Bible Reading Plan | Devotion for the week of April 18, 2021

Weekly reading: Acts 6-10; Psalm 9-10
Passages referenced: Matthew 28:18-20;
Acts 6:1-14; 7; 8:1-3, 26-40; 9; 10:23-48

The book of Acts has a lot of action and growth of the Church. This book shows what the First Church looked like – outside of an actual church building. And it follows the lives of several disciples as they preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to unbelievers – an astonishing number of which became followers of Christ and were baptized with the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 6:4, we see the main focus of the disciples is to spend time in prayer and teach the Word of God. We see this lived out throughout the book of Acts. Not only do we see several examples of how disciples maintained this focus, but we also see examples of how we should live our lives. We see the importance of a focus of prayer, connection to God through the Holy Spirit, and sharing the hope of the Gospel within our daily lives, regardless of job, age, gender, socio-economic status, etc. We are all called to live this way (see Matthew 28:18-20). Stephen is a great first example of this. He was one of seven men chosen to oversee daily food distribution (see Acts 6:1-6). As he carried out the task he was given, he continually honored God and performed miracles before being arrested for false accusations (see Acts 6:7-14). Stephen used the opportunity before the high council to preach the Gospel as a way to defend himself before being stoned to death (see Acts 7:1-60).

Within this passage, we are introduced to Paul (see Acts 7:58), who wrote the majority of the New Testament letters. At the time, he was actively persecuting the Church at large (see Acts 8:1-3; 9:1-2) before his conversion to faith in Jesus Christ (see Acts 9:3-18). Paul began preaching the Gospel immediately to all who would hear it (see Acts 9:19-31).

Tabitha made coats and clothes for the poor and widowed as a way to share the Gospel. Her story became even more impactful when she died and was raised to life again by Peter, which caused several more people to believe in Jesus Christ (see Acts 9:36-43).

Philip followed the guidance he received from the Holy Spirit and found himself in a position to preach the Gospel to an Ethiopian eunuch who was reading from the book of Isaiah but didn’t understand the meaning of what he was reading. Philip explained the text and the Gospel to the eunuch and baptized him (see Acts 8:26-40).

Peter was called to do something unheard of at the time; he started socializing and eating with Gentiles, which was against Jewish law (see Acts 10:28). Not only did he associate with them, but he preached the Gospel message to them and then baptized them (see Acts 10:23-48).

All of these instances were disciples stepping out in faith to share the hope of the Gospel with others. They were able to create more disciple-making disciples connected to God through prayer and the Holy Spirit, following His promptings, and teaching the Word of God to others. – Abby Sroufe

• How are you inspired and challenged by the example set by these New Testament believers?
• How are you being a disciple today?
• How are you being a disciple-maker today?

Note: do you have questions about this week’s Bible reading? We’d love to help! Rather than relying on the first thing you find on the internet, email us at biblequestions@warsaw.cc. We are more than happy to answer that nagging question you have, provide you with some clarity, or point you in the right direction for further study.