ReGeneration Church

In Matthew 7:1-12, Jesus teaches his followers not to judge others, warning that they will be judged by the same standard they use. He tells them to remove the plank from their own eye before pointing out the speck in someone else's. He instructs them not to give what is holy to dogs or cast pearls before pigs, and to ask, seek, and knock, promising that those who do will receive, find, and have the door opened. He closes by telling them to treat others as they wish to be treated, summarizing the Law and the Prophets.

Moved by the mercy already shown to them, believers place their whole selves—body, will, and future—onto the altar as a living offering, every day. They resist the steady pressure of a world reshaping them into its likeness, choosing instead a quiet, ongoing transformation through a renewed mind. Like a couple bound by vows once spoken and now lived out morning after morning, they discover that surrender is not a singular event but a direction. In this daily yielding, the good and perfect will of God comes into view. What is one part of your life you have yet to place fully on the altar?

Peter returns to Jerusalem and defends his visit to Cornelius's household, explaining how the Spirit fell on the Gentiles just as on the Jews at the beginning. The believers in Jerusalem grow quiet, then glorify God, realizing that repentance and life have been granted even to the nations. Meanwhile in Antioch, scattered believers preach to Greeks as well as Jews, and a great number turn to the Lord, prompting Barnabas to fetch Saul so the growing community can be taught together for a full year. What does it mean for your identity to be shaped more by Christ than by culture, class, or background?

Cornelius, a Roman centurion who fears God, receives a vision instructing him to send for Peter. Peter, meanwhile, sees a vision of unclean animals and hears a voice telling him not to call anything impure that God has made. When Peter arrives at Cornelius's house, he declares that God shows no favoritism, and while he is still speaking, the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles present, astonishing the Jewish believers. Peter then orders that they be baptized, welcoming this Gentile household fully into the faith. Where in your own life might you be drawing lines between "us" and "them" that God is asking you to erase?

Barnabas vouches for the newly converted Saul, and the wary Jerusalem believers receive him before sending him off to years of quiet waiting in Tarsus. The church enjoys peace and grows, and Peter travels on to Lydda, where he speaks healing over the paralyzed Aeneas, then to Joppa, where he calls Tabitha back to life. In both accounts, the breakthrough moment sits atop groundwork already laid before anyone arrived on the scene. Where might God already be at work in a season of your life that feels more like waiting than progress?

Saul storms toward Damascus breathing threats against believers, when a blinding light drops him to the ground and a voice asks why he is causing harm. Trembling and now blind, he is led by the hand into the city, where he waits three days without sight or food. Ananias, though afraid, obeys a call to visit Saul, lays hands on him, and watches scales fall from his eyes as his sight is restored. Saul is baptized, regains his strength, and soon preaches in the same synagogues he once threatened, escaping the city by night when his former allies turn against him. Is there anyone in your life who you have written off as unreachable?

An angel directs Philip to a desert road, where he meets an Ethiopian official reading Isaiah and unable to grasp its meaning. Philip explains that the passage points to Jesus, and the official asks to be baptized right away at the roadside. Philip baptizes him, then is suddenly taken elsewhere, while the official continues on his way rejoicing. How willing are you to go where you don't know the outcome?

After Stephen's death, persecution breaks out and believers flee Jerusalem into the surrounding regions, with Philip carrying the gospel into Samaria. There, his preaching, healings, and exorcisms draw large crowds, and even Simon the sorcerer believes and is baptized alongside many others. When Peter and John arrive and pray for the new believers, the Holy Spirit falls on them. Simon tries to purchase that power, only to be sharply rebuked by Peter. The apostles preach the gospel in still more Samaritan villages before returning to Jerusalem. What does authentic transformation look like versus performance?

A man's younger son demands his share of the inheritance, leaves home, and squanders it on reckless living until he is destitute and reduced to feeding pigs. Hungry and ashamed, he decides to return home and ask his father to take him back as a servant. But his father sees him from a distance, runs to embrace him, and restores him fully as a son, throwing a feast in his honor. The older son, who stayed and worked faithfully, refuses to join, angry that his wayward brother is welcomed back so easily. The father gently reminds him that everything he has is still his, urging him to share in the joy. Are you lost far from home, or lost while staying put?

Stephen retells Israel's history before the high priest, showing how God consistently worked outside every structure his accusers consider sacred—beyond the land, the temple, the familiar. From Abraham to Joseph to Moses, God's presence moves freely while the people repeatedly anchor themselves to lesser, visible substitutes. The golden calf stands as the starkest image of a people settling for something they can control when the greater reality proves too demanding. What are you settling for that may be keeping you from something greater?