Redeemer Fellowship Johnson County

On their missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas, experience both the power of God in miraculous ways as well as intense opposition. Through suffering and struggle they continue to tell people the good news of Jesus. Why? Why do they keep going? It is not guilt or trying to prove themselves but love that leads them.

Adversity of every kind, hatred, and injustice will prevail apart from dramatic intervention of God. Unless God breaks in to deal decisively and powerfully with the brokenness of our world, we have no hope. Prayer feels weak to a watching world that demands prophetic action and protest. But our prayer is a prophetic stance that declares that God has the last word, a protest to the high king of heaven. Prayer is the most subversive thing that we can do in perilous times. One theologian says powerfully, “To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” In perilous times, the most prophetic thing the church can do is pray.

As Peter wonders how to apply the vision he has seen about what is clean and unclean, God tells him to do something that would normally be taboo in the first century – go and visit someone from a different race and background. Peter starts his visit with an explanation of what Jesus has done to rescue and reconcile us to himself and the result is unity and equality among the people. We see in this story that the good news of Jesus is the starting place for seeking reconciliation in a world and culture that is divided.

The conversation about racial reconciliation can not be off loaded as just a social issue for a political party or a non-profit. The work of racial reconciliation belongs to the church because reconciliation that celebrates differences and yet maintains unity is the grand redemptive plan of God.

Racial reconciliation is not an implication of the gospel—it a the goal of the gospel. Only the gospel of Jesus is able to create unity while maintaining diversity where there's been division.

As the story of the early church unfolds we see that God is on the move and the good news of Jesus is radically changing people. In this passage God shows his mercy and his power by healing two people that seem very ordinary. The main point is clear - God has the power to heal and raise the dead so we should believe in him. And Luke teaches us this in a way that gives hope for our lives as we see the miraculous power of God intersecting our mundane lives.

Being a Christian is about the strength of the object of your faith, not the strength of your personal faith. Salvation is all the work of God, and he delights to save those who seem most unlikely to become Christians in order to display his mercy, power, and grace. And this means we are called to offer the same hospitality and welcome into the family of God those who feel on the outside. When we come face to face with the glory of Christ, we can not remain the same.

Human beings are obsessed with boundaries that determine who is included and who is excluded. We draw circles around ourselves and then decide who is welcome and who isn't. This begs the question: Who is the gospel for? Who is welcome into the kingdom of God? Luke shows us in Acts 8 that the good news of the kingdom of God the story of a boundary-crossing, barrier-destroying Savior who extends the offer of welcome and salvation to all people. It is good news that has the power to destroy prejudices, make enemies into family, and makes the marginalized feel the welcome of God. Through the story of Philip, God is inviting us to live in the way of Jesus and be a people who preach the message and live in ways that cross boundaries and destroy barriers for the sake of the gospel.