Acts 16

 

A.     What made it important to Paul that Timothy be circumcised?  16:1-5

1.      Is circumcision required for salvation?  Acts 15:1-2

2.      What did Paul think about circumcision?  Gal. 6:15

3.      What made it important for Timothy to be circumcised?

a.         Did circumcision have a spiritual impact?

b.         Was the rite something Paul used to increase the knowledge of the gospel?

4.      Was it critical for the salvation of some Jews?  How so?  1 Cor. 9:12;19-23

5.      Timothy made the larger sacrifice.  (The vow example – Acts 21)

Conclusion:  Are we willing, like Paul, to become all things to all men that we can win some? 

 

B.     Are we led by the Holy Spirit today?  16:6-10

1.      What kept Paul and Silas from preaching and teaching in Asia and what kept them from going to Bythinia?  16:6-7

2.      What made them go to Macedonia?  16:9-10

3.      Did Paul believe that God opened doors (made opportunities)? 

a.         Acts 14:27 – God had opened the “door of faith” to the Gentiles

b.         1 Cor. 16:8-9 – a “great door for effective work” opened

c.         2 Cor. 2:12 – “the Lord had opened a door for me”

d.         Col. 4:3 – “pray… that God may open a door for our message…”

4.      Does the Lord close and open doors for us today?  How can you tell?

a.         Should we pray for open doors today?  Open doors for whom?

b.         An open door is usually not without problems.

5.      Are some hearts like open doors and others that are closed?  How can you tell?

6.      It just takes a few words?  (Some Christians are ashamed and the devil has others scared)

Conclusion:  We may not be led supernaturally by the Holy Spirit to go here or there but God’s Word that He delivered to us can cut to the heart and judge its thoughts and intentions.  We can use the wisdom from God to recognize a good opportunity (open door).  We must be aware of the open doors and have the willingness to be used.

 

C.     What made Paul seek out religious people to convert?  Lydia 16:11-15

1.      What background characteristic do the converts in Acts 2, Acts 10, and Lydia share?  (Already devout people)

2.      What was Lydia doing when she heard Paul speak?  16:13

3.      What did the Lord do?  Was there any outward indication of this?  16:14

4.      Did Paul consider her a believer?  What convinced him?  (Her openness to God)

5.      Did the people in Acts 2 and Acts 10 have open hearts?

6.      Did Paul find out that some religious people are open to the word of God and others are not?  (Lydia’s heart was open – many Jewish hearts were closed)

7.      How did Paul distinguish whether or not a heart was open to God?

8.      How can we recognize a closed heart?  What should we do with it?

9.      Have you or I ever been closed, unteachable or unreachable?

10.  Lydia was the first convert in Macedonia.  What do you think is the reason the Holy Spirit directed Paul to Macedonia?  What can we learn about the heart of God?

Conclusion:  Just like Paul, sometimes we are called to an open heart in another place.  Lydia was open to the word of God and it showed by the way she responded to the word of God.

 

D.     How did Paul deal with inappropriate endorsements from demonic slaves? Acts 16:16-22

1.      What was the slave girl’s special talent and what was she doing?  16:16-17

2.      What was Paul’s problem with this endorsement?  After all there were probably many people there in Philippi that trusted this woman to give them advice about how they should live their lives. (Paul was annoyed – 16:18)

a.       Paul never went to persons possessed of unclean spirits, spirit-rappers, spirit-mediums, or table-tippers, to get revelations.

b.      He had revelations of a higher order than they know any thing about

3.      Would you call the psychic hotline to get a message from God?

a.       What fellowship does darkness have with light?

b.      The gospel is set apart as a holy message.  It doesn’t seek the world’s advice or endorsement.

4.      What did Paul do about it and what was the reaction to this Godly miracle?  16:18-22 

a.       Did her owners see it as a miracle of mercy from God? 

b.      Knowing the girl’s power, what would the slave masters think of Paul’s power?

5.      What were the charges?  16:20-21  Does this situation sound familiar?

a.       Was Paul making enemies?

b.      Is it such a terrible thing to make enemies?

