...How to Raise a Ruckus - The Right Way
May 6 - May 12, 2013
Make sure you read or listen to Dr. Jack Levison's commentary by following this link:
Be sure to spend some time with his "Questions for Further Reflection" at the bottom of the commentary. You'll find new questions there each week!
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Paul’s First Missionary Journey
Acts 13:1-9
The Holy Spirit said (v. 2), The Holy Spirit sent (v. 4),
The Holy Spirit filled (v. 9). It is the Holy Spirit who leads the New Testament
church in mission. The church at Antioch had prophets and teachers who were
led by the Holy Spirit. Two were set apart to proclaim the word of God
elsewhere – Barnabas and Saul. Saul then becomes Paul.
Contrary to popular belief, Paul’s name change did not happen soon after
his conversion, but after his commissioning and on his first missionary journey
(v. 9).
- How do you follow the Holy Spirit’s leading?
- What does your church do to follow it?
- How do you know the difference between your own thoughts and the Holy Spirit’s leading?
Jewish false prophet Bar-Jesus (a.k.a. Elymas), a magician, opposed Paul & Barnabas and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Proconsul Sergius Paulus wanted to hear the word of God. Paul powerfully confronts the magician Elymas, and Sergius Paulus believes.
- Have you ever run across someone who is intent on turning someone away from the Christian faith? Share about this experience.
- How might God work in power to confound a person such as this?
- Is it appropriate to pray for God to do this? Share your thoughts.
13:13-52
First, people in the synagogue - initially intrigued but
then critical of the message due to the crowd’s overwhelming positive response -
"stir up persecution” and “drive out of the region” Paul and
Barnabas (v. 50). Second, “almost the whole city” (v. 44) gathered to hear
the message, and the gentiles were glad and believed (“…as many as had been
destined for eternal life became believers” v. 48). Here in this town Paul gives his first speech/sermon in Acts, and follows
it up with an encore. The disciples are
filled with joy even under persecution.
The same message produces friends and enemies.
- In your opinion, what is it that attracts people to Jesus and the Christian faith?
- What is it that makes people angry or turns them against the faith?
14:1-7
The apostles preach in the synagogue, and great numbers of Jews & Greeks
believed. But the unbelieving Jews
stirred up the gentiles and poisoned their minds against “the brothers” (v.
1-2). This resistance led Paul & Barnabas to remain for a
long time, speaking boldly for the Lord. Eventually, a group of Gentiles, Jews, and their rulers
made plans to mistreat them and to stone them, but the apostles got wind of it
and fled to Lystra and Derbe to continue proclaiming the good news (v. 5-7).
- Has the challenge associated with others’ negative response to your faith ever caused you to go deeper in the faith? Explain.
- In what ways might you be facing an opportunity like this in your life today?
14:8-20
Paul heals a man crippled from birth, and the crowds are
amazed. They jump to the conclusion that
Barnabas and Paul are Greek gods who have come to earth in human form! Barnabas and Paul vehemently refuse to be
worshiped (“we are mortals just like you”) and call the people to turn to the
living God. Barnabas and Paul were gathering quite a following. But they also were collecting enemies who
followed them around to oppose them.
Jews from Antioch and Iconium - cities the apostles have previously preached in - win over the crowds, stone Paul and drag
him out of the city. But there are
disciples who “surround him,” enabling him to continue on his journey.
- How well do you think you handle complements?
- In what ways have people praised you for the good work you do for God or for the character that God is producing in you?
- How might you receive this praise in a way that also gives God credit?
Paul & Barnabas retrace their steps, travelling back through each
town and establishing the church (From Derbe, to Lystra, then to Iconium, then
to Pisidian Antioch). They appoint
elders and entrust them with the ministry and the care and equipping of the
believers. They stop in Perga (a town in
the coastal region of Pamphylia), then sail for Syrian Antioch. They report on “all that God had done”
and stayed for some time there with the disciples at their home church.
- What experience do you have of needing to retrace your steps and go back to finish up unfinished business?
- Why do you think the churches needed “elders?”
- Who provides this God-ordained leadership in your church?
- How do they support you in your Christian life and ministry?
- How do you support them?
Christians from Judea came to Antioch, teaching that
believers needed to be circumcised according to the law of Moses in order to be
saved. Paul and Barnabas debated this,
and eventually were appointed by the church to travel to Jerusalem to discuss
this issue with the apostles and elders there. Peter is there, and makes a speech in favor of removing
this requirement (contrast this to Paul’s version of Peter’s involvement in Galatians
2:1-14). James finally reaches a
decision: “we should not trouble those gentiles who are turning to God…but only
require them “to abstain from things polluted by idols, and from fornication
and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.” The Jerusalem church appoints two of their leaders –
Judas Barsabbas and Silas – to accompany Paul and Barnabas back to Antioch and
share the decision (the full text of the letter is verses 23-29). When the members of the Antioch church read
it, they rejoiced.
- Do you think this issue was worthy of such a high-level meeting of church leaders? Explain.
- How does it make you feel to know there were disagreements and debates in the church even in these early days?
- What important issues are leaders of your church discussing today?
- How do these issues impact the mission of the church and its outreach to new believers?
Together in Christ,
Kurt
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