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Listen - "Paul and the Philippian Jailer" as told by J. O. Terry ( 4:01 ) On Mission with God - Disciples learn how to be on mission with God through the stories of Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, Jesus, Mary, Peter, Paul and John. The stories of these seven men and two women provide a vision and inspiration for a cross-cultural witness among all the unreached people groups of the world. This biblical basis of missions provides the foundation from which the disciples can work with God to launch cross-cultural Church Planting Movements among all peoples. (Six CDs). Excerpt PRE-STORY DIALOG: The spiritual marker illustrated in the previous story was God sending Paul out on mission with God to all people. This story illustrates the spiritual marker that shows how God guided Paul while he was on mission with God. And as you listen to the story, listen to see if these questions are answered in the story. How did Paul make his decisions as to where he would go as a missionary? Was it easy for Paul to find out just where God wanted him to go? And this is the story from God's Word. ACTS 16:1-3 & 6-40: Paul and Silas went first to Derbe and then on to Lystra. There they met Timothy, a young disciple. Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium so Paul wanted him to join them on his journey. Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phyrgia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit had told them not to go into the Province of Asia at that time. They then come to the borders of Mysia . They headed for the Province of Bythynia , but again the Spirit of Jesus did not let them go. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the city of Troas . On that night Paul had a dream, a vision. In his dream he saw a man from Macedonia , northern Greece , pleading with him, “Come over here and help us.” Afterwards they said, “We decided to leave for Macedonia at once for we could only conclude, based on the preceding events, that God was calling us to preach the Good News in Macedonia .” So they sailed from Troas to the island of Samothrace . “And the next day we landed in Neapolis. From there we reached Phillippi, a major city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony, and stayed there several days. On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank where we supposed that some people met for prayer. We sat down to speak with some women who had come together. One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth. She was a worshipper of God and as she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart and she accepted what Paul was saying. Afterwards, she was baptized along with other members of her household. And she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am faithful to the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we did. One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon possessed slave girl. She was a fortune teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. She followed along behind us shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God and they've come to tell you how to be saved.” This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and spoke to the demon within her. “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her,” he said. And instantly, the demon left her. Her master's hopes of wealth were now shattered so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. They said, “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews.” They continued to shout. “They are teaching the people to do things that are against Roman customs.” A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten; thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape, so he took no chances but put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks. Around midnight , Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake and the prison was shaken to its foundation. All the doors flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off. The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners escaped so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, “Don't do it. We are all here.” Trembling with fear, the jailer called for lights and ran down to the dungeon and fell down before Paul and Silas. He brought them out and asked, “Sirs. What must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved along with your entire household.” And then they shared the Word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. That same hour the jailer washed their wounds and he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. Then he brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God. The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let those men go.” So the jailer told Paul, “You and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace.” But Paul replied, “They have publicly beaten us without trial and jailed us and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly. Certainly not. Let them come themselves to release us.” When the police made their report, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. So they came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city. Paul and Silas then returned to the home of Lydia where they met with the believers and encouraged them once more before leaving town. And that was the story from God's Word. Storyer's Note: Did you notice in this story that God in inspiring the writing of the story, that a shift occurred in focus in perspective? From the general telling of the story account to a first person perspective. And at this point the story shifts to ‘we' did this and ‘we' did that. As the story shifted to a first person perspective. In this story we are serving the spiritual marker “God guided Paul.” And now you will place the story questions that we have already recorded at this point. POST STORY DIALOG: Now, in this story we asked you to notice that God shifted the focus to show that Luke, one of our Lord's followers, joined the team. And so the story shifted from the telling of an account the way it was told, to a first person perspective. In this story, we are looking at the spiritual marker of God guiding Paul and these are some of the post dialogue story questions you might ask. Where did Paul first try to go? How did God lead him not to go there? Then where did Paul try to go next? How did God lead him not to go there? What do you do when God tells you to go to the right or to the left? What do you do when you get to a dead-end like Paul did at the Aegean Sea ? Why do you think God led Paul like this? Did Paul ever get to the other places he had earlier wanted to go like Ephesus ? Is it possible that you want to go somewhere when it is not God's timing for you to go to that place? What part did Paul's faith play in God's guidance? Is God's guidance reliable? Is God guiding you now so He can bring others into His Kingdom? What is God guiding you to do? End of story session. Inquiries should be made to info@fjseries.org Additional information may be obtained online at http://FJseries.org or by writing: Mr. Mark Snowden |
