The Gospel Project for Adults Leader Guidecsb,Session 10

The Gospel Project® for Adults Leader GuideCSB,Session 10

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The Converts: All Kinds of People

Summary and Goal

In Acts16, we meet three different people who each had a unique encounter with the gospel and were changed. In these three encounters, we recognize that God uses different methods to reach different kinds of people. For example, in Philippi, Paul and Silas saw converts from different social and economic backgrounds come to faith through their witness and testimony, even though the guts of their message was the same for all: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” God calls us to be faithful to deliver His gospel message to all kinds of people, regardless of their past, their appearance, or their present circumstance.

Main Passage

Acts 16:11-34

Session Outline

1. A Businesswoman Whose Heart Is Opened (Acts16:11-15)

2. A Slave Girl Whose Freedom Is Won (Acts16:16-24)

3. A Jailer Whose Hope Is Restored (Acts16:25-34)

Theological Theme

God uses different methods to reach different kinds of people.

Christ Connection

The gospel reaches different people in different ways. In Philippi, Paul and Silas saw converts from different social and economic backgrounds comes to faith through their witness and testimony. Their message was the same for all: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

Missional Application

God calls us to be faithful to deliver His message to all kinds of people, using a variety of methods.

Session Plan

Introduction

Start by talking about people watching and how it has changed with the advent of smart phones and social media (leaderp.130; PSGp.101).

Share a people watching story from your life. To what extent can you know someone just by watching them?

Clarify that all people are unique, but we are also all the same in that we are loved by God and need the gospel of Jesus Christ (leaderp.130; PSGp.101).

Name one or two friends, neighbors, or coworkers who are far from God. What do they put their hope in? What do they see as their redemption and purpose in life?

Summarize this session on three different people who each had a unique encounter with the gospel (leaderp.131; PSGp.102).

For Further Discussion

How should Acts16:14, which says the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to respond to the gospel, affect the way we think about evangelism and ministry?

1. A Businesswoman Whose Heart Is Opened (Acts16:11-15)

Read Acts16:11-15. Provide some context for how Paul and his group ended up in Macedonia (leaderp.131; PSGp.102).

Have you ever planned ministry, or perhaps a mission trip, in which you encountered opposition and were unable to fulfill your plan? Were you able to look back and see God’s hand providentially guiding that situation?

Note how the disciples might have hoped for a dramatic move of the Spirit, but their ministry led to the conversion of Lydia, who responded with a heart of ministry to bless the disciples (leaderpp.132-133; PSGp.103).

Why is it so easy to value ministry to the masses over ministry to the individual?

In what ways are bothimportant?

2. A Slave Girl Whose Freedom Is Won (Acts16:16-24)

Read Acts16:16-24. Describe the fallout from Paul’s commanding the spirit to leave the slave girl. Then contrast the slave girl with Lydia. Emphasize that we should count no one out in our gospel ministry (leaderpp.133-134; PSGpp.104-105).

In what ways are individuals commonly enslaved today? What does freedom from such enslavement look like?

How can we bring the hope of the gospel to such people?

Stress the power of Jesus’ name and that demons and evil spirits are subject to Him, so we pray and minister in His name (leaderp.135; PSGp.105).

What is the connection between sin and the need for freedom from enslavement?

For Further Discussion

How can confession of our sins to the Lord and to one another help us find healing and freedom as James5:16says?

3. A Jailer Whose Hope Is Restored (Acts16:25-34)

Use Pack Item 4: Suffering for Jesus to emphasize the suffering Paul and Silas endured for their act of freeing the slave girl from demonic possession. Ask a volunteer to read Acts16:25-34. Explain why the jailer thought his life was over. Then note how God was at work and Paul and Silas were prepared to respond (leaderpp.135-136; PSGpp.106-107).

What are some circumstances in which we can show care and concern for others that they would not harmthemselves?

Show the power of the gospel preached, proclaimed, and lived out in the presence of the jailer. Like Paul and Silas, we must be ready to proclaim the gospel in all circumstances (leaderpp.136-137; PSGpp.107-108). Recall the quote on Pack Item 6: No Other Name and show how both salvation (ex.thejailer believing in Jesus) and sanctification for believers (ex. Paul and Silas suffering for Jesus and praising God) are contingent upon the name of Jesus Christ.

