# Paul Follows and God Brings the Increase

December 4, 2025

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Acts chapter number 16. Acts chapter number 16 tonight. Good to see everyone here. It feels like we started off a little low, but people are trickling in more and more. I’m glad for that. Good to see everyone tonight. Last week, we left the Book of Acts. We’ve been going through the Book of Acts for, oh, I’d say a year or so now. We left it last week. We changed midweek from Wednesday to Tuesday, and it was a testimony service. Always a sweet service. And praise the Lord for that. But we’re back to the Book of Acts today. And I want to rehearse a little bit.

Two weeks ago, we covered really Paul’s Second Missionary Journey, the beginning of it. And I want to just kind of rehearse a little bit where we left off two weeks ago. So if we can get that map right there, good.

And remember this was Paul. Right before, the chapter before, 15, is where Paul and Barnabas had their division. The contention was sharp, and Barnabas took John Mark and went down to Cyprus, this island here. They went there on the first journey. Paul took Silas. They started in Jerusalem and they’re here. And that’s where they split. Barnabas and John Mark went here, and Paul takes Silas and they start heading back through some of this country where they were before. They’ve been on the first missionary journey all along.

In fact, he’s going back the second time. That’s where he meets with Timothy. It’s getting a little missionary party. You remember last time we talked about it before it was always “they,” talking about the missionary. Then in chapter 15, I believe it is, or maybe 16, 16 it is, they changed from “they,” and he starts saying “us.” Of course, the penman of the Book of Acts is Luke. So Dr. Luke joined the missionary team there. And so that’s what we’re at.

I remember, if you remember, two weeks ago, they were kind of wondering where God wanted them to go this time. They passed where they had been and wanted to be in Asia, whatnot. And God said no. Remember, twice God said no. They were longing here, and God said, no, no, no, no. And along in here, then they wanted to kind of go up north, and God said, no. They just got all these “no’s.”

And, you know, that’s the way it is. Sometimes you’re trying to feel the will of God, and you just feel like you’re in the dark. And yet remember what happened? They’re up along here, and he had that vision in the night. That’s the exact wording of the King James Bible. And boy, I love it when I’m just kind of feel like I’m walking in the darkness, don’t know what’s going to happen, and God gives you a vision in the night. He does that. Stay faithful. Don’t get discouraged. Stay faithful, and God will guide you.

Remember, we call it the Macedonian call because that guy over Macedonia says, “Hey, send someone over.” And that’s where we get in the song we sing about that.

And so they crossed over into what some would say Europe. Don’t get too technical. I understand other parts are, but many would say—I think the Schofel Bible, some of the head—you know, the first convert in Europe, we’ll get to. Maybe not technically right on that, not the Bible, but, you know, Schofel on that. But you understand what he’s saying. They crossed over here to Europe, what many would say is Europe.

And then they get over here to Philippi. Now, remember Philippi: the church at Philippi, the Philippian church. Paul had a special bond. Remember, at one point, Paul said nobody else cared for me or took care, sent me financial help, but that church did. They just had a special bond, and it’s a great church, and this is really the start of that church. I just kind of wanted to get our minds going back to where we’ve been on this thing as far as our Bible study on the Book of Acts.

We’re in Acts 16. We’re going to read just one verse, then we’ll pray. We’ll go read verse number 12, Acts 16 and verse number 12. Would you please stand as I read God’s Word together here, to give it respect and to get you awake? You know, it’s always tempting. You’ve been out in the cold and you’ve come into these warm buildings and padded pews, and you fall asleep. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. So we got to get you staying awake a little bit here.

Look at verse number 12. Verse number 12: “And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia,” so it’s kind of like, if you will, the capital, if you will, and a colony. “And we were in that city abiding certain days.”

All right. Second Missionary Journey. They’re at Philippi now. All right. So let’s pray and we’ll try to dive into this thing. What’s going on?

Father, I pray you would bless it, Lord. Different things I believe these are the things you’d have us cover, Lord. So I pray that you would. Lord, let them not just kind of get glazed over. Let them sink into our minds and our hearts. I pray that they would go to our minds and our hearts. Give us what we need. These people are here. They’re working hard, Lord, making sure they’re in your house. Bless them for it. Father, I know you will. Give them something from your word in the Bible study. And we’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do. It’s in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. Let’s pick it up. We’re picking up in verse number 13. Let’s just read a little bit—just three verses here. I’m going to try to pull some truths out as God guides this.

