The Gospel Crossing into Europe

Transcript

GR 1617
10/16/2011
The Gospel Crossing Into Europe
Acts 16:6-18
Gil Rugh

We are going to the book of Acts in your Bibles… Acts and the 16th chapter.  Luke was used of the Holy Spirit to pen this history of the early church.  A church beginning in Acts 2 and continuing right down until our day and will continue until the church is removed from the earth to glory and God then will resume his program with Israel.  

One thing that becomes of great interest is to see how God used his servants in carrying the gospel.  The various people we move from the Jews in Jerusalem to the Samaritans and then to Gentiles.  When Peter went to the house of Cornelius and then in a particular and focused way Paul’s first missionary journey with Barnabas where they carried the gospel to Gentile parts of the world focusing on Gentiles.  What becomes clear and will be evident again as the gospel even moves further out and away from Jerusalem—the land of Israel—further out into the Gentile world is the simplicity of God’s program.  Just take the gospel and share it with people.  Was the same plan for Jews, the same plan for Samaritans, the same plan for Gentiles?  The same plan for this part of the world, when Paul crosses out of Israel and up and around and he is in Galatia and then he crosses via Asia Minor and he goes over to Greece. Wherever he goes he has one gospel.  He told the Corinthians he “determined to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and him crucified.”  

I put in my notes of this section one of the examples of how we approach outreach today and this is from a very successful church and plan and their idea is—this came with the church growth movement—that you have to target certain people, sort of like advertising you have a target audience and you gear everything to that audience.  Well this church that has been very successful and well-known and produced much material, they have their target person and hears reaching out to your community you have to know who you are trying to reach their target and they have a picture of him, looks something like me.  He is well-educated, he likes his job, all these things I didn’t even know I was.  He likes contemporary music, he thinks he is enjoying life more than he did than five years ago.  Health and fitness are high priorities for him and his family.  He prefers casual and informal over formal.  He would rather be in a large group than a small group.  I mean, so now you've got to narrow down and say "What kind of person do we want to reach?  Oh this is our target!" 

You know one thing you see is the gospel is carried out by Peter and the Apostles and then particularly Paul and his associates.  The focus is not on who is being reached; the focus is on the message that’s being conveyed.  And it is the work of God that takes that message and carries it to the heart.  It doesn’t matter who that person is.  Whether they are well-educated or not educated.  Whether they are into health and fitness and they are high priorities or not.  What does that have to do with the ministry of the gospel?  And yet because we use proven marketing techniques and get people in, the church begins to think we are being successful.  But the power is in the gospel and the work that God does in the heart as we are privileged to be instruments in sharing that gospel.  This is a serious issue.  We talked about the gospel again and again in the study of Romans and it comes before us here.  Paul saw it as hard work.  He saw it as draining all his energy.  He saw it as a work that if he did not keep his focus on God and the plan that God had in using the gospel in lives, he would become discouraged, disheartened and want to give up. 

Before we look into Acts, turn over to 2 Corinthians. You note how Paul begins Chapter 4.  “Therefore since we have this ministry,” and the ministry is that of giving off the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ as he talked about at the end of 2 Corinthians 2.  As he closed that chapter, we are not “those who peddle the word of God.”  We don't adjust the message to the audience.   We are not trying to sell something.  We are preaching Jesus Christ.  In Chapter 3, he talked about the message of the new covenant.  Its focus is on the finished work of Jesus Christ.  Then he comes into Chapter 4, “Therefore since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.” Why do you even have to say that?  Because it is a difficult ministry.  It is a draining ministry. 

“We have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” It didn’t matter where he went.  What was transparent about Paul is, we are genuinely presenting the message of Jesus Christ.  There are no ulterior motives; there are no tricks; there are no clever plans, we have come to tell you about a Savior who was crucified and raised from the dead.  Then he went on to talk about “if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.”  So you see it’s the spiritual battle going on as the servant of God carries the gospel of God and the enemy of God, the enemy of our souls, the devil, opposes that ministry, in every way possible to make it as difficult as possible. 

