 Yes, yes, okay. Yeah, thank you everyone for waiting Sorry for the delay because of you know the issues. Anyway, we can get back. We were talking about the Jerusalem Council and how the decision was taken and after that the team Paul and Barnabas went back to the Church of Antioch. They went together with Judas and with Silas and Silas was the one who stayed back Judas returned And you know when the next missionary journey was planned Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with him But Paul was not happy about John Mark. So Paul and Barnabas had this argument and they decided to part ways. So Paul took a part now which is Silas and he continued on the journey. So the Church as such blessed both of both the teams and sent them out. So now let us come to the next chapter here, which is Act 16 We already know the First thing that the team will do which is to go back to the old or rather the churches which were planted in the first missionary journey So they came to Dabi and Lestra. Okay here we find that There is an individual who we will read about later. So they need a disciple by the name of Timothy and Timothy is the son of a Jewish woman who believed. So we can understand that Timothy's mother was a believer But scriptures also tell us that Timothy's father was Greek So likely that when it says father was Greek, it was not just the culture of the language, but Seems like he was an unbeliever. He did not he was not a devout person. So That is Timothy's background. Mother's a believer father's not a believer Believer in the sense like the Jews right committed to God Then the other thing about Timothy is he was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lestra and Iconium So that means he had a Good testimony. So this is remember the seven leaders who were chosen to volunteer in the church One of the things that was needed was that testimony right that they should have a good report So looks like Timothy is a candidate for being a Volunteer in church to serve the church in some way. So Paul finds this boy or man and he Let's see what he does. So then We read Paul wanted to have him go on with him. So What I feel is obviously, you know, somebody like Paul was so strict He didn't let John mom join the team and now if he has chosen Timothy Timothy must have been like a passionate Disciplined young man is what my guess is. So that is why Paul Decides that he wants to take Timothy along with him But before taking Timothy along with him Paul does something. What is that? He takes Timothy. We are told And when you read, you know The statement that says he took him and circumcised him He took him and circumcised him, which means that he himself performed circumcision on Timothy Okay But why just now in acts 15. We had this whole argument about Circumcision and how it is not necessary to be safe. Why is it? That before taking Timothy on the trip Paul has decided to circumcise him himself so what Does this cause any confusion? Like what are your thoughts on this? They sent a letter to the believers saying no need circumcision is not required But now Paul himself has taken Timothy circumcised him to join in the trip. So what is the meaning in this? Any idea any thoughts following the culture Okay Yeah, following the culture correct friends. How does it help? There should be some use of following the culture Paul is passionately doing it looks like when you're going Looks like I think they were going where they were a lot of you Okay Yeah, yeah true. So now Both what Prince said if you said That is where the answer lies actually. So you see Paul He was advocating for gentiles and I'm sure you know given a chance. He would have advocated for any culture any group of people because God had called everyone remember James He quoted Amos and said the Gentiles will come and that word gentile Is actually it's supposed to be some ethnic or something which refers to you know, ethnicity where We understand you know that that root word From that, you know, there are different kinds of people that are different origins, right like Different groups of of people's communities and God wants every community to come to him Now when Paul is going on the missionary journey As they rightly said he knows that he's going to encounter Jews In the first missionary journey we saw the image There was a lot of trouble from the Jews to him. So Jewish settlements and Jewish communities were everywhere Now taking somebody like Timothy along with him He would have had problems because people would know Timothy and say that I this man this boy He's not circumcised. He is not You know from a Jewish background Because his father is Greek Now Paul did not want any issues Right That people blame in Timothy for not being Jewish. So he took advantage of the fact that Timothy's mother is Jewish So he circumcised Timothy. Okay, so one is that ministry will be easier Not that he is He is advocating for circumcision. No, he doesn't care about circumcision that we know But it's just a cultural thing as Prince said he knows that there will be better acceptance. You see it's something like, you know, how If I can give a small simple example, so whenever we go to North India Right. We follow And I'm saying from the women's side. They all wear Salwar comey's and they put this shawl on their heads That's the normal way of dressing. So we just follow that. It's not that, you know That's how we are at that's what we're advocating for and all the culturally. It's