I'm Annoyed (Robert Madu)

honor to where honors do. Help me. Thank God for Pastor Stephen thirty, for Pastor Holly. Come on, you uncle, do better than that. Would you let them know how much you love them? Come on, would you let them know how much you appreciate him. Pastor Stephen is my brother. He is my brother from another mother. And I'm just thankful for him. There's so many things I could say about him, his brilliant mind to declare the word of the Lord, the incredible songs that he's written. But I'm

just thankful that he is a brother. When I tell you, there have been Sundays before I get up to preach I'll get a text from Pastor Stephen saying you're anointed, You're a man of God. You can do it. Preach the gospel. That's that's just the heart of your pastor. We have a church called Social Dallas, and the first church to sow into us when we got ready to plant just a year ago, was your church. Your pastors, and my wife and I are just incredibly grateful for

this house. And I want you to stay standing because oh my right toe is tingling. I feel like preacher. I'm gonna go straight to the word of God. I'm excited. I'm excited about what God has given me to share with you today. And I don't want to waste another second or another moment. But can we thank God for the incredible worship team that just let us so beautifully into the presence of God. Also, because I'm with family, I mean as well show you my fam you know,

I got to give you the family update. This is my bride and my three little humans right there. That's the Madou crew. We did good. We did good. So y'all pray for us. That is an eight year old, a seven year old and a five year old. Amen, Yes, pray for your boy. Pray for your boy. But that's my family. But I have a word, and I want you to stay standing because I want to jump straight into it. Did you come to get a word from God? Oh?

If y'all feel like hearing it like I feel like preaching it, something's going to happen in here today, go with me to Acts Chapter sixteen, Acts sixteen, And for the benefit of brevity, I want to look at verses sixteen through eighteen. Acts Chapter sixteen started verse sixteen, and will land at verse number eighteen. When you're ready to read it, say yeah, you're not ready. You need some times. Hold up. I heard that. Hold up. Come on, hurry up.

They gonna put it on the screen. You're good, You good. Shout out to all the campuses and the Epham everybody. Acts Chapter sixteen, starting in verse number sixteen, and it says once when we were going to the place of prayer that we is Paul and Silas. We were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which

she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money from her owners by fortune telling, and she followed Paul and the rest of us shouting, these men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved. She kept us up for many days. Finally Paul became so I was falalsing for you to say it annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her. At that moment,

the spirit left her. Can you say amen? Spoiler alert that girl's liberation led to their incarceration. But they found out at midnight that even in change, you can still have church. And they started singing worthy, you were worthy, and the chains broke. You know the story. You bet at church the doors flew open. But none of that is what drew me to The text is verse eighteen, where it says Paul finally became so annoyed. I want to preach for about six and a half hours today,

but I want to do something. I want to do something. I'm at home so I can do this. I want to do something that I've never done in a sermon before. I'm gonna give you part of my title right now, and then the other half of it I'm gonna give you at the end of the message. Is that cool? Okay? So if you leave early or epam you log off, You're gonna be lost. Okay it. I'm only giving you half of the title right now, but here's the half I want you to get. I want to talk to

you from this thought. I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed. I'll give you the second half later, but for right now, look at your neighbor, whichever one you like the best, and say, neighbor, Oh, come on, don't be afraid to talk to your neighbor in church. You know I can see you. Come on, say neighbor. Can I be honest? I'm annoyed. Look at your other neighbor, say other neighbor. You're my second option. And I gotta tell you this title. Say I'm annoyed. If you believe God's going to speak, would you give

us some praise? Right now? Father, I have your way today. Amen, you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. I'm annoyed. I forgot to mention that I am not here by myself. My father is here with me. Robert madeu senor Dad. Would you just stand up real quick? Do I love it? Because he hates it. He is annoyed right now because I made him stand up. But traveling with him actually gave me a flashback. He gave me a flashback to a ministry moment that is indelibly

etched in my mind. I'll never forget this moment. It's years years ago. I was just starting off in the ministry, just starting off preaching, years years ago, just a young buck preaching the gospel. I was preaching and working at Banana Republic. Yes, yes, yes, working at Banana during the weekend, preaching on the weekends. Yes, I had a ministry of folding khakis during the week and preaching the gospel on the weekend. And I'll never forget I got invited to

