Join us as we unravel the story of Paul and Silas, and the miraculous events that unfolded in the prisons of Philippi. This episode challenges us to reassess our understanding of contentment, illustrating how true fulfillment is not found in material success, but in spiritual commitment and trust. Discover how these ancient stories hold the key to overcoming modern existential crises, guiding us to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and a fulfilled life.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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Okay, you have your life together. Everything is working like it’s supposed to. You love your wife. You like your job. You’re having fun at work. You’re having fun at home. Life is just working for you. So tell me, Why do you feel so uneasy? Why do you feel like something bad is about to happen? It’s a standing joke, isn’t it? People will say, I don’t know. This is going too well. Something bad is bound to happen. I’m nervous. Things are going too well. What’s the matter with us? Why can’t we relax and feel good about life when it is working? Why do we have this nagging fear that something bad is creeping up on us? Well, the truth is, That we’re an unfinished work. That God, who created man, created him with, what shall we say, a hole inside of him. And it’s a hole that we never seem to fill. There’s a yearning that we just can’t satisfy. Some people try to satisfy it with food and get 50 pounds overweight in the process. In the end, find out, guess what? I’m still miserable. Others try to satisfy it with sex. They will chase men or women and ultimately find themselves still alone and miserable and perhaps afflicted with a terrible disease. Some people, in the pursuit of filling up that hole, wind up going to prison, some to an early grave. They’re looking for power, money, sex, food, fame, house, car. And when they get it, they’re not satisfied. It is a lot like King Solomon said. All is just emptiness and a striving after wind. Now, are you ready to know the reason why it is so? Are you ready finally at last to come around to understand why all this is emptiness? Why it’s a striving after wind? Why the wisest and healthiest and richest man who ever lived, who pursued all this stuff with total abandon, still in the end of it all felt empty, alone, deserted, A failure. Why? I want you to consider two men. Two men who exhibited incredible peace of mind. They seemed very much to have that hole inside of them filled up to the full. And I want you to think about what it was that made the difference. The two men are Paul and Silas. They were on one of their many missionary journeys. They were out preaching the gospel in different parts of the world. They had come down to Troas because they had not been able to go into Asia and other places they tried to go. And Paul had a vision. It says, come over here in Macedonia and help us. And so he did. They took shipping and went across to a city called Philippi. Now, their custom was to go find a synagogue, and when the time came for people to stand up and speak, they would stand up and speak, and they would tell people the good news about Jesus Christ, about the resurrection from the dead, and all those good things. But in Philippi, there was no synagogue, so they asked about, and they found that the God-fearing people actually went out to a place by a riverside on the Sabbath for prayer. And so they went out there and joined these people in prayer and told them the good news about Jesus Christ and were invited to stay with one of the families while they were in Philippi. And so as they continued in the city, they would go to prayer or they would find an occasion to preach the gospel somewhere. And Luke tells us this in the account in Acts 16. He says, It came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel who was possessed with a spirit of divination met us, and she had brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. It’s really interesting. This girl has apparently a demon, but it’s a demon that can tell people things that they want to know. And so her masters who owned her would, I guess, hire out her services to people to find lost jewelry or to learn about lost loved ones or what have you. Now this young girl began to follow Paul and Luke and the rest and to cry aloud to everybody around saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God who show unto us the way of salvation. Now she did this for many days. I don’t know how long she followed them around, but every time they would come out of a building, every time they would turn a corner, here was this girl crying out these things. And after many days, Paul was a bit grieved by it and finally decided to do something about it. He turned around and said to the spirit that possessed this girl, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And she came out the same hour. Now, there’s a problem suddenly generated here. I don’t know if you spot it. But the fact is that when her masters saw that this spirit of divination was gone and they weren’t going to be getting any more money, Well, they caught Paul and Silas, and they dragged them into the marketplace to the rulers. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, These men, being Jews, which of course was a pejorative, and that got them in trouble right off the bat, do exceedingly trouble our city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, since we’re Romans. And the multitude rose up against them, and the magistrates tore off Paul and Silas’ clothes and commanded they should be beaten. And so after they had laid many stripes on them, they cast him into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely in the prison. And the jailer, having received that charge, stuck them in the inner prison, way inside the place, and made their feet fast in the stocks. He didn’t just put them in the cell and slam the door and lock the door. He took them down to the lowest part of the prison, put their feet in stocks, locked the stocks, then closed the door, locked the door, and there was a guard outside. Now, their life is really working, isn’t it? You’ve just been beaten within an inch of your life. You’ve been dragged down to the lowest part of the prison. You’ve had your feet locked up in stocks, and it’s a miserable, uncomfortable way to spend the night. They’ve had the door of the slammer slammed on them, and he’s gone away, and there they are. Not what I would call the way I would want to spend an evening. But at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God, and all the prisoners heard them Now, something’s going on inside of these men who, having gone through a beating, who having been locked up, who being miserable and uncomfortable and in pain, could sit there as they kind of halfway sat and lay in those stocks and sing songs of praise to God, who, after all, was the one who got them into this place. How could this be? Well, it’s an interesting story, and we’re going to think about this a little bit. How is it possible for men who have experienced this to have such happiness, such joy, that they can actually sing songs aloud in the prison at night, and I suppose invite the prisoners to join in? But as they sang, there was a great earthquake. And the foundations of the prison were shaken, and all the doors were open, and everyone’s, not just Paul and Silas’s, everyone’s bands were broken open. And the keeper of the prison was jolted out of his sleep by the earthquake, and he saw the prison door open, and he said, Oh, no, they’re gone. And he knew that nothing but torture and death awaited him if he had lost those prisoners. And so he took out his sword and was ready to kill himself. He thought they were gone. And Paul, I guess looking out through the door, could see him. And he shouted at him with a loud voice and said, Don’t hurt yourself. We are all here. And then the man called for a light, and he sprang in, and he came trembling, and he fell down before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out, and he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? This man came to realize that that there was a gigantic hole in the middle of his person, his soul, his life. He realized, because I have little doubt, before he dropped off to sleep, that he’d heard Paul and Silas praying and singing, and he knew something about what they had been preaching. He was not ignorant of that because he asked about salvation whenever he had them out. Paul’s answer is simplicity itself. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house. So they spoke to him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house, and he took them the same hour of the night, and he washed their backs where the stripes were, and he was baptized, he and all of his, straightway. What an incredible event to take place as a result of a beating of As I said earlier, I want to tell you the story of two men who had had the hole in themselves filled with something. We’ll talk about what that something was after these words.
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What do you do when life has dealt you a bad hand? Where do you turn when everything seems to have turned against you? Write for a free CD of a message entitled Beyond Adversity. Learn what lies on the other side of adversity. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE-44.
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Now, I would like to talk more about that jailer, but for the moment, I’ve got to stick with Paul and Silas. What was going on in their minds? What were they experiencing? They’d been beaten. They’d been thrown in jail. They had been slapped in the stocks. and humiliated the whole time. And they were able to sing songs, and of course they were miraculously delivered out of there. So the jailer takes them to his house. He not only washes their wounds, he sets food before them, and he rejoiced, and he believed in God with all of his house. And when it was day, the magistrate sent the sergeant saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told this thing to Paul, saying, Well, the magistrates have sent to let you go, so now therefore depart and go in peace. Now, most people would have said, Boy, am I glad to be out of here. I’m going to get out of here. I’m going to leave this town. I am never coming back here again. No, not Paul. Here is a man who is supremely confident. Paul said, No, they have beaten us openly and uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison. And now they’re going to thrust us out privately? Oh, no. Let them come down themselves and fetch us out. I want an apology, basically, is what Paul is saying. Well, the sergeants told these words to the magistrates, and the magistrates were scared to death. They heard that these men were Romans. They hadn’t even thought to ask. Roman citizens had rights. You couldn’t do this to Romans. You could do it to Jews who weren’t Romans, but you couldn’t do it to a Roman citizen. So they came down and begged them and brought them out and said, Oh, please leave our city. And they left the prison, but they didn’t leave the city. They went down to the house of Lydia, and when they’d finally seen the brethren and comforted them, they left. Now that’s an amusing story in some ways, although I don’t think there was anything amusing about it while these guys were whipped and in stocks at that time. But think of it this way. There you are, driving down the road in your Lexus, driving from your big house on 10 acres with a big swimming pool out in the back, on your way to have lunch in a great restaurant and planning to play golf with four big spenders after lunch. And yet, you can feel unfulfilled