WestGate Church Teaching

In Acts 7, Stephen is brutally murdered because of his beliefs about Jesus Christ, marking him as the first martyr in the Christian faith. But before he’s killed, Stephen gives an epic 53-verse speech that shows us something amazing: that God’s been on a mission to rescue humanity since the very beginning. South Hill Campus Pastor Andy Gridley says that it’s time we paid attention to Stephen’s final moments because they are filled with hope for all of us, even today.

This week, WestGate Church lead pastor Steve Clifford talks about some of the great contrasts in the early church. We see them in great unity, doing signs and wonders.  Then, not long after, they are split in division and hypocrisy. And in Acts 5, we watch as God strikes down a married couple named Ananias and Sapphira for pretending to be more generous than they were.  Crazy stuff. What lessons do these bizarre (and frightening) stories offer us about what it means to live life with God?

This week, WestGate Church lead pastor Steve Clifford talks about some of the great contrasts in the early church. We see them in great unity, doing signs and wonders.  Then, not long after, they are split in division and hypocrisy. And in Acts 5, we watch as God strikes down a married couple named Ananias and Sapphira for pretending to be more generous than they were.  Crazy stuff. What lessons do these bizarre (and frightening) stories offer us about what it means to live life with God?

What if life together in the community of Jesus is a lot like trying to traverse an Austrian Glacier Field?  What if, despite all indications to the contrary, it's really a life-and-death matter? What if we need each other more than we know.  Worship Pastor Josh Fox talks delves into the revolutionary community we find in Acts 4 and explores what would it look like to connect together as if our lives depended on it.  Because maybe it does.

What if life together in the community of Jesus is a lot like trying to traverse an Austrian Glacier Field?  What if, despite all indications to the contrary, it's really a life-and-death matter? What if we need each other more than we know.  Worship Pastor Josh Fox talks delves into the revolutionary community we find in Acts 4 and explores what would it look like to connect together as if our lives depended on it.  Because maybe it does.

In Acts 3, we are reintroduced to the Apostle Peter, but it's a vastly different character than the one who denied Jesus three times.  Christian tradition teaches that Peter stayed the course, finished the well and was eventually executed because of his faith in Jesus.  WestGate lead pastor Steve Clifford puts forth the case that the only plausible explanation for this change in Peter is that he saw the resurrected Christ.  It changed Peter.  And if we see Him, it might just change us, too.

In Acts 3, we are reintroduced to the Apostle Peter, but it's a vastly different character than the one who denied Jesus three times.  Christian tradition teaches that Peter stayed the course, finished the well and was eventually executed because of his faith in Jesus.  WestGate lead pastor Steve Clifford puts forth the case that the only plausible explanation for this change in Peter is that he saw the resurrected Christ.  It changed Peter.  And if we see Him, it might just change us, too.

If the Bible is a mountain range, then Acts 2 is one of the highest peaks in the book.  In Acts 2, something astonishing happens: Pentecost.  Pentecost is a reminder and parallel to when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.  WestGate Church lead pastor Steve Clifford explains how in Pentecost we see a new gift coming down - not a written law carved on stone tablets, but the very Spirit of God, a dynamic, in-dwelling presence designed to be written on human hearts.

If the Bible is a mountain range, then Acts 2 is one of the highest peaks in the book.  In Acts 2, something astonishing happens: Pentecost.  Pentecost is a reminder and parallel to when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.  WestGate Church lead pastor Steve Clifford explains how in Pentecost we see a new gift coming down - not a written law carved on stone tablets, but the very Spirit of God, a dynamic, in-dwelling presence designed to be written on human hearts.

We use the term "all in" to describe a high level of commitment.  But for the group of early Christians we meet in the Book of Acts, to be "all in" was to be identified with a cause that would most likely cost them their lives.  WestGate Church lead pastor Steve Clifford kicks off this 11-week series studying the first half of the Book of Acts, which records the miraculous and intriguing first few years of the early church.  And in examining this community, we find that being "all in" still costs us today. It is a call to vulnerability. It is a call to generosity.  It's a call to a constant death to self and calibrating our lives to be “others centered.”