Acts 16:11-40 – The Most High God Opens Doors And Open Hearts

Introduction

            Takeshi’s Castle – Knock, Knock

An Open Heart and an Open Home (16:11-15)

              Looking for the ‘natural places’

              Trusting the rest to the Lord

An Open Mouth and a Closed Purse (16:16-24)

              Locked up behind a closed door

An Open Door and an Open Home (16:25-34)

Singing at midnight

Questioning at midnight

Welcoming at midnight

An Open Door and an Open Heart (16:35-40)

            Staying put beside an open door    

Conclusion

Questions

1) Where are the ‘natural places’ for you when it comes to finding opportunities to share the good news?

2) When thinking about evangelism through the lens of God’s sovereignty, how does that shape the way you think about ‘risk’, ‘rejection’ and ‘regret’?

3) What has been your experience of encountering hearts that are ‘closed off’ to the Gospel?

4) What did you learn from Paul and Silas’ rejoicing in prison? How did that speak to you?

5) Why can we say that ‘believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved’ is a good summary of the Gospel? How would you unpack that statement?

6) How are the categories of ‘believing’ and ‘belonging’ explored in this passage? What does that teach us?

7) In what ways are Paul and Silas’ heart for the church revealed in this passage? What do we learn from this?