THE APOSTLE: Transformation (Session 4)

The “deeper life” is a subject greatly admired but rarely experienced. In a day when there appears to be so much superficiality among so many folks, how can we cultivate time that can be spent in solitude and quietness to enable us to go deeper into our relationship with Christ?

“He went into Arabia for quiet and solitude. He seems to have stayed there for three years. In this period of withdrawal, as he meditated on the Old Testament Scriptures, on the facts of the life and the death of Jesus that he already knew and on his experience of conversion, the gospel of the grace of God was revealed to him in its fullness. Now he had Jesus to himself, as it were, for three years of solitude in the wilderness.” (John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way, Intervarsity Press [Downers Grove, 1968], p. 34).

“Month after month he (Saul) wandered to and fro, sharing the rough fare of some Essene community, or the lot of a family of Bedouins; now swept upwards in heavenly fellowship, and again plunged into profound meditation. Deeper than all was God’s work in his soul. Grain by grain his profound self-reliance and impetuosity were worn away. No longer confident in himself, he was henceforth more than content to be the slave of Jesus Christ. We all need to go to Arabia to learn lessons like these.” (F.B. Meyer, Paul, A Servant of Jesus Christ, Fleming H. Revell Company [Old Tappan, NJ, 1897].

Why do people experience the need to get away from their normal routines? What does “getting away” help to accomplish? Can you recall a particular experience in your life about which you are willing to share when you benefited from such an experience?

THE APOSTLE: Surprising Commission! (Session 3)

When the Lord spoke to Ananias, his response was “Here I am, Lord” (Acts 9:10). In other words, “Here I am; here is my mind, my heart and my willingness.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul” (Acts 9:11).

Saul??? The name sent a chill through Ananias. Saul was not only feared by the followers of Jesus, but Saul had become the symbol of evil and persecution. The Lord said, “At this moment he (Saul) is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight” (Acts 9:12).

Ananias’ story reminds us that we must be willing to serve as the Lord’s bridge to those who are lost, to those whom our Lord would have us reach out.

If you sensed that you had received a divine commission to do something extraordinary, what would you do? Would you first seek to validate your sense of call with others or would you go ahead and act on what you believed in your heart God was calling you to do?

What kinds of barriers exist that sometimes prevent us from being “open” to God’s call to act on our faith?

The APOSTLE: Groundwork

In Galatians 1:15, Paul refers to “God, who had set me apart before I was born…” When Paul wrote those words, he was echoing ideas expressed in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah, we read about Jeremiah’s call as a prophet:

“Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations‘” (Jeremiah 1:4,5)

Paul was saying something similar. New Testament commentator, William Barclay, writes: “Every person is an idea of God; for every person God has a plan; God sends every person into the world with a part to play in God’s purpose and design. It may be a big part and it may be a small part. It may be to do something of which the whole world will know, and it may be to do something of which none but the circle of those who are nearest to us will ever know” (adapted — Barclay, Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, Westminster Press [Philadelphia, 1958], p. 13).

Do you agree with William Barclay that each of us is “destined” for a particular role in the plan of God?