Why Lord ? | Pr sandra

You're listening to a message to go from X Church.

We hope this message will light up your tea.

The Philippi story, I'll just give you ahead of time.

I'm bringing us six pointers and hopefully i'll get this done.

Six points on the Philippi story, there was the purpose.

They're all in peace today. There is purpose.

There was a Philippi, not Philip Philippi prison quote unquote.

You see all the quote unquote. You means something and

then praise power and plant.

Amen. Can you say together with me?

One to three purpose Philippi prison, Praise power plant? All right?

So six points for us to take back that I've

drawn out from X chapter sixteen. So we're looking at purpose. Okay,

So I'll get to it so that I don't waste.

Too much time.

Purpose, and I'm reading that out of X chapter sixteen

and verse nine to thirteen. So you can tell over

with your bibles. If you brought your bibles. I hope

you did. It's X chapter sixteen. There won't be any

verses on my screen. That's not on my slides. So purpose.

In acts chapter sixteen, we read about Paul and Silas.

All right, everybody says Silas Silas.

There's a silence in the room.

Who I love it is that Paul.

Paul.

Yes, so Paul and Silas, we have a match here

made in heaven, all right, okay. So Paul and Silas

were sent out by the Church and they they head

out to what is now known as Turkey, and you

can have the map over.

And they were sent out.

They were in Turkey doing the different different cities, okay.

And so they were planning to actually go further north,

not where these arrows are. They were wanting to go

above Antioch, and they wanted to head out to Bithynia, Bithynia,

and the Holy Spirit stopped them. Holy Spirit said no.

Then they thought, okay, we'll head to I think it

was Masia. And they also couldn't hit there, all right.

They were stopped by the Holy Spirit. And that you

can read that in X chapter SIXX SORRYX sixteen, verse six.

Is Now, when they had gone through Frigia and the

region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit

to preach the Word in Asia. Now this is Roman Asia,

what is now known as Turkey. Okay, Turkey, so no,

the means further up. They are already in Turkey, but

further up, wanting to touch more cities. Lord said no,

Holy Spirit said no. Then they came to Mysia, also

in the area north, and Holy Spirit said no, not

permitted to go, all right, So they had to pass.

And then they came to Troas, and from Troas they

headed to Neapolis, okay, and from there they were at Philippi.

So you have an idea of a picture, did you know, your.

Mad Well, on my right.

Here is is what is known as Turkey, and as

you cross over is Greece. Okay, there's a bit of

Turkey on that side too, but yeah, Greece. So they

went to Greece a modern day Greece today.

Now, so what to do?

As Paul was praying, that a vision came to him,

and he says to him, in a vision in a night,

a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying,

come to Macedonia and help us.

So after he had seen that vision.

Verse ten, he immediately sought to go to Macedonia, concluding

that the Lord had called to preach the Gospel to

the people in Macedonia. Now Macedonia is today Greece, all right,

So they headed to Greece, sensing that that's where the

Lord was leading them. Meaning my purpose here is the

word purpose is that God always leads us because there

is a purpose for you to be at a certain place,

at a certain time in your season of your life. Amen,

you are here in Malaysia, for those of you who

are not Malaysians, here for a season, for a purpose,

at a certain time and season of your life. And

you might be asking, well, you could be taking up

a job, but I hope God has bigger dreams for

you than just a job. I hope it's more than

that that you will encounter him. You will have more

make more friends, and be able to be assault and

light wherever God has placed you, in fact, through your life,

maybe be able to reach and share the goodness of

God to those around you. There's always a purpose, and

we tend to forget that we actually are called for

a purpose. Amen, We are called for a purpose. Even

though there are days or maybe if you're a student, you're.

Thinking, what is my purpose? Why was I born?

And you sing Billie Iirish song, Billie Eirish song?

What is that word? Was I meant to be right?

I don't I don't know I don't know the title

by anyway, Billie Eilish. So if you sing that song,

your purpose is designed by God and He has something

prepared for you, and you could be even in the

preparation of it, or you could be actually living out

your purpose. Never never feel like I don't know why

I'm here. Everyone, no matter how small the thing that

you're doing, you think, are always saying anything impactful. I

believe God will use you to make an impact, to

be an influence, to be an encouragement, to be a

healing hand, to be the one who will walk to

that person because no one else could.

But you were able to amen purpose.

And that's that's why I wanted to show you this

man to say that while God stopped them from going

to where they thought they would go, they couldn't.

And so the Lord gave.

A vision through a vision in the night as Paul slept,

that he should go to Macedonia. And the Lord probably, okay,

those of you were born in that season, go west,

young men, all right? So he was going west, said

don't go to the east, go west. So they headed

west and one of the cities that they went into

was Philippie. So point number one purpose. Wherever you are,

there is purpose.

Amen.

Just say Lord here, am I lead me? Use me

for your purpose.

And if your purpose.

Was just to bring a cup of water to someone

who's thirsty, you have fulfilled your purpose. Noah's purpose, no

one in the ark, his whole life don't know what

he was doing. But the one purpose was to build

god an ark, to save that many people, eight people, okay,

all right, eight people that later, you know, replenished the

whole earth.

So that's purpose.

Imagine that God knows what.

He has for you.

Secondly, Philippi, all right, quote unquote Philippi.

