Study #52: Paul obeyed the Macedonian call to go to Phillipi in Greece to start a new church (Acts 16:1

Study #52: Paul obeyed the Macedonian call to go to Phillipi in Greece to start a new church (Acts 16:1 - 15)

Acts, Chapter 2.2: The Gentiles and Jews of Greece violently opposed the efforts of Paul and Silas to plant churches (15:36 - 18:22)

§Unique Introduction: The missionary ministry of Paul is transformed with a new partner, Silas, and a new helper, Timothy (15:36 - 16:5)

¶Opposite Paul and Barnabas go their separate ways because of a disagreement over John Mark (15:36 - 41)

¶Opposite Paul, Silas, and Timothy delivered the decrees of the assembly at Jerusalem to the new Gentile assemblies (16:1 - 5)

§Complement Body: Paul and his missionary team were imprisoned in Philippi and barely escaped a riot in Thessalonica (16:6 - 17:34)

¶Unique The Holy Spirit opened a door to establish a new assembly in Philippi of Greece (16:6 - 15)

¶Complement Paul and Silas were imprisoned by the Roman authorities in Philippi over a false charge (16:16 - 40)

¶Complement The Jews of Thessalonica disrupted the church-planting efforts of Paul and Silas in Thessalonica with a riot (17:1 - 9)

¶Opposite Many of the noble Jews of Berea believed in Christ (17:10 - 15)

¶Opposite Few of the pagan Greeks of Athens believed in Christ (17:16 - 34)

§Complement Conclusion: The Lord opened a door for Paul in Corinth; and another in Ephesus, on his way home to Antioch (18:1 - 22)

¶Complement The Lord blessed Paul’s missionary efforts in the Greek city of Corinth for eighteen months (18:1 - 11)

¶Complement Paul returned to the assembly at Antioch after stopping at a synagogue in Ephesus (18:12 - 22)

We continue our study of Acts Chapter 2.2 with the second paragraph of the Introduction Section, and continue into the Body Section with the first paragraph.

The text of paragraph 2, arranged according to the reverse Golden Ratio design of two Opposites, two Complements and one Unique:

¶Opposite Paul, Silas, and Timothy delivered the decrees of the assembly at Jerusalem to the new Gentile assemblies (16:1 - 5)

Opposite Then he came to Derbe and Lystra; and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus (the son of a certain woman who was Jewish, and believed in Christ; but his father was a Greek); who was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.

Opposite Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and he took and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those parts: for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

Complement And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees to keep, that were ordained by the Apostles and elders at Jerusalem.

Complement And so the Assemblies were established in the Faith.

Unique And they increased in number daily.

Comments: This Timothy is the same person who was the recipient of two letters of Paul: I Timothy and 2 Timothy.

Paul, no doubt, felt led by God to take this young man under his wing and begin training him for future service in the ministry. Timothy served the Lord with Paul in this missionary journey and in his third journey in Acts Chapter 2.3.

If you are called of God to become a pastor, evangelist, or missionary, there is no better way to train for one of these roles than to serve the Lord with a senior pastor, evangelist, or missionary in the churches or on the mission field where they do their work.

You can read all of the books in the world about the ministry, but they will not train you properly to face the challenges in the real world. If you are a Bible college student, go out on the weekend and preach on the street, hand out Gospel tracts, and win souls to Christ. This is the kind of real life ministry experience that will help make you a true servant of the Lord in future years.

There is a time for reading books; and there is a time for putting knowledge into action. Both book knowledge and ministry experience are required for those who are training for the ministry. But book knowledge alone without ministry experience is worth little.

I can tell you from personal experience in engineering that new college graduates without any work experience are almost useless in the workplace. Companies value college graduates who have also spent time as interns prior to graduation, because they are not starting from zero.

The same is true for men who graduate from Bible college and want to become pastors or missionaries. The first question to them will often be, “What did you do beside study books in college?” If the answer is nothing, probably the response will be an eye-roll and rejection. No one likes to attempt to train someone with no experience.

So, if you are studying for the ministry, get busy for God on the weekends; and put shoes on your faith. That experience will serve you well in future years.

The text of paragraph 1 of the Body Section, arranged according to the reverse Golden Ratio design of two Opposites, two Complements and one Unique:

§Complement Body: Paul and his missionary team were imprisoned in Philippi and barely escaped a riot in Thessalonica (Acts 16:6 - 17:34)

¶Unique The Holy Spirit opened a door to establish a new assembly in Philippi of Greece (Acts 16:6 - 15)

Opposite Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia, after they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia; but the Spirit did not allow them. And they, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas.

Opposite And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia stood, and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel to them; therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to the island of Samothracia. And the next day we went to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi; which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a Roman colony; and we stayed in that city certain days.

Complement And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down, and spoke to the women who resorted there.

Complement And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened, so that she attended to the things which were spoken by Paul.

Unique And when she was baptized, and her household, she pleaded with us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay there.” And she compelled us.

Comments: Paul and his team of missionaries were searching for a new mission field when they came to Troas in Asia Minor. That night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia who pleaded with him to “come over into Macedonia and help us”. This is referred to as “The Macedonian Call”.

