Acts 16:16-24: “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination (fortune telling, psychic, medium) met us, which brought her master much gain by soothsaying (profit by fortune telling):

The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved (annoyed) turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains were gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers.

And they brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,

And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being Romans.

And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent (ripped) off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.

And when they had laid many stripes upon them (severely beat with a whip), they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely (demanding he not let them escape)

Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks (secured their feet into stocks).”

This had come to mind yesterday, and I pondered it and then I ended up hearing two others mention other aspects of the account. There are so many things going on in this passage we could preach for a month and never have the same sermon twice.

I will be getting to the meat of it in a bit, but I wanted to first draw your attention to a few facts.

Paul and Silas were doing absolutely nothing wrong.

Actually, they were all going to prayer.

That is all that they were doing, not hassling anyone, not raising a ruckus, as we like to say here in the South if someone is belligerently stirring up trouble.

The servant girl was possessed.

That really gives you some insight when you hear others promote psychics and mediums, it is a spirit of divination and when we as Christians are taught by the Bible that this comes from a demonic spirit.

We should not have to question any further whether or not we should seek such advice or listen to those that do.

Very clearly that answer is no.

Ephesians 5:8-11:” For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of the light:

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth)

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them.“

I’m being kinda flip in my wording here but deadly serious, like if good old uncle Gambo is over there with a certain board asking you to join in, not only do you not but you let him know he needs to stop playing with fire before he gets burned and stay away from him.

Of course, that verse applies to all sin, we are to stay away from it once we have committed our lives to Christ.

And if we are tempted and fall back, we just repent and try it again and we will know to watch out for that snare because we will recognize it the next time it is placed in our path.

Next to notice is that as they were minding their business, working for the kingdom and going to pray, then the enemy rises up in this girl to try to hinder them.

His plan however did not work, not only were they not hindered, but the girl was also freed from that demonic bondage by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Those who had enslaved her were not thrilled to say the least.

As it has been with men since the fall of man, it was all about the money.

Her now being freed from the demonic spirit made her completely useless to her captors as they would make no money from her.

Also note, and I love this, because it mirrors so much of what we see today, we know that the only reason they wanted Paul and Silas arrested was because they cost them some cash and the devil did not want anyone to hear the Gospel and be saved but doesn’t blaming ” these Jews” sound so familiar?
And using their laws and the excuse that they couldn’t break their laws as a reason to have them arrested.

That was the best they could come up with and all they needed to come up with; they played the system for their own purpose such as so many today.

They couldn’t very well say, “We want Paul thrown in jail because he cast a devil out of our servant and cost us money”, but they could say “Oh the Jews are preaching Jesus and we don’t want to break rules by hearing or receiving that teaching, so as good Roman citizens we thought you should know.”

Same old song and dance.

We know the magistrates were happy to oblige, evil digs evil, so they beat them and put them in the most secure part of the prison and put their feet in stocks ensuring their stay.

When the jailer was told to keep them safely, that does not mean that there were to be kept safe and well-treated, this is old English, it meant to keep them captive and to be sure that they did not escape.

The jailer was responsible for them, and it would mean his death if he failed such a task.

We’ll pick it back up:

Acts 16:25-40: And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors of the prison were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed (shackles fell off).

And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison door’s open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled.

But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

Then he called for a light, and sprang (ran) 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?

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house (your family).

And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes (cleansed their lash wounds): and was baptized, he and all his, straightway (immediately).

And when he had brought them into his house, he sat meat (food) before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

And when it was day, the magistrates sent to the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.

And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.

But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being romans, and have sat us into prison; and now do thy thrust us out privily (freeing us in secret)? nay verily, (no) but let the come themselves and fetch us out (take us out)

And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans.

And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired (asked) them to depart out of teh city.

And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.“

So much in that story, there they were beaten and bound but even in that their love for God and his word made their heart rejoice and, in that rejoicing, praying and singing songs of praise in the midst of a prison and God himself answering that praise with the earthquake freeing them all.

What I really love about this is when think about the prisoners hearing them, they heard praises from those wounded and falsely imprisoned and instead of hearing cursing, and threatening of revenge they heard the songs of Zion and in that earthquake the very foundation of that prison was shaken, and we know that once a foundation is cracked the fall soon follows.

And the shackles fell off all that were there.

Not just Paul and Silas, but all that were is that same prison, whether they were there as Paul and Silas, under persecution or if they were there because of wrongful deeds, it did not matter because the shackles were removed from all.

Sounds just like Jesus doesn’t it?

Luke 4:18:” The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering the sight of the blind, and set at liberty them that are bruised.”

The love of God, the love of God is what prevented Paul form letting the jailer commit suicide and think about him being imprisoned beaten and bound and yet, he did not want to see this man kill himself, that was some serious compassion.

This worked to save not only the jailer but his family also.

The Lord making even enemies be at peace, the magistrates deciding to let them go and Paul replying with not so.

Paul was Jewish but he was also Roman and what they had did to them was illegal, so he just refused to go until they came themselves, acknowledging their actions.

But they were freed and they were freed in peace.

Psalms 34:15 “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cries.”

There is no place on this earth or in this universe that he does not hear his children, be it cries, be it praise and never underestimate the power of his Holy Spirit and the deliverance He will bring.

Love & Peace to you tonight.

Φλογιζω NBJ 2026 Rev. N Brown Johnson