acceptable. So It doesn't matter, right? Like for us for a few days to follow their pattern of dressing somewhat like that to Make them comfortable. It doesn't affect us negatively or our faith negatively in any way So we follow the culture something like that. So for that one reason Paul did that But also, you see Paul, we know that he had a heart like a father Whenever he Looked at people. He worked with people. He thought long-term. So maybe Paul also thought oh Timothy He's a good man and he must Dessert by the spirit that he has a good lot of ministry ahead of him People will despise him when he does the ministry people might say who are you your father is Greek, you know They might say things like that. You're not circumcised. So he knew that in the long run It is going to benefit Timothy in the ministry. So that can be the second reason why he Circumcised not that Paul was interested in circumcising the Gentiles Or you know any other set of people so circumcision is just And Paul is a Jew mind you and he is You know, he He is given to his culture and his traditions. So in one way you can say that, you know He also was okay about his culture and keeping the law in that sense and he honored Circumcision he honored that as a Jew you would find that he does these things later also just follow the Jewish culture But he is not trying to trust it on other people. That's what we have to be clear about He never does this anywhere else only for Timothy. He has done it because there are reasons Why he circumcised? Okay, so I just want us to get that point very very clear so Timothy has been circumcised here and After that we read that they went through the cities They delivered to them the decrees to keep which were determined by the Apostles and elders at Jerusalem Okay, if you don't understand the context, it sounds very hypocritical He circumcised Timothy and he's going and telling about the Jerusalem Council decision, which is circumcision is not required Okay, so that's how This second journey starts off While they're doing this ministry we read that the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily So good ministry is taking place now. They are going through the Freigia and the region of Galatia And Paul had in his heart to go go To Asia okay to preach the word of God But after they had come to Maesia, okay, that that region over there I showed you the map earlier So he has in his heart that he wants from these cities the first journey cities He wants to go into the Asia region so he comes up till a point called Maesia and from there he wants to enter but Over there when he's trying to enter Asia through a place called Bittinia, the Holy Spirit does not permit him So we see the leading of God's spirit Okay, the case of Philip we saw how the Holy Spirit let him told him okay, you go there you minister to this person So he was able to go now in the case of Paul There is Silas there is Timothy along with him on the team and they want to go to Asia Holy Spirit is not allowing them to go how the Holy Spirit did not allow them to go We don't know very clearly whether you know, they got a word or through a circumstance or Through a vision or a dream. We are not very clear on that. But one thing we are clear. God gave them a no So they passed by that region and they came to a place called through us So by this what do we understand? We understand that when God leads us sometimes Okay God could lead us through closed doors We think that God only leads us through open doors But there might be some closed doors, but that's also God protecting us God or in other words telling us that this is not the right time to enter through this door So we should not be upset about closed doors in our lives Okay, that's also God's way of showing that I am putting you on another journey or I'm Taking you through another path to do what I want you to do. So I read these statements about closed doors Clearly encouraged me just sharing it with you also We are told that David Livingston wanted to go to China But God sent him to Africa Okay, and he did a wonderful ministry in Africa. So where did God want David Livingston to go Africa? But he wanted to go to China, right? But God led him through a closed door Similarly William Gary wanted to go to Polynesia, but God sent him to India. He is the father of modern missions Adoniram Judson He went to India. He thought he'll establish his ministry there, but God guided him to Burma So, you know, sometimes the way God directs us We want something very badly, but God closes the door. That's also his way of saying not this way You go the other way because that is my plan for you. So one thing is that Paul and his team They may be the right people But it was not the right time For them to bring ministry to Asia. So God showed them a different path Obviously, these are people who are seeking God. They want to know from God. You know where to go next So we read later in the inverse nine. We read it says a vision appeared to Paul in the night So God gives a vision Okay to Paul Now God told don't go to Bithynia, but God gives a vision and tells him You need to go to Macedonia and in the vision he sees a man from Macedonia He's requesting like pleading and saying come and help us in Macedonia. So, uh, he understands Oh, okay. Okay. This vision God is giving me because I need to go to the Macedonian region. So let me see I closed off all the maps when I restarted the computer Let me just see if I can Please show you