PowerPoint Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/k88jz7jn2mrlkojscgqz4/Every-Opportunity-Session-6-Ppnt-Lifeway.pptx?rlkey=yrgzi4uuoo4z6sxj7zqhc0v9p&st=jce1ay8l&dl=0
Review: Last week we looked at how in the midst of Paul and Barnabas’s disagreement over whether to bring John Mark on the mission trip there was fruit of disciple-making happening as Timothy comes on the scene and joins Paul’s and Silas’s mission team, there were some sovereignly ordained detours along the way, and God was faithful to give them clear direction. We were reminded that believers must stay focused on God’s purposes and that living with Christ-centered purpose mitigates me-centered pettiness.
Title: “Every Opportunity”
Text: Acts 16:11-15, 29-40
Memory verse: Acts 16:31, “And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Theme: Believers must take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel.
Introduction: In this week’s lesson we see that responding to the Macedonian call, Paul’s mission team headed to Philippi. They met a businesswoman named Lydia who gave them a warm reception. They met a poor slave girl that was being prostituted (essentially) by her masters to make them money; and she had to have a demon cast out of her. For this, her evil taskmasters had them beaten and imprisoned. They faced so many obstacles and turmoil, but they remained focused on their grand mission, to share the gospel.
There are times in life when we should seize the opportunity in front of us. I remember when I finally built up enough courage to ask my wife on a date. She was the bell of the seminary ball, always being asked out by guys more accomplished than me and better suited for her I felt. But I remember distinctly thinking to myself, “If I don’t stick my neck out and ask her out, I’ll regret it the rest of my life.” Fortunately, I stuck my neck out, she did go on a date with me, and we’re seven years and two beautiful children later. God is good!
Opening Discussion Question: Lifeway’s “Acts 13-28 Leader Guide” asks “Can you give personal examples of opportunities you lost because you failed to take advantage of them?”
Answer: There have been times I felt prompted to share the gospel, but chickened out and missed the opportunity to see someone possibly pray to receive Christ into their life. These are the memories that I regret and work not to repeat. When the Holy Spirit prompts us to share the gospel with someone, we should act.
Context:
Due to the precious metals industry Philippi was a well-off city. Paul’s team made the five-day sea and then land journey from Troas. Because there was no official synagogue in the city, the believers went to the river for prayer, and it was here Lydia the businesswoman a seller of purple was saved! She opened up her home to them with her hospitality.
Then things started getting crazy when a slave girl who was a future/fortune teller for her owners started misrepresenting Paul and Silas saying, ““These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” If you think about it, her vote of confidence was a deterrent to the gospel, not a confirmation of the gospel in the ears of her hearers. The demon was cast out, and her owners lost their money-making scheme and accused Paul and Silas of disturbing the peace, an accusation that once again the mob joined in on. They were beaten and thrown in prison. Rather than moping and licking their wounds, there in the blood dripping dead of night they sang and worshiped. An earthquake hit. The door swung open, and their chains fell off, and the jail-keeper attempted to take his life for his shame of losing the prisoners, but Paul and Silas stopped him, and he was saved.
In verses 29-34 he gets saved, his whole family gets saved, and he takes care of their injuries for them. What a turn of events! The magistrate tried to release them, but they pleaded roman citizenship and declared that they were jailed and beaten illegally. The next leg of their masonry journey was Thessalonica, the second-largest city in Greece, where they preached in the synagogue and weren’t welcomed. Moving on to Berea, they were initially welcomed, but a mob following along from Thessalonica spoiled that for them.
Main Points:
- Share the gospel under FAVORABLE conditions (Acts 16:11-15)
- Share the gospel under FEARFUL conditions (Acts 16:29-34)
- Share the gospel under FINAL conditions (Acts 16:35-40)
Lesson:
- Share the gospel under FAVORABLE conditions (Acts 16:11-15)
- A. A favorable journey (vv. 11-12)
“11 So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis,”
- God gave them favorable weather on this brief stop to Philippi.
- Philippi was named after Philip of Macedon, Phillip the Great’s father, who conquered it five centuries earlier. Now it was under Roman rule, conquered by Octavian (later Emperor Augustus).
“12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the[a] district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days.”
- It was prosperous with agriculture, copper mines, gold mines, and a huge population, and it boasted a medical school.
- B. A favorable opportunity (v. 13)
“13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.”
- To be a Jewish synagogue you needed a minimum of ten Jewish household male leaders present. Meeting by the river shows this was a meager Jewish community. Paul and his team went to this place for prayer since they couldn’t find an established synagogue.
- C. A favorable receptivity. (vv. 14-15)
“14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”
- They meet Lydia under these favorable conditions, share the Good News, and she’s saved! Most likely when it says she was “God fearing” she was a gentile convert to Judaism and now by god’s grace and the boldness of Paul and the mission team she was a convert to Christ, not only her but her household, as well!
“15 And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’ And she prevailed upon us.’”
- We see fruit of her salvation in her first step of obedience in baptism at the river and in her hospitality here.
Illustration: can you share a time when you shared the gospel under favorable conditions, and there was amazing receptivity to the gospel? These times are precious memories.
Discussion: “How can believers be sensitive to opportunities to sharing he gospel?”
Application: We should seize favorable opportunities to share the gospel with others.
Transition: Believers must take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel when the conditions are favorable. Second,
II. Share the gospel under FEARFUL conditions (Acts 16:29-34)
- Paul and Silas encounter this slave girl and are beaten and imprisoned for her conversion, and while they’re worshiping there’s an earthquake where the cell doors swing open, and their chains are miraculously released!
“29 And the jailercalled for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.”
- The conditions of this soon-to-be conversion were fearful, for sure.
- A. In fearful conditions, God saves the helpless (vv. 29-31)
“30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
- He asks a great question doesn’t he. Their answer is given in verse 31.
“31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
- They succinctly in the heat of the moment tell Him that personal salvation is by confessing faith in Christ!
- B. In fearful conditions, God saves the households (vv. 32-34)
“32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.”
- They took this opportunity to elaborate on salvation with him and his family. It is interesting how four times in the passage one individual’s salvation leads to whole families being saved.
Application: That is a prayer we must pray for all the families in our regions, that we would reach them and that they would be saved. That is why utilizing “Bless every Home” is a great ministry for you to use to start praying for your neighbors! A link to that incredible ministry is provided in the description to get you started.
“33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.”
- We see the reality of the jailer’s faith was shown in his care and compassion toward their wounds.
Illustration: When you got saved, think back on that time. What was the initial fruit of your salvation? Did you want to share the gospel with others? Were you kinder to people you had previously been short with? Like Lydia, did you show hospitality?
Discussion: “Why is verbally sharing the gospel important?”
Transition: Believers must take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel when the conditions are favorable, when the conditions are fearful, and thirdly,
III. Share the gospel under FINAL conditions (Acts 16:35-40)
A. Final conditions when it is time to depart (vv. 35-36)
“35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”
- These were the city leaders who had jailed them.
“36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.”
- Here he is ministering to them yet again, encouraging them to go in peace.
- B. Final conditions when it is time to defend (v. 37)
“37 But Paul said to them, ‘They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.’”
- Paul was not going to let them off the hook that easily. He exercised his Roman citizenship and wanted to set the record straight not only for themselves, but possibly to make sure this young fledgling church wasn’t mistreated as they were.
- C. Final conditions when it is time to delay (vv. 38-40)
- Although they were on their final leg of this stop at Philippi, Paul and his team decided to delay for important reasons.
“38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.”
- Fearing the consequences of losing their political positions and Philippi’s roman status, they appeased them and asked them to go.
- Paul and his team took their time, however, and made sure to minister to and encourage this church that had just been birthed consisting of a crusty old Roman jailer, a young girl 9formerly a slave, now freed by Jesus), and Lydia the businesswoman and the households.
Illustration: Have you ever been either on a mission trip or in a place where God saved people and worked mightily, and you just wanted to linger and delay before you jetted out to the next leg of the journey? These are special times in our Christian lives, and it is nice when we can delay a little while before moving on.
Application: Sometimes, it is good to linger and delay leaving when God has done a great work in our and other’s lives.
The work of Christ in the gospel: This lesson points us to Christ and the gospel when we think of after His resurrection how he appeared to the disciples to the women at the tomb, to the two walking on the road to Emmaus, to Peter who needed assurance of forgiveness and restored fellowship after his betrayal, to the 500 in galilee, and other instances confirming the awesome reality of His resurrection.
Discussion: Like this jailer encouraged Paul and Silas and like Paul and Silas encouraged this upstart church, how can you be an encourager where God has placed you?
Doctrine: Our key doctrine for this week is the doctrine of the resurrection.
John 11:25-26 says, “25 Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”
Grudem says, “Christ’s resurrection was not simply a coming back from the dead, as had been experienced by others before, such as Lazarus…for then Jesus would have been subject to weakness and aging and eventually would have died again just as all other human beings die. Rather, when he arose from the dead Jesus was the ‘first fruits’ (I Cor. 15:20, 23) of a new kind of human life, a life in which his body was made perfect, no longer subject to weakness, aging, or death, but able to live eternally.”
” (Systematic Theology, p. 609).
Conclusion:
And because we serve a resurrected Savior, wemust take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel when the conditions are favorable, when the conditions are fearful, and when they’re final.
General Outline:
Title: “Every Opportunity”
Text: Acts 16:11-15, 29-40
Memory verse: Acts 16:31, “And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Theme: Believers must take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel.
Opening Discussion Question: Lifeway’s “Acts 13-28 Leader Guide” asks “Can you give personal examples of opportunities you lost because you failed to take advantage of them?”
- Share the gospel under FAVORABLE conditions (Acts 16:11-15)
- A. A favorable journey (vv. 11-12)
- B. A favorable opportunity (v. 13)
- C. A favorable receptivity. (vv. 14-15)
- Share the gospel under FEARFUL conditions (Acts 16:29-34)
- A. In fearful conditions, God saves the helpless (vv. 29-31)
- B. In fearful conditions, God saves the households (vv. 32-34)
- Share the gospel under FINAL conditions (Acts 16:35-40)
- A. Final conditions when it is time to depart (vv. 35-36)
- B. Final conditions when it is time to defend (v. 37)
- C. Final conditions when it is time to delay (vv. 38-40)
The work of Christ in the gospel
Doctrine: Resurrection
Caleb Walker 
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