Daily Read

Acts 9:19b-31 (NIV)

Is there someone you know, who is hard to imagine as a follower of Jesus and a minister of the Gospel?

One writer points out that Saul was a hard-lined, fanatical, ultra nationalist, super-orthodox Pharisaic Jew. This is not the kind of person who comes to mind as a candidate for taking the good news about Jesus to the world. But God is in the business of doing the unimaginable.

----------REFLECT----------

1. What struck you about this passage?

2. Saul was feared by Christians, and now he’s despised by Jews. Yet God uses him. And what happens in this brief moment in Acts 9 is just the beginning of a life that the Spirit will use to change the world. Is there anyone in your life who comes to mind, who if Jesus transformed them would really shake things up. Pray for that person now.

3. Saul’s attempt to join the disciples is met with fear. But Barnabas took him… This moment changes everything. Rather than Saul being left alone, with the possibility of being killed, he is brought in because of Barnabas. Is there someone in your life or chapter or church who needs you to step in like Barnabas? Ask the Lord about that now.

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

----------CONNECT----------

Find an InterVarsity Chapter >>

Acts 9:1-19 (NIV)

What events in your life were most significant in shaping your spiritual life today?

In today’s episode, we journey with Paul on the road to Damascus. Now, within the narrative of Acts, the only thing that we know about Paul is that his Jewish name is Saul, and he was  there approving of the stoning execution of Stephen. So in order to fully appreciate the story that Luke gives us today, we need to understand a little bit more about Saul, and that comes from other writings.

----------REFLECT----------

1. What moment in this passage stirred you the most?

2. Saul thought that he was acting out of righteousness, defending the holiness and purity of God’s people. And in this moment he’s literally blinded as he’s exposed by the truth that Jesus is the very righteousness that he has so longed for. Have you ever been acting or living or believing one way, only for God to turn that inside out and upside down?

3. God calls Annanias to go to Saul. Now think about what Annanias knows. All he knows is that Saul is the one who’s been traveling around persecuting Christians. And God calls him to go where he is and Annanias calls him brother?! If you knew that God was working in the life of someone who you would consider an enemy, would you go to them?

Lord, we ask that you reveal yourself to us. Turn over the things that we have wrong about who you are, and use us in the lives of those for whom you’re turning things over.

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

----------CONNECT----------

Find an InterVarsity Chapter >>

Acts 8:26-40 (NIV)

How far are you willing to follow when the Holy Spirit leads you?

Today on Daily Ready we hear the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. While this passage might be familiar to some of us, we each have much to reflect on as we listen carefully to the leadership of the Spirit, the obedience of Phillip to take some pretty significant risks.

----------REFLECT----------

1.  What stood out to you about the Spirits direction, and Phillips obedience?

2. Has the Spirit ever prompted you to go to a place or head in a direction without you fully understanding why? What did you experience in that moment and why did you respond in the way that you did? (If you haven’t experienced the Spirit's leadership in that way, ask the LORD why not?)

3. Can you think of a situation, a relationship, or a sphere of influence in which the direction of the Spirit is leading you towards significant risk? What can you learn about God’s character from this passage that will give you courage and comfort to face that invitation with boldness?

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

----------CONNECT----------

Find an InterVarsity Chapter >>

Acts 8:9-25 (NIV)

Have you ever desired the Holy Spirit’s power without actually submitting yourself to the Spirit?

Today on Daily Read, we hear the story of Simon from Samaria. As people are coming to believe in the LORD Jesus and be baptized, we learn that many of those people were former followers of a powerful sorcery in town named Simon. He ends up believing too, but after seeing the Holy Spirit come asks if he can purchase the ability to have that same power.

As you listen to today’s passage, it might feel hard to relate. I mean we’ve never tried to buy the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. Or have we? Maybe not outright, but what about those moments where we thought if I just went to this conference or that conference maybe I’d experience something more, or maybe if I get into this group or that group maybe I’ll be closer to Jesus, or man If I just had that person speaking into my life I’d be on fire. I don’t know…. But what I do know is that the Holy Spirit is not going to be controlled by us, and we will only participate in the Spirit's power as far as we’re submitted to the Spirits renewal in our lives.

----------REFLECT----------

1. What part of this passage stuck out to you the most?

2. When Simon asks if he can but the Holy Spirit, what do you think is motivating him? Is it control, greed, fame, something else? Have you ever been motivated by these kinds of things when it comes to participating with the Holy Spirit?

3. Desiring the power of the Holy Spirit without submitting your life to the Spirit is dangerous. What areas of your life do you need to submit to the Spirit? Is it a set of habits, something that you need to bring into the light through confession, or an ulterior motive that you need to lay down before the LORD? Bring that before the LORD and ask for one clear next step.

