From Prison to Praise

Such as one of the Times Square pulpit series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. Acts chapter 16. I want to speak to you tonight on the subject from prison to praise.

From prison to praise. Acts chapter 16. Beginning at verse 16 through verse 25, we'll read.

I'm reading King James Acts 16 verse 16, and it came to pass as we went to prayer a Certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us Which brought her master's much gain by soothsaying The same followed Paul and us and cried saying these men are the servants of the Most High Which show unto us the way of salvation In this did she many days But Paul being grieved turned and said to the Spirit I Command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her And he came out the same hour What else would you expect? when when Paul commanded in the name of Jesus and When her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone They caught Paul and Sinus and drew them into the marketplace under the rulers and Brought them to the magistrates saying these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city And teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive neither to observe to observe Being Romans and the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates Rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them and when they had laid many stripes upon them They cast them into the prison charging the day jailer to keep them safely Who having received such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and Sang praises unto God And the prisoners heard them I Want you to remember that last little phrase as well It'll become significant a little bit later on and the prisoners heard them And then of course God heard them as well in verse 26. We'll hear about that a little bit from prison to praise You know some years ago there was a best-selling Christian book entitled from prison to praise And it seems an appropriate title For what happened to Paul and Silas when they caused a riot in Philippi and they were busted Arrested as a result Now there were three different categories of persons who went from prison to praise First of all is of course Paul and Silas and we'll look at their experience but also remarkably and Miraculously also the jailkeeper The jailkeeper went from prison to praise Although he was in a prison of another kind and thirdly the other prisoners were set free and They were the benefactors of the prayer and the praise and the singing of Paul and Silas Now the scriptures do not definitely tell us that the prisoners were saved But listen, you can draw your own conclusions Look in verse 26 as a result of the earthquake it says and immediately all the doors were open and Every man every prisoners bands were loosed Now, can you imagine the surprise? but delight of the prisoners to see the prison doors open and their chains fall off and the opportunity for escape and Yet the prisoners did not flee in verse 28 Paul cried with a loud voice to the Jailer when he saw what had happened he assumed that there had been a prison break and so he was going to take his own life and Paul said to him do yourself no harm for we're all here We're all here Now, how else can you explain the fact that the prisoners? Given a chance to run out the door of the prison and yet they did not do so How else can you explain that by them except by the fact that they also were changed? They were also changed by the praises and the prayers of Paul and Silas You see when a revival breaks out on the prison not even the prisoners want to go Now we'll come back to the prisoners but first I want to look with you want you to look with me at the main characters of this story Paul and Silas There are three things about the events which took place in the in this jail That deserve our attention tonight and I want to go through them First of all, the reason why Paul and Silas were there in the first place Now there are bad reasons for getting into trouble and there are good reasons for getting into trouble and Paul and Silas made trouble for good reasons and They were thrown into jail as a result verse 20 says It was said of them these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city Now what these evangelists did was to expose the devil and Cause some evil doers to suffer financial loss They didn't make trouble because they were Jews they made trouble because they were Jesus people and because they had made a public show of the devil's works and Casting out the demon put the demon out of this young lady Now at first Paul had an interesting and unsolicited testimony It says in verse 16 that a certain young lady Who was a King James says that she was possessed with a spirit of divination Another translation of it is that she had a Fortune-telling demon and She kept following Paul and Silas and she became as it were a welcome wagon Greeting them as they came into the city and Followed them all all around now She was what was called a a Pythro That was a name taken from their gods And it was a person who would give oracles or would give speeches regarding a person's future like you see the signs of Around the city where you can go in and have your fortune told but she was demon-possessed, of course but the people of the ancient world called such a person mad and They had a strange respect for such persons Because they believe that the gods That it was the gods who had taken away their wits in order to put the mind of the gods in them and therefore people would come they would flock to a person like this and So this poor desperate demon-possessed girl had fallen into the hands of some unscrupulous men Who used her misfortune for their own gain? Now for several days, however, she followed Paul around Paul and Silas verse 17 look at it again and She cried saying these men are the servants of the Most High God Which show unto us the way of salvation? Now that's quite a testimony and Everything that she said was true there was absolutely nothing unscriptural or untrue in her endorsement of Paul and his message and Yet she had a devil She was she was demon-possessed and Paul ignored her Now here is proof that the devil knows how to witness. Oh Yes, he can And he also goes to church And it said and she did so many days For many days Paul didn't do a thing Now, can you just picture her? Shadowing Paul as he was ministering in the marketplace and there she is saying a man Paul preach it Paul That's right brother that's right brother Listen to this man.