this church to preach their Sunday morning services. I'll never forget it. I was elated. I was excited because I had primarily preached just to the youth group and to the youth camps of this church. So when they called me to preach Sunday morning, I said, oh, how at your boy, I have made it to the big leagues from moving on up And uh, I got the itinerary. I got the itinerary before I got ready to go preach there, and I noticed something on the itinerary and

immediately arrested my attention. It was my accommodations where I was staying while I would be preaching there. And it said that I would be staying who at a motel? Mo mo hotel, Not a hotel, but a motel. I wasn't too alarmed at first. I said, hold on, don't judge a book, bise cover. Wait till you see the motel first. Robert and Pastor picked me up. I'll never forget it. And we pulled up to the motel and oh it was a mo. It was a mo. Tell everything about the exterior of this motel. Let me know

what the interior was going to look like. I will never forget. The pastor handed me the key to my room, said I'll pick you up tomorrow. I had to meet the key to my room. The key to my room, not a card, a physical key to my room at the motel. I said, you know what, Lord, I said, if you can use anything, you can use me. So I'm cool and open the door. Open the door to the motel. And as soon as I opened the door, my goodness, the room looked like a scene from CSI.

The pungent odor that was permeating from the carpet hitting me in the face, said, singed my nose here there was stains on the bed and stays on the carpet and stays on the dress. So I said, this is ridiculous. What happened in this room? I looked to the right. The roaches were looking at me like, you're gonna stay here? For real? Are you gonna slave here? Never forget it, I'll never forget it. And uh, I said, boy, it's gonna be rough. It's gonna be rough, rough, rough trip.

And so I was stinking to myself. I said, I can't stay here. I can't stay here. And I noticed that down the street from the motel was a hotel. What's a hotel, you know, nothing, nothing fancy but a few stars above this one. I said, you know what, I can go to that hotel and go to that hotel and I can just stay. I'm like, I'll pay for it. I realized, you know, I ain't even ask anybody to pay for it. I'll go. And the problem was the pastor dropped me off and he was picking

me up in the morning. So I was in a conundrum. I said, wait a minute. If I go to the hotel and leave the motel, what am I gonna do in the morning when he comes and picks me up. I'm either gonna have to go to the hotel then come all the way back to the motel for him to pick me up in the morning. So I was like, oh, I said, is that gonna look bad? I don't want to be rude. This is my first big Sunday. I don't want to miss this. Up, I was like, is

that gonna be rude if I switch hotels? So I call my father who was here with me, and I should say my Nigerian father, and I call him up. I will never forget this. I called him and said, Dad, I don't know if you can smell this through the phone. I said, but they got me out here at the motel and I want to switch. I want to switch to the hotel. Dad. I'm gonna pay for it. I want to switch to the hotel. But I don't know if it's gonna look bad or look rude if I switch.

Do you think it would be bad? Dad? If I switched from the motel to the hotel, I will never forget for this, Nigerian man said to me. First words out of his mouth were, oh, my goodness, oh my God, what didn't look bad? Wood did look bad if you switch, of course, it would look bad if you switch to a different hotel. Son, you are only death for one night. You are death for one night. You are not there on vacation. You are there to preach the gospel of Jesus' Christ.

You adare foul one night, he said, it's the apostle. Paul can be shipwrecked and beaten and witch for the gospel. Charlotte, you can't stand I did motel found one hung up the phone. Will never ever forget that moment. I was so annoyed. I was annoyed then, but in retrospect I realized the wisdom of my father. He said, I thought that he wasn't feeling me. I thought he wasn't being

empathetic to my plight in my situation. But upon further reflection, I realized not that he wasn't being empathetic to my situation. It's not even that he was advocating for me to stay in nasty motels. For what he was doing in that moment was trying to get me to look at my circumstance through the lens of my purpose. He was trying to get me to look at my circumstance through the lens of my purpose. That's why he kept saying

one night, you are just there for one night. He was trying to get me to see that my stay at that motel was temporal, but the gospel that I was preaching is eternal, and if I can focus on the purpose, it ought to give me clarity for the circumstance.

