Acts 15:22-41

After the decision that was made in yesterday’s passage about Gentile believers, the Apostles sent a letter to the church in question explaining this. The letter was very clear and to the point. They were kind hearted, but they didn’t mince words either. They weren’t going to treat Gentiles any different. We are ALL saved by the grace of God! Think about the word “grace” like this; “Gods Riches At Christ’s Expense”. G-R-A-C-E. Its Not “God’s Riches If You Do These Certain Things And If You Are A Certain Race Or Ethnic Background”…what does that even spell? G-R-I-Y-D-T-C-T-A-I-Y-A-A-C-R-O-E-B….see that doesn’t even make sense!

Notice the things that were mentioned in the letter to stay away from, though. Specifically idol worship and sexual sin, like we talked about Wednesday. They listed things that can consume you and destroy a christians life.

After this Paul and Barnabas decided to go there separate ways. Barnabas took John Mark with him and Paul took Silas. Even though Paul and Barnabas didn’t agree, they settled it peacefully and they both stuck to their purpose…to tell others about Christ! There is a lesson here. Even though as the church we are a family, we won’t always agree. That’s part of life. The important thing is how we handle it. Do we handle it with dignity and grace and not let it get in the way of our purpose? Or do we blow up and become violent or say nasty things and spread rumors and gossip?

Tomorrow – Acts 16:1-40

We had a few different kinds of events last night. We played Team Knockout on the basketball hoops, a different kind of balloon relay and a snowball fight, that didn’t involve snow! In the end, Team Red took the lead back! With only 2 weeks left, its still any ones game! Our big finale night is March 11! 

Unfortunately, no one took any pics last night…sorry!

 

The first part of our passage today brings an end to Paul’s first journey. It gives us a little insight to the way that they made disciples, trained them and then let them loose to continue the work…the purpose! Telling others about Christ. Then when they returned, the church welcomed them and wanted to hear their stories. This was a cool passage to me because I have seen ABT follow this example over the years. It makes me think about some of the missions services we’ve had here over the years. That wasn’t an original idea!

 

 

 

 

Acts 13:44 – 14:20

Jealousy can make people act like idiots. Paul and Barnabas we’re doing nothing more then preaching the Word of God to everyone, like Christ commanded, and some of the jewish people ran them out of town. Even stoned Paul at one point! Almost killed him! Why? Because they we’re jealous.

Don’t we do that sometimes? 

We see other people have success and we get upset because we aren’t getting the glory that we want. But we can’t that way. We need to be happy for others who have success, not envy them. I know it can be hard sometimes, depending on the situation, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we can rise above it.

Tomorrow – Acts 14:21 – 15:21

Acts 13:1-43

Paul and Barnabas are sent out from the church in Antioch on their first missionary journey. We see pretty quickly how Satan tries to stomp out God’s work. But in verse 10 we see how Paul rips into the sorcerer who is trying to mess things up. We need to be alert at all times and be ready to do battle. Paul was obviously ready.

As Paul and Barnabas continued in their travels, they stop at Antioch of Pisidia. Here, Paul takes the opportunity to share the Good News with the people there. Just like we talked about this past Sunday, we have to be looking for those opportunities and we have to be prepared to share God’s story and our story when we get the chance. Are you praying for “divine appointments”(God moments)?

Tomorrow – Acts 13:44 – 14:20

Acts 12:1-25

Peter is thrown in prison by King Herod, again for doing nothing more then sharing the Good News of Jesus. The church (group of believers) begins praying for him. When Peter shows up at the door, they don’t believe it! There are time when an answer to prayer is standing right at the door staring you in the face, but we don’t believe it. There is power in prayer! When you pray, pray confidently. Believe you’ll get an answer. When you do, don’t be surprised!

Herod was a pretty prideful dude. In fact he was so arrogant that he tried to compare himself to a god (lowercase g). When success happens we need to remember our place. Remember that without God it wouldn’t be possible. He gave us the success.

Tomorrow – Acts 13:1-43

Acts 11:1-30

As we talked about yesterday, Peter started to get ridiculed and judged because he broke the old jewish traditions. But once he was able to explain what happened and that people were saved through his actions, they let up. This is a great picture of how we need to treat each other within the church. We can’t always freak out the second we hear something that goes against the “way we’ve always done it”. In this day and age we have to think outside the box to bring people to Christ.

In the 2nd part of chapter 11 we see more gentiles (which are basically non-jewish people) being saved and we get back to Saul’s story. I think its pretty cool that believers in Jesus we’re first called Christians in Antioch with Saul.

Tomorrow – Acts 12:1-25

Acts 10:9 – 48

Sometimes our traditions and our “doing-things-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it” attitude stands in the way of doing what God has called us to do. Even Peter had to get past some of his old ideals and “the way he was raised” mentality. Sound familiar? It wasn’t an easy thing for him to understand at first either. But when we realize that Jesus came for everyone; every culture, every color, every language, every person; that is when the old traditions won’t matter to us anymore. When we have a heart for the lost, all that will matter is accomplishing our purpose. To tell others about Jesus no matter what.

Tomorrow – Acts 11:1-30

It was a dominating performance by Team Blue last night! They took back the lead after a sweep in Basketball Dodgeball & Missing Leaders:Scavenger! The only thing that saved Team Red was spirit points (where they never disappoint) and attendance. Check out a few photos here.