Families just fight sometimes, don’t they? I have yet to meet a family of humans who didn’t have a few tensions somewhere along the way. When a family finds itself at odds with each other, it doesn’t always mean something is drastically wrong, the issue is, how to handle the dispute. The family of God is really no different, and we are bound to disagree with each other along the way – but how do we go about handling those differences?

We’re coming back to our study in Acts this Sunday, and we’ll be looking at Acts 6:1-7.

As the church has gotten bigger it’s started to experience growing pains. A dispute arises that ran across cultural boundaries: the Hellenistic Jewish people were feeling mistreated by the Hebraic Jewish people, a subject you can get a little more insight about at this LINK.

As you read this section consider how you would feel if it seemed like you were being unfairly ignored by the church. What would you do to address it?

Often times, when there are differences of opinion or a divergence in cultural tastes, the church has historically divided up. Does that seem to be an option for the church in Jerusalem? What can we learn about the basis for our unity from this passage?

What solution did the apostles arrive at? How important do you think the teaching of the Word and prayer are for the life of the church?  In what ways can we all begin to see ourselves as minsters that promote the well-being of the church? How can we create a culture that facilitates and encourages an expansion of ministry in our church?

The apostles didn’t get angry because people complained. They didn’t get defensive or demand unquestioning loyalty. Instead, they chose people from the very demographic who felt marginalized to represent the ministerial response. What can we learn from their attitude and action?

Let’s get inspired by our older Brothers and Sisters and see how we can follow the path that they blazed!

 “…life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, life finds a WAY!” ~ Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

I really like that movie – and I always enjoy Dr. Malcolm’s description of the power of life. He, of course, is couching his description in the course of natural evolution – but I like to imagine his description applying to The Life – the redeemed life found in Christ. And it’s not so much that God’s life finds a way, but that God makes a way.

We’re going to be reading Acts 5:12-42 in our study this Sunday, continuing our way through the book of Acts.

Luke again repeats a pattern started in chapter 4, where we see the good being done by the infant church resisted and opposed by the powers that be. We can get the message…this new life that God is forming in us is going to be resisted by the systems and patterns of this broken world.

What are the ways, besides just human antagonism, that we can find ourselves being resisted in our journey of faith in Christ? Have you ever been moving in the right direction only to find everything going wrong in your life? What is your greatest temptation in those times?

I love the words of the angel in this passage:  “Go to the Temple and take your stand. Tell the people everything there is to say about this Life.” What encouragement can you derive from those words?

The speech given by Gamaliel in the final section of this passage is quite profound. “If this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.” In other words…this Life is unstoppable. His words were spoken over 2,000 years ago. If 2,000 years of hardships, pressures and persecutions could not stop this Life…what will be able to stop God’s redeeming life in you?

Hope to see you this Sunday!

What is the most common complaint leveled at the church throughout history? “Church is just full of hypocrites”, right? It’s not an unreasonable complaint, it’s just that the scope of that observation is too narrow, because, really, the whole world is full of hypocrites. We’re just prone to that folly as humans.

In our study of Acts this week, we’ll be reading chapter 4:32 through chapter 5:11. It has one of the most somber warnings about hypocrisy in the whole New Testament…maybe the whole Bible.

Chapter four ends on a really high note, describing how the infant church went about caring for each other in community. V 33 says that “great grace was upon them all” as a means of explaining the impetus for this sort of interdependent care. Why do you think experiencing God’s grace is a significant factor in community care and concern?

Chapter four is sort of the set-up, the backdrop for the events that unfold in the first eleven verses of chapter 5.

This is pretty difficult stuff to process. The question that persists is: why would God treat this particular sin so severely and immediately? It is a good question. Contrary to popular opinion, this sort of prompt judgment is highly unusual in the Bible. As best as I can tell, this sin was dealt a quick strike because it sets the tone for the intended character of the church. It never happens again in the New Testament – not sure about the church through history. Obviously, if God decided to strike down everyone guilty of sin in the church, none of us would survive. This particular event must be intended to send a strong message…one we need to pay careful heed to.

The issue doesn’t seem to be about the amount of money given or withheld, at least according to v4. The real issue seems to be in v3.  A deception wrapped in spirituality. Religious hypocrisy.

