Invest & Invite - The Gospel Reaches Europe

Amen.

Thank you so very much.

If you have your copy of God's Word, turn with me to Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

If you do not have a copy of God's Word, there's one in front of you.

I'd encourage you to use that copy this morning.

And you can find today's text on page 954.

Paul, in reference to our sin debt, wrote to us that he, Jesus, has erased the certificate of debt with its obligations that was against us and opposed to us and has taken away, taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

Hallelujah.

Your sin debt and my sin debt has been paid in full by the shed blood of Christ.

And we rejoice in that.

If you're a guest of ours, we are studying through the book of Acts together, not necessarily in a verse-by-verse format, but more of a survey format.

And so this week we're looking at Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 16 marks a turning point in the early church's growth and expansion.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Paul and his team, they're on their second missionary journey.

It'll take us that journey, just looking chronologically here, it'll take us through roughly Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

So they're in the beginning stages of this second missionary journey.

And they're going to carry the gospel for the first time in recorded history.

And as far as we know, there's no reason for us to think differently.

The first time ever, the gospel is going to find its way to Europe.

And so it marks a significant turning point in the growth and the expansion of the church.

We're also going to see Paul and his team land in the city of Philippi, the same Philippi that Paul wrote a book to under that name, Philippians.

And in the city of Philippi, we're going to see God do something very interesting, very exciting.

We're going to see God bring redemption to three, let me just say, three people or three groups of people or circles of influence, but each are dramatically different.

They're not anything alike.

And so we see that how God, how the gospel and how God builds his church with people from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different socioeconomic stages of life, all sorts of things.

We're going to see God bring different people together in one body called the church.

We're going to see the gospel cross every social and political and cultural boundary that you and I have created among man.

And we're going to see the gospel advance through difficulty and injustice and hardship.

Chapter 16 is quite the chapter.

And again, we're not going to look at it verse by verse.

So there's a lot in this chapter we're not even going to touch on.

But hopefully, you'll leave here this morning with a good understanding of what God's doing in these verses.

Look with me first in verses 1 through 3.

Paul and his team, they've been commissioned on this second missionary journey, and they found their way to the cities of Derba, uh, Derby, and Lystra.

Now, remember, they have already been there, so they're kind of retracing their steps from that first missionary journey.

They're going to encourage those churches.

Well, it says that in the city of Lystra, they encounter a gentleman by the name of Timothy.

Now, Timothy would become a significant friend to Paul, and he would play a very important Paul, very important role in Paul's ministry as we continue on.

Matter of fact, he'll become Paul's right-hand man in not too near distant future.

We're told here that Timothy is the son of a believing Jewish woman.

2 Timothy chapter 1 tells us that both his mom and his grandmother were followers of Christ.

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

But notice what it reads next.

His father was a Greek, he was a Gentile.

And as best as we understand, Luke uses that language to just emphasize to us that Timothy's dad was not a believer.

He was not a follower of Christ.

And that's going to prove to be important in just a moment.

We're told that the churches there in Lister and Iconium, verse 2, spoke highly of him.

In other words, Timothy was highly respected.

He was very well thought of.

He had a good reputation in the body of Christ.

And Paul recognizes this.

And look in verse 3.

He says, Paul wanted Timothy to go with him.

And so Paul recognizes Timothy's faith in Christ.

He recognizes his faithfulness to Christ and the ministry.

And so Paul recruits him to go with him, to join him on this mission journey.

But then something very interesting is written here.

We find a very interesting dynamic in verse 3.

So Paul wants Timothy to go with him.

And then we read this.

Since they all knew that his father was a Greek.

Now, Paul, the reason Paul wanted Timothy to undergo this, he gives us there in that verse, because of the Jews who were in those places.

Paul was in full agreement with the Jerusalem Council that we studied last week in chapter 15, that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, not by works of any kind, whatever those works are.

Paul was in full agreement with that.

Matter of fact, you remember he advocated and argued that very point in Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

The issue in Paul's mind has nothing to do with salvation.

The issue has to do with reaching Jews with the good news of Christ.

And here's why.

Paul's mom was Jewish.

And under the Mosaic law, Timothy, I mean Timothy's mom was Jewish.

And under the Mosaic law, Timothy should have been circumcised as an eight-year-old boy.

History tells us he's roughly 18 at this stage in Acts chapter 16, an 18-year-old young man.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

And yet he's never, they've never followed through with this part of the Mosaic law.

And Paul knows that as they continue this ministry and as they encounter Jews on this mission journey, remember, where was the first place Paul would often go to in his ministry?

He would go where?

To the local synagogues.

Well, he knew that Timothy would not be accepted, would not be allowed in the synagogue if he had not undergone this procedure.

And so Paul says, listen, you're viewed as a Jew, you're seen as a Jew, that we've got to make this right, otherwise, it's going to become an impediment to us reaching Jews with the good news of Christ.

The Gentiles could care less.

It wouldn't be an issue for them.

It wouldn't be a stumbling block for the Gentiles, but it would become a stumbling block for the Jews.

Interestingly, along this same line in Galatians chapter 2, Paul refused to circumcise Titus because Titus was a full-blooded Gentile and it would not be necessary.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

And so again, this has nothing to do with Timothy's salvation.

The principle in play is very simple.

Listen carefully.

There will be times in our mission and evangelistic endeavors where we have to be sensitive to cultural traditions and customs that are different than ours.

And we have to be careful that we don't create an obstacle to evangelism or missions that we can easily remove.

I'll give you two examples that our church faces, even right now, in our mission partnerships.

When we send a team to Zambia, all of our ladies have to wear skirts throughout the week.

Not because it's required in Zambia, but because culturally the women don't wear shorts or pants.

And so in an effort not to create a stumbling block to our in our mission endeavors, our ladies wear skirts.

Likewise, when we go to Peru.

In Peru, men don't wear shorts outside of exercise or the beach or something like that.

So when we minister in Peru, all the men have to wear pants.

Is it 100 degrees?

Yeah, it's 100 degrees.

Is it hotter than it's very hot?

Yes, it's hot.

But outside of our VBS work, where we can wear shorts, if we're in the community evangelizing, if we're teaching, whatever it may be doing, men are in pants.

So those are some cultural traditions that we are willing to say, you know what?

I'm not going to make this a big deal.

I'm not going to make an obstacle for the gospel.

I'm glad to just submit to those traditions and customs.

And that's what Paul is saying here.

Matter of fact, in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul would say it like this To the weak I've become weak in order to win the weak.

I've become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.

Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.

So to simplify, here's what's happening in verse 3.

Paul was working hard to eliminate any obstacle, any barrier to the gospel that's reasonably possible without compromising the gospel.

In other words, Paul would never say, hey, let's compromise our convictions, let's compromise our beliefs so that we can reach people.

No, that's not the principle.

We don't compromise what we believe, we don't compromise the gospel, but there are times culturally and traditionally where we can be sensitive to those different things so that the gospel can go forward.

And that's what we see here.

We come to verses four and five.

Paul and his team, they're traveling around, they're going to these cities they've already been to, Lystra and Derby, and Iconium, and Antioch and Basidia and others.

And what are they doing?

They're sharing with them the decision of the Jerusalem Council.

Again, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

This is not of any works that you and I might do.

And look at verse 5.

So the churches were what?

They were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

They were encouraged and strengthened not only by the result of the Jerusalem Council, but by the visit from Paul and his team and others.

And so we see a church that's being strengthened and being encouraged.

And look what the result is.

They grew daily in numbers.

And that's common in the early church.

The early church was growing exponentially.

God was doing a great work all over that part of the world, the Mediterranean.

And we see, God, we're going to see that in just a few minutes.

Look, beginning in verse 6.

Paul and his team are in what you and I now would know to be the central portion of modern-day Turkey.

Paul and his team, they're wanting to go deeper into Asia.

Okay?

They think logically that's where the gospel needs to go next.

