Sermon Tone Analysis

! Close Encounters Of The God Kind

!

A Close Encounter Through A Praise Service

Acts 16:16-34

 

 

Faith in UFO’s is often based upon highly debatable evidence, while faith in Jesus Christ is based upon the evidence and facts of the Word of God.

Nevertheless, no matter how much evidence and how many facts we have in the Word of God, faith in Jesus Christ still requires one to place his~/her trust in the Person of Jesus Christ for salvation.

These and other similarities impressed me to use the subject of UFOs as a launching pad for our biblical discussion of “Close Encounters Of The God Kind.”

In first three sermons in this series, we worked hard to develop a technical biblical definition for a “Close Encounter Of The God Kind.”

That definition is

 

A “Close Encounter Of The God Kind” is a face-to-face meeting with God that cannot be totally explained, but which—when fully experienced—will bring about a response of genuine worship or celebration, which includes the remembrance of a redemptive past and~/or the conviction of a liberated future that changes people forever; causing them to move and grow by over-recording the intuitive tapes of their core belief.

In the fourth message in this series, we explored how intellect can keep us from wholeheartedly worshipping God.

We then began to explore twelve “Close Encounters Of The God Kind.”

We have explored God encountering Abraham, Jacob, Moses, the woman at the well, Peter, James, and John, the two Mary’s on resurrection morning, and the Children of Israel crossing the Jordan River, the church on The Great Day of Pentecost, and Saul on the Damascus Road.

/(Today we move on to our last encounter.

Notice with me please Acts 16:16-34.)/

Paul and Silas had a face-to-face meeting with God in prison.

This encounter with God could *not* be totally explained.

The encounter is seen in an earthquake that did three things:  the foundations of the prison house were shaken, all the doors were opened, everyone’s chains were unfastened.

This was a “Jail House Rock,” long before Elvis was heard of.

This was a “Jail House Rock” that could *not* be explained.

Perhaps an earthquake at the exact time of Paul and Silas being thrown into to prison could be explained away as merely coincidence, but the details of all the doors being opened and everyone’s chains being unfastened certainly prove divine intervention.

*Two of His beloved children were in trouble and God showed up in this encounter.*

\\         There are also other details that suggest that something very unusual was going on.

One of those details has to do with the actions of the jailer.

We don’t know who this jailer is, but he seems to be more than one who just held the keys of the prison.

He seems to be someone of some rank.

Sometimes jailers were retired soldiers.

At any rate, it was not unusual for jailers to have to trade their own lives for the lives of those who escape.

So, when the jailer awakened and found that all of the prisoners were free, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself.

He thought that everyone had escaped and he knew he would die a horrible death at the hands of the Romans.

What I am trying to get to is the jailer’s response to this sequence of events.

*This jailer’s further response to this sequence of events suggests that something supernatural, or at least highly unusual, happened.*

After Paul let him know that all the prisoners were still there, he didn’t rush to get all the doors fixed and the chains reattached, he called for lights, rushed in, fell down before Paul, trembling with fear, then brought them out and asked them,

 

“Sir, what must I do to be saved?”

This man was probably hardened by the incarceration and death of many prisoners, yet something so spectacular had happened that he is shaken and wants to know how to be saved.

*God encountered Paul and Silas and everyone in that jail!*

I reiterate, “This was ‘A Close Encounter of the God Kind’ that could *not* be totally explained.”

These were miraculous happenings that could *not* be totally explained in a natural way.

Besides, Paul and Silas were not interested in explaining them, because they knew they were from God.

The prisoners didn’t care about the explanation, because they were free.

And the jailer didn’t care about an explanation of these miraculous happenings, he understood enough to want to be saved.

*Yet, even though these miraculous happenings could not be totally explained, they could be fully experienced.*

Paul and Silas certainly experienced the earthquake, their cell door being opened, and their chains being unfastened—and so did the prisoners.

The jailer also experienced the earthquake, trembling, and fear.

/(Why?)/

 

        *Because, God wanted to give Paul and Silas a God-sized assignment.

*Paul and Silas would be spreading the Gospel throughout the known world of the Gentiles.

/(And what was the genuine response of worship that this experience brought about?)/

Paul, which includes his companion Silas, saved the man’s natural life by calling out to him and assuring him that all the prisoners were still present and accounted for.

Paul was concerned about the man’s natural life.

Paul also saved the man’s eternal life, by preaching the gospel to him.

This genuine response of worship rendered Paul concerned about his fellowman’s natural and eternal life.

/(And how did this event change Paul and Silas forever?)/

 

        Paul’s worship response to this encounter probably brought about a remembrance of a redemptive past and the conviction of a liberated future.

This was not the first time that Paul had faced difficulty in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This event took place on Paul’s second missionary journey.

Paul, no doubt, remembered that God had delivered him before.

He was stoned and left for dead on his first missionary journey—but God raised him up.

This worship response probably also brought about a conviction of a liberated future.

Paul’s remembrance of a redemptive past gave him conviction that God certainly could deliver him from a prison.

In addition, he was probably convinced that God was going to see him through to the end of his mission.

Paul was probably convinced that he was invincible until his mission was completed.

And Paul’s mission included a great deal of suffering.

Remember what we studied last week.

God told Ananias to go to Saul, because he was a chosen vessel and he must show him how much he must suffer for the Gospel’s sake.

Paul shares his suffering with in

 

2 Corinthians 11:23-28, “Are they servants of Christ?

(I speak as if insane) I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.

I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches.”

*So, this encounter changed Paul, in some way, forever.*

Paul grew in his conviction and confidence with respect to the mission that God had given him.

Whatever his intuitive tapes were, they were overwritten with confidence and hope.

Perhaps we see the nature of that change in

 

2 Timothy 1:12, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

 

*Paul was a changed man!!!*

\\ And we don’t have to wonder what happened to Paul’s convictions and destiny; he gives us his own testimony in

 

2 Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

*Silas was also a changed man!!!*  It appears that this was Silas’ first missionary journey, and this encounter also brought about a conviction of a liberated future in his life.

This encounter changed Silas in some way forever, because this is *not* the last time he is mentioned in the New Testament.

Silas, who’s name is also called Silvanus, went on to a long and fruitful ministry—which included transporting and~/or transcribing the letter of 1 Peter for Peter.

*Paul and Silas’ worship response also brought about their freedom.*

The jailer took them to his house and the chief magistrates asked them to leave the city in peace.

/(And the ultimate result of this encounter is God’s glory.)/

*Through this encounter the prisoners certainly received a witness of the power of God, the jailer and his family were saved, and God was glorified.*

Before we can apply the truth of this encounter to our lives, there is one detail that stands out from the other encounters that we have studied.

That detail is the attitude and activity of Paul and Silas before God encountered them.

What was their attitude and activity before this miraculous encounter?

Well, first, what was their situation?

Well, the crowd rose up against them, the chief magistrates had their clothes torn off of them and had them beaten with rods.

Then they were thrown into prison, where the jailer put them in solitary confinement and locked their feet in stocks for maximum security and torture.

Now, again, what was Paul and Silas’ attitude and activity before God encountered them?

Paul and Silas’ attitude is revealed in their first action:  prayer.

About midnight, which is an abnormal hour for prayer—ritualistically speaking—but it is a perfect hour for prayer, because it is during the dark night of the soul, Paul and Silas were praying.

*Prayer is both an activity and an attitude.

Prayer was a prelude to this encounter.*

\\         Not only were Paul and Silas praying, but also they were singing hymns of praise to God.

About midnight, the prisoners heard:

 

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God