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J1Y3BK3 MARCH-MAY N o t e s L e s s o n 7 Paul’s Third Missionary Journey

O v e r v i e w B i b l e B a c k g r o u n d

Bible Text A few events stand out amongst all the travels of Paul. :23-21:16 His works at was one of them. Ephesus was the capital of the of . It was a Truth magnificent city with a population of 225,000. It was Through Paul, the gospel was also at the center of the Imperial Highway from preached to multitudes to the East. This highway can be said to be the back- bone of the , which made Ephesus a Lesson Aim strategic point. In Ephesus, Paul stayed for 3 years. To learn from the examples of While there, he converted many worshippers of Diana, preaching with God’s power which led to a huge uproar created by the silversmiths who made a living by creating the idols. The of Memory Verse Artemis (Diana) was considered to be one of the Seven “For though we walk in the Wonders of the Ancient World. Built with pure , flesh, we do not war according the construction spanned a period of 220 years. When to the flesh. For the weapons we read about Paul’s evangelical work at places like of our warfare are not carnal Ephesus, we may not realize the magnitude of the work but mighty in God for pulling involved. He preached against a backdrop of the might- down strongholds." iest and most intellectual figures then. (2 Cor 10:3-4)

68 69 S p i r i t u a l P r e p a r i n g

F o o d Y o u r Say this to your students: We have gone through many places with From the journeys of Paul, we find that he went to all kinds of Paul on his missionary journeys. Perhaps some of us have even places, and preached to all types of people. This may seem like a F o r H e a r t s forgotten where some of those places are. Some of you may be matter of fact and we do not feel that it is anything extraordinary thinking that it’s amazing that Paul could go and preach in so T h o u g h t because we read about it so often in the Bible. But, if we were to many places, and never got tired of it all. In fact. Paul went on look at ourselves, how often do we have the courage to preach to more than just two journeys to preach the gospel. He preached all types of people? Maybe we do not try because a friend is so until he was held under house arrest, basically till his death. It is entrenched in his own religious belief. Maybe some friends are so important to look closely at the travels of Paul so that we may much in love with the material world that we decide for them that learn from his experiences and how we can also preach the gospel even if they were to hear the gospel, they would not be willing to with the right spirit. forgo the world for Christ and so, we simply bypass them. When Paul preached, the crowds were just as diverse as they are today but he never passed up on someone. While we study about Paul’s life, let us ponder once again whether we have the spirit of Paul, to be completely oblivious to “categories” and simply preach, B i b l e no matter who the other party is. S t u d y Worksheet #1

The Third Missionary Journey (Acts 18:23-21:17) A b o u t Time: 53-57 AD

Y o u r Coworkers: Priscilla and Aquila, Timothy, Luke, Titus, Erastus, Gaius, At this age, students are inevitably lacking in confidence about Aristarchus, Apollos, Tychicus, Trophimus, Lucius, Jason, Sosipater, preaching to their friends. Other than what was mentioned in the S t u d e n t s Phoebe, Tertius (partial journey) previous lessons about their fears and lack of confidence in them- selves, one other genuine fear is that our students will see that the Teacher’s Note Journey: in > > (, , beliefs of our church are different and unique. This may make them Before you start the Bible Study, Iconium, Antioch of ) > Ephesus > Macedonia (, feel that the Truth is unacceptable to their friends. As a result, they please ask the students to refer Thessalonica, ) > Greece (, Corinth) > Macedonia do not even want to try preaching and risk being labeled in any to the Student Worksheet. Some (Beroea, Thessalonica, Philippi) > Troas > > Tyre > way. Indeed, it is hard enough for adults to preach about the only of the information given here > one true church. With our students, we can imagine it to be harder. may not be available to the stu- They are at this age where acceptance by friends and integration dents. The information on the This third period of Paul’s ministry is of most interest to us are among the top priorities. It is understandable that they do not right can be used as reference. because it is the period when three of Paul’s greatest letters were want try preaching for fear of losing their friends. To this end, we written: 1 and 2 Corinthians and Romans. Shortly after Paul’s sec- have to slowly encourage them, with Biblical examples, and with ond trip ended, he began his third missionary journey which was personal testimonies too. One effective way would be to set a good not really a missionary expedition in the same way his two earlier example, as teachers, by bringing people to join us for services. tours had been. This third expedition was more in the nature of a pastoral visit, centered on two main places, Ephesus and Corinth. 70 71 Paul began with a short trip through Galatia and Phrygia (the dis- Bible Study, continued Bible Study, continued

