I want to jump into the Word.

I'm going to be in Acts 16 verse 23.

Paul and Silas are missionaries who are in a town doing the work of the Lord.

And as they're doing the work of the Lord, they find themselves in a tight spot.

That's my subject for tonight.

A tight spot.

They find themselves in a tight spot.

And as a result of them finding themselves in this tight spot, they end up in prison.

And so I want to set this up so that when we get into the text, you understand the context

of what we're reading.

They were doing what they were supposed to do.

They were doing what God had called them to do.

And they were so effective that they ended up in a tight spot.

That sounds counterintuitive because our thought is that if we are effective, that we should

have more freedom and we should have more liberty.

If I play my cards right, then I should be able to do more.

But the reality is that sometimes the cost of being effective means that you end up

in tight spots.

And so when we begin this text in verse 23, it says, and when they had laid many stripes

on them, so they are being beaten and abused for doing what they have been called to do.

And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the

jailer to keep them securely.

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