And we're told here that they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

And then verse 7, the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go into Bithnea or Micah.

So in a way that you and I can't answer this morning because scripture doesn't tell us, God's Holy Spirit would not allow them to go further into Asia.

Instead, God was sending them to Macedonia, modern day Greece, Europe, the continent of Europe.

And like I mentioned in the introduction, for the first time we see the gospel reaching Europe.

Now something interesting happens in verse 10.

The pronouns change.

Previously it was they and them.

Now all of a sudden in verse 10, it's we and us.

Luke, who authored the book of Acts, has joined Paul and his team.

So now he's a part of this mission team.

So he's gonna share with us firsthand eyewitness account of what God was doing in this ministry.

Pretty significant there.

And so he tells us that they had concluded as a team that God had called them to Macedonia, to Europe.

And then we come to verse 11.

And it says they made their way to a city called Philippi.

And notice what it says there: a Roman colony, a leading city of the district of Macedonia.

Philippi was a very important city in the Roman Empire.

It was a strategic city.

It was located on what was known as the Ignatian Way.

It was a massive Roman highway built in the second century BC.

And the Ignatian Way connected Asia and Europe.

If you were to look on a map, it would connect the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic Sea.

So what is modern-day Albania all the way over to modern-day Istanbul?

About a 700-mile highway.

And it was strategic because untold numbers of people would travel this highway buying and selling goods.

That's how important this highway was.

Okay?

And so God took the gospel to the city of Philippi.

And Philippi would prove to be a very strategic location for a gospel-centered, missions-minded, Christ-honoring church.

Well, in Philippi, they encounter a woman named Lydia.

Look in verse 14.

It says, a God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening.

The phrase God-fearing indicates that she was a religious Gentile, that she knew something of the one true God.

She was sensitive to spiritual things.

And here, Paul and his team, they're sharing the good news of Christ.

Lydia happens to be there.

She's listening to what Paul has to say.

And now look at the latter half of verse 14.

The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.

God gave Lydia eyes to see, and God gave Lydia ears to hear, and God softened her heart to the gospel, and she responded by placing her faith and trust in Christ.

And then look what happens next.

It says, After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, if you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.

And she persuaded us.

And so Lydia, along with all those in her household, they heard the gospel message, they responded in faith, then they were baptized, and they enjoyed a time of celebration in her home.

I want to just stop here for a moment and just remind you that in Scripture, salvation always precedes baptism.

There's not a single example in God's word where baptism ever precedes salvation.

As a reminder, baptism is a public declaration of a personal faith.

It is an act of obedience.

It is not a condition or a requirement of salvation in any way, shape, or form.

But it is a way that we publicly demonstrate a personal faith.

In our next service, we're going to baptize a father and a daughter who have placed their faith and trust in Christ.

And I rejoice in that.

But that baptism does not redeem them, nor does my baptism redeem me, nor does yours redeem you.

It is an act of obedience.

So Lydia, this God-fearing woman, this very successful businesswoman who dealt in purple cloth, which was significant, is saved and baptized.

Now, look with me in verse 16.

Paul and his teen, Timothy and Titus and Luke, they're still in Philippi.

It says, once they were on their way to a prayer, a time of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.

And so they're on their way to pray, and they meet this young lady who's owned, enslaved by these others, and she's had dwelt by this demonic spirit, which quote unquote allows her to predict the future.

Now, she must have been good at it because it tells us she made a large profit for her owners by fortune telling.

Now, whether she was accurate or not, we don't know, but she convinced people that she was.

And so as they encounter this woman, it says she's following them around for several days.

And here's what she's proclaiming.

Look there in verse 17.

These men who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation are the servants of the Most High God.

And she did this for many days, we're told.

And so, interestingly, nothing she's saying there is inaccurate, right?

Paul and his team, they are in fact proclaiming the way of salvation, and they are, in fact, the servants of the Most High God.

However, it appears that the manner in which she's doing this is creating more havoc than it is good.

And so we're told there in verse 18 that Paul was greatly annoyed.

