Day Thirty-One

READ:  Acts 28:11-30

The closing episode of Paul’s adventure includes rich reports of overt hospitality by Jesus-followers as well as a final glimpse of Paul’s incarnational presence.  v14-15

After explaining the kingdom of God from breakfast through dinner, amid both cheers and hissing of his community neighbors, Paul makes a “final” statement about the world around him:

            This people’s heart has grown dull

            Their ears are hard of hearing…

            They have shut their eyes….

Paul concludes with bold insistence:

            The salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles;

            they will listen                                                        Acts 28:28

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As chosen carriers of God’s good news and adventurous couriers of God’s salvific gift, to whom are we next supposed to deliver it?

Invitation:

Describe the ministry of Chestnut Grove in 10 years:

Who are we newly rejuvenated?

How are we discipling people to maturity?

How are we liberating the world?

Day Thirty

READ:  Acts 28:1-10

Paul’s drifting ship crashed upon the shore of the island Malta.  Natives offered warm hospitality. The snake offered a venomous strike. 

Paul’s life was characterized by such dichotomy.

Yet in the ups and downs, he lived as Jesus taught.  Paul visits a sick man, prays for him, and extends a healing touch.  v7-8  This basic gesture inspired “strangers” to become friends. 

An entire village responded to God. 

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What basic act of love will you extend to someone today?

What basic gestures of love might Chestnut Grovians extend to the “strangers” among us?  

 

Invitation:

What sickness, strangeness, or stuckness should we consider beyond God’s desire to “heal?  List the biggest obstacle facing our city.

Day Twenty-Nine

READ:  Acts 27

 After years of trials, floggings, and prison, Paul’s adventure bends toward its final earthly destination: Rome.  A “fair” hearing could reasonably be expected.  Paul was more interested in sharing than fairness. 

Prime sailing season had passed.  Paul’s transport ship was battered by storms, adrift, and lost at sea.  During an acute 14-day tribulation, the sun and stars shone not.  Their orientation and direction were unknowable!

Desperate circumstances led 276 passengers to desperate measures. They lightened the ship’s load, cutting loose anchors and life boats.  With neither anchor nor an escape route, God showed Paul all would end well enough. 

As the crew tossed the last food overboard, Paul led a simple prayer of thanksgiving. 

Next morning, the sun rose over land.

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Does God owe you a fair journey?  Y/N

When crises invade your journey, do you pray?  Y/N 

(If yes, see Romans 8:28 for Paul’s commentary)

My crisis prayers involve words of:

¨  Appeal

¨  Anger

¨  Adoration

¨  Complaint

¨  Frustration

¨  Questioning

¨  Bewilderment

¨  Thanksgiving

In a world of seemingly ceaseless global crises and uncertainty, how should Jesus-followers anchor our prayers?   v35   

Invitation:

Imagine that you get to “keep” only the features of your life for which you thank God today.    Pray thus.

 

 

Day Twenty-Eight

READ:  Acts 24-26

A savy attorney alleged Paul was a religious “troublemaker” and a “ringleader” of the Jesus-followers.   Onlookers concurred.

Before diverse crowds of accusatory people, Paul repeatedly tells his God adventure.   Each time he shares, his style matches his audience.  He speaks with simplicity and directness.

The stunned Emperor Agrippa asks, only half-mocking, “Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian?”

Spiritual candor about “justice, self-control, and coming judgment” is surprisingly potent.   Acts 24:25
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How might an outside observer summarize your current role among the Jesus-followers at Chestnut Grove? 

¨  Ringleader

¨  Servant

¨  Consumer

¨  Indifferent observer

If you were on trial for being a Jesus-follower, what evidence would the prosecution present to convict you?  

Invitation:

Ponder Paul’s premise below. Will you join the enduring proclamation?

 

To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles. 

Acts 26:22-23

 

Day Twenty-Seven

READ:  Acts 22-23

Arrested in Jerusalem as Agabus predicted, Paul recounts his God adventure story to the authorities: the good, the bad, the ugly.  Some Jesus-followers have called this a “testimony.”  

Paul’s good news “testimony” triggered relational strife with a few friends and not a few religious officials. 

