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The text for this lesson is Acts 13–14.

Key Point

  • Just as God sent Paul and Barnabas to spread the Gospel, so today He sends pastors and missionaries to preach the Gospel, baptize, and administer the Lord’s Supper in mission fields around the world.
  • Law: When I despise the preaching of God’s Word, do not hold it sacred, and do not gladly hear and learn it, I sin and support Satan’s cause.
  • Gospel: The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church and God’s Word, through which sinners are converted and in which I receive the grace of God.

Discussion Points

  1. What is the meaning of the word church in Acts 13:1? What two fundamental uses of the word church appear in Christ’s words in Matthew 16:16–19 and 18:15–20?
  2. Paul received a direct call from Jesus to be an apostle (Acts 9:1–19). Barnabas was called into the Office of the Holy Ministry by the apostles and the Church (Acts 11:22). Though Paul and Barnabas were called in different ways, who called both of them? Who sent them on their mis­sionary journeys? See Acts 13:1–4.
  3. Compare the outline of Paul’s sermon at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:13–52) with the three articles of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, focusing particularly on verses 16–17, 26–33, 36–41, and 52. What would the hearers of this sermon have taken away as the basic message of the Christian Church?
  4. What is so unbelievable about the message of Acts 13:38–41? According to Acts 14:19–22, what are two essential components of the Christian life?
  5. Who are the “elders” in Acts 14:23? How were they to behave, and what were they to do? See Acts 20:17–18, 27–32; Titus 1:1–9.
  6. Why has God given the Office of the Holy Ministry to His Church? See Romans 10:13–17.

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