So on some occasion, Paul's had enough of this.

He turns towards the Spirit and he says, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.

And it came out right away.

And so all of a sudden, this woman who was possessed by an evil spirit, who was who just had this demonic presence about her, is set free from that bondage, set free from those shackles.

Verse 19 says it was so obvious her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone.

And so what do they do?

Immediately, they begin accusing Paul and his team of serious crimes against the Roman Empire.

Well, the magistrates and the crowd joins in on this, and we're told there in verse 22 and verse 23 that Paul and his team, they're beaten with rogs, beaten with rods, severely flogged, and then thrown in jail.

So with no trial, with no due process of any sort, they're beaten, they're flogged, and they're thrown in jail.

All for preaching the gospel.

Think about that.

For no reason other than preaching the gospel.

Well, look with me beginning in verse 25.

How did Paul and Silas react to this?

Well, it says about midnight, and keep that in mind, midnight, because that's going to be important in just a moment.

Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.

And look closely at this.

And the prisoners were listening to them.

So how did they respond to this unjust beating, this unjust flogging, this unjust imprisonment?

They had a worship service in prison.

And the prisoners were listening, and you and I would have to presume that so were the guards that were there.

Now, their response to these events may surprise you, right?

I mean, let's be honest, it's kind of counterintuitive to our way of thinking.

I'm unjustly beaten, I'm unjustly flogged, I'm unjustly in prison, and my response is going to be what?

Praise and worship.

That's kind of odd, isn't it?

Right?

So why?

Why were they able to faithfully praise and worship?

Well, their response flowed from their steadfast trust in the faithfulness of God.

Paul and Silas could worship in prison because they knew whether they were free or whether they were in shackles, they belonged to the God of the universe.

And listen carefully, church family, the same is true for you and me.

Whatever difficulties we might encounter in this life as a result of following Christ, don't let that deter you.

Don't let that dissuade you from being faithful to praise and worship.

Why?

Because we know we belong to the God of the universe.

Well, the prisoners were listening to them.

They were listening to Paul and Silas pray and sing hymns, and we would have to presume just preach and teach on sin and salvation and the judgment of God.

Well, look what God does here.

Verse 26 tells us suddenly there's a violent earthquake.

The city of Philippi uh endures this earthquake, so much, so violent that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were.

Open and everyone's chains came loose.

Can you imagine that moment?

They're in prison, many of them there deservedly.

Who knows what crimes they've committed?

The earthquakes, the prison doors fly open, the chains that are holding them are loosened.

And the jailer wakes up to this and he's scared to death when he sees the doors open, so much so that he draws his sword and he's willing to kill himself.

Why?

Because he thought the prisoners had escaped.

Well, you and I might be thinking, why is that a big deal?

I mean, he's got a good explanation.

Hey, there's an earthquake.

Because in the Roman culture, if a prison guard lost a prisoner or a prisoner escaped, it would cost him his life.

That's how significant this was.

And Paul yells out to him, Don't, don't harm yourself.

We're all here.

Nobody's left.

Well, verse 29 says, the jailer rushes in, he calls for lights, and that doesn't mean he's flipped a light switch.

He ran in there with torches that were lit.

And look what happens.

He fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

The jailer is overwhelmed at the moment.

An earthquake.

The prison doors are thrown open.

The prisoner's chains are loosened.

He recognizes the supernatural nature of this event.

And look closely at what he says to Paul and his team.

He's listened to them pray.

He's listened to them sing.

He's listened to them to preach on sin and salvation and the judgment of God.

And look what he says.

Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

What must I do to be saved?

That's the single greatest question any human being can ask.

What must I do to be saved from the judgment of God?

And pay close attention in verse 31 to Paul's answer.

Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.

I'm continually amazed as I study God's word at the simplicity of salvation.

Believe in Jesus.

Place your faith and trust in the person and finished work of Christ.

And we can be saved from God's judgment against our sin.

It's interesting.

The belief that Paul has in mind here means far more than just thinking right thoughts about Jesus.

It means far more than knowing facts and figures.