He's telling you us the truth. He's showing us the way of salvation and there she is all along Amen, amen Now this should not surprise us the devil goes to church He goes to the altar He believes in trembles but Why is the devil through this through the demons that possess this poor slave giving Paul such a glowing? advertisement and endorsement I Tell you why because the devil likes to be on both sides of the issue He feared that Paul's message would be received So he pretends that he's on the side of the gospel, so he'll not lose any credibility because the devil knew that if he opposed Paul and There's any people were converted to Christ that he'd lose out and so he tries to work both ends against the middle Course he did lose out But we learn from this as I read this There is a warning that comes in my heart and it says this to me beware of certain praise Beware of certain praise not every testimony is a true one Not every witness is from God Bob Bob said it to quoted the scripture Sunday morning and that again the message that we pastors are still Feeling that it is a plumb line for this church for you and I to be able to discern what is going on today But one of the verses that he quoted was that we are to try the spirits to see if they be of God You see I am weary of some who come with words of praise for the church or for the preacher or for the message and Holy Ghost discernment tells me sometimes that the person giving the praise May be full of the devil and is trying to cover up. And so they pretend to be on the side of truth.

I Remember when I was a young preacher in my dad's church There was there was a gentleman there Used to I was just very young I started preaching in dad's church when I was about 16 or I started actually preaching in David's church David was the first one that gave me a chance And then I think he called dad and said said dad he did all right and so dad gave me a chance And so when I was 16 17 years of age even before I went off to Bible school I was preaching and that's why when I went to Bible school, I thought Bible school needed me And I couldn't understand why the president of school wasn't asking me to preach in Chapel But there was there was a man in that church who boosted my ego all the time He every time I got finished he come right for me. He said Donnie They called me Donnie and that's I don't let anybody call me that anymore, but That slipped out Only my wife was allowed to call me that But if you start doing it then I'll start calling him Davey and Bobby and And Gwenny And I took care of that that I hope that I'll let that rest But this brother would come up to me all the time and Always he would every time I preach he'd make a beeline for me and he'd say my name And he'd say wonderful message wonderful message He said preacher. I'm with you preacher But you know, I look back now and I realized I didn't have enough discernment back then but now I Looked back in retrospect and I put two and two together in the Holy Ghost and I realized that this man was living in sin and He came up to me in order to make it look like he was on the side of truth But it was an endorsement from the devil Like the like the testimony of this girl a Way of praising the truth in order to avoid it And all sometimes it happens here.

It happens in other churches After you preach a message immediately and these pastors know what it is. Somebody immediately comes and they want a Clarification of the truth. They want a clarification of the message You see when truth hits the heart sometimes it hurts when it causes a wall in the soul, not just a wow in your emotions and True convictions pains the heart and sometimes it makes you want to hide and not even see the preacher But here in Acts Satan spoke the truth in order to counteract it to put Paul inside us and The possessed woman in the same church in the same pew on the same platform as if they were in agreement and if Paul and Silas had received or accepted such testimony and Appealed to it or played out to it.

Satan would have had or made a great gain and The devil has used this very tactic in the church today to get acceptance of all kinds of foolish and ungodly things you see there is a Pythian The spirit that was in this woman what they call this one that same spirit is in the church today You know that the devil confessing Christ is in fact more dangerous than the devil denying Christ He only confesses to confuse he confesses to oppose he confesses and Misrepresents so that he makes the gospel of Christ something one time and something another time but anything but what it really is and Sometimes it's he that says Christ requires this of God or that of God and something else but always it's a distortion and When the church has lost the wisdom of Christ and Holy Ghost discernment Then the spirit of this woman runs rampant in the church and people are giving endorsements to things that are not of God But Paul grieved over the condition of this woman as I believed he would grieve over the same spirit in the church today look at verse 18 and This she did many days but Paul being grieved Now Paul, of course came against the spirit But he did not do so until he grieved for the young damsel who was possessed and deceived by the spirit But you know, I wondered why did Paul take so long? It says that she followed him many days Many days she said listen to him. He is a servant of the Most High God. He will show us the way of salvation.

