Sermons

Life is filled with difficult circumstances that can negatively our faith. The Bible occasionally talks about people abandoning their faith as though they’ve shipwrecked their faith. And this raises the question of how can we stay strong and hold to our faith in the midst of hardships? From Acts 14, we’ll see there’s great hope and encouragement for us, and at the center of it is a strength we all want and need: God’s strength.

There are many successful people who work hard, achieve nearly all they want, but in the end wind up feeling empty and unfulfilled. What is it in life that actually satisfies us? What will give us the REST that we all long for: the peace, the joy, the fulfillment? From this passage, we’ll see that the answer has to do with one key issue: worship. What we worship determines whether or not we find the rest we long for.

One of the realities of being human is that everyone believes something to make sense of the world and their life in it. Most people don’t have too hard a time explaining what they believe. However, many people do have a hard time answering because they don’t know why. That missing “why” is one of the worst in the world. The good news this week is that God wants to replace that angst and apathy with joy and courage by calling us to live an honest life in the gospel.

In our passage, we will come up against perhaps God’s great concern for us; the question, “what does God want from us?” As you go about each day, your tasks, your decisions, your conversations, your relationships, does God want anything from you? We see that yes, he does. And what he wants has everything to do with two things: his Word and Belief.

We return this week to our study of the book of Acts. In this passage, as we come across a pivotal moment in the history of the Christian Church, the moment taking place in this passage shows us that a life that puts faith in Jesus Christ is a life that has been given a role, a part to play, in God’s greater story for this world. And that role is driven by two verbs: in Christ we are SENT, because in Christ we are SAVED.

As we close up this amazing little book, God will continue to demonstrate his limitless grace and goodness. Even in tragedy, God is at work for good. With God in our lives, we are never without hope. Because of our security in Christ, we can take on any risk with courage. And now, as we’ll see, whether it takes four years or four generations, God’s will will be done, and in his grace he will bless anyone who takes refuge in him.

One of the many reasons the book of Ruth is so loved is because it gives us a window into what life with God looks like in real life. When there’s no miracles and no angels, how can we know what God is doing, and what God wants us to do? Sometimes the answer to those questions calls for risk, and situations with risk calls for courage. Through this week’s amazing story, we’ll see that while life God calls for courage, life with God also produces courage.

The majority of our lives are boring, ordinary, and mundane: we go to work, take care of our home, spend time with family. Occasionally we experience pain and loss: lost dreams, lost friends, lost loved ones. Where is God in the midst of that? Through this little book, God will show us that throughout all our life He is there and He is at work. In Christ He has committed Himself to our good, and He works for that. In response, God wants us to commit ourselves to Him.