that Map once again, then you will understand it much better So you see Now they are here this Asia Minor Um region Uh, Galatia is where most of the all Galatia Where most of those first journey churches are and this is the plan they go to Maesia and they want to entail like this Go to Bithynia Okay, the Holy Spirit says no, no, no, you can't you can't so they go to Troas and over here He gets a vision What is the vision now? He doesn't know what to do. He has already covered this distance This side God is saying don't go So what to do now vision is saying go to Macedonia go for over here. Okay, this place So that is what is happening. Okay, so you got the vision now In the vision there was a man and he was calling To come and help over there. So they go to Macedonia and they decide to preach the gospel there also, um In this statement, okay, uh, when you read like versus nine and ten Suddenly the way the statement is written is different. It says now after he had seen the vision immediately we start to go to Macedonia Who's the writer of uh acts of the apostles it is luke and luke Gives us a clear indication that till now it was more about you fall with this They he all such language is used but now suddenly it has changed you immediately we so in troas Another person that god You know gave the opportunity for paul to meet his luke So one more person has joined the team. Who is that luke? So paul and silas started now four people paul silas timothy luke. What about what else is so good about luke? You know, he's so good at uh documenting He's a doctor So maybe god wanted paul to have his personal doctor as he went through the missionary journey Okay, and of course he's a man of faith also. So he's very much an asset to the team So luke is there from troas. They picked up luke also and now they are moving towards Macedonia it says immediately we sought to go to Macedonia concluding that the lord had called us to preach the gospel to them Okay, therefore sailing from troas. So in troas luke was picked up sailing from there We ran a straight course to samotras and the next day came to neapolis and from there to filipine So filipine is that city, okay where they come And they are going to do ministry here. They're going to preach the gospel in the city called filipine It was the foremost city of that part of Macedonia See the way they are doing the ministry Macedonia is a region And there they could have gone to any city, but they picked a notable city Why because you see and filipine it was close to the see Whatever impact they will have on that city When we when you study about, you know, um City transformation and impacting the cities. I'm sure you would have heard that It's a lot easier for the message to go from a city to Smaller town or a village. So rather than the message to go from a village to a city. So, uh, in the missionary journey Starting now you notice that Paul and team they'll go to these notable cities Because a lot of people are coming in going out. So whatever Work they are doing it will affect the lives of all those people, isn't it? So the gospel They will respond to the gospel and as they travel out, they will also take the gospel with them. They will take a Like a transformed life with them to impact other regions and that is the the kind of principle that we see Paul and team follow. So they went to the foremost city of that part Macedonia And they were staying there for some days Now on the Sabbath day or the day of worship They went to the riverside. Maybe that was the common practice in Philippi. So we go to the riverside there There prayer was going on as usual and when they sat down They spoke to women some women used to come there without women obviously So they spoke to them one of them was a lady called Lydia and Lydia Heard them or she was open. She was receptive to the gospel Who is Lydia? Well, Lydia was a business lady. They are told that she was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira and selling purple in those days, you know We've heard right in history how indigo was so costly. There were wars that were fought because of Of dice and because of spices. So in olden times, these things were all expensive and very precious Lydia as a seller of purple, she would have dealt with those expensive dyes. So is she a common normal lady? No, she was a very well to do business woman and she was a worshipper of God and somehow she is listening to Paul and the team and what they are speaking. One more thing we see about her is the scripture says the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. In the book of John we read that the Father draws people to himself. So this is something we can pray when we are ministering to unbelievers. We can pray and say Lord you opened their heart. We can say Lord you draw them to yourself. So in this case God softened Lydia's heart and she was very open to the gospel. She heard whatever Paul was saying and she and her household were baptized just like Cornelius. They were baptized and she told them if you judged me faithful to the Lord come to my house. So it also shows that she was a hospitable lady and she wanted to use her resources to bless the kingdom of God. So she encouraged these people to go to her house and stay over there. So it's really nice. In a city you see how God prepares when we go we do missionary work. Sometimes you wonder Lord how you are calling me to that city. Who is going to listen? We can pray. God you prepare their