SERIES: The Book of Acts
TEXT: Acts 13:1-12
MESSAGE: Living An Intentional Life
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Do you believe that God could work through you?
“Millions of people live and work outside their homeland due to economic, social, political, or environmental reasons…Diaspora refers to dispersed people who find themselves other than where they were born. “Diaspora” was originally a biblical word meaning “dispersed” as a farmer would sow and scatter seeds, but “diaspora” was later applied to forcefully displaced people, especially the Jewish diaspora. In the first century, the Jewish diaspora influenced the trajectory of Christianity and shaped the growth and expansion of the church. More recently “diaspora” refers to displaced people in general.” – Ed Stetzer
“The great principle of ‘incarnational mission’ (teaches us that)…the ministry of Jesus was one of involvement, not detachment; and therefore we must face the fact that we cannot minister to a lost world if we are not in it.” — Alistair Begg
“Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” ― Jim Elliot
TEXT: Acts 13:1-12
Q: What can we learn about living missionally in today’s text?
We learn that we can receive three responses. (1. An openness 2. An opposition 3. An embrace)
- An openness (v. 4-7)
“So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
- “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” — John 14:6
2. An opposition (v. 8-11)
“But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.”
“Bar-Jesus proved to be a false prophet opposing the Word of God that Paul and Barnabas taught. Bar-Jesus tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith, seeing the missionaries as a threat to his prestige and livelihood. Two reasons people oppose the gospel are pride and materialism. Many people arrogantly refuse to admit they’re wrong. They refuse to humbly repent and say the gospel is true and salvation is in Christ alone. And many others refuse to give up their materialistic lifestyles to follow the path of discipleship. The gospel confronts idols. And when collisions happen, heated opposition sometimes ensues.” — Tony Merida
3. An embrace (v. 12)
“When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.”
TAKEAWAYS: How can we trust in God’s Word?
Remember that…
I. God can accomplish more in us than we think:
“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”
— Corrie ten Boom
II. God can accomplish more in others than we think:
“Every time we say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” we mean that we believe there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it.” – J. B. Phillips
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14