Verse number 13: “And on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made.” It’s interesting how much prayer comes into play in this Second Missionary Journey. “And we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither.”

“And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which are spoken of Paul.”

“And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there.” And she constrained us.

Now, this really is the starting of the church at Philippi. It starts with this one lady getting saved. They went out there to pray, and this lady—God was working her heart—she responds properly. I want you to notice something about this. Now, I remember we just rehearsed. Can you put that map back up there, Brother Josh? We’ll keep it up there for a bit. And you remember here… just visualize the map is there. He’s working on it. There we go, there we go. Just remember they were okay… There we go. And God said, “Let there be light.” Amen. There it is. Good deal.

Remember, they were over here and prayed, “Lord, this is it.” And God said, “No, this isn’t it,” twice. Twice. And then God gives them the vision of the night. They’re over here now. And watch this, watch this. Look, if you will, please, in verse number 14. Look at verse number 14: “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple.” She’s a businesswoman of the city of—what’s the next word?—Thyatira. Now, where’s that at? Well, that’s back over here where they thought God wanted me to go to in Asia, the first place that the Bible didn’t record us record them arguing, “Hey, Asia’s it!” But they were trying to go there, and God said, “No, that’s not it.”

And so they were here, God said, “No, no, no,” and they followed the Lord’s leadership all the way over here. And, you know, the funny thing is, God wanted to reach people there in Thyatira, too, and He did.

Now, here’s the thing—we’re going to just for a bit try to emphasize this thing at the very beginning, a couple of different truths. But, you know, you just follow God’s leading, and He brings the increase. I can get caught up: “We got to reach this person. We got to do this.” Actually, it’s not us that reaches anybody anyway. You just follow God’s will.

Did you notice what he says? Look back over there in verse number 14: “A certain woman named Lydia, seller of purple, the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened.” The Lord opened. Friend, you know, we think, “I gotta do this, I gotta have this number in my Sunday school class,” whatever. No, you just follow the Lord’s will. He’s the one that brings the increase. He’s the one to open hearts anyway.

If they had gotten stuck, “We got to stay up here in Asia. I’m burdened about the people in Asia.” If they had been like that, that’s where Thyatira is—right there. If they had been like that, you know, you just follow God’s will, and in God’s time, God opens hearts up. And it was the people over here where they were at earlier they wanted to reach. God knows how to reach people. God, what did he say? “I have planted, Apollos watered; but what? But God gave the increase.” God does that. Just follow the Lord’s will.

Now here’s something that’s very interesting. When you just follow God’s leading, when it makes it clear what to do—vision in the night—you follow it. You know, Lydia, we read it already, but she was the seller of purple. She was a business person, probably a little bit well off. Now we don’t know, but we think that her husband has passed. It seems she’s making the decision. She’s a seller of purple. Apparently, she had a fairly good-sized house.

Notice what it says there down in verse number 15: “And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there.” And she constrained us.

Now, we don’t know everyone that’s on the missionary team. We know there’s Paul, we know there’s Silas, we know there’s Timothy, we know there’s Luke. So what’s a little party here? Maybe other helpers are in this missionary team. And she’s got a big enough house. I mean, you get a couple of people and you try to buy a motel for a year or two, you know, pay for it—that gets expensive. But she said, “Look, my house is big enough that she can fit the whole missionary team.” And it became the hub of the missionary work. And I don’t know exactly how long they stayed there for; I don’t think that long.

But here’s what I’m getting at: When you follow God’s will, you’ve heard it said, “Where God guides, God provides.” Brother Adam said at one time, he preached a year or two ago, at the beginning, “We’re taking a loan out,” whatnot, something along that line, but he said this way—I never heard a word of this way—he says, “God’s will, God’s bill.” I mean, I like that right there. Good way to put it. And, you know, you just follow God’s will. God gives you the provision. This missionary team, they needed a place to stay. They followed God’s will, and their first convert is a businesswoman that has a house big enough to house them all.

