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Good morning, boys and girls. Did you ever hope that someone would trust you no matter what happened? (let them answer) I think that this is the best kind of friendship. When people trust each other they are the best kind of people. There is a great story about trust in the Bible concerning Paul and some of his friends.

It all started when a woman who was a slave to some evil men followed Paul around a town called Philippi, making fun of Paul's preaching. As you might guess, Paul was very serious about teaching others to love and follow Jesus. Having this woman, who was a fortune teller, laugh about it did not make Paul happy. Paul knew that there must be something evil in her to make fun of Jesus, so one day when he had just about enough, he commanded the evil spirit to come out of her and go away. It happened so fast that no one knew it. One minute she was making fun of Paul, and the next minute she was not.

Her masters who owned her were furious. They had made a lot of money with this woman telling fortunes to travelers and strangers, and now she would never do it again.

These men who hated good men like Paul grabbed him and took him to the center of town where they asked the judges to find him guilty of teaching people to act against the Roman law. But that was just a game. They did not want a court trial. They wanted Paul killed. They got some rough men together and told the judges to have Paul beaten. Again and again Paul was beaten with sticks and poles until his back was covered with blood. But Paul would not die, and when the crowd grew tired of whipping him, the judges ordered him thrown into prison. As they were carrying Paul down the steps into the dungeon, the judges told the jailor that he had better not let Paul escape or he would be put to death in place of Paul. That kind of a threat is enough to scare anyone.

During the night, the Philippian jailor heard some strange sounds coming from behind the doors of Paul's cell. Instead of crying or asking for help, he heard Paul praying and singing songs of love to God. Not only was he listening, but he could tell that all of the other prisoners were listening as well.

And then it happened. Without any warning, there was a loud crash and the whole prison trembled. It was an earthquake, and everything seemed to be falling and jumping and shaking at the same time. All of the doors to the prison opened and all of the chains that held the prisoners came loose. The Philippian jailor took one look, and he thought everyone had escaped. That meant that Paul had left and that the jailor would have to die for allowing their escape. It was no use to live a moment longer. Just as he was ready to push his own sword into his body and kill himself, he heard a voice that said, "Don't do it! We are all here!"

The jailor could hardly believe his eyes and ears. The prisoners were there. Even though they could have escaped and run away, they did not. Paul did not want anyone to die for him except the Lord Jesus. He wanted people to trust him for what he taught and preached. That is why he stayed and asked the others to stay as well. The jailor was so happy that he could hardly believe it. All he wanted to know was what could he do to be like Paul? Paul told him to believe in Jesus Christ. He would be saved and so would all of his family. The Philippian jailor loved Paul and all of his friends. He invited them to his house where he washed Paul's wounds and fed him from his table.

Paul was right. The jailor did feel like a new man and so did all of his family. It was wonderful to have someone like Paul trust you and someone for you to trust.

Paul didn't teach trust with words. He taught trust with his actions. He could have run away and saved his skin for a day or so, but then what would happen? It would only mean being arrested by somebody else. Paul knew if he stayed, he would show at least the jailor that he could be trusted. Trust was too important to Paul. He knew that if he could get people to trust him. Then they would also trust his God. That is why Paul did it. He loved his God and trusted his God and he wanted other people to trust God as he did.

That is something that all of us have to learn. If we want people to believe in God as we do, then we must show them that we can be trusted as their friends. We must be ready to help them when they are in trouble, just the way we do when everything is going well. Trust is something that we learn, and it is something that we can teach to others.