January 29, 2025 • 51 mins
What if your toughest trials held the key to someone else's salvation? 🔑 Join us as we explore how Paul and Silas changed lives through adversity. You won't want to miss this! 🎧 https://cheeruppodcast.buzzsprout.com
#ApostlePaul #Silas #FromTheBible #ChristianPodcasts #CheerUpPodcast #trials #adversity #CheriSwalwell #KaraRHunt
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the beautiful
Sherri Swalwell.
How are you doing today, sherri?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I am doing great and you would never believe it.
The sun is so brightly shiningin my window right here where
we're taping, that I'm lookingat sunglasses.
It's crazy.
I am not doing it either.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
That's when you know it's really good and beautiful.
And you're right.
I'm sitting here and I'mlooking out the window and I'm
going.
I have to be tied to mycomputer today.
Am I going to be able to makethat work?
Because it's so gorgeous.
It is, it is.
Am I going to have to closecurtains and blinds and shades
(01:10):
and not look outside so that Ican concentrate and not be?
You know, remember when youwere in school and the teacher
would just drone on and on andon and on and you would just
look out the window and bedaydreaming?
Yes, you know, that's kind ofhow I feel, like it's like maybe
I shouldn't open up the blindsanymore, I should just keep the
(01:31):
ones in my writing area closed,because it's very tempting to
just want to get up and get outand go do stuff.
But no, I have to sit at mycomputer today and I probably
need to be there a couple ofhours, so I won't be able to do
that, at least not today.
But you know, what's awesome isthat, prayerfully, we will have
(01:52):
many more of these sunny days,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, you reminded me when you were talking about
having to chain yourself to yourdesk.
Basically, you reminded me wayback when, when I was in
elementary school, I lived inPittsburgh, pennsylvania.
We lived in the outskirts andthe school system there was
notorious for striking, being onstrike.
So like every three years or sothere would be a strike, and I
(02:17):
remember this one particularyear.
The strike lasted forever andthey wanted to still let us get
out in time to enjoy somewhat ofa summer.
So we had to go to school on aon a Saturday one time, and I
just one time, one time, and Iremember going and it was.
It was like that.
I mean, it was beautifuloutside and there was only
(02:40):
probably like five or seven kidsthat even showed up.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I don't?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
um, yeah, and so it was.
It just reminded me of thatbecause we all were, I think.
We spent the majority of theday outside on recess, so like
there was no point in us evenbeing there except for counting
it as a school day.
But it was so crazy that thatreminded me of that.
So I'm going to have to ask myparents, um, for if they
remember and they can help fillin the details, because I was
(03:08):
second grade so my details arenot crisp because I was only
seven.
But yeah, that's what remindedme of that when you said.
I'm going to have to shut myblinds and pretend.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Oh yeah, because the elementary school I went to.
It was an older building.
It was kept up and it wasappropriate for an elementary
school, but it was definitely anolder building.
The cool thing about that wasthat they had huge windows.
Why they were tall, you know itwas which is, you know, for a
(03:53):
kid like me, who they, who, justmine it doesn't take much for
the mind to go off into adifferent place.
That's way too tempting.
You know, while they're sittingup there trying to teach me
elementary school stuff and I'mjust looking outside, just the
what ifs, right, who knows wheremy mind was.
It was probably thinking abouta book I probably read earlier
(04:14):
that day, just following thatstory, continuing that story in
my brain.
But yeah, it just had all thesebeautiful windows that you
could just look out of, and mywriting area has a huge picture
window, kind of sort of thingthere.
(04:35):
So I'm like, yeah, I'm going tojust keep the shades shut if I
hope to get anything done,anything worthwhile done today
Isn't there a Bible verse thatsays something about God won't
tempt us beyond what we canhandle.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So keep your faith strong, so you're not tempting
yourself.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I can be strong.
It's like, okay, no, I don'twant to keep the door shut, you
know, and everything else, causeusually I'm the one on sunny
days that's throwing up everycurtain, every blind, raising
every shade.
I'm like, let that sun in, youknow, and everything else so.
But you know what God is goodand, like you said, it's just
(05:16):
just resist the temptation, I'llbe fine.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Or reward yourself later.
Say I'm going to get X numberdone and then I'm going to go
outside.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
That sounds like a plan, right, that sounds like a
really good plan.
You know, it's just like okay,I'm done, okay, time to go,
let's go see what we could do.
Well, you know what I forgotthe other part of this.
The sun is great, and right now, because it isn't in the early
(05:51):
afternoon hours yet, it maystill be cool, but you know what
the sun was.
With the sun and with thetemperature this week, we may
get 90-something degrees.
So it may not be.
It may look nice but it may notfeel nice.
Yeah, when we, you know.
So it kind of depends on whatthe weather is like afterwards
(06:13):
and I'm going to be like oh, oh,well, that's not saying I can't
go out and enjoy it, it's justprobably saying I know me, and
if it's usually over 90, I kindof back away, I don't think so.
You know, because I'm just kindof like, oh, I would, but, and I
know they say sweating ishealthy for you, it cleans your
(06:35):
body of toxins, but I reallydon't like sweating right now.
Right, it's like I really don'tlike sweating right now.
So you know what?
I just go to grab a book rightnow.
So you know what?
I'm just going to grab a bookand finish reading, you know.
So, um, and for all of you whohave tuned in, thank you so much
for joining us again on theCheer Up podcast, thank you.
(06:57):
If you're new to the to, to tothe podcast, we want to thank
you and and say welcome andthank you for joining us.
And, for those of you who arenot, thank you for coming back.
We just so enjoy all of thedifferent listeners that we see
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states, sometimes people fromdifferent continents.
(07:19):
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(07:43):
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So we appreciate you guys doingthat and thank you so much.
Today we are going this episode,we are going to continue what
we've been doing the past coupleof months the topics of
biblical figures, and last weekwe did Timothy and before that
we did like Paul and Barnabasand things like that.
You really, really, really,really can't talk about any of
(08:27):
those guys without talking aboutSilas S-I-L-A-S.
Silas in the New Testament, andthat's what Sherry's going to
bring to this episode today.
So I'm so excited to hear aboutSilas.
Sherry, what did you want to?
I just realized your names.
They're kind of like a tonguetwister Silas, sherry, sherry,
(08:48):
Silas.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Oh yeah, they kind of are.
I really like the name Silas.
I like nicknames too, so I'dprobably call him Si.
I probably wouldn't call himSilas, but I like that name.
But there are my.
One of my kids had a friendnamed Silas.
So I think that's anotherreason why I like it, because
every time I hear Silas and Ithink his name was spelled
(09:11):
differently but pronounced thesame so I think of him.
So that's kind of cool when youget to associate it with
something good.
But anyway, silas, there's astory or an event that I want to
talk about.
But anyway, silas, there's astory or an event that I want to
talk about.
But before I talk about that, Ifigured I should probably
explain a little bit who Silasis for people who don't know and
(09:31):
to be honest, I really didn'tknow much about Silas myself,
except that he was a missionaryalong with Paul.
He went with Paul and didmissionary work preaching the
gospel, but I didn't really knowwho he was.
So I looked him up and some ofthe information that I found out
about him was that he was knownas Silvanus.
So Silas was just like anickname and he was a teacher in
(09:55):
the church of Jerusalem.
He was also considered afaithful brother of Paul, a
Hellenistic Jew but a Romancitizen.
Paul, a Hellenistic Jew but aRoman citizen.
So he, he obviously knew hisstuff.
He obviously knew what he wastalking about.
He was a Jew, just like Saulslash Paul was, which is kind of
cool.
So they both had thatbackground and he there was
(10:20):
something I read that said thatthey thought that he well, I
want to read this part because Ithink this is really cool.
It says Silas was a greatexample of someone who used his
gifts to serve the Lord andothers with all his heart.
The apostle called him faithfuland he was known as one to
encourage and strengthen thebrothers.
(10:41):
Multitudes in the early churchwere blessed by Silas, and Paul
and Peter were heartened by hisfaithful companionship.
He was a brother born foradversity.
So the story, the event that Iwant to highlight is the one in
Acts, and I believe that we'vetalked about this before when we
(11:02):
were talking about Paul, butit's just important to highlight
and so I'm going to read itright from the Bible.
It's Acts 16, 16 through 24.
Well, actually, nope, I'm goingto go longer than that.
I think it goes till 40.
(11:23):
So now, it happened as we wentto prayer that a certain slave
girl, possessed with a spirit ofdivination, met us, who brought
her masters much profit byfortune telling.
This girl followed Paul and usand cried out saying these men
are the servants of the mosthigh God who proclaim to us the
way of salvation.
And this she did for many days.
(11:45):
But Paul, greatly annoyed,turned and said to the spirit I
command you, in the name ofJesus Christ, to come out of her
.
And he came out that very hour.
But when her master saw thattheir hope of profit was gone,
they seized Paul and Silas anddragged them into the
marketplace, to the authorities,and they brought them to the
magistrates and said these men,being Jews, exceedingly trouble
(12:08):
our city and they teach customswhich are not lawful for us,
being Romans, to receive orobserve.
Then the multitude rose uptogether against them and the
magistrates tore off theirclothes and commanded them, paul
and Silas, to be beaten withrods.
And when they had laid manystripes on them, they threw them
, paul and Silas, to be beatenwith rods.
And when they had laid manystripes on them, they threw them
, paul and Silas, into prison,commanding the jailer to keep
(12:30):
them securely, having receivedsuch a charge, he put them into
the inner prison and fastenedtheir feet in the stop.
But at midnight Paul and Silaswere praying and singing hymns
to God and the prisoners werelistening.
Suddenly there was a greatearthquake so that the
foundation of the prison wasshaken and immediately all the
doors were opened and everyone'schains were loose.
(12:50):
And the keeper of the prison,awakening from sleep and seeing
the prison doors open, supposingthe prisoners had fled, drew
his sword and was about to killhimself.
But Paul called to the loudvoice saying do yourself no harm
, for we are all here.