What do we need to be doing to make sure we are aware of people who may be struggling with hopelessness?

What can we be doing to prepare ourselves for sharing the gospel with those who feel hopeless?

Point 3 Option

Read the “Essential Christian Doctrine” New Identity of the Believer (leaderp.136; PSGp.107). Then ask groups of 3-4 to discuss the followingquestions (consider writing the questions on a board or sheet of paper for groups to have; also available on the DVD in The Gospel Project for Adults: Leader Pack):

• How does the jailer’s story resonate with the idea of new creation?

• Why is it essential that we never allow our identity to depend on something other thanChrist?

Conclusion

Reiterate the importance of being ready and willing to share the gospel with anyone around us at anytime. In view of this, challenge the group to build relationships with hopes of sharing the gospel (leaderp.137; PSGp.108). Apply the truths of this session with “His Mission, Your Mission” (PSGp.109).

Christ Connection: The gospel reaches different people in different ways. In Philippi, Paul and Silas saw converts from different social and economic backgrounds comes to faith through their witness and testimony. Their message was the same for all: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will besaved.”

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Missional Application: God calls us to be faithful to deliver His message to all kinds of people, using a variety of methods.

Expanded Session Content

Introduction

I used to be good at people watching. Before smart phones, if you were going to get together with your friends or family, you would just set a time and a place and expect people to be there. If you got there before everyone else, you would not take your phone out and check Facebook, since those did not yet exist. Instead, you just looked around. If someone were doing something out of the ordinary, you would notice. If a mother were scolding her child for throwing a fit in public, you would look in that direction, or slightly to the side so as not to give the impression that you were eavesdropping. If a couple were on a date, you would try to guess where they were going, the status of their relationship, and if they were a good fit for each other.

With the advent of smart phones and social media, you might think that people watching has turned into a lost art. Not so! People watching has merely moved from the physical sphere to the digital space. It has become incredibly easy to watch what others are doing by creeping on their social media profiles, not to mention the fact that there are some apps that will tell you where someone is—moment by moment!

Share a people watching story from your life. To what extent can you know someone just by watching them?

When you people watch—either in person or online—one thing that you will notice is that there are so many different people in this world, and every one of them has a unique story. And every one of them puts their hope in something and finds their meaning in something. For some it’s their family. For others it’s work, wealth, or fame. And still for some it’s religion that’s all about doing, works, and self-righteousness. The truth is while everyone is different in so many ways, we are all the exact same in other ways. We are all loved by God and need the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Name one or two friends, neighbors, or coworkers who are far from God. What do they put their hope in? What do they see as their redemption and purpose in life?

Session Summary

In this session, you will meet three different people who each had a unique encounter with the gospel and were changed. In these three encounters, you will recognize that God uses different methods to reach different kinds of people. For example, in Philippi, Paul and Silas saw converts from different social and economic backgrounds come to faith through their witness and testimony, even though the guts of their message was the same for all: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” By the end of this session, you will learn that God calls us to be faithful to deliver His gospel message to all kinds of people, regardless of their past, their appearance, or their present circumstance.

Voices from Church History

“I like the way I do evangelism better than the way you don’t doevangelism.” 1
–D.L. Moody (1837-1899)

Voices from Church History

“Will it not awaken us to compassion, to look on a languishing man, and to think that within a few days his soul will be in heaven or inhell?” 2
–Richard Baxter (1615-1691)

1. A Businesswoman Whose Heart Is Opened (Acts16:11-15)

Paul seems to have been an outstanding people watcher. As we will see, he always had a keen awareness of the people around him, but he didn’t just passively watch, he stepped into their lives no matter the situation. We will first see this in Paul’s interaction with a woman namedLydia.

11From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis, 12and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for several days. 13On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. 14A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. 15After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuadedus.

The disciples were on a mission. They understood that their lives were not their own. They understood that the gospel was not just for their own benefit, but now that they knew the truth and accepted it, they were commissioned to share it with others. That’s why they traveled toMacedonia.

