Discover the truth about the power of praises especially at night. Discover how the people of the past kept watch and praised God at night until God was moved to act in their favour.

1. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, SANGOTEDO
FROM MIDNIGHT TO
VICTORY
BRO. EFFIONG TOM

2. Introduction
 In the word of God, midnight could
represent the concept of intense
darkness or even gloom.
 However, MIDNIGHT usually meant
halfway between dark and the breaking of
the light or the middle-point of the night
before the light could break through.

3. Introduction
 Our praise invites God’s power into our
lives.
 It was dark in there, but they were
surrounded with an audience and so they
started preaching. They started
singing. They started praising God.


4.  You know, when you're in trouble, people
especially watch you then. And what did
they hear? Did they hear
complaints? James five says, “Is any
afflicted, let him” what? “Let him pray.”
 And Psalm 119, verse 62 says, “At
midnight I will rise to give thanks to
Thee.” At midnight. Now Paul and Silas
were there at midnight. They had this
captive audience, so they raised their
voices in prayer and singing.

5. Midnight Praise
 And praise opens closed doors. Here
they were singing in jail. You're going to
see this in the next verse. It brought the
house down.
 Look at verse 25. “About midnight Paul
and Silas were praying, and they were
singing hymns to God and the other
prisoners were listening to them.”

6. Midnight Praise (cont’d)
 You know, men/women who sing at
midnight, cannot be imprisoned.
 If you sing at midnight, you can’t be
imprisoned.
 Why could they sing?
 Prison is not a place for singing.
 But I doubt that anyone ever heard this
particular sound before.


7. Midnight Praise (cont’d)
 There, in the middle of the night, in the
pitch dark, Paul and Silas sang praises to
the Lord.
 This unusual sound caught the attention
of every other person in that jail - the
other prisoners, and the jail keeper too.
They knew there was something different
about these two prisoners, because they
praised their God in the middle of their
trouble.

8. Midnight Praise (cont’d)
We may wonder how Paul and Silas
could sing at a time like that. Didn’t they
know they were unfairly chained up in a
prison cell? Paul and Silas could praise
God because they were filled with faith
and with the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:24).
 “Faith is being sure of what we hope for.
It is being certain of what we do not see.”
(Hebrews 11:1)

9. Midnight Praise (cont’d)
 Paul and Silas were SURE that God had
not forgotten them. They were CERTAIN
that God would not allow anything that
was not BEST for them.
 And they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is joy
(Galatians 5:22).
 Please notice that I did not say
“happiness.” Joy is different than
happiness.

10. Midnight Praise (cont’d)
 Happiness comes when things are good
around you - like when you get a birthday
present, or you hit a surprise, Joy comes
when things are right on the inside - it is
the inner gladness and peace you have
because you believe in Jesus.
 Joy doesn’t change when our
circumstances change. Joy is deep down
inside of us. Out of their joy, given by the
Holy Spirit, Paul and Silas praised the
Lord.

11. Midnight Praise (cont’d)
 We should praise God in good times and in bad
(James 5:13).
 Praising God is proclaiming His greatness. His
greatness never changes - even when our
circumstances do.
 When you are in a difficult situation and you
don’t feel like praising God, that is the
PERFECT time to do it! As we are about to see,
our praise invites God’s power into our lives
(Psalm 50:23, 2 Chronicles 20).

12. Midnight Praise (cont’d)
 Psalm 22:3 says that God comes to stay
where His people praise Him. “Yet You
are enthroned as the Holy One; You are
the praise of Israel.”
 Psalm 119:62
 we are reminded of Psalm 119:62 which
says, “At midnight I will rise to give
thanks to You, because of Your righteous
judgments”.

13.  This is a time in the Body of Christ when
we need the Lord to deal with our
enemies that are trying to keep us from
entering into His perfect plan for our life,
family, and nation.
 The midnight hour was a time for
thanksgiving and of visitation.
 This is also a key time for a redemptive
shift to occur in your life.

14.  Exodus 11:4, 12:29.
 The midnight hour was the time that the
children of Israel broke through to their
great deliverance.
 (At midnight the Lord struck down all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, creating their
release out of captivity.)
 This is a great time of pressing through.
Midnight is the time for us to praise and
press the enemy and arrest His movement.

15.  Matthew 25:1-13.
 ” Are you prepared? Have you trimmed
away what would prevent you from going
into the new? Are you ready to advance
quickly and gain momentum as you go?
 Mark 13, especially verses 32-35. “Watch
ye therefore: for ye know not when the
master of the house cometh, at even, or
at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in
the morning!” Ask the Lord to fully define
the places that He is calling you to watch.

16. To Victory (Vv. 26-34)
 Notice that it was while the two men were
singing praises, that the ground started to
move. God shook the earth on behalf of
those He wanted to save! Chains fell to
the ground, and heavy doors swung
open.
 How do you react to hard times, or unfair
treatment? Do those around you hear you
complain like everybody else? Or do they
hear you pray and praise God?

17.  Even though Paul and Silas were treated
most unfairly, because of the joy of the
Holy Spirit inside them, they praised God
instead.
 Paul and Silas weren’t singing in church,
they were singing in the darkest place. As
a result, the other people in that dark
place heard their praise; they heard the
truth about the mighty, living God.

18. "At Midnight"
 Psalms 119:62 says: At midnight I will rise to give
thanks unto Thee because of Thy righteous
judgements.
 What will we do at midnight? Midnight is a milestone so
to speak. The night is half over and with each minute
we get closer to the dawn. The question we face is; can
we make it until day break?
 The answer depends on what we do at midnight, what
decision we make, and did we prepare while it was yet
day.