Bible Questions #4282-4396

By Joyce Webb

Acts Chapter 16 Vs. 1-18

4282. Verse 1 Paul goes to the Lystra. He meets a young man there named ______________________. The young man’s mother is a _________________. His father is a ____________________.

(This means that—Timothy was probably raised and taught the Jewish way of believing by his mother. And, that Timothy was probably a Roman citizen because of his father being Greek.)

(Being a Roman citizen was important. The whole large area of countries was ruled by the Romans. Citizens had rights that non-citizens did not have. Most Jewish people were not Roman citizens. A few had bought citizenship—very expensive.

Paul was a Roman citizen because of his birth.)

Verse 2 Tells us that Timothy was good man and well thought of.

4383. Paul wanted to take Timothy with him on his travels.
Paul wanted Timothy to be c_____________________ because of all the _________________________ people they would be preaching to. Those people all knew that Timothy’s father was Greek.

(Some people would say that Paul was being a hypocrite by asking Timothy to have this done.

Paul and others had told many Gentile (Greeks, and others) that to be a believer, they did not have to have circumcision to be a believer and follower of Jesus.
The difference here, is that, Paul is not making this a requirement of being a Christian.

Timothy agrees to be circumcised because it seems a wise thing to do to avoid arguments with the people they are going to preach to.

Paul did not want Timothy to be the center of arguments, when he is trying to teach and preach to people about their salvation.

Paul did not require men to be circumcised. But in this case, Timothy agreed so that it did not become a big argument with people they wanted to preach to.)

4384. Verse 4-6 Paul told the believers in the churches about the “rules” the leaders in Jerusalem had made. See Chp. 15 verse 20
What were the 3 things?
1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

4385. Verse 6 They went to the town of P_______________ which is in the area of G_______________________.

It was here that the Holy Spirit told Paul that he was not to go into
A______________.

(It seems that Paul had in mind to go toward the areas near China.
But the Holy Spirit told Paul, “No”.
So Paul went west toward Greece and Italy.)

4386. Verse 7 They thought they would go to B______________, but again, the Holy Spirit told them, “No”.

4387. Verse 8 They went to T______________.

4388. Verse 9 That night Paul had a vision. A man from M______________________ (eastern part of Greece), was saying to Paul, ______________________________________________

4389. Verse 10-12 The ended their trip in the city of P_______________________ in Macedonia.

4390. Verse 13-14 Paul met with some women down by a r____________________.

4391. There was a woman there by the name of L______________. She sold p___________________.

(Long ago, this color was hard to make. Because it was so hard to make, only very rich people could afford to have clothing with this color—-people like kings, and other high leaders.

The color was make from certain shells from the ocean. These little sea animals were more difficult to get, and the color dye was make from their shells. It was a lot of work to make the dye from the shells.)

4392. Verse 15 This woman was very interested in what Paul preached. Her heart was very open to believe. People in her house also believed. So Paul b_____________________ them in the river there.

4393. She said to Paul, If you believe me to be a faithful person, please do what? ______________________________________

4394. Verse 16 Paul was in the city, he was going to prayer—he met a young woman who had a spirit of d____________________.

(She could tell the future, but she did so by the power of an evil spirit.

She was a servant, probably a slave, to some men. They used her ability to tell the future to make money. People would pay her and the she gave the money to the men.)

4395. Verse 17 She followed Paul around and she would say this about them: __________________________________________
____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

4396. Verse 18 She did this for many days. Finally, Paul got tired of it. It made the Holy Spirit in Paul sad and grieved, to hear the evil spirit in this young woman speaking.

What did Paul do to the young woman? ____________________
___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

(The evil spirit in the young woman knew who Paul was. What she said was true. Paul was a servant of the most high God. They were preaching the way of salvation.

If you remember, when Jesus was on earth, there were times when the evil spirits in persons, told the people that Jesus was the Son of God. Read Matthew 8:29, and Mark 1:23-24.

It seems that Jesus and the Holy Spirit in Paul—-do not want the “advertisement” of who they are by evil spirits.

People are to believe in Jesus because they see their need of sins forgiven, and because they believe that Jesus paid their death punishment for them on the cross.

This is a step of “faith”.

This young woman was saying that Paul was a servant of the most High God. This was true.

But evil spirits also tell lies.

A person who has an evil spirit that can tell the future, most likely has things they do, “prayers to spirits”, rituals that they do, sins in their life that they do, that show to other people that they are not of God in heaven.

There are things they do or believe that show others that they worship a dark spirit.

Why would you want such a person going around announcing who you were? And would people believe what they said was true?

The Holy Spirit is very able to speak to a person’s mind and heart to let them know that what they are hearing about Jesus is true.

The Holy Spirit is very powerful to show a person that he is a sinner and needs to have his sins forgiven.

This is the right way of salvation. Not the “endorsement” or “approval” of an evil spirit.)