Message and mission: KYB for Term 1, 2021
Our first study of 2021 is written by Sue Gleeson. In Message and mission, we pick up at the turning point in the Book of Acts.
Back in our 2020 study, Gospel and growth: Acts 1–12 we discovered how the Holy Spirit came and empowered believers, just as Jesus promised. The gospel was preached in Jerusalem and the Judean countryside. The early church flourished and grew, caring for each other and sharing everything. The Jewish believers and the Gentile believers developed a new fellowship and unity. Together, the believers stayed faithful and prayerful under great persecution, even as some of their brothers and sisters in Christ were imprisoned — or killed. And God intervened in the life of their greatest persecutor, Saul (Paul), transforming him into a preacher of the good news!
Back at the very beginning of Acts, Jesus had declared that his disciples would “receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Now in this KYB Message and mission: Acts 13–28 the mission is beginning; Paul and Barnabas are commissioned by their local church and sent out to share the message of Jesus. How will people respond? Will the believers early church remain unified in the gospel? Will the truth of the gospel be preserved? What trials and persecutions will these courageous preachers face? And how is the Holy Spirit powerfully at work behind it all?
These accounts will challenge and inspire you to see how God works through the lives of ordinary people for extraordinary purposes in order to bring people from all nations, races and backgrounds to himself. What can we learn and how can we be encouraged — 2000 years later — to be part of God’s mission to share his message of salvation with all people?
What did our pilot groups think of this KYB study?
“Relevant and encouraging. Helped us to reflect on our own journeys as believers”
“A great encouragement to each of us as we saw how Paul continued to live for God even though things were difficult.”