When we think about it, who did Jesus level his most serious charges against? Prostitutes? Tax-robbers? Adulterers? No, he seemed to treat them with surprising tenderness. In actuality, Jesus reserved his strongest rebukes for the Pharisees. What did he often call them? What does Jesus warn about in Luke 12:1?

Why do you think religious hypocrisy such an important threat to the church that God would have dealt with it so severely in this passage? What does the nature of this judgement tell us about why hypocrisy is so dangerous to us?

What ways can you think of that we can avoid religious hypocrisy in our church community? What about in our individual lives?

It should prove to be a thought-provoking study!

Have you ever been mistreated by someone else?

Ha! That was a rhetorical question. If you’re reading this it means you are from planet earth, and if you live on planet earth you have been treated poorly by someone, somewhere along the way, because that’s just how things work on a broken planet.

How did you feel when you were ill treated, misunderstood or unjustly marginalized? What did you want to do in response?

It’s hard to experience something like that, largely because we feel so out of control. We are in a section in our study of the book of Acts where the leadership of the first church has now experienced unjust sanctions against their ministry by the powers that be. This Sunday we’ll be reading about how they  responded to such mistreatment, as we explore Acts 4:23-31.

In our text, who did Pete and John go to as soon as they were released from captivity? Do you think the alliances we choose in times of trouble can dictate the course we take in response to that trouble?

When they all get together and hear the threat leveled against them…what do they do? Is that a natural response for you to have when someone has hurt you?

What is it about God’s nature that they remind themselves of in v24? What bearing does that have on their situation?

They go on to quote Psalm 2 in their prayer. They see it as a forecast of things that have already taken place in the experience that Jesus had before Pilate and Herod, as well as the mob. Read that psalm in it’s entirety. What sort of picture do you get from v4 of that psalm? How can it comfort us to gain a picture of what goes on, behind the scenes, when we are faced with bad treatment and difficult people?

When the prayer ended, the room got shaken and they got stirred. In their prayer, did they ask for deliverance from persecution? Did they ask for vengeance on their oppressors? What did they ask for? What did God do for them to embolden them in their mission? What does that tell us about our source of strength to overcome difficulty, and how would you go about asking God for that source?

That was a lot of questions, I know. Hopefully it will prove to be an encouraging study as we learn from our older brothers and sisters of the early church. See yer’ Sunday!

With all of the things going on in the world – with a multitude of Christian leaders pressing their issues – with so many, many causes that vie for our attention, it’s not easy to figure out what the “main thing” is when it comes to our Christian walk. It can sometimes be difficult to know where our focus should be, and sometimes all of these various issues and causes can confuse us as to what the Good News really is.

This Sunday we’re going to continue our study in the book of Acts, reading Acts 3:11-26. Right on the heels of an amazing miracle taking place in Jesus’ name, Peter finds a lame excuse for preaching (Get it? The guy was formerly lame…..sort of like that joke). Anyway, Peter finds himself, yet again, explaining an amazing event to a gathering crowd.

The very first thing Peter does is redirect the crowd’s attention. He wants them focused – but where, and on whom? What does that tell us about where our focus should be, as a church and as the individuals who make up the church?

Next, in v19 he calls them to teshuva – repentance. To repent means to turn around, to change your mind. The crowd that Peter is addressing rejected Jesus as Messiah and Lord – so Pete is telling them to change their mind. Repentance means that we were living one sort of life and now we’re called to live a different sort of life. What does that tell us about the focus of our Christian journey?

In v20-21 Peter points to God’s intended conclusion for this story. What is it? What do you understand “times of refreshing” to be? How can they be a forecast of what God has in mind? How can that help us to develop a stronger focus for our understanding of the Good News?

Hope you’re getting all your Christmas shopping done – and hope to see you on Sunday!

Have you ever encountered people with great needs and felt overwhelmed at their plight? I think that’s one reason why ordinarily good people still find it easier to not make eye contact with the street person, because of the fear that comes with not knowing what to do to help.  Sometimes its easier to just turn a blind eye to problems than to face them with no idea of how to fix them. I know I’ve wrestled with that in my own experiences.

We may look at ourselves and think that we have limited resources or no noticeable skills and discount any contribution that we could make in advancing the kingdom of God…but the passage we’ll be reading this Sunday in our study in Acts will challenge our thinking about that. We’ll be reading Acts 3:1-10.

