Acts 16 with Guest Reader Simon Camilleri

Simon is an actor, evangelist, and children's book author from Melbourne, Australia, where he lives with his wife and two children. For the last 24 years, he has had a particular passion for excellent and engaging Bible reading. He loves presenting "epic readings" of whole books of the Bible, training Christians in public Bible reading and encouraging the Body of Christ to value this vital ministry. Find out more about his ministry at www.PublicBibleReading.com and www.patreon.com/simoncamilleri. 

We listen to Acts 16 read aloud with Simon Camilleri and watch God redirect Paul and Silas into Philippi, where the gospel takes root in surprising lives. 

• Paul and Silas continuing the missionary journey after the split with Barnabas 
• Timothy joining the team and the mission wise reason for circumcision 
• the Holy Spirit closing routes and the Macedonian vision opening a new one 
• Lydia’s conversion, baptism, and hospitality as the church in Philippi begins 
• deliverance of the exploited slave girl and the backlash that follows 
• prayer and worship in prison leading to the Philippian jailer’s salvation 
• “Believe in the Lord Jesus” as the simple answer to the salvation question 
• Paul asserting Roman citizenship and protecting the credibility of the church 
You can find out more about Simon and his ministry at publicbibelreading.com and check out his Patreon. 
If you enjoyed this story, join me tomorrow where Kelsey and I are going to have a conversation about what it looks like to follow God’s changes of plans in your own life, just like we saw Paul did today. 

At outloudbible.com, you can find free resources to help you study the Bible. And while you’re there, send us a message to say hi, or start a conversation about having us at your church or event. 

If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Reader Setup

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Welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Podcast. This is Mike. If you've not had a chance to listen to yesterday's episode, the reading of Acts 14 through 15 with our guest reader Simon Camillary, I would highly recommend you do. Partly because it provides great context for today's reading, and that's important. But also because you'll be very excited to know that Simon is back today for Acts chapter 16. Simon Camillary is my new favorite Bible reader. He's an actor, an evangelist, a children's book author. He's from Melbourne, Australia, where he lives with his wife and his two kids. And for the last 24 years, his passion has been for excellent, engaging Bible reading. If you heard yesterday's episode, you'll know that that is so true. And he loves presenting epic readings of whole books of the Bible, training Christians in public Bible reading, and encouraging the body of Christ to value this ministry of reading the Bible out loud. You can find out more about Simon and his ministry at publicbibelreading.com. PublicBible Reading.com and check out his Patreon. Again, I'll put those links in the show description here on this episode so you can go look into those and go be a blessing to Simon and his ministry today. I know you'll be blessed as he reads Acts chapter 16 here today on the Out Loud Bible podcast. By way of a little bit of review, Paul is out on another missionary journey, but this time he's with Silas. He started out his missionary journeys with Barnabas, and they were great. They made a great team.

Paul And Silas Start The Trip

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Barnabas is really a big reason why Paul was even accepted by the apostles to do this work in the first place, because Barnabas is such an encourager. However, we heard last time that Mark, John Mark, wanted to join this team and continue with Paul and Barnabas. However, John Mark had abandoned them on an earlier trip. And Paul did not want to do mission work with someone who was not all in, who was unreliable, and who may abandon them again for all he knew. But Barnabas, ever the encourager and the peacemaker, saw value in bringing John Mark again, and he was going to offer him a second chance, but Paul and Barnabas could not agree on this. And so they made a compromise. Barnabas, if he liked John Mark so much he could take John Mark and do his own missionary trip, Paul was going to take another partner named Silas, and Paul and Silas go out on this trip together today, as we will see here. One quick detail, and then I will let Simon take it away. I know I'm just as excited as you are, but we're going to find here in the first section of this chapter 16, we're going to see Timothy, which, yes, there is a book named after

Why Timothy Gets Circumcised

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him. It's Paul's letter to Timothy that we have. This is the Timothy that is Paul's protege, raising him up to be a church leader. You're going to see here that Timothy is circumcised because of the Jews in the places that he would be ministering, because he was half Greek and had not been circumcised. And this might be a surprise and look like it stands in contrast to what we read last time, where Paul was saying, no, you don't need to be circumcised to be accepted by God anymore. That's an old law thing. That's not a new gospel of Jesus thing. And so why would Paul encourage Timothy to do this? Well, because he and Timothy understand this is not about being saved. This is not an addition to the gospel. This is not to get right with God. This is just so that those Jews that Timothy would be working with and around didn't have anything to complain about. Timothy was willing to take one for the team and eliminate any potential accusations that would prohibit him from being able to minister to the people in the area. Paul understands the importance of meeting people where they're at. We see that throughout his ministry, and we see that on particular display here today in Acts chapter 16. The events of Acts chapter 16, which we are about to hear, are a major turning point in the history of this early church and have implications for us today. Let's check it out. Here's Simon Camillary with Acts chapter 16 in the New English Translation.

