The Central Moment

The feeling of being confined is a hard one to cope with. The pandemic certainly underscored that. But God’s word and his work are never confined. Let him glorify himself wherever you find yourself today.

A storm, a shipwreck, and a snake -- the last two chapters of the book of Acts are among the most adventurous found anywhere in the Bible. Yet at the center of it all was a man of God who stayed on mission and depended on God.

When the Apostle Paul had private audiences with political leaders, what did he talk about? Would it have resembled contemporary preaching? Listen in--you may not have heard a sermon like this lately.

Our delays are not necessarily God’s delays. The interruptions that frustrate us don’t frustrate God. We may have our plans, but the Lord is always sovereignly working to position us for his purposes.

What is the primary passion of your life? What is the one thing you would never sell out for, no matter what? For Paul, that passion had others in mind and Jesus at the center!

Everything that God does sovereignly and miraculously in our lives should ultimately lead us to deeper intimacy with him. We are to have faith for the supernatural, but not in a way that makes us spiritual consumers with no heart for God beyond self-interest.

The ‘love Jesus, hate church’ movement of the past few decades would have been incomprehensible to the Apostle Paul. The church is the community of those who belong to Jesus -- set apart to him and being made more like him.

Spiritual abuse by church leaders is antithetic to authentic New Testament pastoral leadership. However, the Apostle Paul modeled a different way that provides Christ-centered hope for every victim.

How suffering and joy can go together is one of the paradoxes of the Christians life. And yet Paul would later write to the church in a city where he had been severely beaten and encourage them to “rejoice.”

We can’t put God in a box when it comes to how he leads us. Sometimes in Acts we see God using dreams and visions, or people running for their lives because of persecution. But there is also the closed door method -- for many, not a favorite!