This sermon exposes our tendency to “technique” our way into getting what we want. For many, even our Christian faith can become a tool we employ in an attempt to gain something we feel is missing. Acts 19 corrects this way of thinking and presses us toward the truth that it will never be a tool, technique, or program that settles things in our lives or in our world, but a Person.

Acts 18 highlights God’s extraordinary work through ordinary means and encourages us to look for His glory--making appearances in the mundane.

In Acts 17:16–34 Paul entered a high-stakes situation before the Areopagus in Athens. Areopagus means “Hill of Ares” (Mars Hill to the Romans). Originally it referred to the rocky hill near the Acropolis, but by Paul’s day it often referred less to the location and more to the prestigious council of Athenian elders who traditionally met there. The Areopagus wasn’t a hipster coffee house or an edgy pub that philosophers frequented—it was an aristocratic council that weighed matters of civic religion in the city and was charged with guarding Athens’ civic and religious life. That backdrop foregrounds Paul’s nerve, resolve, and faithfulness in a way from which we can learn a great deal.

Paul and Silas’ ministry in Thessalonica provoked outrage because they proclaimed “another king—Jesus” (Acts 17:6). For the Jews, this was a theological threat: Jesus as Messiah challenged their power and interpretation of Scripture. For the Romans, it was a political threat: Caesar demanded ultimate allegiance, but Christians confessed Christ alone as Lord. The gospel was disruptive then and remains disruptive now—reordering priorities, provoking resistance, and turning the world not upside down.

Sundays sermon traced out the common thread in the episodes of Acts 16: the cost of the call to follow Jesus. The book of Acts is kind of like a docuseries on the continued life of Christ in the life of the Church, His body. Jesus continues pouring His life out for the life of the world through His people as we surrender our lives to God’s saving purposes for our children, our neighbors, our communities, and our world. But, just like Jesus, what we give away in service and submission to God, He returns, pressed down, shaken together, running over. 

Acts 15 took us into one of the most pivotal moments in church history; when God’s people had to wrestle with what to do when His work seemed to challenge their understanding of His word. For centuries, Scripture was clear: God’s covenant people bore the sign of circumcision, and His law marked them off from the nations. Yet now, the Spirit was being poured out on uncircumcised Gentiles, and without requiring them to take on the full yoke of the law. The Jerusalem Council shows us that faithfulness to God means holding fast to His unchanging word while also recognizing and embracing His surprising work. It calls us to humble discernment, a willingness to be corrected, and a trust that God’s Spirit never contradicts His word, but sometimes overturns our assumptions about what His word means.

This sermon on Acts 13–14, explored how the gospel didn’t just challenge religious assumptions, it disrupted the political and social order of the ancient world. As Paul and Barnabas proclaim salvation to the Gentiles, their message threatens the fragile arrangement between Rome and the Jews, provoking hostility from every side. But behind the upheaval is a deeper truth: God was dismantling the old scaffolding of empire to build His unshakable kingdom and to show His people (again) that our trust is not in horses or chariots, but in the name of the Lord our God.

Acts 12 is a tension-ridden text. If God is a God of light and life then what’s up with all the darkness and death? This sermon doesn’t give trite and tidy answer, but it does seek to honestly present the Bible’s answer to the question without flinching from the discomfort or loosing sight of the hope that holds us together in the darkness.

This sermon explores how the early church learned to follow the Spirit’s lead in a time of change, knowing when to stand firm in gospel truth and when to bend in love for others. It challenges us to resist the temptation to elevate secondary issues, to remain humble and open to God’s new work, and to cultivate a church marked by unity, generosity, and Spirit-led discernment.

In Acts 10, two men, Cornelius and Peter, receive visions that will redefine their world. God prepares both of them through prayer to embrace a seismic shift: the ceremonial distinctions that once separated Jew from Gentile have fulfilled their purpose and one new man has ben forged in Christ. Peter’s vision of unclean animals reveals that the old symbolic world of Leviticus was never the final goal. It was a picture book for God’s children, a tutor pointing forward to maturity in Christ.

As the Spirit falls upon Gentiles without distinction, Peter realizes that Jesus’ blood has washed the world. Nothing and no one is beyond reach. The boundary markers are being redrawn—not by food laws, but by faith in Christ. And through it all, Peter himself is converted, learning that deep understanding of the gospel often comes through obedience, not prior to it.