you think about. Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost.
He didn't come to seek and save those and give them a nice life. He didn't come just to give peace. He gave peace for a purpose. He just didn't come to bring joy. He Gave joy for a purpose.
Everything that Jesus did for us has a purpose. And what he's done is so that we will continue the kingdom. Purpose of the mission? To spread the news about how great Jesus is and what he can do in your life and for you. Okay, you're getting warmed up now, so make this statement.
It's very clear. His commission is my mission. His commissioning is your mission. You can speak just as much as Jesus spoke this scripture over his life. You can speak it as well.
Luke 4, 1819. The spirit of the Lord is upon me.
The spirit of the Lord is on you. For he has anointed you to bring the good news to the poor. What do you mean? I'm not an evangelist. You know, good news can look like a cup of coffee sometimes.
It just doesn't have to look like a exegesis of the Gospel. It can look like an arm around to say, I understand and I care. Bring the good news of the poor. You know, it can actually look like coming and helping, painting. What do you mean?
It's for the church. It'll actually be really good for you to do it. I'll tell you. It changes you. That positions you.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, and that the oppressed will be set free. That is your mission. It was his commissioning that becomes our mission. And Lydia getting saved was the result of that mission. Amen.
Fourth point. This is a doozy mission. Turns moments of prison into opportunities.
Can I take a little bit longer on this?
Some people in here know me. Not many do. Five years ago, I went probably through. I went through the worst experience of my life. Five years ago, I buried my wife for 37 years.
Years. Lost her to cancer. Co laboring with me like we were in ministry for 30 years together. I don't know why it happened. I questioned God at every angle, demanding answers as to why that happened.
What did we do wrong? What did we do here? Did we bring this on ourselves? Went through all sorts of soul searching as to why God would deem it that he would take my wife.
I still don't have the answer I want to tell you. I never will know.
And I've come to the point of realizing that's okay. Because Scripture says my ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. And if I dared to even think that I knew why God would do that, then I position myself to be like God himself. And there is no mysticism, there is no faith between what I experience and Who God is and the character of God.
If I don't know, there's no gap for me to express my faith in that I trust the character of God over the acts of God.
I was talking to Pastor Adrian last night. Teared up a little bit. But it says in Isaiah that who is the potter to tell the. Who was the pot to tell the potter what to make? If I really am a clay in his hands, what authority do I have to tell him?
Well, you should do that to me. I don't have the right to do that. Only he can make me what he makes me. I went through depression. I got to a point of saying, well, God, if this is it, you might as well take me too.
I've got nothing to live for, you know, ex. I've never experienced loneliness like it in my life before.
And it happened right through Covid. It happened in Covid.
It was the worst experience of my life.
But I learned something about God, that he is sovereign. And sovereignty in that situation is not a nice thing because sovereign means that he has his way. I don't have my way. Sovereignty means so very reigns. He reigns over all.
So he actually has authority over my marriage, has authority over my life. The truth is, I don't even know where my next breath is going to be.
Pretty difficult sitting beside your wife of 37 years, watching her take her last breath.
The most difficult yet the most beautiful experience I've ever felt, seen and experienced in my life. The presence of God, which is so thick, you know, nurses were coming into the room going, what is it? There's something in this room. I mean, my wife is dying, yet they're going, what? Is there something in this room?
It's the presence of God.
I don't have the answers, but I had to do one thing. And what I'm going to share with you right now is what I had to learn to do. I had to learn to sing in the prison. I had to learn to sing in the prison, not complain, not whinge, not yell at God. I had to learn to sing.
So let's go on with the story.
Mission turns moments of prison into opportunities.
It goes on in Acts chapter 16 to say they were heading to the place of prayer, probably the river, where they met Lydia. And a demon possessed girl followed them as she had done over the last few days. And she was shouting out to them, to everyone that was there, hey, these guys are the servants of the most high God, and they have come to tell you to be saved. They. She wasn't saying Anything wrong?
It could have been the tone in which she said it, but the Bible says, Australian version, Paul got ticked. He got ticked and he turned her and cast a demon out of her. Well, she belonged to a businessman who made money from her as a fortune teller. And he got really upset because his income just went out the window. This little girl set free, but her income's gone, his income's gone.
