Three nature of true faith (Acts 16:16~26)

 

Three nature of true faith (Acts 16:16~26)

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:

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.

¹⁸ And this did she many days. 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 he came out the same hour.

¹⁹ And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,

²⁰ And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,

²¹ And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.

²² And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.

²³ And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:

²⁴ Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

²⁵ And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

²⁶ And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

Body) Let’s go to the story here.

Paul and Silas were doing mission in Philippi. There was a possessed slave fortune teller girl, her owner made a lot of money because of her. Paul felt sorry for her when he put himself in her shoes. So he said to her “I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”  Then the sprit came out of her body and also the power of her also gone. Then the owner of her was pissed because he couldn’t make money out of her from now, so he snatched Paul and Silas and drag them to the market place. The owner of the slave girl said to people in the market place “These people worship different God, they trying to seduce people to wrong way, these are evil, and dangerous, we cannot just let them like this.”

People were agreed to what he said, and started to beat Paul and Silas, and then they locked them up in the jail. They put shackles on their ankles too. It was pitch dark night.

In those circumstances, Paul and Silas started to sing hymn and praying. Then earth starting to shake, and the prison was break down, and the jail doors were open, not only the doors but the shackles on them were unlocked too. Prison guard, who were sleeping at that time, woke up and came to check up on the cells. The guard saw the every door were open in the prison, I’m not sure either he trying to take responsibility for that or if the punishment for the failed to guard the place was the death, but he trying to kill himself.

Paul saw the guard trying to step himself with his sword, so he yelled to him “Don’t hurt yourself we are all here!”

Guard was surprised, and after Paul told what happened here, guard was freaked out. He couldn’t understand what is happening here. The earthquake, then doors of the cells, and the shackles that cannot opened unless someone unlock it with the key, finally no one ran away.

So, guard asked Paul. “Teachers, how can I get saved?”
Paul replied “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
This is the core of gospel.

The prison guard took Paul and Silas to his house and Paul taught them about Jesus, Then everyone accepted Jesus in his house! What a happy ending.

Paul and Silas’s faith was active faith. We can see three examples of the great faith. So what are those?
1. Pray all the time

  Paul and Silas prayed to God, even if they were locked up in the cell. We need to pray like bird singing all the time. There are miracles where the prayer is. There are saying God is MUSOBUJE(無所不在) which means He is everywhere all the time.

If we staying in the darkest place in the world, even if we trapped in some places that doesn’t mean God isn’t there with you. When you pray God will see you and help you! He will show you some miracles.

2. Faith to praise

Paul and Silas starting to sing hymns after they gained power by pray. They were happy because their hardships were caused while spreading gospel. Then Holy Spirit of God came to do his work, God staying in the praise, so lots of miracles happen, while people praise the Lord.

After Saul became a king, he got the sickness because of the evil spirit, the sickness were because of his arrogance. Doctors couldn’t help him. However, when David playing instruments and praise the Lord, evil spirit ran away, and Saul felt relief.

1 Samuel 16:23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

In the Praise, there is power of God. Praise is prayer with melody.

In David’s era, people call David as a person who crazy about praising the Lord.
2/3 of Psalms were written by David. In Psalms chapter 103 David sings “Oh my soul praise the Lord, all things inside of me, Praise His holy symbol.”
He wanted to his guts to praise God. When we see this we can see why people call him as crazy praise person. David had countless obstacles in his life, but he overcomes those obstacles through praise God.

In New England in England, so women had a baby, she sings him a hymn ”Jerusalem my happy home” all the time. “Jerusalem! My happy home! Name ever dear to me! When shall my labors have an end? Thy joys when shall I see.”
This baby smiled whenever she sings that hymn, he stops crying when she sings this. oneday the lady was weakened because of the disease, the sound of hymn were gone. She died and her husband married to other women. The stepmother hated the kid she abused him. Eventually, the kid runs away from the house with his mother’s bible. While he lives alone, he became corrupted, his life was a mess. He also got a nasty disease which about to end his life. The missionary of town church came to visit him, and try so hard to make him believe in Jesus. However this stubborn young man never listens to him. After times after times of rejection, missionary got tried too, so one day when missionary visit the young man he just sing a hymn. ““Jerusalem! My happy home! Name ever dear to me! When shall my labors have an end? Thy joys when shall I see.” When the young man listen to the song, he starts to cry. <My mother’s song.> Young man picked up the old bible that his mother had, and then starts to cry and repent his old life. Upon his face there was joy that he never had. Praise is the power! Power to reborn!

I want to share another story during the Korean War.

