It says, a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. I don't know how many of you are planners. I am a planner. I like to plan it, I like to know what's gonna happen. Life doesn't often work out that way. And this week, it hasn't. We were very excited to be able to come to the Anchorage, and then we put it out for the last couple months to ask, is anyone want to be baptized. You haven't been baptized since you were saved. Would you like to do that? We're going to have an entire link at our disposal and so we make plans and the individual who want to be baptized travels constantly for work and his truck broke down in Louisiana and he called me Friday and he isn't going to be able to be here. So, we aren't going to be able to have a baptism that I know of The Lord had me study this this week for a reason. So, we're still going to talk about salvation and baptism because it's important. It's foundational to our faith. So, I'm going to ask you to turn to Acts 16 and I'm going to be there with you in a moment. At our church, we normally go through a book of the Bible. usually verse by verse, chapter by chapter. So Acts was I think the third book that we worked through and most of the people who come to our church now weren't there when we did it back in 2016 to 2018. But I love the book of Acts. It is exciting to read about the continued ministry of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, through the apostles in the first century church. And beginning in chapter 13, I know we're just jumping in here, but in chapter 13, Barnabas and Saul, And later Paul and Silas went out on what we call a missionary journey. So if we go to chapter 13, we're on the second missionary journey. This is Paul and Silas. And this is one of their first stops. In fact, this is their first stop in what we would call Europe. So they are visiting the city of Philippi, which is a Roman colony. And that brings us to Acts 16. And this chapter highlights the stories of three individuals. God knows each one of us by name, and so much of the Bible is a story of individuals, people he knows, people he's called, people in whose lives he has worked. And in this case, we're gonna talk about two of the three today. But we have someone whose name the Bible gives us, and that's Lydia. And then we have someone whose name the Bible doesn't give us, and that's the guy who's in charge of the prison. The Philippian jailer is what we usually call it. So to provide context so that we know what's going on, maybe you haven't read it in a while, there may be somebody here who's never heard this. I'm going to read verses 11 at the end of the chapter. But I'm not going to try to preach all of that. I will do two smaller sections. But I'd like you to follow along. If you found your place, maybe you have it on your phone or tablet or you have your library with you, would you stand please? And I'm going to read for us. beginning in verse 11. Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Semaphores, and the next day came to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days, and on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made. And we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now, a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. It happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl, possessed with a spirit of divination, met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us and cried out, saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, these men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city. And they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together against them. The magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in socks. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice saying, do yourself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he sat before them and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. And when it was day, the magistrate sent the officers sent to let you go. Now, therefore, depart and go in peace. But Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No, indeed, let them come themselves and get us out. And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out and asked them to depart from the city. So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. Would you pray with me, please? Our Father, how wonderful your word is. How much we enjoy reading these stories. Lord, they're not just stories. This isn't fiction. This really happened. And you were really at work in the lives that these people were reading about. And you were really working miracles, and you were really saving souls. So Lord, as we spend these next moments together studying these individuals, would you give us understanding Father, I'm asking that you would anoint my lips by your Holy Spirit, that I would be able to teach accurately and say exactly what you once said today. And for each one of us, that you would give us ears to hear and hearts that are ready and willing to respond and to obey. Please guide us. This is your Word. It is powerful. and what you have done to meet that need. So help us, we pray. Accomplish your will during this time, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. Be seated. Each week I normally share one, two, three, sometimes more main points that I want everyone to remember, to latch on to, to think about. And today I have two for you from what I just read. Number one, the gospel is for everyone, but each person must believe. The gospel is for everyone, but each person must believe. Number two, believers