Midnight in Jail! | Acts 16:16-34

Freedom has a domino effect, and we’re talking about that today with Paul and Silas as our examples. Join me in Acts chapter 16.

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Transcription:

Freedom has a domino effect, and we’re going to talk about that in just a few moments here on the Bible for Busy People, as our series Free Indeed continues. But first, I’m Erica, and I’m so glad you’re here. I want to encourage you today. Every time you open up your heart to God’s Word, you’re growing closer to him. A.W. Tozer wrote something that I read yesterday and I thought, I’ve got to share this with you.

If you want to be holy, you must give time to God, not just intend to.

And you by hitting play on this podcast, have made a date with the living God. You’ve said, God, I want to know you better. I want our friendship to deepen. I want to understand what your word is saying to me. I want you to speak to me through your Word. You’re saying all of those things by hitting play on a podcast. So, this is a holy moment for you and I, a chance for us to take off our shoes so to speak, because we’re standing on holy ground. We’re going to open up God’s Word and hear what he has to say to us, on this day, in this moment. Join me in Acts chapter 16, beginning in verse 16.

One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”

Now, I want to pause here for just a second, because who’s narrating? Who is telling this story? His name was Luke. He was a doctor and he knew the apostles of Christ. So he wrote the book of Acts as well as the Gospel of Luke. Okay, verse 18 now.

This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her. 19 Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. 20 “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. 21 “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.” 22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.

Now, before we move on to midnight, the best part of this story (I love this story so much), I want to take a couple of notes with you because Paul and Silas were stripped. They were severely beaten, then thrown into a prison. No first aid kit, I’m imagining. Right then thrown into an inner dungeon. I’m thinking rats, I’m imagining water (yucky) leaking in places and then their feet were placed in the stocks. This is not a place where praise would come naturally unless you truly knew the living God. Unless you knew Him as a personal friend. So let’s move on to verse 25 now, keeping all of those images in your mind.

Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.

Did you catch that? “The other prisoners were listening.”

Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” 32 And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. 33 Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. 34 He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.

Amazing, isn’t it? God sent an earthquake to free Paul and Silas, and in doing that, here’s that domino effect I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, the jailer was set free. He didn’t have to be afraid anymore. He found the living God. He found his faith. Who knows what the jailer was wrestling with before Silas and Paul started praying and praising at midnight. What was he afraid of? Perhaps he had been talking to a God he didn’t know, in his heart. Maybe he was afraid to die. Maybe he was afraid his sins could never be forgiven by the gods in Rome. The only ones he was accustomed to. Who knows. But in that moment, Jesus set him free.

You see, Paul and Silas were free even though they were in chains in an inner dungeon. Their feet were in the stocks and the jailer was imprisoned by unbelief, and perhaps fear and things we don’t know. Even though he was free, even though there were no rats around him and his feet weren’t in the stocks, he was locked up. But God sent Paul and Silas, I believe with all my heart, so that he could be free. And who knows The other people who were in that jail, perhaps they heard the prayers and the praises and were also set free. We only know from this story that the jailer and his entire household spent the night rejoicing because they believed in God. All of them.

When your set free, it gives other people around you the opportunity to taste freedom and to taste how wonderful it is. Alright, until next time, you are really loved.

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