God changes Paul’s plans
Bible reference: Acts 16:6-15
A word list at the end of each Bible *study explains words that have a star (*) by them. These are more difficult words.
Introduction
Paul planned his journeys. He wanted to tell many *people in many places about Christ. Sometimes Luke travelled with Paul. He was a doctor. He wrote down what happened.
Paul travelled to places called Phrygia, Galatia, Bythynia and Mysia. Both *Jews and *Greeks lived in these places. But God did not let Paul stay there. Paul and the *people with him arrived at Troas, which was an important city by the coast. Here God gave Paul a message about where to go next. God wanted Paul to go to Macedonia. So they prepared to go where God had said.
Macedonia is part of the country that now we call Greece. The journey was more difficult because he and the *people with him had to cross the sea. But the wind blew them in the right direction.
It seems that there were not many *Jews in Philippi. They had no special place to meet. Lydia prayed to God but she did not know about Christ. She had her own business and may have been rich.
Questions to ask
Acts 16:6 ~ Did Paul travel by himself?
Acts 16:7 ~ Why did Paul not tell *people about Christ in the places called Phrygia, Galatia, Bythynia and Mysia?
Acts 16:8-9 ~ What happened to Paul in Troas?
Acts 16:10 ~ What was God’s message to Paul? What did Paul do next?
Acts 16:11 ~ How can we know that the writer of these words was with Paul?
Acts 16:12 ~ What was special about Philippi?
Acts 16:13 ~ Why did Paul go to the river? Who did he meet there?
Acts 16:14 ~ Why did Lydia believe what Paul said?
Acts 16:15 ~ What did Lydia do next? (2 actions)
Something to do
In several places the *Holy Spirit did not allow Paul to tell *people about Christ. Talk about why this might have been God’s plan.
Talk about how the *Holy Spirit might give you a message today. (To help you: there are two ways that God *guided Paul in this.)
Paul saw a man in his *vision. The first *Jews he meets with are women. The first *believer is a woman. Talk about this.
Words to explain
believer ~ a person who knows and accepts Christ.
Abraham ~ the first leader of the *Jews.
Holy Spirit ~ God’s power in the world and in our lives.
Greeks ~ *people from the country that we call Greece.
guided ~ showed where to go and what to do.
Jew ~ a person who is born from *Abraham, his children and his children’s children.
Jewish ~ what belongs to a Jew.
people ~ men and women.
study ~ words that help us to learn more about something.
vision ~ (here) a dream; sometimes a dream that comes to a person when he or she is not asleep.
See the other studies in this series: Explore Paul’s letter to the Philippians