The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 16
St. Paul Second Missionary Journey Map
Paul Preaching & Paul Missionary Truth
Paul's Second Journey Adventure
What a great day for some Daily Bread. Our study today takes us with
Paul and Silas on Paul's second journey of sharing the Gospel and the
news of salvation through Christ to the Gentiles.
When they went to Derbe and Lystra, there was a disciple there named
Timotheus, whose mother was a Jewess believer, but his father was a
Greek man who was well respected by the brethren in Lystra and
Iconium. Paul wanted Timotheus to go out with him to preach, and
because of the Jewish people in that area, Timotheus was circumcised
because everyone knew that his father was Greek.
(So, think about this through the Jewish people's eyes. You've been
raised to disregard the Gentiles. You've got a half Jewish/half
Gentile man, trying to convert you, and he doesn't even follow the
law of Moses, why would you believe anything he said? However, if the
Jewish people saw that Timotheus followed the law of Moses, he'd be
much more credible in the eyes of the Jewish people, and Paul, being
chosen as an Apostle of the Gentiles, can apprentice Timotheus, and
gain Jewish people for Christ.) So in order for Timotheus to be able
to reach the Jewish peoples he came across, he was gonna have to
follow the Jewish customs.
Paul Preaching & Paul Missionary Facts
Paul's Second Journey Path
As they went through the cities, they delivered the letters that were
written by the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem of the decrees to
keep. So the churches were established in the faith and increased in
number, daily.
You gotta imagine how Paul went abroad to many places and in each
place those that believed became a sect and would gather to worship.
This became a Church. Paul would make his rounds as he was spreading
the Word when he would pass one of the cites that established a
Church because of his sharing of the Truth on an earlier journey, and
would stop in and hang out with the brethren.
They went throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were
forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the Word in Asia. (This is the area where the
seven churches in Asia are, that are written about in Chapters
2 & 3 of the book of Revelation). After they came to
Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit didn't
allow them to, so they passed by Mysia, and went to Troas. Isn't that
just so cool that they were warned about which cities they were NOT
to enter by the Holy
Spirit?
Paul Preaching & Paul Missionary Truth
Paul's Second Journey Lesson
In Troas, Paul had a vision one night. A man of Macedonia stood and
asked him, Come over into Macedonia and help us. After he had seen
the vision, they immediately set out to go into Macedonia,
confidently perceiving that the Lord wanted them to preach the Gospel
there.
I've got a couple of little Daily Bread Crumbs for you here. At this
point in the book of Acts, Luke, our author, makes it clear that he
was WITH Paul at this point, using the words we and us,
in his descriptions when he did not before. So Luke is with Paul now.
Also, Macedonia, which you'll hear about many more times in the New
Testament, is what is now modern day Greece.
Well, they set sail and went directly to Samothracia (Samothrace is a
Greek island in the Aegean Sea), and the next day they sailed to
Neapolis. From there they went to Philippi, which is the chief city
of that part of Macedonia, and a colony (newly inhabited), and they
stayed in that city for a while.
On the Sabbath, they went outside the city by a riverside, where
prayer was known to be made, and they sat down and talked to the
women who were there. A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of
purple, from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, heard them
talk, and the Lord opened her heart and she understood the things
that Paul spoke of. When she and her family were baptized, she asked
them, If you have found me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my
house and stay there. And she insisted.
Paul Preaching & Paul Missionary Story
Paul's Second Journey Saga
Here's another little Daily Bread Crumb! You often hear of purple
in the Bible. This is referring to Tyrian purple, which comes
from the area of Tyre in Lebanon. It is a crimson or purple dye
obtained by the ancient Greeks and Romans from snails. The color
purple was also used to represent imperial or regal power in those
times. Most times, the term purple in the Bible is referring to cloth
that was dyed with Tyrian purple.
One day when they went to prayer, a slave girl possessed with a
spirit of divination met them, who brought her masters a lot of money
by fortune telling. In other words the spirit within her would give
her the ability to tell the future and her masters made money off
that power.
She followed Paul and his men saying, These men are the servants of
the most high God, who show us the way of salvation. She did this for
many days and being disturbed by it, Paul turned around and said to
the spirit within her, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to
come out of her. And it came out in the same hour. When her masters
saw that their hope of making money was gone, they caught Paul and
Silas, and took them into the marketplace to the rulers to be judged.
They told the officials, These men, being Jews, greatly disrupt our
city and teach customs that are against our law, being Romans. The
people spoke against them and the officials tore their clothes, and
commanded to beat them. After they were beaten, they threw them into
prison, ordering the jailer to lock them up safely, so he put them
into the inner prison and anchored their feet securely.
Paul Preaching & Paul Missionary Truth Explained
Paul's Second Journey Discussion
At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises to God, and the
prisoners heard them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so
strong that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and
immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's chains were
loosed.
The keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the
prison doors open, drew out his sword, and would have killed himself,
supposing that the prisoners had escaped and he would be put to
death. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Don't harm yourself,
we're still here.
He called for a light, and rushed in, trembling, and fell down before
Paul and Silas, and brought them out, asking, Sirs, what must I do to
be saved? They answered:
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy
house [family].
They spoke to him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his
house. He took them that same hour of the night, and washed their
stripes (wounds from being whipped); and he was baptized, he and all
his family, immediately.
Paul Preaching & Paul Missionary Research
Paul's Second Journey Tale
When he had brought them into his house, he prepared a meal for them,
and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. When it was day,
the officials sent the sergeants, saying, Let those men go.
The keeper of the prison said to Paul, The magistrates have ordered
to let you go: so go now, and go in peace. But Paul said to them,
They've beaten us openly without a trial, being Romans, and they
threw us into prison; and now they want us to just leave quietly so
nobody will know? No way, but let them come themselves and bring us
out.
We don't learn until Chapter 22 that Paul was born a Roman citizen.
His dad, or some other ancestor had been granted Roman citizenship
which was considered a great privilege and honor to most.
In the reign of Claudius Caesar, Roman citizenship was bought and
sold at a high price, then in later years it could be obtained for
next to nothing ... But to make a false claim to being a Roman
citizen was a serious crime.
The sergeants told the magistrates: and they were afraid, when they
heard that they were Romans. They came and got them, and brought them
out, and asked them to leave the city. So, Paul and Silas went out of
the prison, and went back to the house of Lydia: and when they had
seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
Paul Preaching & Paul Missionary Summary
Paul's Second Journey Conclusion
Now, that was truly an adventurous time for Paul and Silas. You see,
amazing things can happen when you're just on your way to deliver a
letter in the name of the Lord. More adventures are ahead, so be sure
to come back and join us for more interesting stories, right here at
your Daily Bread.
Copyright © 2000-2023 All Rights Reserved.
New Testament Daily Bread
Excellent Christian Resources
Holy Spirit ... This is one of the most awesome gifts you will ever receive or share. Get to know the Holy Spirit.
After you finish the Paul Preaching and Paul Missionary Bible study researching Paul's Second Journey, you can also check out some of the other Christian entertainment, games, music, books, mall, studies and programs within our Christian community below:
