Today’s passage: Acts 21:37-22:21

Helpful thoughts:

• The fact that Paul could speak Greek and Hebrew, that he knew the laws of Rome and Israel would have been startling to these guards and perhaps even the crowd.  His demeanor commanded respect.  How we act and how we treat others even when they are mistreating us matters.
• When Paul had this opportunity to speak to all these people, he simply shared his testimony.
• Paul seemed certain that God could use him best in Jerusalem.  He wanted to be a missionary to the Jews.  God had other plans.

Questions to consider:

1. What made this crowd get so riled up that the Roman soldier thought Paul was a famous criminal?  What was Paul’s “crime?”
2. How did Paul conduct himself in this frightening and difficult situation?  What are some ways he could have chosen to respond?  How could Paul’s response give us wisdom for today?
3. Paul’s testimony was completely true…and Jesus really is the Son of God…and Paul really did lead many Gentiles to the Lord, but how do you think this crowd of Jewish people is going to respond?  Why? Why do people often accept or reject the gospel message?

Today’s passage: Acts 21:17-36

Helpful thoughts:

• The church at Jerusalem was now led by elders (A plurality).  Once the Apostles had left, the church was to be led by elders. (1 Timothy 5:17, Titus 1:5, James 5:14, 1 Peter 5:1-5)
• Remember, Paul had also recently completed a Nazarite vow (18:18).  The Judaizers were busy trying to discredit those who would preach the gospel to Gentiles and those Jews who would think they could be saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.
  • The Judaizers believed that everyone must become a Jew and keep the Law before they could become a Christian…making salvation something one must earn through works.
  • The goal of James and the rest of the elders was not to make everyone keep the law to get saved.  Instead, they were trying to put to rest these false accusations.
• The elders’ attempt to settle things down didn’t work.  If you want to find fault in someone bad enough, you’ll find it…even if the fault you want to find isn’t there.

Questions to consider:

1. What does Paul’s willingness to go forward with the plan of the elders teach us about Paul?  What was his heart toward the church and how did his goals shape his thinking and his actions?
2. Did the elders really have to ask Paul to do this?  What could have been some other options to encourage the people of the church in the truth?  Ultimately, who stirred up this controversy and tumult?
3. In our relationships in the church and outside of the church, what can we control?  What can’t we control?  Should the possibility of others responding the wrong way keep us from doing what we know is right?

Today’s passage: Acts 21:1-16

Helpful thoughts:

• The word for “departed” in verse 1 means to tear away.  It was very hard for Paul and his ministry partners to leave Ephesus and the elders of the churches.
• Philip the evangelist and one of the “seven” was one of the seven deacons from the church at Jerusalem.
• Paul knew what the Lord Jesus had called him to do (20:24).  The Spirit was revealing to these other brothers and sisters what was coming and they longed for Paul’s safety.  But, Paul was willing to die if that was what the Lord wanted him to do.  As we know, this death would eventually come, but not without much more ministry even while he was in prison.

Questions to consider:

1. Why would it have been so hard for Paul to leave Ephesus?  What kinds of ministries had developed there?  Where had the fruitfulness of that ministry spread according to the previous chapters?  Would anyone have blamed Paul if he’d decided to stay there?
2. Why were people weeping and struggling?  What desires would have been tugging in different directions in their hearts?
3. What was Paul’s motivation to go?  What was his greatest desire?  Who was it his pleasure to please?  How can this make our decisions easier and yet seem crazy to the world around us?

Today’s passage: Acts 20:17-38

Helpful thoughts:

• Paul’s ministry was a public preaching and teaching ministry, and a house to house discipleship ministry.
  • In all these ministries, it was Paul’s desire to declare to the church the “whole counsel of God.”
• Chains in Paul’s future were not to be equated with a lack of joy.  Joy came in following Jesus.
• Pastors/Elders are called to be overseers over the flock which God has made them overseers.  From the very beginning of the church, the way that the Scripture’s commands for the church were carried out were through local churches.
• Paul desired to build up these men who would build up and protect the churches.  Paul was a disciple maker.  We have been called to do the same.

Questions to consider:

1. What things come after the church to tear them down?  What did Paul say should be used to build them up?  How do pastors/elders protect the flock of God?
2. What ministry principles can we learn from this passage?  What kinds of teaching, training and interactions should be going on in the local church?  Why are all these ministries stronger in the local church setting?
3. Where was Paul’s joy to be found?  Even when things around him seemed to be getting ready to get even harder, why could he look forward with anticipation of joy?

Today’s passage: Acts 20:1-16

Helpful thoughts:

• With the events in Ephesus and the plotting of the Jews, there appears to be a growing sense of external circumstances becoming more bleak.  However, the ministry continues, the church grows, the people are encouraged.
• The mention of the lamps in verse 8 may have been an explanation to Eutychus’ falling asleep.  Meaning, it wasn’t Paul’s preaching right through to midnight and beyond that did it!
  • That Lord’s Day (The first day of the week – verse 7), they were together and being taught by Paul until Monday morning.
    • “Many words” are only encouraging when they are true and richly biblical.  Gathering simply to hear man’s opinion will not be fruitful.  People need to hear the Word of God.
  • Luke, the writer of Acts was a medical doctor.  Eutychus was “taken up dead” and then brought back to life.  This was a Lazarus type resurrection.

