Sermon Archive

The Book of Acts has taken us on a journey from the birth of the church from a small band of disciples to a movement that is growing with stunning momentum. It’s ending is abrupt and leaves us with a lot of questions. It ends this way because the story never really ends- in fact Jesus’s disciples are still writing it today. As we look back over this great book, we are reminded of what made this movement so powerful then- and now.

Persecuted, arrested, falsely accused- Paul’s journey to Jerusalem was everything people feared. For most, this would be enough to derail their plans, maybe even their faith. For Paul, it’s just another opportunity to carry out his mission- telling people about Jesus.

Christianity is a faith that’s built for the big questions in life as well as the day-to-day, practical realities that life brings. As Paul faces one trial after another, he needs a faith that’s real and ready for anything that life throws at him. Paul manages to escape one predicament after another all the while trying to figure a way out of this escalating situation. It’s here that God comes alongside Paul and says, “Take courage.”

As Paul says his goodbyes to his friends, every stop they beg him not to take the final stop on his journey. Through tears, they beg, and through tears, he tells them he must go even though it’s almost certain to end poorly for him. What compels Paul to go in the face of certain suffering? How can we go when it means we die? Paul’s secret is our key to living out the Christain life- we’re already dead.

Every church takes on its own personality and culture. That culture is shaped by all kinds of different inluences: situation, leadership, members, external factors. As Paul leaves the Ephesus church, he tells the leaders what kind of church they need to be and how it needs to be led. Then we see a beautiful picture of just what the church can be when it works how it is designed.

Success is a funny idea. Everyone wants it, but defining it can be trickier than we want to admit. What makes for a good life? Is it money? Security? Happiness? Fun and enjoyment? As Paul gives his farewell address to the Ephesians, he lays out what he thinks has made him successful. You can boil it down to one word- Faithful.

As Paul goes on his 3rd missionary trip, we start to see what happens when the Gospel takes root in people’s lives. New disciples are baptized, idols are broken, and entire economies begin to shift as people begin to follow Christ. As lives are changed and idols challenged, those idols won’t go down without a fight.

The Apostle Paul loves God. This much we know and can easily affirm, but sometimes we miss just how much he loved people too. There was no sacrifice he wouldn’t make, no persecution he did not endure, and no right he would not lay down for the sake of others. Do we love people all the same? Can we reproduce what we’ve seen in Paul? Ben Willings, one of our Elders, shows us that we can and we must.

It’s amazing to see the gospel spread in the book of Acts. Believe – and be saved!  Simple, right? But a simple faith often feels decidedly complex amidst our complicated and busy lives.  What exactly does it mean to “believe” in Jesus, and why is it so important? Paul’s message to Athens in Acts 17 helps us understand the very foundation of the good news we so need!

Following Jesus cant take us to places we really love and ask things of us that we are eager to do. Other times following Jesus will mean that we have to face our fears and do things that make us uncomfortable. It’s these moments- the ones that scare us- that enable us to really know the full experience of obedience and following Christ. And it’s in these moments- like when God asks us to share our faith- that we can truly know the joy of trusting God in every moment, even the ones that scare us.

How do you handle things when life doesn’t quite go as you had planned? There are times when life is moving right along and then comes to a screeching halt. In those moments, we would do well to pay attention and listen well because God is usually at work.

What is required for salvation? There may be no more essential question for our lives and it’s one that the early church was forced to answer. As different races, cultures, and religious traditions began to follow Jesus there was an inevitable tension between what these groups. The apostles and church leaders show us how to work through these differences and hold fast to the Gospel in the process.

We take for granted the name “Christian,” as though that was always what Jesus’s followers were called. It wasn’t until the hub of Christianity began to shift from Jerusalem to Antioch that this name began to stick- and it wasn’t a compliment. The church’s move to Antioch and new name for Jesus’s followers can teach us a lot about the early church and the church’s role today.

The story of Cornelius’s conversion is a story with massive implications for the Christian faith. Yet, if we don’t pay attention we can move past this story with ease and completely miss the power of the moment in Cornelius’s conversion. It’s a story that tells us not that there is good news, but there is good news for all of us.