Text: 1 Peter 1:3-9 | Listen to Message Hope For The Future If Jesus died and stayed dead, what would that say to you about your trials? What would it say to you about your own eventual death? What hope would a dead Jesus give you that maybe there’s an ultimate purpose to the sufferings you’ve gone through? What hope would a dead Jesus give you of eternal life? The obvious answer to all of these questions is that you can’t find hope in a dead Jesus. If the One who promised to conquer death died and stayed dead, you’re...
Text: Acts 1:8; 2:1-4:22 | Listen to Message Power For The Present When Jesus was crucified around Passover time, his disciples ran off into the night and locked themselves behind closed doors. They were paralyzed by fear and wrecked by despair. What if the people who identified them with Jesus came for them next? One way or another, their lives were ruined. So how is it that just weeks later these same guys – and Peter in particular – are standing in the Temple during Pentecost and they’re boldly preaching the Gospel to the very same crowds who’d just demanded...
Text: John 21:15-17 | Listen to Message Freedom From The Past Imagine for a moment that Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead. So he taught people how to live and love, and he went about doing good and saving others, but when he died on a cross that was that: he couldn’t save himself. If that’s what really happened, what would that say about your sin? If death by crucifixion is the last chapter of Jesus’ story, there’s no reason to think he can do anything for you. Oh, he said he was going to lay down...
Text: Acts 21:27-22:22 | Listen to Message Is Christianity An Enemy Of Judaism? The Apostle Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, charged with trying to destroy the very essence of Jewish identity. Acts 21:28 records the accusation: “This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place.” According to Judaism and the Old Testament, the Jews are God’s chosen people. God gave the Mosaic Law to them at Mount Sinai. God put His presence in their midst within the temple’s Most Holy Place. No other people group could make these claims. But was...
Text: Acts 21:1-26 | Listen to Message Does God Want Me To Be Safe? We are arguably the safest, most comfortable generation in the history of the world. We feel entitled to safety and comfort, and these are major factors in how we view “God’s will” for our lives. Certainly, we tell ourselves, God wants me to be as safe and successful as possible. And so we automatically assume God’s will means less risk and more (short-term) reward. We instinctively pursue the experiences, relationships, and material things that we think will make us most comfortable. This is the kind of...
Text: Acts 20:17-38 | Listen to Message Guarding God’s Truth Imagine you live in a small, primitive village in the middle of nowhere. The life and health of your village depend on the clean water drawn from a single well. Recently – whether due to mischief or sabotage – the well has begun filling up with rocks, making it difficult to access the water. But the situation is even more dire, as it’s come to your attention that someone is trying to poison your well. How do you think you’d react to these existential threats in order to protect your...