The Opening of the Holy Spirit
Acts 16:26 ampndash 34
Paul and Silas were locked up inside a prison, but they did not stop singing the hymns. The hymns of the Holy Spirit leads to the opening of the Holy Spirit, which opens the door of the gospel to the prison gate, the jailers heart, and his whole family. Today, lets think about this opening of the Holy Spirit.
First, the prison door opens after the foundation shakes. In the middle of the night, when Paul and Silas prayed and praised God, a sudden earthquake shook the foundation of the prison. Paul knew that he is a sinner, and he continued to praise God with thanksgiving and prayer even though he could die there. Because he admitted that God is the only reward, not the environment, God responded with the earthquake, using the heaven and earth as his instruments. God said, 'Paul! Paul! You are not alone. I am with you.' Therefore, the sudden earthquake in our lives is not a story of destruction, but of salvation. It is the incident God comes to us to shake us up through the earthquake and bring us to repentance. Like the foundation of the prison, the foundation of our existence is shaken by the Words. Only with deep repentance, all the closed doors of our lives will open wide toward salvation. The foundation of all the problems we face in the world, the fundamental problem underlying all those problems, is our sin. The Lord said that all of us are locked up under sin. So whenever we encounter the problems we must see the foundation of those problems, which is our sins. Also remember that it is only God who can shake the foundation with the earthquake, open the door, and untie everything attached to it. We should confess that the environment we are in is the conclusion of our lives. And believe that if I endure well in prison and continue singing the hymns, the day will come when the foundation suddenly shakes and the prison door opens.
Second, the heart of the guard opens when we become prisoners ourselves. The incident of the earthquake was Gods response to Paul and his companions, but for the guards, it was the event of self-determination, the event of destruction, and the judgment of death. At that time, in Rome, if prisoners ran away, the jailer had to die instead. Thats why he thought he was already dead in despair and tried to kill himself by pulling out his sword. But at that very moment Paul shouted out loud, 'Do not hurt yourself! We are all here.' And not only Paul and Silas, but none of the other prisoners left the prison gate. To save one jailer, all of them locked themselves when they could just run away. It was the conclusion of the life of Paul, who was beaten to death but never stopped praising and was eventually acknowledged by God. Because Paul saw himself as a sinner, the rest of prisoners also decided to stay inside the jail for the purpose of one souls salvation. This is the opening of the Holy Spirit. Awakening the jailor through the earthquake was Gods calling to 'wake up,' and knowing this, Paul stayed inside the prison to let him know that this was the once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Jesus.
Third, it is the belief in the Lord Jesus. The guard voluntarily asked, 'What must I do to be saved?' He must have heard the voice of Paul and Silas praying and singing in the middle of the night, but did not relate to them until the earthquake woke him up. And he asked, 'How can one live a life like that of Paul, and how can one obtain the salvation that Paul has received?' Pauls answer was very simple, but it was the best answer. 'Believe in the Lord Jesus! Then you and your house will be saved!' The jailer accepted the Gospel as the prisoners were by his side and told him about Jesus when he was most desperate. In this way, the Gospel is delivered through life. Its very hard for one to accept the Gospel, even right before one dies, if one has not experienced the Gospel through life. Even if nothing seems to be done, we must always preach the Gospel by setting an example in life. We must not forget that the life of preaching the Word is our one and only duty.
Fourth, our family opens. The conclusion of the opening of the Holy Spirit is that we should greatly rejoice. After the heart of the one who tried to end his life opened, his family was also opened. When hearing the Gospel, the guard then could see that Paul and Silas were all covered with blood. So he washed them, and the jailer and the whole family got baptized so that the wounds of their souls washed away. When I open my heart, then I can see other persons pain. Until a while ago, there were only a jailer and a prisoner, but after the Holy Spirits baptism, they became one member. When the jailer was blessed with baptism, he invited the prisoners to his house and serve them food. Only the Holy Spirit can open our heart so that we can become one body of the church. The result of the opening of the Holy Spirit is a change in life and great joy. As the whole family becomes one within faith, there is great joy. One persons salvation is more precious than the whole world, and Jesus appears every time we serve and care for others. Not only those who are served but also the people who serve others experience great joy. In our church community the earthquakes occur every week. There was a boy in our community who is in junior high school and started drinking and smoking, and even got involved in a school violence. When his father got angry and yelled at him, the boy reported his father to the police and the father received an 100m access ban from the court. The father who was the shepherd of a small group meeting shared his regret of being angry at his son, and received a great comfort from the community.
Let us conclude todays sermon. We believe that if we focus on carrying out our mission every day, our hearts, our families, and even the most tightly closed gates will open in the end. In addition, voluntarily being a prisoner even when the gate is opened will make many people, not just one person, open their hearts so that they can say, 'Believing in the Lord Jesus is the best thing in life.'
