The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Acts 20:4 – 23:35
Act 3: God’s New Covenant People
Scene 4: Christ’s Church: God’s People Advance the Kingdom
Background Information: Acts 20:4 – 23:35
Paul wrote the greatest theological treatise of all time, the book of Romans. But he was not an ivory tower theologian sitting in some dusty university office, he was a missionary who loved Christ and his church. In Acts we can see the unity of Paul’s theology and his life. What he wrote and taught he consistently lived out. Though Paul is clearly a unique figure in church history we must not fall into the trap of thinking that he is so unique that we could not possibly hope to live as he did. God’s unique purposes for Paul’s life cannot be emulated but Paul’s devotion to the gospel certainly can be. He had trained himself through obedience to be able to know when the Spirit was speaking and leading him. We want to hear from God. We want to be led by the Holy Spirit. We can be, he wants to speak to us and lead us. The question is do we only want to be led by the Spirit when we like where he is leading? Do we truly seek to listen to hear what God wants or are we listening to hear only what we want? Listen to Paul, the master theologian, missionary statesmen, and faithful follower of Christ as he teaches us what it means to train our ears to hear from God.
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.”
Acts 20:22-23
The Spirit was leading him to Jerusalem, but he was not telling him what would happen when he got there except for the fact that prison and hardship awaited him everywhere. What did Paul do with this information? What would you do with it? Would you think, “That can’t be what God is saying?” Would you ask him for a “better word”, a better plan? Perhaps you might not even hear the Spirit’s leading because your ears are closed to what you don’t want to be true. Wherever we are right now, we can train to live as Paul did. Here is the place to begin, make this your daily prayer. This is how we train to have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to us.
“Father, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of your grace.”
This is not about self-contempt; it is about love for the gospel. To live for the priority of God’s glory rather than love for our very lives is how we tune our ears to hear God when he speaks.
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Uyghurs look for hope in money, passports, education, Islamic community, etc… Pray that they would seek and find their hope in Jesus alone.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.