Sometimes they worship you and sometimes they wallop you. And you never quite know what you’re going to get. In fact, sometimes, the worshiping and the walloping comes from the same people! How are we to handle it? What do we do with the fact that some people might like to make a statue of us and others might like to stone us?

The Gentiles begged to hear more about Jesus. The craved the Word of God. They leaned into all the apostles were teaching. They couldn’t wait until the next Sabbath. It’s the picture of God’s plan for the body of Christ—a never-ending, growing thirst for the Gospel.

It might feel like darkness is winning. It might feel like chaos is expanding. It might feel like God’s power is being subverted. But, I want to assure you of this, it just feels that way!

The remarkable story of the angelic rescue of Peter is fascinating—the supernatural appearance of the messenger of God, the miraculous unshackling of the saint, the stealthy escape past unwitting guards. The whole story points to the glorious, miracle-working power of a transcendent God who can, at His own good pleasure, work out his will through His people by suspending and upending the natural world that He created

God isn’t prejudiced. It means that He’s not only perfectly fair but He’s also perfectly inclined to bless everyone regardless of age, race, gender, ethnicity or standing.

The Gospel upends old, insufficient notions of holiness. In the Old Covenant, if the clean touched the unclean, the clean became unclean. In the New Covenant, when the clean (Christ) touches the unclean, the unclean becomes clean.

Saul’s life became fueled by a new, previously alien power. Saul’s new zeal was grace-empowered. I want to explicate the text and make mention of the intriguing phrase “proving that Jesus is the Messiah (what does that mean? I think the Greek word suggests that he showed how Jesus was the subject of the Hebrew scriptures). But the central exploration of the sermon is how different zeal for the law and zeal for the Lord manifest. The fruit of love for the law is hatred, selfish gain, and desire to punish. The fruit of love for the Lord, is love, self-sacrificial living, and a desire to see everyone experience God’s love.

God always has and always will use his people and His church, empowered by the Spirit, to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth