When We Hear God Say Different Things

Sunday, Sept 8, 2024

Start with Application Testimony

[Give people an opportunity to share how they applied what we learned last week]

Last week’s question: What will you do this week, to take more responsibility for the overall health of the church community?

INTRO

Paul is nearing the end of his third missionary journey and heading back to Jerusalem

Paul has made it clear that he is eager to return to Jerusalem and feels compelled by the Lord to go there (Acts 20:22-23) even though God has also been warning him that he will be arrested and suffer there.

In today’s passage we will see two characters return to the story from earlier in Acts:

Philip - One of the original seven (along with Stephen) selected to care for the widows in Acts 6:5, who then spread the Gospel in Samaria and witnessed to the Ethiopian eunuch back in Acts 8.

Agabus - He had predicted the famine coming to the Roman empire, back in Acts 11:28

READ

Question to consider as we read:

What do we do, when we don’t agree on what God is saying?

Acts 21:1–14 CSB

1 After we tore ourselves away from them, we set sail straight for Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded and set sail. 3 After we sighted Cyprus, passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria and arrived at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there. 4 We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem. 5 When our time had come to an end, we left to continue our journey, while all of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray, 6 we said farewell to one another and boarded the ship, and they returned home. 7 When we completed our voyage from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day. 8 The next day we left and came to Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him. 9 This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. 10 After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’ ” 12 When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 Since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”

EXAMINE

What are the key points in this passage?

#1 | Different people heard God say the same thing, yet drew different conclusions

The church heard the Holy Spirit say Paul would be imprisoned in Jerusalem, and concluded that God was telling Him not to go

Acts 21:4 “...Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.” (1)

Acts 21:11–12 … “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles’”. 12 When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

Their conclusion makes sense - why would God be telling them this, if it wasn’t to warn Paul to stay away from Jerusalem?

Paul heard the Holy spirit say he would be imprisoned in Jerusalem, and concluded it was God letting him know what to expect

Think back to what Paul had already told the elders in Ephesus: “...I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there, 23 except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.” (Acts 20:22–23)

God had informed Paul from the beginning that he would suffer many things (Acts 9:15-16). So this warning of persecution in Jerusalem wasn’t a deterrent from going.

#2 | They only held to the part that was clearly from God

They knew what was definitely from God, by identifying the point where everyone agreed

This practice is referenced in Paul’s letters to the churches:

1 Thessalonians 5:20–21 “Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good.”

1 Corinthians 14:29 “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should evaluate.”

They allowed room for discussion and debate between them on the points of disagreement

This story shows that they all understood what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:9: “...we know in part, and we prophesy in part,”

No one has the whole picture - only God Himself - and so the rest of us have to approach sharing what we believe God has said to us, with humility

#3 | They all trusted God with the rest

When they couldn’t convince Paul, and Paul couldn’t convince them, they agreed to surrender the matter to God

Acts 21:14 “Since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”

The faith they demonstrated here was huge - Paul was risking imprisonment and death

This is really powerful when you consider the scene that Luke paints: they had literally been crying and begging Paul not to go, and yet they chose to trust God with the future, as uncertain and frightening as it was

APPLY

Explore and apply the passage with these questions:

[Allow the conversation to go where people take it - we want people to feel the liberty to explore the topics of the passage that stand out to them. Select the questions from below that you think are right for the conversation, or add your own. Questions should be focused, yet open-ended. Wherever the conversation goes, help your group “land the plane” on the core idea of the lesson when you wrap up.]

What do you find frustrating or confusing in this story?

Sometimes we disagree on what we think God is saying - why does this happen?

Why do you think God only gives us a piece of the information? (1 Cor. 13:9)

Where we want to “land the plane”

In order to hear God more clearly, we have to really surrender our desires to Him and we have to trust others to hear from Him too. We must remember that God speaks to us more clearly when we are listening together, and listening to one another. We must also remember that part of following God is trusting Him with the unknown and the details that He isn’t sharing with us.

Application question for the Week

[Encourage people to provide an answer now, if they are able - to provide an opportunity for accountability and praise reports the following week.]

How does the way you listen to God, need to change or mature this week? How do you need to include others in your listening?

REFLECT

Prayer Points for Today

Ask the Lord to teach us to trust Him and to trust one another to hear from Him.

FOOTNOTES

Among those Christians were some who had the gift of prophecy; as they foresaw by its means that grave danger awaited Paul in Jerusalem, they warned him to abandon his plan of going on there. But Paul’s mind was already made up, and he was not to be diverted from his purpose by such predictions. Tyre was not the first place in which indications of this kind had been given him of what lay in store for him at Jerusalem (cf. 20:23). It should not be concluded that his determination to go on was disobedience to the guidance of the Spirit of God; it was under the constraint of that Spirit that he was bound for Jerusalem with such determination (19:21; 20:22). It was natural that his friends who by the prophetic spirit were able to foresee his tribulation and imprisonment should try to dissuade him from going on, but with a complete lack of concern for his own safety, so long as he could fulfil his sacred stewardship, Paul like his Master “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988), 398.