The owner reacted, they gathered both of them. The Bible says they beat them with wooden rods like cricket bat, modern day cricket bats. And ultimately they found themselves in the prison. Just not in the prison, but in the deepest, darkest place of the prison. If you'd studied prisons back in then, they had layers of prisons in the bottom of the prison, right?
People in prisons above them. I'll just say this, they never had toilets. So being at bottom of the prison wasn't very nice. So they were in the worst place in the prison.
They were in lockdown, they couldn't get out. If you know Keith Green, he said this, they were the first bankers found in the Bible. Of course, they were in stocks and bonds. That was a joke, people.
Truth is, we don't know what their conversation was about. We don't know what happened. But one thing they did do was they sang.
You know, they didn't preach. They didn't have a debate about the law as to why they should or shouldn't be there, whether this was just or unjust. They didn't give their personal testimony of how they met Jesus. Paul didn't talk about the Damascus Road experience in the prison to try and preach to everybody and how he met Jesus or he was blinded for three days. He didn't even go into a theological rant about salvation was for the Jews and now it's for the Gentiles.
He didn't go down that path at all.
They just sang. What a weird thing to do, just to sing. It says there in Acts, chapter 16, verse 25, it says, through the darkness there were other prisoners listening.
Other prisoners were listening in the darkness.
It would have been a weird thing for two men who had just been beaten within an inch of their life, thrown into the bottom part of the prison and here they are singing. It would have been a weird thing for the other prisoners to hear that. Usually they would have heard people groaning, they would have heard people crying, they would have heard people saying, this is not right, you've got the wrong man. What are you doing? You would have heard cussing and swearing and anger and all sorts of things from these people.
But they Heard singing.
Singing. They were worshiping. Oh, I want to know what that song was all about. I would love to know the words of that song.
What were they singing? What was so good about being there that they were singing about? There was nothing good to be singing about. They weren't blaspheming. There was no angst, there was no anger, just sweet worship.
Sweet worship. And the prisoners were not responding. They were listening.
That's not normal. It's not normal for a prison. Usually the other prisoners will go, shut up. Get over it, you idiot. You imagine they would have been doing all sorts of stuff, but it says they did nothing.
They just listened. I would love to know what they sing about.
Here's a question for you. When you're going through the most difficult time of your life, when you're having a moment and I've been there, as I shared with you, I've been there, I'm going to ask you this question.
What song are you singing? And who's listening?
What song are you singing? In the middle of the frustration, in the middle of the pain, in the middle of the agony, in the middle of the unjust situation, in the middle of something that was not your fault. Seriously, he just cast a demon out of. He set a little girl free. That's not bad.
Who's listening to your song? Who's listening to your song? And what song are you singing? It's pretty powerful when you think about it. Would you see that as a quick story?
You know, it goes on further to say that as they were singing at midnight, their worship was overawed by a massive earthquake where that prison was totally wrecked, could never be put back together.
And the jailer was so concerned that he was about to take a sword and kill himself because everyone he thought had left had left and they weren't there. And Paul said, oh, don't do that. Don't kill yourself. We're still here.
And Scripture accounts this. It said, the jailer turned to Paul and said this. What must I do to be saved? Here's a question. How did he know he needed to be saved?
Because Paul never even preached. He didn't speak. He didn't actually share the gospel.
He didn't give an exegesis of what had happened to him in his life or why they needed Jesus and they crucified him on the cross and his blood flowed and his blood covers our sin. He didn't go into any of that. He just worshipped something in their song and something in their spirit spoke to the jailer that the jailer asks a question, what do I need to be saved? How did he know he needed to be saved?
I don't know if it was words that they sang. I don't know whether they sang the gospel in their. In their worship. I don't know what they did. But something inside of that jailer knew that he needed salvation.
I don't know if it was the presence of God. Obviously it was there as they worshiped. The presence of God was there and something convicted. But I want to tell you, if you're singing the right song, if your attitude is right, if you're on mission, if you're prepared to understand that God has authorized you to stay on mission, if you listen to the Holy Spirit, when you're going through the hardest time of your life, there's going to be people in your world that are listening in the dark that you can't even see. And there's going to be situations that happen where your life totally turns around and you're released from that, and they're going to come up and say, what do I need to.
What to do to be saved?
If you stay on mission, if you're prepared to go through the prison moments and stay on mission, salvation will be the fruit of your mission.