Then he called for a light, ranin and fell down trembling
before Paul and Silas, and hebrought them out and said sirs,
(13:10):
what must I do to be saved?
So they said believe on theLord, jesus Christ, and you will
be saved, you and yourhousehold.
Then they spoke the word of theLord to him and to all who were
in his house, and he took themthe same hour of that night and
washed their stripes, andimmediately he and all his
family were baptized.
Now, when he had brought theminto his house, he set food
(13:31):
before them and he rejoiced,having believed in god, with all
his household.
And when it was day, themagistrate sent the officer
saying let those men go.
So the keeper of the prisonreported these words to paul,
saying the magistrates have sentto, let you go Now.
Therefore depart and go inpeace.
But Paul said to them they havebeaten us openly, uncondemned
(13:53):
Romans, and have thrown us intoprison and now they want to put
us out secretly.
No, indeed, let them comethemselves and get us out.
And the officers told thesewords to the magistrates and
they were afraid when they heardthat they were Romans.
Then they came and pleaded withthem and brought them out and
asked them to depart from thecity.
So they went out of the cityand entered the house of Lydia
(14:15):
and when they had seen thebrethren they encouraged them
and departed.
There is so much depth to thoseless than 40 sentences.
So it starts out that Paul andSilas are in a Roman city.
So they're not even preachingto Jews, they're preaching to
Romans, the Gentiles, andthey're preaching day in and day
(14:38):
out.
And this girl but it's notreally the girl, it's the demon
inside the girl is haunting themand mocking them and making
their life miserable, basicallybeing that annoying rat that's
following them around and, um,annoying them.
And so, finally, paul gets fedup and he's like I command you,
(15:02):
in the name of jesus christ, toget out.
They knew it wasn't the girl,they knew it was a demon.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
And so they took care of it.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
They didn't ask jesus to take care of it, they didn't
pray to the holy spirit to takecare of it.
They knew they had theauthority in the holy spirit, in
jesus christ, to take care ofit themselves.
So he's like I have a problem,I'm going to take care of it.
It's done, let's move on.
Well, the city wasn't, or themaster the gypsy master of this
slave girl.
(15:28):
When they found out that thedemon was gone and therefore
their moneymaking was gone, theygot mad.
And so they had Paul and Silasnot just thrown into prison, but
beaten and thrown into prisonlike long.
And so I think of Silas and Ithink that he's kind of like
just you know, paul was like hey, do you want to go on this
missions trip with me?
(15:48):
And Silas was like yeah, sure,buddy, why not?
And now he finds himself beatenand thrown into prison
alongside Paul, alongside Paul.
Now, I'm sure that he prettymuch had the idea that this
could happen, just like if wechoose to go on a road trip with
somebody, we know that if youknow, you could get into an
accident, the car could breakdown, there could be all kinds
(16:09):
of side adventures to the mainadventure.
So I'm sure that he had an ideathat.
You know it's not going to beall cakes and cookies, but so
they get thrown into prison andthen, instead of seeing it as
bad or seeing themselves asvictim or talking about woe, is
me.
You know this is horrible.
Why did this have to happen tome?
God, you need to save us.
(16:29):
Blah, blah, blah.
They rejoiced and sang hymnsand praised during the
difficulties while they were inprison, and it was because of
that response, it was because oftheir singing and choosing to
praise and thank God before theysaw the answer, that the jailer
then saw a difference in them,asked about that difference and
(16:50):
became a believer himself.
Not just and that's one of thethings that I love about God I'm
interrupting my own self, but Ialways know that God is in the
blessing, when he blesses bothparties of the exchange, which
(17:13):
was the ultimate goal and theultimate mission of Paul and
Silas, because they were therein that city preaching the
gospel.
So, exactly what they wanted tohave happen happened.
And it wouldn't have happenedif they hadn't been put in jail
(17:34):
and basically been in theneighborhood of this jailer,
because if they weren't in thejail, the jailer would have
probably never had any contactor interaction with them and he
would still be going to hell.
But no, god said you need this.
This jailer has a heart for me.
This jailer wants to become abeliever.
His heart will soften, but Ineed you guys to get it wet with
(17:54):
water.
And so that's what they did,and they, they didn't.
They didn't take it lightly,and I think that a lot of times
when kids go on mission tripsand so forth, I think that
they're prepared for theinevitable.
They're prepared for the hard,but you know what?
Sometimes we need to beprepared for that hard in our
(18:16):
daily, everyday life.
So when I wake up in themorning, I need to be prepared
that God could put me in jail,and by putting me in jail I mean
he could put me in a situationwhere he wants Mary to have an
encounter with me, or, sorry, tohave an encounter with him.
And in order for Mary to havethe encounter with him, I need
(18:36):
to have an encounter with Mary,because he knows that I'm
obedient and that I'm willing toget into the trenches if I need
to in order for Mary to be openand hear about him.
So that could mean anunexpected doctor's appointment,
that could mean a hospital stay, that could mean going to the
(18:57):
principal's office for somethingwith my child, that could mean
all kinds of things.
But when we wake up in themorning and we have an agenda
that says okay, god, I'm holdingmy agenda loosely and I'm ready
and willing and able to dowhatever it is that you want me
to do, then that makes us in theperfect position, in the
perfect spot for God to be ableto use us for his will, to bring
(19:23):
whoever it is that he wantsinto the kingdom.
Because only God knows whatit's going to take for each of
us to give our life to him, whateach of us need that
encouragement or thatconversation or whatever and say
to God that you love us all somuch that you're willing to meet
(19:45):
us where we are, that we cancome to a place of repentance
and then believe in you, butthen carry it on and share that
love and that faith and thatmessage to those that we love as
well, to have it continuallyset in motion and to pay it
(20:06):
forward.
So I think that's one Well thembeing willing and obedient is
one of the lessons that I takefrom Paul and Silas that I truly
love about them.
But the other one that God hasbeen speaking to me about for
years and I'm finally getting,and that is, even if God's
blessing is couched or bookendedby what looks like a trial or a
(20:33):
tragedy or a journey that Idon't want to be on, god wants
me to thank him ahead of time,and I'm not thanking him for the
trial, but I'm thanking him forthe, for knowing that I can
trust him and knowing that he'sgot not only my back but he's
got a blessing in place.
(20:55):
So I had something happen acouple of weeks ago Well, a
couple months ago, I guess,actually and I had a choice I
could sit there and I couldworry, and that was my first gut
reaction.
But God reminded me of allthese people that we've been
studying throughout the year,and God reminded me about Paul
(21:17):
and Silas and thanking him inthe prison, and I said okay, god
, I said I asked you a month agoto take things out of my life
that were not your best yes forme.
I didn't think you were goingto take this out of my life,
like I legit thought this waspart of the best yes and that I
(21:39):
was good with that.
But, god, you're showing methat this is not the best yes
that you have for me and you'retaking this out.
So I'm going to choose to thankyou, I'm going to praise you and
I'm going to get excited,because if you're taking stuff
out of my life, god, then you'remaking room for whatever it is
that you want to put in in itsplace, and that's going to be
(22:00):
even better.
So I thanked him almostimmediately after I.
I literally only worried forlike less than 30 seconds and I
chose to thank him instead.
And I'll tell you what.
Within five minutes, he showedme a glimpse of what he was
(22:20):
doing in my life and a glimpseof why he was doing it in my
life.
And he didn't have to do that.
He did not have to show me.
That was all, because I believethat he wanted to.
He wanted to I don't want tosay reward my obedience, but he
wanted to show me what happenswhen we do obey.
(22:43):
And I have not been more happyand more peaceful.
And he showed me just so manythings.
Like I absolutely loved what hetook away.
Like I absolutely loved what hetook away.
So he showed me also that Inever would have willingly given
it up because I loved it somuch, but he showed me that I
(23:22):
needed to let it go in, but Ihope that you hear the heart
behind it.
And that is one person's awfuljob, like one person that wakes
up and dreads doing whatever itis that they're doing.
And I don't want to name a job,because I think all jobs are
great and have a purpose.
But we'll just say Joe Schmo,or we'll go back to Mary.
(23:45):
Mary wakes up every day andshe's like God, I just don't
want to do X.
I just I don't know why youhave me in this season, why I
have to do X.
And then you have Tom on theother end of the well, okay, so
let me rephrase this.
I'm gonna do it.
I am gonna name jobs.
(24:06):
All jobs are perfect.
So Mary wakes up and she's awaitress, no, she's a um, she's
a busboy.
And so Mary wakes up and she'slike God, I just don't want to
be a busboy anymore.
I'm just so sorry.
I I, you know, appreciate thatyou are giving me a job to pay
for the needs that I have in myfamily, but I hate being a
(24:28):
busboy.
God, I hate being a busboy.
And then you have Tom on theother end of the town and he's
waking up and he's going God, Iwould love to be a bus boy.
I have to.
I'm a cook right now and I hatebeing a cook.
I burn everything.
Cooking is just not my forte.
I really, really, really wantto be a bus boy, but you know
(24:50):
that.
And so Mary becomes a cook, tombecomes the bus boy, and the
point of what this person wastrying to say that I think I'm
still massacring is that Godknows your sweet spot and God
knows what's best for you.
And so when God opens up thedoor, it opens up the
(25:12):
opportunity for you to leavebeing a busboy and go be a cook,
and he's then going to blesssomebody else to take over the
job that is not the best fit foryou.
So God blesses everybody in themix when he's a part of it.
So your busboy job that youcan't wait to get rid of, is an
(25:35):
answer to somebody else's prayer, because the busboy job is
exactly what they've beenwanting.
So does that even remotely makesense, tara?
Because I'm so afraid that Imassacred that.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Oh it does, Because what we dislike is someone
else's love, right, andsometimes we find ourselves in
positions that God may not haveokayed.
You know, mary may have taken ajob because her family needed
(26:07):
the funds, and that was a jobthat was available.
But God could have been likewell, if you had just trusted me
just a little bit longer, Iwould have given you the job
that you really wanted, you know.