What's your Philippi? That's what I want to get to.

You are not a philip You are not a Philippi,

but you quote unquote have a Philippi. So let's look

at verse fourteen to fifteen. So Paul came to Philippi,

and at verse thirteen. Our read from verse thirteen. They

came to Philippi, which was a busy, big city. All right,

think of any city, Coller Lumbo is a big city.

It's a happening city. The city that you come from,

I'm not sure which city you come from, wherever you're from.

That if it's a busy city.

That's what.

Philippi was a main center of business industry.

Everything's going on there.

So on the Sabbath, verse thirteen, Paul and Silas went

out of the city to the riverside where prayer was

customarily made, and they sat down and spoke to the

women who they met there. Okay, Paul and Silas just

hanging around. Women were there by the riverside. And now

a certain woman named Lydia. Any, Lydia's in the house.

Not yet, God, there's Lydia. Lydia had us and she

was a seller. She was a business woman. Amen, come

a all the business women in the house entrepreneurs. She

was an entrepreneur. She sold purple. Her business was selling

this resource. Okay, this where's it type? Yeah, she was

a seller of purple from the city of Tayatira, which

is from Greece, from Turkey. And she worshiped God, and

the Lord opened her heart to hear the things spoken

by Paul. So while they were by the river of Philippi,

not Babylad by the river of Philippi, they met Lydia.

She was a businesswoman. She sold this particular material, that

is purple. That is used to make die, all right,

very expensive? Right, And she was this business lady. Her

heart was soft, and she opened her heart to Paul

and Silas when they told them all these women about Jesus.

Amen. And so her heart was open. And when verse fifteen,

and when she and.

Her household were baptized in the river, probably she begged

them saying, if you have judged me to be faithful

to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So

she persuaded them, all right, okay, so we have Lydia

in this picture. We have Paul and Silas. Now we

have a Lydia's no Lydia in the house here, No Lydia. Okay, okay, Lydia.

And Lydia was the first believer in Philippi.

She opened.

She believed in God, but she had not heard about Jesus.

That he is the way, the truth, the life. Always Amen,

She's the way, He's the way, truth and life. So

she opened her heart to the way, truth and life.

This was a very purpose that they were there. What

was Philippi? What is your Philippi? And who is God

bringing you to speak to in your Philippie? That could

be your marketplace, your company, you're working for the school,

you're at the university, you're studying in wherever you are,

the family, you belong to, your relatives, This is your Philippi.

Now Paul and Silas came. They had that one purpose.

They came to tell people about the way truth and life.

And his name is and his name is help me

out people. His name is the most beautiful name, the

most powerful name by which men can be saved. And

so they invited. She invited them to her house. And

the first believer, Remember it's her and her family. Amen,

Families matter, Families are important.

Yeah, God gave families. God users family.

So this business, lady, was that one purpose that God

sent Paul and Silas there. Now while they were in

the city. All right, now, this is a gentile city.

There are no Jews in there. They don't know God.

They're just whatever they worship. Again, Greek background means they

have many, many gods. And so the story goes that

there was a young girl who could get into a

trans probably filled with a kind of spirit, not a

spirit of God, who could who could tell fortune, fortune telling.

So her bosses or her owners would use her to

fortune tell. Now these things happen in Asia, a lot

of it. I don't know that happened in Greece. So

she would get into a trance, a spirit, an unclean

spirit or some other spirit was living in her, and

then she could she not prophesied. She could be a

fortune teller, just telling people not about their future, but

where they are in their past.

That's that's about it, to earn money.

The men who used a user as a yeah, there

was their property, it was their business. And so because

it is spirit, she the spirit could see the spirit

of God coming forth and walked in Paul and Silas,

and that's why you know, she kept following them and

saying these words, these men are the servants of the

Most High God, Verse seventeen.

These men are the servants of the Most High God, who.

Proclaimed to us the Way, the Truth, and the life.

Amen. And so she kept doing this. I think Paul,

being Paul.

Personality trait hid, was getting irritated by this woman.

Hey, this is a man of God. This a man

of God.

You know, just keep just saying what she saw because

the spirit that was not of herself. And so one

day he just turned around said get out, spirit of demon.

Spirit out to go and then the spirit goes off,

and then she becomes a normal girl again. Lost. They

lost their business. All these men lost their business. Fortune

telling was over for them, and so they got so upset.

He was so angry that they lost their business making

money out through this woman from people, innocent people, by

just telling their fortune, which is never true, because the

means can't tell you your future, they can only tell

you your past. And so they stirred up the city

and said, these men are really coming against the Roman

lord Da Da Da. And they were sent to jaim prison.

So sorry I didn't show you, okay the prison.

Did I show my picture?

You show my picture on paulans I listen the things

for the kids sake. But they're playing anyway, all right.

Ah So prison Acts sixteen twenty three and twenty four.

These men caught them, took them to the magistrate and

and and then and they were commanded them to be

beaten with rods verse twenty three. And when they had

laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison,

commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such

a charge, he put them into the inner prison and

fastened their feet in the stocks, Okay, can you show

the picture. So they get thrown into prison after being beaten,

and I'm sure the words that every human being will ask, Lord,

why tim gui manga pa?

Why me?

I'm sure most of us will say, why are we

now in this situation?

Why?

Lord? I'm just doing your purpose? You send me here?

Now we're beaten, friends, This is not like. This is

not beaten like okay, this is whipping. Their clothes are

torn off, they are bleeding, and then they're send into

the prison. What part of the prison, the most inner

part of the prison, because they count them as criminals. Oh,

we don't know how safe they are, so they send

them into the inner inner prison and they, you know,

get their feet locked up in stocks, maybe the hands

to and the place there bleeding and they're probably thinking,

I don't know.

We would probably say why why? What happened? God?

We're just doing your will. So I put a quote

unquote prison because sometimes you might feel that the job

you're in the university, or in the home, you're in

the family, you're in is like your prison. It's like

your prison, Like, oh, my word, why am I here?

What's this situation? My boss?

Is just nonsense? Wow, you know my colleagues that this

is talking all kinds of nonsense. Oh, my lecturer is

just not fair? Why am I here?

Lord? You sent me here to study? Why is my

uni live so all right?

Why nobody's beaten you?

But you felt like you were beaten?

You know it's in our hearts, in our minds, like

I feel like I'm being you know, beaten, being attacked

in my ass or why am I in this school?

Why am I lecturing here? Why am I colleagues so awful? Prison?

Have you felt like that? And you're like feeling all

right at the corner and like, boss.

Not nice to you. Nobody's nice to you.

Then you said but Lord, and you said that, I said,

here I am send me?

Or here am I Lord? I surrender? Look I surrender.

You're killing me.

Now.

Life can be like.

That sometimes when tough things happen to you and you're saying,

but I'm.

A child of God.

Why am I going through persecution? Why am I going

through such difficulties? Oh, beloved of the Lord seated in

this room. If you are a fall of Christ, it

doesn't mean always it's going to be glory. Some days

it's going to be suffering, suffering. If you carry your

cross like Jesus carried his cross, some days it's going

to be unexplainable. I don't know if you've been there.

And it can be persecution, it can be tough. It

can be, you know, a difficult project. It could be

a difficult assignment. It could be a difficult person that

you're dealing with. It could be like, oh no, like

everything seems like a closed door at some point of

your life and you wonder why you are here in.

This Philippi of yours. Now it's become a prison.

You feel like, you know, you can't move, so how

can I illustrate that? So and different things will come

out of our prison difficult times, meaning my prison.

The word prison.

Means the difficulties that possibly can happen. Not sure, but

many years back, at least twenty five years back, when Passagna's.

Dad had to.

Had a stroke, really bad stroke. We had to take

him into our whole home. And the home that we

stayed in was a very tiny home, and he's a

very big man, and a tiny home had two rooms.

We were just married, just only for four years, I think,

and then dad needed care and so.

This was the first stroke, he was still okay.

He stayed in the tiny room and we stayed in

the other tiny room, and it's a tiny place.

In the bathroom was tiny, and he was so.

Small for him.

He broke my sink.

But then he got into a bad stroke which he

lost his speech and he couldn't speak anymore, and he

had to rehabilitate. God was good to at least he

could still take physiotherapy and he walked again well, but

he lost his capability to speak. And at that time,

I can't remember if my husband actually asked me or

did he need to ask me, but he was like,

we're taking care of dad. That was the first time, okay,

take care of father in law. And then we had

to now we've got to we have to find a

new house. We're staying a condo. We had to find

a house. I think I don't know how many days

we had in two weeks. We had to find a house.

We had to dress the house up to make it

nice for Dad to get well, and we had to

look and so again, so we looked, and you know

you've heard the story or you haven't got founders a

place and this is the current house we've been staying

in for twenty five years that we took care of

father in law. You know, in the initial days, that

was like my prison because it's not easy to take

care of father in law because it's in law. Even

my own parents, I find it hard, which I'll tell

you the story later. But father in law, Wow, you

don't have your freedom anymore because it's a small or no,

it's just everything small. You just have to dress up

well all the time at the care of father in law.

And I think maybe it was a prison for my

husband as well because their dad was never dead because

dad was an army man brought up by grandma.

So Dad was never there. Now no one else was

going to help take care his wife.

He had walked out on him and Da da da

and all that, so we had to take care of that.

The prison was that it would be a prison while

while you're in this a good place, but then what

is my purpose now I'm in my Philippi.

Yeah, we're doing ministry.

It's great, but suddinly we have to take care of

dad and Passa had to take care of his dead,

which was a hard thing. When you don't really have

a relationship, it becomes your prison. You now have to

just either get angry with God or say, Lord, give

me grace. And I believe God gave him grace because

he had to bathe his dead, clean his dead, do

all of that for him. Even it was very difficult

because this is not like your dad. This is a

family that's been broken and so but healed that relationship

for him in this prison, because it's not like it

happened for one day of friends. We went through this

for a while, and then the Lord healed his relationship

and his acceptance of his own father. And for me,

it's because I'm met the daughter in Lloyd's unusual for

us to take care of our father. Usually your own child,

your own wife. But they were not available to do this,

so he felt like a prison. Sometimes you might feel

like that in your office. Why am I here? Why

are people not nice to me? You know, this job,

this project is killing me. You know, everything seems difficult

and you feel like you want to be in the

other person's position.

But sometimes we need to walk through that.

