 Let's begin. Now that the recording has started, we were at the beginning of Acts 16. So let me quickly show us the picture of the second missionary journey and then we can discuss. You have it. I hope it is clear enough. If you can follow along here, we are starting off from Antioch. Remember, we have a new team now. We don't have Paul and Barnabas together, but we have Paul and Silas who are a team who begin their journey from here. Of course Barnabas took John Mark and went a different route. We don't know exactly what the regions that Barnabas touched were. So here are the ones that Paul went to. So from Antioch, we know that he ministered in the region of Sicilia. Remember, we read that Sicilia, Tarsus Sicilia. And from there he goes to Derby and Lystra. This is where he meets with Timothy and then he circumcises Timothy and then he goes back to the older cities, Iconium. We are familiar with that place. We are also familiar with Antioch of Sicilia where there was somewhat of a positive response. So there are churches here. So they go back to these cities and now newer regions is what Paul has on his mind. So we will see him moving to newer regions. So he wanted to enter Bithynia. He wanted to enter Asia is what we read. He wanted to do ministry over there. But we will see how the Holy Spirit will actually guide him not to minister here right now but through the region to travel into the Macedonian region. So that's what we are going to see happen. So from Antioch of Sicilia via Bithynia, Maesia, he goes to this place called Troas and at Troas the team will be a four member team. So Luke joins in and when we read about Troas, we'll see that the language in which Luke reports will change. So he will write something like we. So obviously Luke is also part of the team right now. So they have a doctor on the team, four of them, Paul, Timothy, Silas and Luke. So from Troas, he will move on to Macedonia. Macedonian region, they're going to read about all these places. There is Neapolis, then we will read about Philippi and in Philippi we will see that people of various sections of the society will be touched, the rich. Then there is this woman who is a dealer of purple cloth. So she accepts Christ, we have people like a jailer and a slave girl. So you see there are all strata of society but they're all receiving the gospel of Jesus. So Philippi is a very important place from there. Paul and team will travel to Amphipolis, Apollonia and then we will come to a place called Beria and then later on Thessalonica, Beria is known as a place where people used to search the scriptures. So Beria, then Thessalonica and then through the region of Akaya and Athens, another very, very important crucial city and that way he will move back and then just sort of touch places like Ephesus and all but then he will go back to Caesarea and Jerusalem. So that's how the next missionary journey will take place. So second missionary journey as far as the timelines that we are going to follow is concerned. We take it as like a three to four year period for the second missionary journey. So from AD 49 to AD 52 is where Paul would have made his second missionary journey. Now as I told us, if you look at timelines of different commentaries, you will find different dates there. So don't get worried or stressed about it. We'll just stick to one way of considering this. Now also, I had mentioned earlier that commentators say it was at least five years since the first missionary journey and the gap between the first and the second missionary journey but as far as our timelines are concerned, it's something like a three-year gap. So that's okay. Don't get too stressed about it. So this is the picture of the second missionary journey and we can quickly look at how this plays out. So we were at the beginning of Act 16. We saw that Timothy has now joined the team. Let's read from Act 16 and verse 6. So here it says, now when they had gone through Fragia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Maesia, they tried to go into Bithynia but the Spirit did not permit them. So you see how I showed you earlier the Bithynia region, the Asia region. So Paul wants to go there. He wants to do the ministry but he's being forbidden by the Holy Spirit. He's being restricted by the Holy Spirit. And remember when we started the study of the Book of Acts, we also said that though we look at acts as the acts of the apostles, it is really the acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles and the believers. So here we have the Holy Spirit directing the agenda, directing the path that the people of God needed to take. So Paul had a particular place in mind. So he wanted to do ministry there but you see how Holy Spirit is giving him a different direction. So Paul is not able to go to Asia. He is not able to go to Bithynia. So what happens next was it. So passing by Maesia, they came down to Troas. So he just comes to a place called Troas. We may ask the question, how did Paul know that he was forbidden? Everything that we learned about in the prophetic ministry, everything that we learned about under the guidance of God, the way the Holy Spirit speaks to us through an impression, through a quickened word, through visions, through pictures. So we don't know exactly how the Holy Spirit confirmed that communication but Paul knew that he should not go to Asia or Bithynia. So here he is at Troas just waiting for the leading of the Holy Spirit. So how do we do ministry? We do ministry by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Not just what we want to do but where the Spirit leads us. So he is in Troas waiting for God to speak. So verse 9, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. So God is speaking now through a vision this time around. What does he see in the vision? A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. It's almost like a direct invitation to Paul and team where he's been called to Macedonia. So Paul knew because of the vision, Paul knew that he needs to now take the ministry forward in the region of Macedonia. So we've seen that in the map. So he goes to Macedonia and verse 10, now after he had seen the vision immediately we sought to vote. Remember I said in Troas the language changes. We sought to go to Macedonia concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. So quite clear here that Luke has joined the team. So coming