PT-2 "Intro to Acts 16:19-40)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/23/2018 9:57 AM

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  PT-2 Intro to Acts 16:19-40

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 16:19-40

            Message of the verses:  “19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, 20 and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, "These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, 21 and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans." 22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; 24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

    25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!" 29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.

    35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, "Release those men." 36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, "The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace." 37 But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out." 38 The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39 and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. 40 They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.”

            We have been looking at some verses that show that God truly does bring about good things to those who seemingly have gone through some very difficult times.  We talked about Joseph and how his brothers sold him into slavery, but God used Joseph to save his family from starving as it was God’s will that they come to Egypt.  We also talked about the Lord Jesus Christ, as His example is the best found in all of Scripture.  Jesus died a horrible death, and yet God used it to save all the people that He had chosen before the foundation of the world, save them from the horrors of hell, and will bring all of them into heaven to be with Him forever.

            We will look again at the killing of Stephen which was a terrible thing to have happen, and yet after that killing and the persecution that went on the church began to expand and to grow “19 So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.”

            We bring these entire things up because in this 16^th chapter of Acts we something similar that happened.  As I have read over this section of Scripture many, many times I am still in awe of how Paul and Silas preached and sang praises to the Lord after being severely beaten in an unlawful manner. 

            Remember that Paul and his missionary team were led by the Lord through a vision to come into Europe and the very first person saved in Europe was a woman named Lydia, the liberated woman, and then we talked about the demon-possessed woman who Paul cast the demon out, and as a result of him doing this her “owners” were going to lose a lot money and the result of that was Paul and Silas being beaten and put into prison.  Philippi became the first “beachhead” in Europe for the gospel to move forward.  As I look at Europe today along with our own country I see that we need more beachheads for the gospel to be brought up by the Spirit of God.

            John MacArthur concludes his introductory comments: 

“Satan was quick to react, first attempting to infiltrate the young fellowship with a demon-possessed medium.  When Paul’s miraculous power thwarted that attempt, Satan tried to destroy the church through persecution.  Those are always his two avenues of attack: infiltration-attacking the church from within; and persecution, attacking it from without.  Verses 19-40 record the failure of Satan’s attack through persecution, marvelous turning of persecution into triumph unfolds in five sequential stages:  persecution, praise, preaching, provision and protection.”

            So we see our outline in these five ways, and Lord willing, we will begin to look at the persecution in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will give us grace to determine how we are to take care of my wife’s father in the days to come.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Miriam” (Exodus 15:20).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which book contains the record of legislation given at Sinai that was not set forth in the laws and regulations found in Exodus?”

Answer in our next SD.

4/23/2018 10:29 AM