Saturday after Cantate Sunday
Posted on May 4, 2024 by under
Scripture: Acts 16:25-36 (NKJV)
16:25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 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 loosed. 27 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. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go.”
36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”
Devotion
“Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.”
The Scriptures are often said to be so complex that a theologian will ever cease to study them, and yet so simple that a child can understand them. When the Philippian jailer asked what he must do to be saved, the Apostle Paul gave a simple, one-sentence answer: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
There are many who feel a tinge of fear when confessing Christ in the world. Maybe you are afraid to say the wrong thing and jeopardize an opportunity for someone to believe. The good news is that you can’t give faith; that is God’s job. You also don’t need to be fanciful in speech in order to simply say what the Bible says.
This is why the blessed Dr. Luther wrote his Small Catechism, so that the simple truths of the Christian Faith may be communicated in a straight-forward way, and you may easily remember the overarching teachings of all the Scriptures. As you grow in this Word of God, so will your faith and love for Christ, and your confession of this faith will be stronger.
Collect: O God, Who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will: Grant unto Thy people that they may love what Thou commandest, and desire what Thou dost promise; that, among the manifold changes of this world, our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
