Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Acts 16:16-40
Set – Leviticus 10; Acts 16
Go! – Leviticus 10-12; Acts 16
Acts 16:16-40
16 One day, as we were going to the place set aside for prayer, we encountered a slave girl. She made a lot of money for her owners as a fortune-teller, assisted by some sort of occult spirit. 17 She began following us.Slave Girl (shouting): These men are slaves like me, but slaves of the Most High God! They will proclaim to you the way of liberation!
18 The next day as we passed by, she did the same thing—and again on the following days. One day Paul was really annoyed, so he turned and spoke to the spirit that was enslaving her.
Paul: I order you in the name of Jesus, God’s Anointed: Come out of her!
It came right out. 19 But when her owners realized she would be worthless now as a fortune-teller, they grabbed Paul and Silas, dragged them into the open market area, and presented them to the authorities.
Slave Owners: 20 These men are troublemakers, disturbing the peace of our great city. They are from some Jewish sect, 21 and they promote foreign customs that violate our Roman standards of conduct.
22 The crowd joined in with insults and insinuations, prompting the city officials to strip them naked in the public square so they could be beaten with rods. 23 They were flogged mercilessly and then were thrown into a prison cell. The jailer was ordered to keep them under the strictest supervision. 24 The jailer complied, first restraining them in ankle chains, then locking them in the most secure cell in the center of the jail.
25 Picture this: It’s midnight. In the darkness of their cell, Paul and Silas—after surviving the severe beating—aren’t moaning and groaning; they’re praying and singing hymns to God. The prisoners in adjoining cells are wide awake, listening to them pray and sing. 26 Suddenly the ground begins to shake, and the prison foundations begin to crack. You can hear the sound of jangling chains and the squeak of cell doors opening. Every prisoner realizes that his chains have come unfastened. 27 The jailer wakes up and runs into the jail. His heart sinks as he sees the doors have all swung open. He is sure his prisoners have escaped, and he knows this will mean death for him, so he pulls out his sword to commit suicide. 28 At that moment, Paul sees what is happening and shouts out at the top of his lungs,
Paul: Wait, man! Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here! None of us has escaped.
29 The jailer sends his assistants to get some torches and rushes into the cell of Paul and Silas. He falls on his knees before them, trembling. 30 Then he brings them outside.
Jailer: Gentlemen, please tell me, what must I do to be liberated?
Paul and Silas: 31 Just believe—believe in the ultimate King, Jesus, and not only will you be rescued, but your whole household will as well.
32-34 The jailer brings them to his home, and they have a long conversation with the man and his family. Paul and Silas explain the message of Jesus to them all. The man washes their wounds and feeds them, then they baptize the man and his family. The night ends with Paul and Silas in the jailer’s home, sharing a meal together, the whole family rejoicing that they have come to faith in God.
35 At dawn, the city officials send the police to the jailer’s home with a command: “Let those men go free.”
Jailer: 36 The city officials have ordered me to release you, so you may go now in peace.
Paul (loud enough that the police can hear): 37 Just a minute. This is unjust. We’ve been stripped naked, beaten in public, and thrown into jail, all without a trial of any kind. Now they want to release us secretly as if nothing happened? No way: we’re Roman citizens—we shouldn’t be treated like this! If the city officials want to release us, then they can come and tell us to our faces.
38 The police report back to the city officials; and when they come to the part about Paul and Silas being Roman citizens, the officials turn pale with fear. 39 They rush to the jail in person and apologize. They personally escort Paul and Silas from their cell and politely ask them to leave the city. 40 Paul and Silas oblige—after stopping at Lydia’s home to gather with the brothers and sisters there and give them parting words of encouragement.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
One of the things about being unbound by time is getting to see events again. I like this one. The slave girl’s interruption is just background noise. Paul and Silas in jail, also background noise. Their suffering for Me because of their message and finding themselves in prison for doing what I asked them to do. Nice part of the story, but background noise again. The officials with egg on their face for arresting Roman citizens without a trial? A nice twist to the day, but not of real interest to Me. Just a nice touch for Me messengers after they spent some time on the wrong side of the cell door. They had fun watching the city officials wiggle a little.
What I really like about this story in the Paul’s life, the worship service Paul and Silas conducted that so energized those around them that they didn’t want to leave. I wish the people in My churches today would take some lessons from those prisoners. Those guys were freed from physical chains and many of them would face mock trials, more floggings, some would receive amputations of hands or feet as punishment for their crimes. Some in those cells were even headed to the gallows because of what they had done to others.
But…something different happened to all of them that night. Paul and Silas introduced them to Me. Their sins met My grace and mercy. Their physical chains were nothing. But I forgave their sins and their spiritual chains fell off. Those men with Paul and Silas found real freedom in Me before I gave the jailer a little physical demonstration of what I was doing. Those men were already free regardless what the city or Roman government might think or do to them.
That’s the part I like about the story. They involved themselves in that worship service so jubilantly, so vibrantly, so wonderfully in that dark dungeon that none of them dared to leave that jail for fear they might miss something else. They stayed despite their loosened chains. They stayed despite the opened doors. They stayed despite the walls trembling around them in the earthquake. They stayed because I was there in their presence and they didn’t want to go anywhere that might take them from My presence.
A football game couldn’t make them check their watch. A kids soccer game couldn’t deter them from their worship. An opportunity on the lake didn’t wet their appetite. They wanted nothing more than to stay there and revel in My glory. They wanted to worship. That’s the part of this story I want you to remember. I want you to bring back such an excitement in worshiping Me that you don’t want to leave. I want you to gather together with other believers and lose all sense of time because I’m with you. I want you to sing and pray and shout and sing some more. I want you to see the lost come to Me in repentance and watch their chains fall away as I forgive them and free them from their past.
I want you to worship Me like Paul, Silas, and all those prisoners worshiped Me that dark night in Philippi. What a grand time I had that night. Let Me do it again. Come on, let’s party! Worship Me with all your might!
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