Not only do we share the glory of God, yeah,

and all the victories, and we share about testimonies, there's

also the testimony of the hard times, the difficult times.

What you know, at the end of course, I'll come

to my end later on which things are missing here anyway,

the end of it, it's okay, there is that, there

will be a fruit if you're willing to walk through

your prison.

Amen.

I had my own prison when father in law passed

on within six months. He really wanted to go home

to Jesus because he couldn't speak. And he was a

show businessman. He handled so many artists, international artists, local artists.

And suddenly he couldn't speak anymore.

That was his prison, so tough, and while we took

care of him and tried our best to do everything,

it was tough for him to not be able to speak.

That was his prison.

But what happened, he became a softer man, a person

that began to appreciate the simple things in life. My

horrible cooking, whatever he just had to eat whatever I cooked.

I can't really cook so well, but I had to

cook boring food because sort had to come down and

to keep his blood pressure down and so that he

doesn't get more heart attacks or more strokes. And became softer,

easier to manage, not so high, strong, not so you know,

easily angry and calmed down. But he also said, oh,

I just want to go home to Jesus. But his

prison gave him time to reconnect with his son, to

reconnect with Finally we met the daughter. He met his daughter.

For him.

It was wow, you know, because she didn't come and

see him for a long long time until this accidentally

we met her. You're so happy he wasn't the angry

man before. See, in our prison, sometimes good things can

come out of it if you're willing to let it.

Can you walk through it.

We don't want to be there.

We don't want to be in that difficult situation because

it messes your plans. Come on, your beautiful plans, your

next five year plan, your next ten year plan, and

God interrupts that plan with a prison situation. What is

going on like this story here? Paul was all ready

to preach the gospel. Now he's in prison. Now in prison,

one thing beaten, you know, bleeding, probably blistered, and you know,

having fever. You try cutting your fingers, See there's a cut,

any fever. You look at blood. Right, these guys were

beaten like no joke, right, and it's sitting there. What

do they do in that prison. Do they sit there

and cry and get upset with God? You and I

would we could be there for Maybe they were there

for a while thinking, oh my goodness, what's going on?

God deliver us? No deliverance yet. But they turn they

turned that whole situation into a praise party. All right,

all right? The story for us for having to take

care of our parents, both sides of the families that

I'm taking care of his father in law. He's taking

care of my father and my mom. We've all lived

in that house for a long long time. We don't

have kids, but we have old kids, yeah, older kids,

and so we've all had a you know, but some

days are hard.

It's hard.

It's hard for them, it's hard for you. Things get difficult.

But the story here tells us that while there was

that prison moment, that prison situation, they turned their prison

into a praise.

Party.

And sixteen at sixteen twenty five, he says, but at midnight,

at midnight, I don't know what time they got into

the prison after being beaten, but I guess they felt like, okay,

after all the complaints, I can't sleep, I can't lie down,

my back is all torn, Paul and Silence began to pray. Now,

I don't know how they started their prayer. I'm not sure.

You gotta put yourself when you are in pain, when

you are having a difficult, difficult day. You had a

bad day, but you turn it around by a praise party.

So you had a bad day and you turn it around.

So at midnight, the midnight of our lives. I mean,

there were days it was tough for me to even

take care of my own parents because they were really.

Messinging me up. Like I wanted my part. This way,

Mom takes it the away. This is my kitchen. Mom

did she mess it? I don't know.

And I said, just take the kitchen. Just take the kitchen.

You can have the kitchen. You can cook every day.

I don't you know. You had a bad day, there

is you just come home. In our life, in our

type of work, we're meeting people every day. By the

come on, I just want silence. Then, oh that's enough.

But at midnight, Paul and Silas starts to pray.

Maybe they're done with their complaints, done with crying and

asking why, but they start to pray and sing hymns

to God and the prisoners were listening. So that's my

picture of the prisoners listening. Praisers raise amidst pain and uncertainty.

They don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.

They don't know if they'll be out of jail prison,

they don't know if there'll be b and again no idea,

but praises began to be raised up. They began to

sing hymns.

Now church, brother and sisters in Christ. What is a hymn?

What is a song that you have in your heart

that will come out at the time of your prison?

Do you have a song? Every Sunday we sing songs?

Do you even bother to memorize anyone song? It doesn't matter,

doesn't have to be the latest song. Any song then

sings my soul, my Savior got to the.

In pain, How great, thou ah.

I'm in pain, I've got sickness, I've got cancer, I've

got an accident. My mom's in hospital. The things are crazy,

that's happening. I'm not in your shoes, you're not in mind.

But I have to tell you we've walked through that.

So we've taken care of both our sets of parents.

So if you ever come to me and ask me

what I think, what you're going through. I can help you,

I can share with you. Then I can tell people

who are away from home Malaysians for a very long time.

Your parents don't live forever.

You need to come home and see them before you

don't have a chance to see them, chance to take

care of them. Right, it's a.

Whole different ballgame.

You sing in the storm, you sing in your prison.

You need a song in the night. Why Why do

I tell the worship team, worship team, I don't care

if you repeat this song always, all day, every day, whatever,

follow Jesus for the next five weeks. Why because you

need to learn these words, the lyrics, and it will

be important for you when you are in your prison.

When you're in your storm, you cannot continue to cry.

You cannot allow depression to come in. You cannot allow

your soul to get down and out by the devil.

