The jailer slept through a violent earthquake. Notice that? Had the earthquake been one of those itty bitty things—and you know itty bitty—it would be comparable to a thundering six-horse stagecoach passing a little too closely to Marshall Matt Dillon's jailhouse on Gunsmoke and the keys to the jail cell barely quiver on the hook there on the wall by Matt's desk—yes, I saw a lot of TV when I was growing up—but this quake flung prison doors open and shook the very foundation of the jail itself. Chronic insomniacs hold these two questions: "What was he drinking? And where can I get some?"

What to carry through here is the jailer slept through the quake as some of us are sleeping through the awakening of this very church. The jailor missed what I call a God event, the earthquake itself, just as some of us are missing the God events that happen here each week.

And to get it—to be a part of a God event like Lindsay's baptism or your own spiritual connection or rebirth—do something tangible like plug in the 'D's we've been talking about. In this five-week sermon series, we talk each week about a word beginning with the letter 'D.' First, I asked you to decide. Decide if you want to stay looking at something broken—and I used the drinking fountain next door as a metaphor—or if you want to revitalize and realize that you can reflect God's love. Decide, like the jailer today, if you even want to open your eyes.

The second 'D' is dare. Dare to let God lead you when it comes to having your eyes opened. Dare to let God lead you as God led Paul and God led Lydia. Dare to follow will God will have you go. Dare to walk through differences. Dare to walk through difficulty. Decide to follow not your way but God's, and then be daring in your steps.

Today, if you have decided to open your eyes to God and dare to walk not in your direction but God's, then delve, as this sermon title suggests. Delve. Go deeper. Hear more completely. Trust more fully.

There are three lines below the heading on your sermon notes page this morning. You can now fill them in. Decide. Dare. Delve.

I spoke about Matt Gorkos last Sunday. Remember Matt, the twenty-something UCC seminarian, who charged us in his April 25^th sermon to listen to the generation not seen in too many churches today, and the generation not seen in many churches is the twenty-something set. Matt called us to not just invite but to listen to what he himself described as liberal, radical, selfish punks. And Matt asked us to not just to invite but to listen to liberal, radical, selfish punks because Jesus himself was a liberal, radical, selfish punk. Jesus liberated. Jesus was radical in his message. Jesus is selfish in that he wants you and your love alone. And a punk? Yeah, the guy who single-handedly stood up and challenged the law abiding Pharisees and Sadducees? That's Jesus.

Today, not if but when you delve, be a liberal, radical, selfish punk in your way. Delve deep into your soul where there is peace and the presence of God and realize we are to invite and listen to anyone who does not find their home here. Make that our first point this week. Delve down deep and realize that God is enacted when you act, and we are to invite and listen to anyone who does not find their home here in this spiritual place of God.

As I told a true story about a congregational member here last week, I have two today. Here is the first.  It happened at a nearby gas station. One of our faithful, whom I bet someone somewhere might consider some old crony, had a conversation with a man in his thirties. They didn't have this conversation on her terms. They didn't 'chat it up' in her living room when the time was right for her. They didn't sit down and talk when she had all her points in row as to what she'd like to say. They talked—unexpectedly—at a gas station.

And here what I said. They talked at a gas station.  I didn't say 'she talked' and he nodded, wondering when in the heck he could get out there. They talked. She heard where he was coming from, and what his needs were. And she not only heard him and his needs, she repeated his needs back to him.

That's conversation folks. That's one lover of Christ who delved. That's one person here today who decided (first week) to make an opportunity and dared (second week) to go the distance. That's one of us with enough guts to go down deep, reaching out of her comfort zone because she loves the Lord and she knows—she knows—His love meets her here every Sunday. She did not pull her agenda over this man; she, with a faith that only comes when you delve down deep, let him speak.

As with Paul in today's scripture and with this past Sunday's scripture with Lydia (and you can see that the scriptures go back to back), we are to invite and listen to anyone who does not find their home here. That's point one.

Let others speak. Let them find their voice with you. That's our second point. Let others speak. Let them find their voice with you.

The conversation these two had went something like this. The young man said he didn't feel as though he was heard here ten years ago. That's right, there near the gas pumps, he decided to share, dared to speak, and delved into his heart as said he didn't feel like what he had to offer here was heard or considered. That woman some call a crony? You're right in what you're thinking now. She's no crony. Ageless in the rejuvenating power of the Lord, she agreed with him. She also delved deep into her heart and knew the church that what was is not here now. She said the church, the very one you're sitting in today, held its history so tightly, and, these are her words now, did not offer room or space for newcomers.

If you delve yourself—if you get down deep with the Lord—you'll notice in her conversation she didn't fight him. She didn't argue or polarize; she validated him. She let this man speak. She enabled him to find his voice through her. Let that happen with those you talk with. Allow them to be heard by being the ones to listen to them.

Paul, in our scripture today, had been listening to God. Along with Silas, he was on a path, a mission, just as this woman at the gas station is on a mission. Paul was called to follow Christ and make believers of those who will hear the Good News, just as this woman, who is here today, goes about the work of making God through Jesus known.

Hardships? They were thrown into the inner dungeon. It wasn't just a Police Station walk-through where they were in some mild-mannered holding tank with other minor riff raff who had done misdemeanors. These two were locked in the inner-most cell after having been beaten.

And what did they do there? You'll find the answer in verse twenty-five. Around midnight, having been bruised and bloodied and nearly broken, with their feet clamped in stocks, what did they do?

That's right, they worshipped.

Most often I don't mention the person I'm talking about by name. And, save for one, I don't give the individual a 'heads up' meaning they come to church and do not realize that they illustrate a sermon point. But the particulars around David are so particular to where he is now.

David lost his first wife to cancer.  David's daughter Lorna, not quite 24 years old, died suddenly and tragically in a nearby car accident five and a half years ago. Now his son, Kenny, has died. Someone so close to Dave and so in love with him asked me, "Hasn't he had enough? I mean, truly," this person said, "enough is enough. Can't he be spared a little?"

The power of love pulls us into protecting those we love, so these words—which needed to be shared—were heard.

And David is pulled by love, and God is the one doing the pulling. See, worshipping where you are means different things to each of us because we are, obviously, in different places. For David, worshipping where he is means he's decided to embrace God. He's dared to do what many would never think of doing, and that's not only to craft but also to speak at his son's memorial service here this Thursday. See, David is worshipping where he is, and where he is—like some of us—is in a place of mourning.

How can he do it? How can he be such a part of his son's funeral? Again, he's decided to follow Jesus. He's daring in following Jesus, not just during the smooth, easy parts, but when things, like that earthquake in scripture, really turn things upside down.

And for this to happen, for David to speak just as I am speaking, he will delve deep, deep down. There he will see (and feel) God.

Today, see God. Decide to make God a part of your life more than you have. Dare to follow your Savior in what he will have you do, and delve, delve deep down—go to that place where God is most powerful, where God will open prison doors you've kept closed. Go to your own foundation and let God shake you awake.

He wants this. He wants you. Yes, let God shake you awake.