One of Those Days

During our New Testament reading this morning we heard the story concerning Paul’s adventure in Greece.

Paul and Silas were on a missionary journey in the area of Philippi and initially things seemed to be going pretty well.

One day, however, things began to change. A certain woman, who was a fortune teller, began to follow Paul and Silas declaring, "These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."

Now, at first this might have seemed like a good thing--free advertising.

But this didn’t just happen once or twice; she kept up this chant for "many days." What might have appeared at first to be a good thing was becoming a nuisance and a distraction.

Finally, Paul cast the demonic spirit from her and she was delivered. Of course she also lost her powers of telling the future.

This woman was being used by certain influential men in the community to make money.

When her masters saw what Paul and Silas had done they seized them and dragged them to the marketplace.

And things just go from bad to worse for Paul and Silas. They were brought before a makeshift court and were stripped, beaten severely and thrown into the inner prison where their feet were fastened in stocks. This had been a bad day.

Have you ever had "one of those days?"

One of those days; when there was a hint that things were not going to go well?

One of those days when one bad thing after another seems to hit you? One of those days when you just told someone, "Well, at least things can’t get any worse." But they did?

Let me share some true examples of what I’m talking about. And some of these people probably earned the right to a bad day.

1. - A man in London, Ont., was so mad after being given a speeding ticket that he raced away from the officer, rubber burning. The officer nabbed him a second time for speeding and added a third ticket for making unnecessary noise.

2. Surprised while burglarizing a house in Antwerp, Belgium, a thief fled out the back door, clambered over a nine-foot wall and dropped down -- in the city prison.

3. A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle.

Intending to knock him free from the deadly current she found a large piece of wood and whacked him on his arm, breaking his arm in two places. (Pause) What a shame, he had only been listening to his Old Walkman tape player.

The text in Acts clearly indicates that the Apostle Paul and Silas were having "one of those days."

BAD DAYS ONLY GET WORSE FOR THOSE THAT DO NOT KNOW CHRIST

What about you? Have you ever had a bad day? A bad week? I have!

In fact, if I am not serving Christ or I’m not in His will, those days can get to be pretty stressful.

But thank God, if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But an unrighteous man really hasn’t got much hope of things getting significantly better.

The Prophet Amos describes an unrighteous man, (Pause) An Unrighteous man is one who runs from a lion (Pause) meets a bear, and then when he gets to house, he leans on the wall in exhaustion, (Pause) only to have a snake bite him. Now that’s a bad day. Amos 5:19

For those that are not ready to meet the Lord, days will be even