 Alright, we can get started. So we're in Acts chapter 16. We saw Paul and team in Philippi. We saw the ministry to women. One particular very rich lady gets saved. Lydia, she hosts them. Then now we saw how Paul cast out a spirit from a slave girl. Now moving on to what happened the reaction. See we always expect when there is supernatural demonstration of God's power some positive response is what we expect. Even in Acts 3 that's what they expected but what happened they were called in for interrogation. So unfortunate that for the man who was the master for the slave girl it was so sad that his his spiritual eyes were still blind and he was more worried about the financial loss that he had as compared to the demonstration of God's power. Okay, so you see how how things are and how unfortunate that that master couldn't understand what God was doing in the life of that slave girl. But thank God that she was delivered. God did something good for that that slave girl and she was free from that demon spirit. Now as a result of that loss the person experienced Paul and Silas are put into the prison. So it specifically says Paul and Silas. Now we may ask a question where is Timothy, where is Luke. Maybe they were outside on that day they would have told them you guys wait here we'll go and serve the Lord we'll do the ministry or maybe they were in another you know corner doing their work. But yeah it was Paul and Silas who actually ended up in the prison. So I shared about how they were in a prison situation they were in a tough situation at this point and you know later on Paul even writes to the the Philippians but even when he writes to the Philippians he's in prison. Okay and so the Paul's attitude is something that we must we must understand. Okay we must understand that being in like a situation of persecution was not a deterrent for him to trust in God. So it really depends on our motives for you know what we are expecting from the Lord. This was a tough situation but at the end of the day it was knowing God as Almighty worshipping him, honoring him no matter what. Okay and it's sort of pledging allegiance to the Gospel and the Lord Jesus Christ. That was how Paul and you know many of these early leaders, believers were, they were totally committed, totally committed. So while in Philippi he's in the prison when he writes to the Philippians he's in the prison right we'll see later on what kind of a prison situation that is but still he writes rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. So something very unique happens later on as they are in these inner prisons but notice I didn't read out the passage for us but there is one more detail in that passage that you know the magistrates, the magistrates brought them while putting them into the prison but this is one statement which they make and it's important for us to note it. So in verse 20 they said these men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city and they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe. So they now say that these men are Jews and they are teaching customs contrary to the Romans. Okay but one thing or one piece of information which these magistrates have missed is Paul is a Roman citizen. Okay they have just assumed that he's a Jew yes but he's probably not a Roman citizen. So later we'll see that being a Roman citizen came along with the rights that one could enjoy and it was not at all easy to be a Roman citizen either you need to be born into that citizenship or you know pay a hefty price to get that citizenship. So those who carried the Roman citizenship were privileged okay and they could not be just put into the prison just treated you know just accused and treated badly all that was not acceptable but these magistrates and their oversight they just thought how ordinary Jew let's put him in the prison because that's a mistake which they made and we'll see how that will affect them. So now we said that Paul and Silas are in the prison. Okay I want us to just visualize so I found a random picture now I don't know if theologically this picture is correct and all but somewhat it depicts what Paul and you know Silas would have looked like. So let us try to project it for you. Okay there you go so the description they were beaten their feet were put in stocks so you see that they can't get out they are handcuffed okay so can you imagine with me how their bodies must have felt can you imagine with me how afraid they could have been at that point okay and what could be there like in what what would we do if we found ourselves in this situation what would be what would be our self-talk or our prayer or what would be your self-talk what would be your prayer okay God give me strength very nice okay God deliver us very good I think mostly our prayers would be prayers for either for deliverance or maybe a little bit of complaint yeah yeah honest very honest John I was also thinking maybe I don't know about myself I may be able to say why Lord why me Lord you know these kind of prayers happen because you find yourself in this tough situation what did you go to do serve the Lord only no minister correctly by the power of the spirit now Paul could have asked the question God I wanted to go to Bithynia I told you but you told me to go to Macedonia I came because you told me to come here and now I'm in the prison like what is this what is going on so we could have like we can have all these questions and complaints in a situation like this but let's now see what is it that Paul and Silas are up to so even as you look at that picture there maybe I will quickly read out to us from verse 25 of act 16 but