Big Ideas

1. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are foundational to the book of Acts.
The book of Acts includes numerous incredible stories. Thousands of people are converted to Christ. Sometimes people get healed. At other times Christians get beat up and thrown into prison. There are frequent riots incited by Gospel preaching. Churches get planted. But everything that occurs in Acts is a consequence of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Apart from the death and resurrection of Jesus, Acts makes no sense.

2. The book of Acts is about the continued work of Jesus in his Church by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is common for people to think of Acts as a record of the acts of the Apostles or the acts of the early Church. This is understandable as Acts does give us a front row seat to the first century Church. However, Luke makes it clear that Acts is about the continued work of Jesus in his Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Like the rest of the Bible, Acts is primarily about Jesus.

3. The Church bears witness to the acts of Jesus.
What is the purpose and mission of the Church in the world? According to Acts, Jesus intends for his Church to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. This means that the Church is a community of people that speak the truth regarding the life, death, burial, resurrection, and reign of Jesus over all things.

Study Questions

1.  Why do you think Luke mentions the “many proofs” of Jesus’ resurrection?
2. What does this text teach us about the importance of the Holy Spirit?
3.  What were Jesus’ disciples distracted by in this text? What tends to distract you?
4.  What does Jesus tell us about the purpose of the Church?
5.  What does Luke tell us to expect in the future regarding Jesus? Why does that matter?

For Christians, joy is not accidental, superfluous, or a distraction. In this episode, Pastor Jon and Pastor Rusten discuss how the joy and delight of the triune God was the context for the creation of all things, how our misery is due to our estrangement from him, and how the redemption Christ accomplished for us brings us into his joy. They also discuss how Christian fellowship and worship is an essential aspect of this joy. If you have any questions you would like us to address in future episodes go to slido.com and put in the code coramdeo.

Big Ideas

1. Luke/Acts are based on eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life It is not uncommon for people to think of Christianity as a set of values or morals. While the Christian faith certainly profoundly affects the way in which a person thinks about values and morals, Christianity is not primarily about values or morals. Rather, Christianity is primarily concerned with the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christianity is based on public historical events that were witnessed by many others, researched by Luke, a doctor, and recorded for us to read. The stories contained in Luke/Acts are not meant to simply warm our hearts. They are meant to be read and received as historical eyewitness accounts of events that actually took place. Either they happened or they didn’t. There is no other option.

2. There are enough eyewitness accounts and information available to provide us with certainty regarding the person and work of Jesus. Luke/Acts was written by Luke for a man named Theophilus. While we cannot be sure exactly who this person was, it is clear that Luke believed that his thorough research and documentation of Jesus’ life was sufficient to provide Theophilus, and all other readers, with certainty regarding Jesus and his Gospel. Luke does not tell us to trust our own hearts or to seek out our own truth. Rather, he tells us to trust the facts, the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection that were witnessed by many and recorded for our own benefit.

Study Questions

1.  What does Luke tell us about the reliability of his research work regarding Jesus?
2.  How does this affect the way you might approach reading Luke/Acts?
3.  How do Luke’s sources and material compare to what modern people might write regarding Jesus?
4.  What does Luke hope will be the result of our study of his work in Luke/Acts?

During this episode of B-Sides, Pastor Jon and Pastor Rusten discuss the Advent theme of Love. Though our culture puts a high value on love, often our conception of love is contrary to that which Scripture teaches. In what ways does the love revealed by Christmas and the incarnation confront our understanding of love? Join us in this episode as we discuss the surprising love of God. If you have any questions you would like us to address in future episodes go to slido.com and put in the code coramdeo.

During this episode of B-Sides, Pastor Jon and Pastor Rusten discuss the Advent theme of "Hope." In what has been an incredibly disorienting year, hope has been in high demand. A pandemic, lockdowns, economic turmoil, and future uncertainty have all exposed our fragility. How does the hope of Christmas speak into this situation? What kind of hope and future does the Christian story proclaim to this world? How does this hope confront our fears? How does this hope show up in the way that we live? If you have any questions you would like us to address in future episodes go to slido.com and put in the code coramdeo.

In this final episode on the Ten Words about the 10th commandment, Pastor Jon and Pastor Rusten discuss the tenth commandment: Does the 10th commandment prohibit desire or ambition? How does this commandment relate to the rest of the commandments? They discuss the way that coveting is discontentment with the beauty and wisdom of God as well as how this commandment relates to economics and idolatry. They also spend some time discussing the "music" and beauty of scripture and the internal harmony of scripture. If you have any questions you would like us to address in future episodes go to slido.com and put in the code coramdeo.