On Sunday, Jason Roenicke preached from Acts 13-14. These two chapters represent the first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul. They also represent the initial fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that His disciples would be witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). But taking the message of the Gospel would be met with adversity and hot opposition, as became abundantly clear for Paul from the outset. Persevering in the mission, then, requires courage. Where does this courage come from? What does courage look like? Where do we go to find courage that will sustain a lifetime of witnessing to the name of Jesus in a world that’s opposed to Him? Listen to Sunday’s message to learn more.

Listen to the sermon here.

PRAY NOT BECAUSE YOU SHOULD, BUT BECAUSE YOU CAN

2021 is likely to bring more of the same as 2020. In the last message that was preached in our advent series before the new year, we were reminded that our hope can’t rest in a better year. It must rest in the gifts given at Christ’s first coming and the securing of all God’s promises in Christ at His second coming. But during the in between, what does it practically look like to hope in Christ? Acts 12 and, in fact, the book of Acts as a whole teaches us that prayer is the single greatest tool - and often the single most underutilized tool - that we as Christians have at our disposal.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

RECEIVING HOPE IN BETWEEN TWO ADVENTS

1 Pet. 1:3-9 describes both the gifts God has given in Christ and the promised gifts yet to be received. At His first coming (or “Advent”), Jesus came bearing new birth, forgiveness from sin and the gift of His Spirit, all of which we receive through faith in His name now. Yet, there are still gifts - namely an eternal inheritance, which we have yet to receive, but which God has promised to us when His Son returns (the second “Advent”). So as receivers of these gifts and promises, how do we live in the in-between? In the face of a 2021 that’s likely to look a whole lot like 2020, how do the gifts and promises of the two advents inform how we live in between the two advents? Listen to the final sermon in our 2020 Christmas series to learn more.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

THE FATHER GIVES HIS BEST TO THE WORST

The generosity of God Father is astounding, pure and simple. It’s rivaled by no one and nothing in the created realm. So great is it that it’s hard to get our arms around it to grasp and appreciate its magnitude, but 1 John 4:14 helps us. How? By teaching us simply that the Father sent His Son. What’s contained in this simple statement is the reality that God the Father’s relationship to Jesus is that of divine father and son - a perfect relationship comprised of perfect love, perfect unity and perfect harmony. The Son is the Father’s greatest treasure. What further deepens our appreciation, though, is the consideration of who the Son was sent for. To learn more and grow in your gratitude for God’s generosity toward you in the Gospel, listen to last Sunday’s sermon.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

IF WE LOSE THE VIRGIN BIRTH, WE LOSE A SINLESS SAVIOR

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is a critical member of the cast of Christmas. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary announcing that she would be with child, she reasonably questioned how this might be since she was a virgin. In Luke 1:35, Gabriel’s response explains that it would happen by the generous activity of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit’s work in the virgin birth, we receive an invaluable treasure in a sinless Savior - a baby born with a fully divine nature, equipped with the very power of God to save, and born with a fully human nature, yet without sin, qualified to stand in our place and take the penalty for our sin. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to learn about the wondrous gift of the Holy Spirit at Christmas.

Listen to last Sunday’s sermon here.

WHERE DO YOU LOOK DURING TIMES OF ADJUSTMENT FOR STABILITY AND CERTAINTY?

The early church was undergoing a massive, even historic, change in Acts 11. Peter was making some big claims. Things were happening that were unprecedented among God’s people. Jesus’ disciples were having to adjust. In that adjustment, God graciously provided evidence that He indeed was behind this movement; He provided proof of His presence to assure His people that making this adjustment was something that He had ordained and He would give grace for. For us, 2020 has been a season of constant adjustment. Where do you look for stability and courage? The proof of God’s presence is all around you. You might just need to open your eyes to it …

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

JESUS IS THE COMMON LORD OF OUR UNCOMMON LIVES

Equality is such a universally sought-after idea this day and age that it hardly sounds uniquely Christian to say that Jesus came to “break down the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:14) between peoples. However, Acts 10 tells the story of Peter’s vision and the conversion of Cornelius - a gentile - during a time when only Jews were understood to have the privilege of God’s blessing. So long as equality and unity were on the basis of shared outward characteristics, some would always be excluded - that’s why it’s such a difficult and seemingly impossible thing to achieve today. But the kind of unity Jesus achieved through His blood and the unity that was demonstrated through the conversion of Cornelius is one that is unique. It’s better. There’s nothing like it in the world. Because it’s a unity and equality that transcends our outward characteristics and is found in a common Lord - Jesus Christ. Listen to the sermon to learn more.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

IT’S NEVER TOO BAD FOR JESUS TO TURN THINGS AROUND

Have you ever reached a point in your life when you became convinced that you were on an irreversible course? That the narrative of the rest of your life has already been written by your sins or your mistakes or your circumstances? Of the many themes in the book of Acts, one of the most prominent is reversal. At the cross, Jesus accomplished the greatest reversal in history, yet after He ascends, Acts tells the story of a risen and reigning Jesus who still turns things around for His glory. Acts 9:32-43 gives two poignant examples of just how true this is as Jesus, through Peter, reverses two otherwise utterly irreversible conditions. Listen to this last Sunday’s sermon and be filled with the hope of a Jesus who can and will turn things around for you.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

THE MOST FAMOUS CONVERSION IN HISTORY

The conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus - it’s likely the most well known conversion story of any Christian ever. And while it’s accompanied with extraordinary circumstances (blinding light, audible confrontation by Jesus) which shouldn’t be expected as the norm for most Christian conversions, we do nevertheless discover in Saul’s encounter the nuts and bolts of every Christian conversion.

On a Sunday when we transitioned to a new name, how appropriate in God’s providence that the common thread of Saul’s conversion found in all moments of conversion is God’s sovereign grace through His cross of grace. Listen to this Sunday’s sermon to learn more about how God saves sinners and what stands at the core of our name and who we are.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

GOD, THE TIMELESS PURSUER OF THE LOST

A Hellenistic Jew, a Samaritan and an Ethiopian eunuch walk into a restaurant …

It’s not a setup to a bad joke, but instead what Acts chapter 8 appears to be on the surface - three seemingly unrelated stories about three individuals and groups of people. What ties them together? The principle that God is about the business of saving people - individual people. In Christ, He has created a people (plural) for His own possession, but every single person He has called to Himself, He personally pursues with love and grace. Acts 8 teaches us that neither distance not defiance can stop or hinder God’s gracious pursuit of lost souls.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.