and unhappy and empty. While on the other hand, a couple of jailbirds… whose lives are in doubt, who are in prison, in filth and in squalor, and locked in stocks, can sit there laughing and singing songs and praising God. What’s wrong with this picture? You know, I wish I had a quick and easy answer for you. Religious jargon says, well, you should receive Jesus into your heart. Only God can fulfill the longing in the breast of man. And all that is true. But I don’t want to just give you religious jargon. I’d really like to tell it to you a little better than that. What does it mean? The jailer wanted to know. He wanted to know, what has got you fellows to where you can do this, and I’m sitting here scared for my life. I’m on the outside of the door. You’re on the inside of the door. You’re singing songs. But I’m in such terror that the moment I thought you guys were out of here, I was ready to kill myself. My life was over. Paul’s answer was not very long. If you really wanted to know, if you really wanted to be saved, Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and your house. But there is something you should know about this. Paul did not merely tell this guy to believe the facts about Jesus. He did not tell the man that what he needed to do was to believe in the historical Jesus, or that there was a historical Jesus. He didn’t even tell the man that he had to believe Christ. And by that I mean Christ said this, that, and the other thing, and you are supposed to believe the things that Jesus said. No, he went beyond that. He told the man that he was to believe in Jesus Christ, to believe in him. Now, to believe the facts about Jesus is one thing. To believe in him personally is another. And it suggests trust and confidence. It even suggests commitment. I expect you’ve heard a lot of political speeches in your life, and you may even have believed some of them. You might have said about some candidate who is up here speaking to us on the campaign trail, well, I like his proposals on taxes. Or, I like his ideas about welfare reform. I think I will vote for the man in this election because I don’t think the other fellow really has the right angle on taxes. I believe what he is saying about welfare reform. And I can connect with his desire to reform the system or the collection of taxes. But tell me this. How often, when you have heard a political speech, can you say… You know, I really believe in the man. I believe in the man. What does that say about your attitude toward him, about your commitment to him? You can’t say that about someone you don’t know. It suggests not merely promises and programs. It suggests character. It suggests leadership. It says, I believe in this man. I believe that he has the right spirit, the right character, the right approach, and I am willing to support him. That’s what you mean when you say, I believe in this man. And when you say you believe in Jesus Christ, you’re saying quite a bit there as well. You know, there are many analogies I could draw to try to explain what I’m trying to tell you. That there is a hole in man that we can’t fill. That man was designed to be connected to something. That man was designed and made to have a place. Of course, if you were made to need these things, then you have a maker. And you have a maker who has a place for you. If you’re not connected, if you’re not in your place, you are haunted by a feeling of emptiness, of loneliness, of apartness. You are, to use the modern word, you’re just unfulfilled. Now, Paul and Silas believed in Jesus. Paul and Silas were committed to his cause. And being beaten and jailed was a part of the program they were committed to. In fact, being beaten and jailed and with their feet in stocks, they were fulfilled. They were fulfilled because they were in their place. They were doing what they were supposed to do. They had been doing it all the way up until that time. Believe it or not, they were happy to be there. And what is really astonishing is They were even a little cocky about the whole thing, because when they sent them down and said, let them go, they said, I’m not leaving here until you come down here and apologize. These are the actions and words of men who have a great deal of confidence, aren’t they? And what’s another word for confidence? Well, the religious word for it is faith. Faith. They had faith because they were where they were supposed to be, and they were doing what they were supposed to do, and their imprisonment was a part of the plan for them. You know, at the Last Supper, Jesus laid the foundation for this kind of faith. He said to his disciples, among many other things that he said, and this one is in John 16. You’ll find it in verse 21. He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. And he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him. To who? Well, the fellow that has the commandments of Christ and who lives them, keeps them, walks by them. Now, we’ve already talked about the fact that these commandments are a part of what makes your life work. And Jesus said it’s going to go beyond that. Because he that loves me, that’s the one that keeps my commandments, is going to be loved of my Father, and I will love him. There’s love coming back down the street from that one to whom you give this love and this commitment. And he goes further than that. He says, I will manifest myself to him. I’ll make myself known to him. He’ll know me. Now, the Judas, not the one who was the traitor, said, Lord, how are you going to manifest yourself to us and not manifest yourself to the world? And Jesus answered and said, If a man love me, he will keep my words true. And my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and we will make our abode with him. My, do you mean that Jesus and the Father are going to move in with you? Well, yes. Then how could you ever be alone?
