Believe and Be Baptized (Acts 16.16-34)

Introduction

A vicar was moving on and he was saying goodbye to his congregation at the door for the last time. So he is shaking everyone’s hand and saying nice things – like vicars do, you know. And he shakes the hand of an elderly lady as she walks out. She says to him “The next vicar we get won’t be as good as you.” “Oh, nonsense, don’t say that”, says the vicar. But in fact, he feels really flattered. What a compliment, he thinks. It massages his ego a bit to be perfectly honest. Then the old lady says, “No, I mean it. The next vicar we get won’t be as good as you. I’ve seen five different vicars in this church, and every new one has been worse than the last.”

If it’s true that vicars get worse every year then the very best church leaders would be the very first ones and our reading from Acts 16 is about four of the very first; Paul, Timothy, Silas and Luke, who arrive one day in a city called Philippi. That is actually a big deal. It was in fact the very first time anyone in Europe heard about Jesus.

So this was breaking new ground that would massively impact our continent for centuries afterwards. Still today, people want to follow him, live under his influence – and that is what these baptisms were about today. You said, “I turn to Christ, the way the truth and the life” because there’s something about Jesus that you think is good for your families. And you’re absolutely right about that.

Prayer Makes Things Happen

So here they were in this strange city. What’s the first thing you do when you go to a new place? Find somewhere to eat? See the sights? Check out the night life? The first thing these four guys do (v16) is head for the place of prayer. I find that intriguing because praying is, for some people, the last thing they ever do, if at all. But these guys seek out a place of prayer.

I wonder where you think the place of prayer is. Some people think the only proper place to pray is a church building. There’s something about the quietness and stillness of an old church that helps some people to focus on God. I met someone this week who told me exactly that.

Other people pray best, not in a church, but when they’re out in the open air; by a river or lake, or in a wood, or some wide-open space. I’m sort of like that actually. I usually feel closest to God when I’m surrounded by amazing natural scenery.

In fact, there is no best place to pray. You can pray anywhere; in the garden, at work, in the bath, while you’re shopping, first thing in the morning or last thing at night by your bed, while you do the ironing or in the car when you’re driving (but keep your eyes open if you do)… wherever.

I was watching a match on TV last weekend and, at a moment when the game was finely balanced, the camera panned round on both sets of fans and some of them had their hands clasped together and their eyes closed like they were praying – of course, it didn’t do half of them any good at all – but the point is that you can pray anywhere.

So what difference does prayer make? Can praying about a specific situation actually affect the outcome? We don’t know what Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke pray for but we do know what happens to them shortly afterwards.

Firstly, they get harassed by a woman who must have come across as a bit of a nutter. She’d been playing about with the occult and that messed her up so badly that she spent days, we’re told, following these men around and shouting. That’s really annoying.

Then, two of the four, Paul and Silas, get dragged into a public square, falsely accused of a crime, physically attacked by a vigilante mob, stripped down to their underwear, beaten with sticks and thrown into a secure cell with their feet in stocks.

So if they were praying for a nice quiet weekend, it didn’t work out too well.

What did Paul and Silas say to each other in that police cell? Silas to Paul: “Those cut-price holidays to Greece, you get what you pay for eh?” Paul to Silas: “Getting beaten up in the market place – no one mentioned that on Trip Advisor!”

If you pressed the “pause” button right there, you’d be tempted to say that prayer is pretty useless. What’s the point of praying if that’s what you get out of it?

So much for Paul and Silas. What about the jailer? In v27 he wakes up (so that proves he was asleep on the job – capital offence), he finds every cell empty (so that shows all the prisoners had escaped on his watch – capital offence) so he’s just about to fall on his sword. If you press “pause” right there, you’d probably say that he’s having a bad day at work.

But the story doesn’t end there. Because Paul and Silas and Luke and Timothy have been in the place of prayer. And prayer changes things.

In v25, in the middle of the night, at the darkest hour, at the lowest ebb, Paul and Silas sing praise to God. With neither data projector nor worship band. It was a spontaneous eruption of heartfelt worship.

The Bible says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5.18).