The Lord “stood near” Paul through every word.  v23:11

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What challenges are you facing this week?   

How do your life challenges relate to your adventure with God? 

Might God be standing near you, affirming you in the midst of these trials? Y/N

Who might benefit from hearing a candid account of your journey with God, warts and all?   

Invitation:

Paul knew of no distinction between his “faith life” and his “secular life.”  What is the effect creating such a distinction?

Day Twenty-Six

      READ:  Acts 21

Approaching Jerusalem to reunite with fellow Jesus-followers, Paul meets a truth-teller named Agabus.  

His message is grim.  

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What is Paul’s response to Agabus’ warning?  vv12-15

 

Would you “adjust” your itinerary if you received a similar warning?   Y/N   

What gave Paul such fortitude?

¨  Bravery

¨  Religious Masochism

¨  Trustworthy partners

¨  Street savvy

¨  God’s spirit within

¨  Wanderlust

¨  Clear purpose

¨  Family obligations

¨  Well-pulled bootstraps

Invitation:

Ponder today Paul’s words to his younger Jesus-following friend:    for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and love and of self-discipline.                             2 Timothy 1:7

 

 

Day Twenty-Five

READ:  Acts 20

When Paul joined other Jesus-followers for worship one evening, he spoke until midnight.  The dark night, the warm air, and his endless proclaiming sedated one listener and established the precedent for sleeping through preaching.  Warning: the sleeper nearly died as he fell out a window!  

Paul continued till dawn.

Zeal for God’s good news is palpable in Paul’s farewell sermon to the Ephesians.  A mature Jesus-follower speaks.

I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.                                                                             Acts 20:24

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Consider Paul’s farewell speech vv18-35 with these questions in mind:

I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.  v27

How might CG be more potently declare God’s purpose?

Keep watch over yourselves and the flock…shepherd the

church…[attend to] the message that is able to build you up…    vv28,31 

How might CG build ourselves up?

In all this we must support the weak… remembering Jesus’ words   v35  

How might CG better support our neighbors’ needs?

Is Paul teaching the earliest Jesus-followers to expand FAITH, engage in FORMATION, enlist in FRUITFULNESS?   Y/N

Invitation:

Prayerfully envision your role in a “rejuvenating culture of maturing disciples liberating the world.”  What’s next for you?

 

 

Day Twenty-Four

READ:  Acts 19

Paul spent two years at Ephesus on his third Jesus-following road trip.  Like Earlysville, Ephesus was a terrific place.   

Paul only baptized 12 Jesus-followers.  When God’s spirit entered them, the city would be transformed.  vv5-7   In two years, the entire  city heard God’s good news.  v10

Of course, transformation included both tragedy and comedy.

One day showy itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to manipulate God’s spirit to eliminate a demon.  The evil spirit chased the frauds away naked and wounded.  v16

Many Jesus-followers “got honest.”  They confessed their sins and disclosed their secret practices.  This led to their burning all their objectionable books worth 50K silver coins! 

The silversmiths of the jeweler’s union rightly anticipated that the new Jesus movement would compromise their profitable charm business.  They rioted.  Ironically, the town clerk quelled the uprising, unintentionally defending the Jesus-followers who continued turning their city upside down.

Luke says   the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. v20

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What makes Albemarle County so livable? 

 

How might God use 12 newly Spirited individuals to facilitate country transformation? 

 

The effect of God’s spirit in the city was both widening and deepening.  What is one specific way you’ve witnessed God’s widening impact?

How has God’s spirit deepened your spirit?

 

If the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed in Albemarle County, what might be the signs of transformation?

Invitation:  Keep your eyes and ears attuned to how the Lord is working along your actual path today.  Pray for Him to show you.  List below what God reveals:

Day Twenty-Three

READ:  Acts 18

Paul’s second road trip culminated with 18 months in a great city: Corinth.  He befriended and worked alongside two Jewish tentmakers, refugees from Rome.  Many eagerly embraced Paul’s good news about God.

Those of the established religion refused to believe that Jesus is     an active messiah.  Paul “shook the dust” and sought out more unorthodox friends. 

