Acts 13:1-12 (NIV)

Do you ever wish that the work of proclaiming the good news of Jesus would just be easier?

In today’s episode, we look at the first encounter that Paul and Barnabas have on their first missionary journey. They were set apart to proclaim the word of God, and as soon as they get on their way they encounter opposition. We’ll hear that the proconsul, which was basically the governor, was eager to hear Paul and Barnabas, but a sorcerer begins to try to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

I don’t know about you, but most often when I’ve thought about and learned about sharing my faith or teaching about Jesus, I’m presented with two scenarios. On one hand, we imagine that whoever we’re sharing with is totally hostile and we prepare with our best apologetics and come ready for a fight. On the other hand we imagine that people will be falling all over themselves waiting to hear what we have to say. These have rarely been my experience.

Rather, I’ve found that even when folks find Jesus appealing, they are often distracted by people or systems or cultural forces that want their allegiance for themselves. What do we do with that?

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1. What moment in this story stood out to you?

2. If you were to find yourself facing someone who was trying to keep someone from hearing about Jesus and was known to have power that was not submitted to the LORD, whether spiritual or otherwise… what would you do? Is your response to that sort of thing fight, flight, or freeze?

3. Paul could have over-functioned in this scenario. Instead of being empowered by the Spirit to speak the truth to evil forces around him, he could have argued, tried to persuade or fight in his own strength, or he could have disengaged. How can you be like Paul and operate out of the power of the Spirit?

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Bible Project: Acts 13-28 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

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