Union Church

Acts 16:11-40 - Gospel Breakthrough

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

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 16:11-40 - Jack

 

Slide 1

Scene 1: The Conversion of Lydia (16:11-15)

 

Slide 2

 See Map that I'll send by email

 

Slide 3

Takeaways from Scene 1

1. God is sovereign in salvation

 

2. Obedience is our response to His work

 

Slide 4

Scene 2: The Exorcism of the Slave Girl (16:16-24)

 

Slide 5

Takeaway from Scene 2: We are wise to see the spiritual battle going on behind the scenes.

 

Slide 6

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

Slide 7

Scene 3: The Conversion of the Jailer (16:25-34)

 

Slide 8

“From one perspective, Paul and Silas’s day was a picture of perfect mayhem. Their spiritual power was slandered; their gospel trampled by a mob; their innocence silenced by injustice. They appeared like two victims caught in the chaos of a merciless, purposeless world.

But such was not their perspective. For Paul and Silas, all the day’s sorrows rested in the hand of a sovereign God. God had called them to Philippi through a midnight vision. Was he now any less sovereign in a midnight prison? God had used them in Philippi to save Lydia and her household. Had he discarded them now? No, prison could neither thwart the plans of God nor remove them from his sight; of this they were sure.”

 

Scott Hubbard

Slide 9

Takeaway from Scene 3: We do well to ask ourselves “What does God owe me?”

 

Slide 10

“He lets things happen that I don’t understand. He doesn’t do things according to my plan, or in ways that make sense to me…

If you have a God great enough and powerful enough to be mad at because he doesn’t stop your suffering, you also have a God who is great enough and powerful enough to have reasons that you can’t understand…

And so often, if God seems to be unconscionably delaying his grace and committing malpractice in your life, it’s because there is some crucial information that we don’t yet have, some essential variable that’s unavailable to us.”

Tim Keller

 

Slide 11

Scene 4: The Vindication of Paul and Silas (16:35-40)

 

Slide 12

Takeaway from Scene 4: In the end, God wins. And so do His people.

 

Slide 13

The Takeaways from Phiiippi

1. God is sovereign in salvation

2. Obedience is our response to His work

3. We are wise to see the spiritual battle

4. We do well to ask ourselves “What does God owe me?”

5. In the end, God wins. And so do His people.

 

 

Acts 16:1-10 - Investing in Others, Hearing From God

Listen along as we continue our series through Acts.

Notes/Quotes:

Acts 16:1-10 - Josh

Individually the disciple and friend of Jesus who has learned to work shoulder to shoulder with his or her Lord stands in this world as a point of contact between heaven and earth, a kind of Jacob’s ladder by which the angels of God may ascend from and descend into human life. Thus the disciple stands as an envoy or a receiver by which the kingdom of God is conveyed into every quarter of human affairs. - Willard

The world is full of miracles. But none greater than how far a young person can be carried by someone else’s belief in them
Frederick Backman (My Friends) 

 

“Almost anything in life that truly matters will require you to do small, mostly overlooked things, over a long period of time with him.” Zach Eswine

Map

“Our failure to hear His voice when we want to is due to the fact that we do not in general want to hear it, that we want it only when we think we need it.” - Dallas Willard, Hearing God

“Usually God’s guidance is not negative only but also positive (some doors close, others open); not circumstantial only, but also rational (thinking about our situation); not personal only, but also corporate (a sharing of the data with others, so that we can mull over them together and reach a common mind).” - John Stott

Acts 15:22-41 - What A Strong Church Looks Like

Listen alongs as we continue through the book of Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 15:22-41

2 Timothy 2:22 

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone. - Dallas Willard

“They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified” Epistle to Diognetus (2nd Century)

