Welcome back to our small group study! John Barnett here. I want you to imagine we are sitting right across the table from each other, maybe at Panera or Starbucks, with our Bibles open and our notebooks ready.
Today, I am incredibly excited to introduce a class that traces the breathtaking, providential timeline of the most famous missionary in human history. If you want to see how God can take the most hardened, violent opponent of the faith and radically transform him into the ultimate church planter, you absolutely must join us for this lesson. Let me walk you through three memorable, life-changing truths we will unpack together:
1. The Devotional Blueprint and the Unlikeliest Convert
Scripture References: Acts 9.
Summary of What’s Covered: We kick off the class by looking at exactly how to study your Bible for personal sanctification. I’ll share my own method of reading background introductions—like those in the MacArthur Study Bible—sketching, and taking notes, reminding us that Bible study is never a note-taking contest, but a pursuit of truth God can use to make us more useful. Then, we map out the timeline of Paul’s life, starting from his birth around 4 BC. We will trace his radical transformation in Acts 9, exploring how he spent the first three years after Christ’s crucifixion as a violent persecutor of the church before his miraculous salvation around AD 33.
2. God’s Classroom: 14 Years of Preparation for 10 Years of Service
Scripture References: Acts 13 and Acts 14.
Summary of What’s Covered: Next, we dive into a staggering reality about God’s timing that is completely opposite to how we naturally think. We will discover that Paul spent 14 solid years in training—spending time in Arabia, his hometown of Tarsus, and being discipled by Barnabas in Antioch—just to prepare for 10 years of active missionary service. We will then map out his first missionary journey in Acts 13 and 14, following him as he sailed to Cyprus and pushed inland into Asia Minor, where he even survived being stoned in Lystra.
3. The Divine Reroute and the Final Storms
Scripture References: Acts 15-18; 1 & 2 Corinthians; Romans; Luke.
Summary of What’s Covered: Finally, we track his second and third missionary journeys and his ultimate imprisonment. We will see how God specifically redirected Paul, stopping him from going to Bithynia and giving him a vision that called him into Europe—leading him through Philippi and Athens, all the way to his vital ministry in Corinth in Acts 18. We will look at how he wrote monumental letters like Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians from the road, before looking at the final, harrowing stage of his life. After 10 years of fruitful ministry, Paul faced 10 hard, lonely years of suffering, enduring prison in Caesarea, a massive shipwreck in Malta, and Roman imprisonment where he wrote the prison epistles before his ultimate martyrdom.
If you want to be deeply encouraged by how meticulously God prepares, guides, and uses a surrendered life, you need to grab your Bible, get your historical maps ready, and let’s master the Scriptures together!
From FTGC-36c – https://youtu.be/C6-Z4SUdR78
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