Week 22
Bible Reading
Daily readings from the last week:
Acts 5-11
Reflect
What stood out to you from your daily readings over the last week? Any questions?
How did you go with what you said you’d do last week?
Discuss
Have someone read the passage and use the SOAP method to explore the text.
Don’t miss
The Greatest Commandment
One of the ways we describe a total follower of Jesus is someone who is growing ‘upwards’ in their love for the Lord. This is about as core to following Jesus as his call to deny ourselves and take up our cross (from Week 18). Everything we do in life flows from our love, or lack of it, for the Lord. If we love the Lord with a genuine, deep, passionate love, then our love for others will naturally flow as a result. One of the early church fathers, St Augustine, said we could ‘love God and then do as we please’, not as a license to sin, but that if we did the first part right, we couldn’t get the second part wrong! What does growing in your love for the Lord look like for you?
Learn
Just like any earthly relationship, it can hardly be called a relationship if you don’t communicate and don’t spend any time with each other! So it is with the Lord. Our love for him will show itself in our prayer habits and how we prioritise time with him. This will look different for you depending on your context, home demands, work schedule etc. One helpful practice is to arrange focused time for prayer. Let’s discuss some ways of doing this together:
Book an hour in The Street Church’s prayer room. A different space can be really helpful and there are plenty of guides/prompts in there to help you spend the hour well.
Go for a walk around the streets where you live. Ask God to help you pray effectively and pay attention to verses or ideas that come to mind. These can be helpful prompts to pray for specific homes, streets, churches, public spaces or businesses.
Pray
Spend time praying about what you’re learning.
Next Steps
What is a key takeaway from today?
Who are you going to tell about what you’ve been learning?
Read Acts 12-18 before you come back next time