Verse 5, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord.” The simplicity of it.  We are slaves for Christ’s sake.  “We have this treasure, verse 7, in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” Jump down to verse 16.  “Therefore we do not lose heart…” That’s where he started this chapter saying again, we don't lose heart.  Our ministry is difficult.  The Corinthians were trying to make the ministry easy.  Paul said we are in the process of dying.  Death is what is happening to us.  We are constantly being delivered over death for Jesus’ sake in verse 11.  "But in all this we do not lose heart.  Though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day.  For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which are seen but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

You see how Paul keeps going?  Why he doesn’t lose heart, why he doesn’t get discouraged?  He keeps his attention on what matters.  Eternal things.  The things which are not seen.  And thus God used him mightily.  Although humanly speaking, you look, what did he accomplish?  Traveling to various places, seeing relatively small groups of people responding and establishing, end up spending much of his life in prison and then is executed.  It seems a waste of a life of a man of superior intelligence and great potential.  But nobody says that today because it is measured in light of what God was doing, but not everybody in that day—even those around Paul—remember Demas forsook Paul having loved this present world.  He lost heart.  He lost focus.  

So come back to Chapter 16.  It’s exciting to consider the missionary journeys of Paul.  But you know… you have to see that excitement in the proper context.  It’s easy to be 2000 years removed and say, "Boy, that would have been exciting to be with Paul.”  John Mark didn’t think so.  Remember he bailed on the first missionary journey.  Just not what you might think.  And the response is not always what you think.  But God is working even when we don’t understand and see it perhaps all the result that we would like to.  

After the first missionary journey, Paul, Barnabas and others traveled to Jerusalem, met with the Apostolic leadership of the church and the elders of the church of Jerusalem to resolve the conflict over what exactly is the gospel.  What is required for salvation?  To make clear that it was not a conversion to Judaism.  Simple faith in Jesus Christ was enough.  After that conference, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch in Syria.  Had ministry there.  Then they decided they would travel again but there was a conflict over whether John Mark should go with them, so Paul and Barnabas go their separate ways.  They were going to go back and visit the churches they had established on the first trip but that doesn’t work out exactly as they planned so Barnabas takes John Mark and goes to Cyprus.  That’s the way Paul and Barnabas started out.  And Paul goes by land, remember, and will travel up and around into the region of Galatia and visit the churches that were established in that region on the first missionary journey. 

So in that context, as Chapter 16 opened up, Paul met and heard more about a young man named Timothy.  Silas is Paul’s traveling companion now.  He’s a prophet, he has had a ministry, and now he is joined with Paul.  So he replaces Barnabas in effect with Paul and now they are looking for a young man who would replace John Mark and Timothy is well-spoken of, evidently saved on Paul’s first journey through this area along with his mother and his grandmother, and Timothy is circumcised since he is of mixed parentage; a non-Jewish father and a Jewish mother, to take away any stigma that would be there.  You don’t have to deny your Jewishness to be saved, but you don’t have to as a Gentile adopt Jewishness to be saved.  So the clarity that Paul has on this. 

So they are traveling now, visiting the cities.  Verse 4, "they were passing"—in Chapter 16— "through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe.” So telling them what had been decided at the Jerusalem
conference.  This is an issue in this region. Remember Paul wrote the letter to the Galatian churches, churches in this region, so the influence of Judaizing teachers, trying to bring Gentiles under the authority of the Mosaic law.  Mosaic practices was at issue, Paul helping clarify that the leadership of the church in Jerusalem are in agreement with Paul that that's not required.  

The churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily.  So in verse 6, “They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.”  Why don’t you put the map up there and we will just make sure we are all traveling together here.  They start out over here.  You can see down here is Jerusalem.  But they are up here in Antioch—we call this Antioch of Syria—though I distinguish it from other Antioch’s.  Barnabas, when he separated from Paul and traveled, he cut across here and went to Cyprus, which was his home.  That’s where they went on their first missionary journey, they went this way.  But now Paul is going to go around this way.  There would be no conflict here; they are not going to go and argue. So he goes around this way and comes in and hears churches that he visits and he is taking off across the region here. And here is Galatia and you will have the churches of Galatia of Asia Minor here.  Remember the seven churches of Asia, including Ephesus, Colossi, and so on?  You have Ephesus right here.  As he is going across here, he is going to end up coming over into this region and here you see Bithynia.  Here you see Asia.  So he is sort of traveling through this region. 

He wants to go into Asia.  That's a great opportunity for ministry.  We know that because later he will go to Asia, the great ministry in Ephesus, and we know churches established in that region because in Revelation, Chapters two and three, Christ addresses letters to the seven churches of Asia.  We have the letter to the Colossians because Colossi was one of those cities in Asia or Asia Minor as we know it.  But you’ll note, verse six, they have been “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.”  No explanation given.  We don't know whether there was more told to Paul and how it was communicated in a dream, a vision, whatever.  We don't know.  But the spirit of God made clear that they were not to carry the gospel to Asia. 

So after they came to Mysia.  You see Mysia up here.  Then they anticipated going into Bithynia over here because the great region so you come up here the Black Sea there were significant cities up here and it would seem that would be a great place.  I mean as you are thinking where would you go for ministry?  Well these two areas:  Asia over here is a center of influence and up here you get into the region of the Black Sea that would have great influence and impact.  There again, the spirit of Jesus did not permit them so they keep going.  They come down to Troas.  I mean you've come across here thinking you'll go into Asia, it's a new area.  No.  Well then we will come up here and get into here let's move up this way.  No.  Well you can't go this way; you can't go this way, I guess you go this way.  They end up in Troas.  

Troas is a major port area.  Ships go up into the Black Sea.  They cross over into Greece.  So you know I think well this is the place God has for them.  What a center!  You know where people are coming and going and traveling through. Going to other parts of the world so have Paul spend some extensive time here preaching the Word and he will reach people who were here for business and so on, whatever.  Well that's not God's plan either.  There is no record of any kind of ministry in Troas.  Doesn't mean that Paul and Silas wouldn't have shared the gospel perhaps with people along the way? Those whose paths they cross?  But there is no record of any ministry:  any conversions, any churches established, anything like that up to this point. 

Now they have traveled a long way.  You get over in Troas they've traveled 250 miles.  And you know if you are doing this by foot that's a long walk and yet the Lord keeps closing doors.  They get to Troas, verse nine, "A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.’  And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” So he is here.  He has a vision.  Come into Macedonia.  You that over here.  Then you come down where Greece is and Paul's travels will take him that way.  So no ministry here that's recorded and he's going to cross over here to a region and then up to Philippi.  Samothrace here to Philippi and then he will come around and down. 

Remarkable how God is directing where the word of God will go.  That doesn't mean he's not going to open up the region of Asia Minor.  As far as we know, Paul did not go into Bithynia but Asia Minor is on God's timetable but not now.  Greece is the focal point for Paul's ministry.  So he leaves Troas.  He shares with his companions.  They're ready to go to Macedonia.  You will note a change here.  Verse six, "They pass through the Phrygian and Galatian region.”  Verse seven, "After they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia.” Verse eight, "...passing by Mysia, they came to Troas.” Then there's the vision, verse ten, "When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” Verse 11, "So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace.” 

