Miracle of Thanks (Acts 16:22-31)

Miracle of Thanks (Acts 16:22-31)

        

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.

²⁷ And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

²⁸ But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

²⁹ Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

³⁰ And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

³¹ And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

 

Intro)

 

President Wilson grew up with nothing. Without his father, his mother was the man of his household making money with hard works and make him study. He ended up graduating as the top of his class at Princeton University.

 

 At his graduation speech he said he thank the lord, and professor, and his mother. Then he became a lawyer and then president of Princeton University.

 

Then he became the governor of New Jersey and then became 28^th President of United States. He said he could achieve all of those because he always thanks the God.

    Lots of famous and smartest people all says be grateful was key to their happiness and even healthiness.

 

Little bit of back story about why they were in the jail in today’s text.

Paul and Silas performed exorcism on a slave that used demon for fortune telling. After demon was gone, the slave could not make living because she couldn’t do the fortune telling no more because her demon was gone.

 

So she sued them and they ended up in the jail. Regardless of that situation, our disciples still manage to find something to thankful for God and they sang a hymn to God. Then miracle that no one expected happened.

 

Body)

 

1. Thanks makes miracle.

    

   Look at our disciples and what their gratitude towards God made happened. In our life there are so many hardships we faced or will be facing.

    

   What we can do at those times is being thankful to God and praises Him.

   Of course, not anyone can do it.

    

   Only people who love God can. Being Thankful to God is like mileage service. It is not just one-time thing it accumulates.

   So do not quit and keep going.

  

1. Being thankful can save souls.

    

When Paul and Silas praise our Lord in the jail, a miracle happened. And people around them could not help themselves but to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord. As a result, them and their family were saved!

 

1. God will send more to thankful to your way. 
     So what happened after the prison keepers got saved by Jesus? They took Paul and Silas to their house and bath them and feed them, right?

Pastor Spurgeon from England said God will give you Lenten if you thank the Lord for the candle. God will give you Sun light if you thank the Lord for the Moon light, and he will give you heaven if you thank the Lord for the Sunlight. You have to express your thanks to God, and He will give you more.

    

 D) So how do we thank?

    First of all, thank the God with your soul. Psalm 103:1 says “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”

 

Secondly, we must thank the Lord in the middle of our life. That means, we must show that we are thankful to others.

 

Finally, we have to thank the Lord with what we have. Bible says remember that you are came out from Egypt, do not come in front of the Lord with empty hands. Of course, it is your hard earned money but you also have to admit that God helped you to get where you are right now and you should express gratitude.

 

Conclusion)

 

Being Thankful to God is high way to be blessed. God will add more blessing when you are thankful to everything.

 

Miracles will happen. However, complaining is like negative symbol in the formula.

 

You will lose and lost your blessings. Best service that we can offer to God is give thanks to the Lord.

 

 

111917 By Pastor Ik Sun Ahn