“Elder Innocence” – Acts 20:13-38

 

Do you recognize the rhyme that the picture above this week’s Scripture verse represents? It represents a rhyme my grandmother taught me when I was a very young boy. Give up? It goes like this, “Here is the church, here is the steeple, open it up and see all the people.” If you were to open many steepled churches today, you wouldn’t see many people. And while there is a decline, in our country, of the number of Christians, as a percentage of the entire population, there is not a decline in the number of those claiming to be “Christian.” So where are all the people then? And does it really matter as long as you’ve got Jesus? Well, our passage this week certainly does indicate that it matters. In fact, it matters a great deal. The church is how God cares for you if you are a Christian.

 

Come find out how and why God cares for you in that relationship this Sunday morning at 10:30. Also, come join us for Sunday School at 9:15. We have many new classes this year- something for every stage and age of your Christian journey. Everyone is welcome!

“Word of Comfort” – Acts 20:1-12

 

If you’ve ever fallen asleep in church, you’ll take comfort in this week’s passage, featuring a young man named Eutychus, who fell asleep and to his death as the Apostle Paul was preaching.  Well, I meant that you’d find comfort in the fact that someone else had fallen asleep in church, not that doing so may result in your own death.  Thankfully, falling asleep is not the kind of comfort this week’s passage is getting at.  Nor is it trying to tell you that there can be dire consequences to falling asleep in church, although, in a sense that’s true.

No, Luke, the author of the book of Acts wants us to see something else this week.  He gives us another inside look at the early church, hoping to provide you with comfort, encouragement, strength and help.  Ultimately, he’s pointing us to grace as it was dispensed by Paul and others in the first years of Christ’s church.  God is still dispensing that same grace to you and me today, and it’s free for the asking!

Join us for worship at 10:30 on Sunday and for Sunday School at 9:15. We have many new classes this year.  Everyone is welcome!

“Seismic” – Acts 19:21-41

 

What difference can we, as Christians, really make in the world? I doubt that’s the question the church in Ephesus was asking but they soon would find out, as the Gospel of Jesus Christ changed not only individuals but an entire culture. You see, the Gospel is so pervasive it causes seismic shifts wherever it’s taken. Luke, the author of Acts, gives us a good look at the extent the Gospel affected that city in this week’s passage, and provides hope for the impact we too can make on the world around us.
Making that kind of impact doesn’t require you to be obnoxious, uber-radical or to give up your day job and move half way across the world. It happened in Ephesus by living a normal Christian life. It happened by being what faith in Jesus had made them. When you start with Jesus, the outworkings of the Gospel flow from you to the world around you. It really is that simple and at the same time that seismic.
Don’t forget to join us for Sunday School at 9:15 and worship at 10:30. Everyone is welcome!

“Start Here” – Acts 19:1-20

 

On your mark, get set, go!  Yes, we’ve just crossed the starting line of a new year in many ways.  School has started, you can actually get something done at work now that vacation season is over, and you’ve probably begun any number of other activities that have restarted after a summer hiatus.  It’s the time of year when things begin to start up again at our church too.  Sunday school kicks into gear, a new fiscal year is upon us and Sunday worship returns to its start time of 10:30.   It’s, naturally, a time when many of us hope to make a new start in life.

What exactly does it mean to “make a new start” as Christians?  Is there any benefit to it and, if so, what can we realistically expect?  Our passage this week in the book of Acts seems to something more significant than simply making a new start.  It seems to suggest that God is at work in us in a way that’s not subject to the colossal failure rate of so many other “new starts” we’ve been involved in before.  In fact, I’d like to show you, on Sunday, several reasons why simply trying to make your own new start can fail.  It’s easy to make a new start, but starting at the right place makes all the difference in your success.

Don’t forget to join us for the 8 A.M. All Church Breakfast, followed by Sunday School at 9:15 and worship at 10:30.  We’ll have plenty of pancakes and the Word of God endures forever, so please invite a friend or family to join you this week!  Maybe your invitation will point them toward a fresh start!

“Through Grace” – Acts 18:18-28

What is the role of God’s grace? God’s common grace extends to all people. As Jesus said, God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” You may have noticed how beautiful the weather has been the last couple weeks. It has been sunny and quite pleasant. That is by God’s common grace. God doesn’t place the good weather over the Christian homes and whip up a good Nor’easter where the non-Christians live. God’s common grace is for all people.

 

God’s special grace, as some call it, is that which now pertains to those who belong to Christ. It pertains to all members of the body of Christ. Yet, it reaches out and draws non-Christians into the body, thereby making them recipients and instruments of that special grace. In fact, grace is so important that I dare say that being a Christian is 100% about your confidence in the grace of God.