God strongly endorsed his decision v9.

Multitudes of unorthodox Corinthians were baptized into new faith.

The disapproval of the religious establishment never lost its sting. 

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If you were going to share God’s good news today, whom would you select?

¨  Jewish tentmakers

¨  Exiled refugees

¨  Religious people

¨  Total strangers

¨  People like me

Do you find it challenging to befriend the unfamiliar?    Y/N

 

Does Chestnut Grove befriend the unfamiliar?   Y/N

One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.’   Acts 18:9-10

How did God’s blessing affect Paul? 

Invitation:  Prayerfully consider who in Northern Albemarle are God’s people, awaiting someone to share good news?

Day Twenty-Two

READ:  Acts 17

Jesus-follower Paul continued his second pilgrimage through Thessolonica, Beroea, and Athens.  His experiences varied:

·         the Thessalonians rejected him outright for “turning their world upside down”

·         the Beroeans welcomed him warmly

·         at Athens, the very best thinkers engaged with him in vigorous discourse

At each city, people responded to Paul’s good news.  Many began eagerly examining the scriptures, and easily believed.

At Athens, the high level of intellectual sophistication required Paul to make connections between  the loveliness people worshiped and the God who creates loveliness.   Their insatiable hunger for novelty   mandated an effort to reveal the steadfastness of God.  v21

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Have you ever been accused of “turning someone’s world upside down” with God’s good news?    Y/N      Why or why not?

Do you ceaselessly prioritize the “latest” novelties?    

¨  24 hr news

¨  Facebook

¨  Twitter

¨  Instagram

¨  Pinterest

¨  Snapchat

¨  Email

Paul helped the Athenians realize that their love for mercy, creativity, honesty, justice, humility, and love each originates from the same source: the Lord.   How might you help someone realize the same?

Do any of our Earlysvillian neighbors enjoy grace, mercy, love, humility, beauty, or joy without realizing the source?   Y/N    

What is our role in God’s mission to reveal the Source?  

Invitation:

Read, reflect, and demonstrate on Micah 6:8 today.  Watch for the effects.

Day Twenty-One

READ:  Acts 16

When Paul launched his second road trip, he:

1.      Invited a partner of questionable heritage vv1-4

2.      Responded to an unorthodox vision in the night  vv6-10

3.      Baptized a female business owner  vv13-15

4.      Liberated a possessed slave and a suicidal jailer  vv16-30

Into each transformed life, Paul had spoken a simple instruction, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”   v31

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What does it mean to be saved?

Being “saved”  happens:      once       repeatedly  

From what do you need to be saved presently? 

¨  Unfavorable heritage

¨  Unorthodox vision or view

¨  Gender discrimination

¨  Employment bondage

¨  Spiritual bondage

¨  Suicidal tendencies

Do our Earlysvillian neighbors need similar saving?   Y/N

Invitation:

Write a short note to God, asking for the kind of saving you need today.  Be sure to thank Him. 

 

Day Twenty

READ:  Acts 15

The very first church business meeting (Jerusalem council) was a contentious affair, and for good reason.  At odds were those who insisted circumcision was required to follow Jesus, and those who insisted otherwise.

After no small debate, they declared the bris non-essential.  The subsequent “all church” memo reflected their sincerest apology. 

The men rejoiced.

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Does the 21^st century church cling to traditions or practices which make it unnecessarily difficult for the unfamiliar to discover or follow Jesus?   Y/N      If so, what:

By what have you ever been confused or deterred in “church” culture:

¨  Acronyms    (SBC, VBMB, WMU, RAs, L.I.F.E.)

¨  Vocabulary   (doxology, justification, salvation)

¨  Rhythms      (weekly patterns, worship routines)

¨  Foci            (weekly attendance, money received)

¨  Seating

¨  Parking

¨  Antiquity /novelty

¨  Communion

¨  Baptism

¨  Poor teaching

¨  Poor music

¨  Audio/visual

¨  Business meetings

 Invitation:

Ponder today what you consider to be “essential” at Chestnut Grove.   What adjustments might facilitate deeper God-human connections?  What adjustments would aid CG guests?