Afleveringen
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Julia Allan continues our Acts series by focusing on Acts 19:8-20. It's a story that demonstrates the power of Jesus' name. Jesus' name is capable of healing people, liberating people from sin and darkness, and leading people out of bondage to the occult and into the freedom of the Kingdom. But, many of us want Jesus' power without wanting His lordship. We want healing and liberation without submission. If we're going to be people who demonstrate and live out Jesus' power, we must be humble and submitted to Jesus, and we must know His power is meant to advance His name, not ours.
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It's Easter, the day we gather to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. This year, Pastor Dennis focused on John 20 and the story of the empty tomb, Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene, and how Jesus, in His death and resurrection fulfills the work God had entrusted to Adam and Israel. Jesus, through His death, creates a royal priesthood whose sins are forgiven and, through His resurrection, He invites His people into His kingdom mission of making all things new. God's begun His work of new creation and we're all invited to join in!
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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This week, Palm Sunday, Pastor Shaq Hager walked through Matthew 1:11 (CSB), the story of Jesus' triumphal entry. When Jesus entered into Jerusalem the crowds met Him like they would a conquering king, bringing their expectations to Jesus, anticipating Him to be a Messiah who would overthrow Roman rule and restore Israel to a place of cultural and political prominence. The crowds, in many ways, missed Jesus because they were distracted by their own desires. How might we be distracted from seeing and hearing the real Jesus this Holy Week?
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This week Benjamin Chua continues our Acts series. Paul is in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-7) and he meets a group of people who haven't heard about the Holy Spirit. It becomes a conversation about two different baptisms - John's baptism and baptism in Jesus' name. Paul lays his hands on them, prays for them, they receive the Spirit and beginning speaking in tongues and prophesying. Yet, this passage is about so much more than speaking in tongues and prophesy. It's about identity, belonging, gifting, and how we as individuals and a community experience salvation as a pouring out so others can be invited in, so the church can be built up, and so we can join in to Jesus' life and invite the world to "Come!" (Rev. 22:17)
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This week, Carrie Buckner walks through Acts 17:10-15 (NIV). In these six verses Paul and Silas arrive in Berea where they visit the Jewish synagogue and reason from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah. Luke, the author of Acts, makes it clear the Berean Jews receive Paul's message with open minds and eager hearts, ready to examine the Scriptures to see if what Paul claims about Jesus is true. It's a stark contrast to the Jews in Thessalonica who hear Paul's Gospel and start a riot (Acts 17:1-9 NIV). The Berean Jews were willing to doubt their own beliefs and reexamine their Scriptures in light of Paul's Gospel proclamation. What if we, too, were free to doubt trusting that on the other side of our doubts we might find a stronger, more vibrant faith?
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In Acts 16:11-15 Paul encounters a group of women praying. One of those women, Lydia, is a well-resourced business person. She hears the Gospel and believes, and then her house becomes the place the Philippian church uses as its home base. Paul and his companions stay with Lydia, she resources their ministry, and she leads in the church. Pastor Shaq Hager discusses how this story lays the foundation for why women should be empowered to lead in the church.
Note: The first few seconds of the sermon were not recorded due to an audio issue.
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In Acts 16:6-10 Paul, Silas, and Timothy are continually “kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word…” Honestly, it doesn’t make sense. Jesus, Himself, commissioned the church to go and make disciples of all nations. Paul and his team wanted to proclaim the Gospel. So, why would the Spirit prevent them? What was Paul missing? It seems Paul was intent on going a direction the Spirit didn’t want him to, at least not at this time. So, through a vision, Paul discerns the Spirit’s leading and his team agrees. But how did Paul discern the Spirit’s leading? How did he posture himself to hear? Prayer.
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What does it mean for followers of Jesus to be free? Paul talks about freedom in his letters, including 1 Corinthians. For Paul his freedom isn't just so he can live however he wants. His freedom is something to be used, sacrificed even, and for a purpose. But, then, what is our freedom in Jesus for? That's what Pastor Dennis talked through this week as we restarted our study of Acts. We focused on Acts 16:1-5, the story of Paul meeting Timothy and inviting Timothy to join his ministry team.
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In the third week of our Advent series Pastor Dennis Allan walks through Joseph's story in Matthew 1:18-25. It's the story of a faithful person who knows God's ways and character, acts with compassion and mercy, and submits himself fully to God. Joseph endured public scorn and shame, relinquished control over his life and his family's life, and even risked his and his family's physical well-being and safety. All because of the joy set before him. Joy isn't an emotion so much as it's a state of being. It's knowing that even though we may endure scorn and give up control over our lives, we're deeply loved by God, that we get to be in relationship with the Savior of the world, and that we get to participate in His ongoing redemptive work.
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This week Julia Allan continued our Advent series by focusing on the story of Mary's disorienting visit with the angel Gabriel. Mary is a young woman from a village so small and insignificant it wasn't included on maps. And yet, this unknown and unimportant person experiences God's unmerited kindness as her entire life is upended with the news that she is pregnant and will carry and give birth to a son named Jesus who is to be the Savior of the world. We see Mary experience peace at a time when she should've experienced great turmoil. We can experience peace, too, by engaging the spiritual practices of worship, prayer, and submission. Mary's humility and faithfulness show us how the peace of God is available to us when we most need it.
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This week Carrie Buckner started our 2023 Advent series by sharing Luke's story of Zechariah (Luke 1:5-23). It's a story of hope marked by waiting. Zechariah had lost hope that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would ever have a child. And then one day while Zechariah was going about his work an angel appeared to him and informed him his wife would give birth to a baby boy. He laughed at the absurdity of the angel's message - Zechariah and Elizabeth were old, after all. They'd hoped and hoped and then let go of hope. Waiting, after all, can cause us to abandon hope. The story of Jesus' arrival, though, is one of hope fulfilled through waiting. Israel's long-promised Messiah and the world's redemption would come. Because, God is a promise-keeping God. And God will fulfill God's promises to God's people.