I don't know who this message is for today, but I felt like God wanted me to remind you that if you could learn to look at your circumstance through the lens of your purpose, if you could look at the frustrations and the agitations in your life through the lens of your divine assigned that would change everything for you. As a matter of fact, there is nothing more powerful than somebody that is learned to look at what they're

going through through the lens of what they are called to. Oh. If you want to see somebody that's unstoppable, look at somebody that knows who they are and they know the mission and the call that is on their life. Nothing can stop that person. Every obstacle will turn into an opportunity because they know there's a greater story there's a greater call than what I say right now. A matter of fact, the Apostle Paul could write a master's class on what it's like to look at your circumstance to

the lens of your divine purpose. I'm telling you, the Apostle Paul could do a ten hour ted talk on tenacity. Who else but the Apostle Paul. Who else but the one who said, I glory in my sufferings, the one that said, oh that I may know him in the fellowship not of his success, but in the fellowship of Christ's suffering and his resurrection. Who else but the Apostle Paul, that tenacious tent maker from Tarshiss, that gospel globe trotter who was full of tower and authority. You know, Paul

was unstoppable. He was off the chain. Every city he went into, he would turn the city upside down because he knew there was a greater call, there was a greater mission on his life. They could not stop the Apostle Paul. Everywhere he went. He was effective in ministry. They said, Paul, we gonna kill you. He said, that's cool to die? Is game? They said, okay, then, Paul, we're gonna let you live. He said, that's cool too, to live as Christ. They said, all right, then, Paul,

were gonna make you suffer. He said, that's cool too, because I already know that the present sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared to the glory of God that's gonna be revealed down on the inside of me. Paul. He was absolutely off the chain. And no wonder my dad said if the Apostle Paul could be shipwrecked, and surely you can stay there for one night, we'll get to my Texas. In Acts chapter sixteen, Paul is on his second missionary journey. But let us not

forget how he stepped into his purpose. Acts chapter nine lets us know the conversion and the commissioning of the Apostle Paul the Artist formerly known as Saul. I love Paul because Paul was actually not waiting to be converted to move at the speed of his purpose. He was already headed somewhere. You know that church planner used to be a Christian killer. He was on his way to kill more Christians when all of a sudden, God just interrupted him on his journey. A bright light came from

heaven and interrupted him. He wasn't seeking after God. God wasn't on his radar. Oh, but he was on God's radar. I'm want to pause right there. I thank God that sometimes when you're not thinking about him, he's thinking about you. I thank God that sometimes when you're not even having an appointment with him on your schedule, God will have an appointment with you on his schedule. Somebody watching this

right now, you don't even know. God is interrupting your regular schedule program because He has a call on your life. He has a purpose for your life, and you might be headed in the wrong direction. But buckle up your feet out because when God wants to get your attention, he will get your attention. Somebody came to church today because God is trying to get your attention. Got Paul's got Paul's attention in next chapter nine, But in next chapter sixteen, let us not forget that this is Paul's

second missionary journey. It's a secure missionary journey. And he's got his homeboy Silas with them. He's got Silence. He's even got this young cap by the name of Timothy with him. And you can't even really appreciate the connection between Paul and Silas until you first understand the separation that occurred between Paul and Barnabas. This is his second missionary journey, and Silence, believe it or not, was Paul's

second choice. Oh yeah, he didn't pick Silas first. He actually had a missionary journey Acts thirteen to fifteen and he was with Barnabas. Barnabas Barney. I love it because the Holy Spirit separated Paul and Barney put them together to accomplish a call. Proof positive that whenever God has a call on your life, he will make sure that you are connected with somebody to do it. There are no lone rangers in the Kingdom of God. All of y'all up in here talking about I don't need nobody,