And so sometimes that can bethe case too.
Meanwhile there's that otherperson who's waiting for that
job.
They're just waiting for thatjob.
They're just waiting for thatjob opening and they're just
(26:27):
like you know what, lord, I hopetoday a position opens up,
because that is really what Iwant to be able to do, and God
is perfect with that.
Like I say, he knows our sweetspots, he knows what we will be
better at and he doesn't.
And I know there are someChristians who would disagree
(26:48):
vehemently with what I'm aboutto say, but God does not want us
miserable, I don't think we'reany good to him, miserable, you
know horrible testimony.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Think of what well yes, I don't mean to interrupt
you, but that goes right back tosay that I when I was reading
about Silas.
If Paul and Silas had beenmiserable in the prison, the
jailer would have never takennotice of them praising and
thanking God and he never wouldhave been saved.
So keep going.
But that goes right along withwhat you're saying.
(27:20):
God does not want us miserable,right?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And who does that benefit?
If you are miserable, becauseyou're just absolutely, you're
dragging in the morning, you'reupset, your blood pressure gets
high, you're stressed, you'reyelling at your kids and your
wife or your husband, you knowyour co-workers are saying good
morning and you're just grr.
(27:46):
You know everything and yourwhole day, and all that takes a
toll on your body, your mentalhealth, your emotional health,
and all of that eventuallystarts to take part on your
physical health.
So now you're not onlymiserable, but you're miserable
(28:06):
and sick, right, right, you know.
And so he doesn't want us angry, he wants us full of joy.
The scriptures talk about thatover and over and over again.
And how easy.
As you were reading thatscripture again, I'm going oh,
my word.
They were beaten by rods in thestreets, in public.
(28:33):
Everyone saw them getting beat.
They were not just physicallyhurt, their ego was probably
hurt, you know, and everythingelse.
And who knows, maybe the crowdwas cheering them on.
And so here they are gettingbeat.
Then they're getting in frontof everybody, probably even
people who looked up to them,you know, friends of theirs who
you know just couldn't doanything for them at the time,
(28:55):
and everything else.
And here they are gettingbeaten like rabid dogs, you know
, by rods that had to sting andhurt, and it's in public, in
front of everyone.
Then they drag you and toss youin prison and you're thinking,
god, that's what we're supposedto do.
Because how easy would it havebeen to be just mad, even if you
(29:20):
weren't mad at God, you know,mad at the people who were
beating you in the streets.
You know, like I can't say.
I may not have had a few choicewords.
I may have been arguing withGod as he was trying to minister
to me and saying that's okay,daughter, just forgive them, and
I'm like what.
(29:40):
You want me to forgive them?
Did you not see what they justdid?
Look at my back, you know, likeit's ripped open, you know, and
I could see me wasting precioustime while the Lord is just
(30:00):
like no, just listen.
I need you to start thanking me, praising me and everything
else, because, like you said,the things we go through are
never about us, right?
Right they are about someoneelse.
And there was this jailer whowas this close, right, like you
say, he was something the Lordmust have already been working
in his heart because he was soclose, must have already been
(30:22):
working at his heart because hewas so close.
And Paul and Silas were theperfect examples for him to look
at, monitor, study, scan theirfaces, see how they reacted once
they were thrown in jail.
They didn't threaten to riot,they didn't threaten to beat
(30:42):
everybody up, they didn'tthreaten to bring the place down
.
They sat, they praised.
They didn't threaten to bringthe place down.
They sat, they praised, theythanked God.
And what happened?
Freedom.
They were set free and in theprocess, a jailer was brought
closer to God.
That's how he works.
And if we're sitting backmiserable and crying and weeping
you know about what justhappened to us we are not only
(31:08):
denying ourselves of a futureblessing, but you're denying
someone else of one.
And it's just amazing to me howGod works.
It's like, yes, this happened,but you know, just let me see
your heart and you just continueto praise and thank him, and
the whole time you have no ideathat he's making things happen
(31:30):
to where you're going to bereleased, right, you know, but
you're so busy just moping andgroaning and mumbling that you
can't see, you're denyingyourself the blessing that he
had in store for you becauseyou're just so, we're so in our
feelings or we just can'tbelieve that those people did
(31:50):
that to us.
We're so embarrassed, we're sohumiliated and God's like you
just don't.
You just see the small picture.
I got bigger plans, you know,and so sometimes and that's a
sacrifice, that was a sacrificeof praise and thanksgiving that
Paul and Silas was doing,Because you know they had to be
(32:11):
in pain.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Physical pain is what I mean.
They had to be in physical pain.
So absolutely, I agree.
I understood everything youwere trying to say.
Sorry to go off on such a longrant.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
No, no, it's perfect, and you know?
The other thing about that isjust because you're like they
were human beings too.
They felt like God said okay,you're on my mission, so
therefore, everything thathappens to you is going to be
supernatural, and you won't feelthe pain of the flogging and
you won't feel hunger and youwon't feel you know,
(32:46):
discouragement.
They felt annoyance, Like itsays right there in the thing.
Paul was annoyed, so he turnedaround and he said get out of
her, because you're driving menuts, Right.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
You know.
So I mean they were fully,fully human beings.
God doesn't give yousupernatural strength just
because you go on a missionstrip, but God does give you
supernatural tolerance sometimes, or supernatural Like.
We all have that ability to getthat power from God is what I
(33:18):
guess.
What I'm trying to say when wewake up in the morning, we have
a choice is that when we wake upin the morning we have a choice
.
We can say Holy Spirit, fill us, use us, speak through me today
so that when we go to open ourmouth, when we're annoyed, we
can either check ourselves andsay okay, holy Spirit, I asked
you to do the speaking.
I know what I'm going to say ifmy mouth opens and I speak right
(33:41):
, this second, but that's notwhat I want.
I want your will and I speakright, this second, but that's
not what I want.
I want your will and I want tospeak your thing.
So when I sat there and I hadthat opportunity, I could either
praise God or I could worry,and I chose to praise him, not
having a clue what in the heckthat meant.
I didn't know where the nextbreath was or where the next
(34:02):
paycheck was or where the nextanything was.
But because I had a heart forGod and because I had a desire
to do it his way, and becausehe's been talking to me about
choosing to praise him for yearsnow, and I'm finally at the
point where I'm like, oh, he'sgiving me practice, he's letting
(34:23):
me practice this.
I get to choose.
Okay, I'm going to choose wisely.
I love that one.
I don't know, it's some TV showand I don't watch enough TV to
remember, but it's you have achoice, choose wisely, type of a
thing, and I don't rememberwhat it is, but it's the truth.
Like that's the way that weneed to live our lives.
We have a choice.
We can choose wisely.
(34:44):
We all of us influence somebody.
Whether you're a parent and youinfluence a child at home
multiple times a day.
Whether you're an employer oran employee, you influence
coworkers or employees multipletimes a day.
Even just as a driver on theroad, you influence young
(35:05):
drivers, old drivers, multipletimes a day.
Even just as a driver on theroad, you influence young
drivers, old drivers multipletimes a day.
We, every action andinteraction that we have with
others, we have the opportunityor we are.
We are ultimately influencingsomebody else.
So who do we want seen throughus?
Do we want Jesus and the HolySpirit and the fruits of the
(35:26):
Spirit love, joy, peace,patience, long suffering seeing
through us, or do we want ourflesh seeing through us, through
?
Speaker 1 (35:39):
me.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
I want people to see you, Jesus.
I don't want them to see me.
And when I say that, I'm notsaying that I am Jesus.
I'm saying I want Jesus'sreactions and Jesus's responses
to be the first response that Iwant.
I want that to be my go-toresponse.
I want that to be my defaultbutton and the only way that
(36:03):
that can be true, the only waythat I could sit and praise in a
prison or thank God for losinga job or whatever, whatever is
when I'm saturated in his wordand when I, I read stories that
build my faith because God tellsus, and then when you build
(36:23):
upon his words in and ofyourself.
So, for example, I read thestory of Paul and Silas.
So I have that in the back ofmy head.
Well, then I read in the Biblewhere it says God is the same
yesterday, today and forever.
Then I read the part in theBible where it says that God is
faithful.
So I can pray back to God andsay God, in your word you said
(36:50):
that you were the same yesterday, today and forever.
Okay, and then you also tell mePaul and Silas sat there and
praised you in the prison andthey got out.
You, you let them escape, yougave them the opportunity to get
out without any otherconsequences.
Yes, they were beaten with arod, but you protected them and
then you ended up going andcomforting them and ministering
to them through Lydia.
(37:10):
Well, god, you're the sameyesterday, today and forever.
So I may have to go through aflogging of some kind, but you
are going to take care of me.
I am choosing to praise you,I'm choosing to have the same
response Paul and Silas had,because I know that that's the
right response that I shouldhave and I can trust you with
the right answer.
When I do it the right way, youwill get the right answer.
(37:33):
Now, I don't know what thatanswer is.
It might be different than Pauland Silas is, but I know that
you have the answer becauseyou're the same yesterday, today
and forever.
God wants us to have theseconversations with him.
God wants us to be bold.
God wants us to grow ourrelationship with him, and the
(37:54):
best way to do that is when wesaturate ourselves with his word
, so that we know what his wordis, so we can pray it back to
him.
We know these different stories.
I always pray to him aboutEsther too.
I'm like God.
You took care of Esther.
You're going to take care of me.
God.
Hang the Haman's that are in mylife.
God, help me to be bold andcourageous like Esther is.
(38:15):
Help me to be available and tobe ready for such a time as this
.
Or, you took care of Moses.
You spoke through Moses when hehad to speak to Pharaoh, and my
favorite verse is Exodus 14, 13,and 14.
I said it before, but I'll sayit again I used to walk around
(38:35):
my house every single day and Itook my Bible out with me until
I had it memorized and I wouldpray this prayer I said.
Moses said to the people do notbe afraid, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord, whichhe will accomplish for you
today, the Egyptians whom yousee today and I listed every
single problem that we had youwill never see again, the Lord
(38:57):
will fight for you.
