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THE BOOK OF ACTS

CHAPTER 16

SUPERNATURAL GUIDANCE

THE CHALLENGE OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Learning to heed the guidance of the Holy Spirit is essential to living a successful, effective
Christian life, especially when witnessing to those whose hearts are prepared to receive the
gospel message.

Jesus teaches that in this world we would have tribulations and face difficult situations. Some
of those circumstances may even seem insurmountable. But Jesus also says He has overcome
whatever the world could send our way. God said many are the afflictions of the righteous, but
He has delivered us from every difficulty we will ever face. We may never find ourselves
chained in an inner prison as Paul and Silas did, but we can learn to handle difficult situations as
they did: by confidently singing praises to God knowing our deliverance will surely come.

TIMOTHY ACCOMPANIES PAUL (1-5)

Paul hears of Timothy’s reputation from the brethren at Lystra and Iconium. Paul invites
Timothy to travel with Silas and him on his second missionary journey to Greece.

Act 16:1 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named
Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a
Greek:

it is God’s desire to continually train new people for the ministry. His plan is to raise up people
by having them learn from those presently in the ministry (2 Timothy 2:2). Because of Mark’s
failure during the previous missionary journey, God will introduce Timothy to Paul’s team.

Timothy is born-again and young in age. He is probably in his late teens when Paul invites him
as a traveling companion. Timothy will be a traveling companion to Paul off and on for the rest
of Paul’s life. Timothy’s mother (Eunice) and grandmother (Lois) are also born-again (2 Timothy
1:5).

Timothy has been endowed with the gift to pastor, and in Timothy’s early, developmental
years, Paul uses him to fill in for churches in need. At Philippi he is very successful, but at
Corinth, he is not. (Titus has to come and bail him out.) Later Timothy becomes the pastor at
Ephesus and has much difficulty. This is the reason for 1 and 2 Timothy, which are letters of
pastoral instruction.

Timothy’s mother lives in an isolated part of the world but worships the Lord in the Jewish
fashion. She is born-again and raises her son Timothy in the scriptures. It appears Timothy’s
father is an unbeliever who had perhaps Left the family in their early years. The term “Greek”