One more thought. We’re going to move on here, all right. We’re just covering some verses. Can you imagine Lydia just got saved? And while they need to disciple her, can you imagine how helpful it was to the missionary team to be able to stay in her house—provision? But not only that, can you imagine how helpful that would be for a young Christian? Be kind of like in the middle of this church starting, this church plant, these preachers are there, and how it helped her grow.

Now, not always, but typically when you’re doing God’s will, yes, it helps whoever you’re serving. It also helps the person doing the serving. Typically, when God’s in it, both parties get helped. I think about so many of our people that are doing this ministry and this ministry, and I think they’re doing a great job in their ministry, but it’s also so good for the person that’s involved in the ministry. And that’s key. That’s usually the way God works. But you just follow God’s leading and let Him take care of the resource. That’s so very, very important.

Can I say this? Just thinking about this truth, and we’re about to move on to another set of verses here. But I thought about this when I was in Bible College. I crammed a four-year degree in about seven years. No, I didn’t. I actually did it in five years. But then I came back—we’d graduate, but we came back for a bit. So all together, there’s seven years in the ministry, and I took some classes toward the Master’s, but anyway…

I see and notice this: Almost every person that I ever saw go through Bible College, there comes a stage while they’re going through it that they feel so burdened to go back home because their mom and dad got a divorce, or their home church is going through hardship, and they need to go back and help their home church, or mom or dad died, they got to go back and do it. I’ve seen it so many times. Almost always when something’s going on, they’re going through Bible College, something’s going to happen back home when they just feel like, “I got to go back home and help out.”

And, you know, a lot of good people did that. But, you know, honestly, I can’t really think of one of those that are really in full-time ministry today, up to my knowledge. I’m not saying God didn’t use them, God won’t use many at all, but they just didn’t get used a lot. But I saw a lot of them go through that stage, and they stayed. “God’s called me here, to go through Bible College; they’re going to follow God’s will.” You got to follow God’s will. That’s what you got to do. God’s the one that really helps people and changes lives and saves souls anyway.

This is just an illustration about Bible College; it’s so real. But just trying to illustrate this thing: they just said, “Hey, this is it. We’re going to follow God’s will.” And it’s amazing how God ended up helping this lady. She was one of the very first converts, and this church got started out of her house, from over there in Asia, where they were earlier, and God kept saying, “No, no, no.”

Now, let’s get another truth here, all right. We’re going to go to verse number 16. Verse number 16. And this is what I want to talk about here. I’m going to tell you ahead of time before we read these next couple of verses: Just because the message or the words are correct, it doesn’t mean the messenger is correct. And just that thought process—I’m going somewhere with this, but I want you to see this.

Look at verse number 16. Acts 16:16: “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.” That’s kind of like a fortune teller, if you will. She’s a palm reader, if you will. And she was, by the way, don’t get mixed up in all those horoscopes and all the rest of the Bible, so I don’t even learn that. She was involved in all that, and the demons would help her in that. And she had helped them gain a lot of money. They made a lot of money off of that—her owners.

Now, look at verse number 17. “The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.” Is that a correct message or not? Is that a correct message or not? Yeah. I got someone to shake their head, “No.” I was working, trying to get somebody. What’s the first part of the message? “These men are the servants of the Most High God.” Is that true? Were they the servants of the Most High God? Yes. “Which shew unto us the way of salvation.” Were they telling them, showing them the way to get saved? Were they teaching them? So was this girl giving the right message? Was she a godly lady, right with the Lord, serving God? No. And I don’t know what happened to this poor girl. Hopefully, when the demon got cast out, maybe she got saved. We don’t know. She’s being used by the demons and by her owners. Sad thing, poor girl.

But she’s a demon-possessed girl. She’s saying the right thing. It’s correct. It’s absolutely correct. “Servants of the Most High God showing the way of salvation.” That’s true. Sound like a pretty good message. But what kind of effect did it have? Look at verse number 18: “And this did she many days.” It’s been going on for a while now. What kind of effect did it have? “But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out of the same hour.