In all circumstances! Give thanks even when your employment contract expires. Give thanks even when your bank account is empty. Give thanks even when a project fails, when a colleague lets you down, when your heart is troubled… give thanks. When you do, a drawback and a setback can become a comeback.

Prayer changes things. Paul and Silas, falsely accused of committing an offence, beaten up and locked away find themselves miraculously freed.

A despairing prison officer on the verge of suicide in becomes a converted father of a Christian family. He goes from trembling with fear, totally in anguish, to being the overjoyed father of a harmonious home. That’s what Jesus does. And that’s what prayer achieves.

I’ve never prayed for a jail break. But the nearest I’ve ever got to it was when I was in France. The church I was part of was in the centre of Paris, about 300 metres from the Elysee Palace, where the French President lives. It’s a high security sort of place at all times but one Saturday, when I was down to take a wedding, it was higher security than ever.

It just so happened that George W. Bush was in town that day and there was a ring of steel all around that part of town. Dozens of streets were closed. Vehicles were barred from access. Even pedestrians were not allowed anywhere near my church. Helicopters were flying overhead. Men with bulletproof vests and guns were everywhere. I called the bride, who was a good friend, about an hour before the service and explained. She said, “My wedding is going ahead. Sort it out.”

I said, “Right.” I spoke with the guys at the barriers and explained. I was told “No chance.” I asked to speak to someone higher up. He came over and said “No chance.” I got put onto the phone with some big cheese. He said “No chance.”

There was only one thing to do. Get on my knees and ask God to take care of it. Ten minutes later, some official looking man in a uniform came by and said word had come from the highest authority that the wedding could go ahead and that access would be granted to the bride, groom and congregation. Anyone dressed for a wedding would be allowed through the barriers. And here's the happy couple afterwards. 

Think of a delicate situation in your life. Why don’t you try praying for seven days and see what happens?

People sometimes say to me “Well, I would but God seems so far away.”

Our Need of Salvation

There’s a reason for that. He is. Between people and God there is a great chasm. That chasm is there because of people prefer their ways to God’s ways. The Bible has a word to for this and the word is “sin.”

The problem is that whenever we want to get to God we can’t just jump over to the other side. The gap is too big.

So people try to build bridges. They try to be as good as they can be, giving up chocolate, donating money to charity, visiting an elderly neighbour or lighting a candle in a church.

There’s nothing wrong with those things; in fact, they are really good. But they aren’t can’t get anyone to God. All the effort in the world is not enough to build a bridge that gets us to the other side of the chasm that exists between us and God.

But God saw our problem and he did something about it.

Because he loves us so much, he provided a way of getting close to him. His solution was to send his Son, Jesus, to be the bridge.

Whoever makes the decision to cross the bridge will be put right with God forever.

When anyone makes a decision to leave behind their old life and turn in faith to Jesus things begin to change.

This is how the jailer’s life was turned around. When he asks “What must I do to be saved?” Paul doesn’t tell him to get in touch with his inner spiritual self. Nor does he say, “You need to spend hours of pious praying and do a thousand good works.” He says “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household.”

That’s all. That’s it. If anyone says “Lord, I’m sorry about the old me, please give me a new heart,” he will and it’s party time every time it happens.

About a year after Kathie and I got married, we had a young student to stay with us for a few months. She was the first person I ever had a hand in leading to faith in Christ. The day she told us near the end of her stay “I’ve given my life to Christ and I’m so, so happy!” we just overflowed with joy.

Several of our young people made that step last summer. Our day release prisoner who does community service here also made that step a year ago. He and three of our teenagers are being baptized next Sunday.

Jesus puts it this way: ‘Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life’ (John 5:24).

God loves you. If you had been the only person on earth - ever - who needed to get across the great divide, Jesus would still have died on the cross for you.

What if you are trying to bridge the chasm on your own, without Jesus? You are wasting your time.

Ending

As I end, I want to invite you, maybe challenge you, to try praying for seven days about a situation in your life. Whatever is bothering you. Through prayer, God can change the life of a prison officer just about to end it all so that instead his whole family gets baptized. He can open locked doors and set the prisoners free. He can break through the security barriers for the most powerful man on earth.

What might God do in your life if you prayed about a situation for seven days?