I don't need the church. It's me myself and I no, no, no, no, no no. If your dream and your vision only affects you, it is not from the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God will always cause a divine collaboration with somebody. You need, somebody else hardwired for connection and community. So wouldn't it be just like the Holy Spirit to connect Paul and Barney to go plant churches and preach the gospel. Can you see Paul and Varney go on out, They're

planting churches, They're preaching the gospel. It was an effective trip. It was so effective. Paul said, let's run that back again. Let's do it again. Barnabas was like, cool, I'm cool with that. Let's run it back again. And then Paul says, all right, let's go. And then Barney goes, well, let's bring John Mark, my nephew with us. And Paul said, oh no, no, no, no, no, hold on, we can bring a whole lot of people if we are not bringing your little stinky nephew, Sean Mark. Don't forget due

your due diligence and read Joe Bible. You remember John Mark was their assistant who abandoning them halfway in the journey. And Paul still felt some type of way about it. He said, no, no, no, we can bring a whole lot of people, but we are not bringing John Mark. I got beat and whipped stones hitting my head on that last missionary journey. And John Mark left because he had a little tummy age because he was sea fig and went back to Jerusalem. There is no way he's

coming back. See, I like Paul I'm actually on Paul's side. Oh yeah. They got into a heated disagreement because Paul is a builder. He is ride or die, And Paul said, if I'm gonna build with somebody, I need to build with somebody who's faithful. I need to build with somebody that will show up. Is anybody like me. I like people that are dependable. I like people that when they tell you they're gonna be there at seven o'clock, they'll be there at six thirty five. I won't Sarada die

people in my life. I'm on, Paul said. Paul said that boy is not coming with us because he abandoned us. Problem with Paul's he's a builder who Barnie is an encourager. You know how them encourage us are. He's like, come on, Paul, give him another chance. Didn't God give you another chance? He's the one killing Christians, don't act brand new? How come you can't give him another chance? And they keep

going back and forth. It was a heated argument between the two and all of a sudden there was no resolve. They disagreed and they win their separate race. They had a disagreement that made them go their separate ways. Paul said, cool, I'm out. John Mark said cool, and I'll take Barnabas with me. They went their separate ways and just agreed to disagree. Do you know what's from with our culture today is we have lost the art of civil discourse. We have lost the art of just agreeing to disagree.

We live in a society that anybody that doesn't agree with you, anybody doesn't think like you think, talk like you talk, walk like you walk, vote like you vote. You got an issue with you want to demonize that person. But we don't know how to just agree to disagree. And you go your way and I'll go my way. And here's the powerful thing. The gospel of Jesus Christ was still preached. With Barnabas going his way and Paul going his way. Oh God said, I know how to

turn division and to multiplication. I know you went just separate ways, but the gospel is still don't be preached in the way. Y'all don't like that. You want to demonize the people you disagree with. But can I tell you God reserves to right to use people that you disagree with. God reserves to write to use people that you don't like. You use them and not even check

with you. It was still effective. John Mark and Barnabas were still effective, and Paul said, I'm gonna be effective too because I'm rude or die, He said, I got to get me somebody else and picks up silence with them. Can you see that interview? He's already feeling some type of way because John Mark quit on him. He's like, oh, silence or you ride or die? You sure you can roll with me? Sounds like of course. He's like, all right, let me just check punches them in a gut. You

use my epogetical imagination. Sounds like, oh, what's that for? He's like, it's real out here in these church playing the streets. I'm just trying to make sure you can take a looking to keep on ticket. By the way, can you sing? Can I sing? Yes? Can you sing? Yes? I want to know somebody pop off at midnight. I want to know if you still got to praise in your belly saying something right now? Silence is like right now, right now, I'm gonna see y victory. I've gotta see you. Yeah,

you're off key, but you're good. Come on, let's go look at him. He's got Silas with him. He picks up Timothy along the way, who follows not playing first thing he does with Timody, another young youngster, just like John Mark's like, oh you call. Timothy's like yeah, you call, all right, let me cut you. Circumcises them on the first day, just trying to make sure you're ready to roll. And uh. They start moving into Figuria. They're effective. They

start moving, guided by the Holy Spirit, into Galatia. They're effective. The ministry is thriving. Paul says, you know what, how about we go to the Province of Asia. This is modern day Turkey. And they get ready to go to the Province of Asia, and the Bible says something that we have yet to read in the Book of act It says the Holy Spirit forbid them from going to the province of As. I said, okay, maybe not, hey,

sul let's go to Bithynia. So they start setting sell getting ready to go to Bithynia, and the Bible says again that the Holy Spirit forbid them from going into Bithnia. I'm confused. It's not like they're going to sell drugs, they're going to plant churches, They're going to go preach the gospel. She would think that if my motive is right and I'm going to do something that I know God has called me to do, that I would always