You only need to be still.
And I would say, god, you saidthat you're going to fight for
me.
I only need to be still, and sowould say God, you said that
you're going to fight for me.
You're only, or I only need tobe still.
And so I said to him, pointblank I said God, we need a new
roof.
God, we need new siding.
God, we need help with it.
And we need help with that.
And lo and behold, on mybirthday one day, we had a
horrific hail storm and out ofthat hail storm we got two new
(39:21):
to us cars not brand new cars,but two new to us cars because
our cars were totaled and we gotnew siding and a new roof.
Don't tell me that God can't dowhat he promises to do.
When we pray it back to him andwe trust him and believe, did
it take a couple years for it tohappen?
Absolutely, but you know whatit was in God's perfect timing.
We didn't need it before then.
(39:42):
He gave it to us right when weneeded it.
And if you think I'm the onlyone, I'm not.
I have friends that tell me Godgave this for me.
I had another friend who said tome that she won a $3,000 or she
run a contest on a radiostation and it was like $3,000
and it was exactly what theyneeded in order to pay their
(40:03):
bills that month because ofdifferent extenuating
circumstances.
So don't tell me that God can't,because everything in the Bible
tells us that God can, and sowe may be in, we may have to
spend our time in the jail, butI don't think that Paul and
Silas even cared about the factthat they were flogged and they
(40:26):
were beaten when they had theopportunity to win or not win,
but lead the jailer to Christ,and not just the jailer but his
entire family.
I'll tell you what thoseinjuries that they were still
dealing with physically, thatwent on the wayside when they
saw the blessings that they weregiven.
And it is a blessing to be ableto be used by God and it is a
(40:51):
blessing, like we talked aboutlast week, to have made pancakes
every single Monday night sothat little kids could come with
us to church and hear aboutGod's word.
And it was a blessing that wemay hate pancakes for the rest
of our lives, but you know what?
I don't care, because we wereable to share God's love the way
(41:11):
that he asked us to in thatseason.
And then that brings me to thelast point that I want to make
is that when we are in God'spresence and when we are living
in a surrendered way to himpresence, and when we are living
in a surrendered way to him, itis exciting and I think that's
kind of I don't want to putwords in Silas' mouth, but I
(41:32):
kind of think that might be howSilas felt that I am given this
opportunity, I am, I am able tobe part of this bigger plan and
bring it on, whatever it is thatyou, you want me to to through
God, I'm willing to walk throughit for the greater good.
Because they all had thatmindset of Christ, of the
(41:54):
heavenly mindset that this worldis temporary.
But you know the last part thatI absolutely love Tara, and
that is that God is truth, thatI absolutely love Tara, and that
is that God is truth.
And Paul knew that better, Ithink, than so many others,
because he was like uh-uh, he'snot going to just make us
disappear quietly.
(42:14):
No, you blog specifically, youcan publicly apologize.
I don't think that that'sun-Christlike.
I think that's more Christlikethan saying okay, you can just
let me, you know you let me outof jail.
I'm just going to be gratefulfor that.
No, paul knew, he knew the law,he knew what was right, what
(42:37):
was wrong, what was up, what wasdown, and he wasn't going to
let them get away with it.
And that's the other thing thatI absolutely love about Jesus
going to let them get away withit.
And that's the other thing thatI absolutely love about Jesus
when we listen to and when weread about him in the word.
Jesus told everybody what he wasgoing to do ahead of time.
He didn't go around in secret.
He didn't like pretend, oh, I'mnot going to tell people, but
(42:57):
I'm going to blast them in threedays, I'm going to reveal this
in three days, or I'm going todo this in three days.
No, jesus didn't do that.
He's like in three days, I'mgoing to be telling this, this
and this.
This is what's going to go downunless you repent ahead of time
.
You have the opportunity torepent.
It's your choice.
Choose wisely.
And I just I love that abouthim.
(43:19):
I'm not that bold, but I'mlearning, I'm trying, because I
want to be like Jesus, and so Ireally think that, even though
Paul and Silas might not haveknown exactly what was going to
go down ahead of time, I thinkthey knew something would go
down, because when you serveJesus there's always excitement.
Sometimes the excitement bringspain, but the excitement always
brings blessing thing.
(43:48):
And oh, I'm glad I didn't liveback then, kara, because I'm not
as bold as Paul was, but I'mlearning how to be bold in my
neighborhood and in my fear.
And when you're doing itaccording to the Holy Spirit and
you're doing it the way thatthe Holy Spirit guides or with
the Holy Spirit's guidance, it'sjust I love seeing how he works
.
And I you're going to need toshut me up because I'm going to
keep talking about Silas,because I get so excited when
(44:15):
we're talking about God's word.
It's a living breathing and itteaches us so much and I just
want to keep going.
So I hope you guys are excitedabout so much and I just want to
keep going.
So I hope you guys are excitedabout Silas and Paul and and all
of their adventures.
And I'm not even adventuroustype in that regard, but man, oh
man, I just get so excitedbecause God, just when we obey
(44:38):
and just give him free reign.
The things that God can do, theplaces we can go according to
Dr Seuss, the things that Godwill do, is so much better than
the places that Dr Seuss wantedto take you, and that is all
that I want to say.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Well, I think you've said it all, sherry.
It's.
It's all about surrender, right?
It's all about surrenderingsurrendering our pride,
surrendering our hurt,surrendering even our physical
pain, like you were talkingabout with Paul and Silas.
All because you're trusting theGod and you're knowing, you're
thanking God, because you trustthat, like a good, good father,
(45:20):
that none of this is going to bewasted, that you may not know
what the plans are, but he knows, and if we just sit back and
just focus on him, that he'sgoing to take care of the rest.
That's all I wanted to add.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Amen.
So Jesus tells us again, like Ijust said a couple minutes ago,
he doesn't mince words and hedoesn't hide things from anybody
, but he tells us in John 30,verse 16, 33, these things I
have spoken to you, that in meyou may have peace In the world.
You will have tribulation, butbe of good cheer, I have
(45:56):
overcome the world.
He may tell us how it is andwhat's up ahead, but he also
says I have the plan and I havepeace and I will give that to
you.
That is my promise, and that Ihave experienced that peace in
some of the worst trials in mylife.
And I'll tell you what.
There's nothing like it.
(46:16):
I was talking to somebody justthe other day and they felt that
same piece.
They're like I don't understandwhy God gave me peace in this
situation.
I should have been a wreck, Ishould have been, you know,
upset and worried, and I wasn't.
I just had this peace.
And I said you know what I saidI did too, and I said there's
nothing like it is there.
And they were like no, they hadto agree with me.
(46:38):
They're like there's nothinglike it.
And once you have experiencedthat peace, there's no going
back.
But you've never experiencedthat peace and you're a believer
, you're a child of God, I wantto encourage you to ask him to
give you that peace, to let youexperience that, Because once
you do, there is no going back.
And I there are times in mylife where I'm like, okay, God,
(47:01):
you know that piece that yougave me the other day, I want it
again.
Would you give it to me again?
And sometimes you have to praythrough it, and sometimes it
takes a little while.
Um, but God is so faithful togive it to us and it's part of
his promise, and we can pray hispromises back to him, knowing
completely and fully inconfidence that he will answer,
(47:22):
because that's what God does.
So if you are not a believer, ifyou are not a child of God, if
you are not his son or daughterand after what we talked about
today, you want to become one Idon't want to let this
opportunity go.
So I want to explain that allit is is a surrender, like Carol
(47:47):
was saying, that when weconfess with our mouth and
believe that Jesus is Lord andbelieve in our hearts that God
raised Jesus from the dead, itsays we will be saved.
So it's not a prayer.
It's not words that save us,it's our heart.
It's having that heart postureof having God come into our life
(48:10):
and saying I surrender my lifeto you.
So if that's something that youwant to do today, then I invite
you to pray this prayer with meas I pray it.
Oh heavenly father, I come toyou in Jesus' name.
I believe you died on the crossand that you rose again and
you're seated on the throne.
Jesus, forgive me for all thatI've done wrong and I choose to
(48:33):
forgive all others.
Come into my life today andforever.
I am yours In Jesus' name.
Amen.
If you prayed that prayer withus today, I just want to say
welcome to the family.
We encourage you to join abible believing church.
You can look into themembership as well if that's
(48:54):
something that you want to havea community of believers
alongside you.
If you don't have a church byyou that you want to attend
regularly, head over to Kara'swebsite, karahrhuntcom, and she
will, or you can find out allthe latest and greatest that's
going on with her.
We also would encourage you toemail us at cheeruppodcasts at
(49:19):
gmailcom and let us know thatyou made this important decision
.
We are so, so grateful andhappy for you and we want to
come alongside you as youcontinue your journey with God
and I also want to.
If you don't want to tell thewhole group and not just Tara
and I, then head over to CheerUp Podcast on Facebook and let
(49:41):
us know over there and we willbe more than happy to celebrate
with you there as well.
You can head over to my websiteif you want to and check out
the different things that arethere the different books, the
different memberships, thepodcast link, which you're
already on the podcast, so youdon't need that.
But if you ever need it in thein the future, you can head over
(50:05):
to either Kara's website ormine and get the link there.
Um, a YouTube channel, allkinds of things, um.
But if you're interested and Iwant to say um, but I think I
covered all of those things, I'mjust I I can't get over how
excited, or I can't stressenough how excited I am to talk
(50:27):
about the truth of the Bible andto just share all the different
things that Kara and I arelearning, and we just want to
give an excitement to you as youcontinue to grow and learn in
your journey with God as well.
So next week we're going totalk about Aquila and Priscilla
(50:50):
and I'm really excited to talkabout them as well.
I don't know as much about themas I did, so I'm excited to
dive in and I mean I don't knowas much about them as I thought
I did, but I'm excited to divein and see.
I mean, I don't know as muchabout them as I thought I did,
but I'm excited to dive in andjust see what God wants to teach
us about Aquila and Priscilla.
