Our natural self tells us to pray, "MY will be done." But Jesus says we are to invite God to conquer us, to take charge of our lives and change our hearts so that we willingly pray, "YOUR will be done."

"Thy kingdom come" is both a missionary and a visionary prayer. We know that in these last days God is at work in human history to establish His kingdom over all the earth, and that the day will come when the Lord Jesus returns to make all things new.

Acts 16: 2,500 years ago, the Holy Spirit gave a prophetic word to several Hebrew prophets. It is a word that began to be fulfilled in a dramatic way at the time of the book of Acts, and continues to be dramatically fulfilled in our day in ways that seemed impossible generations ago. "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord just as the waters cover the sea." We will see in this chapter a dramatic example of how that prophetic word was fulfilled at the time of the early apostles. We will also see how that speaks to us today as that word is being fulfilled in ways they couldn't even conceived of 2,000 years ago.

Is the Book of Acts History or Theology? It is both!

Is it descriptive or prescriptive? It is both!

THEN and NOW:

Walk by the Spirit - Vs 8-9 - Paul receives a vision of a man in Macedonia. Paul and his companions conclude that God had called them to preach the Gospel there - so they followed the prompting of the Spirit. (See Galatians 5:16, 25)

Point to Jesus Christ - Vs 14 -15 - They go to Philippi in Macedonia via the Egnatian Way (Road). They go to the river to find a place of prayer and they meet several women there, meeting Lydia. They share the Gospel message with the women. Lydia responded to Paul's teaching, inviting them to her home. God is moving! (See Philippians 2:9-11)

Spiritual Warfare - Vs 16 - 18 - Paul and Silas are followed by a female slave with the Python spirit for several days. Paul gets annoyed and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" And at that moment the spirit left her. The word of Jesus has power!! (See Ephesians 6:12)

Rejoice in the Lord - Vs 19 - 25 - The slave's owners realized that their opportunity for making money on the slave was lost, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the authorities saying that they were Jews causing an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for Romans. Paul and Silas are stripped and beaten with rods and thrown in prison with feet fastened in stocks. But Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening. They were rejoicing even in their difficulties. (See Philippians 4:4-6)

Assurance of Salvation - Vs 26 - 34 - Suddenly there was a violent earthquake and prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose. The jailer saw the prison doors open and was about to kill himself assuming the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouts, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" The jailer runs to Paul and Silas, trembling, he asked what he needed to do to be saved. They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to jailer and to all the others in his house and the entire family was baptized. The jailer was filled with joy.because he had come to believe in God - he and his whole household. (See Philippians 1:6)

Vs 35-39 The authorities realize they beat Paul and Silas who were Roman citizens and no roman citizen is to be beaten and flogged so they release them.

Encourage One Another - Vs 40 - After being released from the prison, Paul and Silas go to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them and then they left. (See Philippians 1:27f)

No matter what the future may hold, we know Who holds the future!

This week's READING ASSIGNMENT:

Acts chapter 16-17.

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The "readiness that comes from the gospel of peace" gives us a solid platform on which to stand firm in resisting the devil's attacks.

Pastor's shares about an archeological discovery of "Caligae,' the shoes worn by Roman soldiers in the day that the text of Ephesians was written by Paul. Some amazing analogies bring light to today's verse, 'and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace."

Ephesians 6:15

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God's name is already holy. May it also be holy among us, reverenced, honored, and lived out in daily life as we live in the goodness of God in Christ!

When Jesus prayed, He called God "Abba," the name a Hebrew child would use when speaking to a loving and trustworthy father. He invites us to approach God with the same confidence, praying directly to the Father, through the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit!

Jesus warns against "people-pleasing" - the rewards there fade quickly. It is not having your name written on a plaque that matters; it is having your name written in God's Book of Life that brings everlasting joy!

Acts 15:36-41. Paul and Barnabas, after having been partners for a lengthy time, have a sharp disagreement over staffing with Barnabas wanting to take John Mark with them and Paul not wanting to. They have such a strong disagreement they part company.

Colossians 4:10 we see the relationship of Barnabas and John Mark, that John Mark is the cousin of Barnabas.

Barnabas heads out one direction and Paul another. Barnabas takes John Mark with him and sails for Cyprus. Paul takes Silas with him and heads to Syria and Cilicia.

Take note of what has happened and has not happened. The mission has not suffered - both are going back to church groups they had established, going back to the believers they had led to Christ months ago. What has happened is a relationship has floundered.

However, we see in Scripture a real indication of God's mercy and grace - as they are later reconciled. Taking a look at Colossians 4:10 written later in Paul's life, we see in this verse that Paul is also sharing a greeting from John Mark - showing us that they are once again working together. They are united in their love for the Lord. And in Paul's final years, John Mark becomes one of Paul's closest associates.

We, too, are to keep out hearts open to Christ and open to reconciliation with one another.

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