This was the most significant event in Christian missionary history, because if Paul had gone north into Asia, the history of Christianity would be far different. Instead of churches in Europe, there would be many more churches in Asia: Russia, China and that part of the world; and the Gospel would not have gone into the West, into Europe.

“They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia.”

Why? Only God knows the reasons, but no doubt they were good ones. God always knows what is best.

Now after Paul and his team arrived in Philippi, God led them to a woman named Lydia “who worshiped God”; I believe that she was already a believer under the Old Covenant and that she was a Gentile convert to Jehovah, the God of the Jews.

But she did not know about Jesus Christ; and when she heard Paul preaching the Gospel, she immediately trusted in Christ and became a complete Jewish believer in Jesus Christ.

“Whose heart the Lord opened”:

God had a plan! God knew that Lydia was there in Phillipi; and God wanted to use her to help Paul establish the first Christian assembly (or church) in Greece; which she did.

From that beginning, Paul and his missionary team was able to use the home of Lydia as a base of operations to build a strong and thriving church in Phillipi; and from there, to reach out to other regions of Greece.

Let’s look at some points that we can learn from the experiences of Paul:

1) He obeyed the leading of the Holy Spirit. I’ve known many men in the ministry, and I believe that only a few of them were godly men who spent time in prayer and in the Word of God every day. I’ve sat in church services or listened to preaching on the radio that was a total disgrace to the Lord. It was obvious that the preachers were walking in the flesh and had no power of God on their lives. And I’m not talking about liberals or charismatics: I’m talking about Fundamental Baptist preachers! That is very sad. If you are a Bible-believing preacher (whatever your group), search the Word of God and search for the will of God in prayer every single day! One day, you will give an account to the Lord for your service to Him; and you only have one lifetime to give, so start today.

2) Paul obeyed the leading of the Holy Spirit, because He know that God had a PLAN that would work! God is in control, my friends! God knows every circumstance that will come your way; and He knows the way to defeat the enemy (the devil) and be successful in the Christian Life. If you disregard the will of God in your life, you cannot be successful in anything that you do; that is a guarantee!

Psalm 1:1 - 5: “Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of Jehovah; and in his Law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season. Also his leaf shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.”

3) Paul was a Bible-believing, Independent Baptist preacher! He believed the Bible 100% from cover to cover; he baptized only persons who repented of their sins and received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior; and he started churches that eventually became independant and self-sustaining. This is the pattern that all preachers of the Gospel should follow.

There were no “denominations” in his day like the Presbyterians, Methodists or Anglicans! There were only the Apostles, who started other churches that eventually became independent churches that only baptized believers, and they believed the Bible 100%. We only need the power and leading of God the Holy Spirit to do the will of God! We do not need the approval of men to do his will.

4) This is not in the text, but I am 100% certain that Paul would agree: if you are a preacher of the Gospel, do not get your sermons from a book of sermons or sermon outlines! Instead, develop your sermons from the Bible itself! Before starting to develop your sermons, ask the Lord Jesus to give you a message from his Word; and if you are his servant, then He will do that. I learned this in Bible college; and I found that God was always faithful to give me a message from his heart.

So how to do this? First pray and give your future message to Jesus Christ; and ask Him to help you to develop the message from his Word. Then as you study his Word, He will guide you to the text that He wants you to use, and you will receive the guidance of his Holy Spirit to say what he wants you to say. Then, when you go into the pulpit to preach, you will have a message that is truly from the Lord for that hour and for the people who are in attendance; and God can bless it for his glory. Amen.

Also, the Kingdom Study Bible has over 300 outlines of every part of the Bible to help you in your sermon preparation! There is no better tool to prepare your sermons than the Kingdom Study Bible. You can find them online at my website: https://www.phibible.org.

5) He was thinking about the future when he would be in Heaven. He took a young man under his wing to train him in the ministry, because he wanted to pass on his knowledge and experience to someone else who could pass on his ministry experience and wisdom to future generations of Christians, including future pastors and missionaries.

God did not call me to be a pastor of a church; but to serve the Lord in this way with written messages that teach the Golden Ratio design of the Bible. I am trying to pass to you the knowledge that God has given me from almost 40 years as a born-again Christian and years of training in the ministry. I want others to benefit from the blessings that I have received from the Lord, and not let them be forgotten. If you are a pastor, an evangelist, or a missionary, you should want to pass on your knowledge and experience as well.

Are you saved? If not, you can be saved right now, and be saved eternally, if you know that you are a sinner; and if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross for YOUR SINS, and that God raised Him from the dead on the third day. Use this prayer as a model for your own:

“Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned against YOU. I am no good, and you are righteous! I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, were buried, and rose again from the dead on the third day. I want you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Please come into my heart right now. Forgive me for all my sins, and save my soul. In the mighty Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!”

If you have turned from your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and only Savior from sin, please message me through Facebook and let me know that you have done that, so that I can pray for you and rejoice with you in what God has done in your life. Amen.