You have to rise up with a song in the night.

That's the midnight song. You say nobody sings at midnight,

Well you will. You can either sit there and cry

and say, oh my toe, oh my sickness, oh my boss,

oh my project, oh my assignment, poor me.

We're gonna be there. I know I've been there.

It's so hard, and you complain, how much can you

complain to pass the Jack and doctor Jill how much?

Because they can't take it. They're not Jesus. Well, they're

like Jesus. But they will always come back to you

and say, let's turn to Jesus.

And then you're like, oh, Goad, you're always telling me yeso,

you know, saying you're a gong. Yes.

So those who began the name Okay are always telling

me to go to Jesus. But that is the way,

the truth, the life. Always all day Jesus, I follow you.

We ain't writing songs because it's fun and oh got

nothing else better to do, No, because it means something. Here.

This is scripture, this is John chapter fourteen, verse six.

In the midnight, you need a song, bros Sis when

something really bad happens. I know you're not singing right

there and then hallelujh know, but when you're alone, when

you're you're like, oh man, this thing has happened. I

when it sings in, that's when you gotta find a

song in the midnight. In the night, a praise is

raised up, a praise they sang hymns, whatever song you can, okay,

you cannot, memory, then write your own song, okay, write

your praise him. Write the praise song of thanking Jesus Lord,

because that was the Bible teaches us. In all things,

give thanks, and that comes from the Book of Philippians.

Hey, this is Philippi.

Hey, In this letter to the Philippians, Paul said to.

Them, rejoice and again I say.

Rejoice, Rejoice, rejoice.

And he's in jail. This is years later.

He's been put in prison in Rome because they didn't

like him, and so they sent him. And he said,

you know, I'm a Roman, You're gonna I'm gonna appeal

to Caesar. All he wanted to do was tell Caesar

about Jesus. So he's in jail, in prison in Rome,

and he writes to the church in Philippi and say,

I know it's tough. This man's going through hard times.

He is going through all things. But he tells them

rejoice and again I say rejoice, because he's been through

his mid I in the prison cell in Philippi a

long long time ago. So, friends, brand sisters, if we

continue to complain, we will.

Speak death to ourselves.

If we choose to just even atter a thank you Jesus.

Okay, first thank.

You Jesus, and then the next thank you Lord, you

are in control. I have no other I always tell

the Lord. I have no other way. I have no

other jalum. You know, I have no other road to take.

I have no money. I don't I can't. I can't

leave the country or like bye and just disappear.

Oh be here.

Some people flee, some people run, but we have to

be here. So we pray, We tell the Lord how

we feel, and then we say, I remember the word

brand sisters fifty two a week. If there is fifty

two Sundays, I don't know, I'm very bad, my mats.

You get to come to church, and you commit to

come to church. You have fifty two messages if you

write it down. But if you swallow it and you

turn ond the thing down the learn me swallow, then

he goes to you know what love.

But if you write it.

Down and you remember that message, fifty two messages is

going to help you in your prison time.

Amen? Amen?

Do I get an amen in the house? Yes, fifty

two Sundays, fifty two messages. Find something in that fifty

two messages that spoke to your heart. It's not because

we got nothing better to do and come here and

preach and do church because nothing better to do. I

think it's a Christian thing to do. No, it's not

the Christian. It's the follow us of Christ that meet together,

that celebrate His goodness, that declines his testimonies, or how

good God is and how he brought us out of

the lions, dend and mouth and everything, and we're standing

here worshiping. What is your prison? I'll ask, brother, remember

when you were out tough.

Right, today's playing you.

Know, I'll raise a hallelujah, But it was our It

was hard not to be able to move.

That felt like a prison.

When you're not well, it feels like a prison. But

that's when we need to raise, that praise, that prayer,

rather than a complain. We're so, we're so, how are

you safe with the way we're made.

We're so easily going to the complain mode.

But let's take the sea out and put a p

and start praising hemen, Let's start praising the Lord, because

that's what happened. Now, we weren't praising the lod because

yah praise the Lord, Dad's gonna go. No, we're praising

the Lord for the grace of God, for the strength

of God, for God's provision.

We did not.

Have the funds to take care of father in law.

This back in the day. We just got the full time.

We're not back in my job. No full time. He

didn't have a salary. I just work for whatever. And

it's tough, right, And we went praying ard taking him

taking no parents like law provide so that we could

bless that provide so we could pay the hospital bills.

The same thing for my dad as well. It's terrible, right,

he's feeling so bad for me. But you pray and

you praise God that got heals. God heals or God

does something sustain and you know, take care of your

parents or your brother, your sister, your mother or whatever

wherever your situation. Oh, my office, everybody is crazy. I'm

gonna leave my job. So easy for this generation to

just take the job and leave it in two days.

They call them the jen Elpha something like that. No, No,

there's still babies. The jen millennials don't like the job. Leave,

don't like the job. Hey, if you never stay long enough,

you'll never develop. You'll never find out what the end

of the story is. You never know that there's victory

on your side until it's really time to go. Then

it's time to go. It ain't over till it's over.

But it's tough. It's tough in that situation. Therefore, you

need the grace of praising, You need the grace of praying.

And in that midnight, something's got to happen. How will

it happen? I don't know. But God makes a way,

He provides, He brings people alongside you.

Amen.

And so when you praise next is there is power, Amen,

the power of God that works through praise. God does

not work through complaints. God does not work through gossip.

God does not work through you being angry and upset.

God works through the power of God works to your

praise through your thanksgiving, your gratitude, being thankful even in

the midst of your terrible prison or your storm. So

in sixteen sixteen twenty six and verse thirty, it says

here that as they were just you know, singing the hymns,

whatever hymn that they had, suddenly this is supernatural power friends,

supernatural all right, I hope you and I want to

experience supernatural power in our prison in our challenge, instead

of complaining and gossiping, take the g and the sea

out and put a p in there. Because something supernatural happened.

It says, a great earthquake happened, like something in Sagamut

three point four, so that the foundations of the prison

were shaken, shaken, shaken, and immediately all the doors were open,

not broken open, and everyone's chains were loosed. So there

wasn't an earthquake that tried to kill people like swallow

them inside. No, it was an earthquake that had and

not found to shake the prison. That the doors opened

and the chains came off. It's supernatural. Can't understand. You

think it's not possible. This is a I don't think

it's real. Well, it's recorded that Paul experienced that, Silas

experienced it, and other prisoners experienced it. And when the

keeper or walking like that's it. I'm dead. I'm just

gonna kill myself now, yakuza. But before that, before that,

he did not because Paul and Silas said, hey, mister Jayler, stop,

we're all here. Nobody has ran off. And then it

says in verse thirty verse thirty.

The man came.

The jailer said to them, said to the two men, sirs,

what must I.

Do to be saved?

They saw he saw something, something different, something different. I'm

sure when they sang, he heard it too, and they

they're crazy men. Shut up. Oh no, stop singing too loud, prisoners,

nothing else to do. They had that midnight as well,

but no song. These guys were singing. And this guy knew,

mister Jayler knew something was different, and that's why. And

he already heard about them preaching. He already knew people

already in Philippi, in the city, knew what these two

men were talking about and what they were sharing. And

that's why he could actually say, what must I do

to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. You and your

household and the whole family came to know Jesus, baptized

and became followers of the Way Truth and life.

Amen. And so the jailor.

Encounters the way truth and life. Amen. Your prison can

turn into a praise. And in your praise, may you

experience God's power. Now let me tell you about what

I mean by supernatural powers. There are times the power

of God, meaning there are some things that God would

just break open a wild favor and breakthroughs and you

know whoa financial breakthrough. Everything works well, you get the

right universe city, you get the right position.

Other times it doesn't happen that way.

But what I see God doing is in your difficulty,

God gives you sustaining grace.

For us Dad.

We prayed for my dad, Lord heal him, Lord heal him.

And I believe God gave him a good four years

throughout the pandemic, that the that the cancer was quite contained,

everything was well. Then God sustained him. I don't know

for what purpose that God had for him, to to

get right with the Lord or to you know, just

I don't know what God had for my dad. For

my mom. My mom was the main caregiver. But there's

a sustaining grace not only for them, for him, also

for me because I became the only caregiver.

As in the.

Next one after month, I had to pay for all

the bills. So sometimes I look at the bill from

the hospital and I have to. When you take treatments,

it's very high. They even look at you and go,

can you pay for this, I have no choice. I

have to pay otherwise my dad will not get the treatment.

Right against sustaining grace that God will provide for you,

and he does, but I wouldn't know where from by

God provides Amen. God helps to kind. God sends you

know what. God sends other kind people, other brothers and

sisters to help you. So friends, never despise your brothers

and sisters in Christ.

It could be the very one person you don't like

will be the one.

That helps you. So don't say don't like. People cannot

stop saying I don't like this one, I don't like

that one, I don't like your face, I don't like

your smell. Just like them because of Jesus. Because God

will use men and women to be channels of blessing.

Every time we say, Lord, provide for us and you

have a financial challenge, it ain't going to fall from heaven,

not happening.

He uses the vessels of God.

All of us have a chance to hear from the Lord,

and then God says, give to that need. You don't question,

you give to that need because God is using you

as a channel. You always say you pray lah, and

you think God, it's going to bring from like brain

down and then you say, oh mind, the money is

falling from a coconut tree. And then you look up.

It's not the coconut tree. The monkey that is who

stole that bag of money from somewhere, and he's shaking

it and money is falling down. That's why he's called

a monkey. And it's never just like, it's always people.

God chooses to use people from his church, whether local,

whether don't know, never met that person. God speaks to

people like we can't afford to buy a house.

We can't, and we never want wanted to.

Buy a house because we were ready to be sent

by God anytime, any day out of Malaysia to be missionaries.

So easier not to have any what do you call liabilities?

Easy right, just movement, got calls. Then the Lord says, no,

we're going to give you. You're gonna buy that house. And

we're like, hello, I don't have the cap baby, I'm

like I don't know. And the house we have now

is a million, there's no million, one.

Hundred, maybe a thousand, maybe no million. Hello, and do

you really need to buy a house. I don't mind

renting forever.

But but God had other plans, right, So where is

the fund's gonna come? So you pray, right, I didn't

even I didn't even pray. It was all him because

that was his journey of favor. And I'm just the

secondary receiver. And so is the you know, head of

the house. I'm not all right, it's ahead of the house.

