Summary: Being a successful witness will take preparation.

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Preparation Is Everything

Text: Acts 17:1-9



2. To accomplish anything of importance in this life it is going to take preparation.

A. Musician

B. Artist

C. Engineer

D. Doctor

E. Lawyer

F. It all takes preparation to succeed.

3. This is especially true in our spiritual lives. It will take preparation to...

A. Witness

B. Opposition

4. Let's stand together as we read Acts 17:1-9.

Proposition: Being a successful witness will take preparation.

Transition: Are you...

I. Preparing To Witness (1-4).

A. He Used The Scriptures

1. Paul is living proof of the need to prepare yourself to witness to others.

2. Luke begins this chapter with "Paul and Silas then traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue."

A. After Paul, Silas, and Timothy left Philippi, they proceeded westward on the Via Egnatia.

B. The next two towns of any size, each about a day's journey apart, apparently had no Jewish synagogue; and so they pushed on to Thessalonica (one hundred miles from Philippi), "where there was a Jewish synagogue."

C. Thessalonica was one of the wealthiest and most influential cities in Macedonia, with a population of over 200,000.

D. This is the first city where Paul’s teachings attracted a large group of socially prominent citizens.

E. The most important Roman highway (the Egnatian Way)—extending from Rome all the way to the Orient—went through Thessalonica.


G. Recognized as a free city, Thessalonica was allowed self-rule and was exempted from most of the restrictions placed by Rome on other cities in the Empire.

H. With its international flavor, however, came many pagan religions and cultural influences that challenged the faith of the young Christians there.(Barton 533).

3. Here is where we see Paul's preparation. In vv. 2-3 it says, "As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.”

A. Again Luke draws attention to Paul's "custom" of going to the Jew first and taking advantage of their background and of the opportunity given by the synagogue to teach.

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