hearts. You open their hearts. You see how in Philippi Macedonia when Paul got a dream he in the dream he got a man. A man was calling but the man was actually a woman. So that's how when we interpret dreams and visions every time it's not literal. There could be you know led by the spirit we can understand what exactly God was trying to say. So it was a woman and who was that woman? Lydia. Lydia was there. Her heart was open. We can pray and say Lord you prepare the hearts of the people there. Let them be open. So they listen. Lydia listen. God also made a place for the team to stay. So Lydia opened her house. They were staying there. They were continuing the ministry of God in the city of Philippi. Now one more thing happened in Philippi. What was that? Again when they went for prayer there was a slave girl. She was possessed by a spirit of divination. And this spirit of divination is a spirit that tells the future. We call it fortune telling. This is going to happen. That is going to happen. So this girl was possessed by a demon and the demon could do some fortune telling and that was going on. So this girl she noticed Paul and the team and she followed them and she was crying out and saying that these men are the servants of the most high God who proclaim to us the way of salvation. So the demon spirit is giving publicity, advertisement to Paul and the team and telling people that these people are from God. Should Paul be happy about it? What do you think should Paul be happy about it? He is getting advertisement from demons. When some demons say things like oh you are a man of God I know. When you are going to cast them out they say all such things right? So should we be happy about it? What do you think? It seems like a positive thing where we are getting others might listen to it and give us more attention. But Paul was not impressed at all. Because we know that Satan knows sometimes he tries to manipulate us. He tries to flatter. It is actually a manipulation tactic. He genuinely is not trying to promote our work. So when this girl was doing we read that Paul got greatly annoyed. So he was calm, he was going about doing his work. For many days she was telling everyone oh look at these people they are from God they are the servants of God. So he got really irritated and one day what did he do? He commanded that spirit in the name of Jesus come out of her. And it says that very hour that spirit came out of her. So that fortune telling spirit and the spirit which was annoying these people left the girl. Now what should we expect? You know one girl has been set free. We should be very happy about it isn't it? But we read that the people she was a slave girl. So she had masters. Those masters got upset because they were making money out of the spirit which was in her. You know telling fortune and collecting all you give 100 rupees, 1000 rupees. So they were making money. Spirit leads the girl where did the money come from? So they got so upset with Paul, Silas and the team and you know they go after them. Somehow they only get a hold of Paul and Silas. They seize them, they drag them and they put them in the prison. They put them in the inner prison. Very very securely they put them and they put their feet. Those days they would chain like sort of you know make your feet stuck in stocks. So like that in the inner prison with very good security guards they put them in the prison Paul and Silas and there is a commanding jailer also who is there. So in this way they are now in the prison for doing something good. What is that? For casting out a demon is that a girl free but punished in the prison. So what do we expect? You know it's a little challenging actually. You know in our walk with the Lord just think about it. Till now the way God is leading Paul wanted to go to Vidhania. But God gave him a vision. Told him you go to Macedonia. He comes to Macedonia. Initially he is very happy. Oh wow Lydia nice house. We are doing the ministry. People are turning to God. Great. But soon after he continues ministry, casts out demon. He is in the prison. Now if you are me, if we were in Paul's place, I don't know whether we would have asked the question. God I told you I want to go to Vidhania. Why did you send me to Macedonia? Now I am in the Philippine jail. What do you want me to do? So that kind of an attitude I don't know if you know we would carry that or we would be like Paul. Because what happens in the prison we are told Paul and Silas at midnight they are praying and singing hymns to God. Isn't it unusual when we are in trouble and in this case if Paul had the attitude he could have said I didn't do this. You brought me to Philippine. Why am I in trouble? For obeying you. You know he could have argued things like that. But we see that they did not carry that kind of an attitude. They were really people who were moved by love. They were moved by love for God, love for people. Here something has gone wrong. What to do now? Fine let's trust God. So they start worshipping God. They are praying, they are singing hymns to God. Maybe they knew the power of praise in the midst of a difficult situation and I really like how it says at midnight. So in her life also we go through some seasons it's like midnight hour. Confusing. You don't know why Lord closed door, opposition, prison, difficulty but I am doing your work. But what to do in that midnight hour? Look at Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns to God. Other prisoners