You can apply that a couple different ways. First of all, maybe with a counselor, a preacher, someone giving advice. You might say, “Well, that was right on.” And it could be right on, but they’re not right on. You need to be aware of that, especially online with all that’s going on there. So I might give you one piece of advice and say, “Okay, maybe right,” but does it mean they are right? You might get hooked into something you don’t want to get hooked into.

Now, let me go a little different angle on this thing here. You know, somebody would say, “Well, that’s a good song. It’s got good words.” Well, she had good words. She had the right words. But she was demon-possessed.

Sometimes people say, “Well, that’s Christian music; the words…” Sometimes I’ll say, “I couldn’t understand the words anyway.” Anybody out there? We’ve been to many restaurants, and I’ll say, “Tammy, is that Christian or not?” And we have to really listen. It’s hard to understand the words. And somebody says, “Well, it’s got good words to it.” Well, I understand, but that doesn’t mean it’s from God. You understand?

This girl was saying the right thing, but she was demon-possessed. By the way, when you study, a lot of times demons would say, “Well, that’s the Master,” and they knew who Jesus was. And don’t pronounce judgment on us quite yet, Jesus, not fault. They knew who Jesus was. And a lot of times the devil’s tactic is: if you can’t beat them, join them. Let’s be careful with that. Just because the words are right words doesn’t mean it’s from God.

This girl was saying the right things for sure, but it didn’t help Paul and his missionary team do a better job. You think the words were so good—“They serve the Most High God,” the holy God, they’re serving God, and they’re talking about how to go to heaven—but it didn’t have a good effect. It weakened Paul; he was just worried by it.

By the way, music will either help you grow and be a stronger Christian, or it’ll kind of put a ceiling over you where you can’t rise above. Music is very… Satan is very talented at music. I believe he was a song leader in heaven. And so, just wanted to get that truth in there as we’re going through this thing.

Now let’s go to another section. All right, we’re just studying some sections of scripture as we’re going on down. We’re at verse number 19. Y’all still with me tonight? You know, we got these lights off back here. I don’t know if we need this map on anymore or not, but we’ll keep it up there for a bit. We may turn the lights on. I haven’t heard any snoring yet, but we’ll say, you know. All right. We’re in verse number 19. Verse number 19. I’m going to tell you what we’re going to go through here. In fact, I’m going to turn these lights on so I’m not quite so dull. But this is what we’re going to do here. On this next verse, I want you to notice during this rough time, I want you to notice two things. I want you to notice Paul—we’ve been very tempted for Paul—Paul did not start blaming himself for the situation they got into, and they didn’t start fussing and fighting, blaming each other. I want you to have that thought in your mind as we read it.

All right, we just look at this. We’re in verse number 19: “And when her”—that’s the girl that had the demons, they cast the demons out—“when her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone,” they’re losing money, “they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers. And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.” They’re putting it on, stretching a little bit, but they’re putting it on.

Watch this, verse number 22: “And the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.” Now, don’t take verse number 23 lightly. Look at this: “And when they had laid many stripes…” How many of you, when you were little and you got spanked, you and your siblings would compare who got it worst? Anybody ever do that? Yeah, I’ve got a couple of heads going up on that. But when these folks here, they had many stripes beaten.

And it was blood involved. We know later on because the jailer eventually washes the scars and the stripes. We’re not talking about just—this is a major beating, many stripes. “And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Who having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.”

Now, I told you this—just put yourself in Paul’s shoes. Can you do that? You say, “Were they sandals or not?” I don’t know. All right, just—they weren’t Nikes, I’ll tell you that. I don’t know what the word is, but then he’s been weary. That really just opened up the door of problems because now this girl, this teenage girl, probably her owners couldn’t make money off of her. And, man, you know, you take people’s money, they’re mad.

So now they drag Paul, his missionary team over there to the leaders, and they exaggerate in all their accusations, you know, and they make it sound bad. And so the leaders are mad. They’re rending their clothes, showing how mad they are. And the leaders say, “All right, yes, let’s beat them.” And they had their soldiers beat them, I mean, till they were bloody.

And then they go throw them in jail, and it’s real, real strict, probably to the point—it seems later on, we’ll get to it next Wednesday—if they would escape, probably the jailer would have been executed for it because, hey, these are hardened, inner prison, maximum security prison. And they put stocks on their feet. I mean, they’re treating them like the worst of criminals. They beat them bloody.

And now they’re in, you know, they’re not just handcuffs. Has anybody ever been handcuffed by a police officer? But I don’t want you to raise your hand if you have. But, you know, it’s a little bit humiliating, and beaten, and now they’ve got their feet in these stocks, and they’re in the inner, the maximum security of the prison.

Now, think about if you’re Paul. Maybe the thought starts going through: “I should have been more patient. I mean, she’s saying the right thing.” Any of you ever doubt yourself? “How in the world did I do that? Was God really in me casting out? I mean, yeah, I spoke the name of Jesus. There’s power there in the name of Jesus. Maybe I shouldn’t.” I mean, can you imagine? And at the darkest of times, you know, you’re tempted to really start sometimes just… you know what the Bible talks about in 1 John 3? That if your heart condemns you, and your heart can condemn you, by the—the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things; who can know it? Your own heart can really just come against that.

In this passage here, I want you just notice what doesn’t happen. It doesn’t say anywhere that Paul starts saying, “Well, that was a dumb move.” It would have been easy to do that. But it doesn’t have recorded anywhere that Paul—by the way, they say this, men—you might want to cover your ears here on this part, men—but they say, I don’t know who “they” are, but the “they” people, they say that men, when there are problems, are more prone to blame others. If you can say amen, that’s the truth. How many of you, help me out, how many of you, when you can’t find anything around the house, what did you do with this? Whoa, we hit the—man, I shouldn’t go there. Ms. Tammy, I should have had you plug your ears on that. But they say men are more prone to blame others. Women are more prone to blame themselves. And that could have very easily happened here. Paul could have just started condemning his own heart.

Let me just say this about this: Heart times don’t necessarily mean you’re outside of God’s will. It doesn’t necessarily mean you did the wrong thing. Sometimes it means you’re in God’s will. It doesn’t matter if you’re in or out; there’s going to be problems. It’s going to be bad. But the devil will say, “Well, if you hadn’t—if you hadn’t passed that gospel tract out, if you hadn’t spoken to Aunt Joe or Uncle Joe, maybe…” And if we’re not careful, we’ll get blaming ourselves.

Maybe you’re in charge of a ministry. We’re about to go to the jail ministry on Friday night, or your Sunday school class, or your bus route, or whatever. And how many of you don’t have the numbers you wish you had a lot of times? Anybody like that? Yeah, me too. I’m there. And if you’re not careful, you’ll just start really blaming yourself. And it’s a good time—it’s a good thing to check yourself out. Am I trying to live? Am I not perfect, but am I sincerely trying to do right? Am I praying? Am I studying, or visiting, or calling, or texting? Am I putting the work in?

And sometimes I’m doing those things God wants me to do. Can I say this, friend? If you’re there, you’re doing what God wants you to do, two things happen after that. And I go through this thing, man, believe me, I go through this thing. You know, I mentioned it’s not too long ago with a lot of preachers, it’s Monday. You know, the preacher who ever quits, he’s going to quit on Monday. I’ll be honest, for me, it’s Thursday. Where’s everybody out on Wednesday? Pray, Lord, you’re here. But I’ll go through it sometime, and I’ll say, “Hey, am I walking with the Lord?” Sometimes I need to get back into the prayer closet more. Sometimes it’s good for me. Am I visiting? Am I calling? Am I doing all these things? But sometimes I’m doing what I—I’m not perfect, but I think I’m doing what God wants.

And the next thing—all right, the Lord says, “Paul, you’re doing what you’re supposed to do.” And then usually the next thing the Lord tells me is He said, “Paul, get your eyes off the people and get your eyes on Me.” Boy, that’s a chore to do sometimes. And I say, “Well, you know, set your affections on things above and looking unto Jesus.” And I have to work at that. And then the next thing I have to work out often is just be content. You have food and raiment, be content.

Whatever the ministry may be for you, being an influence at work or wherever, and you’ll go through that. But if you’re not careful, Satan will get you where you’re condemning your own self. And that would have been very easy for Paul to do at this time, but the Bible doesn’t record that.

