Read Acts
13:42-52
42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people
invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. 43 When
the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism
followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in
the grace of God. 44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear
the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with
jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on
him. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word
of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy
of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has
commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring
salvation to the ends of the earth.’” 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they
were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for
eternal life believed. 49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.
50 But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and
the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and
Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51 So they shook the dust off
their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were
filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
I recently went on a
trip to Uganda with a group from the church my parents belong to. Sometime
after this trip we fed back about our trip to the church. When you feedback
from a trip like this it can be difficult to know what to say. So much has
happened that it can be hard to decide what to include and what to miss out,
what to focus on and what to skip over. You can, in fact, perhaps tell quite a
bit about a person by their selection in this regard.
For example, whenever
I tell people about my trip I always make sure that I get in the fact that I
taught at a Bible college. I think this is because this was an opportunity I
could not believe I had been given! To be asked to do it was affirming of the
longer-term direction I would like to go in and was one of the biggest
privileges of my life.
If anyone looks like
they are up for listening for a bit longer, I then make sure I get in the story
about staying overnight at a safari park and waking up to a grunting and
munching sound. My roommate and I got up and rushed to the window to see two
massive hippos about a metre away! If we had been bolder (/more stupid!) we
could have reached out of the window and touched one of them, it was that
close!!! I have always, somewhat bizarrely, been a massive fan of hippos so
this was a life highlight for me!
John Stott (this
week’s commentator of choice!) argues that although Luke sketches the full
itinerary of their trip the three incidences he highlights specifically
demonstrate Paul’s versatility. He seems ‘equally at ease with individuals and
crowds, Jews and Gentiles, the religious and the irreligious, the educated and
uneducated, the friendly and the hostile.’[1]
- Do you feel equally at ease with a wide range of people or are there some you find it difficult to be around? If the latter, does this matter? If so how could we grow more like Paul in this?
If you have a bit longer :-)
Write out in the space
below a Luke-style summary of the last year of your life. What do you include
and why? (I
realise that I asked this a couple of weeks ago but I thought if I did it again
and this time with a box to write in we might feel more inclined to give it a
go!)
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