I want to remind you of something.

In James, the Bible tells us that the demons believe.

It's interesting.

The demons know who Jesus is.

They know that he's the God of the universe.

They know that he's the creator of all creation.

They know that he was born of a virgin.

They know that he lived a sinless life.

They know that he died on a cross.

They know that he was risen from the dead.

They know that he walked on water.

They know that he raised Lazarus from the dead on and on.

The demons believe all of those things.

But they're not saved.

Matter of fact, in Mark chapter 1, we read this.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue, and he cried out, What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us?

I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent and come out of him.

Interestingly, as we read the Gospels, every encounter Jesus has with a demon, they recognize him and call him by name.

They know exactly who he is.

And so the belief Paul is referring to is not a belief in facts and figures.

It's not thinking the right thoughts about Jesus.

It is a belief that requires a trust in the finished work of Christ to provide forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with God in eternal life.

It is you and I saying, Lord Jesus, I trust you for forgiveness of sin.

I trust you to reconcile me with God.

I trust you for eternal life.

Look with me on the screen.

There's several verses that just elaborate on this from the book of Romans.

Look what Paul writes for us.

First in Romans 1, verse 16.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Look with me next from Romans chapter 10, beginning in verse 8.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

This is the message of faith that we proclaim.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

For the scripture says, everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame.

And then Romans 10 and verse 13, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Listen carefully to me.

What was true that night in Philippi is true today.

What must you or I do to be saved?

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Place your faith and trust in the person and finished work of Christ for the forgiveness of your sin, peace with God, and the promise of eternal life.

It's amazing, really, how simple salvation is.

Now, in verses 32 through 34, we see Paul sharing the good news of Christ with the jailer and his family.

Here's what's interesting the jailer takes Paul and Silas out of the prison.

He takes them to his home, and they share the good news of Christ with him and his entire family.

It says in verse 33 that he provided some medical care for them, and then right away he and all his family were baptized.

They ate a meal together, and then they rejoiced, it says they had a worship service because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.

It's quite amazing.

Chapter 16 presents us with another example of how God takes a very difficult situation and he turns it into spiritual victory.

Falsely accused, savagely beaten, unjustly imprisoned, and Paul's team saw God bring a jailer and his entire family to the saving knowledge of Christ.

Now, I don't want to presume to know how God works in all situations, but could it be that God would not allow Paul and his team to go further into Asia because he wanted them in the city of Philippi so that this jailer and his family could come to know Christ as Savior?

Maybe.

I don't know the exact reasons, but I certainly see God doing a work here that wouldn't make would not have happened, at least on this occasion, had they gone further into Asia.

Now we get to verse 35.

Oddly enough, the jailer had to take Paul and Silas back to prison.

That's kind of a bummer, isn't it?

I mean, the jailer didn't have the authority to let them go, so they've come.

Remember, all this started at midnight.

Now it's early in the morning when daylight came, let's say six or so hours.

So they've spent the evening in the jailer's home where they've enjoyed a meal together.

The family's been baptized, they've worshipped and celebrated their faith in Christ.

Now he's like, all right, guys, listen, I gotta take you back to prison.

All right, take us back to prison.

I mean, look what God already did once.

God can do something again.

Well, the magistrate sent the police to say, release those men.

Well, there's some issues here because these are Roman citizens who've been imprisoned without a fair trial, and so that's that's a big problem for these who are responsible.

And Paul knows that.

He says, Hold on a second.

We're not leaving until they come here on their own and escort us out.

So they do that.

In verse 40 says, After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia's house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters and departed.

That church and Philippi met, and we don't know how long, but they met in Lydia's house, a house church, if you will.

And it says they departed.

Paul would leave here, and we'll see next week they're going to find their way to the city of Thessalonica.

But Paul and his team would leave behind a church, a group of men and women and children who had placed their faith and trust in Christ.

Now, here's what's so fascinating.

It is an unlikely group of people.

You have a very successful, very wealthy businesswoman, Lydia.

