Union Church

Acts 12:1-25 - Murder, Rescue and Justice

Listen along as Anthony continues our series through Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 12:1-25-  Nathan
Title: Murder, Rescue, & Justice

“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” (John 20:22&23)

“Whatever it will cost you to be with God is nothing compared to what it cost Him to be with you.”
 —Timothy Keller

“A Christian happens to mean a man who has discovered that Christianity is true, not that it is pretty or even practical. It may be a very strange discovery for a modern man to make; but some of us happen to have made it.” — G. K. Chesterton

“That force of earnest, halting prayer was mightier than Herod, and mightier than hell.” —G. Campbell Morgan

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
 
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
- Charles Wesley

“Indeed, one cannot fail to admire the artistry with which Luke depicts the complete reversal of the church’s situation. At the beginning of the chapter Herod is on the rampage—arresting and persecuting church leaders; at the end he is himself struck down and dies. The chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison and Herod triumphing; it closes with Herod dead, Peter free, and the word of God triumphing. Such is the power of God to overthrow hostile human plans and to establish His own in their place. Tyrants may be permitted for a time to boast and bluster, oppressing the church and hindering the spread of the Gospel, but they will not last. In the end, their empire will be broken and their pride abased” —John Stott

 

Acts 11:1-30 - First Called Christians

Listen along as we continue our series through the book of Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 11:1-30 -Kim reading

Slide 1
A biblical proposition… needs interpretation. It does not simply interpret itself… The only way to interpret… is to look at the biblical story that reveals God’s character through his actions… 

The task of the church is to “faithfully improvise” the “rest of the story.” Christians are not called simply to live in the story; they are called to continue the story in their own cultural contexts. First, they must be grounded in the story. They must be people for whom the story “absorbs the world.” Second, they must together (communally) improvise the “rest of the story” faithfully to the story given in the Bible.
Roger Olson

Slide 2
Ritual Practices of a Typical Roman Meal
- A portion of the food being offered to the gods.
- Wine libations and the reciting of prayers in honor of the gods or of the dead.
- Possibly even being given a dining wreath with flowers considered sacred to the gods upon arrival.

Slide 3
Table comparing Acts 8:1 and Acts 11:19
https://services.planningcenteronline.com/plans/80966647#

Slide 4
That's a great way of putting it. Grace is something you can see. Presumably when you watch Judeans and gentiles sharing in prayer, sharing in the Lord’s supper, sharing their whole lives as brothers and sisters. You can’t fake that. It’s grace made visible. 
- N.T Wright; The Challenge of Acts

Slide 5
Acts 26:28
28 And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”

1 Peter 4:14–16
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

Slide 6
Romans 15:26–27 
26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27 For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.

Slide 7
When grace is visible, when the story of God is lived out in the world, when the church is truly carrying the name of Christ… The standard conventions for who is accepted and who is left out are re-evaluated, the standard ways of giving and receiving are upended and the standard ways in which we categorize our theology can be challenged. 

Acts 10:1-48 - Hostility, Enthusiasm, or Indifference?

Listen along as Mike Gaston continues our series through Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 10:1-48 - Jack reading

 

Slides

 

Slide 1

 

Big Idea

 

Christ’s plan includes not just us, but all the nations of the world. How will we respond?

 

Slide 2

 

(Map of Israel showing Joppa and Caesarea, to be emailed separately)

 

Slide 3

 

“It is more likely, therefore, that the point is that the Lord’s command frees Peter from any scruples about going to a Gentile home and eating whatever might be set before him. It would be a short step from recognizing that Gentile food was clean to realizing that Gentiles themselves were ‘clean’ also.”

Tyndale Commentary, I. Howard Marshall

 

Slide 4

 

“The conversion of Cornelius was a landmark in the history of the gospel’s advance from its strictly Jewish beginnings to its penetration of the Roman Empire. True, it did not settle any of the issues relating to Jewish-Gentile relations within the church, nor did Jewish believers take it as a precedent for direct outreach to Gentiles. But it did show that the sovereign God was not confined to the traditional forms of Judaism and that He could bring a Gentile directly into relationship with himself through Jesus Christ and apart from any prior commitment to distinctive Jewish beliefs or lifestyle.”