So, until then, have a greatrest of your day, have a great
rest of your week and we willtalk to you next Wednesday,
(51:17):
thank you.
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the beautiful
Sherri Swalwell.
How are you doing today, sherri?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I am doing great and you would never believe it.
The sun is so brightly shiningin my window right here where
we're taping, that I'm lookingat sunglasses.
It's crazy.
I am not doing it either.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
That's when you know it's really good and beautiful.
And you're right.
I'm sitting here and I'mlooking out the window and I'm
going.
I have to be tied to mycomputer today.
Am I going to be able to makethat work?
Because it's so gorgeous.
It is, it is.
Am I going to have to closecurtains and blinds and shades
(01:10):
and not look outside so that Ican concentrate and not be?
You know, remember when youwere in school and the teacher
would just drone on and on andon and on and you would just
look out the window and bedaydreaming?
Yes, you know, that's kind ofhow I feel, like it's like maybe
I shouldn't open up the blindsanymore, I should just keep the
(01:31):
ones in my writing area closed,because it's very tempting to
just want to get up and get outand go do stuff.
But no, I have to sit at mycomputer today and I probably
need to be there a couple ofhours, so I won't be able to do
that, at least not today.
But you know, what's awesome isthat, prayerfully, we will have
(01:52):
many more of these sunny days,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, you reminded me when you were talking about
having to chain yourself to yourdesk.
Basically, you reminded me wayback when, when I was in
elementary school, I lived inPittsburgh, pennsylvania.
We lived in the outskirts andthe school system there was
notorious for striking, being onstrike.
So like every three years or sothere would be a strike, and I
(02:17):
remember this one particularyear.
The strike lasted forever andthey wanted to still let us get
out in time to enjoy somewhat ofa summer.
So we had to go to school on aon a Saturday one time, and I
just one time, one time, and Iremember going and it was.
It was like that.
I mean, it was beautifuloutside and there was only
(02:40):
probably like five or seven kidsthat even showed up.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I don't?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
um, yeah, and so it was.
It just reminded me of thatbecause we all were, I think.
We spent the majority of theday outside on recess, so like
there was no point in us evenbeing there except for counting
it as a school day.
But it was so crazy that thatreminded me of that.
So I'm going to have to ask myparents, um, for if they
remember and they can help fillin the details, because I was
(03:08):
second grade so my details arenot crisp because I was only
seven.
But yeah, that's what remindedme of that when you said.
I'm going to have to shut myblinds and pretend.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Oh yeah, because the elementary school I went to.
It was an older building.
It was kept up and it wasappropriate for an elementary
school, but it was definitely anolder building.
The cool thing about that wasthat they had huge windows.
Why they were tall, you know itwas which is, you know, for a
(03:53):
kid like me, who they, who, justmine it doesn't take much for
the mind to go off into adifferent place.
That's way too tempting.
You know, while they're sittingup there trying to teach me
elementary school stuff and I'mjust looking outside, just the
what ifs, right, who knows wheremy mind was.
It was probably thinking abouta book I probably read earlier
(04:14):
that day, just following thatstory, continuing that story in
my brain.
But yeah, it just had all thesebeautiful windows that you
could just look out of, and mywriting area has a huge picture
window, kind of sort of thingthere.
(04:35):
So I'm like, yeah, I'm going tojust keep the shades shut if I
hope to get anything done,anything worthwhile done today
Isn't there a Bible verse thatsays something about God won't
tempt us beyond what we canhandle.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So keep your faith strong, so you're not tempting
yourself.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I can be strong.
It's like, okay, no, I don'twant to keep the door shut, you
know, and everything else, causeusually I'm the one on sunny
days that's throwing up everycurtain, every blind, raising
every shade.
I'm like, let that sun in, youknow, and everything else so.
But you know what God is goodand, like you said, it's just
(05:16):
just resist the temptation, I'llbe fine.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Or reward yourself later.
Say I'm going to get X numberdone and then I'm going to go
outside.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
That sounds like a plan, right, that sounds like a
really good plan.
You know, it's just like okay,I'm done, okay, time to go,
let's go see what we could do.
Well, you know what I forgotthe other part of this.
The sun is great, and right now, because it isn't in the early
(05:51):
afternoon hours yet, it maystill be cool, but you know what
the sun was.
With the sun and with thetemperature this week, we may
get 90-something degrees.
So it may not be.
It may look nice but it may notfeel nice.
Yeah, when we, you know.
So it kind of depends on whatthe weather is like afterwards
(06:13):
and I'm going to be like oh, oh,well, that's not saying I can't
go out and enjoy it, it's justprobably saying I know me, and
if it's usually over 90, I kindof back away, I don't think so.
You know, because I'm just kindof like, oh, I would, but, and I
know they say sweating ishealthy for you, it cleans your
(06:35):
body of toxins, but I reallydon't like sweating right now.
Right, it's like I really don'tlike sweating right now.
So you know what?
I just go to grab a book rightnow.
So you know what?
I'm just going to grab a bookand finish reading, you know.
So, um, and for all of you whohave tuned in, thank you so much
for joining us again on theCheer Up podcast, thank you.
(06:57):
If you're new to the to, to tothe podcast, we want to thank
you and and say welcome andthank you for joining us.
And, for those of you who arenot, thank you for coming back.
We just so enjoy all of thedifferent listeners that we see
the different countries, thedifferent cities, the different
states, sometimes people fromdifferent continents.
(07:19):
So we just want you guys toknow we see you, we know you're
there, we know you're here andwe just want to say thank you so
much.
If you are being blessed by theChurro Podcast, please share it
on whatever platform you'relistening to, whether it's Apple
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Today we are going this episode,we are going to continue what
we've been doing the past coupleof months the topics of
biblical figures, and last weekwe did Timothy and before that
we did like Paul and Barnabasand things like that.
You really, really, really,really can't talk about any of
(08:27):
those guys without talking aboutSilas S-I-L-A-S.
Silas in the New Testament, andthat's what Sherry's going to
bring to this episode today.
So I'm so excited to hear aboutSilas.
Sherry, what did you want to?
I just realized your names.
They're kind of like a tonguetwister Silas, sherry, sherry,
(08:48):
Silas.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Oh yeah, they kind of are.
I really like the name Silas.
I like nicknames too, so I'dprobably call him Si.
I probably wouldn't call himSilas, but I like that name.
But there are my.
One of my kids had a friendnamed Silas.
So I think that's anotherreason why I like it, because
every time I hear Silas and Ithink his name was spelled
(09:11):
differently but pronounced thesame so I think of him.
So that's kind of cool when youget to associate it with
something good.
But anyway, silas, there's astory or an event that I want to
talk about.
But anyway, silas, there's astory or an event that I want to
talk about.
But before I talk about that, Ifigured I should probably
explain a little bit who Silasis for people who don't know and
(09:31):
to be honest, I really didn'tknow much about Silas myself,
except that he was a missionaryalong with Paul.
He went with Paul and didmissionary work preaching the
gospel, but I didn't really knowwho he was.
So I looked him up and some ofthe information that I found out
about him was that he was knownas Silvanus.
So Silas was just like anickname and he was a teacher in
(09:55):
the church of Jerusalem.
He was also considered afaithful brother of Paul, a
Hellenistic Jew but a Romancitizen.
Paul, a Hellenistic Jew but aRoman citizen.
So he, he obviously knew hisstuff.
He obviously knew what he wastalking about.
He was a Jew, just like Saulslash Paul was, which is kind of
cool.
So they both had thatbackground and he there was
(10:20):
something I read that said thatthey thought that he well, I
want to read this part because Ithink this is really cool.
It says Silas was a greatexample of someone who used his
gifts to serve the Lord andothers with all his heart.
The apostle called him faithfuland he was known as one to
encourage and strengthen thebrothers.
(10:41):
Multitudes in the early churchwere blessed by Silas, and Paul
and Peter were heartened by hisfaithful companionship.
He was a brother born foradversity.
So the story, the event that Iwant to highlight is the one in
Acts, and I believe that we'vetalked about this before when we
(11:02):
were talking about Paul, butit's just important to highlight
and so I'm going to read itright from the Bible.
It's Acts 16, 16 through 24.
Well, actually, nope, I'm goingto go longer than that.
I think it goes till 40.
(11:23):
So now, it happened as we wentto prayer that a certain slave
girl, possessed with a spirit ofdivination, met us, who brought
her masters much profit byfortune telling.
This girl followed Paul and usand cried out saying these men
are the servants of the mosthigh God who proclaim to us the
way of salvation.
And this she did for many days.
(11:45):
But Paul, greatly annoyed,turned and said to the spirit I
command you, in the name ofJesus Christ, to come out of her
.
And he came out that very hour.
But when her master saw thattheir hope of profit was gone,
they seized Paul and Silas anddragged them into the
marketplace, to the authorities,and they brought them to the
magistrates and said these men,being Jews, exceedingly trouble
(12:08):
our city and they teach customswhich are not lawful for us,
being Romans, to receive orobserve.
Then the multitude rose uptogether against them and the
magistrates tore off theirclothes and commanded them, paul
and Silas, to be beaten withrods.
And when they had laid manystripes on them, they threw them
, paul and Silas, to be beatenwith rods.
And when they had laid manystripes on them, they threw them
, paul and Silas, into prison,commanding the jailer to keep
(12:30):
them securely, having receivedsuch a charge, he put them into
the inner prison and fastenedtheir feet in the stop.
But at midnight Paul and Silaswere praying and singing hymns
to God and the prisoners werelistening.
Suddenly there was a greatearthquake so that the
foundation of the prison wasshaken and immediately all the
doors were opened and everyone'schains were loose.
(12:50):
And the keeper of the prison,awakening from sleep and seeing
the prison doors open, supposingthe prisoners had fled, drew
his sword and was about to killhimself.
But Paul called to the loudvoice saying do yourself no harm
, for we are all here.
Then he called for a light, ranin and fell down trembling
before Paul and Silas, and hebrought them out and said sirs,
(13:10):
what must I do to be saved?
