What a great day of worship all day long with North Side! What started in a worship center ended all over the community. When the service ended, the real service began!
Our church left worship and went to every corner of Greenwood and showed love in deeds rather than in just words. As we studied 1 John 3:18, we decided to put it into practice.
Today, we worshiped to:
In gearing up for our “Knowing Jesus” weekend, we are pinning some quotes from some of the music on Pinterest and other social media sites. You can see one of them above from a picture from the last time we did the event at North Side. We can’t wait to do this live again on March 29 & 30th. Here are some links
Continuing on through the Book of Acts, we arrive at one of my favorite passages of Scripture. In Acts 5, Peter and the disciples are at it again. Preaching in the name of Jesus when they have been warned to stop.
They continue anyway.
While they are threatened, they show no sign of wavering. One of the Pharisees, Gamaliel, escorts the disciples out and tries to reason with the angered religious leaders.
His comments are incredible:
In this week’s study of the Book of Acts, we have arrived at the Lying Church present in Acts 4:32-5:16. In this section, it shows how the early church continued to grow and how no one was in need because people were actually selling land and homes and giving it away to those who had need.
Pretty incredible stuff! We think it is awesome when people give 10% to meet a need, and these people were actually selling stuff if the need was too great.
Then, they walked in.
Ananias and Sapphira were a part of the church. They were watching all the hype happening with the people. The church was celebrating individuals for their acts of holiness, and they decided to try to cash in on the excitement.
Bad, bad idea.
They did sell a piece of land. They did give some of the money to the church, but they lied about how much it was so that they could: 1) benefit themselves, and 2) receive praise from man. The Holy Spirit alerted Peter of their deception, and he calls them out individually and each of them dies in the midst of the church body.
I’m sure Peter had everyone’s attention then! Can you imagine this scene at your church house if this happened on a Sunday morning?!
Here’s what we can take away:
In Acts 3-4, we see the story of the lame man sitting outside the temple. Peter and John pass by and instead of giving him money, they get him to walk. Much better.
As they enter the temple, the man is leaping and praising God. He is also clinging to those that reached out to him. And with the great thing that happened, enemies of Jesus are against it completely.
Here are some things to note about this proclaiming church:
As we continue our study in Acts, we come to the topic of the family church. While Acts 2:42-47 is descriptive in nature, it does have some activities in which all churches should emulate.
Here’s the description of what the Church looked like after Peter’s message at Pentecost:
Week 2 in our study of Acts and we come to see what the empowered Church looks like. What could happen when the Spirit of God radically changes lives in a congregation?
One of my mentors, Chuck Lawless, once taught me that the scary thing about many people is how much “ministry” they could actually do in their own power. Natural talents and gifts could be so visible that it appears that God is blessing something when in actuality, maybe it’s just worldly success. It could be simple influence.
I don’t want to settle for influence. I want the Spirit of God.
I’m teaching through the Book of Acts this semester. I’m not teaching at Lander this Spring, but I am teaching a survey of sorts. I’m teaching it in 3 places: 1) College group at our house on Wednesday nights, 2) worship team practices on Wednesday nights, and 3) this blog. I will be sharing some insights here weekly.
I’m teaching on Acts for a few different reasons: 1) it’s a book of the Bible, 2) it’s really good, 3) we are tragically neglecting the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and 4) I have never known such a time as then when Christians were more confused concerning what the Church really is.
We are clueless to what the Church really is.
I am the Fantasy Football champion. Well, at least for my league. The guys in my community group created a league for the 2nd year, and after being blown out in the 1st round of the playoffs last year, I was able to withstand some serious close calls to pull out for a championship victory.
I have so arrived.
What’s interesting about fantasy football is your attention becomes solely on the players instead of the teams. I didn’t care if the Vikings or the Panthers won, I just wanted Adrian Peterson and Cam Newton to rack up points. I was more concerned with the success of one than the victory of the team.
And the majority of the Church in America is operating out of the same perspective.
If you have ever wondered who is the media mastermind behind our services, look no further. My son, Eli, is the technological guru behind all things AVL during our services. Well, he at least likes to act like he is. Honestly, he’s so smart and skilled in these areas, it won’t be long.
I always love the Sundays before Christmas. Today was a little different. The worship was great. Message was powerful. Great services full of eager worshipers, but so much stuff happening before, during, and after services that it is hard to process. Watching families work on reconciliation in our midst. Unemployed fathers trying to find assistance to provide for their family this year. Single moms trying to find hope. Families unable to attend worship because they are beside hospital beds. And so much more. It’s the Body of Christ. It’s church. It’s not usually glamorous, but it’s real life, and I’m honored I get to alongside these people as Christ draws them closer.
Today, we worshiped to:
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