to the Macedonian region. So it's the region we've seen all these cities, Philippi, we've seen like Amphipilus, Apollonia, we've seen all the cities in the Macedonian region. So we'll talk about each of those cities. Now we've come to Philippi, what's happening in Philippi. Therefore sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samathras and the next day came to Neapolis. Okay, so they've come to Neapolis first and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. So you know one of the things that we observe is all these port cities from where the ships, the ships would come there and the ships would go out of there. Those were all very popular because a huge population of people was passing through those cities. So that's why even earlier when Paul made the first missionary journey, he goes through Cyprus. So that seems to be the business route, that seems to be the easiest route where you had a good connect through ship and then maybe even roads connecting other regions. So similarly, this seems to be a popular route. So Philippi, the verse here, verse 12 says, foremost city of that part of Macedonia. So among all the cities, Philippi is a popular city. It's a famous city, a strong city and the team stays there. What do they do there? You know, they have to find a way to do ministry, isn't it? Earlier, we saw that Paul and Barnabas went into Synegons. That was their best way of reaching people. How are they going to meet people here? So verse 13. And on the second day, we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. So what are they doing over here? See strategy as per the city and town, they have to pick a strategy. They have to see where the people are and then go and speak about Jesus. So in Philippi, they come to the riverside. So the riverside was a place where prayers, we noticed from this verse that prayers were taking place there, but also we know that the riverside was also a place of trade and business. So that's where a lot of people would come. And for some reason, there were wealthy women in this particular city. So women came there and Paul and team started ministering to the women at the riverside. So what happens? Verse 14. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Taitira who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. So here is a God fearing woman and not just that, but she's a rich woman. Seller of purple. It wasn't easy to be a seller of purple in those days. It was very expensive to get that purple dye, but back in those times, we're talking about like AD 49, 50. Around that time, if there is a woman who is selling purple, she must have been extremely rich, very rich woman. But look at this. She was a God fearing woman. And as the message of Jesus was preached to her, her heart was softened to that message and she heard and took heed to the things which were being preached to her. Verse 15. And when she and her household were baptized, so what happened? Lydia is now a believer. So you see city by city. One person at a time, as some ministries say, one person at a time, people are being touched. So Lydia is now a believer and not just her. We know that her family accepted Christ too because we are told her household was baptized and a little bit more about Lydia. We are told she begged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. So you see how God makes a way. Where would they have stayed in the Philippi? Well, Lydia opened up her home. So she became a believer. She was rich. She had the resources. So we see even in the Old Testament, we see certain women blessing prophets, men of God, Elijah, Elisha. And so God has a way to open doors for his people when they are serving him. So we see that God provides a place for Paul and his team in Lydia's home and she herself asks, she's hospitable and she says, why don't you all come? Why don't you all stay with us? So in Philippi, they stay with Lydia. Who else do they minister to in the city of Philippi? Let's see verse 16. Now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination met us who brought her master's much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God who proclaimed to us the salvation, way of salvation. And this she did for many days. But Paul greatly annoyed, dirt and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. But when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. Verse 20. And they have brought them to the magistrate and 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 them. The multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. So now Lydia is one person in Philippi who is the next person who is minister too. We see that there is a slave girl who was bringing a good profit to her masters. She was functioning with the spirit of divination. What is the spirit of divination? See basically these are all demonic spirits who speak from their knowledge. So these spirits obviously knew that Paul and his team are ministers of God. So the spirit of divination starts to reveal their identity and says these men are the servants of the Most High God who proclaim to us the way of salvation. Now obviously this kind of a promotion by a demon spirit was not something that Paul was happy about. If it was a positive thing we wouldn't have seen him becoming so annoyed. Paul was greatly annoyed. So the demon spirit was it wasn't the intention and it is never the intention of Satan to promote the work of God's kingdom but to bring destruction. So though it sounds like now there was free advertisement for Paul's ministry, we know that it was detrimental. So Paul picks it up in the spirit. He's annoyed with the demon spirit and he goes ahead and casts out that spirit and it's a powerful deliverance because we are told that he commanded the spirit in the name of Jesus to come out of her and it came out that very hour. Now this is a matter of joy isn't it that a slave girl is set free from the oppression of demonic spirits but people who you know kept her as a slave her masters they were unhappy because they were making money out of her special abilities of saying all these words of knowledge if you want to call them prophetic words whatever they were making money out of it and now that the spirit was out she would no longer be able to say these so-called prophetic words and that was not at all good for her masters. They were at a loss so what did they do? They drag the steam to the