Daily Devotions: Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Thanks for joining us on this Eastertide journey to Pentecost.  Last night at Water’s Edge we introduced the series “Breathe” by seeking to answer the question “Who is the Holy Spirit.” The answer, as you may recall, was the Holy Spirit is God at work in our lives helping us to grow. This week we ask the follow up question “When does the Holy Spirit begin to work in my life?” The devotional guides this week will introduce you to the scriptures we’ll be talking about next Tuesday.  Join us each day as we dig deeper into this question.

TEXT: Acts 19:1-10

• Where was Apollos when this took place?  Where did Paul go?  What did he find when he arrived?
• What did Paul ask them?  What was their answer?
• What baptism did they claim to have recieved?  What did Paul say that baptism represented?
• How did the people respond?  What happened next?
• What did Paul do next?  How did the people there respond?
• When the people in the synagogue rejected Paul’s preaching what did he do?  What was the ultimate result?

Every day we’ll not only ask factual questions about the Scripture you read, but we’ll also ask questions that ask you to reflect more deeply and learn something that applies to your life right now.  We call these questions the “Daily Challenge.”

Daily Challenge:

• It would have been easy for Paul to get discouraged and give up when the people in the synagogue rejected his message.  But he didn’t.  He just began to share his message in a different place.  And in the end, everyone got the chance to hear the message.  What things discourage you when you try to share your faith?  What can you learn from this story about perserverance when sharing your faith?

Prayer Focus:

• Last night one of the songs we sang talked about God’s presence in our lives being the air that we breathe.  Ask God to help you recognize his presence in your life and to help you see how he is at work helping you to grow.