Real Life Community Church Richmond, KY
Real Life Community Church, is a church located in Richmond, Kentucky. Our fellowship is comprised of authentic followers of Jesus Christ who aim to glorify God in all that we do. We have a desire to reach our community, meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of those who are hurting.What to Expect in a Service Our Sunday Morning services include a time of dynamic, blended worship. We have a full praise band, consisting of real Christ-followers who are committed to worshiping God, not just through song, but in every area of their lives. Each service will include a relevant, Bible-based message, that will inspire and challenge those who hear it. Come casually or formally dressed… however you are most comfortable. We hope to see you soon!
Real Life Community Church Richmond, KY
Acts | Part 30 | Midnight Praise: Finding Joy in Your Darkest Hour
See the Study Guide Here: https://myrealchurch.org/teaching/acts/acts-part-30-praising-god-in-the-midnight-hour/
Nothing good happens after midnight—or so the saying goes. It's when our defenses crumble, our resolve weakens, and our problems loom largest. But what if midnight isn't just a time of vulnerability, but an opportunity for extraordinary spiritual breakthrough?
This look into Acts 16 follows Paul and Silas in surely a very dark hour—beaten, stripped, and imprisoned with their feet fastened in stocks for simply doing God's work.
Their response? Midnight praise and prayer that shook the foundations of their prison.
Listen to see why our response to opposition matters. When we're persecuted for our faith—whether through social media attacks, workplace discrimination, or cultural pressure—how we react reveals our spiritual maturity. The story of Paul and Silas demonstrates that praise rooted in Jesus rather than circumstances creates a joy that can never be taken away.
Let me pray before I start preaching. God. We are so grateful for who you are and for your word. Who are we, that you would communicate to us in such a clear way about your character and how we can serve you and how we can be saved, have eternal life, be forgiven of our sins, and, lord, we know that the word of God is to be preached, as Paul told Timothy, and so today, though, I do not want to preach by the wisdom of man, but, lord, I want to preach under the power of the Holy Spirit. So use me, your servant, this morning, to preach clearly and to encourage your people in the Lord, father. I pray today, o God, that you would give the people ears to hear, father, and let us be doers of your word. Remove any distractions. We pray so that we can be focused on what you have to say in your holy word, and we thank you in Jesus' good name. Amen.
Speaker 1:Well, the old saying goes that nothing good happens after midnight. Amen, like, if your phone buzzes at midnight, it's usually not good news is, at midnight it's usually not good news. And, by the way, if you stay up past midnight, please don't text me. Got a couple of people who do that from time to time and oddly, it's not young people, it's seniors. Midnight is a time when your defenses are down and your weaknesses tend to be amplified. It's like how many have stood before the fridge at midnight and you've said no to the cheesecake all day long? But at midnight you've convinced yourself it's a healthy snack. Come on somebody. It's when there's nothing but infomercials on TV. So at midnight you'll buy something you don't need or don't even want with money you don't have. Midnight is the hour when babies cry and rob you of precious sleep and you try not to get upset. Midnight is the time when teenagers sneak out of the house. When teenagers sneak out of the house, midnight is the hour where people party a little too hard and do kind of foolish things that they'll regret probably the rest of their lives. And you know, midnight is the time when you lie awake and you cannot sleep and your problems feel the absolute heaviest. Nothing good, generally speaking, happens after midnight. Yet in our text today, something profound happens in the midnight hour.
Speaker 1:We've been going through the book of Acts and we're following the journey of Paul right now, of Paul and Silas, luke and Timothy On Paul's second missionary journey. They have just planted a church in Philippi. And now they're still in Philippi and they're going to prayer and all of a sudden they're approached by this demon-possessed girl and they cast out this demon. Now, this, this girl, is a slave girl, and her masters get really upset with Paul and Silas because they've cast out this demon, and so they drag them to the marketplace. Paul and Silas are brought before the magistrates, they're given no trial, they're beaten with rods and thrown into an inner prison and after all that we humiliated, stripped down. And here's their response at midnight, acts 16.25, about midnight, paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. Were praying and singing hymns to God Instead of being mad for what had happened and transpired during the day, instead of wallowing in self-pity, instead of playing the victim card, instead of seeking revenge on their captors, what did Paul and Silas do? They pray and they sing hymns to God in their darkest hour.
