Lesson Plan for Acts 16-21

ICEBREAKER

• Eat a donut, cookie, or piece of cake in front of them.

• Why is that rude? What would have been the polite thing to do?

• How did you feel watching me eat in front of you?

The Gospel is the same way. We have been given the delicious gift of the truth. Just like the fruit of the tree of life, it is the most sweet, most pure, most desirable, and most joyous to the soul. With something that good, we should share it. It would almost be rude not to.

OR if that isn’t your personality simply ask them what they usually like to do right after they’ve watched a great movie, read a good book, or eaten at a great new restaurant.  I can guarantee that somebody is going to say that they usually want to tell other people about it. It is a natural human reaction to want to share something good with others around them.

TRANSITION

If there was anybody that really understood the deliciousness of the gospel and the importance of sharing it, that person would be Paul. He is one of the best examples of how to be a great missionary that we have in the scriptures. Let’s see what he can teach us about being a powerful witness for Christ.

SEARCH ACTIVITY

• Fill in a chart on a chalk or whiteboard

• Pass out assigned verses to individuals and have the share what they found when called on

• Give them a handout with a chart to fill out

• Show slides  and fill them in as they find answers

• For speed, just show the slides

We are going to answer 4 questions about testifying. Who, When, How, Where? 

• Who should we share the gospel with? 

• When should we share the gospel? 

• How should we share the gospel?

• Where should we share the gospel?

Who does Paul share the gospel with?

• 14:8-10 Lame man.

• 17:12 Men and Women

• 20:12 A young man

• 20:21 Jews and Greeks

• 21:16 An old disciple

• 21:19 The Gentiles

• 21:39 The people

• 23:1 The council (The Sanhedrin)

• 23:33 The Governor

• 26:2 The King

• 25:11 Caesar

Q: So who is Paul willing to share the gospel with? And who should we be willing to share the gospel with?  

A: ALL PEOPLE

When does Paul share the gospel?

• 17:17 Daily

• 20:7 On the Sabbath, Midnight

• 20:18 At all seasons

• 26:7 Day and night

• 28:23 morning till evening

Q: So when does Paul share the gospel and when should we share the gospel? 

A: All times

How does Paul share the gospel or in what conditions will he share it?

• 20:19 In all humility, many tears and temptations.  (Which in this case, means trials and opposition)

• 20:20 Keeping back nothing.

• 20:22 Following the Spirit with complete faith.

• 20:24 Focused on the course not the consequences. With joy.

• 20:27 Not shunning to declare all the counsel of God.

• 20:31 Warning with tears.

• 2 Cor. 11:24-27 In labors, in stripes, in prison, in death, in great physical suffering, in journeyings. In perils of water, robbers, countrymen, heathen, wilderness, sea, and false brethren. In weariness, painfulness, watchings, hunger, thirst, fasting, cold and nakedness

Q:So how does Paul share the gospel and how should we share the gospel? 

A:  All things

Where does Paul share the gospel? 

• 16:13 By the River

• 16:23-33  In prison

• 17:17 Synagogue(Church), Market

• 18:7 A Certain Man’s house

• 19:9 A School

• 19:29-32 A theater 

• 20:7 Sacrament meeting

• 20:20 Publicly and from house to house

• 21:34 A castle

• 23:35In the judgment hall

• 25:23 The kings hearing place.

• 27:31 On a ship, during the middle of a storm

• 28:30-31 In his own house

Cities and Area where Paul Taught

• Damascus

• Jerusalem

• Salamis

• Paphos

• Antioch

• Iconium

• Lystra

• Derbe

• Phyrgia

• Galatia

• Mysia

• Troas

• Philippi

• Amphipolis

• Apollonia

• Thessalonica

• Athens

• Corinth

• Ephesus

• Caesarea

• Greece

• Miletus

• Tyre

• Ptolemais

• Melita

• Rome

• Spirit World?

Q: So, where does Paul share the gospel and where should we share the gospel? 

A: All Places

Q: What has Paul taught you about being a witness of Christ? 

TRUTH

Be a witness of Christ to all people, at all times, in all things, and in all places.

Q: Does that sound familiar to anyone?  

A: Mosiah 18:9  To stand as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death.  

If you want to see somebody who really gets that, you want to watch somebody keep that covenant, look at Paul, he’s one of the greatest examples of that commitment I know of anywhere.

LIKEN

Q: Would anybody be willing to share an experience of a time when they stood as a witness of God, and what happened? 

I’d encourage you to have one of your own ready as well.