Then another thing about this—and we’re going to be done here pretty soon here—but another thing: You don’t find them blaming each other. It would have been very easy for Luke, you know, he’s the physician, the beloved physician. “Well, Paul, why in the world? Why couldn’t you just put up with that girl for a couple of days? You got us all beat up in here. We’re bloody and we’re in prison now. Nobody’s getting saved now, Paul.” Silas could have done that. But you don’t find recorded in this dark time them blaming each other.

You know what Satan loves to do? Let’s for you a second. Satan loves to get husbands and wives fighting with each other, blaming. He’s going to work at it. He’s going to work at it often on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning on the way to church a lot of times. That’s never, ever happened to any of you all, right? I see everybody kind of hugging each other or nudging each other. He’ll do that. He’ll get marriages. He’ll get churches. He’ll do that. He’ll do his best.

He’ll slap Brother Patterson in the back, you know, and he’ll say, “Steve Page did it.” And then Steve Page, he slaps him on the back, and he’ll say, “Brother Patterson.” And the devil will do that, man. Or just friends. And be so careful. At the dark times when you’re in the inner prison and you’re locked up, that’s when the devil’s going to try to get you fighting and blaming each other. Man, he’s good at it. He will convince you. He’ll convince Steve Page, “Brother Patterson did it,” and he’ll convince Brother Patterson that Steve Page did it, and he’s all about that. He loves to do that.

You know, I was talking to a pastor. He’s a good guy. I think he’s been pastoring maybe, I don’t know, four or five, six years now. Good man, been in the ministry for years and years, but just pastoring five years. And at first, when he took the church, man, it did great. And boy, everything just boomed, you know. And the last year they’ve had some battles, and they went backward a little bit. That’s part of it. And, oh, maybe a month or two ago, we were talking. And I said, “Hey, brother, you know, I’ve been pastoring for 26 years now—some good growing, some going down, some stuff.” It’s much, much easier to pastor a growing church. Everybody thinks you’re great. You’re doing a great job. Everything’s wonderful. That’s pretty easy. But the pastor of a church that’s not growing or going down—that’s when you’ve got to walk with God.

And I’m just trying to use that as a comparison in your life, friend. When things are not going good, that’s when you’re going to be tempted to blame yourself or blame each other. And I’m just saying you won’t find that in this passage. They’re not doing that. I mean, they’re bloody, and their feet are in, you know, handcuffs, ankle cuffs—I don’t know what you call them. Stocks is what the Bible calls them. And yet you don’t find them blaming each other or Paul getting, you know, blaming himself. Be so careful of that.

Let’s get the last thing. We’ve already read it. We’re done here. Look at verse number 25. Verse number 25. Y’all are still out there. Y’all are with me tonight? Pray, Lord, no snoring quite yet. That’s a good thing. All right, here we go. Verse number 25: “And at midnight…” That’s very interesting. At midnight.

By the way, I don’t know this, but I tend to think they got put in jail way before that. They roll up their sidewalks back then at 6 o’clock, 6 p.m. So probably this thing started. They cast the demon out, you know, probably earlier in the day, then they dragged them over to the magistrate. So that’s probably fairly early in the day. And then they got beat, they’re put in jail. I don’t know what time they got put in jail—maybe 8, 9 p.m. I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s anywhere close to midnight. So when we get to heaven, I want to find, “Lord, can we go back and watch the videotape from 8 o’clock to midnight?” What we’re going through—maybe they had to kind of collect themselves a little bit. Maybe there was some blaming themselves and blaming each other, and they had to know, “Let’s get right with God.” I don’t know.

But at midnight, here’s an interesting thing. I’m amazed how many people miss this. At midnight, Paul and Silas—what’s the next word?—prayed and what? “And sang praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them.” I’m amazed; we emphasize singing at that. And I’ve heard so many preachers—myself included, you know—say, “Well, they sang at midnight.” And that’s true. There’s a song about it. God wants to hear you sing. And it’s talking about this right here. When my wife had cancer, I tried to make that my theme song, and I would try to sing that a lot. It’s a great—not trying to criticize—it’s a great song. But so often I’m shocked how many times we miss: They prayed and sang praises.

I think we’d have a whole lot more singing if we had more praying. By the way, the order in the Bible is always very, very important. It doesn’t say they sang and prayed. It says they prayed, and then they sang.

