SCRIPTURE: Acts 13 

KEY POINTS TO PONDER: All of us, at one point or another, have been sent by someone else to complete a task. Maybe you’ve been sent by a parent to retrieve something from the store. Maybe you’ve been sent by a teacher to do homework, or your boss to complete a project. In Acts 13 verses 1-3 we see two disciples, Barnabas and Paul, officially sent off by God to share the gospel with people in different places. This, it could be said, was the first “mission trip” of the Bible. But instead of 10-30 church-goers who fundraise for a heavily-scheduled week long trip (as many of us imagine mission trips today), this was a calling for two people to go on an unplanned and faith-based journey to follow God’s will one step at a time. Paul and Barnabas didn’t sit down and say, “Okay, we’ll be in Cyprus for two weeks, then in Antioch for a month, and we’ll make sure to buy plane tickets to Iconium ahead of time!” Every day they depended on the Holy Spirit to lead them. As Christians, whether we are called to live in Sacramento or to travel the world, we are all called to walk in faith and dependence on God. God isn’t against planning, but when we take God’s call and try to make that happen by our own means and in our time, we’re going to fail miserably. We can instead learn to walk by faith as Paul and Barnabas did when leaving on their missionary journey. 

CHALLENGING TERMS: In verses 16-48, we get to read Paul’s first recorded account of the gospel. And we see at the end of the speech that he makes it clear that his message is directed to both Jews and Gentiles (which leads the Gentiles to rejoice greatly, but makes many Jews infuriated). We saw Peter usher in this new outreach to the Gentiles in chapters 10 and 11, but from this point on we’ll see Paul take this expanded mission head on, sharing the gospel with all kinds of different people and without any exclusion of race, gender or class. 

REFLECTION: How hard is it for you to function from a standpoint of faith? How might God be sending you to live in faith today? 

PRAYER: Jesus, thank you that we don’t need to plan out our lives perfectly, but that we can trust in your daily guidance and provision. 

Pray that God would give you opportunities to practice walking in faith today.