CONCLUSION

You too can be like Paul! I invite you to try and imitate him, to look for opportunities this next week to stand as a witness of God at all times, in all things, and in all places. To share the delicious fruit of the gospel with others. To actively look for opportunities to testify, even when the circumstances aren’t ideal. And if you will, I promise you that you “like Paul” will have successes and failures, you will have people that love you and people that despise and mock you, you will experience great triumph and also great opposition, but in all of this, you will find joy in that journey, and God will support you through all of it, until you finish your course as his witness. 

SHARE a treat with your class

ACTS 17

ICEBREAKER

Bring in a stack of textbooks representing lots of different areas of study. Math, biology, physics, philosophy, chemistry.

Q: These books represent a wealth of knowledge. What are some of your favorite subjects to learn about?

Q: What do you feel is the most important subject to study and learn about?

TRANSITION

Paul is going to teach us the most important thing you can know. And he’s going to teach it to a group of the smartest people of his time in a city known for its intelligent citizens. Can you find the name of that city in Acts 17?

ATHENS

The key to understanding this story is in the setting. This is Athens. The city that represents the birthplace of western civilization. Think of all the things the Greeks contributed to humanity and culture. Philosophy, Democracy, Art, Architecture, Medicine, the Sciences, Sports, Theater, and more, all of these areas were either started here or reached an advanced level of sophistication here. It’s the city of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Pericles, Hippocrates, Archimedes, and many others.   It was the most educated and advanced culture of it’s day.  And to that setting, comes a Jewish tentmaker. And it says in vs. 16 that as he walks through the city his spirit is stirred within him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. You know, Lots of temples and altars, and statues, there are a lot of Gods in Greek religion. And eventually Paul's preaching in the city catches the attention of some of the thinkers of the day. And I love what they say in vs. 18, what will this babbler say? And isn’t that just the epitome of the attitude a lot of intellectual types have towards religion. They say, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods. And so he ends up on Areopagus, or Mars Hill, which is a big rock just below the  acropolis, and was a gathering place of sorts, a city council area. And Paul says in vs. 21 that the Athenians spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Sounds like social media center of it’s day. The Facebook of Ancient Greece. And here Paul is going to give a very famous speech. And remember the setting, ironically, with all the things these Greeks know and understand, there is one key piece of information that they have missed. Something unknown to them. 

Q: With all the things the Greeks know, what key thing do they not understand?

A: They don’t know God.   They’ve built a big altar to the unknown God . The Greeks want to make sure that they please all the possible Gods out there, so just to be safe they make an altar to the UNKNOWN GOD. Paul is going to “declare” Him unto them.

READ

Acts 17:24-31 by themselves with this question in mind. 

Q:What is your favorite truth about God that Paul teaches here and why?

POSSIBLE ANSWERS

• :24 He made the world and all things therein. 

• :24 He is the lord of heaven and earth and dwelleth not in temples made with hands.

• :25 He doesn’t need anything from us, but he gives all things to us. 

• :26 He has made of one blood all the nations of man

• :26 Also in vs. 26 he’s determined the times and bounds. 

• :27 We can find God if we seek Him and feel after Him

• :27 He is not far from us. 

• :28 He is the power by which we live and move

• :28 We are children of God.

• :29 He’s not an idol made by the hands or even the thought of man.

• :30 God winks at ignorance sin

• :30 He commands all to repent.

• :31 He will judge us.

• :31 He will resurrect us from the dead.

Q: Do YOU know there is a God? How have you come to know he is there?

CONCLUSION

• Bear your testimony of the Living God.

• Remind them that getting to know God will be the most important knowledge they will ever gain.  It will make them “Smarter than an Athenian”.

• Promise them that they can and will come to know God better each day if they will feel after Him.

ACTS 16:6-10

TRUTH

The Spirit will sometimes tell us what not to do, but then require us to move forward with faith until we know what we should do.

ACTS 16:14-15

TRUTH

Women of faith have a profound effect for good on those around them.

ACTS 17:10-12.

TRUTH

Have an open mind and Spirit and SEARCH the scriptures DAILY!

ACTS 18:24-28

What kind of teacher was Apollos?

• He was an eloquent man

• Mighty in the scriptures

• Instructed in the way of the Lord

• Fervent in the Spirit,

• Spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord

• Speak boldly

• Helped them much

• Mightily convinced 

• Showed by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

TRUTH

Strive to be a teacher like Apollos!

ACTS 19:19

TRUTH

When I repent, I must “Burn the Books” of my rebellion so I cannot return to them.

ACTS 20:7-12

TRUTH

Don’t fall asleep in church, unless Paul is there.