Love is not a dopamine high, but the continual keeping of covenant commitment.

intentional. relational. sacrificial. missional.

*Edit: where Chris cites marriage & divorce in Exodus it is actually chapter 21:10-11, not chapter 34.

Joy is not fleeting happiness, but a steady source of satisfaction rooted in an eternal outcome - not a temporary circumstance.

Hope is not just wishful thinking, but a confident assurance in what God will do based on what He has already done. We have a hope that will get us through anything this world throws at us because Jesus has come, and he is coming again.

This first week of Advent we look at how Jesus brings peace to the world. Peace is not merely quiet, calm, nor inner tranquility. It is all things working together as they should, so that the world flourishes. It is wholeness. It is Shalom. Jesus rights all wrongs, brings justice and healing, and invites us to experience true peace.

The book of Acts comes to an anti-climactic end in chapter 28. We never hear about Paul standing before Caesar. There is little conflict from the Jewish leaders there. We never hear whether he made it to Spain afterward. It ends with him living in his own rented home for two years, continuing to share the Good News. The Story does not end here, because the Story is not over. It continues with you and I.

In a sense, Acts ends as it started. It was a continuation of all Jesus began to do through the Spirit — which he now continues through His Spirit at work in his followers.

One of our Missio Community leaders, John Looney, preaches on Acts 27. Paul, on his way to Rome, along with many other prisoners, guards, and crew members, face a violent storm and end up shipwrecked on the island of Malta. How do we see God still at work even in what seems to be chaotic and uncertain moments like this?

Paul didn't exactly get the warmest welcome in Jerusalem. The very people he used to be one with turn against him and vow to kill him. He appeals to Caesar, his right as a Roman citizen, which sends him on a long and tumultuous journey leaving him shipwrecked. And yet, this is all in God's plan for many people to see and hear the good news and power of Jesus.

Paul has been moving toward Jerusalem, even though he had warnings not to go. When he arrives, things go down exactly as he was warned. And yet, he is right where the Father wants him. Jesus is with him. The Spirit is empowering him. He has not taken the safe route, but the good route, and he has not gone alone.

Paul made three missionary trips around Asia Minor and Greece before traveling to Jerusalem for the Pentecost feast and to deliver some aid to the poor from Gentile cities. From there he would travel even further on. But before he left, he wanted to encourage the new believers in those cities to continue strong in the faith, following after Jesus, because he knew he would never see them again.

Luke’s retelling of this story includes a strange event right in the middle of Paul’s farewell tour; a young boy falling out of a window to his death. Yet, even in this tragedy, the Spirit of God was moving His mission of the restoration of life forward, just as He was moving Paul forward to share this good news with all the nations.

The Gospel means good news. Yet, while it is good news of rescue and salvation, for many, we find that it first must disrupt everything else we have put our trust in and built our lives around. It is only when those things get disrupted that we can turn to the good news of what will truly save us.