We have some booklets to offer called Try Praying. They are a guide to help you pray if you don’t know where to start. There are youth versions too for teenagers. Dozens of churches in Stockton are giving these away this month to anyone who wants one and there will be copies available at the door as you leave if you do. We think God is about to do some amazing things in people’s lives as they go to the place of prayer.

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 26th April 2015

Praying, Serving, Sharing Faith (Colossians 4.2-18)

Introduction

This guy goes walking his dog one morning. He throws a stick for the dog out over a lake. The dog runs after the stick, walks on water, retrieves the stick and walks on water back to its master. The guy rubs his eyes and says “No! This is not happening! I am going mad. I’m seeing things.”

So he decides to invite his neighbour the next day to go walking with his dog. They get as far as the lake and the same thing happens. He throws a stick for the dog out over a lake. The dog runs after the stick, walks on water, retrieves the stick and walks on water back to its master.

So the guy turns to his neighbour and says, “Did you notice anything unusual about my dog?” And the neighbour says “Yes, I did.” So the guy says “What was it about my dog that you thought was out of the ordinary?” The neighbour replies, “Your dog can’t swim can he?”

No matter how amazing the year has been, no matter how manifest God’s presence has been among us, some people will never see it. This time last year, I stood here and wondered how we would get on having sent Sylvia Wilson out to Egglescliffe. It is impossible to lose someone like that and not feel the loss.

And yet our church has actually grown in the last year. Not only that but the ministries with which Sylvia was particularly involved like Connect and Sozo have also gone on from strength to strength – which is a testimony to the way she raised up leadership teams around her. Not only that but Egglescliffe is doing really well too. There are really encouraging reports coming back of a church really starting to go places.

In this year that has been so busy and in which the church has grown in many ways, we could slow down a bit. You know, consolidate. Sit down and admire the view.

But what we have chosen as our vision is to pray always and serve together to share Jesus’ love in our communities. It shows that we want to keep going and keep growing as a church.

Praying, serving and sharing faith were big priorities in the first century church too.

Pray Always

First of all, ‘pray always’. Did you notice, in our reading, Paul says “Devote yourselves to prayer.”

The dictionary defines that word “devote” as “to give all or most of one's time or resources to (a person or activity).” A devoted Downton Abbey fan never misses a single episode. A devoted Boro supporter goes to every home game – even if he moans all week about how useless they are. They organise their diaries around the TV schedule and the fixture list.

So when Paul says “devote yourselves to prayer” he means a serious, costly, determination to seek God’s face.

But when the Bible says, “Pray without ceasing” it doesn’t mean “do nothing else.” Otherwise, we would never eat, never sleep, never rest, wash, take the bins out or look after the kids. Sounds quite attractive actually… To pray without ceasing is like having an incessant cough; it’s not that you do nothing else – there are gaps between the coughs, thank goodness.

No, it just means something that you keep coming back to. Where there are opportunities to pray together – Morning Prayer, prayer breakfasts, prayer in the chapel every Sunday between morning services, on Facebook, at Ablaze, in small groups, in triplets, in prayer ministry… our vision is to prioritise prayer as much as we can.

There’s a guy in the Bible called Epaphras and he had that vision too. He’s in our reading actually. Have a look at v12. “Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is… how often is that? …always wrestling in prayer for you.” Always… wrestling... It must have been exhausting being mates with him!

But look at that word “always”. Isn’t that funny? We agreed that our vision is to “pray always.” We did. I didn’t pick that out of the sky and decide to inflict it on you; no, we chose together, under God, led by the Holy Spirit, to commit ourselves to be a church saturated in an atmosphere of overflowing, believing, expectant, prayer.

Serve Together

We also agreed that our vision would be about serving together.

That was, as it happened, another big thing in the first century church. Look how many names come up in this short chapter; Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, Barnabas, Justus, Epaphras, Luke, Demas, Nympha, Archippus and Paul.

Look at the words Paul uses to describe what they do; telling news, encouraging hearts, being co-workers, wrestling in prayer, comforting others, opening homes, working hard, completing tasks… It’s a vision of a church in which different people are all coming and going, tasked with different commissions.

It’s the description of Tychicus in v7 that I love so much. First, he’s a dear brother; everyone else in the church is a sibling to this man – and he loves everyone as a family member.  