at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them suddenly there was a great earthquake so that found it so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed and the keeper of the prison awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open supposing the prisoners had fled through his sword and was about to kill himself but Paul called with a loud voice saying do yourself no harm for we are all here then he called for a light ran in fell down trembling before Paul and Silas and he brought them out and said sirs what must I do to be saved so they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved you and your household then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house and he took them the same hour of the night and wash their stripes and immediately he and all his family were baptized now when he had brought them into his house he said food food before them and he rejoiced having believed in God with all his household so in a way what God has done is there is ministry waiting for Paul and Silas in the prison when they are so committed to God and available ministry doesn't stop even in the prison ministry is continuing but the attitude or the heart condition of Paul and Silas was such that in this situation of being bound and being in pain I just love that one phrase no it says but at midnight okay and a lot of preachers have used that to preach sermons but at midnight Paul and Silas it's a little midnight that's true but we can also you know look at this as sort of in English how we use figure of speech when we say midnight it's a it's a very dark time or a dark season of life so for Paul and Silas it was literally midnight and also in terms of their lives it was sort of the midnight hour but in our lives midnight hours what do we choose to do that's the question Paul and Silas amaze us because they were praying and singing hymns to God anybody would you like to pull out your guitar and you know strike the chord and sing one lie allowed worship song in the prison at midnight but that's what they were up to they their hearts were ready to worship God in any situation and how did they do it they did it so loudly that all the prisoners were listening to them and thank God you know we can also talk about the power of praise when we engage in praise you know chains were broken always set free we read that there was something like an earthquake the prison was shaken and not only where they set free but the Bible says in verse 26 everyone's chains were loosed so we can also look at it in a spiritual sense because we do have other passages in the Bible that talk about deliverance that comes through praise when we praise God there is a deliverance like Jehoshaphat remember they the army like they went in with worship they went in with praise and automatically you know there was a God set an ambush against the enemies and there was victory for Jehoshaphat so praise when people walk marched around the walls of Jericho praising God the walls came crashing down so there are other passages that support what happened here deliverance through praise and so we can take it as yes even in our lives in in the midnight hour when we praise the Lord there will be deliverance and there's so much more to that there was not just deliverance only for Paul and Silas everyone's chains were loosed how amazing everyone was touched by God's deliverance at that time and that was the way in which God really worked in the prison and look at the attitude of Paul and Silas they could have just run away you know like the moment our hands are free the moment the stocks are gone what would we do just cared of the prison immediately but they didn't do that okay because they had compassion for the jailer we read there that the jailer when he understood this is what has happened earthquake everybody is free so in that context we must understand that if a jailer is careless right then the authorities would ask for that jailer to be killed so he knew that if prisoners have run away he might as well kill kill himself because anyway that's what is going to happen the next day okay so he was going to kill himself but Paul having compassion and great boldness they didn't leave they didn't run away like cupboards in the situation but they call out to he calls out to the jailer and says don't do yourself any harm we're all here and that in itself right made this jailer change his heart or God touched him because of everything that had happened and you know directly you remember how we saw an axe chapter 2 they say what shall we do brethren they were cut to the heart what shall we do brethren so in the same manner he's asking sirs what must I do to be saved and very similar to Cornelius and his household Cornelius and his household were saved same way in that night we see that the jailer along with this household they are saved when you know the team Paul speaks to what have got to them and they were baptized it says okay same night they were immediately they were baptized and also the jailer and his family were very like they were they hosted Paul and Silas they were generous to Paul and Silas they were hospitable so they gave them food and they also washed their stripes so they were hurt isn't it so that they even washed and they treated Paul and Silas well or nicely okay so this is how the story ended so all this is happening in one night it's almost like a movie if somebody one of you intends to make the you know some creative piece about praise you can consider all in one night they put into the prison they praised they were delivered but then they minister to the jailer the whole family is saved and God moved powerfully