Acts 12-28 GGprep+podcaststudy2

Acts Podcast 2 - Transcript

(This is a transcript generated by AI and has not been reviewed for accuracy or content by Crossroads)

Welcome. Crossroads Grace, group leader. You're listening to our Prep Plus podcast, where we're helping you prep each week for our studies in Acts. You'll need a Bible. You'll need your study booklet and a pen. I'm joined again by Ayesha, who wrote these wonderful studies. Welcome, Ayesha. Hey, hey. And we're going to be diving into our second study today, which is on Acts 2017 to 38.

It is a beautiful passage. Would you pray for our prep? Always good to pray for our prep. So, would you pray for us, please? Yeah. Heavenly Father, as we open your word, would we see how greatly you love us? But, yeah, the example of Paul is that he loved this church in Ephesus. Yeah. Help us to be taught by a word to be rebuked and encourage us on to love and faith and good works.

Towards all of your people. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Amen. And I wonder in that prayer, Asia. I think he let the cat out of the bag a little bit on what our prayer is for this study. Kind of big idea what we're shooting at. What would you say that is from this part of the Bible?

What is this part of the Bible really trying to hold out to us? Yeah. This part of the Bible is amazing. We have a lot of letters from Paul, but this is Paul speaking directly to the Ephesians. It's the only speech that we have from him to a group of believers. Yeah. And it's beautiful and tender and kind of heartbreaking.

As he says goodbye, probably for the last time. And yeah, he has so much truth that he wants to convey to them and remind them of. I'm so sorry that we're getting excited. Yeah. Getting excited. That's kind of what's unique about this passage, isn't it? And that's what we get. Now, compared to the last study, this one has more questions.

So we are going to have to move through the questions a bit quicker. We won't look at all of them in this chat. But I just want to zoom in on kind of a few of them as we go through. But before we do that, press pause, go through and prep, and work through these questions yourself.

So press pause, beep, beep. And now we've got okay. So, actually, if I can jump forward, I'm interested in this. The first application question you have is: "I apply relearning our history." Yes. What is this question getting at? You talk about the experience of the Holy Spirit, guidance, and work in the Holy Spirit, which can raise lots of questions for us.

And in this passage, we see Paul, you know, kind of being forbidden from doing things by the Holy Spirit and that kind of thing. And it's been a bit of a question rolling, acts. What are you getting at for this question? What kind of discussions would be helpful to have? Yeah. One of the great blessings that we have at Crossroads is that we have so many people from so many different experiences, church and experiences of how we talk about faith and especially the Holy Spirit.

So people use language like open doors and shut doors, as you and Kevin talked about last week, or it would be a few weeks ago now. Yeah. So, if you go back and listen to the Word to Life from the week of the second, Revin, I spoke. Yeah, just about, particularly the door language that we can use.

So that would be really worth listening to. But keep at this. All of these assumptions we have from our experience and from hearing people talk about things aren't always shaped by what has actually happened. The history that shows us how the spirit sometimes does and doesn't work. And so here, yeah. One of the assumptions that I think we have is that when things go well, especially when a ministry goes well or a good catch-up happens, I God bless that.

And when it doesn't go well, we say, maybe I need to change tack. Maybe I need to stop what I'm doing. God isn't working through that. But here the spirit compels Paul to do something terribly hard that looks like it's failing completely all the time. As he goes to prison, he's beaten. He's put on to shipwrecks and into storms.

Yes, but this is God's will. And he knows that. So there's something here that we want to be re learning about how God is at work and how we attribute things to God as well. So, I mean, we look back over our history and we see it not just through our circumstances but through God's Word. Like when Paul didn't have the whole New Testament in the way he was writing it.

Right? But we can kind of use the scriptures to help us think through how God is guiding us. Okay. So then, the next question is, we have another observation. Question about the next section. We have this table, speaking about pieces of testimony he wants them to remember. Yeah. Pieces of truth. Pieces of truth. Responses he wants them to have.