Hey, when you go through hard times, just for a second, look right here for just a second. Look right here for just a second. When you go through hard times, you’re not going to feel like praying. Your mind’s going to be going to the worst. I was talking to someone; they’ve got a test—not sure if it’s cancer or not—and they’re not going to find out until the 15th whether it is or not, and your mind just automatically goes to—I don’t care if you’re the best Christian in the world—your mind goes to the worst. Keep praying. Keep praying. You might not have a powerful prayer life, but just pray, pray throughout the day. Don’t get so bent out of shape that you’re not praying. It may have taken them for a couple of hours saying, “Man, we need to pray.” We’ll be complaining, whining, and whatnot, blaming. Maybe they were doing all that. I don’t know. But at midnight, they prayed.

I’m telling you, friend, you’re not going to feel like praying. You’re sometimes bitter or mad at God a little bit because you’re in those circumstances, and the devil is going to do all he can to keep you from praying. Pray. It’s amazing sometimes the feeblest of prayers. God… it’s amazing. You know, in some of the prayers you think, “God, I ought not to answer that. My heart’s not like it should be.” God’s so gracious. Just keep praying. You’re not going to get right with God unless you start praying. We looked the other day in Jonah 3, and Jonah’s in the belly of the whale, and he prayed. Just pray. He was backslidden in the middle of God, trying to get right, but pray. Pray, pray. Pray, pray. At midnight, they prayed. They prayed.

And then after that, they started singing. Help me out. What do you think they sang? Anybody. “Amazing Grace”? All right, that’s a good one. What do you think they were praying? “Scuba”? Anybody else? “Does Jesus Care”? Maybe so. What was that, Ms. Patty? Don’t get spiritual on us here. Don’t get spiritual. Psalms, all right. Mr. Reese, what were you saying? What? Hey, I don’t know. And it is just wonderful… who knows, man? Maybe what is the hymn. But can you imagine?

Now, here’s the amazing thing. Look at the last part of the verse. We’ve already read it. Look at the last little phrase there. These are sweet words: “And the prisoners…” What’s the next two words? “…they heard them.” You know, when you’re in a valley, people can see it from very far away, especially if they’re up a little bit on a mountain, and they can see you. You know, your lost loved ones or your coworkers, they might not listen to you give the gospel, but they’re watching when you’re down. When you’re in the valley, people can see all around. They’ve got a good view of you.

Man, in the darkest of times, they’re beaten bloody and they’ve got these stocks in the inner prison, and at midnight they prayed and they sang. “Victory in Jesus”—I’m going to do a Bible study next one, it’ll be, “I’m going to prove from the Bible they sang ‘Victory.’” No, I don’t know what they sang. Prove that’s not true because it wasn’t written anywhere. But the prisoners heard them. Man, you got a great opportunity to shine when you’re in the darkest of prisons. We’ll talk Wednesday, Lord willing, next, what happens to the jailer and all that. You know much of that.

Let’s bow our heads for just a moment here, would you please? And just a couple of thoughts. I want you to just spend some time with the Lord during this. It’s just a few minutes here.

But following the Lord and leaving the results to Him—I can get stuck on the results, and that’s a mistake. Am I following Him like I ought to? Just because the message is correct, is the messenger? Am I following the right thing? Am I doing the right thing? Am I listening to the right thing? Am I blaming myself? Am I letting the devil get where I’m just eating on myself? Am I blaming others during the darkest of times? And at midnight, am I praying? And am I singing?

Just a few minutes. Would you take some time with the Lord on that? Let’s stand, if you would, please. I’ll hold a word of prayer, and our pianist will play. Let’s just talk with the Lord about these things.

Father, thank you for Your word. Lord, I pray, I believe this is what You’d have us talk about. I pray that You’d use it. And Lord, guide in our hearts and our minds and help us to draw closer to You during these few minutes. And we’ll thank You, Lord, for what You do. In Jesus’ name we ask, amen.

Would you spend some time with the Lord on these, would you please?

Original File: 2025-12-04 - Pastor Paul Chisgar -＂Paul Follows and God Brings the Increase＂ Wednesday PM 12⧸3⧸2025