Video Discussion Q+A

1) What was the demon-possessed slave girl saying about Paul and Silas? v17

– She was calling out for anyone to hear that they were servants of the Most High God. And that the message that they had to share was the message and the way of salvation. While all this was true, it brought with it confusion, a manner in which the apostles didn’t want to be identified. In Paul’s frustration, he healed the girl and the Lord answered his prayer.

2) What did the slave-girl’s owners do when the girl was healed? v19

– They had made a lot of money from her fortune-telling, and so when they realized their ability to make money from her was gone, they dragged Paul and Silas before the Roman authorities in the middle of the city to be accused, beaten, and thrown into prison.

3) When Paul and Silas were thrown into prison, what were they doing before an earthquake hit the prison? v25

– They were singing hymns to God and praying. Clearly they were looking to the Lord to help them and deliver them. God had given them a vision that they were going to Macedonia, so, however they would get there, they knew the Lord would provide a way for them.

4) Why did the jailer of the prison turn a knife about to kill himself? What did he hear that stopped him? v27

– He knew that he was going to receive the same punishment as the prisoners, and so it would have been better for him, he thought, to die by his own hand. Instead, he heard Paul’s voice saying that all the prisoners were still there. The Lord was doing a work to save the jailer and his whole household, and probably many of the prisoners too.

5) When the jailer asked Paul and Silas “what must i do to be saved?” What did Paul tell him? v31

– Paul told him that he must believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. Through Paul’s singing or praying, the jailer had no doubt heard about this Jesus and what the message was that Paul proclaimed. Paul here tells him he must believe and told him more as they went to the jailer’s house.

6) What did Paul say when he knew they were being released? What did he appeal to? v37

– Paul appealed to the fact that he was a Roman citizen by birth and that the ones who put him in jail should be the ones to come and take him out. To beat a Roman citizen without a fair trial meant that they could have lost their authority and been replaced, or even that the whole city in some way could be punished. Though Paul knew that he was a citizen of heaven, and Christ was his true king, he still used the means that God gave him in this world to help further the ministry of the Gospel.

7) What does this teach us about the Gospel and about the Lord?

– It shows us that the Lord is faithful to his servants. He knows what they are going through and has the power to deliver them from any situation. It shows us that we are to live as citizens first of the kingdom of God, and then we are to be in the world, not not truly of it. It shows us that the Gospel has the power to change anyone and that by believing in the Gospel, there can be full forgiveness and