Acts 16:29 “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,”

Acts 16:30 “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Acts 16:31 “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

Acts 16:32 “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.”

You know how easy it is to get saved, dear reader?

… “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

Yes, it’s that simple, it was for me, and I’ve seen it be for others.

It can be for you too.

Who would have thought that such a simple seed of truth has all the information contained within it to begin a life that goes forever! All the information from God you ever need, like a little seed is contained in the gospel… Jesus died for your sins, you trust in him to save you from your sins, he will… and the rest of your existence is growth and discovery of how great his love is.

You have no idea what you’re missing out on! Sure, perhaps you don’t understand how believing on the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from sins could change anything… how is that going to change your life… well I could tell you, but you will never ever the least bit know until you step in.

He knows when you truly place your faith and trust in him. And HE will change your life “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.”

Tonight or today, as you read this, you’re either saved or lost. You’ve got all of it or none of it. You’re all in, or all out. You’re a have or a have not. I know we all like to live in grey areas, but there is only light and darkness, and a perfect divide between.

Did you know you could be saved right now? You could “send it” because God sent his Son for this purpose. This is a prayer God hears and answers. You know the saying “Godsend” comes from the fact God sent his Son? Your salvation is as close as the words you use, even when you use his name to curse, when his name is blessed forever.

We treat God like an idiot so much of our lives, but the day we get serious, the day we drop the sham and the scam, and from the heart pray “God be merciful to me a sinner”… he would change your life in a heartbeat “Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.”

God could change your life forever tonight, so that even while this world lies in darkness, and that won’t be changing until Jesus returns as he promised, yet even now his light could rise on you, sunlight could break out in your soul dispelling the darkness as the glorious rays of the Sun of righteousness so brilliantly pierce the gloom of a life so long sealed to stony sin.

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Why would you choose sin over Jesus? Is it really that good? Is the alcohol, the vomit and headache and peer pressure and money, is the sex, the drugs, the envy, the selfishness, the rage, the hatred, the bitterness, the lust, the pride, the grind, the uselessness, the pointlessness, the repetition and futility of life really all that good? Sin and this world doesn’t love you like Jesus does.

…In Acts 16, the apostle Paul had preached JESUS at Phillipi. Not religious junk, not wisdom of man stuff, not denomination and church traditions… he’d preached Jesus.

If you’re in a position of any influence as a claiming Christian, there’s some lost souls out there really needing you to stop playing your religious games and start living and breathing and obeying Jesus.

But it was because there was a cost to it. Look, everytime I bring up Jesus to someone I’m chancing their reaction, the CROSS of Christ is offensive to this world, but that’s because the world are offenders, not because the message of the gospel isn’t so marvelously full of grace, love, hope, mercy and truth. And many times, it is surprising, people know if you care about their soul. Yeah, haters of God will hate, big deal, what are they gonna do about God … but there are plenty of souls out there ready for Jesus.

At Phillipi, Paul didn’t get a thank you card for preaching Jesus…

He got chucked in jail, his mate with him. This world has always been so hostile to preaching Jesus, and your local church knows this, that’s why they don’t. They put on events, programs, getaways, conferences as they dance around the costly cross… they try to be relatable and make you like them, but their service is sadly really a disservice…. because if they don’t tell you about Jesus, whos gonna? “If my people, which are called by my name…”

But the Lord was far ahead, as he always is, although we don’t see it right now as we are stuck here in time… but God had the Philippian jailers salvation in mind all along! Let’s lift up our eyes a bit and see what God could do with the situations of life we are in, there is salvation in the circumstances… even if the situations are horrid!

Get this, the gospel is for ordinary folk. It’s for you and for me. Pretty ordinary! And what we go through, God in his mercy takes us through, so we can relate better to real people living real lives. If we start seeing people as God sees them, if we keep salvation central to our minds, we would find our day goes differently. Think of all the people you could tell about Jesus! That’d make you stand out in a few minds! You want to be memorable?… be the Jesus guy or girl, you will be unforgettable, because everything else is a blob of same same.

Paul and Silas were threatened, beaten and imprisoned… but that night in the prison, they sang praises to God, songs of praise to their Saviour that reached down deep into and shook the very hearts of the prisoners and far more than the impending earthquake ever could.

Sometimes it’s how we go through life trial’s that produces the most profound effects on those watching our lives. Your life speaks very loudly when they see your God is as much God of the valleys as he is the hills.

And in jail that night, as Paul and Silas sang, a mighty earthquake shook the prison… and the jailer drew out his sword to take his own life, because he thought surely all the prisoners would have escaped…

But Paul and Silas had stayed put, with all the prisoners, and the jailer came in and said… can I have what you have? See, he saw what people need to see in your life… supernatural power. Not xfiles style, how about supernatural power to forgive, to love, to show mercy, to live heavenly while we are so earthly… to tell someone about Jesus. And he asked Paul and Silas… What do I need to do to have what you’ve got? See, you need to stop trying to be liked and relatable, and being so same as everyone else, because if you’ve got the same and are the same, there’s nothing that anyone needs from you. Do people see JESUS in you? Not your church credentials and your religious resume, does JESUS live in your heart, is he with you wherever you go?

“What must I do to be saved?” What a question! And Paul told him. He didn’t give him a riddle.

If someone asked you how to be saved, how would you answer that?

And when someone got shaken, when their little bit of earth quaked, would they come to you for the answers? Do they know you have the word of God and power of God? In a world where so many people are about to choose death like this jailer, can you like Paul hold forth life? Can you give assurance for anxiety? Peace for perplexity? Calm for calamity? Foundation for the fearful and failing and falling? Can you give direction to those in darkness?

How much is God going to have to shake your life to get your attention? This little bit of earth will have to quake a bit before it questions. It is when the illusion that you’re in control of anything is decimated, it’s when you realize how lacking you are, that you are ready to be saved “what must I do to be saved?”

What is so sad is that until you get saved, you have no idea what you’re missing out on. I know you can look at professing Christians and say ugh. And fair enough, but often professing Christians also lack as much as you do, very sad to say. But I’m sure God has put one person somewhere in your life who you know they got it, and you don’t.

And you have no idea what you’re missing out on, because until you’re saved, you don’t know really the least bit about Jesus, life in Christ, the joy of being a child of God in a world that seems devoid of God.

In 2 Kings 7, the Syrian army had laid a very sore siege to Samaria, and Israel was in such a terrible famine they were eating their own children, really bad stuff, but God won a great victory and the whole army surrounding the city fled for their life. …But nobody knew in the city knew about it!, because they were all walled up, and meanwhile outside the walls there was no army there.

But until you’re willing to leave your little walled up life to God and anyone God sends your way, like when the lepers came back telling the city hey it’s all you can eat out there!… you’ll never know just how marvellous the gift of God is “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”

It’s easy to be saved. It’s just we aren’t easy, we are pretty hard cases to God. Aren’t we. The Bible says sin hardens us. And the most simple truths ping off our heart which would save our soul. But you can be saved still, the day of grace has not had it’s curtain drawn yet… call upon Jesus Christ, from the heart tell him… look I don’t know anything God, but I surrender, I lay down my weapon, shield and spear against you, please Lord save my soul. He will. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

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