Day 346 – Paul – Journey #3 (Macedonia, Troas)

• Paul’s third journey continued as he moved around from place to place, encouraging and teaching as he went. Remember that on this third journey he would sometimes have been back to places he had been to before, in order to visit old friends and see how the church he established was doing. He purposefully didn’t stop at Ephesus again though, as he had already been there several years last time.
• The story of Eutychus (which means “lucky”) might have brought a smile to your face if you’ve ever had to sit through a particularly long sermon! What happened to this young man as Paul’s sermon went on a bit too long? What did Paul do when he fell? How were the people comforted by what they saw?
• Today’s passages main focus, however, is on church leadership and the importance of personal integrity of those who teach God’s word. Why do you think having such integrity was (and is) so vital?
• Who did Paul call in Acts 20:17? If you could sum up Paul’s speech to them in a couple of points, what would they be?
• How did Paul make reference to his own life, teachings, actions and experiences to encourage others to faithfully preach God’s Word in difficult situations?
• Acts 20:29-30 show remarkable insight into how the church as Ephesus would later struggle. We know from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, written ten or so years later, that false teaching was something that they had to deal with. Why do you think false teaching exists?
• The short letter to Titus is an important explanation of the characteristics that should be seen in church leaders. What types of attributes did Paul say that godly leaders (elders and overseers) should demonstrate? Are any mentioned more than once?
• The list was expanded in the passage from 1 Peter. What else does Paul add?
• Pick out one or two of the attributes that a leader should display. Imagine they were failing to live up to these attributes. How would it affect how you listened to, and acted upon, their teaching? Would you accept that people are sinful and mess up, or would it affect how you consider their credibility? Or both?

Leaders – rightly – are called to live to a high standard in their life. Do you think you, as young people who perhaps aren’t in leadership positions, can be more relaxed about your standards? I would argue not. The younger children will look up to you as role models. You are also the face of the Christian faith to your friends. Make no mistake – today’s words apply to you too!

How well do you think you are displaying Christ to those who are looking at you (in your everyday words and actions, I mean, rather than when you talk about Christian stuff)?