Matthew 23:1-12

The early church understood well the powers at work in the Roman Empire. There were many gods who ruled and oppressed its citizens. Among them were Aphrodite (goddess of sex), Hephaetus (god of technology), Mars (god of war), Ploutos (god of wealth), and Bacchus (god of pleasure). At the top of the ladder, and unifying them all, was political power, deified in the Caesar, and nourished by the Imperial theology and religious practice. The powers and gods were the forces that most determined and shaped their lives. The church understood the oppressive and intrusive influence of evil. They understood the comprehensive scope and spiritual power of these cosmic powers to tyrannize their lives. Perhaps we shake our heads at the primitive and childish worldview that could ever conceive of a world populated by powers. After all, science has liberated us from such nonsense. Yet when we see millions addicted to pornography, it seems the goddess of sex is not dead. When we see millions of lives trivialized and emptied of significance by addiction to technology, we observe that the god of technology still wields power. When we experience the seductive power of a consumer society that inflames us with a desire for the senseless consumption of goods and experiences, we must grant that the gods of wealth and pleasure are alive and well. And the billions of dollars spent annually on arms betray our enslavement to the gods of war and national security. Economic forces, political powers, sexual addiction, technological seduction: it seems we are helpless before these powers. All scientific attempts to control them have failed. - Mike Goheen

“God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.” Augustine

Acts 15:1-21 - Transforming Enemies

Listen along as we continue our series through Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Slide 1
God promised salvation to Israel...
     God's blessings would come to the Nations through
     the covenant with Abraham... 
          Circumcision was the standard means of entering 
          into full participation with the covenant people... 
               These Gentiles had not been circumcised... 
                    They remained outside of Israel and therefore
                    could not participate fully in God's promises 

Slide 2
Amos 9:12 (MT)
     12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom 
      and all the nations who are called by my name,” 
      declares the LORD who does this.

Amos 9:12 (LXX)
     12 so that the remnant of the people, 
       and all the nations upon whom my name was invoked     upon them, 
       will search for me,” says the Lord who is making these things.

Slide 3
אדום = Edom
אדם= adam/ humanity

Slide 4
Deuteronomy 30:6 
6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Acts 14:1-28 - The Miraculous and Mundane

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

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 14:1-28

Assumption: Every day for Jesus' first followers were God-soaked. Something is wrong with me, or I am doing something wrong because I don't have many God-soaked days. 
Reality: Scripture authors recorded a truncated history to show us who God is. Jesus and the first followers experienced many mundane days. 

Contextualization is not - as is often argued - ‘telling people what they want to hear.’ Rather, it is giving people the Bible’s answers, which they may not at all want to hear, to questions about life that people in their particular place and time are asking, in language and forms they can comprehend, and through appeals and arguments with force they can feel, even if they reject them - Tim Keller

Acts 13:13-51 - The Gospel and Grit

Listen along as we continue our series through Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 13:13-52

“This section relentlessly present’s Israel’s history as the history of God’s activity. From v. 17 through 23 almost every verb has God as it’s subject.” Beverly Gaventa

1 Cor 15:1-4

Evangelism is not persuading people to make a decision; it is not proving that God exists, or making out a good case for the truth of Christianity; it is not inviting someone to a meeting; it is not exposing the contemporary dilemma, or arousing interest in Christianity; it is not wearing a badge saying 'Jesus Saves'! Some of these things may be right and good in their place, but none of them should be confused with evangelism. To evangelize is to declare on the authority of God what he has done to save sinners, to warn men of their lost condition, to direct them to repent, and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. - Mark Dever

Romans 8:28-30

Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

Acts 13:1-12 - People, Practices, Opposition

Listen along as we continue through the book of Acts.

Notes//Quotes:

Acts 13:1-12

"Words make you think. Music makes you feel. A song makes you feel a thought" — Yip Harburg

“To pray is to accept that we are, and always will be, wholly dependent on God for everything….Prayer turns theology into experience.” Tim Keller

“The Spirit led the church in its mission. As throughout Acts, God took the initiative in every new development of the Christian witness; however, the church did its part. It fasted and prayed, seeking the divine leading in a mode of expectant devotion." - J.B. Polhill

Map

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?”