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?

Today’s passage: Acts 18:1-23

Helpful thoughts:

• Claudius’ decree to remove all the Jews from Rome was written in A.D. 49.
  • Paul wrote 1 Corinthians close to or in A.D. 55.
• When Paul said, “Your blood be on your own heads,” he was making it clear, man is responsible for his rejection of God. (Romans 1:20)
  • At the same time, God had “many people in this city.”  God elects and then regenerates through the proclamation of the gospel and man is responsible for his rejection.
• Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue believed.
  • Sosthenes, who took his place, sought to persecute the church and have Christianity banned.  He failed and was beaten…and then, check out 1 Corinthians 1:1.  Who’s name is there?

Questions to consider:

1. Paul did not want to receive money from the new church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:7-9).   In addition to receiving gifts from other church, how did Paul provide for his needs? (Verse 3)
2. How would God’s instruction to Paul encourage him to speak the gospel boldly?  What did he know would result from his ministry?  How could a passage like 2 Peter 3:9 give us similar confidence?  Will God’s word fail to be effective? (Isaiah 55:11)
3. When Sosthenes was attacking Paul, how might Paul have been tempted to think of him?  What did Sosthenes eventually become?  How can this encourage us in how we think about other people who we don’t presently agree with?  How should we treat people, even if they hate us? (Matthew 5:44)

Today’s passage: Acts 17:16-34

Helpful thoughts:

• Even while Paul’s heart was being gripped by the rampant idolatry, he still went first to the Jews.  They were the ones who would first understand what he was preaching.
• Epicureans were materialists and taught that man was at his best in avoiding any and all pain.  They believed death brought annihilation, that we would cease to exist entirely.  Stoics sought to achieve a state where they were above pleasure and pain.
  • The initial request for Paul to speak was not because of a desire for conversion…it was simply a form of entertainment for them.  But, Paul didn’t mind.  And opportunity was an opportunity.
• The only God who was not created by the imaginations of man has no need of man for his well-being.  We need Him.  We answer to Him.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way would Paul’s use of Greek poets have been helpful?  Was he using those things to prove God existed or to show the people they already had a base understanding of that God was real, even though they didn’t know Him? Or both?
2. Did Paul desire to simply prove to these people that the “Unknown God” could be known?  What did he tell them they needed to do?  (Verse 30)
3. What was the result of this explanation and invitation?  How is it similar to other instances we have read so far?  How is it similar to what we should expect today?  Should the potential for varied responses prevent us from presenting the truth?

Today’s passage: Acts 17:1-15

Helpful thoughts:

• It is worth noting as we continue to read through this book, these men have been faithful to continually make the gospel message their priority.  Everywhere they went, the gospel is what they preached.
• Even though these Jews were all the way up in Greece, they shared the same envy and accused these Christians with the same tactic as the Jews in Jerusalem who claimed, “We have no king but Caesar.”
• Taking security from Jason and the others was a way to enlist those men in asking Paul and the others to leave town.  If Jason was “successful”, they would get their money back.  If Paul continued to preach, the city would keep the money.
• The nobility of the Jews in Berea was shown through their willingness to search the Scriptures.  If what Paul and Silas were saying was true, in accord with God’s Word, they wanted to know!  Others seemed more interested in power, tradition, etc.  The Bereans wanted truth.

Questions to consider:

1. Why is envy wrong?  How did the envious Jews view the people who had been coming to the synagogue?  When some were converted, did they now belong to Paul?  Who did they ultimately belong to all along?  What truth eliminates our envy?
2. How did the Bereans’ hunt for truth go along with the early creed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4?  Which parts of the Scriptures pointed to Christ? (Hint: They didn’t have the New Testament yet!)
3. Why was the Bereans’ willingness to search the Scriptures so rewarding?  What are the Scriptures?  What do they teach us?  Why are they our authoritative word and not our opinions or traditions?

Today’s passage: Acts 16:16-40

Helpful thoughts:

• This demon possessed woman could have helped Paul draw a crowd, but he wasn’t interested in gaining more popularity through worldly or even demonic methods.
• Paul and Silas were not persecuted in Philippi for preaching the gospel, but for causing a few people to lose their means of income.
• The salvation of the jailer was more important than freedom from prison.
  • Paul and Silas were in prison, but the jailer was the one who was freed from his bondage that night.
  • Hymns were being sung before the chains fell off…

Questions to consider:

1. Would the devil and demons be willing to share a little truth in order to confuse people and turn them away from Christ?  How smart are the devil and the fallen angels?  How would you know if you were being confused by the enemy?  What has the Spirit given to us as a guide and truth?
2. What did Paul and Silas know that allowed them to have joy in prison, to have a sound mind when the prison doors swung open, to value the salvation of others more than escape?  Can these same truths give you confidence and joy in sharing the gospel with others even if they might reject you for it?
3. Why did Paul and Silas leave the city?  Are there situations we could obey government authorities even if we disagree with what they are asking because we have a larger purpose and mission?  What kinds of things are dominating the news today?  Do those things impact the Great Commission?  What “hills” should we (or shouldn’t we) “die on?”