 

You and I can’t make that kind of grace happen, no matter how hard we try or how good we are. As C.H. Spurgeon once said, “Grace is exercised according to the will of God and not according to the will of man.” The exercise of that grace has profound implications for the Christian life. A Biblical understanding of that grace can radically alter the way you think and act. It arrests your fears, allays your guilt, squashes your pride and sends you running to, not away from, God. It causes you to cling to Jesus. There’s only one way to be struck by grace like that. And that will be the focus of this week’s message from Acts.

 

Will you pray about and ask a friend to join you in church on Sunday or to one of our upcoming Christian formation classes? This is our last week of summer (9 AM) worship. Come for grace!

“Fearless” – Acts 18:1-17

 

Alright, I confess. The Apostle Paul is one of my heroes of the New Testament. I often think of his words to the church at Corinth, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1) Oh how I want to imitate Christ in the way that Paul did with his own life. Paul said, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:12-13) Paul was amazing, a true inspiration, and seemingly, a man of steel. Or, was he?

This week’s passage pops my Pauline bubble just a little, as we see Paul on the ropes once again with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The theme is quite familiar and yet I find it immensely challenging and uplifting in a new and insightful way (and I hope you do too). It knocked Paul down a couple pegs, in my view, but also lifts our hope and trust in the surpassing worth of Jesus, our Lord.

“Disturbing the Peace” – Acts 17:1-15

 

I can’t believe that we are already entering day four of our Gold Rush Kid’s Camp.  What a week thus far!  Many of you and I have sensed a strong presence of the Holy Spirit among us this week.  He has been present and at work overcoming many hindrances and obstacles, making more of the week than we could have imagined.  His work in our presence is, although, a humbling reminder of our need to seek His strength and power as we face Satan’s attempts to derail the work of Gospel ministry.

I believe that same theme is at the core of this week’s passage in the book of Acts.  Paul, in fact, recognizes that very fact in his first letter to the church at Thessalonica, one of the two main stops on our journey with the apostle this week.  Luke is sparingly short on the details of this two city visit, yet there are two activities, in particular, that he makes an effort to stop and report.  This Sunday, we’ll take a look at those activities and why Luke found them so important for us to know in our battle against the enemy of our souls as we work to be disciple making disciples of Jesus.

“Jail Call” – Acts 16:25-40

What does a jail have to do with Christ’s church? This week, as it turns out, two things! As you’ll notice at the front of the sanctuary on Sunday morning, the hoosegow is an integral prop in of our upcoming Gold Rush Kid’s Camp. It’s the one place where Kate the Snake Jackson, an outlaw in our Gold Rush town, has yet to set foot. The jail is also the location where, in the book of Acts, we’re going to see the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ at work in the hearts, desires and actions of those who believe in Him.

I hope you don’t find yourself in jail, like the apostle Paul and Silas, but I do hope that your faith will be encouraged by the four separate instances of Gospel transformation contained in this week’s passage. If you’re a follower of Jesus, the same Holy Spirit at work in that early church is at work in you, me and our church today. His work in us begins with our faith in Jesus and doesn’t stop there, as He continues to transform us in ways that previously seemed incomprehsible.

Come join us this Sunday as we seek to be encouraged and to refresh our wonder at the grace that shook the jailer’s world and melted his hardened heart.

“Twas Grace” – Acts 14:19-28

Paul’s first missionary journey has nearly come to an end and through it, we cannot help but notice the presence of God’s grace. The theological definition of grace is “unmerited favor.” What this really means is that you are given something you don’t deserve or that something is done for you that you could not do on your own and have no right to demand.

But, as Derek Thomas says, “grace is not just a doctrine to be believed, it is a fact you can lean your weight on.” That is the whole point of this week’s passage and, I might argue, one of the main points of the entire book of Acts. We shouldn’t merely expect God to provide grace, we should live our own lives in such radical boldness and obedience as to depend on it. And if there was ever a passage to encourage us in doing so, this one is it.

“Divided City” – Acts 14:1-7

 

I hope you had an opportunity to see last week’s youth skit and the accompanying messages from Acts chapter 13. The youth and children of the church did a wonderful job of leading us in worship last Sunday. If you missed it, you can still watch it from the church website.

This week we will pick up where the youth left off, on Paul’s first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the church they nurtured and built up in Antioch, and now have arrived in Iconium in Galatia. We are reminded, by Luke, that it is “the Lord” and “the Holy Spirit” who are at work in the ministry of Paul and Barnabas, yet we can’t help but notice that their success is mixed with bursts of opposition. In fact, we’re told that an entire city is divided by their ministry. We’re quickly left with the realization that the Gospel causes division wherever it pushes back darkness.

On Sunday morning we’re going to take a look at the nature of that division, consider why it’s not too surprising and discover how you and I can respond to it in our own Christian walk.

Don’t forget, we have now changed to summer hours, and so our morning worship will now begin at 9:00 A.M.