It says there that he got baptized, jailer got baptized, and all of his family got baptized. He took him home. Here's the weird thing, right? The jailer put him into. The jailer put him into the deepest, darkest, most worst part of the prison.
The jailer did that, he would have been the one cussing them and doing all sorts of things. That would have been his posture. He gets saved, then he takes them to his house and he feeds them. And he said, and the Bible says, and he tended to their wounds. This is the guy that put him in prison.
Psalm 23 says, and you'll prepare a table in the presence of my enemies.
The people who have put you in your prison could be the very people that get saved and tend to your wounds and actually become your friends and follow the same example that you're on. They could be the result of you being on mission. Those people who have put you into prison ask you again, what's your song? What are you singing? Are you getting caught up in the moment and trying to justify your circumstance and justify your decision?
Are you trying to find, why, God? Why is this happening? Why is that happening? Or you just prepare to say, God, I want to stay from away mission.
Here's a very interesting thought. I won't read it to you remember I said at the beginning it was actually a Roman colony? It was a Roman colony. Paul was a Roman citizen. When they heard what.
When the Authority heard what happened, they come and said, hey, Paul and Silas, you can go. You know what Paul said? We're not going anywhere. We're Roman citizens. You've beaten us, you've unjustly.
You didn't even give us a trial, and you threw us in prison. We're not going anywhere. The authorities got scared because they didn't know they were Roman citizens. Now, short note, side note, if I was Silas, I would have taken a cricket bat and taken it to Paul right then and there, because he could have pulled out the citizen card before they even beat him up in the first place. He could have said, hey, hey, hey.
Back off with the bats, boys. This is a Roman colony. I'm a Roman. You better treat me properly. I haven't done anything wrong.
But he didn't. He allowed them to beat him. Allowed him, Put him in prison. If I was Silas, I said, I would have picked up the bat and beat him myself. Of course, he made me go, why didn't you pull the card earlier?
Why don't you get that thing out of your back pocket and say, oi, you can't do this to me. But he knew something, because earlier he heard the Holy Spirit say, don't speak.
He was so in tune with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. Don't speak. When they got across to Macedonia, the Holy Spirit allowed them to speak. And it's allowing them to speak the result of speaking.
Listen. The Holy Spirit got them in jail. Paul knew deep down that a part of the mission was the jail.
We would say, the devil's doing this to me. The devil's trying to come against me. And we'd ask all our friends, pray for me, the devil's against me. No, the devil wasn't against them at all. The Holy Spirit led them through the jail.
I certainly thought it was the devil when my wife passed away. And they had to come to the realization that God's got a bigger plan that I don't understand and I never will understand, but I gotta trust him in his sovereignty, that he knows better than me. You know, I always used to preach this. God knows, therefore you don't need to. God knows, therefore I don't need to until you really need to.
And I really wanted to know. I want to know why I was going through the prison and my words came back to haunt me. Do you really need to know? Because you can't handle knowing it because my ways are far more hard. My thoughts are higher than you.
You will not even. Even if you had the greatest intellect, Steve, you could not understand how I think. You don't have the ability. So just drop it and trust me. So I had to change my song and get back on mission.
I'm going to ask you a question. Who do you relate to, Paul on mission? Silas? Who want if it was me, take a cricket bat and lay into him a bit, get upset at him. Do you relate to the.
To the prisoners who are listening in the dark, or do you relate to the prison guard? Because we can all relate to someone.
I want to first of all talk to people who may relate to the prisoners or the prison guard. You're caught up in the noise. You found yourself in prison. You may know why you're there or you don't know why you're there or you're scared. You've looked around what's happening around the world right now, and it's freaking you out as it is.
It could easily freak a lot of people out.
Streets aren't safe. There's all sorts of things happening. But you found yourself here this morning. I want to tell you it's God's divine plan that you're here this morning to hear the word of God, to say you can be set free from your prison. You can be like the prison guard who says, what must I do to be saved and see salvation enter your world and change your perspective and bring hope into your life and bring life that you've never experienced before.
But to do that, you've got to do what the jailer did. What must I do to be saved? The Bible says if you believe in your heart and speak with your mouth that he is Lord, confess with your mouth, then you will be saved. Repent of the ways you've been going and invite him into your life. That's what the jailer did.