And then just trying to unpack his heart. His. What's he feeling here? Yeah. What verses would be helpful for us to zoom in on for each of those things? Yeah, that's a great question. Testimony. There are some verses that have, well, things like testify in them. But as we were looking back over this, I may have realised that I had gone, oh, you only need to do verses 25 to 35, but actually, verses 17 onwards are pretty great.

So we could choose to widen up. Yeah. What we read back to 17, even to. And in verses 36 to 38 is so good. Maybe just take it to the end, but I did. I could back it up to 17 if we wanted to. So what kind of verses would be kind of help us see that testimony that he wants them to remember that truth.

So verse 26, he wants them to remember the truth of his ministry. What has actually happened? Which is fascinating, that it gets picked up in things like one Corinthians. He's really keen for them not be swayed by grandeur or whatever. He wants them to know what's really happened. And for Christian going, what is this? What is my history?

What is the foundation of the church? Well, the foundation of the church is kind of a wild ride. Yeah. They said they're truths like that, but I think we're encouraged to remember as well. What about their response to their verse? And you said I could be another. Yes. Yes. Their response. What are some good verses for them?

Yeah. Out of the table. Yeah. Verse 28. Paying careful attention to themselves. 31, and they've got to be alert, remember, and admonish one another. Yeah, things like that. And what about his heart, his friends? What kind of verse is it good to look at? Yeah. His heart. I mean, verse 31 again because they remembering something.

That you see him admonishing them with tears. They're supposed to remember his great love and courage as he rebukes them. It's a beautiful thing to remember. Where else was there? It's hot. And confidence, I think, throughout the whole thing, you see. Sorry. Just his confidence in what God is doing, and he's accept in verse 23-24, he is not confident.

In that my life will be protected. It's a different kind of confidence. Yes. The gospel will keep going. Going forward is really his confidence. And that the Holy Spirit and God and Christ will be at work through whatever happens to him to make the gospel go forward. That's where his heart is. Yeah. You might have picked up some other verses as you move through those, but those would be some too good, some good ones to look at.

I'm going to skip. The next question is a really good one, though. Just to zoom in on the one that is the second one on the next page. What does the church depend on for its future? I thought that was an intriguing question. What kind of discussions might be coming to there? Yeah. I mean, Paul's saying goodbye to the Ephesians.

Yeah. And if I had a leader like Paul who was not coming back, I'd feel pretty nervous. I'd feel really sad. He's obviously very much loved and has loved them greatly. But I feel pretty terrified in a world of persecution. Confusion. But Paul is not worried for them in that way. He is confident that they've got the truth.

They've got the gospel. And so they're going to keep on going strong. So yeah, no matter what, Christian leaders come and go, the church is dependent on Christ and His word for that, for our future. And that's why we often think about how we can be scared, and we can want a future-proof. Yeah. Thinking the way the future proofing that God provides is, is his word, and the rest is Christ in his word.

Okay. Just coming to that final application question. Such a good one. How could we be? We want to be a church that makes more disciples. How might we put this into practice? I just want to zoom in on that growth group. How could we put into practice being disciple makers as a growth group? Yeah. What?

Do you have some ideas that we could help bounce off with our groups from there? Yeah. I think in this passage, we see this beautiful picture of Paul getting really into and messy in the lives of the Ephesians, even in small amounts of time. So I guess it would be wonderful to encourage our growth groups to ask intentionally vulnerable questions and, in being vulnerable with one another, to wrestle with how to live godly lives and to rely on the truth of Jesus in a world that's not seeking to do that.

But also just to be encouraging them to spend the precious moments that they have to catch up with someone from your growth from outside of that time. We have been knit together as a church to encourage and admonish one another. So it would be great to have a think about how you guys want to do that together this year.

And this is a really opportune time to have that discussion. We're in study two. We've met together. This is our second kind of second catch-up. So we were really in that culture-formation period. So talking about this is a place to, you know, try to be growing these hearts for one another. We want to encourage love one another with the word of God.

And then we have another video. So you'll get a QR code for that as well. Because the gospel is going out, this is a period that we're in now. Well, thanks for listening to this that many of us heard of the Plus podcast. We'll see you next time, all this and come join us for the next one.

Fine.