PIVOT POINT
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Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit, thank you for all you have done to bring me to faith in Jesus. Help me to follow him closely, grow in his image, and share with others his great love and sacrifice for sin.
Read ACTS 13:44—52
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Acts
Acts 13
44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.
50 But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.
51 So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium.
52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Reflect
Jesus’ call to share his message: it is not just a commission, but a great privilege.As crowds from the predominantly gentile city gather at the synagogue the following week, righteous zeal for God and his law flares from the Jewish leaders. They turn against the two apostles, precipitating a bold redirection of their ministry. It’s a pattern we see repeated in Acts: the gospel largely rejected by Jewish communities yet embraced by gentiles.
In expressing their decision to turn from ministry among God’s people to those deemed pagans, Paul and Barnabas embody the answer to a prayer of the fledgling church (4:29). What is it that enables them to pivot so boldly in the face of rejection? First, there’s the scriptural support of Isaiah 49, indicating that God’s anointed won’t just restore the tribes of Israel but will also reach the ends of the earth with salvation (v. 47). Then there’s the way Paul and Barnabas appropriate these verses, the Messiah’s ministry, for themselves. Do we think of ourselves as fulfilling the work that Jesus started? Not in the least, there’s the undeniable evidence of God’s hand in it all: he is at work in those who are his (v. 48) and his Word is at work in the world (v. 49). Trusting in these truths, we, like the disciples, can tread onward with Spirit-filled joy.
Apply
If there are places where ‘ministry’ weighs you down, which of the above truths do you need to embrace more fully?
Closing prayer
Lord, help me to see the ministry you have given me as you do, and please give me the joy-filled grace to see your hand at work, even when things haven’t gone as I’d hoped.
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