What must I do?
By the Power of the Holy Spirit, preach Christ crucified and praise Jesus as your risen Lord.
Acts 16
English Standard Version (ESV)
Paul and Silas in Prison
16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”
18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
Remarkable! Paul recognizes the power of a spirit of evil which lives in the body of this woman fortune-teller. A spirit has knowledge and power over her flesh. Yet the spirit subservient to Satan must respond to the command of Christ.
19 But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers…
22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.
23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The light of Christ frees a woman from satanic sin. And the reward for these Christians?
A brutal beating and imprisonment in a dark cell as punishment.
The Philippian Jailer Converted
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.
You and your Christian friend are beaten severely. You are both thrown in a dark prison cell unjustly. You sing praise to God! Answer? An EARTHQUAKE!
Maybe God will just let you die now. Maybe God will bring the stones down on you and end your pain and misery.
NO.
The trembling earth and falling stones settle into something quite unexpected: a jailer, fearing for his life because you may have escaped and he, instead, could be executed.
27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.
Only GOD could do a work like this!
30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
I believe in the Lord Jesus. May my wife and our household be in His hands. (This is my personal prayer & witness.)
32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
I have witnessed the Power and mercy of Christ.
What must I do to be saved?
You with ears to hear, hear the voice of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.
You and your Christian friend are beaten severely. You are both thrown in a dark prison cell unjustly. You sing praise to God! Answer? An EARTHQUAKE!