Wallula Christian Church

We've probably all known someone who starts a new hobby, roots for a new team or begins a new diet and they are all in! This person can’t join a bowling league and use a rented ball, they need all the equipment. So many ventures draw us all in... how about Jesus?

Paul's time in Corinth helps us to see two essentials we all need for this journey through life.

Red Christmas coffee cups, Disney movies, Olympic opening ceremonies and so much more; our world has no shortage of displays, decisions, and controversies to upset believers. How should we respond when we look around at a world that is choosing more and more to ignore the one true God?? Paul’s visit to a forest of idols in the ancient city of Athens offers us some hacks to living in an increasingly pagan culture.

We love a good ghost story... Their otherworldliness draws us in, but we tend to classify these with fairytales and other works of fiction, and rightfully so. While ghosts and goblins aren’t real, there is a spiritual realm surrounding us with which believers will inevitably interact. How do we make sense of and contend with this spiritual realm? We can learn a little from how Paul and Silas did battle.

When you get people together, eventually they will disagree with one another. The historic partnership of Paul and Barnabas dealt with disagreements as well. In fact, one disagreement led to the missionaries heading in different directions. What can we learn about managing conflict from Paul and Barnabas?

Have you ever walked into a room with the intention of doing one thing, only to be distracted by something else, and then walked out of that room never accomplishing the original goal? You think, "I forgot to do the first thing!" If we are not careful we can get distracted from the very thing Jesus called us to do.

Paul and Barnabas finish their first missionary journey, going through hardships and celebrating all that God did in the process. We learn from their experiences what expectations we need to have when we follow Jesus.

I read a social media post the other day that broke my heart. It contended that the author was misled as a young person in the church. They were told to love and care for others and to exercise grace (I hope so) but then contended that the church in America today is hateful and bigoted. The Way of Jesus has always been maligned and abused. Let’s see how Paul and Barnabas handled that kind of confusion.

We often associate summertime with vacations. Do you enjoy traveling? What is your favorite road trip memory? What is your worst? Sometimes, as we look back, those two memories might merge. In the moment when our expectations of relaxation and rest aren’t met, the road trip experience is a failure; but over the years we remember it more fondly. What were Paul & Barnabas’ expectations for the journey they started?

Jesus gave His disciples (the 12, other believers, the church, US!) no small task; change the world! How do we accomplish this task? We can start by learning from the steps Paul & Barnabas took as they were sent to the mission field by the church in Antioch.