by Edwin Crozier<\/p>\n
Paul and Silas heeded the Macedonian call, met Lydia by the river, and started a congregation in Philippi. As they continued their work, Paul became fed up with a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. He cast out the spirit, which ruined the money-making scheme of the family that owned her. The owners seized Paul and Silas, dragged them before the magistrates, and brought charges against them. By the time the whole thing was done, the magistrates had Paul and Silas beaten and imprisoned. They ordered the jailer to keep the two men safely in the prison. The jailer shackled their feet in stocks and kept them in the inner prison.<\/p>\n
That night, the two disciples prayed and sang for all to hear. However, no one responded until an earthquake opened the doors and released the stocks. The jailer assumed the prisoners had all fled, but they hadn’t. When Paul convinced the jailer not to kill himself to retain his honor, the jailer was moved by what he had witnessed. He asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?<\/em>“<\/p>\n This is the moment I want to focus on. Think about what Paul and Silas have been through. Think about the jailer’s role. We don’t know that the jailer took part in the beating. But we can probably be sure he wasn’t gentle with the beaten and wounded prisoners as he shackled them in the inner prison. If you had been through the beating, the rough treatment, a good bit of the night in stocks, what would you want to say to the jailer? “Saved? Saved! You? Salvation isn’t for you, buddy.” But that was not what Paul and Silas said. Instead, they told the jailer and his family about salvation in Jesus. Then they baptized him and his whole household.<\/p>\n Paul and Silas, despite the jailer’s involvement in their pain and suffering, loved their jailer. They loved him enough to teach Him the gospel. Then they helped him obey it. What a great example for us.<\/p>\n People will mistreat us. People will call us names. They will castigate us. They will be hateful to us. In these moments, it will be easy to think in terms of vengeance. In these moments, it will be easy to look forward to them facing judgment. Instead, we need to love our “jailers.” We need to love those who mistreat us. When we have opportunity, we need to share the gospel with them and their families. We need to be excited to help bring them to salvation.<\/p>\n Isn’t that what Jesus did? He loved His “jailers” so much He offered the very sacrifice by which they could be saved even as they were nailing Him to a cross.<\/p>\n May we learn to love those who are mean to us, who mistreat us, who hurt us. May we learn to long for their salvation and bring the gospel to them as best we can.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Edwin Crozier Paul and Silas heeded the Macedonian call, met Lydia by the river, and started a congregation in Philippi. As they continued their work, Paul became fed up with a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. He cast out the spirit, which ruined the money-making scheme of the family that owned…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-98822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-love"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47240,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-appeal-to-his-roman-citizenship\/","url_meta":{"origin":98822,"position":0},"title":"Why Did Paul Appeal to His Roman Citizenship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Acts 16 tells us the story of Paul and Silas being arrested and imprisoned in Philippi. They sang praises while bound, others listened, and then an earthquake shaking the foundations set them free. Instead of running, Paul told the jailer, who was about to commit suicide, not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61742,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-advantages-of-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":98822,"position":1},"title":"The Advantages of Christianity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 16:22-35 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are a lot of religions to choose from in the world, if one was inclined to go shopping for a belief, from a claim that \u201cthere is no God\u201c to \u201ceveryone is right \u2013 at least in some fashion.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So why\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18166,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-be-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":98822,"position":2},"title":"Why Be a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 58, No. 3, Jan. 16, 2009. We have to admit that there are a lot of religions in the world today. We hear a lot more about Islam than we ever have before. We see people seeking new-age solutions to their spiritual needs.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/paul_in_jai_at_philippi-251x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31908,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/songs-in-the-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":98822,"position":3},"title":"Songs in the Night","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Judy Chappelear Sentry Magazine, June 2002 \"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken ... \" That scripture was taken from Acts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/praying-child-245x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89375,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/making-the-most-of-one-string\/","url_meta":{"origin":98822,"position":4},"title":"Making the Most of One String","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Riley The story is told of Italian violinist Niccol\u00f2 Paganini (1782-1840), who, as he played a challenging piece of music before a large audience, a string on his violin snapped - yet he continued to play, improvising beautifully. Then, without warning, two more strings broke, and he continued\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/violin-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":98054,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/conversion-of-the-philippian-jailer\/","url_meta":{"origin":98822,"position":5},"title":"Conversion of the Philippian Jailer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Samuel A. Matthews \"Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 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