Athens, it was the intellectual and cultural capital of the world. Paul went to reason in the marketplaces and synagogues there, to bring the gospel to the people there. He comes up against two very distinct people groups with very resolved beliefs and accepted social structures. But Paul was bringing them something new, a REAL God, to them, an unknown God. Listen along as Brad teaches through the rest of Acts 17.
In Acts we have seen the beginnings of the church as they spread across the known world with new ones springing up in cities everywhere. We come to Acts chapter 17 where 2 of the apostles come to 2 cities, Berea and Thessalonica. "... the Jews there were more noble than the rest." Listen along to hear the unpacking of why they were more noble due to their great faith, submission, and humility.
The Romans didn’t care about this ‘Jesus’ being another God that people worshipped. People everywhere worshipped all sorts of gods. Why would one more matter? But the Jews understand something in the language that the Romans do not. And this small nuance, this little detail, makes all the difference in the world. When Paul presents Jesus as the Christ, as the Messiah, he’s presenting him as KING. That’s what the Messiah is. That’s who the Christ is. THE KING of all kings. So he’s spreading this ...
Looking at our text for the day out of Acts 16 has really solidified for Brad personally, WHY he is a Christian. We look at 3 different stories of people and how they encountered the power and grace of Jesus in their own individual way. The Gospel showed them a life that was more meaningful than the one they were living.
One of the often overlooked aspects of the gospel’s increased popularity in the world was WHO the people became, the people who started following Jesus. It turns out that there was something about their lives - something about WHO they were, that drew people in. How can we daily become individuals and a community like this? It all starts with the gospel
There are several different types of blindness: physical, spiritual, mental, but all of them mean having a lack of sight. Jesus came to heal every part of us, including our ability to see ourselves and others as He does. Pastor Keith Jenkins from Beaverton Oregon taught an engaging and challenging message on the power of a touch of God healing all our forms of blindness.
From the beginning of this series we've been studying the book of Acts to learn the history and beginnings of the first church so we might duplicate it today. What if we lived like they did? Not just behaviorally, but with the sense of the gospel of Jesus Christ resting on our shoulders to carry to the world. In today's message Brad focuses on the culture then and the culture of our world today and how we can be a part of a story so much greater than the empty one our culture is telling us. Empt...
We all know we need change in areas of our lives, but we just can't seem to change ourselves. We can't seem to make ourselves into the person we want to be. The amazing thing is, not matter what we've done and will do, we will never "out-sin" God's grace. "Everyone who believes is freed from everything." Now that's a transformational message. Listen along to this message about 3 Dimensions of the Gospel of Jesus.
If you wanted to strip the power from the church, quite possibly the best way to do that would be to distract us from the unseen aspects of what it means to be a Christian. "Everything we see is not everything that is." The Holy Spirit of God is among us and is our guide in life, but there is also an active enemy of our souls who is trying to be that distraction to us. But Jesus has victory through the cross and that enemy will never prevail. Listen along to this challenging message and equip yo...
President and CEO of World Vision is with us today talking specifically about the famine in East Africa how children specifically are endangered in this crisis. We as Christians are the ones called to be Jesus' hands and feet as He intended us to help change our world. Children in war-torn and famine stricken countries may just be someone else's kids, but their God's beloved children and when we choose to love the least of these in Jesus' name, we are loving Him.
It's a normal thing to question how any why the Bible is relevant to us today and the lives and stories we live out. Should it be a part of our story? Today in our study on the book of Acts we come to chapter 12 and unexpected circumstances. We all encounter unexpected circumstances in our lives; how do we respond to those circumstances? When we respond to unexpected circumstances with unexpected faith, we experience unexpected outcomes.
Understanding the Bible can be a lot like uncovering a masterpiece work of art. Peeling back layers of paint to show the true and vibrant colors for what they are. In this process and in this series on Acts, the gospel comes to the city of Antioch, for the first time in the recorded writings of the Bible the gospel is being brought to a city as a whole. Listen along to the foundational history in this account, the strength of the power of the gospel, and the heartbreak of famine and hunger and w...
Sometimes the fulfillment of what God places in our heart to do may take years, be full of ups and downs, peaks and valleys, and wins and loses to get there. The beauty and simplicity of this journey to God's plan for our lives is that we can trust Him, His promises, and His character. We aren't abandoned to interpret our circumstances, like a mysterious plan, God will unfold each step of the way.
Healings, the dead being raised to life, culture-shifts, norms being challenged and changed... these are some of the themes Grant teaches on today from our series on the early church in the book of Acts. Jesus has plans for our lives, He greatly desires for us to fully engage in His mission for the world. Are we fully open to the good works God has prepared for each of us to walk in? Be encouraged and challenged today as you listen along to, "The Aftermath."
"Conversion..." can be one of those seemingly scary buzz words we hear around Christian circles from time to time. But it actually has great depth, meaning, and significance. Especially in our study on the book of Acts. In this message we come to the event where Saul has a life changing encounter with Jesus and his whole life turns around. Brad teaches out of Acts chapter 9 and defines 3 key ingredients of conversion, specifically influenced by Saul's encounter with Jesus.