And he went from being a hardened jailer to serving to a servant instantly because of Jesus. In a moment, I'm going to give you an opportunity to respond if that's you. But maybe you're like Paul or you relate to Silas or you go, man, I was like Paul once. But I've let go of my mission. I've got caught up in the noise.
I've got caught up in the moment. I've allowed the moments to supersede the mission that God's called me. I've let go of the passion for people. I've let go of the passion of the kingdom. I've let go of the things that I know that God has given me authorization over.
I've let it go and I've allowed myself to sit back. And this morning, the Holy Spirit is saying, hey, get back on mission. I haven't called you to sit back. I want you back on mission.
But if you're the first person, the jailer or the prisoner, I want to give you an opportunity to respond to Jesus.
I'm going to ask everyone in a moment to close their eyes and bow their heads, and I'm going to give you an opportunity to respond. This is what I'm going to ask you to do. If. If you're a person who wants to invite Jesus into your life, I'm just going to ask you to slip your hand up in a moment and we're going to pray. Then after, I'm going to ask you to go to the desk at the front there, and some people are going to be there.
They're going to help you on your journey of salvation. But this is the best thing you could ever do, ever. So if there's something stirring in your heart, you say, I need this. This is your moment, that you've heard the truth and something stirring your heart. This morning, I want to invite you to invite Jesus into your life.
So I'm going to ask everyone right now to close your eyes, bow your heads. I'm the only person looking. If that's you this morning, you so relate to the prisoner that's been listening in the dark, and you've heard the sweet sound of the gospel. You've heard the worship. You've heard the sweetness of people's lives, and something has overawed.
You actually are longing for this in your life. Or you're like the prison guard who said, what must I do to be saved? Because you're scared.
That's you. And you will invite Jesus into your life this morning to change the trajectory of your life. At the count of three, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand and then we're going to pray. 1. That's you.
You're the prisoner guard. 2. You relate to the prisoner. 3. That's you.
Quickly, raise your hand. Where are you? Wow. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 people. Is there anyone else?
God is speaking. You want Jesus, you need Jesus. You relate to that prisoner or that prison guard. It's time for you, and you know it. Quickly.
Anyone else, just raise your hand. Wow. Please just put your hand down if that response came from the bottom of your heart. I want you to pray this prayer. Everyone's gonna say this prayer with me.
I want you to pray this prayer. Are you ready? Dear Jesus, thank you for loving me enough to come to this world to die for me. I make a decision right now to invite you into my life. I repent of my ways.
Forgive me of my sin. Come into my life. Be my Lord and Savior. From this day on, I will do everything to follow you and be on mission for the cause of the kingdom. In Jesus name, I pray this amen.
Church. Can we just give all those people. That's awesome. Come on.
If you spoke that from the place of your innermost speech and you meant it, what I really want you to do is just find yourself out at the table. Is it the table out there? There's Bibles for you. We've got some information for you. We want to take you on this journey.
This is the best day of your life. What a way to start. 2025. Awesome. Come on, let's give those people a hand again.
It's awesome. 26, a senior moment. It's actually good being a scene. You got excuses all the time.
If you want to hear something funny, last at the. In 2021, when my wife passed away, it's not funny, but it's funny. I was so in a different world. I did all the Christmas cards for my daughters, got three daughters. I did Christmas cards and I wrote happy, happy birthday to them all.
Crazy. My head was just in another place.
What's your song? And are you on mission? I know this message is right for this moment in this church. And, you know, so many of you are on mission and you should feel so encouraged by this because people are getting saved every week. You just saw that today.
But if you've let go of the mission, you know, God's called you to.
I'm going to say this right, your workplace.
We usually identify ourselves by what we do. Anywhere we meet someone, we go, Hi, I'm Steve. What's your name? Adrian. What's usually our next question?
What do you do? What do you do, Adrian? He's a pastor. And depending on that response, we will actually rank people truthfully, will we not? Oh, well, will I spend a lot of time talking to you or not?
Imagine if you said, hi, I'm Adrian. What do you do? Ah, I'm on mission, man.
What the heck is that? I'm on mission. I'm actually on mission of the kingdom.
I think you're probably on some other Stuff. But anyway, I want to say this. Jesus sees you more of that person that is a kingdom of God, son and daughter on mission than what you do. Do not devalue yourself by what you do. It's who you are called to be is your value.
