Anthem Hayden

This week’s passage begins by painting a beautiful picture of the early church’s unity and generosity. Despite the growing opposition and persecution, the early church continued to flourish and grow. Their priorities seem clear: God came first, people and their needs came second, and finally earthly possessions came in at a distant third. Sadly, this was not true for all the believers. Acts 5:1-11...

This week we looked at the results of the miracle that was performed on the lame man. The response to the miracle was not unanimous. We explored the impact that witnessing a miracle has on people. We also see that this was the first  time Christs’ followers came up against the ruling religious men. The response to the message that Peter preaches gives us an insight into the hearts of the religious...

In response to the growing opposition to Jesus and His gospel, Peter, John, and the other believers lifted their voices to God in prayer. Instead of asking for safety and protection against persecution, they asked the Lord for boldness so that they could continue to share the gospel, regardless of the cost. Instead of asking the Lord to pour out His judgment upon their antagonists, they asked Him...

Last week we covered the account of the Holy Spirit healing a lame man (through Peter). This week's passage begins to detail the aftermath of that miraculous healing. Once the healed man began to walk, leap, and praise the Lord inside the temple, a great crowd gathered to see what had happened. Peter, capitalizing on the situation, preaches another gospel message to the gathered crowd, encour...

This week’s passage tells of the miraculous healing of a man born unable to walk. Once, Jesus’ disciples had heartlessly judged a disabled person in a similar situation. This time, however, Peter and John see past the poor beggar’s physical disabilities and see a man needing something more profound than money. Instead of giving the man silver or gold the Holy Spirit worked through Peter to heal hi...

Immediately after Luke tells us that approximately 3,000 souls were saved on the day of Pentecost, he then goes on to describe what the earliest church looked like. It is a beautiful and inspiring depiction! However, we must be careful to remember that this is a historical description of the ancient church in Jerusalem when it was exclusively composed of Jews. Although our context is radically dif...

This week we looked at Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. In this Spirit-empowered teaching, Peter explained to the crowd that the Holy Spirit was being poured out, as promised, upon all believers. He then invited the huge crowd to repent and believe in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, and miraculously 3,000 people were added to the church that day! This passage illustrate...

Acts 2 tells of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish festival of Shavuot, more commonly known as Pentecost. While it is easy to gloss over the Spirit’s arrival to “get on to the exciting parts of the book,” it is vital to understand that the Holy Spirit is the key that unlocks the rest of this thrilling book. His arrival on Pentecost was earth changing!

This week we learned about what the disciples, family, and closest followers of Jesus were up to in between His ascension and Pentecost. This was a time of great anticipation! They spent much of their time praying together, and had to reckon with Judas’s betrayal and how and with whom they would replace him. We discussed how they acted without the Holy Spirit and the similarities and differences i...

This week we took a closer look at Jesus’ ascension. Frequently, our perspective of the ascension is limited to the fact that Jesus left the earth. Like His disciples, we are saddened by this fact. However, the ascension is among the greatest events of Jesus’ life and ministry on earth! We often overlook the fact that Jesus’ ascension was less about Him leaving earth and more about where He was go...

This week we continued to lay the foundation of the book of Acts. Continuing in Acts 1:1-11, we took a closer look at Jesus’ promise to the disciples - that the power and person of the Holy Spirit could come upon them, empowering them to be His witnesses to the very ends of the hearth. Like the disciples in this passage, many Christians are woefully ignorant of the person of the Holy Spirit and un...

In this week’s teaching we explored what the scriptures say about the kingdom. Acts 1:3 tells us that Jesus spent the 40 days between His resurrection and ascension speaking about the kingdom of God. Acts 1:6 tells us that Jesus’ disciples asked Him one last question before He ascended into heaven: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Clearly the kingdom was on the forefront...

Written by Luke the physician to a certain “Theophilus,” (a name meaning “God-lover”) the book of Acts chronicles the growth of the early church. While Acts is undeniably exhilarating and inspiring, it is important to recognize that the purpose of Acts was not to detail the church in its perfection, but rather to detail the church in its infancy. In Jesus’ parting words to his followers, He inform...

This week, one of our elders, Pat Himenes, shared about the purpose of the Church. Unfortunately, many individuals and congregations have strayed from God’s vision of His church. It is imperative that we allow God and His Word to define these things for us. Teaching out of the Gospel of Matthew, Pat reminded us of how God defines the church and its role in the world. Pat encouraged and reminded us...

The book of Ecclesiastes ended as it began, with the Preacher exclaiming, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, all is vanity.” In Solomon’s strictly “under the sun” mentality, this was a wise and correct conclusion. Although it was completely avoidable, it seems as though Solomon’s life ended in obstinate rebellion against the Lord. Praise God that we are not bound to such vain existences! Ther...

In this week’s study, we reexamined 1 Kings 11, which details King Solomon’s downfall. In 1 Kings 11:38, the Lord specifically states that He expects the king of Israel to walk in His ways, and to do what is right in His eyes by keeping His commandments. We then turned to Ecclesiastes 11, where Solomon encourages others to walk in their own ways, doing what is right in their own eyes - the very th...

This week’s passage is both confusing and frustrating. How do these seemingly random proverbs fit in with the larger context of Solomon’s search for the meaning of life? What point is he trying to make? The entire chapter seems as superfluous as the vanity of vanities that he so frequently mentions. In contrast to this, we turned to 1 Kings 8. In this beautiful passage describing young Solomon’s d...

This week’s installment of Ecclesiastes focuses on the certainty of death and the uncertainty of life. In Ecclesiastes 9, Solomon used the term “under the sun” six times, more than any other chapter in this highly encouraging book. Since Solomon had ruled out any hope of the afterlife, all that remained for him was a fearful expectation of death. While King Solomon correctly identified that all pe...

One of our elders, Jake Rider, shared this week’s message out of Ecclesiastes 7. This is another chapter where Solomon primarily communicates through numerous proverbs. Many of these elevate death over life, sorrow over joy. In contrast to Solomon’s gloomy pronouncements, the New Covenant helps us to see that God uses the hardships of life to grow our faith and to bring Him glory. With Christ, eve...

In this week’s passage in Ecclesiastes, Solomon’s overall focus seems to be on authority. Beginning with strong admonition that people ought to obey their king and respect his authority, Solomon then turns to his perceived lack of justice in the world. The wicked seem to prosper while bad things happen to good people, and God seems slow to exercise His authority to bring judgment upon the wicked a...

This week’s passage is challenging. Solomon continues to fall deeper into the darkness of a life lived strictly under the sun. In these verses Solomon bitterly complains that worldly things fail to bring real and lasting satisfaction to his soul. Although he correctly describes such a life as grievous evil, toil, darkness, and vexation, we see no signs of Solomon turning his heart back to the Lord...

At first glance this chapter seems to cover an assortment of unrelated topics. However, upon closer inspection we see that each topic ties into a larger theme- that of relationships. Beginning with the large societal relationship between the oppressed and their oppressors, the Preacher works his way down relationships between two and three people. Although His view is strictly “under the sun,” eve...