Second, he’s a faithful minister; that means he’s reliable and trustworthy. He’s one of those salt-of-the-earth types who doesn't let you down. He doesn’t cancel appointments all the time. Tychicus says “yes” and that means “yes.” Tychicus says “no” and that means “no.”

Third, he’s a fellow servant; he never feels that anything is beneath his dignity. He’s a servant, not a master; he just humbly gets on with it. I agree with Bill Donahue when he said, “A Christian leader who is not willing to serve is not fit to lead.”

Jesus was not above taking a towel, getting on his knees, and scrubbing clean the filthy, dusty, sweaty feet of twelve hairy, unwashed men. He didn’t say, as the bowl of water got progressively browner and thicker, “Now look, I’ve been a senior leader for three years now; I’ve moved up from this level.” He didn’t say that at all. He said “I’ve set the example, and you should do for each other exactly what I have done for you.” (John 13.15).

Well, our vision is to serve together. I thank God for the Tychicus’ in All Saints’ – who lay tables, who work puppets, who vacuum carpets, who lead small groups, who wash up pots, who practice music over and over until it’s right, who iron tea towels, who visit the sick, who empty the bins, who put together In Touch, who replenish the toilet rolls, who sew banners, who make lunch for prison work parties, who give lifts, who work hard to sharpen their preaching, who change light bulbs, who bank the cash, who welcome newcomers… Who do hundreds of other things week in, week out, serving cheerfully, often unseen.

I’ve deliberately mixed together upfront roles and backstage roles there. Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes a prophet… giving them a cup of cold water… will receive a prophet’s reward.” The support ministries are just as significant and honourable to Jesus as the frontline ones.

In Exodus 17, two guys got the job of holding up Moses’ arms as he grew tired. A humbler, more menial role is hard to imagine. They get to stand, all day, under a hot sun, about a foot from Moses’ armpits but listen; those guys were the difference between winning the battle and losing it, if you remember the story.

Let me ask you a question. How are you going to serve the Lord in his church this year together with others? You can’t say you’re too old or too young to serve. You can’t live too far away to serve. And you certainly can’t say your life is too messed up and broken to serve.

God specialises in brokenness. Have you ever thought about that? Following his design, it takes broken soil to produce a harvest. The way he has made the weather, it takes broken clouds to give rain. After that, it takes broken grain to make bread. It takes a broken alabaster jar to fill the room with perfume as the whole lot is poured out over Jesus’ feet. God is looking for broken people to serve. Only after breaking down and weeping bitterly, did Peter become a truly anointed leader.

Praying always and serving together.

Share Jesus' Love in Our Communities

Our vision is also to share Jesus’ love. That was the vision of the first century church too. Paul says in v4 “Pray that I may proclaim Christ clearly, as I should.”

When you read the Bible, it’s like walking through a portrait gallery in which every painting is totally different, but each one is about Jesus. You find Jesus depicted in so many different images that everyone can relate to at least one of them. J. John has made a list of these pictures and how they make clear the message of Jesus to everyone.

Jesus is, for example, the Bread of Life so that bakers can understand…

Jesus is Living Water so that plumbers can understand…

Jesus is the Light of the World so that electricians can understand…

Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone so that architects can understand…

Jesus is the Star of the Morning so that astronomers can understand…

Jesus is the Hidden Treasure so that bankers can understand…

Jesus is the Door so that carpenters can understand…

Jesus is the Great Healer so that doctors and nurses can understand…

Jesus is the Good Teacher so that educators can understand…

Jesus is the Rock of Ages so that geologists can understand…

Jesus is the True Vine so that horticulturalists can understand…

Jesus is the Righteous One so that judges can understand…

Jesus is the Pearl of Great Price so that jewellers can understand…

Jesus is the Wisdom of God so that philosophers can understand…

Jesus is the Living Word so that actors can understand…

Jesus is the Good Shepherd so that farmers can understand…

Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the A-Z, so that taxi drivers can understand…

Jesus is the King of kings so that the royal family can understand…

Jesus is the Life so that biologists can understand…

Jesus is the Way so that traffic wardens can understand…

Jesus is the Truth so that politicians can understand.