have an open door. I can understand what God closes a door if I'm about to go do something bad, like I get that. If my car don't start before I go to Chrispy Kreme, I get that because it's not good for me. But what do you do when you're called to do something and you're running to a closed door? That is annoying. It is annoying when you set out to do something that is your divine call, it is your mission, it is your mendate, and you

keep running into closed door after closed door. I don't know who this is for, but somebody knows what it's like to walk into a closed door. The Holy Spirit forbid them to go. See, this is where I got annoyed with doctor Luke. Because doctor Luke is writing the Book of Acts, and he's a doctor. Doctor's a thorough Luke. You could have told us how the Holy Spirit forbid them to go. That would have been some helpful information. Let me know, how did the Holy Spirit forbid them

from going? Did the Holy Spirit just show up in physical form and say, y'all, don't go with the boat, not start. Tell me how did Paul get a stomach ache? How did the Holy Spirit stop them? But but but Luke doesn't give us those details of how. He just lets us know that the Holy Spirit, the one that empowers us, is the same one that guys us. And if the Holy Spirit is gonna guide you, the Holy

Spirit will sometimes let you hit a closed door. The Holy Spirit will sometimes let you walk straight into a No. I want to pause right now and thank God for the Holy Spirit. I want to thank God for the Holy Spirit that doesn't just empower me and give me empowerment. I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit that gives me discernment, that'll speak to me and say no, don't go there, No, don't go there. I need the Holy Spirit to guide me.

Is there anybody that can relate to the fact that life is above you'll pay grade and you need some divine direction. God, show me which way I'm supposed to go. God, close every toy that needs to be closed, and open every door that needs to be opened. Show me what job I'm supposed to take, and show me where I'm supposed to land, show me who I'm supposed to marry, and if I'm not giving me a no? When was

the last time you praise God for a no? When was the last God that you thank God because he gave you a shut door and a big old no. I know you want God to give you a yes, but I want to pause and thank God for all the times He's given me a no. No, don't do it, no, I want to thank God for his no. God will often guide you, not just with his yeses, but with his nose. Would you just say no, I'm won't say it with your chest, say no? Have you ever done that?

Have you ever had the Holy Spirit just hit you with a come on you on the date you ain't even order the advertisers, and all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit is like, all right, I guess they see. I wouldn't much rather have a no than to have nothing. I need his discernment. As a matter of fact, I don't know how God speaks to you, but I'll tell you how he speaks to me. Sometimes his nose are

louder than his yeses. Sometimes I'll be getting ready to open the door and yeah, okay, all right, and then the yes will be like yes, but God on you sho like hold a sudden again. Have you ever been there before, whether the yes was just quiet but the no was so loud and the yes yes just a little mini mouse yes, and you have to go like on a five day fast and start praying like God that I'll hear you or no. Oh see, some of y'all don't like this because some of y'all want the

direction before you go. But I'm telling you, God won't always give you the yes or the no before you go. Sometimes it's not until you take that step and you actually start trying to open the door that you find out whether they say yes or they tried to go and they got to know. And I've learned in my life to embrace the know. I've learned that sometimes it's

not until i'll go then I'll get to know. I've learned sometimes that if my steps are going to be ordered by God, then my stops must be ordered by him too. Sometimes he'll hit you with an hour so they couldn't go to Bithynia, they couldn't go to the province of Asia. What do you do when you've gotten no and you don't know where to go. You pause and you wait to hear. See. God is not playing games with you. He wants you to know his will more than you want to know his will. But some

of us have sensory overload. You got too many things going on. No wonder you can't hear God. You always scroll left, you always on Netflix, You're always talking to other people about it. But if you could ever quiet your soul to hear, he will speak. All of a sudden, Paul, he gets a vision at night of a man in Macedonia that says, come here and help us. He gets a vision, don't miss this of a man in Macedonia. This says, come here and help us. Can you imagine that?

