Praising God

Acts 12:19b-12:25

This week we finish discussing Chapter 12 of Acts and then take communion together. Following this, we have a time of sharing together. If you are relatively new to our church, I should explain this. We truly believe what the Bible says – that God empowers all believers. He gives all believers spiritual gifts. And He uses all of us to teach one another, encourage one another, and pray for one another. Once a month, we take communion together and then have an “open mike” time. During these times, feel free to share whatever God has been teaching you in the past month. Or it may be something that strikes you even while others are sharing. If you have a “good word,” please share it. We believe that God supernaturally empowers these times. Don’t feel intimidated. Don’t feel that you think something is not appropriate if it is coming from “you” instead of somehow from “God.” This is how God works. If it brings Him glory, it is truly from Him.

I want to go back briefly to the beginning of Acts 12.

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. – Acts 12:1-3

No Small Commotion

Acts 12:1-12:19a

Today you are going to have to bear with me. My introduction to our passage, Acts 12:1-19, will be as long as or even longer than my discussion of the passage itself! But I know of no better way to have you appreciate the shock of this remarkable turn of events in the history of the early church. Two of the main characters in Acts 12 are James and Peter. I want to give you a bit of history of these men, along with John, James’ brother, so that you can be prepared, or perhaps, a better way to say it is so that you can be unprepared for what happens in this chapter. Let’s dig right in.

After John [the Baptist] was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. "The time has come," He said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow Me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little farther, He saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him. – Mark 1:14-20

The Hand of the Lord

Acts 11:1-11:30

Today is Mother’s day. I believe the traditional thing to do is to give a message to mothers. For two reasons, I have decided mostly not to do this. First, we have been going line by line through the book of Acts, and we are currently up to Acts 11. As you will see, mothers don’t figure in real prominently in Acts 11. (They don’t figure in at all.) Second, I thought it might be more appropriate to address today’s message more to those people who mothers have to put up with, their husbands and children.

We are in Acts 11. Recall that last week’s passage looked at the remarkable way in which the Gospel, the good news about the saving work of Jesus Christ, came to the non-Jewish world. One thing that strikes me about Acts 11 is that it is filled with examples of God, godly behavior. Although this is really not the primary purpose of this passage – it is part of the narrative of the history of the early church, first and foremost, it also serves as a source of godly examples to follow. Thinking about this brings to mind Hebrews 12:1-2.

What God Has Cleansed

Acts 10:1-10:48

Today we continue our history of the early church as told by Dr. Luke in the book of Acts. We come to Chapter 10. This is a pivotal moment. God is about to smash some long-held beliefs and traditions to smithereens!

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!" – Acts 10:1-3

A centurion was a leader of a hundred (or so) Roman troops. He was part of the Roman government, which was generally hated by the Jews, because they worshipped false gods (and many of them) and because they had repeatedly tried to make the Jews worship their Caesar. Notice that even this town is named after Caesar: Caesarea.