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Union Church episodes

  • Acts 6:1-15 - Growing Pains

    Listen along as we continue through the book of Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Acts 6:1-15 - Sawyer
    Title: Growing Pains
     
    “Success, while desirable, can paradoxically create new challenges. This can manifest as increased pressure, difficulty managing growth, and strained relationships with those who haven't achieved the same level of success. Understanding these potential downsides is crucial for navigating the complexities of success and maintaining long-term well-being.” 
    - Google AI
     
    “The devil’s next attack was the cleverest of the three. Having failed to overcome the church by either persecution or corruption, he now tried distraction. If he could preoccupy the apostles with social administration, which though essential was not their calling, they would neglect their God-given responsibilities to pray and to preach, and so leave the church without any defense against false doctrine.” 
    - John Stott
     
    “Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community.”
    - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
     
    “One of the apologetics against the church is that the rhetoric often doesn’t live up to the reality.”
    - Leo Schuester
     
    1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
     
    5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
    (Philippians 2:1-8 The Message)
     
    Questions:
    1. Do I love the community or my dream of the community?
     
    2. Have I experienced hurt in the community?
     
    3. Who actually is the architect of my dream community? 

     

    39 min
  • Acts 5:17-42 - The Name

    Listen along as we continue our journey through Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Acts 5:17-42 

    Proverbs 14:30

    “Envy is one of the most miserable vices. Most other vices tend to produce some kind of pleasure, however momentary. But envy is nothing but unpleasant, through and through. It is the constant thief of joy. - Gavin Ortlund

    We can glimpse it in the book of Acts: the method of the kingdom will match the message of the kingdom. The kingdom…goes out into the world vulnerable, suffering, praising, praying, misunderstood, misjudged, vindicated, celebrating: always – as Paul puts it in one of his letters – bearing in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed. - NT Wright

    Ex 34:4-7

    “When God describes himself, He doesn’t start with how powerful He is or how He knows everything there is to know or how He’s been around since before time and space and there’s no one else like Him in the universe. That’s all true, but apparently, to God, it’s not the most important thing. When God describes himself, He starts with His name. Then He talks about what we call character. He’s compassionate and gracious; he’s slow to anger; he’s abounding in love and faithfulness” - John Mark Comer

    38 min
  • Acts 5:1-16 - Smelling Salts

    Listen along as we continue our series through the book of Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Acts 5:1-16 - Jack Reading

    Title: Smelling Salts

    “Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.” 

    - Oliver Wendell Holmes

    20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
  turn your ear to my words.

    21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;
    22 for they are life to those who find them
 and health to one’s whole body.
    23 Above all else, guard your heart,
 for everything you do flows from it.
    (Proverbs 4:20-23)

    “Half of the misery in the world comes from trying to look, instead of trying to be, what one is not.”

    - George MacDonald

     8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

    (1Peter 5:8 NASB95)

     7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 

    (James 4:7 NASB95)

    “do not give the devil a foothold.”

    (Ephesians 4:27 ESV)

    12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” 

    (Eph. 6:12 ESV)

    “if God acted in the same way today that he did in the fifth chapter of Acts, you’d have to have a morgue in the basement of every church and a mortician on the pastoral staff.”

    - Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse

    “…you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

     (Matt. 16:18 ESV)

    “Our takeaways from the text should probably be no more and no less than that of the people who witnessed the event: fear and awe. God is a holy God who vanquishes evil and zealously defends his holiness. His judgments are his, and he only makes some of them known. Why did God strike down Ananias and Sapphira rather than give them a chance to repent? How is it that Satan filled Ananias’ heart to lie (v. 3) but that Ananias also contrived the sin himself (v. 4)? Why didn’t Peter show the same grace toward Ananias and Sapphira that he was shown for his deceit and denial of the Lord (Matt 26:69-75)? We do not know. The text does not speak to these questions, though other passages may help us find answers. Ultimately, though, it’s the text that demands an answer from you: Do you fear God?”

