Good Morning,
Read Acts 13:1-12
Today’s passage involves the church at Antioch commissioning Saul/Paul and Barnabas along with John Mark for what is known as Paul’s first missionary journey.
For the next few chapters, through 21, I would recommend glancing at the atlas at the back of your Bible or googling a map of Paul’s missionary journey as you read just to give you an idea of where these trips are taking them.
The church in Antioch, who we met before in Acts 11.19-30, is now gathered in worship. While they are worshiping and fasting and the Holy Spirit tells them to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work the Spirit has called them too. The church fasts and prays some more, then lays their hands on them and sends them off.
These three verses mark a turning point in not just Acts, but the entire Bible. The story of God moves from a predominantly Jewish world on the land, to the Gentile world and the sea. The church also now chooses to engage mission, compared to when they were scattered due to persecution back in Acts 8.
It’s interesting to note the importance of the church community in this scene. Already back in Acts 9.15-16 we know that Saul has been tasked with taking God’s name into the Gentile world, and yet he never set off by himself. The mission work of the church in Antioch isn’t launched because one person has an idea of where they should go. The mission is launched in response to the Holy Spirit, and communally discerned. Perhaps what’s even more impressive is that the church at Antioch sends out 2 of its 5 named leaders. Instead of hoarding the good teachers and prophets, the church in Antioch responds to the Spirit’s prompting and sends 2 of its best to spread the good news of Jesus.
How have worship, fasting, and prayer been integral to your faith journey? How have worship, fasting, and prayer been integral to the church’s faith journey? How we responsive are we as a church to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our life together?
Grace and Peace,
Matt
Inductive Questions: (These will be included each day and your work on them will be the foundation we build upon at our Wednesday evening in-person and Zoom Bible Study as we explore the church, mission, and Holy Spirit in Acts.)
Pick at least one of these to be a focus for all of Acts, but answer as many of them as you want.
- What does the church look like in Acts? Who is a part of it? What do they do? How is it formed? How does it relate to mission and the Spirit? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the ecclesiology of Acts?
- What does mission look like in Acts? Who does it? What do they do? How does it happen? How does it relate to the church and the Spirit? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the missiology of Acts?
- What does the Holy Spirit look like in Acts? What does the Spirit do? How is the Spirit active? How does it relate to church and mission? In other words (fancy, technical terms) What is the pneumatology of Acts?
Answer the question with the language of Acts as much as possible and cite the chapter and verse reference in your notes.
P.S. Here is part two of the Read Scripture video about the structure of Acts from the Bible Project: