Acts 16:13-40 KJV
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.
36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.
37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
38 And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans.
39 And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead, but after his death we see not the resurrection again. I talked about John the Baptist death the other day, (sometime last week I believe it was) and how he died and the fact that Jesus was alive and did not protect John the Baptist from being beheaded though he had power to do so while he walked the earth. Not every sitaution does Jesus stop death. Yet the resurrection is it for today. Ask those that walk from the table in emergency room after being resuciated and decide if the few minutes of death is equal to Christ resurrection or even the people Elisha raised up, one a boy brought back to life in(2 KIngs 4:32) and two the man that was dead, whose corpus was thrown into the grave of the dead Prophet Elisha and man sprung up alive from the grave.(2 Kings 13:20-21). Jesus was greater then Elisha, who died on the cross and the dead rose up with the earthquake and then lived after the resurrection of Christ. (Matthew 27). There is a point in my madness this morning. I often think about the things we understand not, why dead would rise up in scripture and were they fully dead or particially dead. We know Christ was fully dead, and those in the grave outside of Jerusalem were fully dead that rose to life. Elisha was just a man of God that rose the dead by the power of God. We see even people of faith and no faith doing resuciation and think nothing more about the power of God raising the dead. No the answer is no, because even Lazarus was four days dead and no telling how long in the grave others were dead that were raised in the resurrection at the time of Christ. Christ being the first of the dead to rise after the cross providing the new covenant with God through faith in Christ Jesus. Promise given with the resurrection.

Are we asking why is that important to even today to study. Noah went through the flood, by alrights should of died but was safe in the ark by the power of God. Many survive deadly crashes, deadly accidents to tell the tale. No one considers them to have even stop breathing. Men laid at the doors of their spouse from war only to doctor them and they live through the battle of near death. Yet man is saw in two, and men are beaten and crucified and have not received the promise of the resurrection as far as a bodily resurrection. Is Jesus still alive raising the dead. Or is it for the greatest resurrection story of all time. There things in this life we we all go through. Some never experience the sting of death, or taste life with almost dying. Yet we experience many painful events or even in near death experience and wonder what will be next. Paul an apostle experience much persecution in his body, in the story above he is beaten along with his partner in this part of his journey. They are imprisoned and they begin to sing late at night. Now we know not exactly the praise to God that they sung, but we know that when the earthquake came, it scared the jailor so bad, he almost killed himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped, Paul told him the prisoners were all still here. Paul and Silas sitting after a horrible event in their life but praising God the Father and their Lord Jesus Christ. The testimony of the song gave knowledge to the jailor who wanted to know immediately how he could be saved. Why at this moment was the jailor asking. Was it the moment he realize if he died he knew not where his soul would go. There so much left out of the story we really could speculate what got the jailor to his knees to ask Jesus to be his Savior.

Jailor experience a force perhaps of earthquake the first time in his life and maybe not. It it shook him to the point he knew his need of a Savior. Those facing danger are in need of God because it speaks their vulnerability to the elements of this world that will cause one's life to cease. The storm of Jonah being cast in and swallowed by a fish, caused the sailors to worship Jonah's God. The cross alone and events to follow brought the men to the upper room to tremble in fear behind the door. Yet the story of resurrection that Mary Magdaline brought the disciples was enough to get them running to the grave. Yet it took Jesus to call from the shore to bring Peter bowing before Jesus as the rest of the men towed a huge bunch of fish to shore. Noah in his madness grew some grapes made some wine and got drunk, without think of the very fact of his own survival upon the earth was enough to keep him from a physical storm of drunkness and nudity.

Paul and Silas would not stop preaching but their charges were drop with knowledge they were citizens of Rome. Not aliens of Roman but citizens of that nation and they had rights to a far hearing. Fear struck those government leaders to turn them loose and the government leaders of that city asked them to leave. The jailor had washed and treated their wounds before they went before that government. They believed them who they were. Jailor and his household were the only ones saved in that city, yet a remnant of faith was in that city because the jailor would tell that story again. and again in faith so others would believe.

The spreading of Gospel came with salvation of each lost soul that was saved to share the Gospel and their story of their salvation of their journey with God. Paul and Silas willing to be beaten, but had the power to free themselves by who they were. They were willing to carry their cross on their back through the beating. As believer in Christ we do not know our demise, but we know that our cross we may face different things to testify of God and Christ who saves our soul and brings us the comfort of peace in the storm. The testimony that says we are still in jail despite the ability to escape because of earthquake. To say we will not be moved by our circumstance we still will remain.

What did Paul and Silas do to get them beaten. The cast a demon out of a girl that was following and mocking them. It cost her owner money because she was no longer demon possessed. They were beaten for costing someone their livelihood. They were imprisoned too. What will our cross be. I thought about my own cross, my wake up calls in backslidding, and ask what is my cross I have to carry. My life whether I serve Christ or the devil. If I perserve my life by the law as Paul and Silas because of their birth, or because Christ sends an earthquake to be used to help a jailor get saved. The next day they may of faced death after another trial, but their rights had already been violated. They used their power to save themselves. Yet the earthquake and the power of God saved the Jailor in the wee hours of the night.

As believers are we citizens of nation not of our faith? Are we using our power in our nation to claim our rights and our hope by knowing our laws and knowing the things concerning our nation. The other day a woman almost died according to the news I was reading in Texas because of the new antiabortion laws in that state. No provision for the women's health, no they fail to read the laws of the executed branch who has justified protection for this woman. We need to read the rights that President had evoke by excutive order until congress and the people decide on these aboriton issues. Our nation if not careful will evoke the death of the unborn. Becareful what will come maybe based on the rights not outline in the bill to go before Congress. The rumor is adoptions laws have to be in place, they already are in most states so do not let the lies be your downfall, educate yourself, look it up. You can give away your child legally to be adopted. At what cost depends on each state laws.

Dear Heavenly Father, help us to use our voice of the mean we have legal escape, but also be willing to go through the cross for the sake of others in need of salvation. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study: Hebrews 11:35-40 KJV
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.