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Acts of the Apostles, Acts 20:1-6

Acts of the Apostles, Acts 20:1-6. Paul Finishes His Third Journey. Introduction. Paul leaves Ephesus right after the uproar led by Demetrius the metal smith. He leaves Timothy in Ephesus to superintend the church there and appoint elders and deacons for them (1 Timothy 1:3; 3:1-16).

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Acts of the Apostles, Acts 20:1-6

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  1. Acts of the Apostles, Acts 20:1-6 Paul Finishes His Third Journey

  2. Introduction • Paul leaves Ephesus right after the uproar led by Demetrius the metal smith. • He leaves Timothy in Ephesus to superintend the church there and appoint elders and deacons for them (1 Timothy 1:3; 3:1-16). • He crosses into Europe again, visiting the churches of Macedonia and Greece, remaining in Greece, supposedly at Corinth for three months. Site of Ancient Troas

  3. Before this he had written at least two letters to the church at Corinth. Now he is visiting them again. • Because of the plot by the Jews to kill him as he went down to Cenchrea to board a ship, he decides to travel by land back up through Macedonia, then embark from there to Asia. • Although Luke’s history does not mention it in this place, Paul is collecting money and other valuables from the churches as he visits them this last time. These gifts will go to the poor saints in Judea.

  4. In the eleventh chapter of Acts, Agabus, a prophet from Jerusalem had come to Antioch, Syria and predicted a world-wide famine that would hit hardest the poor saints in Judea. Wherever Paul went he had told the Christians about this prophecy and asked them to prepare to send help. • The Churches have appointed representatives from each church to meet Paul at Corinth and travel with him to carry the gifts to Jerusalem from where the gifts would be distributed.

  5. The churches had approved these men by letter to Paul and they are called “apostles of the churches” (Acts 11:27-30; 24:17; Romans 15:25-28; 1 Corinthians 16:1 & 2; 2 Corinthians 8 & 9). • The names of these men are given in Acts 20:4. Others will be added as he goes along. • Paul will revisit Troas, where now there is a church. • Then he will visit with the Ephesian elders at Miletus before he sails for Palestine.

  6. BIBLE STUDY ACTS 20:1-38 Breaking Bread and Ephesian Elders

  7. Acts 20:1-3 • 20:1 When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 3 where he stayed three months. • Every church Paul has established he has revisited at least once. He has written letters to several of them. He also visits churches he did not establish directly. Acrocorinth – Highest Part of Corinth

  8. Acts 20

  9. 3 And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia. 4 And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus; and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. Wrote the Book of Romans from here

  10. Sometimes Paul seemed to try to avoid trouble and sometimes it seems that he confronted it. How does one decide when to avoid trouble and when to avoid it? (20:3)

  11. Acts 20:4-6 • 4 He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 But we sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days. Icon of Trophimus

  12. As already mentioned, the six men who traveled with Paul were the apostles of the churches mentioned in 2 Corinthians 8:23 (Young’s Literal Translation give the correct rendition: “apostles.”). • Titus will also go along on this mission and probably Luke, who is thought to be the unnamed “brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you” (2 Corinthians 8:22). Luke the Evangelist

  13. Paul left Macedonia after the “days of unleavened bread.” This is what we know as the Easter season sometime in March-April according to the Jewish or lunar calendar. • Five days later, Paul met up with the six brothers he had sent ahead to Troas where he had seen the vision of the Macedonian man begging him to come to Macedonia and help his people some years earlier. • This time he spends seven days at Troas evidently waiting for the regular assembly of the church.

  14. Troas had once been the name of a kingdom in the northwest region of what is now Turkey. The ancient city of Troy, mentioned by Homer in his great epic poem of the Trojan war (The Iliad) and the Odyssey, was the capital of this ancient kingdom. • Then the region gave its name to a seaport built near the site of Troy. Its first name was Antigonia Troas. Then after the conquests of Alexander the Great, its name was changed to Alexandria Troas. • In the Bible it is known simply as Troas.

  15. Acts 20:7 • 7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. • These disciples came together on the first day of the week, probably right after sundown on what we call Saturday evening, when the first day of the week began. The purpose of their assembly is stated as “to break bread,” a common expression in the early church that meant the Lord’s Supper. Large Upper Room

  16. In those days when there was usually one congregation meeting in a central location in a city and the scattered disciples having no telephones, visiting preachers had to wait until the regular meeting time in order to see all the members together in one place. • So, when the disciples came together to “break bread,” that is, partake together of the Lord’s Supper, as well as eat regular food together, before or after the Lord’s Supper, Paul preached to them.

  17. Was the first day of the week the Sabbath (20:7)? • Should Christians observe the Sabbath today? 1 Cor 16:1-2;“. . . Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, . . .”

  18. Rev 1:10“On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, . . .” (NIV)

  19. The Jewish Day ended at sundown and thus the new day started at sundown. Paul must have started at the beginning of the Jewish first day of the week which is our Sat. night Then they thus broke bread early in the morning which is both the Jewish & our first day of the week or Sunday. Some non-biblical early writers refer to congregations having the Lord’s supper at sunrise to do it at the same time that Jesus arose.

  20. Early Writings About Sunday • Ignatius (Magnesians 9), Barnabas 15:8+, Justin (Apology I, 67:1-3,7, Triypho 10:1-3),Dialogue 41:4), • Didache 14:1, Epistle of the Apostles 18, Gospel of Peter 9:34+, 12:50+, • Acts of Peter 1:1, Clement of Alexandria (Miscellanies V,xiv.106.2), • Tertullian (To the nations I:13, On Idolatry 14:6, An Answer to the Jews 2:20, 4:1, Bardesanes (On Fate), • Eusebius (Church History II.xxvii.5), etc.

  21. Tertullian “To us Sabbaths are foreign” On Idolatry 14:6 JUSTIN “we do not live according to the Law, nor are we circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers, nor do we observe the Sabbath as you do” Dialogue with Trypho 10:1 Ignatius “no longer observing the Sabbath but living according to the Lord’s day, in which also our life arose through him and his death . . .” Magnesians 9

  22. Justin: “We are always together with one another . . . on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or a rural district . . . • We all make our assembly in common of the day of the sun, since it is the first day, on which God changed the darkness and matter and made the world, and Jesus Crist our Savior arose from the dead on the same day. • For they crucified him on the day before Saturn’s day, and on the day after (which is the day of the Sun) he appeared to his apostles . . .” Apology I,67:1-3,7

  23. Bardesanes • “Where ever we are, we are all called after the one name of Christ- Christians. • On one day, the first of the week, we assemble ourselves together . . .” (On Fate)

  24. The FIRST day of the week theDia Panis day of the bread? Pliny the younger: They [disciples] would rise at [Sunday] daybreak to sing a hymn to Chrestus as their God… They were accused of incestuous relations and cannibalism… Tertullian: The blood of martyrs is the seed…

  25. How Often to Observe Sabbath In the Old Testament God told them to remember the Sabbath, He didn’t stop and say “every Sabbath”. Simply by describing the Sabbath they understood every Sabbath. Someone has said “If a car payment is due the first of the month then it is due the first of every month. If you don’t think so then just miss one or two.”

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