This week guest preacher Meiko Seymour joined us from St. Petersburg, FL, preaching from Acts 16:25-34 on the story of Paul, Silas, and the Roman jailer.
KEY POINTS:
- The ancient town of Philippi became a Roman possession about 160 years before Jesus. It was a place of decisive battle in the second Roman Civil War.
- Paul and Silas were sent as missionaries, and beaten/jailed for healing a demon-possessed woman. Note: when the preaching of the Gospel touches economic structures, opposition comes..
- They were living holy, obedient lives yet they were suffering – mentally and physically – for righteousness sake. Even so, they proclaimed God’s goodness, exceeding their circumstances, through songs of praise.
- Joy in the midst of suffering will get the attention of those around you; when there’s a song on your heart and praise on your lips, people notice.
- The jailer had hung his very life on the sturdiness of stone and iron, only to have it fail. Paul and Silas had placed their lives in the hands of Jesus.
- ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ the jailer asks, searching for a kindness that would save him from his own death or life of misery. Paul answers, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”
- The formula for salvation is faith in Jesus + nothing.
- Our stories are stories of searching and in this search, He meets us with a kindness to save. His invitation is to himself. God’s ultimate kindness: He sent His one and only Son to serve as a sacrificial lamb for the consequences of our sins. His kindness extends to all.
- Our call is to share His kindness with others, the agent by which the Gospel comes into someone’s life.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
COMMUNITY GROUP DISCUSSION:
- Where did God meet you? Do you remember where you were and what was going on in your life when you asked a similar question to the Jailer in Acts 16? Share your story with your group.
- What does it look like for you to praise God in the midst of adversity or life’s hardest places?
- Read Psalm 13 together. Reflect aloud on Verses 5-6.