Acts 16:16-34 NIV 1720

¹⁶Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” ¹⁸She kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

¹⁹When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. ²³After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. ²⁷The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ³²Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. ³⁴The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

Matthew 7:7-11 NIV 1510

⁷“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Prayer: Creator God, we give you thanks for this new day and for the gift of life. You have made the world in all its beauty and splendor. So many times, we miss what is right in front of us. Touch our eyes and our hearts that we may be given new and perceptive insight. Help us to see old problems in new ways. Lead us to not accept the status quo as the best there is. Embolden us to do new things. Empower us to step out of our comfort zones to be the church that transforms the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

What have we been doing so far— Each week we have looked at key questions that come up in the early chapters of the Book of Acts.
1. One of the central questions that we are addressing is—- what would our future be? —-
1. Even in the end of the second Chapter of Acts – the dazzled disciples who had just experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit asked a similar question – what shall we do?
These are very good questions for us to be asking, however it is even better to be able to see and understand just who we are as Pleasant Grove UMC, and what we are to the community and to ourselves.
Four weeks ago, the focus of my message was the coming of the Holy Spirit and its impact on the disciples who were gathered in the upper room. Then the next theme was generosity and two weeks ago it was acceptance. — That was the story of Philip and the Ethiopian and the sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ – an act which took the Gospel into Africa.
The theme for last week was creativity—- the results that came about by the movement of the Spirit especially as the very early church began to expand beyond the boundaries of Jerusalem.
1. Creativity — Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. Creativity comes about by examining an item or an issue and coming up with a new and different approach. Remember the story about the Peasants in St. Petersburg?
Today the theme of this morning’s message is perseverance.
What is perseverance?
1. Perseverance is the ability to keep doing something in spite of obstacles. People who persevere show steadfastness in doing something despite how hard it is or how long it takes to reach the goal.
Perseverance — sometimes called “grit” — is the great leveler. You don’t have to be the wealthiest, have the most friends, or be the smartest kid in the class; if you persevere, you can reach your goals.
1. As parents and grandparents, we can help inspire perseverance by supporting our children as they experience failure — in a safe, supported environment. When they recover from a setback, think their way through a challenge, and try again, they develop grit.
One thing we all have in common is that every one of us wants to be successful.
1. There is an undeniable need in all of us to not only feel that we are successful, but to also be considered successful by others.
1. Even the humblest of us hopes for an impressive resume of accomplishments to hold forth as evidence of a life well lived.
In our society, many criteria define what we consider to be success: wealth, titles, power, a perfect image, how many ‘followers’ and ‘likes’ on social media are all often near the top.
We judge success by many different standards, but surely being shipwrecked and thrown in prison are not on that list. But… should they be?
Do we really look at ministry success any differently than we currently look at any other type of worldly success? If there are better measures to success, what are they?
Taking a closer look at the life of Paul, what we see is quite uniquely different from what we typically call “successful” today.
1. In fact, Paul took the opposite path of what we would often consider successful, running headlong into seeming failure.
During his life prior to the Damascus Road miracle, Paul had respect, power, and religious authority, yet it was only in giving up these things and taking up a life of a church-planting missionary whatever-may-come that he found true success and purpose.
1. As a new leader in the church, Paul found himself in unique territory.
1. To the Gentiles he was merely a Jewish babbler talking about foreign gods (Acts 17:18).
1. To the Jewish leaders, he had become a blasphemer who was profaning the temple and breaking the laws of God (Acts 21).
1. To some Christians, he was a disappointment who was not as impressive in person as he was in his letters (2 Corinthians 10:10).
1. Paul was imprisoned on more than one occasion, beaten, shouted down, run out of cities, sent to face trial in Rome, and eventually executed.
So how can a man who “had it all” and gave it up for this be considered a success?
The answer is strikingly simple.
Paul’s measure of success was to serve a kingdom that is not of this world. He strove to follow the mindset put forth by John the Baptist that Christ must become greater, and we must become less.
Today, we find ourselves in Philippi on the second of Paul’s missionary journeys. These journeys are arduous. Paul and his companions travel about 3,000 miles on this journey and on the next, mostly on foot and sometimes by sailing ship. In most places they visit, they are met with a mixed bag of successes and what we might term “failures.”
After all, how many of us would consider being mobbed by an angry crowd a successful outcome? Or being beaten? Or being stripped naked in public and flogged? Or thrown in jail?
And that’s just what happens in today’s reading, on just one of many stops.
Tell the story of today’s Scripture:

²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

So, the question for this morning is: Are Paul and his companions ready to give up?
- Have they had enough when they find themselves in jail, beaten and bruised?
- Is it enough to make them give up their mission? Apparently not.
- Paul and Silas are praying and singing praises to the Lord when they are miraculously released from prison.
- Even in this difficult time, they do not give up.
Through their perseverance, other people come to know Jesus. We see in Paul’s ministry throughout Acts the difference between success and failure often comes down to perseverance.
Pause
Rebecca (Becca) Ann Clark, only 20 years old, passed away in the early morning of February 3, 2020 at her home in Sykesville, MD. The memorial service will be tomorrow. In lieu of flowers there has been a Becca Clark Memorial Fund setup with The Burning Limb Foundation to help other young women with multiple chronic illnesses including Hypermobile Elders Danlos Syndrome (HEDS), Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), Dysautonomia, and Central Nervous System Issues.
- Becca was born in Baltimore Maryland and has lived in Carroll County since her birth.
- Becca was very active prior to her health issues. She loved cheerleading, fishing and spending time at the beach. More than anything though, she loved her American Eskimo service dog Charger.
- Since her illness started in 2015, Charger was always by her side whether they were in bed, at a doctor’s appointment or on a plane. They were inseparable.
- Becca will be remembered for her intelligence, intuition, competitiveness and her beauty.
- She spent most of her time since her illness being a part of the YouTube culture.
- For those rare times when she was able to be freed from the stresses of the chronic diseases, Becca would try to attend Meet and Greets and a few concerts. Her favorite singer was Shawn Mendez, being a fan very early in his career.
- Becca was in a great deal of pain for the last 5 years and fought her many ailments daily. She tried many different treatments and even spent 10 months in Arkansas at the Spero Clinic that is ideal for those with CRPS.
- Her time there helped her mentality and body a great deal, but ultimately it was not able to heal her.
- Though only 20 years old, Becca has touched many people’s lives and will live on in our hearts forever.
- She was taken too early and will be sorely missed by her family and friends.
- God has another beautiful angel.
- Perseverance!
So, we ask ourselves what obstacles stand in our way? Paul trusts in God’s grace and perseveres. Can we, also, develop perseverance?
Romans 5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[^a^] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[^b^] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we^[^c^] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Thanks be to God!
Closing prayer — Give us your strength, powerful God, to persevere through the difficult times. Help us to recognize and take the next step on our journeys. Empower us to act. Thank you for being with us through it all, good times and challenging times. In Jesus’ name. Amen.