WE: Goodbook 03-19-12

Goodbook messages arrive every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a Scripture reading and ideas for how to apply the reading in our lives. We are reading through the book of Acts. For additional Scripture reading, you can follow the Advanced Track.

Reading: Acts 16:11-12
(Advanced Track: 2 Samuel 5, 1 Chronicles 11-16, Psalm 133, Psalm 106-107)

⁹ During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. ¹¹ From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. ¹² From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

Application:

In case you might be feeling a little deja vu, this is the exact same passage as the last Goodbook message.  I do not mean to be redundant, but there is another powerful message in these few verses.  This is one of the fun things about Scripture.  God can speak in so many ways through the same verse.  Reading the Bible never gets old.

Before moving on from these verses, I wanted to point out that verse 11 starts what have become known as the "we" passages.  Up until this verse, the author has been talking about a story.  At verse 11, the author enters the story.  Before verse 11, the author uses the pronoun "he" to talk about Paul's missionary trips.  Beginning with verse 11, the author uses the pronoun "we" to talk about events.

The key lesson for me is that the author enters the story.  This is not just some story he learned about and talked about.  It is a story he became part of.

I think this is the whole point of reading the Bible.  It's not just a story that we learn about or talk about.  This is a story we are meant to become a part of.  It is a story we open our hearts and lives to.  It is a story we jump in and become a part of.  When we do this, we get to be a part of the amazing things God is up to in the world.  When I put action steps at the end of these devotions, it's a reminder that we are called to enter the story and become a part of God's story.

1) If you've never done it before, make today your day to become a part of God's story.  Place your faith and your life in God.

2) Whenever you read the Bible, think about how you can enter the story.  Pray about how you can get involved in what God is up to in the world.

Comment with your thoughts, questions, ideas and stories…