even in the prison so the jailer and his family received ministry in the prison so Paul and Silas being in the prison was also not wasted in that sense right so we can trust God to keep working through us wherever we go we can be a blessing to the people now let's see what happens now we are in the daytime the night has passed all these events have taken place and the news now reaches the oh the magistrates they come and they seem to have made a decision regarding these two prisoners and they tell these people the jailer let those men go okay so that is their final conclusion the next day maybe the magistrates thought let's put them in the prison let's treat them badly let's scare them little bit intimidate them then they'll you know quiet and down and then they'll go back but the keeper or the jailer of the prison you know he reports he comes back he tells Paul and he says look the magistrates have sent to let you go so you can now leave go ahead you know this is your opportunity this is your official opportunity last night you know you got a supernatural opportunity which you didn't take but now you have the official opportunity you guys can go but Paul now you know he is infuriated because of the way that he and Silas have been treated remember I mentioned one more detail was that he was a Roman citizen so in verse 37 we see Paul said to them they have beaten us openly uncondemned Romans and have thrown us into prison and now do they put us out secretly no indeed let them come themselves and get us out so he gets infuriated and he's asking for justice he's asking for justice because the law was not followed or the process was not followed he says that see you can put somebody in the prison if they are condemned accusation is not good enough right like accusation has to be interrogated to find out whether they are truly guilty or not and once they are condemned okay you can put them in the prison but what did the magistrates to straight away they put them in the inner prisons Paul didn't like that he's like what is this is this a game they put us in the prison and now they are saying you go so let them come let them come themselves and let them get us out okay but what happens now is now that Paul has revealed he what did he say he said uncondemned Romans the magistrates got scared they were afraid now that oh no we treated a Roman like this we shouldn't have done that so they come to Paul and they plead they plead with both Paul and Silas and then they bring them out and then they say you know so sorry we didn't know you were Romans and you know you got treated like this so now with great apologies you know we set you free you can go now you can go out of the city so the finally Paul and Silas after the magistrates apologize and set things right they went out of the prison and whose house do will they go to in Philippi whose house do they have Lydia yeah they entered Lydia's house where they had the brethren and they encouraged them and departed so maybe they felt that it was time now for them to move on so they left Philippi okay we move on to Acts chapter 17 any any thoughts any anything that you like discussing about if so we can pick it up otherwise we can just keep going city by city okay let's go on so what would we see here in Philippi three people okay three people Lydia wealthy businesswoman then we said the slave girl she's from a poorer section of society but also a jailer a jailer is someone that you can look at as maybe you know like an employee or some places they may call like a blue collar worker so every section of the society wherever there's an open door they're making an impact and they're moving on so now they will move on to the next city now our understanding is that maybe Luke stay Luke stayed back in Philippi and Paul Silas and Timothy moved on to the next place which the bigger city that they will come to will be Thessalonica now they do pass through Amphipolis and Apollonia but we don't read much about what exactly happened in those places so why are those places they will come to Thessalonica in Acts chapter 17 so that's what we are going to discuss about over here okay yeah so let's go on to act 17 and read about Thessalonica we can read all the way from verse one to verse nine so anyone who would like to volunteer can go ahead and do it sorry yeah let's see if there's anyone who would want to read here I encourage our online audience yeah online students please act 17 bus buses one tonight now when they had passed through Amphipolis and upon Apollonia they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews then Paul as his customers went into them and for three Sabbaths reasons with them from the scriptures explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ and some of them were persuaded and they put an agreement multitude of the devote Greek Greeks and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas but the Jews who were not persuaded became envious took some of the evil men from the marketplace and gathering a mob set all the city in an opera and attacked the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the city to the people but when they did not find them they dragged Jason and some brotherly to the rollers of the city crying out these who turn who turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harbored them and these are all and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying there is another king Jesus and they troubled and they troubled the crowd and the rollers of the city when they had these things when they had these things so when they had taken security from Jason and the rest they left they let them go. Amen. Amen