Acts 2: 1-12; John 14:15-21
Alvia Lee. A discussion on Pentecost and God’s peoples’ radical response to the enabling of the Spirit. What would it look like for our community to live and love audaciously?
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Acts 6-18
Jaci Anderson. Acts 6-18 contains four critical stories of people taking radical risks that reveal the beauty of the Incarnate Kingdom. The stories of the Greecian Widows, The Ethiopian Eunuch, The Household of Cornelius, and the High City Council of Athens stir us to consider questions that help us find ourselves in these scriptures. We consider what the Holy Spirit might be leading us to risk during this pandemic that might reveal Incarnate Kingdom beauty.
Questions from the message:
How is the Holy Spirit leading you to come out from the edges or from the shadows?
How is the Spirit leading you to admit biases that are keeping you from the common good you desire?
How might the Spirit be leading you into a place of belonging?
What small step of following the Holy Spirit do you feel led to take?
How might the Spirit be revealing something more vividly that has always been there?
Do you desire to receive the Holy Spirit for the first time, or in more fullness in your life?
In what places of influence might the Spirit be giving you favor?
Are you feeling led to risk your reputation on behalf of the Lord of Heaven and Earth?
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Acts 28:23-31
Brandon Cook. The Book of Acts comes to an end with Paul in prison in Rome, facing an uncertain future. But it doesn’t before Paul levels a lament about the hardness of heart around him in those who refuse the good news of Jesus. Paul taps into the Jewish legacy of lament—of giving voice to the things that disturb and shake us. In this message, we explore how lament—which can feel like an assault on God Himself—is actually part of how we demonstrate trust and move forward in hope.
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Acts 28:1-9
Brandon Cook. Paul’s journey continues with a shipwreck (!) and a snakebite (!!). His path is filled with ambiguity and powerlessness, yet he is filled with power. In this message, we explore how the only way to walk in the fullness of the Kingdom of God is by embracing the powerlessness we might detest, and finding there a fountain of God’s life and provision.
Acts 26:1-8, 9-18.
Jessica Lacy-Driscoll. In light of Paul's testimony before King Agrippa, we ask: How do we let Jesus be our hope in the midst of longing and waiting. Jesus often brings his goodness in ways we do not understand. We open ourselves to his presence of hope by grieving, confessing, receiving, encountering and being commissioned. We consider where Jesus is inviting us to put our hope in him.
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Acts 25:1-12, 23-26:1
Steve Thomas. How do we remain faithful to God's Kingdom and message in the midst of uncertainty? We catch a glimpse of Paul in a time of uncertainty facing fear, anxiety and loneliness. We are reminded that God is with us in our uncertainty. What if we leaned into God's presence to be transformed in the in-between times?
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Acts 24
Brandon Cook. We do not understand life in God until we understand what it means to be God’s partner, his fellow laborer. But this is not how most of us have been trained to think about who we are. In this message, we explore how Paul the Apostle viewed discipleship—life following Jesus, and how at the heart of it, we are invited not only to see ourselves as children of God but as those who are at work with God in seeing all things made new.
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Acts 23
Brandon Cook. Paul follows in the footsteps of Jesus. Literally. On trial before the Sanhedrin, we watch him shrewdly navigate the religious rigidity which soon boils over into bloodthirst. What is happening here? Why are the religiously rigid out for blood? In this message we explore one of the pitfalls of walking the Jesus path: the temptation of religious rigidity, and how we can avoid it by whole and holy obedience and commitment.
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Acts 22:1-22
Matt Cullen. How do we learn to encounter Jesus as he really is? As Paul recounts his most pivotal encounter with Jesus, Matt recounts his own life reorientation which includes asking the questions: “who are you Lord?” and “what should I do?”. Matt offers prayers of confession and repentance for generational strongholds of busyness as we are invited to slow down, make space to hear the voice of Jesus, ask questions, and surrender together.
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Acts 21: 26-40
Jaci Anderson and Ryan Longnecker. We return to our series in Acts as Paul helps the early church establish the Kingdom of God through community that has to face very real tensions and conflict. Engaging scripture through the contemplative practice of Imaginative Prayer, we consider that, Jesus calls us out of hiding in the crowd, or from the crowd, and into risk for Kingdom Community. Jaci and Ryan discuss and demonstrate experiences of both hiding and risking to create Kingdom Community.