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He also came to Derby and to Lystra. A disciple named

Acts 16 Reading Begins

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Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but whose father was a Greek. The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and took him and circumcised him, because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek. As they went through the towns, they passed on the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the Gentile believers to obey. So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number every day. They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province of Asia. When they

Blocked Routes And A Night Vision

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came to Missa, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this. So they passed through Missa and went down to Troaz. A vision appeared to Paul during the night. A Macedonian man was standing there, urging him Come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after Paul saw the vision, we attempted immediately to go over to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We put out to sea from Troaz and sailed a straight course to Samothrace, the next day to Neopolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the leading city of that district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for some days. On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the side of the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began to speak to the women who

Lydia Listens And A Home Opens

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had assembled there. A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatra, a God-fearing woman, listened to us. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. After she and her household were baptized, she urged us if you consider me to be a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house. And she persuaded us. Now, as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the

A Slave Girl Freed Sparks Backlash

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future by supernatural means. She brought her owners, a great prophet by fortune telling.

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She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, These men are servants of the most high God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.

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She continued to do this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed and turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out of her at once. But when her owners saw their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, These men are throwing our city into confusion. They are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans. The crowd joined the attack against them, and the magistrates tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had beaten them severely, they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to guard them securely. Receiving such orders, he threw them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the rest of the prisoners were listening

Worship In Prison And A Jailer Saved

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to them. Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds of all the prisoners came loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he assumed the prisoners had escaped. But Paul called out loudly, Do not harm yourself for we are all here. Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell down, trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. And he brought them outside and asked, Sir, what must I do to be saved? They replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. You and your household. At that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds, and he and all his family were baptized right away. The jailer brought them into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced greatly that he had come to believe in God together with his entire household. At daybreak, the magistrates sent their police officers saying release those men. The jailers reported these words

Roman Citizenship And A Public Exit

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to Paul, saying, orders to release you, so come out now and go in peace. But Paul said to the police officers, They had us beaten in public without a proper trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and they threw us in prison. And now you want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not. They themselves must come and escort us out. The police officers reported these words to the magistrates. They were frightened when they heard Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, and came and apologized to them. After they brought them out, they asked them repeatedly to leave the city. When they came out of the prison, they entered Lydia's house. And when they saw the brothers, they encouraged them and then departed.

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The story that Simon read today is the story of the birth of the church in Philippi. And this story still affects us today because Paul wrote a letter to the church in Philippi

Why Philippi Still Matters Today

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after this had been established a little while. And that letter is the book of Philippians that we have in our Bibles today, and it contains some of the most powerful, memorable verses in the entire Bible. And if you remember, none of it was Paul's original plan. He was trying to get to Turkey, and then he thought he was going to Macedonia. Come to find out God had this plan all along. And how did this church start? It started with a wealthy woman in a prayer meeting, a demon-possessed girl, and a suicidal prison guard. That's not how I would start a church, but then again, I'm no God. And through it all, Paul was present in every situation, every opportunity. If it was a woman that he had to open a conversation with and share the good news, he was ready. If there was a distracting demon trying to cause chaos and confusion, he was bold. And in the time where he could have complained and said, Woe is me, we're in jail again, he and Silas led a worship night, which ended up leading the prison guard to Christ. Do not underestimate the power of being prayerfully present with anyone that God brings in your path. The next person you invite, the next person you confront, or the next person you encourage could be who God uses to start a whole new church and a whole new generation of believers. That's the Thinking Out Loud thought for the day. And thanks so much again to Simon Camillary of PublicBible Reading.com. And uh tell you what, why don't we just have him take over the podcast now? I think what a blessing that would be. Simon, thank you so much for contributing your time and your talents to this podcast in this way, and look forward to working together again. If you enjoyed this story, join me tomorrow where Kelsey and I are going to have a conversation about what it looks like to follow God's changes of plans in your own life, just like we saw Paul did today. That'll

Tomorrow’s Conversation And Goodbye

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be a great Living Out Loud episode here on the Out Loud Bible Podcast. We'll see you then.