thank you Lupega thank you so much for leading reading this section so we now have them in Thessalonica and their their usual strategy the way Paul used to go he'll first go to the synagogue if there's an opportunity so the same thing is happening he's going there he's ministering there it says for three Sabbaths so three weeks he's there and he's teaching from the scriptures he's talking about the Lord Jesus and how you know Jesus he had to suffer and about Jesus' resurrection and he preaches Jesus Christ to these people and there was good ministry that took place because we understand that some of the people responded so they were persuaded and a great multitude of the devout Greeks it says so the Greek people a lot of them believed in Jesus so imagine with me when whenever we look at the steam going to a city and then moving on there's going to be a set of people left behind in that city whom we will call as the church of that city you understand because that's what it is group of people who worship the Lord there is a church you could say a church is planted now a church is planted by the initial preaching of Paul and these devout Greeks there are a multitude some some of the Jews are persuaded and a lot of women there's a lot of women so not a few of the leading women meaning these leading women would have been influential women rich women and so there's a good ministry that has taken place and it seems like there's another host in Thessalonica the host in Philippi was Lydia but in Thessalonica it is Jason and in Jason's house they seem to have some meetings going on so now what happens is one such meeting is happening and because people have started opposing Paul some Jews who were not accepting of his message started opposing Paul so what they did is they went to Jason's house and they attacked it and they wanted to bring these people out okay so they couldn't find Paul and so they just needed to show their power they decided to get the owner of the house out and treat him badly so the Bible says they drag Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city okay and then you know they make their accusation and that this Jason is hosting this person who is contrary to the the law of our land so they have this concept that when Christ is preached or Jesus is preached that Paul is actually preaching another rulership or another authority okay so that was their their perspective and they felt that this is anti-government what is going on and that is why they you know are trying to do all these things so they drag out Jason and we are told that they collected a security meaning for Jason what did he want he just wanted to have a you know prayer meeting in his house but when they didn't find Paul they brought him dragged him out into before the once again dragged him out and some rulers of the city accusing them so that's what they did and after they collected the security it was more like intimidating them again they just let them go but one detail that I want us to notice here is when they accused when when they spoke to Jason and the brethren they said in verse 6 okay regarding Paul and right now we have Paul and Silas and Timothy okay regarding this team they said these who have turned the world upside down have come here too so it was meant to be a rude comment so I don't know how they would have said it in you know that the tone of their voice maybe they would have angrily shouted these who have turned the world upside down they have come here to something like that but isn't that a compliment what do you think this isn't that a compliment these who have turned the world upside down have come here too I really think that non-believers should also speak that of us in this generation yeah yeah so you know it really shows us how impactful the ministry was of these men that those who don't know much about them and after all Paul and team were there for three Sabbaths right like some three weeks four weeks is all they have spent in the Salonika and the comment of the people around of the you know authorities are these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also meaning they are so impactful in in what they are doing they're preaching this Christ so there is a threat now that threat is that they may topple the government they may lead the hearts of the people astray okay but yeah we know that that was not what you know the team was up to they were preaching the Lord Jesus Christ but in these tough situations again what is the option left the option left is to just move on to the next place otherwise already in Philippi they had that prison experience so maybe God would have given them the peace to leave the Salonika just about four weeks okay go to the next place so in verse 10 we read then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beria so the next station would be Beria so what do we see about Beria what do we what can we understand about this particular place something special about the people of this place okay they were people who loved the word of God to the extent that they did not accept anything at face value they always wanted to test it and ensure that what is being taught is correct so we read about them would anyone like to read about the Beria ministry verse 10 to verse 15 then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beria when they arrived they went to into the synagogue of the Jews these were more failed minded minded than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so therefore many of them believed and also not a few of the Greeks prominent women as well as men but when they used from Thessalonica learnt that the word of God was preached by