Speaker 1:Today, I want to talk about the power of praising God in the midnight hour. Now, obviously, I'm speaking tonight metaphorically and I'm talking about the darkest hours of your life, and while we could apply this to any area of suffering, because it's always powerful to praise God in suffering, I want to talk about what the text talks about Namely. I want to talk about praising God when people oppose us and persecute us and come against us because of our faith. Because here's the reality If you are a real follower of Jesus and you are truly living out your faith, people some people will hate you in this world. They will oppose you, they will rise up against you, they will malign you, they will say all kinds of false things, oppose you. They will rise up against you, they will malign you. They will say all kinds of false things against you. You'll have a midnight hour in that regard at some point Now.
Speaker 1:How do you respond in those moments? How do you respond when somebody maligns you, speaks ill against you? You know, I think your response to that question can tell a lot about your spiritual maturity. It can serve as a gauge because, I'll tell you, everything in the flesh wants to handle those situations very wrongly. But if you and I will learn to exalt Jesus in those moments watch this three things will happen. Number one God will be glorified, which ought to be the chief aim of our lives. Number two you will walk in a joy that can never be taken from you, and you're talking about. You talk about an amazing feeling. It's awesome when, when people seek to do you harm, and you can still smile on the inside. Amen. Number three if you respond to opposition in a Christ-exalting way, here's what it'll do it will point others to the Lord, jesus Christ, in a profound way way.
Speaker 1:Midnight hours in our lives, in many capacities, are inevitable. But I want to point you to verse 16. It says as we were going to the place of prayer this is Luke writing we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. So before we dive in, I want to point something out here. Real followers of Jesus don't go around looking for midnight hours. It's my conviction that no one should stay up till midnight on purpose Can I get a witness? And likewise, no believer should go out looking for trouble. Are you with me? Notice that Paul and Silas aren't going about looking for a fight. They aren't trying to stir anything up. What are they doing? Verse 16, they were going to prayer. They're going to church. They're not looking for a fight.
Speaker 1:Now, as Christians, we must guard from what I call the martyr complex, because, you know, a martyr is someone who follows Jesus and suffers or even dies for their faith. And, by the way, that's very noble within Christianity to be willing to suffer and die for your faith. But the martyr complex is something different altogether. Someone with a martyr complex goes about looking for trouble in opposition, and here's why Because it makes them feel superior when people are always mad at them because of their faith. They have this sort of self-righteousness about them, and I would just argue that Christians should never go out trying to seek oppositions, because Romans 12, 18 says this if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Live peaceably with all. You know, in our culture we see this martyr complex played out on social media all the time, don't we, some Christians, always posting something political, something self-righteous, something religious, and if they look deep enough in their hearts, you know that, listen, none of those posts do any good. I've never seen one, not one time have I ever seen somebody comment on a religious or political post to go oh great point. You know what? I think I'll switch political sides now, have you no? Why do you do it then? Because it's this in part. It's this martyr complex.
Speaker 1:Real followers of Jesus don't go looking for midnight, looking for trouble. But I'll tell you this if you're a real follower of Jesus, trouble will find you. And that's what we see in the story, verses 17 and 18. So this demon-possessed girl followed all in us crying out these men are servants of the most high God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. Servants of the most high God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days, paul having become greatly annoyed. Now let me just pause there. When you're full of the Holy Ghost, isn't it awesome that a demon is only an annoyance to you? All right, paul turned and said to the spirit I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And it came.
Speaker 1:Now we see two types of adversaries that Paul and Silas have to deal with in this text. One is spiritual and one is human. Let's talk about the spiritual adversary. This girl doesn't have control of herself. She is demonically possessed and consequently, here's what happens she has this power by this demon to tell fortunes, and she begins following Paul and Silas around saying hey, these men, they're servants of the most high God and they're showing you the way of salvation.
Speaker 1:And you think praise the Lord, what's wrong with that? Isn't she telling the truth? Well, in one sense, yes, but she's doing this antagonistically and I think this this is a little bit of speculation. But I think the devil is allowing her to say biblical things because I think he wants her to infiltrate the newly planted church in Philippi, thinking, maybe, paul and Silas, and she's saying, hey, these are servants of the most high God proclaiming the way of salvation, come on into our church. And then she would wreak havoc. And I think that because I think the devil still does it today, because I've been in ministry a long time and I know that there are people who come in the church who know how to speak the Christian language, come on. But they come in and they were oppressed by the devil and they're here only to stir up trouble, no-transcript, to tear up what God is doing in the church.