So what I say, what do I say? So whether you're, you're working as a carpenter, whether you're what doesn't matter whether you're a high end lawyer, right? Whether you're a nurse, it doesn't matter what situation or what you do. You don't go there as a nurse or you go, don't go there as a doctor. You don't get, go there to fulfill and tick some boxes.
You go there on mission under the commission and authority of Jesus Christ to be the only one in that place. You are the only one in that place that God is called to actually be the light and salt in that place.
No one else has got that opportunity but you. So wherever you go tomorrow, we go in all different places. Wherever you go tomorrow, you're going there commissioned by Jesus with an authority to be on mission.
If you're open to the Holy Spirit, he just might speak. That person really bugs you. The Holy Spirit might say, just buy them a cup of coffee and drop it on their desk and move on. They hate me.
Doesn't matter if you're open to the Holy Spirit, he might speak. If you know that you're not where you should be. You've let go of your mission. I want you to quickly stand your feet. We're going to pray for you.
Just quickly stand your feet. You know, you know this message has touched you. You know God's calling you back on mission. I want you to stand to your feet quickly. Come on, let's applaud these people.
There's more people that need to stand. Come on. You know you're not on mission. You know you've let it go. You know you've actually heard the Holy Spirit speak to you in certain times and you just ignored it.
The Holy Spirit 2 is trying to get through Hay, I need you to do this. I need you to speak here. I need you to get this.
If someone around you is standing, I just want you to stand beside them, put your hand on the shoulder, have a look around. Thank you for those people standing. Thank you so much. I believe today there's something powerful going to happen. I want you to pray with me and pray for these people.
Father, I thank you for this church and I thank you for the honest people who stood right now who said, God, I'm not where I need to be. I've let go of the mission that you've called me to be on. Father, I pray this morning they feel the authorization and the commissioning of the Holy Spirit to go into every part of their world, Lord, to go to their workplace, to go into their home, to go to their Lord, to all the far reaching places, even those that are going on holidays. God, you know where they're going and you know who they're, who's going to be there and you know what opportunity is going to be be there for them. Father, I pray, Lord, that this message would be in their heart not just for a moment, but for a lifetime.
They understand, Lord, they are just not a plumber, they're just not a carpenter, they're just not a housewife, they're just not a nurse. But they are a son and daughter of the most High God, commissioned for the mission of the kingdom to bring life to people. So Father, I pray that their ears will be open to hear the Holy Spirit. That you will speak and they'll listen, they'll respond, they'll speak. They'll know when to speak and when not to speak.
Father, I sense they will know the authority of the Holy Spirit as it just comes and flows from the innermost being. God, I thank you for a church that is on mission, that is called to a place called Frankston, Lord, that is called to change the world of the people who live there. Father, let your light and let your salt go out so that people may know that you love them and that you have a life for them far greater than they ever known before. In Jesus name I pray and everyone said amen. Come on, let's sing the end of this song.
Come on, let's lift our voices, God, right across. Let's just lift our hands. Come on, let's declare it this morning.
Now and forever. Thank you, God.
Yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory Yours is the name.
What a powerful name it is what a what a powerful name it is the name of Jesus Christ mighty what a powerful name it is and nothing can stand again what a powerful name is the name of Jesus what a powerful name Name is the name of Jesus what a powerful name it is the name of Jesus Whoo. That was a good word, wasn't it? Thank you, Pastor Steve.
I'm telling you, you know, I was.
I pray for you that you will get this call, every one of us. God's call is on your life. His call is on your life. And the Devil wants to distract us. He wants to demean us.
He wants to destroy us. But the Lord Jesus Christ came that we may have, and you may have life and that you may live it to the full. And living it to the full is stepping into the call of God that says, God, you got a greater purpose for me. You got a mission for me. And my life is going to be used to change other people's lives.
Not just now, not just your friend, not just at your work, but for generations to come. Come on. Your life is called to change. Generations in your family, generations in the people that you minister to and our work. Your life is called to have an eternal impact.
And my prayer for us is that we would grab a hold of this and not let life and moments and the devil rip us off. Don't get distracted. He's got a call on your life. Barista. You believe that?