Curiously, in the verses preceding these, we see that the disciples were forbidden by the Holy Spirit from speaking the gospel in Asia and from even entering the region of Bithynia (16:6-7). But soon thereafter, Paul received a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him to come and help them (v.9). It was because of this vision that the disciples set sail and ended up in Macedonia (v.10). God had a plan for them, and He was going to accomplish His will.

When the disciples finally arrived in Macedonia, it is not hard to imagine they were full of expectation for God to work in a mighty way. After all, the Holy Spirit prevented them from going one way and gave them a vision to come to this very city!

Perhaps they were expecting to see another 3,000 people accept the gospel and be baptized, just like at Pentecost in Jerusalem (Acts2:41). Or maybe they were expecting another Damascus Road experience to happen and see someone powerfully brought to Christ (9:1-18). Or perhaps they were secretly hoping that they would be able to feed thousands and thousands through the multiplication of bread and fish, just as Jesus did (Mark6:30-44; 8:1-10). Whatever it was, I’m guessing they were expecting something big to happen.

However, after a few days in the city, they didn’t experience any dramatic signs, miracles, or conversions. Perhaps they had heard wrong? Perhaps the vision they had received was made up, the invention of an overactive imagination? Who knows the myriad of thoughts that must have been going through their heads?

Instead of being discouraged though, Paul and the others most likely followed their normal rhythm when they arrived in a new city and sought out a synagogue to attend on the Sabbath but found none. Instead of a synagogue, a group of women gathered outside of the city by the river to pray. Paul and the disciples found this group of women and sat down to talk with them.

Once again, we see that Paul and the others were not deterred. They may have been anticipating an amazing work of God when they were called to Philippi, but they couldn’t even find a synagogue in the city. Many of us may have found that as an excuse to pick up and move on and find “more fertile ground,” but Paul and his companions didn’t. And so they sat down and talked with a group of women who also didn’t let the excuse of no synagogue in their city prevent them from gathering andpraying.

Then we read about the disciples meeting a woman named Lydia. One of the reasons—perhaps the only reason—God sent the disciples to Macedonia was so that this woman might hear the gospel and be changed! But then we also see a chain reaction happen.

The Lord opened up this businesswoman’s heart and she accepted the gospel. Then her entire household was baptized. The disciples were then invited to stay with her at her house. This was providential because later on we read that after Paul and Silas were imprisoned and then released from jail, they went straight to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters in the faith before departing the city (Acts16:40).

Lydia did not just hear the gospel and walk away. Rather, God used her to minister to and bless the disciples. The gospel gripped her heart and changed her.

In this passage, we discover that God does not only care about the large miraculous events. Nor does he only care about the masses. God cares about the smallest of details, and He is deeply involved in the lives of everyone—one person at a time—and so should we be. It is tempting for us to want to be used by God in seeing a large group of people come to Christ or to teach large groups of people, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, we also need to look for that one person, who may even be easy to look past, who is ready to hear and respond to the gospel.

Why is it so easy to value ministry to the masses over ministry to the individual?

In what ways are bothimportant?

Further Commentary

“As Paul and his friends spoke, Lydia believed what they said and acknowledged Jesus as Lord. She thus became Paul’s first convert in Europe. When she was baptized, together with her household (which would include her servants and other dependents as well as her family), she gave practical proof of her faith by pressing the four missionaries to become her guests. Women in Macedonia were noted for their independence; moreover, under Roman law (which governed life in the colony) freeborn women with three children and freedwomen with four children were at this time granted a number of privileges, including the right to undertake legal transactions on their owninitiative.” 3
–F.F. Bruce

Further Commentary

“The ‘place of prayer’ refers to the place where Jews of the city gathered. Philippi apparently did not have a synagogue, since only ‘women’ and no men are mentioned. The establishment of a synagogue required the participation of at least ten Jewish men. Paul and his companions met with this group of women on the ‘Sabbath,’ following the pattern of evangelization he had practiced on his first missionary journey.” 4
–Stanley E. Porter

Voices from the Church

“The Lord is the one who graciously opens hearts to repent and believe the gospel. Because God is powerful and does this, it encourages us to pray for those who do not yetbelieve.” 5
–Justin S. Holcomb