An indication here is Luke has joined the party at Troas.  And he will remain with them until they come to Philipi and Paul will have a ministry there—I was going to point it out but you can see Philippi up there.  It may indicate that Luke is from Philippi because again after this section at Philippi, it's not going to be a “We” section, “Us” section anymore.  When will we pick up the next “we” section back at Philippi?  So it seems that perhaps Luke was in Troas, met Paul there, and traveled with him up into Philippi and is there for that ministry in Philippi but does not continue on with Paul for whatever reason.  Perhaps his responsibilities were taking him to Philippi.  Another reason for that is the extensive record he has of the ministry that takes place in Philippi, which of course would be of special interest and concern to him if in fact that is his home region.  We don't know for sure, but the “We” sections would seem to point that he has special connections to Philippi and will have him here down through this section in Philippi, then we'll go back and leave the “We” sections.  Clearly he has joined the party traveling with Paul on this occasion.  

Alright.  So they see the vision, verse ten, "...immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” This vision, a man from Macedonia—a Macedonian.  We are crossing over now to a different continent here.  The gospel is going to come to Europe.  And “Come over and help us” is taken as a vision from God that God has prepared for them a ministry in Macedonia.  "So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace.” It's an island there and then you stop and then the next day you proceed to Neapolis, which is ten miles from Philippi, Philippi being inland there.  Now you know you are on sailing ships going here.  So how long it takes depends on the wind, the weather.  They must have had a good wind because they make it in two days.  On the return trip it will take five days.  I believe it is 150 miles across there.  So they had good winds going, they will be less favorable, but that was the travel of those days.  

So they go to Neapolis.  Again there is no indication of any ministry in Samothrace. They are only there overnight, or in Neapolis.  But from Neapolis they go to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, "a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for many days.” One commentator wrote concerning Philippi and its importance during the New Testament time period.  That resulted from its agriculture, its strategic commercial location, it was on both land routes, commercial routes and sea routes.  Because you are only ten miles up from Neapolis there in the port for sea routes.  It had functioning gold mines and it's a Roman colony.  Roman colonies were established by Rome as special cities.  They were to be like little Romes.  A little Rome out here.  When soldiers retired from the Roman army, they were often settled in these kind of cities.  They were given special privileges, special tax considerations and so on.  So it becomes an important city because Rome rules the world.  And so to be a city that was a colony, gave it special influence and a special place.  

They stayed there for some days.  "...on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside.” Interesting.  God's directed them here; now they are here.  And here we are at this major city, a Roman colony.  Now what?  I mean God's closed doors all along the way.  They've traveled all this way and here we are in Philippi; now what?  We've got to find somebody to talk to.  So where's a logical place to start?  Well, as Paul often did, in a synagogue.  But there is evidently no synagogue in Philippi.  So this is a strongly Gentile area.  It took ten men—ten Jewish men—to form the core of a synagogue.  If you only had six, you couldn't have a synagogue in a city.  So evidently, there is no synagogue here because “…on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside.” So this is not something going on in the major part of the city, it's outside the city and along the river.  And evidently they had found here is where some Jewish people will meet.  As Paul often does, he starts with the Jews because there is a contact point there, obviously.  One, he is a Jew with a Pharisaical background.  And two, he can open up the Old Testament scriptures to them and start with that and carries the gospel to the Jews first.  

So they go outside where we were supposing that would be a place of prayer.  It's the Sabbath day.  There's not a synagogue.  What Jews there are will gather together for prayer.  "...and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.” So evidently, there are no men there.  There are women who either are Jewish or who have identified themselves with the Jewish God—the God of Israel—assembled here for prayers.  They "began to speak to the women who had assembled.”

"A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira,…” Now wait a minute.  Paul was forbidden to carry the gospel into Asia Minor.  Remember the seven churches of Asian Minor in the book of Revelation?  One of them is Thyatira.  And there is a church in Thyatira.  Interesting God didn't plan to have Paul carry the gospel into Asia Minor himself.  He hasn't traveled over into Macedonia and who's the first convert in Macedonia?  A woman from Asia Minor.  The city of Thyatira, just to see the sovereignty of God.  

