This week we return to our Acts series for the final stretch that will take us through to Passion Week. Paul begins his third missionary journey where he will spend considerable time in Ephesus – a region where the Holy Spirit had previously forbidden Paul from speaking the word (Acts 16:6). At the end of his second journey, he had stopped briefly in Ephesus where he had left Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:19).

In two scenes we will see men who knew much about Jesus but not the whole story. Both are beautiful pictures of discipleship.

Jesus had promised his disciples, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth (John 16:13).” When we remember that Acts is the continuation of “all that Jesus continued to do and teach” these two scenes are pictures of the Holy Spirit guiding disciples into all the truth.

Like the men we’ll see in this passage, we too “like newborn infants [are to] long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it [we] may grow up into salvation (1 Peter 2:2). None of us have arrived. We gather every Sunday to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).”

This Sunday Jason Oakes will be preaching Acts 18:23-19:7. Kenny Clark will be leading us in sung worship and we will conclude our services by taking the Lord’s Supper together. Would you pray for each as they prepare? And let’s ask the Spirit to guide us further into the truth together this week.

See you Sunday, Grace. Come hungry!

 

Song of the Week

Keep the Feast by Skye Peterson and Ben Shive

Happy sign of friendship and reunion
With the blessed Three in One
Foretaste of that glorious communion
Vision of the world to come