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But I promise, if we choose the world, it will not love us back. It will not care for, protect, or save us. We can cry out to all the world’s gods we like, leap around and cut ourselves on the altars of wokeness and abortion and CRT and BLM and all the other Baals being worshiped today. But there will be no voice. No one will answer. No one will pay attention. Only the God who sent Jesus Christ to die for us is the true LORD God who longs for us to turn our hearts back to Him again.

This battle has always raged around us although so many of us have been asleep to it. But now as it is ramping up, many of us are waking and realize that we are standing naked in the middle of the battlefield with no armor or weapons. God has provided us with our needed armor, our shield, and sword. It is up to us to pick up those pieces, get our souls right with God (helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness), spend our time in prayer warfare (shield of faith), read and learn the Scriptures (loins girded with truth, sword of the spirit, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace). God will do the rest. But it is up to us to pick up our armor and our weapons and learn how to use them. Don’t let the enemy find you naked on the battlefield!

There are times when our circumstances might seem awful. But God may very well be working out a plan. If we are seeking and following Him, then we can know for certain that everything that happens to us, even things that might seem dreadful at first, God is actually allowing or causing as part of His perfect plan for us.

The very same Holy Spirit that led Paul and Timothy can guide us today if we listen. We learn to listen just as the first Christians learned… by seeking God (1) through prayer, (2) in the Scriptures, and by (3) having a pure heart that loves God and is surrendered to His plan. All three of these are important for the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Scripture forms the foundation to understanding how God works. Prayer is personally interacting with the Holy Spirit. The state of your heart is the most important of the three. All the prayer and Scripture in the world will not help us discern God’s leading if we do not love God and willingly submit to His authority.

It didn’t take long for dissent to well up within the early Christian church. First there was a dispute about whether or not Gentile Christians should be circumcised. Then Paul and Barnabas disagreed about another disciple and “the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another.” (v.39) This story makes me sad. But I’m not surprised. God is true and perfect, but He works through us messy humans. There will always be imperfections in the church as long as humans are involved… all the more reason to keep our eyes on Christ and not on each other.

God working through us dumb humans will always be a messy imperfect business. Kanye displays all the odd ideologies and eccentricities that most people in such a position of extreme wealth and fame possess (kinda’ reminds me of King Solomon). He says and does a lot of things that make me cringe. And yes, in a perfect world he really should submit to discipleship under a trained Christian teacher. But this isn’t a perfect world and I can tell ya’ right now, that is not going to happen. Kanye listens to no man. But he is evidently trying, albeit imperfectly, to listen to the Holy Spirit. And news flash: we ALL respond to the Holy Spirit imperfectly.

We are equally certain that God has now shifted us in this new direction. He continues to answer our prayers with unmistakable signs. We have found our new property and will close on it next month. We will still be homesteading but not off grid. So our physical lives will be a bit more comfortable than we originally thought and we are grateful. We know God has plans for us in this new place where He has sent us. We are so excited to watch His plans unfold!

The Pharisaical Jews did everything in their power to cancel the gospel message. Today, Paul and Barnabas would get shadowbanned on Twitter, canceled on YouTube, mocked on TikTok, and thrown in Facebook jail. But Paul and Barnabas weren’t dissuaded by the persecution. They “shook the dust from their feet against them” and moved on to the next town. And they were “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” (v.51-52) May we follow their example!

Jesus’ life and death were foretold repeatedly in the Old Testament, down to the smallest details. But the Jews had not understood that these ancient prophecies, predictions they had learned as children, were actually coming true when Jesus walked the earth. They did not recognize the Christ and so he was executed for blasphemy. But even in executing Him, they were fulfilling prophecy.

The early Christians sought the Holy Spirit and He spoke to them. They listened and obeyed. They did not try to bend God’s message to fit their own agendas. They didn’t try to use God’s name for personal gain. They submitted and surrendered to God’s Holy guidance. And He responded in miraculous ways. That very same Holy Spirit inhabits us today. If we would also seek God earnestly, spend extended time in prayer and fasting, listen to and obey the Holy Spirit, He will speak to us today too.