    - F.F. Bruce

    “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.”

    (2 Cor. 5:10&11 ESV)

    34 min
  • Acts 4:23-37 - How to Church

    Listen along as we continue through Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:


    Acts 4:23-37 


    “If we allow the Bible to become fragmented, it is in danger of being absorbed into whatever other story is shaping our culture, and it will thus cease to shape our lives as it should. Idolatry has twisted the dominant cultural story of the secular Western world. If as believers we allow this story (rather than the Bible) to become the foundation of our thought and action, then our lives will manifest not the truths of Scripture, but the lies of an idolatrous culture. Hence, the unity of Scripture is no minor matter: a fragmented Bible may actually produce theologically orthodox, morally upright, warmly pious idol worshippers! - Mike Goheen

    John 17:20-23

    ”We must have hearts that are harder than iron if we are not moved by the reading of this narrative. In those days the believers gave abundantly of what was their own; we in our day are content not just jealously to retain what we possess, but callously to rob others.... They sold their own possessions in those days; in our day it is the lust to purchase that reigns supreme. At that time love made each man's own possessions common property for those in need; in our day such is the inhumanity of many, that they begrudge to the poor a common dwelling upon earth, the common use of water, air and sky.” John Calvin

    1 Cor 6:19-20

    35 min
  • Acts 4:1-22 - The Stone

    Listen along as we continue our series through the book of Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Acts 4:1-22 - Scott
     
    They rejected the oral traditions of the Pharisees and considered only the written Torah of the Pentateuch as valid. They considered the concepts of demons and angels, immortality and resurrection as innovations, believing in no life beyond this life.
    More important than their theology, however, was their political orientation. Coming largely from the landed aristocracy, they were accommodationists with regard to the Roman occupation of Israel. Possessing considerable economic interests, their concern was to make peace with the Romans, preserve the status quo, and thus protect their own holdings. In return the Romans accorded the Sadducees considerable power, invariably appointing the high priest from their ranks, who was the most powerful political figure among the Jews in that day. The prime concern of the Sadducean aristocracy, of whom the high priest was the chief spokesman, was the preservation of order, the avoidance at all costs of any confrontation with the Roman authorities. 
    - New American Commentary
     
    The church's one foundation 
    is Jesus Christ her Lord;
    she is his new creation 
    by water and the Word.
    From heaven he came and sought her 
    to be his holy bride;
    with his own blood he bought her, 
    and for her life he died.
    - Samuel J. Stone (1839-1900)
     
    ”Grace is the free favor of God, the undeserved bounty of the ever-gracious Creator against whom we have offended, the generous pardon, the infinite, spontaneous lovingkindness of the God who has been provoked and angered by our sin."God's grace proceeds exclusively through Jesus Christ, the Mediator. "All things come to us through Christ Jesus: he is the golden pipe of the conduit of eternal love, the window through which grace shines, the door by which it enters." — Charles Spurgeon (The Cross and Salvation, Bruce Demarest) 
     
    …It does not say, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because they are objectionable.’ It does not say, ‘Blessed are those who are having a hard time in their Christian life because they are being difficult.’ It does not say, ‘Blessed are those who are being persecuted as Christians because they are seriously lacking in wisdom and are really foolish and unwise in what they regard as being their testimony.’ It is not that. There is no need for one to elaborate this, but so often one has known Christian people who are suffering mild persecution entirely because of their own folly, because of something either in themselves or in what they are doing. But the promise does not apply to such people. It is for righteousness’ sake. Let us be very clear about that. We can bring endless suffering upon ourselves, and we can create difficulties for ourselves that are quite unnecessary because we have some rather foolish notion of witnessing and testifying or because, in a spirit of self-righteousness, we really do call it down on our own heads. We are often so foolish in these matters. We are slow to realize the difference between prejudice and principle and we are so slow to understand the difference between being offensive, in a natural sense, because of our particular makeup and temperament, and causing offense because we are righteous.
    - Martyn Lloyd-Jones
     