Paul in Beria they came there also and stirred up the clouds then immediately the brethren set Paul away to go to the sea but both Silas and Timothy remained there so these were conducted so those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed they departed amen yes thank you Lubina thank you for reading this passage as well so we see now that the brethren now again this terminology when we read the word brethren generally it means its believers so the believers from Thessalonica came to Beria because of the threat sorry which existed in Thessalonica so when they arrived here they went to the synagogue of the Jews you see that like a common thing that's happening then in verse 11 it says about them these were fair minded then those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so so we can only imagine you know how diligent these people were that not that they stopped any preacher from preaching they would listen so they received with readiness they received the word but also they verified now think with me the person who was preaching to them is by far the best preacher one of the best preachers you know that that we can point to and say guys like wake up it's Paul it's Apostle Paul like you don't know Apostle Paul you don't really have to check your Bible to you know note he's written the large section of the Bible here but that was not a concern for these people they were very happy to check right they were happy to check whether or not what was being spoken was correct or accurate okay so such was the desire of these people today do we do that do we check the doctrine that we hear we should yeah we should so it's a good thing to be open to listen to what people have to say but is it really in the word of God that is a responsibility that we carry and so we need to make sure that our foundations are always strong don't let any you know wrong teaching come in don't let any inaccurate teaching settle in in our hearts so these are all the responsibilities that we carry and so much more when we are preaching or we are teaching the word of God to others to ensure that you know it's in the word and to the best of like we are doing the accurate interpretation these are all concerns that one must bear in mind so Beria is known for the people there with hearts of readiness those who were checking the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so and what was the kind of ministry that took place there very good ministry because he says that therefore many of them believed and you know many Greeks believe prominent women as well as men believe so there is a church plant okay so if you if we had a map and if Paul had the habit of you know you pin it you pin that city and then you move on you would have put one star over there or something saying okay come on something has started here let's go to the next place and then he moves on from there but you see this thing of facing opposition it's happening everywhere people are rising up everywhere against Paul so the missionary journeys were not easy isn't it yeah on the spiritual side there is fruit in the ministry and that's something to be joyful about maybe that gave Paul and the team strength to keep moving on but on the other side persecution it's so hard to deal with persecution and I don't know how they they could have you know really continued with with all these things going on we don't know what people said about them what they accuse them of and how they treated them right maybe some basic facilities which they they required was was taken away from them and they struggled through their journey but they were willing to do it because they were so committed to the Lord so opposition in every city every city and anyway they now move on the brethren send him away they say okay come on you go to the next place so he goes to Athens or Athens however that is pronounced and Silas and Timothy they are they leave them behind do you see a pattern whom did they leave behind in Thessalonica yeah Philippi somebody was left behind in Philippi to take care of the believers okay and now in Berea they say you be there for some time but then you come come join us so Paul goes ahead of them and then they are supposed to come and join Paul in Athens so now Paul is in this amazing city Greece you know the capital city of Greece Athens and in those times it was like you know one of those tourist destinations if we have a dream place to go to maybe people would have written down or someday I want to visit Athens because it was popular it was the birthplace of philosophy and you know free thought free thinking and really really a place a sort after place where people may have wanted to go sometime in their lives so from Berea Paul travels to Athens the capital city of the modern you know country of Greece and maybe he would have traveled about 270 miles that's that's what we understand he also journeys by land it would have been for something like 12 days of traveling and then you know three days by sea and then he lands up in this place so what about this place called as Athens what are some features Athens was named after the Greek goddess and it was one of the oldest named cities in the world I'm reading out some facts for us and then it was a very long inhabited city so it was not a new city it was an old one about 5,000 years old so then we can understand the culture that the city carried right because people have lived there for so long and Athens was also the home of famous Greek philosophers many of us may have heard names like Socrates you know Plato, Demostines these were all from Athens because they had that culture of you know like thinking and