Living Out ActsSample

There are two S’s that speak to living out Acts that I want to call to your attention. The first one is similar to trusting the Holy Spirit, but I believe it speaks to a deeper level of trust, which would be surrender. This surrender is not a solitary act, but a process guided and supported by the Holy Spirit. One of the most prominent examples of this comes from the Damascus road experience of Apostle Paul.

Paul, known as Saul before his conversion, was a notorious Jew known for persecuting Christians. But in Acts 9, he would have an encounter with Jesus that would change his life forever. In this encounter, Jesus would tell Saul that it “is hard to kick against the prick or goad."

This phrase, often used in agricultural contexts, means it’s hard not to surrender to the Lord when He has called you. In this interaction, Paul would respond, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” And at the command of Jesus, Paul did exactly what He said from that day forward, writing about half of the New Testament and leading churches worldwide.

To truly live out Acts, we must be willing to surrender everything to the Lord. For Paul, it was his traditional way of thinking, his knowledge, and eventually his life. Yet, in this surrender, he found true freedom. He was so committed that he wrote, 'To live is Christ and to die is gain' (Philippians 1:21) and 'to present our bodies as living sacrifices' (Romans 12:1).

I urge you to surrender whatever may be holding you back from truly living out the Acts, whether it’s fear, lack, comparison, money, or even an ideal way of life that you had planned without consulting God. In this surrender, you will find true liberation and peace.

It is through Paul’s surrender that we understand fully what it means to be sent. When you look at the word Apostle (Apostolos in the Greek), it simply means a sent one. When Paul surrendered to the Lord, he embraced the sent nature of the Great Commission and helped spread the Gospel to new territories.

In the same way Paul was sent, we, as New Testament believers, are being sent out into our jobs, schools, neighborhoods, and so on, to proclaim the goodness of God. But to embrace being sent, you have to surrender the insecurities, people pleasing, and anything else that may hinder you from sharing the Gospel of Jesus with all you come in contact with. It is on us to share the good news to the ends of the earth beyond the comfort of the church!

Reflection Questions:

Where do you feel God asking you to surrender control right now?

What’s one step you can take this week to live like someone who has been sent by God?