All the heads of the house. You have the responsibility.

That's why i'm woman and he's man. Right, I have

a different role to play. I clean the house.

Okay.

So so when God wants to provide eleven thirty, already

the prison becomes a praise for you, and then you

want to see the power. I want to just say

to us, very important church. We don't like to rely

on people. We always say, don't rely on men, true,

rely on the Lord. But the Lord will use his vessel,

which will not be a cat. I know you like cats.

It will not be a monkey. I don't know if

you like a gorilla or a monkey, you're gonna go there.

But anyway, he will always use a vessel, his son,

his daughter. You might not like that person, you might

not know that person, you don't even know where they

come from. But we were only able to put that

down payment down because someone in a far away land,

no somewhere outside of our own church eighty years old, says,

I think God wants I hear that God wants you

to buy a home. Here's the ten percent. She didn't

even see us, you like to not brings it and

then gives it to past the chin. See I have

nothing to do with it. Yes, it's the same, and

that's how we have a down payment to pay by.

But then we have the whole rest of our lives

to pay for the house.

How long. Again, it's all him.

God. So you have testimonies every month, right, you have

to be ready to if you want the power to happen,

not just TNB power, not another electric Malaysia, whatever, the electric.

Board, but the power that is from the Holy Spirit.

I can't say that I've always personally experienced it, but

I've seen it happen for my husband and for our church.

Because church, you are so what happens at the top

will flow down from Aaron's beard. So, guys, the faith

that pastor has God gives us. We want to catch

it or not. You you just take it.

This is your inheritance.

You know, if you believe it most of some of

you understand that when your pastor is that call, you

have that same call. So the first I want to

tell you again thinking so much like I never had

a car, and Joanna, I know if you were there

in our church, yet I.

Never had a car.

Some speaker came from Singapore and he goes, sister, do

you have a car, Like no, Well, God wants to

give you a car.

I'm praying. And then he goes, everybody here take up

an offering and put it at her feet.

I'm like no, because everyone was a student. The only

one who was working was Elder Kenya and the other

brother Ryan. He's a full time no money so huh yeah,

he was working for us full time.

Where got money? We paid him, We paid him, but

you know it's not a lot.

And I'm like no, I'm in my mind, no not

telling the pastor. And he said, you bring the seat

money to her feet, and I'm gonna die because no,

I can't. Nowturch was so small, one hundred or less,

I don't know less than that, and all students, you know,

I think Jill was there and some others and nobody

had a car then. But they gave him the seat

money wasn't enough to buy a car. It was the

seat money the pastor gave. Then Ryan went a paint

houses and brought the money. Later he gave you some.

So sorry, I don't have any because they asked him,

why didn't you give you? Not me? The pastor he's like,

later painted the houses and then gave the seat money.

Still not enough to pay a down payment, but there

was a seat and finally I did that put the

dawn payment to get a car support Malaysia car. And

you know, all our students started having cars. Jill never drove,

she started having a car. I don't know who else

didn't have a car had a car. And somewhere else

didn't have a car had a car. Janet started having

a car. All there were students that flows down, right,

that's supernatural power because they gave, they gave, so those

are the great stuff, right, But sometimes it's sustaining grace

to overcome and go through a situation. Amen, the deak power. Amen, Amen,

you experienced the way, the truth and the life. That

is the power.

Now what happens after the power?

If you look at the verse forty, it says that

they all then went home to the house. They departed

after you know, the whole jail thing happened, and the

magistrate to send them out and said please go, please go.

Verse forty says.

Then everybody went out of the prison, entered the house

of Lydia, and when they had seen the brethren, they

encouraged them and departed. What happened They planted the house,

the home, the house, they planted the church.

Something gets planted.

The first church in Philippi was at the house of

Auntie Lydia Comfort Tea, the businesswoman, the entrepreneur selling purple.

She opens a home. She obviously was well off. She

had a good business. She could open a home. Mister

Jayler and his family came to Tea, and Lydia's family

came to Tea, and they had church.

Two families.

I don't know how many more were added to the church,

but that's how big the church was.

It started with two families.

Amen, something is planted, something of the seed of God

is planted. From all that we went through, from what

they went through, it was an easy so in the end,

Paul's missionary trip started with sitting by the redver. There

was no banana, Butler sipping pinutle lada. Now he was

sharing the good news to Lydia Danny. You know, he

had to get irritated with the girl and then scolls

her and tells her get out, not her, but the

spirit rebukes the unclean spirit out of her life.

That's how powerful that the SuperNature power.

And that sets the girl free. She's no longer a

servant to these men. She can do her own life now.

But then he goes. They go to jail, the prison,

and the deepest of the prison, inner, inner, prison, bound

like criminals.

Beaten like criminals, treated like criminals.

Later, when they found out they were Romans, they can't

do that to Romans. They said, please quietly, could you

just leave? And they say I ain't gonna leave, no

quiet way. I want it open, And you say sorry,

now okay. But then the power of God works and

then they finally plant. Something gets planted in your spirit.

I pray that it will keep you rooted in your faith,

in your walk with Jesus, because you encountered something with

the Lord Amen. I pray that the faith in Christ

will not be your grandfather's faith, your grandmother, your auntie young,

your dad. The Bishop of the Anglican Church or the

Catholic Church. I don't know. Your faith has to be

yours and yours alone, and yours alone. Lydia had to

follow Christ. Then her family one by one saw the.

