TROUBLE IN PHILIPPI

Dictionary Text: Acts 16:16-34 -  One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." 18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. 19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." 29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

        Once when they were going to the riverside to pray,
Paul and Luke and Silas met a slave girl on the way.
Having a divining spirit by which she could tell
what would happen in the future, she was doing well
for her owners, telling fortunes.  This girl followed Paul
and the others who were with him, shouting out to all:
“These men here are servants of the Most High God, and they
are proclaiming how to be saved. So heed what they say.”
        She kept doing this for days, till Paul at last became
so annoyed he exorcised the spirit in Christ’s name.
When her owners realized their income source was lost,
they resolved to muzzle Paul and Silas at all cost.
Seizing them, they dragged the men into the market place
to the city magistrates they wanted them to face.
        “Our whole city’s in an uproar because of these Jews,
who are advocating customs we Romans refuse
to accept, because they are unlawful.” The crowd then
joined the slave owners in their attack against the men.
        After they’d been stripped and beaten and thrown into jail,
orders were then given they be guarded without fail.
So the jailer put them both into an inner cell,
with their feet securely fastened in the stocks as well.
        About midnight as they prayed and sang, a strong earthquake
caused the whole foundation of the prison cells to shake.
All at once the doors flew open and their chains came loose.
Seeing the doors open caused the jailer to deduce
that the prisoners had escaped.  The jailer drew his sword
and he would have killed himself, if Paul had not assured
him, by shouting “Do not harm yourself!  We all are here!”
        Calling for some lights, the jailer rushed in, full of fear.
Then he brought them out and asked them, “Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?”  “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
will be saved, you and your household." Then they spoke the word
to him and the others in his house.  So they all heard.
Then the jailer took the men, cleaned up their wounds, and he
and his family were baptized immediately.
        After that he set before the men a home-cooked meal.
O what joy the jailer and his family did feel!
They were now believers and they knew what God can do.
Would that we who bear Christ’s name could show that same joy, too!