Refuge City Church

When we left Paul at the end of Acts 24, he had spent two years in custody—and Felix left him there as a political favor. We can read past those two years in a few seconds. Paul had to live every day of them. Maybe you’ve asked the same question: Why am I still here? In this situation. In this pain. In this waiting. Acts 25 doesn’t ignore the question. It answers it. In this message by Matthew, we...

In a world where procrastination touches nearly every area of life, from taxes to health, the greatest danger lies in delaying a response to God. Felix, the Roman governor in Acts 24, knew about the Christian faith yet repeatedly put off a decision, hoping for a more convenient time. In this message, Pastor Matthew reveals how spiritual procrastination hardens the heart and turns “not yet” into “n...

If you had a chance to speak to people who hated you, what would you say? In Acts 22, Paul gets that chance on the steps of the barracks in Jerusalem, and he does not attack, defend his reputation, or retell their version of the story. He tells them how Jesus found him. In the message, Pastor Matthew walks through Paul’s testimony and shows why the hero of the story is not Paul, but Christ. Paul e...

Most of us want to know God’s will, but we would also like to review the consequences before we agree to it. Acts 21 follows Paul toward Jerusalem, where warnings, tears, rumors, and chains surround the path God has marked for him. In this message by Pastor Matthew, we confront a question deeper than whether we know what God wants: have we made comfort, approval, or control a condition of obedienc...

Message: Physically Present. Spiritually Asleep. Scripture: Acts 20 You can show up wide awake, coffee in hand, and still be spiritually asleep. In Acts 20 a young man named Eutychus sits in a third-story window while Paul preaches past midnight, falls, and is taken up dead. This text is not a strange accident. It is a warning about what happens when a soul, a church, or a family checks out in the...

This chapter is not really about ancient magic or an ancient riot, though it has both. It is about what happens when the actual name of the Lord Jesus gets loose in a city and starts rearranging everything that city assumed was solid. Watch the Name move through Acts 19: people are baptized into it, miracles happen in it, frauds try to weaponize it, and it finally threatens an entire industry. His...

Corinth was not the obvious place to build a gospel movement. It was crowded, influential, morally confused, spiritually resistant, and full of pressure. Yet Paul did not retreat. He stayed, worked, preached, partnered with others, and kept speaking the truth—even when fear and opposition made silence seem easier. In Acts 18, we see how the risen Christ builds His church through ordinary faithfuln...

Most people say they are spiritual. Far fewer go to church. That gap describes our culture, and it described Athens too. Paul preached the same gospel in three cities and got three different responses. In Thessalonica, jealousy started a riot. In Berea, people examined the Scriptures every day and believed. In Athens, the intellectual capital of the ancient world was packed with idols and an altar...

The Gospel doesn’t ask permission. It disrupts. In Acts 16, the unstoppable message of Jesus crashes into a missionary’s carefully made plans, a successful businesswoman’s closed heart, a demonic economy built on exploitation, and a desperate man’s midnight despair. Four disruptions. One powerful Gospel. From the closed doors that redirected Paul to Macedonia… to the Lord opening Lydia’s heart by...

In Acts 15 the early church faces a deadly internal threat as sincere men demand circumcision and the law be added to faith in Christ—yet Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James stand firm that God has already cleansed Gentile hearts by faith alone and that salvation is through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as it is for the Jews. In this message, we are confronted by every quiet addition we still mak...

In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas move from bold preaching in Iconium to a stunning miracle in pagan Lystra, only to be stoned and left for dead—yet the living God raises Paul and sends him back to strengthen the very churches that cost him so much. This message confronts our modern hunger for an easy path and shows that the same sovereign Lord who opens doors of faith uses hardship, opposition, and s...

In Acts 13 the Spirit moves the church from local safety in Antioch to global mission, sending Barnabas and Saul after worship, fasting, and prayer. In this message, Matthew talks through how the gospel advances through a unique leadership team, Spirit-directed obedience, and direct confrontation with darkness, never staying bottled or comfortable. Paul then preaches a clear, historical, verifiabl...

In Acts 12, deadly political pressure crashes into the early church as Herod Agrippa I executes James and locks Peter in maximum-security prison with a public spectacle scheduled right after the feast. While the apostle sleeps between two soldiers, the church gathers for earnest, stretched-out prayer—the kind of intense intercession that refuses to accept another apostle’s head on a platter. God a...