Speaker 1:But thankfully, in this story, paul and Silas are keen enough to know. This girl is tortured and tormented and they cast out this demon. They deal with the devil. Just an annoyance come out in the name of Jesus and poof gone. Well, how many know we all have a spiritual adversary. This is why, in first peter peter says be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, your adversary, my adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He doesn't want to just claw you, bite you a little bit, he wants to devour you and he wants to devour me. We've got to be aware of the enemy's ploy to sift us as wheat, to make shipwreck of our faith. And that's what Paul and Silas do. And they deal with the demon and you think well, they're home, free, now off to prayer. Not so fast. They've dealt with one, the spiritual adversary, and now they deal with other men who are human adversaries. Look at verses 19 through 24.
Speaker 1:When the slave masters saw that their hope of gain of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us, as Romans, to accept our practice. Now watch this. The crowd joined in in attacking them and the magistrates tore the garments off them. They stripped them naked and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison. This is not a good day for Paul and Silas Ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them in the inner prison this is like a dungeon and he fastened their feet in stocks.
Speaker 1:So the Romans? What they would do for these prisoners? They would spread their legs as far as possible and fasten their feet in that position. Now think of this. They've just been beaten with rods stripped, and now they're hungry, they're tired, they're in pain, and now they can't even get comfortable. Can't even get comfortable After freeing this poor girl from the torment of this demon. Wouldn't you think her friends and family would go? Hey, man, thank you, paul and Silas. But that's not what they do the owners. Here's what's happened. The owners have been exploiting this young girl for gain, because they've made money off her fortune, telling so, driven by the love of money. This is why they drag Paul and Silas off and have them imprisoned.
Speaker 1:Now, why would the crowds side with these men? Because the slave owners aren't forthcoming. They don't talk about the miracle, they lie about it. What do they say? Well, these men? They're causing a ruckus and they're teaching things that are unlawful for Roman citizens, and so the crowd buys the lie and turn against the Christians in this story, and I mentioned this Now. I talked about this three weeks ago, but I'm going to mention again because it's so vitally important that's exactly what's happening to Christians today.
Speaker 1:There are two cultural issues that we stand against and the world hates us for it. One is abortion, one is transgenderism, and so here's what the narrative is Because we want to save the lives of the unborn. Here's what happens. Those in power say, oh, they don't care about a woman's right over her own body. We stand up against the horrors of transgenderism and puberty blockers and the I mean the just, the just destroying of bodies in these gender surgeries. So why do they say this? About this? This is what the people in power are saying, and the crowds are buying us and they hate us for it. Let me tell you why they're saying this Because they're not forthcoming those in power. Do you know that abortion and transgenderism, those are both big business? Do you know that Planned Parenthood alone last note, 2023 reported $2 billion just Planned Parenthood in annual revenue? Transgenderism, or gender-affirming care, as they call it, or gender affirming care, as they call it 2021,. The US gender affirming care market was about 1.9 billion and by some studies it's expected to climb to over $5 billion by 2030.
Speaker 1:Do you think these people care about the quote unquote, transgenders or women's bodies? What do they care about? Double mastectomy $10,000 to $15,000. Breast augmentation $9,000 to $15,000. Facial feminization surgery $20,000 to $50,000. Vaginoplasty $20,000 to $50,000. Phalloplasty $50,000 to $150,000. Puberty blockers $4,000 to $10,000 per year. Cross-sex hormones $30,000 to $100,000 per month. And you have to take them for life.
Speaker 1:Beloved these people in power. They don't care about women. They don't care about the unborn and they know that's not the issue with us, but they are exploiting women. They are exploiting the most marginalized to line their pockets and I'll stand up on it to the day I die to fight for those people. Amen.
Speaker 1:Let them say what they will. Even when we are doing the will of the Lord and we are working for the good of humankind, wicked people will malign us. It's okay. They did it to Jesus, the one who came to save the world. They accused him of being full of demons. They accused him of trying to change the law to lead people away from God, but that's not what he did and he didn't have to answer for it. He knew that he didn't have to give an answer. He knew he was secure in his calling, he knew who he was and he was hung on a tree for it. So if you're being persecuted because of what you stand for, the biblical values that you stand on, your love for Jesus Christ beloved, you're in good company, amen.
Speaker 1:So the question is as Paul and Silas sit there, battered and bruised in this dungeon, feet in stocks, they're there for doing exactly what God has told them to do and for going exactly where God's told them to go. So how do they respond? How would you respond? Think of it. God says go to Philippi. You go to Philippi and you do exactly exactly the work of the kingdom that Jesus has told you to do, and yet God allows you to be lied about, beaten, mocked. The omnipotent God does nothing to stop it. He allows you to be dragged off the prison.