are listening to them. Then what happens? You know when we praise in our difficulties we can expect what happened to Paul and Silas. Suddenly there was a great earthquake. Then earthquake means everything shakes and the prison was shaken. How was it shaken? In such a way that immediately all the doors were open and everyone's chains were loosed. How amazing, right? God, you know when we seek God deliverance doesn't come only to us. It can come to everybody around us. There are other prisoners and what did the earthquake do? Set everybody free. Because Paul and Silas are praying, Paul and Silas are worshipping, singing hymns to God. When this happened the people who were taking care of the prison woke up and got scared. They thought everyone must have left the prisons. You remember earlier Herod how when Peter escaped he killed the guards. Because it was very irresponsible of the guards to let the prisoners escape. So they were ready to kill themselves. Why to die by the leaders? Let us kill ourselves. But when they are going to do that to Paul he cries with a loud voice and he tells the jailer, please don't do that. Don't harm yourself. We are all here. So just think about it. So much of love God put in their hearts. For who? The jailers. In fact I didn't read. We didn't read the passage. But if you read the passage you will see that they were nicely beaten before they were put into the prison. Who beat them? Must have been the same jailers. So why Paul? Why are you being kind to them? You can escape. God has set you free and if they kill themselves let them kill themselves. But that was not the attitude. Paul was filled with love. So he tells the jailer just do yourself no harm. We are all here. Then you know the jailer he puts the light. He asks for the light and then he comes trembling before Paul and Silas. Because he understood hey something about these two men they are truly connected to the living God. Then the moment he sees their love what is it that made this jailer come and respect Paul and Silas. It's really their commitment to God and their love for God and for the people. So he comes to them and he asks them, sir what must I do to be saved? When we walk like that this will be the response of the people. They will ask us what should we do to be saved? You please tell us. So then Paul says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved to you and your household. So he shares the gospel with the jailer and they speak the word or the God's word to this jailer as well as the household. So there is one more. See there are three sets of people. You had Lydia and her family. There was one girl who was demon possessed who was set free in Philippi. Now the jailer and his family. He speaks to the Paul and Silas minister to them and they accept Christ. That same hour it seems the jailer like he took care of the stripes. He washed their wounds. He nursed them. He cared for them. He probably was the one who commanded for the meetings and see what happened. God changes his heart in such a way that he only takes care of Paul and Silas and their wounds. And also we read that he and his family were baptized and they brought Paul and Silas to their house and also gave them food and rejoice with them. So they all believed in God. What a marvelous turnaround of circumstances. So all these things happened in the city of Philippi. Now with the magistrates or the higher authorities they found out all these things have happened. They quietly wanted to let go of these men. So they told the keeper of the prison that the magistrates have given this command. You can go now. But the way the prison was functioning was a little disorderly. If it was orderly when people are caught they must be brought for trial. After the trial is done you know you find out whether the person is really guilty or not. Then you let them go. That is the right way of doing things. But here looks like the magistrates they are doing whatever they like. Catch anybody. Leave anybody. So it's like a disorderly sort of a government that is in place in the city of Philippi. And Paul he understands that it's not right. You know what this blood is not right and we should not leave them also. So now what Paul does is Paul tries to rock their boat. So when the magistrates say okay let go of these people. He suddenly brings up a particular piece of information. Paul said to them they have beaten us openly. Uncondemned Romans. So he reveals to the jailer. He reveals to the guards. He tells them we are Romans. And Roman citizens those days it was very expensive. If you were not a citizen to get that citizenship was very very expensive. And it was a privilege to be a Roman citizen. And you can't treat Roman citizens carelessly. And everyone was afraid of getting into trouble because of no Romans. So Paul now suddenly reveals to them and says we are Romans. We are Uncondemned Romans. What have you done? You simply threw us into the prison. And now you want to put us out secretly. There's no procedure. There's no proper way of doing things. He says no. You can't do this with us. No indeed. Let them come or let the magistrates or the higher authorities let them come and let them get us out. We will not follow what the jailers are saying. So he kind of puts his foot down. And he also reveals to them that they are not ordinary people but they are very much law abiding citizens. They are Roman citizens. And the officers they took this word back to the magistrates and informed