    8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 
    10 For “Whoever desires to love life
    and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
    and his lips from speaking deceit;
    11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
    let him seek peace and pursue it.
    12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
    13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:8-17)
    38 min
  • Acts 3:1-26 - Repentance, Removal, Refreshment, and Restoration

    Listen along as Mike Gaston continues our series through the book of Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Slide 1
    Title of the Message:
    Repentance, Removal, Refreshment, and Restoration
     
    Slide 2
    Big idea 
     
    As we wait for Jesus to restore all things, refreshment is now available in 
    His presence.
     
    Slide 3
    “The healing story itself is similar to those related in the gospels, but it is related with a fair amount of detail. Peter is able to do the kind of things that Jesus did by acting in the name of Jesus: thus, the continuity between the ministry of Jesus and the witness of the church is expressed…the main point of the story is the continuing power of the name of Jesus to perform the same gracious and healing acts which were signs in the gospels of the coming of the kingdom or rule of God.”
    I.Howard Marshall
     
    Slide 4
    “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.  But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.”
    Acts 3:13-15
     
    Slide 5
    “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.”
    Acts 3:19-21
     
    Slide 6
    True Christian repentance involves a heartfelt conviction of sin, a contrition over the offense to God, a turning away from the sinful way of life, and a turning towards a God-honoring way of life.
    Sam Storms
    Slide 7
    “The word wipe away is a really precious and beautiful word in the New Testament. It’s used, for example, in Revelation 21:4, where it says, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” God is in the business of wiping away sin to prepare people for the wiping away of tears in the age to come.
    John Piper
     
    Slide 8 – Selah logo (sending by email)
     
    Slide 9 – Verse on wall (sending by email)
     
    Slide 10
    “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
    2 Peter 3:11-13
     
    Slide 11
    Big idea 
     
    As we wait for Jesus to restore all things, refreshment is now available in 
    His presence.

     

    46 min
  • Acts 2:42-47 - What a Spirit Filled Church Looks Like

    Listen along as we continue our time in the book of Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Acts 2:42-47

    Haiku - Following Jesus, learning from Him, joining in His mission on earth 

    “The idea of salvation cannot be reduced to a personal relationship with Jesus. God's plan is much more encompassing. God intends for salvation to be a community-creating event.” Joseph Hellerman

    “Long-term interpersonal relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life. People who stay also grow. People who leave do not grow. We all know people who are consumed with spiritual wanderlust. But we never get to know them very well because they cannot seem to stay put. They move along from church to church, ever searching for a congregation that will better satisfy their felt needs. Like trees repeatedly transplanted from soil to soil, these spiritual nomads fail to put down roots and seldom experience lasting and fruitful growth in their Christian lives.” - Joseph Hellerman 

    ”These four go together. You can't separate them, or leave one out, without damage to the whole thing. Where no attention is given to teaching, and to constant, lifelong Christian learning, people quickly refer to the worldview or mindset of the surrounding culture, and end up with their minds shaped by whichever social pressures are most persuasive, with Jesus somewhere around as a pale influence or memory. Where people ignore the common life of the Christian family (the technical term often used is "fellowship", which is more than friendship but not less), they become isolated, and often find it difficult to sustain a living faith. Where people no longer share regularly in 'the breaking of bread' (the early Christian term for the simple meal that took them back to the Upper Room 'in remembrance of Jesus'), they are failing to raise the flag which says 'Jesus' death and resurrection are the centre of everything. And whenever people do all these things but neglect prayer, they are quite simply forgetting that Christians are supposed to be heaven-and earth people. Prayer makes no sense whatever - unless heaven and earth are designed to be joined together, and we can share in that already.”NT Wright

    Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. The doctrine of grace creates a culture of grace. When the doctrine is clear and the culture is beautiful, that church will be powerful. But there are no shortcuts to getting there. Without the doctrine, the culture will be weak. Without the culture, the doctrine will seem pointless. Ray Ortlund