Last week we saw how impacted a man from Ethiopia was, by the message of the gospel. A beautiful picture of what happens when we get it "right." But what happens if we get it wrong? Is it possible to get it wrong? Is it possible to hear the gospel, but not get the gospel? Can we not understand the gospel, and if so, what happens when we do? That is the question we’re asking, and answering today. The reason we’re asking that is because of a very interesting story found in Acts chapter 8. Right sm...
On Baptism Sunday at Summit we come to Acts chapter 8 of our series on the origins of the early Christian church. At this point people were scattered due to great persecution of the church. But that can't and won't ever stop the advancing of the gospel or the power of God. Listen along as this message correlates directly with the celebration of water baptisms taking place at Summit today.
"To follow Christ is to embrace rejection ... but such rejection leads to the expansion of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God." Andre Lewis is teaching today out of Acts chapter 6 & 7. We focus in on the story of Stephen, why he was persecuted for the cause of the Gospel and what it means when we are persecuted today.
The book of Acts is about the early church growing, but more than that, it is telling about the influence and expansion of the gospel. Today's message and study of scripture is a great one that points to how to navigate challenging situations. And more than that, Brad teaches on how navigating those situations well shapes us both individually, as a community of believers, and what it means for those looking on from a distance.
In chapters 4-7 of Acts we see the early church going through lots of opposition, specifically from the Jewish leaders. Their specific response to a situation in Acts chapter 5 is truly amazing and courageous. Are we capable of such boldness and courage in our daily lives? From the mundane to the situations that call for courage, how will we respond? Who will be the example we follow in these life situations? We know of one, the most courageous person to ever live... Jesus.
We open up the Bible to study the end of Acts chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5; the complex and crazy story of Ananias and his wife Sapphira. They made a huge decision and it had huge implications on their mortality. But we can learn from their mistakes, we must learn from their mistakes. Will we choose to living in hypocrisy in the choices we make and how people view us? Or will we strive to live transparent lives in the grace of Jesus Christ? When we live in openness and honesty, we ex...
Andre Lewis continues our study of the book of Acts and the early church. We see how God answer their prayer as the early church is faced with opposition as they strive to live as a contrast community. They don’t say, God please give us freedom from this government, they say please give us boldness. "And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." Acts 4:31 Sp...
“And suddenly, there was a sound from heaven…” Acts 2:2 The word sound, is the word ‘echos,’ it’s where we get our word echo. And what is an echo? There is a sound, then there are the reverberations of that sound off of other objects. It’s a repetition of something first heard somewhere else. This sound, from heaven, is like an echo. What we are hearing is an echo of heaven. There are reverberations of this event. And, this sound, this echos, is described in a particular way “…a sound like a mig...
Jon Pemberton kicks off Acts chapter 3 in our current series and teaches the well known story of the lame beggar who was healed by Peter and John. "... And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all." It's a valuable question to ask of ourselves, "Am I spiritually lame?" Is there something missing from the depth of how we pray, read scripture, and are refreshed ...
Sometimes it can be easy to look back to the past, to better times, to something other than what's happening now or what's to come. But life isn't moving backward, we're constantly going on ahead into new days and times. Who are we becoming and how are we becoming that? Today we open the Bible to study Acts 2:41-47 and see amazing formation in the early church community and how they became who they were as a group of Christians. We can apply the same principles they displayed back then, and Brad...
Week 3 of our series on Acts, we arrive at Peter's sermon at Pentecost in chapter 2. In his message, Peter did not sugar coat anything, he spoke with confidence and clarity the message of Jesus and the Gospel. It was a message that requires action, "because of what we've heard, now what do we do about it?" This is the question Brad approaches today as well. The message of Jesus and the forgiveness He offers everyone is a message that cuts to the heart, that goes deep down to the core of who we a...
The early church in the book of Acts had none of the things we think are so essential for success. We can easily think success comes in and through having a cool church building, money, political standing, social status... and yet the first Christians in Acts had none of that, none. And the church exploded! Why? The answer centers on the fulfillment of the promise Jesus made his disciples in Acts 1:8. Listen along as we hear about this promise and dive in to Acts chapter 2 and discover more abou...
There are things we save for special occasions, a suit, fine china, etc. We are breaking out the fine china and diving into a series that Brad has been saving for this specific season in our church. The Gospels, the biographies of Jesus, come to and end and leave us asking a question, "Now what?" And this question can be answered in the book of Acts. Listen along to this first message in our new series, Acts: The Origin of Who We Are.
Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again." When we're thirsty we look for a drink to satisfy us, we turn to all kinds of drinks to quench our thirst but only one drink truly gives the refreshment our body needs. We also have a thirst to satisfy our intangible desires. We turn to all kinds of vices to satisfy our humanly desires and wants, but Jesus says to us all, "drink from the living water I g...
Associate Pastor, Nick Kimmet, teaches today on the idea and importance of living generously. Of the 38 parables Jesus teaches in the New Testament, 16 of them are about money, resources, and generosity. This message isn't about asking for money or making people feel guilty, but rather is about looking at what it means to live generously in every aspect of our lives. The Bible is full of stories about generosity and Nick focuses in on today is the story of the little boy offering his bread and f...