demonstrate their faith through baptism as a first baptism as a first step of obedience. Today, in addition to those two main points, I have a call to action for all of us. This is what I'd like you to do with what I'm going to teach this morning. Know, believe, and rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Know, believe, and rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Would you say that out loud with me, please? Know, believe, and rejoice in the gospel of Each Sunday morning, I pray through the individuals who are members of or normally come to our church. And I often pray for something in connection with the sermon. Sometimes not. I just kind of ask the Lord, what should I be praying? Because I normally pray the same thing for each person by name. And this is what I've prayed for each person in our church family this morning, that we would know the gospel, that we would believe the gospel, and we would rejoice in the gospel. about Jesus. Here's how the Apostle Paul explained it in 1 Corinthians 15. For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received. What was that? That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. That doesn't sound like good news, necessarily. Somebody died? There's a little more to it than that. Let's talk about Christ, because there he calls him Christ. That's a title, actually, rather than a name. But the good news is about a person. That person is Jesus. That's what we commonly call him. That was his name, St. Joshua, Jesus. He is the Son of God. He has always existed as the Son of God. So when we think of God, and when we create everything we see, we think of him as three persons. We have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We're not going to talk We'll talk about all of them someday, but Jesus is God's son. And we call him Jesus because even though he's been the son of God forever and ever in the past, he came, and we commonly celebrate that at Christmas time, when he was born. God, he's been God forever and ever, came as a man. Why would he want to do that? If you were God, would you want to come be one of us? I wouldn't. But he did. He came to be our Savior. Matthew 1 describes him, you will call his name Jesus, which means the Lord saves. Why? Because because Jesus is a rescuer. Some of you are lifeguard trained, because you are out there in the lake keeping people safe all the time. If you prefer lifeguard training, He's a savior, he's a rescuer, he's a lifeguard. He saves. He saves from what? I don't know. He saves from sin. Well, what's that? Sin is anything that I think, say, or do that goes against God's law. Because like I said a moment ago, God created everything that we see. He created each one of us in this room. He created the world around us. And because he did that, he gets to make the rules. And in our church congregation, we have spent the last year studying through Exodus. So we spent a long time talking through the Ten Commandments. But most of us can relate, if you've ever told a lie, if you've ever stolen something, then you've broken one of God's laws. And so whether you admit it or not, whether you know it or not, we've all broken at least one, probably many of God's laws. And that means we have a problem. What's the problem? The problem is sin. And sin has a consequence. I don't know if growing up at your house, there were consequences if you disobeyed your parents, but there were at my house. And there's a consequence for breaking any of God's laws. And most of you don't even know what it is. What is it? Death. Romans 6.23 says the wages, the consequences, the payment for sin is death. What I deserve, my paycheck for sin is death. Because I sinned, I deserve to die. That doesn't mean that if I tell a lie, I'm gonna drop dead right here. It's actually much worse than that. If I die without placing my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, I'm gonna be separated from God forever. It's a spiritual death. But in that verse I just read, there's good news, because Romans 6.23 continues, the wages of sin, the penalty of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. There's that name again, Christ Jesus. And there's the good news, that it's the gift of God. How do you like any gifts? Okay, the rest of you, I'll take yours, that's fine. Normally we like receiving things, especially if it's something that we need or want. Jesus to give us what we most need. To give us a relationship with Him. To solve our sin problem. To cancel our sin debt. That's what He's done for us. Someone had to die for my sin and Jesus, God's Son, who came to be a perfect sinless man, did that for me. He died in my place. That's what the choir was singing about just a few minutes ago. A verse that you've probably heard before describes this. It's John 3, 16. There it is on the screen. Why don't we say this out loud together? For God so loves the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What does that say? How do I get everlasting life according to that verse? How do I not die and be separated from God forever? That's another way to ask that question. You what? Make you believe. You believe what? You believe there's a God? Somebody was answering that back here. What'd you say? In Him. So if I believe in God, I'm good. Not exactly. James tells us that the devil, demons, believe in God. They tremble, they're afraid of Him. So we need to believe something What does the verse say? God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him. What about him do you think I should believe? Remember what I was saying a