NASHVILLE (BP) — This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, LifeWay publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups.
This week’s Bible study is adapted from the Explore the Bible curriculum.
Bible Passages: Acts 28:17-28
Discussion Questions:
— What responses might we expect when sharing the Gospel with others? How do we allow the potential responses to impact our willingness to share?
— How can a person be more aware of opportunities to share Jesus with others through the day? What keeps us from being more aware of these opportunities?
Food for thought:
Think about the value of a day to the person working on a presentation to the largest client served by the company, a student making final edits to their thesis paper, or to the builder trying to get a building dried in. If the existence of the company depends upon their success, their work takes on a new urgency. Deadlines sitting on the horizon add to the stress. For each of these people, every day counts. Other things, some of which are good things, are put on hold so they can focus and finish the big task at hand.
In Acts 28, we find Paul sitting in house arrest awaiting the opportunity to present his case for the Gospel to Caesar. His life hung in the balance, having escaped an assassination plot (see Acts 23). Every day granted to Paul was another day he could prepare his defense before Caesar.
In that setting, Paul assembled the Jewish leaders in Rome and spent the day teaching them about Jesus using the Old Testament Scriptures (Acts 28:21-24). Instead of seeing the time spent waiting as an opportunity to focus on his defense, Paul saw these days as an opportunity to share the Gospel with whomever would listen. Not all would accept Jesus, but many did. Paul was on a mission that was bigger than his personal situation.
Every situation we face is an opportunity to share the Gospel. When we are on mission for the Gospel, we don’t need to pray for more opportunities to share. Instead, our prayer should be for God to allow us to see the opportunity and for courage to take advantage of the opportunities He is already giving us.
What if we began to view a wrong telephone number as an opportunity to share the Gospel? What if we viewed our involvement in a neighborhood watch group as an opportunity to share the Gospel? What if we saw the new apartments being built at the entrance of our neighborhoods as an opportunity to share the Gospel, instead of a potential traffic problem? What if?
Explore the Bible
Explore the Bible is an ongoing Bible study curriculum that helps groups dig into the key truths of each Bible book, while keeping the group on pace to study through the Bible books in a systematic way. More information can be found at LifeWay.com/ExploreTheBible.
Other ongoing Bible study options for all ages offered by LifeWay can be found at LifeWay.com/SundaySchool or ordered at LifeWay Christian Stores.