#21 | Take Time to Think
Read: Acts 13:1-12
Meditate on your own:
- What do you notice about the Spirit’s interaction with the church at Antioch?
- What do you notice about Paul’s interactions with Sergius Paulus and Elymas the magician?
- What verse/phrase in this text stands out to you?
- What truth about God or mankind can you draw from that verse/phrase?
- Where else is this truth seen in Scripture?
- What are the implications of your response to question a)? What would be the implications if this weren’t true?
- How is this truth good news for you and others? Who needs to hear it?
- What does this truth reveal about your own heart?
- What are some ways you can respond to the truth of this passage? Is there something you need to repent of? What do you need to ask God for? What can you thank/praise God for?
Consider
Do you want the Holy Spirit to work in your life? Then seek the Lord alongside God’s people in the local church and do what he says together. Why?
Because the Holy Spirit normally works in and through the local church as they walk in step with him. Such a statement pushes against our individualistic tendencies. It makes us uncomfortable because we are generally convinced we can do things on our own.
Further, we perceive our relationship with God as our own personal and often private relationship. Yet, the Bible has no category for such individualized Christianity. While there seem to be notable exceptions like Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40), they are just that — exceptions. The normal experience of the Christian life, even for an apostle like Paul, was to seek the Lord in submission to the Scriptures as a member of the community that is the local church. Remember that Paul was “a chosen instrument … to carry [Jesus’s] name before the Gentile and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15).
Yet, it is as the church is gathered to worship and seek the Lord that the Holy Spirit finally calls for Paul and Barnabas to be set apart for the task. He does not speak to Paul and Barnabas individually, though he could have; instead, he commands the church to set them apart. Then, notice that in verse 3 the church lays hands on Paul and Barnabas and sends them off, yet in verse 4 Luke says that Paul and Barnabas are sent out by the Holy Spirit! Taken together, we see that the Spirit-empowered activity of God’s Spirit-filled people, particularly in the context of the local church, should be understood as the working of the Holy Spirit.
Where you see God’s people obeying him, especially in the context of the local church, you are seeing the Spirit at work. Reflect on your own life.
What role does the local church play in your everyday life? Are you tempted to see the local church as a helpful but ultimately unnecessary add-on rather than the normal way the Holy Spirit has chosen to work in the world and in your life?
What would it look like for you to seek the Lord together with other believers, especially in the local church?
Pray:
Use the acronym IOUS, turning the prayers of the Psalmist into your own.
Incline my heart to you and not to prideful gain or any false motive!
Psalm 119:36
Open my eyes to behold wonderous things out of your Word.
Psalm 119:18
Unite my heart to fear your name.
Psalm 86:11
Satisfy me with your steadfast love.
Psalm 90:14