"A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics…” Thyatira was well-known, famous in the world at that time for its industry, its trade guilds—be like maybe our unions.  The different trade guilds formed around the different trades.  This purple dye was very expensive, made either from the secretions of a mollusk or the root of a plant called the Matter plant, but the process made it expensive.  That purple dye was used for a wealthy person.  So here's a woman who deals in purple garments.  We're not told here... as she is here and they have a business center.  Has she just traveled back and forth from Thyatira to conduct business in Philippi?  We're not told.  She's a worshiper of God.  She's not Jewish.  She's here where the Jews would meet for prayer.  She's a worshiper of the God of Israel, which would indicate that she's not a full convert to Judaism, but she is a Gentile—something like Cornelius who had come to agree that the God of Israel was the true and living God and joined with Jews in their worship on the Sabbath and in their prayers here.  So she's listening.  

Here Paul, he's traveled all the way from Antioch in Syria all the way across that region—Galatia, Phrygia—up, not allowed to get into Asia, not allowed to go into Bithynia.  Doesn't seem to have any significant ministry in Troas.  Comes all the way across to Greece and he finds himself sitting down by the riverside with a handful of women.  Sharing the gospel.  I know you would think he would get to the city of Philippi because the Lord is going to provide opportunity for at least a hundred people. I don't know.  What would you think?  After you had traveled walking at least 250 miles, then cross another 150 by boat, the Spirit has closed doors and God has specifically called you to come into Greece and now you sit down with a few women by a riverside and start to share the gospel. 

What the beautiful thing about Paul is, what do you find him doing? Complaining?  No.  Sharing the gospel.  Here... God has directed us here.  I'm here for one purpose:  share the gospel.  Well there's only a handful of women.  A major synagogue would have at least provided a door.  No.  Here's a handful of women so he shares the gospel.  

And note the end of verse 14, I hope you have that underlined, "...and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” The Lord opened her heart.  There's called the secret.  You share the truth of Christ and the Spirit of God uses it in a heart.  We come up with all these plans.  Well, let's get a target; let's develop a service that will appeal to them with the style of music they are looking for.  We'll dress the way they would like us to be dressed that will make it attractive.  We'll look like a healthy group of people who like to eat certain kinds of food and on and on and then here is Paul sitting down by the riverside with a handful of women telling them the gospel. That's not a great target audience.  Paul, if you want to reach the world; life's going by and you are traveling over from one continent to another to share the gospel with a handful of women sitting by a riverside.  The Lord's at work.  "...the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”

We have seen this earlier in Acts.  It is the sovereign work of God to bring salvation to a heart.  You can't save a person.  I can't save a person.  I can tell them about the salvation that God has provided in Christ.  As they hear that. Remember the house of Cornelius?  While Peter is telling them about the suffering and the death of the Messiah in Israel and his resurrection, the Spirit comes on them.  The veil is lifted.  They believe.  That's something God does.  When we lose sight of that we can begin to get gimmicky.  We say, oh yeah, no we're not going to abandon the gospel but it's all these other things.  No, it's the gospel and God using the gospel.  
"The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.  And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.'  And she prevailed upon us.” And now we find out she just wasn't a business woman who traveled here and was only here for a day or two.  She had a home here so maybe she represented the business in Thyatira and she was the contact point here.  The woman was involved; she had a home here.  

Others join with her in believing the gospel.  Interesting what happens to this verse.  "When she and her household had been baptized,…” And some take this as one of the verses that indicate the salvation of infants.  We don't even know if Lydia is married.  You know... let alone saying infants should be baptized.  Her household baptized.  Those associated within her household; evidently her husband is not in the picture.  You cannot necessarily read into it that she has a husband.  But she'd have a household.  She'd have servants.  I mean she is a seller of purple.  She's dealing in costly material with well-to-do.  This would be a woman of some means, we would assume.  Evidently, those with her were part of her household respond to the message like Cornelius.  His household is baptized after hearing and believing and receiving the Spirit because only those who gave evidence of having received the Spirit were baptized.  Remember in Acts 10 and then as Peter related it in Acts 11.  So here every indication would be others who were part of her household, if they were family members, they would have responded to the gospel.  Servants, they would have responded to the gospel.
 
