Acts 16 DEVO: Ministry & Persecution...Again

Chapter 16:
As we’ve been reading through Acts, two things that continue to go hand in hand are ministry and persecution. I believe that is at least one of the reasons Jesus told us to count the cost!
After ministering in Derbe, Paul & Silas head to Lystra where they meet a young man named Timothy, who will become a ministry partner with Paul. Because of not wanting to offend Jewish believers, Paul has Timothy circumcised (talk about counting the cost – ouch). So Timothy joins them in ministry and it says again that “…the churches were strengthened in faith and grew daily in number.”
Paul then has a dream of a guy from Macedonia begging him to come tell them about Jesus. He believes this is from the Lord and heads that way. This means the Gospel is now going to reach Europe for the first time, again fulfilling Acts 1:8 “…the ends of the earth.”
Then in Philippi, a lady named Lydia gets saved thru their message. Luke highlights the stories of three individuals who get saved in Philippi: Lydia, an influential businesswoman (14), the demon-possessed slave girl (16-18) and the jailer (27-30). The Gospel was affecting all kinds of people!
But as we’ve seen before, ministry can be met with conflict. Paul commands a demon to come out of a slave girl whose owners were making buck off of because she could tell the future. Now they’re torqued because they’ve lost their source of income so they drag Paul & Silas to town and have them stripped, severely beaten, flogged & thrown into prison! So they get humiliated, get the crud beat out of them and then they……………….pray & sing hymns to God! While this happening there’s an earthquake, the prison doors fly open. The jailer wakes up, thinks everyone has escaped and figures he’d rather kill himself than have the kings men do it. Paul shouts “Don’t harm yourself. We’re all here!” And God uses this event to save the jailer and all his family – Totally Cool!
Chapte 16 concludes with Paul & Silas being released from jail by the magistrates themselves (ha) and then heading once again to meet with fellow believers and encourage them about what God did!
SO WHAT?!
*What is it costing you to follow Jesus? In the USA, usually not much, maybe being made fun of or picked on. But what are we giving up to make Jesus a priority in our lives? He wants to be the hub of our life’s wheel, not just a spoke.
*We read over and over how Paul & his companions made it a point to ENCOURAGE other believers. When was the last time you sent someone a letter, note, email, text, etc… and encouraged them? This week I received a note in the mail from a friend in our church, letting me know he was praying for me and my family and it meant TONS! Take moment today and encourage someone, you never know how deeply your words will penetrate that persons soul!
* Finally, what must we do to be saved? Verse 31 tells us: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved…” Almost sounds to simple doesn’t it? It’s a FREE gift, receive Jesus today if you haven’t already!