Next morning, the clarity he got, He's like, y'all out, I got the clarity. I saw a man in Macedonia saying, come help us. We're going to Macedonia. Don't you love it when God speaks and you got the clear vision he said, we got to go. There is a man in Macedonia that needs the gospel. Who they sailed to Macedonia pull up on the shore. Don't forget it was a man he saw in his vision saying come help us. After getting the vision of the man, they walked straight

into a women's Bible study. There are a group of women by the riverside having a prime meeting. He was thinking, he's gonna go to the synagogue, but there was no synagogue because you had to have at least ten Jewish men in the city to have a synagogue. So the fact that these women are gathered by the riverside is that you know, thuk aren't even ten dudes in the city. And here he got a vision of a man saying, come help me, and walk straight into a women's Bible study.

Who I'm gonna bring it right home to you. What do you do when your reality looks contradictory to the vision that God gave you. Have you ever been there before when God gave you a vision you were sure about a God set moved to Charlotte and you said, all right, you move and you walk into a situation, and all of a sudden, the reality looks completely contradictory to the vision that you God. What do you do? He got a vision of a man and saw a women's Bible study. I'll tell you what you do when

your reality is contradictory to your vision. Here's what you do. You stick to the mission. Stick to the mission whenever your reality is contradictory to your vision. Paul had been given a mission and a mandate to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul had to learn by the riverside that I can still preach this gospel at a women's Bible study. I don't have to be in the synagogue. I gotta stay on my mission. Never your situation seems

contradictory to your vision, stick to your mission. There he is preaching at a women's Bible study, and I'm glad he got the preaching. Because there was a business woman named Lydia who who was a baller and a shock collar sister girl owned the tsarra that all they sold was purple cloth. She was a wealthy businesswoman that knew about God, but hadn't had an encounter with this God. And all of a sudden, not only does she get saved,

her whole household. God saved. Because if God can just find somebody who is available and will stick to the mission, you have no clue the ramifications of what would happen. Lydia gets saved, her whole household gets saved and Lydia begs Paul to come stay at her house. Can you see Paul and Silas and their whole crew walking into Lydia's six bedroom house, Marble everywhere. Paul's like, wooo, it's a good thing to preach this gospel. Oh can you

see him? You know, Lydia had a good house. I can see him sleeping on that beautiful down feather pillow, going off, Oh, thank you Lord for Lydia. I'm just being obedient. This ain't a motel right here, this is this is nice. Slept real good, woke up the next day, started staying on mission again, preaching the gospel. He goes to preach, probably by the riverside it said this day. Right before he gets up to preach, probably behind him, he hears his voice, These manservants are the most time.

Did that said service is about to start? He's like phrase. Guy goes the next day to preach again, same woman, same voice, These man of service in the most time. God, all right now, just trying to preach the word appreciation. Day three, getting ready to preach these man of serves in the most time. Don all right, sister girl, thank you can you post it on my Instagram page. I'm

trying to preach day four. This man is saved the most I got day after every time he got ready to preach, this girl is shouting out, these man are savings in the most time. Guy. Day twenty three. She's still going these not silence if you don't take her out. I'm about to take her out. This man heavy. I don't know how long it happened, but I know it happened for a long time, a long time. Give us subscripture for it. Look at it at chapter sixteen, verse eighteen.

It says, look at this, it says, and this she did for many days. I don't know how long many days is, but it was a long time. Finally, Paul got so annoyed that he turned around and he looked at her. Hold on before I say what he said. I find it intriguing that this woman is possessed by

a demon, but she's saying something that was right. This is why you need the Holy Spirit, not just for empowerment, for a discernment, because most of us would have listened to what she said, and yeah, we would have been over saying, well, least she's saying the right thing. At least she's saying the right thing. But paul On understood discernment, and the Holy Spirit began to speak to him as he was out administering the Gospel. But she was saying

the right thing. And that's actually how the enemy works. In fact, when the Bible says she has the spirit of divination, it was actually the spirit of the Python. And that's what the enemy does. He loves to deceive, Hugh, and he will rap a truth with a lie. You'll rap a truth with deception. But I'm thankful for paul who was full of the Holy Spirit, who was able to look past the deception and saying, you're saying the

right thing, but it's coming from the wrong spirit. So he spoke to the spirit, because we rush so knock with flesh and blood, but with principalities. So finally he got so annoyed and turned around and said, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out. Oh, I came to tell somebody you better start speaking to the spirit. He just speak to the woman. He spoke to the spirit. I'm faithful for sermons, I'm faithful for counselor, but every once in a while, you better get some

authority and some determined and speak to that spirit. Speak to the spirit of depression, speak to the spirit of anxiety. Speak to that spirit and say you, in the name of Jesus, I command you to come out. Oh, I need somebody that still believes in the delivering power of God, just to take fifteen seconds and give him some place like you know, he still has power to deliver people today. Hallelujah.