After her response immediately recognized Paul and Silas and Timothy.  These are just traveling teachers.  Well, you know as we are familiar in biblical times staying in a home was a common practice.  She was quick to open her home.  That is something she can do.  Immediately ready to be used of the Lord in this way.  She opens her house for Paul and she prevails upon them to stay with her.  This becomes a center for Paul's ministry in Philippi.  

Now you come to verse 16 and you come to an account of the salvation of another.  You are going to go from one woman to another woman.  We are not told anything about the household of Lydia.  Who is included in that household that were saved at this time as well and give testimony in baptism.  The focus was on Lydia.  Paul stays in that home. We assume he is teaching these new converts.  We don't know what other kind of ministry he has.  We know Paul was about ministry but we are not just told in Luke's account here.  We are told in verse 16, "It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer,…"

I don't know maybe another week's gone by because in verse 13 we are told that they went on the Sabbath day to this place where there would be a place of prayer.  So they just meet on the Sabbath here, this gathering would have a week gone by.  We don't know what's going on.  Luke doesn't fill in those details.  He is a historian so he has to give those items which move us along and help us understand what's going on. 

Another woman comes into the picture.  "It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.” Literally, she had a python spirit.  This was a symbol of a serpent and supposedly represented one of the gods and gave special supernatural ability.  Evidently, here we have a demonic spirit because this girl is good at what she does and she brings a lot of money in to her masters.  She is a slave-girl.   Because she has this supernatural power people pay to have her tell their fortune.  To tell them about the future.  To tell them about certain things:  a business relationship, wherever.  So her masters made a lot of money by her using this gift. 

She was following after Paul and us so here they are going along the way would indicate that Paul and Silas and Timothy have been having a ministry in Philippi.  We would expect that.  Sharing the gospel then when the Sabbath comes again they go to the place of prayer and they concentrate on the small group of Jews or Jewish sympathizers, if I can use that word.  As they were traveling there this woman's following them, this demon-possessed girl, fortune-teller.  "These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She continued doing this for many days.  But as Paul travels around, she is following along.  When this happens several days, Paul gets upset and says to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!  And it came out at that very moment.”

Interesting. Here is a demonic spirit indwelling a woman and giving her supernatural ability. And you will note the theology that is given here is accurate. Verse 17, "...she kept crying out, saying…” So here she is walking along calling out to the people. These men are the slaves of the most-high God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation. That's exactly right. You think, boy what an opportunity. Here is a woman recognized as having spiritual abilities, opening the door to the city telling the people of the city who respect her and trust her, and pay her a lot of money, to learn from her saying these are the slaves of the Most High God. They're telling you the way of salvation. Think of the doors that are opening up. Paul will have none of it. Paul was great annoyed. He turned and said to the spirit, “Come out.” It comes out.

Come back to Mark 1. You know during Jesus' earthly ministry, the demons recognized him. The demon in this slave-girl recognizes Paul and Silas and Timothy. The demons recognized Jesus Christ. Mark 1:23, "Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, 'What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!’ Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be quiet, and come out of him!’” He recognizes Jesus is the one who has power to destroy the demons. He is the Holy One of God. But Jesus is unwilling to have the testimony of demons.

Over in Mark 3:11, "Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, 'You are the Son of God!' And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.” The demons recognized and know. Mark 5:2, the demon-possessed man. When He gets out of the boat, in the country of the Gerasenes, and a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him, verse six, "Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice, he said, 'What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!’” You see they recognize who Jesus is, they recognize his power, and Christ commands him to come out.

So back in Acts 16, one thing we learned about this: we have to be very careful. The demons can have good theology but that's not acceptable. You know we have to be careful. We look at the overall theology of teachers; we look at the overall practice. We don't want those whose doctrine are contrary to be proclaiming that we, oh yes, we serve the Lord. We join together with them. What would Paul do? Join together with a demon in ministry because it might open doors? Paul is going to shut the door here on ministry. It's going to slam the door. It's going to result in Paul and Silas being beaten, going to prison. What a way to go about ministry. You see it has to be done God's way. Say, "Well maybe the Lord is opening a door here." What she's saying is true. Who knows what the Lord will do with this. The Lord will open the doors he wants open and close the doors he wants closed. We need to be careful.