    “Money flows effortlessly to that which is its god.” Tim Keller

    “If the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, then perhaps the love of generosity is the root of all kinds of good.” CS Lewis


    “Prayer, in the sense of union with God, is the most crucifying thing there is. One must do it for God’s sake; but one will not get any satisfaction out of it, in the sense of feeling “I am good at prayer. I have an infallible method.” That would be disastrous, since what we want to learn is precisely our own weakness, powerlessness, unworthiness. Nor ought one to expect “a sense of the reality of the supernatural” of which I speak. And one should wish for no prayer, except precisely the prayer that God gives us—probably very distracted and unsatisfactory in every way.” Henri Nouwen

    40 min
  • Acts 1:1-41 - Pentecost, Preaching, Repentance

    Listen along as we continue our series through Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Acts 2:1-41

    Revelation 7:9-10

    "We formerly rejoiced in uncleanness of life, but now love only chastity; before we used the magic arts, but now dedicate ourselves to the true and unbegotten God; before we loved money and possessions more than anything, but now we share what we have and to everyone who is in need; before we hated one another and killed one another and would not eat with those of another race, but now since the manifestation of Christ, we have come to a common life and pray for our enemies and try to win over those who hate us without just cause.” Justin Martyr

    Is our evangelism a joyful proclamation of what God has done for us or a frantic “workaholic” search for as many scalps for our evangelical belt as we can find? Biblical evangelizing is a twofold commission: to preach and to pray, to talk to people about God and to talk to God about people.” Harvey Conn

    2 Cor 5:17-21

    37 min
  • Acts 1:12-26 - The Space in Between

    Listen along as Anthony continues our series through the book of Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Acts 1:12-26 - Scott Reading
    Title: The Space Between
     
    “To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” 
    - Karl Barth
     
    “One reason why the experiential reality of perceiving God is unfamiliar country today is that the pace and preoccupations of urbanized, mechanized, collectivized, secularized modern life are such that any sort of inner life... is very hard to maintain. To make prayer your life priority, as countless Christians of former days did outside as well as inside the monastery, is stupendously difficult in a world that runs you off your feet and will not let you slow down. And if you attempt it, you will certainly seem eccentric to your peers, for nowadays involvement in a stream of programmed activities is decidedly ‘in,’ and the older ideal of a quiet, contemplative life is just as decidedly ‘out.’ That there is widespread hunger today for more intimacy, warmth, and affection in our fellowship with God is clear... but the concept of Christian life as sanctified rush and bustle still dominates, and as a result the experiential side of Christian holiness remains very much a closed book.” 
    - J.I. Packer
     
    “There are no more lots after the coming of the Holy Spirit. It’s a shame isn’t it? I mean life would be a lot easier if we just had to draw lots to know God’s will, but evidently that’s not how he wants it. The Spirit is who is in our hearts helps makes these things clear. One of my favorite prayers is, God will you make it so clear that there’s no choice? I hate choice. Of the eighteen possible variations, just make seventeen go away will you, because I’m not real bright and I don’t always get these things. I’m still hoping for casting lots to come back into use, but I’m not going to hold my breath.”
    - William Mounce
     
    “As much as modern Christians love to talk about successes, sometimes the failures of the church need airing.”
    - Holman Commentary
     
    {Verse 1}
    Free fall, feet off the ground             
    A clean, white page, fresh snow, no sound       
    Here as we wait, from dark to dawn          
    New paths before us, the old is gone
     
    {Chorus 1}
    Unplug the lights, take down the tree      
    The less we have, the less we need              
    From Christmas night to New Year's Eve           
    We bless the space that’s in between         
    We bless the space that’s in between
     
    {Verse 2}
    December ends, make way for dreams          
    Wait for the light to raise the spring     
    Embrace it all from hope to doubt       
    Like ocean waves washin' in and out
     