Spirit, help our submission to you and the desire for your power in our lives to be found in equal measure. And give us the courage to take whatever first step you’ve asks us to take today.

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

----------CONNECT----------

Find an InterVarsity Chapter >>

Acts 8:1b-8 (NIV)

What do you do when God begins to do what He said He’d do, but in a way that costs you more and is more difficult than you anticipated?

So far in the Book of Acts, Luke has carried us from his Gospel narrative into the life of the early Church. Jesus’ followers have received the Holy Spirit, begun to gather and share their lives, they have begun to teach and heal and defend the faith, and scores of Jewish people are turning to Jesus. They are gathering Jews from the diaspora, so much so that they had to appoint new leaders to handle equitable food distribution. One of those leaders has just called out the Jewish establishment and they killed him for it.

And if you’ve been listening from the beginning you can’t help shake the words of Jesus to his disciples, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the end of the earth.” How is that actually supposed to happen? There are widows to feed, people being lined up in the streets to be healed, and now they’ve killed a leader that we just appointed?

Sometimes, God accomplishes his purposes by means that are unexpected. In today’s passage, it’s in the midst of severe persecution.

----------REFLECT----------

1. What part of this passage struck you the most?

2. As you think about this new Jesus community being persecuted and scattered, what are the things in the first 8 chapters of Acts that keep them following Jesus. Think back and imagine what you would have needed to continue to follow Jesus amidst such harsh persecution.

3. As a result of persecution, a Jewish man ends up going to Samaria, and there preached the good news of King Jesus, cast out demons, and healed many. This might have been unimaginable before the persecution began. What about your life? Is there a way that difficulties and struggle, or even persecution would direct your life to a place where you may not want to go, but could be used profoundly by Jesus?

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

----------CONNECT----------

Find an InterVarsity Chapter >>

Acts 7:54-8:1a (NIV)

What kind of influence do you want your life to have?

On today’s episode of Daily Read we find Stephen standing before the Sanhedrin, the leaders who are at the heart of Jewish life in Jerusalem. He’s been telling the story and had just called out the entire institution for having missed Jesus as the Righteous One who was foretold and having killed him.

As this enrages them, Stephen has this incredible vision that draws a sharp contrast that Lukes first readers would have probably picked up on but we can easily miss. If you were a God fearing person in the 1st century, you knew the Temple as the place where Heaven and Earth met. And you would have expected the leaders in that place to be the ones aware of the presence of Heaven. But in today’s passage it’s Stephen who sees through the earthly reality to the heavenly reality in his midst.

----------REFLECT----------

1. What part of this passage gave you encouragement?

2. When you think about Stephen, having been led by the spirit into this interaction with the Sanhedrin, what parts of his life do you find yourself wanting to emulate? His boldness, his relationship to the Spirit, his candor, his wisdom?

3. Stephen is living his life in total surrender to Jesus and right at the very end, he experiences an unveiling of the reality that has been there the entire time. What would it mean for you to live in such a way that is aware of and attentive to the presence of Heaven around you? How would that impact those who witness your life?

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

----------CONNECT----------

Find an InterVarsity Chapter >>

Acts 7:44-53 (NIV)

Have you ever focused so much on the container of a thing that you’ve missed the thing itself?

The words in today’s passage are the words that get Stephen killed. In the wisdom of the Spirit he tells the Jewish leaders responsible for the Law and the Temple, that they are stiff-necked, spirit resisting murderers. You never know where the Spirit might lead you… but here he is, trying to tell these leaders that they have been so focused on the Law and the Temple that they’ve missed the point and big time.

Before we point the finger we’ve got to realize that we do this too. On family vacations we get focused on the activities and the travel and we forget to enjoy our family. At our holiday parties we worry so much about the food and the house and the guest list that we forget why we’re gathering in the first place. At Church we get so caught up in the style of music, the clothes that folks are wearing, or how long the pastor speaks that we fail to revere God. And even in our daily times with Jesus, we get so fixated on consistency, or time spent, or having deep moments, or getting in just the perfect spot that we forget about the one who we are there to worship.

Maybe Stephen wouldn’t charge us with having murdered Jesus… but he may very well call us out for not paying attention to his life in us.

----------REFLECT----------

1. What stood out to you in this passage?

2. When you think about the leaders, who’s life's work was to see to the Temple and all its functions, and to preserve the Law of Moses, teaching it and enforcing it, what do you imagine this accusation from the Spirit through Stephen would have meant. Why is it that they were so fixed on the Temple?

