Thirty Seconds or Less

The Holy Spirit shows up. There is confusion. People speak in other languages. There is fear. They fight. They love. They are the church together. The book of Acts reminds us of our call to bold witness and faithful love in every age. And the Holy Spirit — thanks be to God, she is always...

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In Acts, there’s in-fighting among the Jesus followers about how big God’s grace really is– does it really extend beyond the Jews– even to the Gentiles? The Apostle Peter says it does. Our radically loving God doesn’t play favorites. God’s grace is for everyone. This truth, can piss people off. It did when Peter preached...

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The book of Acts chronicles the earliest days of the church. It’s in Acts that we find the dramatic story of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descends upon the people in tongues of fire allowing everyone to understand one another. Acts is about testimony and church growth. Peter and the Apostles preach, teach, and perform miracles...

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In the beginning was the Word. Jesus is a living picture of what God has been trying to say. Light, not darkness. Love, not hate. Compassion, not exclusion. Forgiveness, not condemnation. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Through him, we become children of God. In your own words, what is God...

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It’s less like a story and more like music. The Gospel of John rings key words like bells: light and darkness, life and truth, bread of life, living water — they layer and reverberate and all the clamor adds up to this thing that Jesus offers us called abundant life. It’s not just living. It’s...

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A reader will not have to look far or hard to find the central theme of the book of John. The apostle John refers to himself repeatedly as the one that Jesus loved. And this was not a narcissistic thought. He was really convinced that who Jesus was at his core was love and that...

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The Gospel of John is largely unique because John himself was so unique. He’s the only one of the original twelve disciples that lived a full life and wasn’t martyred. And much of what he wrote came from his experience of living with Jesus and then investing in a new generation of people who were...

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I love that Jesus liked to kick it with sinners. When we lose our way, and we will, we serve a God who will come to find us like a shepherd looks for one lost sheep. We are loved by a God who will celebrate our being found like a woman who finds a coin....

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The gospel of Luke is an orderly account of the of the disruption of the order of the day. From the birth of the Son of Man to the burning hearts on the road to Emmaus, Luke’s gospel tells us that when the reign of God breaks in, everything is turned upside down. Those who...

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The message of Jesus proclaimed in the gospel of Luke is best summarized by a parable that only appears in Luke: the prodigal son. We are all one family and that family includes those that are ostracized or condemned, often for religious reasons. The good news of Christ is that God is a love that...

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