Questions to consider:

1. Even as Paul was being “hunted”, why was the church able to grow and be strengthened?  What is the strength of the church?  What gives it its food and nourishment?  Why will it always persevere?
2. We focus much on Paul as we read through these chapters in the book of Acts.  But, was he alone?  Who was with him?  Will any church flourish with the work of only one man?  How can you begin or continue to contribute to the work?
3. Hearing many words that were good words was an encouragement to these believers!  How can you ensure that you are hearing many good words to remain encouraged in your faith?  Even in an age where words are available to us from every direction, who are the people you are to be blessed by on an ongoing basis? (Think…who were the people with all day and all night in Troas?)

Today’s passage: Acts 19:21-41

Helpful thoughts:

• “Resolved in the spirit” can simply mean it was Paul’s intention.  Like saying, “He had it in his mind.”  The capitalization of the “s” in spirit would not have been in the original Greek and therefore subject to interpretation.
• Not only did the new believers in Ephesus burn their old books, they also stopped buying new idols.  They put off the old man and put on the new man. (Ephesians 4:17-23)
• What people often want most are things like comfort, ease, prestige and prosperity.
  • Demetrius appealed to these things to start the events of this day:
    • Their income was in jeopardy if people didn’t buy their hand-made gods.
    • Their prestige was in jeopardy if people came to disrespect their work.
    • The prominence and prosperity of Ephesus was in jeopardy if the people of Asia stopped coming to Ephesus to worship Diana (No visitors, no tourism money).
  • The city clerk appealed to the same in order to end the events of this day:
    • If Ephesus continued in this frenzy, Rome would punish them for the unrest.

Questions to consider:

1. What happens when a Christian becomes concerned first with their own comfort, ease, prestige and prosperity?  The ends justified the means in two different directions for the Ephesians on this occasion. What happens in the heart and mind of the Christian when our goals become different than God’s?
2. What do you think Paul wanted to do before that large assembly?  Do you think he was trying to rescue the other two men and run, or something else?
3. What obstacles would prevent these Ephesians in this passage from wanting to receive the Gospel and surrender their wills to the Lord?  What would they feel like they were losing?  How does the value of Christ compare?  What are some of the “shiny objects” in this world that are most prone to lure your attention away from Christ?  What can you keep doing to help fix your attention on Him?

Today’s passage: Acts 19:11-20

Helpful thoughts:

• These miracles were extraordinary.  Luke spent a great deal of time with Paul and was familiar with the Apostolic gifts.  This period of miracles was even unusual in their time.  It wasn’t expected then.  It shouldn’t be expected today.
• The seven sons of Sceva were not typical Jewish men from the synagogue who one day decided to give exorcism a shot.  These men were “itinerant exorcists.”  They would be better compared with Simon the Magician from Acts 8.  They were using religiosity and trickery to make a living off of people and tried to tap into some power that could take them to the next level.
• When sinners come to repentance they change and continue changing.  Followers of Jesus follow Jesus.
  • 1 John 1:7
• A piece of silver was a day’s wages for laborers.  50,000 pieces of silver shows how widespread the repentance was.

Questions to consider:

1. Given the prevalence of magic being pursued in Ephesus, why might God have used Paul to show these supernatural powers?  How could the episode with the Jewish itinerant exorcists have even pointed people to the truth?
2. What did these sons of Sceva desire to do with this power?  When miracles happen, is it a sure thing that it results in repentance and holiness?  What do these types of events reveal about our hearts?  Are miracles proof of godliness or would our responses to them (or the lack thereof) be the better indicator?
3. Could a person in Ephesus have become a Christian and continued to practice magic?  Can a person today become a Christian and still live like the world?  People in our day and culture don’t have libraries full of magic spells…But what kinds of things would our society “burn” if they came to Christ?  How are you progressing at “putting off the old?”

Today’s passage: Acts 18:24-19:10

Helpful thoughts:

• Apollos was “mighty in the Scriptures.”  He knew the word of God, but had not yet been updated on all that transpired after John the Baptist.  Once Aquila and Priscilla caught him up, he was ready.
  • “…showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.”
• Like Apollos, these twelve men were believers in the promises of God in the Old Testament, they simply needed to hear that God’s promises had been fulfilled in Christ!
  • Tongues were used to put down unbelief and signify the unity of the church among the first believers (Acts 2), the Gentile believers (Acts 10) and these OT saints from outside Judea who had yet to hear of the promises fulfilled.
• Ephesus (And specifically this schoolhouse) became an outpost and place of training for church planters who would go into the region.  It wasn’t that all Asia came to the school of Tyrannus, but that men left the school and took the Gospel to all Asia.

Questions to consider:

1. What do you think it means to be “mighty in the Scriptures?”  Why does the church need people like this?  How many of us should pursue this kind of knowledge?
2. What were the consequences (Good or bad) of Apollos’ teaching in Ephesus? Of Aquila and Priscilla’s willingness to teach Apollos?  Of Paul’s willingness to stay in one place to teach and train others?  How important is it that people understand the truth of the Scriptures and share it accurately with others?
3. How did these people (From Apollos to those who were trained in Ephesus) know they were ready to go pastor and plant churches?  Did they just have a sense on their own or were they commended by others in the church?  Why is this important?