Speaker 1:And now it's midnight. You are weary and hungry and tired, but you cannot sleep. You're in physical pain, emotional pain. What are you thinking in that moment? Are you shaking your fist at God? I mean, put yourself there. Do you threaten your captors, telling them you're going to pay God's going to sick you Do? You wallow in discouragement and hopelessness? Do you lose your faith? Do you question God's love or even the reality of God? That's not what Paul and Silas do. What do they do? They pray and they sing. Why would they sing Like? You sing when you're happy, right? I sing because I'm happy, right. I sing because I'm free. Well, they're not free. They're in prison, right? Oh no, they're free.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you why they can sing in the midnight hour because their praise is not rooted in their circumstances, it's not rooted in their bank account, it's not rooted in their health, it's not rooted in their wealth, it's not rooted in their reputation. Their joy is rooted in the Lord, jesus Christ. And if your joy is rooted in your career or your money or your health or your marriage or your relationship with your children, when those circumstances change, your joy will flee. But how many know Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the God who never changes. If your joy is rooted in him, it's like let the devil do his best, let people do their best, but your joy cannot be taken Our adversaries. They can take our freedom, they can take our health, they can take our quality of life, they can take us from our family, they can destroy our reputation. But you cannot take our song, amen. You cannot take our praise, because our praise is not about you and it's not about any circumstance. It's about Jesus, and how many know he's worthy on the mountain, he's worthy in the valley, he's worthy in the noonday sun and he's worthy at midnight. Oh, help me somebody. Our God is worthy, our God is worthy. Let me point one other thing out in verse 25. Look at this About midnight, Paul and Sias were praying and singing hymns to God. And what the prisoners were listening to them. Can I just say to you that people are watching how you respond to trouble. They're watching you. You know what the devil wants. He wants you to lose your temper, he wants you to become violent. But, oh church, if we'll just keep singing. What a testimony Many of you saw on social media.
Speaker 1:This father at a baseball game I think it was a Phillies game, right and he goes and gets a foul ball for his son and he kind of took it. There's a lady sitting in the row above and she was determined and convinced it was hers, even though she had no hand on the ball or anything, and he took it and he went over to his seat and gave his son a big hug and he handed him that baseball. Well, this lady, karen, as you guys call her my wife's first name is Karen, so be careful with that. That's why we call her. My wife's first name is Karen, so be careful with that. That's why we call her Nikki this lady comes over and just begins railing on him and what does the man do? Now, I'm not going to argue who's right and who's wrong, but here's all I want you to see. He gives the ball to her and this works out really good for him in the end. But here's the thing I I tend to think this guy was a christian. I just do by his attitude, by his posture. Whether that was right or wrong, I'll leave that up to you, but here's, here's what I want you to see.
Speaker 1:The whole world was watching. He didn't realize at the time, but how many millions upon millions of people have watched how he responded to that lady? I'll just say to you people are watching you. How do you respond when things don't go your way? How do you respond when you get that diagnosis? Or you, you know, or you lose your job, or or, or whatever it might be. But how do you respond when people come against you, be it in person, on social media? People are watching you.
Speaker 1:Now, here's what I love God responds to the praises of His people. He inhabits the praises of His people. Look at verse 26. And suddenly they're praying. They're praising and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. Boy, this is a good story, isn't it? God responds to the praise of Paul and Silas. Their stalks fall off. And here's what I love when we praise God in our darkest hours, faith overcomes fear, freedom overcomes this idea of being bound up Like you become free, and the light outshines the darkness. It is a beautiful thing. And I would just say this See, it is easy to praise God in paradise, but it's more powerful to praise him in prison. Oh, anybody can say oh yeah, god is good all the time. You know when things are going perfectly, but often in life that's not the case. Let me ask you, christian, is God still good? Is God still good in the valley? Oh, yes, he is, and I love this. When Paul and Silas praise, not only are they set free, but the stocks come off all those who are in prison.
Speaker 1:The prison doors opened in every single cell. Your response to the midnight hour doesn't just impact you, it can free other people around you. Your praise, I mean. When you come in here on Sunday mornings. Why do we sing? Why do we clap? Why do we lift our hands? Because the Bible tells us to. And when you praise some of you, you've had a really tough week. But when you come in and you sing praises to our great God, it doesn't just help you, it doesn't just glorify God, but it might just bless the person on your right and your left and in front of you and behind you. How do Paul and Silas respond to God? With praise and prayer, but how do they respond to their adversaries? Look at verses 27 through 34.
