Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 16:1-5 (April 27, 2026)

April 27, 2026: Monday Bible Study on Acts 16:1-5

Good Sunday Evening, or good morning, whenever you can get to this study.

I am writing on Sunday Evening this week to free up some time on Monday. Thanks for understanding. We still have no idea of when we are going to Michigan for our Sister-in-law's celebration of Life, but we are confident that it is coming up late in May, or in early June. I will inform the office, and you when I know the date. Please offer prayers of thanksgiving for the safety of our president, his wife, and the advisors, and all the correspondents who were safe on Saturday Evening.

In our passage for today we are going to begin the second missionary journey of Paul which includes many old stops for him, as well as new ones too. Remember that Barnabas will not be with Paul because of their disagreement about using John Mark to accompany them. Barnabas takes Mark separately, and Paul takes Silas who was one of the men who went to offer the support of the Jerusalem Church to the newest churches which Paul and Barnabas had started on their first missionary journey. Paul and Silas arrived in Derbe and Lystra after five years, to discover a young man from a Greek Jewish Marriage who was strong in his faith. Paul well understood that he would be needing to train a new generation of missionaries, and this young man, Timothy, was an ideal person to take that on. There was one issue, however, Timothy had never been circumcised, so Paul made certain that Timothy was. This would seem troubling to us, since Paul had made it clear, and so had the declaration from the Jerusalem Church, that circumcision was unnecessary for the new Christians who he had brought into the church on his first missionary journey. So why Timothy? It was because Timothy was considered a Jew, his mother was Jewish, and for Paul to have any success with Timothy as his person of youth who would be with him, he must be circumcised for the Converted Jews to accept him. Circumcision was not a requirement for gentile men, but for Jews it remained a requirement. In Timothy Paul had broken down all national barriers for coming into the faith of new Christians, who would be fully accepted by all other new Christians. Even though many of our immigrant churches in the U.S. were often worshiping as separate by their nationality, that is not how Paul presented the new church to the new believers. Timothy's grandmother and mother were women of faith (2 Timothy 1:5) and, when needed Timothy became Paul's messenger. When Paul was in prison in Rome, it was Timothy who delivered the letter to the Philippians. Paul identified Timothy as his beloved son. That should indicate to us that Timothy was of a singular mind with Paul presenting him in every way as the second missionary journey took place. Paul may even have had Timothy in mind to replace him when the time came.

Tomorrow, we find Paul carrying the Gospel to Europe. God bless you, and may you know that you are always Christ's beloved child.

With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim