No Likie Thessaloniki - Athens Okay, But Berea Is Best

This would have been the study page for the Thursday Night Small Group meeting January 31, 2013, but few could make it.  So now it's the study page for the Thursday Night Small Group meeting February 7, 2013.  The passage for this week is Acts 17.  A lot happens and not all of it is sensible.

Be sure to read the passage several times through.  Also, bracket a few of those passes with the end of chapter 16, and the first part of 18, just for context.  See if you can find a map which details the area traveled through by Paul.  Here's a great opportunity to pay attention to pronouns and person once more.

Once you've been through the passage a few times yourself, go through again considering the questions below:

• From verse 1, who is now no longer traveling with Paul and Silas?
• How long does Paul and Silas discuss in the Thessalonikian synagogue?
• Who do the "Jews" find to help them form an angry mob?
• Who do they substitute for Paul since they can't find he and Silas?
• What do the authorities do in response to the mob?
• What do the believers do in response to the local peace disturbance?
• What proves the Bereans were "more noble" than the Thessalonikans?
• How different is the make up of believers in Berea than Thessalonika?
• What disturbs the peace in Berea?  Who is the disturbance centered around?
• Look at a map.  How much further is it to Athens from Berea than from Thessalonika to Berea?  What send him that far away?
• What "sharpens" Paul's spirit in Athens?
• He discusses in the synagogue here too, but where else is he discussing Jesus?
• Where is "Mars Hill" or the Areopogus in Athens? How about in relation to the market?
• What "Scripture" does Paul use in his "defense"?
• Where would Paul have learned of these 'poets'?
• Is Paul finished, did he just lose his audience, or what?
• How successful is his defense?

That'll do for now.  Be sure to bring your own questions as well.

See you Thursday!

Choices Withheld, Guided to Jail

This is the study page for Thursday, January 24 covering Acts 16.  This is the second missionary journey of Paul.  There is a map below of a possible route he may have used.  Other maps may show a more probable route.

As you read the chapter look for things that you didn't expect to find; things that make you go "huh".  There should be several.  Also look a map and see how things are arranged around the Aegean Sea to get a sense of where things happened. Jot down observations and questions, and bring them to the meeting Thursday.

After reading through the chapter a few times and jotting down your own observations, consider the questions below:

• Who did Paul find in Lystra?
• What was his "parentage"?  Why does this become important?  Why circumcise him if he's already well thought of by the churches in the area?
• What did Paul and Silas do at the churches where they had been before?
• What was the response of these churches to the letter from Jerusalem?
• When they start passing through Phrygia and Galatia, in what direction are they heading?
• Why not go back the way they had in the last journey?
• Where are they trying to go?  Why can't they get there?
• Where do they end up?  Where is this place along the Aegean Sea?  Read this entry on the Blue Letter Bible site (it's short).
• Consider a sunset?  From where they are, where would the "sunset" be?
• Who joins them as they travel from there?
• Where do they go from Troas?
• From the "New City" where do they end up?
• It says that Philippi was a "colony".  Read this entry on the Blue Letter Bible website about Roman colonies.  
• Remember what you read about Troas, they seem to have gone from one colony to the other.  What's the benefit of doing that?
• What seems to be missing in Philippi?  Why would that be?
• They find people praying along the river.  What is interesting about the one who becomes their "patron" in Philippi?
• The girl following them has a "python spirit".  Read this entry on Python.  So, what is she?
• What is the problem with the "free advertising" they receive from the slave-girl?
• What happens to Paul and Silas when the girl is freed from the spirit?
• What is odd about the reaction of the crowd and the magistrates?  What element to the story seems to be missing?  What would you deduce if you connect this event with the lack of a Synagogue?
• Once jailed, how do Paul and Silas respond to their circumstance?
• What happens at midnight?
• Why would everyone stay if all the doors and bonds open?
• What does the jailer ask Paul and Silas?  What is interesting about how he addresses them?
• Whatever the jailer really meant, what is his response to their answer?
• What do the magistrates do the next day?  What does this tell you about what they thought about what they had done?
• What is Paul's response to the "policemen"?  Why not bring this up earlier?
• What do Paul and Silas do after their release?  Is it what they were "asked" to do?  Where else did they respond this way?  What was their point?
• What's different about the status of the believers in Philippi now that the jailer is among their number?
• Why would that be important?

That should take care of the hour or so we'll be studying.  Be sure to also make your own notes and bring them.  There's a lot of stuff in this passage I'm missing, so please help fill in the blanks.