magistrates and they bring up a false charge against them. They say something like these men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city. So how did they trouble the city? They were doing good. They in fact cast out a demon spirit from a girl but you see their pride and their selfish agenda because they were not able to make money out of their slave anymore. They make a statement such as no trouble our city. So we've seen earlier that Paul was in these dire situations where he was beaten remember Lystra he was beaten so badly thrown out of the city the disciples gathered around him and then the next day you know he went to minister that's what we we read in Acts 14. So something similar is beginning to transpire so he's accused and the magistrates you know listen to the words of these masters and what happens the verse 23 and when they had laid many stripes on them they threw them into prison so they were beaten and they were jailed and a particular jailer is assigned and they he's asked to keep them like safely like you know don't let them escape and we are told that they are now in the inner prison and fasten their feet in the stock so they are being treated as very dangerous criminals so inner prison is a place where you would keep you know people who are likely to escape you would fasten the feet in stocks okay that was a way of imprisoning criminals such that they're not even able to move their feet are also stuck now their chain their feet are stuck so you know such harsh treatment for people who are preaching the truth and the love of Jesus and it's you know very sad to see so we saw that the the Philippine woman Lydia and her family are saved the slave girl is set free but what is the final consequence you know Paul is still in trouble his team is still in trouble okay and people are not able to open their hearts fully to the message of the Lord Jesus Christ why no it's like the story of those people who told Jesus to leave the city right spirits were cast out of a man and those spirits asked to be sent into pigs and when the spirits went into the pigs they drowned and died so what did the people of that region do they said Jesus our business our money is more important can you please leave this region you know we we don't care about your you know your your compassion and your deliverance and all of that so this is very similar a girl was delivered but people's hearts were so far away from God that you know they they did not receive the gospel and now we have Pete Paul in the prison okay so what's gonna happen in this inner prison when Paul you know has is secured with the stocks okay verse 25 but at midnight Paul and Silas okay so you know you might ask the question what happened to Timothy what happened to Luke we don't know we don't know where they are in this equation but somehow Luke only mentions Paul and Silas so Paul and Silas would have been you know captured and taken to prison so at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them you know it's amazing when you read about the apostles and ministers of God in the book of ads you know acts 12 Peter when he sees the angel guiding him he thinks it is you know a vision how could Peter even sleep in the prison you know if one of us were in the prison we'd be so anxious that I don't know if we would be able to sleep but you see Peter sleeping and the angel guiding him out of the prison supernaturally because of the prayers of the believers and in this case Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God can you even imagine that picture your legs you know are tied your hands are chained we've been beaten okay maybe you know we can think of just getting a quick rest or a nap or just getting a shut eye but here are Paul and Silas at midnight so it just shows us what kind of a lifestyle they had of pursuing after God of worshiping God that in the prison in these circumstances they have found praying singing even singing hymns to God it's amazing okay and how are they singing not very quietly because that was 25 says and the prisoners were listening to them so they're singing loudly to God maybe they knew the power of praise okay very very well they knew that as they praised God God would intervene on their behalf so here they are in the in the prison praying and singing to God in such a way that other prisoners could hear them so whenever to be worshiped God in this manner what happens was 26 starts very beautifully you know Luke puts it so beautifully he says suddenly so God appoints suddenlys when we trust in him when we pursue him so in a very difficult situation as these two are worshiping the Lord Paul and Silas suddenly God does something okay so something supernatural takes place what what is that suddenly suddenly there was a great earthquake you see how God works sometimes through an angel you know sometimes through people but now even through a great earthquake so that night there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken God is a God you know of of um this world he has created the world he knows what he can do to set his people free so this time around it's an earthquake that shakes the foundations of the prison and notice the words suddenly now immediately immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were lost so you see the effect of the devotion of Paul and Silas in the prison that God intervenes immediately doors are open chains are lost not just theirs but everyone's chains are lost so you see the power of of devotion of prayer and worship that not only did it touch their lives but the lives of the people around even their chains were lost it's amazing so amazing just those two verses in the midnight but at midnight sometimes in our deepest most difficult challenges the right thing to do is to worship God and then we can experience the suddenly because God is almighty he's the creator of the heavens and the earth and he knows what is best to get us out of that situation and not only will we be we be out of that situation but you see how everyone's chains were lost so you know our worship can affect others around us verse 27 at the keeper of the prison awakening from sleep and seeing the prison doors open supposing the prison prisoners had fled drew 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 okay let me just stop here so what happened the earthquake you know lose the chains of everyone we know earlier you