them and when they came to know oh man we are dealing with Romans they got scared because they would get into trouble. So the magistrates came they pleaded with them and then they brought them out and asked them okay now we have followed some procedure y'all please leave the city. So that is exactly what happened in the city. So there are three sets of people we saw impacted and there is a church. Where is the church in the house of Lydia? After they were set free from the prison they go to Lydia's house for some time. They meet the brethren. Who are the brethren? Maybe the of course Lydia's family is there. Other people would have been there. Maybe that slave girl was there. Who was delivered and her family could have been there. Now the jailer and his family. So these are all the people in Philippi. So there is a church. Who is the church? It's the body of believers. So there is a body of believers in the city of Philippi and Paul, Silas and the team like they encourage them. And again now Luke is saying they encourage them and departed. Which tells us maybe Luke stayed back in Philippi for some time. Remember how the Apostles were very careful to take care of the new believers. They never abandoned them. They made sure that the word of God was stopped to them. They were equipped. They were made to grow in the things of God. Then they would appoint pastors, leaders and then leave. So these people in Philippi most probably Luke stayed for some more time and he was taking care of the believers there. And you have Silas and Paul and likely Timothy as well moving on to the next destination. So where is the next destination? We have seen the map in Macedonia. Philippi is one place. Now they move on through Amphipolis and Apollonia. They come to a place called Thessalonica. Over here they go to a synagogue and there they start to minister from the word of God. So when they go to a synagogue that is something common. We have already seen in all the cities that is what they did because Jews had an opportunity to go to the synagogues. So they went there and they started doing their preaching. What are some of the things they did? They reasoned with them from the scriptures. You remember the way Philip taught the Ethiopian from the scripture or you are reading Isaiah. You know what? Isaiah is talking about the Messiah and Jesus is the Messiah. So you reason with them, give them reason, prove from the scriptures, help them to understand. So that is what they are doing. And then they are explaining. They are explaining from God's word so that the people will receive it and they are demonstrating that Christ had suffered. Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead. So this is the manner in which they were trying to bring the message of Jesus and tell that Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. So they were talking about Jesus. And when they did that in Thessalonica again, similar to Philip by some people were convinced. This is the God, this is the Messiah that we must follow and a great multitude of devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women, they joined Paul and Silas. So there is a new body of believers that is established in the city of Thessalonica. However we saw earlier there are some group of people who would believe but there were generally others, mainly Jews who did not believe and they created trouble for Paul and the team. Similarly, some Jews, they were not convinced and they became so jealous that people are listening to these men what is going on. So what they did is how to silence Paul and team let us create some opposition against them. We have seen this, Iconium they did that then even in the case of Stephen all kinds of lies they told him, no you are not honoring our fathers, you are not listening to the laws given by Moses. So lies they spread lies accusation and they try to gather people against the work of God. So here in Thessalonica they try to gather a mob and try to do something against and here we read about a man called Jason. So the church was mostly meeting in Jason's house. In Philippi it was meeting in Lydia's house. So Jason's house they come and they attack it and they want to bring all the people out. So what we will do, we will stop here we will continue, we are going to see city by city what are the things that are going on and how later on Paul also will be put under trial. So as we are studying we will concentrate on the missionary journeys we will also try to understand little more about Paul as a person and his work. So let's close in prayer now I just want to request somebody to play once again Dave if you don't mind could you please pray OK Sure about that Let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for today we thank you for our class we thank you that you are teaching us from the world we are teaching us from the works of the acts of the Apostle that you thank you that you are the same God who worked with the Apostles we believe that you still can work those miracles and you still can work in the same way even today Lord Jesus I pray that you know it's one of us every student and every faculty with the power and with the knowledge we thank you for Ma'am and we thank you for those who are in the class those who haven't joined the class you have been helping to join very well Lord Jesus we thank you for our class once again Jesus Amen Thank you Dave Thank you everyone Thank you Have a blessed day We will connect again next week Bye for now