Bible study about using our influence to turn people to Christ

1. GOD USES OUR INFLUENCE TO LEAD
OTHERS TO HIM.
ACTS 16:22-34 A CHANGED FAMILY

2. WWW.SLIDESHARE.NET/LAZAROURICHARD

3. Acts 16:22-24 ESV
22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and
the magistrates tore the garments off them
and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23
And when they had inflicted many blows upon
them, they threw them into prison, ordering
the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having
received this order, he put them into the
inner prison and fastened their feet in the
stocks.
THE SITUATION

4. Acts 16:25-28 ESV
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and
singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening
to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake,
so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And
immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's
bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and
saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword
and was about to kill himself, supposing that the
prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud
voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
THE OPPORTUNITY

5. Acts 16:29-32 ESV
29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in,
and trembling with fear he fell down before
Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out
and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved, you and your
household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the
Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
THE CONVERSION

6. Acts 16:33-34 ESV
33 And he took them the same hour of the
night and washed their wounds; and he was
baptized at once, he and all his family. 34
Then he brought them up into his house and
set food before them. And he rejoiced along
with his entire household that he had
believed in God.
THE TRANSFORMATION

7. GOD USES OUR INFLUENCE TO LEAD
OTHERS TO HIM.
ACTS 16:22-34 A CHANGED FAMILY

8. CONTEXT
ACTS 16:16-17:15
Paul and Silas are now in
Philippi.
Roman colony and the
leading city of that
district of Macedonia.
Was seized by Romans
because of its gold
mines.

9. CONTEXT
ACTS 16:16-17:15
Usually went to synagogues
when they arrived at a city but
couldn’t in Philippi because
apparently there were not
enough Jewish men around
(10).
Witness to a group of women
meeting for prayer, Lydia is
the most famous of the group.
Lydia gets saved and
influences her whole family to
do the same.

10. CONTEXT
ACTS 16:16-17:15
After Lydia’s conversion she asks
Paul and Silas to use her home as
home base for their time in Philippi.
As they going out for prayer on a
daily basis they were followed by a
fortune teller who kept calling them
“servants of the Most High God.”
After a couple of days of this Paul
gets annoyed with this woman and
commands the demonic spirit to
come out of her.
Her owners fear they are going to
lose money and charge Paul and
Silas with “disturbing our city.”

12. HOW ARE YOU GAUGING WHO OR
WHAT IS HAVING THE BIGGEST
INFLUENCE ON THE PEOPLE CLOSEST
TO YOU?
COACHING IT OR ALLOWING IT.

13. Acts 16:22-24 ESV
22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and
the magistrates tore the garments off them
and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23
And when they had inflicted many blows upon
them, they threw them into prison, ordering
the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having
received this order, he put them into the
inner prison and fastened their feet in the
stocks.
THE SITUATION

14. Acts 16:25-28 ESV
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and
singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were
listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were
shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened,
and everyone's bonds were unfastened. 27 When the
jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he
drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing
that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a
loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
THE OPPORTUNITY

15. WHAT KIND OF INFLUENCE ARE YOU
DURING TIMES OF DISTRESS?
WHAT KIND OF INFLUENCE ARE YOU
MAKING WHEN YOU THINK NO ONE
IS WATCHING?

16. Acts 16:29-32 ESV
29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in,
and trembling with fear he fell down before
Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out
and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved, you and your
household.” 32 And they spoke the word of
the Lord to him and to all who were in his
house.
THE CONVERSION

17. CRAZY
OPPORTUNITY
CRAZY
INVESTMENT
CRAZY INVESTMENTS LEAD TO
CRAZY OPPORTUNITIES FOR
INFLUENCE

18. DO YOU EVER DO ANYTHING SO
CRAZY THAT IT FORCES PEOPLE TO
ASK WHY?
WHAT SORT OF INTENTIONAL
INVESTMENTS ARE YOU MAKING
RIGHT NOW THAT WILL PUT YOU IN
POSITION TO HAVE AN INFLUENCE
LATER?

19. Acts 16:33-34 ESV
33 And he took them the same hour of the
night and washed their wounds; and he was
baptized at once, he and all his family. 34
Then he brought them up into his house and
set food before them. And he rejoiced along
with his entire household that he had
believed in God.
THE TRANSFORMATION

20. WHAT IS STANDING IN THE WAY OF
YOU HAVING THIS KIND OF
INFLUENCE TODAY?

21. PREACHING THROUGH ADVERSITY-JOHN PIPER
CHARLES SPRUGEON (1834-1892)
"One Sabbath morning, I preached from the text, 'My God, My
God, why has Thou forsaken Me?' and though I did not say so,
yet I preached my own experience. I heard my own chains clank
while I tried to preach to my fellow-prisoners in the dark; but I
could not tell why I was brought into such an awful horror of
darkness, for which I condemned myself. On the following
Monday evening, a man came to see me who bore all the marks
of despair upon his countenance. His hair seemed to stand up
right, and his eyes were ready to start from their sockets. He said
to me, after a little parleying, 'I never before, in my life, heard
any man speak who seemed to know my heart. Mine is a terrible
case; but on Sunday morning you painted me to the life, and
preached as if you had been inside my soul.'

22. PREACHING THROUGH ADVERSITY-JOHN PIPER
CHARLES SPRUGEON (1834-1892)
By God's grace I saved that man from suicide, and led him
into gospel light and liberty; but I know I could not have done
it if I had not myself been confined in the dungeon in which
he lay. I tell you the story, brethren, because you sometimes
may not understand your own experience, and the perfect
people may condemn you for having it; but what know they
of God's servants? You and I have to suffer much for the sake
of the people of our charge ... You may be in Egyptian
darkness, and you may wonder why such a horror chills your
marrow; but you may be altogether in the pursuit of your
calling, and be led of the Spirit to a position of sympathy with
desponding minds"

23. 2 Corinthians 1:4 ESV
4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that
we may be able to comfort those who are in
any affliction, with the comfort with which we
ourselves are comforted by God.
THE OPPORTUNITY