6.      Do you think this was what Paul expected when he got the Macedonian call?

7.      Had God forsaken Paul or was this a part of the plan?

8.      Did Paul have any advance warning that he would be suffering in this way?  Acts 9:16

9.      How did Paul see suffering?  2 Cor. 1:5-7; Phil. 1:29; Phil. 3:10

10.  How did Paul want others to see his suffering?  Eph. 3:13

11.  Paul had seen the power of suffering in the death of Stephen.

Conclusion:  Preachers and teachers don’t need endorsements from psychics.  Paul saw value in suffering.

 

Matt. 5:10  Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 

E.      Paul Saves a Warden from Death 16:23-40

1.      How bad of a beating did they receive?  16:23

2.      What would be their condition when the jailer received them?

3.      Would they have received medical attention?

4.      What made it important for the hands and feet of Paul and Silas to be bound securely?  Why put them in the inner most part of the prison?  16:24 (Their powers?)

5.      What were Paul and Silas doing at about midnight?  16:25

6.      Was the jailer listening to them?  16:25; 27 

a.       He must have been asleep.

b.      What was the attitude of Paul and Silas as they suffered?

7.      How strong was the earthquake?  16:26

8.      What happens during most violent earthquakes?  What happened as a result of this one?  16:26

9.      Was God in the habit of breaking his people out of jail?  Acts 5:18ff; Acts 12:4ff

a.       Was it God’s intention that Paul and Silas escape?

b.      What do you think cause Paul to stay put?

10.  How did Paul know the jailer was about to kill himself?  16:28

11.  What caused the jailer to seek salvation?  16:29

a.       What does his question to Paul and Silas indicate?

b.      Must a person know they are lost before they see the need for salvation?

12.  What did Paul and Silas teach the jailer?  16:31

a.       What must we believe about Jesus?

b.      What do suppose was “the word” they spoke to him and his household?

c.       How soon was the jailer baptized?  (“The word” must not have taken long to deliver)

d.      What was his household like after that?  16:34  (New perspective)

Conclusion:  The jailer was saved from physical death and spiritual death.  He must have known he was lost spiritually before the earthquake.  The attitude of Paul and Silas towards their suffering was impressive.

 

F.      Was Paul’s treatment by the officials a part of God’s plan?

1.      What made Paul wait until the authorization came for his release to declare his Roman citizenship?

2.      Did he forget to declare this when he was arrested, falsely accused and beaten?

a.       Could God have prevented the beating and imprisonment?

b.      Could Paul have prevented the beating and imprisonment?

c.       What was Paul’s attitude toward suffering?

d.      What were the benefits to suffering as Paul saw it?

3.      What was the reason Paul wanted the magistrates to come themselves and escort them out?  16:37  (Couldn’t this request lead to more trouble?)

4.      Is there any other message Paul might have wanted to share with the city magistrates if given the opportunity?

a.       Luke 21:12  "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.  This will result in your being witnesses to them.

b.      Acts 9: 15  But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel…”

5.      Where did Paul stop on their way out of the city?  16:40

Conclusion:  What is the most significant thing you saw in our lesson today?

 

G.     What was power Paul found in suffering?

  1. How the relationship of suffering to the Christian life?
    1. Had Paul seen Christians suffer?  Acts 8:1; Acts 22:17-20
    2. What had the Lord told Paul about suffering?  Acts 9:15-16; 2 Cor. 12:9  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
    3. Did Paul think it was necessary that he suffer in his work for the Lord?

§      2 Cor. 1: 5  For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.  If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.  And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

§      Eph. 3:13  I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

§      Phil. 1:29  For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

§      Phil. 3: 10  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

§      Col. 1: 24  Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.  I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—

§      2 Thess. 1:5  All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

§      2 Tim. 1: 8  So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, & 11  And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.

§      12  That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. & 8  Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained.

§      2 Tim. 3: 10  You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings--what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

§      Matt. 13:18ff – Parable of the soils (rocky ground falls away because of persecution).  Persecution is on the way to reaping a crop.

§      Mark 10: 29  "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.

    1. Do we really believe there is any benefit in suffering?
    2. How can we experience the benefits of suffering today?  (Preach the gospel?)

Conclusion:  Paul’s suffering seems to be related to his preaching of the gospel.  Paul does not avoid suffering because he believes it has benefits.  It benefits the suffering person or church and it also benefits others.  Suffering is one of the keys to fellowship with Christ and it provides strength, patience, and power to the believer.

 

 

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

-Helen Keller