Today’s passage: Acts 16:6-15

Helpful thoughts:

• “Asia” and “Mysia” in verses 7-8 refer to regions of modern day Turkey.  Paul and his ministry partners would later go to this area.
• This passage details the move that brought the gospel into Europe.
  • When Paul went to Macedonia/Greece, he went to the cities, where the people were.
• If a city had less than ten Jewish heads of households, they were not permitted to build a synagogue.  In these situations, (Such as at Philippi) worshipers would gather outside near water.
  • The fact that only women met there shows further how few Jewish people were in the city.
  • Paul and Silas used the same methods of gospel proclamation as at prior cities (First the Jews, then the Gentiles), but the environment was much different now that they had crossed into this new territory.
• Being a “seller of purple” (An expensive colored dye at the time), Lydia sold her products to royalty and the wealthy.  Her own wealth would have allowed her to have a home large enough to host guests and provide a place of worship for a brand new church.

Questions to consider:

1. How many visions did Paul have in this passage?  Why do we tend to think that being “forbidden by the Spirit” must be a mystical type of experience?  What kind of everyday things could God have used to prevent Paul and Silas from entering these regions?  Why would Paul and Silas be right to understand that the Lord was providentially preventing them from going there?  Is there anything outside His control?
2. Why do you think Paul and Silas made a point to go first to the “foremost city” of this region of Macedonia?  What was their goal in this early time of church history?  What may have been their thinking in how the gospel message would spread from there?
3. Why did Lydia believe (Verse 14)?  Why then did her household believe?  Why did you and I believe?  Why do we have every reason to praise God and give Him our thanks and humble service today?

Today’s passage: Acts 15:36-16:5

Helpful thoughts:

• Paul and Barnabas agreed to go back and strengthen the church which had been planted on their previous mission.  They didn’t agree on who should go along with them.
  • The way the argument went is evidenced by Barnabas taking John Mark (His blood relative) along with him in a different direction than they had planned.
  • None of these men were perfect.  They were sinners just like us.
  • God used all of them to further the gospel anyway, just like He can with us.
  • All of them eventually respected one another and reconciled. (1 Corinthians 9:6, 2 Timothy 4:11)
• Timothy was willing to be circumcised as an adult to have access to the synagogues and the Jewish people for the furtherance of the gospel.
• The pattern of the church: Being strengthened in the faith and increasing in number.

Questions to consider:

1. What was the nature of Paul and Barnabas’ disagreement?  What were they NOT arguing about?  What were they both wholeheartedly committed to doing?
2. Do you think Timothy was crazy or was he a man of God?  What are we willing to give up or to do to share the gospel with the lost?  How much effort, pain, discomfort are we willing to endure to see people saved and growing?
3. In what ways is our church being strengthened in the faith and increasing in number?  How important is it that we prioritize these things over the pleasures, goals, hobbies, interests that we can have in this life?

Today’s passage: Acts 15:22-35

Helpful thoughts:

• The churches who had been troubled by the false teaching of the Judaizers received this letter from the entire Jerusalem church.
• The churches who received the letter were asked to keep these requests in verse 29 not in order to get saved, but to love their Jewish neighbors.
  • It may seem strange that the Jewish believers thought they would need to ask the Gentile Christians not to commit fornication…but when we remember that fornication was a component of the idol worship that these Gentiles were saved out of, it makes more sense.
    • The Apostles, elders, and all the Jerusalem church were calling the Gentile believers entirely out of their pagan idolatry, which they were happy to do!
• Some manuscripts contain an additional bit of information (Verse 34), “However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there.”  This may have been included to help explain how Silas was still around to join Paul later in the chapter.

Questions to consider:

1. Whether it is religious legalism (The Judaizers) or pagan idolatry (The Gentiles), when we are saved by the grace of God through Christ, we are called out of our past beliefs and idolatrous practices.  What are the false beliefs you held before coming to faith in Christ?
2. What may be some commonly held beliefs that have crept into the faith of many people in our day who claim to be “evangelicals”?  What are some things that cause people to think they’re a Christian today outside of the gospel?  What are some things people say today in a phrase such as, “If you don’t ________, then you’re not a Christian?”
3. What is the message that we receive which encourages us to be certain of our faith?  How can this letter to the Gentile Christians in the first century call us (21st century Christians) to trust in the gospel alone?

Today’s passage: Acts 15:1-21

Helpful thoughts:

• The idea that circumcision be required prior to salvation should have been eliminated with the conversion of Cornelius’ household in Acts 10.
  • Peter brings this fact up in verse 7.
• Romans 2:25-29
• Not only did Peter argue against requiring Gentiles to follow the Law, he also reminded the Jews that their circumcision did not save them either! (Verses 10-11)
• The final verdict was this: No one is required to keep the law in order to be saved!  Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
  • These requests James gives are not rules to follow in order to be saved.  Instead, he was asking the Gentiles to conduct themselves this way in order to help reach the Jews in their cities with the Gospel as well.

Questions to consider:

1. If these “Judaizers” (As they were called) demanded the Gentiles keep the law in order to be saved, what had they forgotten about the gospel?  Had any of them kept the law to God’s standard?  Were they saved because they kept the law or because Christ fulfilled it on their behalf?
2. How would this passage speak to any form of works-based salvation?  If these former Pharisees were being saved the exact same way the formerly idolatrous Gentiles were, is there anyone who is going to heaven because they are good enough?
3. Why might verse 11 have offended these believing former Pharisees?  How can traditions, past efforts and memories cloud our vision of God’s plan of salvation?