So they said believe on theLord, jesus Christ, and you will
be saved, you and yourhousehold.
Then they spoke the word of theLord to him and to all who were
in his house, and he took themthe same hour of that night and
washed their stripes, andimmediately he and all his
family were baptized.
Now, when he had brought theminto his house, he set food
(13:31):
before them and he rejoiced,having believed in god, with all
his household.
And when it was day, themagistrate sent the officer
saying let those men go.
So the keeper of the prisonreported these words to paul,
saying the magistrates have sentto, let you go Now.
Therefore depart and go inpeace.
But Paul said to them they havebeaten us openly, uncondemned
(13:53):
Romans, and have thrown us intoprison and now they want to put
us out secretly.
No, indeed, let them comethemselves and get us out.
And the officers told thesewords to the magistrates and
they were afraid when they heardthat they were Romans.
Then they came and pleaded withthem and brought them out and
asked them to depart from thecity.
So they went out of the cityand entered the house of Lydia
(14:15):
and when they had seen thebrethren they encouraged them
and departed.
There is so much depth to thoseless than 40 sentences.
So it starts out that Paul andSilas are in a Roman city.
So they're not even preachingto Jews, they're preaching to
Romans, the Gentiles, andthey're preaching day in and day
(14:38):
out.
And this girl but it's notreally the girl, it's the demon
inside the girl is haunting themand mocking them and making
their life miserable, basicallybeing that annoying rat that's
following them around and, um,annoying them.
And so, finally, paul gets fedup and he's like I command you,
(15:02):
in the name of jesus christ, toget out.
They knew it wasn't the girl,they knew it was a demon.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
And so they took care of it.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
They didn't ask jesus to take care of it, they didn't
pray to the holy spirit to takecare of it.
They knew they had theauthority in the holy spirit, in
jesus christ, to take care ofit themselves.
So he's like I have a problem,I'm going to take care of it.
It's done, let's move on.
Well, the city wasn't, or themaster the gypsy master of this
slave girl.
(15:28):
When they found out that thedemon was gone and therefore
their moneymaking was gone, theygot mad.
And so they had Paul and Silasnot just thrown into prison, but
beaten and thrown into prisonlike long.
And so I think of Silas and Ithink that he's kind of like
just you know, paul was like hey, do you want to go on this
missions trip with me?
(15:48):
And Silas was like yeah, sure,buddy, why not?
And now he finds himself beatenand thrown into prison
alongside Paul, alongside Paul.
Now, I'm sure that he prettymuch had the idea that this
could happen, just like if wechoose to go on a road trip with
somebody, we know that if youknow, you could get into an
accident, the car could breakdown, there could be all kinds
(16:09):
of side adventures to the mainadventure.
So I'm sure that he had an ideathat.
You know it's not going to beall cakes and cookies, but so
they get thrown into prison andthen, instead of seeing it as
bad or seeing themselves asvictim or talking about woe, is
me.
You know this is horrible.
Why did this have to happen tome?
God, you need to save us.
(16:29):
Blah, blah, blah.
They rejoiced and sang hymnsand praised during the
difficulties while they were inprison, and it was because of
that response, it was because oftheir singing and choosing to
praise and thank God before theysaw the answer, that the jailer
then saw a difference in them,asked about that difference and
(16:50):
became a believer himself.
Not just and that's one of thethings that I love about God I'm
interrupting my own self, but Ialways know that God is in the
blessing, when he blesses bothparties of the exchange, which
(17:13):
was the ultimate goal and theultimate mission of Paul and
Silas, because they were therein that city preaching the
gospel.
So, exactly what they wanted tohave happen happened.
And it wouldn't have happenedif they hadn't been put in jail
(17:34):
and basically been in theneighborhood of this jailer,
because if they weren't in thejail, the jailer would have
probably never had any contactor interaction with them and he
would still be going to hell.
But no, god said you need this.
This jailer has a heart for me.
This jailer wants to become abeliever.
His heart will soften, but Ineed you guys to get it wet with
(17:54):
water.
And so that's what they did,and they, they didn't.
They didn't take it lightly,and I think that a lot of times
when kids go on mission tripsand so forth, I think that
they're prepared for theinevitable.
They're prepared for the hard,but you know what?
Sometimes we need to beprepared for that hard in our
(18:16):
daily, everyday life.
So when I wake up in themorning, I need to be prepared
that God could put me in jail,and by putting me in jail I mean
he could put me in a situationwhere he wants Mary to have an
encounter with me, or, sorry, tohave an encounter with him.
And in order for Mary to havethe encounter with him, I need
(18:36):
to have an encounter with Mary,because he knows that I'm
obedient and that I'm willing toget into the trenches if I need
to in order for Mary to be openand hear about him.
So that could mean anunexpected doctor's appointment,
that could mean a hospital stay, that could mean going to the
(18:57):
principal's office for somethingwith my child, that could mean
all kinds of things.
But when we wake up in themorning and we have an agenda
that says okay, god, I'm holdingmy agenda loosely and I'm ready
and willing and able to dowhatever it is that you want me
to do, then that makes us in theperfect position, in the
perfect spot for God to be ableto use us for his will, to bring
(19:23):
whoever it is that he wantsinto the kingdom.
Because only God knows whatit's going to take for each of
us to give our life to him, whateach of us need that
encouragement or thatconversation or whatever and say
to God that you love us all somuch that you're willing to meet
(19:45):
us where we are, that we cancome to a place of repentance
and then believe in you, butthen carry it on and share that
love and that faith and thatmessage to those that we love as
well, to have it continuallyset in motion and to pay it
(20:06):
forward.
So I think that's one Well thembeing willing and obedient is
one of the lessons that I takefrom Paul and Silas that I truly
love about them.
But the other one that God hasbeen speaking to me about for
years and I'm finally getting,and that is, even if God's
blessing is couched or bookendedby what looks like a trial or a
(20:33):
tragedy or a journey that Idon't want to be on, god wants
me to thank him ahead of time,and I'm not thanking him for the
trial, but I'm thanking him forthe, for knowing that I can
trust him and knowing that he'sgot not only my back but he's
got a blessing in place.
(20:55):
So I had something happen acouple of weeks ago Well, a
couple months ago, I guess,actually and I had a choice I
could sit there and I couldworry, and that was my first gut
reaction.
But God reminded me of allthese people that we've been
studying throughout the year,and God reminded me about Paul
(21:17):
and Silas and thanking him inthe prison, and I said okay, god
, I said I asked you a month agoto take things out of my life
that were not your best yes forme.
I didn't think you were goingto take this out of my life,
like I legit thought this waspart of the best yes and that I
(21:39):
was good with that.
But, god, you're showing methat this is not the best yes
that you have for me and you'retaking this out.
So I'm going to choose to thankyou, I'm going to praise you and
I'm going to get excited,because if you're taking stuff
out of my life, god, then you'remaking room for whatever it is
that you want to put in in itsplace, and that's going to be
(22:00):
even better.
So I thanked him almostimmediately after I.
I literally only worried forlike less than 30 seconds and I
chose to thank him instead.
And I'll tell you what.
Within five minutes, he showedme a glimpse of what he was
(22:20):
doing in my life and a glimpseof why he was doing it in my
life.
And he didn't have to do that.
He did not have to show me.
That was all, because I believethat he wanted to.
He wanted to I don't want tosay reward my obedience, but he
wanted to show me what happenswhen we do obey.
(22:43):
And I have not been more happyand more peaceful.
And he showed me just so manythings.
Like I absolutely loved what hetook away.
Like I absolutely loved what hetook away.
So he showed me also that Inever would have willingly given
it up because I loved it somuch, but he showed me that I
(23:22):
needed to let it go in, but Ihope that you hear the heart
behind it.
And that is one person's awfuljob, like one person that wakes
up and dreads doing whatever itis that they're doing.
And I don't want to name a job,because I think all jobs are
great and have a purpose.
But we'll just say Joe Schmo,or we'll go back to Mary.
(23:45):
Mary wakes up every day andshe's like God, I just don't
want to do X.
I just I don't know why youhave me in this season, why I
have to do X.
And then you have Tom on theother end of the well, okay, so
let me rephrase this.
I'm gonna do it.
I am gonna name jobs.
(24:06):
All jobs are perfect.
So Mary wakes up and she's awaitress, no, she's a um, she's
a busboy.
And so Mary wakes up and she'slike God, I just don't want to
be a busboy anymore.
I'm just so sorry.
I I, you know, appreciate thatyou are giving me a job to pay
for the needs that I have in myfamily, but I hate being a
(24:28):
busboy.
God, I hate being a busboy.
And then you have Tom on theother end of the town and he's
waking up and he's going God, Iwould love to be a bus boy.
I have to.
I'm a cook right now and I hatebeing a cook.
I burn everything.
Cooking is just not my forte.
I really, really, really wantto be a bus boy, but you know
(24:50):
that.
And so Mary becomes a cook, tombecomes the bus boy, and the
point of what this person wastrying to say that I think I'm
still massacring is that Godknows your sweet spot and God
knows what's best for you.
And so when God opens up thedoor, it opens up the
(25:12):
opportunity for you to leavebeing a busboy and go be a cook,
and he's then going to blesssomebody else to take over the
job that is not the best fit foryou.
So God blesses everybody in themix when he's a part of it.
So your busboy job that youcan't wait to get rid of, is an
(25:35):
answer to somebody else's prayer, because the busboy job is
exactly what they've beenwanting.
So does that even remotely makesense, tara?
Because I'm so afraid that Imassacred that.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Oh it does, Because what we dislike is someone
else's love, right, andsometimes we find ourselves in
positions that God may not haveokayed.
You know, mary may have taken ajob because her family needed
(26:07):
the funds, and that was a jobthat was available.
But God could have been likewell, if you had just trusted me
just a little bit longer, Iwould have given you the job
that you really wanted, you know.
And so sometimes that can bethe case too.
Meanwhile there's that otherperson who's waiting for that
job.
They're just waiting for thatjob.