He didn't speak to the girl, He spoke to the spirit, and in an instant, this girl was delivered and said free. You gotta be careful sometimes when you're doing what God has called you to do, you gotta be careful of the ramifications of it. Because this girl had owners that were using her gift for their financial gain. They didn't care about her. They only cared about what she could do for them, how her gift benefited them. In that what the enemy does. He didn't care about you, but

he wants to use you. Not just the enemy. Some of you are connected to people who you think care about you, but they don't. They care about what you offer them. They care about the benefit that you are to them, and they actually don't want you free. They want you to stay co dependent and connected to them, since this girl completely free. But the ramifications of it, it tored the city up. They took Paul and Silas

and they beat them. A crowd gathered around them and stripped their clothes and beat them and kicked them and punched them. Understand that even the Jewish law had a restriction on how many times you could whip and beat somebody. You had to stop at thirty nine. Forty was a limit. But they said stop at thirty nine because you could get caught up as you're mad and rage and lose your count. But they are in a different province. The Romans didn't have that rule. They kept beating and kicking

and punching them. They took them from the beating into an inner prison. There was three levels to the prison. It wasn't the outer part of the middle part. It was the inner part of the press. And it was a dungeon where they're bleeding, flesh lacerated, perhaps coughing up blood bruised in the inner part of the prison, a dungeon where it is dark. Everybody shouts about at midnight. They didn't know what time it was. This is Luke writing this when you're in a dark place, you don't

know whether it's sunlight or whether it's midnight. And there they are bleeding and bruised. And the thing I kept asking myself is what got them in the inner prison. It was not their disobedience, It was their obedience. Their obedience got them beat Their obedience got them punched and kicked. Their obedience got them in the inner part of the prison. What do you do when you're calling has become a crime? What do you do when you obeyed God and you

still ended up in a dark place. Most of us, if we're honest, we cry out to God when our disobedience got us in a dark place. Isn't that something when you just you know it was your bad decisions and your disobedience got you in that place. You're like, God, I know I messed up. It was me. It was me. I'm reaping the consequence of what I did. Most of us cry out to God, then, but what do you do when your obedience got you in a dark place

and you're bleeding and your bruised. That's annoying. It's annoying to be in a dark place. It was your obedience that got you there. I wish I could tell you that every time you obeyed God, you'd be in beautiful, bright places. But this text is proved positive that you can do the right thing and still end up in the wrong place. You can be fully obedient and still have pain in your body and be in a dark place. And maybe you're in this room or watching online and

your obedience has gotten you in a dark place. And God told me to tell you that He can still show up in a dark place. And just because it's a dark place doesn't mean that God can't do a miracle. Just because you're in a dark place doesn't mean God is done with you. Yet they were bleeding, they were broken because their obedience got them there. What do you do when you're in that place? I tell you what you do, what will come out of you is what has always been on the inside of you. No wonder.

Paul and Silence decided to lift up their voice and worship and pray He's God. They weren't doing it at midnight, they didn't know what time it was. But when your disobedience and your obedience has got you in a dark place, and you know God is the one that got you in it, if you want to make the enemy man start crying out to the very same God that got you in the situation. Oh, this is why the enemy wants you to keep your mouth shut. The enemy wants you to be mad and be offended and be hurt

and stop talking to God. But I came to tell you don't stop talking to him, even if your obedience to him got you in their place. Oh that's where the enemy messed up. See, the enemy shackled their feet, the enemy shackled their arms, But he should have shackled their mouth, because whenever you opened up your mouth and crawled to God, he has to come in the situation.