know Herod when Peter escaped right he he killed the jailers who were in charge so this is the you know procedure that they followed that if prisoner escaped the jailers would need to die so the jailer is petrified and he thinks that it is best for him to kill himself but you know Paul assures him and tells him do yourself no harm for we are all here so they were all still in the prison what happens next from verse 29 then he called for a light ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas and he brought them out and said sirs what must I do to be safe isn't that beautiful you know you don't see Paul preaching at least in acts 3 Peter preached and then the people asked him the question what must we do what what should we do they were cut to the heart but now looking at the intervention of God in Paul and Silas situation the jailer understood that these men are men of God so look at his response okay and not just that look at the integrity of Paul and Silas and their compassion they probably knew that if they ran away the jailer would be you know killed so they were there for the sake of the jailer and the jailer who touches his life and he asks them the question what must I do to be safe you would have probably heard the message you know Paul and Silas earlier we don't know but this is his response and they minister to the jailer so three people right at least three people that Luke mentions there must have been many more Lydia slave girl now the jailer so verse 31 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 this house and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and immediately he and all his family were baptized now when he had brought them into his house he said food before them and he rejoiced having believed in God with all his household wow what a what a you know positive ending to the story of Paul and Silas being imprisoned you see God is working in every situation even in the jail so now you have the jailer and his family believing Jesus being baptized and also you know taking care of Paul and Silas so that is how this this particular incident ended in Philippi so let's read on okay what more happens after the jailer and his family are saved verse 35 okay let me just quickly ask all of you are you all doing okay I'm just trying to go a little fast and cover the content but I hope it's not disorienting are you able to keep pace with me okay one person says yes how about the others yes pastor okay good good wonderful yes okay glad that you are in step with me so let's go on so we're still talking about Philippi and let's see you know what takes place at verse 35 and when it was day so in the night so many things happened when it was day the magistrates sent the officers saying let those men go so obviously they have you know learned about the earthquake and the jailers a situation and all of that so in a hush hush way you know the magistrates of Philippi they were the ones who beat up Paul and Silas and imprisoned them isn't it so they feel that you know they should not continue overseeing this matter anymore so let's just close this case so quietly what they want to do is they say let those men go close this chapter verse 36 so the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul saying the magistrates have sent to let you go now therefore depart and go in peace okay so that's that sounds good that finally Paul and Silas you know in a in a sort of a legal way because the magistrates have set them free they can go their way and continue the work of their ministry but how is Paul going to respond you know to this decision of the magistrates verse 31 but Paul said to them okay Paul is not very happy about the way things are being done in Philippi firstly without proper interrogation without proper process they were imprisoned and that too be in a prison and now without a proper process the magistrates are saying yeah yeah you can go no problem now we know that Paul is a learned individual and he knows you know about the roman law much better than probably the magistrates so he just looks at the shoddy way in which things are being done and he's quite upset so he says verse 37 but 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's very upset and also you know he declares this information which the magistrates probably did not know all year they knew that Paul was juke he was a juke but they didn't know that he was a roman citizen now in those days being a roman citizen was of great value it was not easy to get the citizenship and if you were if you had the citizenship you know then you had great power okay and Paul declares this information and he says they have treated roman citizens uncondemned romans they imprisoned and now they are quietly putting us out so this is not acceptable okay he puts his foot down so verse 38 obviously the magistrates would now be afraid because they figured out that Paul is indeed a roman okay that's scary that they have treated a roman poorly so verse 38 and the officers stole these words to the magistrates and they were afraid when they heard that they were romans verse 39 then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out and asked them to depart from the city was 40 so they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia and when they had seen the brethren they encouraged them and they depart so anyhow you know Paul and Barnabas did leave the city and one last thing they did before they left the city was to go to Lydia's house so why did they go to Lydia's house why do you think they went to Lydia's house before they left the city anyone any thoughts could it be to reassure to strengthen her before they leave and encourage her sure yes yes I should to strengthen and encourage that's correct and we can also assume that by now there was a church meeting in Lydia's house okay because some good ministry had taken place in Philippi now I'm sure apart from just these three individuals there could have been more people so now you even have a jailer's household right so they all could have been meeting so the church in Philippi could have been meeting in Lydia's house that's why Paul goes there encourages the brethren and moves on from there so let's now go to act 17 and see you know what happens in the ministry of the steam Paul Silas Luke and Philippi was 70 now when they chapter 70 now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews then Paul as his custom was so you see the normal way of ministering is to go to the synagogue so verse two then Paul as his custom was went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures okay so we understand that verse three 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 verse four and some of them were persuaded and a great multitude of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas so now in Thessalonica they are spending time reasoning with the people the reasoning is also persuading from the scriptures so preaching yes you know you preach we've seen Luke use that term they preached earlier but here he says reasoned with them so that just says that in a more earnest way in a more sort of a continuous way Paul put before you know the Thessalonians all the reasons why Jesus is Christ and why they must believe so you see the different ways in which ministry is being preached yes reasoning is also something that you know Paul engaged in and it's beautiful to see that there was a church that arose in Thessalonica so a great multitude of devout Greeks and there were also leading women so there must have been some rich women like Libya in Thessalonica so there is a group of believers who are now the church of Thessalonica okay what happens next verse five but the Jews who were not persuaded so after all the reasoning there are some Jews who are not convinced what's happening they are behaving like the Jews of you know we saw Sidia and Iconia they rose up against you know Paul and team so there is an opposition which happens even in Thessalonica so these Jews who are not persuaded becoming envious took some of the evil men from the marketplace and gathering a mob set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people so Jason's home is where the church of Thessalonica met but there is an uproar and they attack this house and they you know want to bring these people out and you know maybe throw them out of the city so verse six but when they did not find them they dragged Jason so they couldn't find Paul and team so they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city crying out those who have turned the world upside down have come here to verse seven Jason has harbored them and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying there is another king Jesus verse eight and they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things so when they had taken security from Jason and the rest they let them go so very similar situation like Philippi what's happening just some false accusation you know they also said that these people are troubling us so here again one other false accusation that they are preaching a new called Jesus who is above Caesar and in the accusation there's actually a compliment to the believers what is that they say these who have turned the world upside down have come here to so it's meant to be a negative comment but notice how it's a compliment for the believers so what do we learn about the believers in the book of Acts their life made an impact on you know they using the word world but that simply goes to say that large regions cities towns villages they're being impacted by the preaching by the you know persuasion the reasoning the demonstration of the power of God there's so many things that the believers were engaging in so as Jesus gave us the great commission and said go into all the world and make disciples we see the believers of the book of Acts and more so Paul and Steve making an impact on cities so today we saw in detail about Philippi but also Thessalonica there was a church which was now established in Thessalonica so legally what do they do in Thessalonica they just say okay Jason they beat him up they take a security from him they and you know they let them go so that is probably what happened and you know they want to ensure that Paul no longer continues his ministry in Thessalonica so a lot of other interesting places coming up in the second missionary journey we will study them later there's going to be Beria where we have people who are so you know interested about the truth of God's word that they search the scriptures and then we will go to Apens the Apens a very intellectual philosophical city increase we'll see the approach that Paul and his ministry team have in these places okay so I know that you know I've gone a little faster than usual but if there are any comments if there are any questions we can take it up before we wrap up today's class yes so I just want to have the clarity of for preaching and reasoning okay okay so you see preaching and reasoning I you could look at reasoning also as preaching okay so just that we when we talk about reasoning reasoning is more with the intention of you know gently persuading or convincing the people so the matters that that we may talk about would be a little more in detail a little more step by step to help the people you know move their understanding from not knowing Christ to knowing Christ and things like that so it's not very different just that reasoning is a little more detailed and a little bit more of you know convincing sort of an approach I don't know if you got what I'm saying Pratik does it help yes yes ma'am yeah I can understand ma'am thank you sure sure thank you yeah that's how it is okay so reasoning is also preaching but a more convincing sort all right so let's pray and wrap up today's class and we shall come back to you know continue from act 17 next week so okay somebody please lead and pray okay Tasha how about you lead us sure heavenly father we thank you for the class today we thank you Lord for the great work that occurred in acts and we thank you that your power still works today and we pray Lord that we will be you know we will see the manifestation of your power in today's church as Paul Salus Lord John Mark Barnabas did back in the day and how they transformed lives of those who they encountered and demon spirits must know that you are the High God the only one strong living God and the only high power and every other power must bow Lord help us Lord to connect on a deeper level with the Holy Spirit as we are your ecclesia we are your church father as we rise up and take authority in Jesus name amen amen thank you thank you Tasha thank you for that prayer and thank you everyone so God bless you have a wonderful weekend we shall meet next week bye for now okay God bless you bye