Miracle day two believe.

Mister Jaylor said what do I do to get saved?

And he said, just believe in the way to even

life and be saved.

And his family also would have known that Dad would

have because I'm and eyed banana, so thankful, so they

all receive Christ. A seed of faith is pla and

we plant our faith that day? Or how homes was

planted which became a church in Philippi, the first church

with Auntie, your sister Lydia probably being the host. How

many hosts of homes in this house here, oh, you hosts,

You're being planting something right in the big picture, we

see it as a church being planted. When God calls

you to your Philippi, wherever your Philippi is, you are

the disciple in that Philippi.

You might have it easy.

You might have it challenging, But no matter what happens,

asks ask of the Lord. You can talk to Jesus

and say, Lord, what is the purpose that I am here, amen,

because the next light, we'll say what would that look

like in your contexts? What would the planting be like

in your context wherever you are right now, before you leave,

before you go off, or before whatever, or where your are.

What are you planting?

Amen?

Something of faith needs to be planted that somebody will

remember that.

Oh, this sister, this person.

I remember she talked about Jesus or that she follows

the way, the truth and the life. I want to

know more. Oh, I remember her praying for her brother

and he got well. I remember her saying about this

and that people need to remember you as a praiser,

as a power person because they saw the power of

God through your sharing or through your life, not as

a gossiper and a complainer. So have your checklist of

your life and say, gossip got to get out of

my life, and I shouldn't be complaining so much. So

you can remind me too, pass and stop complaining. Okay,

remind each other. Right. Discipleship is help accountability. You start complaining, there,

we say, Okay, after five minutes, I'll complain. Now shall

we turn it into a praise party? Okay, let's thank

God for these boss. Let's thank God for these colleagues.

Let's thank God. Okay, I'm grateful I still have a job,

grateful for I still have this, So I still have

that grateful and see God take your praise, turn it around.

So you had a bad day, but let's turn it

around by a praise, by a word of grace instead

of finding fault in every person.

We can't change people.

You and I can't change people by complaining and gossiping. Well,

we can change our situation by just waiting long enough,

give yourself time to praise God, to pray, to declare

his word and speak it into our atmosphere, speaking into

our own lives. If you have a lag, if you

don't have the strength, then you say, Jesus, you are

the strength of my heart. Lord, the joy of the

Lord is my strength. I think we don't declare God's

word enough over our own lives. We speak all of them.

You know I can't. It's easier to say I can't

than to say I can. In Christ, it is easier

to say, Ah, this thing is so hard. It's easier

than to say I'll try again. I'm gonna trust Jesus

for this. Oh, praise God that I am in this company,

or I am in this family, i am in this university,

I'm this job. It's hard, so hard to do that right,

so that therefore the enemy of our soul then takes

all of these negative things and makes it sickness for

us instead of power. So I ask you, what would

your philippi? What would that look like? In your text?

We cannot say disciples first, and a disciple in every

school on every street. If it doesn't become broken down

for you in your where you're at, your workplace, your university,

your school, wherever you are at the hospital, you work

in the company you work for, wherever you are the student,

if you're a student, if you're a working person.

What does it look like?

If this is your philippie, you don't have to always

wait for a prison. Maybe no prisons will happened. Praise

the Lord. But it's your philippie. What are you doing

to be lighthouse? What are you doing to be assault?

Does anybody even know that you are follow up the Way,

the truth and the life. They don't like the word Christian,

don't use it. Then then you are follower of Christ.

Then your follower of the Way, truth and life. His

name is Jesus, not just God. Everybody believes in God,

but you have to say, yeah, Jesus, it's the most

powerful name. Yet it's a hated name by those who

are perishing. They don't know. But you and I have

that opportunity to lift up that testimony, be the right

testimony to help people follow the way, the truth and

the life.

Amen. Amen?

Right, So yeah, thank you Jesus. All right, and I

ask you what would that look like in your context?

This is one Sunday out of the fifty two Sundays.

Take this message and then meditate on way, Lord, what's

my Philippi? If you're going to a prison, I pay

the grace of God will be upon you to see

a breakthrough. But it starts with us praising God. If

you have a lack, you know, you've got to just

experience God's provision, financial provision. Amen.

It could be you know so many things.

It could be healing. It could be not only physical healing,

even your own spiritual healing. Maybe you're offended, like a

hundred times you get offended. Please love friends. Life was

meant to be lived with joy, not offenses. How are

we going to live with offenses?

Over and over? Again, it's not worth it.

It's really not worth it. It's good for gossip, but it's

not gonna build you up.

Offenses are very.

Good for gossip, Yeah, very good, tasty like mussels, like chocolate,

like ice cream, Yeah, beautiful, But it doesn't help you grow.

You get stunted, You hate.

People, and then forever you will never look that person

in the eye. You'll never forgive. What does that look

like in your context?

Again?

Who are you following? Again? The way, truth and life.

He is the way. Jesus is the way, the truth

and the life. Let's find our great true Amen. Stand

with me church, Let's pray, Let's commit ourselves if they're

anything in your heart that feels like a prison. Let's

start the phrase.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as church Org. We

are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you.

God bless