Oh I need somebody to exercise this right now, and just begin to open up your mouth and give God some place, even in the dark, even in the place where you can't see, and your old pede has got you there, preached this all the time. The magic wasn't at midnight. They were in the dungeon. They couldn't see what the time was. They weren't even praising God so he could send the earthquake. Come on, think about this. It's not like we have any scriptural evidence that people

that praise got an earthquake. It's not like they were singing, going Okay, if we just sing long enough, he's gonna come on the third stands of the Here they didn't know. They weren't praising for deliverance. They were praising out of devotion. They were doing what they had always done. They were doing what was always hit them. They said, God, I know, obeying you got us here, and this don't look nothing like Lydia's house. It's looking alive, like a little motel.

But you are still worthy of the praise in spite of how I feel. I know my obedience got me here, but I gotta look at this circumstance through the lens of my purpose and ask their praise God. An earthquake came in the foundations of the prison were shaken, and everybody's chained God loose. Oh right, y'all. Don't like that right there, I'm trying to tell you, you think you're

praise on a Sunday is just for you. What would you do if I told you that your praise had the power to set somebody else free, that your praise had the power to reach your child who's not even in service, that your praise have the power to act generations. If you get praise them in a dark you know the story. I'm done. The doors are open, the chains are loosed. Anybody in their right mind after you've praised, when it was your obedience to God that got you

in the situation. And he finally shows up and the doors are open, anybody in their right mind. He said, this is my time to go. You did it, Lord, your waymaker, promise keep a miracle worker. The door's open. I'm gonna run. But they stayed. They stayed. What would make Paul and Silence stay in the prison when the doors have been opened and they could run free. They saw the jailer pull a sword and get ready to kill himself, and Paul says, hold on, don't do it.

All of us are here. Don't do it. Don't kill yourself. Stop because this jailer knew that the consequence of letting all of them prisoners free would been his own murder, so he said, I'd rather just do it myself for Paul in the middle of the night, says hold on, hold on, don't do it. Why did Paul and Silas refuse to leave. I don't know why they stayed, but I do know that up until this point in the text,

all he had run into were women. Remember the vision that he got was not of a woman in Macedonia. It was of a man in Macedonia. And as soon as he got there he saw Lydia, and he opened up his mouth. That Lydia's household got saved. Then he kept on preaching and stayed on mission, and all of a sudden the slave girl got set free, and she got saved. But he still hadn't ran into a man until after he praised in a dark place and prison

doors were open. And maybe the reason he couldn't leave is because that jailor looked a lot like the man that is tall and his vision, and said, you're the reason why I'm here. Don't you care of yourself? We are still here. That Jaela put down his sword and said the most powerful words perhaps written in the New Testament. He says, sir, would you tell me what must I do to be saved? He got saved, His whole family got saved because Paul understood, Oh, I might be annoyed,

Can I get you the rest of my title? I'm annoyed, but I'm a signed. I'm annoying, but I'm a sign. I was called to you. You're the one I signed my vision. I had to be in this trick, whole household. God saved this jailer, Lydia and this slave girl would be the first members of a church at Philippi. That Paul would write a letter to later and say, I thank God every time I think of you. That Paul would write out of the joy remembering them because he's

looking back, going, oh yeah, how was annoyed? I didn't like it when doors kept shutting, and I like it when she kept getting on my nurse saying the right thing but from the wrong spirit. I didn't like getting beat in and whipped when I was just being obedient. I was annoyed, But I'm a signed And when you understand your assignment, you can stay in a motel or a prison one night, because it is the assignment that

puts the annoyance in perspective. I don't know what's annoying you right now, but can I tell you you're assigned, signed to that family, sign to that job. Don't you let that annoyance make you walk away from your assignment. You're annoyed, but you're assigned. You buy your heads. I want to pray for you, Father. I pray for my brother, I pray for my sister. God, I'm not denying the annoyance. I'm not denying the pain. God. We're not denying being

in a dark place. Lord, I thank you that You're able to use all of the pain and the annoyances for your divine purpose. Though the vision waits, though the vision tearies, God will wait for it to come to pass. So, Lord, I pray strainths over my brother, over my sister, to look at every annoyance through the lens of their divine assignment, knowing that He who began a good work in us

will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ. Jesus, God, give us strength and give us grace for the divine assignment that you placed on all of our lives in Jesus a mighty matchless name. Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. God bless you Elevants. Well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at

Elevationchurch dot org. Slash give and thanks again. For joining us on the Elevation Podcast,