Text: Acts 18:1-18a | Listen to Message How does God lead? Corinth was one of the great crossroads of the Roman Empire, a center for commerce, politics, religion, and the arts and entertainment. Corinth was also a notoriously immoral place more interested in sport and sex than in anything spiritual. So when the apostle Paul arrived here on his Second Missionary Journey, he admits he came “in weakness and in fear and much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:3). He was at an emotional crossroads, having been weakened and discouraged by so much apathy and opposition toward the Gospel. This text is...
Text: Acts 17:16-34 | Listen to Message Who Is God? Athens was the philosophical center of the ancient world – home to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurus. It was the cradle of Western civilization, the birthplace of democracy, and a mecca for the arts and sciences. But when the apostle Paul walked the streets of Athens, instead of being impressed, he was discouraged. Everywhere he looked, from the Acropolis to the agora to the Areopagus, Athens was overrun with temples, statues, and inscriptions to idols. And Paul didn’t just pity the idolatrous Athenians; he was perturbed. He was irritated;...
Text: Acts 17:1-15 | Listen to Message Share Your Faith Though most Christians will never preach in the technical or official sense, we’re all called to share the Gospel. But many believers are so intimidated by evangelism, they never really share Jesus with anyone. And, yes, it can be daunting to tell someone about the justice and grace of God, but it doesn’t have to be as intimidating as we make it. Here are five simple ways from our text that you can share the Gospel in everyday conversation: Proclaim: This simply means to announce something. Think of how news...
Text: Acts 16:25-40 | Listen to Message Purpose in Your Pain Paul and Silas found themselves in prison, the victims of gross injustice. Their only “crime” was delivering a demon-possessed girl from the exploitation of her masters. But predators are too devious to be troubled with facts, so they’ve had the missionaries beaten and imprisoned on false charges. This is the cost of doing God’s business in Philippi. But the missionaries’ response to pain, adversity, and injustice is remarkable. As everything is caving in around them, they choose to pray, and sing, and witness to their captive audience! Even...
Text: Acts 16:11-24 | Listen to Message We all need grace On the surface, people’s lives are as different from one another as night and day – and as different from one another as the two women Luke highlights in this section of Scripture. The first is a devoutly religious and successful businesswoman who’s made a small fortune selling beautiful things to beautiful people. The second, at the opposite end of the socio-religious spectrum, is a demon-possessed, exploited slave girl who’s been stripped of her dignity and name. But underneath their radically different situations in life, are they really...
Text: Acts 15:36-16:10 | Listen to Message How is God leading me? People often expect God’s leadership in their lives to be both spectacular and specific. They want a voice from heaven that speaks their name and provides fresh, detailed instructions regarding that upcoming decision. But more often than not, God’s leadership comes through other means. 1. Are you led by the priorities of Jesus? When Jesus walked this earth he was all about proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom: forgiveness, healing, and restoration were all happening because the King had returned to lavish grace on his broken people. Then...
Text: Acts 15:1-35 | Listen to Message What must I do to be saved? It was a controversy that threatened to divide and even kill the Early Church. Was salvation by the free grace of God or by grace plus works? Was faith in the Gospel sufficient or did you also need to keep the Law of Moses? Picture a long metal suspension bridge spanning across a canyon with a river snaking through the valley 1,000 feet below. Legalists would have you believe that Jesus built 99% of that bridge out of high-strength steel, but left 1% of it for...
Text: Philippians 3:4-15 | Listen to Message How Do You Feel About Change? Some change is inevitable and even unpreventable. You’re going to get older, the weather’s going to turn warmer next Spring, and the cutting edge inventions of today will be obsolete in a few short years. These and millions of other changes are going to happen whether you like it or not. But what about the kind of changes that you can control? Are you the kind of person who likes change just for the sake of change? Or are you resistant to change? Are you guilty...
Text: Psalm 132 | Listen to Message Coming Home In his book Rediscovering Jesus, British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, “The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves to be at home here on earth.” These sobering words remind us that we are never more than mere aliens or strangers here. However, if we are only aliens and strangers here, it follows that there is a place in which we are not aliens and strangers – a place that we can truly call home. John 14:1-4 affirms that Jesus has built...
Text: Psalm 126 | Listen To Message I Just Want to Be Happy The French mathematician Blaise Pascal once wrote, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end…. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.” (Pensees, VII, “Morality And Doctrine,” #425) Whether you agree with Pascal’s superlatives or not, surely you agree that everyone wants to be happy. Oddly enough, some Christians react as if this desire is a bad thing. And so they make statements like this: “God wants...