Our responsibility is to be faithful to the word and our associations in the ministry of the word are to be with those who are true to the word. That's something lost today. It doesn't matter the demon's theology is correct. Jesus is the Son of God. He has the power over demons to destroy them. These are the servants of the Most High God. They are proclaiming the way of salvation. But it's not helpful to have a demon saying that. Of course God will use it. So they had done it, they cast out the demon and that door of opportunity will close at least in that way.

You know interestingly, Luke says nothing about whether she gets saved. This is the last we hear of this girl. We would like to think she did. Paul casts the demon out in recognition of the power of God. There would be reason to assume she did, but there is nothing said about her. I assume he did the casting out of the demon; that would be consistent with other occasions where Christ cast out demons during his ministry and it resulted in the salvation of the person.

Assuming that's the case, we have two people who are converted. The household of Lydia is mentioned but we don't know anything more about that and they are both women. A Gentile woman from Asia Minor who had come to recognize the God of Israel becomes a believer and a slave girl. And the action with the slave girl is going to cause great trouble in the city. God will use it to bring about the salvation of another unusual individual. We'll look at it the next time and that’s the Philippian jailor and he becomes famous again because of his place in the word of God.

But isn't it interesting how God works? We like to think of big things. God doing big things. And here he sends Paul all the way to Greece to do what we would call little things. Carry the gospel to a small group of women to have the power of Jesus Christ impact this demon-possessed girl. To have Paul and Barnabas beaten, cast into prison, to have a jailor get saved with his family. Then they are going to have to leave the city. God's ways are not our ways. You know we don't know what's happening as we’re sharing the gospel from place to place. Sometimes it may not look like we are doing anything. So little; it's so insignificant. We look at the Apostle Paul and say what a ministry he had, but you know you back up and look and say at the time if you were observing it would look like he is not really making much of an impact. He is going to leave Philippi and you have Lydia, perhaps this slave girl, and a jailor and his family. You have traveled hundreds of miles, passed up what seemed like great places for ministry to come to where God has said he wants you and this is what's happening.

And it's not going to get any better when he leaves Philippi and moves on to a couple of other places, yet we see the results and the growth and God uses His word. You don't know what's going to happen. You may lead one little person to the Lord, one child. You don't know what the Lord is going to do with that child, that family, we don't know. We know what? We have been entrusted with the gospel. We share it. What God will do with that word as we give it out with our lives as our testimony for him is in His hands. I will be accountable not for people being saved but for people having heard the gospel as I had opportunity to share it with them. God is the one who is responsible to bring about the conversion of a heart and that's the ministry entrusted to us personally and as a church. Let’s pray together.

Thank You, Lord, for the simple faithfulness of Paul and Silas and Timothy traveling in difficult times in days that travel was much more difficult over hundreds of miles encouraging small groups of believers then seeming to travel through areas where there were not opportunities. Then being directed to a new part of the world. Lord, we are thrilled to see the gospel come to Europe because we look back and see the wonder of your plan. But we thank You for the faithfulness of these individuals. Doing what seems like small things. Sharing the gospel with a handful of women. Confronting this demon-possessed girl, and now we will move to see them beaten and imprisoned. How discouraging it could have been, and yet again You will open the door to salvation to another home and then on to another place. Things that seem small, but Lord when You are at work nothing is small. May we be encouraged in the realm of our service to be faithful to You in what may seem like little things. So we share the gospel with people that seem insignificant and yet, Lord, You are the God of salvation and You use your word to accomplish things that matter in light of eternity. Use us to be faithful in our service for You in the days of the week ahead. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
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