I Believe he did it finally Finally he turned and he rebuked that spirit, but I believe it was an order to allow as much attention as possible to be drawn to her and to her false testimony So that when Paul did rebuke the demon that all might know that it was the power of Christ He did it in order to to let her show her hand. Let the enemy show his hand and then finally finally Paul letter the Holy Spirit rebuked it and cast it out and Everybody knew then who had the greater power But that's not really though that's just a preliminary to my message As a result of this confrontation with the devil Paul and Silas were put into prison and I want you to know then this is really what I'm aiming at tonight. I Want you to know what they did They turned a prison house into a house of praise They turned a jail cell into a joy cell verse 24 and 25 who having received such a charge And it was quite a charge they received they were beaten with many stripes Who receiving such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet? fast to the stocks But you see what the jailers did not realize is that when your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and The gospel is joy peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and you're put in prison Paul and Silas said it don't matter It don't matter because at midnight Paul and Silas prayed Ignored the situation ignored their stocks ignored the environment and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God and the prisoners heard them Now, how could they sing at such a moment? I'll tell I give you a few reasons first of all Powell and Silas were in trouble and in prison for the right reason They were suffering because they opposed sin not because they were partners in sin You see there are prisons tonight of our own making There are prisons and there are bands that are around our feet and our hands Because we willingly go almost like this and we invite the devil as it were to put them on us and we have to know better and We voluntarily stretch out our hands and they're put in the stocks and so we find ourselves in a prison But Paul and Silas were not in a prison of their own failures or foolishness or sin they were in trouble because they were doing God's will and they were being a witness for Christ and We've been preaching that this is the message that God's lately put on our heart for this at this particular time in our church And that is that you would break out of the prison the prison house of your own sin or Your own self made prison or that devil made prison in order to get in trouble for good reasons instead of bad reasons We Have a prison minister here in this church And Kenny and the team go to real prisons That have real bars and cells and walls and barbed wire and guards with guns But we have people in prison in other kinds of prisons that are just as confining and justice binding and Some of you were exactly there constantly You were a part of our prison ministry And every night where I saw some of you come to this altar I see some of them singing in the choir now and I rejoice because I used to see certain individuals Come time and time again.

I could see it in their face. I could see it in their eyes that they were in a prison But now like Paul and Silas you're ready to make trouble for the devil instead of be in trouble all of the time Hallelujah But you know one of the prisons that I still see I still see Christians in What prevents them from being used of the Lord and reaching out to others is that prison of self-pity? The prison of self-pity self-pity consumes you with your own problems your own needs and your own struggles and some of you it's about time for you to burst out of that prison and begin Begin to be used of God You see Paul and Silas used Their troubles as an occasion to further the gospel Philippians 1 12 and 13 says but I I Would you would understand brethren that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather Under the furtherance of the gospel Oh If you could only reach that point in your life and say what has happened to me Let God get glory out of it Let it be an occasion for the furtherance of the gospel So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the places in all the palace and in all other places Now when Paul wrote that he was not specifically talking about the The Philippian jail, but nevertheless it applies And I want you to note what happened Paul and Silas turned an inner prison into an inner sanctuary You see true men of God know how to turn adversity into adventure for God They know how to how to sing praises at midnight You see the Lord does not always supernaturally Deliver us out of our problems But he always offers Supernatural use for them Let me say that again you can you can take that home with you The Lord does not always supernaturally deliver us from our problems But he always offers Supernatural use for them Paul made the best of the situation He turned a dungeon into a prayer meeting. He turned a prison cell into a praise in You see the measure of our faith Is not If we're able to sing at noonday, but if we're able to sing at midnight Anybody can sing or most anybody can sing or shout or praise the Lord Or preach for that matter when you've got a choir like this behind you But I wake up at mid time midnight sometime and and sister Gwen ain't there Choir isn't there time score isn't there The music isn't there Jesus sang at midnight There's only one recorded more time when it says It tells us that Jesus sang And Bob often quotes it when we take communion Because it was at the midnight of his life The only recorded time when the scriptures tell us that Jesus sang was following the Last Supper Matthew 26 and 30 and says and when they sang a hymn they went out into the Mount of Olives And Jesus sang at the midnight hour of his greatest trial because he was going out to Gethsemane until Gilgatha Now there are two kinds of there are two midnights in which we ought to be able to sing I want to I want to share with you two midnights Where we ought to be able to sing turn with me to Exodus or go with me to Exodus chapter 11 And here's one of those midnights Exodus chapter 11 It was at midnight when the Lord comes and he makes a difference and he makes a show and Shows us the difference between Egypt and Israel Let's read about it in Exodus chapter 11 and the Lord said unto Moses yet, I will bring one plague more unto Pharaoh and upon Egypt and Afterward, he will go he will let you go hence when he shall let you go.

