A Desperate Cry For Salvation Acts 16 Rev.

Alcenir Oliveira 26/06/2011 OVER VIEW OF PHILLIPI FACTS Paul and his assistant missionaries, Silas, Timothy and Luke are now in Philippi. In every city they arrived Paul led them to a Synagogue. However, in Philippi there was none. Then, they searched for a Jewish place of prayer. The Jews used to get together, historically, in the temple, or in a Synagogue, or in a Place of Prayer to worship, to pray, to teach or learn, and to have fellowship. The first thing they used to do was to preach and teach in a Synagogue or in a Place of Prayer. They found a place by the river. While in the city, they went every Saturday to that place. By the river, Lydia, a woman that will become a key person in that ministry comes to Christ. In his two books, Luke lists a gallery of women that come to Christ. Most of them were busy women. In the Roman Empire women were given more freedom to act in the society independently. After this event, we are going to see Damaris in Athens and Priscilla in Corinth and Ephesus.

It was in the walkway to the place of prayer that something is going to happen to trigger a commotion that is going to become one of the most important results of their mission reach out. A girl with a spirit of fortune telling follows them saying exactly who they were and their mission: servants of the most high, announcing the way of salvation. The most High was known as the God of Israel and the way of salvation was a common expression of the Greek religions. But here the true way of salvation was been witnessed by a spirit. We saw in the Gospel Jesus arriving in Jerasene where the impure spirits confess who He was. Satan knows Jesus, believes who Jesus is and fears Him. Paul delivers her from that spirit and creates a conflict because their masters had profit with her work. To shorten the story they are thrown in Jail and we follow the read text.

AN ACT OF DESPERATION, A STEP TO SALVATION After being waken up by the earthquake and noticing that all doors were wide open, the jailer get ready to a spectacular suicide. I imagine his surprise hearing Paul and Silas voices crying out don't harm you. When the power of God manifests, whoever feel it bow down to

worship. That is what the jailer did, before the apostles. To this act, follow the most meaningful and important question in the whole Bible: What I need to do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, you and your household. Are you convicted of your salvation, can you positively affirm that you are saved?

SAVED FROM WHAT, FROM WHOM AND TO WHOM? One of the basics of the two great awakenings in the United States in the eighteen and nineteen centuries was the conviction of sin. The word preached focused the depravation of humanity. Human being is lost in its sinful nature. One of the great principles of rights is the conscience that one's act is a crime, is lawfully forbidden, and is against the will of society. That is why whenever the court finds out that a suspect is mentally ill he can not be condemned, because he has no conscience that what he did was wrong. His notion of wrong and right is deformed. The first step to start the process of salvation is to acknowledge the understanding of what and whom one's being saved from.

The jailer in the story of Philippi was saved from many circumstances. Some say that he was a centurion, a high educated and socially posted military guy; conscious of what is right and wrong, what is good and bad. People are saved:
1.

From the consequences of sin Sin separated us from living in holiness in the presence of God. Doesn't matter if you are good, bad, merciful, generous, hospitable or helpful. It doesn't disqualify you as a sinner. It is in your blood, in your nature, your sinful nature. David says I was born in sin, and in sin my mother conceived me. The reward of sin is death. When we acknowledge our sinful nature, we are prepared to be dispensed forgiveness if we want and ask for. The Jailer became sure that the power of God was manifested, and for some human reasons he didn't deserve to come to God, and he didn't know how. Are you saved from sin?

2.

From self If we live according to our needs, desires and perspectives, we will be led into trouble. James says that even the faithful believers sometimes are challenged to search the help of God for fulfill their most mundane desires aroused by their selfishness. He says that the believers of his church were praying and not receiving

because they were making wrong petition. We have to be careful because selfishness can throw us in hell, hell of troubles while we are living, or in hell forever after death. Jesus Christ is offering to save us from ourselves. Are you saved from yourself?

3.

From God Because we are sinner and we are subject to the wrath of God. The day of the Lord has always been a sure thing for the people of God. Living on ourselves and far from the will of God defines our destiny. In Jesus Christ, we are brought back to God and we are saved from the purpose of being punished in the Judgment. By accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as sufficient for purify us, we are saved from God. Are you saved from God.

4.

To God When we believe in Jesus as our savior, we are rescued back to God, we become part of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are given by God to Jesus and he affirms that once we accept his free offer, his grace, He will never let us go. When we are received by Jesus, we become family of God in Him, we become co-heirs with Jesus. Are you member of the family of God in Jesus Christ?

A commitment with Jesus Christ

If you answered these questions, I have to affirm that you belong to Christ, to his kingdom, to the family of God. If so, you mean that you believe what He says and what has been said by the church about Him, and that you are willing and ready to trust your lives to Him. Doing this commitment, you need to be in action in the Kingdom of Christ. Some people may say that they are not able to take action. However, action may mean that you are willing to learn how to grow in the Kingdom. At least four steps you have to take:

1.

First, you must join a Christian Church. It is clear in the Bible that we cannot live our Christian lives alone, separated from the community of the new covenant. We become part of a movement; the church is like a living organism. The Bible says that the church is the body of Christ and we are the members. In John 15, Jesus said that he is the vine and we are the branches. As branches of this vine, we've got to be vigorous, to be productive. Therefore, only connected to one another we will grow as a whole. When we believe in Jesus Christ we are transformed through a new birth, we become temple of

the Holy Spirit. Then, from that moment on we start to belong to the body Christ, to the His kingdom, to the family of God.

2.

Second, you must learn the foundations, the principles of the Christian faith, belief and behavior. To believe, accept and turn to Jesus is a new birth, we become other person. However, we are like babies. We don't know what this business of being a Christian is. It is necessary to engage in the fellowship of the saints. The brothers and sisters are responsible to teach you, to feed us with spiritual nurture.

3.

Third, you have to engage in daily spiritual exercise. It is proved that if we don't have a minimum physical exercise daily we are doomed to have a weak body for life. To be strong Christians we have be nurtured by the Word, by reading it, meditating in it, by hearing it, by talking about it, by sharing the blessings of its teachings in the family of God. And as we grow up spiritually, we have to reflect to the society who we are, what is in us and what and whom we belong to.

4.

Fourth, you must take part in some specific Christian activity. As

a member of the Kingdom, all work and activity is Christian because they are done by the hands and behavior of a new being. However, there some more specific acts that qualifies us as Christian. We become more hospitable, more concerned with the needs of humanity. And further to this, we wish the Gospel of Christ to reach the ends of the earth, to be preached to all human kind.