Now THAT'S a worship service!

Acts 16:16-34 (TNIV) -

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”

18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar

21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.

24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.

28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.

30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

My thoughts -

The first part of this story reminds me of the story told in Matthew 5 and in Luke 8 where Jesus casts demons out of a tormented man who calls himself Legion and into a herd of pigs. What may be one person's healing is the destruction of another's economy. Jesus was asked to leave that island. Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail.

While Paul and Silas are in jail they have a worship service. During this worship service an earthquake hits and everyone's chains come off and the doors fly open. If you recall from Acts 12 this is a bad thing for the jailer. When Peter miraculously escaped the jailer was killed for it. This isn't one prisoner escaping, but the entire prison. The jailer knows what's up and he's going to kill himself over it.

Now, this must have been one heck of a worship service, because no one left it. Not even for an earthquake. Not even though it was in a prison and freedom was only a few steps away. When the jailer is informed of this I guess he has been moved from the entire experience, for he not only asks for salvation but celebrates his and his entire family's salvation by inviting everyone other to his home for a meal.

Now THAT'S a worship service!