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We’ll talk more about this after these words. Or call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE44. and tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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By now I think you’ve figured out that this empty place down inside of man that we keep trying to fill with the wrong things like alcohol, drugs, food, sex, you name it, that that empty place can only be filled with Jesus Christ and the Father moving into our lives and making their life a part of ours. Jesus continued to say, He that doesn’t love me does not keep my sayings. The word you hear is not mine, it’s the Father’s who sent me. I’ve spoken these things being present with you, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, ah, he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said to you. In other words, that Spirit is going to come in to your empty tank and fill it up. Now, this is going to happen in a way, I guess, sort of suddenly, but don’t make the mistake of assuming that this is a quick fix, this filling up of this empty space in your life. You may feel in the beginning like it’s there. What you may not know unless somebody warns you that there’s a maintenance effort. There’s something you’ve got to do. You’ve got to stay close to God. You’ve got to work a little bit at holiness. Then Jesus went on to say something a little bit curious. He said, “‘Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'” Now, I want to think a little bit about that with you. Jesus said, Peace I leave unto you, my peace. Now, by saying my peace, he is suggesting there is another kind. And then he continues to say, I’m not giving you this as the world gives it. Now, I will tell you right up front that for me, peace of mind tends to mean, well, a grassy slope underneath a big oak tree in the shade with a nice stream flowing gently by and a lion in the water with a bobber out there and my dog by my side sound asleep and me kind of dozing off and hoping the fish don’t bite. I could be content, I think. I think I would feel so peaceful in that environment. And yet, there’s something that Jesus said here that’s slightly troubling. He said, I’m not giving this to you as the world gives peace to you. Let not your heart be troubled. Don’t let it be afraid. In saying that, what he is saying is that you’re going to have peace in circumstances where normally your heart would be troubled and you would be afraid. He’s actually describing the kind of peace that Paul and Silas had in jail, in the inner jail, with their feet in stocks, having been beaten, suffering pain and humiliation. And then to be able to pray and sing songs of praise and glory to God. They had peace. They weren’t worried about the outcome because they were where they were supposed to be and they were doing what they were supposed to do. Now, I want to go back for a moment to that jailer who thought his life was over. He really did. He thought, my life is over. I might as well kill myself. It would be a lot easier than what they’re going to put me through tomorrow when he thought those prisoners were gone. And when he suddenly realized that his life was not over, and he came to realize what these men had, and he realized the peace of mind that they had something that he did not have, he wanted it. He wanted it more, and he wanted something more than that. He wanted salvation. So he must have understood somewhat about it. And so he says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved and your house. And so that man was baptized that night with all that were in his house. There was a day somewhat before this when the Apostle Peter stood up before a group of people. It was on the day when the Holy Spirit fell on the church in power on the day of Pentecost. And he said to them, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. There was a realization in the jailer that he also had crucified Christ. that with his sins, with the life that he had led, with the way in which he had ruined his life up until this point, that he needed forgiveness. Now, when Peter made this statement, the men listening said, What shall we do, men and brethren? They were pricked in their heart. They realized the truth of what Peter had been saying. They realized that they had crucified Christ. And Peter said to them, Repent. and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You will receive that Spirit which will fill up the empty tank in your life. And so repentance, that is, sorrow for your sins, the turning of your life around, and baptism are necessary. But you should know that this is not the end of the road. This is only the beginning. You know, it’s no wonder that Solomon, when all was said and done, felt empty, that he felt like he’d lived his whole life striving after a handful of wind. He came to realize that there is so much more out there than just things and possessions and work. If you think you’re ready to talk about filling up that hole in your life, Maybe you ought to talk to a minister, perhaps to a pastor of a local church nearby. If you don’t have anyone to talk to, drop us a line or give us a call. We’ll be glad to suggest someone who might be able to help you along the road toward baptism. Remember, there’s no way that you’re going to make your life work without God in your life. There’s no way that you can fill up that empty hole inside of yourself all by yourself. Until next time, this is Ronald Dart reminding you, God doesn’t want you to lose.
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You were born to win. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-877-7000. 888-BIBLE-44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
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