3. What are the things in your life that are good, but have your attention so much so that you have missed the point. You small group? Your Chapter Ministry? Your wo rship team? Your devotions? Your relationships with others?

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

Acts 7:30-43 (NIV)

Have you ever felt like you are in a wilderness season in your life?

In today’s episode we hear about how God called Moses, led him to free the people and then called him to lead the people through the wilderness. Have you ever noticed that when God calls someone they typically aren’t really cut out for the job that he gives them. I mean, when God called Moses, Moses told God that he wasn’t cut out for it, but God called him anyway and he was the one who would see him and his people through.

As we hear this story about Moses, remember that Stephen is standing in front of the jewish leaders being accused of doing away with the traditions of Moses. Stephen himself finds himself in a place where he isn’t really cut out for the job, but the Spirit gives him what he needs. And as these leaders sit here and are reminded of God’s faithfulness to the people of Israel, and as they are reminded of Israel's failure then, all of a sudden it could be coming into view that they might be missing it too.

I don’t know about you but when I read about God’s people in the wilderness, I often feel like “what is their problem?” I mean, you walk through the sea on dry ground and then you aren’t going to trust God and your gonna worship idols? Leave it to God's people to see him moving right in front of them and then turn and look away. Maybe that’s what they are doing with Jesus.

----------REFLECT----------

1. What stood out to you as you listened to today’s passage?

2. Have you ever been right in the middle of God’s work and found it hard to see him or hard to trust him? This is where Israel was and and yet, God did not leave them or abandoned them. Bring your fear and doubts before the LORD who loves you.

3. Who in your life might the LORD be calling you to lead in this season of wilderness? Do you feel in over your head… good, so do all the people God can use. How can you make more space in your life today to follow Jesus where he is asking you to go?

Father who made us,    help us to discover your Story and find our place in it.

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

----------CONNECT----------

Find an InterVarsity Chapter >>

Acts 7:20-29 (NIV)

What has the LORD set you free from?

Yall we all got a story, and we all have been made by a creator who loves us and longs to redeem us and restore us. Therefore, we have a story to tell. Not just of the ways that the world has rough us up, but of the ways that God has picked us up. Not just of the times that we can’t see a way forward, but of the ways that God has seen us through.

As you listen to the beginning of the story of Moses, take some time, wherever you are, to reflect on the goodness of God and the ways that he has seen you through… and for those of you who may not feel like God is there with you in the moment, take comfort in the reality that Moses, at this point in the story, may not have even been aware that God was for him and the people he would be called to serve.

----------REFLECT----------

1. What came to mind as you listened to this passage?

2. As you reflect on your story, where do you think God may have been present in those early times, looking out for you watching over you? Take a moment to reflect on God’s presence in your life.

3. God doesn’t just save us from something, he saves us for something. There is a reason for the faithfulness of God in your life beyond what you could see at the time, perhaps even what you can see right now… take a moment and listen to Jesus.

God of all goodness, help us to discover your Story and find our place in it.

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

----------CONNECT----------

Find an InterVarsity Chapter >>

Acts 7:9-19 (NIV)

How does your understanding of where you come from influence your relationship to God?

Today on Daily read we hear part 2 of Stephen’s telling of the story before the Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin. If you haven’t listened to yesterday’s passage, it might be good to start there. Because remember Stephen has been accused of saying that Jesus would destroy the Temple and change the customs of Moses. Now for Jews, this was no small thing. Their whole sense of meaning and identity was wrapped up in the writings of Moses and the life of the Temple. And when Stephen is challenged on it, he goes back to the beginning to try to get them to see that Jesus is the place where the story was headed all along.

In today’s section of that very long story, Stephen recounts a pretty familiar part of the narrative. It’s the story of Jospeh being sold into slavery and how God’s people ended up in Egypt prior to the time of Moses and the Exodus. For Stephen, who is being given wisdom from the Holy Spirit, there is something significant to the leaders knowing where they come from when it comes to them understanding who Jesus is. Perhaps the same is true for us?

----------REFLECT----------

1. What parts of this story sounded familiar? What Images came to mind?

2. There is something significant about this story in particular, because it’s a reminder to any Jew in the time of the book of acts, of having been first enslaved by a foreign people. And these leaders didn’t have to look far to be aware of the Roman occupation at the time. What do you imagine this group feeling as they were reminded of this story?

3. Are there stories in your life, or in the life of your family that give shape and meaning to your relationship to Jesus? Are there stories of faithfulness or suffering that have marked your family or community’s life with God? Bring those to the LORD in gratitude and or contemplation.

Spirit of the living God, help us to discover your Story and find our place in it.

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >>

----------CONNECT----------

Find an InterVarsity Chapter >>