Acts 16:34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Start at Home
Acts 16 is the story of two preachers in a prison. Paul and Silas were placed in a prison, and God, as He had done with others before, opened the prison doors and freed them in a remarkable way. The jailer was scared out of his wits for good reason, and he came in before Paul and Silas and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” The question was “How can I be saved?” and their response to this man was, “Here’s how you and your family can be saved.”
That little part of the answer, “and thy house,” is carried on through the next few verses. In verse 32 it says, “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.” Verse 33 and 34 say, “And he…was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he… rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.”
Paul wasn’t going to settle for one man being saved when he could get the entire house. He wanted to win the world. You also see a glimpse of Paul’s working assumption and God’s bias regarding your home: if you want to win the world to Christ, start by winning the people in your house. Someone says, “Well, Brother Wil, the hardest people to win are the people in your own house.” I understand that, but it ought not be the case that you can’t win people simply because they know you well. Success is when the people who know you the best respect you the most.
If I do right by the people in my house, it’s not going to be something that is in competition with my ministry to people outside my home. Doing right at home can only strengthen my ministry to people outside of it. The question is not, “Am I going to be a good father or a great preacher,” or “Am I going to win the people in my house or the people on my block?” No, one is the foundation for the other.
All of us have problems in our homes, and all of us have things we wish we could do over again, but God’s mandate in Acts 1:8 is to be witnesses where we are first of all. Jesus said, “… And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” No one is closer to where you are than the people that share the inside of your house. Win the world, but begin by winning the people that are closest to you.