minute ago about Jesus? That he's the rescuer, he's the lifeguard? I have to believe that I'm a sinner and that he's the savior. I have to believe that I have a problem and that he's the solution. But it's really that simple. And I believe that he is the Savior of the world, and that I need Him to save me, and I cry out to Him, He's gonna do it. He's gonna save me, and I'm gonna have eternal life, everlasting life, be with Him forever. Our call to action that I gave you is to know, believe, and rejoice in the Gospel. So now we've reviewed what it is. Everybody in the room, if you were paying attention, you know, have some idea of, And we talked a little bit about believing it, and that's why I've been claiming that you would believe it, that you would rejoice in it. Because some of you are wondering, I thought we were doing Acts. Are you ever going to get there? Yes. Now we're going to get there. We're going to go to Acts right now, and I'm going to pick it up here in verse 13. Paul and his team knew God had called them to Philippi. But here's the thing. It was a Roman colony, and there was no church there yet. It wasn't that they... got out their phones and said, okay, church is near me in Philippi. It wouldn't have come up with anything, not the churches the way we're thinking of it anyway. This would become the first one there. But they had to seek the Lord's will to know when and where to begin. For those of you who aren't familiar with our church, Living Word Bible Church, we are almost 11 years old. So, God directed our family to come from Maryland, where I was on staff at a church up there, and we began a church in Leland. But, that's a long process, and I won't go through the whole story right now, but the Lord showed us where we were supposed to come. He orchestrated when we were supposed to come. Great, now we're here. Now what do we do? We had to pray through, work through, and figure out, okay, what's it going to look like? So, we began with a Bible study in our house. We got here in February, started with a Bible study in our home in April, and started meeting on Sundays in September of that year. And the Lord put things together. And I believe, even though we don't have details, that's what he was doing for them here, that he directed them to the right spot at the right time, introduced them to the right person, in this case Lydia and those who were with her, God creates a baby church. That's what we're reading about here. Let's look. Verse 13, and on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Why'd they have to go out of the city? Well, I read in one source that in a Roman colony, they weren't allowed to have a church within the city limits, so they were outside the city. Why'd they go to a river? Apparently that was a common place for prayer, because it says where prayer was customarily made, they were expecting to find a prayer meeting going on of some kind, and who was there? It says the women. And he did that here. That's all that was there. Traditionally, we know that there probably wasn't a synagogue. That's, I think of a Jewish church. I know that's not the right terminology, but that makes it easy for us. There wasn't one there yet, because you had to have at least 10 believing Jewish men in order to have a synagogue, and there doesn't seem to be one. So there aren't men there, but there are some women, and they're there, and they're praying. And so he goes out to see where prayer is being made, And he finds these women. There was a certain woman, verse 14 tells us, named Lydia. She heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, and she worshipped God. So what do you know about her? Her name's Lydia. She's a Gentile. She is a God-fearer, we could say. She has some knowledge that there is one true God. We would call Him the Creator God. She has some knowledge of that. We also know that she was a dealer of purple cloth, and that was expensive at the time, so she probably has some financial means. It also seems that she has a big enough house to house the four-person mission team. So she may have been well off financially as well. But here's what I want you to see. This woman who worshiped God, who was out there with the other women outside the city praying, verse 14 says, the Lord opened her heart to heed. Or we can say, respond to. the things spoken by Paul. That's a huge statement. The Lord opened her heart. Did Paul open her heart to the gospel? They say no. No, Paul didn't open her heart. Did Silas or Luke or Timothy open her heart to the gospel? No. Did she open her own heart to the gospel? No. Who opens hearts to the gospel? God does, through the work of his Holy Spirit. Her part was to listen, because it said that she heard what they said, and then to believe it, to accept it, to claim it. One of our missionary friends adopted a simple three-step process for evangelism years ago. He says, pray, meet people, and tell them about Jesus. Pray, meet people, tell them about Jesus. I think it's brilliantly simple. We have to begin with prayer. And I'm talking to myself right now, too. If we never pray for lost people, we're not going to talk to lost people about the gospel. Are you praying for friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates around you? Is there somebody that you're burdened for right now that you want that person to know and believe the gospel that we've been talking about? Why is it the end of prayer? Because it's the work of the Lord. It's not up to, I have this great technique, or I got this new app, or I'm so persuasive. It's the power of