He shall surely thrust you out hence altogether Speak now in the ears of the people and let every man borrow of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor jewels of silver and jewels of gold and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians moreover the man Moses was very great on the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh's servants in the sight of all the people and Moses said thou sayeth the Lord about midnight About midnight. Well, I go into the midst of Egypt. Oh I want I tell you this blesses me Because this is exactly what's going to happen at the end time When the judgments of God and the plagues begin to come at midnight Here's exactly what's going to happen About midnight, I'll go into the midst of Egypt and all the firstborn of the land of Egypt shall die From the firstborn of Pharaoh that sit us upon his throne even under the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill and all the firstborn of beasts and There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt such as there was none like it nor shall be like it anymore But against any of the children of Israel, oh Hallelujah, not even a dog will be able to bark at you.

Hallelujah Not any of the children of Israel shall not a dog that move his tongue Against man or beast that ye will not may know how the Lord doth put a difference Between the Egyptians and Israel Oh Hallelujah You see there is a midnight in Egypt and there is a midnight in Israel There is a midnight for the child of the devil and there is a midnight for the child of God It rains on the just and it rains on the unjust but there's a difference. Oh, yeah And I'm glad I'm living on the side that Israel lived on that's where the Lord reigns That ye may know how the Lord doth put a difference between hallelujah You see people who sing at midnight People in Egypt who sing at midnight Usually are drunk Or they're partying and when they wake up in the morning, they have a worldly hangover and Death reigns on the side of that land But people who sing at midnight on Israel's side Do so because the Lord is watching over them And the Lord makes a difference and the Lord is able to deliver So that when when you are on the Lord's side you also wake up with a hangover It's called a Holy Ghost hangover the same thing that happened tonight hangs over tomorrow morning. Praise the Lord Psalms 119 61 and 62 sounds like Paul and Silas don't turn there It says the bands of the wicked have robbed me That I have not forgotten by law at midnight I will rise up to give thanks unto thee because of the righteous judgments Do you know what the psalmist means when he says he gives thanks because of the righteous judgments? He means God don't make mistakes He makes right decisions regarding us and Even if I'm in prison or thrust in prison I can trust God because He put me there or his hand is upon me and he's going to make a difference between the outcome For me and the outcome for the other fella.

That's why I can sing. Hallelujah Somebody has said the bitterest cup with Christ is better than the sweetest cup without Christ If there's one reason why I would say to anybody here tonight that doesn't know Jesus Here's one of the reasons because when you come to midnight, there's a difference There's a difference when you're on God's side than when you're on the other side And then is at midnight When the marriage takes place Matthew 25 and 6 and at midnight there is a cry made Behold the bridegroom cometh go you out to meet him You see it's at the midnight hour of your walk with God It's at the midnight hour when you're thrown into some prison or some trouble It's then that the bridegroom comes That's when that's then that that bridegroom coming speaks of a time of love It speaks of a time of fellowship It speaks of a time of being with the one that you love and it speaks of being loved This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side This is never more precious to you than your midnight hours now We've all had what we call one of those days You Know the expression you ask somebody how you know, how was your day? And sometimes they will say I just had one of those days or I'm having one of those days Well, I want to tell you last week.

I had one of those weeks I want to tell you I want to tell you a little bit about the week I had first of all Last Tuesday at about five o'clock. I mentioned it last Tuesday Prayer request we're waiting for my mother to come to the apartment for Lovely dinner and she comes in and the end result of what happened to her. She fell into the elevator broke her wrist and Wife and daughter had to go with her to the hospital and that night after the service about 12 o'clock She finally they finally set her her wrist because that happened to be the day that the nurses were on strike and sister Marianne was there and sister Gwen was there.

