Acts 9:1-31

"But the voice of Jesus of Nazareth was the last thing Saul of Tarsus expected! Saul believed that Jesus was an impostor who had (fortunately) been executed, but whose maverick, untutored followers insisted in their shrill and disruptive sermons that he was alive. But now—now he was hearing this voice speak, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me,' and in response to the question, 'Who are you, Lord?' the voice identifies himself as Jesus of Nazareth. Paul’s experience doesn’t fit the category of religious ecstasy, because seeing Jesus of Nazareth was the last person Paul expected to see. No, this was no religious ecstasy. It wasn’t a seizure or sunstroke. This was Paul encountering Jesus of Nazareth."

Acts 8:26-40

"The reason everybody—even the most religious, educated, etc. needs Christianity is not because it is a system of reform, but because it is a message about how God has come to put you right with him. Religion is about what humans must do; Christianity is about what God has done."

"A Christian’s hope is a hope that transcends this present world, but is not irrelevant to this present world. On a cosmic level, Christians look forward to a new creation—a renovated earth. But on a personal level, until then, we look forward to our spirit being with Jesus when we die. Notice that you don’t get the hope without the faith. Unless you know that Jesus stands as your advocate, you could never hope that he would receive your spirit."

"The gospel and good works are like fruit and the plant the fruit grows on. The plant produces it; the fruit proves it."

"You can recognize that the craving to be told, 'Well done. You’re accepted,' is, in fact, a desire God has put in your heart which he alone can satisfy. The only 'well done, you’re accepted' you will hear that will comfort and satisfy you will be the one God says."

"We turn up our noses at this idea of sacrifice only because we fail to see that we are always sacrificing to something—except the somethings we sacrifice ourselves to leave us as a pile of ashes. They are merciless."

"It's easy to fake faith; it's easy to fake hope. But where faith and hope merge into reality is whether you love other people."

"Despite that grand decree issued twenty centuries ago, now no one counts the years by the birth of Caesar Augustus, the most powerful human alive that night. Instead, every calendar from east to west, marks its years by the birth of a baby born into a lower class family in the zenith of Augustus’ reign. A baby whose family couldn’t even find a suitable place for him to be born and had to place him in a feeding trough."

"The injustice of their situation reminded them of the injustice done to Jesus. But the injustice done to Jesus was the outworking of God’s plan to bring about salvation through Jesus. But that simply reinforced their need to tell everyone who Jesus really was."

Acts 4:1-12

If the Christian message disturbs, it disturbs because when you go to investigate, you’ll always find a door open you thought for sure was shut.