You have a jailer in his family, and most likely this former slave girl who's been set free from demonic possession as a part of this early church, too.

We presume that from the way the text is written.

You see, the Church of Philippi is it's a perfect example of how the gospel brings people together from all different walks of life, all different ethnicities, all different socioeconomic backgrounds, all different demographics.

We're brought together in Christ.

We're united by the blood of Christ.

Matter of fact, Paul would say it like this in Galatians 3, verse 28.

Galatians 3:28

Listen carefully.

There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female.

Watch this.

Since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

If you study human history, the gospel has done more to break down the barriers that man has created between one another than any other thing in the history of humanity.

It breaks down racial barriers, it breaks down barriers between men and women, it breaks down barriers between different socioeconomic classes and every other barrier that we've created and constructed.

The gospel breaks down all those things, and in Jesus Christ, we are one.

We are one.

Now look with me on the back of your bulletin.

Here are five takeaways, real quick, this morning, that I want us to just go back and look at from what we've seen in chapter 16.

Here's the first.

God will open and close the doors he wants opened and closed to advance the gospel.

Again, God would not allow them to go further into Asia.

And you and I are thinking, why?

Why not?

Well, God wanted them to go to Europe.

Again, we're not told why, but I'm sure it has to do with God's bigger plan, a plan that we cannot see.

And so I want to encourage you this morning.

When God closes a door, don't let that discourage you.

That just means he's going to open a different door.

That's how God works in the gospel.

Number two, God softens hearts and minds to hear and respond to the gospel.

What does it say there that God softened Lydia's heart?

Here's the good news for you and me this morning.

As you and I are faithful to carry the gospel forward, it's not your responsibility, and it's not my responsibility to bring people to the saving knowledge of Christ.

That is God's responsibility, and only God can do that.

Only God can give us eyes to see and ears to hear.

Only God can soften our hearts to gospel truth.

And so don't put the pressure on yourself that you've got to do the work because the reality is this no one in this room can save anyone.

That's not our job.

Our job is simply to be a messenger, an ambassador of the good news of Christ.

Number three, the gospel has the power to transform lives across every social, cultural, and ethnic boundary.

Again, a wealthy businesswoman, a demon-possessed slave, a jailer in his family, people from very different backgrounds, very different socioeconomic groups.

They're brought together.

How?

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's quite fascinating, really.

It's quite amazing.

Even in across this room today, there's men and women from different ethnic backgrounds and different traditions and customs and socioeconomically, and all it's all even represented right here.

And it's quite amazing how the gospel can do that.

Number four, in Christ, we are empowered to faithfully worship and witness even in suffering.

Our temporary situations or circumstances should not determine our worship or our witness.

Paul and Silas were not able to have a worship service in jail because they're super and extraordinary Christians.

They were able to do that because they know and understand that they belong to the God of the universe, and whether in shackles or whether free, God is always faithful.

And God is always good.

And then finally, number five, the gospel calls for a personal response of faith in the person and finished work of Christ.

What must I do to be saved?

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Maybe you're here this morning, and you've never made a personal decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, not to believe things about him, but to place your faith and trust in him for forgiveness of sin, peace with God, and eternal life.

I would simply say to you this morning, why not today?

Why not today humble yourself before the God of the universe and say, Lord Jesus, save me?

Here's my life.

Take it.

Let's pray.

Father God.

Again, thank you for the opportunity you've given us to study through the book of Acts.

And I thank you, Lord, for how you worked in Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke's ministry to carry the gospel to Europe.

And Lord, I thank you for what you began to do in the city of Philippi with Lydia and this slave girl who was once demon-possessed and the jailer and his family.

Lord, I thank you that we see a church birthed that would make a significant difference for eternity.

And Lord God, I humbly ask and pray that if there are any here today that do not know Christ as their personal Savior, that in these few minutes, like Lydia and like the jailer and his family, they would respond in faith to the good news of Christ.

Lord God, grab hold of hearts and minds here today and work in ways that only you can, Lord, for your glory and for your honor.

And it's in the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen and amen.