Richard N. Longenecker

 

Slide 5

 

John 10:16

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

 

Slide 6

 

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

Slide 7

 

Three possible responses to God’s plan for the nations

Hostility

Indifference

Enthusiasm

 

Slide 8

 

Mike’s Definition of Missions:

 

God is using the preaching of the gospel to turn rebellious sinners around the world into redeemed worshippers of His Son Jesus Christ …

 

… and WE GET TO HELP!

 

Slide 9

 

“Lord, where do I fit?”

 

Acts 9:32-43 - Questions, Holy Disruptions, And The Ministry Of Small Things

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 9:31-43 - Faith
Title: Questions, Holy Disruptions, And The Ministry Of Small Things 

“The three Peter-stories Luke selects are i) a double miracle story how Aeneas was healed and Tabitha raised from death), (ii) a conversion story (how Cornelius was brought to faith), and (ili) an escape story how Peter was rescued from prison and so from Herod's evil intentions). Each may be seen as a confrontation - with disease and death, with Gentile alienation and with political tyranny. Moreover, in each case conflict gave place to victory - the cure of Aeneas, the resuscitation of Tabitha, the conversion of Cornelius, and the removal of Herod.” 
- John Stott

“Gazelles—small antelopes spoken of in the Bible—are known for their grace and beauty. Some live where rains provide water. But one type, the Dorcas gazelle, can spend its entire life in the desert without drinking—receiving hydration only from plants. This gives it a mysterious quality rather like that of a Christian, whose source of life and love is an invisible fountain of living water, as Jesus promised (John 7:38).”
- In Touch Ministries 

“The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.” 
-  G. K. Chesterton

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:27)

Acts 9:1-31 - How Grace Works

Listen along as we continue our series through the book of Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 9:1-31 - Larry/Jorgen

Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There's no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth. A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There's nothing you have to do. The grace of God means something like: "Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are, because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you.” There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too. - Frederick Buechner 

Gradually, and without violence, Jesus pricked Saul's mind and conscience with his goads. Then he revealed Himself to him by the light and the voice, not in order to overwhelm him, but in such a way as to enable him to make a free response. Divine grace does not trample on human personality. Rather the reverse, for it enables human beings to be truly human. It is sin which imprisons; it is grace which liberates. The grace of God so frees us from the bondage of our pride, prejudice and self-centeredness, as to enable us to repent and believe. One can but magnify the grace of God that he should have had mercy on such a rabid bigot as Saul of Tarsus, and indeed on such proud, rebellious and wayward creatures as ourselves. - John Stott

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat—and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet—
‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me 
Francis Thompson, The Hound of Heaven

Romans 10:14

“Put all this together, and what do we have, as the central, shaping marker of the new worldview, taking the place and bearing the weight that the Jewish symbols had borne within the worldview of Saul of Tarsus? We have precisely the gospel, the euangelion, the ‘good news’, rooted in the ‘good news’ spoken of in the Great Prophet, confronting the ‘good news’ carved in stone around Caesar’s empire. We have the symbol by which Paul declared that he was himself defined, the anchor of his own vocational mindset: Paul, an apostle, set apart for the good news of God; I am not ashamed of the good news, because it is God’s power for salvation to all who believe; the Messiah did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel; woe to me if I do not announce the good news; I do it all for the sake of the good news; let me remind you of the gospel which I announced to you, which you received, in which you stand firm, through which you are saved; the gospel of the glory of the Messiah, who is the image of God. The gospel, the gospel, the gospel. It defined Paul. It defined his work. It defined his communities. It was the shorthand summary of the theology which, in turn, was the foundation for the central pillar for the new worldview. It carried God’s power. That was just as well: the worldview, and those who lived by it, were going to need it.” NT Wright

“Grace is God acting in our life to bring about, and to enable us to do, what we cannot do on our own. Grace is for all of life and not just for forgiveness. Grace is not opposed to effort (action)-though it is opposed to earning (attitude). Grace is inextricably bound up with discipline in the life of the disciple or apprentice of Jesus. “Grace,” of course, as an active agency in the psychological and biological reality of the disciple.” - Dallas Willard

Eph 1:7-10

What you need to drive out an old passion, is a new passion, a greater passion. What you need is an over-mastering positive passion. To the degree, that you see Jesus on the cross, loosing absolutely everything for you, He will become a beauty to you, He will become so beautiful in your eyes that you'll be able to change these things that control you now, they'll loose their power. Do you know how to work on your heart like that? It's only by rejoicing in and resting in what Jesus Christ has done for you. Then you can replace your idols. And if you really want to change and want to pound the Gospel more deeply into your heart - Jesus Christ must become your over-mastering positive passion. Tim Keller

