Bible ReadingActs 16:11-40“Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days.
[40:50]And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.
[41:17]Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God.
[41:40]The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
[41:47]And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’ So she persuaded us.
[41:52]Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
[43:11]This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, ‘These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.’
[43:49]And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And he came out that very hour.
[44:48]But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
[45:01]And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, ‘These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.’ Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
[50:15]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.
[50:54]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.
But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, ‘Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.’
Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’
[51:32]So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’
Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.
Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.”
Acts 17:16-34“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.
[54:30]Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
[54:56]Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, ‘What does this babbler want to say?’ Others said, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,’ because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.
[55:05]And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, ‘May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.’
[55:14]For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
[55:22]Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
[55:30]Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, “For we are also His offspring.”
Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.’
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, ‘We will hear you again on this matter.’ So Paul departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.”
[56:36]Acts 18:1-11“After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.
[57:11]And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them. So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers.
[57:17]And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
[57:26]When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’
And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.
[57:37]Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.’
[57:41]And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”
[57:53]Observation questions- In Philippi, where did Paul and his companions go on the Sabbath, and who did they meet there instead of finding the setting Paul may have expected? [42:06]
- What was the slave girl saying about Paul and his companions, and what happened after Paul commanded the spirit to come out of her? [44:48]
- What were Paul and Silas doing at midnight in prison, and who was listening to them? [50:15]
- In Athens, what did Paul notice in the city, and how did the altar “to the unknown god” become part of his message? [56:10]
Interpretation questions- Lydia’s story shows that the Lord opened her heart in a riverside prayer gathering. What does that suggest about how God often works through ordinary places and simple acts of faithfulness? [41:47]
- The slave girl was saying words that sounded true, yet Paul recognized something was wrong behind them. How can something sound spiritual on the surface and still not be from God? [44:12]
- The prison earthquake was dramatic, but the deeper change came when the jailer asked how to be saved. Why might changed lives be a greater miracle than opened doors and broken chains? [52:54]
- Paul did not plan to build in Athens or settle in Corinth at first. What does that reveal about the difference between following God faithfully and controlling the exact route of life? [57:47]
Application questions- When has an interruption in life first felt like pure frustration, but later looked more like God’s redirection or protection? How did that change the way the situation was seen? [01:01:26]
- Annoyance can reveal a person in bondage that others have learned to ignore. Is there someone nearby who has mostly been experienced as a burden, interruption, or irritation, but may actually need mercy, attention, or prayer? [46:28]
- Paul and Silas prayed and sang before they knew what God was going to do. What does it look like to pray and worship while still in the middle of pain, without waiting for the situation to improve first? [01:04:37]
- Paul and Silas stayed when the prison doors opened, and their staying became mercy for the jailer. Is there a place in life right now where the instinct is to escape quickly, but love might require staying present a little longer? [53:08]
- God may give enough direction to get a person moving and then redirect the road along the way. Is there an area of life where the group has been asking for a full map, while God may only be asking for the next faithful step? [01:04:09]
- Corinth became a place to settle, build, and keep going, even though it was not the place Paul first expected. Has God turned any unexpected place, relationship, or season into solid ground for growth? What helped in recognizing that? [57:13]
- A detour is not always failure, and God’s plans are not limited to one purpose for a whole lifetime. Where might someone in the group be grieving a closed door as if everything has been lost, when it may actually be the start of a new assignment? [01:05:55]
