• How The Philippian Jailer Got Saved - Crisis

  Contributed by Rick Crandall on Oct 2, 2025 (message contributor)

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  Scripture:  Acts 16:16-34

  Tags:  Evangelism, Paul, Salvation, Missions, Silas, Crisis, Christian Service, Philippian Jailer, Demon Possession, Spiritual Transformation  (view more)  (view less)

  Denomination: Baptist

How the Philippian jailer got saved - Crisis

This Philippian jailer was saved! He was saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And if you have never trusted in the Lord, He wants to save you the same way. But let's take a closer look at how the Lord touched the jailer's life.

FIRST, JESUS TOUCHED HIS LIFE WITH A CRISIS.

We see this truth in Acts 16:26-27, where:

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.

*That was because their punishment fell on the jailer, if the prisoners escaped. This was a real crisis for that jailer. And many times God will use a crisis to get our attention.

*Sometimes God has to use a crisis to break through a wall of indifference in our hearts. Sometimes God has to hit people over the head with a two by four. That's what happened here. And that's what happened to my brother Jon. He really wasn't interested in the spiritual side of life, until he got lung cancer. That was a terrible thing. But thank God, Jon did get saved about 8 months before he died. And Jon saw God bless him many ways during that last year.

*Many other people have also been saved when a crisis hit their life. Church: We know that God wants us to care about people going through tough times. But we also need to know that their crisis can open the door for us to tell them about Jesus.

*Thank God, it doesn't always take a crisis! It's a whole lot better to get saved before we have a crisis. It's a whole lot better to get saved when we will respond to a soft touch from God. That's one reason why things like VBS, Sunday School, Upward and our Youth Group are so important.