The ECC Podcast

Scattered by persecution, a handful of unnamed believers did something no one had planned: they shared the good news about Jesus with Greeks in Antioch, and a whole new people came to faith. When Jerusalem sent Barnabas to check on this unexpected work, he could have measured it against the way things had always been done. Instead, he saw the grace of God, rejoiced, and went to find Saul, a man many still knew by his past. In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians, and when famine came, this young Gentile church gave freely to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. Grace that had been received was now being given. As we explore Acts 11: 19-30, we’ll ask what it looks like when the gospel takes root in a new people, how we choose to extend grace rather than withhold it, and whether our history might keep us from seeing the new thing the Spirit is doing among us today.

We are journeying through Acts 10, where the Apostle Peter finds himself in a home no Jewish person would normally enter: the home of a Roman centurion. We’ll explore what has led Peter there, how this encounter challenged and transformed the thinking of the early church, and what this true story means for us today.

In this message, we are privileged to have Matt Pamplin, who is joining us all the way from Ontario. Matt is a church planting catalyst with Vision Ministries Canada, the network of churches Emmanuel is a part of, and he also serves as Ben’s church planting coach. As we continue our series The Acts of the Spirit: Rediscovering What the Church Was and Is, Matt will open up the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8, where the Spirit leads Philip onto a desert road for a single conversation that carries the good news of Jesus far beyond Jerusalem.

Acts is the only book in the New Testament that tells us what happened next. The Gospels end with a risen Jesus and a small, frightened group in an upstairs room, and roughly thirty years later that same movement is preaching openly in the capital of the empire. We usually read Acts in fragments—Pentecost one Sunday and the shipwreck another—and we miss the story Luke is actually telling.
In this series, we are going to read it the way he wrote it: as one story with one main character, and it is not the apostles. The Spirit falls at Pentecost, sends Philip down a desert road with no explanation, interrupts Peter's theology on a rooftop, shuts a door to Asia and opens one to Europe. Nearly every time the Spirit moves, the church gets pushed across a boundary it never would have crossed on its own.
Join us as we continue our series on Acts of the Spirit and explore how the Spirit had moved throughout Stephen's story and come expecting Him to move amongst us as well.

In this passage, we will look more closely at what made the early church so extraordinary in their devotion and generosity. When the Holy Spirit moves, extraordinary things are bound to happen even though threats persist. How then do we discern and join the work of the Holy Spirit in our community today as we are likewise called to live devotedly and generously?

The book of Acts tells the remarkable story of the birth of the church.
In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost. Peter preaches Christ, and about 3,000 people respond. Then, in Acts 3, Peter and John encounter a beggar who has been lame since birth. He asks for money—but, in the name of Jesus, Peter gives him far more than he asked for: the ability to walk!
An amazed crowd gathers. Peter points them to Jesus. People believe. The church is growing. Everything seems to be going wonderfully...
Until the authorities arrive.
Outraged by the apostles' teaching, they seize Peter and John and put them in jail. Suddenly, what looked like unstoppable momentum looks like a major setback.
What can the Holy Spirit do with this? Join us as we explore Acts 4—and discover what the Holy Spirit can do when the gospel meets opposition.

Remember the question from the previous message: If the Spirit stopped moving among us as a community tomorrow, how long would it take us to notice? In Acts 2 we will look at the amazing story of Pentecost and the result for the early church. The Holy Spirit was poured out on them all and it powerfully changed the early disciples, their church life together and the world around them. We will consider what this means for us today and how we can seek to be led by the Spirit in our everyday lives.

Acts is the only book in the New Testament that tells us what happened next. The Gospels end with a risen Jesus and a small, frightened group in an upstairs room, and roughly thirty years later that same movement is preaching openly in the capital of the empire. We usually read Acts in fragments—Pentecost one Sunday and the shipwreck another—and we miss the story Luke is actually telling.
In this series, we are going to read it the way he wrote it: as one story with one main character, and it is not the apostles. The Spirit falls at Pentecost, sends Philip down a desert road with no explanation, interrupts Peter's theology on a rooftop, shuts a door to Asia and opens one to Europe. Nearly every time the Spirit moves, the church gets pushed across a boundary it never would have crossed on its own. The people in Acts held their possessions loosely, prayed first instead of last, ate with the wrong people, and told the truth about Jesus in front of officials who could jail them for it.
Here is a question that is hard to shake: If the Spirit stopped moving among us as a community tomorrow, how long would it take us to notice? Join us as we kickstart this series and together let us see how God will move.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake."

Wait—who wants to be persecuted? The eighth and final Beatitude seems like a strange way to draw the Sermon on the Mount to an end and still describe a flourishing life. Yet Jesus doesn’t promise that following and reflecting Him will always make life easier. He promises something deeper. Join us as we explore how following Jesus can bring us into conflict with the kingdoms of this world—and yet how we can still flourish within His Kingdom.

What does it actually mean to be a peacemaker? In this message, we're digging into Matthew 5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God," and discovering that the peace Jesus is talking about is bigger, deeper, and far more demanding than a quiet moment or a peaceful feeling. It's shalom, the Hebrew word for wholeness in every direction: with God, with each other, with the world itself. We'll look at how Jesus doesn't just bring this peace, He is this peace, and what it looks like to move from peace we find to peace we make. Join us as we continue our series on the Beatitudes.