Persuasive Discipleship
by Lisa Coleman
The car plunges off the road into the lake and begins to sink. Quick, think! What do I do? Which way is up? How do I get out? Remember the movie “The Poseidon Adventure” from 1972? The survivors were never sure where they were, where they needed to go or how to get there in the confusion and terror of an upside-down ship.
There are many scenarios in which one could envision such confusion: protests, riots, disasters like the collapse of the Twin Towers and most recently the condominium collapse in Miami. Imagine flying airplanes by instruments alone at night in fog or scuba diving in deep, dark waters with only bubbles as your instruments. There appears to be mass confusion on the stock market floor. Even debates can get sorely heated with eventual audience-involved feuding. Protests that start out one way can quickly escalate into a riot with unclear motives, agendas, or exit routes! Evacuation plans are always a plus. Better yet, ‘mission abort’ while potentially disappointing on the front end, can save the day! Personally, my vote would be against scuba diving from the start!
When we embark on a journey to an event, work or sometimes even in our everyday travels from place to place, we could encounter the unexpected. We may have the best of intentions, honorable purpose and be well prepared only to be caught completely off guard by pushback from left field. Speakers never know how their audiences will respond. Accidents and disasters are never expected. And sadly, these days rejection, mockery and blatant attacks are more and more common. Rejection, anger, chaos, confusion, pushback, and physical violence are stark reminders of the unpredictability of people. Even driving on our Tennessee roadways has the added hazard of road rage these days.
The missionary journey trails of dotted, dashed, and solid lines on our Bible maps offer a tidy mental image of Paul and the disciples on the front lines of ministry. They routinely set out to speak to the masses that gathered as they taught the Gospel message entrusted to them. But make no mistake, there was opposition, confusion, anger, and riots. And as one might expect, politics and money were involved as well. We are now ready to study Acts 19:8-41. See you tomorrow!
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If you cannot be with us in person, feel free to download the Bible study materials for your personal use by following one of these links: PowerPoint Slides, PDF File. You can also find the video of this session on our YouTube channel soon after the meeting concludes. And lastly, you could follow this link to download other studies in this series: INpowered Discipleship if you happened to miss one of our prior studies.
Yours in Christ,
Eric Glover
The Gospels Class
Brentwood Baptist Church
