Acts 16 - Getting out of jail

what would you do if you got a get-out-of-jail-free card seems like the obvious answer would be to get out of jail and get your freedom Paul chooses a different path today in acts 16 and we're going to look at why welcome to branch together my name is Jared and today we're reading from Acts chapter 16 before we dive in take a moment and pray God I believe that you are the God who sets people free we live in a world of bondage of pain of hurt and we believe that you are the God who can break the prison walls open then you can open prison doors that you can set the captives free Lord today as we hear this story that might sound miraculous or impossible to us help us listen help us be open to hearing the stories of what you did in the life of your first followers we thank you for your servant Paul his humility his love and His grace in difficult times help us learn more how to serve and love and care for others even when we're in difficult trying places in your name we pray amen he also came to Derby and to Lystra a disciple named Timothy was there the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer but whose father was a Greek the brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places for they all knew that his father was Greek as they went through the towns they passed on the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the Gentile believers to obey so the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number every day they went to the region of fiery gia and Galatia having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province of Asia when they came to Messiah they attempted to go into Beth Jana but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this so they passed through Messiah and went down to Troas a vision appeared to Paul during the night a Macedonian man was standing there urging him come over to Macedonia and help us after Paul saw the vision we attempted immediately to go over to Macedonia concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them we put out to sea from troas and sailed a straight course to Samothrace the next day to Neapolis and from there to Philippi which is a leading city of that district of Macedonia a Roman colony we stayed in the city for some days on the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the side of the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer and we sat down and began to speak to the women who had assembled there a woman named Lydia a dealer in purple cloth in the city of Thyatira a god-fearing woman listened to us the Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying after she and her household were baptized she urged us if you consider me to be a believer in the Lord come and stay in my house and she persuaded us now as we were going to the place of Prayer a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the fortune by supernatural means she brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling she followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out these men are servants of the Most High odd who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation she continues to do this for many days but Paul became greatly annoyed and turned and said to the spirit I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and it came out of her at once but when her owner saw their hope of profit was gone they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities when they had brought them before the magistrates they said these men are throwing our city into confusion they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice since we are Romans the crowd joined the attack against them and the magistrates toiler closed-off Saul and Silas and order them to be beaten with rods after they had beaten them severely they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to guard them securely receiving such orders he threw them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks about bid night Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the rest the prisoners were listening to them suddenly a great earthquake occurred so that the foundations of the prison were shaken immediately all the doors flew open and the bonds of all the prisoners came loose when the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he assumed the prisoners had escaped but Paul call out loudly do not harm yourself for we are all here calling for lights the jailer rushed in and fell down trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas then he brought them outside and asked sirs what must I do to be saved they replied believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your household when they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with all of those who were in the house at that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds then he and all his family were baptized right away the jailer brought them into the house and set food before them and he rejoiced greatly that he had come to believe in God together with his entire household at daybreak the magistrates sent their police officers saying release those men the jailer reported these words to Paul saying the magistrates have sent orders to release you so come out now and go in peace but Paul said to the police officers they had us beaten in public without a proper trial even though we are when citizens and they threw us in prison and now they want to send us away secretly absolutely not they themselves must come and escort us out the police officers reported these words to the magistrates they were frightened when they heard Paul and Silas were Roman citizens and came and apologized to them and they brought them out they asked them repeatedly to leave the city when they came out of prison they entered Lydia's house and when they saw the brothers they encouraged them and then departed in the beginning of Acts 16 something happens that seems a bit of a head-scratcher Timothy a descendant of Jews and Greeks joins Paul and Silas Paul circumcised as him but wait didn't we just say this wasn't necessary isn't this an unnecessary barrier no now pay attention here Paul and Timothy do this for the sake of the mission they were going to be ministering and sharing the good news with Jews and they might not have gotten an audience if Timothy wasn't circumcised which I'm not sure how they would have known that but it's important they're to see Paul and Timothy and Silas they care about the mission and they're trying to be all things to all people and if Timothy being uncircumcised is going to be a barrier as they ministered to these Jews then Paul then why not do whatever you can to connect with people where they are so that's why they do that and we can have a bigger discussion on that and it's a fascinating thing to discuss but we won't dive into that more okay two more things going on in this chapter there are going to be two more types of people that join the faith Paul gets a vision to go to Macedonia and on the Sabbath he goes to the Riverside assuming that this is a place of prayer or worship and he meets a woman named Lydia who is a seller of purple Goods and she was a worshipper of God the Lord opens her heart to Paul's message and she and her household are baptized then Paul's group receives her hospitality and stays with them for a few days we see the Gospel message expanding and reaching new folks here a wealthy Gentile woman receives the message and she brings her family in an extent hospitality and fellowship to this Jewish man again as we've seen in other chapters as we'll see in future chapters all of this is kind of unheard of stuff in that society god is breaking down walls he's breaking down barriers between Jews and Greeks male and female slave and free and this is another instant a Gentile a wealthy Gentile woman a pharisaical Jewish man both coming to faith in Christ and opening up their home to one another and spending time together as family blast scene Paul and Silas get thrown in prison and if you notice Luke has joined them if you look at verse 16 he starts going from this happens to them too we we did this we did that he says as we were going in verse 16 so Paul gets thrown in prison because he's cast out an evil spirit out of a slave girl her owners are angry that they can't make money on her anymore or abuse her anymore and they cause a commotion and get Paul and his companions thrown in jail in jail they pray and sing and the prisoners listen there is a great earthquake and the chains are loosed and the prison doors are open the jailer sees this and is about to kill himself because he knows he's gonna lose all of his people he's gonna lose all the people that he was supposed to to keep an eye on but Paul cries out don't harm yourself we're all here the jailer comes rushing in and he's changed he's changed by this act of love by Paul staying in Chains instead of getting his freedom he says sirs what must I do to be saved and Paul gives a simple answer believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your household and the jailer takes them and he cleans them up and he and his family get baptized and there is rejoicing Paul and Silas were in a difficult painful scary place and they use that difficult place in time as an opportunity to love and share the good news of Jesus with their captors and God does something amazing Paul loves the jailer and the jailer is transformed how can we trust that guy is doing something in the midst of our struggles who can we love and serve and show the love of Christ to even when we ourselves are in Chains it's difficult when you're in Chains it's hard to think of anybody but yourself and your suffering but if we could trust God and ask for his spirit and strength in those trying times it might be that he uses us to show his love to others even our enemies God transforms even hardened jailers by his people showing self sacrificial love to enemies love your enemies and see what God does that's all for today join us tomorrow as we branch together again [Music] you

Channel: Branch Together

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Keywords: daily devotional, acts, paul in jail, barnabas in jail, bible reading, net bible, audio bible

Id: zUNA1L3Xa10

Length: 11min 22sec (682 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 21 2018