They're just waiting for thatjob opening and they're just
(26:27):
like you know what, lord, I hopetoday a position opens up,
because that is really what Iwant to be able to do, and God
is perfect with that.
Like I say, he knows our sweetspots, he knows what we will be
better at and he doesn't.
And I know there are someChristians who would disagree
(26:48):
vehemently with what I'm aboutto say, but God does not want us
miserable, I don't think we'reany good to him, miserable, you
know horrible testimony.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Think of what well yes, I don't mean to interrupt
you, but that goes right back tosay that I when I was reading
about Silas.
If Paul and Silas had beenmiserable in the prison, the
jailer would have never takennotice of them praising and
thanking God and he never wouldhave been saved.
So keep going.
But that goes right along withwhat you're saying.
(27:20):
God does not want us miserable,right?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And who does that benefit?
If you are miserable, becauseyou're just absolutely, you're
dragging in the morning, you'reupset, your blood pressure gets
high, you're stressed, you'reyelling at your kids and your
wife or your husband, you knowyour co-workers are saying good
morning and you're just grr.
(27:46):
You know everything and yourwhole day, and all that takes a
toll on your body, your mentalhealth, your emotional health,
and all of that eventuallystarts to take part on your
physical health.
So now you're not onlymiserable, but you're miserable
(28:06):
and sick, right, right, you know.
And so he doesn't want us angry, he wants us full of joy.
The scriptures talk about thatover and over and over again.
And how easy.
As you were reading thatscripture again, I'm going oh,
my word.
They were beaten by rods in thestreets, in public.
(28:33):
Everyone saw them getting beat.
They were not just physicallyhurt, their ego was probably
hurt, you know, and everythingelse.
And who knows, maybe the crowdwas cheering them on.
And so here they are gettingbeat.
Then they're getting in frontof everybody, probably even
people who looked up to them,you know, friends of theirs who
you know just couldn't doanything for them at the time,
(28:55):
and everything else.
And here they are gettingbeaten like rabid dogs, you know
, by rods that had to sting andhurt, and it's in public, in
front of everyone.
Then they drag you and toss youin prison and you're thinking,
god, that's what we're supposedto do.
Because how easy would it havebeen to be just mad, even if you
(29:20):
weren't mad at God, you know,mad at the people who were
beating you in the streets.
You know, like I can't say.
I may not have had a few choicewords.
I may have been arguing withGod as he was trying to minister
to me and saying that's okay,daughter, just forgive them, and
I'm like what.
(29:40):
You want me to forgive them?
Did you not see what they justdid?
Look at my back, you know, likeit's ripped open, you know, and
I could see me wasting precioustime while the Lord is just
(30:00):
like no, just listen.
I need you to start thanking me, praising me and everything
else, because, like you said,the things we go through are
never about us, right?
Right they are about someoneelse.
And there was this jailer whowas this close, right, like you
say, he was something the Lordmust have already been working
in his heart because he was soclose, must have already been
(30:22):
working at his heart because hewas so close.
And Paul and Silas were theperfect examples for him to look
at, monitor, study, scan theirfaces, see how they reacted once
they were thrown in jail.
They didn't threaten to riot,they didn't threaten to beat
(30:42):
everybody up, they didn'tthreaten to bring the place down
.
They sat, they praised.
They didn't threaten to bringthe place down.
They sat, they praised, theythanked God.
And what happened?
Freedom.
They were set free and in theprocess, a jailer was brought
closer to God.
That's how he works.
And if we're sitting backmiserable and crying and weeping
you know about what justhappened to us we are not only
(31:08):
denying ourselves of a futureblessing, but you're denying
someone else of one.
And it's just amazing to me howGod works.
It's like, yes, this happened,but you know, just let me see
your heart and you just continueto praise and thank him, and
the whole time you have no ideathat he's making things happen
(31:30):
to where you're going to bereleased, right, you know, but
you're so busy just moping andgroaning and mumbling that you
can't see, you're denyingyourself the blessing that he
had in store for you becauseyou're just so, we're so in our
feelings or we just can'tbelieve that those people did
(31:50):
that to us.
We're so embarrassed, we're sohumiliated and God's like you
just don't.
You just see the small picture.
I got bigger plans, you know,and so sometimes and that's a
sacrifice, that was a sacrificeof praise and thanksgiving that
Paul and Silas was doing,Because you know they had to be
(32:11):
in pain.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Physical pain is what I mean.
They had to be in physical pain.
So absolutely, I agree.
I understood everything youwere trying to say.
Sorry to go off on such a longrant.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
No, no, it's perfect, and you know?
The other thing about that isjust because you're like they
were human beings too.
They felt like God said okay,you're on my mission, so
therefore, everything thathappens to you is going to be
supernatural, and you won't feelthe pain of the flogging and
you won't feel hunger and youwon't feel you know,
(32:46):
discouragement.
They felt annoyance, Like itsays right there in the thing.
Paul was annoyed, so he turnedaround and he said get out of
her, because you're driving menuts, Right.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
You know.
So I mean they were fully,fully human beings.
God doesn't give yousupernatural strength just
because you go on a missionstrip, but God does give you
supernatural tolerance sometimes, or supernatural Like.
We all have that ability to getthat power from God is what I
(33:18):
guess.
What I'm trying to say when wewake up in the morning, we have
a choice is that when we wake upin the morning we have a choice
.
We can say Holy Spirit, fill us, use us, speak through me today
so that when we go to open ourmouth, when we're annoyed, we
can either check ourselves andsay okay, holy Spirit, I asked
you to do the speaking.
I know what I'm going to say ifmy mouth opens and I speak right
(33:41):
, this second, but that's notwhat I want.
I want your will and I speakright, this second, but that's
not what I want.
I want your will and I want tospeak your thing.
So when I sat there and I hadthat opportunity, I could either
praise God or I could worry,and I chose to praise him, not
having a clue what in the heckthat meant.
I didn't know where the nextbreath was or where the next
(34:02):
paycheck was or where the nextanything was.
But because I had a heart forGod and because I had a desire
to do it his way, and becausehe's been talking to me about
choosing to praise him for yearsnow, and I'm finally at the
point where I'm like, oh, he'sgiving me practice, he's letting
(34:23):
me practice this.
I get to choose.
Okay, I'm going to choose wisely.
I love that one.
I don't know, it's some TV showand I don't watch enough TV to
remember, but it's you have achoice, choose wisely, type of a
thing, and I don't rememberwhat it is, but it's the truth.
Like that's the way that weneed to live our lives.
We have a choice.
We can choose wisely.
(34:44):
We all of us influence somebody.
Whether you're a parent and youinfluence a child at home
multiple times a day.
Whether you're an employer oran employee, you influence
coworkers or employees multipletimes a day.
Even just as a driver on theroad, you influence young
(35:05):
drivers, old drivers, multipletimes a day.
Even just as a driver on theroad, you influence young
drivers, old drivers multipletimes a day.
We, every action andinteraction that we have with
others, we have the opportunityor we are.
We are ultimately influencingsomebody else.
So who do we want seen throughus?
Do we want Jesus and the HolySpirit and the fruits of the
(35:26):
Spirit love, joy, peace,patience, long suffering seeing
through us, or do we want ourflesh seeing through us, through
?
Speaker 1 (35:39):
me.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
I want people to see you, Jesus.
I don't want them to see me.
And when I say that, I'm notsaying that I am Jesus.
I'm saying I want Jesus'sreactions and Jesus's responses
to be the first response that Iwant.
I want that to be my go-toresponse.
I want that to be my defaultbutton and the only way that
(36:03):
that can be true, the only waythat I could sit and praise in a
prison or thank God for losinga job or whatever, whatever is
when I'm saturated in his wordand when I, I read stories that
build my faith because God tellsus, and then when you build
(36:23):
upon his words in and ofyourself.
So, for example, I read thestory of Paul and Silas.
So I have that in the back ofmy head.
Well, then I read in the Biblewhere it says God is the same
yesterday, today and forever.
Then I read the part in theBible where it says that God is
faithful.
So I can pray back to God andsay God, in your word you said
(36:50):
that you were the same yesterday, today and forever.
Okay, and then you also tell mePaul and Silas sat there and
praised you in the prison andthey got out.
You, you let them escape, yougave them the opportunity to get
out without any otherconsequences.
Yes, they were beaten with arod, but you protected them and
then you ended up going andcomforting them and ministering
to them through Lydia.
(37:10):
Well, god, you're the sameyesterday, today and forever.
So I may have to go through aflogging of some kind, but you
are going to take care of me.
I am choosing to praise you,I'm choosing to have the same
response Paul and Silas had,because I know that that's the
right response that I shouldhave and I can trust you with
the right answer.
When I do it the right way, youwill get the right answer.
(37:33):
Now, I don't know what thatanswer is.
It might be different than Pauland Silas is, but I know that
you have the answer becauseyou're the same yesterday, today
and forever.
God wants us to have theseconversations with him.
God wants us to be bold.
God wants us to grow ourrelationship with him, and the
(37:54):
best way to do that is when wesaturate ourselves with his word
, so that we know what his wordis, so we can pray it back to
him.
We know these different stories.
I always pray to him aboutEsther too.
I'm like God.
You took care of Esther.
You're going to take care of me.
God.
Hang the Haman's that are in mylife.
God, help me to be bold andcourageous like Esther is.
(38:15):
Help me to be available and tobe ready for such a time as this
.
Or, you took care of Moses.
You spoke through Moses when hehad to speak to Pharaoh, and my
favorite verse is Exodus 14, 13,and 14.
I said it before, but I'll sayit again I used to walk around
(38:35):
my house every single day and Itook my Bible out with me until
I had it memorized and I wouldpray this prayer I said.
Moses said to the people do notbe afraid, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord, whichhe will accomplish for you
today, the Egyptians whom yousee today and I listed every
single problem that we had youwill never see again, the Lord
(38:57):
will fight for you.
You only need to be still.
And I would say, god, you saidthat you're going to fight for
me.