philosophy even Aristotle Aristotle have you heard of Aristotle I think many of us would have so even he is a noted Greek philosopher and scientist who spent some time studying at Plato's Academy in Athens so there was much that Athens had to offer that imagine somebody as great as Aristotle decides to come to Athens to spend time there and it is said that you know he almost spent two decades so there was so much to learn in that city now in the city you had you know because there's a learning culture there were centers there were centers where people used to go to learn about science to learn about art to even learn about philosophy so in our today's world we have certain cities which are cities with universities people students go like they go this university Massachusetts or you know I'm just saying some Oxford Harvard so people it's it's sought after people want to go there to get educated to get degrees and to come out as you know these very mature individuals professionals and all of that so Athens has that image Athens has that feel anyone would want to be there and learn from them but at the time when Paul went there were two dominating philosophies that existed in Athens these were one is known as Epicurean Epicurean the other is known as Stoicism so Epicurean was from the teachings of a person known as Epicurus and what he shared was a little complicated okay I still don't understand it but there is some philosophy which he had he said like death is not the end of all things and gods were remote from the world like gods don't care that was another thought that he had that is not the end of this world gods are very impersonal they they are in their own world we are in our own world so you know that was his way of thinking and he also believed that pleasure pleasure is what man needs so once life must be spent in pleasure so these are the key teachings of Epicurus and he established the philosophy which is known as Epicurean thought or Epicurean philosophy now Stoicism we talked about that right that was started by a man known as Zeno and he was lived at the same time as Epicurus now Stoicism had slightly different thoughts what were some of the key beliefs of Stoicism he believed or it thought that everything was God and that God was a fiery spirit that gave men life okay and that fiery spirit or that spark of that fiery spirit lived in lived in man and when people die that spark or that fiery spirit returns back to God okay and that everything that happens is in the will of God like everything good or bad that happens is in the will of God and the world is often disintegrated and started all over again so it's like cyclic events of the world keep taking place now frankly every time I have to read these because I get confused like what exactly are the philosophies of these men but we have an idea isn't it we have an idea where Epicureanism is basically stating enjoy your life live a pleasurable life God is not concerned you know but the gods have their own remote life and oh sorry and death is the end of all death is the end of all sorry I said death is not so death is the end of all so then death is the end of all it makes sense because ultimately everyone is going to die then might as well enjoy life so that is Epicureanism but Stoicism is more about everything is God and there is a fiery spirit that gives life to us and that spark is in everyone when a person dies that that spark will return back that life will return back so people were accepting of every new interesting philosophy so maybe at that time this sounded very interesting and they were happy they were happy to hear these things but this is the time when Paul goes to Athens and we will see so it's like we'll close the scene right now okay I don't think we have sufficient time to discuss the ministry of Paul so with this scene we close today so imagine with me he's gone to this famous city with universities and these two existing thoughts right now and he's in Athens he's waiting who's he waiting for he's gone by C3 days he's gone by the road 12 days and he's waiting for somebody who's he waiting for is waiting for Cyrus and Timothy very good that's right so he's waiting for Silas and Timothy because he told them you'll be here in barrier and then you know follow come quickly so yeah so we are here with Paul waiting okay and so the scene closes here we'll open the next scene next week all right so let's pray and close and everyone I will be posting your assignment today okay your first assignment and you can actually work on it even the e-learning students not today but shortly your assignment will be up so you can begin to work on it and I'll try and give an early second assignment also so that you can you know given your answers in time all right so let's wrap up then unless there are some burning comments from you sure let's pray and close who would like to lead in prayer shall we pray yes please our father or go on to say thank you for this wonderful opportunity to give it to us to learn thank you for feeling back your daughter thank you Lord for all this today receive all the glory in the name of Jesus my father my God all that we have plant this money please oh Lord I post to put them in practice to for the purpose of serving your kingdom in the name of Jesus thank you because we're wonderful God we commit every nation into your hands and we pray for the history my father my God oh Lord prove yourself strong in the life of your people in the name of Jesus Christ in Jesus name we pray amen thank you thank you brother success so nice to hear your voice God bless you all have a great weekend let's come together next week thank you