IN A CITY WITH SO MUCH NEED, WHAT DO WE HAVE TO GIVE?

In Acts 3, Peter and John encounter a 40+ year-old man who had been crippled from birth. He was asking those passing by for money. When the two Apostles saw him, they told him that they had no silver or gold to give, but instead had something so much better.

THE GOSPEL IS THE GREATEST TREASURE

What Peter and John had and so willingly gave is the same treasure that we have. While it’s our joy to be merciful to our neighbors with our material resources, the Gospel is in fact the very best we have to give. Listen to last week’s sermon to see the value of the Gospel and to learn how to give the Gospel.

Listen to the sermon here.

After Peter preached the sermon at Pentecost, 3,000 people were saved. These 3,000 people were the first converts of the New Testament church. Luke, the author of Acts, immediately transitions to answer the question, “what were the characteristics and priorities of this first New Testament Church?”. In Acts 2:42-47, we find the essential rhythms of this early church. And because these rhythms are formed and shaped by the timeless Gospel, they reflect the timeless rhythms of the church and stand as a model for the rhythms that should be reflected in the local church of today. Take a listen to the sermon to learn more.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

On the day of Pentecost after Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit fell on the Apostles fulfilling a prophecy from Joel 2 from hundreds of years before. Right after that, Peter preached the first sermon in the history of the Church - to a crowd of thousands upon thousands. This sermon gives us a glimpse into what God sent the Spirit, in part to do - which was to illuminate and guard the truth of the Gospel. This ministry of the Spirit has been passed down to us, giving us assurance the the message we know and hear and preach is the True message of the Gospel. Listen to this past week’s sermon from Acts 2:1-41.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

YOUR ROLE AND BELONGING IN THE CHURCH IS THE BIG STORY ABOUT YOU

During a sweltering outdoor Sunday service, Kyle Houlton preached from Acts 1:12-26 concerning the choosing of Matthias to replace Judas. This story seems random and insignificant at first blush - much like we often view our Christian lives. However, when properly understood, this brief event serves as a major link in the chain of God’s historic and unstoppable vision for His people. It further demonstrates that if you’re a Christian, your role and belonging in the Church is not one random fact about you, but rather the big story about you.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

LIFE CAN BE FRUSTRATING

Life “under the sun” can become wearisome. It can seem repetitive. The outcomes and results of your efforts don’t always match with the success that you had hoped would be produced. But does this amount to meaninglessness? Without God, in a word, yes. But the book of Ecclesiastes was written to bring us to the end of our attempts to find meaning and purpose and success apart from God. If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated with life under the sun, listen to this week’s sermon from guest preacher, Jason Roenicke from Ecclesiastes 1:1-11.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

This past Sunday, Jeff Schlieder preached from Acts 1:1-11 regarding a momentous event in the history of the world - when just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave His followers their “marching orders” until He returns. His essential instruction? To proclaim a message as far as the ends of the earth. Further, He promised to supply the needed power for that proclamation - the Holy Spirit. This message serves as a foundation for the rest of the book of Acts and much of our lives as Christians. Listen to it to learn more.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

ACTS GIVES US THE TIMELESS TRAITS OF THE CHURCH

“If Jesus were here today, He would _________”. How many times have you heard someone say something like this? When we say things like this, it reflects that in order to know how Christians should live, what the Church should be or what the Church should do, the only option we have is to speculate at what Jesus would say or do if He were with us today.

But the point of the book of Acts is that Jesus was on earth, He gave His Church a specific mission, built His Church through His Spirit in a specific way and, as an eternally living Savior, has never told us to do Church differently. We don’t have to guess at what the Church is or should be doing. We have the book of Acts. Listen to last Sunday’s introduction to Acts to learn more.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

The Wilderness Is A Place Of New Beginnings

Things end in the wilderness. Old habits and patterns end. Standards of living come to an end. “The good times” as we knew them often evaporate into past as we walk into the wilderness. But as visible as what’s ending is in the wilderness, God is often using it to create new beginnings. Such was the case with our salvation. Such was the case with Paul when he was converted. Such may be the case for you in the wilderness you’re walking through.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

Jesus Succeeded Where We Failed In The Wilderness

Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness are not about teaching us a lesson about resisting temptation. They’re not even a moral teaching about how we should endure in the wilderness.

Jesus entered the wilderness because Adam, Israel and every one of us had already entered the wilderness over and over again and at every time had failed to follow God without sin in the wilderness. In light of this, we can understand that what Matthew 4:1-11 is about is Jesus’ perfect wilderness wandering. He is the suffering servant. He came to stand in our place. Not only on the cross, but in His life, as He succeeded at every point we had failed. Listen to this week’s sermon and learn the central and most important lesson we could each possibly learn - belief in Jesus - about how to successfully walk through the wilderness.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

What If You’re Part Of The Reason You’re In The Wilderness?

The hard truth is that sometimes, the wilderness is the experience of facing the consequences of our own actions. But if and when this is the case, does it mean that God has turned His back on you? Does it mean God has left you? For those who are in Christ, the answer is “no”. The fact of the matter is that when our own sin is the reason we’re in the wilderness, God has led us into the wilderness to draw us as sons and daughters and people of promise back to Him. Listen to this week’s sermon from 2 Kings 24:10-17 to learn that God exiles us from what draws us away from Him.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.