I only need to be still, and sowould say God, you said that
you're going to fight for me.
You're only, or I only need tobe still.
And so I said to him, pointblank I said God, we need a new
roof.
God, we need new siding.
God, we need help with it.
And we need help with that.
And lo and behold, on mybirthday one day, we had a
horrific hail storm and out ofthat hail storm we got two new
(39:21):
to us cars not brand new cars,but two new to us cars because
our cars were totaled and we gotnew siding and a new roof.
Don't tell me that God can't dowhat he promises to do.
When we pray it back to him andwe trust him and believe, did
it take a couple years for it tohappen?
Absolutely, but you know whatit was in God's perfect timing.
We didn't need it before then.
(39:42):
He gave it to us right when weneeded it.
And if you think I'm the onlyone, I'm not.
I have friends that tell me Godgave this for me.
I had another friend who said tome that she won a $3,000 or she
run a contest on a radiostation and it was like $3,000
and it was exactly what theyneeded in order to pay their
(40:03):
bills that month because ofdifferent extenuating
circumstances.
So don't tell me that God can't,because everything in the Bible
tells us that God can, and sowe may be in, we may have to
spend our time in the jail, butI don't think that Paul and
Silas even cared about the factthat they were flogged and they
(40:26):
were beaten when they had theopportunity to win or not win,
but lead the jailer to Christ,and not just the jailer but his
entire family.
I'll tell you what thoseinjuries that they were still
dealing with physically, thatwent on the wayside when they
saw the blessings that they weregiven.
And it is a blessing to be ableto be used by God and it is a
(40:51):
blessing, like we talked aboutlast week, to have made pancakes
every single Monday night sothat little kids could come with
us to church and hear aboutGod's word.
And it was a blessing that wemay hate pancakes for the rest
of our lives, but you know what?
I don't care, because we wereable to share God's love the way
(41:11):
that he asked us to in thatseason.
And then that brings me to thelast point that I want to make
is that when we are in God'spresence and when we are living
in a surrendered way to himpresence, and when we are living
in a surrendered way to him, itis exciting and I think that's
kind of I don't want to putwords in Silas' mouth, but I
(41:32):
kind of think that might be howSilas felt that I am given this
opportunity, I am, I am able tobe part of this bigger plan and
bring it on, whatever it is thatyou, you want me to to through
God, I'm willing to walk throughit for the greater good.
Because they all had thatmindset of Christ, of the
(41:54):
heavenly mindset that this worldis temporary.
But you know the last part thatI absolutely love Tara, and
that is that God is truth, thatI absolutely love Tara, and that
is that God is truth.
And Paul knew that better, Ithink, than so many others,
because he was like uh-uh, he'snot going to just make us
disappear quietly.
(42:14):
No, you blog specifically, youcan publicly apologize.
I don't think that that'sun-Christlike.
I think that's more Christlikethan saying okay, you can just
let me, you know you let me outof jail.
I'm just going to be gratefulfor that.
No, paul knew, he knew the law,he knew what was right, what
(42:37):
was wrong, what was up, what wasdown, and he wasn't going to
let them get away with it.
And that's the other thing thatI absolutely love about Jesus
going to let them get away withit.
And that's the other thing thatI absolutely love about Jesus
when we listen to and when weread about him in the word.
Jesus told everybody what he wasgoing to do ahead of time.
He didn't go around in secret.
He didn't like pretend, oh, I'mnot going to tell people, but
(42:57):
I'm going to blast them in threedays, I'm going to reveal this
in three days, or I'm going todo this in three days.
No, jesus didn't do that.
He's like in three days, I'mgoing to be telling this, this
and this.
This is what's going to go downunless you repent ahead of time
.
You have the opportunity torepent.
It's your choice.
Choose wisely.
And I just I love that abouthim.
(43:19):
I'm not that bold, but I'mlearning, I'm trying, because I
want to be like Jesus, and so Ireally think that, even though
Paul and Silas might not haveknown exactly what was going to
go down ahead of time, I thinkthey knew something would go
down, because when you serveJesus there's always excitement.
Sometimes the excitement bringspain, but the excitement always
brings blessing thing.
(43:48):
And oh, I'm glad I didn't liveback then, kara, because I'm not
as bold as Paul was, but I'mlearning how to be bold in my
neighborhood and in my fear.
And when you're doing itaccording to the Holy Spirit and
you're doing it the way thatthe Holy Spirit guides or with
the Holy Spirit's guidance, it'sjust I love seeing how he works
.
And I you're going to need toshut me up because I'm going to
keep talking about Silas,because I get so excited when
(44:15):
we're talking about God's word.
It's a living breathing and itteaches us so much and I just
want to keep going.
So I hope you guys are excitedabout so much and I just want to
keep going.
So I hope you guys are excitedabout Silas and Paul and and all
of their adventures.
And I'm not even adventuroustype in that regard, but man, oh
man, I just get so excitedbecause God, just when we obey
(44:38):
and just give him free reign.
The things that God can do, theplaces we can go according to
Dr Seuss, the things that Godwill do, is so much better than
the places that Dr Seuss wantedto take you, and that is all
that I want to say.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Well, I think you've said it all, sherry.
It's.
It's all about surrender, right?
It's all about surrenderingsurrendering our pride,
surrendering our hurt,surrendering even our physical
pain, like you were talkingabout with Paul and Silas.
All because you're trusting theGod and you're knowing, you're
thanking God, because you trustthat, like a good, good father,
(45:20):
that none of this is going to bewasted, that you may not know
what the plans are, but he knows, and if we just sit back and
just focus on him, that he'sgoing to take care of the rest.
That's all I wanted to add.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Amen.
So Jesus tells us again, like Ijust said a couple minutes ago,
he doesn't mince words and hedoesn't hide things from anybody
, but he tells us in John 30,verse 16, 33, these things I
have spoken to you, that in meyou may have peace In the world.
You will have tribulation, butbe of good cheer, I have
(45:56):
overcome the world.
He may tell us how it is andwhat's up ahead, but he also
says I have the plan and I havepeace and I will give that to
you.
That is my promise, and that Ihave experienced that peace in
some of the worst trials in mylife.
And I'll tell you what.
There's nothing like it.
(46:16):
I was talking to somebody justthe other day and they felt that
same piece.
They're like I don't understandwhy God gave me peace in this
situation.
I should have been a wreck, Ishould have been, you know,
upset and worried, and I wasn't.
I just had this peace.
And I said you know what I saidI did too, and I said there's
nothing like it is there.
And they were like no, they hadto agree with me.
(46:38):
They're like there's nothinglike it.
And once you have experiencedthat peace, there's no going
back.
But you've never experiencedthat peace and you're a believer
, you're a child of God, I wantto encourage you to ask him to
give you that peace, to let youexperience that, Because once
you do, there is no going back.
And I there are times in mylife where I'm like, okay, God,
(47:01):
you know that piece that yougave me the other day, I want it
again.
Would you give it to me again?
And sometimes you have to praythrough it, and sometimes it
takes a little while.
Um, but God is so faithful togive it to us and it's part of
his promise, and we can pray hispromises back to him, knowing
completely and fully inconfidence that he will answer,
(47:22):
because that's what God does.
So if you are not a believer, ifyou are not a child of God, if
you are not his son or daughterand after what we talked about
today, you want to become one Idon't want to let this
opportunity go.
So I want to explain that allit is is a surrender, like Carol
(47:47):
was saying, that when weconfess with our mouth and
believe that Jesus is Lord andbelieve in our hearts that God
raised Jesus from the dead, itsays we will be saved.
So it's not a prayer.
It's not words that save us,it's our heart.
It's having that heart postureof having God come into our life
(48:10):
and saying I surrender my lifeto you.
So if that's something that youwant to do today, then I invite
you to pray this prayer with meas I pray it.
Oh heavenly father, I come toyou in Jesus' name.
I believe you died on the crossand that you rose again and
you're seated on the throne.
Jesus, forgive me for all thatI've done wrong and I choose to
(48:33):
forgive all others.
Come into my life today andforever.
I am yours In Jesus' name.
Amen.
If you prayed that prayer withus today, I just want to say
welcome to the family.
We encourage you to join abible believing church.
You can look into themembership as well if that's
(48:54):
something that you want to havea community of believers
alongside you.
If you don't have a church byyou that you want to attend
regularly, head over to Kara'swebsite, karahrhuntcom, and she
will, or you can find out allthe latest and greatest that's
going on with her.
We also would encourage you toemail us at cheeruppodcasts at
(49:19):
gmailcom and let us know thatyou made this important decision
.
We are so, so grateful andhappy for you and we want to
come alongside you as youcontinue your journey with God
and I also want to.
If you don't want to tell thewhole group and not just Tara
and I, then head over to CheerUp Podcast on Facebook and let
(49:41):
us know over there and we willbe more than happy to celebrate
with you there as well.
You can head over to my websiteif you want to and check out
the different things that arethere the different books, the
different memberships, thepodcast link, which you're
already on the podcast, so youdon't need that.
But if you ever need it in thein the future, you can head over
(50:05):
to either Kara's website ormine and get the link there.
Um, a YouTube channel, allkinds of things, um.
But if you're interested and Iwant to say um, but I think I
covered all of those things, I'mjust I I can't get over how
excited, or I can't stressenough how excited I am to talk
(50:27):
about the truth of the Bible andto just share all the different
things that Kara and I arelearning, and we just want to
give an excitement to you as youcontinue to grow and learn in
your journey with God as well.
So next week we're going totalk about Aquila and Priscilla
(50:50):
and I'm really excited to talkabout them as well.
I don't know as much about themas I did, so I'm excited to
dive in and I mean I don't knowas much about them as I thought
I did, but I'm excited to divein and see.
I mean, I don't know as muchabout them as I thought I did,
but I'm excited to dive in andjust see what God wants to teach
us about Aquila and Priscilla.
So, until then, have a greatrest of your day, have a great
rest of your week and we willtalk to you next Wednesday,
(51:17):
thank you.
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