In Acts 11, ordinary, nameless believers—scattered by persecution—stepped into Antioch, crossed cultural lines, and preached the Lord Jesus to Hellenists, and “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21, ESV). These were not apostles or platformed leaders, but faithful “them” whose obedience launched gospel advance from the third-largest cit...

In Acts 10, we witness one of the most decisive turning points in the New Testament as the gospel bursts beyond the Jewish world into the Gentile nations through God's sovereign initiative. God tears down the deepest barrier of the early church—not by human strategy, but by preparing both Cornelius, a devout Roman centurion, and the apostle Peter through visions that forced a complete reckoning wi...

This message from Acts 9:10–31 gives the powerful moment when Ananias responds to God’s call with, “Here I am, Lord,” and how his simple obedience becomes part of Saul’s dramatic transformation into the apostle Paul. Through this passage, we see how God’s providence is at work in ordinary places, positioning His people for extraordinary purpose. The message challenges us to embrace courageous obed...

In Acts 9:1–11, we witness the dramatic conversion of Saul, a man breathing threats against the church, when the risen Jesus confronts him on the road to Damascus. Matthew talks through how God’s overpowering grace interrupts rebellion, exposes spiritual blindness, and reveals the glory of Christ. Saul’s story shows that conversion is not self-improvement, but a divine collision that turns enemies...

In “Outsiders and a Desert Road” from Acts 8, we see how God expands His mission by exposing false faith and pursuing unlikely people. From Simon the magician’s corrupted motives to an Ethiopian eunuch’s life-changing encounter with Jesus, this passage confronts our hearts and widens our vision. Pastor Matthew explains that through Philip’s obedience, God often works not just in crowds, but in qui...

In this message, Dan Busch walks through Acts 6 and explains how the early church faced its first growing pain over neglected widows. Greek-speaking believers complained that their widows were being overlooked in the daily food distribution. Rather than neglect prayer and the ministry of the Word, the apostles directed the church to choose seven men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to serve tabl...

This message from Acts 5 reveals the danger of “playing church” while hiding a dishonest heart. In this passage, Matthew talks through how the Holy Spirit is not a spiritual accessory but a holy, searching presence who guards the integrity of Christ’s bride. God sometimes exposes sin dramatically to protect His church, and He will not trade true holiness for outward success or image. You’ll unders...

In this message, "Costly Boldness", believers are called to a costly, Spirit-empowered boldness that refuses to go silent about Jesus, even when obedience draws fire. Tracing Peter and John’s arrest, trial, and Spirit-filled response, we see that opposition isn’t a sign God has left; it’s often evidence that He is powerfully at work. Pastor Matthew presses into how the early church prayed for bold...

In Acts 3:1–11, we see a man who spent his life begging at the gate encounter something far greater than silver or gold—the transforming power of Jesus Christ. In this message by Pastor Matthew, we look at what the church uniquely carries that the world cannot replicate: not just resources, but resurrection power that brings new life. Through Peter and John’s bold faith, we’re reminded that God us...

This Pentecost-powered sermon unpacks the first Christian message that ignited a movement and still transforms hearts today. Walking verse by verse through Acts 2, we see Peter boldly proclaim Jesus as the crucified, risen, and reigning King. This isn’t a safe or polished message—it’s a Spirit-filled declaration that confronts sin, exalts Christ, and calls for true repentance. Discover how God’s s...

Waiting seasons aren’t empty; they are where God does some of His deepest work in His people, just like He did with the 120 in the upper room in Acts 1:12–26. In this message by Pastor Matthew, “What to Do While You Wait,” we walk through how the early church responded between Jesus’ ascension and Pentecost—fighting for unity, devoting themselves to prayer, and interpreting their pain through Scri...

Waiting seasons aren’t empty; they are where God does some of His deepest work in His people, just like He did with the 120 in the upper room in Acts 1:12–26. In this message by Pastor Matthew, “What to Do While You Wait,” we walk through how the early church responded between Jesus’ ascension and Pentecost—fighting for unity, devoting themselves to prayer, and interpreting their pain through Scri...