“The jailer woke up to see the prison gates wide open. Thinking that the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself.” –Acts 16:27 The jailer was sleeping on the job, and woke up to an earthquake. Next, he was about to commit suicide, but Paul, a prisoner, “shouted to him” (Acts 16:28). Paul risked his life to share the Gospel. We have literally thousands of jailers around us. The world is filled with sleeping, shaking, depressed, confused, and suicidal people. We need thousands of Pauls to risk their lives by shouting and singing God’s praises. When we...

“He will bear witness on My behalf. You must bear witness as well.” —John 15:26-27 As we near the end of the fifty day Easter season, we look forward to receiving the Holy Spirit in a new way this Pentecost. When the Spirit comes, He will bear witness for Jesus. He will expect us to bear witness as well (see Acts 1:8). When we witness for Jesus, we will lead many to Christ and transform the world. However, not everyone will accept our witness. Some will reject Jesus and reject us. Some will even persecute us by expelling us from...

“The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were surprised that the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also, whom they could hear speaking in tongues and glorifying God.” –Acts 10:45-46 We are two weeks away from Pentecost, a world-changing, life-changing outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God wants to pour out His Spirit on “all flesh” (see Jl 3:1), including on those like Cornelius who have never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. If we refuse to receive the Holy Spirit in our churches, Jesus will still pour out the Spirit on the...

“Through all this, the congregations grew stronger in faith.” –Acts 16:5 There is a form of exercise called resistance training. Physical endurance and muscle tone is built through encountering resistance and persevering in the exercise despite that resistance. When the person finds it easier to do the exercise, the amount of resistance is then increased until the person can overcome that level as well. Just as exercises build strength through overcoming resistance, so the resistance of persecution can make us stronger disciples of Christ. As the kingdom of darkness increases its resistance to our discipleship efforts, we ask the Lord...

“I no longer speak of you as slaves.” – John 15:15 Jesus calls us, His disciples, “slaves.” Later, He may call us “friends.” To be a friend of Jesus, we must first be His slave. To know what Jesus is doing, we must first obey without knowing what He is doing (Jn 15:15). To be aware of Jesus as Love (1 Jn 4:16), we must first know Him as Lord. God’s Word commands us to “be slaves of Christ the Lord” (Col 3:24). The idea of being anyone’s slave is disturbing to us. We want to keep our independence. However,...