(1) Luke ended the account of the Jerusalem Council without mentioning the believers who belonged to the Pharisees. Judging from the outcome of the Council, and the wording of the letter (see v. 24 in particular), what might their reaction be?
(2) Who were sent to deliver the letter (see v. 22) and how did the (gentile) believers in Antioch receive the letter? Again, what can you learn about resolving conflicts within the church?
(3) What prompted Paul to have the desire to embark on his 2nd missionary journey? What began as a ministry with good intentions quickly soured into a fierce division:
a. What was the cause of such a division?
b. Who’s right? Who’s wrong?
c. In your opinion, how should Paul and Barnabas have approached their difference in opinion?
d. Do you sense that the church had taken sides? (see v. 40)
e. In his last letter before his martyrdom, Paul mentioned John Mark again in 2 Timothy 4:11. What does this tell you?
f. What were the results of this conflict? Name one positive aspect and one negative aspect.
g. Do you think Romans 8:28 applies here? Why or why not?
(4) What is the main message to you today?
(1) We are introduced to Timothy for the first time in Acts. Together with 1 Corinthians 4:17 and 2 Timothy 1:5, what do you know about Timothy and what is there about him that might impress you most?
(2) We just finished reading about the controversy about circumcision in the last chapter, and now Paul chooses to have Timothy circumcised. Was he not contradicting his own principle (especially given his teachings in Gal. 5:2-6)?
(3) Read 1 Corinthians 9:20-23. Does it help you understand his action in Lystra about Timothy?
(4) How many times was Paul stopped by the Holy Spirit here? Does it mean that we should not exercise our mind to plan and strategize? What is the most important message here?
(5) It was through a vision that Paul and his team eventually steered away from the mainland to set sail to the more important Roman city of Macedonia and later on to the main Greek cultural city of Athens. Why would God use a vision to get across His plan to Paul?
(6) Please
reflect on your own journey in seeking life’s direction from God. What can you
learn from Paul’s experience in this segment of Scripture?
(7)What is the main message to you today?
It is worth noting that it was at Troas that Luke changed the narrative from “they” to “we”, indicating that he joined Paul’s company here. The apparent lack of a synagogue indicates that the gospel had yet to reach the Jews here, and the few who gathered for prayers included a gentile woman, Lydia, from Thyatira in Asia Minor (Rev. 2:18-29).
(1) What did Luke attribute the conversion of Lydia to and how did she manifest her true conversion?
(2) What was the slave girl shouting about and why?
(3) Since she was, in a way, testifying about the gospel and who Paul and his company were, why did Paul stop her?
(4) If Paul did not stop her and people came to believe in the gospel on the strength of the slave girl’s testimony (or rather the evil spirit’s), how would the people look upon fortune-telling?
(5) What did Paul’s action of driving the spirit away prove?
(6) This passage gave us insight into the anti-Semitic sentiment of this Roman city (which might explain why there was no synagogue and that they had to meet near the river to pray).
Barrett “suggests that Paul and his companions were accused of illicit proselytizing.” (TICC, Acts, II, 790) If you were in a country that prohibits proselytizing, should you or should you not obey the local law? Why? What would Paul have done?
(7) What is the main message to you today?
(1) What did Paul and Silas go through prior to v. 25? What kind of condition were they in?
(2) In such a condition, would you be praying and singing hymns in the middle of the night? How can you explain why Paul and Silas could do so?
(3) The owners of the slave girl and the jailer all saw miracles - the former had the driving out of the evil spirit within her and the latter saw the breaking loose of chains. Which do you think is a bigger miracle?
(4) What was the reaction of the slave owners and why?
(5) What was the reaction of the jailer and why?
(6) Read v. 31 carefully and try to understand its meaning. Why did Paul say that?
(7) What aspect of the faith of the jailer might you be most impressed with and why?
(8) Why did Paul exert the right of his Roman citizenship? Was it for their own sake as retribution, or for the sake of those who have become believers? What do you think?
(9) What is the main message to you today?
(1) Throughout these two missionary journeys, we often read that God-fearing Greeks were among the listeners at the Jewish synagogues. What do you think was the uniqueness of Judaism (the beliefs in the OT) that has attracted so many gentiles to the Jewish faith?
(2) Why were they also more receptive to the gospel than the Jews themselves?
(3) It appears that persecution is a given throughout Paul’s missionary journey. If it were you, would you carry on this journey?
(4) In 1999, there was a global missiological conference in Brazil, and one of the findings of the conference was that today’s missiology lacks a theology of martyrdom and suffering. What do you think? How should it change our mindset about mission strategy, both short and long term?
(5) “On arriving there (i.e. Berea), they went to the Jewish synagogue” (v. 10). What does this tell you about Paul and Silas?
(6) What can you learn from the attitude of the people of Berea in terms of how you should read the scripture? Is this your attitude today?
(7) What is the main message to you today?
(1) Why was Paul distressed in the city of Athens?
(2) Was there a city that you know of today that might be similar?
(3) Are you distressed with the city where you live? Why or why not?
(4) How did Paul deal with his distress?
(5) In reading this passage, you may get a sense that the Greeks were both superstitious and intellectual. How can you reconcile this apparent contradiction? What might be common between superstition and philosophy?
(6) Luke’s summary of Paul’s message gives us a very good model of how to present the gospel to people totally foreign to our faith. Let’s analyze his message and learn from him
a. Did Paul attack their superstition directly?
b. How did he refer to their superstition in a positive way and turn it around to point to the gospel?
c. How did he contrast our God with theirs?
d. What common ground did Paul also use as a springboard to the gospel?
e. Did Paul talk about sin and repentance? How?
f. How did Paul end his message?
(7) Was Paul’s message effective?
(8) What can you learn from his gospel presentation?
(9) What is the main message to you today?
The church in Corinth, as we all know, caused Paul much grief. It was a proud and morally corrupt church. Luke records the beginning of this church in Acts 18.
(1) Paul was a maker of tents, and now in Corinth, he engaged in his trade. Read 1 Corinthians 9:13-18 to get a sense of why Paul chose to work. What can you learn from Paul’s attitude?
(2) V. 5 in the NIV reads, “When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching…”
What can you learn from this verse?
(3) Why did Paul react so vigorously in v. 6? How can you describe his feeling? Was it warranted?
(4) Was the vision a response by God to his feeling? Why or why not?
(5) How did Paul respond to the vision?
(6) What is the main message to you today?