Title: Paul Goes to Thessalonica
Contents
Paul Goes to Thessalonica
Acts 17:1-15
In chapter 16, Paul and Silas go to prison while serving in Philippi, but are released safely under the guidance of God, and more and more, the jailer and his family believe in Jesus.
Today's text is about going to Thessalonica, 160 kilometers away from Philippi due to many persecutions, and preaching the gospel.
We discover the characteristics of Paul's evangelism through the book of Acts. This time, let's take a look at its features first.
(1) We are still learning the apostle Paul's evangelism. Its characteristic is that when they go from one city to another, they usually leave when they can no longer stay in that city due to persecution.
Look at verse 5.
When the gospel was preached to Thessalonica, the work of the Holy Spirit also took place, and at this time, they persecuted Paul.
So Paul and his companions could not stay any longer, so they moved to Berea, the neighboring town.
You went there and what happened? Look at verse 13.
If you look closely, the crowds who were persecuting Paul from Thessalonica have come as far as Berea.
Then, they attack and persecute Paul so that he cannot evangelize in Berea.
(2) Paul said that wherever he went, the Jewish synagogue was his base.
However, in the case of Philippi, there was no synagogue, so we found a place to pray.
Look at verse 1.
There is probably no synagogue here, just past Amphipolis and Apollonia.
But there was a Jewish synagogue in Thessalonica. So I preached the word there and testified of the gospel. Look at verse 10.
When Paul did not go to Berea, the first thing he found was the Jewish synagogue. It can be seen that the synagogue was the center of the gospel. Instead of going blindly and preaching the gospel, he chose to spread the gospel through a familiar base he knew well.
You can see that we have strategies and principles for missions, rather than a reckless act of burying our heads in the ground like ours. This is a common feature found in Paul's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd missionary journeys.
The Jews are related to Paul. Of course, the understanding of Jesus Christ is different, but they are the same people. And the synagogue is a place Paul has been familiar with since childhood.
Previously, when Paul and Barnabas went together, they went to the island of Cyprus, the hometown of Barnabas, and preached the gospel to a place they knew or were familiar with.
(3) The characteristic of Paul's evangelism was wherever he went, he met those whom God had prepared for him.
Look at verse 2.
Here, the word "according to one's rules" means according to one's own rules. This means that wherever you go and whoever you meet, you always have priorities that Paul applies.
In other words, you have your own style. What is Paul's style? It is to spread the word.
Even when I went to Philippi, I first found a place to pray. Looking at it this way, Paul has two styles of himself.
Praying and preaching the Word. If you work with these priorities, miracles will happen. It is a style of preaching the gospel, praying, and preaching the gospel to those you meet rather than building a mission center, forming an organization, or creating a system.
(4) The characteristic of Paul is that even when he sees Philippi, Thessalonica, or Berea, the period of stay there is not long.
Paul's stay in Philippi was at most one month. Wherever he goes, Paul is a person he meets rather than interested in places, buildings, or institutions.
In verse 2, the word three sabbaths appears. I mean 3 weeks. In that case, he stayed in De[Salonis for about 21 days. But the surprising thing is that there were many fruits of evangelism in this short period of time.
Dear saints,
It doesn't matter how long you live, it's how you live that matters. There are people who influence people, and there are people who can't influence them for a long time.