My wife was there and I got there after the service was over and after I had gone to have a bite to eat because I thought she was all taken care of and I find out that she was still there and so That that was how my week started How that Tuesday started? Then in the service I was preaching and came up against a wall like I'd never come against in this congregation before And I didn't blame myself and I didn't blame you I just blamed the devil we just took authority over in the name of the Lord The next day my daughter getting ready to go to Germany for a short-term missions to a group missions Outreach that's the word missions outreach She said dad I'm getting all my papers together. Do you have my passport and I said, well, did you give it to me? She says yeah I think I did because I've looked everywhere in my in my room and I can't find it And so I went looking for and I couldn't find it And that Wednesday evening. I was looking forward to a nice evening of study instead We took about six hours and looked through every nook and cranny in our apartment.

I never knew our apartment was so big Our little apartment was so big we looked everywhere Couldn't find the passport and here's my daughter crying say I'm not going to be able to go and we're praying and everything and We just couldn't find the next day. We started to prepare to try to get another one and My daughter was just about to go out the door to go get it try to get a new one Another one at the last minute when my wife took one more look And she found it Praise the Lord Amen, because she told the Lord she said Lord. I want you to lead me to it.

I'm not Asking you this is not witchcraft or this is not wishcraft This is just prayer and I want you to lead me to it And so the Lord led her to it and she found it praise the Lord But my week wasn't over my car broke did my car wouldn't start twice In the midst of all this I got three different phone calls all of them very distressing phone calls at three different times three distressing phone calls and then Finally Saturday, let me see. I can't remember there was something else that happened. I can't remember at all Finally came Saturday night.

I Said the Lord I said, I'm sure be glad to put this week to bed And I had a good season of prayer and I just felt victory in my soul Saturday night went to bed and Said well, thank God the week is over. But God you're in control 240 in the morning the telephone rings. I Remember it because I looked at the clock immediately and I and I thought Oh 240 in the morning and I said hello and The answer on the other end was my son calling me for the West Oh, by the way, also my daughter Saturday came home sick.

My oldest daughter came home sick. Oh, yeah, that was the other thing And now my son calls in and I thought oh no Devil, you're trying to get one. You're trying to shoot one more arrow at me And I could I'm and my son is on the other end and he's trying to tell me something And I can I can feel a little sniffle in his voice and I said son what's wrong He said dad.

He said I just had to call you. I Just had to call you because dad I just want to tell you how much I love you Now I knew my son wasn't drunk He said I he said some of us were talking tonight and you know, it's 1140 his time he forgets this 240, you know, he just wants to call me. He said dad.

I love you He said thank you. Will you tell mom? Will you just tell mom? Thank you for the way that you raised me and all that you contributed to my life and and dad I just want and I said well I will you talk about something I Said thank you Lord, and I thank my son we hung up But you know something is just like Jesus to do What my son did? To call you at the end of a long week and tell you son. I love you.

Hallelujah Behold at midnight the bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him. Hallelujah That's what that phone call represented to me. Hallelujah.

It was the Lord. It was a Ministry of the Lord and you see when Paul and Silas sang at midnight It was a call from the bridegroom Go out to meet him because when they sang praises at midnight God heard them You know why I know God heard them because God sang back and when the Lord sings You know what happened look at the next verse when God sings here's what happens how I know God sang and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the Foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's bands were loosed. Hallelujah Hallelujah You sing praises at midnight God sings back.

Hallelujah With such power and such might that will shake the bands off of you Hallelujah, and you'll know that God's on the throne glory to God Oh, hallelujah, that's right. My God reigns. That's right God was just telling Paul and Silas I'm up I'm up.

I hear you. Oh Hallelujah Finally finally the effect of the prison revival While they prayed and sang praises at midnight it says and the prisoners heard them You know something our conduct at midnight Is very very important Because of the effect it has on others Someone is always listening someone is always watching someone is always feeling the effect of our behavior in our prison and the prisoners Heard them You see what are the prisoners in your life hearing? Are they hearing praises or are they hearing self-pity? Are they hearing prayers or are they hearing complaints? Do you act like Paul and Silas? Consider them they're in a strange city They wanted to go evangelize in Asia, but the Holy Ghost said no In a vision Paul sees a man from Macedonia says come over and help us and so he's obedient to it and What does he get for his obedience a violent reception They're seized and without trial they're thrown into the inner prison It was a gloomy and miserable place and might have caused them to question if they were in God's will some of us might have said I'd rather have gone to Asia and Men are known in dark cells to curse and summon despair to kill themselves But never had such a prison heard such singing reverberating off its walls It was a lousy place. Yes, but they made it beautiful You see stone walls did not a prison make for them nor iron bars a cage they sang as if they were in the temple at Jerusalem and Though they did not know it Though they did not know it Paul and Silas Were touching the spirits and the inner prisons of their fellow prisoners It says and the prisoners heard them Now you see they sang because they didn't know they couldn't do anything else.

