• Was there an idea or aspect of the text spoke to you? Was there anything said that challenged, intrigued or confused you that you want to explore more? Listen to each other, but don’t feel the need to answer a person’s question.

• Repeatedly in Acts, we see that God’s grace plays the crucial role in the advance of the gospel, as even repentance and faith are gifts from God. When the Gentiles hear the gospel, “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). God’s grace begins to multiply and spread through the Gentiles in the region. Faith in Christ comes as a result of God’s gracious initiative, and even belief in the gospel is a gift of God’s grace, as Paul and Barnabas acknowledge when they revel in the fact that God “had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). When we see God’s sovereign initiative to work so people come to a saving faith, how does this change us and motivate us more to pray?

• Read Isaiah 49:6. This shows the inclusion of the Gentiles was God’s plan all along. Another reason the gospel is good news is that it extends God’s people from being ethnic in origin (Israel) to a people based completely on faith in the crucified and resurrected Savior Jesus Christ. Acts 13:46–47 is where Paul officially turns toward the Gentiles, sparking his ambition to “preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named” (Rom. 15:20). Although at Lystra (Acts 14:8-18),for the first time Paul preaches to an entirely Gentile audience. How is his message different to Jews in Acts 13:16-41? Why does he begin differently? How does he make his appeal? How does he use Scripture differently? What does he assume about his audience?

• God chose the Jews to be the special recipients of his revelation, but did not leave the rest of the world “without witness” (Acts 14:17). All of creation speaks of God (Psalm 19). He alone is the giver of all good gifts and the source of all blessing (James 1:17). This is called common grace which Paul describes in verse 17 to show the existence of a good Creator. Yet the people of Lystra begin to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. They cannot help but worship, but their worship finds the wrong object. Why is humanity prone to attribute the glory of God to lesser things? How does this lead to idolatry, even in our day? What sort of confusion do we meet in our community and culture when it comes to idolatry and disordered worship? How does this confusion stretch you to adapt the way you explain the gospel?

• Notice how Paul describes the act of repentance in Acts 14:15. Read 1 Thessalonians 1:9 and notice the similarity. How would you describe repentance to a new Christian? Where does repentance fit within the process of coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus? Where does it fit within the ongoing process of a disciple’s ongoing maturity?

• When the missionaries returned home and committed to re-visit the new believers to further equip and disciple them (Acts 14:21-23), how does their perseverance to disciple others challenge you? What’s one personal takeaway? Why is it easy to quit and give up when it comes to help others mature in their faith?

WHATS YOUR NEXT STEP?

• In light of this study, share and write down one next action step you feel God is leading you to take in the next week?(Consider areas: a temptation to avoid? Promise to claim? Example to follow? Command to obey? Person to move toward? A new discipline to develop that will help you love God with your heart, soul, mind, strength and to love others?)