All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms.
All which thy child's mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!'
Francis Thompson, Hound of Heaven

Acts 8:26-40 - God of the Desert

Listen along as we continue our journey through Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 8:26-40 

1 Thess 4:1-8 - 1 Peter 2:13-17— 1 Thess 5:16-18

Deut 23:1

”He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Luke 24:25-27

Romans 10:10-17

We do not go into the desert to escape people but to learn how to find them; we do not leave them in order to have nothing more to do with them, but to find out the way to do them the most good. But this is only a secondary end. The one that includes all others is the love of God. - Thomas Merton

"Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.” Augustine

Acts 8:1-25 - Surprised By Grace

Listen along as we continue our series through Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 8:1-25 - Chris 
Title: Surprised By Grace

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

“24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (Jn. 12:24-26)

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.  (Lk. 9:51-55)

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt. 5:43-48)

“Satan is not opposed to religion. He is in the religion business up to his ears. The first temptation was a religious one - to be like God. "Let me tell you how to be godly." It was a temptation to fall up, not down. Satan's chief weapon against the Gospel is false religion.”
- Adrian Rodgers

“Preaching to gain recognition or status is simony. Serving with an eye to advance within the church’s power structure is simony. Seeking spiritual gifts for the promotion of oneself is simony. Even seeking to be godly so others will think we are godly is a type of simony.” - R.Kent Hughes

Acts 7:1-60 - The First Martyr

Listen along as we continue through the book of Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 7:1-60

1 Pet 3:8-17

“God is everywhere present. The holy place is there wherever God may be.” - Chrysostom

“No harm can be done to the temple and the law, when Christ is openly established as the end and truth of both.” - John Calvin

“Stephen has been confessing Christ before men, and now he sees Christ confessing his servant before God.” FF Bruce 

“The Jesus who was right then interceding for Stephen had taught him that intercession, rather than cursing, was the way of the new, fulfilled, law and Temple.” - NT Wright

Acts 6:1-15 - Growing Pains

Listen along as we continue through the book of Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 6:1-15 - Sawyer

Title: Growing Pains

 

“Success, while desirable, can paradoxically create new challenges. This can manifest as increased pressure, difficulty managing growth, and strained relationships with those who haven't achieved the same level of success. Understanding these potential downsides is crucial for navigating the complexities of success and maintaining long-term well-being.” 

- Google AI

 

“The devil’s next attack was the cleverest of the three. Having failed to overcome the church by either persecution or corruption, he now tried distraction. If he could preoccupy the apostles with social administration, which though essential was not their calling, they would neglect their God-given responsibilities to pray and to preach, and so leave the church without any defense against false doctrine.” 

- John Stott

 

“Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

“One of the apologetics against the church is that the rhetoric often doesn’t live up to the reality.”

- Leo Schuester

 

1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

 

5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

(Philippians 2:1-8 The Message)

 

Questions:

1. Do I love the community or my dream of the community?

 

2. Have I experienced hurt in the community?

 

3. Who actually is the architect of my dream community? 

 

Acts 5:17-42 - The Name

Listen along as we continue our journey through Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 5:17-42 

Proverbs 14:30

“Envy is one of the most miserable vices. Most other vices tend to produce some kind of pleasure, however momentary. But envy is nothing but unpleasant, through and through. It is the constant thief of joy. - Gavin Ortlund

We can glimpse it in the book of Acts: the method of the kingdom will match the message of the kingdom. The kingdom…goes out into the world vulnerable, suffering, praising, praying, misunderstood, misjudged, vindicated, celebrating: always – as Paul puts it in one of his letters – bearing in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed. - NT Wright

Ex 34:4-7

“When God describes himself, He doesn’t start with how powerful He is or how He knows everything there is to know or how He’s been around since before time and space and there’s no one else like Him in the universe. That’s all true, but apparently, to God, it’s not the most important thing. When God describes himself, He starts with His name. Then He talks about what we call character. He’s compassionate and gracious; he’s slow to anger; he’s abounding in love and faithfulness” - John Mark Comer