Acts 16

Worshiping In Prison

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And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.  And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.  But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.”  Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”  And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.  And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.  And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Acts 16:25-34

Paul and Silas found themselves to be prisoners in a Philippian jail.  While it happened that they were praying, they were also singing praises to the Lord, and it was midnight.What were they imprisoned for?  It wasn’t for murder.  It was not for thievery.  It was not even for jay walking. It was for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and for delivering a girl from demon and human bondage.

Look at what happened.  God sent an earthquake which unlocked the chains they were bound with; all the prisoners were released, and the doors opened, but they stayed put right where they were.  The jailer was about to take his own life  because he thought the prisoners had all escaped.  Paul calls out to him, saving his life.

The jailer, then asks for a light, and he goes into the cell, and asks the question, that many need to ask; “What must I do to be saved?”

The answer to the Philippian jailer, and to all who are called to ask the question is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house.”  Why does it say, “…And  your house?”  It was because this jailer and his family believed on the Lord Jesus, because of the events of the early morning hours.  The family head is saved, generally speaking when the man of the house follows Jesus Christ the rest of the family will also.

This Philippian jailers life was not only saved from killing himself, he was saved unto eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ, the crucified, buried, and risen Savior of the world.

Will you call on the name of Jesus today?

The Holiness Of GOD Will Not Be Snubbed

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And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.  And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
Numbers 25:6-9

For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.
Matthew 16:27

Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
Acts 16:29-31

Established Churches in the Faith

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“The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind!”  Proverbs 21:27

“And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.”  Acts 16:4-5

Seeing that God’s word tells us that the mind of Adam’s race is wicked continually and a sacrifice with wicked intent can only be further abomination, then let us pray that we come to God only through the sacrifice on God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Let those who profess His name believe His word, proclaim His word, and live His word by the power of the Holy Spirit within and glorify His name. No sacrifice we offer can ever bring glory to God.

Let us pray for the continuing establishment of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Scriptures, teaching them, living out our lives for the glory of His name.

Come today to the One, the only One who can redeem You. He died on the cross for our sins (your sins and mine), He was buried taking away all our sins, shame and condemnation, and three days later He came out of that grave alive forever more. Call on His name today.