A pastor, who serve for small town church got arrested by communists. The most hated people by communists are church goers. Communists and Christianity are like water and oil, never can be mixed.

After General Douglas MacArthur successfully launched on Incheon, North Korea’s supply lines were broken, so communists had to retreat. Before retreat, they gave order to kill all the prisoners. The pastor was one of them. Pastor prayed to God like this. “God! Help me to die well!” After he prayed he felt ease on his mind. He accepted his death as truth and empty his mind. Then he starts to praise.

“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Save me from its guilt and power. ”
The rock of age means Jesus Christ, When he think he goes to heaven to meet Jesus he was happier. He doesn’t afraid of anything. Platoon leader hit pastor’s back “Shut up!, this bastard need to killed cruel way.” Then he starts to beat him like animal, and tell other soldiers to stay until he finishes him at the near canyon. When the platoon leader and pastor arrived at the canyon, the platoon leader starts to cry. Pastor didn’t know what to do, he asked him “why do you cry.” Then the platoon leader said, “Pastor Runaway, I once believed Jesus, I forgot until you sing that hymn.” Then he shot his gun into the air, then he left. Yes! praise and pray had a power.

I have a friend from Kyungbook Shinpoong, Pastor Ki Song Han, who went to theology school with me. His story of how he came to believe is very special.
He had been living a life so absorbed in worldly thoughts. But then one day, he came across a church that was holding a special service, and he decided to have a look.
There were people singing and giving praise during this praise worship service, and he saw this and saw the grace of God.
He decided at that moment that he would believe in and serve Jesus. Amazingly, from that day on this pastor, a man who would easily smoke 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day, could not stand the horrid taste of a cigarette on his lips.
He threw away his packs and quit smoking that very day. How amazing is it to see the power of praise? With this in mind, how would you all like to have our choir and youth praise team joining together to hold a praise service and invite everyone in Watertown?

*Isaiah 43:21 says “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.”
God’s purpose in creating us obvious; it is not a mystery. God wants to communicate and share a loving relationship with us, but He also wants to hear our voices in praise.
3. Faith for Evangelism In today’s scripture, we read that Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises even in prison. Then, an earthquake broke their shackles and opened their prison doors, setting them free.
A miracle had occurred. They had the opportunity to run away, and yet they did not. Why? They knew that if they ran away, the prison guard responsible for keeping watch over them would be responsible and face terrifying consequences.
Thus, Paul and Silas stayed and did not escape. Aren’t they such gentlemen?
Seeing this, the guard was deeply moved and saw that the God they believed in was the true God, the only God. He knew that the God they believed in was the almighty God and his entire family came to believe and receive salvation. Hallelujah! Paul and Silas went to jail because of evangelism, and they went to jail to evangelize. Evangelism is not something we can choose to do when we want to and quit when we do not. It is something that should be engrained in our daily lives and our daily behaviors. It should be something that is second nature to us. A true servant of the Lord spreads His Word with faith wherever he or she may be. A true believer always works to glorify His name.
Conclusion) It is true. These three examples of faith Paul and Silas displayed are what makes true servant of faith. Having the faith to pray, sing praise, and evangelize regardless of time and place is a faith we must exemplify in our own lives.
I hope we all become believers of this kind of faith and live everyday victorious through seeing and experiencing the power of our living God.

*파워 포인트 참고: 새 예루살렘 복된 집
Jerusalem my Happy Home


1. 새 예루살렘 복된 집
Je-ru-sa-lem! my hap-py home!
네 이름 높도다
Name ev-er dear to me!
이 수고 언제 그치고
When shall my la-bors have an end
나 거기 갈까
Thy joys when shall I see
나 거기가리까
Thy joys when shall I see.

2. 저 보석으로 세운 성
When shall these eyes thy heav'n built
늘 보고 싶도다
walls And pearl-y gates be-hold,
그 진주문과 황금길
Thy bul-warks with sal-va-tion strong,
나 언제 보리까
And streets of shin-ing gold
나 언제 보리까
And streets of shin-ing gold.

3. 그 사도들과 성도들
A-pos-tles, mar-tyrs, pro-phets there
주 예수 모셨네
A-round my Sav-iour stand,
주 예수 믿는 친구들
And all I love in Christ be-low
쉬 함께 모이세
Will join the glo-rious band,
쉬 함께 모이세
Will join the glo-rious band.

4. 새 예루살렘 복된 집
Je-ru-sa-lem! my hap-py home!
나 언제 가리까
My soul still pants for thee
나 언제 수고 그치고
Then shall my la-bors have an end,
그 영광 누릴까
When I thy joy shall see,
그 영광 누릴까
When I thy joy shall see