They couldn't help but sing And but all the time, although they were not even conscious of it They were ministering unto others better than they knew Making it easier for their fellow prisoners to suffer the misery of their own imprisonment and You see I see in this a type of service and ministry That we sometimes forget God has placed us in. Oh Yes, there is a time to witness by plan and by design and by Putting it on your calendar and say yes, I'm going to go to the upper room Yes, I'm going to go on the streets There is a time to witness by plan and by intention When you go to somebody and you tell them about Jesus But there is also the time when if you are singing praises at midnight Someone else sees it Someone else hears it. Someone else is blessed by it and you don't even know it You don't even know it You see there are prisoners of sorrow there are prisons of prisoners of suffering There are prisoners who are in emotional pain and they need to hear you singing in the prison house of your own troubles Because it can become infectious Hallelujah, and because of your praises their veins can fall off as well.

Hallelujah You see every one of us exercise what I call an unaware ministry That's when you touch somebody else's life and you don't even know it. Oh The people that have ministered to me and they never knew it That ministry may have just been a simple word It may have just been a smile. It may just been a phone call.

It may have been a letter It may have been something else Or I've watched somebody When another Christian reacts unrighteously to them and I see them react righteously and all I minister to Don't tell me that you don't have a ministry Don't tell me that your life does not count Everyone here tonight know can sing praises at midnight Either your own midnight or somebody else's midnight. I Love the way David the psalmist put it He said I waited patiently for the Lord and he brought me up out of the miry clay He set my feet upon a solid rock. He hath put a new song in my mouth Many shall hear it.

Many others shall hear it and trust and praise the Lord. Oh How important it is for you to sing at midnight Hallelujah, because there's somebody else in a prison that can be touched by your singing. Hallelujah Hebrews 13 1 says let brotherly love continue be not forgetful to entertain strangers For thereby have some entertained angels unaware.

There it is The ministry that I call the unaware ministry the unaware ministry Every one of us has an opportunity to entertain angels unaware You ought to sing at midnight because of that You know when I get to heaven You know what the Lord showed me this afternoon when I get to heaven One of the greatest surprises is going to be That many of the sermons over which I toiled Will never be mentioned in heaven but certain ministries Which I knew nothing of Certain people's lives that I knew nothing of as I ministered here and there as I went hither and There and went this way in that way Those personal or individual sermons are Going to awaken trumpets on the other side I've seen many Christians and with this I'm going to close. I've seen many Christians who have been haunted by fears Haunted by failure Guilt-ridden because they're not doing enough for the Lord and Some of them do far more for God than they ever realized Because the prisoners hear them singing and you know, sometimes if you're walking in the spirit If you're just serving the Lord faithfully sometimes you do more without trying for God than when you try Sometimes I know I do more without trying when I'm just we're serving the Lord faithfully And when I've got a song in my heart And I'm in the place I ought to be when Jesus is a center of my joy Other prisoners here at hallelujah and without me trying God uses me hallelujah And God will do the same for you I've got to read one verse in closing one one one more verse Here's was Peter's in time message. Very interesting Listen to it First Peter 4 7 to 10 don't turn there He says but the end of all things is at hand be therefore sober and watch unto prayer and Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves For charity shall cover a multitude of sins Use hospitality one to another without grudging as Every man hath received the gift Even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God Peter says above all things as we near the end Let Jesus shine in your life every day Quit thinking that you don't have a ministry or you don't have a gift He said as every man hath received the gift so minister the same one to another You say but pastor, I don't know what my gift is.

Well, so what neither do I Or I take that back yes, I do it is to sing praises at midnight Hallelujah, so that the other prisoners can hear it and their bands are loose. Glory to God Glory to God From prison to praise that's the reason God wants to bring us from prison to praise that others might Hear it and trust in the Lord. Hallelujah.

Let's stand together Thank you Lord, thank you Lord