So Paul wants to proclaim Jesus’ love clearly and he urges the Colossian Christians, not to complain, or be negative, but to make their conversation full of grace. He says “learn what to say when the subject of faith comes up.”

Do you know anyone who has in any kind of worry or concern in their lives? I mean someone who doesn’t do church or have any faith connection at all? It might be an unemployed daughter or a sick husband or a friend with financial worries. Or a neighbour awaiting tests from the hospital or a grandson getting bullied at school or someone recently bereaved. Have you ever wondered what might happen in their life if they prayed every day for one week about their situation?

One way we’re going to share Jesus’ love in the coming year is through a project called Try Praying.

We have ordered 200 Try Praying booklets, plus 200 youth versions and 200 children’s versions. And at the end of this month, right through to the end of May, we’re going to be giving everyone here a copy to try for a week – so you can see it’s good and you can be confident about it.

And then we’re going to ask you to pray about who you might pass your booklet on to. This could be a brilliant way for people to encounter God in their lives.

120 UK cities have now had coordinated campaigns with this booklet and there are some amazing testimonies of people who have seen God move in their lives.

Praying always, and serving together to share Jesus’ love in our communities.

That’s not all we’re going to do. We have another Camp of Champions and Messy Church on Preston Park in July. Connect is expanding its outreach to include weekly coffee. There’s going to be another trip to Soul Survivor and we’ve got some lovely young people who aren’t yet Christians coming along.

With God bringing more and more people to the edges of our church family, it’s time for another Alpha Course – so if you’d like to serve on Alpha in the autumn that’s a great opportunity to serve. The community version of In Touch will be back too.

Ending

As I conclude, I want to say that our communities are not hard to reach. They are just hard to reach if we stay in church.

This year, let’s have the faith to really pray heaven down in a way we have yet to see. Let’s have the resolve to serve the Lord wholeheartedly together. Let’s have the courage to share Jesus’ love – and let’s see what God does in our communities as we do.

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 19th April 2015

Follow Where the Evidence Leads

At the New Wine Leaders Conference in Harrogate this month, Ian Parkinson talked about an invitation he received recently from the local Humanist Association. They thought it would be a good idea to ‘grill the local vicar’ and I am sure they felt confident they could make him squirm a bit with some very tricky questions. What better opportunity to publicly demonstrate the triumph of science and reason over ancient myths and superstitions?

Ian accepted the invitation and was duly given a pretty hard time with some tough questioning. But at a certain point in the evening the subject of miracles came up. “Oh, and when did you last see a miracle then?” he was asked. “Well, as a matter of fact,” said Ian, “about two weeks ago.”

He then related the story of two children jumping on a trampoline with their two year old brother. The older children hit the trampoline at the same time and the infant was duly propelled through the air, landing awkwardly, before being rushed off to A & E. Dozens of people were alerted through Ian's church’s social media and began to pray. It was a broken femur. They put the little tot’s leg into a temporary cast and asked that he come back in a couple of days.

When he returned they checked the x-ray again but found nothing. Not only that, but the little boy was racing around the room as they checked the scans. He was given the all clear and discharged. His dad, who had not been a Christian, duly gave his life to Christ saying, “I didn’t know God could do things like this.”

Wonderful isn’t it?

But unfortunately those sceptics who invited Ian to their meeting did not really enjoy the story. “There must have been an error in the original x-ray.” “Someone must have read the scan wrongly.” So Ian just borrowed their language and replied with a smile, “Oh, I think we need to take the science seriously, follow where the evidence leads and not be biased by our preconceptions.” I would love to have seen their faces.

As for that little lad’s miraculous recovery, so for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. On a different scale obviously. But the principle is the same - follow where the evidence leads. 

• Jesus died from severe scourging and crucifixion
• His body was taken down and buried in a stone tomb 
• The tomb was then found to be empty
• No one was ever able to account for the body
• Over 500 people saw Jesus alive in different places at different times
• Crestfallen losers became confident heralds overnight 
• A handful of nobodies from nowhere became world history’s biggest ever movement 
• Their rapid growth took place in the face of sustained violence against them

Whatever is at the epicentre of such a spiritual earthquake, it has to be something totally out of the ordinary. 

And it is. Christ is risen!