Do we ever wish tricts where he had been during his second expedition), but instead of Worksheet #2 going north to Troas, as before, he went directly to Ephesus. Today, we that we were like will look into greater detail what Paul encountered in Ephesus. Power Through the Holy Spirit In Zechariah 4:6, it records,“Not by might, not by power, but by my Paul. able to Who Did Paul Meet? Spirit.” These were the words that that God spoke to Zerubbabel In Ephesus, Paul encountered many people. We will take a look at some when he led the Israelites back to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s tem- open our mouths of them and see what Paul’s encounter with them was like. Imagine you ple. He was told to depend solely on God’s Spirit. When we do are one of these people. Write down who you are and what happened church work or preach the word of God, we also need to rely solely and preach to by referring to the Bible verses given: on His spirit and power to accomplish works. Let’s look at some examples where many miracles were performed through the Holy whoever we 1. I was one of the twelve who received the Holy Spirit in Ephesus (Acts Spirit. 19:1-7). 1. The Holy Spirit gives courage to speak. Read about two people 2. I witnessed how God’s power was with Paul. Even objects brought the He gave courage to. from his body seemed to have power. Let me tell you about these mira- “For though we *Peter cles. (:11, 12). Who did Peter witness to after he received the Holy Spirit on the Day walk in the flesh, of ? How many were baptized? (After the Holy Spirit came 3. I was one of the seven sons of Sceva. I tried to use the name of down on the apostles on Pentecost, Peter rose up to speak to the Jesus Christ but my attempt backfired. This is my account of that unfor- we do not war multitude. On that day, 3000 Jews repented and were baptized.) tunate event (Acts 19:13-17). *Philip according to the Who did Philip preach to on the road which lead from Jerusalem to 4. I was a silversmith. I made a good living out of making and selling Gaza? (The who is of a much higher social status idols of Diana. When Paul came to my city, he created so many prob- flesh. For the than him.) lems for my once thriving business. Well, I tried to stop him, of course. weapons of our This was what I did (Acts 19:23- 30). 2. The Holy Spirit sends us to places where He wants us to work. Look up the following verses and match up the correct people or warfare are not places that God wanted his workers to go to. *Peter (:1-6, 9-20) preached to Cornelius carnal but mighty *Paul (:7-10) preached to the Macedonians in God for pulling 3. The Holy Spirit performs signs and miracles which lead people to down strong- believe God. Read the verses and write down what miracles hap- pened. Can you think of more examples? holds." *: 19; 12:6-11-Peter was released from prison by God’s angel. (2 Cor 10:3-4) *Acts 19:12-Paul prayed for the sick and they were healed. Some even took handkerchiefs and garments that Paul used and placed them on the sick and they were healed. 72 73 Bible Study, continued Life Application, continued

“Not by might, parts of the world through our website. Here are some of the responses we have received (see p.22 of MANNA issue 32, not by power, but “Internet Report”). Now that you know how good a tool the Internet is for preaching the gospel, you should at least introduce as many by my Spirit.” friends as you can to our website: www.tjc.org.

Zech 4:6

L i f e

A p p l i c a t i o n Worksheet #3

Let’s Reach Out As we study about Paul’s missionary journeys, do you also wish that A c t i v i t y perhaps you could in some ways be like Paul, to be able to bring God’s gospel to different parts of the world and to different types of Evangelical Invitation Cards people? Which places do you think you would like to go? (students NOTE: This doesn’t have to be a card that invites people only for response) spiritual convocations or evangelical services. It can be a card that simply invites a friend to join us for services. What types of preparation do you think you should have? (healthy bodies, language abilities, etc) Materials: * Stationery for card-making: color-pens, color-paper, paper with Other than physically going to various places in far away countries to prints/borders, scissors preach the gospel, what else do you think you could do by staying at * Any other decorative materials as teacher deems suitable your hometown and still reach many people? (Translation work, * Samples of such cards (available from Christian book/gifts Internet, writing of gospel tracts, sending gospel tracts to people from stores) different parts of the world, making friends from all over the world and preaching to them through letter-writing or pen-pal programs) Points to note: Which verses should be included? What kinds of drawings or 74 In fact, our church has been reaching out to many people in different 75 Activity, continued

pictures are relevant? What should the format be? What should this invitation card say? Take some time to brainstorm ideas with the students before proceeding.

C o n c l u s i o n E v a l u a t i o n Today, we have talked about how we can bring the gospel to differ- Reading Assignment for ent parts of the world even without being physically there. We have this week: also continued to see the works of Paul and how God’s power was Num 3-5 with him. Let us bring home with us this thought: How can I prepare myself to be like Paul, so that no matter where I am, I can have God’s power working through me to bring more souls to Him? Conclude with a prayer.

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