[Linux4christians] Saturday - Acts 16

Fri Oct 28 20:58:28 EDT 2011

    Saturday

      Acts 16

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16:1 He also came to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy was 
there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but whose father 
was a Greek. 16:2 The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 
16:3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and 
circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they 
all knew that his father was Greek. 16:4 As they went through the towns, 
they passed on the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and 
elders in Jerusalem for the Gentile believers to obey. 16:5 So the 
churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in 
number every day.

Paul's Vision of the Macedonian Man

16:6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been 
prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province 
of Asia. 16:7 When they came to Mysia, they attempted to go into 
Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this, 16:8 so 
they passed through Mysia and went down to Troas. 16:9 A vision appeared 
to Paul during the night: A Macedonian man was standing there urging 
him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" 16:10 After Paul saw the 
vision, we attempted immediately to go over to Macedonia, concluding 
that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

Arrival at Philippi

16:11 We put out to sea from Troas and sailed a straight course to 
Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis, 16:12 and from there to Philippi, 
which is a leading city of that district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. 
We stayed in this city for some days. 16:13 On the Sabbath day we went 
outside the city gate to the side of the river, where we thought there 
would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began to speak to the 
women who had assembled there. 16:14 A woman named Lydia, a dealer in 
purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, a God-fearing woman, listened to 
us. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. 16:15 
After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, "If you 
consider me to be a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house." 
And she persuaded us.

Paul and Silas Are Thrown Into Prison

16:16 Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us 
who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural 
means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling. 16:17 
She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, "These men are 
servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of 
salvation." 16:18 She continued to do this for many days. But Paul 
became greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, "I command 
you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came out of 
her at once. 16:19 But when her owners saw their hope of profit was 
gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace 
before the authorities. 16:20 When they had brought them before the 
magistrates, they said, "These men are throwing our city into confusion. 
They are Jews 16:21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for 
us to accept or practice, since we are Romans."

16:22 The crowd joined the attack against them, and the magistrates tore 
the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 
16:23 After they had beaten them severely, they threw them into prison 
and commanded the jailer to guard them securely. 16:24 Receiving such 
orders, he threw them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the 
stocks.

16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to 
God, and the rest of the prisoners were listening to them. 16:26 
Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the 
prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds 
of all the prisoners came loose. 16:27 When the jailer woke up and saw 
the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was about 
to kill himself, because he assumed the prisoners had escaped. 16:28 But 
Paul called out loudly, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!" 
16:29 Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell down trembling 
at the feet of Paul and Silas. 16:30 Then he brought them outside and 
asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 16:31 They replied, "Believe 
in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household." 16:32 
Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him, along with all those who 
were in his house. 16:33 At that hour of the night he took them and 
washed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized right 
away. 16:34 The jailer brought them into his house and set food before 
them, and he rejoiced greatly that he had come to believe in God, 
together with his entire household. 16:35 At daybreak the magistrates 
sent their police officers, saying, "Release those men." 16:36 The 
jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent 
orders to release you. So come out now and go in peace." 16:37 But Paul 
said to the police officers, "They had us beaten in public without a 
proper trial -- even though we are Roman citizens -- and they threw us 
in prison. And now they want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not! 
They themselves must come and escort us out!" 16:38 The police officers 
reported these words to the magistrates. They were frightened when they 
heard Paul and Silas were Roman citizens 16:39 and came and apologized 
to them. After they brought them out, they asked them repeatedly to 
leave the city. 16:40 When they came out of the prison, they entered 
Lydia's house, and when they saw the brothers, they encouraged them and 
then departed.

      Prayer

Lord, You called Timothy to ministry and like-Paul he was willing to 
whatever was necessary to remove obstacles to his value as Your 
instrument of saving-truth. May I be as willing to set-aside that which 
may be a distraction to Your message to a dark and dying world.

      Summary & Commentary

Timothy joined Paul and Silas, but first Paul circumcised him so that 
the Jews who knew that his father was a Greek and his mother a Jew could 
not use that, or his failure to be circumcised, as an excuse to reject 
him as a leader.

The Holy Spirit prevented them from "speaking the message" in the Roman 
province of Asia or Bithynia but in Troas Paul had a vision (from God) 
of a man in Macedonia pleading for them to come there so they began the 
journey.

They first arrived in Philippi where they spoke with some women by the 
river, among them Lydia, a woman whose heart was inclined toward the 
Lord. She and her family were baptized then she invited them to stay at 
her home.

Paul cast the demon out of a young girl who was being used for profit as 
a fortune-teller and her slave-masters, angry at the loss of profit, had 
Paul and Silas imprisoned. They were beaten and thrown into prison where 
Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God.

God freed them from prison, as He had Peter, and when the jailer 
threatened suicide due to their escape Paul stopped him and shared 
Christ. The jailer and his family were baptized. [Note: This is not 
about a parent being saved and their minor-children being saved by 
association. The same qualifications apply as elsewhere, one must be 
capable of comprehending what one is doing if one is to make a 
meaningful decision for-Christ. The Biblically-consistent presumption 
has to be that both of these families consisted of older children and 
adults, and/or that those who were baptized were such -- and that very 
young children simply were not intended in the general "family" phrase. 
Example: "The whole family walked to the car and drove away." Did the 
baby-in-arms walk? Of course not. The generic expression was not 
intended to be that detailed.]

When the magistrates came to set them free Paul challenged them with his 
Roman citizenship and their mistreatment without a trial - a serious 
crime against a citizen - terrified they apologized, personally escorted 
them away from the jail, then begged him to leave. They visited briefly 
with the "brothers" at Lydia's house then left.

      Interaction

        Consider

Timothy was not required by the Lord God to be circumcised, no Christian 
was, but he agreed in order to remove that from the excuses the enemy 
would give to those who might resist him as he served the Lord.

        Discuss

Lydia and the jailer heart the truth and because their hearts were 
teachable they accepted it and were saved -- and they led their families 
to saving truth as well.

        Reflect

There are times when believers may be persecuted because non-believers 
blame them for lost income or lost influence, perhaps due to 
superstition, or perhaps a conflict of morality.

        Share

When have you had an experience where a sacrifice of comfort or 
convenience was made by a leader in order to bypass resistance to the 
truth of God?

      Faith in Action

        Prayer:

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a leader in the Christian family 
who has sacrificed in order to be a more effective servant of the Lord.

        Action:

Today I will pray for that leader and for a believer, or a gathering of 
believers, who are being persecuted by non-believers for selfish reasons.

        Be Specific ______________________________________________________

             Sunday's text will be:  Acts 17

-- 

Draw nearer to the Lord and He will bless you,
Have an http://Ultrafidian.com Day!
David M. Colburn, DMin. MaCo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Savannah-Statesboro needs a Bible College/Seminary!
Personal Site: http://bibleseven.com
Bible Resources: http://bible.org
Teacher's Verse: John 7:16
I don't google I SEARCH! Yippy.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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