As you read the passage, consider the setting (v1-3). Where does this event take place, and what is the situation that sets this stage? Who are the characters involved, and what is each of them doing? In what ways could you picture this arrangement as symbolic of the world’s plight?

Everything about the scene is familiar and even normal in the current system of things until we get to v4. From there, the story takes a radical turn.  The MLFB (man lame from birth) looks expectantly to Pete and Jack. What do you think he was expecting from them? They explain they are cashless, but their lack of resources does not limit their sense of ministry one iota. Pete explains that he will give what he has…so what does he offer? How does this challenge our understanding of ministering when we have limited resources of our own?

If we follow the chain of events, what is the first thing Peter does with this man in v4 and 5? What significance do you see in this exchange of attention?

Some believe this account is a blueprint to follow, expecting that everyone who is prayed for in Jesus’ name will be healed if a person can muster enough faith – others see it as exemplary of the redemption found in the activity of Christ through his church – still others see it as simply a one-off sign to confirm the validity of first church’s claims about Christ. Do you share one of these views, or have an opinion about this to expound on?

What is the result of this event (v9-10)? On a scale of 1-5, with one being extremely low and five being extremely high – how would you rate your expectancy when it comes to miracles occurring?   In what ways can we start to remove our sense of limitations when it comes to our participation in advancing God’s kingdom?

I really love this passage and everything that follows – it should prove to be an encouraging/challenging study! Hope to see you Sunday.

Less than a week before Thanksgiving – my hope is that everyone is able to share this with friends and family – yet no matter our circumstances, we all have much to be thankful for; chief of which is God’s redeeming love for us! We’re going to be considering God’s redemptive plan for creation in our study this Sunday, as we read Acts 2:14-41. Its a lot of verses, but they read pretty quickly.

Peter is going to be sharing what is essentially the very first message of the gospel given by the church. Read through the sermon, but outline it thusly:

a) verses 14-21, the fulfilling of prophesy

b) verses 22- 36, the means by which the prophesy has been fulfilled

c) verses 37-41, the response to the fulfillment

What promise is focused on in part A? What is the means by which the promise has come to pass in part B? What is the emphasis and meaning of part C? In answering those questions, we have the core components of what the good news, the gospel, is. What characteristics jump out at you as you read this sermon by Peter? How does it square with your, or even the modern evangelical church’s explanation of the gospel? Does this challenge any of your ideas of what the good news is, and if so, how?

I’m really stoked about this study…hope to see you this Sunday!

This Sunday we’ll be reading Acts 2:1-13 as we continue our study of the Ragamuffin Revolution.

It’s interesting that this passage begins with everyone together – united in one place, yet nothing has polarized the Evangelical church in the last century like this passage. Jesus commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from the Holy Spirit to enable them to advance the Kingdom of God on this earth. Here in chapter 2 events take an exciting turn as that promise is fulfilled.

Luke tells us that this happens on the day of Pentecost. If you follow the previous link to learn about Pentecost/Shavuot, what significance can you discern about God choosing that day to fulfill his promise of the coming Holy Spirit?

Three distinct phenomena accompanied the coming of the Holy Spirit – the sound of a rushing wind, light which appeared like fire flickering over the heads of those present, and the recipients began to speak in languages that were unknown to them. All of these become significant representations of the nature of this new covenant we now have in Christ. The noise and fire correspond with the events surrounding God’s appearance on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:16-20. The idea of wind corresponds with the creation account, where God breathed into Adam to give him life. Fire is often the representation of purification and righteousness. New covenant, new life and purification; these are the attributes of this new covenant. How does the Holy Spirit advance this in your life?

Speaking in tongues is a dicey subject for some people. There are a lot of people who act almost embarrassed that Acts 2:4 is even in the Bible. Have you ever experienced this phenomena or been in an environment where others practiced it? What was the experience like – positive or negative? There was a specific reason for this happening in the account in Acts 2, what was it? Paul mentions speaking in tongues later on in 1 Cor 14:14-15 and indicates that the experience is valuable for him, so its hard to think that this experience has no relevance in our modern church. What do you think – is this intriguing to you, or not?

The section finishes up with some people mocking the disciples, saying that they sounded drunk. Not everyone will appreciate what God is doing in our lives and in the world around us. What can we learn about the way we are treated by some in this world?

Well…it should prove to be a provocative study…hope to see you then!