Gold Nuggets

"So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers." Acts 16:5 (NIV)

Our young mom's Bible study of the book of Acts concluded last week. Whenever we complete a study, I always ask the women to bring their best study Takeaways to the last session. A take away is a life application or gold nugget of truth that helps us remember what we've learned from our study together. We then list all of our takeaways so that everyone gets the group's "best of the best" insights. One young mom had a previous commitment, but sent me her top Acts takeaways. I had only asked for five takeaways, but Rachel sent fourteen! I share them with you in the hopes that Rachel's gold nuggets will encourage you as much as they encouraged me:

1) On mission; on message!

2) Hope is a confident expectation of what we have by Faith - Hebrews 11:1

3) Bold is being clear in the face of fear.

4) The Gospel will always be threatened but never silenced. 

5) Missionaries are: Sent by the church, speakers of the Word, Guardians of the truth

6) 2 things that God must grant for the Gospel to go forth with success: open doors and open hearts!

7) Sometimes God's "No" leads to a bigger "Yes!"

8) How do we engage with the culture: Anticipate collisions - Don't panic, don't retreat or don't revile - look for connections

9) Don't rush from the Word of God to the rest of your life. Get in the word as a way of life 

10) Faithfulness - a long obedience in the same direction 

11) Challenge people to faith and repentance 

12) God seldom lets us see the future - no road map. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. trust Him

13) Truth without love is like steel, harsh, hard - Love without truth is mushy, no foundation  - truth and love should always be married, never divorced

14) Jesus saves - same message -never adapt message, adapt methods

My own personal Acts takeaway wasn't included in Rachel's list, but it's an important one:

    The mission of the Church is the message of the Gospel.

And my takeaway from this young mom's takeaways? She listened!

Oh that we would all listen to and learn from God's Word. His Word is indeed a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path." Psalm 119:105 (NIV)