God at the salvation. And I share it, the word of God, and by faith, people believe it, they accept it. Jesus said in John 6, 44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. So we need to pray that God will do a work, prepare the person that we're praying for. Jesus can open hearts. That's what he did for the disciples who were walking with him on the road to Emmaus. That's in Luke chapter 24. He opened their understanding that they might comprehend or understand the scriptures. I heard that he would do that for somebody here today or somebody who joined us online. I understand it. I get it. I believe it. God can do that. He will do that. What did she believe? What did she open her heart to and heed? The things spoken by Paul. And I want to point out that word, spoken, simply because it's not that he got up and gave this long sermon. This isn't like Peter, earlier in the book, preaching and 3,000 people got saved. It's not that. It's as he talked with her. with her. They just had a conversation. Like you do in the break room at work. Like you do on the playground in school. Like we were talking about earlier in the Great Commission. While you're going, make disciples. So they're speaking and she's listening and God's working. And the Lord opened her heart and she became the first convert to Christ in Europe. in a continent, there has to be a first convert, a first person to come to Christ in your family. Back when we were studying this, eight years ago or whatever, there was a lady coming, and she was the only person saved in her family. And so, since then, we've prayed for her and her husband and her kids. They have three kids now. It has to be first. If there are going to be any, it has to be first. Are you praying that God would allow you to share the gospel with somebody who becomes the first Christian, the first believer in that family, in that household? God can do that. He does that. We have it right here. And when He saves one, He can bring many others to Him through that one. The gospel is for everyone, but each person must believe. Lydia had to accept that and believe it, put her faith in Jesus as Savior, the risen Christ. And then believers demonstrate their faith through baptism as a first step of obedience. Look at verse 15. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. She was baptized. She publicly identified with the message that she had received. She wanted everybody to know, this is what I believe now. And if you look at it, she's also serving them right away, wants to show hospitality to them, which is wonderful. So Lydia and some of her other members of her household, as it said, and her household. So whoever else, whether that was family, children, servants, whoever else made up her household, who was old enough to understand and believe the gospel, believed it and was baptized. That's what's happened so far. Now we're going to skip ahead in the narrative and focus on the Philippian jailer. But to review, in the section that we're skipping, a demon-possessed slave girl who brought a great deal of money for her owners by what we would call fortune-telling, began following Paul and Silas around. And we read what she kept saying over and over, crying out after her. Eventually, Paul turned around and cast the demon out of her. And that act enraged her owners, her masters, her employers, who saw their source of income vanish. And they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the magistrates. And that brings us to verse 22. So that's where I'm going to pick it up now, verse 22. Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, demanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks. Now we know that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, and that comes into the story later, where we finished up our scripture reading earlier. But the officials didn't know that, so we have this mob, this multitude of people, and we have the magistrates. What are those? Those are two judges that were appointed to each Roman colony. So we don't know their names, don't know anything about them. We know there were two of them. And in this case, they did not uphold Roman justice. There should have been an investigation. There should have been a trial. They should have been doing it by the book, and they were not. They were winging it, and they were letting the mob have its way, because these individuals who had been making money off this slave girl were mad and stirred everybody else up. So how did they punish them? They were beaten. This was an illegal punishment for a Roman, a Roman citizen, and Paul and Silas are Roman citizens. And then, after they had beaten them to a pulp, it says, with rods. So they beat them, we have no idea how many times, they're just beating them over and over, that's what the verb tenses say. Then, they turned him over to the jailer, commanding the jailer to keep them securely, so he's gonna put them in his maximum security area of his prison. Some people think this was a dungeon. That there were outer cells that would have had some airflow. This was the innermost. This would be nasty, dark, dungeons. The most secure part of the prison. That is probably where they were put. And it says they, he fastened their feet in the stops. This was basically torture. It was designed to cause cramping. Now remember, their backs had been beaten to a pulp. And now they're sitting on probably some sort of little rail, nothing behind them. And their feet, if you can imagine, a big old comb. They stretched their legs as far apart as they could and then crammed it down in there and then would put a bar over it so they couldn't get their legs out. Because when I say stocks, some of you are thinking the fun thing that you did at Williamsburg when you stuck your head through and got your picture. This was a torture device. So you have a picture, Paul and Silas, believers in Jesus, trying to spread the gospel in Europe. They have seen Lydia and her household come to Christ, and they've had this weird thing going on with this demon-possessed girl, and now they're being punished. They've been beaten. They're being tortured. They're probably there, just the two of them, in the dark, in the innermost part of the prison. Do you have a picture? What would you do at that point? Some of us might be crying, might be sniffling and maybe feeling sorry for ourselves. What did they do? Verse 25. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loose. What were they doing? Having been tortured, being tortured, what are they doing? They're praying, I wouldn't have done that, and they're singing hymns to God, singing hymns to God. Not about God, they're singing hymns directly to God. It doesn't seem like they were angry over what had happened. Instead, they were praising him in their extremely difficult circumstances, probably the worst that most of us will ever face. And here's the thing, they're singing to God, but who is overhearing them? Did you see that? The prisoners. The prisoners were listening. The other prisoners heard their hymns to God. And this is often true in our lives. I don't say this in a scary way, but there's usually somebody watching you. There's somebody seeing how you live, how you come and go in your neighborhood families. and individuals, they see you. And if you're walking with the Lord, they see a difference in you. So in this case, Paul and Silas, definitely walking with the Lord, definitely Holy Spirit-empowered prayer and singing were listening to what was probably a lot more powerful by that point than any sermon they could have preached. Because it was how they were living in a very difficult situation with a huge trial. And then what happens? Suddenly there's a great earthquake. This is supernatural. There are earthquakes in that part of the world, but the timing of this and the way doors open, this is very much God at work, doing a miracle. And verse 27 says, and the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword, and was about to kill himself. Why would he do that? Because in Roman society, it was his life or theirs. If he was assigned to prisoners, in this case, the two we specifically know about are Paul and Silas, If they got away on his watch, he will be executed. His life for theirs. So rather than go through that, he's thinking, I'm just gonna kill myself. You see it there? He was about to kill himself in verse 27 says. I'm just gonna pause there for a minute. You can be a believer in Jesus Christ like Paul and Silas. And I think it's a lot more common than some of us may realize. If you've experienced it, you know. The hope they found that night was in Jesus Christ. They were singing hymns to God. In spite of, we may die tomorrow, we may die tonight. But then we see an unbeliever, the jailer, and he says, my life is over anyway, I'm just gonna end it all. And thankfully he didn't, because what happened? They called out to him. Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, do yourself no harm, stop! We are all here. Why do you suppose they were all there? Maybe they were scared too, maybe that's why. Maybe Paul and Silas had said, everybody stay right in place, don't go anywhere. I don't know how it happened, but God brought it about that they were all there. Verse 29, then he, that's the jailer, called for a light, ran in and fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas, and he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Look at that question, what must I do to be saved? That's how he responds. You think God was at work in his heart already? A minute ago, he was ready to end his life. He's done, he's hopeless. He thinks that the Romans are gonna kill him because of the jailbreak. And what gets offered to him? Amazing hope. He doesn't know what he's asking for, I don't think. But I think the Holy Spirit's working in his life and says, what must I do to be saved? Think about when you first heard and responded to the gospel. How did God prepare you? What is he doing right now in this moment to prepare you? What must I do to be saved? I've never had anyone ask me that in that way. I don't know if any of you have. But if somebody did ask you, what would you say? If somebody came up to you and said, how do you get saved? We had our soccer camp outreach, and one of my favorite conversations in the entire week was last night, A third grader, I think, came up to me and said, how do you go to church? I like that question. So if somebody were to come up and ask you, how do you get saved? Would you know how to tell them? What do I need to do to be saved? What did Paul and Silas tell them? Did they say, you need to join a church? Better yet, you need to give to a church. No, they didn't say that. You need to straighten your life out. You need to stop sinning. Did they say that? Or, in our context, you need to go out there and be baptized right now. None of those is going to save, is it? Salvation is a person. Salvation is believing in Jesus. So what did they say in verse 31? They said, believe, that's the action word, that's the imperative, that's the command. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. Believe in who he is, believe in what he has done. I like the Gospel of John. After we finish Exodus, on the other side, we're going to teach through 1st, 2nd, 3rd John. But I like John's writing. And he often tells you in his books why he wrote it. And here's why he wrote the Gospel of John, John chapter 20. And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book, verse 31, but these are written, why? That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name. You see that? He's saying, I wrote down this Gospel, this good news about Jesus, this account of his life and ministry, so that you would believe in Him. Because if you believe in Him as your Savior, you have life, eternal life, in His name. And then, back in our verse in Acts, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, and your household. That doesn't mean that if the jailer prays and asks God to save him, that the entire household is saved. That's not what it means. But in the same way we saw with Lydia, as many as will understand and believe the gospel who are in your household, they will be saved as well. The gospel is for everyone, but each person must believe. And then believers demonstrate their faith through baptism as a first step of obedience. We see it here again, verse 32. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house, And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. So he's tending to their needs. But then it says, and immediately he and all his family, and I believe that's all who believed, were baptized. They were showing by an action what they believed inside. What did Lydia and all the believing members of her household do right after they were saved? They were baptized. What did the jailer and all the believing members of his household do right after they were saved? They were baptized. Isn't that hard? We can do this. And then how does it end? Verse 34. Now, when he had brought them into his house, the jailer, he set food equipment. He gave them a meal. And what does it say? He rejoiced. He rejoiced. Why? Because he believed in God with all his household. First, Paul and Silas rejoiced. That was praying, singing hymns to God. And then the jailer is miraculously saved, and he rejoices, and his household. That is the right response to belief in Jesus Christ, that the person who has been saved is gonna rejoice, but the people around him will rejoice. Didn't Jesus say that in his parable? that there's joy in the presence of the angels of God when one sinner repents, turns from sin and turns to Christ. So, what am I asking you to do next? To know, believe, and rejoice in the gospel. To know, to believe, to rejoice in the gospel. Do you know the gospel? If you've stayed awake through this, you've heard it multiple times, that Jesus is the Savior. He's the rescuer from sin by disobedience. It's not enough to know that Jesus existed or believe he was a good teacher or worked miracles. I have to believe not even just that he's the Savior of the world. That's good, that's true. That he's my Savior. If I'm out there drowning in a lake right now and I know that you all have lifeguards in here, that does me very little good. I need that one lifeguard who's on duty to come rescue me. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? In a moment, I'm going to pray and close this part of our service. But before I do, I'd like to give an opportunity to respond. Because I've shared the good news about Jesus with everybody here. I've reminded you of it. Most of you are very familiar with it. But I would like to ask if there's anyone here with heads bowed, eyes closed, is there anyone here who would say, Bob, I've been listening today and I've never believed on Jesus as my Savior. I'm concerned about that. Maybe you'd like to know more about it or maybe you're ready to pray to Him right now. But if that describes you, if you are concerned about your soul and you'd like me to remember you when I pray in a moment, I would be glad to do that. And here's what I'd like you to do, let me know that you are willing, that you're thinking that way. Would you simply look up at me and make eye contact with me, long enough for me to know that that describes you, that you are concerned for your soul, and that you'd like me to pray for you? I'm not gonna make you or call you or make you do anything else, stand up. I just wanna know, so I can pray for you. Those of you who are believers, those of you who believe the gospel, rejoicing in it? It can become really familiar to us. We still need to rejoice in it. Rejoin our hearts. Are you burdened for others around you? Is there somebody, as soon as I started talking about that earlier in the service, somebody came to your mind, I want to share the gospel with this person. I need to call or text or write a letter or go talk to that person. So if you're a believer and God has spoken to you about the gospel, either sharing it or rejoicing in it, and you'd like me to remember you in prayers, I'd be glad to do that as well. If you want me to remember you, would you slip your hand up and back down long enough for me to remember you? rejoicing and singing hymns to you in a time of great trial. Lord, I pray for anyone who maybe I'm lying today or might be in this room who has not yet believed the gospel, that you would work in that person's heart. Lord, for those who have said that you've worked in their heart about sharing the gospel with somebody or rejoicing in their own salvation, would you please work? through the work that only you can do. We will rejoice in what you do and thank you for it.