Acts 18

Acts 18 tonight. We looked at the last leg of Paul's second missionary journey. We had great conversation tonight, so let's continue that here. Here are the thoughts that we discussed:

When Paul tried really hard, he often didn’t have the best results. When he allowed God to take over, the results were usually enormous. Are we seeking control, or are we allowing God to guide us in His plan?

It appeared that Paul would be persecuted in spite of God’s promise of protection. Have we doubted God’s promises in our own lives? When will we learn that His promises always stand?

What do we learn from the encounter between Apollos and Priscilla & Aquila regarding confrontation and correction?

There were great thoughts and sharing on the first two points. I'm sure there are other ideas on those. We never really got to the last point, though. Thoughts???

Acts 17

As we continue our walk through the book of Acts, we pick up in chapter 17 with the continuation of Paul's second missionary journey. In this chapter we see Paul share the story of Jesus with three different groups in three different ways, yet it's the same message. Here are some of the jumping off points that we opened up for discussion:

Some view faith as a nice and neat packaged faith as compared with real life with doubt, question, and struggle. Paul writes the additional letters in the NT b/c it’s not all roses for the churches. The Lord is adding to their number in the midst of conflict and trouble and yet there is still faith.

The Jews were “neat and tidy.” Greeks were “don’t know don’t care”. Our world is predominantly similar to this, and yet God is calling us to live in the tension between these two just as Paul & Co.

The Epics and Stoics and Jews essentially cloistered themselves so that their debates only went so far. Evaluate your own experience of church to see if there are places where there is cloistering and whether we have contributed to it.

Are we going and sharing as the example that we are given by Paul?

There were some good comments during the dialogue time tonight. If you have more thoughts, please share them with us all...

Acts 16

Last night we looked at Acts 16 which begins the second missionary of Paul & Co. Give it a read...good stuff. Here are the discussion points that we talked about last night:

Are we being led by the Spirit in our day-to-day interactions as Paul & Co. were?

Have we experienced times where doors seemed to close, yet God was creating a different way for us all the while? What has been our reaction and what should our reaction be?

As we have talked about in past discussions, our reaction to circumstance is often more important than the circumstance itself. Taking the example of Paul and Silas in prison, after wrongful arrest and beating, what is our reaction when bad things happen to good people? Are we able to keep proper perspective? Are we able to pray and sing in the midst of persecution.

What other questions does this raise for you?

Awesome discussion last night! Let's continue that conversation here...

Acts 15

Our text on Sunday night was Acts 15. It's a bit of an odd text that doesn't get much teaching in church, but it's a hugely pivotal part of the development of the church as recorded in the book of Acts. The snippet (but I recommend reading the real deal instead of the Trevor paraphrase) is that there are Jews who have become followers of Jesus. There are now also Gentiles (non-Jews) who have become followers of Jesus. Some Jews thought that the Gentiles should have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian. The Apostle Paul says, "nope." Pharisees who are Christians say, "yep." Thus the controversy. Enter the church council in Jerusalem. They put their heads together. They come up with a compromise that entails a few requirements but forgoes the circumcision issue.

All of this was really an attempt at church unity so that the family of God could be expanded. It also made it possible for people of differing cultures to gather at the same table without too much controversy or argument. Here are the jumping off points of our discussion from Sunday:

Here is great good news for us: this is a gospel that recognizes diversity yet enables harmonious living based on a higher unity, our identity in Christ.

What “do’s and don’ts” do we unjustly enforce on others for entrance to the kingdom of God?

James's proposal teaches us three things about life together in a culturally diverse church: 1) We must say no to any form of cultural imperialism that demands others' conformity to our cultural standards before we will accept them and their spiritual experience; 2) We must say yes to mutual respect for our differences; and 3) We must live out that respect by using our freedom to forgo what is permissible for us in light of the needs or struggles of others.

So that's where we started our conversation. Please share some thoughts with us...

Acts 14

Tonight we looked at Acts 14 and the continuation of Paul and Barnabas' missionary journey. At one point we saw the convergence of three religions in the area of Lystra. We saw the concept of developing leadership in the church. We saw the love, or lack of love, behind sharing faith with another. Etc.

There were no specific questions that we dealt with, but it's free and open to be discussed further.

One thing I found interesting was the fact that the Jews cared less about the Greeks and their faith than they cared about what the Christians were doing. The didn't want the Greeks to know God or be Jewish. They simply didn't want them to be Christian. Do we see that anywhere today? Are we guilty of that ourselves? What are our motives in sharing the story of Jesus with others?

Any other thoughts. Give the scripture a read and then share some thoughts here...