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This week Pastor Dennis Allan walks us through Acts 15:36-41. Paul and Barnabas have just returned from Jerusalem where they advocated for unity in the early church between Jewish and Gentile Christians. But, as they prepare for their second missionary journey, they get into a sharp disagreement and unity is unfindable. It's a sorrowful moment, a moment where two of the early church's most influential people yell, scream, and say things to one another that never should've been said. We have arguments like this, too. Where our faces turn red and we say things we wish we hadn't to people we love. So, how can we better engage conflict? And how does this story offer hope that even our most broken relationships might one day be reconciled?
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This week Pastor Shaq Hager walked through Acts 15:22-35 where Luke records the story of the Jerusalem Council sending a letter to the Gentile Christians in Antioch informing them they don't have to become Jewish to be Christians. The Jerusalem Council drafts a letter and then sends it to Antioch with Judas and Silas, as well as Paul and Barnabas. It matters so much to the Jerusalem Council for the Gentile Christians to know they belong, to know they don't have to conform to Judaism, to know that they're fully accepted as they are, that they send a letter with representatives. To what lengths will we go to communicate to outsiders that they can belong, too? How hard will we work so that minority groups can be welcomed into the church, too?
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This week Pastor Dennis Allan talked through Acts 15:1-21 (NIV), a passage frequently referred to as “the Jerusalem Council.” It’s a story about differing factions within the new Jesus-movement believing they know best how to honor God and do life together. There’s a conservative, Jewish-Christian group that is demanding loyalty to Jewish customs and rituals for both Jew and Gentile. And, there are Gentile-Christians who want to follow Jesus and be part of the church, but not be required to become Jewish to do so. A significant argument occurs, a meeting of the Jerusalem and Antioch church leaders is scheduled, and together everyone seeks the Spirit’s guiding for how to move forward. And where does the Spirit lead? Toward unity, not uniformity.
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This week, Pastor Dennis leads a conversation on how Saul became Paul by tracing Saul’s story from his introduction in Acts 8 to the conclusion of his first missionary journey in Acts 14. When Luke introduces Saul into the Acts narrative, Saul is at the top of Jewish life - educated by the renowned rabbi, Gamaliel, and a member of the Sanhedrin, Saul was acquainted with power. But Jesus finds Saul along the Damascus Road and invites him into a journey, a roughly thirteen year journey, where Saul will step out of the limelight and into obscurity. Because it’s here, in obscurity that Jesus will build into Saul everything he needs to fulfill his destiny as Paul (a name that means “humble”). And, it’s oftentimes in similar seasons that Jesus will do the same kind of work in us. Saul entered the valley with Jesus and became new. We can, too.
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This week, Pastor Shaq walked through Acts 14:8-20 (NIV). There, Paul proclaims the good news of the Gospel in Lystra and Derbe, two cities that seem to have no knowledge of God, but instead a very familiar with Greek and Roman gods. Paul speaks persuasively, arguing that Jesus is the one true God. In doing so, he invites his original audience to turn away from their false gods and follow Jesus. It’s an invitation for us to wrestle with today.
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This week Pastor Dennis Allan talked through Acts 13:13-52, the story of Paul and Barnabas proclaiming the Gospel in Pisidian Antioch. Pisidian Antioch was a military city with nationalist tendencies and dependent on the emperor. The most impressive structure in the city was the Temple of Augustus, otherwise known as the Imperial Sanctuary. When Paul preaches the Gospel he uses specific language, like “savior,” “good news,” and “son of god,” all language used to describe the emperor. But, Paul ascribes it to Jesus. According to Paul, Jesus is the one Savior, the true Good News, and the only Son of God. By revealing the emperor to be empty of power, Paul names identifies the way the people of Pisidian Antioch have built their lives on sand, not rock. It’s an invitation for us to allow the Gospel to reveal the ways we’ve done the same.
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This week, Pastor Dennis continues our study of the Book of Acts by focusing the conversation on Acts 13:1-3. The leaders of the church in Antioch were gathered together worshiping, fasting, and praying when the Spirit spoke to them and instructed them to send Saul and Barnabas on what would become their first missionary journey. So many of us want to hear God speak. We want to walk in step with and be led by the Spirit. And yet, we’re choosing to gratify our flesh instead of crucifying it. Fasting is a spiritual practice we can engage that will shape us into the image of Jesus. What if fasting leads to hearing, knowing, and experiencing more of Jesus?
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Pastor Dennis Allan continues our study of the book of Acts, focusing on Acts 11:19-30 (NIV). Luke begins telling the story of the church in Antioch and, in telling the story, four things rise to the surface that appear to be values the early church in Antioch embraced: empowering every day people to live out Jesus’ Kingdom mission, building an inclusive church that made space for people of different ethnicities, races, and religious backgrounds, raising up humble leaders who encouraged people, and practicing generosity. What might it look like for us to be a people, individually and corporately, who embrace these values in our own communities?
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This week Pastor Dennis talked through Acts 11:1-18, the story of Peter returning to Jerusalem after sharing the Gospel with and baptizing Cornelius’ household and being met with criticism from a faction of Jewish Christians. This faction of Jewish Christians believes that Gentiles, in order to become full members of the church, have to accept Jesus and convert to Judaism. This is the only way this faction of people believe the church can find unity - every person holding the and agreeing upon the same theology, biblical interpretation, and religious practice. Peter, though, pushes back. Is unity found through uniformity or is it found in Jesus alone?
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