    {Chorus 2}
    Two roads apart, come close again       
    Where do you stop? Where do I begin?     
    Each year we learn more what it means            
    We bless the space  that’s in between            
    We bless the space  that’s in between
     
    {Bridge}
    We bless the seeds under the snow
    We bless the patience take it slow
    We bless the limits, bless the tears
    We bless the failures that brought us here
     
    {Verse 3}
    I wipe the frost the glass is cold         
    Our dreams beneath the falling snow        
    Be Thou my vision until I see        
    And bless the space that’s in between
    - Sandra McCracken & Josh Garrels
     
    O Almighty God, you pour out your spirit of grace and of supplication on all who desire it. Deliver us, when we draw near to you, from cold hearts and wandering minds, that with steady thoughts and kindled passion we may worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
    -adapted from the Book of Common Prayer
    33 min
  • Acts 1:1-11 - How Jesus Starts His Church

    Listen along as we begin a series through Acts.

    Notes//Quotes:

    Acts 1:1-11 - Faith 

    "How Jesus Starts His Church"

    ”Customary descriptions of Acts as the story of the church's growth or the story of the spread of the gospel neglect the larger context within which this journey takes place. Although it begins in Israel's leading city, Jerusalem, and ends in the Empire's leading city, Rome, the context of Acts reaches well beyond the cities of the Mediterranean world. Readers who set aside the expectation that Acts is an institutional history, shaped and reshaped by human leaders, will instead see God at work from the beginning until well past the end. God is the one who glorifies Jesus and raises him from the dead, who rescues the apostles from prison, who directs Ananias to baptize Saul, and who insists upon the inclusion of the Gentiles. As Acts unfolds, the audience comes to know God through the activity ascribed to God as well as through the speeches and their claims about God. And the first thing the audience learns is that God is the God of Israel.” Beverly Gaventa


    “The central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism, nor the old Roman Catholicism or the new Roman Catholicism.The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually corporately, tending to do the Lord’s work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them Is it not amazing: though we know the power of the Holy Spirit can be ours, we still ape the world’s wisdom, trust its forms of publicity and its noise, and imitate its ways of manipulating men! If we try to influence the world by using its methods, we are doing the Lord’s work in the flesh. If we put activity, even good activity, at the center rather than trusting God, then there may be the power of the world, but we will lack the power of the Holy Spirit.” - Francis Schaeffer

    “Travelers who desire the predictability of an interstate highway system where all roads look alike and every interchange features three gas stations and two fast-food stores will find this journey more closely resembles A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.” Beverly Gaventa

    Joel 2:28-29

    “For the verb restore shows that the were expecting a political and territorial kingdom; the noun Israel that they were expecting a national kingdom; and the adverbial clause at this time that they were expecting its immediate establishment.”  John Stott

    Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer - Rainer Rilke

    “Some have seen Jesus’s answer as a gentle rebuke to their curiosity: they are to mind their own business and not worry about the end. Others have seen a challenge to the disciple’ narrowly nationalistic view of the kingdom. But these interpretations miss the legitimate eschatological expectation that all Jews, including Jesus and the apostles, held in common. If the last days had come indeed—as all the signs seemed to indicate—then Israel must be restored: this was the first order of business on the prophets’ kingdom agenda! Jesus’s response precisely answers this question: this is how the kingdom is to be restored to Israel so that (in keeping with prophetic promise) the gentiles might soon stream in. Jesus shifts his disciples expectation from when to how.”  - Mike Goheen


    “When the Spirit comes to them and gives them the gift of power, their very identity will be transformed into that of witnesses.” - Darrell Guder 

    “The key question is this: As we work for God in this fallen world, what are we trusting in? To trust in particular methods is to copy the world and to remove ourselves from the tremendous promise that we have something different—the power of the Holy Spirit rather than the power of human technique.” - Francis Schaeffer

    35 min

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