Speaker 1:When the jailer woke and saw the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice do not harm yourself, for we are all here Now. Here's what you need to know Under Roman law, if you were a jailer and people were under your watch, and while they were under your watch they escaped. Their sentence would be put upon you and it's likely, in this prison cell, that they were housing murderers, very violent people. And so the jailer knows I'm going to be tortured, something bad, and I'm going to eventually be killed anyways. So I might as well just take my own life. And he sees no way out of this. So he starts to take his life.
Speaker 1:And what would you do in that moment? The man who saw that your feet were put in stocks, that you could not escape, the man that was one of the perpetrators, how would you respond, as he's getting ready to take his own life? I think a lot of people. The natural tendency would be to say he's getting what he deserves. Do it. I told you this would happen. You don't mess with a man of God, right? But instead, what does Paul say to the one who had him imprisoned? Don't do it, your life is worth something. Wow, he's living out Luke 6, 28. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. Beloved, this is radical forgiveness and mercy. And how many know it's not natural. It's all right, it's not natural. The natural man wants justice, wants revenge. But Paul. Here's why he can do this, because he's full of the spirit. This is what the Holy Spirit produces in our lives and I want you to notice the results. Look at verse 29, as Paul cries out to him.
Speaker 1:The jailer called for lights and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas and then he brought them out and said Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to them and to all who were in his house and he took them the same hour of the night and he washed their wounds and he was baptized at once, he and his whole family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them and he rejoiced, along with his entire household, that he had believed in God Because of Paul and Silas' act of mercy, forgiveness and love. This jailer wants to know their God. The jailer gets saved and his whole household is saved and his life is changed. Listen, he was getting ready to take his life and now it says at the end of this, he says he and all his household rejoiced.
Speaker 1:See, the question is why did God not stop all this earlier? If God could open the prison doors, why did God not stop it when the mobs were coming against Paul and Silas? And I want you, if you checked out, I want you to listen in, because this is why God sometimes doesn't step in when people oppose you. This is why God allows us to suffer it sometimes. Here's why Because God cares more about the souls of the lost than he does the comfort of his people. Did you hear that God cares more about the souls of the lost than the comfort of his people? And when you go through trials and tribulations and you are having to deal with adversaries at every turn and you respond in a Christ-exalting way, that points people to Jesus and in the end, that points people to Jesus In the end.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to read 35 through 40. You can read it later, but in the end, paul and Silas are vindicated. The magistrates responsible for their imprisonment come out and bring them back out and exonerate them and clear their name. Exonerate them and clear their name. But God cares more about the souls of the lost than the comfort of His people.
Speaker 1:You know, if you're going through something right now and you think God, why it be that God wants somebody to see that God is good and he is sufficient, even at midnight, even in the midnight hour. See, if you're going through one of these times right now, you know what the enemy wants you to do. He wants you to cave, he wants you to throw in the towel, he wants you to seek vengeance, he wants to make shipwreck of your testimony. That's what happens when we lose it in these seasons. But the Apostle Paul shows us that we should respond to God with praise and respond with forgiveness to our enemies. Isn't that what Jesus did for us? God's not asking us to do something that he Himself was not willing to do. The Bible says that while we were yet sinners, christ died for us. When Jesus hung on that cross, stripped down like Paul and Silas, beaten, whipped to a bloody pulp, spat on mocked get down if you're king of the Jews. And he hung there, he said these unforgettable words Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Some of you remember.
Speaker 1:On June 17, 2015,. Dylan Roof entered Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, south Carolina. After sitting through the Bible study, roof opened fire, killing nine church members, including the pastor himself. The victim's family's response was nothing short of shocking. At Ruth's first hearing, the family members were given the opportunity to speak and the watching world expected them to malign him, to speak ill of him, to curse him, to wish him to hell. But for most of the victim's families, this is not what happened. One daughter said these words, quote I forgive you, you took something precious away from me, but I will never hate you. Another family member said I want God to have mercy on you.
Speaker 1:The world watched in shock as these Christians offered forgiveness to the one who had senselessly and violently taken so much from them. And here's what happened. The acts of radical forgiveness softened hearts way beyond Charleston. Many who had been skeptical of Christianity, testimony after testimony, said that this act of forgiveness made them reconsider Jesus. Pastors in South Carolina began reporting people coming to faith after seeing such radical forgiveness. That could only be explained by the gospel of Jesus Christ. What would happen this week, beloved, if we started praising God in the midnight hours and started truly forgiving and showing our adversaries mercy? We have a great opportunity in our culture right now to show the love of Christ by the way we worship God consistently and by the way we treat our enemies.