We hurt ourselves when we resist God’s plan for our lives because God has designed his world and us to flourish when we follow him.

Will we allow him to interrupt us and give us a new calling and purpose, so we can live the full and fruitful life he has promised?

In your busy life, when was the last time you read the word of God? God's word is powerful - but do we take hold of it in our lives?

Whose plan is it anyway? Acts 24 and John 21:15-23 remind us that it's God's plan and as we follow Jesus we can trust that he is equipping us for the mission he has uniquely called each of us to.

Being a spirit led believer won’t necessarily mean easy outcomes. God planned for his word to go “to the ends of the earth” and Paul’s missionary journeys in the final chapters of Acts are part of this plan. In chapters 19 to 23 we see Paul being led by the Spirit through some difficult and dangerous situations as he journeys to Jerusalem, requiring determination to stay true to his calling while under threat and hardship. What does your journey to Jerusalem look like?

Idols rule our life when we trust in people, possessions or positions to give us power, control, approval or comfort. Idols are false gods of supernatural or human origin and when idols rule our life, Jesus doesn't. So how do we know if idols rule our life and what can we do about them? In today's passage, the Apostle Paul shows us what it looks like to live a life free from idols.

Communion with Dom Bowen (Hebrews 2)

Is supernatural evil just something found in movies and superstitious cultures of times past? Is this something that we should think about in relation to our daily life? What is God's response to supernatural evil and what has been your experience of it - what are we to do with it?

Humanity is in slavery - it is a prison that we can't taste, smell or touch, but it is real. However, the good news is that there is power in the name of Jesus to free us from that bondage.

Resource: How to Discern the Voice of Evil

https://www.crccoolamon.org/post/how-to-discern-the-voice-of-evil

Golden Vessels (2 Timothy 2:20) Bonita Byrne by

Communion with Judy Hobart.

In the final parts of Acts we see Paul engaging with culture in a way that brings the message of the gospel "to the ends of the earth". But how are Christians today to engage with culture in an effective way? Do we get aggressive and fight it? Or accommodate culture and try and blend in? Perhaps we isolate ourselves from the culture? Are any of these common responses to culture effective and what can we learn from Paul in chapter 17?