Remember that Bible verse that promises Christians will never disagree with each other?
Where is that passage found again?

Oh, right. That's not found in the Bible. Disagreeing with your Christian brother or sister - even vehemently so - isn't necessarily sinful. Getting ANGRY isn't necessarily sinful. What you choose to DO in these situations may or may not be sinful.

Barnabas and his protégé Paul have a major ministry "locking of horns"... major enough that it's recorded in Acts.

Is there something incredibly useful for us to learn from this, even in 2025? I believe there is. Is it possible God can even USE this otherwise embarrassing interpersonal incident? You KNOW He can!

Ah, the Acts Church. Isn't it dreamy? Everyone sharing everything. On mission together. Filled with the Holy Spirit. Looking out for widows and the vulnerable. Loving being together, fellowshipping and breaking bread together.

It was all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows everywhere

And if you believe THAT, I have a wonderful timeshare opportunity I'd like to tell you about.

The Acts Church vehemently disagreed on things. Paul and Peter (yes THAT Paul and Peter) dramatically disagreed on things. Important things. Theological things. Things that if they had continued to be divided on, had the potential to stop the early Church in its tracks.

How they addressed this division is incredibly instructive for us today... maybe more than ever!

The mission of Jesus is now entering the "to the ends of the earth" phase.

This is where the gospel is about to become a worldwide game-changer.
In this, the first of Paul's missionary trips, you'll notice some principles or "best practices"w that will be repeated throughout Acts and even to this very day.

Not everyone has been called to leave their homeland for the sake of the gospel, but EVERY Christian has been sent in one way or another as a missionary for Jesus - to the rinks, schools, offices, neighbourhoods and coffee shops.

We are on mission together.

We live in the "now but not yet". God's Kingdom is here but not fully realized until the day of King Jesus's glorious appearing.
So in the meantime we live in the tension that evil seems to go unpunished. Arrogant and corrupt rulers and governments seem to get away with it. We hold to the hope that one day all these injustices will be made right.

However...

Every now and then, the consequences are immediate... the judgment is swift. Whether it's because God's patience with evil has run out or a historic point needs to be made or vainglorious moguls are impeding His will.
Whatever the reason, know that God will not share his glory with anyone.

It's a story every bit as much for 2025 as it was for Acts 12.

(oh, and spoiler alert, it involves some gnarly killer worms. Got your attention now?)

Just when you think the stories in Acts can’t get any more exciting, we read about a miraculous escape from prison… and it’s an inside job! But not before we hear about a tragic event that ends the life of one of Jesus’ closest disciples. The juxtaposition of these things will certainly leave you scratching your head and challenging your faith. But God, again, shows that He is Lord, and nothing He purposes to do can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)

We’ll see the Body of Christ, the Church, totally engaged and the power of fervent prayer!

And we’ll be introduced to some new Bible characters who play a significant role in the history of the church later on.

We're at that point in Acts where the Jesus story is about to move from a localized phenomenon to a world-changer!

First though, it means some barricades that kept people at arm's length need to be dismantled.

That is what Jesus has done.

One of the first signs of it happens at His crucifixion as the Temple curtain is supernaturally torn, representing everyone's access to God through Jesus - our only needed priest and mediator. (1 Timothy 2:5-6)

Now all other cultural obstructions to being a "Child of the King" are about to be demolished, BUT not everyone is happy about it.

Amazing things happen in the Book of Acts. Things Jesus modeled in the Gospels and then actually told His followers to go and do likewise, or in fact go and do even GREATER things.

Most Christians are on board with these works of the Apostles being available to us in 2025, UNTIL, that is, we get to passages of raising the dead. That's just a bridge too far.

Of course that raises all kinds of questions. Why are we skeptical of this? Why are there reports of this worldwide but not so much in "Western" countries like Canada? And maybe there's another kind of resurrection that is equally, if not more, miraculous

We are now entering a whole new phase of Acts, and for that matter Christianity in general.

We are moving out of the Jerusalem epicentre. This may not have been by choice, but God has a way of redeeming the bad stuff for our good and His glory AND to fulfill his mission... to spread the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and even to the ends of the earth.

But before this mass missionary expansion, God had to transform the heart of an enemy of Jesus, and when he dramatically did so, the world was about to change.

To this day, God is using dramatic "Damascus Road" type experiences to call people to Him.

You just knew that "poking the bear" (the religious elite) couldn't last forever. The keepers of the "old way" had too much at stake.

I want to tell you about Stephen, who as you may remember from last week, just got appointed as a Deacon. But far from only working behind the scenes with ministry logistics, Stephen is someone "filled with God's grace and power" and "performed great wonders and signs". Whether or not he was gifted this way before the filling of the Holy Spirit, he is an incredibly gifted orator and defender of the faith. So much so, the religious elite are violently incensed (probably in part because they have no good response).

This time there is no angel who comes to rescue Stephen (spoiler alert). And while we are currently not in a "persecution hot zone" it is still a pertinent question as to how WE will respond when our faith is tested.

What if our Church just... oh, I don't know... quadrupled attendance overnight? No transfer growth... all NEW Christians. Praise God!

Now, picture some of the logistics around that.
Do we have to move?
Go to four services?
What kind of volunteer crisis would that create?
You think we have parking issues now?
Plus these would be new Christians who need discipleship, still living in all kinds of worldly ways, and not yet in a mature place to contribute financially or in ministry.

Growth is a good thing but the first Church is discovering it comes with good problems.