He's got a call here. Welcome back, by the way, from Brazil. Welcome back. It's good to have you back with us. But God has a call on your life.
And, you know, well done people who stood up and said, I'm rededicating my life to Jesus. I'm giving my life to Christ. I saw a couple here, first time in our church, standing and believing God to be on mission and step in. Well done to you. Well done to all of us that are stepping into that, because he has great things.
I can feel. I love this church. I love the people in this church because we're called together. Amen. We're called together to do something great for God.
So let's go do it. Hey, let's go do it. And Pastor Steve's come, and if you want to, you know, I love his heart. And, you know, people have gone through the worst of life and gone through the pain and still say, but Jesus is the one I serve, and I'm stepping in and sharing from that heart. That's what changes lives.
And we want to thank you for sharing your heart and the grace of God and the love of God with us. And if you'd like to. Him and his wife. His wife now. How long you been married now?
18 months. He's been married with his wife, Elder, and they've started a business, a ministry, which is helping churches to renovate, to fill up their space and modernize so they can reach more people. And it's a very unique space. That's one of the reasons we got in touch with you. This is the reason we got in touch with you.
They've started that new endeavor. And, you know, he's done a whole bunch of work for us already and hasn't charged us anything yet. And because he's generous and he says, I want to help, I want to be part of what God's doing and assist. And so if you'd like to make a contribution for his ministry to us today, sharing from our heart, that's a faithful step they've taken, and they're believing God for great things. We want to bless them and we want to bless the people that they're going to minister to all through this.
So if you'd like to make a contribution, you can do that on our ways to give. Just put Pastor Steve or guest ministry. There's envelopes there. You can hand those at the desk if you'd like to do that. We'd love to bless them with that.
Because who was blessed by that word? That's what we need at the start. Someone who brings a word from God to us. Not a word, not a nice idea, but a word from God and say, is that all right? Can we pray together?
Then? We're going to finish with this song and go and have a great rest of the day. Lord, I pray for your people all over this place. God, I pray that you would grab a hold of us, Holy Spirit. All of us are going through different moments, God, but you have a mission for us.
You have a purpose for us. And I want you to think right now about the purpose and purpose plans God has for you in your friendships, in your family, for your children, in your workplace, the dreams God's given you. It's time to pick them up and run with them and go forward and say, nothing's going to stop me. So, Holy Spirit, fill us, Holy Spirit. Lead us, Holy Spirit.
Empower us, Holy Spirit. Give us your grace and power. We pray so we can be the men and women of God you called us to be. I pray it in in Jesus precious name. All God's people said amen.
Come on. Why don't we finish with this song? This morning death could not hold me declaring the veil before you. Your silence, Your praise are your glory for you. Come on.
You have your rival. Oh, you have no rival. You have no equal. Now and forever, God you reign for. Yours is the king, yours is a glory.
Yours is the name of our name. What a powerful name is. What a powerful name it is the name of Jesus Christ, my king. What a powerful name it is and nothing can stand again. What a powerful name it is the name of Jesus.
What a powerful name it is the name of Jesus. What a powerful name. It is the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
Well, God bless you, Church. Can I just say, if you did raise your hand to rededicate your life to Christ or give your life to Jesus for the first time, we've got, on the right hand side of that bookshelf there, there's a table. We've got a Bible that we want to give you. Can I encourage you go and get it. We want to help you with your walk with God for the rest of this year.
We got some things we can help you with. We can pray with you. We'd love to meet you, Come over there, give you that Bible. Well done again. Give those guys a hand again.
God bless you, Church. Go have a great rest of the day. We love you.
Related Bible Verses
Scripture References
Luke 1:38 (KJV)
"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her."
John 1:1 (NLT)
"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Acts 16:6-15 (NLT)
"Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there. We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis. From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days. On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. She and her household were baptized, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.
John 16:13 (ESV)
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come."
John 17:18 (NLT)
"Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world."
John 6:38 (NLT)
"For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will."
Luke 4:18-19 (NLT)
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord's favor has come."
Acts 16:25-34 (NLT)
"Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God."
Psalm 23:5 (NLT)
"You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings."
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)
"'My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,' says the Lord.
'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.'"
Isaiah 64:8 (NLT)
"And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, and you are the potter.
We all are formed by your hand."
Romans 10:9 (NLT)
"If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."