Citizens Weekly

Acts 15 offers good news and a way forward for a Church that faces uncertainties, controversies, disagreements, and disunity — for a Church that knows it doesn’t have everything figured out.

From the Series, “Acts”. While we often respond to God and one another through earnest and vulnerable expectations, we may not always know how to name such expectations or pinpoint where they originated. Acts 14 showcases two different people-groups responding to Barnabas and Paul through the filter of deeply entrenched cultural expectations. Because our expectations may supercede our logic, we need the Holy Spirit and the scriptures to search our hearts and sanctify our expectations of God and our place in His cosmos.

From the Series, “Acts”. Luke, author of Acts, offers an interesting story in Acts 13 of Paul addressing a “false prophet”. Paul is harsh, to say the least, both to this character and to false prophets he warns against in his Epistles. But why is Paul so harsh? And what do Luke’s story and Paul’s responses tell us, in the modern church, about identifying and addressing false prophets and teachings?

From the Series, "Acts”. In Acts 13:1-3, we see how the ethnic and cultural diversity of the first century church should be reflected in our church today. But instead of a “fellowship of differents”, we often have a “fellowship of sames”, and the only way to address this is to recognize the effectiveness of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

From the Series, “Acts”. In Acts 12, those who belonged to the church prayed earnestly for Peter's release, with intense passion, moments after the death of James. In the garden, hours before his execution, Jesus prayed in the same way. After the resurrection, Jesus welcomed Thomas patiently and lovingly, even though he had uncertainty that Jesus was alive. We live in a world of pain, sickness, betrayal, and death. God can do far more than we think or ask, but how do we pray when God didn't answer the last prayer we prayed in the way we asked him to answer? 

From the Series, “Acts”. In the West, we openly talk about sex but avoid talking about money. The church in Acts is a family that loves generously by sharing time, energy, and money with anyone in need. How do we live in the Way of Jesus in a culture addicted to affluence, accumulation, and abundance? And how do we change our scarcity mindset to a sharing mindset, where everything we have is just a gift from God to be shared with others? 

From the series, "Acts". In Chapter 11, we see Barnabas, who is called the "son of encouragement". Walking in the Way of Jesus is seeing your entire existence as an encourager. Encouragers see people and situations through the eyes of Jesus.  They are joyful people, full of goodness, faith, and the Holy Spirit. Encouragers form partnerships, emulating God the Father, who forms covenants throughout the Bible, working alongside people to accomplish good together. 

While a Partial Gospel views sin in the Garden and redemption on the Cross as the totality of our Christian experience, a Fuller Gospel reaches back to our Image-bearing purposes with God in Creation and our redeemed partnership with Him in restoring His Kingdom to this earth. Speaking forgiveness and blessings well, offers concrete opportunities to partner with God in His Fuller Gospel story.

From the series, "Acts". As Peter and the early Church continue to discover in Acts 10, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus open the doorway to God's Kingdom for anyone and everyone in need of forgiveness and new life. Then and now, that reality redefines who God's people are, who our people are, and what that means for the life of the Church.